The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke (Volumes 1-4)

The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke Volume 1

The Diaries of ohn regory ourke

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VOLUME 1

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November 20, 1872–July 28, 1876

Edited and Annotated by Charles M. Robinson III

University of North Texas Press Denton, Texas

©2003 Charles M Robinson III

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Permissions: University of North Texas Press P.O. Box 311336 Denton, TX 76203-1336 The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, z39.48.1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bourke, John Gregory, 1846-1896. The diaries of John Gregory Bourke / edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson III. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-57441-161-6 (alk. paper) 1. Bourke, John Gregory, 1846-1896—Diaries. 2. Soldiers—West (U.S.)—Diaries. 3. Indians of North America—Wars—1866-1895—Personal narratives. I. Robinson, Charles M., 1949- II. Title. E83.866 .B75 2003 978'.02’092—dc21 2002152293 Design by Angela Schmitt All illustrations are held by United States Military Academy Library, West Point, N.Y. Cover photo of John Gregory Bourke is courtesy of the National Park Service, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

To Inge and Betty Hansen from their other boy.

Contents Introduction. John Gregory Bourke: The Man and His Work ... 1 Part 1: Arizona, 1872–1875 Map of camps upgraded to forts in 1879–81 ............................... 16 Background ................................................................................. 17 1. Crook’s Offensive .................................................................... 27 2. Meeting Cochise ...................................................................... 55 3. Mopping Up ............................................................................. 67 4. Reservation and Ruins ............................................................ 83 5. The Hopi Villages .................................................................. 101 Part 2: Department of the Platte, 1875–1876 Map of departments .................................................................. 124 Background ............................................................................... 125 6. Farewell to Arizona ............................................................... 133 7. Southern California and the Mormon Zion ........................... 145 8. A Scientific Expedition ......................................................... 158 9. Into the Black Hills ............................................................... 175 Part 3: The Great Sioux War, 1876–1877 Introduction .............................................................................. 195 10. The Big Horn Expedition .................................................... 206 11. The March North ................................................................. 216 12. The Soldier’s Routine .......................................................... 231 13. The Powder River Fight ...................................................... 245 14. A Trip to the Indian Agencies ............................................. 263 15. The Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition.......................... 284 16. Camp Life ............................................................................ 300 17. The Battle of the Rosebud ................................................... 319 18. Hunting and Fishing on the Tongue .................................... 336 19. The War Resumes ............................................................... 357 20. A Case of Nerves ................................................................. 373 Appendix 1: Persons Mentioned in the Diary................................................ 389

Appendix 2: Orders of Particular Importance to Bourke’s Narrative–Arizona ......... 451 Appendix 3: Names of Indian Tribes in the Department of Arizona ........ 456 Appendix 4: Names of Indian Agents and Agencies in Arizona ............... 458 Appendix 5: Posts in the Department of Arizona ..................................... 459 Appendix 6: Table of Distances Between Prescott and Following Points . 460 Appendix 7: Command of Major William H. Brown Which Left Mt. Graham, February 15, 1873 ........................ 462 Appendix 8: Tables of Distances Between Fort Yuma and Various Points ..... 463 Appendix 9: Table of Routes to Posts in Southern Arizona...................... 464 Appendix 10: Names of Chiefs Who Assisted Crook in the Apache Campaign ...................................................... 465 Appendix 11: Names of Hostile Chiefs in the Apache Campaign ............... 467 Appendix 12: Interview between Major W. H. Brown and Cochise ............ 468 Appendix 13: Letter From Bourke Regarding Lieutenant Jacob Almy’s Death ............................................ 471 Appendix 14: Extraneous Notes of Hopi Life ............................................. 473 Appendix 15: Orders of Particular Importance to Bourke’s Narrative– Department of the Platte ...................................................... 475 Appendix 16: New York Herald Coverage of Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition ................................................. 477 Bibliography .............................................................................. 489 Index ......................................................................................... 499

Acknowlegments Transcribing a set of nineteenth century diaries is a lonely task. However, certain people and institutions contributed to the completion of the project, and in some cases were responsible to the extent of making it possible. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas T. Smith, U.S.A., garrison commander, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and a notable historian in his own right, and Frances Vick, retired director of the University of North Texas Press, endorsed the significance of this project when it was still in the early stages of an idea, and promoted it with the UNT Press’ academic advisors. Thanks also go to two very special people at UNT Press, who suffer through the project itself, and my occasional foul temper as it progresses: Ronald Chrisman, the current director, and Karen DeVinney, managing editor. Kim Frontz, librarian/archivist, Arizona Historical Society, Tucson, provided information on some of the more obscure aspects of Arizona in the second half of the nineteeth century. Greg Lalire, editor of Wild West Magazine, gives me steady encouragement through the pages of the magazine. Another source of continuing moral support is the kind people of the Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, particularly Dr. Arthur Huseboe, director, Dr. Harry Thompson, Dean Schueller, and my good friend Richard Haase, former member of the CWS board. I also wish to acknowledge the United States Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, holding institution for the Eugene A. Carr Papers, and the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming at Laramie, holding institution for the Thaddeus Capron Diary. The Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois, gave permission to quote from the Black Hills Expedition Journals of Lt. Col. Richard Irving Dodge. Last, but not least, thanks to my “superior officers” at South Texas Community College, McAllen, Texas, who tolerate my quirks and who have created an environment that allows me to handle all my projects: Dr. Shirley A. Reed, president; Dr. Frank Williams, vice president of academic affairs; Jean Rodgers Swartz, associate dean of instruction; Dr. Thomas Cameron, dean of the Division of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences; and Bryant Morrison, chairman of the Department of History, Government and Philosophy.

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Introduction ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

John Gregory Bourke: The Man and His Work

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ohn Gregory Bourke was one of the most prolific and influential authors to write about the nineteenth century American West. An officer of the 3rd Cavalry, he is most famous as Brig. Gen. George Crook’s aide-de-camp for fourteen years, serving in every major campaign in Arizona and on the Northern Plains. His memoir, On the Border With Crook, written over a century ago and often reprinted, is one of the great military classics of the Indian Wars, and established Bourke’s reputation as “Crook’s Boswell.”1 Yet Bourke was more than simply a writer of military memoirs. His long service on the frontier led to an interest in Indian life, and he became a devoted scholar of their beliefs, customs, and traditions. His interest and his constant note-taking prompted the Apaches to call him naltsus-bichidin, or “Paper Medicine Man.”2 Ultimately, he became a respected ethnologist, and it is a tribute to his work that some of his Indian studies, such as Apache Medicine-Men, remain standard works. Even On the Border With Crook, and An 1. O’Neal, Fighting Men, 48. 2. Porter, Paper Medicine Man: John Gregory Bourke and His American West, 181. Much of the material in this section is taken from Porter’s biography. For a discussion of Bourke’s contributions to Southwestern ethnology, see Turcheneske, “Historical Manuscripts.”

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Apache Campaign in the Sierra Madre, which deal primarily with military operations, contain observations about prehistoric sites, and contemporary Indian life and culture. His views on the settlement of the West were far more critical than those of other scholars of his era, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Frederick Jackson Turner. Like them, he saw it as a great national adventure, but devoid of much of the glory that Turner and Roosevelt gave it. John Gregory Bourke was born in Philadelphia on June 23, 1846. His parents, Edward Joseph Bourke and Anna Morton, were wellto-do Irish immigrants. Edward Bourke, who owned a bookstore, knew Greek, Latin, French, and Gaelic, and was a student of Irish Gaelic folklore; his wife was grounded in English literature, history, and liberal arts. One of seven children in a staunchly Roman Catholic family, John attended parochial school, and was tutored in Latin, Greek, and Gaelic by a Jesuit. From this, John Gregory acquired an appreciation for the classics that becomes evident throughout his diary. In 1862, the sixteen-year-old Bourke got caught up in the patriotic euphoria of the Civil War and, lying about his age, enlisted in the 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry. He earned the Medal of Honor for unspecified “gallantry in action” at Stones River (Murfreesboro), Tennessee, served in the Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga, and was part of Sherman’s army that invaded Georgia. Mustered out in July 1865, he entered West Point, graduating eleventh in a class of thirty-nine in June 1869. As a newly commissioned second lieutenant, Bourke was posted to Fort Craig, New Mexico.3 In March 1870, he was assigned to a company at Camp Grant, Arizona, the heart of Apache country.4 For the next eighteen months, he was more or less continually in the field. On May 26, 1870, he was sent with a detachment to the scene of an attack on a wagon train, and saw his first example of Apache warfare. “It was a ghastly sight,” he remarked of a mutilated corpse.5 3. Fort Craig was established on the Rio Grande, to provide protection against Apaches and guard the road along the Rio Grande. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1885. Frazer, Forts of the West, 98. 4. Camp Grant was established in 1865 on the San Pedro River near its confluence with Aravaipa Creek. Located on the site of the abandoned post of Fort Breckenridge, it guarded the road between Tucson and Sacaton. An Indian reservation was established briefly at Grant in 1872, but after the Indians were reconcentrated at San Carlos later that year, the post was no longer necessary. It was abandoned in 1873, a new Camp Grant having been established at the head of Sulphur Springs Valley. Ibid., 4-6, 8; Altshuler, Starting With Defiance, 28-30. 5. Bourke, On the Border, 25.

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Like many soldiers exposed to such depredations, Bourke initially saw nothing wrong with repaying the Indians in kind, and when a scout presented him with the scalp and ears of a dead Apache, he had them mounted as trophies. But when a visitor nearly fainted at the sight, Bourke later recalled, “I saw at once how brutal and inhuman I had been and ordered them buried.”6 To divert his attention from warfare and the monotony of garrison life, he began studying the history and culture of Arizona’s Spanish-Mexican population. This ultimately expanded to all the people of the West, particularly the Indians. The last may have been prompted by General Crook’s belief that much of the Indian trouble rose from ignorance of Indians as human beings. Consequently, Crook implemented a policy that officers in Arizona were to make every effort “to acquire knowledge of the rites and ceremonies, the ideas and feelings, of the Indians under their charge.”7 Bourke carried out that policy with unbridled enthusiasm. George Crook assumed command of the Department of Arizona in June 1871, and on September 1, Bourke was named aide-decamp. His broad interests and his wide range of reading made him the scholar of Crook’s official family. As such he helped shape the general’s views, or gave intellectual justification to ideas Crook already held. His copious notes on Crook’s official conferences and private conversations provide a detailed view of what was going through the general’s mind in Arizona during the Apache campaigns, on the northern plains during and after the Great Sioux War, and again in Arizona during the closing campaigns against Geronimo, Naiche, and other famous Apache leaders. Unlike Robert G. Carter, whose classic On the Border With Mackenzie, is part memoir, part embellishment, and part fabrication, Bourke’s account rings true. Except for rare intervals, he was at Crook’s side more or less continually during the entire fourteen years he served as aide-de-camp.9 His loyalty was sorely tried during 6. Bourke, Diaries, 92:64-65. 7. Bourke, On the Border, 234. 8. See Appendix 2. 9. Robert Goldthwaite Carter served under Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie in the Fourth Cavalry during the Kiowa and Comanche wars in Texas in the early 1870s. Although Carter wrote On the Border With Mackenzie as a memoir, he often fabricated and embellished, describing virtually every event as an eyewitness, although he was not always present. A comparison of On the Border With Mackenzie, published in 1935, and On the Border With Crook, published in 1891, shows how much Carter was trying to emulate Bourke, even so far as using an almost identical title.

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the infamous “Starvation March” or “Horse Meat March” of 1876, one of the bitterest tests of endurance ever imposed on United States soldiers in the field. A six-week trek through the wilderness of Montana and the Dakotas, its purported purpose was to catch the scattering bands of Indians, and save the Black Hills settlements from what Crook considered potential massacre. The summer-clad soldiers faced the onset of an early winter, and were exposed to weeks of rain, sleet, and mud. Food ran out, and the men were reduced to eating the worn-out cavalry horses. Even the infantrymen, accustomed to long treks, were so exhausted they could barely put one foot in front of another, and troopers had to be prodded along at bayonet point.10 Years later, in On the Border With Crook, Bourke wrote: There was scarcely a day. . . for nearly a month that my note-books do not contain references to storms. . . the exposure began to tell upon officer, men, and animals, and I think the statement will be accepted without challenge that no one who followed Crook during those terrible days was benefited in any way. I made out a rough list of the officers present on this expedition, and another of those who have died, been killed, died of wounds, or been retired for one reason or another, and I find that the first list had one hundred and sixteen names and the second sixty-nine; so it can be seen that of the officers who were considered to be physically able to enter upon that campaign in the early summer months of 1876, over fifty per cent. are not now answering to roll-call on the active list, after about sixteen years’ interval.11 Aside from his military memoirs, Bourke’s published writings on Indian life and culture brought him international acclaim as an ethnologist. His work was encouraged by John Wesley Powell, head of the American Bureau of Ethnology, and the prominent historian 10. Robinson, General Crook, 190ff. The wastage of animals was so great that on September 10, Crook requisitioned five hundred remounts, indicating that about forty percent of his total cavalry strength had been reduced to walking. Crook to Sheridan, September 10, 1876, RG 393, Special File, Military Division of the Missouri, Sioux Wars, hereafter referred to as “Special File—Sioux.” 11. Bourke, On the Border, 359-60. Bourke’s account of the Horse Meat March will appear in Volume 2 of this series.

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Francis Parkman, Jr. Crook, who enjoyed his company, kept Bourke on his staff as aide-de-camp, but allowed him ample time to pursue his ethnological studies. In 1885, however, he became uncomfortable with this obvious favoritism and requested reassignment. He was given command of Camp Rice (later Fort Hancock), Texas,12 a position he held until March 1886, when, at Crook’s insistence, he was returned to Arizona for the general’s march into the Mexican Sierra Madre. At the conclusion of that campaign, he requested a transfer, and Secretary of War William Endicott assigned him to Washington so that he could continue his ethnological studies. Despite his reputation, Bourke never advanced farther than captain, and as he grew older he began to resent the lack of promotion. When a vacancy for major opened, he sought Crook’s support, but the general, affronted that Bourke would not return to his staff, was indifferent, and the promotion went elsewhere. Henceforth, Bourke avoided Crook whenever possible, although it must be said that after Crook’s death, he abandoned his animosity and worked to glorify the general’s memory.13 By now, however, Bourke had other problems. During his lifetime, the irascible Crook had made many enemies, some of whom now were among the most important men in the army. Bourke’s long association with Crook virtually assured that his comfortable tenure in Washington was over, and there would be no more “plum” assignments that might offer advancement beyond captain. In 1891, Bourke was given command of Fort Ringgold, Texas,14 on the lower Rio Grande, about 150 miles above its mouth. Here, 12. Fort Hancock was established on the Rio Grande about forty miles downriver from El Paso, in 1882. It was upgraded to a fort in 1886, and protected the area from Indians and bandits. The post was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1885. Although the town of Fort Hancock grew up adjacent to the site, nothing remains of the post itself. Frazer, Forts of the West, 151. 13. Theoretically promotion, at least until 1890, was based on a seniority system. However, the support of a well-connected general could do much to help a junior officer circumvent the system and attain higher rank. In fact, Crook had interceded with his old friend and admirer, President Rutherford Hayes, to secure a promotion to major and assistant adjutant general for his senior aide-de-camp, Azor Nickerson, one of more than seventy captains seeking the position. Undoubtedly his support at least would have added weight to Bourke’s case, had Crook chosen to use it. See Robinson, General Crook, 220-21; Bourke, Diaries, 23:34-35; Crook to Hayes, June 16, 1878, copy in Bourke, Diaries, 23:35-36. 14. Fort Ringgold was established in 1848 at Davis’s Landing (now Rio Grande City), as part of a chain of posts built along the Rio Grande following the Mexican War. Although there was some Indian campaigning in the early days, its primary function was to protect the border. It was deactivated in 1944, and transferred to the War Assets Administration for disposal. The post, which is largely intact, now belongs to the Rio Grande City Independent School District. See Robinson, “Fort Ringgold.”

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his career appears to have reached its lowest point. He had little use for or sympathy with the local tejano population, which he described as “so far behind those of the same race on the Mexican side [of the river].”15 His ill-disposition was aggravated because of the outbreak of a revolt against the dictatorial rule of Mexican President Porfirio Díaz. As often happened during this period, the trouble spilled over into Texas, and Bourke’s high-handed response earned the enmity of much of the local population. He was accused of sending troops into private homes “without warrant of law, at all hours of the day and night” to search for weapons, and of threatening to shoot prisoners if they did not name those engaged in the outbreak.16 With complaints to state and federal authorities mounting, Bourke’s tenure at Ringgold was short-lived. He was reassigned to the Columbian Exposition, and to Chicago during the Pullman strike. His final post was Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont. During 1895 and 1896, Bourke’s health deteriorated, and some modern scholars believe he became yet another casualty of the infamous Horse Meat March. On May 21, 1896, he was admitted to the Polyclinical Hospital in Philadelphia, where he died on June 8, just two weeks short of his fiftieth birthday. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Bourke Diaires Bourke’s published work was largely based on notes in his extensive diaries. At this time 124 volumes and several subvolumes are known to exist, all preserved in the United States Military Academy Library at West Point. The earliest, designated Volume 1 in the West Point collection, begins on November 20, 1872. It is one of three extant volumes and two subvolumes from 1872 through 1875 that primarily consist of sporadic, disconnected narratives of specific expeditions or campaigns. Bourke occasionally mentioned other volumes as far back as his arrival in the Southwest in 1869, but by 1880 these had been, in his words, “mislaid, destroyed or stolen.” One later volume covering the six-week period of July 28 to September 8, 1876, also was among those lost, and was 15. Bourke, “The American Congo,” 21. 16. “War Against Peace,” 49, 51. The violence centered around a rebellion led by Catarino Garza against the Porfirio Diaz regime in Mexico, which, like so many rebellions, spilled over into the Texas. This phase of Bourke’s career is discussed in Robinson, “On the Border With Bourke.”

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reconstructed by Bourke from memory in two separate notebooks, now designated as Volumes 7 and 8 at West Point. With this exception, however, the diaries beginning in February 1876 form a more or less continuous daily journal until two weeks prior to his death in 1896. Bourke became so conscientious that if he ran out of space in one notebook, he immediately would start another, sometimes in mid-sentence, without interrupting the flow. Thus there is continuity in the text itself, even if it is disrupted by the switch to a new volume.17 The earliest volumes contain many monotonous descriptions of terrain, vegetation, measurements, and bearings of interest primarily to the geographer. Nevertheless, they also include some accounts of Indian tribal life and customs, as well as fights in which Bourke participated. Even the mundane is instructive of the problems facing people in the West during that era, because it shows a preoccupation with such things as availability of grass for the animals, and water for all concerned. As the diaries progress over time, they turn into a running narrative of army life in post, camp, and field, Indian fights, and Indian life. Bourke’s own words are supplemented with hand-drawn maps and illustrations, photographs, newspaper clippings, orders, and copies of correspondence. Maps and sketches of the terrain are particularly abundant. Much of Arizona was unknown, and to facilitate his campaigns, Crook “directed that each scouting party should map out its own trail, and send the result on to the headquarters, to be incorporated in the general map of the territory. . . .”18 The final volume consists of thirty-one water color sketches. Taken together, they are probably the most complete personal narrative of the Indian Wars, particularly notable because they are an insider’s view from within the command structure. Bourke used the language of the times. Indian warriors were “bucks,” women were “squaws,” children often were called “pappooses,” and Indians as a whole were “savages” or “redskins.” Nevertheless, his attitude toward the Indians was no more malicious than that of any soldier toward the enemy in time of war, and often far more tolerant. His real venom was reserved for whites—traders, contractors, and politicians who robbed and corrupted Indians. He 17. Bloom, “Bourke on the Southwest, vol. 10, no. 2:38, and, vol. 10, no. 3:289; Bourke, Diaries, 7:705. 18. Bourke, On the Border, 234.

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also detested government officials whose well-intentioned meddling seemed (in his view at least) to prolong the agony of Indian war for both Indians and settlers. Early in his writings, he went so far as to call Vincent Colyer, secretary of the Board of Indian Commissioners, “that spawn of hell.”19 Ironically, as he grew older, he would assist men like Colyer in their efforts to secure for the Indians recognition of their proper rights and dignity as residents of the United States. The diaries show Bourke’s development, not only as soldier and scholar, but as a human being. The earlier volumes convey a certain amount of Victorian disdain, viewing Indians as savage relics of a primordial age in human development, and blaming much of the strife on their ability to manipulate a naive government. In 1876, for example, as the army prepared to subjugate the Lakota Sioux and Cheyennes of the northern plains, he commented in his diary: We are now on the eve of the bitterest Indian war the Government has ever been called upon to wage: a war with a tribe that has waxed fat and insolent on Gov’t bounty, and has been armed and equipped with the most improved weapons by the connivance or carelessness of the Indian Agents.20 As time passed and he came to know the Indians, his attitude changed from condescension to profound respect. He began to attribute much of the problem to avarice, ignorance, and intolerance on the part of the whites. Commenting on the same war fourteen years later, he wrote: Much of our trouble with these tribes could have been averted, had we shown what would appear to them as a spirit of justice and fair dealing. . . . It is hard to make the average savage comprehend why it is that as soon as his reservation is found to amount to anything he must leave and give up to the white man. Why should not Indians be permitted to hold mining or any other kind of land? The whites could mine on shares or on a royalty, and the Indians would soon become workers in the bowels of the earth. . . . The policy of the American people has been to vagabondize the Indian, and throttle every 19. Bourke, Diaries, 1:91. 20. Ibid., 3:1-2.

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ambition he may have for his own elevation. . . .21 Although he realized that their ancient tribal ways must ultimately yield to the modern world, he began to believe the process must be a gradual adaptation rather than a sudden, forced assimilation. Yet even in his earliest entries, Bourke often demonstrated more interest and open-mindedness than many of his contemporaries. In 1872, he recorded a victory celebration among the army’s Apache scouts that had homosexual overtones. Some of the young bucks arrayed themselves in muslin & calico captured in the Rancheria yesterday and feigning the manners of women, received their male companions a few singing in concert, though not in harmony, supplied the necessary music, and the dancing once commenced was continued with undiminished vigor until near midnight. I was unable to learn the purpose of the chorus, but to the best of my belief, it referred to past exploits against their enemies and promises of what might be expected in the future.22 His tolerance was reminiscent of the great British explorer, Sir Richard Burton, who also allowed his interest in other cultures to take priority over the moral and social prejudices of his own society. But where Burton went so far as to adapt himself to native customs (often with enthusiasm), Bourke always retained his own cultural identity.23 After Bourke left Crook’s staff, the diaries expanded to include firsthand accounts of visits with Apache prisoners of war at Fort Marion, Florida, and Mount Vernon Barracks, Alabama, Bourke’s involvement with the Indian rights movement, disturbances on the Texas-Mexican border, and labor unrest in Chicago. A lesser known, but equally important aspect is his descriptions and sketches of 21. Bourke; On the Border, 244; see also Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 65-67. 22. Bourke, Diaries, 1:43. Soldiers used “rancheria,” derived from the Spanish, to indicate a more or less permanent Apache encampment. 23. Burton, who was twenty-five years older than Bourke, entered the Indian service at a time when the British East India Company still condoned officers who “went native.” Bourke, on the other hand, served at the height of the Victorian era, and the United States Army was far less tolerant. Even if he had been inclined to emulate Burton, he would have been ostracized from both society and career had he done so. See Rice, Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton.

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Arizona topography, particularly in the early volumes. On May 3, 1887, after Bourke departed from Arizona for good, the region he had known was struck by a great earthquake that shook some 720,000 square miles of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Consequently, his sketches depict many features that no longer exist or have been substantially altered.24 The diaries were donated to the West Point Library by Bourke’s daughter, Mrs. Sara Bourke James, with the stipulation that they be in the public domain. They have been copied on microfilm by Bell & Howell, which offers them as a complete set of ten reels. These microfilms are in manuscript form only. Despite the fact that the Bourke Diaries are consulted (generally through microfilm) by virtually every scholar studying the Apache or Sioux Wars, no effort has been made to publish them as a whole. Since the mid-1940s, several persons have discussed it, but nothing has developed due, no doubt, to the sheer enormity of the project. Only with the development of electrostatic copying has a full, annotated edition of Bourke’s diaries become feasible. While the complete diaries have never before been published, portions have. The first efforts, and undoubtedly the most ambitious, were from 1933 to 1938, and again in 1944, when extracts dealing with Bourke’s service in the Southwest were published in the New Mexico Historical Review under the title “Bourke On the Southwest.” The series was edited by Lansing B. Bloom, co-editor of the Review. Because Bourke jumped from one topic to the next, and sometimes would reminiscence about an event years after, Bloom arranged the entries thematically and chronologically, rather than in the order in which they were written, to provide a smoother narrative. Some fifty years after Bloom, an extract largely concerning the Horse Meat March, was published in La Miranda, California, in 1986. Titled Bourke’s Diary: From Journals of 1st Lt. John Gregory Bourke, June 27–Sept. 15, 1876, it was annotated and published by James Willert, and today is very scarce. Much of the material in the Willert edition, however, comes from the notebooks that Bourke reconstructed from memory from the missing volume. 24. The earthquake was centered near Bavispe, Sonora, some forty miles south of Douglas, Arizona. Bavispe, which figures prominently in Bourke’s writings about Crook’s Sierra Madre Campaign in 1883, was totally destroyed, with forty-two killed. The quake is discussed in Farnsworth, “The Day the Southwest Shook.”

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Format for the Edited Diary This is the first of a projected six volumes. In order to facilitate editing, I have undertaken a basic format to preserve as much as possible the flavor of the manuscript, while still making it intelligible to the reader and without being cumbersome. Orders and Clippings. In the early volumes, Bourke kept his daily records only on the right-hand, odd-numbered pages of his notebook, using the even-numbered pages on the left for illustrations, handdrawn maps, incidental information not part of the text, or for pasting official, printed copies of orders, organizational lists, or newspaper clippings. I seldom have included maps or sketches of the terrain, unless they add particular value to the text. Likewise, because the number of official papers and newspaper clippings is so extensive, and the fact that most are available from other sources, I have included only those that, again, add particular value to the text, and deleted any reference to others with (. . . .). Most of the clippings and other papers, together with miscellaneous extraneous notes that do not form part of the continuing narrative, have been placed in the appendices at the rear of this volume. On occasion, however, Bourke uses a clipping to elaborate on the narrative without disrupting the flow, and these have been left in place. The appendices themselves are arranged and numbered by category. All orders relevant to a particular subject or situation are grouped together; likewise correspondence; reports, etc. Among the extraneous notes was an Apache vocabulary. Because of its limited appeal outside of the field of linguistics, and for space considerations, it has been deleted. Abbreviations, Spelling, and Grammar. Bourke used many abbreviations. The @ symbol often appears as a substitute for the word “or.” While I have tried to remain as faithful as possible to the original text, for the sake of clarity I have spelled out the more common abbreviations, such as cardinal directions, “left,” “right,” “miles,” and “road,” as well as those he used frequently, such as “good grass and water,” “creek,” and “Sierra.” For those that are less common or obvious, I have inserted the missing letters in [brackets], except when the abbreviations are scattered, requiring several sets of brackets within one word; in such cases, I have spelled out the word in brackets. When a word is illegible, but the meaning can be inferred, I have placed the probable word with a question

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mark in [brackets?]. If the meaning cannot be inferred, I have written it as [illegible]. Except for the works of Mark Twain, an “American” form of spelling and punctuation had not yet fully developed in Bourke’s era. Consequently, he used British forms, which are retained. Even so, spelling and grammatical errors are so numerous that I have refrained from using the standard [sic] following misspelled words and errors in grammar except in the most extreme cases. In some isolated instances, I have corrected Bourke, such as with “campe” and “tanke” obviously written by light of a campfire after a long day’s march. Otherwise, I have transcribed the text as is. Thus place names like Chevelon, Aravaipa, and Mazatzal are spelled several different ways. Names of individuals suffered in the same fashion. Among others, Capt. Emil Adam usually was rendered “Adams,” Capt. James Burns was given the Irish spelling “Byrnes” or “Byrne,” and Cochise was spelled several different ways. All such instances have been noted in the biographical sketches in Appendix 1. Arcane References. As noted in the biographical sketch at the beginning of this section. Bourke’s early education was grounded in the classics. His upper level education was at West Point, essentially an engineering school, with emphasis on geology and mathematics, with some heavy doses of French thrown in for good measure. From there, he went to the Southwest, where English and Spanish words, even now, are often used interchangeably. Consequently, there is a plethora of information on measurements and geology, often accompanied by technical words. He also made occasional references to classical subjects, and used French or Spanish words. Wherever possible, I have tried to provide an explanation of terminology and classical references, and a translation of foreign terms. Punctuation and Capitalization. Punctuation in the diary was rudimentary. Bourke often used a dash (—) in lieu of punctuation. In most cases, I have substituted the punctuation marks, unless the dash appears more appropriate. In cases where Bourke did use punctuation, it was erratic, although he tended to use periods and commas outside quotation marks rather than within. I lean toward leaving Bourke’s punctuation intact except for cases where it renders the text absolutely confusing. Capitalization was erratic. For example, in giving times of day, he might use a.m./p.m., A.M./P.M., or am./pm. I have preserved his capitalization as much as possible.

I NTRODUCTION

13

Emphasis. Bourke emphasized words by underlining them. Most of the time (but not always), he underlined names of people and places, dates, and geographical features of interest. Yet some of his emphasis seems little more than whimsy and, more than a century later, appears to have had no practical reason. In an effort to make it more readable, I have deleted the emphasis. Bourke occasionally annotated the entries after the fact, as new information came to hand. His notes are indicated by an asterisk (*) while mine are numbered. I have replaced Bourke’s brackets with parentheses, to avoid confusing his texts with mine. Names. Often individuals are named with no explanation as to who they were. Bourke was, after all, writing for his own future reference and knew the people in question. I have attempted, in Appendix 1, to identify as many as possible, and in the case of army officers, have been relatively successful. After more than a century, however, it has not always been possible to identify enlisted soldiers or civilians. Where Bourke uses the local name for plants, or names that might not be widely known, I have attempted to identify them and put the botanical name in the notes; I did not do so for commonly known plants. Bourke’s designations of the territories have been preserved, and when they do not reflect the modern name of the state, I have inserted the state in [brackets]. In my own commentaries, I have used the modern state names. Military Ranks. One of the more confusing aspects of the text is Bourke’s inconsistencies in rank. For example, Andrew Sheridan Burt is sometimes referred to as “Major Burt,” and other times as “Captain Burt.” The same applies to Thaddeus Stanton, Joseph J. Reynolds, George Morton Randall, and many other officers. The reason is the system of brevet ranks used by the army during the nineteenth century. The brevet was bestowed to honor gallant and/ or meritorious service, and generally was higher than the officer’s active rank. During the Civil War, when many officers of the Regular Army transferred to the Volunteer Service, one individual might have as many as three ranks simultaneously, viz., active rank in the Regular Army, brevet rank in the Regular Army, and brevet rank in the Volunteers. When the Union Army was demobilized after the war, these officers reverted to their most recent active rank in the Regular Army. Nevertheless, the brevet remained on the officer’s record, and as a courtesy he ordinarily would be addressed by the

14

I NTRODUCTION

brevet. Again, using Andrew Burt as one of the many examples, the expedition roster would carry him by his active rank as captain, but outside of official documents and lists, but Bourke often referred to him by his brevet as major. The biographical sketches of officers in Appendix 1 includes both active and brevet ranks. Introductory Material. Generally, I have tried to limit introductory material to the beginning of each part of the diary, specifically, Arizona, the Department of the Platte, and the Great Sioux War. Occasionally, however, a particular chapter is so much at variance with the rest of the narrative, or is of enough importance on its own, to require a separate introduction. I have used italics for introductions to distinguish them from Bourke’s material.

✦

Part 1 Arizona 1872–1875

✦

Camps upgraded to forts in 1879–81

Background

A

pachería is the vast area encompassing what is now Arizona, most of New Mexico, and portions of the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua. It is so called because it is the traditional land of the Western Apaches. For centuries, the Apaches had fought the people of the south, first the Spaniards, and then the Mexicans. Their initial contact with U.S. soldiers in 1846, however, was cordial. The United States was then at war with Mexico, and because of their own hatred for the Mexicans, the Apaches assumed the Americans must have some good qualities. In fact, when a U.S. expeditionary force crossed Apachería en route to Mexican-held California, the great Apache chief Mangas Coloradas suggested to the American commander, Brig. Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny,1 that they should combine forces, and invade Sonora and Chihuahua. Kearny declined, and continued on his march. Trouble appears to have begun with the discovery of gold in California. Apaches were disturbed by the large number of 1. Stephen Watts Kearny (1794-1848), army officer, explorer, and Mexican War hero, gave his name to Fort Kearny, Nebraska. The Fort Kearny, Wyoming, so frequently mentioned by Bourke in this volume, refers to Fort Phil Kearny named for Bvt. Maj. Gen. Philip Kearny, killed at Chantilly, Virginia, in 1862. Bourke and others have tended to erroneously render the name as “Kearney.” There is no second “e.” Heitman, Historical Register, 1:586, 2:514, 533.

17

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A RIZONA : 1872–1875

Americans crossing their country en route to the gold fields. Additionally, because the Mexican jurisdictions offered a bounty on Apache scalps, some of these gold seekers offset their expenses by scalp hunting. The situation worsened early in 1851, when a boundary commission entered Apachería with a military escort. Mangas Coloradas’ reaction seems to have been mixed. Initially outraged at the military presence, he ultimately realized that his warriors’ bows and arrows were no match for the soldiers’ firearms, and therefore expressed a guarded friendship. Nevertheless, trouble broke out when one band ran off a herd of cattle belonging to a mining camp not far from the boundary commission’s camp. A detachment of soldiers pursued, and after a fight, recovered the cattle. As more Americans settled the Territory of New Mexico (which then included Arizona), clashes erupted between the settlers and the Apaches. The temptation to plunder isolated ranches was too great for the Apaches, who had already established a raiding economy by their depredations against the Mexicans. Some Americans fueled it by wantonly killing any Indian they saw. The problem was exacerbated by a rotgut alcohol known as “Taos lightning,” provided to the Indians not only by unscrupulous traders, but by settlers who used it to purchase protection from marauding bands. The government in Washington appeared largely uninterested in the problem, and different authorities often were at odds with each other over the gravity of the situation, and possible solutions. Already jealousy between civil and military authorities—a prominent theme in Bourke’s diaries two decades later—was hindering attempts to control the situation. Efforts to force the freedom-loving Apaches onto reservations, while in some cases successful, by and large made matters worse. In the late 1850s, the Apaches stole large herds of Mexican stock for sale in the United States, and large herds of U.S. stock for sale in Mexico. By 1860, they were in a full-scale war with both countries. They not only plundered, but also took captives for ransom. The abduction of a boy named Felix Ward2 in 1860, would have lasting repercussions. Determined to get him back, Second Lt. George Bascom and a detachment of soldiers met with a band of Chiricahua 2. Felix Ward ultimately became a guide for the military, under the assumed name of Mickey Free.

B ACKGROUND

19

warriors under Cochise, son-in-law and protégé of Mangas Coloradas, at Apache Pass, on February 4, 1861. When Cochise denied any knowledge of the boy, Bascom had the Indians surrounded and informed them they would be hostages until Felix was returned. Pulling a knife, Cochise managed to slash his way out, but six of his warriors were seized. After a couple of days, Cochise appeared and advised Bascom that he had other prisoners to exchange, and was working to obtain Felix’s release from the Apache band that held him. Bascom agreed, but the arrival of additional troops under First Lt. Isaiah Moore apparently convinced Cochise that a military expedition was being mounted against him. He murdered his own prisoners and left their mutilated bodies where the troops could find them. In retaliation, the six original Indian prisoners, along with three more captured by the soldiers, were hanged. They included Cochise’s brother and two of his nephews. Cochise went on a rampage, and over the next two months, 150 whites were killed. By this time, all movement through Apache territory was hazardous, unless it entailed large numbers of troops. In July 1862, Mangas and Cochise, with five hundred warriors, attempted to block Apache Pass. On July 15, however, Brig. Gen. James Carleton forced his way through with three hundred troops, and beat back the Apaches. Mangas received a severe chest wound, and was taken into Mexico for medical treatment. After his recovery, he hoped to arrange a peace. Carleton, however, had no intention of negotiating. In January 1863, Mangas was murdered by a detachment of troops whom he had met under a flag of truce.3 Mangas’ death prompted Cochise to fight with a new fury. Over the next eight years, little progress was made either in subduing the Apaches or arranging a peace. To facilitate operations, the War Department created the Department of Arizona as a jurisdiction within the Military Division of the Pacific, and appointed Col. George Stoneman as commander. This did little to ease the situation, partly because Stoneman, who hated Arizona, maintained his headquarters at Drum Barracks, near Los Angeles, California, too far removed for effective command, and partly 3. The opening of the Apache Wars is discussed in Worcester, Apaches, Chapter 3; Faulk, Crimson Desert, Chapter 6; and Thrapp, Conquest of Apacheria, Chapter 2. A brief, but excellent summary of Mangas Coloradas’ life and career is found in Hoxie, Encyclopedia of North American Indians, 354-55.

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A RIZONA : 1872–1875

because Apachería extended into New Mexico, which was in an entirely different military jurisdiction.4 Additionally, Stoneman had no real stomach for handling the Apache depredations. He appears to have supported the Peace Policy implemented by President U.S. Grant, which called for settling the Indians on reservations, feeding and clothing them, and educating them. The goal was to make them productive citizens by the nineteenth century white definition, a goal that was alien to their own culture. Although Stoneman established a line of picket posts in the country of the Pinal and Tonto Apaches (which did little more than reduce the strength of the main garrisons), his overall view of the situation was totally unrealistic. He asked that the government send peace commissioners to negotiate a truce with the Apaches, and relieve the army of the burden of defending the department. When depredations continued, and complaints reached the president, Stoneman blamed the complaints on corrupt contractors, when, in fact, the ordinary farmers and ranchers were suffering from the raids. The last straw, as far as local citizens were concerned, was a series of “feeding stations” that Stoneman established for Apaches who agreed to maintain the peace. The citizens contended they harbored renegades and would only encourage more depredations. At dawn, April 30, 1871, a group of Anglos, Hispanics, and Apachehating Papago Indians attacked the feeding station at Camp Grant, near Tucson, massacring several dozen Aravaipa Apaches, raping women, and carrying off children. Blaming the massacre on Stoneman’s policies, Arizona Territorial Gov. Anson P. K. Safford demanded his removal, and urged he be replaced by Lt. Col. George Crook, 23rd Infantry, who had gained a reputation as a successful Indian fighter in the Pacific Northwest. President Grant complied.5 A native of Ohio, Crook had served on the Indian frontier of northern California before the Civil War, and during the war attained the brevet rank of major general. When the war ended, he was 4. The Department of Arizona was formally established on April 5, 1870. New Mexico was attached to the Department of the Missouri, headquartered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and itself an administrated jurisdiction of the Military Division of the Missouri, with headquarters in Chicago. Consequently, coordination of Apache operations in Arizona had to go first through Los Angeles and then through divisional headquarters in San Francisco, while New Mexico operations had to go through Fort Leavenworth and Chicago. 5. Altshuler, Chains of Command, 185ff.; Thrapp, Conquest of Apacheria, 80ff. The exact number of people killed at Camp Grant has never been determined, but probably was in the eighties.

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21

commissioned to the active rank of lieutenant colonel and posted to Idaho, where he effectively ended Indian depredations. This led to his appointment as commanding officer of the Department of the Columbia, encompassing much of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Because his command responsibilities often exceeded the nominal authority of a lieutenant colonel, the War Department invoked his brevet rank of major general, both in the Columbia and in Arizona.6 After a brief stop at Drum Barracks, Crook continued to Tucson, the territorial capital. He brought two associates from the Columbia, Capt. Azor H. Nickerson, 23rd Infantry, who would serve as departmental adjutant, and Archie McIntosh, a civilian scout, who had performed ably in Indian campaigns in the Northwest, and would serve him again in Arizona. The remainder of his staff was chosen from officers already on station, whom he interviewed upon arrival. Bourke described the process in On the Border With Crook: He arrived in the morning, went up to the residence of his old friend, Governor Safford, with whom he lunched, and before sundown every officer within the limits of what was then called the southern district of Arizona was under summons to report to him. . . . From each he soon extracted all he knew about the country, the lines of travel, the trails across the various mountains, the fords where any were required for the streams, the nature of the soil, especially its products, such as grasses, character of the climate, the condition of the pack-mules, and all pertaining to them, and every other item of interest a commander could possibly want to have determined. But in reply not one word, not one glance, not one hint, as to what he was going to do or what he would like to do. Crook selected Bourke and Second Lt. William J. Ross, 21st Infantry, as his aides-de-camp. He also decided to relocate departmental headquarters from Drum Barracks to Whipple Barracks at Prescott, Arizona, in order to exercise more effective command.7 6. Crook’s story is told in Schmitt, ed., General George Crook, His Autobiography; and in Robinson, General Crook. 7. Bourke, On the Border, 108-09; Headquarters, Department of Arizona, General Orders No. 18, September 1, 1871, see Appendix 2.

22

A RIZONA : 1872–1875

Determined to carry the war to the Apaches, Crook inaugurated a series of expeditions to scour southern Arizona. Taking advantage of internal strife among the Indians, he employed disaffected Apaches as scouts, placing them under whites who could gain their respect and confidence. Although no decisive actions occurred, the expeditions were enough to convince Crook that with proper support, he could force hostile bands to take the defensive, keeping them away from the settlements and gradually wearing them down. His main goal appears to have been Cochise, but he was frustrated, in part because of that chief’s tactical gifts, and in part by government interference.8 The first instance was in September, with the arrival of Vincent Colyer, secretary of the Board of Indian Commissioners, a quasi-official citizens’ committee designated by congress to oversee the Department of the Interior’s Indian Bureau. Charged with monitoring $70,000 that Congress had appropriated to establish reservations and provide the Apaches with subsistence, Colyer designated temporary reservations near military posts, and managed to get some four thousand Indians to move onto them. He also exposed corruption in the administration of the Indian Bureau. This success, however, appears to have strengthened his already naïve and simplistic view of the situation. Totally ignoring the warrior heritage and tradition of the Apaches, he believed they were a peaceful people who merely were retaliating for white outrages. While this might have been true of some Apaches, others enjoyed murder and pillage as much as some of the worst white riff-raff. Unwilling to consider any views that conflicted with his own, Colyer refused to meet with citizens who desired to present their cases. He also took a disdainful view of any Indians who did not fit his preconceived notions of how an Indian should be. Although Colyer had no credibility in the West, his views nevertheless carried credence among Easterners, who accepted his claim that victims of Indian raids were bloodthirsty settlers being repaid in kind. His visit forced a prolonged suspension of military operations and, freed from pressure by the army, hostile bands stepped up their depredations. The turning point came November 5, when a band probably composed of Indians with white marauders attacked a stagecoach near the town of Wickenburg, killing six 8. Crook to AG USA, September 4, 1871, I, pp. 1-4, George Crook Letter Books, The Rutherford B. Hayes Library (microfilm edition); Crook to AAG, Military Division of the Pacific, December 7, 1871, I, p. 10, ibid.; Schmitt, General George Crook, 166-67; Bourke, On the Border, 144ff.

B ACKGROUND

23

passengers and mortally wounding a seventh. Among the passengers was Bostonian Frederick W. Loring, whose background and Harvard education discredited Colyer in the East, and brought demands for retribution against the Indians.9 In response, Crook issued General Orders No. 10, requiring all Indians to report to reservations immediately, or be regarded as hostile. To avoid the appearance of being eager for war, he postponed action until February 1872. Before he could take the field, however, the government once again intervened by sending Brig. Gen. O. O. Howard to investigate the situation and, once again, try to find a solution. More practical than Colyer, Howard visited Arizona several times during 1872, determined to gather as much information as possible. He endorsed Crook’s operations against hostile bands, while he worked to reassure those who were friendly. He negotiated a peace between the Apaches and their ancient enemies, the Pimas and Papagoes. At Howard’s behest, President Grant abolished the scattered reservations created by Colyer, replacing them with two vast reservations at San Carlos on the Gila River, and at Camp Apache.10 And finally, Howard achieved what many had deemed impossible—he ended the war with Cochise. Meeting personally with the Chiricahua chief, Howard gained a guarantee of peace, in turn giving the Chiricahuas a reservation in their homeland in the Dragoon Mountains. Not consulted about the treaty, Crook resented Howard’s agreement, and never completely trusted Cochise. Even so, the peace lasted until the chief’s death in 1874.11 Free from further government interference, Crook once again prepared to move against the Apaches. After several successful 9. The Board of Indian Commissioners was a citizens’ group created by Congress in 1869 to oversee distribution of the Indian appropriation. Its members, who were appointed by President Grant, served without pay. With the president’s support, the board assumed almost cabinet level status, and usurped the powers of Commissioner of Indian Affairs Ely S. Parker, eventually forcing him out of office. The board also dealt directly with Grant, rather than going through the secretary of the interior, who was legally responsible for Indian matters. However high minded, its members were not qualified for their roles, and based their actions largely on preconceived assumptions rather than reality. Thus the board only succeeded in further complicating an already chaotic situation. See Altshuler, Chains of Command, 198ff.; also Faulk, Crimson Desert, 168; Schmitt, General George Crook, 167-68; U.S. Department of the Interior, Peace with the Apaches, 28-29; Bancroft, History, 562-63. 10. Camp Apache was established in 1870 on the Mogollon Plateau to guard a proposed reservation in the White Mountains (later the Fort Apache Reservation). Upgraded to a fort in 1879, the fort was pivotal during the Apache campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s. The post was abandoned and transferred to the Indian Service in 1922. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 12. 11. Bancroft, History, 563-64. Howard’s efforts are described in his autobiography, My Life and Experiences Among Our Hostile Indians, and in Sweeney, Making Peace with Cochise.

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A RIZONA : 1872–1875

preliminary scouting expeditions in the summer and early fall of 1872, he reinvoked General Orders No 10. In November, three columns, each composed of cavalry and Indian scouts, were sent out from Camp Hualpai, and two more from Camp Date Creek.12 His plan was to encircle the hostile bands, driving them into the Tonto Basin where the converging columns would crush them. His orders, as summarized by Bourke in On the Border With Crook, were clear and concise. Briefly, they directed that the Indians should be induced to surrender in all cases where possible; where they preferred to fight, they were to get all the fighting they wanted, and in one good dose instead of a number of petty engagements, but in either case were to be hunted down until the last one in hostility had been killed or captured. Every effort should be made to avoid the killing of women and children. Prisoners of either sex should be guarded from ill-treatment of any kind. When prisoners could be induced to enlist as scouts, they should be enlisted, because the wilder the Apache was, the more he was likely to know of the wiles and stratagems of those still out in the mountains, their hiding-places and intentions. No excuse was to be accepted for leaving a trail; if horses played out, the enemy must be followed on foot, and no sacrifice should be left untried to make the campaign short, sharp, and decisive.13 This campaign, a series of scouting expeditions designed to seek out, engage, and destroy, was so effective that Dan Thrapp, one of the leading historians of the Apache Wars, later named it “The Grand Offensive.” This Grand Offensive, which to some degree sustained Crook’s image as an Indian fighter for the rest of his life, marks the beginning of Bourke’s diary.14 12. Camp Hualpai was established in 1869 at the toll gate on the road between Prescott and Fort Mojave, about forty miles northwest of Prescott. Troops from the post scouted against Yavapai Indians. The post was no longer necessary after Crook’s offensive of 1872-73, and was abandoned in August 1873. Camp Date Creek, originally designated Camp McPherson, was established sixty miles southwest of Prescott to guard the reservation for the Yavapais, Mojaves, and affiliated groups. It was abandoned after the reservations and military posts were consolidated. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 25-26, 32-33, Frazer, Forts of the West, 10. 13. Bourke, On the Border With Crook, 182. 14. The Grand Offensive is discussed in Thrapp, Conquest of Apacheria, Chapter 10, and Robinson, General Crook, Chapter 9.

Preceding page. Title page of the first volume of Bourke’s manuscript. This volume actually commences on November 20, 1872, and ends April 7, 1873.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Crook’s Offensive

Nov 20th 1872 Left [Camp] Verde,1 9 a.m. Crossed [Verde] river and passed north about 5 1/2 miles in a general north and north x east direction, climbed a mesa and halted for pack-train. Ground [is] Lava, vegetation, cactus and palo verde.2 Still north x east 3 miles. Keeping in a very hilly country. Rio Verde to left, Beaver Creek to right. The perpendicular distance between these two streams cannot be much over 6 miles, but very high & rough hills intervene. Red-Rock country dead ahead. Passed north 1 mile, east 3 miles to Beaver Creek. Camp. Wood. Water and Grass. Beaver Creek here flows nearly east and west—making a small bend from its general north & south course. Had a first class supper of wild-duck, antelope steak & fried fish. 1. Camp Verde was established in 1865 on the Rio Verde to protect a nearby farming community. Initially called Camp Lincoln, it was renamed in 1868 to avoid confusion with other posts named in memory of Abraham Lincoln. With the arrival of additional troops for a permanent garrison in 1871, Camp Verde outgrew its site, and a year later was relocated to a larger area away from the river. The Rio Verde Reservation was established nearby, but was closed in 1875 when the Indians were reconcentrated at San Carlos. Verde was upgraded to fort in 1879, and abandoned in 1890. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 59-62; Frazer, Forts of the West, 14. 2. Palo verde (parkinsonia aculeata), also called paloverde, retama, and horsebean, is a thorny shrub or tree that can grow as high as thirty feet. It has long, delicate leaves, and blooms of small yellow flowers. Loughmiller, Texas Wildflowers, 134.

27

28

A RIZONA : 1872–1875 11 1/2 miles

Thursday, Nov. 21st, 1872 4 miles. Left Beaver Creek northeast along the Creek until we joined the New Mexico Road at the cross[in]g—then north x east for 15 miles passing through a juniper country and up grade all day—passed over an open grass country about north—then rather more east for 2 miles up grade and in pine woods. Camped at Stoneman’s Lake on left side of road. Met broken down wagons from Santa Fe 6 miles west by south from this Camp—22 miles Wood, Water and grass. 33 1/2 miles Friday, Nov 22nd, 1872 Broke Camp at sun up—Marched northeast, up grade for 10 miles— then east for 3 miles about 2 1/2 miles from Camp, road crossed little spring—stopped at Saute Sp[ring]S for the train to close up— moved East for 6 miles and east x south for 3 miles—stopped at Jones Camp—Tanks on left of Road— 21 o[r] 22 miles Country all day was grazing land—very elevated with some pine and occasionally, a little white poplar. Indian signals seen all day to South 21 miles About 8 miles out from Camp of 21st there is a spring on right of road, about 300 or 400 yds from it; in a copse of cottonwood. Genl Crook says this spring has an abundance of good cold water. Camp this night (22nd) had plenty of wood and grass, but no water for the animals, the tank being frozen—water for cooking was obtained by melting ice. Ground all day was a lava soil. General Crook shot a fine, fat goose this morning. Saturday Nov 23d Camp aroused at 3 A.M. Made coffee, breakfasted and started about one hour before dawn—Moved South one mile South East one mile. South x East half mile East half mile North West half mile, then around corner of big mesa (about 500 yds long) and a general North East and North x East course for about 18 miles, passing between two large mesas with timbered sides (juniper) and perpendicular crests, halted and made camp—Water in tank in deep arroyo on right. Ice six and eight inches thick. Arroyo is a feeder of the Colorado Chiquito. San Francisco Mountain on our left and rear, all day, about 60 miles distant.

C ROOK ’ S O FFENSIVE

29

Ground all day has been gravelly and sandy. Ant hills along road have been disturbed by diamond hunters. Indian signs plenty and fresh. Wood, Water & Grass plenty. Country generally open along trail, with good grass. Plenty of wood, juniper all day. About one and a half miles from this camp, on left hand side of the road there is a dry tank, which evidently has plenty of water in rainy season. Distance marched 25 miles (on Morrow’s Sketch) 18 miles Sunday, Nov 24th, 1872 Broke camp one hour before Sunrise—Marched North East across an elevated table-land, well grassed for 7 miles* passed between two low mesas of shale; ground now became less fertile, grass and wood more and more scanty until we reached the Colorado Chiquito, 18 miles; after crossing, we turned East, marched 5 miles, and camped. Wood, drift cottonwood plenty: water, from river good, but full of sediment. Grass poor. Saw no game to-day, and no fresh Indian signs. Saw the country of the Moquis [Hopis] to the North and North North West. Distance to-day 25 miles Monday, Nov 25th Broke camp at daylight—East South East for 22 miles keeping in sight of river all day—river very sinuous in its course—about 19 miles from camp passed a ruined house on river bank, passed between two sandstone buttes, turned East, went three miles, along river, crossed it and camped. Wood and water plenty & good—grass fair. Saw no camp & no signs of Indians. Total distance about 25 @ 26 miles Note—There is a drywash on this road about 3 [miles] from to-days Camp. Tuesday Nov 26th 1872 Broke camp at daylight—Weather extremely cold—Moved in a general Southerly direction all day to Chevelon’s Fork (?)† about 3 miles out from Col[orado] Chiq[ito] passed between 2 sandstone buttes—country barren about 15 miles, passed between 2 other buttes; country now became more hilly covered with juniper—road * Water on right hand in tanks, about one mile from road. † Silver Creek.

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A RIZONA : 1872–1875

sandy and from time to time rocky—road sinuous about 30 miles from Col Chiquito struck the Chevelon’s Fork (?) and camped— Water plenty, grass & wood scarce. Chevelon’s Fork here flows from South South West to North North East. Total march of the day 30 miles Wednesday Nov 27th, 1872. Broke camp before daylight. Weather very cold. Last night was the coldest by far, since leaving Prescott. Breakfasted on wild duck shot last evening. Moved South East, 7 miles, passed what is known as Stoneman’s Camp, no water—moved South East 5 miles struck the lower end of the stream flowing from Silver Sp[rings]. This water pours into Shevelon’s Fork. Still South East 3 miles further to Silver Sp[rings], where we are camped. Grass on adjacent hills, plenty of wood (cedar or juniper) in vicinity and the water good. This is one of the largest springs I have ever seen in Arizona. Road to-day sandy in places. First 3 miles out from Camp had Shevelon’s Fork on our Left, crossed it just after leaving camp. Saw flocks of ducks on left. Weather moderated about miday. Total distance, 15 miles Genl. Crook killed thirty eight wild ducks and Lt. Ross and Mr. McCoy killed a black tailed deer, which dressed about 175 o[r] 200 lbs. Weather moderated. This night was not very cold. Thursday, Nov. 28th, 1872. Camp aroused at 3 1/2 A.M. Had coffee and a fine breakfast of juicy venison, wild duck, ham, &&. Marched at 6.30—about half an hour before sun-rise. Moved East South East and South East all day going up grade till about 11 a.m. Country getting very hilly—ground of a basaltic formation, but covered with rich grasses. Entered dense pine forest and commence[d] going down grade. Came to forks of New Mexico Road. Saw camp fire still burning and fresh wagon tracks 22 miles. Kept up same general direction, going down grade—found no water at the Spring indicated in Morrow’s Map. About 33 miles, found water in a Spring on left of road—Camped. Wood in abundance (pine forest). Water plenty and good. Grass d[itt]o. Total distance 33 miles Marched 8 hours and over, at 4 miles per hour

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An excellent spring at Forks of Road Weather very fine—clear sky The vicinity of this camp is very mountainous. Genl C reported finding a number of springs to the East and Lieut Ross found some to West of Camp—name of camp is Pleasant Grove. Friday. Moved in a general direction to Camp Apache, 23 miles, found water about 3 or 4 miles out—frozen—about 5 miles from Apache crossed one fork of Rio Sierra Blanca, passed over divide, crossed the other fork of same river and entered post near the Brewery. Came through a pass in the Mogollon Range about 6 miles from Camp—23 miles. Saturday, Nov 30th. Rem[aine]d at Apache Men employed fixing aparejos &ct.3 Sunday, Dec 1st, D[itt]o. D[itt]o. Camp Apache is probably one of the most beautiful sites in the U.S. The post is at present ably commanded by Capt. Randall 23[rd] U.S. Infantry. Monday, Dec 2. Remained at Post. Tuesday, Dec 3d. Left Post, going South x a little West, passed High Mesa on our right just after leaving Post. High hills on left. Hills break away in potreros,4 crossed Sierra B[lanca] river about 1 1/2 miles from Camp. Kelly’s Peak about due West from Apache. Turned West and went up on top of divide—trail rocky—springs to Right. On top of trail met two Indians from Grant with letters from Apache. Marched South West [by] West, over a grassy mesa land. Conical peak in front. Before going on the mesa had river on our right for about one mile. Went about 10 miles from Apache and then commenced the descent to the Rio Prieto. Trail very rough, filled with lava boulders. Camped on left bank of river. Wood, Water and Grass. The river flows with a very rapid current, water pure & clear, oak & pine trees on bank. Rapids in river just below Camp. Distance 12 @ 14 [miles]. Genl. C. shot a shell drake. Wednesday, Dec 4th—Broke camp at sun-up. Went South West x 3. The aparejo is a packing rig of ancient and obscure origin, still used in the Middle East, Spain, and Mexico. It was brought to the Western Hemisphere by the early Spaniards. Essentially it consists of two leather pads stuffed with straw and stiffened at the front and rear edges by hardwood sticks. They hang down the sides of the mule, joined at the top by a leather gusset. The pads spread the load evenly over the mule’s back and sides to avoid stress or soreness. See Hicks, “Aparajo.” 4. Meadows, pastures.

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West for 500 yds, then turned to ascend hill. Wound our way up a very bad and rocky trail to summit. Mesa cov[ere]d. with coarse grass and timber. Saw little stream on our right emptying into Rio Prieto, below our Camp. Went over mesa about 6 miles and then commenced to descend. Went down about 2 miles crossed over dry bed of a stream, probably head of east fork San Carlos. [P]assed on down grade. Struck a cañon coming from North East to South West with water. Saw a spring in the solid rock on left of trail. Country filled with Lava blocks. Timber principally oak and Juniper. Some pine. Saw a Bear on High Hill to left about 8 miles. Moved down this cañon to South. High hills on right & left. Cañon filled with scrub oak & juniper. Passed an old mescal pit 3 miles. Kept down cañon still going east for 5 miles. River now commences to run water. Saw place where there must be a spring on mountain side to left. Saw where little streams come in on right & left—passed all this time through oak grove—trails became very rocky & difficult—emerged from cañon, saw Pa. S. Carlos [San Carlos Peak] dead ahead—Mt. Trumbull and Green’s P[ea]k beyond—Pinal Mountains to South West. Apache Mountains to West—Sierra S[ant]a Catalina West South West—Mt. Graham East South East—Turned South West and went over rough lava mesa. The plateau was now badly broken by cañons and trail wound more to South. Went South West about 5 miles—came to a cañon, with Lava sides & bed, very bad—water at bottom. Also passed tank about 1 mile from last place. 5 miles Passed down into cañon; trail very rough—one of the worst I have ever seen—after much labor reached the bottom. Found two cañons—one from North East, with plenty of water—one from North with a small amount, after junction, water flows South West. This is a very large stream and is probably the main East Fork of San Carlos and, if so, maps are all wrong. Sides of cañons, nearly vertical and precipices of basalt on all sides. Turned back on our trail and went North East for about 8 miles until we struck a small creek tributary of San Carlos, coming from East same one we left at noon, [it is the] main branch—crossed creek and turned West, went along creek for about 3 miles, crossed, turned South West, climbed high mesa, crossed over and found stream coming from North West, made by spring in rocks, turned South, passed long this stream about a mile turned East, climbed high hills and commenced descent on other side. Trail very steep and rocky, going North East about 2 miles

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came into valley of San Carlos on left of high butte, turned and came down river about 5 miles above the junction of East and West forks and made a dry camp, no supper. Total distance about 60 miles. Thursday Dec 5th Marched to Camp on Gila about five miles below junction of San Carlos to which camp we marched this morning. Plenty of cottonwood, water from river and good grass on mesa. 10 miles. Friday Dec 6. [18]72 Moved from camp about daybreak due West five hundred yards to small range which we crossed turning South and passing arroyo and going South East, passing along the arroyo (Ventana)5 about 5 miles, crossed high and rocky divide turning somewhat our course to South. Entered Cañon Gabilau6 South East about 3 miles found no water but saw plenty of cottonwood. Green’s Peaks ahead and to East South East. Saw large mountain on right and large flat-topped peak in front. Turned to right crossing over this mountain, passed on left hand cañon flowing into cañon Galibau, and kept along range divd [dividing] waters of Galibau from those [of] San Carlos. Saw a big mesa in front. Crossed water of Deer Creek, here flowing West by little North, turned South— and going South by East reached camp, about 1 pm, Tanks in Rocks. Wood (cedar) scarce. Water sufficient. Grass, plenty but coarse, camp very poor. Day cold & windy. Lost (2) horses this morning. 18 Miles Satd [Saturday] Dec 7th Left Camp 7.30 am. Rained very badly. Wind cold [from] North East. Marched South x East about 4 miles, getting to top of mesa—country very rough—turned South and South South West for 5 miles, going across water flowing South—passed down steep hill to Aravaypa cañon—turned West x North (2p[oin]ts) to [Camp] Grant.7 11 miles, down Cañon—;—20 miles—Aravaypa runs dry within 3 miles [of] post. Took up our [quarters in?] Maj Royal’s House. Found that 112 Bucks were reported present at Grant. Found Maj. Brown. 20 miles Rained all night— Dec 8th. Remained at Grant. 5. “Window.” 6. Galibau Canyon. 7. Because of references to Aravaipa Creek, Bourke obviously means the old location of Camp Grant.

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Monday. Dec 9th. Remained at Grant. Conference with Indians and Genl Crook explains his policy. Es-kim-in-zin promised to aid in the extermination of hostile Apaches. (31) Apaches enlisted as Scouts. The rest of the day occupied in providing them with clothing, arms &ct. Tuesday Dec 10th. Enlisted ten more Indian Scouts. Padre Antonio arrived from Tucson, with news of general interest. Cochies Band in Drago[o]n Mountains. An escaped captive reports that Cochis intends to break out in early spring. Capt Leib preparing to move out to Mt Graham to build new post.8 Wednesday, Dec 11th. Genl. C. rem[aine]d at Camp Grant, but expedition under command of Maj. Brown, Insp. [Inspector] Genl. left Grant, consisting of (31) Indian Scouts, under the Indian Chief Bocon,9 Co. “L” 5th Cav. Capt. Taylor, Co. M 5th Cav 1[st] Lt. Almy. Lt. Ross ADC & Lt Bourke accompanied exped[ition]. Pack-train of 60 mules under charge of Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Hewitt. Guides, Antonio, Joe Felmer and Jose Maria (the latter did not join). Mr. Daly came along as a volunteer bacon chawer. Left camp at 4 P.M. travelled along San Pedro, North North West for about 4 miles. Halted and camped. Sent back for more amm[unitio]n. Have now 4800 R[oun]ds. of extra cartridges. Genl Crook has now an exped[itio]n. out from [Camp] Hualpai of 3 Cos. 5th Cav., under B[reve]t Col Mason, one from Verde, under care of the 1st, of 2 cos 5[th] & 1 of 1st [Cavalry], one from Apache, under Randall, 23d Inf[antry].; of 2 of 1st Cav. and one of 23d Inf and the present one. Each Command is amply equipped and provided with from 30 to 100 Indian guides. The common objective point is the Tonto basin, arriving in which country the Com[man]d’s are so arranged as to divide and scatter in all directions. I am afraid we shall miss much of the fun as the other Comd’s being in the field earlier than we, may have all the work to themselves. If we clean out the Tonto this winter we shall give Cocheis hell in the spring. One of the Indians got sick during the night and was sent back to Grant. 8. The new post of Camp Grant in Sulphur Spring Valley, about two miles from Mount Graham. The post was upgraded to fort in 1879. It was abandoned in 1905 because of a water shortage, and turned over to the State of Arizona in 1912. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 30-32. 9. Literally “Big Mouth,” the Spanish nickname for the Apache scout leader Esquimasquin, not to be confused with Eskiminzin.

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Mem[orandum]. We haven’t enough Surgeons in Arizona. There should be one for each scouting command in the field. Thursday, Dec 12th, Broke Camp about 8 a.m., moved North West along San Pedro 2 miles then North & North East towards the Saddle Mountain & went about 1 or 2 more [miles]. Country passed—alluvial. Heavy dew last night. Weather to day clear and mild. Kept on North for about 4 miles leaving the San Pedro (flowing North West) to left, trail going over hills. Came to an Arroyo. Indians scraped away sand and found water in small quantity under a bluff of conglomerate, rock. Passed North about 3 miles. “Dos Narices”10 or Saddle Mountain on right then into an arroyo which soon became a feeble stream, joining Deer Creek, coming in from North and bending to West, soon joining Gila [River], above junction of San Pedro. Passed Sp[ring]. at or near [the] head of the arroyo. The 1st water is laid down on map as Saddle Mountain Creek, the spring is one at which I saw a fight between a tarantula & a tarantula hawk in 1870. Turned West & North, going over a small divide and coming down into cañon of Rock Creek. The Creek, where we touched it, was flowing but soon ran dry. Its direction was South West and then West, through a gorge, to Gila. High mountains to South, bordering on Gila, and South of Rock Creek Started again, going West across high hills 9 miles to Rio Gila, which we crossed and camped. Wood, Water & Grass. Our general direction to day has been about North. Day’s march. . . . . 18 miles. Friday Dec 13th. Broke Camp at day-break. Moved about due West 2 or 3 miles, going over a small divide and coming down into a dry bed of a stream (flowing East South East) which I think is Disappointment Creek. Country level. High mountains to left and right. Gila flows on other side of mountains to right. Kept on West about 2 or 3 miles, up mountain side. High hills on right & left and Pina Mountain directly on our Front. Indians left us, going to the right hand, following 2 fresh horse tracks (5) Indians remained with us. Kept North, keeping between High Hills. Came down into a potrero, where we camped. Good grass on hill side, cottonwood, scrub oak & a little cedar in vicinity. Saw some little pine to day. Water of Camp flowing South. Water scarce. Just before reaching 10. “Two Noses.”

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camp saw direction and indications (trees) of a water course coming in from North West. Distance to-day. . . 16 miles Saturday, Dec 14th Broke camp at daylight. Moved North up Disapp[ointmen]t Creek about 2 miles, crossed hills and turned North East after marching among elevated hills, came to H[ea]dwaters of West fork of San Carlos. Country well grassed. Plenty scrub oak—Manzanita 11 —Juniper—and on hill top—Pine. Ascertained that the Mountains we are now in are the Pinal, with which the Mescal Range must connect. Courier from Es-qui-masquin now came in to say that he had followed trail of yesterday and ascertained whither the hostile Apaches had gone. Command halted on brow of a hill—one of the foot hills of Pinal Range. . . .10 m Triplets to East North East Natana Butte North East Mt Trumbull East East North East. Open country to our front and beyond that the Sierra Apache. Marched West North West and South West for about 4 miles. Going to a little cañon in Pinal Range on North side. 12 miles. Wood in great quantities—Pinal, oak, manzanita, juniper and some few cottonwoods in close proximity to camp. Water in cañon, flowing at intervals. H[ea]d Waters of San Carlos Westfork, Grass—fine gramma. Sierra San Carlos East North East. Natanas Butte North East. Es-qui-mas-quin rejoined us at this Camp, bringing information as to the Indians whose trail he had followed yesterday. They have evidently gone in the direction of the West end of Sierra Pinal or to Superstition Mountains. Sunday, Dec 15th Broke camp 7 a.m. Marched West, one mile, North West 2 miles and South West about 2 miles, the last turn taking us down through a smooth valley—passed a small dry arroyo with cottonwoods, running toward North West possibly a branch of Pinal Creek are now behind Mountains in front of which we camped last night. It and the entire range (Pinal) on left are covered with pine on summits. Hills to-day well grassed with blue & white gramma. Saw large Indian trail going North and North East. Women & children evidently with this party about 40 in no.[number.] Mountains to 11. Manzanita (Arctostaphylos var.) A member of the heath family. Bourke may have been referring either to A. uva-ursi, sometimes called kinnikinnick or bearberry, or A. nevadensis, also known as pinemat manzanita. Spellenberg, National Audubon Society Field Guide, 478-79.

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Right, about 15 miles away, across open country, probably part of Sierra Apache. Kept South West going 4 miles passing a number of dry arroyos, which in rainy season are confluents of Pinal Creek. Made camp on a creek flowing North. Are now about West end of Sierra Pinal. Wood, water & grass abundant. . . .In pursuance of a plan made last night Esquimasquin with Mr. Felmer, Macintosh, Antonio and 25 Indians, started this morning to follow the trail spoken of yesterday. This party was to move one day in advance of the main body, sending us back word each morning at what point we are to camp and also one of their party to guide us to the exact spot so as to avoid all possibility of mistake. In case the advance party suddenly came upon a rancheria or a band of hostile Indians beyond their strength, they are to halt, send messages to Major Brown and we are to join them by night and then united we will creep upon the enemy. From the number and variety of fresh tracks seen during to day’s march, it is evident, the hostile Apache are much alarmed at our presence in their country and are seeking safety in hasty flight. I still adhere to the opinion that we shall encounter a very large band in the Sierra Superstición12 or the extreme North West corner of the Sierra Pinal. If the troops from Hualpai, [Camp] Date Creek, Verde, Apache and [Camp] McDowell13 only do half their duty we shall be able to inflict upon the hitherto incorrigible Apaches a chastisement from the effects of which they can never recover. 8 PM Rec[eive]d a dispatch from Archie MacIntosh stating that the advance guard had found a rancheria of Indians and had exchanged shots, wounding one Apache who however, managed to escape through the thick undergrowth on top of the Mountain. Also stated that the Indians know our Com[man]d was in their country & had detailed spies to watch our movements from the tops of the Mountain Ranges. Retreating Indians had fallen back in direction of the Superstition Mountains. A camp was also designated for to-morrow night. Indians who came as courriers [sic] brought some trophies left by the hostile Indians in their retreat and said that (12) horse-tracks had been counted on the trail. Weather to-night clear and warm. 12. Superstition Mountains. Bourke used the English and Spanish interchangeably. 13. Camp McDowell was established in 1865, and designated a fort in 1870. Troops from McDowell, with the assistance of Pima scouts, successfully campaigned against Apaches. Fort McDowell was transferred to the Interior Department in 1890. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 37-38; Frazer, Forts of the West, 11.

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Monday Dec 16th Broke camp 6.35 a.m. Moved northerly across foothills of Pinal Mountain for about 2 miles, then for same distance down on other side—came down into valley of Pinal Creek (dry at this point) flowing to North turned North West and crossed over low hills—7 miles. While going down the sides of the high Mountain which forms one edge (North East) of Pinal saw to the north and in valley of Pinal Creek about 8 miles ahead of us, a great cloud of smoke resting over some cottonwood trees, where the Creek was evidently a running stream. Indian boys with us said this was the Camp of an American scouting party and it is more than probable we are now within easy communicating distance of the Comd. from Apache or Verde, or both. Country this morning finely grassed with gramma. Saw a small turret-shaped, barren peak to East of north about 8 miles, one of foot hills of Sierra Apache. From the Mountain tops to day saw the Sierra Matizal14 to West by a little North. Travelled over the hills, trail very winding, but keeping in a general West & North direction, about 2 miles. Hills covered with fine grass—came down upon North fork of Pinal, flowing from High Mountain on our left—to the North—about 2 miles to North, joins with other branch flowing North West and the main stream in North West direction, passing to the West of the high pointed Mountain (Sierra Apache) which last night was to North of our camp. This High Mountain, I think, is the Western end of Sierra Apache. Pinal Creek also flows to West of the Turret Butte, already spoken of, and which is a spur from this high conical Mountain. Sierra Apache seen to North West & North. Turned South West marching up bed of Western branch of the Pinal—went about a mile—turned South and went about 2 1/2 miles. Saw trail made by a scouting party of Pima & Papago Indians this morning. Camped in a little cove on West end of Sierra Pinal. Wood, water & grass. Indications of Gold & Silver. Water in cañon. . . . 10 or 12 miles. 630 P.M. McIntosh, Felmer, Esquimasquin and the rest of the advanced guard, returned to camp, reporting that shortly after daybreak this morning they came upon the rancheria of the party they were pursuing yesterday; that owing to their being discovered by the hostile Apache, they were unable to surround the wickyups,15 14. Mazatzal. 15. The wickiup, or “wickyup” as Bourke spelled it, was a shelter used by the westernmost Apaches. It was a domed or vaulted structure made by poles or saplings bent over and tied together in the center, and covered with brush, grass, canvas, skin, or whatever other material

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but that upon making a spirited attack, the hostile party fled, leaving everything behind—our Indian allies pursued for (5) miles, but were unable to overtake the flying enemy. Upon desisting from the pursuit, our men gathered up and destroyed everything belonging to the band of Chunts (who they ascertained was in command of those opposed to them). This is the man who lately killed in cold blood a Mexican boy at Camp Grant [See Appendix 1 “Chunz”]. Altogether the movement has been very successful because, at the present season, these incorrigible devils must feel keenly every deprivation, and [the] more that they are without an article of clothing, a particle of food, or any necessaries, the better winter winds will cause them to perish upon the tops of the Mountains. The Indians fled to the South West towards the point where the Sierra Superstición abuts upon the Rio Gila; our advanced guard reports camping last night at a spring—El ojo de “Chuparosa” (Humming Bird Springs) on the summit of the Pinal Mountains where no white man had hitherto been. [T]welve families comprise the band of Chunts, because there were that number of fires in his Camp. Tuesday, Dec 17th. Remained in camp. I have reason to regret my inability to describe in fitting terms the beauty of the place in which we now are situated; at the extreme North West corner of the Sierra Pinal, we find ourselves surrounded by the lofty foothills of that range—upon the summits we can just discern forests of pine and cedar, while in closer proximity to us are noble oak, scattered in clusters of twos & threes, giving shade to our men and animals. Luxuriant grasses carpet the hills, delicious water trickles down over the rocks in the cañon to our left. In places, we have a running stream; in others the water buries itself beneath the sands or collects in tanks of considerable depth and capacity. Everything seems quiet, nothing disturbs the stillness of the evening, but the tinkling of the bells in the pack trains or the neighing of animals in the herds of the cavalry companies. This night the Indians had a great war dance, of which, the general arrangement was similar to those of the Hualpais who accompanied us last year. Some of the young bucks arrayed themselves in muslin & calico captured in the Rancheria yesterday and feigning the manners of women, received their male companions a few singing was available. The size and quality of construction depended largely on the availability of materials. See Haley, Apaches, 80.

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in concert, though not in harmony, supplied the necessary music, and the dancing once commenced was continued with undiminished vigor until near midnight. I was unable to learn the purpose of the chorus, but to the best of my belief, it referred to past exploits against their enemies and promises of what might be expected in the future. The name of Chunts was frequently heard from which I infer that a dismal future awaits that refractory cuss, and those who adhere to his fortunes. A messenger [was] sent to night to Genl. Crook. Wednesday Dec 18th Broke camp at 6[:]35 a.m. Moved back on our own trail and afterwards on a generally North trail, from the point where we reached Pinal Creek yesterday to the place where it joins with East Branch, then West entering West end of the Sierra Apache and going up a small cañon which contained water flowing from the North—passed up this cañon about 3 miles turned East x North at [a] point where a tributary came in from North—marched about 4 miles in new direction and camped on running stream (branch of Pinal) Wood. Water. and Grass. Weather cold. Rained and snowed all day. No fresh signs Distance to-day. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 miles Thursday, Dec 19th On acc[oun]t. Of the rainy weather yesterday and the inclemency last night, the Comd. rem[aine]d in camp this morning rather later than usual, the early morning hours being devoted to inspecting aparajoes ascertaining and repairing damages, and drying blankets & clothing. Men were not aroused until 6 a.m. altho’ the packers were busily at work long before that hour. Marched at 8.45 am. Going North over the Mountains, passed down a cañon, over another hill down the West side and then followed an arroyo, which was running from North to South. After going in the general Northerly direction about 3 miles, halted to allow the packers to close up. Hills covered with snow—weather cool but mild, sun shining brightly, but sky filled with low hanging clouds. We may expect more bad weather. Felmer, Antonio and the greater part of the Indians left us, going to North East they will scout the country on our left and join us to-morrow at a warm spring this side of the Rio Salado. Marched in a general Northerly direction varying not more than two or three points to East or West for about 9 miles, the last six being in a cañon, enclosed by high hills, came to a stream bubbling out of the rocks flowing from

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South to North. Camped. Wood, Water & Grass in plenty. On our left we had a peak which is the cone I called Yeaston Peak in my notes of a previous scout, made in these Mountains in July 1870.16 Saw great quantities of fine granite to day, also some prophyry and beautiful conglomeration. The stream we are now on is an effluent of Rio Salado. Saw the Sierra Ancha, to North and West distant in a right line about 8 miles. Today’s march not more than. . . . . . . . .12 miles. The maps of the Engineer Bureau do not correctly lay down the Sierra Apache, making it too narrow from North to South. There fore we have had excellent luck in the location of our camps, that of to-day being no exception to the general rule. Maj. Brown now proposes to cross the Rio Salado, push up Tonto Creek, or some other tributary, and, if any hostile bands be in that vicinity, it is evident we must certainly catch them or drive them into the hands of the parties operating from the North, who, by the way, seem to have experienced some obstacles in the performance of their duties, as we can see no signs of them. Weather fine. Sky cloudy. Passed through a little pine timber to day. Also some juniper. Both kinds rather small. Sombrero Butte due north of us. Night clear and cold. Hard frosting. Friday Dec 20th. Broke camp 7.45, crossed High Hills to West of camp (about 1/2 mile): then turned South by a little West for about 2 miles, West one half mile passing among high hills, with rocky tops (running about East and West) turned West opposite little butte put down in map. Country hilly. 3 miles. Moved West by a little South and then by a little North, so that we described an arc of a circle, passing through a very rough country, high Mountains on both sides; going down grade about 5 miles, until we came to a little stream flowing from the Mountains on left— turned to right going up hill until we came to summit where we overlooked countryside to North and North West. Saw the four peaks of Sierra Matzitzal to West. 8 miles. N.B. The little creek we left to South a few hundred yds. Below us, at base of Mountain flows about West and must empty into Rio Salado. That on which we camped last night also joined that River. Marched about North West for one or two miles further, crossing 16. These notes are among those lost.

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Salt River17 and camping on right Bank. Wood. Water and Grass plenty. This camp is not so secluded as others have been. Rio Salado here about South West but just to right of where we crossed it, flows more in a due North and South direction. Sierra Ancha directly in front of our Camp. Distance to day. . . . . . . . . . . .9 or 10 miles Saturday Dec 21st Rem[aine]d in Camp to day. No Indian signs have been seen for two or three days; weather pleasant, but indications of another storm. Day devoted to overhauling aparajoes inspecting condition of animals and rest. A scout is to start to day towards Tonto Creek the country about old Camp Reno18 unless some fresh trails might occasion a change of direction. 3 PM a scout party consisting of Felmer, Antonio, 15 soldiers and Esquimisquin [sic] with 25 Indians started for the country to the North West and North of us. They will rout out any bands they may find on the East of Pinto Creek unless they should happen to encounter a greatly superior force. It is also expected that when they join us at or near the site of old Camp Reno, they will bring us information upon which to base our calculations as to whereabouts of the Commands operating from the posts to the North of us. I do not doubt the ability and enthusiasm of the officers serving with the other expeditions, but the absence of signs of alarm on the part of the hostile Indians— there being no signal fires seen from the summits of Ranges overlooking or bordering upon the Tonto Basin since our departure from Grant—all this leads me to apprehend that something must have occured to obstruct the movements of Randall and Carr. It will be remembered that previous to our arrival at Camp Apache, alarm signals were seen showing from the Mountains to the South and South East of Camp Verde; then only one party, Mason’s, was moving out. Now there are eleven companies of soldiers and about 200 or perhaps 250 Indians, in the Tonto Basin, these numbers being exclusive of any operating from McDowell or Prescott. The beans issued to day and yesterday as rations to the Indians and soldiers were found to be over two thirds dirt. F. L. Austin is contractor at Grant and for this item of rascality his name should 17. Rio Salado. 18. Camp Reno was a temporary post formerly located in the Tonto Valley thirty-four miles from Camp McDowell. Reno was established in 1868, but the site proved impractical. It was abandoned in 1870. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 49-50; Heitman, Historical Register, 2:537.

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never again by allowed to appear as an army contractor in Arizona. The officer who rec[eive]d such stuff should be cashiered. Sunday Dec 22 Broke camp 7.45 am Marched in a general Westerly direction for about 2 miles, crossing high hills, leaving Rio Salado to our left. Halted to allow packs to close up. By compass are now about 10º South of West from last night’s camp. Scenery beautiful, grass very nutritious. Sierra Matizal [sic] dir[ectly] West. Sierra Superstición South West South 8º. . . . . . . . . . .2 or 3 miles. Marched in a Westerly course down the Salt River, crossing it twice, but returning to the right hand side. Just as we were ([after a march of] 7 miles) preparing to go into camp, heard shots to north—several volleys being fired in quick succession. Started at a gallop in the direction of the sound and after travelling about 10 miles or more, we crossed to the head of a little cañon which I think is the same as that laid down on maps as Racoon Creek, camped the command and sent out scouting parties in all directions. Soon found a rancheria, abandoned this morning, and carried off or destroyed everything they had left behind—Tobacco, meal, baskets &c&. Indians had been preparing to plant at this point, where the stalks of last year’s corn are still standing. Just at this point Felmer and party returned bringing three prisoners—two women and (1) child— reported having attacked a party of Apaches with the above results. I omitted to state that I found a descriptive list, issued at Camp Apache, showing that some of these Indians had drawn rations at that post, Sept. 16, 1872, Signed “M Soule, Act’g Indian Agent” What our next move may be depends on the information to be extracted from the captives. Found the ruins of an old fortification next to our camp. It is built on a hill over looking the country to South South West & South East, for miles, the location being such that surprise was impossible. A part of the wall in one place is still about 3 feet high. Monday, Dec 23d Broke camp about daylight, moved South down the hill from camp about 3 miles, turned to West, climbed, up mesa and then South West 2 miles South and South South West about one more, crossed Rio Salado at mouth of a dry creek, which some of us took to be the Pinal—others the Pinto Creek. Went up stream (going South) for 2 miles then South West and South South West for 2 miles—d[itt]o 1/2 mile. Halted in dry bed of stream to allow

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pack train to close up. Sky cloudy windy, and every indication of a storm. Have now determined this to be Pinto Creek. 11 miles Went South up creek one mile. Halted and camped. Wood. Water. and Grass. We are now about due South from last night’s camp. Perhaps a little West of a due North and South line. Distance 12 miles. Tuesday, Dec 24th. 14th Day. Broke camp at day-break, moving West over a mesa about 2 1/2 or 3 miles, passed down, into a dry arroyo, turned South, went half a mile, halted to allow pack train to close up. 3 1/2 miles. Day bright and cold. Last night, contrary to expectations, we had only a slight rain, early in the evening, the stars coming out about midnight. Went South West about half a mile. South same. South West and South South West one mile. West one mile passing up this arroyo & getting into high hills. Found Water running from rocks but soon sinking into sand. Passed trail of Pimas and Papagoes going South about two months old. Saw many beautiful varieties of granite conglomerate and porphyry. Esquimisquin left us this a.m. going on scout. He is to rejoin us tomorrow. No fresh Indian signs, no signal fires. The captives state that they saw no signs of scouting parties from any direction, until seized upon by our advance guard. This may be interpreted either as showing a commendable secrecy in the movements of those dispatched by Genl. Crook from the other sides of Tonto Basin, or else they have not advanced with much energy and we are not to receive any benefit from their co-operation. Distance 6 miles. Stream not laid down on maps. Wednesday Dec 25th Xmas comes but once a year. The day opened bright and genial just such a one as I hope our folks at home are having with the addition of good cheer, which we have not. Rations beginning to shorten. Broke camp at 8.45 a.m. Moved West by South going up cañon about 500 yds and then climbing very high & steep hills. Went one mile. Halted. Saw our camp on Salt River to North x East 5º. We are now in foot hills of Sierra Superstición and I incline to the opinion we have some climbing to do in the coming week. Marched South West 2 miles and West half a mile, passing three deep and rocky cañons and climbing steep mountains. Halted on top of high hill, well grassed. Saw Mountains

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on West of Phoenix* in distance. Directly in front of us and in very close proximity (South West) saw the portion of this range (Sierra Superstición) visible from the road as you pass from Rowell’s Station on the Rio Salado to Stiles’ on the Rio Gila. Moved down Mountain going about 2 miles; time occupied in descent 46 minutes. Found trail to be very good, but steep. Saw deep cañon on our left, running from South East to North West. When we reached foot of High Mountain, found ourselves in a cañon of granite walls, bottom sloping at very heavy grade. Still going South West and West South West, marched about 2 miles passing over rolling country for nearly the entire distance, reached the cañon of which I have just written. This has at this point a general South East to North West course. On left Bank of the stream, dry at this point; there is a high slender peak, which is most probably Weaver’s Needle. The formation to-day is nearly all granite of inconceivable variety and beauty: some sandstone, porphyry &c. Went up cañon (South East) 500 yds struck running water clear and cold. Distance to day, nearly 8 miles. Just as we made camp, a Sergeant of Capt. Burn’s [sic], Co. “G” 5th Cav, came to inquire of Maj. Brown whom we were going after, Capt. Burns and Lt Thomas came into camp. Reported having left McDowell, Dec 20th, with 40 men “G” Co 5th Cav and ninety eight Pima Indians. Had captured one squaw, same date. Capt Hamilton 5th Cav, had left McDowell with 40 men, scouting to the North East North and North West. Each command was rationed for (12) days. Capt. Randall’s command killed twenty-five Indians near head of Tonto Creek. Such good news served to enliven us all. We also ascertained that Montgomery had one fight and Adams two with the Apache-Mojaves, Killing two[,] Eleven[,] and thirteen respectively, besides captives. If we can only make a good strike the war, as far as the Tontos and Apache-Mojaves are concerned, will be at an end. Capt. Burns’ captive boy Mike, gave an acc[oun]t. to night of three rancherias—one corresponding in location & character to that already described by Bocon, another in a cañon on Rio Salado and 3d on top of the four peaks—all inaccessible save by circuitous routes and all strong in numbers. By sneaking upon them in the night we can, by good luck, make our attacks at day* Later in day, found that these mountains are on West side of Gila, where it makes its Big Bend. John G.

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dawn and kill their warriors whilst asleep. Thursday, Dec 26th. Awaited in camp the arrival of messengers from Es-qui-mis-quin, who sent 3 men in to Maj. Brown, about 9 o’clock. A fresh trail had been struck, leading in the direction of Delt-chay’s strong-hold, our command is to go to-day to the Rio Salado and camp in a cañon, to morrow we are to follow down the river and make a camp at a point secluded from observation & from thence we are to go on foot to surprise the rancheria. 11.45 Midday. Broke camp going back on our trail. North West for about 300 yds, then West to the camp of Captain Burns, about half a mile from our camp, then West, a little South over hills for a total distance of 2 or 2 1/2 miles, halting on a hill about due West from the high Mountain we descended yesterday, Hills are now covered with saguaros. We then proceeded down a steep, but not bad grade to the Rio Salado, which we reached at 1.05 P.M. 4 miles Rio Salado here flowing about North and South but only for a short distance, its course being extremely sinuous. Crossed river, passed down its right bank about 3/4 of a mile and camped. Camp is hidden from observation of Apaches except from West. Weather extremely mild. Distance to-day about 4 1/2 miles. We have all told, 220 fighting men Friday Dec 27th Rem[aine]d. In camp expecting return of Esquimisquin. All are confident of finding Delt-chay in the stronghold and, if so, we will make the biggest killing of the campaign. It is rather disappointing to know that our efforts have not been as successful as those of Randall and the others farther North, but we hope to meet with such good fortune during the present week as shall be a fitting recompense for all our past troubles & exertions. 12.40 P.M. Left camp, going back on our trail (north) for about 300 yds, then due West (nearly) going up very steep and strong grade and through pass on Mountain Range that lay to West of camp of 26th (See profile of same). Halted at top of pass to let packs close up. two miles We are now South of West about 5º, from High Mountain we descended on Xmas. Country in this vicinity very badly broken. On left hand side of this pass, Mountains are topped by a precipitous ledge of forks, hundreds of feet high. Upon the highest peak a solitary mescal stalk keeps watch like a sentinel upon the valleys

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& cañons below. Passed down the mountain on other sides, going South West, trail very bad with loose rocks. Went about one mile and half, turned to West. Cañon going South West. Went over a hill about 300 yards and then turned North West, climbed up to top of very high Mountain, one mile. Rio Salado to South flowing West South West through an extraordinarily deep cañon. Mountain we are now on is very narrow. Passed down other side, we about half mile. Halted (going South West). Trail to-day very bad in every sense of the word, we have not only had to climb steep mountains, but had an unusual amount of climbing to do and the trails being filled with loose sharp stones, our animals with difficulty picked their way. A mule died this morning from the effects of eating the insect called Compa-mucho and “Mayo” Weather fine. The peak we called Weaver’s Needle is on the left bank of Rio Salado (apparently.) Went down through cañon to West, about 3/4 miles left hand side a precipice with an isolated peak jutting out at Western extremity. Getting anxious about Esquimisquin who has now been about (3) days. Marched South West and West, about one mile or perhaps a little more, grade very steep. Cañons precipitous on left hand side, descended into a cañon, with water running South into Rio Salado. Just before reaching camp, saw foot-prints of a squaw who had been watching us descend the Mountains and had just run down the cañon. Saw also a fresh pony track. We are now in sight of the high mesa mountain on the summit of which Delt-chay has his stronghold, so we are compelled to exercise great caution in our movements. No fires are allowed, the horses and mules are strictly guarded in order that they may not climb up on any of hills commanded by Delt-chay’s Mountains. All singing, &c, is strictly forbidden and indeed no precaution is omitted tending to secure the secrecy of our movements. In the meantime every preparation is being made for a night march on foot. Each man looks to his weapons, sees that his cartridge belt is full, inspects his clothing, rejecting all that is not absolutely essential to protect him from the cold, provides himself with rations to do for a day or two, and a few matches which are of importance at every moment. Many of us have had our Apache allies make mocassins which are just the thing in which to climb mountains without giving warning to our foes.

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The sky has become overspread with clouds. Maj Brown has accordingly allowed the Indians to strip the mule which died today, and whose remains the noble red man brought along.19 We are to start when a certain star, known to the Indian, rises to its position in our meridian. 8 P.M., our Indians moved out in front, then Byrnes’s [Burns’s] Co, then Almy, Taylor and finally the Pimas under their old chief Antonio; after marching nearly due West almost 3 miles, passing two prominent sandstone buttes of considerable altitude on our right, our trail wound to the left and our general direction became more Southerly—after about 1 1/2 miles’ march we came to a steep mountain, up the side of which we toiled, using great care to make no noise which might alarm the Enemy. About 12.05 the next morning we were at the summit—a distance as near as I can estimate of about (5) or (6) miles from Camp. The men rested for nearly an hour every man closing up to his proper position in the ranks and then lying prone to the ground. Apache scouts were soon sent ahead, who soon returned with the information of fires being discovered in the cañon below. The men advanced one man at a time until we reached the edge of a gloomy abyss, how deep it was I could not then discover, and upon this edge we waited in the cold piercing night air without blankets or overcoats until the morning rose20 beamed upon the surrounding hills. We had then an opportunity to examine the locality, so much dreaded by the Pimas, used as a stronghold of the Apache-Mojaves and Tontos. Situated upon the crest of a very elevated range, it was difficult of access to large parties from all sides except that upon which we had come and even here the character of the soil was such that a footstep, unless made in the most cautious manner, could be heard for miles. Granting that an attack could be made, the Apaches could escape unharmed under cover of immense boulders which served as a natural Chemin de Ronde.21 Looking down into this place, no evidences of recent occupancy could be detected, a disappointment all the more bitter from its contrast to our own recent enthusiastic hopes for success. 19. Brown permitted the Apaches to butcher and cook the mule because the overcast would obscure their fires. See Bourke, On the Border, 189. 20. Bourke is equating the sun to a rose. 21. Literally a round or circular path, i.e. a switchback.

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Most of the Command being fatigued sat down to rest but Joe Felmer and a few others started down the trail towards the Rio Salado not with any expectation of finding hostile Indians but rather from a disposition to examine into the nature of the country. About 300 yds from where they left us, in a secluded spot, was found a recently abandoned rancheria of (3) or (4) huts. Passing on rapidly upon descending the mountain somewhat farther, a drove of fifteen horses and mules was encountered and almost immediately afterwards a rancheria was seen in an almost impregnable position, which I shall in a few moments proceed to describe. This handful of our comrades, with a gallantry that cannot be too highly extolled at once charged the Indians, killing (6) and driving the remainder into the cave at whose entrance the rancheria was situated. Word having in the meantime reached Maj Brown, the main body was pushed forward as fast as our tired legs would permit, the enthusiasm of the men rising again at the prospect of a fight. To avoid verbose details, let me say the rancheria was thus situated—In a small, elliptical nook, upon the crest of the bluffs which here enclose the Rio Salado was a small cave or depression in the rocks, which overhung the nook by at least 500'—the bluff, first mentioned, being 1000 or 1200' above the Rio Salado. In front of the cave, a natural rampart of sandstone 10' high affords ample protection to the Indians, altho the great number of boulders scattered in every direction screened our men in turn from the fire of the besieged. Our policy was obvious—the incorrigible Apaches, at least a portion of them, were now entrapped beyond possibility of escape and in justice to our men whose lives should not be rashly imperilled, orders were given to make no charge upon the works, to pick off every Indian showing his head, to spare every woman and child, but to kill every man. Twice the besieged were asked to surrender their families, promises were given that no harm should befall them, but, confident in their ability to repel us, their only answers were yells of defiance. These shouts of scorn were soon changed into groans of despair as our shots began to fall with deadly accuracy upon them, reckless attempts at escape being made but in each case resulting in the death of those who tried to run our gauntlet of fire. One splendid looking Indian over 6 feet, most beautifully proportioned, but with a very savage countenance, did indeed succeed in breaking through our front line and making his way down the arroyo, full of large

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rocks, upon one of which he sprang with a yell of defiance, bravado or joy. I cannot say which. Twelve of us, concealed at this point, levelled our rifles and fired. Every shot must have hit him as he fell dead riddled from head to foot. This particular instance is mentioned to show the deadly nature of the fire we opened upon them, both as to accuracy and quantity. A volley was now directed upon the mouth of the cave, & for (3) minutes every man in the command opened and closed the breech block of his carbine as rapidly as his hands could move. Never have I seen such a hellish spot as was the narrow little space in which the hostile Indians were now crowded. To borrow the expression employed by a brother officer, the bullets striking against the mouth of the cave seemed like drops of rain pattering upon the surface of a lake. I must not omit to state that Capt. Byrnes, Co. G, 5th Cav, had succeeded in gaining a position upon the crest of the overhanging bluff, where they discharged deadly volleys upon the wretches fighting below. Not content with the deadly efficacy of bullets, they resorted to projecting large masses of rock which thundered down the precipice mangling and destroying whatsoever they encountered. A charge was now ordered and the men rushed forward; upon entering the enclosure a horrible spectacle was disclosed to view—in one corner, Eleven dead bodies were huddled, in another four and in different crevices they were piled, to the extent of the little cave and to the total number* of Fifty-seven, (20) women and children were taken prisoners, the spoils, very considerable in quantity, were destroyed. We found mescal baskets, seeds, hides, skins and the material usually composing the outfit of these savage nomads. Our captives were nearly all wounded, more or less severely, but by good fortune we succeeded in bringing them off in safety. One of our Pima allies was killed, but, with this exception, no losses occurred. Thus ended the most signal blow ever received by the Apaches in Arizona. Not alone did we destroy an entire band, but a band actively engaged in depredating upon the Gila settlements, one that spurned every offer of the Govt to make peace. NanniChaddi, the chief had been in to McDowell, last year talking with that spawn of hell, Vincent Colyer, from whom he received presents of blankets and other necessaries, promising in return to comply with the demands of the lawful Government and obey its orders. * (Seventy Six altogether were killed in this fight.)

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He had also visited Grant where in conversation with Col Royall, he boasted that no troops ever had found his retreat and none ever would.22 Taking a general Northerly direction, we travelled [illegible] miles across high hills untill we reached a running stream upon which we found our pack train encamped, having moved there early in the morning. Supper was eagerly devoured by men who had eaten nothing for (26) hours and had been worn out by climbing steep mountains and the excitement of fighting for (5) hours. Our captives were well taken care of and, excepting the guard placed over them, appeared as if in their own homes. Sunday, Dec 29—Moved North West about one mile, West about one mile North North West one mile, then West and West by a little South for 15 miles or 18 miles, going parallel to the creek known as the Sycamore, until we reached the Rio Verde, part of the time marching in the bed of the stream (Sycamore,) dry at this part of its course—turned South, went about 4 or 5 miles to Camp McDowell, crossing Rio Verde in front of post. Distance marched night of Dec 27th 8 miles Dec 28th 10 @ 12 miles or perhaps 15 miles Dec 29th 25 miles Character of country The worst I ever saw. Dec 28th and 27th Weather; mild and genial Dec 28th Our camp was on [illegible] of four peaks to South West of the most South one of the four. Dec 29th Rained all night Dec 30th Rainy, Rem[aine]d at Camp McDowell, attending to wounded and refitting &c Express sent to Genl Crook Dec 31st Rained all day, except at short intervals; remained at McDowell. Capt Hamilton & Lieut Keyes returned from scout, reported having found rancheria on East side of Tonto Creek & some 22. Thirty-four years later a cowboy named Jeff Adams rediscovered the cave, now full of bones of the Apache casualties. It has since become known as the Skeleton Cave Massacre. See Thrapp, Conquest of Apacheria, 130 n.16.

distance beyond. Destroyed it. Captured & Brought back three children. Found four descriptive lists issued at Camp Apache and signed—one by Mr. Soule and (3) by A.J. Dallas. Reported having met Captain Randalls Com’d Dec 25th near the Tonto Creek. The Maricopas, who accompanied this command from McDowell, behaved so badly that Capt Hamilton deprived them of their arms & sent them home, early on the trip, hence, being without Indian trackers, his success was not as great as it would have been had his earnest efforts been properly seconded. Both Pimas & Maricopas have shown themselves to be a great fraud.

Chapter 2 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Meeting Cochise

January 1st 1873. New Year’s. Remained in Camp McDowell January 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, D[itt]o. Genl. Crook arrived January 2d. Remained until January 5th when he returned to Grant. He was accompanied by Mason McCoy, his chief of scouts for Southern Arizona. January 3d Adam and Montgomery came in with their commands and were ordered, January 4th to report to Maj Brown for duty. January 5th Indian captives sent to Grant. January 6th An expedition under command of Maj Brown, left McDowell at 4 P.M. Consisting of Maj W.H. Brown 5th Cav. “C” 5th Cav Capt Adams “B” 5th Cav “ Montgomery “H” 5th Cav “ Hamilton “L” 5th Cav “ Taylor “G” 5th Cav “ Burns “M” 5th Cav 1st Lieut Almy 1st Lieut C.H. Rockwell with Co “L” 2 Lieut W.S. Schuyler with Co “B” 55

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2 Lieut E.L. Keys with Co. “C” 2 Lieut W.J. Ross, A.D.C. 2 Lieut John G. Bourke, A.D.C. James Dailey went as Volunteer Bacon Chawers. A. McIntosh Guide Jos. Felmer Guide Antonio Besias Interpreter 30 Apache Indians under Esqui-mas-quin or “Bocon.” Messers Bartlett, Frank Monach and Chenowith in charge of packtrains. Assist Surgeon J.B. Girard U.S.A. Surgeon twenty days’ Rations. Left Camp McDowell, A.T., Monday, January 6th 1873 travelled South South East x South for 2 miles, South South East x East for half a mile, crossed Rio Verde, flowing at this point South South East, passed down the river and camped on its right bank in an open flat. Country passed through to-day was an open plain, covered with brush. We brought with us some Indian captives to act as guides. Weather charming. Distance 3 1/2 miles Captain Montgomery of the Rear Guard brought in news that the Eastern papers contain an account of the death of Capt F. Stanwood, 3rd Cavalry. Thursday Jan 7th 1873. Broke Camp 8.30 a.m. Marched South East 1 1/2 mile, passing at end of one mile the South East corner post of the U.S. Mil. Reservation of McDowell. Rio Verde still running South South East. Weather fine. Sky cloudless. Turned South, marched 5 miles, crossed the Rio Salado, here flowing East North East and West South West, turned East North East moving along left Bank of River 2 miles and camped. Distance to day 8 or 9 miles. The Command stretches along over a great distance, being 46 minutes passing a given point. Location of camp, a bottom land, with rolling country in close proximity. Wednesday, January 8th 1873. Broke camp 7.45 Marched East South East 2 miles, marched [in a] South East/North East [line] 1/2 mile.

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Entered an arroyo, which we followed going about due South (East about 5º or 6º) for 2 miles, sides growing higher, turned East about 3/4 miles. Marched around high Peak on our left turned South East again & went about 2 or 3 miles with a little if any inclination to East South East. Made a total distance of about 10 miles or perhaps 11 miles, the last mile being over rolling grass land (the arroyo having terminated). Halted to allow packs to close up. Passed some tanks in rock, about 8 miles from last night’s camp. Weather fine. Marched North North East about 3 miles and in a general northerly direction about as many more. Came down into a little arroyo, surrounded by high hills, with a feeble stream of water flowing North. Camped. Wood, water and Grass. Distance to day about 15 miles Two men deserted early this morning taking with them arms & horses. Thursday, January 9th 1873. Broke camp 9 am, march down cañon, going north one and half-mile, came to junction of another cañon flowing from South East. Water in tanks at Junction. Went South East about 300 yds then East, over a little divide, one mile turned North, country now quite rugged. [W]ent in the new direction 2 miles, [k]eeping to right of a little red sandstone butte. Marched across little mountain, turn East, went one mile turned North, went about half mile, then a nearly East course (by North) for a distance of 2 miles. Halted on a bend of Rio Salado, which here flows South and makes an abrupt turn to North North West. Distance marched to day about 8 or 9 miles Weather mild—sky clear. Our present Camp within 600 or 800 yds of the scene of slaughter, Dec 28th 1872.1 Friday January 10th 1873. Broke camp 7.45. Marched East by South up cañon creek for about 3 miles turned North North East by East up one of its tributaries for 1 1/2 miles, then a due East course for 4 1/2 or 5 miles more, finding water 10 am. 10 35 am, 11.05 am, and in tanks at many points: went about 3 miles more in a general East direction. Country very bad. Went down a steep descent into a cañon which ran to from [sic] South South East about 13 miles 1. Bourke is referring to the fight discussed in Chapter 1.

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Went along this cañon about SouthEast for one mile, then turned abruptly East and made camp in a cove well sheltered from observation on the South or East. Distance to day 15 miles. Weather mild. Windy in the morning. Saturday January 11th 1873. Remained in Camp all day 2 P.M. Capt Burns with his Command & Lieut Almy’s Co, moved out with the Indian scouts on foot to scour the country to the South East. The main body having agreed upon a rendezvous, at which to meet Captain Burn’s [sic] party, moved at 430 P.M. going North until we arrived on top of big mountain, then we turned East going about 3 miles, then South about 1 1/2 miles, then up a cañon, going North East a few hundred yards, then South East going across high mountain, keeping to Left of Weever’s Needle making a total distance of 7 or 8 miles. Descending into a place where a number of little cañons joined, we made camp; water in small quantities being found in tanks in the rocks. Wood scarce. Grass plenty. Saw large signal fire on top of the peak to the west. Saw water in a cañon about half way. 7 or 8 miles Sunday Jan 12 1873. Remained in Camp expecting return of Captain Burn’s [sic] party until 3.15 P.M., when we started South West going between one & one & half miles. Cañon during latter part of our march ran more in a due North & South course. Found water & made camp. Rejoined by Capt Burn’s [sic] command, which had scouted the Mountains to South and found an extremely large rancheria, lately abandoned. Trails were all running in the direction of Cave Creek. Weather to-day calm & genial. Total Distance 1 or 1 1/2 miles. Monday, Jany 13th 1873. Broke Camp 215 PM. Marched North half mile. East by a little North about one mile, keeping between hills, then East North East for half a mile and East South East for same [k]eeping on South side of high mountain. Gila Valley to Right about 20 miles from us in a direct line. Turned North, went about 3/ 4 mile, climbing over high mountain well grassed, High Mountains on all sides. Weather cool. Sky hazy, Went about half mile to North, turned East, went about 1/2 mile and made camp in a beautiful spot, secluded from the observation of all Indians except those who may be on extreme top of Four Peaks. Water very plenty and of

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great purity. Grass ditto. Wood abundant, Cedar, Juniper, Oak. We had a good view to-day of the Rio Gila, Rio Salado, Four Peaks[,] Sierra Santa Catarina, Sierra Tortolita, and the settlements at Florence & Phoenix, also the Picacho between Tucson & Sacato North Total distance to-day about 5 miles. Tuesday Janry 14th 1873. Broke camp about 145 P.M. March East North East for nearly half a mile going up very steep hill. Marched North North East for about one mile going down mountain and entering ravine in which we soon found running water. Followed general course of stream North East by a little North. Saw spring and a little stream on Left (3 miles). Kept on down stream until we came to its Junction with another smaller one from the left. Marched among lofty hills. Water plenty and good; wood & grass D[itt]o. Weather genial sky clear. Distance 3 1/2 miles Not finding a good location for a camp, the command moved in the general direction (North East) of the cañon for two miles, the trail leading along crest of a high Mountain. Made Camp at Junction of this cañon with another running from South. Total distance about 5 1/2 miles. Wednesday, January 15th 1873. Day opened very cold. High wind. Rem[aine]d in Camp until midday, when the entire command started on foot from camp, leaving the pack trains and horses behind in charge of Capt E Adam 5th Cavalry. Our movement was made with the greatest caution and very slowly. We marched North about half a mile. East 1/4 mile over very high mountain. Halted until night. Moved North East for about 3 miles, reaching a rancheria just about break of day. The occupants rushed from their jacales,2 just as our men were about in position, or a little sooner, so that we did not meet with the success anticipated. We captured thirteen women and children and Killed three. We also captured the old Chief of the Band. These people were very poor, possessing but little besides what had been given them at Grant and McDowell when they made peace. A descriptive list signed by Royal E Whitman3 dated May 2nd 1872, was found in this Camp. Thursday, January 16th 1873. Marched West South West about 4 or 2. jacal (Spanish), a picket-built cabin or shelter. 3. See Appendix 1 (Military).

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5 miles to a point in the same cañon as yesterday’s camp, but about 2 miles below, where we found pack-trains & led horses4 had moved. Water here flowing East. Made Camp. Wood, Water, & Grass plenty. Distance to day (in an air line about 3 miles) 4 1/2 miles Friday, January 17 1873. Broke Camp 9 a.m. Marched South East and East South going up a steep Mountain crest, about one mile. Weather fine. Last night was quite cold. Sky is clear. Pinal Mountain. East by 5º South. Went about half mile East North East two miles South East. Went one mile East and South about 1/2 to 3/4 miles. Camped. Wood, Water, & Grass plenty. We passed a small creek this a.m. just after leaving camp on Right. The stream upon which we camped runs from South to North. Just South of camp, there is another stream from the South East. Distance to-day 8 miles Found that this camp was below junction of Pinto and Pappoose Creeks, at the point where we destroyed some fields of corn, in the month of July 1870. Saturday, January 18th 1873, Broke camp 9.05. Marched South about 1000 yds, then East, going up a high mountain, after marching about one mile, halted the column on side of hill and sent out Indian scouts to capture or Kill some Apaches (hostile) who were seen on hill to our Left heard halloing at us. After a short time, an Apache boy came down the Mountain side and joined us. Maj Brown told him to go back up and bring in his band, a pass was given him to ensure his safety. These people report from being very much frightened at the sight of such great numbers of troops in their country. Moved South East through the mountain pass, found quantity of water flowing North West, going about 3 miles; halted on top of hill, alongside of the big white rocks which are to north of the site of old Camp Pinal.5 Passed on through Mason’s Valley East about 2 miles and South and South South East about 4 miles more. Descended a very steep hill, entered cañon of Mineral Creek, here flowing South, dry in a great part of its course. Weather genial, sky clear. 4. Spare horses. 5. Camp Pinal was located in Mason’s Valley in the Pinal Mountains. It was established in 1870 to replace the first Camp Grant, but was abandoned a year later, after Crook assumed command of the department and revised the troop disposition. It was redesignated “Infantry Camp” before being abandoned. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 48.

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Distance to day 10 or 12 miles. Sunday, January 19th 1873. Broke camp 9 am. Marched South, one mile, then East South for about one and quarter miles, going up Shady Run. [H]alted and made camp. Water, in spring, about sufficient for cooking purposes, water for animals, one quarter mile flow. Wood and Grass plenty. Weather delightful. Sky clear. Indians in this section of country are now begging for peace, which they say they will ask for on their Knees. The campaign against the hostile Indians on this side of the Rio Salado may be considered at an end. To-morrow four companies leave us to go to the new camp at Mount Graham6—Burn’s [sic], Hamilton’s, Adam’s, and Montgomery’s— Burns at Eureka springs and the others to take station at Kennedy’s Wells. [Company] “F” 5th Cav. under Lt W. P. Hall, is already at Mt. Graham. Monday, January 20th 1873, Commands separated at 8 A.M, one detachment going East for about 1 mile then South East, for 2, getting upon a rolling mesa land, covered with grass, then in a general South East course for 8 m. more[,] going into a cañon, with spring of water. South half a mile, West, about the same, then general South course for 4 miles to Rio Gila. Weather Fine, Sky clouded Distance to-day 16 @ 18 miles (Killed 11 or 12 deer to-day & last night) The night was very cold. Tuesday January 21st 1873: Broke camp 8 a.m. Marched South East 7 miles, Keeping Rio Gila on our Right. High Mt Peak on the other side, and high hills on our side of the river. Turned more to the East and marched 3 miles, crossed to Left Bank of Rio Gila. Day fine, Sky clear. Saw the Saddle Mt, to East North East, and to the East. Marched East by a little South for another mile and then South South East by South for 5 miles, going up Rio San Pedro halting within 5 miles of Camp Grant. Distance to day about 18 miles, Camp on Right Bank of River. January 22d Continued march to Camp Grant. Distance about 6 miles Courier sent to Genl Crook with dispatches from Capt. Nickerson. 6. The new location for Grant.

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January 23d Rem[aine]d in Grant, conference held with Indians Friday. Rem[aine]d at Grant, Twenty six new recruits obtained for Genl Crook. DeLord [sic]7 arrived to-day bringing statement that the Territorial Legislature had in contemplation the adoption of resolutions reflecting upon the policy of Genl Crook and especially in reference to the attack made upon the Apache Mojaves at Camp Date Creek, last September or August.8 Also a rumor to the effect that Genl Crook’s warlike policy was to be discontinued. Arrangements are now completed for sending Taylor with three companies to M[ount] Graham, where he will find Randall with 3 companies and (46) Apache scouts, Adams with four Companies, Hall with one all of Cavalry and Thompson with one of Infantry. Perhaps Sumner’s and Bendire’s companies will also receive orders to report to Genl Crook at Graham, making a grand total of thirteen Co’s of Cav and one of Infantry to watch Cocheis’9 Camp. Brown and myself start to-morrow for Cocheis’ camp via the San Pedro middle crossing. Saturday, January 25th 1873 Left Camp at 11 AM, Going up San Pedro River. Weather genial. Sky clear. Marched about due South for 3 m, passing the Indian Agency and turning a little E went about one mile and half. Camped on San Pedro. Distance to day about (4 1/2) four and a half miles. Sunday, Jan’y 26th 1873. Maj Brown having been prostrated by an acute attack of dysentery, the command was delayed in its march to-day until 9 a.m. when we broke camp & marched South East. along Right Bank Rio San Pedro for 15 miles. Made camp. Rec[eive]d important dispatches from Genl Crook, also dispatches from Captain Furey. Monday, January 27th Maj Brown somewhat better, but still very weak. Command moved at 9 am, marched in a general South East course up valley of San Pedro for 28 or 30 miles. Camped. Passed 7. Bourke apparently means Sidney R. DeLong. See Appendix 1 (Civilians). 8. Bourke is referring to a conspiracy by the Yavapais at the Date Creek reservation to assassinate Crook during a council at the agency on September 8, 1872. Crook had learned several of the Indians recently had participated in the attack on a stagecoach, as well as the Wickenburg stage massacre, and he intended to arrest them. The assassination plot was discovered, and when the Indians made their move, the soldiers were ready. About seven Indians were killed or wounded. The Yavapais blamed the Mojaves. The delay between the Wickenburg massacre and Crook’s attempt to arrest the perpetrators was caused by General Howard’s inspection and the resultant adjustments of policy. See Robinson, General Crook, 117-18, 125-26. 9. Bourke’s spelling of Cochise’s name is erratic.

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wagon train of six wagons going to Camp Grant. Weather fine, Sky clear. Strong breeze blowing to-day 28 miles Tuesday, January 28th 1873, Broke camp 8.24 a.m. Moved in a general South East by a little South course to Tres Alamos in which village we made camp. Just after leaving camp met a train (empty) going to Grant. Passed a low range of hills on other side of river (not the Sierra Santa Catarina). Met Lt Hall & his Co at Tres Alamos, also saw Don Estevan Ochoa. Distance to day 20 miles. Sky clear weather cold. Windy Wednesday Jan’y 29th 1873. Marched on road to middle crossing of Rio San Pedro & thence on G.S.O.M road to Sulphur Springs.10 Rec[eive]d dispatches from Genl. Crook. Day very cold. High wind. Sky clear. Night bitterly cold. Thursday. January 30th 1873 Remained at Sulphur Springs. Yesterday a note was sent to Agent Jefferds, requesting an interview with Cochies and to-day quite a large band of squaws and children have come over to our camp but Cocheis was not with them. Mr Jefferds shortly after appeared and had a conversation with Maj Brown with whom he made arrangements for a meeting with Cochies. Express sent to General Crook Friday January 31st 1873 Went to Camp Bowie.11 Made trip in 4h. 35 minutes Saturday, February 2nd 1873. Remained at Bowie. Sunday, February 2nd 1873. Returned to Sulphur Spring’s where we found a courier from General Crook. Made trip in 4h 5 minutes Monday Feb. 3, 1873. Marched South West across Sulphur Sp[ring]’s Valley, 10 or 12 miles to the 2n[d] cañon in Dragoon Mts. where we found Cocheis and his family with a few young warriors.12 Cocheis is a fine looking Indian of about (50) winters, straight as a rush, six 10. Great Southern Overland Mail Road. The Great Southern Overland Mail was a colloquial name for the Butterfield Overland Mail Company. Kim Frontz, Arizona Historical Society, to Charles M. Robinson III, December 12, 2001. 11. Camp Bowie was established in 1862 in the Chiricahua Mountains to guard the eastern approaches to Apache Pass. The pass and the springs located there were a key transit point for travelers and mail carriers on the road between Tucson and Mesilla, New Mexico, and a favorite ambush spot for the Indians. In 1868, it was relocated to a nearby hill overlooking the pass, and eleven years later permanently upgraded to a fort. Fort Bowie was abandoned in 1894, and is now a national historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 4; Utley, A Clash of Cultures: Fort Bowie and the Chiricahua Apaches. 12. For record of this meeting see Appendix 12.

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ft in stature, deep chested, roman nosed, black eyes, firm mouth, and kindly and even somewhat melancholy expression tempering the determined look of his countenance. He seemed much more neat than the other wild Indians I have seen and his manners were very gentle. There was neither in speech or action any of the bluster characteristic of his race. His reception of us was courteous, altho’ he said but little in the way of compliment. He expressed his own earnest desire for peace, said that in the treaty made with Howard, it was understood that soldiers could pass over the roads on his Reservation, but could not live upon it, nor were citizens to settle there. In reference to the Mex[ica]n, he said he considered them as being on one side in this matter, while the Americans were on another. The former had not asked him for peace as the latter had done. He did not deny that his boys were in the habit of raiding on Mexico, but this he could not prevent as it was no more than was done from all the Reservations. Our interview was quite brief and at its conclusion, we returned to our camp at Sulphur Sp[ring]s. I was very much astonished by the great number of children in the Indian Camp. Distance to-day 22 or 24 miles Tuesday, Feb 4th 1873 Marched to Kennedy’s Wells, going first North West and then North North East. Distance 30 or 32 miles Weather fine, sky clear. Wednesday, Feb 5th 1873 North x East a few deg[rees]. East to the new post at Mt Graham. Found Genl C. Weather good 12 miles Thursday Feb. 6th, Genl. Crook left for Grant. Co ‘E[’] & Co ‘K’ 5th Cav. came in under Price (with Parkhurst) and Michler. The former had Killed five; the latter (16)Bucks.13 Friday Feb 7th 73 Rem[aine]d at Graham Sat’y Feb 8th 73 d[itt]o d[itt]o 9th, 10th, 11th 12th , 13th, 14th d[itt]o d[itt]o Saturday 15th Moved in comd. of “L” Troop 1st Cav (Randall’s Battalion) West out of cañon about 1 mile, then North West for 3 miles, then about due West for 15 more. When about 10 miles out from camp, passed down between a range of Mountains into a flat. Reached Eureka Sp[rings] about 13 miles from camp. 13. Bourke is referring to a deer hunt.

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Total distance to-day 19 miles Weather cold. Windy sky clear Sunday Feb 16th Moved West x North about 7 miles. Just before reaching camp found the country on fire, great volumes of smoke obscured the sky and retarded our advance. This camp, like that of last night, is on the Aravaipa Creek. Monday Feb 17. 73 West by North (5º) to Ojo Aravaypa 7 miles. Tuesday Feb 18th Moved in a general North course for 14 miles, trail very sinuous, country rocky, passed water flowing West came down into cañon Gabilau and made camp in front of [dentation?]. Day fine. Sky clear Total distance 14 miles Wednesday, Feb 19. Moved in a general North direction down the cañon Gabilau, crossed divide into cañon Ventana and then down to Rio Gila (This trail I have already mapped out several times) Day clear and warm. Distance 15 miles Thursday, February 20th Remained in Camp Friday, February 21st. Moved up the Rio Gila about 1 1/2 miles North East. 1 1/2 miles Weather fair, sky cloudy Bad news came to-day from Grant, to the effect that Bocon14 has played us false & gone again on the war-path. Saturday, Feb 22d Birthday of Washington. Moved up Rio Gila going East for 2 miles, then 2 miles North up Rio San Carlos, making Camp on Right Bank. 4 miles Same night Lieut Almy with Lt Watts and Co “M” 5th Cavl and Lt Bourke with Co “L” 1st Cav, Jose as interpreter and 12 Indians making a total of about 75 men moved to cut off Bocon who had now taken the war-path, armed with the munitions of war dealt out to him while in our service. Started from camp at 5 P.M. moving back on our trail to the camp of Feb 19th & 20th and thence West along Gila for about 2 miles further, making 8 miles. Sunday Feb 23. Sky cloudy, signs of snow. Moved 3 West (along Gila) 1 1/2 miles & turned West (Gila[)] South West & North went 1/2 mile; North up arroyo 1 1/2 mile, turned up arroyo to West, marched 3 miles up arroyo and then up East side of Sierra Mescal, the top of the range being reached at 12 miles. Passed down on other side, came to little arroyo with water (flowing North), a little 14. Esquimasquin.

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stream formed it from the West and then flowed on North to combine with the West fork of the Rio San Carlos 10 miles Rained at intervals all day. Rained heavily all night. Monday Feb 24th. Moved North West across spur of the Sierra Mescal (three miles) and then down an arroyo running north of West, after going about 6 1/2 miles from camp found water in this arroyo which soon joined a stream flowing South North. Upon this we camped near a quantity of young cottonwoods and in front of a low hill crested with a black ledge of rocks, (probably basalt) 8 miles Day clear and bright. Some few clouds. Tuesday Feb 25th Heavy rain and cold bitter wind. Moved up high Mountain, going North of West, went in this direction about 1 1/2 miles then West South West and South West & South for 3 miles more, passed a stream on our Right, flowing into that on which we camped last night, also saw a trib[utar]’y coming in on its L. Halted in a little cañon with water flowing East x West, joining creek of our camp last night. Halt was made under Sierra Pinal. Marched North of West passing up this arroyo for about 2 miles, then turning South, we crossed a small divide and entered Head waters of [D]isappointment Creek, going 3 miles and made camp at same place where we had camped Dec 18th. Rained and hailed furiously. Keen wind. Distance about 9 miles Since first halt to day passed thro’ scrub oak and scrub pine timber. Rain ceased about sun-down. Wed Feby 26th Marched South South West about 6 miles; first ascending a high hill and then having down grade until we struck Disappointment Creek at the point where it begins to flow East South East. Halted and prospected for water, Lt Almy & (10) men went to Rio Gila to look for the cartridges buried by Bocon. Found no water and com[man]d. moved down Disappmt Creek to near its junction with Gila, where we camped, making essentially the same march as that of Dec 13th 1872. . . . 14 miles (Did not get the cartridges) Day fine.

Chapter 3 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Mopping Up

Thursday Feb 27th. Moved back on our trail, going West North West for (12) miles, when we halted for a few moments at entrance of a little cañon on left, which had water. This day we marched up West branch of Disappt Creek. Arroyo now turned rather more to North, went about 2 miles struck trail coming in on our Left (running from South South East, our trail of Jan 22) Mountains on Left all day. Low hills on Right. Went 3 miles West keeping up this branch of Disapt Creek then crossing hills going more to North West for 4 miles more going down little cañon to Shady Run. Camped. Wood, Water, & Grass. Day fine; sky cloudy 21 miles Two of our Indians ret[urne]d to Grant (sick) Friday Feb 28th Rained all night. Moved West about one mile & North about another, going over our trail of Dec 18th. Passed camp of Dec 17th in Mineral Creek; great quantities of water gushing out of the rocks on the right. Went North about one mile up cañon of Mineral Creek; went up grade of very steep hill about two miles. Minl Creek (now dry) divided into 2 cañons; one from North other from North North West. Minl. Creek flows just South South West then South South East and South South West to Rio Gila. Passed 67

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down grade on other side, going North North West, passed a little tributary of Minl. Creek flowing South South West & South South East. Day bright. Crossed over a white stone (granite) ridge and down little arroyo going West & North for 3 miles, finding running water (rain) about half-way down. Came to old Camp Pinal and camped. Distance about 7 miles. Saturday March 1st Moved in a North direction out of Mason’s Valley about 1000 yds, crossing a low divide and then following an arroyo (North) full of water running with a heavy current (1 mile). Water flows into Rio Prieto. Day fine. Sky clear. Stream ran North & West for about 2 miles when we followed it, our trail then ran North while stream turned West, going up grade one mile North then after getting to top of high hill, turned West, going for a total distance of seven miles from camp of last night, which is South East of us: passed our old camp of Dec 17th and a little to North of it saw stream coming in to Rio Prieto from West. [A]ll the cañons are now full of water. Sunday March 2 1873. Marched North down Rio Prieto for 1/2 mile, saw stream coming in on Left, rising from Mountains in close vicinity; passed on North a little West for 2 miles more, saw West fork coming in and crossed it; still going North North West & North for about one mile over hills, came down into an arroyo flowing into Rio Prieto and marched up this to West for about 1 mile; then North West and West North West for 2 miles and North West for 1 mile East, cañon getting quite rocky & rough. Camped at an old deserted Indian village, at junction of this cañon with one from North Location of the rancheria taken Jan 15th due W of us and across a mountain ridge. Day fine Sky clear. Distance 8 miles Monday Mar. 3d Moved West by North about 1/2 mile, then North West over a little hill, continued in a West by North course for 1 1/ 2 mile, coming down again into cañon, which ran to South East. Country hilly and well grassed. Oak groves. Water in small springs at frequent intervals. Day fine. Sky clear. Passed on West going over little divide, and coming down into a little arroyo which joined the fork of the Rio Prieto up which we came Dec 23. . . . Passing across a little hill ascended arroyo South & West (with steep hills), finding excellent water in springs and tanks. Halted on top of a Mountain at 12.45, after being out 4 3/4 hrs, making a march of about 8 or 10

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miles. Arrived at a point on trail of night of Dec 15th near the Indian village we attacked at that time. Saw to the South of us (flowing North East), the cañon upon which we had then camped. Pinal Mountains now to East of us 10 miles Tuesday Mar 4th Inauguration day1 Broke camp, moving South; going up very high mountain; saw to South South West a high butte with sandstone crest. Looking back saw the conical butte of yesterday to North of us. All the cañons about us are filled with water, melted snow or rain. Day fine. Sky cloudless. After going about 500 or 800 yds turned West and, passing over Mountain came down into our Camp of January 12th. Found an abundance of water, grass and wood. No Indian signs as yet with the exception of a [macho?] track yesterday with those of (4) men having American shoes. Indian boys say there are no hostile Indians this side of the head of Tonto Creek. Wednesday, March 5 Day fine, Sky cloudless South through a gap in Mountains 1 1/2 m water flowing South from a spring. Turned West, going along between high Hills for about 1 mile then North West for nearly 3 reaching one of our old camps. [F]ound water running South West and then South. Rocky peak to West North West (Weaver’s Needle). Turned North, going to top of High Mountain (on trail of night of Jan’y 11th). Reached summit of pass after marching over very rough country then turned W, going down grade, finding water flowing West about 1/2 mile and then North West (joining Cañon Creek[)] water of last night’s camp flows into Rio Salado in the big Cañon. Weather very Hot. Birds singing on all sides. Green grass has been sprouting for some days, marched North West through mountain country, for about 1 mile then West & North for 3 more, passing a creek flowing West & North and then down a long hill to a point West of camp of Jan 9th. Total Dist (about 13 miles) Spring from the South comes out in front of Camp. Thursday March 6th Lt Bourke with a small party, mounted, started from camp North East through a Mountain pass and down into Cañon Creek at its junction with little stream we passed yesterday before getting into camp. Passed up Cañon Creek one mile going East. 1. President U.S. Grant’s second term. At that time, the president was inaugurated on March 4. On October 15, 1933, Inauguration Day was moved to January 20 by the Twentieth Amendment, to reduce the “lame duck” period between election and inauguration.

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Cañon very bad, walls very high[,] abundance of water. Returned to starting point in cañon and then North North West for about one mile; being unable to go any farther on acc[oun]t of huge boulders and deep pools of water, returned to last nights camp thence followed main command which had gone in a general North West direction 8 miles on trail of January 10 & 11th. Friday March 7 Moved in a general West course to Rio Salado, at its junction with cañon in which we had camped. Rio Salado flowing East North East and West South West with a heavy current, cañon during to-day’s march very rocky. Day fine, sky clear. Temperature about 75º @ 80º F: Yesterday the command bathed in the open air, something which in Penna. or N.Y. could not have been done in May. . . . . . . . . .4 miles Sat’y March 8th, Moved across Rio Salado to Left bank, going West by North, came down again, (by turning North) to Rio over which we again crossed at a place where it is very deep 2 miles, Marched West about one mile further, when we left the river and turned North East and East x North, for about 3 miles or farther, getting down into a cañon, the mouth of which we had crossed at its junction with Rio Salado, this a.m. Found water in a side cañon to Right (some of the packers think we were encamped upon this stream, Dec 28th). Day fine, but excessively warm. Thermometer about 90ºF. in shade. Sky blue and cloudless. Day’s march about. . . . . . .7 miles. Sunday, Mar. 9th. Broke camp 8 am. North up cañon about 2 1/2 m, passing hidden spring in conglomerate rock on Right. [C]rossed Brown’s trail of Dec 28th [18]72. going West found water on this trail at junction of two little cañons with that which we ascended. Turned West North West & North going up arroyo, after a total march of 4 miles turned North, going over hills about 2 miles descended into an arroyo running North West, Dry, where we struck it. After two hours, found water in a little arroyo on left. Further down at junction of this water with Sycamore Creek. (North to South) camped. Wood, Water and Grass. Day lovely. No new signs. Many deer tracks. The Apache trail we saw yesterday was about two months old. Distance 12 @ 13 miles Monday March 10th. Moved down Sycamore Creek West South West. about 5 miles. Cañon all the way. Plenty of water in stream. L[ieutenant]. Watts left the command and went on to McDowell. At

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crossing of the Reno road saw great numbers of tracks and three or four apparently distinct trails, horses and mules as well as foottracks all going toward Camp McDowell. Either the pack trains of the rest of the command or, perhaps the whole command itself, has gone to the post for rations. Day fine. Sky blue. Distance 5 miles Tuesday March 11th. Broke camp 3 am West South West. for about 10 miles to Camp McDowell crossing Rio Verde in front of post. Maj Brown with Taylor, Rockwell, Babcock, Michler & Brodie at post, also Price, Parkhurst, Hay, Dr OBrien, and Lt. Thomas. Dispatch rec[eive]d from General Crook saying that Epizootic has broken out among Govt. [horse] herd at Prescott. News that Spain has become a republic. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.2 Brown and Command left with 20 days rations to scout to East of Sierra Matizal. We remain here (4) days and then sc[o]ur to West of same range and rejoin main body at Webber Creek. Horse bitten by rattlesnake last night and recovered after application of poultice of “golondrina” weed.3 Day fine. Thermometer about 95º in shade. Sky blue. 10 miles Wednesday March 12th Rem[aine]d at McDowell. Thursday, March 13th Rem[aine]d at McDowell. Randall arrived, no Indians. Weather extremely warm. Friday, Mar 14th. News arrived that a large body of Indians had crossed mail road South of Wickenburg, killed two men and stolen three horses, Almy and myself determined to strike across country to see if we could not find their trail. Horses at Prescott are all sick and Price has no transportation. Marched North West 4 miles. West 4 miles to Prescott road. North North West 8 miles going between 2 Buttes. 4 miles North West, passing around corner of Mountain on left 4 miles West North West to Cave Creek camped. Wood, Water, & Grass. 25 miles Saturday Mar 15. Broke camp by moon light, going along Prescott trail North about 1/2 mile West about 1/2 mile, crossing branch of Cave Creek; North about 1/2 mile going around point of high mesa. South 1/4 m West about 6 miles, leaving flat hill on Right and (3) 2. Bourke is referring to the short-lived Carlist uprising in Spain, and apparently anticipated its failure. 3. “Golondrina” is Spanish for the swallow bird. Apparently this was a local name for a plant that I have been unable to identify.

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Buttes on Left. North North West about 2 miles, North West 2 miles, West North West about 1 mile, North West and North North West about 3 miles. Camped on New River, which we reached 2 am (17th March) Distance 15 miles. Day very hot. Night cool. Sunday Mar 16th Rem[aine]d. in camp during day. Sent out the Indian boys who found an Indian trail made by a great party of Indians—Apache Mojaves—men, women and children, going toward a spur of the Bradshaw Mountains. or else those between the Verde and Agua fria Rivers. Bread for 2 days was broken and preparations made for a night march. At rising of the moon marched North East 2 1/2 miles, keeping in the cañon of new river; made camp in a portrero [sic]: no fires allowed. Utmost silence enjoined 2 1/2 [miles] Monday March 17th [Saint] Patricks day. After sunrise small fires were built and coffee made. Indians sent out to examine trail, which now looks as if great numbers had recently passed over it. Moses [Indian scout] returned at mid-day with request for command to move further up cañon. Accordingly, at 2 Pm, moved up stream North East one mile East half a mile North East one mile. Camped in a potrero, Passed a little butte on Right and saw a double headed butte due North of last Camp. Day hazy. Temperature about 75º F. Grass excellent. Water in about as great quantities as I have ever found upon such a stream in any part of the Territory. 2 1/2 miles: We have to-day been out after Indians (4) continuous months. Rained violently nearly all night. Tuesday, March 18th Broke camp at 8.30 a.m. Marched up new river about 6 or 7 miles, North East. Cañon all way. Rained heavily this morning. Many of the arroyos are filled with water. Camped at junction of 2 two cañons. Water plenty. Wood rather scarce, grass excellent, and abundant. Day cloudy. Distance 6 @ 7 miles Made a night march, 45 men (15 from my co) 3 officers, 4 apaches and the Interpreter Lopez. Started at night-fall, marched North East about 1/2 mile up cañon, turned East up tributary going about 5 miles and reaching top of a divide. Halted for moon. Rained a little. Mounted on top Mountain for 3 miles, then down Mountain; head of Cave Creek. here running South. no fires. Indian trail now very much scattered. Great difficulty in finding it: Wednesday March

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19th Kept on East for 3 miles, then East x South for 3 miles more going down very steep and long grade to Red Creek flowing South (just below this point it turned East x South and flowed into the Rio Verde about 2 1/2 Miles) Camped and sent messenger for pack-trains, at this spot, from a deserted rancheria of (23) jacales and a corn field; jacales recently deserted. Very large timbers, cut with axes, have been used in the construction of these dwellings. (Sent outside scouts, one to East, another to North. Both returned with information that Indians have all gone across Verde. One party found Woodson in camp just across, the Verde and from him we rec[eive]d a note saying that Randall and Hamilton were following the trail of the Indians we have been following since the 15th inst.[)] Distance from last camp 16 miles Thursday mar 20th Packs arrived. Rem[aine]d in camp. Friday Mar 21st Moved east over the mountain to Rio Verde. Saw Lt Woodsons’ command to North of us (about 2 miles) going up stream. Upon discovering us, they halted and waved signals to which we responded. Rice (the Guide) sent to communicate with Lt W. Kept on East going over grassy plateau for 6 miles when we descended into a box cañon on Right and made camp. This cañon was full of running water, an abundance of excellent green grass, and had a sufficiency of wood. It empties into Rio Verde about a half a mile above junction of Red Creek (Last night our Indian boys discovered a fresh trail which they followed South across the Mountains bordering the Verde until they came to a recently abandoned rancheria, from which they brought back a basket.[)] Reported seeing a fire on Sierra Metitzal to East. To-day just after crossing the Verde, we came to the ruins of an old fortification of greater magnitude than any we have yet encountered. Being in a completely ruined condition, we could only conjecture its previous configuration, size and purpose, but everything seemed to indicate that in the center had been a vast rectangular two or three storied pile with well defended entrances and loop-holed walls, while the exterior-line of work represented a parapet behind which the animals could find a temporary shelter.4 The entire work was of limestone, 4. Frazer (Forts of the West, 3ff.) does not mention a Spanish defense work in this part of Arizona. Very likely Bourke saw the ruins of Pueblo Grande, a pre-Columbian Hohokam Indian settlement, near Camp McDowell and the Rio Verde in what is now Phoenix. Pueblo Grande had a multistory principal structure surrounded by a wall, much as he described and sketched in the diary. At the time of Bourke’s early writings, the ruins of indigenous cultures

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laid in an adobe cement, the vigas5 being of cottonwood, but so much decayed that we could only find little pieces of them in the walls. 500 or more men could be accommodated within the lines which however seemed from the number of partition walls to have been intended for storehouses. One of the corners is still more than 20 feet high—perhaps 25. Almy suggests that perhaps the structure had been erected by Coronado as a base of supplies and the suggestion is certainly a good one. If this be so, what a field for contemplation is afforded by these ruins. Our minds are carried back, to the time when Charles Vth was King of Spain and the Indies, when the Spaniards were first among nations in politeness[,] learning, wealth and enterprise. When the order of Jesuits was first established (a little handfull of seven seven men), from which order such wonderful results should come. Coronado started in 1541 to rescue from the Moquis,6 seven missionaries who had gone to labor among them. It was alleged that some of these clergymen had been killed or maltreated and to secure their delivery the Spanish Govn. sent an imposing expedition under command of one of the ablest men at that time in this part of America. The expedition was gone 3 years, subjugated the Moquis, Zunies and some of the Navajoes[,] found that one missionary had been put to death and (5) others died under various circumstances, leaving alone the survivor, who had adopted the Indian customs and language, to enable him to carry on his ministry. When brought to Coronado he had nearly forgotten his native language. This is only one instance of the self-sacrificing zeal & devotion with which the Catholic missionaries to America signalized their career. Planting the tree of life amid unknown deserts and mountains and among unknown tribes, watering it with their blood and all for the sake of a principle which the world may call fanaticism, but which perhaps God may call Faith.7 Shall we never hear the last of Elliot [sic] the in the American Southwest were only dimly understood, being attributed variously to Aztecs or Spaniards. Serious archaeological investigation did not begin until the 1880s. Meanwhile, the multistory structure was razed to use as fill for agricultural lands. See Noble, Ancient Ruins of the Southwest, 36-37. 5. Main roof beams. 6. Hopis. 7. As Bourke himself admits at the end of this paragraph, he is not sure of the details of this expedition, and here he seems to have blended several unrelated—or only marginally related—events into a single episode. Aside from an expedition of Franciscan missionaries led by Fray Marcos de Niza in 1539, which essentially was a reconnaissance, there was no

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Indian missionary who only ventured once beyond the town limits of Boston? And whose famous Bible was written in a comfortable studio?8 All honor to him, but greater praise to these greater men the Spanish priests. The above acc[oun]t, altho garbled maybe, is true in this much. The date of Cs [Coronado’s] departure & the time of his absence. About the remainder, there are several conflicting stories. 1st as to the number of padres and secondly as to the tribes among whom they labored. To-day’s march 10 @ 11 miles. Rice ret[urne]d without having been able to overtake Woodson’s command. Saturday, May 22d Marched North East across mesa passing tributary of creek on which we camped[;] another creek itself (here flowing from North to South[)] passed across confluent from East (2 miles). Day cloudy. Temperature 60º F. Fine Grass every-where. Marched up the cañon (North) for 6 or 7 miles, finding a spring upon the Mountain side to the Right and another upon the left, the first about 2 or 3 miles up the cañon; the second at end of journey. Camped in a beautiful little cove. Excellent green grass, plenty of wood and water. We are now getting well into the bosom of the Sierra Matitzal. One of our Mexn. packers has been very sick for several days. Last night he became demented. He will most probably die within a few days. 7 or 8 ms Sunday, Mar 23d Marched East North East up cañon about 4 miles. A few hund[re]d. yds from our camp saw where Randall had camped two days ago. His train turned to Left going North one mile from camp saw little creek coming in on Right, also saw a mounstruous [sic] quartz ledge. Mountains becoming very elevated. Sky cloudy. Weather warm but mild. Mexican very sick. Went due North up cañon one mile, Plenty of water. Trail very bad. Had to make camp on acc[oun]t of the precarious condition of the Mexican who, I am afraid, will die to-night. Distance 5 m. serious effort to contact the Indians of Arizona prior to Francisco Vásquez de Coronado. The Coronado expedition, which followed up Fray Marcos’s journey, was an entrada, a military campaign to conquer the local inhabitants and exploit resources. The American Southwest, however, did not offer the wealth that the Spaniards had come to expect following the conquests of Mexico and Peru. See Fontana, Entrada, 21-22, 25-31. 8. Here Bourke’s Roman Catholic bias is evident. John Eliot (1604-90), Puritan preacher, evangelized the Massachusetts Indians, frequently visiting their villages in what then was wilderness. He learned their language, and translated the Bible into Algonquin. Eliot’s efforts won the loyalty of many New England Indians during King Philip’s War, the first great Indian uprising in New England. See Russell, “Apostle to the Indians.”

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Monday Mar 24th The sick Mexican Presiliano Mongo,9 died this morning at one o’clock. We buried him shortly after sun-rise and erected over his grave [a] small cross bearing his name and date of his death. To day the weather was especially charming, the whistling of birds was heard on every side and the balmy air made us forget that any part of Arizona is a desert. March[e]d North North East up cañon, going along skirt of mountain. Passed two spring’s, in front of our camp on Left side of arroyo, about half mile from camp, stream divides into 2 parts, one from South South East, the other North North East shortly afterwards 2nd stream received a confluent from our Left. Mountains still very high. Kept on in a general North North East course still following the cañon passed a little stream coming in on our Right. Entered a deserted Indian rancheria—12 houses— passed through a grove of robles (scrub-oak) (3 1/2 miles total). Kept on up cañon now getting very steep, waterfall on Left, crossed stream for last time, going to its Right. Marched now due West. Getting to top of hill, saw the creek again below us. Passed through another rancheria. Found belt of pine timber on top of range (5 miles). North one mile going down into a valley, timbered with pine, oak and manzanita; some snow on ground, water in every little arroyo. Made camp on a little stream, flowing from N to South and South West. Saw Bradshaw and Mogollon ranges in distance former to West, latter to North. To-day we have wood, water, grass in abundance. Every indications [sic] goes to prove that the Indians have been in the cañon of the past few day’s march for months; we have seen more than a hundred large sized jacales, freshly abandoned. Tuesday Mar 25 Moved North about 300 yds, then down a grade 6 miles. Saw two little Mountain streams on our Left. [C]ame down into a cañon just below their junction and near the confluence of a 3d from the Right. Beautiful waterfall on Left. (1 mile). Day fine. Hills timbered with pine & oak. Kept on down stream until we came to East Fork Rio Verde, where we found remains of a large camp of soldiers, (3) or (4) days old at the farthest. Passed a little stream on Right. Also several Indian rancherias (deserted) 9 miles. 9. In On the Border With Crook (211-12), Bourke corrected the spelling to “Monje,” and described the packer as “a very amiable man, who had made friends of all our party.” He died of pneumonia, resulting from an untreated cold caught in the mountains.

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Wednesday March 26th: Moved North North East about 500 yds, then East, about same distance along East Fr [Fork] Verde. Crossed it and moved East for a total distance 1 1/2 miles. Moved North North East for about 5 miles, again crossing East Fork at bend (East North East to West South West.). Country very hilly and well grassed. Day fine. Moved in a general North North East course for a total distance of more than 15 miles, going up East fork. Country Hilly. Just before getting into camp, came upon a heavy trail fresh following our course. 16 miles Thursday Mar 27th. Moved North about 1/2 mile until we reached Webber Creek (flowing East South East.) Turned up that stream West North West; North North West, North, West and North for a total march of about 5 miles. Day cool, but mild. Sky clear. Passed Brown’s camp about 1 mile out from our camp of yesterday. Saw some few pappoose tracks on his trail. 5 miles (Much oak & some little pine on Webber Creek.) Friday Mar 28th. Moved West about 3 miles crossing very soon after leaving camp a small tributary of Webber Creek (flowing South). Country very beautiful Finely timbered with oak & some pine, well watered and abundantly grassed (Black Mesa on our Right about 2 miles) Day fine. Kept up our West course for a total distance of 7 1/ 2 miles. Sierra Mogollon just in front and to Right of us. Pine woods all the way. Came to Krome’s Creek (here flowing about North to South.[)] Scenery beautiful. Devin’s jump-off to North West (Distance about 3 or 4 miles) Sat’y Mar 29th: A Fresh trail of Apache-Mojaves, (men, women and children) was discovered last night leading along under the South edge of Black Mesa & going in an East direction. This morning, the Com[man]d moved to intercept the band if possible. Moved East parallel to yesterday’s course for about 3/4 mile, going up gentle grade. Turned North East grade getting more severe, until we reached crest of Black Mesa 1 3/4 miles. Day fine. Sky cloudless. The ascent of the mesa was made without difficulty. East about 1/2 mile, then in a Northerly course for 2 miles, [k]eeping Webber Cañon on our Right. Pine forest the whole way. Kept along edge of the mesa for nearly [one] mile. Further, first going North East 2 miles, until we came to Head waters of Webber Creek; the other 2 miles North, Camped on the mesa Wood. Water. and Grass. Snow in patches.

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Scenery beautiful. To the West, we could see Squaw Peak for 9 miles. This morning one of our Indian boys was reported as deserted he having been absent since yesterday. To-night a small party was sent on ahead to examine country and look for Indian signs. Returning, they reported having found where the Apache-Mojaves. . .had climbed up on the mesa, that they followed their trail which was about five day’s old and bore evidence of having been made by a very large band of men, women & children. We have only six or seven day’s rations. Sunday Mar 30th Broke camp at 9 a.m. Moved North East for about 3 or 4 miles. Pine timber on every side. Day fine. Snow to be seen in patches at intervals. Went in same direction about 1/2 m. reaching the edge of the mesa, at the head of Webber Creek. Turned East (South) went nearly a mile and found trail which we had been hunting; trail going due East. Went one and half miles. (East) finding the place where the Indians had gone down from the mesa and also their camp (26) fires, representing an aggregate of at least two hundred. As we had no rations with which to make an energetic pursuit we were obliged to return. No doubt the Indians have gone to the Colorado Chiquito. . . . . . . . .7 miles Stream upon which we camped joins Webber Creek. Monday, Mar 31st. Moved back on yesterdays trail about 4 miles. Ground very muddy from melting snow. Day fine, but rather cool. Struck the Devin’s trail and marched upon it North for about one mile, passing over a little brook flowing South South West & South. Kept on North, crossing another brook (tributary of former) going some little distance (say two miles) and heading a number of small streams flowing West. We now could catch, at intervals, glimpses of the Mountains on West of Rio Verde—Squaw Peak and others. Kept on North, until the march was about (10) miles when we halted in a little arroyo (flowing North) and made camp. Wood and Water, good and plenty. Grass poor & scarce. [T]his creek flows North x East for 2/3 mile and then joins Clear Creek or Fossil Creek when flowing due West (just above Clear Creek Cañon). East Fork joins the Verde proper about 30 miles below Camp Verde—Fossil Creek runs in a mile or two above East Fork. Clear Creek joins Rio Verde 5 miles below post. Beaver Creek about opposite to post. Distance to day. . . . . . .19 miles Tuesday April 1st. Day dawned bright and cold. Turned West, 2 miles over very hilly and timbered crossing general small confluents of

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Clear & Fossil Creeks. Turning South we ascended a little stream with great quantity of water one mile, crossed it about its junction with a tributary from the South West and halted on summit of a high hill (3 miles). Country is to day broke up by a great number of gullies, all full of running water, and the elevation is perceptibly less than that of day before yesterday. Marched 3 1/2 miles South West & South crossing another little stream flowing West. Marched this last distance upon an old trail which ran in from East South East, one mile and a half South along a broad divide having creeks on each side flowing West, two miles South coming down into what the guide calls Hardscrabble Creek. Saw trail of Cavalry from South East, probably made by Burns and Hall. . . . . . 10 @ 12 miles Wednesday, April 2d: Day clear and mild. Moved West down Hardscrabble Creek; about 1 mile out creek turns South West; our trail kept on due West. Burns trail turned South about 500 yds beyond the creek. Bill Williams Mountain10 in distance to Right Bradshaw Mountain in the distance to West. Turned North West 3/4 mile North 1/2 miles, descended a steep mountain (40 minutes being req[uire]d to move down the declivity). Struck Fossil Creek at mouth of its cañon at a point where it turns West by South (This creek, as we saw it, was flowing from North East then North and South then West, then South West, then South— Its general course being North East to South West) Moved West one mile up high Mountains. Moved in a North course for 4 or 5 miles over an undulating, grassy mesa of lava. Came to tanks near a grove of cedar and pine (Muddy Tanks) Camped. Wood. Water and Grass. Baker’s Butte due East about 12 miles. 10 miles Thursday, April 3d. Day bright and beautiful. Marched West to Cedar Tanks 3 miles, passing cavalry trail leading North. Squaw Peak about 10 miles West 20º South. Much cedar in vicinity of these tanks, (arroyo from these tanks leads South West to Verde). Marched West & South West. 2 miles, South 2 miles West North West North North 10. Bill Williams Mountain (or Mountains), mentioned frequently in Bourke’s Arizona texts, is named for William Sherley (Old Bill) Williams (1787-1849). A North Carolinian who moved with his family to Missouri as a child, Williams went to live among the Osages in his midteens. He worked variously as a scout, trapper, trader, and interpreter. In the 1830s, Williams explored much of Arizona, resulting not only in the mountain being named for him, but also the Bill Williams Fork of the Colorado River. He also participated in Capt. John Charles Frémont’s 1848-49 Rocky Mountain expedition and was killed by Indians while trying to recover expedition property. Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, 3:1573-72.

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West and West for a total day’s march of twelve miles, coming down into Clear Creek four miles above junction with Verde. Wood, water and grass plenty, and good. Passed to Right of butte, six miles before reaching camp, Trail bad. Day exceedingly warm 12 miles Friday, April 4th. Moved down Clear Creek North North West 2 miles, turning to left and moving West North West, 3 miles to Camp Verde, crossing Rio Verde in front of post. Indian runners sent out to bring in such of the hostile Indians as may be inclined to sue for peace. 5 miles Found Genl Crook, Dr Bendell[,] Genl Small, Mr Marion, Dr Williams, Colonel Coppinger and all the officers of his post & of Maj Brown’s Command. All well. Our comrades had killed one hundred and ten. Saturday, April 5th. Rem[aine]d at Verde. Made a trip to Montezuma’s Wells. Found the well to be the crater of an extinct volcano, situated at head of Beaver Creek nine miles North North West from Verde. The descent to the surface of water was about (150) feet in length; the depth of the well in the middle not known—near the shore seventy feet. Diameter about (100) yds, one hundred yards. We found houses of stone and cement built by a nation of whom no traces now remain and a deep cave, also occupied as a habitation, in the centre of which rose a fine spring which shortly disappeared in the sands and then bursting through a crevice in the lava, found its way into Beaver Creek. Returned same night to Verde. 20 miles Sunday, April 6th. Chis-le-pun a big chief of the Apaches came in to offer his submission. He had with him about (300) people. He said he could not fight with General Crook because the General had too many copper cartridges, too many soldiers and in every way too powerful to be contended against.11 At night, rode on horseback to Prescott reaching there Monday, April 7. Weather bitter cold. 45 miles Thus terminated the first and only successful campaign against the Apaches since the acquisition of the Gadsden Purchase. The orders 11. In his autobiography, Crook quotes Cha-lipun (which Bourke spelled “Chis-le-pun”) as telling him, “You see, we’re nearly dead from want of food and exposure—the copper cartridge has done the business for us. I am glad of the opportunity to surrender, but I do it not because I love you, but because I am afraid of General.” Schmitt, General George Crook, 179.

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announcing the conclusion of hostilities, particularlizing the officers most distinguished for gallantry, giving instructions for the treatment of Indians upon reservations and assigning troops to stations now follow. [See Appendix 2] The results may be summed up as follows; By Brown’s Command Indians killed........................................500 by each separate detachment Miles travelled about...........................1200 Days.............................................142

Chapter 4 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Reservation and Ruins

On October 29, 1873, Lt. Col. Crook was jumped two grades and appointed to the active rank of brigadier general, at the behest of President Grant. Up until this time, he had held command by his Union Army brevet of major general, but with the active rank of lieutenant colonel of the 23rd Infantry. The appointment created hard feelings in the army because a large number of full colonels senior to him were passed over in what obviously was a case of presidential favoritism. Nevertheless, congress confirmed it. In later years, this would be used against Crook and, because of his association with Crook, would also work against Bourke. While it did not necessarily hinder Crook, in the long run Bourke’s career would suffer.1 Crook’s appointment is not mentioned in Bourke’s diaries because there is a gap of almost eighteen months from April 1873 until September 1874. Presumably Bourke continued his journals during that interval, but if so they are among the lost volumes. The extant narrative resumes on September 22, 1874, when Crook and Bourke embarked on an inspection tour of the military posts and reservations at Camp Verde, San Carlos, and Camp Apache. 1. Robinson, General Crook, 137-38; Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 301.

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After leaving Camp Apache, they continued on to the pueblos of the Hopis, who at that time were called Moquis. This, as Bourke’s biographer, Joseph Porter, has pointed out, represented his first ethnographic notes of people other than Apaches.2 Bourke’s description of the Hopis shows them to be a commercially-minded people who, although they did not understand the value of paper money, nevertheless managed a trade network reaching as far as Santa Fe, New Mexico, and to various other tribes in the region including Apaches. In fact, Apache prisoners admitted they had obtained the bulk of their arms and ammunition from the Hopis who, in turn, had purchased them from Mormons and Utes. General Crook intended to end the trade.3 The expedition left Camp Verde on September 22, 1874, traveling to the pueblos via San Carlos and Camp Apache. En route to San Carlos, they passed the various prehistoric ruins between what is now Tonto National Monument and Besh Ba Gowah Archaeological Park in modern Globe. These ruins were left by the Hohokam and Salado cultures. Early Spanish explorers, however, assumed that they and other prehistoric structures of Arizona and New Mexico were built by the Aztecs, a belief that persisted in Bourke’s time. Consequently, his initial diary entry declared the ruins to be Aztec, although he later revised that to “so-called Aztec.” Among their guides was one who called himself Mickey Free, who was, in fact, the same Felix Ward whose kidnapping by Apaches fourteen years earlier had ignited the Cochise War.4 Bourke’s brief, but enthusiastic entry on the San Carlos Reservation is especially significant. This represented the first concerted attempt to “Americanize” the Apaches by instituting a wage-labor system. Beginning with the employement of Apache scouts by the army, wage-labor expanded into other areas. Although rations continued to be issued for the next twenty-five years, the government instituted agricultural programs to convert the Indians to farming. Likewise, construction and maintenance of the agency buildings and development of the reservation infrastructure pro2. Porter, ibid., 24 3.Discussing the Hopi trade in guns and ammunition, Crook wrote, “I became satisfied that they had such a traffic, but the fright we gave them put an end to it.” Schmitt, General George Crook, 183. 4. Bourke, Diaries, 2:5, “so-called Aztec,” 2:97. This series of ruins is discussed in Noble, Ancient Ruins of the Southwest, 167-70. The Spanish impression that the ruins were Aztec is discussed in various places in Fontana, Entrada.

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vided more or less steady employment, as did the military post attached to the reservation, although closure of the post later created some unemployment.5 Elaborating in On the Border With Crook, Bourke wrote: [T]he enlistment of a force of scouts who were paid the same salary as white soldiers, and at the same periods with them, introduced among the Apaches a small, but efficient working capital. . . .[Crook explained] that by investing their money in California horses and sheep, they would be gaining more money all the time they slept, and by the time their children had attained maturity the hills would be dotted with herds of horses and flocks of sheep. Then they would be rich like the white men. . . they would not be dependent upon the Great Father for supplies, but would have for themselves and their families all the food they could eat, and would have much to sell.6 The inspections of the reservations completed, the column departed Camp Apache on October 7, arriving at the first Hopi pueblos five days later. Bourke’s record of the march is a monotonous series of notes primarily of interest to people who would travel along the trail on horseback. It includes observations on terrain, grass, water, and bearings of particular landmarks, but little else. Once the column reached the pueblos, however, Bourke is at his best. Despite the disdain that pervades this and other early volumes of the diary, he demonstrates the healthy curiosity for Indian culture that in later years would change his attitude to one of profound respect. Very little escaped his attention—local crops and handicrafts, household furnishings, modes of dress, and even women’s hairstyles all found their way into his notes. Although he described Hopi art as “rude” he thought it worth reproducing in his notes. In an extraneous note separate from the main narrative, he wrote: Country of Moquis visited by Genl. Crook, U.S.A. Oct. 1874 5. Adams, “The Development of San Carlos Apache Wage Labor to 1954,” 118. 6. Bourke, On the Border, 221-22.

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On modern maps, these villages appear as Oraibi, Hano, Walpi, Sichomovi, Shipaulovi, Shongopavi, and Mishongnovi, respectively. They are built on three adjacent mesas, with Walpi, Sichomovi and Hano on First Mesa; Shongopavi, Shipaulovi, and Mishongnovi on Second Mesa; and Oraibi on Third Mesa. Bourke is correct about the language differences, because the people of Hano speak a Tanoan language from the New Mexico area, while the others speak Hopi. He is less accurate concerning early Spanish contact. His observation that Roman Catholic missionaries visited in 1536 apparently refers to the reconnaissance led by Fray Marcos de Niza that actually occurred in 1539, and may or may not have reached the Hopi pueblos. It is known that a scouting party, headed by Pedro de Tovar, from the Coronado expedition, did reach some of the Hopi towns in 1540, although this did not include Hano, which was founded more than a century later.8 Today, the Hopi continue much of their ancient tradition, in part because the establishment of schools at the pueblos assures a year-round population of young people to learn the principles and ethics of Hopi life. They also participate in the ritual and ceremonial activities that sustain them as a people. The Hopi Foundation, consisting of professionals and lay persons from the tribe, works to integrate them into the modern world, while at the same time preserves the best of the old values.9 7. Bourke, Diaries, 2:66. 8. Fontana, Entrada, 21-22, 26; Cordell, Ancient Pueblo Peoples, 14. 9. Hoxie, Encyclopedia of North American Indians, 253-55. For a description of contemporary Hopi ceremonies having their origins in ancient times, see Ortiz, “Farmers and Raiders,” 177-80.

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Mules died yesterday 21st. Det[a]ch[ment] at Camp Verde 15, men Water wheel 16 feet cost $36.00 Post in excellent condition [October] 12th Borrowed from Sergeant Icar [?] 1.60, Green, 1.25. Cahill .25 Cahill $3.00, Scott $15 Oct 13th, General Crook borrowed of Hawes, $20 of Cahill $5; and of Mr Lewis $2, and of Lt. Bourke 10, and of Scott $5.00 Oct 16th, Camp on Colorado Chiquito, paid Cahill $5—$3[.]25 being for himself and $1[.]60 for the men of the escort—Money borrowed Oct 12th. This was done with the knowledge and consent of the Sergeant of the escort. Oct. 19th Camp on West slope of San Francisco Mountain, paid Mr. Scott $10 (ten dollars) borrowed from him Oct 12th General Crook desired me to note he had borrowed $4 from Mr. Lewis Oct. 14th 1874. At end of this book will be found a printed copy of the monograph published in the Daily Alta California of Dec. 14th 1874. Also photographs of the Moqui Villages10 Sept. 22d. Left Camp Verde, 8. A.M., travelling 20 miles to lower crossing Fossil Creek. Day pleasant. Trail fair. Feasted on the finest water melons and wild grapes ever eaten in Arizona. Melons from ranches on Clear Creek and grapes from vines on trail. Fossil Creek flowing with a great head of water, between very high mountains. Sept 23. Wednesday, Broke camp at Daybreak. Generally East course for about 22 or 23 miles to East Fork of Verde river and below mouth of Webber Creek. crossing Krause’s(?) Creek. 23= Country very mountainous; & trail rough. Our camp to night in front of North Peak and Massissal Mountains.11 Day very warm. Sept 24th (Thursday) Broke camp at day-break. General course South down Wild-Rye Creek to within a few hundred yards of its junction with Tonto Creek. (here bending from an East & West to a North and South course around North West end of the Sierra Ancha.) 10.The “monograph,” published in the Alta California under the heading of “The Moquis of Arizona: a Brief Description of their Towns, Their Manners and Customs,” is Bourke’s earliest known published work. Despite his reference to it as a monograph, no copy has been located other than that published in the newspaper. The clipping and photographs, if indeed they ever were included, apparently were removed at some point. See Bloom, “Bourke on the Southwest,” Vol. 8, no. 1:12, and Vol. 10, no. 1:5. 11. Mazatzal

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for about 3 miles over high hills, crossing two affluents of Tonto Creek and the creek itself on South side of which we camped. 21 miles. Day very warm. Sky clear. trail good. Sept 25th. Friday. Moved South, by a trifle East down Tonto Creek, until within 3 miles of its junction with S[a]lado when we inclined more to the East, crossed Salado, turning due East, about 3 miles and camped at a boiling spring Mesquite Springs. Water good. Day very warm. Sky blue. Marched 27 miles. Had Matitzal Mountains on our Left and Sierra Ancha on our Right all day. Trail very good. Passed Old Camp Reno on our Right to-day, also saw two little streams flowing into Tonto Creek from West. Passed a number of old Aztec ruins to-day. Examined one and found it to be the remains of a temple,12 an outer wall of rock had enclosed a house, having a court-yard, in centre of which could still be discerned a three-terraced teocalli, with foundation of an altar(?) on top: an entrance through the house discovered signs of an attempt at making arches. Sept 26th. 15 miles East x South making camp on Wheat fields of Pinal creek about 8 miles from last night’s camp, passed a fine spring. March of to-day rough. Weather torrid. Sept 27 South South East and South East 50 miles w[ith] 50 miles crossing up through East fork of Pinal Creek, then into Mescal Mountains to Jesus’ Spring, thence 14 miles nearly due East down Mountains to San Carlos. Weather very warm, Indians had a big dance to night. San Carlos to top of Mt Trumbull 120º San Carlos to Green’s Peak 152º 30' Pass in Mescal Mountains 275º East x North of Mt. Trumbull near Goodwin 110º 1st Peak San Carlos 15º 2[nd] peak 10º 3[rd] peak 5º The condition of Indian affairs on the San Carlos we found astonishing and gratifying. Indians present numbered 875. All living in villages with regular streets, houses of brush 12' high, bunks elevated ten feet above the ground. Every morning at 7 O’c[lock]. their villages are policed with the greatest care and every Sunday 12. Above “temple” Bourke wrote “teocalli?” the Nahuatl word for “temple.” This probably was Besh Ba Gowah, much of which was bulldozed, first by the Corps of Engineers to provide a Boy Scout Jamboree campground in 1948, and later by the City of Globe to expand recreational facilities. The remnants are now a city archaeological park. See Noble, Ancient Ruins of the Southwest, 168-70.

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an inspection is made to see that no garbage has been allowed to accumulate around their quarters, and that beds and blankets are clean. Indians are detailed each morning to work in fields, to make adobes and other employments for which they make good laborers. Average 100 adobes daily to the hand. Are very happy and seem well fed. Scarcely any sickness. Under best of discipline. Governed with firmness and justice. Are very well behaved. Not at all insolent. Always uncover the head when saluting a stranger. Credit for all this is due to Maj. Randall, Babcock and Ward, also Lt London. Indian Agent Clum just arrived and has quietly adopted all the military rules of management. Seems a good man. Indians had a dance last night in honor of arrival of Genl Crook, with whom they held a long conference to-day. Santos, Juan-clishe and El Cal being the speakers. Said they were now thoroughly whipped and under General C’s orders. What he said, they would do &c &c &c. Would work like white people and hoped they would have plenty of work, so they could get money to buy blankets. Wanted to live there always and if any Indians came there from other Reserves without passes, would make them go to the guard-house or would kill them as they had the other bad ones. Thought the bad ones were all dead now. At least all among them were: (Found all at S[an]. C[arlos]. pleasant, affable gentlemen) Sept 28th, Monday Marched North up San Carlos river for 15 or 18 miles camping in sand upstream. Location very fine, Wood, Water and Grass plentiful and of good quality. Day warm. Sept. 29th Move up San Carlos about 1 1/2 to 2 miles, climbed to top of high mesa, marched over this rough high mesa, keeping this tributary of San Carlos on our Right, for 8 miles, entered a cañon of Apache Mountains, followed this cañon 4 miles, turned East for about 1 mile, striking another affluent of S.C., which joined the first; followed up this last for nearly 6 miles, our trail being more to the East of North say North 10º East, struck a beautiful spring (Brodie’s) of ice-cold water, bubbling out from under a natural cliff of rock at base of main range. Ascended the mountain, trail very rough, pine trees now being met with. Kept along mountain about 3 1/2 or 4 miles then commenced heavy down grade for 3 miles more to the Black River, where we camped. Wood, water and grass abundant and excellent. Scenery beautiful. Lofty mountains on either bank screen this lovely stream from view until you stand on the crest of the hills immediately above

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it. From (Brodie’s) spring to Black river is eight miles. The cañon in Apache Mountains is studded with juniper and scrub oak. March of to-day is from 28 or 30 miles[.] Archie McIntosh’s squaw joined us at San Carlos and is en route to Camp Apache with the command. Weather to-day pleasant. Good Breeze—Sky cloudy. Summit of Butte to left of camp and on Right bank of river bears from camp 345º. River flows on our Left 292º. Directly in front of Camp flows due North (0º). Sept. 30th Marched North East 8 miles reaching summit of the high mesa six miles from Camp Apache; thence six miles to Camp Apache where we remain. Found at post, Majors Randall and Babcock, Capts. Montgomery, Reilly, Lieuts Rice, Dodge13 and Pratt. A general count of the Indians took place to-day; over 1760 are present on the Reserve. A mild form of calenture prevails among this tribe during the present season. Indians all seem orderly and well-disciplined. Post in fine order. Scenery is beautiful. Maj. Babcock relieved from the Department to-day. News received by courier of our Indians from Camp Verde, under guide Zeiber [Sieber], having killed 13 renegades, 3 of our Indians killed in the fight. Kelly’s Peak bears 248º Pass (of yesterday.) 225º. Middle of point of pass (to New Mex[ic]o) 10º The Apaches here appreciate to a considerable degree the importance of a circulating medium14 and also show themselves in other respects to be keen traders. In two instances, they have entered into contracts with Mexicans to have the latter transport their crops to the post for sale to the Q.M.D.15 Tom, one of them, yesterday, wished Major Randall to accept as a gift the money he had saved in the last few months saying that R would undoubtedly need it in making a trip to Washington as the East is called. The amount so tendered was $35. They seem to put a high estimate on the telegraph line, without, of course, understanding its modes of operation. Last fall, while Pitone, Alchisay and Uclenny were in Prescott, I sent a telegram from them to their friends on the Reserve, having it carried by courier from 13. Frederick Leighton Dodge, not to be confused with Lt. Col. Richard Irving Dodge, who figures prominently in later chapters of this volume. 14. I.e. money. 15.Quarter Master’s Department.

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Tucson to this place. Greatly to their surprise, a party of their friends met them on the mountains outside of the post, anxious to see what truth there was in the mysterious message so quickly conveyed. Pitone and Alchisay, this summer, desiring to visit Washington, quietly left the Reservation, hired themselves as drivers in an am[erican]. train and succeeded in reaching by slow marches the settlements in New Mexico where they regretfully learned that ($12) their joint capital was an inadequate sum for the defrayment of their expenses to Washington and back. The treatment received from Mexicans and Americans gratified them very much, making them feel how much superior a condition of peace with us was to that of their former Ishmaelitish warfare against all mankind. Lt. and Mrs. Rice leave here next week for Omaha, via Santa Fe and Denver. Ogilby’s and Worth’s Companies of the 8th Inf. may be with us tomorrow, in which case the General and myself will depart for Prescott by Tuesday. Ramsdale’s Company leaving on same day.* 2-, 3- and 4th of Oct. In showers of considerable force, the volume of water in the Sierra Blanca river being appreciably augmented. General Crook, anticipating the arrival of the officers of the 8th Inf. made arrangements for a general conference of the Indian chiefs, to whom he purposes giving instructions relative to their future conduct and also present their new commander. The conferences will be held to-morrow, Oct. 5th., To-day, Oct 4th is the feast of Saint Francis which I spent, with so much interest and amusement, last year, at Magdalena, in Sonora, Mexico. Two Apaches are confined in guard-house for attempting to cut off their wives’ noses—the punishment among this tribe for conjugal infidelity. Major Randall is determined to put an end to this and other cruel and inhuman customs of the Apache nation. Many sincere friends of these Indians regret that the philanthropy supposed to actuate those interested with their charge is not superior to the mercenary influences of trade. The shrewdness and discernment of the savage are known to be great, for every departure from an established rule, their curiosity demands an explanation. Noticing that every seventh day, the store * [Bourke inserted the following on a blank page, facing page 31:] Oct. 2nd 3d, and 4th, rained heavily at Apache, morning of 4th, just before daybreak violent storm of hail, lasting one hour. Hail stones of large size. [Bourke’s narrative for the above dates begins at the bottom of page 35, after the comment about Ramsdale’s company]

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at the military post was closed they learned that the day was “Domingo” or Sunday and an opportunity was improved of informing them this cessation of business was in obedience to the Almighty’s command, and in His honor. But while such an interpretation was of itself comprehensible enough, a collateral circumstance threw a shade of suspicion upon the integrity of the translation. The establishment at the Indian Agency, under the supervision and control of the Agent himself, was and is still kept open for business every day without distinction, to the no small wonder of the aborigines incapable of often appreciating the religious conversation of men whose actions assure the world filthy lucre alone is the object of their coming to Arizona. Major Ogilby, Major Worth and Lieut Charles Baily, 8th Infantry, arrived at Apache October 5th. Lt Ward, 5th Cav. arrived from San Carlos on the 6th Oct. Also Mr. S.R. DeLong reported that Indian inspector, Daniels had arrived at San Carlos. Lt Babcock left for [Camp] Bowie on 4th. Road between here and [t]he Gila very bad. A train has been stopped this side of Rio Prieto, and is now 25 days out from Goodwin.16 Genl Crook held a long conference with the Indians to-day. They asked for another agent, saying Mr. Roberts was a liar while Major Randall always spoke truth. Were glad to see Genl Crook and sorry to have Majr Randall leave. Hoped Major Ogilby would prove as good a commandant. Been busy all day laying in supplies for our trip to the Moqui pueblos and the Grand Cañon of the Colorado. Oct. 7th. Lieut Ward, 5th Cav., returned to San Carlos. Oct. 7th 1874 (Wednesday.) Left Camp Apache at 930 A.M, accompanied by three Indian guides, Mickey Free, Santos and Hero & moved North, crossing Sierra Blanca river; one mile out, met Mrs Bailey17 and Mrs Summerhayes,18 8th Infty; two miles passed red 16. Camp Goodwin was established 1864 as a base of operations against Apaches, and abandoned by the military in 1871. At this time, the post buildings served a subagency for the San Carlos Reservation. The military reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1884. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 27-28; Frazer, Forts of the West, 8-9. 17. Ella Wilkins Baily, wife of Lt. Charles Meigs Baily, died in childbirth on October 28, 1875. Bourke sometimes spelled the name “Bailey.” Altshuler, Cavalry Yellow & Infantry Blue, 17. 18. Martha Summerhayes (1846-1911) was the wife of Lt. John Wyer Summerhayes, Eighth Infantry. In her classic memoir, Vanished Arizona, she recorded (page 79) what may have been the same incident noted by Bourke: One day a party of horseman tore past us at a gallop. Some of them raised their hats to us as they rushed past, and our officers recognized General Crook, but we could not, in the cloud of dust, distinguish officers from scouts. All wore the flannel shirt, handkerchief tied about the neck, and broad campaign hat.

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sandstone butte on our right and again crossed North Fork Sierra Blanca river, 3 miles entered gap in mountains. Sierra Blanca river on our Right, 5 miles met 2 cos of 8th Inf. under Lieut Craig; 6 miles met baggage wagons under Lieut Summerhayes; [e]ntered Pine forest and are now at considerable elevation above post. Day fair, and bright, weather mild. 12 miles, passed a Mexican train in camp. 17 miles passed the camp where Infantry had been last night. 18 miles came to forks of road. Right hand branch, North North East to New Mexico. Up to this time our course had been North with a few degrees of Easting. Now turned North West, going between 3 and 4 miles, country very undulating, pine and white oak forest all the way. General Crook shot a number of squirrels in the woods. Our supper to-night was a treat[.] Game in plenty, cantaloups [sic] and tomatoes given by our kind friend Mrs. Montgomery, and the usual components of a mountain cuisine[.] Mickey Free says to-morrow we shall camp on Shevelon’s Fork, called by the Apaches Sin Lin; on Friday the Colorado Chiquito will be reached and on Sunday the Moqui village of Oraybe. Distance to day 23 miles Time seven hours. Our camp was made in a beautiful little swale in the Sierra Blanca range, (which we had on our Right all day) around us gently rise hills covered to the summit with lofty pines, while nearer camp are groves of stately live-oak. In the near distance the main ridge of the Sierra Blanca, black with timber, protects us from chilling winds. The water in the spring is cold and sweet, thus giving us all the creature comforts to be desired in a bivouac, while our animals surfeit themselves upon the rich grasses of the hill-side. Oct 8th, Thursday. Moved North and North West 3 miles, climbing to top of hill to North of Camp, which we broke at 6.30 A.M. Passed sign “Water,” found little stream running South and East and apparently a branch of Shevelon’s Fork, 300 yds to Right of road. Pine forest. Ground covered with blocks of lava. 7 miles out passed a high butte on our Right distant about 3 or 4 miles. Country open for a mile or mile and half—Grass very coarse. 9 miles out commenced going down grade. Pine forest again very dense and grass improving in quality. About 10 miles, turned nearly due North, came down into Shevelon’s fork of the Colorado Chiquito about one mile South of Cooley and Clarke’s

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ranch. A large flock of wild turkeys ran across road directly in front of us. General Crook, Mr. Scott, and a number of soldiers started after them and killed Eleven, some of them weighing 20 pounds and all very plump and tender. At Cooley’s ranch, established last year, found good, comfortable adobe houses, and outbuildings and corrals of pine fencing, crop this year consisted of 90,000 lbs Barley, Stock numbered between 230 and 250 head. Went West for 3 miles, going to top of a gentle grade; had Shevelon’s fork on our Right. Country rather more open, especially on Right. Some Juniper trees now seen. As far as the Eye can reach, a dense growth of timber darkens the mountain ranges on all sides of us. We are to make camp to night at foot of a mound 340º from us. Butte passed this morning is nearly due East of where we now are. Road still West. Our trail turns North North West. Sky now commenced to show signs of snow, fleecy clouds accumulating in North and North East. Marched North North West and North for five miles, crossing two dry arroyos inclining towards Shevlon’s Fork, here separated from us by a long high hill, running North and South, parallel to general direction of stream. Country open, well grassed and with an abundance of Juniper in clumps and pine in scattered belts along trail. Cross Shevlon’s Fork flowing West, passed along a grassy mesa for 3 miles with the stream on our Left: on west of stream, hills are heavily covered with pine and Juniper but our line of march is through an open country: again crossed the Fork, flowing East; passed through a series of arroyos for a mile and half, having a basalt bluff on our Right: Saw numerous cattle trails and are now probably near Ewing’s ranch. Move North East for 5 @ 6 miles, country rolling and bare, grass fair, struck Shevelon’s fork (flowing West) at Ewing’s ranch. Camped. About one mile from camp crossed dry bed of a little stream joining the Fork from the West. Distance to-day—about 30 miles. Butte of to day 145º Pass in Sierra Blanca 132º Banks of Shevlon’s Fork are clay[.] [A]n excellent road; to connect the new and old roads to Prescott, could be built along the line of to-day’s march without costing more than one hundred dollars worth of labor by troops. Saw eight large tarantulas on trail to-day.

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Night extremely cold; heavy dew fell. Oct 9th Friday. Broke camp 6 A.M. (day break.) General Crook shot some ducks in the stream. Moved North (by about 5º West) for 2 miles then West for 1 mile, passed a red sandstone butte about 2 M. on our left then North West one mile; road passed through a little sand-stone arroyo, turning North East about 1/4 mile, then our course lay North for another mile and West for still another. Our route to-day will be a generally North West one. Road so far generally and in places quite rocky. First two miles out heavy sand. Juniper trees all this morning so far, but to the North East the country is open, and in all places undulating. (6 m. From this point Red Sandstone butte before mentioned 190º) Small conical butte about 15 m. distant 360º Kept a due north course, 9 miles from Camp, left the Juniper belt and passed through a rolling, grass country. 12 miles out, passed between two red sand-stone buttes, from between which Butte of this morning bears 180º. Line of travel is 0º. Pass in the Sierra Blanca is 145º. Country for the last six miles is sandy; mixed with red clay (about 6 miles out from this morning’s camp, Shevlon’s fork approaches within 800 yds of the road.) The pass between these two buttes is about 1/2 mile long from North to South. From North end of pass a conical black butte, about 5 miles distant bears 5º. Line of march 330º for 16 miles. At 17 1/2 miles from camp passes black butte about 5 miles to North East. Country now getting bad; red clay, mixed with sand and gravel stones. Grass scanty. 21 miles, passed low sand-stone mesa, about half a mile off. Ends 25º and 35º. Trail now turned to 290º for a few hundred yards. Small red sand-stone butte to our left (not visible for any great distance[)] is 300º (about a mile away.) ten for fifteen miles to right another, saddle shaped, has for centre of depression 55º. Went one mile, turning around head of a little sand-stone arroyo, evidently an affluent of the Colorado Chiquito; resumed our former direction of 330º, gaining summit of pass. Halting place just left is 130º from top of pass is 55º (15 centre of saddle.) Before us spreads the valley of the Colorado Chiquito running here from East to West. A Flat top mesa of small size on Right, about 25 miles away is (22º); another to left of it, saddle shaped is, to centre of saddle, ten degrees, and still another to the extreme left of the same plateau on other side of Colorado Chiquito is 318º. On this side of stream, near to-night’s camp, is a small rough, yellow sandstone hill, rather low

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which from my present position is 340º to its centre; trail to camp goes to left of that. San Francisco Mountain, (one peak can be seen at 282º and a second at 285º[)]. Oct 10th Saturday. Broke camp at daybreak, 6 A.M. Moved down the Colorado Chiquito following the Camp Apache and Prescott road for 13 miles, when we made camp on the Right bank of stream in a clump of cottonwoods. Road to day has been very tortuous but our general direction from last night’s camp was toward high peak of San Francisco Mountain. (282º a[nd] 290º.) (About 4 miles out, passed a dry wash, with cottonwood.) joining Col. Chiquito from North East. Evidently water in this wash, a short distance above. For nine miles, mesa comes down within half a mile of stream on Right bank; on left bank the descent is by a gentle slope. Noticed a peculiar outcropping of sandstone boulders. Trees along steam show the rapid approach of water; golden yellow and bright green struggles for the mastery. The banks of Colorado Chiquito all day have been steep, clay walls. The water itself is heavily loaded with alluvial matter in suspension and although not unpleasant to taste is decidedly alkaline. Country open and arid. Grass poor. Cottonwoods and willows the only trees. We saw to-day on the road where a great flock of sheep had been grazing, probably some large band from the Rio Grande or North West part of New Mexico. Much alkali in the soil on this march; our bill of fare since leaving Apache has been varied and agreeable. Without antelope or deer meat, our larder has yet been so well supplied with different species of small game, rabbit, squirrel, hare, wild duck and wild turkey, that the absence of the first name article of diet has not been felt. When we get to the Moqui villages, as our Indians assured us we shall do early day after to-morrow morning, hopes are entertained of our being able to trade with the Moquis for fresh vegetables, fruit and mutton, all of which are raised by them in quantities; Peaches especially will be relished as an unlooked for luxury in this wilderness. A heavy rain storm has prevailed over this part of Arizona within the last fortnight. All the arroyos contain pools of water. The storm was evidently the same one which lasted for three days after our arrival at Camp Apache. Night warm. Oct 11th Sunday. Arose at 3.30. Moved out North West at 5 A.M. 2 1/2 miles passed a range of buttes inclining from South East to North

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West about 2 3/4 passed an arroyo coming into Colorado Chiquito from 45º. Longest Butte now seems to be between 120º and 130. Centre of flat topped one of day before yesterday -3º=357º. Country sandy and barren, covered with weeds. 4 miles out, passed low sand hills on Right hand, close to trail, 4 1/2 miles, climbed to top of low white earth mesa and kept along over undulating ground for one mile in a 305º direction. San Francisco Mtns 273º. The Buttes to South of Sunset Crossing which indicate road to Verde and Prescott lie 1st (216º) and 2nd (end respectively) 232º and 236º. 5 miles out, trail turned 325º. Ground sandy and clayey—marching very bad. On Right of to-day’s travel, the country is hilly, on left gently undulating. Before us is a small rounded peak, near which our Indians say we are to camp to night, its bearing is 345º. 7 miles out, trail 317º, passed an arroyo, lined with willow and having a few green cottonwoods. Arroyo was muddy and some water lay in pools, probably from late rains. Arroyo joined Col. Chiquito and ran from 45 to 245º. Highest peak San Francisco Mtn. 272º. Buttes on Right of trail and about 5 to 6 miles distant are 45º 35º 26 1/2, flat top butte (ends) 23º and 17º. Peak [of] to night[’]s camp 347º. Heavy sand on trail. 9 miles out, trail 325º. Buttes on Left Bank of the Colorado Chiquito. (on Verde road.) one 213º and the other (222º and 226º.) San Francisco Mtn. 268 1/2º Flat-top Butte (center) 22º and the others 33º, 37º, 43º & 57º respectively. Peak of to night’s camp 350º. 12 miles out, up grade all the way, ground red sand, vegetation somewhat better; grama grass mixed with various weeds. Trail 345º. Trail 345º. Flat-top Butte (centre) 43º, ends [(]42º and 46º) Butte 33º [(]last to view) other Buttes on to-day’s march 53º 68º and 71º. Peak of to-night[’]s camp 355º, S.F Mtn 265º. Buttes on Left Bank of Colorado Chiquito 203º and (206-212º). Crossed a wide arroyo, and then passed along it nearly due North for 6 miles. At first we passed through a little sacaton grass, but bareness and desolation soon prevailed. 14 miles, passed a stunted Juniper tree, 15 miles another, 15 1/2 a cottonwood, 16 miles arroyo narrowed from a mile and half in width to about one hundred yards; a number of tributaries joined it, some having stunted juniper and others, palo verde. Ground became less sandy, climbed to top of a mesa, about 80' high, and saw plentiful indications of the presence of limestone, also ferrugi-

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nous [sic] earth which indeed had betrayed itself along the sides of the arroyos for the past two miles. Country now was extremely arid, scarcely any species of vegetation; 18 miles, camp upon an elevated grassy plain with gravel soil. I find I was mistaken in the peak near

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which we are to camp to night. It is to the left of the one hitherto referred to in my notes. Trail over the plain now ran 325º. Peak alongside of which we are to bivouac to-night has a white spot on face seen from the South, is only a few hundred feet above level of the plain and in shape at foot, on left side may be

observed a large deposit of a bright red ferreginous earth. The line on which this peak is situated at extreme left, has for its other peaks the following bearings: 331º, 334, 335º 342º, 359º (the last the peak already alluded to[)] Flat-top Butte (85º-94º) Another flat-top mesa is (54º-65º); still another is (29º-44º) and a red-spotted, small chunky butte directly in front of last is 30º S.F. Mountain is 263º and the Verde road Buttes xx [?]and (212º) Buttes on our Right do not appear to be more than 5 or 6 miles distant and seem to be fringed with juniper or cedar trees. Passed Butte at 20 miles from camp, inclined more to north and at 26 miles gained pass between two buttes, one the extreme left one of the series and the other next [to] it of conical shape. At 27 miles found spring on right of trail: spring very small, water cold but tasting of reeds [?], course the last mile or two somewhat East of North = 10º. Saw, at spring last mentioned, where renegade Apaches, on their way to the Moquis villages to trade for powder and blankets, had camped. Signal Butte, 148º Red streaked Butte 186º Left-hand Butte 215º. Conical to Spring 180º S.F. Mts. (Concealed) Butte where Spring is said to be for to-night’s camp. 355º. A Band of antelopes seen to-day but none were killed as they had scented the command long before they themselves were discovered. SF Mtn 245º. Bill Williams [Mountains] 260º. Butte just passed 210º and 198º. Butte in front of camp is 7º. The spring at which we camped is in a little gorge facing West North West. Water very scarce. Grass inferior quality. Wood not to be had. Command is using wormwood and other weeds for fuel. Total distance to-day 36 miles. Time of March 12 hours. Night pleasant and cool but not cold.

Chapter 5 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Hopi Villages

Monday, October 12th, 1874. Camp aroused before dawn, but as two of our pack mules had wandered off during night, search for them retarded our departure until after day break. Left camp about 5.45 a.m. Trail 347º. After marching two miles had San Francisco Mtn. on our Left 247º, Spring Butte on our Right had a yellow mark on face, and bears 56º [Button-top] High Chimney peak butte to our rear which is a prominent landmark for reaching Moquis country has for its two points 200º 209º. Small mesa on Verde road on Left bank of Colorado Chiquito. 225º Day pleasant but cloudy & signs of snow. Country barren, soil pulverized red clay mixed with sand. Trail for the first ten miles nearly due North (347º @ 357º) Country sandy. 3 miles out, passed a second butte on Right with yellow mark on face, but this one had a flat top. 6 miles out trail passed between two buttes, over the nose of one on Right hand. Country now open on all sides. S.F. Mountain 240º. Saw where renegade Apaches had made a second camp on their way to trade buckskins for blankets with the Moquis. Killed two rattlesnakes on the trail this morning and one yesterday. 12 miles out, country still barren but interesting in a mineralogical point of view; passed a belt of white and yellow sandstone boul101

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ders[;] saw a stratum of white, compact friable stone which upon examination proved to be a mixture of sulphate and carbonate of lime, cut readily with a knife and effervescing slowly under action of Colorado Chiquito water which is highly alkaline. Half a mile farther on, found a belt of white clay and black liquet, the black band exposed to view being 5' thick; the whole stratum very pure, only an occasional speck of schist being discernable. Our march of to-day was 18 miles in the general direction of the morning; about mid-day, we entered a large extent of ground planted in maize, with frequent patches of water[melons] and musk-melons. Near the trail our Indian guides stumbled upon a large pile of melons drying in the sun; to these they were helping themselves with a generous hand when a Moqui Indian, one of the number we afterwards found had been laboring in the fields, approached us and very kindly invited the whole party, numbering nearly 20, to an appreciable refection of fresh melon. Journeying a little further, we encountered other members of the tribe who addressed us kindly after the usual manner of these Indians to strangers entering one of their villages. On all sides of us now stretched a broad expanse of cultivated land, whose content was at least 2500 Acres. Soon we came upon groves of peach trees, the fruit from which had already been gathered. Perched like old feudal castles upon the very apex of a precipitous sandstone acclivity, rising hundreds of feet above us, would be seen three of the pueblos or villages of this singular people. At foot of the precipice we found a spring or tank of turbid, green water, kept for the use of their animals. Here our stock was watered and afterwards the command, under guidance of a Moqui, pushed on a few hundred yards to a small ravine full pf peach trees, where was found a small spring of water which our guide informed us was reserved for drinking purposes for the villages, the large tank just mentioned being used by animals only. Both tank and spring were walled in with masonry and had been excavated to a considerable depth; to approach the tank a ramp had been made of easy grade. We saw many flocks of sheep and goats, as well as some horses and burros, but no horned cattle—. No sooner had we made camp than a number of men presented themselves, one announcing with a great flourish that he was an “intelplete” (interpreter), and had been to Santa Fe. A few moment’s laborious colloquy with this individual, satisfied me he

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was an egregarious imposter who made up for his ignorance of Spanish by glib discourse and arrant impudence. However, after some painful efforts and attention, I fixed the significance of many of his words making keystones and [roussoirs?] of them to construct an arch of language to bridge the chasm of misunderstanding separating us. He said he had been to Santa Fe, also had worked for the Momo-nee. Perhaps we were Mo-mo-nee? (Mormons) Ah! No. then perhaps we were travelling to the country of the Navajoes. He had often been to the country of the Navajoes and was going to the land of the Mo-mo-nee some time. He was interpreter here and had to stay here since the Americans, living with them, had gone away[.] The Americans, as near as could be learned, were named Palmer, Waller, Charlie and one other a Mormon who had removed to a ranch between them and the Navajo country. Regarding the question of corn for our animals, he was decidedly non-committal; they had plenty of course, but it was all up in their villages, locked up in a big stone house and their Pata (Agent) Palmer had gone to Washington with the key; he left when the last moon was very little; would be back in three moons more. Their Captain had gone off with a large band of their young men to gather acorns from the cañons in the mountains to the South East and corn from grounds they had planted over there; the party would also hunt for venison on the way. If we wanted corn how much would we pay for it? He had a box, as big as his foot each way and for one dollar he would fill it with old corn in the ear; new corn he did not want to sell (The box would probably hold six ears of their blue corn). The General penetrated this old fellow’s object, which beyond mischance was to extort from the necessities of ourselves and animals an exorbitant price for all we could be forced to buy. General Crook wishing to communicate with the people in the village sent me to open some kind of correspondence with such of the head men as could be found in their towns. Accordingly, Mr. Scott and I proceeded up the trail to the crest of the mesa. A graded road-way, built up with masonry, led along the side of the precipice for some hundreds of yards speaking in very glowing terms of the industry and patience of this people. Once in their first village (Tegua), we saw houses built of sand-stone and cement, quite comfortable in appearance, and having all the conveniences of the lower class of

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Mexican abodes. Altho’ situated at least 500 feet above the surrounding plain, their dwellings were not cold by any means. The roofs were made of cottonwood rafters, covered with reeds and over that a coating of cement. Some little time was consumed in hunting up the residence of the principal man, but at last our efforts were rewarded by an encounter with one whose supply of corn seemed large and whose bump of covetousness augured favorably for our being able to make some sort of a trade. Giving a dollar bill for an amount of corn worth about ten cents we prevailed upon this redskinned representative of Chatham Street to carry the load down to our Camp, where the news that we had money and really intended to spend it, had drawn a concourse of greedy Indians among whom soon appeared the so called interpreter who found himself the recipient of a few carefully selected remarks productive of the desired effect. He was informed that General Crook was no poor prospector, begging his way through the country, but the big chief of all the Americans in this country. He was the man who had whipped into submission the Apaches, Apache-Mojaves, Tontos and Haulpais. He had not only all the American soldiers he wanted but more Apache and Hualpai soldiers than he knew what to do with. The Apaches they saw with us were some of his soldiers, brought from the Sierra Blanca. If he wanted to take their corn and melons he could say to the soldiers now with him “to take it” and the Moquis couldn’t prevent them. But he had come here with the intention of being their friend and hence he was anxious to pay for all the grain and melons and peaches the men and animals could eat. All they could bring down before sun-set would be purchased, but he was tired of so much talking. This assured the Moquis that further delay would be injurious to their commercial interests, & within an hour, a long train of young men, carrying blankets filled with blue corn, appeared in our camp and trade, to use the journalistic expression, “showed an upward tendency.” These Indians we shortly learned, call every piece of paper money a “peso” (dollar), small fractional currency was at once in demand and every hope was entertained that a supply in sufficient quantity could be had,1 but through some misapprehension only a few notes could be procured from the en1. At that time the United States issued paper money in denominations of less than a dollar, ranging from three to fifty cents. Bourke apparently meant that, since the Indians could not distinguish between the denominations, Crook hoped to pass off fractional notes as dollars and obtain the corn at a cheaper rate.

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listed men and packers; with these, however, we managed to secure about enough forage to give all our tired animals a feed for night and morning. This night it rained for a little while. Tuesday October 13th 1874. Remained in camp. Sky cloudy, some rain at intervals; during day, visited mesa on which we had been yesterday. Here there are three stone pueblos. Tegua, Hualpi and Moqui,—the last having houses four stories high. The others are called Su-mo-pah-ove, Oraybe, Masanga-nevy and Su-powah-levy. The mesa upon which the first three are situated is at least 500 feet in elevation above the plain, across which any column approaching in any direction can be seen for nearly twenty miles. The formation is a friable sandstone in strata from three to forty and fifty feet thick; on top the total width in places is not more than ten feet and at maximum not much over two hundred yards. The top is perfectly level, with trails worn in the solid rock six and eight inches. The men appear not so noble as the Apaches and certainly have not the same fierce and warlike countenances. The women from living inside houses, and in a fine, mild atmosphere are the handsomest and best formed as well as whitest Indians in this Territory. They possess and practice many industrial, domestic arts unknown to the Apaches and other nations on the south and west. They make a bread, in form of a blue corn paste, very sweet to the taste and undoubtedly very nutritious. They likewise lay by in one of the rooms of their houses, reserved for the purpose, ample stores of dried water-melons, musk mellons [sic], cantelopes, dried peaches, dried venison, mutton and goat’s flesh, besides having onions, tomatoes, beets and an abundance of corn in the ear hung on strings, chili is also one of their vegetables and we saw strings of what appeared to be beans hanging to the rafters. Acorns are laid up in great abundance and are much in favor as an article of diet. The rations for daily use are placed in bins of wood and stone laid in cement, one of the stones being scooped out as a “metate,” on which are ground corn, acorns and other grains. The flocks of sheep and goats sheltered in stone corrals built in the sides of the precipice yield a large amount of wool and hair, used by the women in weaving blankets of an extra fine texture and great thickness. Coverlids or mattresses are also made of a warp of woolen strands into which they work in a peculiar way the skins of rabbits, squirrels, beavers and coyotes. The men dress in cotton shirts and

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drawers and buckskin moccasins wearing also one of their home made blankets of a striped pattern in blue, white and black. The children dress in the garden of paradise costume. The women, coy and timid, eluded us as much as possible keeping to the upper stories of the houses. However, we managed to obtain a close look at a few of the young maidens who have good figures and comely refined faces; they walk with a decidedly ungainly waddle detracting much from the superiority of their figures. For dress they wear a dark blue hand made blanket reaching from shoulder to knee exposing very shapely limbs; this garment extends over the right shoulder and breast, but the upper half of the left breast is exposed. [A]bout six inches below the top and one foot above the bottom edge, run lines of yellow border work while at the waist, a girdle of red worsted confines the dress and discloses the figure. The hair is arranged a la chinoise, in three puffs; one at back of crown, and one on each side above the ears thus:

About neck are worn bands of blue and white beads. The squaws keep the interior of their houses creditably clean but the streets are rather squalid filled with garbage and emitting a perfume of putrid vegetation, drying meat, goats, sheep, donkeys, manure, dogs, chickens, and other smells for which no name can be assigned; Coleridge might have come to the Moquis villages before stigmatizing the smells of Cologne.2 Moqui itself is cleaner than the other two pueblos; because here the houses border upon the edge of the precipice over which the inmates throw their refuse and filth. Under each house are Kennels for dogs in which the place abounds and places for chickens, to be seen in numbers. Furnaces are also to be seen, cylindrical holes one foot in diameter and 2 feet deep, lined with cement, and used as ovens for baking corn. Halfway up the precipice at junction of two roads was 2. Bourke is referring to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1828 poem, “Cologne,” which says, in part: In Köhln, a town of monks and bones, And pavements fang’d with murderous stones, And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches; I counted two and seventy stenches All well defined, and several stinks!

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found a shrine of masonry containing two upright stones before which had been deposited votive offerings of petrified wood, stone and other rubbish. Of the religion of the people we learned nothing altho’ we saw in nearly every house painted pieces of wood marked with rude representations of the human figure, probably idols. The Moquis make fine baskets of various forms and pottery of delicate workmanship, similar to the fragments found in the so-called Aztec ruins of the Territory. The chimneys of their houses are constructed of “ollas”3 superimposed one above the other and serving their purpose very well as none of the rooms show signs of smoke notwithstanding the fact that many of their buildings have been inhabited hundreds of years. With much dickering and much annoying talk, now offering one thing, now another, we succeeded in securing from them a few “ollas” and a few of their blankets; of the value of our money they could scarcely be made to understand an idea—they know well that with it in Santa Fe, Salt Lake City, and Prescott, could be bought muslins and calicoes and powder, but of the worth to be assigned each note it was a matter of the greatest difficulty to make them believe anything. A bargain just concluded with them, often was broken through their being displeased with some figure in the engraving [on the currency]. When a woman’s figure formed part of the picture, success most frequently attached to our bargains. In trade they showed themselves more keen, and we would have had no trouble in disposing of a lot of bright red flannel shirts at almost any valuation. [O]ne of the hardest duties a young officer can be called upon to perform is to purchase grain after dark from a set of rapacious, ignorant one sixteenth civilized savages and have to do this without the necessary small change while the Indians insolently ridicule as spurious any estimate of a greenback greater than a dollar. Mickey Free, our Apache sergeant, proved equal as a trickster to any of his adversaries and to hear him expatiate with unblushing effrontery upon the almost priceless value of the paper money in his possession, one would think the Knaves were not all dead yet. For two dollars, he purchased better blankets than we could get for them and, more than the Moquis seemed to live under lasting obligations to the young imp[.] 3. “Jars,” i.e. ceramic pipe cemented together to run up from the fireplace, which was probably also a jug-shaped piece of pottery. A similar style is used in Mexico, and currently (2001-02) is fashionable for interior decorating in Texas and the Southwest.

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To-day, General Crook had a long talk with the Moquis telling them they must cease commerce with all Apaches not on the Reserves, which they promised to do. Besides, they agreed to let us have 1000 pounds of shelled corn at 4¢ a pound in sacks; a very liberal deduction from the outrageous impositions of yesterday. They are also to give us a guide hence to Oraybe their main village and, if the General wishes, from there to the Colorado Cañon[.] To-night, Moquis came down and sold us about $30 worth of shelled corn, giving an abundant feed for our pack animals and horses as well as a good supply to take with us on the march. After dark we could hear these Indians chanting some sort of a chorus lasting nearly an hour. Wednesday October 14th, Camp awakened at 3.30 A.M. With the first streak of dawn the Moquis again shouted some sort of a chant from the summit of the mesa and the ravines beneath. Moquis gave us a guide to conduct the column to their principal village, Oraybe which they say, we shall reach by mid-day. Our Apache guides left us today to return to the Sierra Blanca. During our stay here, [I] succeeded in securing by trade 3 very good Moquis blankets and some specimens of curious pottery. Learned yesterday that these Indians gather a variety of wild honey considered by them a rare delicacy and jealously cared for in earthen jars. Also have miscal, traded for with the Apaches, and sun-flower seeds of unusually large size. Notice the squaws baking bread; over the fire of live coals is secured a thin sheet of iron, tin or stone which they rub with fat every few moments. A paste, the consistency of thin gruel, made of ground corn, is applied with the hand and almost immediately is baked through; this is then rolled up much like we would a sheet of tissue paper the resemblance to which is very striking. Large quantities are baked at a time and put aside for consumption when needed. Four Navajo Indians were in the pueblos yesterday on a trading excursion. A small band is camped in the plain three or four miles South East of us, and their fire could be seen until late last night. Our course after being out 7 miles this morning, was 240º. Moqui lay behind us 98º. Saw 5 miles from Moqui a planting ground where, besides corn and melons, sun flowers had been sown some of which were of enourmous size the disk of the flower being 8" to 10" in diameter filled with large nutritious seeds.

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After seven miles entered a recess in the sandstone mesa and followed along this arroyo for a mile leaving it on our left and climbing to top of mesa, whence San Francisco Mountain 227º. On this mesa much stunted cedar. Passed a bean patch shortly before leaving arroyo. Moqui from here 92º. After a total march of 15 miles, passing through and along fields of corn, melons and beans we arrived at Oraybe, situated as the other pueblos, on a bold mesa of sandstone fronting to the south and east. A peculiar formation of sandstone was noticeable this morning; a base with nodules of a homogeneous nature but entirely disconnected from the base which being disintegrated by the action of the elements left these nodules, in places for hundreds of yards, scattered over the ground. Saw San Francisco Mountain capped with snow this morning. Our trail led us up the mesa and past Oraybe and into Camp near a deep reservoir of crude masonry containing plenty of water. The sandstone of the Oraybe mesa is very soft and friable presenting in some parts broad surfaces perfectly flat, on which some half developed Moqui artist had rudely figured representations of birds, beasts, men, women, and sometimes, fanciful and grotesque outlines. Discernable among these were a jackass, antelope, dog, man, woman, and a representation probably intended for the Roman Catholic Church at Santa Fe where these Indians trade. Where the human form was delineated, the artist did not seem to be restrained by too great a sense of delicacy in executing his task. The village of Oraybe is now in a condition of decadence and not perhaps as populous as the three visited yesterday, but the buildings were at one time more numerous, more compact and better constructed than in the other pueblos; many houses are in total ruins, others rapidly approaching the same mournful condition. The supply of water is more ample and the soil seemingly more generous; in every direction, look where you will are forests of peach trees, the limbs of not a few breaking down under their burden of the delicious fruit upon which our hungry soldiers are now delightedly feasting. Not even in New Jersey, Maryland, Tennessee[,] Michigan or California, famed for their posological productions, can be found fruits of better size for the table, more juicy or more grateful flavor than those lying on the ground about us in hundreds of bushels and which the squaws, in clusters of half a dozen are engaged in drying on the sand-stone benches on the southern side of the mesa.

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Probably thousands of pounds are this moment exposed within a radius of three miles from camp. The Moquis matrons wear their hair in a manner different from that of the young maidens: it is parted in the middle from forehead to collar and gathered into two bands, one over each ear and plaited with woolen yarn. Some of our men found an Albino among the Moquis this afternoon: they say he was perfectly white, hair between red and flaxen, and a sullen expression of countenance; would not let them see his eyes. He was averse to conversation and said in tolerable English “Go away” when addressed. Travellers, prospectors and scouting parties had evidently given him a great deal of annoyance by undue curiosity. The Indians here say there is a Mormon settlement on the line of tomorrow[’]s march. From here, Chimney Butte bears 153º. San Francisco Mtn. 225º. All the rocks in vicinity of Oraybe are covered with rudely carved pictures and hieroglyphics; some so old and weather beaten as to render desciphering [sic] an impossibility. A number of these carvings are rudely reproduced in these pages. Mr Scott carved the name of our party on a large flat faced sandstone boulder, near the initials, monograms, and names of officers and soldiers of the 1st. New Mexican Volunteers, who encamped here in 1864. One of the names is “S. Baca, Capitan, 1st. NM Vol. May 12, 1864,” and another, “I Mohr 1st NM. Vol. May 1864” Mr. Scott’s inscription reads; Brig Genl. George Crook Lieut: JG Bourke W.G. Scott Oct: 14, 1874 Thursday Oct 15, 1874 Camp aroused at 4 A.M. Moquis made a fearful din ringing bells from the summits of the mesa and immediately afterwards all hands turned out to labor in the fields[.] During the night, they had stripped every peach from the trees in the orchard nearest our camp; a trick we disregarded as our boxes and hampers had been fully packed yesterday afternoon. Moved out at 5:30 A.M. Not being able to obtain a guide at Oraybe, General Crook was reluctantly compelled to return towards Prescott and we moved nearly due south for 14 miles

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(at 9 miles passing close under a sandstone bluff on our right covered with inscriptions and Indian tracings) when reached a mesa on Left extending North and South and having a number of ravines, small in size but holding water. The one at which our animals drank contained more than all the tanks seen at the Moqui villages. Oraybe from here is 357º. San Francisco Mtn. 202º Butte (small) s. col[orado] chiquito 208º. Day pleasant[.] First five miles heavy sand dune now in red adobe clay mixed with white sand. From this point General Crook struck out across country, hoping to reach the Rio Colorado Chiquito by night. Moved for 7 miles 215º climbing to top of mesa on our right and after a mile descending it on south side and turning nearly East for a mile, to camp with running water and green grass, in the arroyo followed the morning. Our position is about 200º from springs in ravine of to-day. Country passed through today, red sandstone bluffs and red sand. About a mile to west of camp great quantities of broken pottery and some low crumbling adobe walls attest to the fact of the Moquis or some kindred nation having at one time had a village on this ground. Saw this morning the first Albino in Arizona.4 The command encountered him while marching through corn fields a mile or two south of Oraybe. A person unacquainted with the existence of such a race among the wild tribes of Arizona would have addressed him in English, confident he was some poverty stricken, drunken Irish or Scotch beggar. His hair in color between a flaxen and auburn hung in long masses over his shoulders; complexion very light with red cheeks; eyes of a grayish hazel; skin much tanned. To our greetings, he returned a cheerful reply but made away with himself and load of water melons as fast and as soon as he could. Distance to-day 24 miles Time 8 hs. 10 m. At this season of the year numbers of the Moquis are hunting; in Oraybe we saw many rabbits drying on rafters in the houses. Their flesh is eaten and the fur saved to make fur coverlids and mattresses. The old squaws devote much time to chasing game in the children’s heads [i.e., picking out and eating the lice in the children’s hair]; woe to the too corpulent pedicules unable to escape their clutches. 4. For some inexplicable reason, Bourke had completely forgotten the albino mentioned only a day earlier, unless he meant that he had personally seen this albino, whereas the one of the previous day had been noted by “some of our men” rather than by personal encounter.

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Before he can emit one despairing howl of agony, their toothless jaws and leathery lips have done their work and the poor parasite is gone from our gaze forever. During our stay at their villages, and perhaps as a consequence thereof, men women and children equally labored in the fields and orchards, carrying to the roofs of their houses all the fruits and vegetables approaching maturity; not so soon but that our men had plenty of melons obtained whence none could say. These Indians although more thrifty, do not inspire the respect commanded by the Apaches who in every manly trait and virtue are far superior to the effeminate Moqui. [For more observations on Hopi life, see Appendix 14.] Friday Oct: 16th 1874 Moved at dawn 5.30 after marching 2 1/2 miles, with red sandstone bluffs within 300 yards of trail on right; we came to a small cottonwood tree from which a back-sight read 49º and a foresight 235º. Day fair and bright. Ground barren and heavy red sand. Bluffs cut into all imaginable fantastic shapes by long continued action of Elements. Chimney Peaks 103º. Peak to right of them 115º. San Francisco Mtns 245º. 5 miles, country still barren; soil heavy, red sand. Bluffs on our right present the appearance of old Gothic Cathedrals, Castles, with buttresses bastions and towers complete. Little minarets 5' to 10' high not over a foot thick stand out in places; now and then one is met looking for all the world like a complete statue of man or woman. Signal Buttes 112º Chimney Butte 95º San Francisco Mts. 236 and 240º (Peaks) Mesa of San Francisco Mtn. 299º to 255º. After moving out in same general direction for 11 miles had Chimney Butte 85º one to right of it (red spotted one of Oct 11th) 85º Signal Butte 99º. San Francisco Mountain 240º[.] Saw a band of cottonwood foliage in the distance on our left, indicated course of Rio Colorado Chiquito[.] Moved down from mesa and on towards the river which we afterwards found was nearly seven miles distant. For four miles country was fine red sand strewn with fragments of basalt, flint, and a variety of porphyry, base flint and crystals of red jasper small size. Petrified wood could be seen in profusion so nearly resembling fuel that had camp been made old soldiers would have been misled into raising it from the ground. At times the petrified chips, splinters, and blocks reminded us of the floor of a carpenter’s shop. Trees petrified in the stump with stone branches

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lying near to parent stem were also passed, but no silicified twigs were met with. For the next four miles soil heavy red adobe clay showing traces of the extent to which the Colorado Chiquito in winter overflows its banks[;] drift cottonwood and cedar could be seen for miles, while on this clay plain, mirages sported with our confiding senses. Here came sparkling in the sun a little stream flowing to join to Colorado Chiquito. Its course could be traced for miles and at one of its bends we were not more than fifty yards from its channel when presto! it vanished whence it came into air[.] Found an easy ford over the river a very fortunate circumstance impassable cañons being according to current report on both sides of and but a short distance from camp. General Crook and Mr. Scott shot a number of wild ducks to-day, just in good time to replenish our meat larder, nearly as bare as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. Distance to-day between 18 and 20 miles. Time Seven hours San Francisco Mtn. From Camp 249º 251º. Judging from looks of the country, this river is passable for 15 or 20 miles further down from our present camp, which has a crossing better at least at this season than either that at Sunset or Cottonwood[.] So closes out the record of our brief stay in the country of the Moquis—a nation interesting in main points as being one of the two or three maintaining the same domain today as they did when Cortez landed at Vera Cruz; and possessing all the industrial arts which can be acquired by a people unacquainted with the working of metals; while we have made the journey not without some profit and great interest to ourselves, it is not one to be repeated with advantage. Inhospitality, Mendaciousness, rapacity and filth are not the qualities to contemplate which one cares to travel for 80 miles across a desert without wood or grass and with only one watering place of importance and that one the stream on which we have made camp to-night with current so turbid and sedimentary that after bathing in it our faces and hands are encrusted with red clay and sands. Every one in our the party rejoices at being once more across the line separating us from “Gods country” where once at least each day can be found a pleasant spot for a bivouac alongside some purling stream or near some crystal spring[.] Regret is felt that our trip could not this time include the grand cañon of the Colorado River

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and, if properly equipped and rationed we could think easily from this point march North North West across foothills of San Francisco Mountain (thereby avoiding the cañon of cat[a]ract creek we would encounter farther north) to the country north of Bill Williams Mountains; from which a deflection of North North West ought to bring us to the main depth of the Great Cañon to the East of the junction of Diamond river. Our absence from Prescott has been for all that replete with much of interest and importance; the operations of the Military posts and Indian reservations at Camps Verde, Apache and San Carlos have been inspected; the strange towns of the strange Moquis visited and much scenery, good, bad and indifferent, plain, mountain, fruitful field and arid desert, bubbling spring of crystal freshness and stagnant pool of slime and alkali, seen and experienced with varying sensations of pleasure or discomfort but all alike laid away in the recesses of memory as episodes in one of the most pleasant trips of our military career. Saturday Oct. 17th 1874. Camp awakened at 4 A.M. moved at 5.27. 215º one mile country covered with fragments of sandstone schist. Chimney Peaks 82º 30' Signal Butte 84º 30' San Francisco Mtn. 251º course of march 182º. One mile in this new direction turned to Right crossed a sandstone walled arroyo about 100 feet deep and walls nearly vertical, course now about 236º, four miles out; line of lava bluffs on our left about 250 yards off; some few sandstone shale mounds scattered over the plain which was rather well grassed with gramma, 5 miles out reached summit of a small lava flat topped mesa, with talus of comminuted black lava at base. Chimney Butte 68º. Signal Butte 81º. San Francisco Mtn. 255º. Course of trail 230º Camp of Oct. 15th 42º Nine to ten miles out, passed between a line of lava knolls 3 in number, perpendicular to our trail, two small rounded ones on our Left and one larger conical one on Right. All three covered with white grass. Soil for last four miles finely Broken black lava covered with coarse white grass. Outcropping of black lava on Left. Chimney Butte 65º Day fine. Weather fair. Slight breeze from South. After a mile over this mesa course 225º. Ground elevated and undulating. In another half mile saw for probably last time Chimney Butte 66º. Red-spot-

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ted Butte 72º 30' Signal Butte 77º. Trail now ran 210º[.] Passed into a country of low rounded knolls of no great height covered with white grass; on our Right not more than two or three miles away stretched out from San Francisco Mtn a long line of low hills covered with pine, oak, juniper and piñon, on our trail were encountered successively scrub juniper, juniper, piñon and juniper and then at 14 miles we entered a dense pine forest. Deer and Bear sign plenty. At sixteen miles still in forest—trail running over lava pebble soil. Made a total march to day of 27 miles, the last half being in a forest of pine trees. No material deviation from the direction of 210º except for the last mile when we marched nearly due south. Came into a granite formation four miles from camp which is at Southern end of the high mesa projecting from Southern end of San Francisco Mtn. Wood and grass plenty, sufficient water for command found in springs in rocks. Saw some Mountain Mahogony this afternoon near camp. Rained constantly since mid-day. Cleared off at night, but remained chill and damp until next morning. Sunday Octr. 18th Morning foggy, 9 miles One mile out spring on Left 2 miles on Right 3 1/2 miles track road overgrown with grass followed it finding a spring where we watered animals at 9 miles from camp. Lava and granite all day[.] [W]eather foggy and damp. Kept nearly West and West North West for 22 miles from last camp. The day has been so dark[,] foggy and at intervals rainy that no observation with prismatic compass could be made. Moved entirely around Southern mesa prolongation of the San Francisco Mountain; country one black stretch of pine trees; road very winding; at 22 miles road crossed another. Water in springs at convenient distances on either side of the road, has been plenty all day. Wood[,] water and grass abundant and of good quality at this camp. Many antelope seen on the march but none near enough to kill. At night sky cleared off and a violent wind prevailed shifting to all points of the compass. Rained a little during night and at early morning turned very cold. Monday Oct 19th. Moved out at day—dawn. country more open. After going five miles back sight read 135º. High conical Mountain Either, Sitgreaves or Kendrick 67º. After another mile and a half of open country with wooded rills on either side close to trail struck Law’s spring; road now going 270º.

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This spring is on Beales trail. Before us stretches an elevated flat country, cut up by ravines and valleys. Turned 180º over low pine hills 10 miles out country open and well grassed. Bill Williams Mtn 185º San Francisco 83º. High Mtn. Of this morning 75º. Trail running 168º after fifteen miles came upon a great many antelopes but unable to kill any. Country of same general character. San Francisco Mtn 65º[.] After marching 20 miles trail nearly due South entered a belt of pine timber. Country to-day full of small knots covered with pine and juniper. After 30 miles struck Prescott road and followed it for 3 miles about 300º road then turned nearly West. Road bad full of lava boulders steep down grade. Squaw Peak Mtn. Bill Williams 340º. Made a total march of 35 miles, camping at Bear Springs. Saw Chino Valley in the distance to the West. Numerous herds of deer and antelope darted across our path to-day some of them were badly wounded by marksmen of the command, but unfortunately none were killed. General Crook and Private Green and Mr. Scott have been absent all day in the mountains hunting; signal fires have been lit to guide them to our position but as yet 6 P.M. they have not arrived. At 6.20 P.M. General Crook and Private Green reached camp but nothing could be learned of Mr. Scott who remained absent all night. Large fires consuming whole pine trees were kept blazing until a late hour and signal guns at intervals of five minutes each were fired until nearly ten o’clock. Tuesday October 20th. General Crook sent me on ahead to Prescott, while he remained at Bear Springs to continue the search for Mr. Scott. Volumes of smoke were sent up from the top of the rocky bluffs overlooking our camp and several parties well provided with necessaries were detailed to scour the country. One to proceed on the Prescott and New Mexico road to the North East another to go North to the foot of the highest point of Bill Williams Mountains and a third to strike across the hills to the trail of yesterday. Meantime I am to scan closely the road between here and the Chino Valley settlements in case our missing companion may have turned West and come out near the ranchos. Left camp at 8; followed road going 234º to 180º for 7 1/2 miles, road filled with boulders of basalt and very badly worn; the end of the Squaw Peak range not more than 20 miles away lay 157º. Be-

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fore leaving camp General Crook sent out pack mules to carry in the venison killed by him yesterday. At end of 7 1/2 miles came to two cañons one running alongside road from E and N.E. the other coming in from West. Saw Squaw Peak 155º. Wild Cherry Creek Mtn. 160º. Bill Williams Mtn. 350º. North end of Squaw Peak range 168º. After 10 miles Granite Mtn. 187º. After 12 miles, course turned 250º and at 14 or 15 m. crossed a steep cañon without water coming in from North North West and bending to 70º. Red rocks seen in part at 75º Bill Williams 8º. Travelled first 12 miles to-day down grade and in cedar forest. After 12 miles, road somewhat better grade easy and undulating and timber much scattered[.] Think the cañon just passed may be Hell Cañon. Has walls of red sandstone, and summit edged with black basalt. Since crossing Hell Cañon, road turned first to 220º and gradually to 180º formation of ground changing from basaltic to rich earth full of small stones of lava[,] sandstone and occasionally granite. Country well grassed. About 21 miles from Bear Springs the following observations were made: Bill Williams Mountain 20º San Francisco Mountain 40º. Northern end of Squaw Peak Mountains (or Black hills) 92º[.] Direction of trail sighted on mountain believed to be back of the settlements in Chino Valley 185º. Pass in the Juniper Mountains west of old Camp Hualpai 262º. Rested here as we did at Rattlesnake and Hell Cañons a few moments on account of the horses and ourselves[.] Kept on down due south (180º to 185º) for a distance of 12 miles from Hell Cañon and a total day’s march of between 28 and 30 miles reaching the ranch of Mr George Banghart in Chino Valley, where we were most cordially welcomed by the family, forage provided for our horses and a smoking hot meal of fried chicken, sweet butter, rich cream coffee and biscuits temptingly arrayed on a snowy white table cloth for our own refreshment. It is worth while to pass over Arizona’s deserts and wander through Arizona’s forests and mountains to appreciate the gratefulness of Arizona hospitality[.] To-morrow two or three hours before day we start on our last march for “Home” Fort Whipple,5 twenty miles to the south of this place. 5. Fort Whipple was established December 23, 1863, in the Chino Valley, about twentyfour miles north of Prescott, and relocated to Prescott five months later. The first telegraph linking Arizona to the outside world was established between Whipple and San Diego in 1873. In 1879, Fort Whipple was consolidated with Prescott Barracks to become Whipple

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From this point the bearing of Prescott is 175º. Pass in Juniper Mountains West of old Camp Haulpai 270º. Bill Williams Mountain 25º. Wednesday Oct 20th. Left Banghart’s ranch at 4.45 A.M, moving south to Prescott (Fort Whipple) 23 miles when within eight miles of Prescott taking the trail up Granite Creek and through the Granite rocks to the post, which we reached at 10.15 A.M. Upon the San Carlos reservation we had a fine opportunity of witnessing the Apache mode of dancing and some peculiarities of their social etiquette. Women are never invited to dance, but assume the initiative and select their own partners from the opposite sex: that is to say, one woman selects for every two, the fortunate or unfortunate masculine upon whom their choice may fall being apprised of his fate by a gentle tug at the elbow which he is not permitted to disregard. The young woman now runs away followed leisurely by the warrior to a place where the set is being formed, in a manner somewhat the same as an American quadrille. Two men, placed about 15 feet apart, face each other, each having upon his arms two women with their backs turned to those of the pair opposite. At a given signal, all strike up a monotonous dirge or chant to whose time they advance and when the men are within touching distance, they suddenly turn their backs to each other, while the women all face those on the other side; in this new arrangement receding to the starting point. Having repeated this manuoevre two or three times, all join hands and circle around. This salutary enjoyment, if enjoyment it be, is persisted in all night, the singers as they become exhausted giving way to others of equally stentorian lungs, who continue the exercises until the sun’s early rays warn them the night is ended. It is not permitted to refuse any invitation extended by a squaw; a mark of respect to the sex not easily accounted for among Apaches usually so unmindful of the kindnesses due to the weak and delicate.

Barracks. It served as departmental headquarters until 1887, when Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles moved headquarters to Los Angeles. Deactivated in 1922, it is now used by the Veterans Administration as a hospital. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 63-67; Frazer, Forts of the West, 14-15.f

✦

✦ Part 2 Department of the Platte 1875–1876

Departments of Dakota, Platte and Arizona

Background

I

n March 1875, General Crook was ordered to relieve Brig. Gen. E.O.C. Ord as commander of the Department of the Platte.1 The department was headquartered at Omaha Barracks, Nebraska, and included that state, Iowa, Wyoming, Utah, and southern Idaho, and was one of four departments within the Military Division of the Missouri, a vast jurisdiction composed more or less of the central two-thirds of the United States. The division was commanded by Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, whose headquarters was in Chicago. In addition to the Platte, the departments included Texas, commanded by Brig. Gen. Christopher C. Augur in San Antonio; the Missouri, under Brig. Gen. John Pope, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and Dakota, under Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry in St. Paul, Minnesota. Bourke’s description of the trip from Arizona to Omaha, via San Francisco, is an excellent account of Southern California in its early days of development, and of Utah as it was undergoing the painful transition from Mormon theocracy to integral part of the United States. It is significant because it contains some of Bourke’s most malevolent prose, directed not at Indians or government contrac1. Robinson, General Crook, 161.

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tors, but at the Mormons. Brigham Young is portrayed as a sensuous charlatan, his wives are called “harlots” and “concubines,” and the Mormon leadership is depicted as a sort of religious Mafia, exercising total spiritual and secular power over its followers. Bourke contended that Mormonism could survive only in ignorance and isolation. Thus, he believed, the transcontinental railroad through Utah ultimately would mean the end of the sect. These passages reflect less Bourke’s own Roman Catholic views than the general popular hatred for Mormonism that existed throughout the United States in the nineteenth century, and which drove the Mormons out into the wilderness in the first place.2 In On the Border With Crook, however, he devoted only one page to the entire journey from Whipple to Omaha, and kept his opinions of the Mormons to himself.3 As the new commander in the Platte, Crook assumed a jurisdiction that essentially was a powder keg waiting to explode. The trouble went back nine years, to the Red Cloud War, when the Lakota Sioux and their allies, the Cheyenne and Arapaho, had fought the government to a standstill. In response, a federal commission met with the Indians at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and negotiated what officially was known as the “Treaty with the Sioux—Brulé, Oglala, Two Kettle, Sans Arcs, and Santee—and Arapaho, 1868,” but commonly called the Fort Laramie Treaty. Under its terms, the government ceded to the Sioux a reservation comprised of what is now the entire state of South Dakota west of the Missouri River, as well as a triangle of land in modern North Dakota. The government also agreed to close the Bozeman Trail between Fort Laramie and the Montana gold fields, as well as the three forts—Reno, Phil Kearny, and C.F. Smith—that defended the trail. The reservation itself was declared off-limits to all unauthorized persons. In return for these concessions, the Indians agreed to allow roads, railroads, mail stations, and other forms of transportation and communication deemed necessary, and not to restrict travel on those routes. The government also acknowledged that a large section of northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana would be considered “unceded Indian territory,” again off-limits to all unauthorized persons. In order to 2. For a more modern, balanced view of Utah and Mormonism during the Brigham Young era, see Bigler, Forgotten Kingdom. 3. Bourke, On the Border, 240.

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encourage the Sioux to settle, learn vocations, and become (by the white definition) “productive,” they received an annual federal annuity worth $1.25 million.4 The treaty was unworkable because of the many divergent interests of the government and settlers on one side, and the Indians on the other. The Indians already considered themselves “productive” by the standards of their culture. They hunted, raised horses, and did other things that were useful by the standards of a nomadic, hunting people; there was no need to adopt the “white man’s road” of a sedentary life of farming, trades, and schools. By the same token, it was difficult for an Easterner living in a crowded city, possibly in a squalid tenement, to understand why bands of Indians needed so much land in which to practice their nomadic lifestyle. Thus, there is no question that eventually, the treaty would have broken down, resulting in a war, and the opening of the Indian lands for white settlement. Even so, the inevitable probably was accelerated by something that neither side had foreseen. When Crook was ordered to the Platte, the nation already was eighteen months into a severe depression. Known as the Panic of 1873, it was precipitated by the collapse of the New York banking firm of Jay Cooke & Company, which controlled the Northern Pacific railroad, then under construction across the northern part of Dakota Territory. Cooke’s went bankrupt on September 18, 1873, and two days later the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading. In the six-year depression that followed, wages dropped twenty-five percent, while the cost of food only fell by five percent. More than a million people lost their jobs in a nation with a total population of only forty million. Many took to the roads, and sought new opportunities in the West. The impact of this migration would become especially evident later in Bourke’s narrative for 1876.5 With an economic crisis gripping the nation, congress and the public increasingly grudged the Sioux annuity payment. Many citizens also looked to the Black Hills, in the western part of the Sioux reservation, as offering new opportunities. Although historians often have stated that the Black Hills were sacred to the Indians, the region’s actual significance is ambiguous. Some Indians appeared 4. Robinson, General Crook, 159-60, and A Good Year to Die, 21-23; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 12-15; Lazarus, Black Hills/White Justice, 45-49. 5. Gray, Centennial Campaign, 15; Robinson, General Crook, 160; McFeely, Grant, A Biography, 392-93.

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to believe that the hills were haunted by malevolent spirits, or at the very least, were of no practical value. Chiefs like Red Cloud and Spotted Tail indicated that they would have no objections to selling the hills to the government.6 Whatever the case with the Indians, from the white perspective, the Black Hills had been rumored for more than a decade to contain large deposits of gold, which the nation needed to stabilize the economy. In 1874, the depression reached the point that these rumors no longer could be ignored, and Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, 7th Cavalry, was ordered to lead a reconnaissance into the region. Although ostensibly to select a possible site for military posts, the expedition confirmed the presence of gold, and the Black Hills shortly were flooded with gold seekers in violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty. The government was pledged to evict them, and in March 1875, a detachment under command of Capt. John Mix, Second Cavalry, brought out one group that had settled on French Creek. Despite these efforts, the rush for Black Hills gold was such that the prospectors and small miners soon had to share the region with large, well-funded mining corporations. Faced with the inevitable, the government began seeking ways to evict the Indians. It was at this juncture that Crook was assigned to the Department of the Platte.7 The boundaries of the Platte illustrated how the four departments in the Military Division of the Missouri were scattered haphazardly across the plains in a manner that, for administrative purposes, was illogical and unwieldy.The Department of Texas encompassed that state below the Canadian River. Immediately north and west of Texas was Pope’s Department of the Missouri, including Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, Colorado, and New Mexico. North of that, the Platte was strung out from Iowa to Utah. The northernmost department, Dakota under Terry, included Minnesota, Dakota Territory (the modern states of North and South Dakota), and Montana. The only railroad across the Division of the Missouri was the Union Pacific, which ran entirely within Crook’s jurisdiction. This meant that he was the only gen6. McDermott, “Military Problem,” 17-18. 7. Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 33ff.; Utley, Cavalier in Buckskin, 133ff.; Bourke, Diaries, 2b:6-11; Kime, Black Hills Journals, 4; U.S. Department of War, RG 393, Special File, Military Division of the Missouri, “Citizens Expeditions” to the Black Hills. Custer’s Expedition is discussed in detail in Jackson, Custer’s Gold, and Krause and Olson, Prelude to Glory.

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eral who could move large numbers of troops, supplies, and equipment over long distances rapidly. It also meant that the southwestern portions of Terry’s jurisdiction (i.e., the Black Hills and Great Sioux Reservation) actually were more conveniently located to Crook’s troops in Nebraska and Wyoming. Consequently, Crook routinely found himself handling situations that, theoretically, were Terry’s responsibility, and, from time to time, also had to send troops into Pope’s jurisdiction in Colorado. A case in point was the Black Hills Expedition to which Bourke was assigned soon after arriving. Terry’s nearest forces were hundreds of miles away on the upper Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Crook’s troops in Wyoming, on the other hand, were within easy marching distance of the hills, and had a major supply depot at Cheyenne on the Union Pacific. Thus, when the government needed troops to enforce the Fort Laramie Treaty on white interlopers in the hills, or to conduct a survey of the region, the onus fell on Crook. Likewise, he more or less was responsible for evicting miners, who entered the hills through his department for the same reason soldiers did—ease of access. The Black Hills Expedition, headed by Professor Horace P. Jenney8 of the Columbia School of Mines in New York, was assigned to evaluate mineral resources, and determine a fair value for trade to obtain the region from the Indians. To ensure safety, and allow Jenney adequate time for a thorough investigation, the War Department agreed to provide a military escort. On May 1, 1875, Crook ordered six companies of cavalry and two companies of infantry with adequate provisions to assemble at Fort Laramie under command of Lt. Col. Richard Irving Dodge, Twenty-third Infantry. The expedition left Fort Laramie on May 25, and returned on October 13 after an absence of almost five months.9 Bourke’s final entry, however, is June 22, and in On the Border With Crook, he gave the entire expedition one half of one paragraph.10 We therefore must assume that the remaining four months are among the volumes that were lost in the period of 1877-78. The extant account is relatively straightforward, and requires little explanation. It does, however, shed more light on the workings of the army and 8. Bourke consistently misspelled the name. 9. Kime, Black Hills Journals, 6-8, 23. 10. Bourke, On the Border, 242-43.

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the attitudes of the period. Up to this point, Bourke’s description of military activities concerned itself with light mobile assault units, cavalry organized to cover large areas of country in short time. With the Black Hills Expedition, we see, for the first time, a major field operation of the frontier army, and experience all the preparations necessary for maintaining large units of infantry and cavalry away from supply for extended periods.11 One of the problems was the inability of “American” horses (i.e. government-issue horses sent from the East) to adapt to life on the plains. This was a common complaint of the frontier army—that on long marches or chases, the government horses wore out, while the Indian ponies kept on. The reason is that the Indian mounts had had more than a century to adapt to the environment; they could live off the land and endure hard use and privation. The government horses, on the other hand, required grain, and could not be pushed beyond a certain limit without breaking down. This leads to a second problem frequently mentioned, that expeditions required massive amounts of grain—in wagons and packed on mules—for the cavalry mounts, and once the grain supply was exhausted, the horses began to die. Like many other frontier officers, Bourke believed horses should be obtained from the Western territories (his own preference was California Broncos)12 but nothing was ever done, and the problem persisted until the end of the Indian Wars. Bourke’s writings during this period contain some of his most jingoistic comments. When the Black Hills Expedition set out, he was only a few weeks short of his twenty-ninth birthday. Like many of his generation, he had developed a sense of nationhood as a Union soldier, and thus felt a proprietary interest in the nation’s future. Despite his contact with the Indians of Arizona, he still viewed the Indian cultures in their most negative aspects. The government had not yet adopted a policy of complete destruction of the Indian ways of life; neither he nor his contemporaries could envision the suffering this would entail, and which ultimately would cause him to com11. Besides writing in his diary, Bourke also sent dispatches of the expedition to the San Francisco Alta California. Other soldier journalists included Capt. Andrew S. Burt, 9th Infantry, New York Tribune, and Acting Assistant Surgeon J.R. Lane, Chicago Tribune. The expedition also was accompanied by two professional correspondents, Reuben B. Davenport, New York Herald, and Thomas C. MacMillan, Chicago Inter-Ocean. Davenport and MacMillan also would accompany Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. Kime, Black Hills Journals, 8 n13. 12. Bourke, Diaries, 2b:6.

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pletely reverse his beliefs. Thus, he could describe the Black Hills in a paragraph that was almost a summary of the entire concept of Manifest Destiny: The smooth ringing sod, the various, green grass, the pretty little flowerets modestly peering above the sward, the sparkling rivulet coursing down the ravine with little confluents joining it on either hand, the springs of pure, sweet, frigid water, the rich black soil, 6 and 8 feet deep, the compact belts of excellent timber and inexhaustible quarries of building stone—all these without an indication of habitancy— evoked the question; why have these Black Hills, greater in area than several of the New England states, and which have never been of any value to the nomads who claim them as their own, and are never visited even save at rare intervals to obtain lodge-poles for the Sioux and Cheyenne camps— why have these lovely vales and hills been sequestered from the national domain, already too much curtailed by the setting aside of extravagant areas for Indian reservations, and too small in its arable acreage West of the Missouri to afford fit accomodations [sic] to the swarms of emigrants and pioneers pushing forward each year farther into what was but yesterday the Western frontier?13 Yet, there is an odd sort of justice in his comments. In the almost 130 years since the Great Sioux War, much has been made about the Lakota claims to the Black Hills, but they were just as much conquerors as the government. Bourke noted in his diary that the hills had once belonged to the Crows, who were chased from their own homeland into central Montana by the Sioux, Cheyenne, and other more powerful tribes. After the Crows came the Kiowas, who had been completely evicted by the Sioux by the end of the second decade of the nineteenth century.14 Regardless of who had the best title to the region, Bourke could foresee, as so often soldiers did, that the government’s policies would be ineffective in preventing a general Indian war. The settlers would 13. Ibid., 2b:65. 14. Ibid., Diaries, 2b:27-28; Lazarus, Black Hills/White Justice, 7; Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 5-7.

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settle, the miners would mine, and the Indians would resist, regardless of what the government might try to do to prevent it. And then the soldiers would be called in to clean up the mess. In considering how the war would be fought, he wrote: The probable method of procedure will be the establishment of a few large depots of supplies in the heart of the Enemy’s country, from which as foci can radiate forth columns of cavalry and Infantry, carrying supplies by packtrains, to the most hidden recesses of the Indian territory. A winter campaign may become a necessity, but in such a case the troops by following up the streams, can effect two objects: one, the avoiding of much rigorous cold; the other, the assault of the enemy’s villages near the streams and their expulsion to the frigid plains where they will soon freeze to death if they do not promptly submit.15 These words proved prophetic almost to the point of clairvoyance. But while Bourke envisioned General Crook as the man who could do it, Crook ultimately would demonstrate that he was not equal to the task. The government would have to look to the Southern Plains to find officers who were. 15. Bourke, Diaries, 2b:41.

Chapter 6 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Farewell to Arizona

March 12th, 1875. General Crook received telegraphic notification from Adjutant General Townsend,1 of his assignment to duty as Commanding General of the Department of the Platte, with Headquarters at Omaha: also congratulatore [sic] telegrams from Maj. G. M. Randall, Colonel Coppinger and other officers of his old Regiment, the 23d Infantry. Colonel A.V. Kautz, 8th Infantry, assigned to take command of the Department of Arizona, with his brevet grade of Major General. The above information, altho’ anticipated for some time, caused no little excitement when officially conveyed to our little community of Fort Whipple. No one can doubt the affection entertained for Genl. Crook by the officers and soldiers of his command and by their families, and altho, with pleasure he accepts the new condition of things, he and his staff will leave with many deep and unfeigned regrets the refined and hospitable circle of Fort Whipple and cherish with unalloyed affection reminiscences of the joyful days passed there. Mrs Kautz, Mrs and Miss Lynch and Mrs. Thomas immediately concerted the necessary preliminaries for a complimentary Ball and supper to be tendered to the General and staff prior to their departure. 1. Brig. Gen. Edward Davis Townsend.

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Nearly six years have dragged their sluggish course along since first I crossed the Rio Grande with a fresh commission and eager aspirations for glory: dear comrades have died, friends have come and gone, posts have been established and discontinued, yet still I have staid, apparently a fixture of the soil. But few other officers have had the good fortune to witness the operations carried on against the hostile Apaches, from their inception to their close and not one perhaps had the same opportunity of forming an acquaintance with this Territory and its people. Now to new scenes and to new acquaintances, the hand of Destiny carries us; may they be as bright and as noble as those we leave behind! March 13th, Sunday. Telegrams of regret received from Ewing, Collingwood, Nelson,2 Rockwell and other friends. Messages sent to Major Ogleby, 8th Infantry, acquainting him with the fact of the General’s release from duty in this Dep’t. Busily engaged all this day and the 14th in necessary preparations for our departure which will probably take place on or about the 25th inst. Honorable Coles Bashford, Secy of State for Arizona, transmitted by telegraph the resolution of thanks to Genl. Crook, his officers and men for the noble services performed by them in Arizona, passed by the Territorial Legislature. March 15th. The General Crook club rooms at Fort Whipple are being elegantly decorated for the Ball of next Tuesday [Bourke’s insert: Weds.] evening: festoons of evergreens hang from the walls, while the ceilings are adorned with stars and wreaths of the same material. Over each window, hang guidons and sabres[,] and the regimental standards of the 8th Infantry, bearing the fecund record of noble service, occupy the corners. Whether judged by the number of guests invited to participate, or the elaborate nature of the preparations made for the occasion, there is no reason to doubt that it will be one of the finest affairs ever known on the Pacific coast. A committee of prominent citizens of Prescott called upon Genl Crook this morning, presenting a letter from a convention held last night at the Court House, asking that Genl Crook hold a farewell reception to afford the great throng of his admirers an opportunity 2. First Lt. Evarts Stinson Ewing, 16th Infantry. Nelson probably is First Lt. William Henry Nelson, 7th Infantry. Collingwood cannot be identified. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:411, 743.

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of manifesting their deep sense of his integrity, valor and ability as a true gentleman and soldier. As the hour of our departure approaches, the scenery around Fort Whipple seems to grow more lovely, coquettishly adding new graces to the beauties we have known so long. Old Thumb Butte lifts his scraggy had above the general contour of the Sierra Prieta, which white with snow bounds our vista on the West and South; to the North, San Francisco Mountain wrapped in a mantle of virgin white, pure as the Saint whose name it bears, looms up into a cloudless sky, a noble landmark, one which will long hold a fond place in our memory. Even the pine trees on the hill-sides grow more majestic as if they sought to entice us to stay. A sky of immaculate blue, a temperature serene as that of Italy and an atmosphere unruffled save by the softest Zephyrs, combine to make our last days at Whipple the most charming of those we have spent here. March 19th. The ground this morning is covered with a light drapery of snow and a bracing North East wind assures us that Winter has as yet no intention of relinquishing his Dominion over Northern Arizona. General Kautz’s staff as thus far known will consist of 1 Lieut. Thomas Wilhelm, 8th Inf., A.D.C. and Adjutant Genl and 1 Lieut E.D. Thomas, 5th Cav., A.D.C. and Engineer Officer. Invitations for the Farewell Ball, of Wednesday evening next are now issued. . . . A list of invited guests. . .[:] Mr. [illegible] Mr and Mrs. Jake Marks Col. C.P. Head. Dr and Mrs. McCandless. Dr. Kendall. Mr. Bashford. Mr. S.C. Miller. Mr and Mrs Beach. Mr and Mrs. L. Bashford. Mr and Mrs Burmeister.

Mr and Mrs Gray Foster Mr Burt Foster Mr William Foster Genl. J.G. (heavy ink blot)tler (Editor “Arizona Miner.”)3 Mr and Mrs Merrick. Miss Jennie Banghart. Mr and Mrs Ed. Wells. Mr and Mrs Jewell. Mr Hugo Richards

3. Bourke apparently means T. J. Butler, who edited the Miner briefly in 1875. J.H. Marion served as editor both before and after Butler. The “Genl.” appears to be honorific, as no record of a T. J. Butler can be found in Heitman’s Historical Register. Kim Frontz, Arizona Historical Society, to Charles M. Robinson III, December 13, 2001.

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Mr George Bowers Major McDaniel Mr and Mrs Ed Bowers Mr Clark Wilson Mr and Mrs N. Bowers. Mr Thomas Moore. Mr and Mrs Buffum. Judge and Mrs Brookes. Miss Evans Mr George Curtis. Mr Parker. March 20th Turned over Engineering property to my successor, 1 Lieut. E.D. Thomas, 5th Cav. March 22d General Crook relinquished command of the Department this morning in orders, General and Special, hereto appended (See Appendix 15). General Kautz assumed control issuing General Orders, No 8, in which his staff is announced. Many invited guests arrived to-day, which fact added to the bustle incident to the transfer of the Head-Qrs., imparted an air of decided activity to Fort Whipple. Lieutenants Powell, Loshe, Pitcher, (8th) Carter, 6th Cav, Captain Porter, 8th Inf., Colonel Nelson, U.S.A., Colonel and Mrs Mason, 5th Cav., Major and Mrs. Brayton, 8th Inf. were among those reaching HdQrs on this date. March 23rd. The complimentary reception tendered General Crook by the citizens of Prescott in the name of the people of Arizona, took place to-night at 7 O’Clock, in the new brick building known as Katz’s Restaurant. All the officers and ladies stationed at and visiting Fort Whipple were conveyed to town in ambulances belonging to the Q.M. Depot, and for a short time the hum and rattle of wheels bore a faint resemblance to Broadway. Upon coming to town, the party was received by a delegation from the main committee on reception and headed by the 8th Inf. band proceeded to the place of convention. Here upon an elevated, carpeted dais were seats for Generals Crook and Kautz and their respective staff, nearest the stage, rows of arm-chairs were devoted to the use of the great number of ladies present whose bright toilettes were admirably set off by the dark clothing of the surging mass of male humanity behind them. Behind the platform and above it a canopy formed of the national standard made a simple and becoming decoration to screen the hero of the occasion. Above the arm-chair in which General Crook took his place, hung his portrait embowered in evergreen and enclosed in the words,

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“Firm, Just, Brave, True.” Mayor Luke, chairman then addressed the General as follows: “In the name of the people of Prescott, I welcome you, General Crook, the hero of Arizona”. and afterwards presented to the audience Hon. John A. Rush who, in a telling speech, expressed the sentiment of regret of the people of Arizona to learn of Genl Crook’s assignment to new fields of duty. The reply made by the General was terse, emphatic, full of feeling and productive of round after round of applause. In succession, remarks were then made by General Kautz, Captain Nickerson, Lieut Bourke and others, those of Nickerson being especially good and finely received. Telegrams were read to the audience expressing a sympathy of views and a coincidence of regrets on the part of the towns of Tucson, Yuma, Phoenix &c. The entire audience, numbering considerably over 300, now came forward in single file, to shake the hands of General Crook and his staff; it was certainly a deeply suggestive scene this spectacle of merchant, miner, citizen, farmer and laborer, struggling forward to bid God-speed to the man they had learned to love as their Savior and Deliverer. Probably never in the history of our Union has such a spontaneous ebbulition of feeling been witnessed on the frontier. Everything about the affair betokened the earnestness with which the citizens had entered into it, all seeming to feel they were saying Farewell to one who had been not merely a soldier executing orders but a friend truly devoted to their welf[a]r[e]. An abundance of champagne distributed among the guests exhilarated them for the enjoyment of dancing and to the notes of the fine band many couples were soon whirling in the mixes of Lancers and Waltzes. About 10.30 P.M., General Crook, General Kautz and their staffs with the guests from Whipple withdrew. March 24th. The farewell hop of this night was one of the grandest successes I ever knew. Whether the decorations, the arrangements of the room, the good order of the dances, the excellence of the music, the elaborate toilettes of the ladies and the fine uniforms of the officers, or, finally, the perfection of the supper—in all re[s]pects, the affair was beyond criticism and beyond description. More citizens attended this entertainment than any other given at Whipple during my residence. A separation did not taken place until 2 A.M., of the 25th. Upon the walls were inscribed complimentary expressions of good-will towards

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General Crook and the members of his personal staff departing with him. The supper, comprehending every article of diet to be procured for love, labor or money, would have done honor to Delmonico’s, while the savory dishes became ten fold more appetizing when presented with so much affectionate good-will. March 25th. A sad day of parting, perhaps to meet no more until the Earth and the Sea shall give up their dead. By invitation, I breakfasted with General Kautz, Mrs Kautz, and General Crook. The other guests were Miss Kitty Hitchcock and Captain Porter, 8th Infantry. After breakfast, escorted by a numerous and dazzling retinue of ladies, officers and citizens in vehicles and on horseback, General Crook, Captain Nickerson and family and myself left Fort Whipple at 9 O’Clock, and took the road to Fort Mojave.4 Miss Carrie E. Wilkins very courteously drove me in her phaeton to the rendezvous (near the Burnt Ranch about five miles from Prescott.) appointed for the final exercises of Farewell. A sky of immaculate blue, mountain scenery sweet beyond compare, a temperature of celestial serenity were the auxiliaries giving additional brightness and beauty to the gala array of carriages, horses and people drawn up on the summit of a little flat knoll in the centre of which the departing guests took station. Champagne and other stimulants were soon in generous circulation and after a few moments desultory conversation, General Kauts [sic] called the assembly to order and in a speech replete with wit and good points, bade an affectionate farewell to the late Department Commander and staff and wished them new honors in their new field of duty. Shaking hands for the last time now followed and amid the sobs of the ladies and the tears of the sternest men this melancholy duty was at last accomplished. Over 125 people were on the ground, among them: Col. and Mrs Mason General [and] Mrs Kautz Maj. Van Horn. Lieut-Col. and Mrs Wilkins. Maj. and Mrs Wilhelm Miss Carrie Wilkins. Maj. and Mrs Brayton. Col. Evans Lieut Loshe. Col. Nelson 4. Fort Mojave was established in 1859 on the Colorado River opposite the present city of Needles, California, It was abandoned in 1890, and became an Indian school. The school was closed in 1935, and the post buildings were demolished seven years later. Frazer, Forts of the West, 11-12.

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Lieut. Powell. Mr Preshau, Lieut. Pilcher. Mr Higgins Lieut. Carter Mr W.W. Johnson Captain Porter. Mr Pratt Lieut. & Mrs. Aldrich M Kearney Mrs Small. Col. Head. Surgeon & Mrs. Magruder Col. Butler Miss Kitty Hitchcock Mr & Mrs Marion Lieut. And Mrs Lynch & dau. Mr Ochoa Chaplain Gilmore Mrs Bashford Lieut. Bishop Mr Foster Mr Garrett. Mr C. Foster Mr Moore and many, many others. Mr Dawes A runaway team of horses broke the elegant carriage of Major Wilhelm, but, fortunately only a slight fright was experienced. Old San Francisco reared his snowy head above the scene looking majestic as an ancient king; one last fond look at the snowy crowned monarch of the Sierras, one last fonder, more lingering look at our beloved friends and amid uproarious cheers for General Crook, Captain Nickerson and Lieut Bourke, we shook from our feet the dust of the AZ terr and commenced our journey to the land of the Dacotahs. Another star gleams in the horizon of the future.5

Camped at old Camp Hualpai. 37 miles. March 26th Moved to Willow Springs 45 miles March 27th Moved to Beale's Springs 40 miles March 28th Moved to Mojave (Fort.) 36 miles These days’ marches were without any special incident; on the 26th, we met at Anvil Rock, General Morgan and Lieut Savage returning from General Court Martial duty at Mojave. Received a letter from 5. Bourke was being overly optimistic. While Crook’s jump to brigadier general over the heads of more than forty colonels might stir resentment within the army, it was not likely to create severe repercussions. Once he had his star, however, congress would have balked at any further unorthodox advancement. As the juniormost brigadier general, he was last in a long line of brigadiers awaiting advancement, and any such advancement would only come when a vacancy occurred among the very few major generals. Many of the more senior brigadiers were, themselves, national heroes with large public and congressional followings. Consequently, Crook would have to slowly move up the ladder of seniority, and indeed, was not appointed major general until 1888.

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Captain Byrne, 12th Infan. As we approached Mojave, the weather grew very warm and our faces were badly burned in the sun. The banks of the Colorado were fringed with cottonwood and willow trees in full bloom and far as the eye could reach the sinuous course of the turbid stream which connects our new Department with the old could be traced.6 At the fort an old time hospitality awaited us, Capt. and Mrs Thompson, Lieut Allen, Dr and Mrs Lawrence, Mr Ben. Spear, Mr Paul Breon, Mr. Charles Schroeder and some others had assembled to greet us on our arrival. The Battery belched forth its salute of thirteen guns, after which an elegant dinner was served at the residence of Capt. Thompson, the post commander. To-morrow, Easter Monday, March 29th, we are to cross the Colorado river, ascend the mountain known as Pi-Ute Hill and begin our journey across the desert of Southern California. Easter Monday, March 29th. Transferred our heavy wagons across the Colorado river at day-break; partook of an elegant breakfast with the Thompson’s and received the farewell greetings of a number of friends with whom we exchanged pledges in champagne. About 9.30, started for the Ferry and were soon being pulled across the river by the sturdy arms of Mojave Charons; when on the Nevada side, one of our mules becoming frightened made a rush overboard and in doing so impaled himself upon one of the heavy iron bolts on the side of the vessel, tearing a gash in his breast about two inches in diameter and six in depth. This accident occasioned some delay but we were soon climbing slowly up the steep grade of the Eastern slope of the Pi-Ute Mountains: twelve miles out from Camp Mojave, passed the boundary monument between Nevada and California[.] Descending this mountain range on the other side, our course lay across a barren, rocky and sandy plain for nearly 12 miles when we reached Pi-Ute Springs a beautiful little jet of water in the rift of barren hills. The stone buildings and corrals here were constructed as a picket station by the 9th Infantry in bygone days. Water is forced from its bed by a small hydraulic [seine?], in fine working order. Through the courteous consideration of Capt. Thompson, we were overtaken shortly before getting to this point by a courier with a copy of the latest number of the Arizona Weekly Miner, with an account of the ceremonies incident to the General’s 6. The Colorado River begins in Utah which was in the Department of the Platte.

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departure. . . . Heard last night and to-day that the Companies of the 12th Inf. now in Arizona are to the removed and the posts on the river now occupied by them garrisoned by companies from the interior of Arizona. To-day, the wind blew bitter cold from the North-West. Tuesday, March 30th. A long, uninteresting drive of (40) miles to Marl Springs, through a country barren and devoid of picturesque adornment, with no vegetation save the wild date, cactus, Spanish bayonet,7 soap weed8 and artemesia; with rugged masses of Basalt, piled like Ossa upon Pelion9 in grand relief with the arid desert below. Lunched midway on the journey at Rock Springs. Found Marl Spring station a little dug-out, excavated in the side of a mountain of marl; the joints, supporting the roof were generally branches of the stunted mountain cedar peculiar to this section; the thatching was formed of the leaves of the wild datepalm and limbs of various species of cactus. The thorny plants indigenous to Southern California and Arizona had been brought into requisition to constitute railings and fences for the corrals and other appointments of the house. In the dug-out proper, a small den, in dimensions—15 by 20 feet, served as a sitting room, generally sleeping apartment and bar-room. On one side some sacks of barley were piled up and ready for issue and sale to passing teams, in the other, a counter, provided with a small, decrepit pair of Fairbanks’ scales, was the only ornament. Behind this, arranged on a set of weak-minded shelves, were a few cases of peaches, tomatoes and pears; yeast-powders, sardines, candles, heavy shirts, pickets, matches, cigars, and tobacco, in promiscuous confusion and perhaps not aggregating in value $200. Dismal as this place was, it yet parodied the functions of a Mecca to weary prospectors who hied from the adjacent hills to learn at the station, the latest news or what passed for news with these poor people. Who had “struck it rich” in the Greenwood, whose drift had “got in on” the “pay streak”, what Scotty Smith’s ore was probably worth to the ton; were “things lively” down to Arbat, who was running the station at “Body”,10 why Wallace “got shot” and how—in lazy conti7. Yucca carnerosana. 8. Sapindaceae. 9. Mount Ossa is an extinct volcanic peak jutting up from the ridge of Pelion in Thessaly. According to mythology, Ossa was piled upon Pelion by giants attempting to besiege Zeus on nearby Mount Olympus. Bourke makes this analogy again in Chapter 18. 10. I.e., Bodie, Calif.

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nuity, the talk drifted slowly along from meridian until far after sunset. The raiment of the miners was as monotonous as their conversation; cow-skin boots, old, patched, pants, coarse woolen shirt and hat which had a look of having been born second-hand. Yet to these hardy prospectors, our nation is largely indebted for much of its material development and prosperity on the Pacific coast; the mines of Washoe, Arizona, Pike’s Peak, Bode and Panamint11 own their discovery to the very class of men whose colloquy and appearance are referred to in these pages; seldom do any of the poor wretches make money, like draws on the wave of a fast-advancing civilization they float along helplessly until they strand for ever, on some barren shore and become an example and a mockery to the children growing up in mining towns. Sometimes, one more fortunate than his comrades, will manage to sell at a fair figure mineral ledges he has “prospected” and “located”; and then for a brief carnival, the dissolute and depraved run riot with his hard-earned gains; when the last dollar has gone, with no companion save a pack-mule and dog, no fortune except a pannier or two of provisions, a pick, shovel and horn-spoon, away from the glittering lamps and squeaky music of the faro-banks which stand to him as the semblance of an alluring civilization, away to the desolate plains and rugged mountains, descending gloomy cañons or slowly climbing dizzy precipices, away restless as the Wandering Jew, until the sharp twang of the Apache’s bow brings rest to the weary feet or until, worse fate, old age shall surprise him with decrepit and almost imbecile, despised as a supplicant by the same gin-mills which could trace their first prosperity to his old-time prodigality. March 31st The character of country remained unchanged, except that during the forepart of the day, wild datepalms were much more numerous than at any other time on the trip. The last six or seven miles of the thirty-six passed over to-day led us across the dry bed of a dry lake, known as Soda Lake, about seven miles in average width and nearly thirty in length. The painful, sunny whiteness of this vast mineral deposit, unrelieved by a single stem of vegetation, 11. The Washoe strike was on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, in Nevada. Bodie, California, was the center of a gold rush that yielded $100 million during the 1870s and 1880s. The ghost town is now a state historic park. Panamint, California, grew up in a silver and copper boom that began in 1872. The town was wiped out by a flood in 1876. Lamar, New Encyclopedia, 112, 842.

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prepares the mind for the information that from this point northward, runs Death Valley, where no living creature exists, and where not infrequently prospectors and travellers have perished for want of food and water. According to Lieut. Wheeler’s (U.S.A.) calculations this station of Soda Lake is 200 feet below sea level. A bubbling spring of crystal water springs to the surface near the door of the house; experienced travellers avoid its use as being impregnated with soda; it has the effect of a drastic purgative. As a defensive nothing can be imagined better, altho’ if slightly corrosive to the skin. This station consists of (2) good adobe houses with shingle roofs and a stone kitchen. At this station, we found a very curious and entertaining record book of the arrivals at the station; the following will better serve to convey an idea of the scope and character of the volume than a more extended description; “Tuesday, Mar 5th, Drunken Irishman, Two Mexicans, broncos, Dutchman same who was here last week; Judge Discon, Doctor Sawyer, a teacher, two miners unknown, Saml. Patterson.” April 1st. Marched through very deep sand to Camp Cady,12 36 miles, requiring 14 hours for the journey; observed along route how the sand blasts had carved and fashioned the hardest rocks into fantastic shapes. Lunched at “the caves”, in a low, narrow box cañon of the Mojave river. Deep gashes and cracks in the rocks [lying round] about indicate the action of earthquakes. Country very barren; nearly destitute of wood, water and grass. Found Camp Cady an old government post of adobe, rather dilapidated and rapidly going to ruin. April 2nd Make a rapid march of 40 miles over an improved country to the Cottonwood, where, finding the road to Bakersfield impracticable for heavy wagons, Genl. C. changed intention and determined to move direct to Spadra, the terminus of the R.R. Lunched this A.M. at the Fish-ponds, 20 miles out, the character of our food on this trip has been excellent. The liberality of our kindhearted friends at Prescott and Fort Whipple has kept us supplied with Champagne, claret, Whiskey, Brandy, turkey, chicken, cake and other delicacies grateful to the weary and hungry traveller. 12. “On the Mojave River, 145 miles northeast of Los Angeles,” Heitman, Historical Register, 2:485.

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Slept this night under the ramada; had a feline concert I cannot soon forget; an old tom-cat, whose body beyond a doubt contained the soul of a Rossini or Mendelsohn set up a most infernal squalling at foot of my bed and at end of each piece would retire behind a cottonwood pillar evidently to compose some new symphony as we could hear him run through the gamut of all the Cat music since the days of George Washington. My sleep for this reason was slightly impaired.

Chapter 7 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Southern California and the Mormon Zion

Saturday, April 3d, 1875. Moved to Freer’s Ranch, 38 miles; for first 20 miles, line of travel lay through a forest of date palms, afterwards bitts of scrub juniper. Progressing Los Angelesward, the houses and farm buildings improved greatly in appearance with each mile of way. Sunday, April 4th. When we awoke this A.M., a heavy sea-fog overspread the whole face of the country, obscuring the Cucamongo and San Bernardino Mountains nearby which we saw yesterday covered with snow. The pass in which this ranch is situated is called Cajon Pass and through it the R.R. to Arizona is to be built. Passed along through a territory, gorgeous in emerald green tapestry, variegated with countless wild flowers. The adjacent fields covered with green and russet were lighted up by the rays of the morning sun, struggling through the now fast dissipating clouds. Farmhouses on every side, showing every evidence of thrift and comfort, vineyard with thousands upon thousands of vines; orange, apple, peach, English walnut and olive trees and bee hives by the hundred were to be viewed on either hand. At 10 A.M. passed the Cucamongo ranch renowned for the fine grade of wine there manufactured. The road was most excellent and our vehicles thundered along with the ve145

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locity of a R.R. train. At 12.30 P.M. reached Spadra, the terminus of the R.R. running East from Los Angeles[.] Found it a collection of hastily constructed houses, grog-shops &c, tenanted by R.R. employees and evincing signs of life, greatly different from the quiet apathy to which we had become accustomed in Arizona. That evening, General Crook and staff and small party of friends dined at Ruebrittonis[?]. Monday, April 5th. A short ride on the R.R. brought us to Los Angeles, and carried us through the heart of semi-tropical California. The egotism and inclination to boasting of the Californians now seemed pardonable and justifiable as we were called upon to contemplate the magnificent vista of fields, gleaming in purple, green and gold with a back-ground of snow upon the deeply-scarred banks of the mountain ridges. Vineyards, alternating with orange groves and bordered by fields of alfalfa which stretched to the limit of vision, well constructed ranchos, great herds of cattle and droves of sheep, spoke in praise of the substantial wealth of the country, while the noble old mission church of San Gabriel, reaching its buttresses to within 50 yards of the iron rail appealed to men to devote some little care to the accumulation of Treasure not of this world. The rich haciendas of Shorb, Wilson, Stoneman1 and others lined the way and prepared us in some measure for the bright little city of the Angels, in whose streets to-day mad speculation and legitimate business distract the attention and almost banish the recollection of the fact that its foundation in 1781, by the Spaniards, was for the extension of the Catholic religion among the neighboring tribes of aborigines. The hospitality of the greeting of Los Angeles is already proverbial; in their treatment of Genl. Crook’s party, the old reputation of the community was fully sustained. The same evening, we started by rail, 31 miles to San Fernando, 31 miles [sic]; thence by stage to the town of Bakersfield; the San Fernando cut, 156 feet deep, 400 yards long, through a ridge or 1. Col. George Stoneman, Crook’s predecessor as commander of the Department of Arizona, maintained a home in Los Angeles. James De Barth Shorb was the son-in-law of Benjamin Davis Wilson, first mayor of Los Angeles and owner of a large estate called Lake Vineyard. Wilson gave a section of Lake Vineyard to Shorb, who named it San Marino Ranch. In 1903, following Shorb’s death, San Marino Ranch was purchased by real estate magnate and railroad heir Henry Edwards Huntington. Huntington dismantled the Shorb house and replaced it with an Italianate mansion, now part of the Huntington Library and Art Gallery, with its great botanical gardens. Houk, The Botanical Gardens at the Huntington, 15-19; Bancroft, Register of Pioneer Inhabitants, 777.

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stratum of indurated clay and sand is a dangerous pass, just admitting one team at a time and is a favorite resort of the robbers lurking throughout Southern California. Old Fort Tejon, now known as Beale’s Springs2 is a situation deserving a more general reputation for beauty, salubrity, and value. Nesting in among lofty snow and pine clad mountains, many little bubbling brooks find their way from the rocky fastness across the grassy turf and among the clumps of oak trees which almost hide the buildings. As our vehicle slowly drove through its limits, ourselves and companions forgot in the enjoyment of the moment the bitter cold of the night previous and the petty discomforts inseparable from all stage travelling. Taking cars at Bakersfield, a journey of 18 very pleasant hours terminated in San Francisco, where we found excellent quarters in the Lock House, famous the world over for its beautiful dining room, decorated elaborately with scenic illustrations of the Mountains, Lakes and Coast of the state of California[.] A run of visitors now commenced, leaving General Crook no time to do anything but receive calls from the prominent businessmen, politicians and army officers of the city of San Francisco as well as a goodly representation of those from the whole Pacific coast. Invitations to dinners, receptions, parties and other entertainment came in such numbers than [sic] an acceptance of them all would have prolonged our stay to weeks instead of days. At the residence of A. E. Head, we were the recipients of a complimentary dinner, more gorgeous in its appointments than any at a private mansion I have ever seen. The officers of the U.S.A., stationed at Angel Island,3 invited us to a matinee, memorable from the throng of beautiful and refined young ladies there found assembled. Visits to the Opera (“Girofle-Girofla”.) To the Theatre and Minstrels, and dinner parties with various friends made our evenings pass like a summer cloud. During the day, scores of old friends and scores of new came flocking in to congratulate the General on his new assignment and express earnest wishes for his complete success in his new field of service. 2. Fort Tejon was established in 1854 to guard the Tejon Indian Reservation. It was abandoned in 1864 when the reservation was abolished, and became part of a ranch established by Lt. Edward F. Beale, U.S.N., who served as superintendent of Indian affairs in California. Part of the post, located near the present town of Lebec, is now a state historical site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 32-33. 3. Angel Island was established in 1863 as part of the defenses of San Francisco Bay. It was redesignated Fort McDowell in 1900, and discontinued in 1946. It is now a state park. Ibid., 25-26.

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General Lagrange, one of General Crook’s subordinates during the war, and now the Superintendent of the U.S. Mint at San Francisco, invited the Genl and his staff to inspect the workings of that Institution, which was done on Monday the 12th of April. Carriages furnished by the courtesy of Genl Lagrange brought us to the mint where were passed some hours in an exhaustive examination of the processes of smelting, refining and sorting bullion, preparatory to coining into trade dollars.4 On this same evening, occurred one of the grandest outpourings of the people ever seen in San Francisco. . . .With vivid recollection of the ovation tendered the General by his numerous warm friends on the Pacific Coast and escorted by a delegation of admirers, our transcontinental journey began at Oakland at 6. A.M. of the 13th April. Governor Pacheco of California met the General at Sacramento, in a very hearty and kindly manner, presenting some prominent gentlemen who had accompanied him to the depot. One of them, Major George B. Sayer, 1st Cavalry, U.S.A. At Ogden, Utah, the disagreeable news was borne across the wires of the break in the U.P.R.R.5 near Green river, caused by the unexpected floods which the melting of last winter’s heavy snows had occasioned. We now turned South on the Utah R.R., going to Salt Lake where General J. E. Smith and his officers were awaiting General Crook at the R.R. depot, and conducted himself and staff to the Walker House, one of the two prominent hotels where quarters had been prepared for them. After dinner, we were driven to the post of Camp Douglas,6 3 miles from town and 700 feet above it. Here we found the garrison of 6 companies and Hdqrs of the 14th Infantry, pleasantly situated in regard to everything except officer’s quarters which were very inferior and very old. General Crook was called upon by all the officers and their families and was also honored by a salute accord4. Trade dollars were produced by the United States from 1873 to 1885 for circulation in the Orient to compete with the Spanish and Mexican eight-real pieces, the latter of which were the standard by which Chinese merchants reckoned the value of currency. It is not uncommon to see U.S. trade dollars, and Spanish and Mexican eight reales stamped with “chop marks,” cartouches of Chinese assayers attesting to their value. See Willem, The United States Trade Dollar. 5. Union Pacific Railroad. 6. Camp Douglas was established in 1862 east of Salt Lake City, to protect the Overland Mail and telegraph, control the Indians of the region, and watch over the Mormons, whose loyalty was suspect. It was upgraded to a fort in 1878. Frazer, Forts of the West, 166.

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ing to his brevet rank:7 after witnessing dress-parade, we returned to our hotel in town. Salt Lake has been so much written about and so greatly studied that perhaps it is better understood than any of our cities on the frontier and a diffuse description of it is not necessary in this place. We found it a community of some 20.000 people, mostly professing with more or less fervor, the polygamic sect of the Church of Laterday Saints of Jesus Christ, called generally Mormons. The situation of the town in contiguity to the Great Salt Lake and on a barren alkali flat is most unpromising but the patience and skill of the religious fanatics making the first settlements have overcome many almost insuperable obstacles and made the desert truly to bloom as a rose. The streets are 80 feet wide, with canals full of running water on either side and shade and fruit trees in abundance around all the dwellings and in front of them. The manufactories of the vicinity are yet feeble, but promise very valuable results in time: salt can be obtained from the lake water in the wonderful ratio of 1 to 4! (One to four.) Woolen goods of very excellent texture are produced in quantities sufficient for all domestic demands. Two fine hotels, the Townsend House and the Walker House, the first a Mormon, the second a Gentile establishment, afford accomodations of no mean order to weary travellers. The Walker House is provided with hot and cold baths, electric bells, gas, first class Billiard rooms, new carpets and furniture and all the modern conveniences. April (15th[)]. General Clauson,8 son-in-law of Brigham Young, Colonel [William H.] Hooper, formerly delegate to Congress, and other representative men of the Mormon community paid their respects to General Crook and gave him a message from President Young, asking him to visit the head of the Mormon Church at his residence, the Lion House; Mr Young offered as an apology for not first calling upon General Crook the increasing burden of his years and the remembrance of a gross insult offered him when last at the Walker House. Accordingly, under escort of the gentlemen mentioned, General Crook and staff proceeded to the Lion or Bee House, a structure irregular in plan, but vast in size, built of stone and surrounded by a close of 7. I.e., a salute for a major general rather than a brigadier general. Because Utah was in the Department of the Platte, this marked Crook’s first visit to a post in his capacity as commanding general of the department. As such, he received the courtesies due the office, including the formal salute and dress parade mentioned by Bourke. 8. Apparently Hiram B. Clawson, Brigham Young’s business manager.

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considerable area; [t]he wall, bounding the precincts is of concrete, defended by buttresses of the same material. Over the main entrance, a lion couchant is seen and on the very apex of the building, a golden bee-hive, emblem of intelligent industry, adopted by the Mormons as one of their symbols, attracts the notice of the passer by. This building serves among other purposes, as the residence of many of Brigham Young’s wives or concubines, but his favorite harlots have special domiciles allotted for their use. Amelia’s house, inhabited by the youngest and prettiest of his harem, is built according to the latest Chicago touch, with Mansard roof, bay windows and projecting balconies. A portion of the Lion house is laid off for use as Offices of various kinds and in one of these, the main reception room, Brigham Young awaited General Crook’s approach, surrounded by the General Council, the Apostles, Elders and other dignitaries of his sect. The meeting was cordial and interesting and endured long enough to afford me an opportunity of noting what was important or valuable for future reference. Portraits of the long line of Mormon bishops ranged about the walls gave the room the semblance of a cheap picture gallery; the artistic execution of these paintings was very inferior and spoke very forcibly of the artist’s want of talent in his art or the homely traits of the dead and gone rulers of Zion; in general, the shrewd, penetrating, sensual and cold-blooded looks of these believers in the text of Moroni9 infused the observer with repugnance and disgust; the same grasping ambition combined with some share of practical business tact can be discerned in the faces of Brigham Young and his living associates. Brigham Young in age is 75, corpulent of body, massive in frame and yet very bright intellectually. Animal passions strongly marked in countenance and evidently a man of no common character, but, as I think, has not faith in the creed he inculcates as the only means of salvation. All the Mormon leaders are in manners plausible and in conversation insinuating; their courtesy to officers of the army stationed among them is very marked; from motives of policy, they avoid a conflict with the military forces, not perceiving apparently that a more insidious and more deadly agent than War has already seized upon the threat of their power and is quietly but surely and rapidly suffocating it. The Pacific R.R. has effected a greater revolu9. The angel Moroni, who Mormons believe delivered the text of the Book of Mormon to their prophet, Joseph Smith.

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tion in Utah than 100.000 soldiers could have done in the time elapsed since its completion. Mormonism with its salient feature, polygamy, can exist only in the isolation of our Great Western solitude and this seclusion once rudely broken in upon by the iron messengers of a noble civilization and more exalted religion, the disciples of [Joseph] Smith and Young, unable to find new deserts, unacquainted with more secluded fastnesses must submit to a destiny of dispersion and extinction. If in twenty years, the vast edifices erected by this singular religion yet stand, it will be among an assemblage of unsympathizing and cynical antagonists jealous of the presence in their midst of the smallest vestige of the creed that but lately ruled the valleys of Utah. The Mormons profess a belief in the Holy Bible and in the text of a supplementary book written or engraved on sheets of copper by one Moroni, represented as an angel of God; yet neither of these volumes command the respect accorded the “revelations”, dictated by God to his chosen people by mouths of his duly designated Apostles. These “revelations” are varied and comprehensive in character, ranging from a decision upon questions of dogma to counsels in the matters of business; Grace and Green Groceries, Religious regeneration and Railway, management, Architecture and Growth in Holiness curiously mingle and alternate in the Fanatical enunciations with which Brigham Young regularly edifies the devout and regales the skeptical. The Mormons adopting the keystone of Catholic teaching—submission to authority—carry the doctrine of Blind Obedience from Religion to Politics and Commerce; the church prescribes and proscribes what article of Faith shall be believed and what article of merchandize shall be patronized come equally within the jurisdiction of the Bishops, where domination now somewhat impaired is yet of great potency. Every street corner has its store bearing aloft the sign of a human eye, surrounded by a cabalistic symbol;

Z.C.M.I=Zion’s Co-Operative Mercantile Institute.

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To these establishments, the pious Mormons wend their way, buying and selling one to the other that Trade may as far as possible be kept from the hands of the Gentiles. Nevertheless some of the mercantile firms of strongest standing, are conducted not alone by Gentiles but by seceders from their own Faith. The House of Walker Bro’s, doing an annual business of millions, bears the name of young men who have openly defied the authority of Brigham and the Church. Little can by said of polygamy except reprobation and scorn; the women who knowingly submit to a condition of concubinage in a Christian country would maybe have become prostitutes, in the absence of such a religions dispensation; yet there are among the Mormon women examples of keenness and intelligence and in my own conversation with them I was not favored with any confidential outbreak against the degrading, soul-destroying influences of polygamy such as enliven the pages and chapters of books and treatises by travellers generally. The Mormons claim, and the claim must be allowed, that by their unaided energy they have overcome obstacles such as no other settlers in our midst have ever had to encounter, making what once was the most frightful solitude of the Great American Desert blossom as the rose. Their city is a glorious exponent of the powers of man and ranks high in the list of corporations to be noted for careful drainage, good ventilation, abundance of foliage, well-managed gardens and common-sense dwelling houses. The equability of the climate, the chain of the majestic mountain scenery near by, the abundance and cheapness of fruit, vegetables and all articles of diet and the present accessibility by R.R. promise a bright and happy future for the valley of the Great Salt Lake when the objectionable religious feature shall have been eliminated. The noble ranges, snow clad from January to December, known as the Wahsatch and Oquirrh Mountains hem in the Valley on Right and Left and from their ore-seamed flanks have already commenced to yield rich returns in silver, iron and copper, a bright harbinger of the metallic harvest Utah will furnish the world after better development. Salt Lake City has but few buildings of note and none of much beauty: All tourists are expected to visit the Tabernacle, as the cathedral of the Mormons is called; here courteous attendants will always be

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found to escort and inform visitors. Its ground plan is an allipse [sic] with Transverse and conjugate diameter of 250 and 125 feet. 40 feet above the floorings, the red sandstone walls give support to the trusses and studs bearing the ellipsidal wooden roof, 68 feet from the upper extremity of its vertical conjugate axis to the planking below and 77 feet from the wooden shingles on the exterior to the same point. Any flowing anticipation of architectural elegance is brusquely dissipated upon seeing this enormous stone mud-turtle, for such it resembles; the builders sacrificed all aspirations after a beautiful idea to the more important demands of ventilation, acoustics and capacity. 15,000 can be placed within its walls, most of the audience can be seated and in case of fire the broad doors, placed not more than 25 feet apart insure the safety of the vast multitude worshipping there on solemn occasions. The peculiar mathematical configuration of the buildings causes every note of the organ, every sentence of the preacher and the words of the singers to be heard with a refreshing and unusual distinctness in all parts of the edifice. The organ, claimed to be the 2n largest in the U.S., and the 4th or 5th largest in the world is 48 feet from the pedestal to crest of pipes, of which it now has 2300, with the intention on the part of the Mormon authorities to augment this number to 3200 as soon as possible: it will then be worked by hydraulic power. During our visit, workmen were inside the organ, busy in its repair; one of the elders of the church courteously invited us to go inside the vast instrument and for a few minutes we moved about amid immense pipes of all sizes and tones. This instrument’s especial merit is the mellowness and depth of its tone and simple beauty of its external appearance. The Mormons declare themselves very proud of a production from their own resources, erected by their own people. Upon gala days, this tabernacle is adorned in great profusion and not always in good taste with flags, banners, standards, evergreen wreaths and festoons; this occasions an odd architectural innovation in the hundreds of holes bored in the ceiling and walls the use of which is a problem of difficult solution until the guide explains that through them ropes and cables are passed to sustain the scaffolding the workmen must use in getting the necessary decorations into position.

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On the spandles of the arches supporting the galleries were affixed mottoes, some of which I write from actual transcript: “Obedience is better than Sacrifice.” “Suffer Little children to come unto me.” “We thank thee, O God, for a prophet!” “Keep your armor bright.” “God Bless our Teachers.” “The Kingdom of God or nothing.” “Honor Thy father and mother.” “Praise the Lord, Hallelujah.” “Glory to God in the Highest.” “The Pioneers of 1847.” “Be temperate in all things.” “Utah’s best crop, children.” &c &c &c &c. This building, first commenced in 1864, was completed in 1867; an average of 300 workmen being employed on it from that time. Near the tabernacle, a temple of very imposing character is in the course of erection in granite of fine crystallization brought from near the Emma Mine. In elevation it is almost a reproduction of Westminster Abbey. The Mormons say all this labor has been on sequence of plans submitted to Brigham in a “revelation” by an angel: the celestial visitant’s knowledge of architecture is worthy of much commendation. The Hotels of Salt Lake, the Walker and Townsend Houses, already mentioned, are very carefully constructed, and rarely fail to give satisfaction to all who may visit them. During our stay, the “brak” on the R.R. caused many passengers, anxious to escape the inconveniences of an enforced detention at Ogden to imitate our example and seek the more pleasant accomodations of the Mormon capital. Each hotel was crowded to its utmost and in a spirit of rivalry which pervades every principle of their management, the respective proprietors gave a number of very enjoyable little hops, participated in by a majority of the guests from each establishment. The Townsend House is supported by Mormon capital, its rival representing the moneyed interest of the Gentile population. At the former house were met many young ladies belonging to the principal families of Brigham Young’s church: one of them, I was informed, was the 28th daughter in a family. Very little social intercourse is

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maintained between the conflicting religious elements peopling the valley of Deseret; both parties seem anxious to conciliate the goodwill of the military authorities, who in turn are very careful not to incline, in their official relations, toward either side. The great evening drive of Salt Lake is to the military post of Camp Douglass [sic], at the hour for band practice and dress-parade. The level, hard-beaten drive of 3 miles from town to the post is fairly lined with vehicles, filled with ladies, gentlemen and children. Around the parade-ground, at the time of our second visit to the Camp, between one hundred and two hundred conveyances of every character were ranged, the occupants listening with appreciation to the band’s rendition of operatic airs. The animation of this regular evening scene is a very marked and agreeable incident in the daily routine of garrison life at Camp Douglass. After band practice, followed dress-parade of the 6 companies stationed at the post. Major [Montgomery] Bryant, 14th Inf., conducted the manoeuvers. In a pleasant evening breeze, blowing from the Lake, the spectators rapidly sought their way back to their homes in town. Salt Lake claims one of the most elegant and complete buildings for banking purposes in the United States; unfortunately, the bankruptcy of Jay Cooke & Co., involved those concerned in the Western Enterprise and caused a suspension of business in this concern, a very handsome edifice, arranged interiorly with what looked to me more like attention to the comfort of the Bank directors than to the security of deposits to them confided. Tesselated pavements, counters of rich black and white marble, surmounted by a railing of bronze and walnut, with windows of cut glass; heavy chandeliers of bronze, lofty ceilings very handsomely frescoed—a directors’ room, furnished in red morocco and oiled oak, carpeted without consideration of cost—this grandeur and luxury will now make a poor recompense to depositors whose hard earned moneys will be withheld from them forever or at best during the whole tedious process of liquidation. From Salt Lake to Ogden and from Ogden to Omaha, our travels were one succession of delays due to the unprecedented snows of last winter having been very suddenly melted by the great heat of an early spring; in places, for 200 miles, the track of the U.P.R.R. was washed away or had sunk in the soft yellow clay lining the banks of Green River and its affluents. Much trouble was experi-

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enced in providing sleeping car accomodations for the pent up humanity, anxious to escape from confinement; finally, our train started with its load and after a journey of five instead of two days reached our destination. Our passengers determined to make the best of a bad bargain; as we had all been previously acquainted with each other or with common friends of long standing, we became sociable more rapidly even than is the rule on the Overland road. Our party comprised General George Crook, U.S. Army. Captain A.H. Nickerson, U.S.A., A.D.C. Mrs. A.H. Nickerson and little daughter, Florence. Cutler McAllister, Esq. San Francisco. Mrs. J.G. McAllister " " Chico. Forster, Esq., Los Angeles, Cal. W.B. Hellman, Esq., and family, " " Thomas Mott, Esq. " " Archibald Colquhoun, Esq. London, Engd. W.B. Lyon, Esq., Los Angeles, Cal. Mrs Keeney, San Francisco, Cal. Albert Morrow, Esq., San Francisco J.C. Stubbs, Esq., San Francisco. Mrs. Stubbs d[itt]o and the writer. At Laramie city, General I. S. Palmer, U.S.A., [sic] Colonel 2n Cavalry, Comdg the post of Fort Sanders,10 met General Crook on the train and as we slowly passed the post, the band, drawn up in line, played a few complimentary strains, acknowledged as best we could by waving of handkerchiefs to the officers (Clarke and Fowler.) in charge. At Cheyenne, Genl. Reynolds, Colonel of the 3d Cavalry, awaited General Crook’s coming. Among the officers with him, we saw many old familiar faces and found our hands warmly grasped by friends we had known in the troublous days in Arizona. The next day April 25th, our congenial party broke up, the Genl 10. Fort Sanders was established three miles from Laramie in 1866, to protect emigrant routes, the Denver-Salt Lake stage route, and Union Pacific construction crews. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1882. Not to be confused with Fort Laramie, which is in extreme east-central Wyoming near the Nebraska line. Frazer, Forts of the West, 185.

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and staff remaining in Omaha, the others going by various lines East and South East to New York and Saint Louis. Scarcely had we been shown to our rooms in the Grand Central Hotel when the notes of the “General Crook March”, played by the band of his old regiment, the 23d. Infantry, broke upon the air and a long line of officers, most of whom had served under General Crook from British America to Mexico, filed up the main stairway headed by the soldierly figure of Colonel R.I. Dodge. Our long journey fittingly and delightfully terminated in a warm welcome from old comrades whose bread and blankets we had so often shared on crag and in cañon, across mountain and desert in the glorious days of the long ago. Lieut-Col. R.I. Dodge, Lieut. and Adjutant, Charles Bird, Lieut. and R.Q.M. W. F. Price [sic], Lieut F. Dodge. Capt. O.W. Pollock, Captain Charles Wheaton, Lieut P. Brodrick, Lieutenant O.L. Wieting, and Lieut. Lockwood were among those of former Arizona acquaintances who at this early opportunity paid their devoirs to the new Commander of the Dept. General Brisbin, 2n Cav., Captains Egan and Wells, Lieuts Allison and Sibley of the same regiment were among the new friends met at this time. . . . The next morning, General Crook assumed command of the Department of the Platte and announced the members of his staff:11 nothing of importance in the Department could well be transacted until after consultation with Lt. Genl. P.H. Sheridan, to see whom Genl Crook went, May 1st, to Chicago, taking me with him.12 11. See Appendix 15. 12. While in Chicago, Crook and Bourke attended the wedding of General Sheridan and Irene Rucker, on June 3, 1875. Robinson, General Crook, 161.

Chapter 8 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

A Scientific Expedition

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE PLATTE,* Omaha, Nebraska, May 12, 1875 SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 57 (Extract.) * * * * * 3. Second Lieutenant John G. Bourke, 3d Cavalry, A.D.C., will report, in person, at Fort Laramie, to Lieutenant Colonel Richard I. Dodge, 23d Infantry, to accompany the Geological Expedition to the Black Hills, under special instructions from the Department Commander. The Quartermaster’s Department will furnish the necessary transportation. * * * * * BY COMMAND OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL CROOK: [Signed] George D. Ruggles Assistant Adjutant-General * This order, pasted into the diary, introduces this section of Bourke’s narrative—ed.

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Thursday, May 13th, Left Omaha at midday, in the Pullman car “Wyoming”, with the following party bound for Cheyenne: General Crook, Captain Nickerson, General Perry and Lieutenant Stevens. Mr Chico Forster also was one of the party. Reached Cheyenne, the next day at 1.30 P.M. and proceeded to Fort Russell,1 about 3 miles out from town, where we passed the afternoon very agreeably in visiting the families of officers there stationed. General Reynolds, post commander pointed out many points of interest especially the “Burnt district,” comprising ground that had been covered by six double sets of q[uarte]rs, swept away in a moment[’]s time, in the conflagration of last December. This fire took place at 4 A.M., compelling feeble and delicate women and children to start terrorstricken from their beds, insufficiently clad, to withstand a temperature which nearly solidified mercury. Between the post and town, stands Russel [sic] depot, known as Camp Carlin from which the greater portion of supplies needed by the troops and posts in Northern Wyoming are drawn. Fort Russel [sic] stands upon a stratum of reddish gravel, which has been found in the course of excavations made in boring an Artesian well, to be over 1000 feet in depth. Crow creek furnishes an ample supply of pure water to the post and the salubrity of the climate is unrivalled. The great elevation, over 6000 feet, and the exposed situation upon a bleak and treeless plain across which the North wind frequently blows with the force of a tornado, sufficiently explain the frigidity of the atmosphere in the winter. South of the post about sixty miles off, can be seen the snow-clad crest of the ridge known as Long’s Peak, of the Rocky Mountains. Cheyenne we found to be a small R.R. town at the junction of the Kansas and Union Pacific R.R. The dining room at the Hotel at which we stayed over night was fantastically decorated with the heads of the mountain sheep, elk, black and white-tailed deer, and buffalo. Leaving Cheyenne in a Government ambulance, our route lay for 45 miles in a generally North Course to the Chug, passing over 1. Fort D.A. Russell was established in 1867 to protect workers constructing the Union Pacific. Because the fort became an important supply base, an adjacent subpost was established, officially designated Cheyenne Depot, but often referred to as Camp Carlin or Russell Depot. Cheyenne Depot was discontinued in 1890. In 1930, Fort D.A. Russell was renamed Fort Francis E. Warren. It later was transferred to the Department of the Air Force, and is now Warren Air Force Base. Frazer, Forts of the West, 184-85.

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the Lodge Pole and Little Bear creeks. At the Chug creek, obtained accomodations for the night at the ranch of Portuguese Philip[s], who exerted himself for our entertainment with much success. The meals spread before us, although perfectly unostentatious, were eaten with much relish; rich cream, golden home made butter, aerated biscuits, amber coffee, good ham and preserves tempted appetites already ravenous from long fasting. The next day, May 16th a drive of 40 miles brought us to Fort Laramie,2 on the Laramie river, half a mile or so from its confluence with the North Platte. The country passed over since leaving Cheyenne, is an undulating plain, well watered but bare of trees. The grass seems very thin and to be a species of the gramma of Arizona. The settlements between Cheyenne & Fort Laramie are increasing steadily in strength, and are to all appearances composed of a superior class of people. At Fort Laramie, we found General Bradley, the District commander, and Colonel R.I. Dodge, 23[rd] Infy, who is to command the escort to the Geological survey of the Black Hills; the troops here stationed represent the 2n and 3d, Cavalry, 9th and 4th Infantry. The detachment forming the expedition, will be alluded to in detail a few pages further on; it is to consist of 4 companies of 3d Cavalry, 2 of the 2n, and 2 of the 9th Infantry. About 70 wagons will be needed for the transportation of supplies and a 12 p[oun]d[e]r Howitzer and Gatling gun are to be used in the protection of the train. Somewhere near Harney’s Peak of the Black Hills, in South West Dacotah, Colonel Dodge intends forming a depot, surrounded by a stockade, and guarded by one company of Infantry, the other being employed in escorting the wagon train to and from Laramie. No positive apprehension is felt as to the attitude the Sioux may assume towards the expedition; prudence commands vigilance and thorough preparedness, to frustrate the attempts of the Minneconjous, (Sioux), believed to be none too friendly.3 2. Fort Laramie was established as an American Fur Company trading post in 1834. In 1849, it was purchased by the federal government and garrisoned as a military post until 1890, when it was abandoned. Much of the post has been preserved or restored, and it is now a national historic site. Ibid., 181-82. 3. In fact, the Miniconjous were one of the lesser of the seven tribes of the Lakota (Western Sioux). The three great tribes were (in order of population) the Oglala, the Brulé, and the Hunkpapa. Besides the Miniconjous, the lesser tribes were Blackfeet, Sans Arcs, and Two Kettles.

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Colonel Dodge, our commander, is a graduate of the Military Academy, (class of 1848.) experienced in Indian warfare and of great natural sagacity in matters military and otherwise. While at Laramie, I was gratefully surprised by Captain [John] Mix, 2n Cavalry, with a present of a petrified land tortoise of unusual dimensions, being nearly 12 inches in diameter; I shall present it with other accumulations of the trip to the Museum of the Mily. Acady. The expedition sent from here to intercept a band of raiding Indians returned to-day, after unsuccessful pursuit; the command came upon the redskins while crossing the Platte, but were unable to intercept or delay their retreat. American horses do not seem best adapted to cope with the hardy ponies of the aborigines and should be superseded by the California Broncos, which can well endure every hardship this country has to present. Accustomed from birth to pasturage alone, less grain would be needed to preserve them in good condition, a great point in favor of the change suggested. The movement these little notes attempt to chronicle is, as had already been intimated, a military escort to the party of scientists, selected by the President to visit, examine and report upon the geological, mineralogical, and other features of the section of country known as the Black Hills, being a range of mountains situated in South West Dacotah, known to the Sioux as “Sha-sa-pa”. These hills have long been reported rich in valuable minerals, tempting to prospectors as much from their remoteness from civilized neighborhoods and the vague and incoherent history known of them, as from the intrinsic value accorded in the markets of the world. But, when in 1874, organizations of magnitude commenced to concentrate at Sioux City and Cheyenne, the attention of the general Gov’t was called by the jealous remonstrances of the Sioux Indians to the fact that the hills, spoken of[,] lay in their reservation and could not be visited by white men except in direct and open violation of the treaty by which these lands had been ceded them. About the same time the command of Genl. George A. Custer, Lieut-Colonel of the 7th U.S. Cavalry, returned from a summer excursion to the vicinity of Harney’s Peak, bringing back rumors of rich places seen and prospected while en route; much acrimonious discussion was awakened in the public prints, some writers affecting to doubt the credibility of the witness, others hotly contesting the motives

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influencing his antagonists. From his original position as taken in his official report, General Custer could not be drawn and from the archives of memory and dim tradition, men commenced exhuming stories related by French Canadian voyageurs, trappers and traders, and by Roman Catholic priests, missionaries among the Sioux, Flatheads, and Blackfeet; which narrations, it may be safely asserted, lost nothing in repetition;—finally, in the month of December, 1874, word was sent to the Commanding Officer Fort Laramie that a small band of prospectors, ignoring alike the prohibition of the authorities and the danger of attacks from hostile Indians, had penetrated to the arcanum of the Black Hills and that, upon the complaint and demand of the Secretary of the Interior ([Columbus] Delano.) the Secy. Of War, ([William W.] Belknap.) ordered them driven out. Captain Guy V. Henry’s Company “D”, of the 3d Cavalry was detailed to perform the designated duty, which in the terrible state of the weather then prevailing and the absence of any urgent necessity for precipitate action in the premises, seems to-day inhumane. The command was absent about a fortnight, with the thermometer indicating a temperature, at the comparatively comfortable garrisons from which they started, of from 25º to 40º, below zero (-25º @ -40º F.) No trace could be found of the intruders and the only tangible results of the Expedition were the frozen lines of famished men and horses; out of an effective strength of 50 men, the incredible number of 45 was sent sick to hospital for medical treatment. [A]mputated toes and dwarfed hands and fingers are the only evidences now in existence to attest that in the Interior Depart, “some one had blundered”. Again, in the month of March, 1875, Captain John Mix’s company “M”, of the 2n Cavalry, was ordered to repeat the effort to find the invading force of miners, a duty successfully accomplished after encountering inclement weather and rigorous obstacles second only to those forming the Nova Zembla4 experience of the first command. The miners brought in numbered 48 in all, including one woman and one boy. . . . A change of Generals commanding the Department of the Platte had occurred while these last mentioned movements were transpiring: General E.O.C. Ord, the former commander had been superseded by Brigadier General George Crook, whose achievements 4. Nova Zemlya, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.

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on the Pacific Coast had brought him before the whole country and the whole world as the most successful Indian fighter and the only successful Indian manager the United States had ever known. Immediately after assuming control of his new military province (April 27th.,) Gen. Crook left his Hdqrs (at Omaha, Neb.,) for Chicago where he remained in consultation with Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan, the commander of the Mil. Div. Of the Missiouri. Returning to his own Department, he had once set out as already stated, for [Fort] Laramie, having previously dispatched thereto Colonel Dodge, with instructions to command the expedition. The following expresses corrected the constitution and organization of the military forces, as well as of the savan[t]s. 23d Inf., Col. R.I. Dodge, Commanding 1st Lieut. M.C. Foot[e], 9th Inf., Adjutant. 1st Lieut. John F. Trout, 23d Inf., A.A.Q.M. A.A. Surgeon Lane. 2n Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3d Cav., A.D.C. to the Department Commander, accompanied the expedition under special instructions from General Crook, and acted as Engineer Officer of the Expedition. Cavalry, 2n & 3d Regt. 2n Regiment. Company Spaulding E.J. Captain Gregg (absent.) 1st Lieut. Coale, John H. 2n Lieut. Company Noyes (absent.) Captain Hall C.T. 1st Lieut. Kingsbury, F.W. 2n Lieut. Company “A” 3d Regt. Hawley Wm. Captain Lawson 1st Lieut. Morton, Charles 2n Lieut. Company. (absent.) Curtis, Captain. King, A.D. 1 Lieutenant Foster; James E.H. 2 Lieutenant Company

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Captain 1st Lieut. 2n Lieut. Captain. 1 Lieut. 2 Lieut. 9th Infantry

Company. Burt, Andrew S. Captain (Adjutant.) 1st Lieut. Craig, Louis A. 2n Lieut. Company Munson, Samuel Captain Capron T.H. (absent.) 1st Lieut. Delaney, Hayden 2n Lieut Artillery: 12 pdr Howr and one Gatling Gun, with 20,000 rds ammn. Extra for entire command. Guides Jos Marrivale. Train of 75 wagons, under 1st Lieut. John F. Trout 9th Infantry. Corps of Scientists H.P. Janny [sic], Geologist & Chief [Henry] Newton, Minerologist [Horace P.] Tuttle. Astronomer [Valentine T.] Macgillicuddy. Tpogl Engineer Patrick. Student. [William H.] Root, Miner. —[J.S.] Newberry, ornithologist and taxidermist. (resigned.) Photographer, sick, did not join (Colonel Dodge’s son, Richard Paulding Dodge, a young boy of (14), also of the party. Under the name of Paulding, he has since won some consideration as a member of the theol[og]ical[?] association. J.G.B.) While at Fort Laramie, I noticed how much more comfortable troops can be made in moderately cold than in moderately warm climates;

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water, the great requisite is here found in great abundance furnishing means of cultivation and adornment, while stone cellars filled with ice from the same source of supply afford to fatigued and thirsty troops in the heat of summer a refreshment not within their reach in more torrid latitudes. Not many yards outside the line officers’ quarters may still be found the boxes or coffins containing the mouldering remains of two Indian girls; one, the daughter of Spotted Tail, the head chief of the Brulé Sioux (and considered by many to be the smartest man and most astute politician in his nation.) died, so tradition says, of unrequited love entertained by her for a young army officer at that time on duty at the post. The coffins were placed upon upright pine stanchions about 15 feet high and the corpses suffered gradually to decompose, such being the mode of sepulture (?) In vogue among these people. To the scaffolding is nailed the tail of the horse, whose ghost carried the young maiden’s spirit to the land of the Great Hereafter. As the question of the Black Hills, Survey will gain some additional interest from a knowledge of the metes and bounds of the district, it is given below: Commencing at the intersection of 46º North Lat. with the East Bank of the Missouri river, south down said bank to North Boundary line of the state of Nebraska (43º Par. North Lat), West along said parallel to the 104º Long. West from Greenwich, North, following said meridian to the 46º North Lat. and then East along this parallel to the Initial point. Estimated area, about 26.000.000 acres. Possession of the reserve already ceded on the East of the Missouri river was confirmed and all the Territory East of the summit of the Big Horn Mtns declared unceded Indian Territory and ingress of whites pretermitted. Permission to lease reservation to hunt for buffalo along the North Platte and the Republican Fork of the Smokey Hill rivers was conceded and it was further stipulated that when by actual survey it should be found that there was less than 160 acres of arable land for each person permitted by treaty to reside upon the Reserve, the metes and bounds should be so much farther enlarged as to include the amount of soil needed. The convention was framed at Fort Laramie, (then in Dacotah, now in Wyoming Territory,) between W. T. Sherman, W. F. Harney, C. C. Augur, A. H. Terry, John B. Sanborn, Nath. Taylor, Commissioners on the part of the U.S., and Red Cloud and 176 other chiefs and headmen of

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the Brulé, Sans Arcs, Blackfeet, Yanctonnais, Uncpapas, Ogallalahs, Minnieconjous, Cutheads, Two Kettles and Santee Sioux and some of the Arapahoes. The treaty was signed April 24th et seq. 1868 and ratified by President [Andrew] Johnson, February 24th 1869. The general misconduct and obliquity of the present management of Indian affairs induces the insertion of the following editorial from the “Tribune”, New York, May 7th, 1875. MARS AND MERCURY ON THE FRONTIER We all admit that war is barbarous, and our familiarity with scenes of slaughter must offend some of the finer sensibilities of men [illegible] there must be something far more [illegible] than war in the service of our Indian Department, or we should not see the contrast which is daily and hourly presented on the frontier between the behavior of the army and that of the Indian agents of the Government, in their dealings with the aborigines and the pioneers in the Western wilderness. It should be remembered that the army has little to do with the Indians, except to keep them in bounds and to punish them when they transgress. The soldier’s aspect to them is always stern and serious; while on the other hand, [the concept of] the trader and the agent are gentle and gracious ideas; from them come flour and beef and whisky, bibles and right soft greetings, and gunpowder, candy and compliments—everything calculated to make the Indian good and happy. But in spite of all this, the Indians trust the soldier as implicitly as they fear him, and they regard the civilians with whom they deal, from whom they get everything they want to gratify their vices or to support life, who form their only medium of communication with the Great Father at Washington, with an intensity of hatred and contempt which are but dimly expressed in those occasional outbursts of savage eloquence with which Red Cloud, and Spotted Tail, and others have from time to time startled the readers of newspapers. The simple explanation of the matter is that the army is well nigh the only refuge of mere decent honesty on the frontier. Though almost his sole duty is to kill Indians, or be killed by them, the word of an officer of the army is worth

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more to any savage chieftain than the oath of any civilian representative of the Government. It requires no especial subtlety to see why this is so. There is a tradition of honor and honesty among the officers of the regular service which nothing but malice will deny. You may explain it in any way you choose, but it cannot be explained away. Many of them are far from saintly in various aspects, but you will scarcely ever find one of them who is not as safe as a piece of machinery in the Mint in all matters affecting the public money. One reason of this undoubtedly is that the service is so rigidly systemized that stealing is very difficult, and generation after generation of soldiers, recognizing this fact, have grown up honest, and go through no struggle of temptation when intrusted with large amounts of funds. In this they have an immense advantage over the unfortunate dependents of the Indian Ring. They hold their places from thieves; they are known to have india-rubber consciences; they work in a system which affords only encouragement to gross knavery. We have recently shown in these columns how easy it is for the agents and traders to steal about half of what they pretend to issue. We have no right to be astonished at the results. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs plaintively admitted the other day that he could not get honest and capable Indian Agents for $1,500 a year. But the Government gets officers for very little more, who are both honest and capable, because they serve with traditions of honor behind them, and under circumstances where it would be infinitely harder to commit frauds without detection than do their duty without reward. The soldier has another useful instinct which the civilian official lacks; he is accustomed to obey orders whether they are pleasant or not. When Col. Henry was ordered last Winter to comb the Black Hills for miners, he made no question, but started off into the arctic desolation to do what he was told, paying the penalty in horrible suffering and loss of life and limb among his command. This Spring the order was renewed to Capt. Mix, and he, more fortunate, rode a month or so through trackless, snowy wastes, found the miners’ stockade, and brought every man into camp. Sup-

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pose Mr. Delano had been instructed with this business— how would it have been done? A Ring would have formed by instantaneous nebular development, “my son John”5 and his friends would have arranged matters among themselves, the local rings of Wyoming would have been conciliated, and before the expedition ended, which of course would not have been until pleasant weather, the title to the choicest bits of land in the territory would have been held in itching palms, and not an order emanating from the Government would have been executed. When the soldier receives an order, his first and last thought is to execute it. When one of the Indian Ring receives an order, he begins nimbly to calculate what there is in it, and whether he can make more money by disregarding it altogether than he can by pretending to obey it. If the soldier fails, he is court-martialed and ruined. If the Ring man is caught and denounced, he is too often vindicated by his chief; and if he is not, he is allowed to keep all he has stolen. The crossing of the beefherd of the command over the Laramie and North Platte rivers was effected to-day under the superintendence of Lieut. John F. Trout, A.A.Q.M.: ten cavalrymen surrounded the beeves and after concentrating them in a circle, forced by threats and yells their entrance into the river; once there, the only difficulty to overcome in their swimming the current was the tendency of the animals to huddle together. Sticks and stones were thrown to cause their dispersion and the passage of the river was soon readily effected, only two heads being left behind. Forage and other stores for the use of the command were also ferried across to-day, the 21st May. Took an observation on Laramie Peak this morning and found its bearing to be 81º (exactly West) (plat with 0º South, reading to West.) May 22nd. Surgeon [John Field] Randolph, Colonel [Thaddeus] Stanton, A.P.M., and clerk,* Lieut. [William Wallace] Rogers, 9th Inf., Lieut [Henry] Seton, Capt. [Alexander] Sutorious, 3d Cav., arrived at Fort Laramie from Red Cloud agency and other points. Took an observation to-day with the aneroid barometer, by which * M.T. Challé. 5. A not-too-veiled reference to Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano’s son, John, who extorted payoffs from surveyors in exchange for government contracts. See the introduction to Part 3.

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the height of Fort Laramie above sea level was shown to be 4750 feet; Mercury 25.25 inches. May 23d. The officers above mentioned left post this morning for Cheyenne. To-morrow, command will march across to North side of North Platte, and go into camp; there the wagon train and Co’s of Cavalry have been since yesterday. May 24th Col. Dodge moved the command into camp on the North Side of the North Platte river, where were found wood, water and grass in plenty and of excellent quality. Three officers of the post who were not to form part of the expedition, now presented themselves to say good bye to their comrades and receive parting message of the description usual upon such occasions. Old and almost forgotten war times were vividly recalled by the long streets of white canvass sheltering officers and soldiers, by the long train of 75 wagons laden with a three month supply of provisions & by the thousands of rounds of extra ammunition supplied in case of need against hostile Sioux. In the cavalry companies and in the Q.M. train, long lines of animals were groomed and rubbed preparatory to the long march of the morrow; our efficient Quartermaster, Trout, ran from point to point, inspecting and examining to see that every essential had been supplied and jotting down at intervals memoranda of mistakes to be rectified and omissions to be made good. The Infantry soldiers were drilled in the school of Skirmisher and exercised in the evolutions of the company formation; bustle pervaded on all sides, indicative of the earnestness with which all concerned regarded the duty to which assigned (and which they felt the country required should be done) thoroughly and well. By 9 P.M. the bugle call of taps lulled the tired and weary to rest to be broken at 4 A.M. next day when we commenced our march in a general North North East course to Raw Hide creek, over a heavy sand road, sparsely covered with coarse Buffalo and bunch grass, and interspersed occasionally with sage-brush. A journey of 18 miles brought us into camp on the Right bank of this little stream (a confluent of the North Platte) found fringed with small cottonwood and willow trees. Nothing worthy of mention occurred on this day nor on the next when our course followed up the valley of the stream to the West for some 7 or 8 miles, camping on the Raw Hide, with the great essentials of army movements in abundance and of excellent char-

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acter[.] Country to-day much scored by trails of the buffalo, which of late years has not ventured so far north. Soil Sandy; at end of march, found a small ravine with walls of a very friable, argillaceous6 sandstone, easily broken by the action of wind or water. Ascended a bluff, (directly in front of Raw Hide Peak,) and found the (barometrical.) altitude, to be 5500 feet. Saw Raw Hide peak above 1200 feet higher than our camp, covered with a heavy growth of pine and juniper. This morning, no small trouble and bother were occasioned in the passage of the Raw Hide and its affluents, where considerable work with shovel and pick and in bridge construction was demanded and performed. Observation on the aneroid barometer showed that present camp is 750 feet above Fort Laramie. Yesterday morning, noticed a very heavy dew on grass in our camp on the Platte; an atmospheric anomaly in this country. Saw to-day, pappoose [sic] slung up in her grave clothes in a cottonwood tree on the banks of the Raw Hide. Mail arrived in camp this afternoon from Fort Laramie, the last we shall have for a month. Thunderstorm of half hour’s duration this afternoon. The advent of May 27th was announced by tempestuous winds and a reduction of the mercury in the thermometer to 49º; all camp turned out at 4 A.M. uniformly equipped with army overcoats and frozen noses. These Northers, as these winds are styled, are not merely inconvenient and unfortunate, but frequently highly dangerous to the traveller’s health and life. Few people in New York could be made to understand that at points not many miles North of their own latitude, the genial warmth of a buffalo robe and a pair of blankets should be acceptable and necessary by night in the very end of May; [t]he month of flowers. This day we left the waters of the Raw Hide, marching first North West until the foot of the elevation, laid down on the maps as Raw Hide Peak, was attained. Our aneroid barometers here indicated 5450, and Professor Janney who ascended the mountain to its apex, examining into its geological character, told me its altitude was 900 feet above where we had been, making a total elevation above sea-level of 6300 feet; Mount Washington [New Hampshire] has about equal height. The mineralogical formation was now distinctly different from that of yesterday; Raw Hide Peak being mainly granitic in character; then saw much gneiss, red, black and white and gray; also what I took to be a trap dyke; and a vein of white quartz, six inches 6. Compact metamorphic.

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wide, in a belt of red gneiss or granite. The quartz did not show any auriferous indications to my eye. Once past the divide of the Raw Hide Peak, (which may here be said to consist of two distinct buttes, one about a mile long trending North East to South West; the other, smaller in size, running nearly due North and South. Between these two, [t]here seems to be a feasible pass, and to the Extreme North, there is a mesa, about half as high as the main peak which juts out for some four or five miles from the parent ridge.) a march, as nearly due North as the configuration of the country would allow, brought us to the Niobrara, or Running Water, at the point of its first appearance above ground. This little streak of water was not more than 3 feet broad, six inches in depth and of no great velocity. Grass in this camp inferior in quality. No wood to be had except what we had picked up on the road and carried in our wagons. In front of camp was a butte (196 feet high.) of granite or gneiss, composed mainly of mica, of exaggerated crystals and imperfect cohesion. Persons who climbed to the summit told me of some Indian fortifications there found; from their descriptions, these structures of rude piles of stone not over 3 feet high, probably served once as rifle pits or trenches to defend the Crow Indians, originally the possessors of this region, against the Dacotahs or Sioux, the present occupants. The summit has no positive evidence to sustain it, and neither the fortifications nor the conjecture were deserving of further attention. May 28th Thermometer at reveille indicated 31º and a heavy frost clad the hills and vallies [sic] in a robe of crystal and white. Our progress to-day was slow but very satisfactory considering the nature of the country to be dealt with. “The plains”, so called are an immense plateau, rising from 4000 to 8000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. The general undulation of these immense fields is not unlike the gentle roll of the sea in a time of calm; but by the erosive action of the numerous streams and their tributaries which course this region, gulches, ravines and crevices without number and in bewildering entanglement so add to the difficulties of passage that all this may in one word be designated a Mountain country. The above explanation should be borne in mind to account for what would otherwise be considered the short marches of our expedition. A feeling akin to loneliness seizes upon the observer who contemplates an immense area of country with scarcely a tree to give shelter against the cutting edge of the wintry “Norther”, or the fer-

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vid rays of the noonday sun. Our table of distances thus far is, Laramie to Rendezvous Camp, 2 1/4 miles. Rendezvous to Camp No 2. (Rawhide) 18 1/4 miles. Camp No 2 to No 3, Raw Hide 7 1/2 miles. " " 3 to " 4, Niobrara 19 1/5 miles. " " 4 to " 5, Old Woman’s Fork 14 miles. This stream is one of the affluents of the South Cheyenne, drains a considerable area of country, is very sinuous, very narrow and [as] to its current[,] is full of a white sediment, the detritus of the vicinity. To the taste, it is savory and palatable. May 29th 1875. By hard work and after vexatious delays, a distance of a little more than 14 miles was accomplished down the Old Woman’s Fork, crossed eight times since first its waters were struck yesterday. Our camp this day (No 6.) was to the East of the little butte, called the Old Woman’s Mountain, upon whose summit at night the spirit of some mysterious old Indian hag enjoys the recreation of tripping the light fantastic. An Indian medicine rag was found this evening by Lt. [Albert Douglas] King, 3d Cav., as he was engaged in posting pickets for the protection of our bivouac; in form like a banner or marker, about 14 inches by 25, attached at one end to a twig for a staff, it had emblazoned in black upon one side the representation of over 75 horse shoes; on the other a rude profile of a human head. A piece of tobacco was served up in one corner: the article was of white cotton cloth. May 30th. South Cheyenne river, 17 1/8 miles May 31st. Broke camp at 5.30 A.M., crossed two bends of the South Cheyenne within 1500 yards of Camp and then passed a tributary holding considerable water: our trip to-day has had no items of peculiar interest to record; our route followed down for 13 1/4 miles the line of the South Cheyenne, three of whose tributaries, the West Cheyenne, Sage Creek, and another, nameless, joined it from various directions to-day. The West Cheyenne, so Professor Janney informed me, has much of interest to the geologist and mineralogist: nodules of reniform Iron ore (oxide.) were discernible in the water and on the banks in various directions and Professor Newton discovered the veins of black lignite, the coming white population of the Black Hills may yet consume as fuel. Throughout this section are to be found the same fossil bivalves (brachyopods I think they are.) of which we observed such great quantities yesterday and the

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day before. In general, this country may be denominated a grassy plain; but great tracts occur where the tuna cactus7 and sagebrush dispute the supremacy of the buffalo and bunch grass. A beautiful blue flower, probably a phlox, was to be seen with great frequency and relieved what would in its absence have been the monotony of the country. The short, thick-set growth of the tuna demonstrated with what force the winds of winter must sweep from the North across these plains. The South Cheyenne and its confluents, as seen to-day, are certainly much better timbered and with trees too of a heavier growth than the streams observed yesterday and previously. The West Cheyenne has a rich alluvial bottom, from 1000 yards to one mile wide, which, if it extend for any great distance from our point of crossing, right soon to be occupied by thrifty farmers. A grateful feature of the march, whatever our line touched near the banks of the stream has been the sweet, shrill shirping [sic] of the bobalinks as they flit from bush to bush: now and then we intrude upon a village of prairie dogs who first watch our movements with curiosity and then, becoming indignant at the impertinence of the invasion, angrily squeak their bark of defiance and fling their little tails in the air [and] hurriedly seek refuge within their burrows. An alarm of camp last night, occasioned by a sentinel firing his piece, under the belief that Indians were engaged in abstracting some of our horses, affords an occasion for inserting a summary description of the manner of conducting the daily march, encamping and moving out. Of the six companies of cavalry forming the mounted portion of the command, one is detailed in proper turn to act as advance guard; in the morning, reveille is sounded at 4 A.M., following which at once come roll call, stables and breakfast. The “General” is then sounded as a signal to strike tents, then “boots and saddles”, to saddle and bridle, and last of all “Assembly”, when companies fall into line under arms. The advance company now moves out with the pioneer wagon, containing axes, hatchets, spades, shovels, nails, rope, timber and other requisites for bridge construction, corduroy road making, or excavating and embanking. Arrived at a point where it is needful to guard against the miring of teams or horses, detailed men move out with axes, fell suitable cotton7. Opuntia phaeacantha or prickly pear. “Tuna” refers specifically to the fruit. Loughmiller, Texas Wildflowers, 33.

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wood trees, which another party strip of their branches and cut into lengths suitable for stretchers and cross-pieces. Stretchers are dispe[n]sed across the stream, two feet apart, while the cross pieces cover these closely at right angles. Smaller branches fill in any gaps that may occur while a uniform, hard-packed covering of earth makes the road-bed. The Bluffs, edging the stream are now cut down to make a convenient ramp and wagons and horses are crossing almost before the written description is completed. The Company of Cavalry in advance becomes rear-guard to-morrow, marching one mile or so behind the wagon train, which is escorted by the Infantry Cos and artillery. Arrived in Camp, wagons are packed, tents pitched in streets, animals unhitched to graze, and pickets, mounted, established by the advance guard upon all the circumjacent bluffs. These videttes remain on post after night fall closer to camp, until the forward movement of the next morning and it is the duty of the officers of the Company to which they pertain to visit them at least once after midnight to see they are vigilant and ready for emergencies. The water of the South Cheyenne, turbid and alkaline, is scarcely drinkable on acc’t of the great amount of argillaceous and other sedimentary matter held in suspension: a plant, plentiful in this country called the nopal, or Tuna cactus, plate cactus or Indian fig, is employed with success to clarify the water for drinking purposes. Cut into strips of an inch square and immerse in the fluid, its juices appear to act like the white of egg in coffee.8 The fluid becomes clean and refreshing as a beverage thanks to a much despised and poorly understood vegetable, whose other virtues are so many additional arguments in favor of the beneficence of the Almighty; no more potent anti-scorbutic can be found; its powers in this regard have been tested and witnessed again and again by Army officers from Dacotah to Texas and Arizona. It should be roasted on ashes and served with salt and vinegar. Another vegetable, the wild onion, readily found on these plains, serves the same great purpose. This night it rained for some time and blew with great force. 8. Hunting or camping, I have used both the cactus in water, and the egg in coffee. When no strainer is available and the coffee grounds are boiled with the water, the egg settles them to the bottom. However, I have always boiled the egg shell with membrane rather than the white (it gives the coffee a slightly acidic taste which is not unpleasant to the confirmed coffee drinker). In the case of water (which should be boiled or treated with iodine before consumption), the nopal pad is diced as Bourke described, and the pieces are floated. Apparently there is some sort of chemical component of both egg and nopal that lowers the density of the water so that the sediment sinks to the bottom of the container. It should also be noted that Hispanics often boil the diced nopal pads in water with ground meat, tomato bits, onion, and chile to make nopalito, a very good soup. The tuna, or fruit of the nopal, generally served sliced and slightly chilled, has a taste very similar to kiwi fruit.

Chapter 9 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Into the Black Hills

June 1st. Opened cold and damp with dark clouds obscuring the sky. A short journey of 9 1/4 miles, over ground demanding little or no labor in road making, brought us to the Beaver Creek, a stream about 30 feet wide, of turbid water, one half sediment, besides being so salty and alkaline as to almost occasion nausea. Grass good on the hill-sides and timber accessible on the banks of the stream. Grounds of Camp covered with prickly pear cactus. Early in the morning, a field of wild onions was noticed, the odor being very much the same as that of garlic. Fossil shells were found in abundance by some of Professor Janney’s party on the flanks of the trail; bracyopods and ammonites: these I did not see, but from the deposits coming under my personal observation yesterday, I can without difficulty concede the truth of all I hear. The Black Hills proper are now in full view; exactly magnetic north of us to the most prominent peak of the range. In a little ravine, on to-day’s line of march, the walls were composed of decomposed shale, stained black with iron, and having interspersed through the mass, crystals of selenite, (gypsum). To the right were extensive deposits of the Black, siliceous carbonate of Iron, very pure and easily worked. Major Burt, 9th Infantry, brought in a mass 175

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of crystals of selenite, very beautiful and very perfect; formed in a stratum of gypsum about 2 m west of our line of direction. Mr Root, one of the Janney party, told me he had seen what he thought must be the Muriate of [Baryta?],1 to-day. To-day, we have had a sharp, decidedly cool and disagreeable April shower of rain and hail: every day, we have been so favored, the result being that the march is not dusty, as in drier season it might be. Young grass-hoppers in very considerable numbers have been visible at various points, evidently preparing, like the unconquered Sioux, to resume their depredations upon the feeble settlements of Wyoming. The hunters of Lieut. Hall’s company of the 2nd Cavalry killed four elk this afternoon; Lt. King, 3d Cav., killed a black-tailed deer and a party of Burt’s company, 9th Infantry, killed and brought to camp a cinnamon bear. Upon the confines and within the limits of the Black Hills Reserve, the reflection arises what good does the present expedition do except to witness to the words that our Govt. is not desirous of depriving the Sioux of any treaty rights until after careful consideration of the subject involved, and maybe a feeble scientific light thrown upon the topography of the country and the true astronomical position of a few magnificent peaks and streams? Professor Janney has a great responsibility to bear and an unenviable position to occupy. Granting his report admits the existence of gold, has that not been known already? Or supposing no auriferous indications meet his eye, will a non-committal or a flat denial avail to slay the influx of adventurous men now congregating at Cheyenne, Sioux City and other points, fully satisfied of the existence of valuable treasures in the Sioux country, which they are all the more determined to seize because on forbidden ground? Our phase of the business, do what our Govt. can to prevent it, will be a Sioux and Cheyenne war in which those tribes will be doomed to receive the castigation so long merited. The probable method of procedure will be the establishment of a few large depots of supplies in the heart of the Enemy’s country, from which as foci can radiate forth columns of cavalry and Infantry, carrying supplies by pack-trains, to the most hidden recesses of the Indian territory. A winter campaign may become a necessity, but in such a case the 1. If Bourke means “barytes” it is a form of barite.

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troops by following up the streams, can effect two objects: one, the avoiding of much rigorous cold; the other, the assault of the enemy’s villages near the streams and their expulsion to the frigid plains where they will soon freeze to death if they do not promptly submit. A change in this policy from the poor and vacillating one prevailing before General Crook’s arrival may bring to light the worthlessness of many officers who have no desire to serve the Army and the country, except at Sybaritic stations or in soft places. But, under General Crook, the subjcation [sic] of all hostile Indians within the limits of his Department may be accepted as a forgone conclusion. Our dinner to-day was a most palatable one, a couple of the principal dishes were furnished by the country. Roast Elk meat and boiled lamb’s quarter,2 prepared as greens with bacon. With appetites whetted by a day’s travel in the teeth of a bracing breeze, the mess would in any event have rendered some tribute of justice of the viands set before them; in this case, the fresh beef of the Elk was a very savory and toothsome morsel which claimed and received our fullest attention. June 3d. Our movements of to-day and yesterday have been through country of the same general character as noticed in preceeding pages. For some reason best known to himself Mr. Janney was determined to establish his party on the 104th Meridian and thence explore the region to the East and North-East. He seemed unable to appreciate the fact that a mile or two to the East or West of the Boundary would make little difference to the nation which is concerned not in regard to the precise longitude of the Black Hills but in regard to the alleged metalliferous deposits of South West Dacotah. The Military however had been detailed to act as escort to the Geologists and had nothing to do but acquiesce in the whims of a very inexperienced young man, who has not apparently succeeded in making a striking impression upon any who have been thrown in contact with him.3 The subordinates of Janney’s party generally conduct themselves as men of superior qualifications and extended experience. Captain Tuttle, the astronomer, Doctor MacGillicuddy, the topogra2. Chenopodium album. 3. Jenney distrusted the soldiers and correspondents, and kept his plans to himself. This hindered Dodge’s ability to coordinate support. He also tended to work apart from the column, which frequently forced the soldiers to extricate him from some sort of difficulty. Kime, Black Hills Journals, 15-16.

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pher, Mr Newton minerologist, and Mr Root, the practical miner, are beyond a doubt valuable auxiliaries to the expedition, if they do not constitute the sum total of its scientific strength. The weather has remained petulant and variable; the sky is nearly all morning and afternoon covered with gloomy rain-bearing clouds; towards sun-set, a few rays force their way in upon camp and refresh the scene with their golden light; night brings back the clouds and high winds then set in, blowing with the fury of a tempest until morning. Some rain has fallen but not enough to cause more than a mere reference to it. The plains are by no means monotonous to the sight; the gentle undulation of the ground is frequently broken by the elevation of long lines of bluffs, some not more than fifty, others as much as 300 feet in height: here, there and everywhere, prominent buttes can be seen and occasionally a peak of prominence obtrudes itself upon the vision to attract notice and admiration. Laramie Peak, Injan-Kara[?], Harney’s Peak, Raw-Hide Peak and others have been visible, more or less distinctly, since our journey commenced. These were, at some remote geological epoch, islands in the midst of a vast sea of which the low undulating rounds at their bases formed the bed. Our trail has led us through the bottom of this vast sea and for the past two or three days, we might say our path has been through marine fossils; lodges of indurated mud have presented themselves and in these have been masses of ammonites, brachyopods, baculites, and other sea animals whose names I cannot give. My own collection[,] the poorest perhaps in the expedition, already embraces all the varieties mentioned besides clams, muscles [sic] and other specimens. Professor Janny found the tooth of a fossil horse, estimated to have been eight feet high. Colonel Dodge has in his possession a piece of silicified wood, or rather half petrified wood, one half being stone, the other still retaining its ligneous fibre and condition. The streams which have their source in the plains themselves leach out the saline and alkaline matters predominating in the soil and as might be anticipated, are unfit for use, either in cooking or washing or for drinking. On the other hand, those whose spring-heads are found in the sandstone or granite formations of the more elevated sections are exceedingly palatable, although their hardness impairs their detersive qualities somewhat. Among the minerals discovered within the last 24 hours has been a bed of pure white gypsum, 4 or 5 feet thick. As yet, there are are

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[sic] no indications of our being in a gold country. Raw Hide Peak might prove a good place for prospectors, but the other portions of the ground traversed have generally been clay, gypsum, sand and limestone. But within 3 miles more, the geological character of the country may change completely, bringing about a complete substitution of minerals. On June 2nd, the distance traversed, by odometer measurement, was 10 1/2 miles and on the 3rd, 13 21/25 miles, bringing the command to a very beautiful camp on the headwaters of one of the numerous branches of Beaver Creek, under the shadow of the renown Black Hills, with plenty of good water, grass and timber and in the presence of animating scenery. The little stream, fringed with willow and box elder, flowing in front of our tents, rises in the hills north of us about two miles and about half a mile below camp receives the salty, disagreeable washings of a little brook running out from the breaks to the West of it. In this portion, Colonel Dodge has decided to place his first permanent base of supplies and the work of cutting the necessary timbers for a stockade and storehouse has already begun in earnest. The position of the camp proper will not be much changed, but an important addition will be made in the erection of a little palisade work on the crest of a little hill completely commanding the situation and from which our artillery can be enabled to play with deadly effect upon any party of Indians that may have the temerity to attack us. The Infantry companies are to leave on the 6th June with the wagon train for Fort Laramie, returning in 20 days with an additional two months’ supply of rations and also such mail as may be awaiting them at that post. Meantime, parties of cavalry will be kept out with the Geological and surveying detachments, exploring the ground and mapping out its principal features, East as far as Harney’s Butte, or Peak. The absence of Indians means something, in my opinion; none have come near us thus far, altho’ it is evident we are now in a part of their country often visited if not permanently occupied by them. Great trails have been seen, broad and well travelled and the indications of a great camp having been here not many months ago can be found in all directions. That this Black Hills District merits much of the eulogistic commendation of General Custer, I am inclined to believe; the mountains proper now rear their lofty head above us,

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crowned with pine and cedar forests from summit to base; the air is cool and bracing, water excellent and game signs becoming more plenty. What the country may become as we advance farther into its secret recesses we should not leave to conjecture but determine by actual experiment and observation when the proper time comes. June 4th 1875 Yesterday (June 3d.), a number of rattlesnakes were killed in camp; one had coiled up ready to attack me while I was engaged in taking topographical notes of the country. The total distance of this camp from Fort Laramie is as follows: Camp No 1 2 1/4 miles Platte " " 2 18 2/3 " Raw Hide " " 3 7 1/2 " d[itt]o " " 4 19 1/5 " @. Niobrara " " 5 14. " Old Woman’s Fork " " " " " "

" 6 " 7 " 8 " 9 " 10 " 11.

14 1/2 " do 17 1/2 " South Cheyenne 12 1/4 " S. Cheyenne 8 2/3 " Beaver 10 1/2 " Beaver E. Fork 14 " Beaver water of E. Fork 138 4/5 " = 140 miles. Call it in round numbers 140 miles. A slight amount of rain fell to-day. June 5th. Major [Andrew] Burt, Capt. Munson, Lieuts. [Hayden] Delaney & Craig, 9th Inf., with their Companies started back at Reveille this morning for Fort Laramie to replenish the supply train. They are expected back by the 23d to 25th and will bring with them any mail matter that may have accumulated for officers and men of the Expedition. Indian signs continue to be reported and Indians themselves are seen each day, but none have presented themselves in camp up to the present writing[.] Five were seen yesterday by our hunters and a fresh trail of fifteen who camped last night 8 miles above us on the Creek was reported by Professor Janney, who made a trip into the first range back of us and is now all aglow in his enthusiasm over the country. He says it rivals the Blue Grass regions of Kentucky. General Custer’s report upon the wonderfully beautiful aspect of

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the parks he visited and the great adaptability of the Hills, in their entirety to pastoral uses will, I feel pretty sure, be substantiated by the cumulative testimony of Janney and all connected with the survey. An elk and seven black-tailed deer were brought into camp this evening, our fresh meat ought to hold out well now, supplemented by the incessant requisitions made upon the game preserves of the Dacotahs & Cheyennes. June 5th.4 A sharp, biting wind and the mercury not much above freezing point made overcoats this morning essential; the climate of the Black Hills is, to say the least, peculiar. At this season of the year, the nights are as cold as in the Eastern states they would be in November; as day advances, the sun’s rays make the temperature much more agreeable, and as night approaches, it again becomes necessary to assume heavy coverings and seek the warmth of great wood fires. In Lieut. Hall’s tent yesterday afternoon the officers gathered about a little camp stove glad to receive the warmth it afforded. In despite of these disadvantages, the air is so pure and bracing that perhaps no more salubrious locality can be found in the U.S. for persons whose constitutions are not so much impaired as to demand indoor nursing or residence in semi-tropical latitudes. Game in abundance and great variety is to be found in every ravine and upon every acclivity. Our men are busy hunting and much meat rewards their Exertions: elk and black-tail deer have been killed in sufficient numbers to supply messes of both men and officers. The arrangements of camp are now perfected, tents laid out in long, parallel streets, those of the Commanding Officer and Staff being in a pleasant little clump of box-elder trees, and so furnished with paulins for floor covering and tables made out of Q.M. and Commissary boxes as to be most comfortable. In our present position, there is not much work to do and under the insidious influences of our surroundings, sloth has seized upon our faculties and rendered hard study disagreeable. The routine of the day is, Bkft [Breakfast] immediately after Reveille, then read until about noon when most of the messes spread lunch: after meridian, many indulge in sleep until dinner which winds up the day. Evening finds us congregated about some camp-fire, discussing army matters or those pertaining to the scientific objects of the trip: many curious things have been noted in the way of minerals or vegetation and Mr Newton, who seems a 4. Bourke apparently means June 6.

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very intelligent student in his specialty, very kindly places the resources of his knowledge at our disposal. The above partition of our time, with that involved in the performance of necessary duties of camp, brings us down to 10 O’clock at night, when we mix a social toddy and then saunter off to our tents to turn in for rest. June 7th. A beautiful day in every sense of the word; a cloudless sky, warm but not too [fervid?] sun, pleasant breeze and springlike temperatures are all the more to be appreciated after the cool winds and rain-laiden clouds of yesterday and the week preceeding. The strip of country we are now camped in should be thrown open to settlement at an early day; to Wyoming and Dacotah it may yet act as a centre of attraction for a valuable pastoral and perhaps manufacturing community. It is impossible to form an opinion of the Black Hills as a whole until after having had an opportunity for a more careful examination and I am determined, even at the risk of making my Diary read as dry as a Patent Office Report to insert no item which I have not had time or occasion to verify in person or for which I cannot name the best available authority; and not to expatiate in the language of enthusiasm upon beautiful scenery, pellucid streams, dense forests and precious ledges of gold and silver but to ennumerate simply what the country contains, and when, where and in what quantities observed. In vicinity of our location, the rocks are of the two general classes of sandstone and limestone; the limestone of exceptional purity. Gypsum, pure white, and rose tinged, and in the crystalline forms of selenite occurs with such frequency and in such quantity that I refer to its presence more as a duty than to attract attention to it. The carbonate of Iron, (Black.) already noticed on the journey, is again found on this stream a few hundred feet from the line of tents: red clay deposits are visible in the line of hills to our front, the crests of which are sandstone crags, 1050 and 1650 above the thread of the stream. Much of the limestone is very compact shells of a little animal called by Profr Janney, the “productus”, being interspersed throughout the mass. The water is wholesome, even if a trifle “hard” with sulphate of lime; the knolls upon which grow a small closely matted species of nutritive grass would afford sustenance to great herds of sheep, requiring no protection from the weather other than that afforded by the elevated cordillera a mile north of us. I am almost ready to assert my conviction that

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this valley will never be very warm in summer nor cold in winter. There are no indications, at least I neither saw nor heard of any, that great overflows occur: the valley is very clean and has no dead trees or other driftwood to mark a former elevation of its waters. The timber question may as well be accepted as a matter of fact; The main ridge, is black with it and scrut[eniz]ing through the powerful glass on the theodelite of the topographers discloses unvarying excellence in its quality from base to crest. The palisading for the block-houses now erected has been under my charge, as assistant to Colonel Dodge; the trees used were selected for two considerations;—to get them from pineries as close to camp as possible to avoid unnecessary labor and trouble in their subsequent transportation and to have them of a uniform diameter not greater than 12 inches. Those I have inspected do not therefore fairly represent the superior grades, but no one can complain of the excellence of the timber of these mountains taking these even as inferior samples. Hoping that the photographer of the expedition might soon be with us, no previous mention of any objects or passages in the scenery has been made, preferring to let the sun-portraits speak for themselves. The delay of the artist in joining us is a matter of deep regret now that we are at the entrance gate of the “parks” and in the face of scenery which merits in the fullest degree the epithet, “picturesque”. No prettier sight can be imagined than our camp with its long rows of immaculate white tents nesting in the shade and foliage of the box-elder; in sinuous folds the babbling waters of the Beaver flow over their rocky bed past our camp to their junction miles below with the current of the South Cheyenne; beyond us, to the North can be traced the valley through which it courses and the range from which it rises. Grassy slopes and wooded declivities, not precipitous, although abrupt in their elevation, hem in the valley on either hand and terminate the vista. Above, a sky, without stain, completes the picture and give[s] exalted hopes of the country prospected by Profr Janney yesterday and before and over whose beauty and fascination he went into such ecstacies that language failed him. June 8th. Soldiers of the log-cutting detachment brought in from the pinery this morning a canteen filled with water tasting like writing ink; Mr Newton says it contains in solution both alum and sulphuric acid. A piece of the rock cropping out near the spring was handed

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me; it is a clay shale, black with decomposed iron pyrites and yielding by a double decomposition, under the influence of air and water, alum and dilute sulphuric acid. Dr. Lane and Lieut. Morton rejoined camp from three days’ hunting excursion to Harney’s Peak and the South West corner of the Black Hills; the minerals brought back with them were what looked to me like Binary granite and Tourmaline in quartz. According to their report, the country visited is heavily timbered and very mountainous with wide grassy plains and glades surrounding the rocky elevations which must have considerable altitude as a snow-bank was passed on their route. Custer’s trail was followed for 6 or 8 miles. Berries of different varieties, strawberries, June berries &c were noticed in blossom. The timber is pine, quaking asp[en], cottonwood and birch. Water in great frequency, collected in great pools or lakelets on the flat table summits, fed by the slowly melting drifts of snow, last winter’s legacy. The palisade redoubts to defend camp against surprise have been completed to-day, ready for the reception of the artillery. To-morrow, we move on in the direction of Harney’s Peak then to establish another camp at which the companies left behind at this point will join us with those escorting back from Laramie our train of supplies. Weather to-day, quite pleasant and genial; not too warm and no cold wind. June 9th 1875. Colonel Dodge, with Spalding’s and Hall’s Companies of the 2n and Wessell’s Co. of the 3d Cavalry, moved out as an escort to the scientific party this morning, leaving Col. Hawley with 3 companies of the 3d Cavalry to await at Camp Jenney (No 11.) the return of the wagon train from Laramie. Our route North up the valley of Spalding’s Fork of Beaver Creek commenced at Camp Jenney and winding close to the red sandstone bounding valley on R. after causing some delay to construct a passage-way of rocks across an abrupt bend of stream where it ran in upon its vertical walls, brought us into a series of small valleys of no special feature, one being an exact type of all the others, to wit. Through the centre flowed the stream without any great tributaries except dry arroyos which cut up the ground with frequency. Surrounding these vales or basins were low bluffs of even height of strata of gypsum upon red clay. Rarely have I seen sulphate of lime in a condition of as great plenty and the deposits in extent were simply fabulous. These bluffs on the summit were ordinarily bare of all herbage, except weeds, and, at very distant intervals, small clumps of scrub pine

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and cedar. Back of these bluffs, a mile or two on each side rise two parallel ridges of the Black Hills, upon which could be seen excellent timber growing almost as thick as grass. The ground work of the little basins as well as the soil close up to the rim of the gypsum hills was matted thick with a carpeting of rich, blue-green grass, a fit setting to the many springs that sparkled like jewels upon the brown of the plain. The geological formation of the day was very plainly defined; red sandstone, gypsum, red clay and limestone forming in due order the framework of the lofty ranges on our Right and Left. At one point where the limestone strata had been tilted upwards at an angle of 50º from the Horizontal the earth seemed honeycombed with springs: walking my horse slowly, I passed by five in twenty minutes, leaving numerous others unnoticed. The water gushing out from them was not good and in one of two cases gave decided taste of alum. Many of them were depositing travertine upon their margins and all were hard from the presence in solution of various lime-salts, either sulphates or carbonates. Around these sources, grew luxuriantly clumps of wild plum, cherry, currant and gooseberry bushes. Wild roses were also in profusion and strawberries in blooms have been reported. About noon stream ran dry for awhile, but we followed along parallel to its dry bed until 2 P.M., when we found ourselves in a “park country”, where the scenery was most enchanting and exhilarating. The same geological formation continued but the mountains and gypsum bluffs receded for 2 or 3 miles, leaving a wide stretch of luxuriant grass-covered country, with not a bush to interrupt the vista of green sward to the Right and Left, the front and rear of Pine forests now reached down from the higher reaches and capped the summits of the lower hills; outcroppings of snowy gypsum or crimson red clay rendered more conspicuous by contrast the emerald tint of the herbage. Look where we might, turn where we would, new beauties obtruded their claims upon our bewildered attention, each demanding, each in turn receiving the palm of superiority. While the clouds lowered, the majestic mountains on our flanks looked gloomy and grand; nothing could be added to the charm of the scene; but where the sun’s ray’s lit up cañon and crag with a farewell gleam and cast a generous glow over hillock and plain, the plaintive picturesqueness of only an hour ago was almost forgotten in the greater charm of the present moment. In one of these lawn-like parks, the stream again rose above ground,

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this time in a cañon with almost vertical walls, nestling confidingly under the protecting shadow of the highest pinnacles of the Main Range. Near a pleasant-looking spring whose water sought a junction with those in the cañon, our tents were pitched and as if to teach us there must be something to dull the edge of every mundane enjoyment, something to recall us from the poetic exaltation inspired by the scene, the water of the spring altho’ ice-cold and sweet to the taste was so hard with CaO,SO35 that when we washed or rather when we attempted our ablutions, an insoluble lime-soap formed upon our hands and left them actually dirtier than before. This afternoon, a violent thunder storm set in, which lasted with but slight intermission, all night. June 10th. Make a North line of 12 3/8 miles, climbing slowly to summit of an elevated table land, where the Barometrical indications were 7800 to 7850 feet. Followed along narrow crest of summit, passing around the heads of scores of little feeders of Spalding’s Fork of Beaver Creek and enjoying an undescribably beautiful view of the country to North West, and north to Beaver Lodge Butte and Terrill’s Peak (?) looming up grandly in foreground. Water[s] to Left of trail flowed to West North West and evidently find their way either directly or through affluents to the Belle Fourche. For a few miles, pine was almost replaced by the “quaking aspen”, the pine and other coniferal [trees] reappearing as we began descending the declivity; at one heavy grade, the trail ran down 300 feet vertically in three furlongs; fortunately, no wagons suffered and after pushing on rapidly through a blinding rain, hail and snow storm, we reached a beautiful little vale, answering in every sense to the appellation, “Floral Valley”, given it by Custer whose trail we struck at foot of Mountain and followed for one mile. While going to Spalding’s Fork this morning, we halted for an hour on the brink of its gloomy cañon, 650 to 750 feet deep, with a solid cushion of stately pine trees almost hiding its rugged limestone cliffs and concealing entirely from view the rushing stream below whose murmur we distinctly heard three icy-cold springs gushed out from the rocks under our feet and added the tribute of their strength to the current singing over the rocks beneath. We had now attained and passed the highest point of the Black Hills on the South West; no auriferous6 indications were to be detected, 5. Calcite and sulfate, i.e. gypsum.

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the geological formation forbidding the idea of precious metalliferous7 deposits existing. The strata were almost uniformly coarse sandstone, with limestone also in great quantity. On this side, the Black Hills are to all intents and purposes an elevated table-land, covered with dense forests of pine and having its flanks scarred by countless ravines which flow, with scarcely an exception, into Spalding’s Fork of Beaver Creek. Our camp this evening, made as it was in the midst of a disagreeable storm, which was not calculated to improve our tempers or excite enthusiasm over any prospect except that of a warm fire and a good cup of hot coffee, spread before us in such a delightful little glade that the most stolid gave way to their feelings in expressions of admiration and keen enjoyment: The glen, in its greatest breadth could not have been more than 300 yards, but there were so many little lateral glades and gulches that its dimensions were to first appearances, considerably augmented. Noble spruce pines, straight and graceful, shut in the horizon on all sides; now in clumps upon the grassy knolls, now alone like sentinels upon picket, or breaking away into little openings in which the quaking aspen found foothold or standing in dense, compact masses which laughed to scorn the penetrating rays of the sun. Not many flowers were seen, the season perhaps not being sufficiently advanced, but upon the velvety turf, rose three peerless little springs whose water, from every deleterious trait, shows by actual test, the icy temperature of 39º F. In this fairy glen our troops reposed until midday of June 11th 1875, when command passed down Custer’s trail in a generally East and South East direction for twelve and three eighths miles, moving up creek on which last night’s camp was placed and crossing divide into narrow ravine of Castle Creek, flowing East South East in a narrow gulch, bounded by crags of calcarous sandstone, fringed with pine forests. A feature of this day’s march has been the number of fine springs bursting out from the ground in bewildering confusion; one was chal[y]beate of considerable strength. Beaver dams occurred in great frequency and in consequence bridges had to be constructed at every crossing of the creek. Willow thickets lined its course from its source to the site of our camp. Formation now changing. Quartz rock, slate with quartz and quartz in taleose schist seen near trail. 6. Gold bearing. 7. Ore producing.

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Crags hemmed in the little valley on Right and Left: one of those, under which camp was placed, being 950' above level of the stream. The whole of the country, as seen from the summit of one of these crags was a lovely alternation of gently rising hills and sloping dales; the lower portions of emerald green with a thickly matted grass eaten greedily by our animals; pine woods hemmed in the landscape in every point of sight. In these forests, rich grass grew everywhere, the almost total absence of underbrush giving a tone to the scene reminding one of the well-kept lawns and parks of some private mansion. In no part of America can be found a more pleasing belt of territory, or one promising more munificent returns in dairy products when a hardy, intelligent population shall have been given liberty to make their homes therein. The smooth ringing sod, the various, green grass, the pretty little flowerets modestly peering above the sward, the sparkling rivulet coursing down the ravine with little confluents joining it on either hand, the springs of pure, sweet, frigid water, the rich black soil, 6 and 8 feet deep, the compact belts of excellent timber and inexhaustible quarries of building stone—all these without an indication of habitancy—evoked the question; why have these Black Hills, greater in area than several of the New England states, and which have never been of any value to the nomads who claim them as their own, and are never visited even save at rare intervals to obtain lodge-poles for the Sioux and Cheyenne camps—why have these lovely vales and hills been sequestered from the national domain, already too much curtailed by the setting aside of extravagant areas for Indian reservations, and too small in its arable acreage West of the Missouri to afford fit accomodations to the swarms of emigrants and pioneers pushing forward each year farther into what was but yesterday the Western frontier? Setting aside the existence of gold, Wyoming and Dacotah and North West Nebraska, have much reason to believe that before many months, the markets of the East and West shall be supplied with meat, butter, cheese, hides, horns and wool from the herds and dairies of the Sha-pa-pa. June 12th 1875. One of nature’s sweetest days; a stainless sky, a genial sun, brought out with superb effect every minute detail of the picture stretched in front of and around us. Our progress to-day has been extremely slow; into the soft, black loam of the valley bed, the wheels of the

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wagons sank to the hubs and one wagon broke down completely, so only a fraction more than four and a half miles of advance was made when we found ourselves in Custer’s Camp of July 28th, having gone first South East then East, and latterly North East through a district whose geological formation was markedly different from yesterday’s; now the flanks of the ravines are immense slate ledges, with leads of iron-stained quartz, attracting attention every moment: this slate is siliceous and must extend a considerable distance to Right and Left, since several tributaries whose course we examined ran through the same formation for miles. Our camp tonight was placed on the Left bank of a little tributary, coming in from South East and in picturesque beauty of situation and abundance and excellence of the great essentials, wood, water and grass, the rival, perhaps the superior of the one we left. Interest in the mineralogy of the country was keenly excited by the discovery of a fleck of gold in some dirt panned by one of Profr. Jenney’s servants on the bank of the rivulet. Professor Jenney now determined to remain and this creek to pursue geological inquiring to the utmost; Colonel Dodge, therefore, left Wessell’s Company of the 3d Cavy. to protect the scientists in their labors, while he with the other companies pushed on closer to Harney’s Peak there to establish the permanent depot and focus of operations. June 13th, 1875. Moved South East 10 2/3 miles, through a country of same characteristic features as those noted yesterday; left the waters of Castle Creek and made camp in a little cañon, with slate walls, through which ran a bright, cool spring rivulet which we took to be Spring Creek. About 2 miles above camp, we left Custer’s trail, hoping to improve on it by making a cut-off; the rugged walls of slate, hemming in our camp, convinced us of our mistake, not to our disappointment, however, since it afforded us an opportunity for making a bivouac in a little glen whose beauty pen cannot well portray. The same fascinating scenery, the same cold, pure water and our now accustomed alternations of timbered crests, grassy slopes and springwatered, shady glades. In this camp, the “color” of gold was again found by one of the command—Mr Long, a citizen. June 14th, 1875. Our march to-day was 16 1/3 miles, in a direction; for first ten miles South East; and last six miles very sinuous, but bearing generally East South East. Retracing our steps for 2000 yards, we resumed Custer’s trail, following it over the divide separating Spring

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from French creeks, and halting on the latter at Custer’s Camp of July 29th, 1874. Here we have to the North West, some five or six miles from us, the now famous Harney’s Peak, a comparatively insignificant and decidedly pug-nosed butte, of granite rock, barren of timber, and which looks ashamed of its own pretensions in presence of people who have traversed the loftier ridges beyond it. Not a voice dissents from the verdict that General Custer’s report is fully sustained by facts; we have now attained the gold country, and find after dispassionate scrutiny of every statement made by Custer and Forsyth8 that this region is far more beautiful and valuable than they claimed it to be and that the most glowing description a vivid fancy and facile pen can give will fall short of the merits of the case. On the crest of the last divide crossed, again the geological formation varied, mica schist first appearing then ledges of vesicular, honey-comb, iron, stained quartz, and a poorly crystallized granite or gneiss, with large fragments of quartz, feldspar, tourmaline and mica, feebly holding together. Another sign of importance has been that all the streams have quartz gravel beds, altho’ no black sand is visible. Many garnets, small and inferior, sparkle in the sun-light from the stream bed; the soil around us is a rich, deep black loam topped with green sod. Within 100 rods of Head-quarters is the stockade of the miners whom Mix took out from here in April last—an important measure on the part of the Gov’t, because these streams are now full of miners, whose fires send up volumes of smoke from the glens to the South, South East, and South West of us. Mr Bratton, Colonel Dodge and others have visited their camps five miles away and saw them pan out floss gold from the gravel in which they were working; it averages 5 c[arats]. to the pan, from the grass roots down, improving with every foot of descent. No bedrock has yet been reached, nor has great work been done in excavation, the poor devils being nearly starved, their sole diet for the past fifteen days having been venison and spring water. Parties have been sent back to Cheyenne for supplies, bearing with them dust from the placers: their advent, with the proofs of rich diggings, will cause Cheyenne, Omaha, Sidney and Sioux city to hum like a swarm of angry bees. Our men have been washing the mud from near the brook bank, finding “color” in most unlikely localities. The gold, which I have 8. Major George Alexander (Sandy) Forsyth, Ninth Cavalry, who explored the region in 1868.

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seen, at a rough guess, is worth 18.50 to 19.50 per oz: is clear, bright orange yellow and in pieces from the size of pinhead to pinpoint. The miners claim that with ground and box sluicing, they will make from $5 to $75 per diem to the hand, but say, and say justly, work cannot be done without food, for which they are now waiting. June 15th. Men put at work, building corral for the cattle herds. Lieut. Trout and wagon train started for Camp Jenney. In company with Mr Bratton, I visited miners’ camp and verified, if verification were needed, Colonel Dodge’s report. The miners say they are having a hard struggle against hunger, are destitute in every sense, know they are on forbidden ground and expect the Military will receive orders to drive them out; but if expelled, they propose returning and facing every obstacle, knowing a fortune awaits them with the developments of these bottoms: the quartz ledges, they have not thoroughly examined, not having any mercury, but have crushed the rock with mortar and pestle and found “color” in horn-spoon. One party was working a small box sluice and in the gravel found, besides gold, many fine topazes so called, one as big as an English walnut; another had laid out a garden patch, planting a little corn, some melons, peas, beans, turnips, squashes and other garden truck, which has made an appearance above ground and promises finely. While the indications are very fine, an additional advantage possessed by this district over others longer known is the great mass of fine timber crowding down close to the streams, the purity and plenty of the water, the accumulations of building materials, the richness of the grasses, and above all the proximity to the Pacific R.R’s and the facility of ingress. By next year, the Black Hills should be filled with a self-supporting population of 10.000 fighting men. June 17th. Professor Jenney arrived in camp, evidently greatly chagrined and crest-fallen; he cannot ignore the presence of gold, and plenty of it; but affects to deprecate the value of the mines; instancing the obstacles the miners must overcome before their claims will pay. All this I told him the miners understood as well as he did; that the existence of gold was all they asked to learn; subsequent developments must take care of themselves. Finally, Professor, they will not wait longer for your report; because messengers bearing specimens of gold are by this time near [Fort] Laramie and the moment their mission is known in Cheyenne nothing can restrain the miners from invading those precincts. This seemed to disquiet him

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greatly and no doubt he felt his duties here were ended. (Slight fall of rain to-night[)]. June 17th. [sic] Have been busy writing until 1 A.M. and also since 6.30 this morning; mail party sent in to cut across Beaver Creek bridge some 15 miles below Camp Jenney. Spalding is to make a road and Trout brings back the wagon train, as soon as Burt’s command can be intercepted. Mail matter may reach here by 23d inst. Weather delightful but warm. June 18th. Morning very sultry: afternoon a heavy thunder and rain storm prevailed lasting until late in the night. June 19th. Made topographical survey of the line from camp to the miner’s box sluice. 4 1/4 miles. Day charming. June 20th. Examined country to North West of camp, about 9 or 10 miles, climbing up on the rugged granite walls of a promontory in the range of Harney’s Peak. Since half dozen pinnacles of granite, almost equal in size, made it a matter of difficulty to distinguish which was entitled to the designation; so, perforce our investigation proved unsuccessful. June 21st Suffered from a violent attack of neuralgia in the right eye, which nearly blinded me and rendered abortive any attempts at topography. June 22nd. Captain Spalding arrived in camp with a heavy mail, my portion contained 30 letters and a large package of newspapers. Letter from Genl. J.McE. Dye, of the army of Egypt, to General Crook, offering me the position of Major on the Military staff of the Khedive. Also note from Captain Nickerson, advising acceptance and saying I had better run in at once to Omaha.9 Letters from Mr Hittell and many other friends. Saw in the papers the editorials appended and also a notice of the death by suicide in New York of Captain W.H. Brown, 5th Cavalry, one of Genl. Crook’s soldiers in the campaign against the Apaches in Arizona. 9. In the 1870s, Egypt theoretically was a dominion of the Ottoman Empire, governed by a khedive, or viceroy, appointed by the sultan and functioning in his name. In reality, the khevidal government was virtually independent of Constantinople, and the khedives were hereditary princes who increasingly were becoming clients of Great Britain. Because of growing nationalism and pressure for reform among their own officers, the khedives preferred foreigners for key military and civil positions. The majority were British, although Germans, Austrians, and the occasional American could be found in Egyptian service. Such an appointment was a virtual guarantee of wealth, power, and prestige. See Moorehead, White Nile.

✦

Part 3 The Great Sioux War 1876–1877

✦

Introduction

T

he remaining Bourke manuscripts in this volume deal with the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, a brutal conflict most famous for the destruction of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and five companies of the 7th Cavalry at the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. The war was an outgrowth of many factors. The Indians were increasingly disillusioned with reservation life, and those who had never gone on the reservations were contemptuous of those who had. As more abandoned the reservation for the free, nomadic life, the center of resistance shifted from Red Cloud, who had more or less come to terms with the government, to the Hunkpapa Sioux chief Sitting Bull, who advocated breaking all connections with the whites, including the acceptance of government rations.1 The great sore point was, of course, the Black Hills, which, regardless of what the Indians might have thought of them as a geographical feature, were increasingly becoming a point of honor. Although Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, and other agency chiefs indicated a possible cession of the Black Hills to the government, leaders of the northern, non-agency bands of Lakotas and Cheyennes an1. Robinson, Good Year to Die, 29-31.

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nounced that they would go to war first. To emphasize their position, in the spring of 1875 the Indians closed the two roads leading into the Black Hills from Nebraska. Settlers and prospectors were killed, and livestock run off. Soon raiding extended into Wyoming. The situation presented a golden opportunity for the army command. With the end of the Civil War, the American public had resumed its traditional disdain for professional soldiers, and viewed the army as a tool of the increasingly unpopular Radical Reconstruction of the South. With the election of General Grant, however, army officers believed they had finally found an advocate for their views, particularly on westward expansion and the nagging “Indian Question.” Given Sheridan’s enthusiasm for expansion in general, and the writings and opinions of officers such as Custer, Dodge, Maj. James S. Brisbin, and Maj. George A. Forsyth, the soldiers attempted to sway public and congressional opinion toward the army as an instrument of national development. Thus President Grant faced growing pressure to annex the Black Hills away from the Indians.2 In the fall of 1875, a commission consisting of General Terry, Sen. W. B. Allison, S. D. Hinman, G. P. Beauvais, and several Easterners met with the Indians at the Red Cloud Agency, in northwestern Nebraska, in an effort to convince them to cede the region. The meeting was a fiasco, and the temper of the Indians was such that the commissioners were lucky to emerge alive. It became obvious the government would have to take by force what it could not gain by negotiation. On December 6, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Edward P. Smith, acting on instructions from Secretary of the Interior Zachariah Chandler, instructed the agents in the Dakotas and Nebraska to notify the various bands that they would have to be within the reservations on or before January 31, 1876. The timing was poor. Because of the winter, many Indians would not even get the word until well after the deadline. It made no difference. On February 1, 1876, the Interior Department gave the War Department responsibility for all non-agency Sioux. The immediate task fell to General Sheridan, the division commander. He envisioned a winter campaign of three converging columns, a tactic which had been used with success on the Southern Plains, most recently during the Red River War of 1874-75. Crook 2. McDermott, “Military Problem,” 18-19, 25-26.

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would move up from the south, Col. John Gibbon would move east from his bases in western Montana, and Custer would move west from Dakota. They would batter the Indians back and forth until they submitted.3 Although Bourke pointed out that Crook had “the prestige of complete success in every campaign hitherto undertaken,” he was overly optimistic in saying that the general was “by all odds the worst foe the Sioux have ever yet had to meet.”4 In fact, this war probably was the low point of Crook’s career. While he understood the economic and cultural differences between the northern tribes and the Apaches, he did not understand the region. Crook’s earlier assignments, Arizona and the Pacific Northwest, were small in comparison to the Platte, and the terrain was more familiar. Those areas also were more heavily settled, and the soldiers were never more than a few days from supply and support. In the western part of the Platte, by comparison, there was little white settlement north of the Union Pacific line, and large portions of Terry’s department were equally vacant. The northernmost post in Crook’s department was Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, and the nearest posts in the Department of Dakota were hundreds of miles away. The Indians in this area reigned supreme, and many were hostile. This situation hindered Crook at every turn, and whatever success he enjoyed was almost entirely through the efforts of subordinate officers.5 Amid the preparations for war, the government found itself rocked by scandal. Personally honest, President Grant nevertheless was a poor judge of character, and often appointed men to high positions who were not as honest as he. Secretary of War William W. Belknap resigned under allegations of influence peddling in the appointment of traderships at military posts. Resignation notwithstanding, he subsequently was impeached. Presidential advisor Orville Babcock was involved in the “Whiskey Ring,” a group of distillers and distributors who bribed treasury employees to accept falsified measurements and supply tax stamps beyond the amount paid. Another casualty was Interior Secretary Columbus Delano, forced to resign after it was learned he had obtained substantial government surveying contracts for his son, John, who in turn shook down trained 3. Robinson, Good Year to Die, 37ff.; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 21ff. 4. Bourke, Diaries, 3:96 5. Robinson, General Crook, 166-67.

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surveyors for payment in order to obtain work. Grant’s image was further tarnished because he stubbornly remained loyal to his associates long after common sense dictated that he should have abandoned them to their fates. Even Orvil Grant, the president’s brother, was implicated in payoff schemes, although Orvil, a perennial survivor, managed to weather the storm.6 Orvil Grant’s problems went so far as to affect the organization of the campaign against the Indians. Custer, who had been openly critical of corruption among government officials on the upper Missouri River, was summoned to testify before congress. Much of his testimony was simply rumor and speculation, but he did implicate Belknap and Orvil Grant. While President Grant did not particularly care for his brother, Orvil nevertheless was family, and the president was unwilling to tolerate an attack on him by a lieutenant colonel. Custer was removed from command of the Dakota Column in the coming campaign, and only General Terry’s intercession allowed him to accompany the expedition at all—as a cavalry commander subordinate to Terry, who would lead the column.7 General Sheridan, however, faced another problem. Although the winter campaign of converging columns was proven in the south, the climate of Montana and Dakota was substantially different from that of Texas and Oklahoma. Only Crook, coming up from Wyoming, would be able to enter the field on schedule. The Montana and Dakota Columns were still snowbound. To make matters worse, Terry, a wealthy attorney who had gained his Regular Army general’s star because of his tenacious and successful assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, did not make any serious effort to have them ready to march as soon as the weather allowed. Bourke frequently mentioned Sitting Bull and the Oglala chief Crazy Horse. In doing so, he inadvertently contributed to the great body of mythology that has emerged around these two chiefs. Much of the myth was developed to fit the white concept of monolithic leadership, whereas in reality, no one single person had tangible authority in Plains Indian society. Except in rare cases, a chief’s role essentially was symbolic. This appears to have been understood by Lt. W. Philo Clark, who prepared an overall assessment of the war for General Crook, after most of the hostilities had ceased. 6. McFeely, Grant, A Biography, 405-7, 427-29, 430-33. 7. Ibid., 431-32; Utley, Cavalier in Buckskin, 158-63.

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He wrote: Great prominence has been given Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in this war, the good fighting strategy and subsequent muster by retreats being attributed to them, whereas they are really not entitled to more credit or censure than many others so far as plans and orders were concerned, but they headed two of the worst bands on the plains, and were the two fiercest leaders the Sioux nation has produced for years.8 Nevertheless, the legend refuses to die, and has been accepted and passed on by the Indians themselves. With this section, Bourke began a format he would use with few exceptions throughout the remainder of his life: a bound notebook, written on both sides of each page. Additionally, he usually began numbering the pages of each subsequent volume in sequence, picking up the pages of each subsequent volume with the number of the final page of the preceding one. He began with preparations for what was designated the Big Horn Expedition. This was the opening campaign of the war. This period also shows the copious attention to detail that would characterize the diaries throughout the remainder of Bourke’s life. Although it follows a daily sequence of events, it is less a diary than a memoir, and is one of the best contemporary accounts of the organization of an Indian campaign, and of the routine followed by Indian War soldiers in the field. The flow of the narrative is complete, abbreviation is rare, and sentence structure and punctuation are a vast improvement over earlier volumes. It also shows evidence of careful rereading and some editing. In several cases, Bourke inserted later corrections in the margins or on the bottom of the page. Another indication is his entry for March 13, which states his ink had frozen and burst the bottle so that the remainder of that particular volume would be in pencil.9 As the extant copy is entirely in ink, however, one must surmise that he copied it over, and probably expanded the original as he went along. 8. Clark to AG, Platte, September 14, 1877, U.S. Department of War, RG 393, Special File, Military Division of the Missouri, Sioux War, herafter referred to as Special File—Sioux. 9. Bourke, Diaries, 3:85-86.

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He begins with an account of the Big Horn Expedition, the first of Sheridan’s converging columns to get into the field. Theoretically the expedition was commanded by Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, who, despite an admirable record in the Union Army, did not inspire confidence from his superiors or subordinates. In the Department of Texas, which Reynolds commanded from 1870 to 1872, Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie accused him of corruption regarding civilian supply contracts. By 1876, in an era when the army was rife with petty jealousies, Reynolds’ own regiment, the 3rd Cavalry, was particularly notorious for its factionalism. Although General Crook’s official position was that of an observer, it soon became clear that he was de facto commanding officer. His reasons for usurping the command are obscure. In his official report, he stated that he “accompanied” the expedition to personally observe the feasibility of winter campaigns. However, he also implied there were other reasons, which may have indicated that he shared the lack of confidence in Reynolds. While Crook’s active and continual interference did not initially create problems, it appears to have undermined Reynolds’ position as the march progressed, and undoubtedly contributed to the lackluster outcome of the expedition.10 In his description of the soldiers’ morale along the march, Bourke acknowledged the difference between the Union Army volunteer who marched into battle “with banners flying, drums beating and the pulse beating high with the promptings of honorable ambition and enthusiasms, in unison with the roar of artillery,” and the professional soldier of the Indian Wars, who encountered “a foe whose habits of warfare are repugnant to every principle of humanity and whose presence can be determined solely by the flash of the rifle . . . or the whoop and yell.”11 The Union soldier, as historians Don Rickey, Jr., and Robert Utley have pointed out, generally belonged to a volunteer unit connected with a specific locale that the soldier could call home. He had community support, and was identified with a regular vocation or profession that was temporarily suspended for the duration of the war. The regular soldier, on the other hand, was seen as having no roots, a shiftless drifter who opted for the army because he was “too lazy 10. U.S. Department of War, Annual Report, 1:502; Robinson, Bad Hand, 52-53, and General Crook, 167. 11. Bourke, Diaries, 3:79-80.

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to work.” A large percentage of the troops came from the ranks of the urban poor, with some skilled artisans interspersed. Many were foreign. An ill-informed Eastern press also tended to connect the regular soldier with atrocities against the Indians, much as the conscript soldier in Vietnam a century later was seen as a “baby killer.” Ironically, many of the atrocities were perpetrated not by the regulars, who merely executed the policy of the political government, but by volunteer troops from the local frontier population who had personal scores to settle with Indians.12 Keenly aware of the attitude toward soldiers, Bourke remarked that the troops “are sent into the field, endure great hardships and suffer untold discomforts; if victorious, they are railed at by the ‘religious’ press of the country as unbridled butchers; if defeated, as all expeditions must expect to be, ridicule and contumely are poured out upon them.”13 For the first time, Bourke allowed himself a veiled criticism of General Crook, by referring to “an almost inexcusable oversight in the organization of our column” and “our objectionable method of marching.”14 Although inserted in the entry for March 16, when Reynolds led the cavalry independently of Crook, the description itself can only apply to the expedition as a whole, in which Crook had a direct—and heavy—hand. The march culminated in a fight on the Powder River of Montana on March 17, 1876, known variously as the Powder River Fight, the Reynolds Fight, or the Crazy Horse Fight, because the soldiers came to presume that they had destroyed the camp of the Oglala chief Crazy Horse. In fact, Crazy Horse was not even present and, from a military point of view, the fight was a debacle. The column attacked a village that was predominately Cheyenne, a tribe that had considered itself neutral up to this point. This particular band was on its way to Fort Laramie, in compliance with the government edict. The attack and destruction of the village threw the Cheyennes firmly into the hostile camp.15 Neither Bourke nor Crook ever admitted the mistake, despite all evidence that they had attacked a non-hostile village. Three months 12. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day, 26-27; Utley, Frontier Regulars, 22-23. 13. Bourke, Diaries, 4:253. 14. Ibid., 3:103-4. 15. Three Cheyenne accounts of the fight are found in Greene, Lakota and Cheyenne. The first official indication that Reynolds hit the wrong village is contained in a letter from Lt. George Ruhlen to General Terry, April 19, 1876, with endorsements, Special File–Sioux.

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later, Bourke referred to a telegram received in camp “that the Crazy Horse fight was an attack upon a band of peaceable Indians travelling back to their Reservations. . . .a lie, so ridiculous that we can afford to laugh at everything except its malignity.”16 There is no question that Reynolds completely mismanaged the fight. Aside from hitting the wrong camp, he had allowed his horses to become exhausted, did not scout the terrain, and ultimately, allowed dead and living wounded to fall into the hands of the Indians. Two company commanders likewise did not live up to expectations. Captain Alexander Moore, who previously had bungled an expedition in Arizona, found that the terrain did not allow him to fulfill his assignment, and held his men back, allowing other companies to carry the brunt of the fighting. Captain Henry E. Noyes, on the other hand, was overly concerned about carrying out his assignment of securing the pony herd, when common sense dictated supporting the companies that were actively engaged. Upon return to Cheyenne, Crook ordered all three court-martialed. Bourke is venomous about what he termed Reynolds’ “imbecility” and went so far as to call Moore a “coward.” He also dwells to some degree on their impending courts-martial. The trial of Captain Noyes was held almost immediately upon returning to Fort D. A. Russell, because charges against him, primarily involving poor judgment, were the most easily dispatched. He received an administrative reprimand. The charges and specifications against Reynolds and Moore were far more severe, and their careers were on the line. After several postponements that severely damaged morale in the 3rd Cavalry, they ultimately were tried and convicted in January 1877. Reynolds was suspended from rank and command for one year, and Moore was suspended from command and ordered confined to the limits of his post for six months.17 Crook, meanwhile, went to the Red Cloud Agency, where he hoped to repeat his Arizona tactic of playing factions within a tribe against each other, this time with the Sioux. He met with Red Cloud, and several other Oglala chiefs, including one named Sitting Bull (designated as “Sitting Bull of the South” to distinguish him from the great Sitting Bull, who was Hunkpapa). Bourke transcribed the interviews into his diary, giving much insight into the Indian view 16. Bourke, Diaries, 5:439. 17. Robinson, General Crook, 171-72, 209-10.

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of things. Although the chiefs appeared interested, the intervention of their agent, James S. Hastings, ended any ideas they might have had for cooperation.18 Meddling by the agents was a recurring theme throughout the Great Sioux War, as they attempted to keep their Indian charges from participating in a war against other Indians, even those tribes who traditionally had been their enemies. This, in turn, opened old wounds between the Interior and War Departments. For the first fifty years after the Constitution was adopted, the Indians were the responsibility of the War Department. This mainly was because most of the Eastern tribes had sided with the British during the Revolutionary War and therefore were potential enemies. In 1849, however, the newly created Department of the Interior was placed in charge of Indian matters, although the soldiers continued to be summoned to handle outbreaks. Initially, the War Department had no objections to the change, because it was one less administrative responsibility. But as the nation expanded, Indian outbreaks became so common that the generals were convinced that the Interior Department was incapable of handling the situation. Congress, which should have intervened in the dispute, was itself divided between the Senate, which had the actual power to make treaties with Indians, and the House of Representatives, which sought to assert itself by including Indian legislation in its bills. Consequently, federal policy was confused, contradictory, and erratic, and the frontier soldiers were left on their own to sort things out. The continuing strife, together with allegations of corruption in both departments, led to the Peace Policy, whereby administration of the Indian agencies was turned over to religious groups in an effort to “civilize” the Indians and end corruption. While the corruption was substantially reduced (despite military accusations to the contrary) religious groups and their representatives had preconceived notions of Indians that had very little to do with reality.19 As Bourke’s transcripts show, the Indians themselves found the government’s position frustratingly erratic. The chiefs pointedly told 18. Hastings was infuriated by Crook’s absurd claim that Reynolds’ troops had found the so-called “Crazy Horse” camp attacked on March 17 to have been well stocked with ammunition and other supplies provided through the agency. Having talked with the expedition’s Indian scouts, he had a better grasp of the facts than Crook would admit, and was determined not to assist the general in any way. See Hyde, Red Cloud’s Folk, 259 n.5. 19. Prucha, Great Father, 111-12; Priest, Uncle Sam’s Stepchildren, Chapter 2; Robinson, General Crook, 102.

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Crook that, during visits to Washington, the president had instructed them to refrain from any kind of war, and their agents were reinforcing that edict. Yet the army, traditionally viewed as the enemy, now was seeking their help against other bands of their own people. While Crook contended with problems in the Platte, the two northern columns—the Montana Column under Gibbon, and the Dakota Column under Terry with Custer in tow—finally got underway. Now, it was Crook’s turn to delay, and his new Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, once in the field, assumed the safari atmosphere that would characterize it through much of the first half of the summer of 1876. The officers—not the least of whom was Crook himself—hunted and fished, while the ordinary soldiers fished, bathed in the mountain streams, and busied themselves with what appear to be the absolute minimal duties necessary. Bourke, who spent much of his time reading, writing, and napping, admitted that it was “nothing but a picnic without exploit and without advantage.”20 In Crook’s defense, it must be pointed out that during the first part of June, he was awaiting the arrival of Indian scouts, without whom he could not effectively operate. Nevertheless, the lethargy continued. The only real excitement occurred on the evening of June 9, when a group of Indians that Bourke’s Diaries identify only as “a mounted party of Sioux warriors” fired into the camp. The entire affair was summed up in only a couple of paragraphs.21 Yet when Bourke recalled the incident fourteen years later in On the Border With Crook, he said the attack was made “in a most energetic manner by the Sioux and Cheyennes,” adding: This attack was only a bluff on the part of “Crazy Horse” to keep his word to Crook that he would begin to fight the latter just as soon as he touched the waters of the Tongue River; we had scoffed at the message at first, believing it to have been an invention of some of the agency half-breeds, but there were many who now believed in its authenticity.22 Interestingly enough, the diary contains no reference to any such “message” from Crazy Horse, nor is there any indication that, at 20. Bourke, Diaries, 4:379. 21. Ibid., 4: 368-70. 22. Bourke, On the Border, 296.

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this point in the war, Crazy Horse was even aware of Crook’s existence. In fact, the first mention of Crazy Horse in the extant Bourke writings was an offhand, generic comment concerning non-reservation chiefs. The statement goes to show how much the specter of Crazy Horse had grown in Crook’s—and by extension, Bourke’s— minds during and after the war. Soon after this attack, the Indian scouts arrived, and Crook finally began moving into Montana on June 16.

Chapter 10 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Big Horn Expedition

Left Omaha, Neb., February 17th [1876] for Cheyenne, Wyoming, in company with Gen. Crook, Col. Stanton, Col. Van Vliet, 3 Cav. and Ben. Clarke, of Indian Territory, whose services Gen. Crook has secured as a guide. Reached Cheyenne on the 18th and put up at the Inter Ocean Hotel. During the day and evening, the officers stationed at Fort D.A. Russell and Camp Carlin improved the occasion of calling upon the Genl. to pay their respects. Found the pack-train of the Expedn. ready to take the field, and well equipped under the experienced management of Tom. Moore. The proposed expedition is to consist of ten (10) companies of Cavalry, five of 2d and five of the 3d under the command of Gen. J.J. Reynolds, Colonel of the 3d Cavalry. Those to start from Fort Russell comprised Co. “E”, 2d Cav. Lt. Rowelle [sic] & Lt. Sibley. Co. “B”, 2d Cav. Capt. Peale & Lt. [Frank Upham] Robinson. Co. “A” 3d Cav. Capt. Hawley and Lt. Lawson Co. “E” 3d Cav. Lt. J.B. Johnson, Adjt. Co. “F” 3d Cav. Capt. Moore & Lt. Reynolds. Gen. Reynolds has appointed Lieut. Charles Morton, Adjutant, and 206

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Lieut Drew, A.A.Q.M. of the Command. It is the intention to move in the lightest marching order possible, hence everything not absolutely needed in the way of clothing, and mess equipage and bedding is to be rejected. Saturday, the 19th, and Sunday, the 20th, remained in Cheyenne, working up the details of the organization. The two companies of the 2d Cav. got off early on Sunday morning. Gen. Palmer, of the 2d Cav. came down from Fort Sanders on Saturday to consult with Gen. Crook. He returned on Sunday. Col. Roger Jones passed through from San Francisco on Saturday, going to New York. Capt. Nickerson, A.D.C., arrived back from the Indian agencies at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail,1 where he had gone to secure guides and trailers from among the half-breeds, and also to note passing events. We are now on the eve of the bitterest Indian war the Government has ever been called upon to wage: a war with a tribe that has waxed fat and insolent on Gov’t bounty, and has been armed and equipped with the most improved weapons by the connivance or carelessness of the Indian Agents. Of this, more hereafter.2 In Cheyenne, we could see and hear nothing but “Black Hills.” Every store advertises its inducements as an outfitting agency, every wagon is chartered to convea [sic] freight to the new Pactolus.3 The Q.M. Dept. experiences grave difficulty in finding the transportation needed by the Army at the different camps. Everything is bound for the Black Hills. Cheyenne is full of people and her merchants and saloon keepers are doing a rushing business. Great numbers of new buildings, mostly brick, have been erected during the past six months, giving the town a bustle and activity as well as an appearance of advancement in favorable contrast with Omaha, Denver and Salt Lake. 1. The Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies were in northwestern Nebraska near the present city of Chadron. The Red Cloud Agency served the Oglalas and was guarded by Camp (later Fort) Robinson. Spotted Tail, which served the Brulés, was guarded by Camp Sheridan. Both these agencies were named after the most prominent chiefs of their respective tribes, and both figured conspicuously in the coming war. 2. This assertion is questionable, as Bourke admitted in his later writings. In fact, many of the reservation Indians were on the verge of starvation because government rations often were late, and when they did arrive, were inadequate. Agents often found it necessary to pad their rolls to avoid famine. The most prosperous Indians, ironically, were those who eschewed the reservation and government rations, in favor of the unceded lands of Wyoming and Montana. See Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 43-44, 260. 3. In On the Border, Bourke used almost exactly the same sentence, except that he said “the new El Dorado” (248).

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Monday, Feby. 21st. Capt. Nickerson, A.D.C. left for Omaha at 2 O’Clock this A.M. Five companies of 3d Cavalry, including besides those already mentioned, Co. “D”, 3d Cav. Lt. [William Wallace] Robinson, and Co. “M”, Capt. [Anson] Mills and 1[st] Lt. A.C. Paul, left for Fort Fetterman4 at 6 O’Clock Feby. 22d. Left Cheyenne for Fort Laramie, passing through Camp Carlin 1 1/2 miles from Cheyenne and Fort D.A. Russell, 3 miles distant: 18 miles from Cheyenne is Lodge Pole Creek which joins the South Platte near Sydney [Nebraska] and 10 miles beyond that the Horse Ck. an affluent of the North Platte; the divide between these two small streams must therefore be some 7000 feet above sea level, as Cheyenne is about 6100. Stopped the first night at Portuguese Phillips’, a frontiersman of great experience especially among the Sioux Indians. His conversation was full of reminiscences of the Fort Phil. Kearney massacre which he witnessed.5 Arrived at Fort Laramie in the afternoon of the 23[rd] the distance being about 90 miles from Cheyenne. At the post, there was much excitement and bustle attendant upon the departure of Capt. Egan and Capt. Noyes and Lieut Hall of the 2d Cavalry, whose companies are to form the Expedition. Doctor Munn, who is to be Surgeon of the Command, was occupied in preparing the field medicine chest and other details pertaining to his Department. In the evening witnessed a theatrical entertainment given by the ladies and officers of the post; the pieces “Faint Heart never won Fair Lady” and “A Regular Fix” were capitally interpreted, the best performance being, in my opinion Maj. Burt, 9th Inf[antry], Miss L. Dewey, Miss Lucy Townsend, Mrs. L.P. Bradley, and Mr. Ford. From this point and on the road, I saw many adventurers journeying to the Black Hills; their wagons and animals looked new and good as a general thing and the supplies carried ample in quantity. 4. Fort Fetterman was established in 1867. It was abandoned in 1882, and turned over to the Interior Department two years later. The post buildings became a tough cow town that served as the model for the town of Drybone in Owen Wister’s The Virginian. It is now a Wyoming state historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 180-81. 5. On December 21, 1866, a large band of Indians attacked a wood train carrying lumber to Fort Phil Kearny from the post sawmill a few miles away. A detachment of eighty men under Capt. William J. Fetterman, 18th Infantry, was ordered to drive away the Indians and bring in the train. Fetterman, however, disobeyed orders and chased the Indians, allowing himself to be drawn into a trap. The entire command was wiped out. Bourke consistently misspelled the name of the fort as “Kearney,” but there is no second “e.” Fort Fetterman, which Crook used as a base, was named in memory of William Fetterman. See Brown, The Fetterman Massacre.

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However, there were many on foot and without adequate sustenance and some begging their way from ranch to ranch along the trail. What they hope to gain by going at this time to the Black Hills where the thermometer is reported to be -23º F., creeks frozen up and all placer mining frustrated is one of those things no one can find out. It is strongly suggestive of the want and misery of the Eastern states that so many people should rush upon slight stimulus towards the new El Dorado. The reason the Cheyenne route is preferred is the new iron bridge across the North Platte river, constructed under the supervision of Captain Stanton of the Engineer Corps, U.S.A, which gives secure passage not found on the other trails leading out from Sydney, North Platte, and elsewhere.6 Indications of bad weather approaching are now discernible in the sky: hopes are entertained that if a storm comes up the Sioux may be compelled to keep under shelter and thus give our columns a chance to creep undetected into the Yellowstone and Tongue river country, where their villages are. General Crook was busy all day, the 25th, in examining guides and scouts and studying maps of the country in which we are to operate. Wrote to Captain Nickerson and to sister. February 27th. Arrived at Fort Fetterman last evening in company with Gen. Crook, Gen. Reynolds, Lieut. Crew, Lieut. Morton. Our journey of two days’ duration took us over some 80 miles of country, barren of vegetation, lying along the Right bank of the North Platte and watered by its tributaries from the Laramie [river.] Black Hills on our Left. The scenery was of most monotonous character, destitute of herbage, except buffalo grass and sagebrush. An occasional buffalo-head, bleaching in the sun, gave a still more ghastly aspect to the landscape. From time to time, the prairie-dog protruded his little head above the entrance of his domicile and barked at our cortege passing by. That night (25th) we camped with Egan’s and Noyes’ companies of 2d Cavalry at the Buyll Bend of the North Platte, about 32 miles from Fort Laramie, in a very pleasant grove of cottonwood trees. 6. The iron bridge still spans the North Platte River at Fort Laramie. It allowed travelers to avoid the slow and sometimes dangerous crossings by river ferries on the other routes. See Bourke, On the Border With Crook, 248.

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In spots, the soil was arable in the event of water being applied. Its general character bore out Gen. Hazen’s aspersion against the “Great American Desert.” Boulders of Gneiss, Greystone, Porphyry, and other rocks from the Laramie Peak lined the bottom and sides of the different dry arroyos passed on this march. On the 26th, we passed the Twin Springs, a pair of pretty little sources of water, then Horse-shoe creek, Cave springs; Elk Horn creek, La Tone creek, Wagon-Hound creek,7 Bed tick creek and Whisky Gulch. The last is 3 miles from Fort Fetterman and is the place of concealment of all the vile intoxicating drinks smuggled in for the use of the enlisted men of the command. Red clay, evidently gypsifurous, and of same general type as that to be encountered going into the Black Hills of Dacotah formed the road bed. Stunted pine and cedar were growing in all the crevices and gulches of the little hills near by. At Fort Fetterman found [Capt. Samuel Peter] Ferris’, [Capt. Edwin Mortimer] Coates’ and [First Lt. John Wilson] Bubb’s companies of 4th Infantry, and [Capt. Thomas Bull] Dewees of the 2d Cavalry. This post, commanded by Major Alex. Chambers of the 4th Infantry, is [illegible] the most northern of those protecting our settlements from the incursions of the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes. At the time of our arrival, Black Coal, an Arapaho chief of not much prominence* was at the post with his small band. He reported Sitting Bull and the Minneconjous,8 living on the Powder river, below old Fort Reno,9 some 100 miles from Fetterman. On the 27th, Captain Peale with Lt. F.U. Robinson, Lt. W.C. Rawolle and Lt. Sibley, all of the 2[nd] Cavalry, arrived with 2 companies of their regiment. Paymaster Stanton also reached the post in the afternoon, bringing with him Mr. Strahorn, special correspondent of the Rocky Mountain News. My old classmate, Lt. D.S. Pearson, of the 2d, insisted upon taking care of Lt. Morton and myself during our stay at the post. Made the acquaintance of his charming young * This is a mistake: I should have said that Black Coal ranked with Sharp Nose in influence, but at the time mentioned, he only had a few lodges under his immediate command. 7. A wagon hound is the “V” shaped brace that reinforces the tongue against the “sand” or forward bolster. 8. At this time, Bourke appears to have believed that Sitting Bull was a Miniconjou chief, and that the Miniconjous were the center of resistance. In fact, Sitting Bull was Hunkpapa, and the Hunkpapas, as a group, led the free-moving Lakotas in defiance of the government. 9. Fort Reno was established by General Patrick Connor in 1865 and abandoned under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Its site is just east of the present town of Kaycee, Wyoming. Frazer, Forts of the West, 183-84.

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wife and received during this day calls from all those stationed at the post, among whom were quite a number of old friends. Telegraphed to Nickerson to-day. Quite an amount of business was transacted to-day, by the various officers connected with the proposed expedition of which Genl. Reynolds to-day formally assumed command. I may now say without much impudence that Gen. Crook hopes to be able to strike such bands of ill-disposed Minneconjous as he may encounter in the Powder, Tongue and Big Horn rivers, between the old Montana road10 and the confluence of the above named streams with the Yellowstone. Gen. Crook telegraphed to-day to Gen. Custer, in reply to a telegram from the latter, that Gen. Reynolds would leave in a few days for the Big Horn country with ten companies of cavalry and two of infantry, but could communicate no plan of operations as that would have to be determined after arrival in that country. If we should drive the Sioux into Custer’s hands, no doubt he would make short work of them, but their line of retreat would more probably be towards the Reservations. Gen. Bradley, 9th Inf, commanding at Fort Laramie was this day ordered by telegraph to furnish all escorts needed to Fort Fetterman; also to keep telegraph line in repair. This to last until return of Gen. Reynolds’ Expedition. The various detachments of the 2d and 3d Cavalrys reached the post this P.M. in good order and condition. Also the pack trains to form so valuable a feature of the coming season of operations. It may not be amiss here to give a brief description of the manner in which these trains are organized and managed as they form a new departure in the transportation employed in the Dept. of the Platte. First, in the selection of the animals themselves, care is taken to exclude those of unsuitable age—from 4 to 8 years is the best age to commence with, altho’ mules of much more advanced years can be found in all trains. A mouth which has become bridle-worn, unfits the animal for pack train service, because it cannot drink from a stream, as the water will run through the corners of its mouth; it must have a large belly to feed upon the grass of the hills, ofttimes its only sustenance; it should not slope down to the withers, because the load would then press more heavily upon its fore-shoul10. The Bozeman Trail.

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ders and stave the animal up. Its back must be strong, free from scald, blemish or sore; its disposition ought to be gentle and kind. In organizing the train, bell-mares, called by the Mexicans “senceros”, are provided; these are most preferably white mares* having bells hung around their necks. The mules speedily learn the sound of their proper bell and rarely fail to heed its warning. The bell-mare is ridden by the cook, an important personage in every sphere of life, but notably an officer of dignity and trust in a pack-train. The load to be carried should be evenly divided, so as to balance well: for army packs, 250 to 325 pounds, exclusive of the weight of the aparejo (60 lbs.,) is the most the animals should average, dependent upon conditions of climate and food. First, the mule must be blindfolded with “tapojos”,11 then the “suedero” or sweat cloth is placed upon the withers, followed by two saddle-blankets and the “sobrenjaluca”, which supports the aparejo, made of stout canvass, faced with leather, and of the following dimensions and length, 76 inch. width 32 in; thickness 3 in. This is made to double in the middle of its length and secured to the animal by a “cincha”, or belt of canvass, passing around the girth. Covering the aparejo, comes the “corona,” a gorgeously ornamented covering of frieze or blanket, often wrought with odd and fantastic designs cut out of scarlet or azure cloth. Finally comes the “cargo”, as the pack is technically called, securely held in its place by two ropes[:] the “reatas” and the lasso,† worked into a peculiar knot called the diamond hitch. The animal’s eyes are now freed and altho’ it may display a desire to extricate itself from its burden, it soon learns to comport itself as a well-bred pack-mule and follows docilely the lead of the bell-mare. The packers themselves are robust, hard-working and good-natured fellows, great eaters and generally good story tellers. One man to every five mules is the allowance in a well-regulated train. The above is a very barren outline of what a pack-train consists of, and is only interpolated to give an idea of the means taken to get our supplies over the ground as fast as a Cav’l. Command can move. * Mules manifest a great liking for white horses or mares and in one case that I remember, in Arizona, they nearly crushed a little white colt to death, in the pack-train with Genl. Crook’s Expedition against the hostile Apaches in 1871.

† Or “guante” rope. 11. Blinders.

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Hitherto, for a large command to surprise mounted savages has been a rarity and in all cases, the Indians evaded full punishment by leaving the heavily laden wagons of the soldiers far in their rear. The same wise system of logistics which did so much to shatter the power of the hostile Apaches in Arizona is now to be brought into play to conquer the haughty Sioux. But we have not the same knowledge of country which proved so invaluable in that campaign, nor the same unerring Indian auxiliaries who led us into the dens and fastnesses of the enemy with clock-like accuracy. To compensate for this the enemy now operated against is comparatively luxurious, and is well provided with animals, of course so much the more easy to trail. Then too he has good reason to believe our Gov’t to be afraid of him and Indians like [him] will repose confidence in his numerical superiority and venture to attack us in situations where the more wily Apache would prefer to retreat.12 General Reynolds to-day (Feb. 28th) issued General Orders, No. 1 and No. 2, announcing the organization of the Big Horn Expedition. In No. 1, Lieut. Charles Morton, 3d Cav., is announced as adjutant, Lieut. Drew, A/A/Q.M. and Mr. Thomas Moore as Master of Transportation of the Expedition. In No. 2, the command was divided into Battalions, composed and commanded as follows: 1st. Cos. “M” & “E”, 3 Cav., Capt. Anson Mills, 3 Cav. Comg. 2d. " “A” & “D” " " Wm. Hawley " " " 3d. " “I” & “K” 2d " " H.E. Noyes, 2d " " 4th " “A” & “B” 2d " " T.B. Dewees,2d " " 5th " “F” 3d & “E” 2d " " A. Moore, 3d " " 6th " “C” and “I” 4th Infantry" E.M. Coates, 4th Inft. " The pack trains were assigned as follows. Mr. McAuliff’s to 1st Battalion. " Closter’s " 2d " " Foster’s " 3d " " Young’s " 4th " " DeLaney’s " 5th " February 29th. Early in morning troops comprising the garrison of 12. Again, Bourke at this point knew little of Northern Plains Indians who, like most other Western Indians, preferred to avoid open and direct confrontation. With the single exception of the Rosebud, every major action during the Great Sioux War was initiated by the army. Despite Bourke’s remarks about “numerical superiority,” the Western Sioux and Cheyenne realized that the government could easily replace military casualties, while they, a nomadic tribal people with only a limited number of fighting men, could not sustain heavy losses.

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Fort Fetterman were mustered out by Colonel Chambers, the Commanding Officer. Weather is now changing & sky cloudy and leaden in appearance. Wind chilly and damp. Indications of a snow storm approaching. Command is all encamped (with exception of the 2 Infantry companies,) on the banks of the North Platte river, with system and order rapidly asserting themselves. We expect to get off early to-morrow morning, March 1st, and as our line of March will probably be for a long time along the road to old Fort C.F. Smith, Montana,13 I append the itinerary of Major E. R. Wells, 2d Cavalry, for which I am indebted to Lieut. W. P. Clarke, Regl. Adjutant of the 2d Cavalry. Leaving Fort Fetterman, W[yoming].T[erritory]., the road crosses the North Platte and runs in a northerly (North by West) direction: Ponds of Left of Road (Brackish water.) 5 miles Head of Sage Creek. ( " ) 15 " Brown’s Springs. (Water.) 29 " South Cheyenne (Water and Wood.) 33 " Humphreyville’s Creek (Water.) 42 " Middle Cheyenne (Water.) 47 " Wind River (Water and Wood.) 53 " N. Fork Wind River (Water.) 55 " Curtis’ Spring, one half mile to Right of Road. (Water.) 61 m. Head of Dry Fork Powder River (Water & Wood.) 73 " Buffalo Spgs. (In Dry Fork Powder River(]), (Water Brackish. Wood) 77 " Fort Reno on Powder River (Water & Wood) 88 " Distance from Fetterman. Fort Reno to Dry Creek, (Water at times.) 96 " Crazy Woman Wood. 111 Clark’s Springs Wood. 118 Conner’s Springs ——— 127 Clear Fork Good Water at all seasons. Wood. 132 Rock Creek Wood. 135 De Smet Lake Wood. 141 1/2 mile. To Right 13. Fort C.F. Smith was established in 1866 as the northernmost of three posts designed to protect the Bozeman Trail, the others being Fort Phil Kearny and Fort Reno, in Wyoming. All three were abandoned under terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868.

T HE B IG H ORN E XPEDITION Shell Creek Wood. 146 Fort Phil Kearney Wood. 149 (on Turkey Creek(]) Fort Phil. Kearney to. Little Piney (Water and Wood.) 155 Big Piney ( " " " ) 160 Last crossing B.P. ( " " " ) 167 Goose Creek ( " " " ) 170 To Wolf Creek Crossing (Water and Wood.) 172 Dry Creek (Water at times) 179 Middle fork Tongue River (Water & Wood.) 183 North fork " " (Water & Wood.) 185 Dry Creek (Water at times) 192 Trout Creek (Snow June 8th ‘72) Water & Wood. 200 Box Elder creek (Water.) 201 Little Horn (Water & Wood.) 205 Grass Lodge Creek (Water & Wood.) 212 Muddy Creek (Water & Wood.) 220 Rotten Grass (Water & Wood.) 228 Fort C.F. Smith on Big Horn, (Water & Wd) 240 Recapitulation Fort Laramie to Fort Fetterman 80 m. Fort Fetterman to Fort Reno 88 m. Fort Reno to Fort Phil Kearney 61 m. Fort Kearney to Fort C.F. Smith 91 m. Total 321 m. Distances Estimated.

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Chapter 11 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The March North

March 1st. The command moved off in fine style this morning, officers and men in good spirits and horses champing on their bits as if eager for the journey. The snow storm of last night has ceased and upon the serene sky not a trace of cloud could be seen. The weather promised to be all we could desire; perhaps if it were a little bit more severe our purpose would be better served. Last night, Genl. Crook and General Reynolds had a council with the company commanders and gave them to understand what would be required of them. Much enthusiasm is manifested especially among the younger officers, partly from the hope of distinction that may be gained, partly from a desire to explore unknown country and perhaps a desire to escape from the restraints of Garrison life. The chief obstacle to campaigning at this season of the year in Northern Wyoming is the absence of forage; in the valleys and river bottoms when snow has not fallen, nutritious grasses may be found the whole year round. On the hills, prairie fires burn it off, cold winds deaden it or snow and ice cover it up from the horses. Consequently, our 80 wagons are given up to carrying grain, even the ambulances being heavily laden with it and the pack mules likewise carry it as their principal burden. Whenever good grazing can be found, no 216

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grain will be issued; at most only half to three quarters rations will be fed. Next in importance comes the apparel of officers and men; when it is understood that during the storms of Polar wind which howl across these plains, the mercury congeals in the bulb and frequently remains solidified for weeks at a time, while the minimum thermometer indicates -25º F., -40º F, and even, as I was assured, on one occasion at Fort Sanders last winter -51º F, the precautions taken to guard against such Hyperborean vicissitudes will not be considered Sybaritic. For cavalry, great care is demanded to protect feet, knees, wrists and ears. Commencing with the feet, first a pair of close fitting lamb’swool socks is put on, then one of same size as those worn by women, so as to come over the knees. Indian moccasins of buckskin reaching well up the leg are preferable to boots, being warmer and lighter. Cork soles should be used with them. Then comes the overboot, of buffalo-skin, hair side inward, reaching well up the thigh, and opening down the side and fastened by buckles or brass buttons like a pair of Mexican breeches. They should be soled, heeled and boxed with good leather, well tanned. Some prefer to wear leggings to buffalo skin, legs separate, strapped to pistol belt, and to use the clumsy buffalo overshoe of the Q.M. Department. This is a mode of attire more readily taken off during the warm parts of the day, and for that reason, worthy of recommendation, but open to the objections that difficulty is generally experienced in getting the clumsy, awkward shoe into the stirrup. All people agree in denouncing as pernicious the practice of wearing tight foot-gear which by impeding the circulation assures the freezing of the lower extremities. For under clothing, first put on a good suit of lamb’s wool or merino, then one of buckskin perforated to permit the escape of exhalations. Over this a heavy suit, the heavier the better. Finally a loose dark overshirt of thick texture or a heavy blanket blouse, made of a mission blanket, double-breasted; large buttons, well sewed on. If cold winds prevail, nothing will afford the body complete protection except a coat of beaver or buffalo skin, reaching to the knees or below and made loose at the elbows. For the head, a cap, loosely fitting over the cranium, of dark cloth, with leather visor to protect the eyes, and a border two inches to three in breadth, of beaver fur to turn down, when required, over the ears. Fur collars are provided for the

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throat and may be of any good skin; a very good one, I bought in Omaha, is of plucked beaver, lined with brown silk, about 5 to 6 inches in breadth and fastened in front with a button and loop. It has the advantages of being cheap, warm, elegant and durable. “Pulse warmers” about six inches long will preserve the wrists and fur gloves or gauntlets extending well toward the elbow and worn in wet weather over tightly fitting woolen gloves, are the only adequate safeguard for the hands and fingers. An India rubber covering, formed of two of the U.S.A. ponchos sewed together, will very effectively shield both rider and horse from rain and snow. I regard it as unnecessary and would not recommend it, when the other garments specified are at hand, but it will always come in play to exclude the dampness of the night, coming either from ground or sky. Buffalo robes form the best bedding. A small mattress of chopped cork, not more than one half inch to an inch thick, on the under side covered with thin leather and quilted in parallel lines transversely to allow of its being rolled into a very small compass would be a valuable addition to the outfit of every officer employed on this frontier duty. For a pillow, I had made of canvass [sic] bound with leather, a small cylinder, 6 inches in diameter and long enough to reach nearly across the bed. Inside, can be kept a couple of changes of underclothing, an extra thick shirt or vest and a sufficiency of handkerchiefs, socks [illegible], besides a toilet case. In the event of a sudden march, in light marching order, this can be rolled up in the blanket bundle, to which it gives shape and an officer has the satisfaction of knowing his baggage is in one bundle, light and easy to pack or unpack. A small hair pillow, with colored chintz case, is no great addition to weight and is a decided augmentation to one’s comfort. Blankets should be dark-colored, large in size, and of best fabric. A good comforter is better perhaps, but I cannot speak from my own knowledge.* A robe of wolf, coyote, bear or beaver skin lined, is of much use. An officer should finally supply himself with canvas covering to enwrap his bedding and good long leather straps for buckling it up. His outfit will now consist of: * After careful trial, I strongly recommend cotton comforters and buffalo robes as best bedding for winter campaigning in Wyo. and Montana.

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One canvass [sic] wrapper, One pair heavy blankets, best One comforter (best) One pair Buffalo robes One large wolf or beaver robe. One rollable mattress. One pillow. One Canvass [sic] pillow-valise. One India-rubber poncho, large. With the above, any temperature almost may be defied. If tentage should be brought along, one “A” tent ought to do for three persons. The poles should be cut and bolted, to admit of the whole affair being done up in the smallest compass for carriage on pack-mules. General Crook and myself remained back at Fetterman for the day, awaiting the mail which came in from Medicine Bow, on the U.P.R.R.1 about 10 a.m. Busy all morning replying to various communications, including some from home and from my friends Egan, Clarke (2d Cav.) Byrne (12th Inf.) Thomas and Price, 5th Cavl & Surgeon Dennis. Gen. Crook was notified by telegraph from Red Cloud ([via] Laramie.) That some three hundred lodges of Northern Indians had arrived at that point;2 also that the subsistence supplies of the Indian Bureau are almost exhausted and will not last many days and that no replenishment can be expected until Congress shall make the necessary appropriation. Weather delightful, Sky serene, temperature about 30º F. No winds. Mar. 2d. General Crook escorted by a detachment of Co. “F”, 3d Cavalry, under command of Capt. Alex. Moore, 3d Cav. marched across the country to the 2d camp of the Expedition.3 The distance, though my estimate differs from those of other officers, is about 33 miles, and the line of march presented no features of interest in a country, sandy, barren and treeless; not even the feeble merit of poor grazing can be asserted in favor of this wretched tract; some few bluffs, of no great altitude, scattered to Right, to left and every1. Union Pacific Railroad. 2. As a general rule, a Lakota lodge averaged about seven persons, and a Northern Cheyenne lodge, eight. Therefore three hundred lodges would have been about 2,100 to 2,400 people. Gray, Centennial Campaign, 313. 3. Moore had already earned Crook’s wrath by botching a movement against Apaches in Arizona in 1871. He would do far worse on this campaign. Robinson, General Crook, 110.

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where, by giving an undulatious contour to the soil, relieve in part the monotony of the aspect; of which I can find not one word further to say. Fifteen miles out from Fetterman, we came to Sage Creek, a petty stream one half mud, the other half alkali. Twenty-nine miles brought us to Brown’s Springs at the head of the South Cheyenne, which we followed down for some three or four miles untill we came to Camp No. 2, where we found our comrades, snugly in tents. During the course of the night, a small band of Sioux Indians, boldly entered our camp, wounded the beef-herder and stampeded the forty-five head of cattle upon which we had placed our main dependence for fresh meat during our absence. Captain Moore and Lieut. Reynolds of the 3d Cavalry were detailed to follow the missing herd which they did for six miles, until assured that it had returned all the way to Fetterman and that it had not fallen into the hands of the enemy. The herder, altho’ shot with a rifle bullet through the lungs did not appear to be in a precarious condition and was carried along with us in an ambulance. He says that two Indians approached him, when he shouted to alarm camp, but before assistance could be rendered they had inflicted the wound and decamped. This incident had an excellent effect upon officers and men by impressing upon all hands the need of unceasing vigilance if we would not have exertions come to naught. March 3d. Moved out in advance of the Main Body with Colonel Stanton’s detachment of scouts—as sweet a lot of cutthroats as ever scuttled a ship. Half-Breeds, Squaw-men, bounty-jumpers, thieves and desperadoes of different grades from the various Indian Agencies composed the outfit. I do not mean to reflect upon Colonel Stanton for the personnel of his corps d’elite, most of which was recruited before his assignment to its command, and besides some of these, the minority it is true, but a respectable minority, were men of a high type of character, of great previous experience and likely to come of inestimable use in any sudden emergency. Among them might be mentioned Ben Clarke, Frank Grouard, Louis Richaud and others, names unknown. Ben Clarke has been on many scouts and campaigns against the hostile Indians of Texas, Indian Territory, Kansas and Colorado, attracting the favorable attention of such distinguished officers as General Sheridan. He is not acquainted with the Big Horn country,

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but his natural faculty for learning locality is so great that he may safely be considered our best man. Next comes Frank Grouard, a native of the Society Islands, formerly a mail-carrier in Montana where he was taken prisoner by the Sioux and by them held captive for five or six years, during that time traversing the vast inland region from the Yellowstone to the Republican [River] and from the Big Horn Mountains to the Missouri River. Being thoroughly familiar with the Northern Sioux Indians, their dialects, manners and customs, he will be able to help the General materially during the campaign. He was one of the messengers sent by the Red Cloud Peace Commission last August with overtures to Sitting Bull, touching the cession of the Black Hills. When Louis Richaud, who is another of our guides, had communicated his message, Sitting Bull replied haughtily: “are you the Great God that made me? or was it the Great God, that made me, who sent you? If He asks me to come to see him, I will go, but the Big Chief of the White men must come see me. I will not go to the Reservations. I have no land to sell. There is plenty of game here for us. We have enough ammunition. We don’t want any white men here.” The country over which Sitting Bull’s band roams is reported rich in every variety of game: buffalo, antelope, deer, bear, elk, rabbits and birds. Even moose are said to be found occasionally to the Far North. The principal, if not the only sustenance of these people during the winter months, is the dried meat of the buffalo, deer, elk and antelope and dried fruits, found growing wild, such as the currant, grape, cherry and plum. The tanned hides of the wild animals they encounter in the chase form their protection against cold and the couches upon which they repose. Passed to-day over a country similar in its main features to that described yesterday. Grass now displacing the sage brush which on the first two day’s marches had almost monopolized the soil. Here and there a stunted cedar or cottonwood can be seen but there is not enough timber for our firewood with which we supplied ourselves previous to starting from Fort Fetterman. Saw in the distance an elevated snow-clad range, the Big Horn Mountains, also the Pumpkin Buttes, which serve as the divide be-

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tween the waters of the Little Missouri and the Belle Fourche of the Cheyenne. Passed a spring of fair water, some eight miles from last camp. Made camp for the night in a very pleasant little cove, in one of the forks of the Wind River. Water poor, but where the snow had melted drinkable. Wood very scarce. Grass thin and poor. Much care was taken this night in posting sentinels around camp and videttes on the adjacent hillsides, but no demonstration against us was made, altho’ we had seen a very fresh trail (ponies,) not quite (24) hours’ old, this morning. Day very windy. Distance 19 miles. March 4th. Broke camp at daylight. Last night all lights and fires were extinguished in camp to diminish chances of danger from the enemy’s firing into us. Saw this day very many lodge pole tracks made overnight and all head for Fort Fetterman or the Red Cloud Agency. About 11 O’clock, crossed divide between waters of the South Cheyenne and the Powder rivers. Day quite serene, but an unpleasant blustering and rather cold breeze blew upon us from the high mountains, a spur of Big Horn, to our Left. Route hilly: gramma grass abundant. Made camp on Powder river, near forks. Distance (about) 21 miles. March 5th. Broke camp at daylight, no delay occurring on any account and everything commencing to move like clock-work. Marched down the uninteresting valley of the Dry Fork of the Powder river, the bluffs on either side bare and sombre prominences of yellow clay, slate and sandstone. Had most disagreeable weather, the leaden sky overhead promising no respite from the storm of cold snow and wind beating into our teeth from the North West. A stranger would not have imagined at first glance that the command passing along the defile of this miserable little sand-bed had any connection with the military organization of the United States; shrouded from head to foot in huge wrappings of wool and fur, what little uniform officers or men wore was almost entirely concealed from sight: but a keener inspection would have convinced the observer that our expedition was formed not merely of soldiers but good ones. The promptness, ease and lack of noise with which all evolutions were performed, the compactness of the columns, the good condition of arms and horses and the care

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displayed in looking after the train betokened the discipline of veteran soldiery. Indications of the close proximity of hostile Indians continued all day. Lodge pole trails were about as numerous as yesterday and pony tracks approaching to and receding from our camp of last night proved our foe were watching our movements with zealous interest. About six or seven miles out discerned two young bucks mounted on fleet ponies who awaited until the head of our column had approached within one thousand yards when they scampered rapidly over the hills and were soon lost to sight. Yesterday afternoon a signal smoke was observed on the apex of a high hill to our front, and in consequent of all these signs our movements have been very circumspect, but very rapid. General Crook will not allow any pursuit of these Indian videttes; to catch them would break down at least (20) of our animals and result in no good. And thereby letting them fancy from our cautiousness we are in fear of them, they will become emboldened to approach more closely and even in large bands, perhaps to make an attack upon us. General Crook’s plan of operations is now pretty well established. From this point, a small party of picked scouts, mounted on Indian ponies, is to set out by tonight’s moon and push down the Powder river as far as they reasonably dare. Being mounted on Indian ponies and few in number, their tracks will not excite suspicion from any strolling parties of Sioux or Cheyennes now in this vicinity. Within three days they ought to be able to be able to [sic] thoroughly prospect the Powder River Valley down below the mouth of the Crazy Woman. If the hostile Indians are found in force our men will have to conceal themselves until our advance; but it is more than likely they will be fortunate enough to seize a few families living on the outskirts of some of the villages and escape with them to the appointed rendezvous. From these captives much valuable information can be extracted and the General’s plans changed or persisted in according to circumstances. Fifteen days’ rations are to be packed to-night with the mule-train. To-morrow, we start for the Crazy Woman’s Fork of the Powder river, going into camp at its intersection of the old Montana road. There we are to remain at that camp all to-morrow night and all day the 7th. The night of the 7th., our wagons will be left in camp

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under care of the Infantry, while the mounted forces move down the Crazy Woman to its junction with the Powder or until meeting the scouts coming back from their reconnaisance. Every one in the command evinces a commendable eagerness to encounter the enemy and a confidence of success which is half the victory. If we can find the Indians there will be another Black Kettle affair to impress upon them the folly of waging war upon the whites.4 If we do not have success in finding them there an all summer’s campaign will have to be inaugurated to break the back-bone of avowed hostility and squelch the covertly ill-disposed on the Reservations who might seek to foment trouble when the Government comes to carry out its determination to remove all the Indians to the Missouri river, in order that the country East of the Big Horn Mountains may become available for settlement.5 One exception must be made when speaking of the good spirits of all the expedition—the exception I am sorry to say is our colored cook, Jeff,6 whose culinary efforts have earned a praise which cannot be shared by his patriotism or valor. What fear nature first placed in his breast has been greatly developed under the arduous instruction of Col. Stanton and other friends of the freedmen, along with us: at this time, the very name of an Indian stops the circulation of his blood and at night his terror is almost laughable. The stories told him are frightful enough, but lack the element of probability and veracity. Of him, more hereafter. Made a march to-day of 15 miles. Storm dissipated as we were making camp and before night the sky had resumed its former pleasing serenity: the temperature, however, by its coldness, showed traces of the storm. Scarcely had the sun disappeared behind the lofty buttresses of the Big Horn Mountains when pickets were posted about 300 yards in 4. By the time Bourke wrote this, there had been two “affairs” involving the Cheyenne peace chief Black Kettle. The first was at Sand Creek, Colorado, on November 28, 1864, when a group of Colorado territorial volunteers, whose hundred-day enlistments were about to expire without having seen any action, attacked Black Kettle’s village. Although the Indians were under a government amnesty and Black Kettle had raised the U.S. flag above his lodge, more than a hundred Indians were killed, the majority of whom were women and children. Black Kettle himself escaped. The second incident occurred in southwestern Oklahoma on November 27, 1868, one day short of four years after Sand Creek. On that occasion, troops of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry, under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, attacked a chain of Indian villages along the Washita River as the Indians slept in the early morning. This time, Black Kettle was killed. See Hoig, The Battle of the Washita. 5. This country had been guaranteed to the Indians under the Fort Laramie Treaty. 6. Jefferson Clark.

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front of camp to detect the approach of any prowling Indians and frustrate their attempts to steal stock. Captain Coates, 4th Infantry, had just left his men in position when they discovered a small party of Indians stealthily creeping up through the grove of cottonwood trees near our camp. Fire was at once opened by our men and returned by the enemy, whose plan was then comprehensible. The little party referred to was to make an entrance, if possible, into our bivouac from the Fort Reno [i.e., north] side and by shouting, shaking buffalo robes and shooting, cause a stampede among our mules and horses. With many hundreds of animals wild with terror rushing through and over our tents and picket lines, it would require every exertion to save our own lives, or at most catch a few horses and mules. In the confusion the bold intruders could easily escape to their confederates posted on the other side of the camp, whose duty it would be to seize upon the herd and decamp, leaving us in the middle of a terrible desert, without an animal to bring us back to Fort Fetterman. Such in general terms was the plan sought to be pursued by the small gang of Indians who had dogged our footsteps all day, and its complete defeat is worthy of especial praise as evincing the vigilance of our videttes and the care taken in tying up our animals at night instead of letting them run loose around the camp. Finding their scheme a failure, the Indians adopted a vexatious kind of tactics and for some thirty or forty minutes kept up a brisk fusillade upon our campfires which had not yet been extinguished. Their shots came with provoking deliberation and accuracy; our men were soon in line but did not answer the fire of the enemy as their position could only be ascertained by the flash of their rifles. Nevertheless some occasional shots were fired where the foe exhibited rather too much boldness. Our fires were at once put out, but the enemy having obtained range, maintained their fusillade for some little time longer. Considering it was the first time many of the command had ever been exposed to an attack (the majority being recruits, many of them as yet imperfectly drilled.) the coolness and precision with which they obeyed orders were remarkable. Only one of our men, Corporal Slavey, of Major Coates’ Company,7 4th. Infantry, was wounded, (slightly in the cheek.) but many close calls were made. 7. Bourke is now using Coates’ Union Army brevet.

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After remaining under arms about half an hour our line was withdrawn, leaving strong picket posts at suitable points about 300 yards to our front. These little night attacks are excellent things and serve to turn the raw recruit into a veteran with great celerity. They impress upon the mind of young soldiers the necessity and value of the discipline and subordination they so frequently ignore and also make them acquainted with each other’s merits in moments of trial and danger. The best school of instruction is the school of war, where officers not seldom find they have as much to learn as the men they command. The party of picked scouts sent out this evening, had advanced along the road five or six miles when a halt was made to consider fully what course they should pursue, as well as to give their animals a few moments’ rest. Happening to look back, one of them discovered the light of the rifles and shrewdly surmised that some of the Indians were engaged in an attack upon our camp. It was then decided best to return as the Sioux might in following after come upon their trail and perhaps render their expedition abortive. And again, they had some hopes of getting in rear of those who were annoying us and killing a few of them. When the scouts had re-entered camp, (somewhere near midnight.) General Crook expressed his satisfaction with their behavior. In such expeditions as they were engaged in, all depends upon the secrecy attending the actions of those engaged; their business is to bring in information without arousing the suspicions of the enemy. The night passed quietly. Before reveille, the line of videttes was again established, but no sound of hostility disturbed the slumbers of those in camp. I was much amused by the coolness and imperturbability of General Crook, who had retired to rest shortly before the firing began; he seemed to divine the ideas and position of the Sioux from the very moment the first shot was fired, and explained to me all they would do and all they could do: after inquiring how General Reynolds had posted our videttes; with which he was entirely satisfied, he turned over and went to sleep. In all relating to what is called Indian warfare I am each day, more and more convinced General

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Crook is a complete master; Those officers and men who knew him in California, Oregon, Washington Territory, Nevada and Arizona, expect equally great things from him in the Department of the Platte and their confidence is shared by those who have only made his acquaintance during the past year. Would to God that the wretched imbecility and vacillation of the Government’s management of Indian affairs in this part of the country may now terminate. Mar. 6th. Everybody awoke at a very early hour. Our cook, Jeff, had not entirely recovered from the fright last night’s events had occasioned him and for that reason we were willing to accept in patience and with charitable good will many shortcomings in the culinary arrangements of the morning. To our surprise, however, our generosity had no occasion to manifest itself; in truth, the breakfast to-day excelled any we had seated ourselves to on the whole trip. The cold, bracing air, sweeping down from the mountains exhilarated us wonderfully and was eagerly used as an excuse for the ravenous appetites which consumed fabulous quantities of biscuits, butter, meat, potatoes, eggs and stewed dried apples, washed down by copious draughts of excellent, hot and strong, coffee. We soon crossed the ice and water of the Powder river, a stream unworthy of much consideration. Observed the banks were composed of an argillaceous sand, very adhesive and very quagmiring in rainy weather. The bed of the stream is mainly quicksand and has the reputation of impassability, except at the ford which we used. Upon climbing the opposite bank our advance entered the ruins of old Fort Reno. Nothing now remains but a little of the stockade formerly surrounding the post, part of the bake-oven, the chimneys of the trader’s store and one or two of those belonging to the officers quarters. The whole aspect is most dreary, the face of the country grassless, and destitute of any redeeming feature. Yet in this miserable spot, a garrison of the U.S. Army, maintained a place for two years (1866 and 1867.) to protect, in conjunction with Fort Kearny8 61 miles to the West near the head-waters of the Tongue river and Fort C.F. Smith, at the big bend of the Big Horn river, the overland line of travel to Montana, then a most promising field of adventurous gold hunters. The “Fetterman” and “Fort Kearney” massacre, as it is indifferently entitled, proved the rancor of the Sioux and the 8. In all cases, Bourke is referring to Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming, rather than Fort Kearny, Nebraska.

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treaty of Fort Laramie, made in the winter of ‘67 and ‘68, yielding up to hostile Indians an immense belt of country, abandoning the most practicable route to a new and promising territory and dismantling all military posts north of the North Platte river was a striking illustration of the amount of tomfoolery that can be transacted under the name of a treaty. Every concession demanded by the Indians was granted by our Govt. [N]ot one concession was made by the red-skins unless we include promises, thin and fleeting as air, in such a category. Richelieu9 is credited with the axiom— “the pen is mightier than the sword”—and the axiom in the main is true, but much depends on who holds the sword and who guides the pen. The general interpretation of this apothegm would appear to falsely argue that any red-headed, scrofulous lawyer’s clerk slinging ink over legal cap paper was a more dextrous diplomat than the General whose armies were to save the destinies of their country. This is not so. History shows that the most skilled in statecraft have been the minds that had been trained in the rough lessons of the skirmish and bivouac. From the crest of the bluffs overlooking the Powder, a magnificent view was obtained of the Big Horn range. Piercing far above the superincumbent clouds, the snow-capped emminences seemed so many sentinels guarding the country at their base. Heavy belts of black pine and juniper brought into bold contrast the glaring white of the summits and marked more plainly the line of separation from the yellow grassy plains beneath. Prominent foothills, themselves mountains of great elevation, extended out as flying buttresses from the main crest. The sky of faultless blue revealed in perfection the rugged profile while the effect of light and shade was most striking. Here the sun’s rays lit upon some bold peak, the eye rested with pleasure, but sated with such beauties turned with satisfaction to the relief afforded in the gloom of the deep gorges and cañons, through which noble little streams find their way to the currents of the Big Horn, Powder, Tongue and Rosebud. The altitude of the highest peaks is, I have been informed, 13.500 feet. All day long we pursued our way over a very good road, without rocks or breaks to impede the progress of the trains. 9. Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Duke of Richelieu, chief minister of France in the early seventeenth century.

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The immediate scenery was most uninviting, no grass, except at rare intervals & no grass within rifle-shot. . .Two or three of our guides went off on each flank and by afternoon were successful in bringing down three nice fat antelope which will help to vary the bill of fare most pleasantly. The temperature at noon was almost like summer, making our heavy winter-clothing oppressive; in the shade, it was quite chilly and on the banks of the Crazy Woman’s Fork, which we descended to between 3 and 4 P.M., the ice was found thick enough to bear the weight of a horse and his rider. Here we made Camp, finding the first really good water since leaving Fetterman. For fuel, we had plenty of dry cottonwood, but there was no grass for our animals which had to get along as best they could on the scanty ration of forage (grain.) issued from the wagon-train. Distance to-day has been about 25 miles. A vein of an apparently good quality of lignite protruded from the banks of the stream immediately in front of our camp, but did not have time to examine it before night came on. Coal is probably abundant in this section of Wyoming: since starting, have noticed its outcroppings in several placers on the South Cheyenne and Wind Rivers. Indian signal smokes were to be seen all day away off on our Right, and once or twice our guides noticed signals flashed across country. These signals are made by the reflection of the sun from the small round looking glasses, Indians wear about their necks, and are flashed according to some pre-arranged system, which I have not yet been able to learn. A great column of dust to our Left and rear was seen, and was undoubtedly made by a village of Sioux or Cheyennes moving down Powder river to get out of danger. Fresh buffalo tracks seen on road and the animal itself seen in the distance by one of the guides. All the officers connected with the Expedition were summoned to General Crook’s tent at sun-down to receive their final instructions. In a few clear, well-considered sentences, General Crook enunciated his ideas upon the very important topic of baggage. He directed that officers should examine the bundles made up by their men for carriage by the pack-mules and see that each has one buffalo-robe, or two blankets and no more. The clothing upon their backs was all that should be carried. No tentage to be allowed, but every man

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might take a piece of shelter tent and every two officers, one tent fly. Officers to be governed in regard to clothing and bedding by the same rules as the men. No messing arrangements to be taken along for officers: company officers to mess with their companies and those of the staff or unattended to eat with the pack-trains. Rations for 15 days, to consist of hard-bread, half-bacon, coffee and sugar. Each officer to be provided with one tin cup and one tin plate. One hundred rounds of ammunition to be carried on the person and an equal amount to go with the pack-train. Upon the suggestion of General Reynolds, it was decided to send the Infantry companies with the wagon-train back to Reno. They will attract the attention of the enemy and help to bewilder them in regard to our movements, which must be inexplicable to the Sioux, as we have made no pursuit of them when seen in our front, and at same time our precautions against surprise and stampeding are unusually stringent. The General’s instructions were received with the careful attention that remarks of such an astute Indian campaigner are entitled to, and I am very much mistaken if he find[s] any cause of complaint for want of enthusiasm or zeal against a single officer of the command during the trip. I was directed to act as Engineer Officer, a thankless position, as with night-marching it is almost an impossibility to take topographical notes in an enemy’s country. During the night, no attack was made, but a few shots were fired, as it afterwards turned out, against one of our own men, who ventured too near the line of videttes.

Chapter 12 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Soldier's Routine

March 7th. Day Blustering. Remained in Camp all day, busy in writing up notes and making the necessary preparations for our movement. At night, about 7 O’clock, by the light of a very fine three quarters moon, commenced our march, which lay to the West for two miles and then moved towards the North star for the remainder of the distance which summed up thirty-five miles. At first the country had the undulating contour of that near old Fort Reno, already visited, but soon the prairie swells were superseded by bluffs of bolder and bolder character until as we came to the summit of the divide where Clear Fork heads we found ourselves in a region deserving the title mountainous. In the bright light of the moon and stars, our little column of cavalry wound its way up the steep hill-side like an enormous snake whose scales were glittering revolvers and carbines. The view was certainly very exhilarating backed as it was by the majestic landscape of moonlight on the big [sic] Horn Mountains. Cynthia’s silvery beams never lit up a mass of mountain crests more worthy of commemoration upon the artist’s canvas. Above the frozen summit of Cloud Peak, the evening star, cast its declining rays. 231

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Other prominences rivalling in altitude this one boldly thrust themselves out against the midnight sky. Exclamations of admiration and surprise were entoned from the most stolid as our column made its way rapidly from bluff to bluff, pausing at times long enough to give every one an opportunity to study some of nature’s noble handiwork. Finally, even the gorgeous vistas I have so feebly attempted to portray failed to assuage the cold and pain in our limbs or to drive away the drowsiness Sleep was placing upon our exhausted eyelids. With no small degree of satisfaction we noticed the signal which at five O’clock in the morning bade us make camp on the Clear Fork of Powder River. The site was deary enough; scarcely any timber in sight, plenty of water but frozen solid, and only a bare picking of grass for our tired animals. However, what we most needed was sleep and that we sought as soon as horses had ben unsaddled and mules unpacked. Wrapped up in our heavy overcoats and furs, we threw ourselves on the bleak and frozen ground and were deep in slumber. It will give a faint idea of the climatic vicissitudes to which campaigning exposes a soldier in Northern Wyoming when I say that after going to sleep under the bright, calm and cheerful moonlight of this morning, we were awakened about 8 O’clock by a bitter, pelting storm of snow which blew in our teeth whichever way we turned and almost extinguished the petty fires near which our cooks were trying to arrange our breakfasts, if we can dignify by such a lofty title the frozen bacon, frozen beans and frozen coffee which constituted the repast. It is no part of a soldier’s business to repine, but if there are circumstances to justify complaint, they are the absence of warmth and good food after a wearisome night march and during the prevalence of a cold winter storm. After breakfast, General Crook moved the command down Clear Fork, five or six miles in a North North West direction to a pleasant cove, where we remained all this day. (March 8th, 1876.) Our situation was not enviable; it is true, we experienced nothing we could call privation or hardship, but we had to endure much positive discomfort. The storm continued all day, the wind blowing with keenness and at intervals with much power. As we were without tents, we had nothing to do but grin and bear it; some officers stretched blankets to the branches of trees,

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others found a questionable shelter under the bluffs, one or two constructed non-descript habitations of twigs and grass, while Genl Crook and Col. Stanton seized upon the abandoned den of a family of beavers which sudden change in the bed of the stream had deprived of their home. To obtain water, holes of suitable dimensions were cut in the ice, here found to be eighteen inches thick, clear in color and vitreous in texture. We hugged the fires as closely as we dared, ashes and cinders with every turn of the breeze being cast into our faces. The narrow thread of the stream, with its opaque and glassy surface of ice covered with snow, here drifted into little masses, here again carried away before the gale, looked the picture of all that could be imagined cheerless and dreary. We tried hard to find some pleasure in watching the troubles of our fellow-soldiers, obliged for any reason to attempt a crossing of the treacherous surface the ice presented[.] Commencing with an air of boldness and confidence, with some even of indifference, a few steps forward would generally serve to intimidate the unfortunate wayfarer, doubly timid now that he found himself the butt of our gibes and jeers. Now one foot slips, now another, but still he struggles manfully on and has almost gained the opposite bank when—slap! bang! both feet go from under him and a dent in the solid ice commemorates his inglorious fall. In this way, we tried to dispel the weariness of the day. Every one welcomed the advent of night which enabled us to seek such rest as we could find and, clad, as last night, in the garments of the day, officers and men, wrapped up in blankets from the pack-train, found rest but not much repose. Our men shared with their animals their own scanty allowance of blankets, as the bad weather and poor rations had made our animals look gaunt and travel-worn. Snowed all night. March 9th. In the teeth of a blustering wind and very disagreeable snow, pushed this morning in a course, bearing nearly due North, across high mountain ridge, probably a spur of what is laid down on the maps as Panther Mountains, to a little affluent of Tongue River, called by our guides Prairie Dog creek. On the way about five miles out from last night’s camp crossed the last tributary of Powder river, the Big Piney, a small stream upon which old fort Phil. Kearney was situated.

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The snow continued all day long and the bitter North wind blowing in our faces made us imagine old Boreas to be in league with Sitting Bull, to prevent our occupancy of the country: Moustaches and beard coated with pendent icicles several inches long and bodies swathed in raiment of furs and hides made this expedition of Cavalry look like a long column of Santa Clauses on their way to the Polar regions to lay in a new supply of Christmas gifts. Saw fresh buffalo manure, also very recent Indian signs. Scouts were pushed ahead to scan the country, while the command was put in camp in a secluded ravine which besides affording a sufficiency of cold, sweet water, cottonwood fuel and good grass, shielded us from the observation of roving Indians, altho’ with bad weather as now prevails it is improbable that very many Indians are unnecessarily braving the inclemencies of the winter. This afternoon, the thermometer indicated -6º F. All night long the snow continued, but our men awakened in the morning very cheerful and our animals in very good condition. Much better than we had any right to expect. Some protection was afforded them by the sides of the ravine where the wind had not as great a sweep as it had on the more open ground of yesterday’s camp. March 10th snowed all day. Our sleep last night was very comfortable in spite of wind and snow. Had a good breakfast this morning or to speak more distinctly had a breakfast whose every dish was seasoned by a keen appetite. Hard tack, bacon, coffee, beans and stewed apples disappeared in quantities comprehensible only to persons who have campaigned with soldiers and mule-drivers in the mountains in winter. While standing by the cook-fire, heard one of our recruits, an Italian,1 soliloquising thus: “Och, then, boi Jaysus, shure foi didn’t Oi inlist in to Fut. Bee Mee sowl, they hev nothing to do but march with the wagons and mar-r-rch back home again. Shure the cavalry dus be mar-r-rching all the toime! They takes uz across the mountins all noint, in a sthar-rum of sch-now, widout a boite of gr-r-rub, bee God, and this, General Crook, will say, “[‘]now bois make yerssilves as comfartibble as yiz can—Throw yirsilves down on yer picketpins2 for a math-thrass and cover yirsilves wid yir lar-rhiat roapes[’].” 1. Bourke is being facetious; the bulk of the foreign contingent was Irish, as this trooper obviously was. 2. The picket pin was a long metal stake driven into the ground. The horse was tethered by a sixteen-foot lariat, giving it freedom of movement while keeping it from wandering.

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The poor fellow had such good grounds for complaint that I could only laugh at his lamentations and move to one side. After a twenty-two mile march down Prairie Dog Creek to a point near its junction with Tongue river, (line of direction nearly due North all day.) made a good camp with an abundance of the three great essentials to a soldier’s comfort,—wood, water and grass. Camp well screened from observation. Prairie Dog creek, at first flows down a rather narrow gorge which soon widens into a flat valley, full of the borrows of the little animals from which it takes its name. During a temporary lull in the storm, these could be seen running around in the snow to and from their holes and marking the snow in every direction with their tracks. This dispels any idea I used to have that these little creatures hybernated. Ground was extremely slippery and icy to-day, men and horses slipping and falling constantly, especially in crossing the abrupt arroyos cutting across the trail every two or three hundred yards. Fortunately, only one man, a corporal in: Lieut. W.W. Robinson’s, company, “D”, 3d Cav. was hurt, but he so seriously that it is feared he will not recover. His horse slipped down and fell upon him, causing great injury to the spine or kidneys. Doctor had a trail-stretcher made to carry him, dragged behind a mule, the most comfortable arrangement that could be devised. Our guides returned this evening and reported having come across a very recently deserted Indian village of sixty “tepis”, or lodges, and every indication of a long habitancy. The Indians belonging thereto had plenty of buffalo and deer or elk meat, some of which they left behind upon their departure. A young puppy, strangled to death, was found suspended to a tree by a piece of rope. This is one of the greatest delicacies of a Sioux feast—choked pup—and its abandonment betokens that these savages have been apprised of our coming and left in haste. Guides brought us in some fine venison—a good dish, roasted in hot ashes. Night extremely cold. Moon shining at intervals and again yielding to the snow storm. March 11th (Saturday.) Thermometer at 8 O’clock this morning showed between -22º F and -39º F. (N.B.[)] Our instrument is not graduated below -22º F, and the mercury had shrunk low down into bulb, altho’ it did not congeal. Wind ceased to-day and snow gradu-

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ally gave way, leaving cloudy sky. Marched North down Tongue river, between 8 and 9 miles, crossing stream 5 or 6 times. This is a fine stream between 30 and 40 yards wide, banks thickly fringed with box-elder, cottonwood, ash and willow. Gramma grass abundant, along foot-hills. This was finest camp of the expedition. This morning shone out bright and clear, frost glistening like diamonds on the grass and snow. Our poor horses were coated with a white covering of ice and snow. Our guides explored as far West as the Rosebud river, but no Indian signs were to be seen to-day. March 12th Last night, the sky cleared off, giving us a fine moonlight but letting the mercury run down in the bulb so low that it has been difficult to decide whether it congealed or not. Fortunately, no one was frozen and the casualties from cold up to date amount to a frosted ear and finger, but cases very slight. Doctor Munn, our Surgeon, has been very vigilant and is well supplied with all the materia medica recommend[ed] for the treatment of frozen limbs. The exemption of the command from frost-bite is not more remarkable than the scarcity of complaints of the pneumonitic type, there is not an instance of pneumonia, influenza or even bad cold in the whole camp. We must ascribe this in part to the precautions taken by all concerned, but with this qualification, great as it may be, the claims of the climate of Montana to be looked to as a sanitarium for invalids afflicted with lung disorders not of an aggravated nature and not too deeply seated, cannot be too highly extolled. One of our outlying pickets fired at another last night, mistaking him for an Indian, but did not hit him. During the existing Hyperborean temperature, the genial good humor and cheerfulness of the command are deserving of honorable mention: nothing tries the spirit and temper of the old veteran, not to mention the young recruit as does campaigning in despite of unusual climatic vicissitudes, at a time when no trace of the enemy can be seen. To march into battle with banners flying, drums beating and the pulse beating high with the promptings of honorable ambition and enthusiasm in unison with the roar of artillery, does not call for half the nerve and determination that must be daily exercised to pursue mile after mile in such terrible weather, over

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asporous mountains3 and through unknown cañons, a foe whose habits of warfare are repugnant to every principle of humanity and whose presence can be determined solely by the flash of the rifle which lays some poor sentry low or the whoop and yell that stampede our stock from their grazing grounds. The life of a soldier in time of war has scarcely a compensating feature; but he ordinarily expects palatable food wherever obtainable and good warm quarters during the winter season. In campaigning against Indians, if anxious to gain success, he must throw to one side every idea of good food and comfortable lodgings, & make up his mind to undergo with alacrity privations from which other soldiers would shrink back dismayed. His sole object should be to strike the enemy and strike him hard and this accomplished no smaller gains should compensate him. With all these disadvantages the system of Indian warfare is a grand school for the cavalrymen of the future, teaching them fortitude, endurance, vigilance, self-reliance and dexterity, besides that instruction in handling, marching, feeding and fighting troops no school can impart in text books. This is the way in which I have tried to moralize over our marches and their accompanying cheerless meals and other discomforts; the attempt is not on every occasion as successful as I should wish, notably at breakfast time which burlesque upon a good square meal occurs with the first ray of day-light. Our cook must first chop with an axe the bacon which over night has frozen solid as marble: then if he has made any soft bread, i.e. flour bread baked in a frying pan, he has to place that in front of a strong fire for a few minutes to thaw it so it can be eaten. Breakfast is apt to be no meal at all unless the eater display great adroitness and agility. First, the cook spreads down a long piece of canvass for a table-cloth arranging upon it tin cups, plates, knives and forks in proportion to the number in the mess. A huge mess-pan of boiled or baked beans, flanked by pepper and salt bottles and several platters of hard tack, or if the cook has had time to make it, soft bread baked in a frying pan, is placed upon the canvass, followed by hot coffee, crisply fried bacon, and generally, stewed dried apples. To the inspiriting war cries of “Grub pile”, “Yar’s yer has”, “Suppah-h” &c. &c. The wolfy appetites of the packers press forward to 3. Indicating porosity, in that the mountains had cracks, fissures, and other openings through which water could flow.

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the festive board. Old hands, experienced old seeds who know what cold weather is now seize their plates and give them a twirl or two in front of the fire: in like manner, knives, forks and spoons are heated* and the work of carnage commences. This is not the proper place to specify the quantities of solid foods consumed at each meal by a hard-working packer; the amount would almost certainly do a small family for a day. The conversation is not of a pronouncedly intellectual type, yet it should not be presumed packers, as a class, are ignorant. On the contrary, they are generally sharp observers, men who have accumulated considerable experience of a peculiar kind it is true, during their roaming over the Western country. They are proverbially hospitable, good-natured and hard-workers. Their habits are not bad and only a few of those I have known have been heavy drinkers. Our march to-day, 7 hours in duration, brought us 20 miles down the Tongue river which we crossed eighteen times. Its valley gradually narrowed down to a little gorge bordered by bluffs of red and yellow sandstone, between 150 and 200 feet high, in some places much higher, well fringed with scrub pine and juniper and having coal measures, of a quality we did not determine definitely, cropping out in several points along trail. We now found ourselves well across the Southern boundary of Montana, in a region well grassed with gramma and the black sage, a plant almost as nutritious as oats. It is hard to say if much of the land is arable, but I should answer in the affirmative for the river bottoms. Our scouts crossed over to the Rosebud where they saw no Indians signs but killed an old buffalo bull, whose meat was brought to camp and roasted in the ashes. Another buffalo was killed at head of column: an enormous old fellow, whose flesh though very tough was eaten thankfully. Camp well supplied with wood, water and grass all of best quality. Our hopes of being able to catch trout in this river have not yet been realized: the fish will not bite in this cold weather. March 13th (Morning[)] Last night was very warm in comparison with its immediate predecessor. Growing careless about covering, we were reminded by rheumatic twinges in the back and shoulders * Forks and spoons heated in ashes to keep them from freezing skin of the lips and tongue.

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that our early youth and vigor no longer remained with us. This morning sky was overcast with snow-clouds with all the premonitions of a snow-storm, but notwithstanding they lowered over us all day we have had no storm. It is hard to predict the weather in this country. We go to bed with a bright moon beaming over us and awaken in the midst of a violent snow-storm or if we retire to rest with a storm blowing we are apt to find the sun shining upon our breakfast. We are beginning to feel disappointed in not finding Indians. Our rations are now about one half out and we may be obliged to return unsuccessful. Were there a post at the mouth of the Big Horn, the question of Sioux subjugation would be much simplified. Ink frozen hard on this trip. About this time, to my great annoyance, the little bottle of ink, brought along with so much care from Omaha, burst from the freezing of its contents; hence the remainder of these notes will be taken in pencil. Our march to-day was twelve and three eighths miles through a country not in any essential different from the other parts of the Tongue river valley. The weather all day has been decidedly unsatisfactory, but we comfort ourselves as much as we can by reflecting the Sioux must suffer exactly as we, perhaps worse and that they cannot know as accurately of our whereabouts as they would in finer weather. Passed an affluent coming in on the Right: took it to be Hang woman creek, a mule track crossed our trail about ten miles out from camp. General Crook had it followed up for a short distance when our guides returned with a fine animal, a young mule, an estray from an Indian village in close proximity. Saw several Indian graves this morning. The corpse is not interred in the ground, as with other nations, but wrapped in the cerements of death and then firmly fastened to the stout branches of some lofty tree. After decomposition has done its work with the flesh, the bones are incinerated.* If my memory deceive me not, Herodotus mentions a similar custom as prevalent among the ancient Scythians. Noticed a number of deserted Indian villages, the uprights supporting the cross-pieces upon which these savages dry their winter’s supply of buffalo meat were still standing; also the corrals where their ponies had been enclosed. It was remarkable to observe the quantities of cottonwood timber they had felled to the ground for * This is a mistake.

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no other purpose than to feed their stock upon the bark of the tender young shoots and branches. Coal was again seen near trail to-day, and the bluffs as yet are mainly ferriginous [sic] sandstone. The timber on the Tongue river is unrivalled in size. Dozens of cottonwood trees can been seen on each march of four feet, five feet and six in diameter. Another buffalo shot to-day and the meat is now served up on every mess canvass. We find it tough, fibrous and lean, but an excellent substitute for no meat at all. Guides sent in advance again to-day with instructions to scout down to the Yellowstone river and rejoin us in two days, farther downstream. The weather has now moderated so much that little fear of any one freezing to death is felt; the present temperature (20º F.) Twenty degrees above zero would be considered cold in any civilized community when taken in conjunction with a deep wind and disagreeable snow; to us, accustomed to much more rigorous temperatures, there seems to be nothing to complain of. Sleeping on the cold ground without tent has been reduced to a science by General Crook and a few others in the command who have given the subject considerable attention. The way they do [it] is this; having selected as sheltered a spot as can be found, they build upon it two or three moderate sized fires, the ashes from which being swept away, dry grass is spread to the depth of an inch or two over the surface and the blankets then unrolled. The warmth imparted by the heated ground is astonishing. To protect from the wind, saddles, overcoats, any kind of impediments in fact, are piled up in the desired direction, or twigs are stuck in the earth and a rough wattle-work made to support canvass or other suitable material. We are gradually beginning to see that campaigning in this latitude can be made much more comfortable in winter than in spring when the early thaws having made the trails slippery, horses can with difficulty force their way and the men will find it impossible to keep their feet dry and warm, the great sine quo non [sic] for a healthy command. Still, he errs greatly who supposes our animals have an easy time in winter. They do very well on level ground, dry or snow-covered; but the passage of every little gulch or piece of ground where ice

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may be looked for is a period of anxiety to every company commander and to every train-master. In this respect, our mules average much better than our horses. Many a hearty laugh has been excited by seeing the caution and deliberation of their approach to the edge or crest of a ravine and then, having considered the situation, notice them fold their hind legs under themselves, stiffen their fore legs and slide to the bottom like a boy coasting down hill. They do this with much agility and some grace. Only one accident has, up to present writing, happened. A mule broke his back descending an icy ravine leading down to Clear Fork of Powder River. Not much time is now lost after getting into camp until everything is in what sailors call “ship shape”. Companies take the positions assigned them by the Officer of the Day, mounted videttes are at once thrown out on the neighboring bluffs, horses are unsaddled and led to the grazing ground, mules are unpacked and follow after, wood and water are brought in great quantities for the cooks whose enormous pots of coffee and kettles of beans even now are exhaling a tempting aroma. The afternoon meal is ready without appreciable delay; hunger gives place to satiety and for a brief interval we gather around the fires to narrate the occurrences of the march or exchange the song and story. Well has the Spaniard observed “Barriga llena”, “Corazon contento”, that is “A full belly, “Makes contented heart.” The sky is becoming darker than usual, I was going to say the sun has set; but it is not correct to use such a term as the God of Day has not shown himself much to speak of this week. Mules and horses are now brought back and fastened up inside of camp; sentinels and videttes are inspected, everything made sure, and we now retire to rest within the little square corral formed of the mules’ aparejos and sleep undisturbed save by an occasional inquisitive animal walking over us or nibbling at our blankets for long forage. Our packers, I have already spoken of; our pack master, Kloster, is an old, white-haired and white-bearded man, snugly wrapped up

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in an Ulster blouse, made of green blanket [material], fur cap and heavy boots. His beard is almost always smeared with tobacco juice and his kindly countenance marked by a pleasant smile. Our cook is not much to brag of; he is a native of the town of Nieu Dieppe in Holland, but left his native country at so early an age he never imbibed those notions of cleanliness distinguishing the Hollanders above their neighbors and so very desirable in a culinary artist.4 His professional attainments are limited to a very feeble and hazy parody upon the achievements of M. Soyer; a deficiency, the more to be regretted, because his constituency embraces some of the most appreciative and omnivorous appetites every chronicled. Justice forces me to say that, to the limit of his knowledge, our cook exerts himself conscientiously to satisfy the appetites and escape the criticism of his patrons. His boiled beans au naturel and his fricandean of old buffalo bull meat are unique in their way, but demand a most liberal seasoning with the sauce of appetite to make them palatable. The most captious would have to allow that our cook has the one great virtue of promptness, and with this concession to his virtues and abilities we can leave him to his fate. While describing these members of our mess, it may not be amiss to allude in a few words to the personal appearance of General Crook, differing as it does from that of any other officer of high ranks I have ever seen in the U.S. Army. The general’s boots are of the Government patterns, no[.] 7’s; pantaloons of brown corduroy, badly burned at the ends, shirt of brown, heavy woolen; blouse an old army style; hat brown Kossuth of felt,5 ventilated at top. An old Army overcoat, lined with red flannel, and provided with an enormous wolf-skin collar, completes his costume, except a leather belt of forty or fifty compartments for copper cartridges. This belt is held up, suspended by a couple of leather bands passing over the shoulders. His horse and saddle are alike good and with his rifle well cared for. The General, in size is about six feet even, weight one hundred and seventy pounds, built very spare and straight, limbs straight, long and sinewy: complexion, nervo-sanguine; hair, 4. Bourke does not explain when Jeff Clarke was replaced by the man from Dieppe. 5. A high crowned hat, generally with one side of the brim turned up and sporting a plume, made popular by the Hungarian resistance leader Kossuth Lajos in 1848, and adopted by U.S. officers because of its dashing appearance. An almost identical hat, called the Hardee, was issued to U.S. officers in the 1850s. Photographs of Crook, however, show that he apparently discarded the plume and wore the brim flat.

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light-brown; cheeks, ruddy without being florid; features, delicately and firmly chiseled, eyes blue-gray; nose, a pronounced Roman, and quite large; mouth, mildly chiseled, but showing with the chin much resolution and tenacity of purpose. His general expression is placid, kind and good-humored. Unaffected and very accessible in his general demeanor, there is a latent “noli me tangere” look of dignity about him repelling undue familiarity. His powers of endurance are extraordinary and his fortitude remarkable. A graceful rider, a noted hunter, and a dead-shot, skilled in all the secrets of wood-craft and Indian warfare, having the prestige of complete success in every campaign hitherto undertaken, he is by all odds the worst foe the Sioux have ever yet had to meet. On one occasion during our march, a small covey of pin tailed grouse flew across our path. General Crook with seven shots from his Army rifle laid six of them low; all, but one, were shot in the neck or head. This shooting was very good, considering the rapidity with which it had to be done and the fact that the General’s hands were tired and numbed from riding in the cold.6 March 14th. Moved down Tongue River about nine or ten miles, camping opposite mouth of Pumpkin Creek where the scouts had agreed to meet us on their return. Nothing unusual to report in the topographical features of the country. Weather unpleasant: dark gray clouds hanging over us all day and snow dropping in fitful gusts. Keen wind blowing in our faces from the North. Bluffs along river banks much higher than they were yesterday; one or two of them as much as 750 feet above us: juniper and pine trees covering them pretty thickly. A small band of four or five old buffalo bulls seen this morning and fired upon by our advances. General Crook badly wounded one under the fore-shoulder but the old bull escaped. All along trail to-day, marks of recent Indian occupancy very frequent. Our train has now very little to carry and the mules press close upon the heels of the Cavalry companies. 6. This kind of shooting with a rifle or carbine is conceivable, depending on the choice of weapon and skill of the marksman. If Crook, indeed, used a military weapon with a solid slug, it almost had to be an old, seven-shot Spencer repeating carbine, because the Springfield that was standard issue at the time of this incident had to be reloaded after each shot. One can only imagine the effect on the grouse; the Spencer fired a .50-caliber bullet that would have all but blown away the head or neck.

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Our camp to-night is on the Left bank of the Tongue river opposite mouth of Pumpkin creek; we have a bountiful supply of pellucid water, good grass and enough fuel to last us for months, thanks to the Sioux Indians who had a large village just below us where wood, dry and ready for use, can be found piled up by the dozens of cords. On the soft inner bark of the cottonwood trees, rude, obscene pictures have been scrawled by the young Indians in a number of places. In execution they are as feeble as in design they are disgusting. Surrounding us is a forest of cottonwood trees many of which are at least six feet in diameter across the butt; the largest I have ever seen. A human arm, belonging to an Indian, and still in a fair state of preservation, was picked up in the abandoned Indian village to-day; it has been amputated at the elbow-joint, two of the fingers had been shot off and (5) buckshot wounds were in it. March 15th. Awakened this morning to be gladdened at the sight of a glorious sun-rise. Air was very keen and cold but there was no wind and the sky was cloudless. Our breakfast this morning had an important addition in a grouse stew made from the birds General Crook shot on the march. Remained all day in camp expecting return of our guides. Boiled a pot of corn with cottonwood ashes to make hominy for our supper. Thermometer at 7 O’clock this morning indicated (-10º F.); at 10.00 A.M. (24º F.) and at 3 P.M. (32º F.) Day remained bright and fair, comparatively. About 4 P.M. guides returned from their reconnaissance to our front; reported having found no villages and no Indians, but saw in their ride of 25 miles down the river that all the trails led across the hills to the Powder river. General Crook determined to remain here until morning and then march to the East by North to Otter Creek. Some venison brought into camp by our guides who killed six deer— five white-tail and (1) black-tail.

Chapter 13 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Powder River Fight

March 16th. Nothing eventful last night. Slept very comfortably[.] Our animals enjoyed very superior grazing on the foot-hills overlooking camp. Breakfasted at 5 a.m. this morning under a clear bright sky filled with bright stars. Mercury standing at 7 a.m. at (-8º F.) Broke camp at 8 a.m., moving Eastwardly, up valley of Pumpkin Creek, a little stream which from hasty inspection, I should say is finely adapted for agricultural and pastoral purposes. Fine grasses covered the lower hills, leaving the higher elevations to the possession of juniper and pine forests: country this morning reminded me somewhat of the Black Hills of Dacotah. After a march of 18 miles came down into valley of Otter Creek, a tributary of Tongue River. Guides saw and pursued two mounted Indians who escaped. General Crook halted command, made coffee, issued one day’s rations to men and a feed of grain to horses and ordered (6) companies, three of each Regiment, to follow train under General Reynolds: and to await the approach of remainder of command on Powder river. Day has been very blustering and chilly: keen freeze blowing and snow clouds lowering over us. About 5.20 P.M., commenced our march following train up branch of Otter or Pumpkin Creek to 245

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its head and then across [the] divide into valley of Big Powder river, which we could discern about 2.30 or 3 a.m. This night was especially severe in temperature, wind blowing keenly all the time and snow falling spasmodically. Frank Gruard, our Kanaka1 guide discovered wonderful discernment in his calling, leading the column with the accuracy of a bird, and following like a hound the tracks of the two young Indians our guides had come upon so suddenly in the morning. Accustomed as I have been to the powerful keen[n]ess of vision and capacity as trailers of the Apache Indians of Arizona, there was nothing remarkable in Gruard’s success, except the development of such wonderful knowledge of country in one not native to it and who had been obliged to familiarize himself with its topography when travelling through it as a prisoner in the hands of the Sioux. About this time, we had advanced so far and the night was so nearly spent, (it was about 2.30 a.m.) it was thought best to conceal ourselves in some convenient ravine and let Frank Gruard and one or two picked men scour the country for any trails leading to villages. General Crook is convinced that Sitting Bull and the other hostile chiefs will be found encamped somewhere about the confluence of the Big and Little Powder; hence our cautiousness. A dry ravine was soon reached and in this we took our places in line, enduring great suffering from the intense frigidity of the atmosphere, and the impossibility of taking adequate exercise to restore the circulation in our benumbed limbs. (Men in this ravine became drowsy from excessive cold: officers had to kick and shake them to keep them awake and save them from freezing to death—Interpolated April 22d. 1878) Our poor horses were more patient than we, but had to undergo much suffering, not only from the cold but also from straining themselves in climbing up and sliding down the glassy acclivities and declivities on our line of travel. Little gulches, insignificant crevices in the surface, even when not more than 3 or 4 feet deep, stopped our march for several minutes until an examination would reveal where a passage was feasible without incurring the risk of breaking our animals’ necks. An almost inexcusable oversight in the organization of our column is the absence of anything like a corps of pioneers: if the men 1. Native Polynesian.

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of the advanced guard were provided with hatchets, suspended from saddle-bow, a few moment’s work would suffice to reduce grades, clear away ice from steep trails or cut ramps down river banks to let our horses reach the water conveniently. It may be well to remark here that one of the most grievous privations of our stock has been the great dearth of water; the Ice King has set his seal upon the rivers and we cannot remove it. Many places on Tongue River have ice between two and three feet thick. It may also be proper to criticize our objectionable method of marching: battalions are allowed to leave camp in the morning as soon as they are ready, instead of being obliged to observe an hour designated for the whole command. Troops are not kept closed up and halts at suitable intervals are not made as they should be to have stragglers regain positions, let saddles be readjusted and other matters of sound character be attended to. In going into camp, too, we manifest a reprehensible carelessness’ our bivouac is not sufficiently compact, by this, throwing an unnecessary increase of responsibility upon sentinels. To atone in a great measure for this laxity our videttes are extremely wakeful and attentive to duty. This night was so dark, could not make any comprehensive or intelligent observation of the country near us, but saw enough to assure me the general lay of the land was what we used to call in Arizona “rolling mesa”, the Northern exposures of the hills around us and the little ravines passed on march being well studded with pine and juniper timber and the slopes fairly grassed, in many places gramma being the predominating variety. Sandstone cropped out in every direction, but could make out no other species of rock, altho’ there must have been many different classes of minerals at the head-waters of Pumpkin Creek, on the summit. Once or twice had a chance to see the [Big] Dipper which told us our path lay nearly due East. Frank [Grouard] soon found that the Indians we had followed belonged to a small hunting party of 30 or 40 Indians, mounted, whose trail disclosed itself plainly to our view. As the light was stronger, we advanced upon this trail with considerable rapidity until a dense volume of smoke arising from a point in the valley of the Powder admonished us to be more circumspect. Our hopes that this smoke pertained to a large village were shortly dispelled by

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learning some coal measures2 were on fire and from them the dense masses of smoke proceeded. As we were resting for a few minutes, discussing casual topics, our indefatigable and invaluable scout, Frank, galloped back among us in great glee and announced to General Reynolds that right down in the valley beneath us, in one word, directly under our feet, lay a village of more than a hundred lodges, with great herds of ponies grazing on the rich pasturage of the river bottoms. It is a difficult task to describe graphically the excitement, enthusiasm and intense interest this announcement created. While some eagerly questioned Frank to ascertain with more precision the situation and apparent strength of the enemy’s lodges, others beckoned impatiently to our tardy comrades to accelerate their progress, and others still examined with minute attention the state of their weapons and fastenings of their saddle-girths. We could hardly realize we had at last come upon the Sioux in their chosen retreat, but each one anticipated that any conflict we might engage in would prove bloody, protracted and desperate. Our Government has been so vacillating in its deportment towards these Indians, our Commissioners and other representatives have frequently been so inexperienced, imbecile or treacherous to the interests confided to them, and our soldiery has been so badly handled, especially during the time General Ord was in command of the Department of the Platte, that the Sioux proverbially insolent, have grown bolder and more haughty, imagining our people subsidiary to them. I speak now of those on the Reservations:—the sentiments entertained by chiefs like Sitting Bull of the North,3 Crazy Horse, and Little Big Man, who have never gone on a Reserve, and refused all offers of Peace, scorned all concessions and particularly adhered to a career of spoliation and murder, would not be exaggerated by any flight of rhetoric. The clouds and mists began slowly to separate, and the sun that so short a time ago we had cursed for his dilatoriness, climbed with a terrifying rapidity upon his course for the day. Some other Phaeton, undeterred by the fate of ambitious predecessors, had evi2. Fissures of coal often found in eastern Wyoming, and extended deep into the ground. At the lower levels they sometimes ignite from spontaneous combustion, and the smoke works its way up to the surface. 3. Bourke uses this to distinguish the great Sitting Bull from a lesser chief of the same name, who was called Sitting Bull of the South.

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dently stolen Phoebus’ chariot and was driving it madly across the heavens;4 every moment of darkness was precious to us, so much depends upon the suddenness and unexpectedness of the attack in all conflicts with American savages. It was long after sun-rise when our final preparations were completed: looking over the crest of a steep ridge, the young Indian bucks could be seen in the valley below, moving about in the valley among the tipis, while their horses and mules grazed quietly on the banks of the river nearby. General Reynolds detailed Major Noyes’5 battalion to move to the Right, descend to the riverbank and charge the village, while Moore’s Battalion dismounted, was to occupy the crests of the ridge overlooking the village, and make it lively for the Indians after the first attack had been made. This part of the programme was arrayed with the concurrence of Frank Gruard who understood the situation of the Indians and warmly urged by Captain Moore who expressed great anxiety to get an opportunity to crawl in close to the enemy, give them what he called a “blizzard” and get a “bucketfull of blood.” He made many remarks of similar purport, forgetting that a true soldier in the hour of trial conducts himself with modesty and gentle quietness of manner. General Reynolds said to me, “I am sending Noyes’ Battalion to charge the village, because we can give them, (the Indians,) Egan’s pistols,” and “when they start from the village Moore will catch them from the top of the ridge.” As the village was strongly situated in a copse of cottonwood with a thick undergrowth of wild-plum bushes, Mills’ Battalion was to follow closely upon the charging column, occupy the underbrush, possess themselves of the tipis and destroy them. This plan did not work as satisfactorily as it should have done for reasons hereafter to be explained. In accordance with our orders, Noyes’ Battalion, composed of Company “I”, 2n Cavalry, (Capt. H.E. Noyes and 1st Lieut. C.T. Hall.) And Co. “K”, 2n Cavalry, (Captain Egan,) with Lieutenant Bourke, A.D.C., and Mr. Strahorn, [(]as volunteers,) moved rapidly to the Right. Unfortunately, the gently undulating surface over which we 4. In Greek mythology, Phaeton was the son of Phoebus (Apollo), the sun god. Phaeton lost control of Phoebus’s sun chariot and nearly destroyed the earth by fire before falling to his death. 5. Bourke uses Noyes’s brevet rank.

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had travelled during the night, gave way rapidly to an extremely asporous and rugged series of brakes, ravines and gulches, where the passage of Infantry, much less Cavalry, was but little less than an impossibility. But, with superhuman exertions, we forced our way down for 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 miles, to a point giving us concealment and yet affording a fine view of the grassy plateau in the immediate vicinity of the village where some of the young Indian boys were by this time driving their herds to water. (See Map.) It was a great tax upon our patience, at this moment, to remain quiet, but Major Noyes was very firm in his determination not to attempt any charge before ascertaining the nature of the surface to be traversed. Within a few moments, Ba[p]tist Pourier, “Big Bat.”, one of our best guides, had completed his examination and reported that after we should have advanced, the Indians could not escape in any way on our side. Major Noyes then moved us up in position, Egan in front and we started out as follows: we moved in column of twos, Egan at the head of his Company, until we had emerged from the gulches when the command—“Left Front into Line”—was given and the little company of forty-seven men formed a beautiful line in less time than it takes to narrate the movement. Egan ordered us to keep at a walk until we had entered the village or been discovered by the enemy; then to charge at a slow trot, (our animals being too tired and cold to do more) and upon approaching closely to fire our pistols and storm the village, or, failing in that, too wheel around and charge back. Moving in this order, we were soon in among the herds of ponies, which trotted off to the Right and Left at our approach.* The village soon appeared on our Left, not so much in our front as we had thought it would be, but situated somewhat as in the diagram, the arrowhead showing line of direction of charge. I omitted to say that at edge of village we unexpectedly had to cross a steep ravine, 10 or 12 feet high and 40 or 50 wide, in places wider still. The lodges were sheltered in little coves and nooks among the rocks and finely protected in front by a little clump of cottonwood and a dense undergrowth of the wild-plum. Running out of their lodges by * An Indian boy, herding his ponies, was standing within ten ft. of me. I covered him with my revolver & could have killed him: Egan said “let him alone John.” The youngster betrayed great stoicism, maintaining silence until we had passed and then shouting the war-whoop to alarm the village.

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dozens, the Indians who at first were greatly frightened now threw themselves behind the brush and opened upon us in a lively fire which was returned with apparently good effect from our pistols as the Indians abandoned the first line of trees and took refuge farther to the rear. During the 3 or 4 minutes this little affair lasted, our command, (Egan’s) behaved very gallantly. Our casualties* were; three men wounded; one in lower part of lungs, one in elbow-joint and one in collar-bone. Some time after this, a very brave soldier, Private Schneider, was killed. Six horses were killed and two wounded, not including Captain Egan’s horse which was also wounded once in neck. My bridle-rein was cut in two by a bullet and a number of the men were shot through the clothing. The Indians, seeing the paucity of our numbers, regained confidence and rushed forward to cut us off, but we dismounted and formed line on foot as rapidly in the undergrowth, whence we opened up upon them such an unpleasant fire from our carbines that the Sioux were only too glad to retire and leave us in possession of that end of the village. The side attack by Moore’s command was not made as promptly as was promised, partly because the Indians did not leave the village as quickly as we had expected and partly on account of mistakes which might have been anticipated by a more energetic administration. Noyes moved up very promptly in our rear and wheeling suddenly to the Right pounced upon the enemy’s animals. These were, after the engagement, found to number over 700 and included horses, mules and brood-mares, many with American brands. Noyes was assisted in this manoeuvre by our small detachment of half-breed guides. * Up to this time, in Egan's Company alone.

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Had Noyes, instead of making this evolution, charged in echelon on our Left flank, many Indians would have been captured and great numbered killed: but he only carried out his instructions, which he did very well.* After half a hour’s delay, Moore opened fire from the cliffs, but not from the position he had been ordered to occupy; in truth, his stand-point was to our Left and rear, so far out of range that a few of his bullets fell among our men moving into the village: the Sioux were not slow to perceive this mistake which gave them a loop-hole not of escape alone but of shelter from our bullets which otherwise would have slain them by he scores. From their impregnable position, they opened a deliberate and telling fusillade that inflicted upon us in the next hour much damage. Mills, to our great good luck, came up as fast as his men could get in on foot and passing through the village, with Egan on his Right, but not joined, gained the woods to our front and held them, while details in the rear set fire to the one hundred and five, or thereabouts, lodges forming the village. After Egan had dismounted us and the village had been taken, to my great surprise, I found the right great toe and the adjoining one so badly frozen I could not walk: I sat down in the middle of the village and noted many points of interest and value. Their tipis were large, conical tents, of canvass obtained at the Agencies and elk and buffalo skins, procured by the chase. They support them on a number of ash and fir poles, meeting in a point a top and radiating out at bottom until the floor has a diameter of 18 to 25 feet. An aperture at the apex allows egress to the smoke ascending from the fire in center of floor. The entrance is by a small trap-door of skin, at the side. These Indians, the band of the villainous old rascal Crazy Horse, a noted desperado, had grown so rich from the plunder of the white settlements in Montana and Wyoming and bold from their longcontinued immunity from punishment that they never dreamed of an attack being made upon them in the depth of winter upon their village which we found surprisingly rich in everything a savage would consider comfortable and much that would be agreeable in a white man’s house. * In truth, the most effective help received was from Stanton & Sibley, who, without orders, moved up with their half-breeds to our assistance.

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There was no great quantity of baled furs, no doubt they had disposed of all their surplus, but there was a great deal of (loose) Buffalo robes, beaver skins and bear-skins, many of extra-fine quality. Some of the Buffalo robes were wonderously embroidered with porcupine quills, paint and trimmings; an elk-skin was found as large as two and a half army blankets, placed together. It was nicely trimmed and ornamented. The couches in every lodge were made of these valuable furs. Every squaw and every buck was provided with a good-sized valise-trunk, of tanned buffalo, deer, elk or horse hide, painted in gaudy colors and filled with fine clothes, those of the squaws deeply embroidered with bead-work. I found the chemise of a young woman and it was assuredly a fine piece of work, bead in very pretty patterns being sewed on back, breast and shoulders to a depth of six inches. Each family had similar trunks for carrying kitchen utensils and the different varieties of herbs that savages prize as highly. We discovered war-bonnets strikingly beautiful in general appearance, formed of a band of red cloth encircling the head and stretching down to the heels, adorned with eagle-tail feathers, bells, ribbons and other gew-gaws. They were the most elegant things of the kind I had every beheld. In each lodge, knives and forks, spoons, tin-cups, platters, mess-pans, frying-pans, pots and kettles of all kinds, axes, hatchets, hunting knives, water-kegs, blankets, pillows and every imaginable kind of truck was seen in profusion. Of the weight of dried and fresh buffalo meat and venison, no adequate idea can be given; in 3 or 4 lodges, I estimated there were not less than 1000 pounds. Ammunition, in abundance; pig-lead, metallic cartridges and percussion caps enough for a regiment. One hundred and fifty saddles were burnt in the flames of the tipis, which each exploded with a puff! as its little magazine of powder ignited. Much bad management was displayed about this time: General Reynolds ordered everything to be destroyed and with a command undergoing every hardship, suffering from intense cold and hunger, tons of first-class meat and provisions were destroyed and many things of positive necessity to the men wantonly burned up. I regret to mention this proof of gross ignorance on the part of our commanding officer who seems incapable of learning the first principles of Indian warfare. In like manner, with 700 captured ponies and

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scores of useless Indian saddles and lariats, we abandoned, to our shame be it said, the corpses of our gallant dead, 3 or 4 in number and one poor wretch, shot in arm and thigh, fell alive into the hands of the enemy and was scalped before the eyes of a comrade. These errors, the errors of General Reynolds’ imbecility, cannot reflect upon the reputation of the brave officers and men who essayed so hard to do their whole duty, and it should not be forgotten that we had attacked in open day an enemy that had never been whipped; that scorned the Government that has been cringing to them for years:—an enemy, better supplied than we with the essentials of warfare and better skilled than many of our recruits in their use and who had a position from which, under better discipline fifteen hundred men could not have driven them. Captain Egan, 2n Cavalry, during the whole affair, was under fire, displaying distinguished gallantry, coolness and fine soldierly qualities;* all our officers, that I observed did well; General Reynolds was very cool under fire, discharging duties, at least as far as he understood them, efficiently and cooly. Colonel Stanton was very early in the rancheria and acted as well as the best: altho’ without any positive command during the Expedition, he has, while in command of our scouts and guides, rendered invaluable services. Mr. Strahorn acted like a veteran and was of great use to Capt. Egan during the fight. After burning up the village, we started out, driving away over seven hundred head of stock and having our rear protected by a strong skirmish line which exchanged a few, desultory shots with Indian bushwhackers in the hills. I heard, after quitting the ground, that when our men were leaving the burned village on one side, the Sioux were entering on the other; but I did not see this. We marched South South West up Powder river for twenty miles, to the mouth of Lodge-Pole creek, where we camped to await the coming of General Crook with the pack-train and the other four companies. Did not reach this locality until some time after sun-set. Had plenty of water, or ice, a sufficiency of wood, but very little grass for our large herd of animals. * Note, April 22nd, 1878[:] It should be observed that I was there speaking of officers I observed: i.e. Egan, Stanton, Mills, Paul, Sibley and Johnston and Mr. Strahorn. Capt. Moore kept to the rear and I did not see him. Capt. Noyes went off after the Indian herd, a commendable action in some points, but censurable under general features.

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Officers and men were very uncomfortable from want of adequate clothing, altho’ to-day has been much warmer than yesterday. Have no rations, not even for our poor wounded men. Occasionally, an officer will be found with a small quantity of crackercrumbs in his saddle-pouches, another one has carried away a small quantity of buffalo meat from the rancheria and a third, mayhap, has a spoonful of tea or coffee. We make a miserable apology for supper; a piece or two of buffalo meat, roasted in the ashes, goes around among five or six, each getting a mouthful only; and a cup of coffee is sipped like the Pipe of Peace at an Indian Council. Our slumbers are sound, despite the cold, as we have marched between 68 and 75 miles since yesterday morning, besides fighting five hours to-day. Our men are, of course, very tired: guard duty is done by running tours of the whole company, but we feel almost satisfied with our day’s work which has been praiseworthy and brilliant enough when we take into regard the disadvantages we had to contend against to gain any success at all.* The men name this Camp Inhospitality a name well deserved and will bestowed. Doctor Munn came up to the fire near which I was lying and from him I learned that our casualties in men, consisted of four killed and five or six wounded, two of them seriously. Heard also that when some of our half-breed guides reached into the village they found an old Indian woman stretched on a couch, sick. They questioned her and learned that the head chief of the village was Crazy Horse, who had with him Little Big Man. The Indians represented were Ogallallah Sioux, Minneconjou Sioux and Northern Cheyennes. One or two lodges of Sitting Bulls band were there and about same number of Indians from Red Cloud Agency, who had come in that morning to trade. Those of our men who were on the skirmish line under Mills saw an Indian chief in full war costume, riding and running up and down among his men on the cliffs, haranguing them and animating their valor. We conjectured this to be Crazy Horse, whose every interest demanded our expulsion from the village: as superstitious [as] are Indians generally that a chief who meets with any great misfortune * Note, April 22d 1878[:] I here allude in a cautious way to the disadvantages under which we labored: i.e. the inefficiency of Genl. Reynolds and the cowardice of his trusted counsellor, Captain Moore. These notes were written very guardedly to prevent any trouble in case they should fall into the hands of soldiers or others of the Command.

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in war has great difficulty in holding together the remnants of his people who delay not to show a preference for a captain whose “medicine” is less unlucky. We could form no estimate of the number of savages slain; when wounded, they will always display more coolness and better judgment than white men in same circumstances, and will resort to various artifices to deprive an enemy of the satisfaction of knowing he has inflicted damage upon their people. For all that we captured no bodies, we had excellent reasons for believing we had killed and wounded many in the enemy’s ranks—a conviction softening in a slight degree the grief felt at the sudden death of our own gallant comrades. March 18th. Awakened at sunrise; it would be more exact to say arose at sun-rise, since the cold had awakened many a poor fellow earlier in the night. Mr. Strahorn and I had made a couch out of a worn out saddle-blanket, covering ourselves with a large, untanned buffalo robe I had brought out of the village; it was so stiff, we might just as well have employed a board for a blanket. Had my frozen toes painted with the Tincture of Iodine for a second time, (they were first painted on the field yesterday.) The Doctors tell one that if applied as soon as the injury is done, or about the time a reaction has set in that this remedy is a positive specific. A great number of cases of frosted and frozen feet, noses and fingers reported among the enlisted men. Our Doctor, Munn, is commendably assiduous in his attentions to the wounded men and those suffering from the effects of the weather, among whom are to-day numbered two poor devils unable to walk from inflammatory rheumatism. The Hospital Steward, O’Brien, who had his horse shot from under him yesterday is a great assistance to his superior officer in the execution of duties devolving upon him. Our herd of ponies that had not been guarded last night; strayed some little distance from camp this morning and were driven off by a small squad of Indians who had doubtlessly been long watching for so fair an opportunity. The theft was promptly reported to General Reynolds and one of our guides told him the animals were still in plain sight, going over the ridge nearest camp, three or four miles distant. To the surprise of all, General Reynolds declined sending any detachment

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to attempt their recapture. Great dissatisfaction now arose among all: several of the officers vented their ill-feeling in splenetic criticism and openly charged Reynolds with incapacity. This exhibition of incompetency was the last link needed to fastening the chain of popular obloquy to the reputation of our Commanding Officer. It was remembered that no guard had been placed over the cattle-herd the Sioux had stampeded near Fort Fetterman[,] that our vidette system had been neglected until General Crook had interfered and caused it to be instituted; that in yesterday’s fight our troops had been badly handled, the heights overlooking the enemy’s position not seized upon as a single glance of the eye would have suggested; that our men were now suffering for food and covering, while everything they could desire had been consumed before their eyes in the village, and worst shame and disgrace of all, our dead and dying had been abandoned like carrion to the torture and mutilation of the Indian’s scalping knife. The favorable impression General Reynolds’ affable manners had made upon his subordinates has been very rudely and completely effaced. I cannot use a better term than to say we look upon him as a sort of General Braddock,6 good enough to follow out instructions in a plan of battle conducted according to stereotyped rules, but having nothing of that originality of thought, fertility of conception and promptness of execution which is the characteristic of great military men. Reynolds’ imbecility is a very painful revelation to many of us. All in camp look forward to General Crook’s arrival with feelings of impatience and anxious expectancy. We lay in camp all morning, while couriers went to hurry him up. Day bright and pleasant, the only really good one had since leaving our wagons. General Crook rejoined us near mid-day: was much pleased to learn of our having encountered the Sioux and taken their village; he seemed annoyed and chagrined upon being told we had left our dead upon the ground and that our ponies had been recaptured through our own carelessness; but he said nothing, keeping within his own breast the thoughts that moved him. His party retook fifty of the herd which the Indians were attempting to drive past them 6. Major General Edward Braddock led a British force against French-held Fort Duquesne, Pennsylvania, in 1755. Trained in the linear tactics of European warfare, he was unable to adjust to the wilderness fighting of North America. The column was attacked by a large French force with Indian auxiliaries, and thrown back with heavy losses. Braddock was killed in the fight. See Marston, The Seven Years’ War, 10-11.

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and the General himself got a very good sight on a savage upon whom he fired. The pony, saddle, buffalo-robe and blankets of the buck fell into our hands, but he was carried off by his retreating comrades. Moved our camp eight miles South up Powder river to a point where we could have Wood, Water and Grass for our animals. Had a good, warm supper and a drink of brandy from one of our doctors. Commenced snowing at sun-down, Very cold to-night. Slept very soundly and with great refreshment, except during the short time the Indians were firing into camp: this time their attack lacked spirit, very decidedly and our videttes had no trouble in assuring the Indians they had awakened the wrong passengers. Crook was in camp and his presence was equal to a force of a thousand men: so our men felt. Struck in the head with axes and killed forty or fifty of our captured ponies, which seemed too young or too feeble to keep up with our march. Many of our men, all of our guides and a few officers cut off steaks and choice pieces from the young ponies and ate them for food. Their verdict an emphatic endorsement of hippophagy. March 19th. Breakfasted by light of the stars, between 3 and 4 a.m. Night extremely cold. Shot forty Indian colts and brood-mares this morning. Moved rapidly South South West up Powder River to the mouth of the Crazy Woman’s fork, twenty-five miles. Our rations are getting very slim. In such cold weather and with arduous service, the amount allowed by Government for the daily ration is too small; the increase should be to such an extent as to make the individual apportionment of Hard bread (20) ounces, bacon, one pound, beans and sugar, double what they are at present and have some variety of dried fruit, or in lieu of this, citric acid, made a component. This was a very good camping ground. Wood and Water were abundant and in close proximity to use and good grass was accessible in sufficient quantity. March 20th, Last night snowed all night. Had no bother from Indians. Snowing this morning. South wind. Snow hanging very heavily on our clothing and on our horses’ backs. Trail decidedly muddy. Moved South and South South West up Powder river for twenty miles. Saw much cottonwood timber in river bottom, but no timber on the bluffs overhanging stream. Coal seams protruding from the

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bluffs in great frequency. Found good camp; no cause to complain of deficiency or quality in Wood, Grass or Water. Ice in stream getting weak. Alkaline ice is treacherous. It will barely support our horses. Sent messengers in advance to Fort Reno, to our wagontrain. Mar. 21st (Vernal Equinox.) Marched up Powder, South, for thirty miles, a toilsome stretch with our weary horses and pack-mules. Day murky. Ground plastic, with a viscuous mud oozing out from the track made by the horses’ feet. Country very dreary, no timber at all on bluffs and a greatly diminished quantity along stream. Ice growing weaker: find it vastly thinner than it was on Tongue river, where it cut from (2 1/2) to three feet in thickness. Horses and mules are now beginning to play out, chiefly among the condemned stock brought along. Reached our Infantry camp near old Fort Reno, at 4 P.M. Major Coates, Major Ferris and Lieutenant [Charles Winder] Mason made us heartily welcome. Our animals were fed on grain and carefully tended. Our men enjoyed a good square meal, the first for many days. March 22d Lay in camp all day. Rained a cold drizzle in morning, but cleared off cold towards afternoon. General Crook sent mounted party in advance to Fort Fetterman, with dispatches, among them the following to General Sheridan, U.S. Army, Chicago. [“]Cut loose from wagon-train on 7th. Inst., scouted Tongue and Rosebud rivers, until satisfied there were no Indians upon them, then struck across country toward Powder river. General Reynolds with a part of command, was pushed forward on a trail leading to the village of Crazy Horse, near mouth of Little Powder river. This he attacked and destroyed on the morning of the 17th, finding it a perfect magazine of ammunition, war material and general supplies. Crazy Horse had with him the Northern Cheyennes and some of the Minneconjous, probably in all one half the Indians off the Reservations.7 Every evidence was found to prove these Indians to be in copartnership with those at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies and that the proceeds of their raids upon the settlements have been 7. This statement is patently absurd. The camp held at most about 735 people, of which only 210 were warriors. On the other hand, several thousand Indians were off the reservations with more leaving as summer approached. Gray, Centennial Campaign, 55, 321ff.

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taken in to the Agencies and supplies brought out in return. In this connection, I would again urgently recommend the immediate transfer of the Indians on those Agencies to the Missouri river. Am satisfied if Sitting Bull is on this side of the Yellowstone, that he is camped at mouth of Powder river, but did not go there for reasons to be given by letter. Had terribly severe weather during absence from wagon-train, snowed every day but one and the mercurial thermometer on several occasions failed to register. Will be at Fetterman, 26th inst, so if you desire me to move the Indians, please have instructions for me there by that date, or close[.] I shall return Cavalry to Rail Road at once for recuperation. (Signed.) Crook Brigadier General.[”] March 23d, Took up line of march to return to Fort Fetterman, moved fifteen miles along to head of Dry Fork of Powder river. Nothing to note to-day. Our wounded have been taken off the traveaux8 and placed in the ambulances. Our pack-mules are unloaded and our cavalry has put everything possible in the wagons to ease the horse’s loads. Day rather cool, but pleasant. Command in fine spirits. March 24th. Rained at intervals during night. Day opened cool and damp. Rained from time to time during the day. Road soft and sticky. Marched along the Fort Fetterman road 21 miles to the head of the Wind River. Made camp. Water and grass sufficient, but no wood in vicinity: had to carry what was needed for fuel from last night’s camp. The work of recording the events of this march has now become monotonous enough; there is nothing to narrate but the diurnal progress of the column and the variations of climate. We are very much astonished at the great change for the better in climate since quitting Tongue river. Mar. 25th. Marched 20 miles along road to South Cheyenne river. Day Gloomy and dark. Some snow fell. A considerable quantity covered ground last night. Wagon road obliterated and animals “balling” terribly.9 Found an Indian pony and rifle. Two antelope killed by our scouts—also one sage hen. 8. Correctly spelled “travaux,” it is technically the plural form of “travois” although the latter generally is used for both the singular and the plural. 9. By “balling,” Bourke means the mud was sticking to their hooves, packing around their feet in a sort of ball. If left untended, permanent injury could result.

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March 26th. Made a tedious tramp of 27 miles through snow to Fort Fetterman where we were gratefully received by Col. Chambers and his officers about noon. Wagon train and mules reached post between 3 and 4 P.M. A great quantity of letters, telegrams and newspapers were here for Genl. Crook and their contents were perused with much eagerness. Learned of the fall of Secretary of War Belknap, detected in peculation and wrong-doing in regard to post-traderships: also of the moral conviction of Babcock, Secretary to President Grant. Our sick and wounded, hauled on sledges to Fort Reno, 100 miles, thence 90 miles by wagon to Fetterman, were placed in the post hospital and seemed to enjoy the change. Genl. Sheridan telegraphed Genl. Crook to make what dispositions he found needful to recuperate the command’s horses and then resume campaign against hostile Indians. Genl. Crook, having maturely revolved in his own mind the evidence bearing upon the management of our attack upon the Indian village has concluded that General Reynolds must be held responsible especially in view of his neglect to investigate the behavior of Captain Alex. Moore, 3d Cav., believed by most of the officers to be guilty of cowardice. He has drawn up against General Reynolds Charges and Specifications which will be inserted in their proper place. Mar. 27th. Genl. Reynolds expressed intense mortification at the Charges and Specifications preferred against him and came to Gen. Crook to solicit a withdrawal of them, claiming he had attempted to enforce in good faith all orders and instructions received during campaign. Gen. Crook declined acceding to this request, saying the behavior of every one in the action of the [1]7th must be examined into and the responsibility for the neglects charged placed upon the proper person. Gen. Reynolds had an interview with me, asked what I remembered of the circumstances of the affair and after he had learned my views, in a subsequent interview asserted upon the authority of Gen. Crook that I had told him, Crook, [that] he, Reynolds, intended abandoning him. This I strenuously repelled and Gen. Crook denied having made such a statement, upon which Gen. Reynolds acknowledged his error[.]

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Lieut. Morton, 3d Cav. [Reynolds’s adjutant], in my opinion, has done much to embroil and precipitate matters by ill-judged criticisms upon Mr. Strahorn, the correspondent of the Denver [Rocky Mountain] News, who is with us, and who boldly avers he is going to publish the truth in spite of all the Reynolds and Mortons in the Army. Gen. Crook has no other remedy left but to probe the matter to the quick by a General Court Martial. Distributed the captured ponies to-day among scouts who had conducted themselves with gallantry, and the soldiers of the ten Cavalry Co’s. Capt. Egan, 2d Cav., preferred a series of Charges and Specifications against General Reynolds, for abandoning his dead and dying on the field of Battle. Telegraphed Nickerson to-day and made arrangements to leave, tomorrow for Omaha, where we are to remain until May 1st. when active work will be resumed. March 28th. Left for Cheyenne, by way of the cut-off, which crosses the Laramie river at the mouth of the Chug[water River]. Ascending the latter, we stopped at Portuguese Phillip’s for dinner, and then drove on to Fagan’s Ranch, on Horse Creek. Made the journey to Cheyenne, 155 miles, in four days, experiencing snowy and rainy weather the whole or nearly the whole time. Along the road, between Cheyenne and Fort Laramie, passed squad of people en route to the Black Hills. They were in general well provided with supplies, but ignorant of the dangers and trials in store for them. At Philips, were informed that sixty eight, of these adventurers had sat down to supper in one day, while at Fagan’s during the snowstorm of March 26th or 27th, two hundred and fifty had slept in the kitchen, stables and out-houses. . . .

Chapter 14 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

A Trip to the Indian Agencies

The following orders were promulgated by Colonel Reynolds upon our arrival at Fort Fetterman. Hd. Qrs. Big Horn Expedition, Fort Fetterman, Wyo. Territory, March 27th, 1876 General Orders No. 3 I. By direction of the Department Commander, the Big Horn Expedition organized by General Orders, No. 1. Fort Fetterman, W[yoming].T[erritory]., February 27th, 1876, is hereby dissolved. The companies comprising the expedition will return to their posts, by easy marches, under their respective Company commanders. II. The thanks of the Department Commander and of the immediate commander of the troops are hereby returned to the members of this command for the cheerfulness and fortitude with which they have performed every duty devolving upon them throughout a campaign, of twenty-six days in an inclement season of the year, including temperatures (26) degrees below zero, with the slightest possible shelter and sometimes short rations. And especially for 263

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the cold night march of thirty five miles resulting in the surprise and destruction of a large Indian village. The march to and consequent upon this engagement of three hours’ duration was fifty-five miles in twenty-five consecutive hours. By order of Colonel Reynolds, (sig.) Charles Morton, 2 Lieut., 3d Cavalry Adjutant. By May 10th, the various preparations needed for a reopening of the campaign were so far completed that Genl. Crook found himself able to run up to the Indian Agencies to sound the Indians at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail and know just what people were left in our rear and also what assistance might be looked for. In starting out from the Rail Road with the greater part of the cavalry in the Department, but little protection is taken from the settlers; the inefficiency of the cavalry has become a public scandal: people cannot learn that the scattering of troops diminishes their efficiency and that it is only by concentrating our forces and moving in converging lines into the enemy’s own country and making him feel the hand of War fall heavily upon him that we can hope to end the systematized spoliation of the little hamlets along and adjacent to the U.P.R.R. With the co-operation of the columns commanded by General Terry and Colonel Gibbon, we may expect to corral some of the hostile bands and inflict severe punishment upon them. To relieve the Cavalry from their stations, companies of the 23d Infantry were sent out from Omaha Barracks: Randall’s & [Otis Wheeler] Pollock’s to Sydney Barracks,1 [Charles] Wheaton’s to Fort McPherson,2 and [Patrick Thomas] Broderick’s to Fort Hartsuff.3 Lieut C.H. Heyl, of the 23d infantry, has just added to the laurels gained in Arizona by another feat of gallantry and efficiency against a small raiding party of Sioux Indians in the Loup Valley near Fort Hartsuff. With a small party of Infantry mounted on mules from the Q.M. corral, he pursued and caught up with the hostile Indians, 1. Sidney Barracks (which Bourke tended to spell as “Sydney”), at the present town of Sidney, Nebraska, was established in 1867 as a outpost of Fort Sedgwick, Colorado. It became a separate post in 1879, and was redesignated Fort Sidney. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1894. Frazer, Forts of the West, 90. 2. Fort McPherson was established in 1863 on the South Platte River, eight miles above its confluence with the North Platte. It was abandoned in 1880, and transferred to the Interior Department in 1887. The post cemetery is a national cemetery. Ibid., 88. 3. Fort Hartsuff was established in 1874 near the present town of Burwell, Nebraska. It was abandoned in 1881, and transferred to the Interior Department in 1884. Ibid., 86-87.

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surrounding them on a little hill where they should all have been captured had the citizens who were along acted in any way gallantly. Heyl had one Sergeant, Dougherty, killed, and it is believed, killed one Indian. General Crook referred to the matter in appropriate orders. Much regret was felt by all the officers interested in keeping the honor of the army pure and bright to think that the trial of General Reynolds for misbehavior in presence of the enemy and of Captain Moore for cowardice (both during the Crazy Horse engagement,) could not be hurried through with before the commencement of the present movement; the moral effect of a General Court Martial in their cases would have been most salutary. Left Omaha on the 9th May and reached Cheyenne next day without especial incident; met Cols. Gilliss, Mills and Brady, and Lieuts. Robinson, (W.H.) Paul,4 [Samuel Austin] Cherry and Bolling;5 also Mr. Tom. Moore. Impending Indian troubles were the theme of excited conversation in Cheyenne. The attacks upon consignment trains going to and returning from the Black Hills had done much to exhibit the bad temper of the Indians, who had now crossed the North Platte and driven off thirty-two head of horses from Hunton’s ranch on the Chug, on the Cheyenne and Laramie road. Mr. Hunton was killed by the party and when the body was found it had eleven wounds, three from arrows. Lieut. [James Nicholas] Allison, of the 2d Cavalry, followed the trail in the direction of Red Cloud Agency until it was obliterated by a severe snow storm. The troops of the 3d Cavalry and some of the 2d, engaged in the recent expedition are very badly demoralized and many are deserting from Rowelle’s (Well’s.) Co of the 2d; eleven have deserted, saying they would not fight under men who would leave their dead and dying to fall into the hands of a savage foe. The officers, many of them at least, [who] act as if they thought the remembrance of recent misconduct would be effaced from the public mind by persistent silence and by their behavior towards gentlemen suspected of knowing anything to the discredit of Moore and Reynolds[,] are really guilty of an intimidation of witnesses. Such behavior will react upon themselves; it has already done so. It makes no difference 4. Bourke probably means Augustus Choteau Paul. Heitman’s Historical Register does not list a W. H. Paul. 5. Bolling cannot be identified.

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what verdict the Court Martial may find, the private soldiers have already passed sentence. May 12th. A Raw and Bleak day. Moved 50 miles to Portuguese Philip’s ranch on the Chug; were kindly cared for by the warm-hearted proprietor whose reputation for hospitality is well known among army people. Saw unmistakable signs of an abatement in the Black Hills’ fever: the tide is now turning back. The ignorant wretches who pressed in there in the depth of winter, unable to wash gold out of the frozen earth and destitute of subsistence have become very badly scared by Indian attacks and bring back most despondent accounts from Custer city and other towns in the auriferous district. Their stories are no doubt much exaggerated and intended to account for their failure upon some other theory than that of ignorance, laziness and want of proper working facilities. Yet these tenderfooted pilgrims bring back with them tangible proofs that the precious metal may be found in quantities to pay well, altho’ as a gulch mining country the Black Hills will never attain great prominence[. O]ne very handsome coarse nugget that I saw weighed [at a value of] $6.20; and I learned of another from Deadwood creek worth $120.54. From the Chug to Fort Laramie, 45 miles, our ride was uninteresting, but the undulating country to the Right and Left had assumed its new spring dress of green and so saved us from what without would have been a monotonous day. At Laramie, found the same officers almost seen there last February: Maj. [Edwin Franklin] Townsend of the 9th Infantry in command. Was entertained very hospitably by Capt. and Mrs. Munson. Heard from W. B. Hayes whom we met on the Chug, that my old friend Mr. W.G. Scott, with whom and General Crook, I made a trip to the Moqui villages in 1874, had commenced to lecture in Elmira, N.Y., taking as his text our mutual experiences in the South-West. (See note-book on Moquis) [Chapter 5--ed.] From Fort Laramie to Red Cloud the road runs in a North of East direction for 77 miles, crossing the North Platte river a short distance from Fort Laramie, over the fine new iron bridge not long since completed under the direction of Captain Stanton, of the Corps of Engineers, U.S.A., (This bridge is very finely built and provided with ice-breakers on the side next the current.) For 21 miles to Raw Hide creek and 24 miles to the Niobrara the road is much

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obstructed by sand and passes through a very desolate and treeless waste. A good camp may be found on the Raw Hide, a small, swift, clear stream with hard bottom, mostly sand & gravel, and having some trees growing along its banks. The Niobrara, the next stream, on the contrary, is hard to cross, chiefly by reason of the abruptness of its banks, has a clayey bottom, no timber of any kind available and a general air of desolation. From the Niobrara crossing, (which occurs at the junction of the main stream with a little marshy brook, coming in from the north, and just West of a reed-covered pond or lake half a mile in diameter,) to the head of White Earth river is 14 miles; the road still very sandy follows down the valley of the White Earth, hemmed in by bluffs of the argillaceous sediment giving the stream its name. The scenery is very pretty but rather of the placid order; the road crosses the stream rather too frequently for comfort but finally reaches Camp Robinson,6 on the Left Bank and about one mile or more from the agency of Red Cloud’s band of Indians. Found accommodations here in the Post Hospital, a very neat and orderly structure under the care of the Post Surgeon, Munn, our chief medical officer on the last Expedition. At Camp Robinson, met Major [William] Jordan, Captain [Frederick] Mears, [Michael John] Fitzgerald and Lieuts. [Thomas Sidney] McCaleb, [William Barrett] Pease, [William] Hoffman & [Jesse Matlock] Lee. Also Col. [Elisha Harrison] Ludington, Inspector General, Col. [Thaddeus] Stanton, Paymaster and Mr. Strahorn, on their way back from Spotted Tail Agency. At that place, Colonel Stanton had an interview with the Indian chief Spotted Tail and after some desultory verbal skirmishing, reference was made to our Crazy Horse fight. Stanton remarked we were soon going out again whereupon the crafty old Indian observed sarcastically; “if you don’t do better than you did the last time, you had better put on squaws clothes and stay at home.” General Crook now made arrangements for a conference with Red Cloud and his Indians, to take place in front of Major Jordan’s quarters at noon on Monday, May 16th. Mr. Hastings, the agent at Red Cloud, the suc6. Camp Robinson was established in 1874 to control the Indians of the Red Cloud and Pine Ridge Agencies. It was redesignated as Fort Robinson in January 1878. During the Second World War, it was used as a dog training center for the K-9 Corps. It was abandoned in 1948 and now is a Nebraska state park. Buecker, Fort Robinson and the American West; Schubert, Outpost of the Sioux Wars.

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cessor of Mr. Howard (removed last year upon the recommendation of the Congressional Investigating Committee for inefficiency and peculation,)7 was absent at Spotted Tail Agency, leaving his own duties to be discharged by a subordinate named McCavanaugh, who imagined his dignity outraged by any conference which did not include himself as a star of the first magnitude. For this, he exerted what influence he had to keep Young Man Afraid of his Horses and others from calling upon General Crook to learn what he had to say. But in spite of his malevolent interposition Sitting Bull, (of the South.), Three Bears and Rocky Bear, three chiefs ranking next to Red Cloud in power and influence came into the post about eleven in the morning and were conducted by our guide, Louis Richaud, to the Adjutant’s Office, where General Crook, Colonel T.H. Stanton, Major Jordan, 9th Infantry, Lieutenant John G. Bourke, 3d Cavalry, A.D.C., and Frank Gruard, guide were already seated. After necessary preliminaries, of hand-shaking and “How! Cola,” (How are you, friend,) had ben concluded, the conversation commenced, Louis Richaud acting as interpreter. General Crook. Have they heard anything about going out? Sitting Bull. We have heard about some of our people being wanted to form part of the next expedition against the Indians up north: we would like to have the agent and Red Cloud here so we can have a talk all together and make up our minds. General Crook. Tell them the troops are now marching to Fort Fetterman and I cannot stay here over to-morrow. I want to find out their minds before I go and I do not think I can wait until the agent comes back. Sitting Bull. The agent promised us he would be back to-day. General Crook. I do not care about getting their opinion just to-day, but merely mention this matter for their consideration. We are going out now and the President has said all these Indians must go on their Reservations and we must stay out after them until they do. There is only one thing to bring us back and that is if the President changes his mind which is not likely to happen. 7. Bourke is mistaken. E. A. Howard was agent at Spotted Tail. The Red Cloud agent, Dr. J.J. Saville, was the target of allegations by Red Cloud himself that he was issuing substandard food. The Board of Indian Commissioners, a quasi-governmental citizen’s group established to oversee Indian affairs, set up a special committee that investigated the allegations for five months before finally acquitting Saville. Nevertheless, Saville resigned, although he was said to have been the rare instance of an agent leaving office poorer than when he went in. He successor was James S. Hastings. Larson, Red Cloud, 165-67, 198.

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Last winter we were out and had the Indians up North in our grasp, but misconduct on the part of certain persons, defeated our plans. This will not happen again. I don’t want Indians along to do the fighting, but to follow along with the soldiers, point out where the villages are and gobble up the ponies and things of that kind. The Crows have sent word they wanted to come along with us. I would prefer to have the Sioux from the Reservation, but if they won’t come, I’ll telegraph for the Crows to come. A great many people tell us not to bring the Sioux along with us for fear they would not be true, but I trust them and will take them in preference to the Crows if they will come of their own free will. I want to tell them all about it now as they can talk it over among themselves. He (Sitting Bull,) has been to Washington and has seen how many people we have; how we are pushing out across the rivers and mountains on all sides of them. It is only a short time since the Sioux owned all the country to the Mississippi river, now their country is getting smaller and they are being crowded more and more every day. The Buffalo is getting scarcer. Soon the Indians must all come to live on the Reservations set out for them or be killed off. The bad Indians up north have many ponies which they have stolen. It is better for the Indians here to get those ponies than to let other people get them. We are bound to get them and to stay out until we do. If all the soldiers now in the country were to be killed off, others would come to take their places. I talk as their (the Sioux’) friend, anxious to do them good. They know that in a few years they must submit and they may as well be our friends and help us as be our enemies. They might just as well get those ponies as let anyone else get them, and when they come back the soldiers will protect them in keeping those ponies and also against any attack the Northern Sioux may try to make. I want them to think over this to-day and let me know by tonight or as soon as they can. Sitting Bull. For my part, I always listen to the whites: when I take a notion to do anything I always try to do it. I have seen my Great Father: my Great Father has told me to keep friendly with the whites; I have done it: I have done it here and at the agency. I don’t sleep at night but stand guard over my friends here and at the agency. I have always listened to my Great Father. Last win-

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ter, the Crows and Rees killed a great many of us and we had made up our minds to get revenge, but our Great Father told us to stay here at the agency. For my part, I am willing to go alone and to go into any village (“of the hostiles”, understood,) you want me to go into. I have always listened to the Whites. In the fight on the other side of the South Platte river, during the Indian war,* I had a son killed. I have some sons out there, (on the Yellowstone) and I have sent them word to come in. They have the guns the Great Father gave me. I had to make up my mind to go out after my own sons and to take away their horses. We have all got our own ideas of war and our own ways to fight, when we see our enemies we want to kill them. Your Great Father has sent you out to kill those Indians and has given you fast horses to do it. We want to see you do it first. General Crook. They will have no fault to find about that. Sitting Bull. We are here in the centre of our land with the agency on it. In our fighting, we use the arms and the bow and always whip. When you go to fight the Minneconjous, take a fast horse and kill them with a club:—they are not brave. In winter, they are very poor in stock and can’t get away: in summer, you can’t catch them. They are on the watch every night. They get up every night and listen to hear if the soldiers are coming. I have as great a number of children out there (on the Yellowstone,) and one wife; but if you kill them it won’t change my mind toward you. My heart is good. I started last Fall to bring them in and told them if they won’t come in to bring my guns in anyhow. General Crook. I will loan them guns and give them plenty of ammunition if they will go out. Two band guns.8 Sitting Bull. Are you going back from here or going to Spotted Tail Agency? General Crook. I am going back. Sitting Bull. You should have talked with Spotted Tail first. He is the oldest Indian and he might want to go along. General Crook. That makes no difference. If Spotted Tail goes, he shall have the ponies: if not, you shall have them. You know very well, the biggest Indian is the one who has the most ponies. * (1866-67-68) 8. By “Two band guns,” Crook apparantly meant the caliber .45-70 Springfield infantry rifle, sometimes called a “Long Tom,” which secured the barrel to the forestock with two steel bands.

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The Indians now withdrew to confer with their people. Sitting Bull in the conversation said to General Crook. [“]We have our way of fighting. We will run in and count ‘coo,’ (corruption of the French ‘coup’=blow or stroke.) And the soldiers can do the fighting.” This refers to a custom prevalent among these people of a young war chief anxious to signalize himself, rushing in at the head of his band and striking one of the hostile party with his lance, medicine bow or arrow, at the same time crying out “coup” or [“]coo.” His bravery is then considered beyond dispute. Towards evening, Agent Hastings returned to Red Cloud and word was transmitted to Genl. Crook who drove over to the agent’s quarters, reaching there shortly before sun-down. In the same room with us were Agent Hastings and his son, General [William] Vandever,9 Inspector of Indian Affairs, Colonel Stanton, U.S.A., Major Jordan, U.S.A., Mr. R.E. Strahorn and Mr. D. J. McCann, contractor for Indian supplies.* Mr. Hastings the agent in conversation with General Crook, said he should interpose no objection to any Indians accompanying the Expedition that the General might persuade to go, but that he should not recommend any to go. That the Indians had been tampered with was evident to one from the start and a slight item of suspicious behavior I may say that the Agent before sending for the Indians with whom General Crook wished to confer, called General Vandever into a back room and held an earnest conversation with him with closed doors. Shortly, the chiefs sent for arrived; at first only those the agent designated; afterwards, one or two of those General Crook wanted. Young Man Afraid of his Horses was reported to have gone home, but his father, the Old Man d[itt]o. was present. The Chiefs were seven in number, namely Red Cloud, Old Man Afraid of his Horses, Blue Horse, American Horse, Little Wound, Sitting Bull (of the South[)], and one not known to me. (Rocky Bear?) General Crook asked Sitting Bull if he had told as yet to Red Cloud and the other Indians the substance of the conversation had between them this morning. Sitting Bull said he had not, but would do so now and then pro* In November, 1878, Mr. McCann was convicted by a Wyoming Court of fraud as contractor for Red Cloud Agency & sent to the Penitentiary. 9. In subsequent volumes, Bourke sometimes spelled the name “Vandeveer.”

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ceeded to converse with the other chiefs in a low tone in his own language: when he had concluded, Red Cloud asked General Crook if it was the President or the Secretary (of the Interior.) [who] had sent him after those Northern Indians. General Crook. Both. Red Cloud. They didn’t do it right. This is a peaceful house. They ought not to do that way. This is the place for you to go around. The Great Spirit is first in our eyes but the President takes the Great Spirit’s place. We do what he says. The Utes and Snakes10 and Crows were our enemies; the Great Father said we must not go out there (in their country.) and we are now here as he ordered with our young men. Some of our young men went out there but the Crows killed them. We wanted to go out there then, but the Great Father said No!, so we didn’t go out. Here is the Commanding Officer, (Major Jordan, 9th Infantry,) who has been here a long time. He has a good head and good sense. He knows us and never has any trouble with us. Here is our agent. Spotted Tail has another. This man treats us well. That is the reason we have him with us. I suppose you came here for something, but I don’t want you to say anything but go right in to wherever you are going, and say nothing to us. The Government sent ten commissioners here to hold a council with us on the White Earth river below here. The Sioux have been thinking of that Black Hills Council all winter. Since they left we had no trouble. But an expedition went out and whipped some Cheyennes11 and now we have trouble and here is the man who has made all this trouble. General Crook. Is that all he has to say? Red Cloud. Yes. General Crook. I came to give him an opportunity to express himself definitely, so I might learn his views. I don’t care whether he goes or not. General Crook now asked Agent Hastings if he had seen the correspondence relating to this expedition and the authority for it. Hastings. Oh. Yes. I understand all about this. General Crook then mentioned that Secy. Chandler, Ass’t Secy. Cowan, Commissioner Smith and Secy. Belknap were present at the Council when President Grant decided the Northern Sioux 10. Shoshones 11. Red Cloud was referring—accurately—to the Reynolds fight on the Powder River.

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should go upon their proper reserves or be whipped.12 If these Sioux (from Red Cloud Agency) went out with the expedition, they could have the captured ponies, otherwise somebody else would. Red Cloud. I am here raising young children. The Great Father told us to stay here. I don’t want to go anywhere. Little Wound. You have told us the President and Secretary sent you out. We don’t believe it. I have been twice to Washington. The Great Father told me not to go to War anymore; not to fight enemies anymore: General Crook. I have nothing more to say. Little Wound. I have heard of a war and heard of a fight (in former times) with the Great Father.13 But both parties were out a good deal and had nothing to gain. I told the Agent once I didn’t want to have any trouble. I am glad you came to talk— General Crook. I have nothing else to talk about but their going out. I have nothing else to say. Red Cloud. When do you start? General Crook. When I get ready. Red Cloud: They (the Northern Indians.) have stolen some of our horses: a party of our young men have gone out after them and have been gone several days.* General Crook and party now left: Mr. Wm. Dear, the post trader invited us into his quarters and treated our party (which was joined by Genl. Vandever, Mr. Hastings and, Mr. McCann) to a glass of cool champagne. We then drove back to the post. A comparison of the two conventions above recorded will show without much delay there was something wrong: in the morning, we find the representative men of the tribe anxious to go out with the troops. In the evening, these same men are kept in the back-ground to let Red Cloud and Little Wound re-echo the sentiments of the Agent and Genl. Vandever. Last week, the Hay scales at Red Cloud Agency were burned by the Indians who behaved so very ugly that the Agent sent * Agent Hastings wanted Gen. Crook to ask Red Cloud what he thought of the campaign made recently against Crazy Horse, but Inspector Vandever objected, saying it was no use to open up discussion upon that point. Agent Hastings then stated that Red Cloud had expressed himself as pleased to hear the troops had gone after Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. 12. Crook refers to a meeting in November 1875, between himself, President Grant, General Sherman, Secretary of War Belknap, Interior Secretary Zachariah Chandler, Assistant Interior Secretary B.R. Cowan, and Commissioner of Indian Affairs Edward B. Smith. Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 40-41. 13. Little Wound could have been referring to any of several conflicts in the late 1850s and early to mid-1860s.

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Mrs Yates, wife of the post trader to Camp Robinson, where she now is for protection. The agency herd of ponies (seven.) was this morning run off from Red Cloud and yesterday from Spotted Tail. General Vandever remarked this evening that the Indians at both these agencies were in a very good frame of mind and anxious to sell the Black Hills to Government for a fair figure. This means that somebody is organizing a gigantic raid on our depleted Treasury. We shall see what we shall see. In the personal adornment of the Sioux chiefs nothing peculiar was to be observed: all wore pantaloons, loose in cut, of dark blue cloth; moccasins of buck or buffalo skin, covered with bead work; Mackinaw blankets dark blue or black in color, closely enveloping the frame, (some of these blankets variegated by a transverse band of bright red cloth worked over with beads;) strings of beads, shells and brass rings encircling the neck, while underneath the blankets coarse dark woolen shirts were discernible. The hair was worn long but plain, parted in the middle and the line of parting painted with vermillion or red ochre. An unusual thing with Indians as far as I can say, their faces were not marked with paint of any kind. Pipes were smoked made of the red pipe-stone from the quarries in the Upper Missouri, above Standing Rock. (This pipe-stone is either a steatite or else an indurated ochreous clay, the latter, judging from the weight, being the more probable assumption.) Only the bowl is of stone but this is inlaid very skillfully with silver; the stem is of a hollow or flat reed, the arrow wood, burned through; devices wrought in feathers, beads and paint give conspicuousness and barbarous beauty to the instrument. The bowl is prolonged at the lower extremity to allow the oil of tobacco to collect there. Each Indian takes 3 or 4 whiffs and then passes the pipe along to his neighbor on the Left. A rough representation of a Sioux pipe is given. . . .

Sioux Pipe. (Red Cloud Agency, Neb. 1876)

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Frank Gruard obtained information verifying our suspicions that these Indians had been tampered with by the Agent before General Crook’s arrival. Rocky Bear, Three Bears and Sitting Bull told Frank that altho’ the agent in person did not say anything to them, (he was too cunning for that.) his clerk, McCavanaugh and Interpreter, Billy Hunter, had spoken with them and told them the agent said they must not go on the Expedition with the troops and in many other ways antagonized the President’s policy. Sitting Bull was taken severely to task for having presumed to speak with General Crook until after consultation with the Agent. These three Indians, however, told Frank to say to General Crook they would try to raise a small party at the agency, of about 20 or 30, and start out to overtake the Expedition near Fetterman. By thus frustrating General Crook’s plans of bringing with his column a force of young Indians from Red Cloud’s people, General Vandever and Agent Hastings have thrown themselves in direct opposition to the early pacification of the recalcitrant Sioux. Had General Crook obtained a few hundred warriors, the U.P.R.R. would have been safer to just that extent; in the absence of cavalry from the line of posts guarding that road, the temptation to rob and murder would be too great for the unruly young Indians to resist, hence in withdrawing that number of young warriors from the agency we reduced the number likely to prey upon the ranches of Wyoming and Nebraska, besides having hostages for the good behavior of those not under our immediate surveillance. This would [be] the most important feature of the contemplated arrangement, but as soon as our column should have penetrated to the Yellowstone country, as trailers, guides and scouts, our Sioux auxiliaries would have been worth their weight in gold and saved our soldiers and horses from many hours of weary toil and marching. By broadly defining the line of separation between the good Indians and the bad, this alliance would have been shown to the intractable Uncapapa Sioux that their line of communication with the agencies was cut off and that when this present force of men and supplies was destroyed or reduced, there would be no alternative but an unconditional surrender. An Indian is precisely like a white man in that he will fight as long as he thinks himself certain of victory: but he is never like the white man in dying on the field of battle rather than see his country enslaved. The ordinary course of our Indian wars has been first a long series of petty

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quarrels and fights between the advance guard of pioneers, trappers and settlers and the red man: small detachments of troops are next sent out to give “protection” to the settler. They are as feeble in numbers and so inexperienced in training, that the establishment of military posts is very frequently rather an encouragement to the savage than an intimidation. To exemplify my meaning, let one cite the case of the various Reservations and public lands ceded to the Sioux; the total area, inclusive of the Big Horn country, cannot be less than 60.000.000 A[cres]. and as the Regular Army, all told, is by law restricted to 25.000 aggregate enlisted men and never at one time muster more than 23.000, it can be seen at a glance that every private soldier, supposing the whole Regular Army to be detailed to watch over this one tribe, would have something like four square miles of territory to stand guard over. Surrounding the vast belt of country now occupied by the Sioux or Dacotah Indians are the reservations of other tribes, who have shown themselves more amenable to the influence of civilization: among these, rank first the Absaraka or Crow Indians, owners of the country comprehended between Laramie Peak and the Big Horn Mountains. They are now confined to the extreme Western rim of their proper country through fear of their hereditary enemies whom our Commissioners by the Treaty of 1868, made at Fort Laramie, seemed to recognize as owners of the soil. It seems not to be generally known that the Dacotah tribes until within the last generation were residents of the belt of territory contiguous to and immediately West of the Great Lakes, along which the Ojibways or Chippeways and other branches of the great Algonquin race dwelt. (Parkman who is good authority, claims the Dacotahs as limbs of that great ethnic trunk. vide “The Jesuits in North America”.) Sometime very early in the present century, the small-pox swept like a scourge among the tribes along the Right bank of the Missouri river, reducing all in strength and completely decimating and demoralizing some of the most powerful as the Mandans and, perhaps, the Arapahoes. Synchronously with this dire visitation, the Dacotahs, then stretching from the headwaters of the Mississippi to where the village of Yankton now stands on the Missouri, crossed the latter stream at the mouth of White Earth river probably on the ice in winter.

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The invaders found hospitality and assistance among the Sheyennes or Cheyennes, a powerful tribe, roaming over the plains from the big bend of the Missouri to the Arkansas. From the Mandans, Pawnees, Poncas, Otoes and Crows, nothing but resistance was offered; the invading columns separated the band now styled the “Big Bellies” or Gros Ventres from the Arapahoes and the Rees from the Pawnees: the Mandans were subdued by disease as also no doubt the Poncas and Otoes had been. But be that as it may, the advent of the Sioux marked the commencement of an era of hostility which has never abated between them and the tribes above named as well as the Utes of Colorado and the Sho-sho-nees or Snakes of Idaho and Wyoming. When the Missouri was first crossed the Dacotahs were “foot” Indians and to this day the Hohe Dacotahs or, as they are known to us, the Assiniboines, whom domestic feuds similar to the wars of the Romans & Sabines drove away to the North to the confines of British America, are “foot” Indians, having no horses but using dog sledges for the transportation of their movables while the Uncapapas, Brulés, Minneconjous, Ogallallahs and other bands of the Sioux (or “cutthroat”) Indians are owners of immense herds of ponies whose ancestors they obtained by trade from their confederates, the Cheyennes, and they in time from the Kiowas and Commaches [sic] who stole them from the Mexicans. The Sioux have constantly improved the advantages first gained; they have been the scourge of the neighboring tribes among whom civilization and Christianity will make no progress until a feeling of security is imparted by a thorough reduction of the disturbers of their repose: no later than 1874, the Sioux sent out a war-party which surprised a village of Pawnees on the Republican River at a time when all its male members were absent a short distance hunting the buffalo. They attacked the helpless old women and children and did not suffer one to escape to breathe the dreadful tale. Yet they had promised to keep the peace with these Indians whose advancement in any of the arts of domestic life cannot be looked forward to with much hope until they are assured of the fullest protection from our Government. Of the obligations entered into by the Sioux at the treaty made at Fort Laramie in 1867 and 1868 and ratified soon after, not one has been kept. They have not refrained from war with Pawnees, Crows, Utes, Mandans, Rees or Shoshones;

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they have persisted in stealing stock and other property from the whites. The value of the animals thus carried off within the past year alone runs up into hundreds and thousands of dollars. They have killed numbers of our fellow citizens whose blood still stains the soil of Wyoming & Nebraska[;] their promise [sic] to become self supporting within four years after the signing of the treaty have been completely ignored and to quote from the Report of the Red Cloud Investigating Committee made last autumn, “$5000 would certainly cover the value of all the produce raised by all the bands of Sioux since the signing of the Treaty”. (Our Government meantime has spent between $13.000.000 and $15.000.000 upon these gentlemen beggars, who are too proud to work and too robust to go hungry.) Their children have never been sent to school and in no manner have they been faithful to that convention except in drawing rations. On its side, our Government has been faithful to its obligations; has broken up at astounding cost posts on the north side of the Platte and kept all soldiers to the South of that stream until the coldblooded murder of Lieut. Robinson of the 14th Infantry in 1874, aroused the country to a sense of what was due to its own dignity. It remains now to point out some of the causes which have led to this state of affairs and to suggest the remedy which must be applied to secure a better state of things on our frontier. It has already been noted that when troubles between the various tribes and the Whites or among the Indians peaceably disposed and those persistently hostile are in their incipiency, our policy has been to send small detachments of soldiery among the savages who soon learn to despise a Government as feebly represented [as ours]. It is as much as the soldiers can do to protect the agent’s own person and the supplies shipped for consumption by the Indians. The Indians finding themselves under no control hatch out in their reservations plans of raids and marauding expeditions against the settlements and being very quick in their movements and thoroughly acquainted with country find it easy to elude the feeble detachments of troops sent out after them and escape back to the Reserves where this prowess gives them prestige among their fellows and excites an emulation to do likewise. Finally, an Indian war does come; the troops are sent into the field, endure great hardships and suffer untold discomforts; if victorious, they are railed at by the

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“religious” press of the country as unbridled butchers; if defeated, as all expeditions must expect to be, ridicule and contumely are poured out upon them. In their privations they feel they must expect no commiseration; in their sufferings and dangers, no sympathy. It generally happens that the Indians are promptly subdued and then the acme of the farce of American Indian management is reached. A reservation is laid out for them, if one be not already established and an “agent,” nominated by some of the religious denominations, is appointed to look after them. Admitting the savage aborigine to be guileless as a child, plastic as clay in the hands of the potter, it may be seen at a glance that the qualities an Agent must possess are honesty, singleness of purpose, great administrative and executive capacity, and impartial firmness. To suppose that any man gifted with these qualities will sacrifice himself for the miserable stipend of $1500 per annum and a precarious tenure of office is to suppose we are living in Utopia. The denominational selections are consequently of a lower average than the political dead beats who managed the Indians from 1849 to 1857. They may be divided into two general classes—incompetent or fanatical imbeciles and sanctimonious rascals; the first class includes good and well-meaning old men who have failed in every business enterprise ever undertaken by them but whose religious fervor and general probity of character must be admitted by everybody. This class is “nuts” for the contractors and other cormorants hanging around the agency. By catering to the various weaknesses and especially to the religious prejudices of the incumbents of the respective agencies, contractors soon have things all their own way and make fabulous sums of money. It is amusing to note the Theological variations of character among those contractors who have several agencies to look after; at one, they will be found unctiously Evangelical; a day or two finds them Low Church Episcopalians[;] another, they are Ritualistic and before the week is over [Saint] Dominic himself, the author of the Inquisition, could not have such a horror of heresy and schism. The other class of agents are those “who steal the livery of heaven to serve the devil in”—The most sanctimonious of the whole congregation they are most anxious to go out among the Indians for the mere pleasure of evangelizing them; this category is not in general

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terms looked upon with favor by the contractors who find the lion’s share of the spoils stolen from the Indian appropriation claimed by the pious fraud who has wriggled his way into his position by the influences and under the patronage of some Christian church. This set of agents is very readily known—they are decidedly “on the make” and rarely let the grass grow under their feet. The list of agency people, under their supervision, is something like this. Zorababel Sleek, Agent. Mrs. Z. Sleek. Chief Clerk. Z. Sleek Jr. Ass’t Clerk. Aninidal Sleek. Interpreter. Enoch Chadband (cousin.) Head farmer and so on through the family list. By and Bye, there arises a murmur of discontent from the contractors who are kept out of their share of the spoils: and “pressure” as it is called, is brought to bear; an investigation follows: Agent Sleek’s proceedings are characterized as “irregular” and his appointment is revoked and he superceded by the fervid and zealous Christian, Luther Honeyman, who is just the man the contractors have been looking for. That this is no overdrawn picture of the general current of Indian affairs in the West every honest and experienced person must, however, reluctantly, confess, and that some radical change should at once be made no disinterested man or woman will fail to admit. Under the present personnel of the Indian Department, a great improvement has been effected, but the Indian Bureau is an Augean Stable14 which cannot be cleaned until the stream of journalistic criticism is turned full upon it. The late Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the Revd. E. P. Smith did much to bring the Peace Policy into disrepute. Such men as Mr. Wm. Welch of Philad[elphi]a and Professor [Othniel C.] Marsh of Yale College openly charged him with corruption and after vainly essaying to stem the tide without refuting the evidence Smith retired from office and sank into deserved obscurity. As a remedy for these chronic evils, it has been proposed and the proposition meets with cordial acceptance from all classes who have disinterested[ly] studied the Indian question, to transfer the Indian 14. Bourke refers to one of the labors of Heracles in mythology, in which the hero is required by King Augeas to clean a year’s accumulation of dung from the royal stables in only a day.

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Bureau in toto to the Department of War and have the agencies managed by Army officers of experience, under the control of the Secy. of War. Such a transfer it is contended would result in immense savings, first in the salaries of the Agents and Inspectors, because Army officers would discharge their new functions without increased remuneration, thus saving about half a million yearly and, secondly in the increased efficiency of administration the War Department could bring to bear in the adoption of its greatly superior methods of accounts and checks upon disbursements. In the year 1849, the last year the Military had control of Indian affairs, the total expenses of the Indian Bureau was $850.000. In the present year, the same Bureau asks for $7.000.000 and a deficiency of some $450.000. Secondly, in the Honesty of officials, because an army officer holds his position by a life or good-conduct tenure; has a recognized place of prominence in society; the hope of promotion and distinction as a reward of faithful service and feels besides that the pettiest act of peculation is certain to be traced to him through the rigid system of accounts he must conform to and the jealous scrutiny of his associates who however lenient they may be in other respects, show no mercy toward the cowardly or dishonest. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs in his last annual report makes the sorry confession that after twenty six years of experience and untrammelled administration, the Indian Bureau has no system of accounts which will prevent speculation and asks Congress to turn over the purchase and distribution of supplies to the appropriate Staff Bureaus in the War Department! An army officer must not only not commit fraud against the Government himself, but by the Articles of War he is forbidden association with those convicted of it. How different the rule of conduct in the Indian Bureau. The other day Inspector Vandever and Agent Hastings might be seen in a confidential brotherly check by jowl conference with Mr. D. J. McCann! Not the formal intercourse of official duty but a long ride from Red Cloud (45 miles) to Spotted Tail and Back. This Mr. D.J. McCann is the contractor the Red Cloud commission last year found guilty of putting up 100 lbs of flour in an 88# sack, and of charging the Government for 210 miles of transportation over a road which only measured 156 miles. Then [to] see such an individual travelling as the guest and boon companion

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of trusted Government officials, gives rise to grave suspicions of the sentinels supposed to be on the watch over public interest. Vandever is the last of the appoint[ment]s secured through the influence of the now disgraced Secretary Belknap: perhaps a close scrutiny into his character and integrity might disclose something of interest to those people who are as earnestly working for a purification of the Civil Service. An argument against the transfer, the one which seems to be a favorite with those people who derive influence or emolument from the present system, is an augmentum ad hominem, an appeal to the prejudices of the American people. It commences by conceding all that is claimed for the transfer proposed, but tacks on to this logical prothesis the apodosis that the Indian will degrade rapidly under the influences military association will surround him with. This argument takes very well and is constantly employed either by those pecuniarily concerned in the perpetuation of the present system or by the credulous and unsuspecting religious portions of our communities whom rascals find it so much to their profit to deceive. Let us examine this argument by the light of facts: every agency is now protected on the frontier by detachments of troops more or less strong. Either these officers and soldiers debauch the female Indians or they do not. If they do, let the country hear of it. Let Agents come out and denounce the unprincipled scoundrels who perpetrate or permit such crimes. If they do not do this now, it is difficult for the average American to see how the mere transfer of papers from Agent to Army officer is going to secure unrestrained gratification of his passions, if so disposed. If the Indians themselves were questioned a different phase might be placed upon this controversy—one which if not implicating the Agents personally would at least convict many of them of neglect or indifference to the moral surroundings of their wards by allowing the residence upon the Reserves of so many squaw men, the lowest, vilest set of rascals that has ever been pawned upon the world. These are the fellows who fringe the Agency buildings with their own hovels and tepis, who are at the bottom of all the rascality at the Agency, who incite the Indians to nearly every ebullition of malevolence they are guilty of. It was through the instrumentality of such tools that the Indian Ring last year tuned up the Indians to demand

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$70.000.000 from the United States as the price of the Black Hills and it may not be amiss to note here a word of caution[:] just such another job is now being hatched out at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies by men whom the people suppose are devoted to the public weal. It is hardly possible the tax-paying part of the community will quietly and without indignant protest agree to pay $70.000.000 to these savages or rather to the rings that live upon their appropriations and at the same time listen unconcerned to the wailing and lamentations of the women and children in other large manufacturing cities in the East go supperless to bed because husbands and fathers are destitute of work. One word more and this subject is dropped. Delicacy forbids an expatiation upon so disgusting a theme, but those who are known to be posted insist upon it that much of the diseases of a syphilitic or Hemorrhaging type that work such havoc among our Indians are spread among the tribes of those members who have been taken to Washington where it is asserted the practice has been to provide the chiefs with prostitutes at the public expense! This is a grave charge—one that should be carefully examined by people acquainted with the facts,—but it should be examined nevertheless. It might be well in this connection to look up the reasons why Red Cloud and his party were so dissatisfied with their treatment during their last visit, to Washington as compared with former ones.

Chapter 15 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition

May 16th Left Red Cloud Agency in company with Col. Stanton, Colonel Ludington, Lieut. Griffith, 9th Infantry and a few citizens, guides, discharged soldiers &c. Our united escorts numbered about 65 men, too many for any small party of Indians to think of attacking. As we left the Post, a few curling wreaths of smoke showed the signals were being made, but for what purpose we could not conjecture. As we approached the head of White Earth river the mail driver, going to Red Cloud Agency, passed us. We camped by the springs on White Earth shortly after passing the mail wagon and remained long enough to partake of a cold lunch; had our sense of hearing been a little more acute, we might have heard the death cry of the poor mail driver. That night we reached the ranch on the Niobrara. It surprises me to think that the Agent would suffer these ranches to be constructed on the Niobrara and the Raw Hide, as those places lie within the limits of the Sioux Reservation. About midnight, a courier reached us from Major Jordan, 9th Inf., Comdg Camp Robinson with a dispatch reading as follows:

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HdQrs. Camp Robinson, Neb., May 16th, 1876 2 Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3d Cavalry, Aide de Camp, Lieutenant. I have the honor to report for the information of the Commanding General of the Department that about 2 P.M to-day a white man, named Joe Roots, reported to me that the mail carrier (a man named Clark) while en route from Fort Laramie to the Agency was killed by a small party of Indians about noon to-day in the White (Earth.) River cañon at a point about ten miles from here. Mr. Roots was with two other men who were taking oxen to the ranches on Running Water (Niobrara,) when they heard several shots fired, saw the mail carrier lying dead in the wagon immediately afterwards and saw the Indians—four in number—drive off the two horses that were attached to the wagon. About 2.45 P.M., the two Mr. Dears started with a party of about twenty friendly Indians to try and capture the Indians that committed the outrage. Soon after the report reached me, I sent Lieut. McCaleb, 9th Infantry, with two enlisted men in an army wagon to bring in the body of the murdered man, the mail (which was not molested) and the mail wagon. I am Lieutenant, Very Resp. &c. (Sig.) Wm. H. Jordan Captain, 9th Inf. Comd Post I have inserted the above that it may speak for itself: it proves that while the Agent has been busy representing the peaceable attitude of his Indians, they have murdered men almost under his nose. And additional cause for the opposition of Mr. Hastings to the enlistment of a contingent of auxiliaries from among the Red Cloud Indians lies in the fact that if by any means the hostile Indians of the North shall be subdued, there will be no difficulty in transferring the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Bands to the Missouri where, being congregated in one large Reservation, the Sioux Indians can do without the present force of Agents and interpreters and be made

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to work for their own support. It appears to be the settled purpose of these Agents to keep the savages in a condition of vagabondage, because, if they should once be placed on the highway to improvement, agents would simply be an impediment in their path. Reached Fort Fetterman on the [1]7th and remained there overnight. Munson’s, Burt’s and Burrough’s companies of the 9th Infantry were preparing to start with the expedition. Genl. Crook received a telegram from General Sheridan saying General Terry’s column had left Fort Abraham Lincoln,1 on the 16th. Also one saying General Sherman had decided upon the detail for the Court to try General Reynolds, and that it would convene July 15th. Moved out, May 18th, with Colonel Stanton, toward Fort Fetterman. Road passes along Right bank of the North Platte for the first 13 miles within sight of the river, road very sandy to Warm Springs, up grade: road then becomes fairly good to Cottonwood Creek 22 miles: then it winds over the Bull Bend Mountains and for 4 or 5 miles is very rocky and difficult. Again comes in sight of the river and goes down grade, good travelling to Twin Springs, (31 miles) a pair of springs with perennial and pellucid water. From Twin Springs to Horse Shoe creek (36 miles) road is very good. Country thus far is rolling and well adapted for grazing. Some little cedar and scrub juniper with here and there a stunted pine tree on adjacent hill tops. Between Cottonwood Creek and Horse Shoe Creek the North Platte winds through a cañon, with rocky walls. During this day, the weather was very beautiful, but as evening approached, heavy storm clouds gathered over us and a few drops of rain fell. The next day, May 18th [sic], the road for 9 miles to Elkhorn creek (45 miles) was very bad, much cut up by heavy trains coming in on the cut-off road from the Chug. Crossed the Elkhorn and went 13 miles to the La Bonté (58 miles) which we found very high, about 2 1/2 feet deep, 60 feet wide and current quite swift. Crossing very good. All the creeks mentioned here at least at this time of year, a good flow of water, & rapid currents, but are safe to cross. The La Bonté is much the largest. From the Horse Shoe to the La Bonté the geo1. Fort Abraham Lincoln was located at the confluence of the Heart and Missouri Rivers across from present-day Bismarck, North Dakota. It was established as Fort McKean on June 14, 1872, but on November 19 of the same year was redesignated as Fort Abraham Lincoln. The post was abandoned in 1891, and the structures were dismantled by area residents in search of building materials. The partially reconstructed post is now a North Dakota state park. Frazer, Forts of the West, 111-12.

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logical character of the country is red clay and sandstone; and gypsiferous earths. From the La Bonté to Fort Fetterman on the Right Bank of the North Platte, and the mouth of La Prele (Rush.) Creek, the country is more or less sandy, with some indications of lime or gypsum in the soil. The streams crossed, the Wagon Hound and Bed Tick are insignificant except during the rainy season. Remained at Fort Fetterman, Sunday Monday and Tuesday, the General busy in transporting supplies across the ferry. A sand bar had formed about 15 feet out from the South shore of the Platte and before any great amount of stores could be taken across, a wing dam of boards, old planks and gunny-sacks filled with stones and gravel had to be built to deflect the current and a platform constructed to give greater depth and to serve as a wharf. Then it was found the pulleys running along the guy-rope had too small grooves and that the tiller ropes were fastened too high up on the ferry boat’s side. Iron rods were made to run from side to side and the rope fastenings were placed at the water line. New pulleys were fixed to the guy ropes and everything done to make the boat run more smoothly and easily. 30.000 lbs of stores were taken across the first day and over 60.000 pounds the next. A small detachment was thrown across to guard the piles of property heaped up on the opposite bank. Our day at the Post was made as pleasant as possible by the officers and their families. My own comforts were carefully looked after by Dr and Mrs. [Joseph Ruff] Gibson, who kindly made me their guest during our whole stay; but for all this attention and the courtesies of others stationed at the post, it was difficult at times to banish ennui; after giving up as much time as I could to writing letters, reading and visiting, I was sensible each day of the oppressiveness of waiting at a frontier post for the arrival of the slowly moving columns and supplies coming up from Fort Laramie and from Medicine Bow. (On the U.P.R.R.) Frank Gruard and a picked body of soldiers was sent to explore a way for our wagon train to Powder River to the Left of the old Fort Reno road, which crosses that river at a very muddy and dangerous ford. They were discovered and nearly cut off by hostile Indians, who followed them almost back to the Platte. Col. Chambers, 4th Infantry, and Mr. Wasson, the correspondent of the “Alta California” arrived on the 22d. . . . Wednesday, May 24th, 1876. The telegraph line was repaired today. It has been down since the storm of Saturday night. One of the

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first communications sent over was one from General Sheridan to Gen. Crook, announcing that Captain [Thomas Lee] Brent of the 3d Cavalry had been retired; this vacancy promotes 1 Lieut [Peter D.] Vroom to be Captain and the writer to be 1 Lieut of “L.” Company, 3d Cavalry. General Sherman telegraphed (through the Lieut. General [Sheridan]) that, after reading the official reports of the recent expedition to Montana and the attack upon the village of Crazy Horse, he was satisfied that Gen. Reynolds’ trial should take place immediately after the return of the Expedition. General Crook received information also that Col. Royall’s column of the 3d and 2d Cavalry and 9th Infantry had not left Laramie before Tuesday morning, April 26th, owing to bad weather and heavy roads. Colonel [Andrew Wallace] Evans’ column from Medicine Bow, on the U.P.R.R. came within sight of post this afternoon and next morning. Thursday, May 25th, [Evans’ column] Marched into Fort Fetterman and immediately commenced crossing the North Platte river by the Ferry and also by swimming the horses and mules. This latter operation was only partially successful; only a small number of animals could be made to swim this river, the remainder stampeding in large herds rather than make the venture. Col. Evans had with his command Captain A.H. Nickerson, A.D.C.[,] Maj. J.V. Furey, A.Q.M.[,] Maj. G.M. Randall, chief of scouts, Captain [William] Stanton, Engineer Officer, Asst. Surgeon [Julius] Patzki, and the following companies. “B”, 3d Cav. Capt. [Charles] Meinhold & 2nd Lt. [James F.] Simpson. “C”, 3d Cav.—[Frederick] Van Vliet & 1 Lt.[Adolphus] Von Leuttewitz. “G”. 3d Cav.—1 Lt. E. Crawford. “I”, 3d Cav. Capt. [William H.] Andrews. & 2d Lt. E.H. Foster. “L” 3d Cav. Capt. P.D. Vroom & Lt. [George F.] Chase “D” 2d Cav. 1st Lt. [Samuel M.] Swigert, 2d Lt. [Henry D.] Huntington and “D”, 4th Inf. Capt. A.D. Cain & 1 Lt. H. Seton. May 26th. The hawser of the ferry broke this morning about 11 O’clock. Not much trouble was made because most of the supplies and nearly all the troops had already crossed. By hauling the slack of the rope across the stream the break was repaired in a few hours. One of our teamsters, Dill by name, a driver of one of the HdQrs. Teams was drowned in swimming the Platte this afternoon. The first company, Munson’s, 9th Inf., of Royall’s command arrived on

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the other side toward evening, bringing mail. A courier party, including Mr. Strahorn and Louis Richaud came in from Fort Laramie with dispatches for Genl. Crook. The orders for the organization of the Expedition were promulgated to-day, * reading as follows: HdQrs. Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedn. Fort Fetterman, W[yoming].T[erritory]., May 28th 1876. General Orders, No 1. I The undersigned assumes command of the troops comprising the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. II. Lieut. Col. W.B. Royall, 3d Cav., will command the Cavalry of the Expedition. III Major Alex. Chambers, 4th Inf., will command the Battalion, composed of companies of the 4th and 9th Infantry. IV. Maj. A.H. Evans, 3d Cavalry, is assigned to the command of the Battalion composed of companies of the 3d Cavalry, reporting to Colonel Royall. V. Capt. H.E. Noyes, 2d Cavalry, is assigned to the command of the companies of the 2d Cav., reporting to Colonel Royall. VI. The following named officers will compose the staff of the Expedition: Captain A.H. Nickerson, 23d Inf. A.D.C. & A.A.G. Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3d Cav., A.D.C. Capt. Geo. M. Randall, 23d Inf., Chief of Scouts. Capt. W.S. Stanton, Engr. Corps, Chief Engr. Officer. Capt. J.V. Furey, A.Q.M., Chief Q.M. 1 Lieut. J.W. Bubb, 4th Inf. Actg. Comy. Subsist. Ass’t Surgn. Albert Hartsuff, Medl. Director. (Signed.) George Crook Brigadier General Comdg. Expeditn. Official John G. Bourke, Aide de Camp. May 28th. Bustle and activity prevailing in camp: officers, orderlies and detachments of men passing constantly to and from the Garrison; * Promulgated on 28th.

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the ferry, repaired during the past night found no respite all day. Wagon loads of grain, ammunition, subsistence and other stores crossed the Platte to the camp on the other side which spread out in a picturesque panorama along the level meadow, surrounded by a bend of the stream. The long rows of shelter tents, herds of animals grazing or running about, trains of wagons and mules passing from point to point, made up a scene of great animation and spirit. The allowance of baggage for the present expedition has been placed at the lowest limit; shelter tents for the men and “A” tents for the officers. All trunks and heavy packages ordered to be left at this point. An allowance of twenty-five wagons for the fifteen companies of Cavalry and six for the five of Infy. Necessitated the leaving behind of every article not needed absolutely for the welfare of the command. The number of wagons loaded with forage was [no number given], and those holding subsistence stores and ammunition [no number given] and [no number given] respectively. * The ferry worked constantly during the day, transporting quantities of stores so that by night-fall but little was left on the Fetterman side. Between 8 and 9 O’clock in the evening, the cable, the new one ordered up from Laramie, snapped in twain, letting the boat swing loose in the current. It was soon recovered and the toilsome work resumed of splicing the ruptured hawser. Our ferrymen were well-nigh exhausted and with much difficulty exerted themselves to restore communications. Early in the morning, Captain Egan, 2d Cavalry, telegraphed from Fort Laramie the result of his scout from that post, just completed. He found on Sage Creek nearly one hundred lodges, mostly of warriors who numbered, according to his estimate, 600. All he could do was to drive them away from the wagon trains they were attacking. He also reported that many lodges had left the agencies going North and that the Arapahoe and Cheyenne villages (at Red Cloud.) were deserted. . . .(To protect the Black Hills road, we have only Egan’s and Russell’s companies of Cavalry and three of Infantry, one from Omaha Barracks and two from Fort Bridger.)2 * A total of one hundred Three. 2. Omaha Barracks was established in 1868 on the right bank of the Missouri River within the present city limits of Omaha, Nebraska. It was designated Fort Omaha in 1878. The post was replaced by Fort Crook in 1895, but has been reactivated several times, and the government has retained the military reservation. Fort Bridger, in southwestern Wyoming, was established as a trading post by Jim Bridger and Luis Vasquez in 1842, and leased to the government in 1857. It was permanently abandoned and transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1890. Ibid., 89, 178.

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May 29th. Left Fort Fetterman at one o’clock and joined Colonel Royall’s column which was then slowly defiling out from its camp on the Left bank of the Platte: The long black line of mounted men stretched for more than a mile with nothing to break the sobreness of color save the flashing of the sun’s rays back from the arms of the men. A long, moving streak of white told us our wagons were already well under way and a puff of dust just in front indicated the line of march of the Infantry Battalion. After moving North West for eleven or twelve miles, camp was made on Sage Creek. Nothing to note to-day. The road was rather dusty and without interesting scenery. Its characteristic features have already been noticed in the description of our winter campaign. Where then we heard only the howling of the fierce North Wind, the twittering of silvery-voiced meadow-larks assured us balmy summer now held sway. At a late hour, we secured supper and then gave some time to an examination of the mail which had overtaken us from the post. The following is a correct list of the companies and officers serving with the expedition: For Staff &c. see G.O. No 1 Company “A”, 3 Cav. Lt. Morton. “B”, Capt. Meinhold, Lt. Simpson. Company “C”, 3 Cav. Capt. Van Vliet, Lt. v. Leuttewitz [sic]. “D”, Capt. Henry[,] Lt. Robinson. “E” Capt. Sutorious “F” Lt. B. Reynolds “G” Lt. Crawford “I” Capt. Andrews, Lt. Foster, Lt. A.K. King “L” Capt. L.D. Vroom[,] Lt. Chase Capt. Anson Mills, Lt. A. S. Paul[,] Lt. Schwatka “M” “A” 2nd Cav. Dewes, Lt. Peirson “B” Rowell (Lt.) “E” Capt. Wells, Lt. Sibley. “I” Capt. Noyes, “G” 2nd Cav. Lieut. Huntington Compy. “C” 9th. Inf. Capt. Sam Munnson, 1Lt. Capron. “H” Capt. A.H. Burt, 2Lt. Robertson. Capt. T.B. Burroughs, 1Lt. W.L. Carpenter. “G” “D” 4th Inf. Capt. A.B. Cain, 1Lt. Henry Seton. F Capt. Ger[h]ard Luhn.

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Surgeons. Patski [Charles R.] Stevens (McGillicuddy) & [Junius I.] Powell. Charles Russell & Thomas Moore Masters of Transportation Frank Gruard, Louis Richaud, and Big Bat. [Pourier] guides. Joseph Wasson, R.E. Strahorn, J. Finerty, W.C. McMillan [sic] and R.B. Davenport, Reporters for public Press. May 30th. The companies of Cavalry under Captain Meinhold, 3d Cavalry, [were] sent forward this morning to find a better road and a better ford across Powder river than the one followed by last Expedition. Frank Gruard, our guide, accompanied them. Command moved 20 miles to the South Cheyenne river a shriveled stream of muddy and alkaline water, standing in pools. Current sluggish, about four to six inches deep and 15 feet wide. Banks gently sloping—bed of the stream clayey and muddy. In high water, passage is difficult. Wood in sufficiency for the command. This camp was not agreeable. High cold wind all night and sky cloudy. May 31st. Moved 20 miles North West to North Fork of Wind river, a confluent of the South Cheyenne, passing Humphreyville Creek and the Middle Fork of the South Cheyenne, during day. This day’s march was very monotonous; day very cold and bleak. All the officers and men wrapped in overcoats. A man was brought in from Meinhold’s command accidentally wounded in thigh (gunshot.) Found in this camp a sufficiency of cottonwood and water, the latter of poor quality. Grass good and plenty. June 1st. A cold miserable day; heavy clouds laden with rain hanging over us; snow and sleet falling during the morning. Road pursued to-day follows along a back-bone between ravines and gulches, running down toward the Dry fork of Powder river. Country very broken and destitute of timber, except in the brakes where a few scrub juniper trees can be found secreted. Distance marched today 21 1/2 miles, in a direction generally North West, but extremely tortuous. Grass improving in quality. Passed to the South and West of the Pumpkin Buttes four in number, some 15 or 20 miles distant. They lie nearly East and West, are insignificant in elevation, but form a very important water-shed, inasmuch as they divide the waters flowing into the Belle Fourche on East from those reaching the Little Powder on the North, the Dry Fork on South and the main Powder river on the West. Elk, I am informed, resort to the vicinity of these buttes in large herds. Major Burt pointed out to

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me, a rare bird, the Missouri sky-lark, not often found this far to the West. Noticed a great scarcity of game along road; numbers of antelope tracks were seen, but only one killed. At this camp found wood, water and grass in plenty and were rejoined by Meinhold’s command returning unsuccessful from a search after a new road to Reno. A party of (65) miners, travelling from Montana to the Deadwood district in the Black Hills, left an inscription on a board stating they had camped here on the 27th. Van Vliet’s command had been here on the 29th. The two notices were examined and read with something of the curious interest mariners evince when a piece of a wreck is found floating at sea. No sooner had we got our tents pitched than we were compelled to kindle fires to keep in any way warm: water froze in the buckets and a cold wind blowing from the ice-covered domes of the Big Horns warned us not to trust too much to the assertion of the Almanac that June 1st is the first day of Summer. We are now in a country of the geological tertiary period; all the bluffs through which the streams have eroded their channels are formed of strata of indurated yellow clay and light-yellow sandstone superimposed conformably upon beds of lignite from six inches to four feet thick. The lignite is not exposed in all cases, but when I had a chance to examine it, appeared of fair quality, friable in texture and some indications of the presence of sulphur. When the stream of emigration sets in towards the Big Horn country, these deposits will beyond a peradventure prove of consequence. June 2nd. Road followed down the Dry Fork of Powder river, 7 1/2 miles to old Fort Reno, and was generally good and of easy downgrade. Found Powder river very low, not more than two feet deep and (100)† feet wide. Had no trouble in crossing, but am convinced of the accuracy of the statement that it is impassable in time of high water. The bottom is a deep, heavy mud. Met Van Vliet’s command in camp. The Crow Indian scouts had not joined as partly expected. This river bottom is well timbered (cottonwood.) and has a rich, black, loamy soil. Camp this night was on the site of old Reno, a post abandoned to the Sioux Indians by the stipulations of the hasty and ill-digested treaty of Fort Laramie. Our three guides Frank Gruard, Big Bat, and Louis Richaud, were † [inserted above line:] (112.6).

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sent out in advance this evening with instructions to penetrate as far West as they might find necessary for the purpose of bringing in the Crow Indians, whose assistance will be equal to that of an additional Regiment. This afternoon, in company with Mr. Davenport of the N.Y. Herald and Mr. Jos. Wasson of the N.Y. Tribune and Alta California, visited the ruins of old Fort Reno. We first wended our way to the cemetery, a lonesome spot on the brow of a squatty bluff overlooking the valley of the Powder. It would be hard to compress, within the limits of a note-book, an adequate description of the utter desolation now prevailing in the Sacred Field, or to analyze the emotions to which the sight gave rise. Not a head-board remained in place, not a paling of the fence which once surrounded the tombs was now in position: a rude cenotaph of brick masonry, erected by the loving hands of the former garrison to commemorate comrades who had fallen in the war with the Sioux lay dismantled, a heap of rubbish at the entrance. Directly in front of it, a line of graves covered with rough boulders held the remains of the braves who in the dark days of 1866 and 67 gave their lives to protect the emigrants and freighters, travelling to Montana. A few feet beyond these, a promiscuous heap of boards held inscribed the names of some at least whom the graves had sheltered. Curiosity impelled me to attempt a transcription from those upon which the inscriptions were still legible: No. 12 Private C. Slagle, Co. F. 27th Inf. Killed May 30th ‘67 8 No 10. Clure C. Riley L.T. Morner Killed [2]7th Inf 27th Inf Mar 27. Killed by Mar. 31st 67 [I]ndians ‘67 [March?] 27. ‘67 Passing into the enclosure of the post, in the kitchen of the roofless and dilapidated building, formerly the Commanding Officer’s Quarters, a dead and dessicated wolf hung suspended by the heels from a hook in the chimney well. Probably the trophy of a soldier’s prowess, displayed there to gratify his own and his comrade’s eyes and forgotten in the disgraceful hurry in which our Gov’t abandoned this outpost. From the beams, stones, bricks and old iron of the

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ruins, the party of Montana miners who passed here a few days ago, had hastily improvised a number of lunettes and redoubts to check any attack the Sioux might make: As we looked down from this desolate solitude where the wary pickets secreted behind the tombs and chimneys afforded the only sign of animation, we can see outspread before us the well-ordered camp of the command and the bustling air of readiness visible in everything: the thought would rise in my mind that perhaps the year 1876 would witness the revenge of the horrible scenes of 1866 and ‘67 and the humiliation of the savages who had participated in the slaughter of our feeble garrisons. Frank Gruard has an account from the Indians engaged, of the Fetterman Massacre in which three officers, [William J.] Fetterman, [Frederick H.] Brown and [George W.] Grummond, three citizens, names unknown,3 and seventy-five soldiers were enticed out from the post of old fort Kearney by a band of Indians ostensibly attacking a train of wagons belonging to the post. The troops followed in hot pursuit of the Indians who retreated for about (3) miles, when suddenly the soldiers found themselves surrounded by thousands of Indians and after a desperate fight and the loss of their last cartridge were slaughtered to a man. The Indians claim, according to Frank’s narration, to have had eight thousand warriors in the fight and to have lost one hundred eighty-five killed and wounded.4 June 3d, Last night was very cold for the season; sheet-ice one eighth of an inch thick covered the water-buckets. The Infantry column moved off at 4 A.M., under a blue and cloudless sky. Road somewhat winding but very firm and good. Its direction was a little North of West, going towards Cloud Peak in the Big Horn Mountains of which a magnificent view was presented. The massy domes of Cloud Peak and the neighboring prominences towered high in the sky, white with their mantles of snow; here and there a dark streak betrayed the attempt of the tall pine trees on the summit to penetrate to the open air above them. Heavy belts of forest covered the sides of the range below the snowline and extended along the skirts of the foot-hills well out into the plains below. 3. Only two civilians, James Wheatley and Isaac Fisher, were killed in the massacre. Their companion, Portugee Phillips, was not present. Brown, Fetterman Massacre, 175. 4. The total number of Indians involved is reckoned at about two thousand, consisting primarily of Lakotas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos. The best estimate of Indian losses is about sixty killed in battle, and three hundred wounded, of whom about one hundred later died. Ibid., 178, 183.

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Were this noble range more widely known, its bounties would not lack appreciative criticism as one of the grandest and most rugged spurs of the Rocky Mountains. The singing of meadow-larks and the chirping of thousands of grass-hoppers enlivened the morning air and save these no sound broke the stillness except the rumbling of our wagons slowly creeping along the road. Soil becoming gypsiferous; found sulphate of lime in the form of flakes of selenite to the right of the road; also small patches of red clay. Captain Nickerson shot five Missouri skylarks which Gen. Crook preserved as specimens. Gen. Crook found under a small sage-brush, a nest of the white-ringed black-bird, with six small turquois[e]-blue eggs; the ordinary complement is five. Indications of the close proximity of Indians observed to-day: fresh pony-tracks close to the road and off in the distance, pillars of smoke signalling our approach. A few Indians, probably pickets watching us, were seen scampering off as our column moved on. After marching twenty-seven miles, reached our former camp on the Crazy Woman creek, a branch of the Powder river. Here we found a stream 18 in. deep, 50 feet wide, current of eight miles. Banks generally sloping and bottom, hard clay. Cottonwood plenty and grass good. Camping ground overgrown with cactus and sage-brush. June 4 (Sunday.) A serene atmosphere, balmy breeze and cloudless sky were our assurances this morning that summer had come at last and as if anxious to repair past negligences was about to favor us with all its charms. Marched at 5 a.m., over rolling country, well covered with fine grasses just heading into seed, but without any timber at all except upon the spurs of the Big Horn Mtn’s to our Left, where dark dense belts of pine, juniper and oak(?) were visible. The only eminences to be seen were the Pumpkin Buttes fast fading out of view in the dim distance behind us. The monotonous swell of the country extended well up to the Big Horn Range, rising in rank over rank to our Left and with sides seamed and gashed with numbers of deep cañons and gulches whence issue waters to feed the Tongue and Powder rivers. The geological and mineralogical features of the country remain almost unchanged since leaving the North Platte; brown and gray arenaceous5 clays, friable yellow sandstone, gray and yellow marls, clay shales, lignite and an argillo-cal5. Sandy, from the Latin arena (sand).

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careous6 sandstone rapidly disintegrating when exposed to natural agencies, alternate with varying sequence, but constant appearance. The lignite beds thus far seen are generally of no commercial value, the same being of inferior quality and very small thickness. This lignite is frequently colored with iron and habitually contains sulphur. One lump found by a soldier was silicified at one extremity; at the other the appearance was that of fresh charcoal. The bluffs along the side of the road were capped with a deposit of modified drift which was also the bed of the different streams, after leaving Reno. First buffalo tracks seen this morning. Much difficulty was given the transportation by a shallow wash out, with vertical sides. A half hour’s work with spade and pick cut away the escarpment and filled up the ravine well enough to let the wagons pass safely. This suggested to one the advantage to accrue from having with every large train, a pioneer and repair division to prevent delay and offset accidents. One of the first wagons should be loaded with a sufficient number of axes, hatchets, picks, spades, shovels, coils of rope &c. and immediately upon reaching a ravine, quicksand, rugged passage or miry river bottoms, the designated detail would spring to work, excavate and embank, corduroy or bridge as the exigencies of the case might require. The last wagon of each train should be loaded with extra poles, couplings, open links, and such parts of harness as may most frequently need replacement or repair. When an accident happened, the teamster could await the approach of the repair wagon and the forge accompanying it and under the protection of the rear-guard be placed in good travelling condition. After travelling 25+ miles, our camp was made in an inviting bend of the Clear Fork (of Powder river,), at its junction with a small tributary. Three or four miles to the Eastward of this camp, passed Conner’s Springs, pools of clear water, rocky bottoms, on either hand of road. Clear Creek is 50 feet wide, bottom of gravel, banks gently sloping, channel 18 in. to two feet deep and flowing with a current of eight miles an hour. Water sweet and cold, being melted snow from the Big Horn Ranges. Antelope and deer killed in small numbers by our hunters. General Crook killed a number of sucker fish with his rifle. The way to do [it] is to fire immediately under the fish which rises 6. Metamorphic carbonate.

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to the surface stunned by the concussion. In this camp had an abundance of fine grass and pure water, but wood was rather scarce. A dense column of smoke arose on our Right during the afternoon and was at first taken for an Indian signal: after sun-set two miners came in and said the smoke came from burning prairies, accidentally ignited by their party of sixty-five miners, journeying from the Black Hills to the Big Horns on a prospecting tour. Their camp was now on Crazy Woman’s fork, where they intended to commence an examination of the country. Had seen no Indians but great numbers of signs going North. (Saw no lodge pole tracks.) This means that the Sioux warriors are joining the hostile bands and leaving their families at the Agencies for protection and subsistence. June 5th. Last night was clear and bright. No demonstration from Indians, a thing we must now look forward to at any and every moment. Colonel Royall, Colonel Chambers, Col. Evans and Maj. Noyes have been very careful regarding the manner of posting pickets around our camps. Nightly, the wagons are corralled to serve the double purpose of barricades and obstructions. Mounted parties are thrown out on the highest bluffs, there to remain until after sun-down when they are withdrawn to more sheltered positions nearer camp. One of our picket parties was last night stationed in a little gulch where all were to sleep except the one on post who crawled to a foothold in the wall of the ravine giving him an easy view along the ground above. Only his head protruded above the edge of the ravine and his instructions were to pull a rope attached to the Sergeant’s leg whenever he needed help or wanted to attract attention. The Sergt. was then to awaken his party, move them stealthily up to the side of their comrade and give any hostile Indians wandering around camp a bloody welcome. Day dawned bright and beautiful: cirrhus [sic] clouds relieved the intensity of the sun’s rays. Broke camp at 5 A.M. our course lay North West close alongside of the Big Horn range and in among the outermost line of its foot-hills. Fine grass grazing everywhere. Crossed three or four little streams breaking out from the cañons; beds generally hard-pan and gravel. Water cold and sweet, but hard, with carbonate of lime, I think. Width of streams from 10 feet to 30 feet. Current 6 to 9 miles an hour. Eight miles from Fort Kearney to the East is Lake de Smet named after the celebrated Catholic missionary, who passed his life among

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the Sioux, Crows and Blackfeet Indians.7 The view of this body of water from the roadside is very beautiful. In length it is nearly 3 miles; in breadth, not quite a mile. The water is clear and cold but alkaline and disagreeable. No timber is to be found along its border, a peculiarity of the little streams already spoken of, which have only a few dead cottonwood trees scattered at extruded intervals along their banks. Sedge grass, coarse and thick, obstructs their channels and indicates their course. Geese and ducks resort in great quantities to Lake de Smet, and fish, (a variety of pickerel), can be found there with ease at all times. Came to old Fort Kearney early in the day; distance from last camp, 15 2/3 miles: ruins of this old post are situate[d] on the Left Bank of the Piney creek, a branch of the Clear fork. This little creek travels along over a rocky bottom at a rate of nearly 10 miles an hour. Rapids and beaver dams obstruct its progress: very little wood in proximity. Grass is good and plenty and scenery beautiful but of rather a placid type. Broken pug-mills stand near the banks and a kiln of bright colored bricks looms up like a monument. The graveyard in which were interred the bodies of Maj. Fetterman and the other gallant dead of the Kearney Massacre is without stone or board to mark the place of their last repose. The pallisading once surrounding the garrison has long since disappeared and ere many more years shall have lapsed the side of this historic spot will have become doubtful.8 Our men this afternoon trapped a young beaver; a few curlews (sickle-bills.) and pin-tailed grouse and one sage-cock were killed. The Sage-cock weighed 5 lbs. and the curlew 1 1/4 lb. Each. A report reached us to-night that a herd of buffalo was in close vicinity of camp. Gen. Crook, Capt. Nickerson and others started in pursuit, but were unable to verify the report. They saw a great way off a few elk and some antelope. Capt. Nickerson killed an elk and brought the meat to camp: we pronounced it tough, coarse, and not agreeable. Colonel Chambers showed me a small fragment of rock found in a spur of the Big Horn Mountains: it was remarkably light. S[pecific]. G[raviy] not more than 1 or 1.25; vesicular, rough, quite hard and in color, reddish brown. It was no doubt, pumice stone or lava of some kind. 7. Pierre Jean de Smet. 8. Fort Phil Kearny is now a Wyoming state historic site.

Chapter 16 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Camp Life

June 6th. Our camp to-night is on a tributary of Goose Creek,* one of the head waters of the Tongue river, 17 3/4 miles from the site of last night’s bivouac. Owing to the sultriness of the day and the bad road running over steep grades, this march has told upon both men and animals. Country during morning was extremely well-grassed, the herbage resembling growing wheat. The latter part of the march, the vegetation tho’ still good was of coarser quantity. My judgment is that the foot-hills of the Big Horns will one day be one of the finest stock ranges in the world. The seasons are evidently clement, cold winds being warded off by the high ranges of hills, and the supply of water is constant and well distributed. On our trail, crossed many little tributaries of the sources of Powder and Tongue rivers; these little brawling brooks are not more than two or three feet wide, 8 inches to a foot deep and a rapidly-flowing current. Wood for fuel is not very thick along streams, but inexhaustable quantities are obtainable from the whole range of mountains directly in front. Intermingled with the cottonwood, observed box-elder and elm trees. Killed a rattlesnake this morning: a young fellow with nine rattles and a button. Several * We afterwards discovered that we had reached Prairie Dog creek at its junction with Tongue River.

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others were killed yesterday. Passed Massacre Hill, the scene of the lamentable Fetterman Massacre, alluded to in preceeding pages. Soon after came down into the valley of our present camp: skirted the bank of the stream for six or seven miles. The valley is not over a mile broad and is hemmed in by bluffs, of red sandstone, but well coated with grass. One formation of sandstone, exhibited traces of having been exposed to igneous action. Pebbles in streams along trail, granitic in character. Our camp is well supplied with water from the creek flowing in its front which is about 25 feet broad, 2 feet deep, moderate current 4 or 5 miles, its sluggishness being due apparently to beaver dams, bottom drift rock and quartz pebbles, banks clayey but crossing good. Our first buffalo was killed this morning by a man from the packtrain. Musquitoes [sic] were very troublesome near the stream. Prairie dog villages lay scattered under the bluffs wherever a sandy soil afforded easy digging. The last hour or two of this march was very unpleasant; the heat of the sun almost unbearable. Dense masses of clouds moved sluggishly up from the West and North while light flaky feathers of vapor flitted across the sky, coquetting with the breeze, now obscuring the sun, now revealing his fierce rays. Low rumbling thunder sullenly sounded across the horizon and with the first flash of lightning changed into an almost continuous roar. The nearest peaks of the Big Horn were hid from our gaze. The heavy arch of clouds now supported itself upon the crests of the bluffs enclosing the valley of our camp. It was a pretty picture: the parks of wagons and pack-mules, the bright rows of tentage and the moving animals and men gave enough animation to relieve the otherwise too sombre view of the elements at War. This night, the soldier of Captain Meinhold’s company, (who was accidentally wounded on Wind river by the falling of his own revolver while he was cutting wood,) died. Six buffaloes killed to-day. June 7th Early in the morning, Capt. H. E. Noyes, 2d Cav. (who had been benighted while trout-fishing on Goose Creek, 6 miles to our West) returned to camp. A dense fog obscured sky: cold rain slowly falling until meridian. Grass of different variety appearing along line of march; rather coarse, but dark green and succulent. Bluffs reaching from immediate vicinity of stream; valley is by this time two miles wide in some

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places. A high ridge of sandstone extended down the valley for some distance on the Right. Stream increasing in size, swelled by the tribute of several subsidiary rivulets. Water very good and cool. Timber very scarce excepting a narrow fringe upon the banks. Found in a box-elder bush a nest, formed of interlaced twigs, of an old crow hen which flew away upon our arrival. This nest contained four pea-green eggs, mottled in brown and black, the greater part of the marks on the butt end. In shape they were probate spheroids and in size, A=1 1/3 in., B= 3/8 in.

Game is becoming more frequent at our mess-table. Grouse (pintail.) Sage cocks and Sickle-bill curlew are the fowl thus far met with; white-tail deer, elk and buffalo, the kinds of meat. Capt. Andrews, 3d Cav., in command of pioneers, had much difficulty this morning to prepare a suitable road for the wagon-train to follow; the amount of excavating and embanking, corduroying and grading required was rather unusual and most laborious. General Crook and the writer had the pleasure of killing their first buffalo this afternoon. After sighting the herd in the distance, we advanced rapidly, mounted, until within convenient distance and then commenced to stalk our game on foot. When we reached the edge of a little bluff, overlooking a small valley joining that of Tongue river, the herd of eight bulls was come upon directly under us. They were grazing quietly like domestic cattle and except for the heavy goat-beard and mane might have been taken for such. One old bull gazed intently and curiously at me for a moment: as luck would have it, the wind was blowing from the herd and my hat was slate colored like the shale rocks amid which we stood. The antiquated patriarch resumed his browsing. Genl. Crook took careful sight along the barrel of his rifle, fired and struck the bull under the fore shoulder on the near side. The herd now started on a loose-jointed shambling lope, making every excellent time. Our horses could not catch up with them, and soon fell well to the rear. General Crook’s bull dropped on his knees, after going one hundred yards and one or two others dropped behind their comrades, badly wounded by our bullets. We found the wounded bull quietly nibbling grass in a little cove in the

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bluffs. Gen. Crook gave me a first shot at him, which struck his side among the big ribs: two others aimed at him did not harm him at all, one being too high, the other too low. The General then fired and broke the animal’s neck. Still his vitality was so excessive, that he was able to plunge his head about in an alarming degree: two more shots finished him. We left the carcass on the ground, noting its location; two pack-mules brought in the meat. When reaching camp 15 1/2 miles, ascertained that the creek we have followed the past two days is not Goose Creek, but Prairie Dog creek, the same marched down in February. Our permanent camp is at its confluence with Tongue river and presents the essentials of abundant pure water, gramma and other grasses, cottonwood and other timber, seclusion from observation and charming scenery. After retreat this evening, occurred the interesting ceremony of interring the remains of Private Timan, of Co. “B” 3d Cavalry,1 accidentally killed. Besides the funeral escort of non-com[missione]d officers and twelve men prescribed by regulations, all officers and men and employees, not engaged on duty, joined the procession which acquired magnificent proportions, fully 600 persons being present. Capt. Henry, 3d Cavalry, commanding Battalion, read the funeral services in a very impressive manner. The cavalry bugles sounded “taps”, sod was thrown upon the rude coffin, the grave was rapidly filled up, the companies at quick step returned to their camps and the rites were completed.2 This night, long after our camp was wrapped in slumber, a party of Indians halloed at our pickets and tried to open up conversation. We had no one with us understanding any of the aboriginal dialects. The interviewing party then withdrew. Some of our men claimed they had heard them ask something about a Crow camp. This may 1. Private Francis Tierney, who went by the name of Doyle. Finerty, War-Path and Bivouac, 87. 2. John Finerty, of the Chicago Times, described the funeral in more detail in his book, War-Path and Bivouac (88). Tierney, he wrote, was buried during the afternoon with military honors. Every officer and soldier not on duty attended the funeral, and the burial service was impressively read by Col. Guy V[.] Henry over the grave, which was dug in a lonely spot among the low hills surrounding the place. The body was wrapped in an overcoat and blanket, and Captain Meinhold shoveled the first spadeful of clay on the cold remains. A rough granite boulder was rolled upon the grave and the young soldier was shut out forever from the living world. Three volleys, the warrior’s requiem, pealed above his tomb, and we left him to his everenduring sleep. Except, perhaps for the burial of a human being in mid-ocean, the interment of a soldier in the great American wilderness of that epoch was about the gloomiest of funeral experiences. It was, indeed a sad destiny that led this young man to die, accidentally, it is true, by his own hand, the first of Crook’s brigade to lay his bones in the terra incognita of Wyoming.

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have been a wild freak of imagination.3 We are yet, June 8th, in doubt as to whether they were friendly Indians from Gibbon’s or Terry’s command or hostile Sioux. The burden of opinion inclines to the latter presumption. Our camp remained at this point, awaiting the return of our guides from the Crow country. The monotony of camp life was broken in upon by an interchange of friendly visits among the officers who gather in the evening about the various Hd.Qrs. To indulge in a social cup of toddy and to exchange the gossip of the day. Some pass the day in reading, some in writing journals of the trip: in places, little squads may be seen indulging in games of cards, or discussing with animation the probabilities of our success. Fishing allures the lovers of the sport to the banks of the river, there to catch chub and soft-shell tortoise, which has appeared at our mess-table in the form of a most savory stew. After lunch, drowsy Morpheus has many votaries. There are no newspapers to act as firebrands by scattering information of Exciting topics into the midst of our little world, and the requirements of routine duty are so slight, we might as well be inmates of a monastery for all the exercise our mental powers are called upon to perform. A courier entered the camp before sunrise on the 9th, with official dispatches to Gen. Crook that One hundred and twenty Snake Indians would be at Fort Kearney about the 8th to join our column. Learned also that the great mass of the Indians at Red Cloud Agency had gone away to join the hostiles, that eight companies of the 5th Cavalry, that excellent regiment which achieved a fine reputation under General Crook in Arizona, were en-route to Red Cloud to take station and that General Sheridan had determined that no Indians should be allowed to return to Red Cloud until whipped. This good news gratified us all exceedingly. Found a disabled pony last evening, the property of one of the prowling bands hovering about our columns for some days past. Two miners joined us from the camp of their main body on Crazy Woman’s Creek. Rained during the morning of the 9th. Passed the time reading from Hayden’s[,] Reynold’s[,] Warrens[,] and Forsyth’s[,] and Jones’ reports of explorations in this Region. 3. Ben Arnold, who was serving as a messenger, recalled the incident: The first night we camped on this stream a Crow Indian came to the farther bank and tried to talk with us. We could make nothing out of what he said. If it had been daytime I could have talked with him in the Chinook sign language. As it was, we did not get the message he evidently wished to give us. Crawford, Exploits of Ben Arnold, 242-43.

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The monotony of camp life was agreeably broken in upon the evening of June 9th by an attack upon our camp by a mounted party of Sioux warriors. Our mess had only risen from dinner when our pickets on the East side commenced firing at the approaching enemy. The Sioux moved rapidly along the bluff on the North side separated from us by the waters of Tongue river and from a safe position behind the crest fired annoyingly into our wagon trains and cavalry horses. Colonel Chambers was instructed to send out three companies of the 9th Inf. Burroughs, Burt’s and Munson’s to occupy the heights on the Right, while Mills with four companies, his own, Sutorious’, Andrews’ and Morton’s of the 3d Cavalry, from Royall’s command, pushed across the river, climbed the steep bluffs on the opposite bank and drove the enemy to flight. Our casualties were two men wounded; one in the leg, one in the arm, both by spent balls and wounded of no consequence—and three horses and one mule wounded—all badly. Bullets passed through canvass, [sic] tentpoles, stove-pipes and wagons and struck the ground amidst our troops, but no further casualties received. It is to be hoped the Indians may make attacks of this kind every night: no greater advantage can accrue to young troops than to keep them constantly under fire; they learn the importance of implicit obedience to authority, of keeping constantly in readiness for instant attack or defense and above all things of saving their ammunition. Pickets and sentinels display more vigilance: officers become more zealous and energetic. Loose ends are gathered up; animals are herded with care and wakefulness and a general air of soldierly discipline is infused. Then when real work is required and fighting has to be done, young recruits are found to have insensibly changed into veterans and perform their duties with a thoroughness not frequently to be hoped for otherwise. It was reported that some of Captain Noyes’ pickets had killed one of the Indians, but the report was not verified; I give it merely as it passed current in camp. One of the horses wounded and afterwards killed was the personal property of Capt. Burt, 9th Infantry, who prized him very highly. The little animal was very fleet for short distances. It had won two races that very afternoon; scrub races, hastily improvised, run for a can of corn, or tomatoes. Lieut. Robertson’s horse was also shot. Besides the horse races mentioned, our packers organized a foot race of one hundred yards, to which a large concourse

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proceeded. As a race the less said the better; as an incident, as a piece of driftwood in our ocean of monotony, it is worthy of notice. Lieutenant Lemly, 3d Cav., was somewhat surprised the other evening when about to retire, to find a rattlesnake coiled up in his blankets. Being somewhat exclusive in his notions, Lemly had the intruder banished from his bed and killed. A cold shower commenced after sunset, June 9th, and lasted, spasmodically, through the night. Sunday, June 11th. Finding grass getting scarce, Gen. Crook determined to remove camp to a location nearer the mountains. This brought us to a very pleasant spot at the confluence of the two forks of Goose Creek seventeen miles and a half from our position on Tongue River. The situation has many advantages: excellent pasturage is secured from the hilly slopes adjacent, water in profusion, clear, sweet and icy-cold with a gentle murmur and the swiftness of a mill-race through the channels on each side of us. Fire-wood in sufficiency can be gathered along the stream-banks. Where we crossed it, Goose Creek has an average width of 20 yds, with a uniform depth of three feet, but greatly swollen by recent rains and melted snow. We were visited during the march by a succession of brief storms of hail and rain, which we at first thought was the sequence of last night’s storm; as we neared our camping ground, clouds gathered, black and deep-bellied, thunder commenced to growl among the peaks nearest us and in a very few minutes, the command was exposed to all the unpleasantness of a summer-storm in the Rocky Mountains. Tents were erected as hastily as possible affording much desired shelter. Scarcely had our preparations been completed than the rain issued, the rays of the sun reappeared for a short interval and a very lovely rainbow spanned the sky. Little knots of officers soon congregated at HdQrs, discussing the storm, the non-appearances of our promised Snake and Crow allies and the probabilities of the campaign. A very curious variety of owl was caught in a rotten log at this camp; the little bird, when perched, measured not more than 5 or 6 inches in height; had a white blaze on face between eyes which were large, yellow orbs with black irises. Head very large, covered with thick growth of seal-brown feathers. Breast, yellowish-brown. Back, wings & tail, whitish brown. Bill, black and curvated. Claws, long and pointed. In disposition, this little bird showed dignity, cour-

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age and good nature: would freely allow itself to be handled, but would peck and strike with both beak and claws when teased. Our amateur fishermen turned out in squads after the rain to try their luck with trout; only two, young ones, were caught, the failure being due to the muddiness of the current. Mr. Harrison, who brought mail to the command from Fort Fetterman returned to that post to-night, (Sunday, June 11th 1876.) carrying official dispatches, private letters and journalistic correspondence. His business is of an extra-hazardous character: one that demands a peculiar gift of caution, daring, keen judgment and topographical knowledge. By travelling at night only and hiding during day-light in out of the way places, he will have some points in his favor; confess however that while all hope and expect to hear of his safe arrival back on the Platte, no one will be at all taken aback to learn of his capture and murder by prowling Indians. Heap of letters and little packages of manuscript accumulated in Nickerson’s tent in the course of the evening: secure, compact packages were made of these and strapped on the pack-animal. With the darkness, Harrison sallied out on his perilous task accompanied by the corporate who was his associate on the way out from Fetterman. The command now settled down in the somnolent apathy of permanent camp life, looking for our Crow friends. Frank Gruard, Louis Richaud and Big Bat have been absent about ten or twelve days. It seems very likely that their duty has called them up into the ranges of the Indians they were seeking, far beyond the Big Horn range. Their delay is thus easily accounted for but is none the less vexatious. We are compelled to fritter away much valuable time: instead of hunting the Sioux and engaging in action with them, we have only routine duties to occupy our attention. The weather has assumed a most charming phase; the gently undulating prairie, upon whose bosom camp reposes, is decked with the greenest and most nutritious grasses. Our animals lazily nibble along the hill-skirts or deep in the genial light of the sun. The two little mountain brooks joining below our camp are lined with a fringe of box elder and willow bushes in whose shade throngs of sweet-voiced meadow larks sing all day. At rare moments, the chirping of grass-hoppers may be distinguished in the herbage; in front of our line of tents; a cook is burning or browning coffee—it is just as often one as the other—an idle recruit watches the process with a semi-attentive stupification.

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The report of a carbine aimed and fired by an exasperated teamster at another attracts general notice; the teamster has just now been put in confinement; a languid discussion of the merits of the case floats in ripples through our camp. It soon dies away and each resumes his favorite panacea for ennui and its kindred ills. A few officers are in Gen. Crook’s tent, playing whist. At noon, Captain Stanton takes his astronomical observations. A minimum of books had [been] surreptitiously kept with us on the march: a copy of Shakespeare, one of Macaulay’s Essays, the works of Stowe and others not now remembered. These are perused by appreciative critics as also are the official reports of the explorations of this region made years ago by Reynolds, Maynardier, Hayden, Warren, Forsyth and others. Colonel Royall, gave us an interesting account of his early days in Mexico, California and other places, and his experience on the plains of Texas and Kansas in fights with the Comanches and other wild tribes. The narrative was replete with interest aside from the attention deserved as the personal history of a gallant and distinguished old soldier. Squads of officers and soldiers have been out on little hunting and fishing parties. Colonel Mills’ squad killed a cinnamon bear on the 12th and the same day numbers of Rocky Mountain trout were caught by Noyes’ and other detachments. Lieut. Carpenter and Maj. Burt, 9th Infantry, have been assiduous collectors of ornithological specimens and what with Gen. Crook’s accumulations in the same line, the feathered residents of the Big Horn foot-hills are wellrepresented. Lieut. Foster, 3d Cavy. has made a series of creditable, rough pencil sketches of points of interest along the route: it is his intention to send them to Harper’s Weekly for publication. Fearing a sudden dash from the Sioux and a general stampede of our herd, Gen. Crook has insisted upon extraordinary precautions being taken to prevent surprise. The ordinary line of pickets is established as usual upon the summits of buttes and bluffs, commanding camp: in addition to this, outlying detachments are maintained during the day [at] a great distance beyond the pasture-grounds. They are powerful enough to gobble up any small party of Indians having designs upon camp, or to hold large bodies in check until after the herds have been driven in and the various battalions saddled up and formed in line of battle. In this way, Capt. Henry’s entire company was sent to take station up one branch of Goose Creek,

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while at same time, Reynolds with his company advanced up the other and a strong detail from Meinhold’s and Vroom’s companies occupied a high bluff on the Left Bank of the main stream. The horses of these companies are saddled but not bridled unless for a half-dozen or so of the guard on observation. All the men are within grasp of their animals, carbines in hands & ammunition ready for instant service. A small patch of ripe strawberries was found to-day by Col. Mills’ 3d Cavalry. The fruit was very small but of delicious flavor and aroma. June 13th (Tuesday.) Still in camp. Day Balmy. Temperature in tents 88º F. Sky faultlessly blue. Day passed without incident of consequence. A number of very fine, fat trout brought to camp. Major Burt, 9th Infantry, Mr. Strahorn and a party of miners left camp early in the morning to prospect the gulches close in to the flanks of the mountains. It has long been supposed that gold exists throughout the entire Big Horn and Wind River ranges: if a demonstration can be made that such is the case, miners and settlers will soon crowd in, strong towns arise and a very heavy blow struck from this mere fact against savage supremacy in the North-West. Major Wells, 2d Cav. caught eighteen trout to-day and Major Noyes, of same regiment, six; all very fine specimens. In company with Col Royall, visited pickets this morning: could not find Henry’s company which had evidently advanced very far up the Left fork of Goose creek. June 14th Early this morning, sometime before day-break an alarm was occasioned by the premature discharge of the carbine of a sentinel about to go on post. The reason being ascertained, quiet was restored. Officers and men by this time are always on alert, prompted to move out to repel attack from any quarter and at any time. Firing of arms of any kind has been prohibited within picket lines; hence any discharge of gun or pistol, especially about night-fall or just before dawn is regarded with suspicion, and herders are ready to drive in all their stock to prevent a stampede. Anxiety for the early return of our guides is expressed by all and a few go so far as to imagine that evil may have befallen them. This is not probable however, as each of them has had extraordinary experience in wood and mountain craft and is well versed in all the wiles and strategems of the savages. Yet it would be a relief from doubt and anxiety to have them back that we might commence in dead earnest the work of the campaign, which up to this time has been nothing but a pic-

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nic without exploit and without advantage. Our hunters to-day killed (2) elk and one buffalo bull. Major Burt’s party returned from prospecting tour up the valley of Tongue river without discovering any traces of precious metal. Great joy was diffused through camp when Frank Gruard and Louis Richaud came back this afternoon, bringing with them an old Crow Indian. They reported to General Crook that they had proceeded on their journey as far as the site of old Fort C.F. Smith, on the Big Horn river. On the other side, discovered a camp of many lodges, but were not assured of identity as Sioux or Crows. Rested at that point a short while, making dinner and giving feed to animals. The smoke from their fire probably attracted the attention of the Indians who galloped out in great numbers across the broad plain stretching along the other side of the river, boldly swam its torrent and charged up the acclivity after our messengers, one of whom narrowly escaped a bullet from one of the Crows, before mutual recognitions were made and satisfactory greetings exchanged. Our men followed the Crows to their town, found to consist of two hundred and odd lodges. At the beginning, difficulty was experienced in persuading the Crows’ to let a detachment of their young warriors go join General Crook: their chiefs alleged many reasons. Their families were starving and they wanted to get them meat. The buffalo was in vicinity and they could not lose the opportunity of a big hunt. They were afraid we wouldn’t stay out to fight the Sioux or that we might remain out longer than the summer. Much palavering followed, our guides neglecting no persuasion to induce them to agree to come. They appeared suspicious of some plot at first, but finally consented to send a band of One Hundred and seventy-five picked warriors to aid us as scouts and spies. They said that General Gibbon’s command was in camp on Left bank of the Yellowstone, opposite the mouth of the Rosebud, unable to cross. The Sioux were watching the troops from the other shore. An attempt made by Gibbon to throw his command across had resulted in the drowning of one company’s horses. The Sioux had alas, in some unexplained way, succeeded in running off the ponies belonging to thirty Crow scouts with his command, and word had been sent for a remount. The main body of the hostile Sioux were on the Tongue river, at mouth of Otter creek, and below. The Crows further reported that they

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had heard a war party of Snakes had started out, or intended to start out to participate in the campaign. When Frank and Louis crossed Tongue river, near onto [our] old camp, much discontent was manifested by the Indians because they misunderstood our march back to a new camp for grass as an indication of the abandonment of the campaign. They forgot that 1800 or 1900 mules and horses consume immense quantities of grass daily and need a frequent removal of pasturage. Under this misapprehension, the great majority declined to follow further, so Frank and Louis pushed ahead bringing with them one chief, leaving Big Bat to come along more leisurely with 15 or 16 of the Crows who remained. A good, palatable meal of hot coffee, sugar, biscuits, butter, venison, jam and stewed apples was spread before them; having consumed this with hearty zest and smoked a pipe-full of tobacco, the old chief was ready for business. His name cannot at present be given, as the North American Indian never will answer when questioned upon this head. After a brief conference, General Crook directed the chief, Louis Richaud and Major Burt, 9th Inf., to return and endeavor to bring the Crows back to the command. A curious feature in this conference was the medium of communication employed. The sign language is the [channel?] of correspondence between and among the different aboriginal tribes roaming from the Saskatchewan to the Rio Grande. A mute language, it is ideographic and not literal in its elements. Every word, every idea to be conveyed has its characteristic symbol. The rapidity of transmission is almost telegraphic, and frequently the sign language is employed preferentially by members of the same tribe, on account of its ease, accuracy and promptness. At some future time, I hope to collect and insert herein a more valuable and elaborate account of this singular vehicle of interpretation. We were enlightened by this chief as to the nature of the colloquy carried on with our sentinels some nights since by Indians supposed at the time to be Sioux. He says they were a war-party of five Crows, who wished to converse with us but were scared away by being questioned in the Sioux language, as was the fact. The mission of Major Burt was a perfect success. Before dusk he was with us again, this time riding at the head of a long retinue of savage retainers, whose grotesque head-dresses, variegated colored garments, wild little ponies and warlike accoutrements, made up a

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quaint and curious spectacle. While the main column halted just inside our camp, the three chiefs, [O]ld Crow, Medicine Crow, and Good Heart, were presented to Genl. Crook and made the recipients of some little attentions in the way of refreshments. Our newlyarrived allies bivouacked in our midst, sending their herd of ponies out to graze alongside of our own horses. The entire band numbered one hundred and seventy six, as near as we could ascertain. Each Indian had two ponies. The first thing to be done was to erect their war lodges of saplings covered over with blankets and shreds of canvass. Fires were next built and a feast made ready of the supplies of coffee, sugar and hard-tack, dealt out from our Commissary train. These are the prime luxuries of an Indian’s life. A curious crowd of lookers-on, officers, soldiers and teamsters, congregated around the little squads of Crows, watching with eager attention their every movement. The Indians seemed proud of the distinguished positions they occupied in popular estimation and were soon on terms of easy familiarity with our soldiers, some of whom can talk a few words of Crow and others a little of the sign language. In stature, complexion, dress and general demeanor, a marked contrast was observable [be]tween our friends and the Sioux Indians, a contrast decidedly to the advantage of the former. The Absaraka,4 or Crow Indians, perhaps as a consequence of their residency among the elevated banks and cool, fresh mountain ranges between the Big Horn River and the Yellowstone, are somewhat fairer than the other Indians about them. They are all above medium height, not a few being quite tall and many have a noble expression of countenance. The dress of the members of this tribe consists of shirt of flannel, cotton or buckskin; breech-clout, leggings of blanket, moccasins of deer, elk or buffalo hide, coat of brightcolored blanket, made with sleeves and hood and a head-dress, fashioned in divers shapes, but most frequently formed from an old black Army hat, with top cut out and sides bound round with feathers, fur and scarlet cloth. Their arms were all breech-loaders, throwing metallic cartridges, most of them Calibre .50, with an occasional .45. Lances, medicine poles and tomahawks figured in the procession. The tomahawks, made of long knives, inserted in shafts or handles of wood or horn, were most murderous weapons. Accompanying these Indians were a few little boys, none of them over 15 4. I.e., “Bird People.”

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years old: their business will be to hold horses and other unimportant work while their elders conduct the dangerous operations of the campaign. A sentiment of contentment, pleasure, satisfaction and security diffused itself throughout the entire expedition; with our Indian auxiliaries to follow the trails of the hostile Sioux and discover their villages, our men will be spared the onerous duty of scouting in advance and enter into any contest that may occur fresh, vigorous and hopeful. No one now doubts we shall be victorious; the only discrepancy of opinion is in regard to the numbers we may find. The sanguine nature and enthusiasm of some cause them to make extravagant estimates, but all are confident, all determined. Retreat having sounded, the officers commanding Battalions were directed to repair to the open space in front of General Crook’s tent, where the Commanding Officer of the Expedition was in waiting. His remarks were characteristically terse and soldierly. The command would cut loose from wagon and pack-train on the morning of the 16th, taking four day’s rations in the saddle-bags. One blanket to each man and officer, either the saddle blanket of ordinary issue or a bed blanket, to be used as such. No extra clothing whatever for officers or men. One hundred rounds of ammunition to each person with the expedition, to be carried in the saddlebags. Lariats and side-lines, but no extra shoes and no picket ropes for horses. The wagons were to be parked and mules to be corralled in a defensible position up the valley of the Tongue, there to be guarded by a detachment left for the purpose. All the available force that could be mounted and equipped to accompany the General. Men from the Infantry companies who could ride and shoot and who so desired to be detailed; the same rule to be applied to volunteers from among the teamsters and packers, mounts to be obtained from extra cavalry horses, team and pack mules; saddles from the wagons and in case of deficiency, blankets and surcingles to be used. It was evident the General meant business. It we strike the Indian village on Tongue river, rations can be reserved from their accumulations of buffalo and other meat, or we can push down to the Yellowstone and draw supplies from Gibbon or Terry. Scarcely had this conference been ordered, when a long line of glittering lances and brightly-polished weapons of fire announced the anxiously expected advent of our other allies, the Sho-sho-nees, or Snakes, who to the number of eighty-six came galloping rapidly up to

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HdQrs. and came Left Front into Line in splendid style. No trained soldiers ever executed the evolution more prettily. Exclamations of praise and wonder greeted the barbaric array of these fierce warriors, warmly welcomed by their former enemies but present strong friends, the Crows. General Crook came out to review their line of battle, resplendent in all the fantastic adornments of feathers, beads, brass buttons, bells, scarlet cloth and flashing lances. The Shoshonees were not slow to perceive the favorable impression made and when time came for them to file off by the right, moved with the precision of clock-work and the pride of veterans.5 A general council was the next feature of the evening’s entertainment. Without undertaking the difficult task of preserving an exact picture of this interesting scene, which abler pens have attempted to describe, a record of the salient features may be of some interest and some value. Around a huge fire of crackling boughs, the officers of the command ranged themselves in two rows, the interest and curiosity depicted upon their countenances acting as a foil to the stolid and imperturbable calmness of the Indians squatted upon the ground on the other side. The breeze blowing the smoke aside would occasionally enable the flames to bring out in bold and sudden relief from the intense blackness of the night, the sepulchral whiteness of the tents and wagon-sheets, the blue coats of the officers and soldiers, (who thronged among the wagons behind their superiors,) the red, white, yellow and black-banded blankets of the savages, whose aquiline features and glittering eyes had become still more aquiline and still more glittering, and the small group in the centre of the circle, composed of General Crook, Captain Nickerson, the interpreters, Frank, Louis and Bat, and the Indian chiefs. One quadrant was reserved for the Sho-sho-nees, and one for the Crows. Each tribe selected one spokesman who repeated aloud to his people the words of the General as they were made known to him by the interpreter. Ejaculations of Ugh! Ugh! from the lips of the chiefs was the only sign of interest betrayed upon their faces, tho’ it was easy enough to see nothing was lost that was addressed to them. Pipes, of same kind as those the Sioux have, were kept in industrious circulation. I did not succeed in keeping a verbatim account of the council, which was of same general purport as those 5. The Shoshone proficiency in drill was due to the influence of Tom Cosgrove, who served in a Texas cavalry unit during the Civil War, lived among the Shoshones, and apparently taught them the Confederate cavalry drill. Bourke explains this farther on.

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already reported. The Crows and Snakes showed great eagerness to commence the campaign which they hoped would break the spirit of their hereditary and cruel enemies, the Sioux. They asked however the privilege of scouting in their own way, a privilege General Crook very willingly conceded, confident that nothing would be lost in so doing. Good Heart, a young chief, (by the way the name of the one who came in advance to-day was Mountain Feather.) said he wanted nothing but Sioux. The Sioux had robbed and killed the Crows and now the Crows wanted to get even. The Crows and the Snakes would go ahead of the soldiers, discover the Sioux’ camp and run off their horses. When the Sioux had no horses their village would have to stay there, and the soldiers could readily destroy it and the Crows and Snakes would help them do it. He wanted to make the Sioux’ women and children work for the Crows, and divide the Sioux’ ponies among his people. His heart was good towards the whites: he would go wherever General Crook said. The council ended at 10.20 P.M., General Crook shaking hands with the more prominent chiefs as they passed.The supposition was these tired Indians would without delay retire to rest. Their day’s ride had been over 60 miles in length and the night was already far advanced. The erroneousness of this assumption was disclosed very speedily. A long series of monotonous howls, shrieks, groans and nasal yells, emphasized by a perfectly ear piercing succession of thumps upon drums improvised from “parfleche”, (dried buffalo skin) attracted nearly all our soldiers and many of our officers not on duty to the allied camp. Peeping into the different tipis was much like peeping through the key-hole of Hell. Crouched around little fires, not affording as much light as an ordinary tallow-candle, the swarthy figures of naked and half-naked Indians were visible, mooing and chanting in unison with some leader. No words were distinguishable; the ceremony partook of the nature of an abominable incantation and as far as I could judge had a semireligious character. One of the Indians, mounted on a pony and stripped almost naked passed along from tepi to tepi, stopping in front of each and calling upon the Great Spirit, (so our interpreter said,) to send them down plenty of scalps, a big Sioux village and lots of ponies. The inmates would respond with, if possible, increased vehemence and the old saying about making night hideous acquired a new significance. With this wild requiem ringing in his ears, one of our soldiers, a patient in hospital, Private Wm. Nelson, Co “L.” 3d

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Cavalry, breathed his last. Our herd of beef-cattle, now reduced to six, became so frightened that they tore away from the control of those caring for them and broke madly for the hills. A continuous drizzle pattered down upon our tents all night. The Crows now with us boast some distinguished warriors. One of them, a very young man, performed last winter the achievement of entering a Sioux village alone and stealing a valuable horse which he tied to a tree nearby. Returning to the village, he lifted the flap-door of one of the tents and fired his rifle inside, killing one of the Sioux. He made his escape without accident, riding the captured animal. June 15th A very fine day, highly appreciated by the busy officers whose exertions to equip and mount their different commands were untiring. Colonel Chambers had to mount all his Infantry Battalion on pack-mules and gave every moment of the day to inspecting and choosing pack-mules and hunting up saddles and bridles from the little extra in that line [that] the Cavalry had with them. Amusing incidents there were in plenty and many scenes of grand and lofty tumbling occurred when the improvised dragoons attempted for the first time to mount their charges. Perseverantia vincit omnia.6 Col. Chambers was bound to go and his gallant subalterns and men equally so. When night fell, 175 mounted riflemen were ready for the field. In like manner, Tom Moore, our chief of pack-train, organized from among his packers a small force of twenty wiry, hardy, horny-handed veterans, every one a fine rider and as near being a dead-shot as men generally get to be on the frontier. Sick men had to be examined and sent to Hospital, but it is remarkable to note that they went under protest. The conviction is widespread that now or never are the haughty Sioux to be humbled and that Crook is the only man to do it. Maj. Randall has not had too much leisure to-day; his new honors are bringing in a heavy harvest of new responsibilities. He is equal to the occasion and enters into his task with all the vim and intelligent animation that gained him in Arizona the reputation of being one of the best Indian fighters in the Army. In the packtrains, racks made of willow branches supported loads of wild meat, drying in the sun. Deer and antelope venison, buffalo, elk and grizzly bear meat, the last two killed by a hunting party from the pack-train yesterday. The preparations our savage allies 6. Perseverance conquers all.

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were making were no less noticeable. In both Snake and Crow camps, could be seen squads of young warriors, looking after their rifles, which by the way among the Snakes are all the latest models, Cal. 45, and kept with scrupulous care in regular guard-racks; sharpening lances or adorning them with feathers and paint; making coup sticks, which are long willow branches, about 12 feet from end to end, stripped of leaves & bark and having each some distinctive mark in the way of feathers, bells, paint or fur or bright col[ore]d. cloth or flannel. These serve a singular purpose; the great object of the Crows and Snakes in making war is to set the enemy afoot. This done his destruction is rendered more easy if not more certain. Ponies also are the wealth of the conquerors; hence in dividing the spoil, each man claims the animal first struck by his coup stick.

With the Snakes were three white men, [Tom] Cosgrove, [Nelson] Yarnell and [Bob] Eckles, all Texans, and one French Canadian halfbreed named Luisant. Cosgrove, the leading spirit, was during the rebellion a captain in the 32d Texas (C.S.A.) Cavalry, and shows he has not forgotten the lessons of the war by the appearances of discipline and good order evinced by his command, who in this respect are somewhat ahead of the Crows. We were informed that on the march across from Wind River, the Snakes in one afternoon killed one hundred and seventy-five buffaloes, on the East side of the Owl Creek mountains. The Crows had a foot-race this afternoon for twenty cartridges a side. The running was quite good for the distance of 150 yards, or thereabouts. The funeral obsequies of Private Wm. Nelson, Co. “L”, 3d Cav. occurred this evening and were attended by all the command, or an important element of it. The salute over the grave made the Crows and Snakes think the Sioux were making an attack upon our camp; up they came charging close to the lines of the funeral cortege where they remained gazing upon the proceedings, feathers nodding in the breeze and lances gleaming in the sun. Some of them had as

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many as four earrings in one ear, the rim of the whole cartilage being perforated from apex to base. Their pantaloons fit the leg very tightly, but have a tuck, nearly six inches wide, down the outer seam: see diagram.

Chapter 17 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Battle of the Rosebud

The Battle of the Rosebud in Montana, on June 17, 1876, has always been a controversial fight, but most students of the war generally agree that despite his claims to the contrary, Crook was defeated.1 The tribal hatreds rampant among Plains Indians, that long predated white contact, are evident. The Crows and Shoshones, ancient enemies of the Lakota, served as scouts, and were active 1. Although Crook never openly admitted defeat, privately he must have realized it because the Rosebud remained a sensitive topic. True to character, he looked for scapegoats. In August 1886, shortly after the tenth anniversary of the fight, he confronted Colonel Royall, who had commanded the cavalry, in the presence of Colonel Guy V. Henry, another Rosebud veteran. “For ten years,” he told Royall: I have suffered silently the obloquy of having made a bad fight at the Rosebud, when the fault was in yourself and Nickerson. There was a good chance to make a charge, but it couldn’t be done because of the condition of the cavalry. I sent word for you to come in, and waited two hours, nearer three, before you obeyed. I sent Nickerson three times at least. Couriers passed constantly between the points where we were respectively. I had the choice of assuming the responsibility myself for the failure of my plans, or of courtmartialling you and Nickerson. I chose to bear the responsibility myself. The failure of my plan was due to your conduct. Royall countered that Nickerson had only come to him once, and that he had responded immediately. Henry verified it, and Crook eventually backed down. Given his personality, and considering how quickly he had acted against Reynolds, Moore, and Noyes after the Powder River fight, he doubtless would have court-martialed Royall and Nickerson if there had been the slightest grounds for doing so. Kennon, Diary, entry for August 7, 1886, pasted on back board; Robinson, General Crook, 287-88.

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and ruthless participants in the battle. These Indians were useful, but exasperating. They knew the country, and they knew the enemy. Often, however, they appeared to be more interested in hunting buffalo, and reciting past grievances against the Lakota, than actually going out and scouting for them. Nevertheless, it was a chance encounter between these scouts and a hunting party of Lakotas and Cheyennes that set the battle into motion.2 Bourke’s narrative jumps from the order to move out of camp to the fight itself, and offers no account of the three hours or so in between. In fact, Crook had ordered a halt in the valley of the Rosebud, to rest men and animals still tired from a thirty-five mile march the previous day. The cavalry unsaddled and grazed their horses, some men prepared coffee, and others caught a nap. The Indian scouts patrolled the hills beyond. Crook and several of his officers were engaged in a game of whist when the scouts came charging back down from the hills, with the hostiles hard on their heels. Infantry skirmishers were sent to hold off the attackers while animals were saddled and efforts were made to deploy.3 Bourke continually remarked about the failure of the hostiles to show themselves, at one point calling them “cowardly devils.”4 Indeed, it almost seems as though he expected them to confront Crook in standard line-of-battle according to the West Point drill manual. Indians, however, tended to avoid direct confrontation whenever possible, because as a tribal, nomadic people, they could not afford heavy losses. Bourke himself acknowledged this, even as he accused them of cowardice, by writing, “Every one of their dead, is one whom they cannot replace, while each wounded man requires at least two attendants.”5 It is nothing short of incredible that Bourke, given his previous experience with Indians, could have so completely misunderstood the situation. Describing the fight, he wrote, “we drove them from hill to hill, ravine to ravine.”6 He failed, as indeed every officer did that day, to realize the Indians were following their proven tactics of scattering, dividing the troops into small units, drawing them away from support, then turning on them in force and defeating 2. Mangum, Battle of the Rosebud, 53. 3. Ibid., 52-55; Robinson, General Crook, 182. 4. Bourke, Diaries, 5:409. 5. Ibid., 5:431. 6. Ibid., 5:410. Years later, in On the Border, Bourke reevaluated the fight, saying, “In one word, the battle of the Rosebud was a trap. . . .” (311)

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them piecemeal. Disaster was averted only because the troops pulled back and regrouped, turning it into a protracted fight that began to run up Indian casualties. This ultimately prompted the hostiles to withdraw and end the battle.7 Although the troops were stalemated, and forced to withdraw into Wyoming, Bourke persisted in his hagiography, acclaiming the Rosebud as a victory that once again proved Crook was the man who would end the nation’s Indian problems. “[T]o subjugate the hostile Indians,” he wrote, “nothing is needed but courage, energy, fortitude and skill—qualities rare enough in themselves, still more rare in combination, but undeniably concentrated in a remarkable degree in our Commanding General”8. Yet on the day Bourke wrote this—June 26—Crook’s men were organizing a mule race, while Custer and five companies of the 7th Cavalry were lying dead in the Montana sun less than seventy miles to the north. This, more than any other factor, disputes the notions held by Bourke, Crook, and company, that the Rosebud was a victory. As Bourke himself later admitted, both Crook and then Custer fought the same vast Indian village within a span of eight days.9 Having defeated Crook on June 17, the Indians were surprised by Custer’s attack on June 25, but confident of the outcome; the army neither frightened nor impressed them. The officers who participated in the battle of the Rosebud, at least those who were writing while it was still fresh on their minds, were cautious in their comments. Three days after the fight, Lt. Henry Rowan Lemly, 3rd Cavalry, wrote that it was “still the allabsorbing topic of conversation, and some of its incidents are rather severely commented upon. . . .[Crook’s] enemies say that he was outgeneraled. That his success was incomplete, must be admitted, but his timely caution may have prevented a greater catastrophe.”10 Lt. Thaddeus Capron, 9th Infantry, was equally noncommittal, noting in his diary, “The result of [the] fight is in our favor but we did not do as much as could have been done.”11 7. The battle of the Rosebud is described in many works, among which are Neil Mangum, Battle of the Rosebud: Prelude to the Little Bighorn; J.W. Vaughn, With Crook at the Rosebud; two books by Jerome Greene, Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War and Lakota and Cheyenne; John S. Gray, Centennial Campaign; and two books by Charles M. Robinson III, A Good Year to Die and General Crook and the Western Frontier. 8. Bourke, Diaries, 5:439. 9. Ibid., 6:591. 10. Lemly, “Fight on the Rosebud,” 17. 11. Capron, Diary, 33.

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Anson Mills, however, was less charitable, but considerably more accurate. In his memoirs, written more than forty years later, Mills summed up the Rosebud in a single sentence: “I do not think that General Crook knew where [the hostile Indians] were, and I do not think our friendly Indians knew where they were, and no one conceived we would find them in the great force we did.”12 Even Bourke, despite his pro-Crook posture, began to realize that something had gone terribly wrong. By July 10, after receiving news of the Custer debacle and looking back on the Rosebud fight, he grudgingly commented, “Since our Rosebud fight, my opinion has changed to an advocacy of the Fabian policy. We must remain here now until winter, worrying the enemy as best we can. When frost comes, and not till then can we hope to strike a decisive blow.”13 June 16th Day warm but heavy clouds in sky. Moved North at 5 A.M. Crossed Tongue river, ford good but banks on one side muddy. Bottom of firm gravel. Channel 25 yds wide, 4 feet deep and current of eight miles. Tongue river as seen from the bluffs among which we marched, presented a very beautiful valley, green with rich grass and dark with a heavy fringe of cottonwood and willow. Its sinuosities enclose many park-like areas of meadow land which are bounded on the land-side by deep bluffs of drift and other deposits near the Tertiary. Our course soon turned North West and afterwards to nearly West. As we emerged from our permanent camp, a motley column of Indians defiled alongside of us and took the lead. It was easy to see they had come for war to the death upon the Sioux; everything was in readiness for active work on a second’s warning: horses and Indians alike. A medicine man of the Crows kept up a piteous chant, reciting the cruelties of their enemies and stimulating their young men to warlike valor. In everything possible these Indians reminded one of the recounts given of the Arabian Bedouins. The grass was at first starting up very good: Five or six miles out from camp, we crossed an important tributary of Tongue river, evincing in[to the valley] with great force from a cañon in the Big Horn range. (Just before reaching this had come back into valley of Tongue for a short distance.) 12. Mills, My Story, 398. 13. Bourke, Diaries, 6:578. Fabian tactics were developed by Quintus Fabius Maximus against Hannibal in the Second Punic War, and call for avoiding a direct confrontation, in hopes of wearing out the enemy so that a decisive blow can be struck.

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The creek spoken of is about same cross-section and same velocity as the one upon which our permanent camp is located. Our trail has gradually bent more and more North West From top of a small bluff hereabouts, an observation made with a prismatic compass (0º South) showed a B[ack]. S[ight].14 along column of 300º. (560º S.W.) Two miles after (7 miles from camp) the B.S. was 11º: South 11º West. High snow-clad peak in Big Horn 9º Cloud Peak (?) 355º. The rate of travel became very fast. Save very short halts for grazing, the column kept right along for 27 miles. 12 miles out passed small spring and half a mile farther, crossed a little creek, about hidden by willow and box-elder. After this country became poor & grass thin and coarse: some prairie-dog towns on either hand. Mineralogical features, argillo-calcareous sandstone cropping out with frequency, clay shale, and burnt-out lignite beds. Also streak of sandstones burnt out by decomposition of iron pyrite. Scrub pine in sheltered recesses near summits. 20 miles out crossed little stream with dead cottonwood on the banks. Water rather scarce. Banks muddy and plastic[,] Rocky Bottom: about two yards wide, one foot deep, and slow current. Tongue river five miles in distance to Right behind high bluffs. A small divide intervened between the creek just crossed and one of its tributaries, which we ascended, turning nearly due West. Country becoming very broken: grass giving way in many places to cactus (nopal) and artemisia (worm-wood and sage-brush.). 25 miles out pasturage improving. Buffalo signs very thick. Trails cut into ground in every direction and grass nipped off close as if cut with a scythe. Buffalo seen in droves, in distance. Halted for a long time near the head of this creek. Scouts came running in with report the Sioux must be in vicinity: signs had been seen. The cavalry dismounted and unsaddled to await the results of the Examination to be made by a picked party of Crows and Snakes. The other Indians joined in a wild, strange war dance, the younger warriors almost becoming frenzied before the exercise terminated. The young men who had gone out to spy the country, neared us on a full run from the top of the hill overlooking our bivouac[;] they yelled like wolves, the conventional signal that they had seen their enemy. Excitement among the Indians at least, was at fever heat. To meet the advancing couriers, many spurred out and escorted 14. A rod reading on a point of known elevation.

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them back like a guard of honor. The old chiefs held their bridles whilst they dismounted and the less prominent warriors deferentially formed in a circle to listen to their narrative. It did not convey much information to my mind, unaccustomed to the indications, so familiar to them. It simply amounted to this[:] that the buffalo herds were very thick a little ahead of us and were running away from a Sioux hunting party. Knowing the unfaltering accuracy of an Indian’s judgment in matters of this kind, General Crook told the chiefs to arrange the plan of march according to their own ideas. While this was going on, the Indians were charging about on their hardy little ponies, to put them out of breath so that when they regained their wind, they would not fail to sustain a whole day’s battle. A little herb is carried along to be given to the ponies in such emergencies, but what virtues are attributed to this “medicine”, I was unable to ascertain. Much solemnity is attached to the “medicine arrows” of the medicine man who seems to posses [sic] the powers of arbitrarily stopping a march at almost any moment.* Noon had passed. The march was resumed to gain the Rosebud, a tributary of the Yellowstone; we marched along through an elevated undulating table-land, mantled with emerald green grass eagerly nibbled by our horses and mules. Without possessing any decided beauty, its picturesqueness was very marked and pleasing. Every few rods, a little brook coursed down to pay its tribute to the DejeAgis, as the Crows call the Tongue river. No timber, except an occasional small cottonwood or willow, could be seen along the banks, but wild-roses by the thousand laid their delicate beauties at our feet:15 a species of blue-flower, I think a phlox, was there in profusion also; and in the bushes, multitudes of joyous-voiced singing birds piped their welcome as the troops filed by. Yet this beautiful country is given up to the domination of the thriftless savage, the buffalo and the rattlesnake. We could see the latter winding along through the tall grass, rattling defiance as they sneaked away. Buffalo crowded the country in every point, in squads of ten and twelve and droves of sixty and seventy; these were not rejected old bulls, but fine fat cows with their calves following close behind them. One young bull calf trotted close down to the column, his eyes beaming with curiosity and wonder. He was allowed to approach within a *Here Bourke inserts “Buffalo Head,” apparently the name of the medicine man. 15. These wild roses give the Rosebud its name.

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few feet, when our prosaic Crow guides took his life as the penalty of his temerity. Thirty buffalo were killed this afternoon, and the choice pieces, hump, tenderloin, tongue and heart packed on our horses. The flesh was roasted in the ashes, salt sprinkled over it and a very savory and juicy addition made to our scanty supplies. We made bivouac on the extreme head-waters of the Rosebud, here a feeble rivulet of snow-water, sweet and palatable enough when the muddy ooze is not stirred up from the bottom. Wood was found in plenty for the slight wants of the command, which made very small fires for a few moments to boil coffee, while our animals pretty well tired out after the day’s march of 35 or 40 miles, rolled and rolled again in the matted bunches of succulent herbage, growing at their feet. Our lines were drawn up in hollow square, animals inside, and each man sleeping with saddle kit for pillow and arms by his side. Pickets were posted on the bluffs near camp, and after making what collation we could, sleep was song [but?] at that same moment the black clouds above us had begun to patter down rain. A party of our scouts returned late at night and stated they had come across a small gulch, where a little band of Sioux hunters had been secreted and that the enemy had left so hurriedly as to abandon meat cooking on the fire and an India-rubber blanket. We are now right in among the hostiles and may strike or be struck at any hour. Mr. Finerty’s pistol was accidentally discharged to-day, burning and breaking his saddle and very nearly wounding him. June 17th Marched at daylight down Rosebud river. (4 mile) The preceding line had not been completed when a couple of Crow scouts came at full speed into the head of the column, crying Sioux! Sioux! and shot after shot on our Left was heard. The line of sentinel’s on that side was very strong, and was immediately increased by a respectable detail of skirmishers to cover the companies busily at work saddling up their horses. From the crest of the little ridge immediately West of our bivouac, the long line of advancing Sioux could be seen moving towards us seemingly confident they had but to attack to succeed. Our Indian allies showed courage and skill; they advanced hand in hand with the troops [and] where opportunity occurred charged with gallantry. The Sioux had, it seemed almost conclusive, made up their minds to seize our stock first and with this end in view had pushed down two little ravines, coming in from the West. Their attempts in this were frustrated by the vigi-

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lance of our pickets and the rapidity with which the troops saddled up and took their positions. An advance at once took place to repel the demonstration of the enemy. Our men behaved with decision and coolness, the errors, if any, made being due to want of judgment and not to deficiency of courage. A detachment of Co. “I” 2d Cavalry, being without an officer, the men consented to follow my leadership and very gallantly stormed a rock-breasted, steep bluff, on whose summit the Sioux had taken post firing from behind little piles of stone. The cowardly whelps would not give us a show at close quarters, but whenever our lines came within 300 yards of theirs, would make for the next ridge with pusillanimous haste. Our people were mostly on foot, hence the slowness of our advance. Once at the crest of the bluff, my men were ordered to rest and take breath previous to charging for the other hill where our enemies now were. For a few minutes a very lively fire was poured in upon us and Sergeant Maher (Co. “I”, 2d Cav.) was badly wounded in Right arm at or near the elbow. The Snakes had now formed ready to charge and as it looked to me the best and speediest way to solve the question of who was to control that position, I determined to accompany them. Mounting my good-natured little pony and placing myself in line on their Right, it was not very long before I found myself on the summit of the ridge, in a place commanding an excellent view of the whole field. From the immediate front of our little party, the Sioux were flying in dismay, to the number of fifty or thereabouts. Mention should be made here of the gallantry of two enlisted men, who shared the perils of the charge. Private Leonard, Co “A”, 3d Cavalry and Bugler Snow, co. “M”, same regiment. Major Randall here came up to one and suggested falling back from that point to one more sheltered, in the rear. The Shoshonees, as is their wont, executed the order at a gallop, leaving Bugler Snow and the writer alone upon the ridge, unsuspicious of danger. Scarcely had I mounted my horse and mechanically loaded my carbine, than I called out to Bugler Snow to mount at once as Sioux were charging up the ravine on Left of Hill. Sure enough they came to the number of thirty or more, poor Snow being still on the ground. I gave them the contents of my carbine, at not more than 30 yds. at the same time yelled to make them believe there were still many of us there. Whether my purpose answered or that their ponies were winded with climbing up

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the steep hill-side, I don’t presume to say: I only know they halted for one brief space, long enough however to let Snow and myself put spurs to our horses and rush after our comrades, nearly 400 yards away. My usual good fortune attended me, but poor Snow got back to our lines badly shot through both arms, near the wrists.* General Crook was at this point with the greater portions of Chambers’, and Evans’ battalions. He ordered Tom Moore to take his packers and form a line among the sandstone rocks directly in front of our standing-point. It is nothing but waste of pen, ink & paper to say Tom Moore and his party performed their allotted duty cheerfully and well. The Sioux made a rush out to charge them, thinking from the paucity of numbers, our men could easily be driven. There must have been a mistake somewhere, as the Sioux now know to their cost. The interview lasting only a moment, but cost them two or three dead warriors, the same in wounded and a few ponies. Moore and his party are nearly all fine shots, cool men and old Indian fighters. Colonel Royall had advanced on the extreme Left: his numbers did not exceed one hundred all told. The Sioux attempted to cut them off from the rest of our troops. Five Hundred well-armed but cowardly devils kept up a spiteful fire upon them which our brave fellows could not return with much effect. The Sioux rarely exposed themselves. Our loss at this point was heaviest, (Captain Guy V. Henry, 3d Cavalry, was shot through both cheeks, at the intersection of the jaws.16 Colonel Royall, his adjutant, Lieut[.] Lemly and Lieuts. [James E.H.] Foster and [Bainbridge] Reynolds—all had narrow escapes.) General Crook here ordered a forward movement at a trot with heavy lines of skirmishers in front. The Sioux could not be prevailed upon to stay, but took to their heels every time we came within 5 or 6 yds. of them. We followed them seven miles, chasing them from position to position. It is proper to state that the Sioux had made every preparation to capture and destroy or at any rate to drive us back horseless to the Platte. They had the advantages of numbers, fresh horses, attack and acquaintance with the lay of the land. But we drove them from hill to hill, ravine to ravine. (Of our own losses we can speak authoritatively; *Snow was helplessly crippled, discharged [from] the service and pensioned to fullest extent allowed by Law. He is now, May, 1878, a resident of Athol, Massachusetts. 16. Guy Henry recovered from his wound, returned to service, and served with distinction in the Spanish-American War. He was a brigadier general at the time of his death on October 27, 1899. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:523.

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of the enemy, of course, not so much is known: We had ten killed and nearly 25 wounded, soldiers and Indians.) The hostile numbers were estimated by such veteran experts as Col. Royall, and others at not less than 1500, maybe more. Every time one of their comrades was shot, they would run him off to the rear on his pony. We only got (eleven)* scalps, but my impression is not less than fifty of our enemies were killed and wounded. The ponies wounded and killed were not counted. This engagement gives us the morale over the boastful Dacotahs. (It is the prelude to the campaign in which we hope to destroy every village they have. Our soldiers, white and red, did splendidly. The manner of fighting adopted by them the Snakes and Crows is peculiar and yet excellently well suited to circumstances. To attack, they charge with impetuous velocity, running for fifty to one hundred yards, then suddenly halting and circling about, the riders meantime leaning from side to side to derange the enemy’s aim.) The command was concentrated late in the afternoon, and returned to camp, on Rosebud, at same place where we had halted in the morning. Dead and wounded were brought back, the former for burial, the latter for treatment. Our Snakes, who had had one of their band killed right in our camp, (his mutilated corpse lies on the bank of the stream just below where I sit.) commenced an infernal caterwhaul as soon as they came in sight of his corpse. Having discharged this sad rite of bereavement, they went to the corpses of two Sioux, lying nearby and most systematically cut and shot them to pieces. (General Crook’s horse was shot in the leg during the day, but not mortally hurt.) A conference was held with both Crows and Snakes toward sun-down, to learn their ideas relative to the prosecution of operations. I have no intention of throwing praise indiscriminately; justice compels me to say officers and men behaved with pronounced gallantry: to this rule, I know of no exceptions. There was no leaving of dead and dying and no Alex. Moore skulking, this trip. Our coward was left at Fort Russell. Shortly after getting into camp, horses and mules were turned out to graze, pickets established and a small, rude structure made with willow boughs, rushes and blankets. Our badly wounded were placed under this and examined by the attending surgeons. The appliances at hand for surgical or other treatment are so slim, it is a matter of con*thirteen taken.

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gratulations to know that there are few, if any, cases requiring immediate amputation. The number of casualties of all kinds reported is fifty-seven, including (10) killed outright, (4) mortally wounded, and many of no significance. Doctors Hartsuff, Patzki and Stevens assisted by Lieut. [Frederick] Schwatka, who has a slight knowledge of therapeutics, have been and are doing all that is possible to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunates under their care. Nature in such cases generally comes to the assistance of the physician. When I visited the Hospital in the evening, the patients were doing very nicely, with one or two exceptions. June 18th An immaculate sky this morning overhead and a heavy frost under foot: turned out of our rude beds at 3 O’clock. Made a hasty breakfast of coffee, hard-tack and bacon. Surgeon Hartsuff informed me that the condition of the wounded was all that could be hoped for; all had passed a good night. Our jaded animals are much recuperated. God knows what they would have done had pasturage not been good and plenty and the weather pleasantly cool. A large ration of them would have broken completely down. Travaux for the transportation of the severely wounded have been made, of poles from the trees in the streams, bound together with thongs of hide and pieces of rope. With such mean & rude methods of transportation, we carried our brave comrades over a rough trail, some twenty miles long, from last night’s camp to a compact, readily defended little grassy nook watered by a feeble and nameless affluent of the Tongue river. We struck out well to the South of our in-going track; that the wounded might not have to be dragged across several deep tributaries of the Tongue which gush out from the foothills in this vicinity. But in avoiding Scylla, we struck upon Charybdis;17 our sick-list was spared the discomfort and annoyance of being dragged through swift-flowing waters, but the asperities of the mountain sides were productive of almost as much inconvenience. Each sick man had six enlisted men detailed to attend his litter; on steep grades the ends of the poles were carried by the attendants who performed their duty with alacrity and without a 17. In The Odyssey, two sea monsters dwelling on either side of what are presumed to be the Straits of Messina, between Italy and Sicily. Scylla had six heads with vicious teeth and would snatch sailors off their ships and devour them. Charybdis would suck the water down in a giant whirlpool. Ships trying to avoid the one invariably would fall afoul of the other. There is, in fact, a whirlpool in the straits known as Charybdis.

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murmur, notwithstanding its onerous nature. Sergeant Warfield, of Co. “F”, 3d Cavalry, an old Arizona veteran, was charged with the superintendence of the detail. His discharge of his functions called forth warm eulogies from all observers. Tom Moore, our chief-packer and all his command were very efficient assistants in this delicate and important work. Leaving camp, our Crows came upon the body of a Sioux, wounded or killed yesterday. They said life was not yet extinct and the Sioux was moving when they came up. He was not moving much when they left. My informant told me they cut off the legs at the knees, the arms at the elbows, broke open the skull and scattered the brains on the ground. This is the manner of treatment all Indians pursue towards their enemy.18 During my interviews with various tribes of the American aborigine, I have not seen enough nobleness of mind among them all to make a man as good as an ordinary Bowery rough. The sooner the manifest destiny of the [white] race shall be accomplished and the Indian as an Indian cease to exist, the better.19 After contact with civilization of nearly 300 years, the American tribes have never voluntarily learned anything but its vices. The exceptional instances have been among the natives of Spanish America. Among them the system of “repartimiento”, objectionable as it undoubtedly was as being slavery disguised under a high-sounding name, did more for the compulsory advancement and christianization of the savage than all the methods elsewhere adopted. The purely missionary efforts of such missionaries as the French Catholic priests Jogues, Garnier, Colusnotte, Breboeuf, in 1638 and the next decade were sublime labor, but they were the labors of Sisyphus[,] and had the same amount of self-negation, simple18. Richard Irving Dodge, who spent much of his career studying Plains Indians, explained the reasons behind mutilation. After noting that scalping “annihilates” the soul’s existence, he wrote: A warrior killed in battle and not mutilated, shows, in the future life, no sign of wound; but if the soul be not annihilated by scalping, every mutilation inflicted on the body after death also mutilates the soul. If the head, or hands, or feet are cut off, or the body ripped open after death, the soul will so appear and exist in the Happy Hunting Grounds. Some believe that if the dead body is transfixed with arrows and left to decay, the soul must always wear and suffer from the phantasms of those arrows. This accounts for this habit, quite common, especially with the Sioux, and for the great apparent waste of arrows. If a body so found, pierced with many arrows, is unscalped, it was for the vindictive purpose of the murderers forever to torment the soul. If the head was scalped, the shooting was in mere bravado and cruel wantonness. Dodge, Our Wild Indians, 180-81. 19. By this, Bourke means the imposition of white culture on the Indians, at that time generally seen as the only alternative to total extermination.

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minded faith and undaunted resolution been displayed in an attempt for the regeneration of their own country, France would today be a community of saints.20 But to return to the Indians of the present day: the Crows were undoubtedly actuated to their worst by the conduct of the Sioux yesterday who took the greatest pains to mutilate and butcher the two bodies that fell into their hands. One of these was a Snake warrior (already spoken of.) whom they scalped from the back of his head to the crown. His bare skull presented a ghastly sight when we found him. Another was one of our soldiers, a recruit, Private Bennett, Co. “L”, 3d Cavalry, who was badly wounded and lay hid in the rocks as the Sioux charged by. When they retreated under the fire of our advancing line, this poor wretch mistook them for the friendly Crows and came out from his hiding place. They cut him to pieces with their long-handled (eight foot) tomahawks and lances. They tried to scalp him and another soldier. This compelled them to dismount. Before they could execute their hellish project, our men were upon them and the red fiends scampered off. Last night, a deep trench was dug in the muddy banks of the Rosebud, near the water-line, our brave dead ranged therein, mud and earth packed down, a large fire built over the spot and every other means taken to conceal from the enemy the extent of our losses.21 We were not fired into during the night an almost conclusive presumption of the heavy blow given Sitting Bull’s band in the fight. This morning as we were breaking into column of march, our Crow guides called out there were Sioux in sight and sure enough, two or three miles off to the Left, coming over the crest of the ridge, [that] Randall and the writer had taken at the head of the Snakes yesterday three mounted Sioux might be seen moving along the battle-ground looking for their dead. They showed no sign of intending to molest us and most certainly had enough fighting yesterday to last them until we come back. We are going back to permanent camp on Tongue river for a number of cogent reasons; the medical staff has many wounded to look after and has no supplies to do it with. Several brave fellows, badly hurt, are riding with the column to diminish 20. Bourke refers to the Jesuit missionaries to the Hurons of French Canada, chief among whom was Jean de Breboeuf, who suffered a hideous martyrdom at the hands of the Iroquois. See Parkman, The Jesuits in North America. 21. Despite these precautions, the Indians discovered and plundered the grave. Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 152.

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the labors of the Doctors and give the more seriously disabled a greater share of attention.22 We struck out at first on our back trail, following it nearly due South to the head of the Rosebud. This little stream has muddy bottom as far as I saw it (that is to say from its extreme head to a point into cañon seven miles below the point where the Sioux made their attack.) It has but little timber except in the sandstone crags which draw near its current. Here quite a supply of good pine fuel can be obtained. Thick sedge grass and a variety almost identical with that known to the Mexicans as “Sacaton” obstruct its channel. Striking closer to the mountains, this morning we entered a knolly country where the resources of pasturage are practically unlimited. The summit of the divide between the Rosebud and the Rotten Grass, (an affluent of the Little Big Horn[)] is marked by a small conoidal hill, studded with pine trees. This is the site of a sanguinary engagement had in times gone by between the Crows and Blackfeet Sioux. The latter were surrounded and badly whipped. The column halted for a short interval to give the rear-guard time to close up with the wounded. This opportunity our horses devoted to grazing and the Crows to a scalp dance. This was another exhibition of the power of the average Indian to howl as much like a Devil and make himself as disagreeable as possible. In this exercise the hirsute adornments of our defunct enemies were borne aloft on tall poles, shouted at and derided. A volley of musketry terminated the performance. Looking down from this high point to the drainage of the Little Big Horn on the West and South, the passages of landscape were very fine. Long, narrow ravines opened down into the valley of the Rotten Grass and framed in the scenery in a way at once beautiful and unusual. The high peaks of the Big Horn mountains, still snow-capt, screened the horizon in our front, extending to Right and Left as far as eye could reach. Intervening, the valleys of the Little Big Horn and Rotten Grass, filled all the middle-ground, the ridge dividing them standing out dimly in the haze. There were enough clouds in the sky to bring out some pleasing effects of light and shade and dark pine trees to prevent the grassy slopes of the hill-sides from becoming monotonous. The numerous small bluffs and back-bones, 22. Besides the wounded, Crook had just enough food to get back to Goose Creek, and his ammunition had been reduced to fifty rounds per man. Consequently, he had no option other than to withdraw to his base. Ibid., 149.

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separating the rivulets forming the Rosebud and Tongue from those paying tribute to the Little Big Horn are numerous enough in themselves to impart a charming diversity to the country. Their rounded contours are frequently broken in upon abruptly by protruding ledges of sandstone which likewise, in places, caps their crests. In this delightful region, elk, deer and buffalo, roam at pleasure, sharing the country with the savage nomad. Our line of march to-day followed deep-cut buffalo trails, as conspicuous as a wagon road. Skeletons and carcasses line the train on either side; and in the near distance, droves of the living animals, scared at the sight of us, hurried off to remoter recesses. Our hunters secured some fresh meat as we were coming down the narrow divide between Ash Creek, one of the forks of the Little Big Horn, and the head of Tongue river. The Crow Indians left for their homes this evening, as is the custom of all the Indians, after an engagement with an enemy. They promised they would be back within fifteen days, or that at any rate their nation would be largely represented during succeeding movements. Whether moving with the soldiery or in independent columns, it is now almost a certainty these friendly Indians will strike many a blow against the Sioux before snow falls. The Nez Perces will also come down from the North-West. June 19th. Last night was very cold—one of the coldest for a summer night I ever experienced. Frost covered the ground and our sleep was interrupted by the intense cold. An alarm of the pickets brought all to their feet about one o’clock, but after careful examination it was found to be groundless. We broke into column at daybreak, striking straight across the hills to the forks of Goose Creek or Tongue river, winding up and down steep hill-sides where vegetation was more sparse than at any time during our four days’ absence. Cactus and artemisia appeared with undesirable frequency, but water becoming better and more plentiful as we came down into the sources of Tongue River. No Indians made their appearance, but buffalo were discovered early in the day and three of them killed. We passed the North Fork of Tongue river without accident or trouble to our wounded. A total march of (25) miles brought us to Major Furey’s corral, 2 1/2 miles above (South.) the place where we left it. He reported no molestation from hostile Indians but had taken every possible precaution against surprise. His wagon-train had been packed in a grassy bend of the stream, affording water on

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all sides and much protection through a heavy line of willow trees and underbrush. From wagon to wagon, along the line of wheels, ropes were stretched and at every eligible spot, breastworks of earth and logs had been thrown up[,] from behind which sharpshooters would have made it lively for any antagonist. (Hunters from his train had killed that day six buffaloes and three elk.) General Crook pushed the command onto a new camp, 2 1/4 miles to secure green forage. Our pickets were at once posted in strength on the bluffs commanding camp, animals unsaddled and turned out to graze and drink, details of men set to work putting up the hospital tents and our wounded kindly cared for. A few of the officers had lemons left in their satchels or valises—these were brought out—there were not half a dozen in all, but enough to make a pleasant glass of lemonade for each patient. The eagerness of their drinking was a most welcome token of their gratitude and their improving condition. This evening, Genl. Crook sent a courier in to Fort Fetterman with the following telegram to General Sheridan. Camp on South Fork, Tongue River, Wy. June 19th 1876 Lieut. General Sheridan Chicago, Illinois: Returned to camp to-day having marched as indicated in my last telegram. When about forty miles from here on Rosebud Creek, Montana, morning 17th instant[,] scouts reported Indians in vicinity and within a few minutes we were attacked in force, the fight lasting several hours. We were near the mouth of a deep canyon through which the creek ran. The sides were very steep covered with pine and apparently impregnable, the village supposed to be at the other end about eight miles off. They displayed strong force at all points, occupying so many and such covered places that it is impossible to correctly estimate their numbers; the attack, however, showed that they anticipated that they were strong enough to thoroughly defeat the command. During the engagement, I tried to throw a strong force through the canyon, but I was obliged to use it elsewhere before it had gotten to the supposed location of the village.23 The command finally drove 23. This refers to a detachment under Capt. Anson Mills, that was sent up the canyon, then recalled. The village was not located where Crook supposed it to be, but was northwest of the Rosebud, on the Little Bighorn side of the divide. Mangum, Battle of Rosebud, 48.

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the Indians back in confusion, following them several miles[,] the scouts killing a good many during the retreat. Our casualties were nine men killed and fifteen wounded of 3d Cavalry, (2) wounded, Second Cavalry, three men wounded 4th Infantry and Captain Guy V. Henry, 3d Cavalry, severely wounded in the face. It is impossible to correctly estimate the loss of the Indians, many being killed in the rocks, others being gotten off before we got to that part of the village, (13) dead being left. We remained on the field that night and having nothing but what each man carried himself, we were obliged to return to the train to properly care for the wounded who were transported here on mule litters and are now comfortable. All doing well. I expect to find those Indians in rough places all the time and so have ordered five additional companies of Infantry and shall not probably make any extended movement till they arrive. Officers and men behaved with marked gallantry during the engagement. (Signed) George Crook, Brigadier General

Chapter 18 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Hunting and Fishing on the Tongue

This chapter is the chronicle of a camping trip. Indeed, it hardly seemed like a war zone, and if there was any concern over the possibility of Indian attack, Bourke did not mention it. The reader might well wonder how they felt they could spend this time in the mountains with their attentions devoted almost entirely to hunting, fishing, camping, and prospecting. The answer was overconfidence. Having convinced themselves that their defeat at the Rosebud was a great victory, they felt the Indians were on the run, and would not dare attack. On July 6, Bourke commented, “The absence of hostile demonstrations since our fight of June 17th speaks very plainly of the severe handling the Sioux received that day. Were they victorious or had the day been even undecided, our camp would long since have been beleaguered by the sharpshooters.”1 As yet, they were unaware that these same Indians had annihilated Custer only eight days after the Rosebud. One is struck by the amount of wildlife that existed in the region before it was developed for settlement and ranching. Bourke wrote that in one stream: 1. Bourke, Diaries, 6:561.

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Many trout were abstracted from its cool and shady recesses almost as soon as the command to unsaddle had been executed. I have abandoned any attempt at computing the number; certainly, not less than 10.000 have been cooked and eaten, and the grand total may reach as high as 15.000! This number may seem incredible; let it be borne in mind, we have not less than fifteen hundred and fifty officers, soldiers, teamsters and Indians subsisting on this delicate fish and that they have been eating them freely for more than three weeks. Then the aggregate will be accepted without a murmur.2 Bourke was not alone in his enthusiams. Lieutenant Lemly wrote: In close promixity to our camp, there are many ponds, formed by beaver dams and filled with fine salmon or rainbow trout. Already the soldiers are making nets of commissary twin. Just fancy seining for trout!3 It should be borne in mind, however, that the camp was constantly on the move, to avoid exhausting forage and resources, and the trout were taken from various streams over an area of at least twenty or thirty square miles. More disturbing is the wastage of wildlife that would cause any modern hunter/conservationist to recoil in disgust. Recording a hunting trip by Louis Richaud and several companions, Bourke wrote that they found the country “filled with Rocky Mtn sheep, of which they secured six or seven out of a great number killed. They had taken station on a precipice two hundred feet high, shooting down from the top. Many wounded lambs and ewes escaped to die elsewhere. Our mess was presented with a supply of fresh, tender mutton, acknowledged with gratitude.”4 Apparently he gave no thought to the sheep that seem to have been wantonly killed or wounded to provide the fresh mutton. With time on his hands, Bourke devoted much attention to camp routine. He described the plan and operation of Indian Wars-era 2. Ibid., 6:627. 3. Lemly, “Fight on the Rosebud,” 18. 4. Bourke, Diaries, 6:624.

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military camps during extended periods on the field, and considered ways that organization and equipment could be improved. As Indian auxiliaries often were present, he had ample opportunity to observe them, and develop respect for their ability to adapt to a situation. He also realized, as many of his contemporaries failed to do, that the West Point manual had no place in Indian fighting. Comparing their performance with that of the soldiers, he commented, “We have much to learn from the savage in the matter of Cavalry training; the trouble is our prejudices of education are so deeply rooted, common sense and observation have no permission to assert themselves.”5 Bourke also vented his spleen against the Indian agents, accusing them of lining their pockets at government expense and virtual complicity with the hostiles. Referring specifically to the Red Cloud Agency, he wrote, “The damnable frauds perpetrated at that sink of iniquity daily call to Heaven for redress.”6 This was hardly fair to the agents. To some degree, the effort to end fraud at the agencies was successful by 1875, despite continuing military allegations to the contrary. The army resented the transfer of control over Indians to the Department of the Interior, and the notion of corruption by the civilians in charge was, as historian John S. Gray has pointed out, practically dogma among the soldiers. The facts, however, do not bear this out. Indians often made a game of relocating from one area to another, in order to inflate the agent’s count, and this normal state of affairs had been exacerbated in 1875 by large-scale movement among the Indians. Additionally, government rations were woefully inadequate for the large number of people they were expected to feed, and simple humanity often prompted the agents to pad their censuses to obtain sufficient food to avoid widespread hunger and suffering.7 Crook was out on yet another hunting and fishing trip when news arrived of the Custer disaster, which had a sobering effect on the men in camp. Bourke, who was one of those men in camp, now took another look at the situation, and commented, “The General has set an example of recklessness that cannot too strongly be condemned: this rashness must be foregone in the future. Else 5. Ibid., 6:597. 6. Ibid., 6:595. 7. Gray, Centennial Campaign, 309-310; Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 260. 8. Bourke, Diaries, 6:579.

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some day his mutilated corpse will be found. . . .”8 Yet the good fairy that seemed always to have watched over Crook was working overtime, as she would continue to do for the remaining fourteen years of the general’s life. June 20th. Under a bright genial sun, pushed up Tongue River, seven miles, and made our camp on the banks of a prattling brook, some 30 feet wide, 2 or 4 feet deep, current of great velocity and shady banks. Bottom of large boulders, forming gloomy pools under the alluvial banks. Every indication of a trout stream. After wounded comrades and tired animals had been cared for, and camp laid out, great numbers of officers and men sought refreshment in the sparking waters, and when bathed came back to camp to do what might be required of each for sending wagon-train back to Fetterman for ammunition and supplies. Heat was very great throughout the day; at 3 P.m., the thermometer indicated 103º F. in the shade. The result is that the grass about us is drying up rapidly and if we do not have rain within a few days, our animals will suffer. June 21st At 4 O’Clock in the morning, our wounded were placed in the wagons, upon couches of fresh clean grass and moved off to Fetterman under the escort of Col. Chambers who had under him Munson’s and Luhn’s Companies of the 9th and 4th Infy. The following officers accompanied him: Captain Nickerson, (with his orderly, Reynolds) Captain J.V. Furey, A.Q.M Captain W.S. Stanton, Engineer Officer, (with his draughtsman, Mr. Koehneman, and party.) Captain Guy V. Henry, (wounded) and Captains Munson and Luhn and Lieuts. Capron and Seton. Also Mr. M[a]cMillan, correspondent of the Chicago Inter-Ocean.9 I was very glad to see poor Nickerson go away; his health has been wretched upon the trip, and only his indomitable energy could have sustained him.10 His gallantry and coolness during the engagement 9. MacMillan’s health had deteriorated to the point that the medical officers recommended he leave. Bourke later wrote that MacMillan “had shown that he had as much pluck as any officer or soldier in the column, but his strength was not equal to the hard marching and climbing, coupled with the violent alternations of heat and cold, rain and shine, to which we were subjected.” Knight, Following the Indian Wars, 193; quote from Bourke, On the Border, 193. 10. Nickerson had received a near-fatal chest wound during the Civil War, and still suffered severely from the aftereffects. Robinson, General Crook, 85

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have been warmly eulogized by all who saw him, but have not occasioned astonishment in the minds of those who know him. As the newspaper reports of the affair promise to be very complete and exhaustive, it is labor thrown away to refer too much in extreme to the recent action, but before I forget to mention it, I will refer here to the magnificent appearance presented by one of our savage allies—a Snake chief. His head-dress of feathers was a gorgeous piece of work and his whole appearance, as mounted on a fiery little pony he charged along the slopes, circling, wheeling and charging at the head of his wild squadron, decidedly majestic. Medicine Crow, the Absaraka Chief looked like a devil; his head-gear was of fur, plumage and buffalo horn. Our Snakes left to-day with the wagons going to their homes on the West side of this range. Five of them remained with the command, a pure prognostication that Mr. Cosgrove’s efforts to bring the others back will be successful after they get through with their scalp dance and other ceremonies in their village. As things now look, we shall within fifteen days, be reinforced by five additional companies of Infantry, armed with long range rifles, one company of Cavalry, a body of half-breed scouts, rations and supplies for sixty days, and 300 to 400 rounds of ammunition. Any numbers from 300 to 500 friendly Indian scouts will be with us or around and near us—Crows, Snakes, Nez Perces, Utes and maybe Pawnees, who assured of our intentions to crush the Sioux, will flock in to plunder and exterminate their enemy. Terry and Gibbon ought to be in communication with us by that time and a combined onward movement determined upon for breaking the enemy’s power to pieces. The Sioux must divide up to hunt the buffalo and thus place themselves in our power, remain in one body and be hacked to pieces or go in upon the Reservations, whipped. Every cartridge lost by them now is lost forever. Every one of their dead, is one whom they cannot replace, while each wounded man requires at least two attendants. On our side, we must remember our ignorance of the country, the fact we have to carry everything upon our horses’ back, whereas the Sioux can leave much behind in their villages and ride bareback, the great ratio of recruits in the command and worst of all the demoralization brought about by the cowardice of Capt. Alex. Moore, 3d Cavalry, in the Crazy Horse fight. The company “F” 3d Cavalry, that did so little under the braggart and coward, Moore, did excellently well under that brave youngster, Reynolds on the present occasion.

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This day and yesterday more than fifty* fine trout were caught in the little mountain brook just in front of our line of tents; more could have been taken, I think, were it not for the plashing of men bathing and animals drinking in the water which must have frightened the timid little fish. The thermometer must have shown a very high temperature to-day; everybody suffered more than yesterday. Swarms of large green and black flies tormented us all day. Luckily, the nights are so very cold, sleep is not disturbed at all and every one is refreshed and rested during the night. June 22nd. We were not favored last night with the storms the clouds promised; a few drops of rain fell and a violent wind prevailed for nearly half an hour, threatening much damage, but doing none except to rip up the hospital tent fly. The heat has slightly moderated, with indications of rain and electrical disturbance. General Crook, Col. Van Vliet[,] Major Burt and a small party started up the mountain to hunt and fish. Colonel Royall left in command of camp. Within the picket lines, squads of men are devoting their leisure hours to bathing and trout-catching. Our breakfast comprised some delicious fried trout—one of the greatest luxuries imaginable. June 23d. Breakfast had hardly been finished when a courier rode up in front of my tent with a packet of dispatches for General Crook; he stated that he had started from Fetterman with Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., and that the latter would be with us in a few moments. The dispatches embraced a telegram from Lieut-Gen. Sheridan, at Red Cloud, giving notice that Lieut-Col. E.A. Carr, with eight cos. of the 5th Cavalry, had started out from that point with six wks’ supplies to scout the country down the Little Powder to about where Terry was supposed to be. This movement will help us somewhat, and if Genl. Crook will now order into the field Spalding’s,11 Mize’s and [Capt. Henry] Wessells’ companies of the 2d and 3d Cavalry, the Sioux will be crushed ere the Summer solstice. The presence of these companies is not essential to the successful prosecution of the campaign, but very desirable that all the Cavalry and most of the Infantry of the Department of the Platte may have the opportunity to share in the glory of the good work. Schuyler was warmly greeted by old friends and new who pressed eagerly about him to extract the latest news. *(Altogether about 90 to 95.) 11. Captain Edward James Spaulding, Second Cavalry.

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[Rutherford B.] Hayes (of Ohio) and [William A.] Wheeler (of N.Y.) were the Republican nominees for President and Vice President. The former is a friend of General Crook’s—a man, if not previously eminent as a politician, at least unsullied in his record as a soldier and public man. Wheeler is cousin to Lieut. Foster, of our command. General Emory had been retired, the promotions following being Merritt as Colonel 5th Cav., Dudley as Lt.-Col. 10th Cav.12 and [George Bliss] Sanford, Major 1st Cavalry. This puts Mason 5th Cav., at head of list of Cav[alr]y. Captains.13 Some 1800 young warriors had left Red Cloud Agency to take the war-path. A fight with Terry’s command was reported at the agencies—one with heavy loss on both sides but indecisive in results. This is the Indian story, very probably, a lie out of whole cloth.14 It was rumored in camp that five Government Commissioners were coming out to treat with the Sioux Indians, to learn the terms upon which they would agree to peace. This is a stupid piece of tom-foolery, as stupid indeed as scarcely to deserve mention. Schuyler’s little party of three had made the ride from Fetterman in four days, travelling by sun and by dark. A very perilous proceeding which cannot be too severely condemned. On the other side of old Fort Reno, they came suddenly upon the hourold trail of a small war party of Sioux and lay hid in the rocks all day. When night came, they galloped forty-five miles without halting. Our supply trains were met at the crossing of Clear Creek, thirty odd miles to the East of us. Nickerson examined the mail and conversed with the party which then recommenced the long ride of the night terminating a few hours after sun-rise in the camp of the Expedition at this point. June 24th My journal is lacking in interest to-day. Camp was moved this morning three or four miles up Tongue river. We found a broad flat plain, carpeted with grass and flowers, bounded on the East by a row of small hills, jutting out from the first great rampart of the Big Horn. The Tongue river flows out from a deep, dark cañon in 12. This is an error. Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley was promoted from major of the 3rd Cavalry to succeed Merritt as lieutenant colonel of the 9th Cavalry. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:386. 13. Julius Wilmot Mason, with whom Bourke had served in Arizona, was promoted to major with this shuffle. Ibid., 1:695. 14. The report was erroneous, but prophetic. Two days later, on June 25th, Custer and five companies of the 7th Cavalry, part of Terry’s command, would be annihilated at the Little Bighorn.

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this rampart and at the foot of the small row of grassy hillocks spoken of a branch meanders near the plain a mile or more away from us and joins the stream below camp. Rapids and deep pools of icycold water, shaded by a heavy growth of willow trees, give a home to multitudes of mountain trout which have been heavily assessed all day to give the officers and men a delicate meal. The total no. caught was not estimated, Lieut. Lemly caught twenty and Major Noyes forty. As our wagons, with one exception, had gone back with Major Furey, some trouble was given to pack baggage from one camp to another, the pack-mules doing, as usual, heavy work. Tents were carried, rolled and slung to the running gear of the ambulances and wagon: subsistence and forage on pack-mules and mess-chests and other cumbrous property in the army wagon. The Infantry remained in old camp all night. Nearly all my terms of praise have been exhausted in speaking of the beauty of the Big Horn Mountains: the present camp, probably the best we have had, must be passed over with a mere reference to its beauties. Had a photographer accompanied us, his camera would have constantly been occupied in reproducing scenes of picturesque and noble beauty. June 25th Colonel Mills brought in this afternoon one hundred trout caught by himself and assistants. Other parties were equally successful. What was so lately a luxury, is now becoming a component of the daily ration. Squads of men and officers constantly pass HdQrs en route to the cañon a couple of miles above. There the river is broken into numerous little falls and rapids, trout are caught there every moment, and some little game of other kinds is shot, coming down to drink.15 June 26th The long-looked for and anxiously expected courier trotted into camp, very early this morning—before some of the command had breakfasted. The mail delivered included personal correspondence for nearly every one and newspapers and a few magazines for General Crook and myself principally, but thanks to the attending remembrance of those at HdQrs [in Omaha], we had such an excess of reading matter that all could come and help themselves. General Crook’s dispatches were rather meagre, containing no definite advices regarding Terry or his movements. Our newspaper files were very complete, representing prominent New York, 15. On this particular afternoon, less than seventy miles to the north, the 7th Cavalry was being cut to pieces at the Little Bighorn.

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Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, Omaha and Cheyenne publications. They contained many allusions to the present Expedition. . . much concerning the Presidential nomination and considerable in regard to the deposition and suicide of Abdul Asiz, the Sultan of Turkey and the portentous aspect of European affairs, foreboding a general War. In domestic affairs, the Centennial Exposition is occupying the place of prominence in public consideration. Next comes the Sioux trouble and its collateral issues. It would be unwise to disguise the powerful and vindictive opposition General Crook must stem before the Sioux can be struck; to subjugate the hostile Indians nothing is needed but courage, energy, fortitude and skill—qualities rare enough in themselves, still more rare in combination, but undeniably concentrated in a remarkable degree in our Commanding General. To fight the enemy in the rear, to rebut and refute the averments and malicious slanders of the strikers and hangers-on of the Indian ring, is a task more difficult and more dangerous, simply because that foe is more insidious, and more cowardly, but more desperate. General Vandeveer’s telegram that the Crazy Horse fight was an attack upon a band of peaceable Indians travelling back to their Reservations. . .is a lie, so ridiculous that we can afford to laugh at everything except its malignity: this astute, cold-blooded old specimen of double-dealing is now near the end of his rope. To use a coarse, but emphatic, Western expression, the time has come “to bust him wide open.” Our packers organized a mule-race this evening, over a 200 yard track: if the distance was small, the enthusiasm was great. The aggregate of the stakes was ten dollars, betting to that total being very active in sums of five, ten and twenty cents. The victorious mule, a bright little black beauty, was warmly caressed and admired. Our cavalry horses are saddled up twice daily and exercised at a walk, trot, (principally) and gallop. This besides accustoming our recruits to the manage, hardens and toughens the animals and improves their wind. Rain fell in a desultory way during the afternoon, turning into a sharp shower which lasted well through the night. June 27th Morning Cloudy, damp and cold. General Crook went up the cañon to hunt and fish, but at night-fall upon his return, had only slight success to report. His party killed a cinnamon bear. June 28th. Bright and clear. Day rather warm. Camp is about equally

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divided in occupation: one fourth reading, one fishing, one hunting and one on picket. (It is estimated that fully 500 five hundred trout have been brought into camp to-day. Colonel Mills and squad caught one hundred and forty-six. The HdQrs. twenty, and nearly all who persistently tried their luck were rewarded with from fifteen to fifty apiece. Most of them were small “pan” trout, but very toothsome.) A courier started to-night with mail for Fort Fetterman. June 29th. Hot and Cloudy. A heavy storm is approaching. Camp struck at noon and moved a short distance, about one mile, up the river, to the mouth of the cañon. . . . Rained heavily this afternoon and continuously during the night. Buffalo and elk killed for meat in the evening and very many trout caught, (fifty-five by Lieut. Bubb alone.) June 30th. Cloudy all day with occasional storms of rain. Very disagreeable, murky weather. It should have been stated that Frank Gruard went out last night (28th) [sic] to examine the country near our command. Smokes had been observed and even small bodies of Indians reported. Frank’s tour failed to confirm such impressions. In all camps wild rumors sporadically become prevalent: ours is no exception to the rule. An old citizen, following in our train, reports that he went out a day or so since to look for a stray horse. Having wandered some distance, he lay down to rest in the shade of some trees by a brook-side. The noise of a rifle or pistol awakened him in time to see two Indian boys scampering off; a small hole in the saddle-cantle, he asserts, was made by the bullet they fired at him. Thirty Montana miners joined us yesterday and to-day. This being the last day of the second monthly review, muster and inspection of the troops were held at 7 A.M. Col. Evans mustered 3d Cavalry, Capt. Noyes 2d Cavy. and Maj. Burt the Infantry and the hospital. July 1st. A serene atmosphere and spotless sky. General Crook, with a small party of officers and civilians started to-day to examine Big Horn range. Big Bat, the guide, started this morning for the Crow Agency: At 10 a.m., our party assembled to the number of ten or fifteen and the preliminaries of saddling and packing our mules were promptly completed. Each member carried four days’ rations of bacon, sugar, coffee and hard-tack in saddle-bags, together with rifle or shot-gun and necessary ammunition, while the pack-mules were loaded with a scant supply of blankets and buffalo robes and

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one or two kettles and pans for boiling coffee and frying meat. Our personnel comprised General Crook, Lieut. Bourke and Lieut. Schuyler of his staff, Colonel Royall and Lieut. Lemly, Major Burt and Lieut[.] Carpenter, Messers Wasson, Strahorn, Finerty and Davenport and five or six experienced packers, under guidance of Mr. Young. Our sober-sided mules behaved with a decorum becoming the occasion; they had all been picked out with especial reference to strength, gentleness and tameness under saddle. For three miles, trail was extremely steep compelling momentary halts every short distance to give ourselves and animals a breathing spell. When the summit of the “cover-face” of the Big Horn was attained it was noticed with gladness by all that a level, or gently rolling, surface spread before us. Turning about, an extensive landscape was visible to Right and Left, repaying amply the toil of gaining the point of sight. The grassy foot-hills, surrounding camp, lay directly beneath, the different branchlets of the Tongue river, coursing among them. Apparently at our very feet, the long lines of white tents showed the locations of the different battalions. Beyond these, the country opened out as far North & West as the valley of the Little Big Horn (?), while the limit of vision in front was the line of sharp bluffs at the mouth of the Tongue river cañon: to the West and South, on our trail we saw the frozen precipices of Cloud Peak and its sister promontories, down on whose flanks huge patches of snow slowly yielded to the assaults of a summer sun. Every few hundred yards, little gurgling rivulets and spring brooks leaped out from the protecting shade of pine and juniper groves and sped down to join the Tongue which warned us of its own near presence in a cañon on the Left by the murmur of its waters passing swiftly from basin to basin down a success of tiny falls. Exuberant Nature had carpeted the hills and dells with a grateful matting of grasses and flowers. Along the brook-sides, wild rose-buds peeped out, harebells, wild flax, forget-me-nots, astragalus and innumerable varieties not determined, disputed with their more gaudy companions, the sunflowers, possession of the soil. The grass was not as rich as that growing on the lower levels; still, our animals plucked at it with zest. None of our public parks that I have seen displayed a greater variety of picturesque scenery. Toward the summit of this first ridge, imperfectly crystallized granite begins to displace the siliceous limestones and red clays and sandstone representing the geological types

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nearer the valley. Much pine and fir timber was encountered: at first, in small copses, then in more considerable bodies; finally in dense forests. The quality of the pine was in general below the average, but how much of that inferiority is attributable to the absence of protection against the devastation of fire and hurricanes16 is difficult to tell. A very curious variety of juniper makes its appearance near here. It is very stunted, grows prone to the ground and until approached very close might be mistaken for a bed of moss. Our party soon drew near the rim of a lakelet of pure water: judging from its rocky bottom, its supply was perennial and fed partly by melting snow and partly by springs. Upon its glassy surface, a duck swam gracefully, admiring its own reflection in the pellucid water. Six miles of hard marching through, between, over and amidst fallen timber, swept down by the tempestuous blast from the mountain tops or seared and charred by the lightning’s fell stroke, brought us to the banks of a tributary of Tongue or Goose creek, where we made camp for the night. We saw to-day piles of fir trees cut by the Indians to make lodge-poles. The exterior bark and coating are stripped off, the heart preserved. This from its elasticity and strength is much prized for the purpose designated. We had hoped to attain the divide of the snowy range, but its peaks still lay a mile or two away from us. We found consolation in admiring their beauty as we prepared our frugal supper. Piling up dry wood took but a moment and in another a blazing fire awaited our coffee and bacon. The former was readily made in a tin canister; the latter, sliced then placed upon a willow twig, soon frizzled to a palatable crispness. Our appetites, aggravated by the keen mountain air and the climb of twelve miles, condoned the frugality of the repast. Epicures might not envy our food; they certainly would have sighed in vain for the pleasure with which it was devoured. After supper, each officer and man took his mule to the stream to drink and then staked him out to graze for the night. Game tracks marked the ground on all sides, but strange to say no game could be seen; neither would any of the agile trout darting about in the rocky pools regard the tempting bait of grasshoppers and flies held out to entice them. A black-tailed deer was shot near night-fall. General Crook, who went out hunting amid the hills near bivouac told us when he came back that the 16. I.e. high wind storms.

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summits of the many knolls and hills close by were studded with lakelets of silver water; their great depth, size, limpidness and coldness of water, gravelly bottoms and lily pads growing above the surface are proofs of their permanency and the important part they assume in the water supply of Tongue, Goose, Clear and Big Horn rivers. This bivouac presented us with an abundance of the purest water, good fuel and sufficient grass for our stock and was besides so sheltered that we slept with much comfort during the night unannoyed by musquitoe or cold, the twin annoyances of these great elevations. July 2d After an early breakfast, took up the trail of yesterday, which was made by our Sho-sho-nee allies on their way back to their homes in the Wind River country. The grandeur of the scenery encountered on this day’s march is worthy of portraiture by abler pens than mine, nor would I assume the task were we not the first Americans to penetrate the arcana of its beauties. We first passed across one or two openings in the forest of considerable area and to all appearances suitable for the growth of cereals; then the cañon suddenly became very restricted in breadth and the path very rugged. Our sturdy mules climbed over fallen timbers, slipped down granite boulders, threaded their way with firm steps across the swiftrushing stream which coursed down the bed of the cañon, or forced a path between dense pine, juniper and fir timber with almost impenetrable undergrowth. All geological formations had by this time yielded undisputed sway to the nuclear granite which on every hand, above us, below and in front, lay in Titanic masses, like Ossa upon Pelion piled, or frowned down as precipices hundreds of feet high, along whose vertical faces the scattered pine and juniper with difficulty maintained a foothold. The decomposition of the fibre of these conifers has filled the narrow pass with a peaty mould that covers the deposits of drift and large masses of rock, accumulated near the stream bed. Wherever springs oozed out from this peaty soil or tributaries divided it, to cross was almost impossible. Our individual difficulties were to some extent alleviated by the reflection that personal misery did not lack company. Mr. Finerty, especially would have been pitied, had not the ridiculousness of his discomfort banished all sense of pity from our breasts. He lost his hat, his carbine, his seat in the saddle and his temper all at once. His ejaculations of “Oh, By Jesus Christ”

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were more profane than elegant, but so emphatic there was no mistaking his meaning. We grew tired counting the springs bubbling up from the rock,—in fact, the whole valley had become a sponge, yielding water, fresh, cold and pure from every pore. We had long before this got well into the snow-banks; frozen heaps surrounded us, in color often pinkish. The stream had dwindled much in breadth but its volume was unimpaired as its velocity had almost trebled. We could see clear up to what we took to be the head of the pass, cascade after cascade, separated from each other by not more than ten or twenty feet of horizontal distance; none of these water-falls was of great height but so choked up with large fragments of granite that the current lashed into fury, foamed like milk. The sun’s rays were much obscured by the interlacing branches of the majestic spruce and fir trees, blocking our path and the rocky escarpments looming above the timber line. We could still see the little rivulets dancing along and hear it singing its song of the icy granite peaks, the frozen lakes and piney solitudes that watched its birth. The divide, we began to congratulate ourselves, could not be far off. Already the pine trees had begun to thin out and the straggling ones, still lining our trail, were dwarfed and stunted. Our pretty friend, the mountain brook, like a dying swan, charmed most in its last moments. We saw it issue from some icy spring in the vertical ledges above the timber line and bade it farewell to plunge and flounder through the deep snow drifts lining the crest. In this last effort, ourselves and animals were sorely tested. From the divide was seen a little lake not over 500 to 800 yards in diameter, with cakes and floes of ice resting upon its bosom. Many of these, nearest the shore, were more than a foot thick, black and solid looking, covered with a superficial crust of snow and regelated ice. This little volume of water, surrounded by bald hills, without a tree near it, seemed bleak enough. On one side, its waters escaped to the North to find their way into Shell Creek or some other affluent of the Big Horn. We had hoped to find a suitable camping place hereabouts. Granite and Granite alone could be seen:—in many crags, timberless and barren of any trace of vegetation, towering to the clouds; in bold-faced ledges, the home of the mountain sheep and in Cyclopean blocks, covering acres upon acres of surface. Maintaining our Westerly course, we pressed over another snow clad ridge, not much higher than the one we had

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been on, and from its apex saw distinctly the white ridges of the Wind River Range, 130 miles distant. Breaking through them was a dark line, I took to be the course of the Big Horn river. With some difficulty a way was made for three miles down the asporous declivities of the cañons of No Wood creek, commencing exactly at our point of crossing the Range, and after being sated with the monotonous beauties of precipices, milky cascades, gloomy forests and glassy springs, the welcome command was given to make camp. The total number of miles to-day must have been fifteen; the extreme altitude reached over 12.000 feet, as we had been far above the timber line and in the region of perennial snows. Still at that elevation, a few pleasant-faced little blue and white flowers, principally forget-me-nots, kept us company to the very verge of the snowbeds. The snow-banks near camp were slowly melting away. At their edges, I plucked a nosegay of pretty blossoms and at same moment was graciously tormented by musquitoes and flies! This bivouac was very charmingly situated. The cañon had widened to a breadth of 600 yards, the crags forming its sides were liberally coated with spruce pine, (we had descended so rapidly that the timber belt once more was about us.), the grass was green, juicy and rich, and the water, excepting its coldness, most palatable. The Eastern horizon was shut in by the naked escarpments of the Big Horn Range; but for a Western outlook, the more gentle declination of our valley permitted a view several miles in extent of rounded knolls, black with spruce and fir forests, or green with newly springing grasses. Our party had no implements for mining: not even a pick, pan and shovel; consequently, observations upon the metalliferous resources of this section of the Big Horn Range must be very scanty. No gold or silver indications were discernible on yesterday’s line of march: to-day we saw (on Eastern slope principally,) quartz, vesiculas and vitreous, as float rock and running in ledges through the granite, and deep gravel beds and black sand near the streams;—these are all favorable indiciae of the existence of the precious metal. Buffalo signs were found in plenty in this cañon and up on the summit of the barren divide, animated nature is not densely represented in these gloomy, impenetrable recesses. Besides the Buffalo, the only living creatures above the timber were mountain sheep, tit larks, butterflies and grasshoppers (rare.) flies, (scarce.) and musquitoes in swarms. The denudation of the higher protuberances

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has rendered vegetation there an impossibility; consequently, animal life is also curtailed. In the upper parts of the streams, at and near their point of issuance from the crests, trout and other fishes cannot be found; lower down in the forests, they are plentiful in all the pools. Undoubtedly the iciness of the water has something to do with their absence, but the first reason is the main one. General Crook and Lieut. Schuyler, killed two of the Rocky Mountain sheep, indigenous to this region. These animals resemble a deer, sheep and mule. The head is that of a sheep surmounted by a ponderous pair of horns, convoluted. The Body in a slight degree resembles that of a mule, but is much more graceful, while the legs closely imitate a deer’s limbs, but are more chunky. The tail is short, slender and furnished with a brush at the extremity. Hair is not long and is chocolate gray in color. The stories told by trappers, guides and hunters of the saltatory agility of these animals smack of the fabulous. Having heard them from Mexicans and Indian[s] in Arizona and from trustworthy guides in Wyoming, I must withhold a partial assent to their credibility. It is asserted that these strong and dexterous animals, living constantly among crags and rocky pinnacles, will, when pursued by hunters or frightened from any cause, make their escape by jumping down precipices of marvellous height, alighting on their horns, turning a somersault and regaining their feet. I have never seen them do this and only tell the story as I heard it, but it is in my belief, true to a certain extent. The horns are massive appendages, designed for strength. Those I have seen, have been battered against rocks or other hard substance. The sun by this time had gone down; our hunters had brought in their game. Supper was eaten by fire-light. It was in truth an enjoyable meal, made as good as possible by contributing each one’s stories to a common stock, we had tea, coffee, ham, bacon, mountain sheep, soft bread and hard-tack. To make this soft bread, a dough is first kneaded from flour, water and brown sugar. This turns sour and serves as a leaven for the mass of sweet dough, the loaves are to be made of. An oven is formed by placing one mess pan under another inverted; a trough is dug, filled with hot cinders, with which the bread-oven when placed in position is also covered, and a palatable, nourishing article of food is soon ready for the mess. The rim of the under pan should, if necessary, be cut down an inch. Some-

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times, it is prudent to first heat the trench very thoroughly; then place therein the bake-pan, covered with earth to prevent steaming and upon this earth-covering to build a strong fire. Mountain sheep mutton is very juicy and tender; the fat, especially of the bucks, is apt to have a “bucky” taste, unpleasant to new beginners. It makes a very toothsome dish, if fried before a fire, by being stuck on a twig with slices of bacon interlarded. Or it may be stewed in mess-pans or fried in the ordinary pan. When boiled it is also an agreeable article of food. Elk-heart boiled is a true bonnebouche, sheep heart also. For dessert, we had a can of preserved peaches, the juice put to one side to make a toddy which closed the evening’s conversation. As we sat around the fire, talking and drinking, Mr. Wasson remarked that the gap through the mountains traversed by us to-day reminded him in all the details of its scenery of the Saint Gothard Pass in the Alps. Couches of cedar boughs, covered with blankets and buffalo robes invited us to sleep and pleasant dreams. Our rest was not to be unbroken; in the middle of the night, a smart pattering of rain awakened us, interfering seriously with rest. The storm did not last long but dissipated very soon and gave way for a cold wind lasting until day-dawn. July 3d Remained in camp during morning while a detachment went down stream to prospect for gold. One or two miles below here, commences a chain of beautiful lakes, embowered in spruce pine groves. The limpidness of their water and that of every spring and stream observed on this trip is something to wonder at. Holes five to ten feet deep have water so clear that every grain of sand at the bottom is as clear and distinct as if magnified. Many of these fine water sources burst out from the solid stone. Gen’l. Crook, Lt. Schuyler, Maj. Burt, Lt. Carpenter, Mr. Strahorn and the writer remained in camp, busied in preparing the hides and heads of the Rocky Mt’n sheep killed yesterday, for transportation and preservation. The fat and flesh was removed thoroughly and a strong solution of common salt applied to the inside of the head which was then spread out in the shade to let it dry slowly. At twelve, the packers returned. They had proceeded six or eight miles down stream, washed sand in frying pan and found “color”. This fixes the existence of gold in this cañon; the great head and

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volume of water and the timber and building stone so readily accessible will make the cost of collecting it very small. Colonel Mills and Mr Finerty, who advanced down the valley to a point more than half-way to the Big Horn river found the general topography of the country a corroboration of the Army maps. They also confirmed the first impression that last night’s camp was on No Wood creek. Mr Finerty killed his first buffalo and brought the tongue back on his saddle. We broke camp at mid-day, climbed the slippery granite sides of the Ridge separating Shell and No Wood creeks, going nearly due North. For the first time in my life, I followed water straight across a mountain; the tributaries of Shell and No Wood creek are both fed from the same snowbank; this we floundered across, seeing running water every step and then down a steep mountain grade to a narrow valley whose surface was covered by a deep lake. A herd of 18 or 20 elk was grazing by the water side: we could not get near enough to kill any. Ground hogs, (wood-chucks.) as large as a small poodle dog and of a yellowish red color are plentiful on the flanks of the mountain. The clear sky and warm sun of to-day have been playing havoc with the snow: I would conjecture that it all disappears by July 15th, except on the topmost cliffs where it lodges the whole year round. The ground became so miry we feared to go back to Tongue river on our incoming line of march. General Crook accordingly struck out on this new trail, leading over rough granite ledges to avoid the interminable springs and rivulets this country is cut up with. A buffalo trail was found leading in the right direction: we kept upon this for some time until he had gone about 5 or six miles from last camp (no 2.)[.] Here we bivouacked, the water in the creek being so cold that it pained my hands and face when I made my ablutions. This night was very cold. July 4th On awakening, saw frost covering the ground and ice formed upon the water. As we wanted to take our Centennial Fourth of July dinner with our comrades in permanent camp, we determined to start early and make camp Cloud Peak by sun-down if we could. Gen’l. Crook, whose wonderful abilities as a woodman all conceded, thought he could pilot us across country and save a great deal of bad and unnecessary travelling. We had great confidence in our Com-

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mander, but feared he over-rated his powers, as he had never been in the Big Horn range before. We climbed to top of a low sag, picking our steps among granite slabs and knobs. Upon the top there was nothing except the pretty forget-me-not. The Wind River Range was very distinctly traceable from this position. We also contemplated a wide expanse of territory to the North and East. No elevated points could be discerned above the general level; hence any hopes of taking good observations with the Prismatic Compass were not realized. Descending this grade was the worst feature in the day’s march and nearly as bad a piece of work as anything offered us on [the] second day’s travel. The task was a vexatious and dangerous one. At last it was over and we stood in the valley where we had bivouacked the first night. To give our animals a little rest and pasturage we stayed at this place an hour. Twenty-six Montana miners, under Captain Graves, passed us going up the creek to examine the rock at its head. They reported everything quiet at Camp Cloud Peak. We had now a downgrade of twelve miles; the mules shared in our anxiety to end the day’s march at an early hour in the afternoon and trotted along quite freely. On top of one of the peaks overlooking camp, a flock of Rocky Mountain sheep were quietly grazing: they looked at us with a wondering air. Two of them were killed by General Crook and others. At one o’clock, camp was reached. Here we found all well. The heat was the only thing unsatisfactory. It seemed intolerable, after the cold breezes of the mountain ranges. A courier had arrived in the morning from Fetterman bearing dispatches for General Crook from General Sheridan, in acknowledgment of his report of the Rosebud fight. Sheridan’s instructions were to “hit them again and hit them hard”. Colonel Merritt had assumed command of the 5th Cavalry, rendezvousing at the Black Hills crossing of the South Cheyenne [river]. One of Colonel Mills’ company, a recruit, brought in some shot gold discovered in the little gulch fronting camp. The announcement created a stir and maybe the prelude to more important findings. Major Burt secured two fine specimens of the tit-lark, a rare bird, living above timber line, and two of a small gray-bird, the size of a martin, with short black beak and bright yellow patches on throat, neck and shoulders. Frank Gruard and Big Bat were in camp; they attempted to get through to the Crow Agency: they had got out to the Little Big Horn where suddenly a small band of Indians appeared. Our guides could

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not make out for certain who they were, but feared they were a war party of Sioux and galloped back in hot haste. The Section of Big Horn Range on other page is not exact: it is estimated as carefully as means would permit. No aneroid barometer was on hand to give altitude. The snow line is placed somewhat higher than it was where we crossed. The deepest drift I saw must have been between 50 and 75 feet high. The heavy timber commences with formation No 4, the nucleary granite.

It is much to be regretted that a corps of scientists does not form part of the Expedition; there is such a vast area unexplored in the Big Horn Mountains, undoubtedly fruitful in interest and value: and at this time of uneasiness among frontiersmen, it would be well to determine exactly whether the mountains are rich in treasure of the precious metals, in timber, pasturage and pure water or not. July 5th Waiting for our returning supply train is a monotonous and tedious piece of business; we have such poor facilities for killing time. Books and newspapers are not to be had: hunting involves great labor and much time; yet we have many devotees of the chase. Trout fishing retains its place in the good opinions of the majority: our command boasts of very accomplished fishermen whose hauls are something unusual. Gen’l. Crook has caught seventy in one day and expresses his determination to make the number an even hundred. Lieut. Bubb brought in eighty on July 4th. The greater part however are content with taking just enough for one meal, say from twelve to twenty or thirty. Each bank of the stream has its enthusiastic amateurs, nestling in the shade of some overhanging tree, armed with a rod cut out from the limb of a willow sapling. For bait, grasshoppers and flies are esteemed most highly. The places most frequented by the game are the dark, cool pools under the shadow of a rock and in the swirl

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below a rapid. Those fishermen who are willing to be more venturesome and wade about in the thread of the current are rewarded by the most liberal returns. Nothing can be more palatable or more digestible than a nicely fried or broiled trout, served with Nature’s sauce. Our enlisted men feast as much, if not more on this food than the officers. Sickness is almost unknown in the command, a condition resulting from the fine climate perhaps fully as much as from the good food. One of the first duties upon laying out our camps has been the constructions of sinks17 for officers and men: these are placed as far away from running water as possible and in a ravine when one is conveniently near. Shades of willow or pine branches are provided and the deposits carefully covered with sand or earth morning and evening. July 6th. Moved up valley one mile, going into camp in another beautiful situation bountifully replete with every desideratum of pioneer life. The movements are of use in many ways: they supply our animals with fresh pasturage, altho’ that is scarcely needed because the grass is so thick and rich in all these valleys it might be harvested with a mowing machine; and they break the troops in to all the details of quickly taking down and putting up tents, packing and unpacking wagons, saddling and unsaddling horses, laying out camps, building sinks, moving into column and other things that can only be learned by constant practice. A little rain fell this morning—only a few drops. Frank Gruard, Lieut. Sibley, Mr. Finerty and twenty men started at noon to reconnoiter toward the Little Big Horn river and ascertain, if they can, what the enemy are doing. The absence of hostile demonstrations since our fight of June 17th speaks very plainly of the severe handling the Sioux received that day. Were they victorious or had the day been even undecided, our camp would long since have been beleaguered by the sharpshooters. 17. Latrine pits.

Chapter 19 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The War Resumes

July 7th. Gen’l Crook, accompanied by Lieut. Schuyler, Maj. Burt. Col. Van Vliet, Major Wells and others started for the summit to hunt, expecting to be absent four days. Major Randall, Lieut. Bubb, Mr. Stevens and self arranged a fishing excursion. The site selected was not much over a mile from camp. There we found all that fishermen could desire: shady pools, cool water, little cascades and delightful country. I didn’t catch any trout, being ignorant of the peculiarities of the bright little fish. Lieut. Bubb, who is an expert caught eight in a very few minutes and lost three, making eleven in all. Major Randall and Mr. Stevens had no luck. There was in [the] middle of the current a large, high, flat block of granite with the water rushing around it on both sides and a dark, glassy pool below. Upon this block, I took my station stripping off all clothing in order to reach it. The trout could be seen darting about by twos and threes, but so satiated with food or so scared by the throng of fishermen whipping the stream ever since we first camped on it three weeks ago that my baits did not excite them as much as I had hoped they would. A dark brown fly General Crook gave me wasn’t noticed, but the grasshoppers placed on my second hook were freely bitten at. Two fine specimens adhered to my hooks, but both became de357

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tached before they could be landed. There were so many men, like myself ignorant of the proper methods to pursue but eager to win the prize of a fine mess of trout that I saw it was impossible to do much in that locality, altho’ the trout were very plenty [sic]. My next effort shall be well up the stream at a good distance from camp. Major Dewees who had taken station three miles up the cañon made a bag of sixty-eight fine fish. Since we came on this branch, some three weeks since, not less than three thousand trout have been cooked and eaten in the commons: this is my own estimate, based on numbers obtained from officers of the expedition; but the general calculation is very much higher and placed the total catch at an average of 400 a day for twenty-one fishing days. This afternoon the air became very sultry; gray-blue clouds gathered along the mountain ranges and lay in heavy strata low down the valley. Little puffs of wind blew from various quarters, those coming down the cañon from the West being most severe. We finished dinner about half past five and were gathered in a little group noting the gathering storm when a sudden rush of wind from behind tore down the dining tent and scattered camp-stools, bedding, books and papers like so many leaves. The heavy dining table, with its trestles was carried more than a hundred yards down hill. All hands turned out to save the tents from destruction; the great danger in such cases is from “ballooning”, that is the wind get[s] inside the tent and lifts it clear from the ground or rips it into shreds. The remedy applied was to hold the tent down firmly by putting new and staunch pins into every loop, tying the door flaps tightly together and affixing guy ropes around the whole tent, at upper extremity of both uprights and just under the ridge-pole. The flies were also taken off as they are of no use in a storm, but very frequently a detriment. This night’s experience settled into conviction a suspicion flitting through my mind for a long time—the inefficiency of our Q.M.D1 and its disinclination to adopt new ideas or to modify old ones. The strings for tying up tentage should be replaced by straps and buckles, the tent pins should be of iron, the roofs strengthened by diagonal bands of canvass and the back with a horizontal one; at the corners should be sewed leather gussets. Around the sides of the tents, pockets of canvass or light cotton cloth should be affixed, giving great convenience as receptacles for combes, 1. Quarter Master Department

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brushes, books, papers &c. A flooring of canvass is a preventive of disease by keeping out earth-dampness. During the movement of the past winter, many complaints were made of the pattern of pantaloons issued the soldiers; they should be made with a flap in front to exclude extreme cold. The violent wind lasted until after ten o’clock at night: its subsidence was the signal for an hour’s long fall of rain. Lower down the valley, the storm must have raged with still greater vehemence, if any opinion could be predicated upon the black clouds gathered there and emitting bright forked lightning. We were greatly worried at the commencement of the storm to hear that Major Noyes was missing: he had gone out early in the morning to fish in the cañon and it was feared some accident had befallen him. Lieut. Kingsbury, with a detachment of two men, provided with a hound, hunted him up after dark and found him after some little search. The Major had become exhausted with severe climbing over rocks and wading through deep water; he had given instructions before leaving camp for an orderly to be waiting with his horse at a certain place. The orderly could not find the Major and had come back. Noyes had fallen asleep on the ground when awakened by the detachment looking out for him. July 8th Morning opened cool and a trifle damp: heavy belts of clouds in sky which remained throughout day. Two soldiers passed through HdQrs to-day, carrying, suspended from a pole, one hundred and twenty trout. Learned that Major Noyes, alone, yesterday, caught one hundred and ten. July 9th. Lieut. Sibley returned early this morning. Reported that between twelve and one o’clock on the 7th, while going trough a ravine in the foot-hills he was attacked by a party he estimated at from 300 to 400 strong, altho’ the calculation of Frank Gruard, the guide, was that the enemy was in as strong force as at the Rosebud fight. One hundred of the Indians fired a volley in front, giving a chance to those on the flank to charge in which the attention of Sibley’s little command was thus diverted. The whole country was covered with them. None of our men were killed or wounded, but their horses and one mule were, the latter slightly. Sibley endeavored to maintain his position in the place of attack, or near it, but found this impossible. The enemy pressed him so strongly he was obliged to abandon his animals and rations. Our men retreated home

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through the mountains, followed by the enemy, all of the 7th and 8th. They say that a war party of Sioux was seen coming this way. When the party reached camp early this morning, they were all completely prostrated, having marched over mountains for two nights and one day, without food or sleep. That this little reconnaisance should have terminated so unfortunately is a matter of regret; but it had to take all the chances of the situation and it has been successful at least in demonstrating the enemy’s presence and power. Within a week, we may expect to have an engagement in force. Last night, a party supposed to be white men, were fired at by the pickets of Infantry camp and about same time a horse was stolen from the pack-train, supposed to be by same parties as the animals were picketed and hobbled within one hundred yards of Mr. Moore’s tent. General Crook’s hunting party has so far been quite successful. Word has come from them that they have killed fourteen elk. A courier was dispatched to the General, bearing advices of Lieut. Sibley’s reconnaisance. . . . July 10th. Louis Richaud and Ben Arnold came into our bivouac at daylight. They brought most important telegrams and correspondence from General Sheridan. The first envelop[e] opened was from Major Jordan, commanding at Camp Robinson, saying that Indians there reported the fight on Rosebud was hotly contested. They admitted a loss of five killed and thirty wounded, which is far below the trust, as we obtained thirteen scalps. Further, the Indians at the Agency were very generally in mourning, a fact to be taken into consideration when the ridiculous statement of their own losses is regarded. They claim that though they withdrew it was with the intention of concentrating at their village to repel the attack threatened by Mills’ column and with the hope of annihilating it. Red Cloud’s son2 and son in law were in the fight. The former had his horse shot under him and had his pistol and knife taken from him by a Crow Indian. Louis said all the young bucks had left the Red Cloud Agency, but not many had yet gone from Spotted Tail. General Vandeveer, the lying emissary of the Indian Ring, was at Red Cloud with instructions from Washington to the Sioux that they must either make up their minds to fight or to peacefully go to such reservations on the Missouri or elsewhere as might be selected for 2. Jack Red Cloud

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them. Two wagons loaded with ammunition, arms and delicacies from Cheyenne, were abandoned by Indians leaving Red Cloud Agency, pressed by the Fifth Cavalry. General Sheridan, while at the Agency, called upon Agent Hastings to make issues according to his books: it was found that not half the Indians represented were present. The damnable frauds perpetrated at that sink of iniquity daily call to Heaven for redress. To think that Government Agencies should harbor Indian cut throats and that Government Agents should screen their misdoings is something too dreadful for contemplation. Some changes must be brought about and without delay, or the Sioux will never be subjugated. General Sheridan sent General Crook, an outline of the press accounts of the terrible disaster lately befallen Custer’s command. With the hope and prayer that official intelligence may abate the grief occasioned by this journalistic dispatch, I give its contents.3 On June 26th* morning, Terry and Gibbon with seven companies of Infantry, and four of cavalry, advanced up the Big Horn river, while Custer with his whole Regiment, the Seventh Cavalry swung around on the Left to scout the Little Big Horn. Early next morning, a village of two thousand lodges, three miles long was discovered. Custer taking five companies, made a charge at one end, while [Maj. Marcus A.] Reno, his second in command, was to do the same at the other. All that is known is the alleged result. Terry and Gibbon, pressing forward upon hearing the noise of battle, found Reno with his command entrenched on a hill near the village which was in flames. Swarms of Indians surrounded the devoted remainder of the Seventh, but were kept back until the arrival of our reinforcements, when they took to flight. Terry, moving forward, found the ground covered with dead ponies, saddles, burnt and burning lodges and charred corpses. He soon discovered the bodies of Custer and eleven of his officers and more than three hundred dead soldiers, but no wounded. In one pile, 271, two hundred and seventy one of our dead were found and buried in one grave. Terry, after burying dead and destroying the remains of the village, fell back to the mouth of the Big Horn to refit. A regiment of Cavalry and Infantry were to be sent to him. (Whether one of each or one only, not stated.) * At the top of the page Bourke wrote, Should be 25th. 3. As Bourke notes, this account is very preliminary, as such, it contains extensive errors. Terry’s official notification to Crook is found on pp. 365–8.

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Sheridan’s opinion was that the Sioux had suffered very heavily and are now much hampered with their wounded, who must be very numerous.4 He urged upon Crook to hit them the hardest blow possible while they were in this state and promised all the aid he needed either in Cavalry or Infantry, saying he could have the Fifth [Cavalry] regiment if he wanted it. Such is the meagre outline of this terrible news brought us—news which made every lip quiver and every cheek blanch with terror and dismay. Grief—Revenge, Sorrow and Fear stalked among us. We are beginning to realize that our enemies have been fostered and pampered at a terrible outlay; our skeleton army meanwhile has been so depleted and fettered that a Regiment doesn’t equal a Battalion, a company cannot muster more than a squad.5 Our men are so occupied with the extraneous duties of building posts and cantonments, no time is left for learning military evolutions. They are all willing and brave enough, but are deficient in experience and military intelligence. Since our Rosebud fight, my opinion has changed to an advocacy of the Fabian policy. We must remain here now until winter, worrying the enemy as best we can. When frost comes, and not till then can we hope to strike a decisive blow. To feebly offset the disastrous tidings of the morning, we learned our wagon train, with seven companies of Infantry as escort, was to be at the Clear Creek to-night and with us day after to-morrow. Also that one hundred and fifty Snakes might be expected on the 10th (to-day) and two hundred Utes within a week. Last night, an attack was made on our Infantry camp, two miles below here, but without effect. The Indians set fire to the grass in the lower valley, 4. Historian Richard G. Hardoff collected and tabulated both published and unpublished accounts from Indian informants. The majority of the informants estimated the Lakota and their allies lost between thirty and forty in the fight itself, and the number of wounded may have reached into the hundreds. These were substantial numbers for a nomadic, tribal people. See Hardoff, Hokahey! 5. In the years immediately prior to the Great Sioux War, congress reduced the strength of the army three times, in 1869, 1870, and 1874. The ceiling was set at 25,000 soldiers of which about three or four thousand were in non-combat positions (i.e., support services, West Point, Fort Leavenworth Prison guard, and recruiting details). That, together with the fact that replacements did not keep pace with losses through attrition meant that the number of soldiers available for combat was appallingly low. In view of these circumstances, the number of privates in a company rarely reached fifty, and often was much lower. The old citizen-militia tradition was strong, because volunteer units had made up the bulk of the victorious Union Army, and the professional soldier suffered accordingly. (It should be noted that the Indian-fighting soldier was not the only one to feel the shortage. A study of the histories of the forts defending Eastern ports during this period shows that many had reduced garrisons or were occupied only by a caretaker sergeant.) Utley, Frontier Regulars, 15-18, 60-61.

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hoping to annoy us and to diminish our pasturage. The smoke towers high in the sky, but endangers nothing except perhaps the Infantry camp. Colonel Royall has ordered the camp to concentrate, bringing the Infantry up close to his own detachments, and sending down all the pack-mules to carry away the subsistence stores yet piled there. General Crook’s non-arrival this morning is the source of undisguised alarm. We all apprehend danger to himself and his party, yet no one can say definitely in what way. The General has set an example of recklessness that cannot too strongly be condemned: this rashness must be foregone in the future. Else some day his mutilated corpse will be found and this whole scheme of Sioux pacification fall to the ground. Sky became hazy and filled with clouds, as the day advanced. In the course of the afternoon, a mounted party was discovered coming down the cañon; hope prevailed that it might by our Commanding Officer returning. It turned out to be the pack-train sent yesterday afternoon to take in the game slaughtered by his party: this game was found at the point specified by the General, but no trace of him or his companions could be detected. The packers reported that there were no Indian signs at all and that they thought Col. Mills’ battalion would find the General before sun-down. This proved to be a correct surmise. At 5 O’clock, the General, with his whole party, came in safe and sound; to the exceeding relief of the many anxious hearts that welcomed them. After night, rain, continuous and effective, fell upon the dry grass, rendering abortive the efforts of the Indians to destroy any more pasturage. My supposition is that the savages have been heavy losers in their engagements with the troops this summer and are endeavoring to put a zone of desolation between us and themselves, at least until they can repair damages. Meantime, their young warriors, in parties of fifty and sixty, can annoy our camp from time to time, run off an occasional head of stock or do a little harm of that kind. Our wagons ought to be here to-morrow: we can then sally out and pursue the policy of worrying the savages to destruction. July 11th. After last night’s rain, we find the air delightfully cool and fresh. Many clouds remain in the sky, presaging another storm. Captain Wells, with his company of the 2d Cavalry, was dispatched to meet the wagon-train and escort, and show a good road across country from old Fort Kearney. Two hundred and thirteen Snake

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Indians joined us in the afternoon; with them came their old chieftain Wash-a-kie, and others of prominence. Mr. Thomas Cosgrove said they had returned to the Agency in five days, most of the journey being made at a run. Dancing and pow-wowing consumed many precious hours, much to the uneasiness of Cosgrove who was well aware of Genl. Crook’s impatience to have the assistance of a band of such effective allies. Wash-a-kie’s principal objection—that he had no good horse—was overcome by an assurance that Gen’l. Crook would make his want good; he then wanted to defer starting until joined by the Bannocks and Shoshones from the Fort Hall (Snake River.) Reservation [Idaho], for whom Cosgrove had telegraphed. He was induced not to delay for them and at last determined to start. Getting the head-chief was getting the best of the band. Cosgrove had only hoped to get a hundred: double that number followed him, ten of them squaws, wives of the wounded men in our camp and of Wash-a-kie and other chiefs. Two of the party are Bannocks, living 300 miles West of this, but familiar with the Sioux country from having raided into it after stock. Once, these two men entered a Sioux village, hoping to drive off a few ponies. They were discovered. A great hubbub was raised and they in danger of capture. Passing quickly among the excited Sioux, they took refuge in a lodge, wrapping themselves up in furs. When quiet had been restored and the Sioux were again asleep, our imitators of Dick Turpin6 crept out, stole two horses apiece and made their escape in the darkness. It looks as if the flame of war were about to break out among all the savage tribes, contiguous to the Sioux and combine them in unity of action to harass and humble their blood-thirsty enemy. The Snakes say the Bannocks and Utes will soon commence a campaign, which will make our task easier. If we can carry on warfare throughout this summer, gaining a little prestige from our occupancy of the country and killing some of the enemy or running away herds of stock, the hostile Sioux will lose influence with those at the Agencies, who now supply them with war material. When winter returns, they will be out of ammunition, unsupplied with food, losers in horse-flesh and, if good luck attend our exertions, in mourning for burned villages and slaughtered relatives. Before Spring, we should have killed, captured or dispersed their last war-party. 6. A famous highwayman in eighteenth century England.

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The shields of the Sioux, I was informed to-day by Frank Gruard, are made of the skin of the buffalo bull’s neck, which is an inch in thickness; the squaws place a layer of earth upon this and kindle a fire above. The skin is greatly hardened but not burnt. These shields turn a lance point and repel arrows. July 12th We had no momentous occurrences to disturb us last night. From sun-down until mid-night, the Snakes indulged in a war song. The camp after that sank to rest until the rising of the moon when the bang, banging of the rifles in the hands of our pickets alarmed us for a brief space. This morning it was reported that one of our pickets discovered a Sioux Indian crawling down the hill-side into camp. Our picket fired. Simultaneously, the other pickets at the Left end of line opened on a small gang of eight working along that side. The Sioux exchanged a few shots and then desisted from [the] attempt to steal any of our horses. When daylight returned, Lieutenant Kingsbury, in charge of picket, found a couple of Sioux knives, dropped by our assailants. Our pickets on the night of the 10th, killed the horse of a Sioux, attempting to approach mounted. The dead animal was found three or four hundred yards outside our lines. Wash-a-kie, the Sho-shonee chief, explained to General Crook this morning his ideas of the position and strength of the Sioux; while he was doing this, three men dressed in army blue, faded and travel worn, trotted up to General Crook and announced themselves as bearers of advices from General Terry! We looked at the three modest heroes with a mixture of pleasure at hearing from the distinguished General and admiration for the nerve and courage sustaining them throughout their perilous trip. Each had a letter from Gen’l. Terry, written in triplicate, to lessen chances of loss. Below is the letter itself: HdQrs. Dep’t. of Dakota, In the field Camp on North side of the Yellowstone River, near mouth of Big Horn, July 9th, 1876 Gen’l. George Crook, Comdg. Department of the Platte, (In the field.) General. On the 25th ult. General Custer, crossing over from the valley of the Rosebud to the Little Big Horn found on the last named stream an enormous Indian village. He had with him his whole Regiment and a strong detachment of scouts. At the time of the discovery of

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the Indians he had but eight companies close at hand but with these he attacked in two detachments, one, under himself, of five companies; the other under Major Reno, of three companies.7 The attacks of these two detachments were made at points nearly, if not quite, three miles apart. I greatly regret to say that Custer, and every officer and man under his immediate command, were killed. Reno was driven back to the bluffs where he was joined by the remainder of the Regiment. He was surrounded by the enemy and was obliged to entrench himself, but succeeded in maintaining himself in this position with heavy loss until the appearance of General Gibbon’s column induced the Indians, on the evening of the 26th, to withdraw. Two hundred and sixty-eight officers, men and civilians were killed and there were fifty-two wounded.8 This affair occurred about twenty miles above the junction of the Little Big Horn and the Big Horn. While Custer’s column was in motion, Gibbon[’]s column of about one hundred and fifty cavalry, one hundred and sixty Infantry and three Gatling guns, was advancing to join Custer and co-operate with him in the attack upon the Indians. It was ferried across the Yellowstone at a point just below the mouth of the Big Horn, on the 24th ultimo. On the 25th, it advanced through country of extreme difficulty. The Infantry twenty two, the cavalry thirty six miles. Custer had been informed that Gibbon’s column would reach the mouth of the Little Big Horn, on the evening of 26th, ultimo. Its advance was within four miles of that place at midnight of the 25th ult. Reno’s position was reached by Gibbon on the morning of the 27th ult. It is estimated that not less than twenty five hundred warriors were in the fight. Besides the lodges in the village, a vast number of temporary shelters were found, showing that many Indians were present there, besides those who properly belonged to the village. A reconnaisance southward was made on the 28th ultimo and a very large train was found leading down the stream, a distinct trail from the one (a heavy one,) which Custer had followed from the Rosebud. 7. Custer had sent the remaining companies, under Capt. Frederick Benteen, up the valley to locate any other Indians who might be in the vicinity, and also to head off any who might try to escape to the south. 8. The civilians were Custer’s younger brother, Boston, his nephew, Armstrong (Autie) Reed, newspaper correspondent Mark Kellogg, Scouts Charles Reynolds and Isaac Dorman, and Drs. James DeWolf and George Edwin Lord, contract surgeons. Also were killed was Bloody Knife, head of the Ree Indian scouts.

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Captain [Edward] Ball, of the 2nd Cavalry, who made this reconnaisance, was of the opinion that after leaving the valley the Indians divided into two bands, one making towards the mountains and the other towards the South and East. It was a difficult task to get our wounded away, as the character of the country had not permitted ambulances to accompany the troops and mule litters had to be made. They have now been sent by boat to Fort A. Lincoln. In view of the shattered condition of the 7th Cavalry and the damage done to our small pack-train, I have thought it best to bring the troops down to this depot to refit. I have sent for horses and mules for the dismounted men of the 7th Cavalry and for two more companies of Infantry. I have twice tried to communicate with you but my scout each time has been driven back by Indians, or rather reports that he was driven back. This morning, I received from General Sheridan a copy of your dispatch to him, giving an account of your fight of the 17th ultimo, and as it gives me information of your position at that time, I hope that the bearers of this may be able to find your train and reach you. The great and, to me, wholly unexpected strength which the Indians have developed seems to me to make it important and indeed necessary that we should unite or at least act in close cooperation. In my ignorance of your present position and of the position of the Indians, I am unable to propose a plan for this, but if you will devise one and communicate it to me, I will follow it. The boat which took down our wounded, will, I hope, return with a supply of horses and mules with material for the repair of my saddles, &c., and with some reinforcements. I expect her back about the 18th inst. and soon after that I hope to be able to move. I hope that it is unnecessary for me to say that should our forces unite, even in my own Department, I shall assume nothing by reason of my seniority, but shall be prepared to co-operate with you in the most cordial and hearty manner, leaving you entirely free to pursue your own course. I am most anxious to assist you in any way that promises to bring the campaign to a favorable and speedy conclusion. As my base of supplies is movable, (being a steamboat.) I can start out from any point on the Yellowstone, which may afford the readiest means of joining you and I think I shall be able to take with me from

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15 to 20 days’ rations on pack-saddles, though no forage. If, however, I should move up the Rosebud, I could take a wagon train with me. The following officers were killed on the 25th ultimo General Custer, Colonel Custer,9 Captain [Myles] Keogh, Captain [George W.] Yates, Lieutenants [Benjamin H.] Hodgson, [Donald] McIntosh, Cook (Adjutant.);10 A.E. Smith, Calhoun,11 [James Ezekiel] Porter, Sturgis12 and Riley.13 Lieutenant [John Jordan] Crittenden, 20th Infantry, (attached to 7th Cavalry.) Assistant Surgeon Lord, A.A. Surgeon De Wolf. Lieutenant Harrington, missing.14 Also Mr. Boston Custer and Mr. [Armstrong] Reed, brother and nephew respectively of the General. I am General, Very truly Yours, (signed) Alfred H. Terry, Brigadier General. The story was now assured; Custer had with imprudent rashness pushed ahead into the thickest of the enemy, seeking for a glory not to be eclipsed or even shared by his superiors and comrades. His fate was most horrible, above all when we regard the involution of others’ lives in the same deadly conflict. The brave couriers, Evans, Stewart and Ball, all members of Captain Clifford’s company of the 7th Infantry, had not much to add to the official narrative. Custer, moving up the Rosebud, had struck the same village fought by us on the 17th ult., then transferred to the Little Big Horn. To avoid any imputation of making up this record from sensational rumors or carelessly collected reports, I will refrain from writing all that was told by the couriers. They were positive in asserting that among the Sioux were many whites, (squaw men.)15 and half-breeds from the American agencies and the Red river country16 in British America. Two kegs of whiskey were found in the Indian camp and 9. Captain (bvt. Colonel) Thomas W. Custer, another brother. 10. William W. Cooke. 11. James Calhoun, Custer’s brother-in-law. 12. Lieutenant James G. (Jack) Sturgis was the son of Col. Samuel Sturgis, the Seventh Cavalry’s nominal commander. Colonel Sturgis was on more or less continual detached duty so Custer held actual field command. 13. Second Lieutenant William Van W. Reily. 14. Second Lieutenant Henry Moore Harrington later was determined to have been killed. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:502. 15. As seen here, the allegation of whites among the hostile Indians has been part of the Little Bighorn mythology almost from the beginning, and they may or may not have been present. White renegades often are credited with the accurate sniping at Reno Hill. Some

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everything in the way of mess-equipage needed or possessed by the majority of civilized people. The loss of the savages was believed to be very severe. The trails of the litters on which their wounded were dragged away could be seen in great numbers. General Crook sent to General Sheridan the following: My last information from Red Cloud Agency was that the Cheyennes had left there to re-inforce the enemy in my front. As this takes away all the disturbing element from that section, I have availed myself of the Lieutenant General’s permission and ordered the eight companies of the 5th Cavalry to join me at this point. The best information I can get from my front is that the Sioux have three fighting men to my one. Altho’ I have no doubt of my ability to whip them with my present force, the victory would likely be one barren of results and so have thought better to defer the attack until I can get the 5th here and then end the campaign with one crushing blow. The hostile Indians are, according to my advices, encamped on the Little Big Horn, near base of the mountains and will probably remain there until my re-inforcements come up. Received dispatch from General Terry this morning asking me to co-operate. I will do so to the best of my ability. (Signed.) George Crook. Brigadier General. Instructions were by same courier transmitted to General Merritt to push forward with his command to effect a junction with General Crook’s forces: further, should his line of march be through Laramie and Fetterman, he will bring at least two hundred and fifty rounds of ammunition to the men and all the spare horses, saddles and bridles to be found at those posts. accounts call them squaw men, and others say they were former Confederates who hated all U.S. soldiers because of some wartime atrocity. See Hunt, I Fought With Custer, 104. 16. Bourke means the Red River of the North. The Canadian mixed-bloods from that region were known as Métis. 17. Camp Brown was established in 1871 on the Wind River in west central Wyoming, to protect the Shoshones. In 1878, it was renamed Fort Washakie, in honor of the paramount Shoshone chief. It was permanently abandoned in 1909, and turned over to the Interior Department to use as headquarters for the Shoshone Agency. Frazer, Forts of the West, 18687.

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Word was sent to the Commanding Officer of Fort Fetterman to telegraph to the Commanding Officer, Camp Brown17 for information regarding the movements of our allies expected from among the Utes and Bannocks. To-day was the date fixed by general consent for the wagon train’s return; it did not appear, but the dust made by it and the marching escort could be traced over a long low spur shooting out into the Goose creek, three or four miles below. Flies in great numbers swarmed into camp this afternoon: “fly-blow”, in great patches, was deposited on all articles of wool or fur. General Crook and Major Randall’s overcoats and blankets had this “fly-blow” heaped up upon them, in clumps, quarter of an inch high, by six inches in diameter. July 13th. Contrary to general expectation, our pickets were not molested last night. While we were at breakfast, the head of the wagon train was descried making its advance up the valley. A party of officers, mounted, left camp to meet and exchange salutations with friends in the column. Among these were Lieut. Hayden Delaney, 9th Infantry, who has given up a six months’ leave to share the perils and glories of the campaign. Delaney’s reputation is already firmly established in the Army as a gallant young soldier: I am greatly in error if this record does not contain further allusion to him before the end of our work in the field. Lieut. Calhoun, brother of Calhoun of the 7th Cavalry and Lieut. Crittenden,18 cousin of the lieutenant of the same name—(both of whom were massacred and horribly mutilated in the late terrible disaster under Custer;)—are with the Infantry companies brought back by Col. Chambers. A heavy mail—of letters and newspapers—was distributed to-day. Extracts from the latter as far at least as they concern our Expedition and the one under General Terry and the condition of affairs in the Black Hills, will be posted with great liberality. The letters received by General Crook, comprehended, in two cases, anxious inquiries as to the fate of certain enlisted men, reported killed or wounded in our Rosebud fight. Nickerson communicated with both General and myself, stating he had secured some fifty Ute Indians to serve as scouts and would send them up as soon as could be with the new recruits now coming out to join 3d Cavalry. My commission as 1[st] Lieutenant, 3[rd] Cavalry came from the Department of War and same afternoon, Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., 18. Second Lieutenant Frederic Sanscay Calhoun, 14th Infantry. The Crittenden cousins had the same given name, John Jordan. The Crittenden mentioned was a second lieutenant of the 22nd Infantry. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:338.

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administered the oath of office prescribed by law. A high wind visited the valley not long after meridian, followed by brisk thunderstorm of short duration. Snake Indians devote every evening an hour or two of their time to running their horses through the evolutions, incident to active skirmishing. They deck themselves out in feather war-hats and all the paraphernalia of war, the general effect being very impressive and exciting. To see these wild Indians rush in mad career to the shock of battle, makes a soldier think how irresistible we should be in war, were we provided with a contingent of ten thousand such cavalry. The Snakes ride bare-back during a contest; Caucasians might not be able to do the same, but there could be improvised a light riding gear of saddle-blanket, surcingle and stirrups to cover the animal and a heavy bridle of hard rope knotted about the lower jaw. Cavalry as constituted at the present day is a mere freight train, every horse loaded down like a baggage wagon with the necessaries or supposed necessaries of the soldier. All that a soldier absolutely requires, and I am speaking of civilized warfare in one’s own country, is arms, ammunition and an overcoat. This latter should be of extra heavy material, well lined, long and terminating in a hood or other head covering. A fatal mistake permeating the minds of Cavalry officers, even the most distinguished, is that mounted troops must move habitually at a walk: nothing could be farther removed from the truth. The lope is the gait conducing most to the service’s best interests, to the soldier’s comfort and the animal’s pleasure. We have much to learn from the savage in the matter of Cavalry training; the trouble is our prejudices of education are so deeply rooted, common sense and observation have no permission to assert themselves. July 14th. Sky filled with heavy dark rain-clouds. Morning extremely damp and rather disagreeable. There was no picket-firing last night of any consequence. In the afternoon, the Sho-sho-nees, mounted on their ponies, and in all the glory of war bonnets, scarlet cloth, bright blankets and gleaming weapons, made the circuit of camp, the cynosure of all eyes. The parade was intended partly to familiarize our newly arrived soldiers with the looks of our Indian allies and vice versa. To prevent any confusion in time of battle, from not being distinguished, small rectangular flags of cotton cloth are worn in the heads of the Sho-sho-nees and make a very conspicuous mark. These Indians are among the finest light cavalry in the world. My ride with them

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yesterday was a novel experience. I could not refrain from admiring the ease with which they rode their ponies or the admirable discipline maintained among them. We moved out in column of twos, at a fast walk, almost a trot. The young warriors sat their horses like so many statues—horses and riders moving as one. No conversation could be heard, until the voices of the leaders broke out in their war song to which the whole column at once lent the potent aid of nearly two hundred pairs of sturdy lungs. The head dresses of the more prominent warriors were gorgeous combinations. The most generally affected type was a crown of eagle tail feathers, mounted on scarlet or other cloth, as a band to encircle forehead. These were very dashing in style and gave their wearers a warlike look. In one or two, buffalo and antelope horns were fastened to the sides. Another style had a stream of feathers and beads hanging down the horse’s flanks; nearly identical with the Sioux’ mode. Each feather is tipped at the extremity with a small tassel of horse-hair, stained yellow. One chief wore as an insignia a broad scarlet sash profusely ornamented with white stars. The osiflamme19 of the tribe, the medicine pole, was borne along in the procession: the staff is about 12 feet long and decorated elaborately with feathers of the eagle. The sultriness of the day, attending with high winds, was broken near sunset by a severe fall of rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning. The sky partially cleared for a brief spell, after rain had fallen for an hour or more, but by midnight the darkness of Erebus hung over us and the storm recommenced, lasting spasmodically until day-break. We had no trouble on the picket line this night. 19. I.e., totem.

Chapter 20 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

A Case of Nerves

Much of this chapter contains copies of dispatches between Crook and other officers, and copied by Bourke into the diary. These dispatches, the originals of which can be found in the Special File, Military Division of the Missouri, Sioux War, in the National Archives, show a different Crook from the man commonly perceived as stoic in the face of adversity. Deep down, he must have known that his so-called “victory” at the Rosebud was a farce, and the Custer disaster may have unnerved him. The Indian campaign of harassment—sniping along the picket lines, and efforts to steal horses and fire grass around the camp—was beginning to tell, and Bourke’s own narrative begins to show a nervous edge. In order to show the mood of the expedition and its command structure, I have included the correspondence as Bourke copied it in the manuscript. July 15th. Sky overcast, air, moist and unpleasant. Camps presented an idea of business-like activity around the Commissary, Quartermaster and Ordnance supply trains where officers and men assembled to secure their apportioned allowances of ammunition, subsistence and clothing. July 16th A faint sprinkling of rain last night relieved, very grate373

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fully the oppressive sultriness of the day. This morning, laggard banks of clouds hung above us threatening another storm. Paymaster [William] Arthur began the work of paying off the troops. Camp moved from site occupied so long to a new position on a branch of same stream, three miles to the West. General Crook sent dispatches to General Sheridan, together with duplicates of three forwarded by last messenger. He also sent word to General Terry, confiding the message to a Black Hills miner named Kelly—a half-witted sort of fellow, possessed of an assorted[?] stratum of cunning and common sense his more talented fellow citizens might envy. He took for his supplies a small bundle of matches, a meagre allowance of sugar and coffee and a sack full of hard bread. His rifle and eighty rounds of copper cartridges finished his list of supplies. No overcoat, no blanket—nothing else. His dispatches to General Terry were wrapped up with great care in a linen envelope, sealed and addressed. The General and a small circle of officers bade him good bye and God speed. The brave fellow went outside our line of tents, twenty or thirty yards. General Crook went up to him and asked what he needed. He answered that he wished a little tobacco, but would not turn back for it as he made it a point never to turn back after he had once started. He was at once handed what he needed and was in a moment more lost to sight over the hill. This man started out from Fort Fetterman to carry dispatches to the Expedition. When on the South Cheyenne his horse was shot accidentally, but he resolutely trooped along on foot, carrying the mail on his back, a distance of more than one hundred and thirty miles! General Crook’s dispatches read as follows: HdQrs. B.H. and Y.E. Camp on Goose Ck. Wy. July 16th-76 General Sheridan, Chicago. I forgot to say when I dispatched my last courier that I had sent out Lt. Sibley, on the 6th, with a small detachment of the 2d Cavalry, to escort my guide, Frank Gruard, in making a reconnaisance. When the party came, on the 7th, to a point near where the Little Big Horn debouches from the mountains they encountered the Sioux in very strong force and saw enough to convince them the main village of the hostiles is not far from that point. They succeeded in mak-

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ing their escape only after abandoning their animals and marching across the rugged foot-hills of the Big Horn mountains. The men were nearly exhausted when they reached camp. Lieut Sibley and Frank Gruard, the guide, are entitled to great credit for the manner in which they carried out my instructions and the coolness and judgment displayed in saving the detachment when surrounded by [a] largely superior force of enemy. Mr Finerty (John F.) Mr. Pourier and Jim Traynor (i.e. John Bechtel) accompanied Lt. Sibley, as observers and behaved well. (signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. 2d Dispatch to General Sheridan, same date. I send in courier to-day to carry in duplicates of my dispatches to General Merritt for fear the originals may not have reached their destination. I send a courier to-night to General Terry to inform him that I will co-operate with him and where to find me. Also giving what information I have in regard to the Indians. My intention is to move out after the hostiles as soon as Merritt gets here with the 5th and I shall not probably send in any other courier unless something special should occur requiring me to do so. I am getting anxious about Merritt’s ability to reach me soon as the grass is getting very dry and the Indians are liable to burn it any day. (signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. 3d. (Same date.) Brig. General A.H. Terry, Comdg. Dept. Of Dakota. In the field. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of July 6th, brought into this camp on the 13th instant by Corporal Stewart and party of the 7th Inf. As the corporal told me you were about to send a duplicate of the same dispatch by the hands of some of the Crow Indians with your command, I deferred an answer until the present thinking they would certainly arrive shortly after your first party. I have decided to wait no longer but to entrust this to a cou-

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T HE G REAT S IOUX W AR : 1876–1877 rier who will try to reach you. I had determined to attack the Indians immediately after the arrival of my supply-train, but about that time I learned that the hostiles had received reinforcements and I also learned at the same time that I could get the eight companies of the 5th Cavalry, so I concluded to defer the movement until the arrival of those companies which have now been ordered here. I expect to be joined by them about the last of the present month. On the 5th inst. I sent out a party of mounted troops under Lt. Sibley, 2d Cavalry, to escort one of my guides who was to reconnoitre the country in our front. When they reached a point near where the Little big Horn debouches from the mountains, they came upon a large party of Indians and were convinced that the village of the main body of hostiles is in that vicinity. Since then I have had nothing definite—more than seeing large smokes down Powder and Tongue rivers, but am of the opinion they are still in the locality before indicated by the reconnaisance. I am rationed up to the end of September and will share with you and your command everything I have as long as it lasts. Should the two commands come together, whether the Indians shall be found in this or your Department, if you think the interests of the service will be advanced by the combination I will most cheerfully serve under you. When the 5th arrives, I expect to have about sixteen hundred fighting men, besides some friendly Indians and it is my intention to move without any further delay. It is also my intention to leave my wagon train on the Tongue river near where it comes out from the Big Horn Range, so should you not meet any large trail of Indians going down the River, or not receive any further information from me, it would probably be best for you to move to my supply camp. We broke camp on the South Goose this morning and are grazing gradually along the foot-hills towards the Tongue and anticipate getting as far as the North fork of the Goose about same time my reinforcements come up. I am, General, Very Sincerely and Truly Yours, (signed.) George Crook. Brigadier General

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Our men were detailed in small squads this evening to burn the grass around camp; this to make abortive any attempts of the enemy to annoy or harm the camp by their infernal tricks of that kind, very frequently practised during the dry season, or rather the season when the grass has cured into hay. Kelley, the courier returned as we were almost asleep; the night was so dark he could not see before him and had severely wounded his foot by treading on cactus. (N.B. He finally started July 17th, A.M.) July 17th Kept very busy copying dispatches and other matter into record book. Cavalry and Infantry Battalions drilling in school of the skirmisher and school of the company and exercising their horses, morning and afternoon. Shoshonee scouts prospected the country for three or four miles to our front and right. Saw no fresh Indian signs. It is reported by one of these Shoshonees that our pickets the other night killed a Sioux Indian, whose body lies outside our last camp and that the fire made in the grass burned all the hair off the Sioux’ head, so the Shoshonees could not get his scalp. The story is discredited by General Crook. Wash-a-kie, the Shoshonee chief ascends the hills around camp, every morning at sun-rise and every evening before the pickets are withdrawn to the valleys, and gazes with searching glance through his field glasses over the land in all directions. He then reports to General Crook the result of his observations. Weather for the last day or two has been extremely sultry. July 18th. Another courier was dispatched to Fort Fetterman after dark last night. He was employed by the officers of the 14th Infantry to carry private mail and was not entrusted with official dispatches from these HdQrs. Weather continues sultry. High wind from N.W. after sun-down. July 19th Weather much cooler this morning, as a consequence of the continuous blow of the night, which has not yet altogether abated. Orders given to move camp to-day to a little tributary a short distance across the low ridge to North West of camp where our pickets are now posted. Wind veered around to South, carrying myriads of grass-hoppers which covered the sky like a dense snow storm; our tents were hit by them like fastly dropping pellets of rain. To the undisguised satisfaction of everybody, the same wind that brought them also wafted them away. These insects are grateful diet to the trout that are now fattening upon them. The quantity of fish in these streams in something startling. A man this morning

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caught more than one-hundred in a very brief space of time. (Trout.) Our march to-day was very short; a difficult passage of a stream was encountered successfully by tearing away the beaver dam blocking the current. Kelly came back to-day saying he had gone as far as Rosebud without seeing Indians, but near that point had seen & been seen by the Sioux’ pickets. At sun-set a courier party of four Crow Indians came in from Terry’s command with duplicates of dispatches carried by Corporal Stewart *. They also had a letter transmitted from General Gibbon, dated July 16th.Two mountain sheep and a deer, killed along camp lines this evening. July 20th Our letter-bearers, rested by the repose of the night previous were conducted to the front of General Crook’s tent, where a conference was held with them through the medium of the sign language. They stated they had been in the fight with Sitting Bull:1 none of their tribe who were with Custer had been killed but one had been wounded in the thigh, bone not broken. During the fight, the Crows had run off forty head of ponies belonging to the Sioux. The whole valley of the Little Big Horn was covered with dead and dying Sioux ponies. They [sic] Sioux got but few horses alive from Custer’s men. They did get much ammunition. There were many Crow Indians with Terry under their chief Iron Bull. The Sioux had recently sent a war party to the Crow village and killed two of their young men: one of them a brother of our informant. Coming up, they had noticed two Sioux trails: one going up the Little Big Horn, the other down the Tongue. Believe the camp of the Sioux’ wounded to be near the cañon of Tongue river, or else they were going in to the Agencies. Thought the main body of the hostiles would remain close to the mountains. Had seen two steamboats come up Yellowstone, just before they left, with many mules and horses and some soldiers. Had heard more soldiers were coming. Had also heard that a very large band of miners, 1000 strong, was on the way down from Montana and should now be near the Big Horn River. To learn all this news without the exchange of a word and through an interpreter not familiar with half a dozen words of the language of * Evans [Bourke’s marginal note, identifying one of the couriers who, together with Stewart and Ball, brought copies of the dispatches. He does not state why he mentioned Evans— ed.] 1. Bourke errs in identifying the battle of the Little Bighorn with Sitting Bull. As usual with Indian fights, no single chief was in charge, and at the Little Bighorn, the Indians were on the defensive, each individual taking advantage of whatever opportunity to gain the upper hand over the soldiers.

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the people he was talking with may well be noticed as an event of great interest. How this language could have spread, as it has spread, from tribe to tribe, differing in language and sentiments, frequently antagonistic and commonly diverse in interests, is a mystery beyond my power to solve; this wide dissemination sustains the suspicion that this channel of commercial intercourse is not of very recent growth. The Arapahoes are credited by some people with being the inventors; this tribe is the Jewish trading element of the aborigines of the plains. Having no well defined territory of their own, they are always to be found in association with other bands, and perhaps from this cause are more constantly obliged to use this language and by continual practice have become most expert in its use. The Crows are likewise quite dexterous in communicating their ideas in this way. Kelley, the courier, made his third start this morning, much encouraged by the information the Crows gave that no Indians were to be found near Terry’s camp or on the trail thither. He intends getting to Tongue river to-night, thence pushing across the divide to Ash Creek which he will follow down to its junction with the Little Big Horn. There he expects to be able to make a raft of broken willow branches and cottonwood timber, down this to float rapidly to the Yellowstone, if the current be deep enough: if not, he will have to push down to the Big Horn itself which carries a volume of water all the year round great enough to float a large sized steamboat. From the direction of Powder River, a heavy cloud of smoke has been rising since noon: a deer ran through camp this afternoon and several large bunches of heavy, good sized trout were carried to the cook fires. Weather oppressively warm all day. Temperature must have been at least 110º. July 21st. The fervid rays of the sun to-day have made the temperature more intolerable than yesterday. Complaints are made very generally of lassitude and indisposition. A few cases of diarrhea and mild forms of calenture prevail, due as much to want of something to do as to any predisposing cause. Drilling is maintained and the cavalry horses are exercised as usual. They are now in fine condition, fat and spirited, from the rich grasses spread before them during the past month. Unheard of quantities of trout have been taken from this stream, North Goose creek, to which we moved to-day, 3 miles from yesterday’s camp. The Shoshonees catch these fish with hook and line and also by driving their ponies into the current and

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marching them up stream. The frightened fish are thus easily driven to some riffle or shallow pool where they are caught by hand. Many buckets have been brought to camp in this way while the quantities taken by the packers and teamsters are something wonderful. Our mess has feasted upon them for the last four or five meals, reserving our stock of bacon for the hard work of active campaigning, soon to commence. Harwood, a courier, brought us mail and dispatches from Fetterman to-day: the dispatches referred generally to the Custer massacre and to the reinforcements, if any, we might need. General Sheridan said he had ordered the remaining four companies of the 5th Cavalry from the Dep’t of the Missouri to Fort Laramie, and if Gen’l Crook should need them they were to join him. The Lieutenant General seemed anxious to have Gen’l. Crook and General Terry’s commands combine. The bill for the construction of the Yellowstone posts has passed and their construction, or at least of one, would be commenced immediately.2 There had been no recent raiding on settlements. Merritt’s command helped to overtake and punish a party of 800 hostile Cheyennes, leaving the Agencies to go North to join hostiles.3 This would, however, not delay him more than a few days. (Mrs. Crook has been injured in a R.R. accident, coming home from Little Rock, but now doing well.[)] (Much mourning was noticed among the Red Cloud Indians, due to the battles with Crook’s and Custer’s commands. If General Crook needed any more troops he could have them.[)] Horses and other supplies had been ordered up to come with Merritt. [Sheridan writes:] “I am entirely satisfied with what you have done and have the greatest confidence in what you will be able to do as soon as you are fully ready to go to work. I want you to communicate with me more frequently. The public is constantly being excited by erroneous and sensational rumors of engagements with Indians when any length of time elapses without hearing from you.” Again he said, “I have thought you both [Crook and Terry] may have communicated and concentrated, if deemed prudent, for any other operations. If the Indians still hold together, I hope you may be able to give them a good hard blow.” (Nickerson telegraphed that the Utes were anxious to come but that the agent has interposed. Authority was 2. This would refer to Fort Keogh, Mt. 3. The fight at War Bonnet Creek, on July 17, 1876.

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applied for to Washington and Nickerson hoped to get them started very soon to join the expedition. . . .[)] July 22d. Day opened a trifle cloudy. Hot wind from the South. As uninteresting a day as any to be mentioned in the whole campaign. The Sho-sho-nees whiled away the afternoon in horse racing and running matches. July 23d Copious, genial showers refreshed the parched earth and dissipated, for a brief season at least, any lurking apprehensions we might have indulged that small bands of the enemy would make an effort to burn us out of the country. The current season has been so dry the grass would ignite almost from the rays of the sun, had not the sluice gates been opened and the waters poured down. The Crow Indian couriers were dispatched back to Terry’s command this afternoon, taking with them Evans, Stewart and Ball, the brave soldiers who preceded them with messages from the same army. A heavy mail was forwarded to Fort Fetterman, including letters from the whole command and dispatches from General Crook to General Sheridan, bearing this date and station: General Sheridan, Chicago. I find myself immeasurably embarrassed by the delay of Merritt’s column, as the extremely hot weather of the last few days has so completely parched the grass, excepting that on the mountain tops, that it burns like tinder; besides, our delay is a source of uneasiness and dissatisfaction to our Indian allies. On Powder, Tongue and Rosebud rivers, the whole country is on fire and filled with smoke. I am in constant dread of an attack; in their last, they set fire to the grass, but as much of it was still green, we extinguished it without difficulty; but should it be fired now, I don’t see how we could stay in the country. I am at a loss what to do: I can prevent their attack by assuming the aggressive, but as my effective strength is less than twelve hundred, exclusive of Indian allies, I could do but little beyond scattering them which would render it impossible to subdue them until the cold weather narrowed their limits; and, in the meantime, they could do an incalculable amount of damage to the settlements. The Corporal, who came through as courier from General Terry gives a very intelligent account of what he saw on his journey; says he followed up the train reported by Capt. Ball, as going towards

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Rosebud, until it reached that stream, where it again divided; the main trail, with nothing but pony tracks upon it, following up Rosebud while all travau[x] trains went Eastward. This means that the wounded were sent where they could be cared for, while the ablebodied rejoined the hostiles. All indications are that the Sioux are in the Big Horn Mountains from which point they can see clear to the Yellowstone and discern the approach of Terry’s column for a distance of at least fifty or sixty miles; this will prevent a union of our columns without their becoming aware of it. I don’t think they will fight us combined, if they know it, but will scatter: So, I have suggested to Terry that the first column which struck them should try to hold them until the other came up. Should these Indians scatter unhurt, they would have greatly the advantage over us, as we would be obliged to divide accordingly, while their thorough knowledge of the country and rapidity of movement would enable them to concentrate on and destroy our small parties. I understood the New York Herald has published most villainous falsehoods from the correspondent with this command in regard to the Rosebud fight, of the 17th ultimo, which are intended to do the command and myself great injustice.4 Of course the reason is very obvious. There was a correct account furnished from here to the N.Y. Tribune but it never reached its destination and it is supposed here that it was suppressed in the Telegraph Office at Fetterman. (signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. My own correspondence was very limited, embracing a few brief sentences to mother and a note to Capt. Nickerson, A.D.C. Spasmodically, during remainder of day and night rain fell in our camp; not, however, in the quantities needed and expected. Captain Sutorius, 3d Cavy. was placed in arrest during the afternoon and charges preferred against him of drunkenness on duty, while in charge of pickets. While a gambling game was going on in the camp of half-breed 4. Crook was referring to a dispatch by Reuben Davenport, which inspired an editorial by the New York Herald, both of which are reprinted in Appendix 16. Bourke was outraged, and mentioned Davenport in derogatory terms on pp 383–84. Not everyone agreed, however, and Davenport had his share of supporters. Among the latter was Lt. Col. Richard Irving Dodge, who joined the campaign later in the fall. After two weeks of observing General Crook, Dodge commented in his own diary, “I don’t blame Davenport of the Herald one bit. He stated what he saw & is cordially hated for it. I cant state what I see except in this private journal.” Kime, Powder River Expedition, 66.

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scouts this night, the amount of money displayed by the bank excited the cupidity of a couple of bystanders, who at once attempted to effect a stampede by discharging their revolvers. They effectively scared the whole camp, which for a short spell imagined that a sneaking detachment of Indians was trying to scare our mule herd. Camp soon quieted down, after venting a thousand execrations upon the teamsters and guides who had occasioned the alarm. I applied myself for several hours after dark to preparing copies of the orders convening the Court, which to-morrow morning at 8 O’clock will proceed to the trial of Captain Sutorius upon the following, Charge. Drunkenness on duty in violation of the 38th Article of War. Specification. In this that he, Captain Alexander Sutorius, 3d U.S. Cavalry, being officer in charge of the pickets of the 3d Cavalry, a portion of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, in the field, was so much under the influence of intoxicating liquors as to be unfit for the proper performance of his duty. This when an attack by hostile Indians might at any moment be expected in the camp of Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, on Middle Goose Ck, Wy. on or about the 22d day of July 1876. Colonel Royall, 3d Cav., commanding Cavalry Battns, forwarded the charges requesting an immediate trial. General Crook immediately issued Special Field Orders, No 20, appointing the Court to meet at these HdQrs, on the 24th day of July, 1876, at 8 o’clock A.M. with the following Detail. 1. Major Alex. Chambers, Fourth Infantry. 2. Major William Arthur, Pay Department. 3. Captain Anson Mills, Third Cavalry. 4. Captain Andrew S. Burt, Ninth Infantry. 5. Thos. B. Burrowes, Ninth Infantry 6. Captain W.E. Noyes, Second Cavalry. 7. Captain Wm. H. Powell, Fourth Infantry. 8. Captain Samuel Munson, Ninth Infantry. 9. Captain Fred K. Van Vliet, Third Cavalry. 10. Capt. D.W. Burke, Fourteenth Infantry 11. Captain Elijah R. Wells. Second Cavalry. First Lieutenant Thad. H. Capron, Ninth Infantry, Judge Advocate. Mr. Davenport, the correspondent of the N.Y. Herald, has been prowling about camp like a whipped cur, since the arrival of the late

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mail with files of his journal containing his letter upon the Rosebud fight and the editorial based thereupon. He seems to feel that everyone has detected his nefarious mission to belie Crook and elevate the unfortunate Custer as his expense. His miserable failure to do this has brought about a retribution of contempt hard to be borne even with his unusual immodest audacity. General Crook has shown a rare self command and an equally unusual foresight in declining to take any personal notice of Davenport, who he permits to remain with the command as usual, the recipient of the same privileges as the other correspondents. July 24th Moved camp across North Goose Creek to the West bank. Court to try Captain Sutorius convened this morning. Sky very cloudy and temperature extremely sultry. Air full of electricity. As the sun climbed the heavens, the clouds became more compact and at length yielded an abundant, gentle and refreshing shower enduring until night. And far into the horns of night, the welcome storm lasted, cooling the brazen sky and moisturing the dessicated herbage so lately a cause of gloomy mistrust, for should it by accident or design have been enkindled, it would have been hard for us to foresee what result our labors to extinguish it would have. July 25th A leaden mantle palled the sky: all morning the rains poured down, welcome as a strong ally against the Sioux. Nothing to do in camp except read and write, play whist or engage in conversation. The Court for the trial of Captain Sutorius resumed its session after a short adjournment taken yesterday to give the accused an opportunity to secure counsel and prepare his defense. A brief lull in the rainstorm was improved by our Sho-sho-nee allies in making a reconnaisance to the front as far as the South fork of Tongue river, four or five miles to the North West. There they saw and were seen by a patrol of the hostiles, numbering fifty or more. No shots were exchanged. The two parties contented themselves with signals of mutual defiance and challenge, by waving blankets. The Sho-sho-nees returned to camp on a full run. Herds were drawn in, pickets strengthened and other preparatory movements ordered. But no attack was made upon us. Yet as we are now in almost plain sight of the pickets and patrols of our foe, it does not occur to me how a conflict can be averted much longer. If the 5th Cavalry delay many days, hostilities must be commenced without them. The heavy showers of the few days just elapsed have saturated the ground with

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moisture [and] we need not be disturbed with fears of a conflagration: at least, not for a week and by that time, we ought to be able to assume the initiative. Some little while after dark, Louis Richaud and a few companinons who had been hunting in the craggy hills in the cañon of South Tongue river made their way back to camp. They had seen no Indians and no fresh signs during their absence, but reported those streams as filled with fine trout and the country filled with Rocky Mtn sheep, of which they secured six or seven out of a great number killed. They had taken station on a precipice two hundred feet high, shooting down from the top. Many wounded lambs and ewes escaped to die elsewhere. Our mess was presented with a supply of fresh, tender mutton, acknowledged with gratitude. July 26th. No disturbance last night, owing, we may suppose, to the continuation of the storm. Frank Gruard, Cosgrove and a small party were sent out to follow the tracks of the Indians seen yesterday: they established the character of the hostiles as a patrol observing our movements and then returned. Showers fell on the course of this day, preserving the beneficial effects of the heavy falls of yesterday and preceeding days. The General Court Martial in Captain Sutorius’ case completed its labors to-day, but adjourned until 10 A.M., of the 28th to give the accused an opportunity to prepare his final statement. A grave accident happened this evening to a mule train crossing with an empty wagon to the other side of the creek, whose waters had increased greatly in consequence of heavy rains near the summit of the mountains. The teamster neglected to keep his animals headed up stream; one of them, frightened at an object on the bank, reared and plunged and its mates sharing its terror, speedily became unmanageable. The wagon itself caught against one of the boulders in the torrent and was almost in an instant overturned by the rushing waters and snapped in twain. Three of the miles were drowned in the harness, but the other three and the driver were rescued by a small party of Sho-sho-nees who were standing on the stream bank near the ford. Charles Russell, our master of transportation, saved the fragments of the wagon and afterwards showed the inexperienced teamsters how to manage their animals under similar circumstances. He took a wagon, loaded with a weight of 3000 lbs., to give it steadiness, attached to eight strong mules, and had a man on horseback go in front, leading the animals by a leather strap. The stream was crossed

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diagonally to secure the best ford and to obviate to the fullest the pressure of the water. July 27th At day-break, struck tents and moved camp four miles North West to the Middle fork of Tongue river. It is hard to distinguish between the different branches of this stream, issuing from the Range. They are, without an exception of considerable volume, rocky beds, currents very swift, 6 to 8 miles an hour and even more, water, very cold and amply stocked with trout. This one is the smallest yet camped upon. It is not more than ten yards wide. Many trout were abstracted from its cool and shady recesses almost as soon as the command to unsaddle had been executed. I have abandoned any attempt at computing the number; certainly, not less than 10.000 have been cooked and eaten, and the grand total may reach as high as 15.000! This number may seem incredible; let it be borne in mind, we have not less than fifteen hundred and fifty officers, soldiers, teamsters and Indians subsisting on this delicate fish and that they have been eating them freely for more than three weeks. Then the aggregate will be accepted without a murmur. Clouds of grass-hoppers flew over camp this morning carried by a good strong upper current of air in a direction East South East. They fairly well darkened the rays of the sun. Heavy smoke arose in the points of the compass where Rosebud and Little Big Horn rivers flow. Captain Mills, of the 3d Cavalry, with a small detachment ascended the mountain summits a few miles from camp. He observed the country with much care and gave as his opinion that something unusual was going on. A large fire was burning on the Little Big Horn and signal smokes were appearing and disappearing with frequency. July 28th. Most important news was brought to camp to-day, by courier, Fairbanks. The dispatches from General Sheridan read as follows: Chicago, Ills., July 25, 1876. General George Crook, &c. I have received all your dispatches including those sent by the courier of the 15th. General Merritt, with ten companies of his Regiment, will reach your camp, August 1st. He drove the Indians who recently attempted to join the hostiles back to the Agency, killing one.5 It is thought they are now sufficiently frightened to remain in. I approve of your inten5. This was Yellow Hair (also known as Yellow Hand), a Cheyenne who was killed in single combat with Buffalo Bill Cody at War Bonnet Creek.

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tion to form a junction with Terry and after Indians are defeated, if they make a stand, I will want Terry, and a portion of his command to build the post on the Yellowstone and will want you to continue the campaign. Terry moved his depot from the mouth of Powder river to either the mouth of Rosebud or Big Horn and expressed the greatest desire to join you. We cannot afford a reverse to either column so long as there is a chance of uniting and thus increasing our strength.The Ute Indians will be sent you to help clean up the country and the Crows have asked and received additional ammunition to take the field. The Indian Dept. has given me entire control over Indians at the Agencies and I propose not to allow any Indians in the field to return to them until they have unconditionally surrendered all arms, ponies and families. I will build both posts on the Yellowstone, if the stage of water will permit and will supply them well so that the force operating in the field in the fall and winter can draw from them. I have been pressed to call out volunteers, but have not seen as yet any necessity. Reno writes that the 7th Cavalry could have handled the Indians on the Little Big Horn, if they had all gone in together. If you succeed in defeating the Indians I will go up the Yellowstone about August 20th to push the posts and will try and communicate with you. Look to your base of supplies until you have heard from me definitely about supplies on the Yellowstone. As soon as Merritt joins you, I think it will be well to push out without further day. (signed.) P.H. Sheridan, Lieutenant General. Red Cloud 18th July, via Ft. Laramie 19th July 10.15 A.m. General George Crook, Camp on Goose Ck, via Fort Fetterman. Your dispatch of the 12th just received. By authority from the Lieutenant General, I moved from Raw Hide by forced marched to intercept eight hundred Cheyennes and a number of Sioux who were reported leaving the Agency for your front. I succeeded in cutting them off, but being informed of my presence by runners, they succeeded in escaping from the trails to the Agency. I don’t think they will attempt to go North again. I will march to join you without unnecessary delay. I am sorry that my horses are much jaded but a few days’ reasonable marching will make them all right. We are all anxious to be with you. (Signed.) Merritt

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General Williams telegraphed from Omaha that Surgeon Clements was on his way to join the Expedition as Medical Director of Expedn.,* and also sent the following, Omaha, Neb., July 23d, 1876. Major General Crook &c. Ute Indians were prevented from joining you by Agent. Lieutenant [James Herbert] Spencer, Fourth Infantry, left Rawlins [Wy.] about five days ago with requisite authority from Interior Depart. for them and will bring them forward at the earliest moment. Cannot tell as yet how many there will be, or when they will arrive at Rail Road [in Rawlins]. Will hurry them forward as soon as possible. Merritt leaves Laramie to-morrow and hopes to join you about 1st of August. I send forward to him and you all available horses and horse equipment at Cheyenne; this, after consultation with the Lieutenant General. There will be ample supplies of all kinds for you at Fetterman. Some depredations in neighborhood of Sydney [Nebraska] reported. All well and working well. (signed.) R. Williams Assist. Adjutant General. The burden of the information conveyed in our private correspondence was the horror and agitation occasioned throughout the country by the news of the Custer massacre. Fairbanks encountered great trouble from storms of rains: floods prevailed over the country. Powder river was 12 feet deep. Crazy Woman had been fully as bad a day or two before he reached its banks. At and near Fort Fetterman, pools of water a foot in depth, covered the ground, while the beds of the dry creeks between Fort Fetterman and Fort Reno had turned into quagmires. This day has been bright and cloudless and not too warm. Capt. Sutorius’ court adjourned sine die. . . .6 A game of Base-Ball, Infantry Picked nine of lieuts versus Cavalry ditto,—was played this evening. Infantry Officers won the game 17 to 30. * “On recommendation of the Medical Director [of the department] and by suggestion of the Surgeon General”. 6. Sutorius was dismissed from the service on September 25, 1876. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:937.

Appendix 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Persons Mentioned in the Diary

Due to the large number of sources for the biographical sketches in this section, footnotes or endnotes would have been impractical. Consequently, I have placed the sources in parentheses at the end of each entry. In cases where the author has only one publication in the bibliography, I have used only the author’s last name. In case of multiple publications by the same author, I have placed the date of publication of the edition cited. Military When discussing the careers of cavalrymen, the designation of units overlapping the Civil War tends to be confusing. In mid1861, the Regular Army had six mounted regiments, viz. First and Second Dragoons, Mounted Riflemen, and First, Second and Third Cavalry. On August 3, 1861, congress reorganized these regiments, designating them all “cavalry,” and renumbering them as follows: First Dragoons to First Cavalry Second Dragoons to Second Cavalry Mounted Riflemen to Third Cavalry First Cavalry to Fourth Cavalry Second Cavalry to Fifth Cavalry 389

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Third Cavalry to Sixth Cavalry. After the war, additional Regular Army mounted units were authorized as needed. (Herr and Wallace, 116) ADAM, Emil (1931-1903), which Bourke spelled “Adams,” was captain in the 5th Cavalry. A native of Bavaria, he served in that country’s army before settling in Illinois. He served in the Illinois infantry during the Civil War and entered the Regular Army in 1867. He was breveted to major for gallantry in action against Indians at Muchos Cañones, Arizona, on Sept. 25, 1872, but was suspended for six months in 1874, when his failure to react to an attack on a wagon train near San Carlos led to a major outbreak. He participated in Crook’s Bighorn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876, and in the Nez Percé War. He retired as a major in 1893. (Heitman, 1:151; Altshuler, 1991, 2-3) ALDRICH, Bishop (1835-77) enlisted in the army in 1855. After serving in the Civil War he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1866. He was regimental quartermaster of the 8th Infantry, and died at Fort Whipple of heart disease. (Altshuler, 1991, 5) ALLEN, William (1845?-82) was a Volunteer private during the Civil War, and enlisted in the Regular Army in 1865. While a sergeant in the 23rd Infantry, he participated in the fight at Turret Mountain on March 27, 1873, for which he later received the Medal of Honor. He was promoted to second lieutenant of the 12th Infantry in 1873. He died at Fort Mojave of an intestinal inflammation. (Altshuler, 1991, 7) ALLISON, James Nicholas, entered West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was posted to the 2nd Cavalry as a second lieutenant, a position he held at the time Bourke knew him. (Heitman, 1:160) ALMY, Jacob (1842-73) was first lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. A Quaker from Massachusetts, he nevertheless joined a state volunteer unit during the Civil War, but was mustered out in 1862 to accept an appointment to West Point. After graduation, he served in Indian campaigns in Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming, before being posted to Arizona. He commanded the post at San Carlos where he was murdered during a confrontation with unruly Indians during a ration issue on May 27, 1873. See CHAN-DEISI; COCHINAY; Appendix 14. (Heitman, 1:161; Altshuler, 1991, 7-8) ANDREWS, William Howard (d. 1880), joined the Volunteers as a captain in 1862, and was mustered out as a brevet major. He was

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named first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry in 1866, and assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp McDowell, Arizona, in December 1870, serving as post adjutant for the next ten months. He retired in disability as captain in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 10; Heitman, 1:167) ARTHUR, William, joined the Volunteer artillery as first lieutenant in 1862. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. He joined the 3rd Artillery as second lieutenant in 1866. He was appointed major and paymaster on July 26, 1876, and retired in 1898. (Heitman, 1:172) BABCOCK, John Breckinridge (1843-1909), a native of Louisiana nevertheless served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was breveted to major for gallantry. In 1867, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutenant the following year. He went to Arizona with the regiment in 1872. He was breveted to colonel for gallant service in action against Indians at Tonto Creek, on June 16, 1873, and at Four Peaks, Arizona, on January 16, 1874. He retired as a brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 14-15; Heitman, 1:178) BAILY, Charles Meigs (d. 1885), whose named Bourke sometimes spelled as “Bailey,” was the son of Maj. Elisha Ingrahm Baily, medical director for the Department of Arizona. Charles Baily was second lieutenant in the 8th Infantry at Camp Apache. ( Altshuler, 1991, 17) BALL, Edward (d. 1884), joined the army under an assumed name in 1844. In 1861, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 12th Infantry, and the same year transferred to the 2nd Cavalry. He was appointed captain in 1865. Ball was major of the 7th Cavalry at the time of his retirement in 1884. (Heitman, 1:187) BENDIRE, Charles (1836-97), a native of Darmstadt, enlisted in the U.S. Army in New York in 1854. He served in Arizona and New Mexico prior to the Civil War, and in the Regular Army during the war. He returned to Arizona in 1871, but was detached to recruiting duty the following year. His subsequent Indian campaigns were in the Northwest. Following his retirement in 1886, Bendire became a renowned ornithologist. (Altshuler, 1991, 28) BIRD, Charles (1838-1920), was appointed first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, and eventually mustered out as colonel. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry, which was reorganized as part of the 23rd Infantry later that year. He was

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promoted to first lieutenant in 1867. He served under Crook in the Departments of the Columbia, Arizona, and the Platte, and retired as a brigadier general in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 33) BISHOP, Hoel Smith (1850-1925), graduated from West Point in 1873, and was posted to Fort Whipple as second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. In 1876, he participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Bannock War in Wyoming and Idaho in 1878. He retired as colonel in 1913. (Altshuler, 1991, 35) BRADLEY, Luther Prentice (1822-1910), native of Connecticut, was appointed lieutenant colonel of a Volunteer regiment in 1861, rising to brigadier general by 1864. In 1866, he entered the Regular Army as lieutenant colonel of the 27th Infantry. He commanded Fort C.F. Smith, Montana, during the Red Cloud War. As lieutenant colonel of the 9th Infantry, he was in command of Camp Robinson, Nebraska, when Crazy Horse was killed there in 1877. Bradley was appointed colonel of the 3rd Infantry in 1879, and was commander of the Military District of New Mexico in 1881, during the Cibicue outbreak in Arizona. He took troops to reinforce Fort Apache, Arizona, and commanded a special military district created to deal with the crisis. When New Mexico was attached to the Department of Arizona during the Geronimo War, Bradley served under Crook in an effort to contain the raiding. He retired in 1886. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:157; Heitman, 1:239) BRADY, George Keyports (d. 1899), enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, but soon was commissioned first lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He served with distinction in the Civil War, finishing with the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1866, he transferred to the 23rd Infantry as captain. He was lieutenant colonel of the 17th Infantry when he retired in 1894. (Heitman, 1:239) BRAYTON, George Mitchell (1834-1911), was appointed first lieutenant of the 15th Infantry in 1861, breveted to major for gallantry in 1865. The following year, he transferred to the 8th Infantry as captain. He was named commander of Camp Verde in 1874 and participated in several scouts. Although he left Arizona with his regiment in 1878, he frequently was sent back throughout the remainder of his career. He retired in 1892 as colonel of the 3rd Infantry. (Altshuler, 1991, 42; Heitman, 1:241) BRENT, Thomas Lee, Jr. (ca. 1846-80), entered West Point in 1861, and upon graduation was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry. In 1871,

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he was captain of the 3rd Cavalry in Arizona, where he served under Crook during a skirmish above the Mogollon Rim. He retired in 1876. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:165; Heitman, 1:242) BRISBIN, James Sanks (1837-92), known as “Grasshopper Jim” for his interest in developing Western agriculture, was commissioned as second lieutenant of the lst Dragoons (renumbered 1st Cavalry) in 1861. He finished the Civil War as major general of Volunteers. In 1866, he was transferred to the 9th Cavalry, as captain, and two years later was appointed major of the 2nd Cavalry. As commander of Fort Ellis, Montana, Brisbin led a relief force to rescue forty-six citizens besieged by Indians at Fort Pease, a private stockade on the Yellowstone River. This incident, in February 1876, was one of the first actions of the Great Sioux War. He later served under Col. Nelson Miles, when Miles followed Sitting Bull as far as the Canadian border. He was colonel of the 8th Cavalry at the time of his death. Brisbin wrote several books boosting development of the West, the best known of which is The Beef Bonanza: or, How to Get Rich on the Plains. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:170; Heitman, 1:246) BRODIE, Alexander Oswald (1849-1918), an 1870 graduate of West Point, was posted as second lieutenant of the 1st Cavalry at Camp Thomas (later Camp Apache), Arizona in 1871. He received commendations for actions against Apaches in 1873. He left with his company for the Pacific Coast in May 1873. He resigned in 1877, but reentered the army in 1883, serving sporadically in the Regular Army, Volunteers, and National Guard, for the next thirty years. He succeeded Theodore Roosevelt as lieutenant colonel of the Rough Riders, and after Roosevelt became president, was appointed territorial governor of Arizona. He retired as colonel in 1913. (Altshuler, 1991, 43-44) BRODRICK, Patrick Thomas (d. 1886), native of Ireland, was an 1868 graduate of West Point. He served in the 23rd Infantry under Crook in the Departments of the Columbia and Arizona. Chronically ill, he died in New York. (Altshuler, 1991, 44). BROWN, Frederick H. (d. 1866), native of New York, enlisted in the 18th Infantry in 1861, earning a commission later the same year. He was regimental quartermaster at Fort Phil Kearny, and died in the Fetterman Massacre on December 21, 1866. See also FETTERMAN, William Judd; GRUMMOND, George Washington. (See Brown; O’Neal, 56-57)

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BROWN, William Henry (1840?-75), native of Maryland, was inspector general of the Department of Arizona under Crook. He enlisted in the army in 1861, and was made second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry later that year. He was breveted to major in 1865 for gallantry and meritorious service at Five Forks, Virginia. Crook recommended for brevets to brigadier general for service at the Battle of the Caves in 1872, and fights in the Superstition Mountains, Sierra Ancha, and Mazatzals in 1873. He committed suicide on June 4, 1875. According to Constance Wynn Altshuler, he may have been in love with Irene Rucker, who had married Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan the previous day. See also NANNI-CHADDI. (Altshuler, 1991, 46; O’Neal, 57-58; Heitman, 1:254; Bourke, Diary, 2b:73) BRYANT, Montgomery (1831-1901), native of Kansas, joined the army as second lieutenant of the 6th Infantry in 1857. He went west with the regiment in 1859, serving at Fort Mojave, Arizona, and Fort Yuma, California, until October 1861, when the 6th was transferred east. He served with distinction in the Civil War. He was promoted to major of the 14th Infantry in 1874. He retired as colonel of the 13th Infantry in 1894. (Altshuler, 1991, 47) BUBB, John Wilson, enlisted in the 12th Infantry in 1861, and was commissioned as lieutenant five years later. In 1869, he was assigned to the 4th Infantry as first lieutenant, serving as quartermaster from 1872 to 1875. During Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, he was acting commissary of subsistence, and played a significant part during the campaign. (Heitman, 1:257) BURKE, Daniel Webster (1841-1911), native of Connecticut, enlisted in the 2nd Infantry in 1858, serving in Minnesota, Dakota, and Nebraska. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1862, serving with distinction in the Civil War. In 1876, he was captain of the 14th Infantry, serving in Crook’s campaigns. He commanded Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, at the Spotted Tail Agency, when Crazy Horse surrendered, and it was at his suggestion that Crazy Horse went to Camp Robinson, where he was killed. Burke, however, had no knowledge of any plans to confine Crazy Horse at Robinson. He retired in 1899 as brigadier general. See also CLARK, Walter Philo; CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:192-93) BURNS, James (ca.1836-74), native of Ireland, enlisted in the army in 1858. He was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry in 1865, eventually rising to the rank of captain in 1872.

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Crook recommended Burns for three brevets after actions resulting in the surrender of some two hundred Yavapais. Burns suffered from an unspecified pulmonary disease, and died of a lung hemorrhage on August 15, 1874. Bourke sometimes spelled it “Byrnes.” (Altshuler, 1991, 50; O’Neal, 65-66; Heitman, 1:265) BURROUGHS refers to Capt. Thomas Bredin Burrowes (d. 1885), who was appointed first lieutenant of the 18th Infantry in 1861, dismissed and reinstated. He was promoted to captain in 1864. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was captain of the 9th Infantry. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:267) BURT, Andrew Sheridan (1839-1915), native of Ohio, enlisted as a Volunteer in 1861, but almost immediately was commissioned second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry. He was promoted to the active rank of captain in 1863, and breveted to major for gallant and meritorious service during the Atlanta Campaign. After the war he was posted to Fort Bridger, Utah, and Fort C.F. Smith, Montana. With the reduction of the army he was reassigned to the 9th Infantry. Burt participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. He retired as brigadier general in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 50-51; Heitman, 1:267) BYRNE, Thomas (c. 1827-81), native of Ireland, enlisted in the nd 2 Infantry in Philadelphia in 1854. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1862, and was breveted for gallantry at Gettysburg. He was a captain at the time of his reassignment to the 12th Infantry in 1871. He died at Fort Mojave in 1881. (Altshuler, 1991, 51-52; Heitman, 1:272). CAIN, Avery Billings (d. 1879), of Vermont, was appointed first lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1861, and promoted to captain in 1863. He was breveted to major for gallant and meritorious service at the North Anna River in Virginia in 1864. (Heitman, 1:273) CAPRON, Thaddeus Hurlbut (d. 1890), enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned first lieutenant in 1863. After the Civil War, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1871. He retired in 1887. Capron left a diary and series of letters on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Heitman, 1:281) CARPENTER, William Lewis (1844-98), native of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Artillery in 1864. He was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to the 9th Infantry in 1867, and promoted to

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first lieutenant in 1873. He served on survey and scientific expeditions, including to the Bighorn Mountains, and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He later served in Arizona, where he was promoted to captain. (Altshuler, 1991, 58-59) CARR, Camillo Casatti Cadmus (1842-1914), native of Virginia, he joined the 1st Cavalry in 1862, and was commissioned as second lieutenant the following year. He served with distinction during the Civil War. In 1866, he went to Fort McDowell, Arizona. After service elsewhere, he returned to Arizona as captain of Company I, 1st Cavalry, and was recommended for a brevet for gallantry in the 1872-73 winter campaign. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1903, and commanded the Department of Dakota until he retired in 1906. His memoirs, A Cavalryman in Indian Country, edited by Dan L. Thrapp, were published in 1974. (Altshuler, 1991, 59; Heitman, 1:284) CARR, Eugene Asa (1830-1910), native of New York, was an 1850 graduate of West Point, and served on the frontier until the outbreak of the Civil War when he joined the Volunteers. He was breveted to brigadier general of Volunteers in 1862, and received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. After being mustered out of the Volunteers, he was appointed major of the 5th Cavalry, retroactive to 1862, and again posted to the frontier. He was appointed lieutenant colonel in 1873. After service in Arizona from 1872 to 1876, the 5th was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Carr participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and led the preliminary relief force at Slim Buttes, on September 9, 1876. He was promoted to colonel of the 6th Cavalry in 1879, and retired at brigadier general in 1893. See also EMORY, William Helmsley; MERRITT, Wesley. (King; Altshuler, 1991, 60-61; O’Neal, 67-72) CARTER, William Harding (1851-1925), native of Tennessee, served as a dispatch rider during the Civil War. He entered West Point, graduating in 1873, and was posted to the 8th Infantry at Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming. He was sent to Camp McDowell the following year, and remained in Arizona in the 5th and 6th Cavalry Regiments for the better part of a decade. He received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at the Cibicue Creek fight. He retired as major general in 1915, although he was recalled to duty during the First

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World War. Carter wrote several military histories, the best known of which is probably From Yorktown to Santiago With the Sixth Cavalry. (Altshuler, 1991, 62-63) CHAMBERS, Alexander (1832-88), native of New York, was an 1853 graduate of West Point. He served in the Southwest and against the Seminoles in Florida. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was captain of the 18th Infantry. He finished the war as a brevet colonel of the Regular Army and brevet brigadier general of Volunteers. In 1876, he was major of the 4th Infantry, in command of Fort Fetterman. In October of that year, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 21st Infantry. He commanded the infantry contingent of Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and led them in the fight at Slim Buttes. He was colonel of the 17th Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:293; Thrapp, 1991, 1:248) CHASE, George Francis (1848-1925), 1871 graduate of West Point, was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry the following year. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and, as first lieutenant, served in Arizona. He retired as a brigadier general in 1912. (Altshuler, 1991, 67) CHERRY, Samuel Austin, of Indiana, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry. He transferred to the 5th Cavalry on July 28, 1876. He was murdered by a soldier on May 11, 1881. (Heitman, 1:298) CLARK, William Philo (1845-84), native of New York, graduated from West Point in 1868, and was appointed second lieutenant, 2nd Cavalry, at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming. He served on General Crook’s staff in 1876 and 1877, figuring prominently in the Great Sioux War, particularly with events surrounding Crazy Horse’s death. Much of the acrimony between Clark and Crazy Horse that set the event into motion appears to have stemmed from Frank Grouard’s mistranslation of a remark by Crazy Horse. During the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1878-79, Clark managed to round up a large band without bloodshed. His book, Indian Sign Language, remains definitive. He also wrote an account of Crazy Horse’s death, which was edited by Robert A. Clark, and published in The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, in 1976. See also BURKE, Daniel Webster; GROUARD, Frank; CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:278; Robinson, 1995, 337-38) CLEMENTS, Bennett A., was assigned to departmental headquarters in Omaha. He joined the army as a first lieutenant and assis-

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tant surgeon in 1856, serving in Florida, Texas, and New Mexico. He was promoted to surgeon and major in 1863, and administered hospitals during and after the Civil War. Dr. Clements participated in General Crook’s Horse Meat March, and filed a report giving the medical effects of the ordeal. He also was one of the medical officers who, in 1884, certified that Ranald Mackenzie was insane and unfit for further duty. Clements’s report on the Horse Meat March is found in Greene, 1993, 97ff; and on Mackenzie in Robinson, 1993, 323-24. CLIFFORD, Walter (d. 1883), of New York, enlisted in the 16th Infantry in 1860, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1863. He transferred to the 34th Infantry in 1866, and was promoted to captain a year later. In 1871, he was assigned to the 7th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:310) COALE, John Holbrook (d. 1883), of Maryland, was commissioned as a captain of the commissary service in the Volunteers in 1862, and promoted to lieutenant colonel a year later. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 27th Infantry, but at the time of Bourke’s writing, was serving in the 2nd Cavalry. He was a first lieutenant at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:312) COATES, Edwin Mortimer, was commissioned first lieutenant of the Volunteers in 1861, but resigned to accept a commission as second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. At the end of the Civil War, he was captain, and at the time of Bourke’s writing, was serving in the 4th Infantry. He retired in 1900 as colonel of the 7th Infantry. Bourke refers to him as “Major Coates,” but no such brevet appears on his record. (Heitman, 1:312) COPPINGER, John Joseph (1834-1909), native of Ireland, was a professional soldier. He was appointed captain of the 14th Infantry in 1861, and served with distinction during the Civil War. In 1866, he was assigned to the 23rd Infantry, serving in San Francisco and Alaska before arriving in Arizona in 1872. He commanded Camp Verde until 1874 when he was reassigned to the Department of the Platte. He was breveted to colonel for service against hostile Indians. He was confirmed as brigadier general in 1896, and commanded the Department of the Platte. He retired in 1898, after being appointed major general of Volunteers. (Altshuler, 1991, 78; Heitman, 1:327) CRAIG, Louis Aleck (1851-1904), native of Missouri, was an 1874 graduate of West Point. In 1875, he joined the 6th Cavalry at Camp

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McDowell, and spent much of the following decade in Arizona. He became senior instructor in cavalry tactics at West Point. He retired because of ill health as major of the 15th Cavalry in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 83) CRAIG, Samuel, of New Jersey, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in January 1864. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 16th Infantry. From 1869 until he resigned in 1878, he was assigned to the 8th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:334) CRAWFORD, Emmet (1844-86), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Volunteer during the Civil War and was mustered out as first lieutenant. In 1866, he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 27th Infantry. With the consolidation of regiments, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp Verde in 1871, moving with the regiment to the Platte where he served in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Crawford was promoted to captain in 1879, and in 1882 was assigned to Camp Thomas, Arizona. Upon Crook’s return to Arizona, he assigned Crawford as commander of Indian Scouts, and military superintendent at San Carlos. During the Geronimo Campaign, he was killed in a skirmish with Mexican militia. See also THREE BEARS. (Altshuler, 1991, 84-85; O’Neal, 9596) CREW. Bourke’s mention of Lieutenant Crew probably refers to First Lt. Hanson H. Crews, 19th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:338) DALLAS, Andrew James, military Indian agent at San Carlos, attended the U.S. Naval Academy from 1846 to 1851. In 1861, he served briefly as a private in a District of Columbia Volunteer unit, but in May of that year was commissioned as captain of the 12th Infantry. Dallas served with distinction and was breveted to major for gallant and meritorious service at Petersburg. He was promoted to major of the 23rd Infantry in 1869, and in that capacity served as agent until he was relieved by General O. O. Howard, and replaced by Dr. Milan Soulé in 1872. He retired at lieutenant colonel of the 22nd Infantry in 1880, and died four years later. See HOWARD, Oliver Otis. (Heitman, 1:351; Bancroft, 1889, 565) DELANEY, Hayden (1845-90), native of Ohio, served as an enlisted man in the Volunteers during the Civil War. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1867, and was breveted for service against the Paiute Indians of Oregon in 1868. He was bre-

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veted a second time for action in Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s attack on the Cheyennes on November 25, 1876, during Crook’s Powder River Expedition in Wyoming. He was promoted to captain in 1889, but suffered from lung hemorrhages. He died during sick leave. (Altshuler, 1991, 100; Bourke, 1980, 390-92) DENNIS. No surgeon named Dennis is listed in Heitman. DEWEES, Thomas Bull (d. 1886), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1858. When the regiment was redesignated 2nd Cavalry in 1861, he was promoted to second lieutenant, eventually attaining the rank of captain. In October 1881, he was named major of the 9th Cavalry. Bourke occasionally refers to him as “major,” but no such brevet appears on his record. (Heitman, 1:370-71) DODGE, Frederick Leighton (d. 1891), native of New Hampshire, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and was appointed first lieutenant in 1865. In 1867, he was named second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in the Department of the Columbia. He was transferred to Fort Whipple, Arizona, in 1872, and promoted to first lieutenant a year later. His regiment transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1874. In 1889, he suffered a mental breakdown, and retired two years later. A few months after his retirement, he committed suicide. (Altshuler, 1991, 105) DODGE, Richard Irving (1827-95), 1848 graduate of West Point, was a grand-nephew of Washington Irving who shared Irving’s literary bent. Like Bourke, Dodge was a prolific diarist and observer as well as a naturalist, publishing several books on western wildlife and on Indian culture. Perhaps his best known are The Black Hills: A Minute Description of the Routes, Scenery, Soil, Climate, Timber, Gold, Geology, Zoology, etc. (1876), and Our Wild Indians: Thirty Three Years’ Personal Experience Among the Red Men of the Great West (1882). He spent part of the period prior to the Civil War on the Texas frontier. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who transferred to the Volunteers to attain advancement during the war, Dodge remained in the Regular service, although he was breveted to colonel for faithful and meritorious service in the organization of the Volunteer armies. Promoted to the active rank of major in 1864, he spent much of the postwar era on the frontier. He was named lieutenant colonel of the 23rd Infantry in 1873, and promoted to colonel and aide-de-camp to General Sherman in 1882. He retired

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in 1891. Wayne R. Kime has edited Dodge’s book, The Plains of North America and Their Inhabitants (1989), as well as his journals of the Black Hills Expedition, the Powder River Campaign, and service in Oklahoma. For all his work, it is remarkable that Dodge has received little mention in biographical encyclopedias. (Kime, 1997, 9; Heitman, 1:377) DREW, George Augustus (1832-1921), native of Michigan, was appointed a captain of the volunteers in 1862, and promoted to major the following year. He was breveted for distinguished service in the Shenandoah and against Richmond. He was named second lieutenant of the 10th Infantry in 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1868. A year later, he was reassigned to the 3rd Cavalry. He was transferred to Camp Bowie in 1871, and to the Department of the Platte the same year. He served as acting assistant quartermaster for the Big Horn Expedition under Reynolds in 1876. He retired as a captain in 1896, but was advanced to major in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 108-9) EGAN, James (d. 1883) called Teddy by his friends, was a native of Ireland who enlisted in the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1856. He served with distinction in the Civil War, and was named second lieutenant of the new 2nd Cavalry in 1863. He was promoted to captain in 1868, and in 1872 was among the officers assigned to the Grand Duke Tsarevich Alexis’s tour of the Plains. Egan’s initiative during Reynolds’s Powder River fight prevented a confused, blundering situation from becoming potentially disastrous. He retired on disability in 1879, due to wounds and injuries received in the line of duty. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:454; Heitman, 1:399) EMORY, William Helmsley, 1826 graduate of West Point, served in the Mexican War and was commissioner for the 1857 boundary survey with Mexico. During the Civil War he earned the brevet rank of major general. After the war, he spent much of his tenure as colonel of the 5th Cavalry on detached duty. Actual command of the regiment was exercised by Lt. Col. Eugene Carr. Emory retired on July 1, 1876, with a “graveyard” appointment as brigadier general. He died in 1887. See also CARR, Eugene Asa; MERRITT, Wesley. (King; Heitman, 1:405) EVANS, Andrew Wallace (1829-1906), native of Maryland, graduated from West Point together with Crook in 1852. He served on the frontier until 1863, and was breveted for the battle of Valverde

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in 1862. He was named colonel of the 1st Maryland Cavalry in 1864, and was breveted for distinguished service in the Appomattox Campaign. In 1865, he was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry, and posted to the frontier. He went to Arizona in 1870, and served under Crook as departmental inspector general. Evans transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1876, and commanded a battalion during Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1883 as lieutenant colonel of the 7th Cavalry. (Altshuler, 1991, 123) FERRIS, Samuel Peter, of Connecticut, entered West Point in 1857, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 8th Infantry. He transferred to the Volunteers and served as colonel of the 28th Connecticut Infantry. In 1866, he was promoted to captain of the 30th Infantry, Regular Army, and transferred to the 23rd Infantry in 1869. He died in 1882. (Heitman, 1:417-18) FETTERMAN, William Judd (ca. 1833-66), native of Connecticut, enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was breveted to lieutenant colonel for distinguished service. Commissioned as a captain in the 18th Infantry, he was posted to Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming. On December 21, 1866, he led his men against a band of Indians, following a decoy party into a trap. Fetterman and his entire eighty-man command died in the fight. (O’Neal, 113-15; Brown) FITZGERALD, Michael John, native of Ireland, served as an enlisted man first in the artillery then in the ordnance from 1856 to 1861. He served as hospital steward until 1863, when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. By 1876, he was captain. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:423) FOOTE, Morris Cooper, native of New York, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to lieutenant the following year. In 1866, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, and in 1868, to first lieutenant. He was adjutant on the Dodge-Jenney Black Hills Expedition, and later served as regimental adjutant of the 9th from 1879 to 1883. He retired as brigadier general in 1903. (Heitman, 1:427) FORSYTH, George Alexander “Sandy” (1837-1915) is best remembered for holding out with fifty men during a six-day siege by some 750 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors at Beecher’s Island, Colorado, in 1867. A native of Illinois, he enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was appointed first lieutenant later that year. He served as an aide to Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, and was breveted to

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brigadier general. In 1866, he was appointed major of the 9th Cavalry. After serving intermittently as secretary and aide to General Sheridan between 1869 and 1881, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry. He served in Arizona from 1884 to 1887. A year later, he was suspended for three years on half pay for financial irregularities. He retired in 1890, and wrote two books, The Story of the Soldier and Thrilling Days of Army Life. (Altshuler, 1991, 133-34; Lamar, 381; Thrapp, 1991, 1:509-10) FOSTER, James Evans Heron (1848-83), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1864 and was discharged in 1865. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry in 1873, and distinguished himself in the Rosebud Fight. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879, but tuberculosis forced him onto the inactive list in 1881. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:511) FOWLER, Joshua Lounsberry (d. 1889), entered West Point in 1864, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1869, and served as regimental quartermaster from 1874 to 1880. He was major of the 10th Cavalry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:433) FUREY, John Vincent, of New York, enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in 1861. Taking a discharge in 1862, he reentered the Volunteers two years later as quartermaster captain. He was breveted to major of the Volunteers for meritorious service in the Quarter Master Department during the Civil War. Furey was appointed captain and assistant quartermaster of the Regular Army in 1867. Although Altshuler (Cavalry Yellow & Infantry Blue) does not list him among the officers who served in Arizona, he was Crook’s quartermaster both there and later in the Platte. He retired in 1903 as brigadier general. (Heitman, 1:441) GIBBON, John (1827-96), known to the Indians as “No Hip Bone” or “One Who Limps” because of a crippling wound he received at Gettysburg, was an 1847 graduate of West Point. During the late 1840s and 1850s, he served in Mexico, the frontier, and in the Seminole campaigns in Florida. During the Civil War, he commanded the “Iron Brigade” at Second Manassas and in Maryland, ultimately rising to the rank of major general of Volunteers. After the war, he was appointed colonel of the 36th Infantry, and in 1869, of the 7th Infantry. With Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry, he relieved Maj. Marcus Reno at the Little Bighorn, and discovered the remains of Custer’s col-

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umn. He also participated in the Nez Percé War, and in 1885, was appointed brigadier general. He retired in 1891. (Warner, 171-72; Thrapp, 1991, 2:551-52) GIBSON, Joseph Ruff, of Pennsylvania, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1862. He was breveted to captain and major for service during the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel in 1866 for meritorious and distinguished service during a cholera outbreak at Harts Island, in New York Harbor. He was a lieutenant colonel and departmental surgeon general at the time of his retirement in 1895. (Heitman, 1:454) GILLIS, James (d. 1898), of the District of Columbia, was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Artillery in 1861. In 1864 he became captain and assistant quartermaster, a position he held at the time of Bourke’s writing. He was colonel and assistant quartermaster general at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:457) GILMORE, Alexander (d. 1894), of New Jersey, was appointed chaplain in 1870, and was post chaplain at Fort Whipple at the time of Bourke’s writing. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:458) GRIFFITH, George R., of Ohio, was appointed first lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1865. He resigned in 1877. (Heitman, 1:479) GRUMMOND, George Washington (d. 1866), native of Michigan, entered the army as a captain of Volunteers. He was breveted to lieutenant colonel for service in the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry, and posted to Fort Phil Kearny. He died in the Fetterman Massacre of December 21, 1866. See FETTERMAN, William Judd; BROWN, Frederick H. (See Brown; O’Neal, 127-29; Heitman, 1:482) HALL, Christopher Tomkins, entered West Point in 1864, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. In 1869, he was promoted to first lieutenant. He resigned in 1880, and died in 1887. (Heitman, 1:488) HAMILTON, John Morrison (1839-98), native of Ontario, enlisted as a Volunteer in New York in 1861. He attained the rank of first lieutenant with a brevet to captain during the Civil War. In 1867, he was commissioned as captain of the 39th Infantry in 1867. In 1870, he was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, and was posted to Camp McDowell, Arizona, in January 1872. He was breveted to major for gallantry in action against the Tonto Apaches in the foothills of the

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Tortilla Mountains on January 16, 1873. After the 5th was reassigned to the Department of the Platte in 1876, he participated in Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s roundup of Red Cloud’s band at Chadron Creek, Nebraska, and the attack on the Cheyenne camp during Crook’s Powder River Expedition. He was lieutenant colonel of the 9th Cavalry when he was killed in the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba in 1898. (Altshuler, 1991, 152-53; O’Neal, 130-31; Heitman, 1:493) HARTSUFF, Albert, entered the service as assistant surgeon in 1861, and was promoted to major and surgeon in 1876. He was breveted to captain and major for faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel in 1866, for meritorious and distinguished service during a cholera epidemic in New Orleans. He was colonel and assistant surgeon general at the time of his retirement in 1901. (Heitman, 1:507) HAWLEY, William (1838-1914), a native of Washington, D.C., enlisted in the Volunteers in April 1861, but was commissioned first lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry four months later. He was promoted to captain in 1864, and in 1870, was posted to Camp Verde, Arizona. He participated in Crook’s campaigns in the Platte in 1876, including the notorious Horse-Meat March. This march undermined his health, and he retired for disability in 1879. His retirement was upgraded to lieutenant colonel in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 161) HAY, Charles (1840-92), was first lieutenant of Company C, 23rd Infantry, at Camp McDowell, Arizona, until 1874, when his company was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He was promoted to captain in 1888. He died in Denver. (Altshuler, 1991, 161) HAZEN, William Babcock (1830-87), an 1855 graduate of West Point, served with distinction against the Indians in California, Oregon, and Texas, and was seriously wounded in action with Comanches in 1859. This wound, aggravated by diabetes, ultimately caused his death almost thirty years later. He was breveted to major general for his service in the Civil War. In 1867, he was assigned to the Southern Military District in charge of the Indian tribes in Kansas and Oklahoma. As colonel of the 6th Infantry, he commanded Fort Buford, North Dakota, from 1872 to 1877. In 1880, he was promoted to brigadier general and chief of the Army Signal Corps. An outspoken critic and reformer of the army system, he made many enemies. (O’Neal, 142-44; Kroeker)

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HENRY, Guy Vernor (1839-99), the son of an army officer, was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas. Upon graduating from West Point in 1861, he was appointed to the 1st Artillery. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, earning brevets as colonel of the Regular Army and brigadier general of the Volunteers. He rejoined the 1st Artillery as captain, and in December 1870, transferred to the 3rd Cavalry which was posted at Camp McDowell, Arizona. In July 1871, Henry led an expedition from Camp Apache to McDowell, which established the efficiency of Indian scouts in Apache campaign. During the battle of the Rosebud in 1876, he was severely wounded in the face, losing the sight in his left eye. He recovered and as major general of Volunteers, he commanded the Department of Puerto Rico following the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers in 1898, and assumed that rank in the Regular Army following his discharge from the Volunteers in June 1899. He died four months later. (Altshuler, 1991, 164-66; O’Neal, 145-46) HEYL, Charles Heath (1849-1926), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1873, and posted to Camp Verde a year later. The same year, after distinguishing himself in combat, he moved with his regiment to the Platte where, with three men, he routed a party of hostile Indians near Fort Hartsuff, Nebraska. Heyl was breveted to first lieutenant for gallantry in action against Indians on the Verde River in Arizona in 1874, and against Indians near Grace Creek, Nebraska, in 1876. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for the fight near Fort Hartsuff. All awards were conferred in 1890. He retired as colonel in 1904, but was recalled to active duty in 1918-19. (Altshuler, 1991, 167; Heitman, 1:527) HOFFMAN, William Edwin, entered the service as first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1862, and was promoted to captain a year later. In 1867, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 31st Infantry, and in 1870, was assigned to the 4th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1889. (Heitman, 1991, 1:527) HOWARD, Oliver Otis (1830-1909), native of Maine, graduated from Bowdoin College and West Point, spent more than half his antebellum service at West Point. Known as “the praying general,” he was a devout Congregationalist, and at one point considered resigning from the army to enter the ministry. With the outbreak of

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the Civil War, he resigned his commission as first lieutenant in the regular army, and became a colonel of Volunteers, and was breveted to brigadier general in September 1861. He lost his right arm in the battle of Seven Pines. He finished the war as major general of Volunteers, and brevet major general of the Regular Army with the active rank of brigadier general. He headed the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands from 1865 to 1872, after which he was appointed special Indian commissioner. Among his accomplishments was negotiating an end to the Cochise War. He later served as commander of the Department of Columbia, where his high-handedness helped provoke the Nez Percé War. After a period as superintendent of West Point and commander of the Department of the Platte, he was promoted to major general in command of the Military Division of the Pacific, and subsequently the Military Division of the Atlantic. He retired in 1894. He also founded Howard University, serving as its first president. See also COCHISE; JEFFORDS, Thomas Jonathan; WHITMAN, Royal Emerson. (Warner, 237-38; Thrapp, 1991, 2:683-84) HUNTINGTON, Henry Dunstan, entered West Point in 1871, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry upon graduation in 1875. He was first lieutenant at the time of his death in 1886. (Heitman, 1:558) JOHNSON, John Burgess (1847-96), native of Massachusetts, was named second lieutenant of the 6th U.S. Colored Infantry in 1863. In 1870, he joined the 3rd Cavalry as first lieutenant in Arizona, remaining there until his regiment was withdrawn in 1871. He participated in Crook’s expeditions of 1876. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 181) JOHNSTON, John Lloyd (1841-1922), native of Philadelphia, entered the Volunteers as a corporal in 1861. He was named first lieutenant a year later, and mustered out as captain. He was breveted for gallantry at Petersburg, Virginia. Johnston was commissioned first lieutenant of the 21st Infantry in 1866, and served as post quartermaster at Camp McDowell and later at Camp Lowell. He left Arizona with the regiment in 1872. (Altshuler, 1991, 182) JONES, Roger, entered West Point in 1847, and upon graduation was breveted to second lieutenant of the Mounted Riflemen. After moving up through the grades, in 1861, he was appointed major and assistant inspector general, and in 1867, lieutenant colonel AIG.

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At the time of his death in 1889, he was brigadier general and inspector general. (Heitman, 1:582) JORDAN, William Henry, of Ohio, entered West Point in 1855, and upon graduation was breveted to second lieutenant of the 2nd Infantry. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1861, and by the end of the Civil War was major of the 8th California Infantry. In regular service he had risen to captain of the 9th Infantry, and at the time of Bourke’s writing, commanded Camp Robinson. He retired in 1891 as colonel of the 19th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:584) KAUTZ, Augustus Valentine (1828-1895) was a native of Germany brought to the United States as an infant. After serving with an Ohio infantry regiment during the Mexican War, he was appointed to West Point where he graduated with Crook in 1852. They traveled together to their first assignment in California. During the Civil War, he rose to brigadier general of Volunteers, and brevet major general in the regular army. As commander of the Department of Arizona, Kautz was the opposite of Crook. Suffering from ill-health and domestic problems, he rarely exercised decisive command. Indian depredations increased while Kautz became embroiled in disputes with the territorial government and internal controversies within his regiment. In 1878, he and his regiment were transferred to Angel Island, California. Kautz served briefly again in Arizona in a subordinate role in 1886. He retired as a brigadier general in 1892. (Altshuler, 1991, 184-87) KEYES, Edward Livingston (1843-1917), which Bourke sometimes spelled “Keys,” native of Massachusetts, joined the 5th Cavalry as a second lieutenant in 1872. During Crook’s 1872-73 campaign, he was recommended twice for brevets. He later served in the Department of the Platte during the Great Sioux War. He was court-martialed and dismissed for drunkenness in 1877, studied medicine, and became a prominent surgeon. (Altshuler, 1991, 191) KING, Albert Douglas (1844-1900), native of Ohio, enlisted in the 2nd California Cavalry in 1864. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1867, and was posted to Camp McDowell in 1871. He transferred to the Department of the Platte, and served in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Returning to Arizona in 1882, he scouted extensively against the Apaches. He was retired for ill-health in 1891. (Altshuler, 1991, 191-92)

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KINGSBURY, Frederick William (d. 1897), entered West Point in 1866, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1880, and was captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:601) LAWSON, Joseph (ca. 1821-81), native of Ireland, joined the Volunteers as a second lieutenant in 1862. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in February 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant five months later. He was posted to Camp Date Creek from 1870 to 1871, when the 3rd transferred to the Department of the Platte. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. During the Milk River fight in Colorado in 1879, command devolved on Lawson after Maj. Thomas T. Thornburgh was killed, and he is credited with averting a massacre. (Altshuler, 1991, 198) LEE, Jesse Matlock (1843-1926), native of Indiana, enlisted in the Volunteers in November 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant eleven months later. He finished the Civil War as a captain, and was appointed an infantry officer. By the mid-1870s, he was first lieutenant of the 9th Infantry at Camps Sheridan and Robinson, Nebraska. He reported that he was in the Powder River fight in March 1876, but this was purely a cavalry action with no infantry involved. Bourke does not mention him until a visit to Camp Robinson, after the expedition ended. In 1877, Lee convinced Crazy Horse to accompany him to Camp Robinson. Upon arrival, however, Crazy Horse was placed under arrest over Lee’s protests, and in the ensuing fight, the chief was mortally wounded. In 1879, Lee, now captain, was recorder for the board inquiring into the conduct of Maj. Marcus A. Reno during the Battle of the Little Bighorn. He retired as a major general in 1907. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:832) LEIB, Edward Henry (ca. 1839-92), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry in April 1861, and promoted to first lieutenant six weeks later. He was promoted to captain in 1863, and served with distinction in the Civil War. He was assigned to Camp Grant in 1872. He also took part in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in the Department of the Platte. He was dismissed in 1877 for unspecified reasons. (Altshuler, 1991, 201-02; Heitman, 1:627) LEMLY, Henry Rowan, of North Carolina, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the

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2nd Cavalry. He served with Crook on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in the 3rd Cavalry, and wrote an account, “The Fight on the Rosebud,” that later was included in the Papers of the Order of the Indian Wars. He was a captain of the 7th Artillery at the time of his retirement in 1899. (Heitman, 1:627) LEUTTWITZ, Adolphus H. von (d. 1887), native of Prussia, entered the service as a private of Volunteers in 1862, and was commissioned second lieutenant the same year. He finished the Civil War as captain. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry. Three years later, he was cashiered as first lieutenant, but reinstated to former date of rank in 1874. Leuttwitz served in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and lost a leg in the Slim Buttes. He retired in 1879. Bourke sometimes spelled the name “Leuttewitz.” (Heitman, 1:989; Robinson, 2001, 196) LOCKWOOD, James Booth (1852-84), native of Maryland, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1873, and was posted to Camp McDowell briefly in 1874 before being transferred to Nebraska. He died during an expedition attempting to reach the North Pole. (Altshuler, 1991, 204) LONDON, Robert (ca. 1850-92), native of North Carolina, was assigned as a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry after graduating from West Point in 1873. He was posted to Camp Lowell, and later to Camp Apache, where he was recommended twice for brevets for distinguished service during scouting expeditions. He also served at San Carlos and Camp Apache. During the Great Sioux War, he participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Altshuler, 1991, 204-05) LOSHE, Charles Frederick (d. 1878), native of Germany, served in the enlisted ranks of the infantry from 1858 to 1863, after which he was first lieutenant of the Volunteers. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 8th Infantry in 1865, and promoted to first lieutenant the following year. He resigned in 1875. (Heitman, 1:642) LUDINGTON, Elisha Harrison (d. 1891), was appointed captain of the 17th Infantry in 1861, and major and assistant adjutant general in 1864. He served with distinction in the Civil War, earning brevets to major for gallantry, lieutenant colonel for meritorious service, and colonel for meritorious service in his department. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:646)

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LUHN, Gerhard Luke, native of Germany, enlisted in the 6th Infantry in 1853, and in 1863 was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1864, and captain in 1875. He wrote a diary and letters on Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1895. (Heitman, 1:646-47) LYNCH, Edward (1831-1908), native of Ireland, enlisted in the 3rd Infantry in New York in 1858. He was appointed second lieutenant in the Veteran Reserve Corps in 1863, and served with distinction during the Civil War. After postwar service as a senior non-commissioned officer, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 33rd Infantry, which was consolidated as the 8th Infantry in 1869. He served in Arizona from 1874 to 1878. (Altshuler, 1991, 207-08) MC CALEB, Thomas Sidney (1853-1934), 1875 graduate of West Point, was appointed to second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, serving in the Department of the Platte during the Great Sioux War. He later served in Arizona, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine Insurrection, and retired as major in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 208) MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell (1840-89), called “Bad Hand” or “Three Fingers” by the Indians because of an injury received to his right hand at Petersburg, was an 1861 graduate of West Point. He served with distinction in the Civil War, rising to the brevet ranks of brigadier general of the Regular Army and major general of Volunteers. In 1867, he was appointed colonel of the 41st Infantry, and in 1870, he was transferred to the 4th Cavalry. He developed the 4th into a mobile assault force, fighting the Southern Plains Indians with their own hit-and-run tactics. During the Red River War of 1874-75, he smashed a large Indian camp in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, destroying their lodges, food stores, and pony herds, a stratagem he would repeat under Crook in Wyoming. Nevertheless, he was mentally unbalanced, which would become increasingly evident during the Great Sioux War. Promoted to brigadier general in 1882, he was institutionalized for insanity in December 1883, and invalided out of the army the following year. (Pierce, and Robinson, 1993) MAGRUDER, David Lynn, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1850, and in 1862 promoted to surgeon major. He was breveted to

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lieutenant colonel for faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War. He retired as a colonel in 1889. (Heitman, 1:684) MASON, Charles Winder, was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 13th Infantry in 1875, and transferred to the 4th Infantry later that year. (Heitman, 1:694) MASON, Julius Wilmot (1835-82), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry (subsequently renumbered as the 5th Cavalry), in April 1861. He earned two brevets in the Civil War, and emerged from the war with the active rank of captain. He was posted to Camp Hualpai in 1872, and was recommended for two additional brevets for the 1872-73 campaign. As commander of Camp Verde, and acting agent of the reservation, he made substantial improvements. Mason was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry in the Department of the Platte in July 1876, but remained with the 5th until the end of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He joined the 3rd at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, in October 1876. He returned to Arizona in 1882, as commander of Fort Huachuca, where he died on December 19 of that year. (Altshuler, 1991, 223-24) MEARS, Frederick, entered the service as a lieutenant colonel of Volunteers in 1861. Later that year, he was mustered out and accepted a commission as second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. He was promoted to captain in 1863, and breveted to major for faithful and meritorious service. He was lieutenant colonel of the 4th Infantry at the time of his death in 1892. (Heitman, 1:700-01) MEINHOLD, Charles (ca. 1827-77), native of Berlin, enlisted in the army 1851, possibly with previous military experience in Germany. He served in Texas and New Mexico until his discharge in 1862, after which he served as an officer of the 3rd Cavalry. During the Civil War, he distinguished himself in New Mexico, and during the Vicksburg campaign, and was promoted to captain in 1866. Sent to Arizona in 1871, he investigated the Wickenburg Stagecoach Massacre the following year, He also served in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. (Altshuler, 1991, 226) MERRITT, Wesley (1834-1910), native of New York, was an 1860 graduate of West Point. He served with distinction as a cavalry leader during the Civil War, rising to the rank of brevet major general of Volunteers. After the war, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 9th Cavalry, spending much of his time on the Texas frontier

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albeit in largely administrative functions. When Merritt’s promotion to colonel of the 5th Cavalry was announced, Lt. Col. Carr presumed that he would continue to exercise de facto command while Merritt, like Emory, remained on detached duty. When Merritt announced his determination to assume active command, Carr (who was yet unaware of the disaster that had befallen Custer) wrote his wife, “It seems curious that the government should find it necessary to spend huge amounts of money & some blood to teach Terry, Crook, Gibbon, Merritt & others how to fight these prairie Indians when there are Custer & myself who know how to do it and are ready & willing.” Upon assuming command, however, Merritt quickly made up for his lack of actual Indian fighting experience, distinguishing himself in the Great Sioux War, the Nez Percé War and the White River Ute Uprising. During the Spanish-American War, he commanded U.S. troops in the Philippines. He retired in 1900 as a major general. See also CARR, Eugene Asa; EMORY, William Helmsley. (O’Neal, 166-67; Heitman, 1:706; quote from Carr to Mary Carr, July 3, 1876, Carr Papers) MICHLER, Francis (1849-1901), native of New York, was assigned to the 5th Cavalry after graduating from West Point in 1870. He was posted to Camp Hualpai in 1872, and took to the field almost immediately. He was commended in departmental general orders five times, and later received brevets for gallantry at Muchos Cañones and Tonto Creek. In 1873 he was appointed aide to Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, and later served as aide to Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles. He was promoted to major shortly before his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 227-28) MILLS, Anson (1834-1924), native of Indiana, is perhaps most famous as the designer of the Mills cartridge belt, which became the standard equipment of many of the world’s armies, and made him wealthy. Although a resident of Texas at the outbreak of the Civil War, Mills departed for Washington, D.C., where he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 18th Infantry. He received three brevets during the war, rising to major for gallant and meritorious service at the Battle of Chickamauga. He emerged with the active rank of captain. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in December 1870, and was posted to Arizona the following spring. In 1871, he and his company were transferred to the Department of the Platte, where he figured prominently in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone

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Expedition. He later was breveted for his part in the fight at Slim Buttes on September 9, 1876. He retired in 1897 as brigadier general, and in 1918, published his memoirs, My Story. (Altshuler, 1991, 231-32; Heitman, 1:713; Mills) MIX, John, of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1852; with its reorganization as the 2nd Cavalry in 1861, he was commissioned second lieutenant. He was major of the 9th Cavalry at the time of his death in 1881. (Heitman, 1:718) MONTGOMERY, Robert Hugh (1838-1905), native of Philadelphia, enlisted in the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered to the 5th) in 1860, earning two brevets during the Civil War, and spending the last twenty months of the war as a prisoner. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1865, and to captain in 1870. He was posted to Arizona in 1872, and served with distinction during the 1872-73 campaign, earning brevets as major for gallantry at Muchos Cañones on September 25, 1872, and during a scout through the Tonto Basin in November and December 1874. During the notorious Horse Meat March of 1876, his company lost fewer horses than any other in the 5th, largely because of his attention to training. He retired as major of the 10th Cavalry in 1891. (Altshuler, 1991, 235; Heitman, 1:720) MOORE, Alexander (1835-1910), native of Ireland, was appointed first lieutenant of Volunteers in October 1861, and was breveted to major for service during the Civil War. In 1867, he was commissioned captain of the 38th Infantry, and posted to New Mexico, where he served on scouting expeditions. In 1870, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry, joining it in Arizona in early 1871. Moore aroused Crook’s ire in 1871, when he moved his troops openly across a plain, spoiling the chance to surprise an Apache raiding party. His failure to act decisively during the Reynolds Fight on the Powder River in March 1876, led to his court-martial and suspension. He resigned in 1879, and became a wealthy rancher. (Altshuler, 1991, 235-36; Robinson, 2001, 110) MORGAN, Charles Hale (1834-75), native of New York, graduated from West Point in 1857. He participated in Col. Albert Sidney Johnston’s Mormon campaign of 1859. During the Civil War, he served under Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock as chief of artillery and chief of staff. He finished the war as brevet brigadier general, and reverted to the active rank of captain. He later was promoted to

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major of the 4th Artillery, and was stationed at Fort Alcatraz, California, at the time of his death. (Warner, 331-32) MORTON, Charles (1846-1914), native of Ohio, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. After the war, he entered West Point, graduating in 1869. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and served with distinction in Arizona in 1870 and 1871. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. He retired as brigadier general in 1910. (Altshuler, 1991, 239-40) MUNN, Curtis Emerson, joined the Volunteers as a hospital steward in 1861, and in 1863 was appointed assistant surgeon. He was commissioned as assistant surgeon in 1868, and served in the CrookReynolds Big Horn Expedition. He was a surgeon major when he retired in 1900. He died in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 239-40) MUNSON, Jacob Frederick, of New York, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1863. After distinguished service in the Civil War, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 6th Infantry, and soon promoted to first lieutenant. He retired as a captain in 1896. (Heitman, 1:736) MUNSON, Samuel, enlisted as a sergeant in the Volunteers in 1861, but was shortly commissioned second lieutenant. Later that year he accepted a commission in the Regular Army as second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. In 1865, he was promoted to captain. He died in 1887. (Heitman, 1:736) NELSON, Anderson D., entered West Point in 1837, and upon graduation was breveted second lieutenant of the 6th Infantry. In 1842, he received an active appointment to the same rank. He had a distinguished career during the Civil War, finishing with a brevet as colonel. He was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 5th Infantry in 1868, and assigned to the 12th Infantry in 1870. He retired in 1879, and died in 1885. (Heitman, 1:743) NICKERSON, Azor Howitt (1837-1910) served on General Crook’s staff from 1866 to 1878. A native of Ohio, he joined the Union Army as a second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861. He was breveted to major for gallantry at Antietam and Gettysburg, receiving a near-fatal chest wound in the latter battle. He entered the Regular Army in 1866. His wound left him in frail health and, although he tried to accompany Crook on his Indian campaigns, sometimes the surgeons would declare him unfit for field duty. He attempted to retire in 1882, but a scandal over a fraudulently ob-

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tained divorce from his second wife prompted the War Department to void his retirement. He resigned in 1883 to avoid courtmartial. Nickerson later wrote an essay, “Major General George Crook and the Indians,” which, although never published in its entirety, has become an integral part of the Crook hagiography. (Crook to Rutherford B. Hayes, January 4, 1872, R.B. Hayes Papers, Crook Collection; Heitman, 1:747-48; Altshuler, 1991, 24445) NORTON, Charles Carroll, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Cavalry. He resigned in 1879. (Heitman, 1:752) NOYES, Henry Erastus (1839-1919), native of Maine, graduated from West Point in 1861 and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons (later redesignated as 2nd Cavalry). During the Civil War, he earned two brevets, and finished the war as a captain. His failure to provide adequate support during the Reynolds fight on the Powder River in 1876 led to a reprimand. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition the same year. He retired as colonel of the 2nd Cavalry in 1901, and his retirement was upgraded to brigadier general in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 249; Robinson, 2001, 171-72) OGILBY, Frederick Darley (1841-77), native of New Jersey, was commissioned first lieutenant of the 15th Infantry in 1861. He earned two brevets during the Civil War, and in 1864 was promoted to captain. In 1869 he was posted to the 8th Infantry, which was sent to Arizona in 1874. He was recommended for another brevet for service in scouting expeditions. He died of pneumonia at Camp Apache. Bourke sometimes spelled the name “Ogleby.”(Altshuler, 1991, 253) ORD, Edward Otho Cresap (1818-83), 1839 graduate of West Point, served in the Seminole Wars in Florida, and in California during the Mexican War. He then served in the Pacific Northwest off and on until 1861, when he was appointed brigadier general of Volunteers and ordered East. When the war ended, he was in command of the Army of the James and the Department of North Carolina. Ord was appointed brigadier general of the Regular Army in 1866 and commanded the Department of the Platte until relieved by Crook. He retired as a major general in 1881, and died of yellow fever in Havana two years later. (Warner, 349-50)

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PALMER, Innis Newton (1824-1900), native of New York, was an 1846 graduate of West Point. He was assigned to the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated 3rd Cavalry), and served with distinction in the Mexican War. He spent much of the period between the Mexican and Civil Wars on the frontier. At the close of the Civil War he was brevet major general of Volunteers, and brevet brigadier general of the Regular Army. During the Great Sioux War, he was colonel of the 2nd Cavalry. He retired in 1879. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1104) PARKHURST, Charles Dyer (1849-1931), native of Massachusetts, graduated from West Point in 1872 and was posted to the 5th Cavalry at Camp Date Creek. He participated in the 1872-73 campaign, and was commended in departmental orders and recommended for a brevet. In 1875, he was transferred to Kansas, and a year later, participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He received a Silver Star for gallantry during the Spanish-American War. Parkhurst retired as colonel of the Coast Artillery. (Altshuler, 1991, 257-58) PATZKI, Julius Herman, native of Prussia, enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in 1863, and was appointed assistant surgeon the following year. He was appointed assistant surgeon of the Regular Army in 1867, and retired in 1892 as surgeon major. Dr. Patzki’s moment in history came in 1871 when, as post surgeon of Fort Richardson, Texas, he examined the bodies of the victims of the Warren Wagon Train Massacre. The massacre led to the trial and imprisonment of two Kiowa chiefs, and permanent divisions within the Kiowas. (Heitman, 1:776; Nye, 131) PAUL, Augustus Chouteau (1842-1904), native of New York, was appointed captain in the Volunteers, and served with distinction in the Civil War. In 1869, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and was posted to Arizona a year later. He remained in Arizona until December 1871, when his regiment was sent to the Department of the Platte. He resigned in 1881 following court-martial. (Altshuler, 1991, 258-59) PEALE, James Thompson, was commissioned second lieutenant in the Volunteer cavalry in 1862, and finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. He entered the 2nd Cavalry as second lieutenant in 1866, and shortly was promoted to first lieutenant. He attained captain in 1875, and was dismissed in 1880. (Heitman, 1:778)

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PEARSON, Daniel Crosby, of Massachusetts, entered West Point in 1865, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:779) PEASE, William Barrett, of Connecticut, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and in 1863 was appointed second lieutenant of the 8th U.S. Colored Infantry. He was commissioned as first lieutenant of the 11th Infantry in 1867, and later assigned to the 9th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1887. (Heitman, 1:779) PERRY, Alexander James, of Connecticut, entered West Point in 1847, and upon graduation was breveted to second lieutenant of the 2nd Artillery. The rank was made active in 1852. After the Civil War broke out, he was made captain and assistant quartermaster, and finished the war as colonel and quartermaster. He was breveted as major, lieutenant colonel, colonel, and brigadier general for faithful and meritorious service. In 1866, he was appointed quartermaster major, and lieutenant colonel and departmental quartermaster general in 1875. He retired as colonel in 1892. Perry is listed in Appendix 1 of Warner’s Generals in Blue as “breveted as. . .brigadier general for services rendered during the Civil War, but not appointed to full rank.” (Heitman, 1:785; Warner, 591) PITCHER, William Lewis (1852-1930), native of Texas, was different from most officers in that he attended the Naval Academy for two years, rather than West Point. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 10th Cavalry in 1871, but transferred to the 8th Infantry in June 1872. He was posted to Arizona in October of that year, and remained there until 1877. He retired as colonel of the 27th Infantry. (Altshuler, 1991, 263-64) POLLOCK, Otis Wheeler (1833-1916), native of Pennsylvania, was appointed first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, and promoted to captain the following year. In 1866, he was commissioned as lieutenant of the 14th Infantry which was later amalgamated into the 23rd. Promoted to captain, he served in Arizona in 1873-74, and then in the Department of the Platte, serving in Crook’s campaigns during the Great Sioux War. He retired as a major in 1897, upgraded to lieutenant colonel in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 264) PORTER, Charles (1838-1902), native of Ireland, enlisted in the 5th Infantry in 1858. Working his way up through ranks, he was first lieutenant when he transferred to the 8th Infantry in 1870. He was promoted to captain in 1872, and posted to Arizona two years

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later. He served with distinction in the Apache campaigns, and later was breveted. He left Arizona in 1878. He retired as lieutenant colonel of the 22nd Infantry in 1898. (Altshuler, 1991, 266) POWELL, James W. (d. 1884), native of Ohio, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to lieutenant soon afterwards. In 1866, he was named second lieutenant of the 15th Infantry. Eventually, in 1869, he joined the 8th Infantry as first lieutenant. He was assigned to Arizona from 1874 to 1878, and was a captain at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 267) POWELL, Junius. The only Junius Powell listed in Heitman was appointed assistant surgeon in 1878, beyond the range of this volume. This may be a typographical error on the part of Heitman, or Bourke may be referring to a contract surgeon named Junius Powell. It is also possible that Dr. Junius Powell, contract surgeon, was later commissioned as an army surgeon. (Heitman, 1:803) POWELL, William Henry (1838-1901), native of Washington, D.C., enlisted in the District of Columbia Militia in 1861, and was commissioned as an officer of the 4th Infantry the same year. He was captain in the 4th when he served on Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1899 as colonel of the 9th Infantry. He was the author of several professional and historical works about the army. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1169-70) PRATT, Edward Barton (1853-1923), native of Virginia, joined the 23rd Infantry as second lieutenant in 1872, and was posted to Arizona from 1873 until 1874, when his regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He served in Crook’s Powder River Expedition of 1876-77. Pratt retired as brigadier general in 1909. (Altshuler, 1991, 267) PRICE, George Frederick (1835-88), native of New York City, joined the 2nd California Cavalry as second lieutenant in 1861, and participated in several Indian campaigns over the next two years. The first reference to service in Arizona is on a reconnaissance between Salt Lake City and Fort Mojave in 1864. In 1866, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He was posted to Camp McDowell in 1872, and soon after was promoted to captain. He was nominated for brevets twice for service in Crook’s 1872-73 campaign, and was commended for moving Indians to the Rio Verde Reservation after Date Creek was closed. He also supervised construction of the military telegraph between San Diego and Tucson.

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Transferring to the Department of the Platte, he participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876, and was present at the Slim Buttes Fight. In 1882, he published his memoirs, Across the Continent with the Fifth U.S. Cavalry. (Altshuler, 1991, 268; O’Neal, 185-86; Heitman, 1:806) RANDALL, George Morton “Jake” (1841-1918), native of Ohio, was one of the most competent officers to serve under Crook in Arizona. He commanded Camp Apache from 1872 to 1874, during which it was considered the best administered post in the entire department. He also had the most outstanding scouting record of any infantry captain in Arizona. Randall was breveted to colonel of the regular army for gallantry at Turret Mountain and Diamond Butte in 1873, and Pinal in 1874, and for distinguished service during the Indian campaigns in Arizona. He enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in July 1861, and commissioned as 2nd lieutenant in October. By the end of the war he had been breveted to colonel of Volunteers. He was appointed brigadier general of the regular army in 1901 and retired four years later. (Heitman, 1:814; Altshuler, 1991, 272-73) RANDOLPH, John Field (d. 1880), was appointed assistant surgeon in 1855, and promoted to surgeon major in 1862. He was breveted to lieutenant colonel for service during the Civil War. (Heitman, 1:815) RAWOLLE, William Charles (d. 1895), native of Prussia, was commissioned as second lieutenant of the Volunteers in 1861. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry in 1869, and promoted the following year. He was captain at the time of his death. Bourke spells the name variously as “Rowelle,” “Rowell,” and “Rawolle.” (Heitman, 1:817). REILLY, Bernard (1843-1906), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the volunteers in April 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant in November. In May 1868, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He went to Arizona as a first lieutenant in 1872, and was nominated for a brevet for leading several successful scouts. Transferred to the Department of the Platte, he participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He resigned in 1878 to practice law. (Altshuler, 1991, 277) REYNOLDS, Bainbridge (1849-1901), eldest son of Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, was born at West Point, where he graduated in 1873.

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He was posted to the 3rd Cavalry, was breveted for action in the Battle of the Rosebud in 1876. He served in Arizona from 1882 to 1884. He resigned in 1891 to avoid court-martial. See also REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones. (Altshuler, 1991, 277-78) REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones (1822-99), native of Kentucky and an 1843 graduate of West Point, initially served on the Texas frontier. Resigning to enter private business in 1857, he rejoined the army at the outbreak of the Civil War. His distinguished service resulted in his being breveted to major general of Volunteers. In 1870, he was named colonel of the 3rd Cavalry and, with his brevet rank, commanded the Department of Texas. During that tenure, Col. Ranald Mackenzie hinted that Reynolds was involved in corruption with supply contracts for Fort McKavett, which Mackenzie commanded. Reynolds was transferred with his regiment to the Department of the Platte in 1872. Despite the verdict and sentence handed him by Crook’s court-martial following the Powder River fight, Reynolds was allowed to retire for disability in 1877. Many historians believe that Crook should have shared a heavy amount of the blame for the fiasco. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1210; Heitman, 1:825; Robinson, 1993, 52-53) RICE, William Fletcher (d. 1884), native of Massachusetts, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1863. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1866, and was first lieutenant when he arrived in Arizona in 1872. During the 1872-73 campaign he served as acting company commander, and was recommended for brevets. He commanded Indian scouts at San Carlos. In 1874, he was transferred with his regiment to the Department of the Platte. He was killed when he fell from a moving railroad train. (Altshuler, 1991, 278-79) ROBERTSON, Edgar Brooks (1852-1924), native of Massachusetts, graduated from West Point in 1874, and was assigned to the 9th Infantry at Camp Robinson, Nebraska. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and was in the fights at the Rosebud and Slim Buttes. He later served in the Southwest, in Cuba, and in the Boxer Rebellion in China. He retired as colonel. (Altshuler, 1991, 284) ROBINSON, Frank Upham, of New York, became second lieutenant of the 41st U.S. Colored Infantry in 1864. He was commis-

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sioned second lieutenant of the 19th Infantry in 1868. In 1869, he was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:838) ROBINSON, Henry Eleazar, of Pennsylvania, entered West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant in the 4th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:838) ROBINSON, William Wallace, Jr. (1846-1917), native of Ohio, graduated from West Point in 1869, and was posted to the 3rd Cavalry. He served in Arizona from 1870 to 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. After so many officers of the 7th Cavalry were killed at the Little Bighorn, he was transferred to the 7th and promoted to first lieutenant. He retired as a brigadier general in 1910. (Altshuler, 1991, 285) ROGERS, William Wallace (d. 1890), of Pennsylvania, enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in 1861, and became second lieutenant on December 31 of that year. He distinguished himself in the Civil War and was breveted to lieutenant colonel for gallant conduct in the field. In 1866, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 45th Infantry. At the time of Bourke’s writing he was with the 9th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1889. (Heitman, 1:844) ROSS, William J. (1846-1907), aide to General Crook from 1871 to 1875, was a native of Scotland who grew up in Connecticut. He enlisted in a Volunteer regiment, rising to the rank of major of Volunteers during the Civil War. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 32nd Infantry (later amalgamated into the 21st Infantry) in 1868, and sent to Arizona a year later. On September 8, 1872, at Camp Date Creek, he saved Crook’s life when he kicked a would-be assassin’s rifle out of the way. When Crook was transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1875, Ross resigned and settled in Arizona. (Altshuler, 1991, 288; Robinson, 2001, 126) ROYALL, William Bedford (1825-95), native of Virginia, was commissioned as first lieutenant of a Volunteer unit in 1846, after the outbreak of the Mexican War. After two years of service in the Southwest, including a major Indian fight in 1848, he left the Volunteers. In 1855, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry). He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the brevet rank of brigadier general. He served in Arizona as major of the 5th from 1872 to 1875, when the regiment was transferred out. In December 1875, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Cavalry, commanding Crook’s cavalry

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during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He later was breveted for gallantry at the Battle of the Rosebud. In 1881, he succeeded Ranald S. Mackenzie as colonel of the 4th Cavalry. He retired in 1887. (Heitman, 1:849; Altshuler, 1991, 288-89) RUSSELL, Gerald (1832-1905), native of Ireland, enlisted in the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated as 3rd Cavalry) in 1851. In 1862, he was promoted to second lieutenant. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, and earned a brevet. He arrived in Arizona as captain in 1870, and participated in scouting expeditions until the 3rd was transferred to the Department of the Platte. During the Powder River Expedition, he participated in Mackenzie’s fight with the Cheyennes in November 1876. He served in Arizona a second time from 1882 until 1885. He retired as major in 1890, later upgraded to lieutenant colonel. (Altshuler, 1991, 290-91) SAVAGE, Egbert Barnum, was commissioned first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1862. Following the Civil War, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 15th Infantry. He transferred to the 8th Infantry as first lieutenant in 1869. He retired in 1899 as lieutenant colonel of the 13th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:861) SAYER, George B. This officer could not be located in Heitman’s under Sayer, Sawyer, Sayre, or Stayer. SCHUYLER, Walter Scribner (1849-1932), native of New York, was an 1870 graduate of West Point. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1875 as a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, distinguishing himself in several actions during that period. After a year’s leave in Europe, he joined Crook as aide-de-camp in Wyoming as a first lieutenant in 1876. He resigned as aide-de-camp and returned to his regiment the end of 1881, after a falling out with Crook over his management of a mine in which Crook had invested heavily. He was breveted several grades for gallantry in action in Arizona and Wyoming. He retired in 1913 as a brigadier general. (Altshuler, 1991, 294-95; Heitman, 1:867; O’Neal, 193-94; Robinson, 2001, 249-50) SCHWATKA, Frederick (1849-92), native of Ohio, attended West Point and was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1871. He participating in campaigns against the Yavapais and Apaches in Arizona until 1872, when his regiment was transferred to the Platte. During Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, he took part in the Rosebud fight, the Horse Meat March, and the Slim Buttes fight. Subsequently, as both soldier and civil-

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ian, he became a noted explorer in the Arctic, southwestern U.S., and northwestern Mexico, lecturing and writing several popular books. He died of an overdose of laudanum (tincture of opium), which he took to relieve chronic stomach pain. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1279-80) SETON, Henry, of New York, was appointed captain in the Volunteers in 1864, and second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1866. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1872. Heitman lists him as still being with the 4th until 1898, when he was promoted to major of the 12th Infantry. Bourke, on the other hand, lists him as being in the 9th. He retired in 1899. (Heitman, 1:874) SIBLEY, Frederick William (1852-1918), native of Texas, graduated from West Point in 1874, and was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry in the Department of the Platte. He participated in the Reynolds fight on the Powder River, and, during Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition led what became known as the Sibley Scout. He and a small party of men encountered a large band of Lakotas and Cheyennes, but managed to withdraw under heavy fire without losses, and make their way back to Crook’s camp on foot. It is considered one of the narrowest escapes in the Indian Wars, and Sibley was breveted for gallantry. He later served in the Far East, and in the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916, retiring later that year as brigadier general. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1303-04) SIMPSON, James Ferdinand (1841-99), native of Massachusetts, was appointed second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1862. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, and in 1867, was commissioned as an infantry officer. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1871. He served in Arizona throughout much of the period until 1884, when he was committed to a government mental institution, after which he was released on sick leave. After a second commitment in 1887, he was retired as a captain. (Altshuler, 1991, 302-03) SMALL, Michael Peter, of Pennsylvania, entered West Point in 1851, and upon graduation, was appointed to brevet second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was active second lieutenant of the 2nd Artillery. He was assigned to the commissary service, and was breveted to brigadier general in 1865. His active rank was captain of the commissary service until 1874, when he was promoted to major. He was lieutenant colonel at the time of his death in 1892. Small’s significance to history is that,

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as commissary of subsistence for the Department of Texas in 1881, he noticed irregularities in the transfer of funds from Fort Davis. This led to the court-martial and dismissal of the post’s acting commissary, Second Lt. Henry O. Flipper, the army’s only black officer at the time. (Heitman, 1:893; Robinson, 1994, 14-15) SMITH, John Eugene (1816-97), native of Switzerland, was brought to the United States as a child. He was secretary to Governor Richard Yates of Illinois at the outbreak of the Civil War, and became a colonel of the Volunteers. He earned brevets to major general in both Volunteers and Regular Army, and in 1866 was appointed colonel of the Infantry. He served on the frontier as commander of the 14th Infantry until his retirement in 1881. (Warner, 459) SPAULDING, Edward James (ca. 1836-88), native of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons (later renamed 2nd Cavalry) in 1857. He was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1862, earning a brevet during the Civil War. He was promoted to captain in 1867, and transferred to the 4th Cavalry as major in 1886. He was killed in a hunting accident in Arizona. Bourke spelled the name “Spalding.” (Altshuler, 1991, 313) SPENCER, James Herbert, of Massachusetts, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1863. He was mustered out as captain. In 1866, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry. In 1869, he transferred to the 4th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1885. Five years later, he was breveted for gallant service in action against Indians near Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, in 1869. (Heitman, 1:910) STANTON, Thaddeus Harlan (1835-1900), native of Indiana, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. On October 3, 1862, he was designated paymaster, a position he held for the rest of his career. He finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. Apparently Stanton moonlighted as a correspondent for the New York Tribune, and in that capacity accompanied Crook and Reynolds on the Big Horn Expedition in the convenience position of chief of scouts. With no previous combat experience, he distinguished himself in the Powder River fight, and later commanded the citizens and irregulars who joined Crook on the train during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. In 1890, Stanton was breveted to lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army for the Powder

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River fight, and in 1895, he was appointed paymaster general of the army with the rank of brigadier general. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1357; Heitman, 1:916) STANTON, William Sanford, of New York, entered West Point in 1861, and upon graduation was commissioned first lieutenant of the engineers. He was promoted to captain in 1871. (Heitman, 1:916) STANWOOD, Frank (ca. 1842-1872), native of Maine, was commanding officer at Camp Grant at the time of the massacre of the Indians by Tucson citizens and their allies. He was on a scouting expedition with much of the garrison, however, and the fact that most of the troops were absent prompted the citizens to move against the Indians. Stanwood entered the army as a second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1861. He finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel, and was promoted to captain in 1866. He died of tuberculosis on December 20, 1872. Some works spell the name “Standwood,” but “Stanwood” is the form on the official record, and the form used by Bourke. (Altshuler, 1991, 315; Thrapp, 1988, 85; Heitman, 1:916) STEVENS, Lieutenant. Heitman does not list a Lieutenant Stevens on active duty during this period. The only one who would approximate is Robert Ratcliff Stevens, who entered the Military Academy in 1873, and was assigned to the 6th Infantry in 1877, which would have placed him in West Point at the time Bourke made this entry. This does not necessarily mean, however, that a Lieutenant Stevens did not exist. (Heitman, 1:922-23) SUMMERHAYES, John Wyer (1836-1911), enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned as an officer in 1863, earning two brevets during the Civil War. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 33rd Infantry in 1867, and was transferred to the 8th Infantry two years later. He was posted to Arizona in 1874, serving there for four years. In 1900, he retired as major, later upgraded to lieutenant colonel. His wife, Martha, wrote a memoir, Vanished Arizona, about army life on that frontier. (Altshuler, 1991, 323-24) SUMNER, Samuel Storrow (1842-1937), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1861. He earned several brevets during the Civil War, and emerged from the war as a captain. He was posted to Arizona from 1870 until 1876, when he joined the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1906 as a major general.

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(Altshuler, 1991, 324-25) SUTORIOUS, Alexander (ca. 1837-1905), native of Switzerland, enlisted in the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated 3rd Cavalry) in 1854. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1863, and was breveted for gallantry in the Civil War. He went to Arizona in 1870 as a captain, serving until 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He was court-martialed and dismissed for drunkenness during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Altshuler, 1991, 325) SWIGERT, Samuel Miller, of Kentucky, entered West Point in 1863, and upon graduation was appointed to second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1869. He retired in 1903 as colonel of the 5th Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:941) TAYLOR, Alfred Bronaugh (d. 1903), native of the District of Columbia, served briefly in the Volunteers before enlisting in the 5th Cavalry in 1862. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1863, and was breveted for service in the Appomattox Campaign. He arrived in Arizona at a captain in 1872, and was breveted for gallantry in action in the Salt River Caves fight of December 28, 1872. (Altshuler, 1991, 327; Heitman, 1:945) TERRY, Alfred Howe (1827-90), native of Connecticut, was an attorney rather than a trained soldier. With the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the Volunteers, ultimately rising to the rank of major general. His successful assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in 1865, which hastened the end of the war, won him an appointment as brigadier general of the Regular Army. Terry commanded the Department of the Platte at the time of the Great Sioux War. In 1886, he was appointed major general, and commanded the Military Division of the Missouri until his retirement in 1888. (Warner, 197-98) THOMAS, Earl Denison (1847-1921), native of Illinois, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and graduated from West Point in 1869. He joined the 5th Cavalry, and went to Arizona as a first lieutenant in 1872. He was breveted for gallantry in the Salt River Caves fight. When Kautz assumed command of the Department of Arizona, Thomas remained as his aide until 1878. He then joined his company in Wyoming. He later was appointed brigadier general, and commanded the Department of the Colorado. He retired in 1911. (Altshuler, 1991, 330; Heitman, 1:953)

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THOMPSON, Edmund F. (1846-80), native of Massachusetts, enlisted in the 18th Infantry in 1864, and was commissioned as lieutenant in 1865. He was reassigned to the 27th Infantry, and in 1867 was promoted to captain. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1875, and again from 1878 until his death at Camp Grant two years later. (Altshuler, 1991, 330-31) TOWNSEND, Edwin Franklin, entered West Point in 1850, and upon graduation was breveted second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. He resigned in 1856, but reentered the army as first lieutenant of the 14th Infantry in 1861. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, and was breveted to major for gallantry at Shiloh, and to lieutenant colonel for continued and faithful service in the Ordnance Department. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was major of the 9th Infantry. He retired in 1895 as colonel of the 12th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:967) TROUT, John Franklin (1843-1912), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and emerged from the Civil War as a major. He was named second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1866. As first lieutenant, he was dismissed under sentence of courtmartial in 1869, but reinstated at previous rank a year later. He transferred to the 23rd Infantry and went to Arizona in 1872, and commanded Camp Date Creek when it was abandoned on August 25, 1873. In 1874, his company went to the Department of the Platte, and he commanded the infantry on the Dodge-Jenney Expedition to the Black Hills in 1875. He was retired on disability in 1883, after his ankle was crushed by a falling tree. His retirement was upgraded to captain in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 335-36) VAN HORN, James Judson (1835-98), native of Ohio, was an 1858 graduate of West Point, and joined the 8th Infantry in Texas. When Texas seceded, Van Horn was taken prisoner, and exchanged in 1862. During his internment he was promoted to first lieutenant and captain. He earned a brevet to major at Cold Harbor, Virginia. He served at the Red Cloud Agency and Camp Robinson, Nebraska. He was posted to Arizona in 1874, and spent much of the next decade in the Southwest. He was colonel of the 8th Infantry at the time of his death at Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming. (Altshuler, 1991, 340; Heitman, 1:982) VAN VLIET, Frederick (1841-91), native of New York, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1861. He earned brevets to lieutenant colonel during the Civil War, and was pro-

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moted to the active rank of captain in 1866. He served in Arizona from 1870 to 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Van Vliet participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. As major of the 10th Cavalry, he served again in Arizona during the Geronimo Campaign. He died of injuries received in a wagon accident. (Altshuler, 1991, 341) VROOM, Peter Dumont (1842-1926), native of New Jersey, served as an officer of Volunteers, earning several brevets during the Civil War. In February 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following July. Promoted to captain in 1876, he participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, distinguishing himself at the Battle of the Rosebud. He served in Arizona from 1882 to 1885, when he was appointed major/inspector general. He retired as a brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 346) WARD, Edward Wilkerson (d. 1897), a native of Kentucky, was appointed first lieutenant of the Kentucky Scouts in 1861, and was mustered out of the Union Army in 1865. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry in 1869, and was posted to the Department of the Platte. He served in Arizona from 1873 to 1875, commanding Indian Scouts at Camp Apache, and serving as post commander at San Carlos. He retired as captain due to ill health in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 352) WATTS, Charles Henry (1849-1917), native of New York, was an 1872 graduate of West Point, and was posted to Arizona as a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He was in the 1872-73 campaign, and was twice recommended for brevets. He departed with his regiment in 1875. During the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876, he suffered an accidental gunshot wound. Recovering, he participated in the Wind River Expedition of 1877. He retired as colonel of the 9th Cavalry in 1911. (Altshuler, 1991, 353) WELLS, Elijah Revillo, of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1858. After its reorganization as 2nd Cavalry, he was commissioned second lieutenant. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, earning brevets up to major. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was captain of the 2nd Cavalry. He retired in 1879, and died in 1891. (Heitman, 1:1017) WESSELLS, Henry Walton, Jr. (1846-1929), native of New York, attended the Naval Academy for two years before enlisting in the

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7th Infantry in March 1865. The following August, he received dual commissions as second and first lieutenant retroactive to July 21. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1870, joining his company in Arizona in April 1871. Eight months later, the regiment transferred to the Department of the Platte, where Wessells was promoted to captain. He commanded Fort Robinson, Nebraska, during the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1879, and was wounded in the fighting. He was retired for disability as colonel in 1901. Karl Malden’s portrayal of Wessells as an alcoholic Prussian martinet with a heavy German accent, in the 1964 film Cheyenne Autumn is fictitious, as is the film itself. (Altshuler, 1991, 355-56) WHEATON, Charles (1835–1913), native of Rhode Island, was commissioned as second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, and finished the Civil War as colonel. He was appointed captain of the 33rd Infantry in 1867, and served on Reconstruction duty before going West. He was in Arizona from 1872 to 1873, and assigned to the Department of the Platte in 1874, where he took part in Crook’s Powder River Campaign. He was retired for deafness in 1889. (Altshuler, 1991, 360) WHEELER probably refers to First Lt. George Montague Wheeler, Corps of Engineers. (Heitman, 1:1024) WHITMAN, Royal Emerson (1833-1913), native of Maine, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and finished the Civil War as a colonel. General Howard, who was related to him by marriage, helped Whitman secure a commission as second lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry in 1867, and he was promoted to first lieutenant two years later. He went to Arizona in 1870, and was acting commander at Camp Grant at the time of the massacre. Because he sided with the Indians in the subsequent investigations, he became the most hated officer in Arizona. When Crook assumed command of the department, he ordered Whitman court-martialed for “conduct unbecoming an officer,” a catch-all used to rid the army of undesirables. The court-martial board, however, threw out the charges on a technicality. Whitman’s cordial relationship with General Howard, who was inspecting the department, infuriated Crook even more. Later, while serving as acting Indian agent at Camp Grant, he was again court-martialed, this time at the behest of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, commander of the Military Division of the Pacific, for disobedience of orders to muster Indians for a daily roll call. Al-

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though he again was found not guilty, he was accused of breaking arrest while awaiting trial, and this led to a third court-martial, in which he was found guilty and sentenced to reprimand, suspension of rank and command for six months, and confinement to post during that period. He retired in 1879. See also ESKIMINZIN; HOWARD, Oliver Otis. (Altshuler, 1991, 365-66; Thrapp, 1988, Chapters 7 and 8; Schmitt, 170-73; Robinson, 2001, Chapter 8; Heitman, 1:1030) WIETING, Orlando Luther (1846-93), native of Pennsylvania, served as an enlisted man in the Volunteers from 1864 to 1865. After the Civil War, he entered West Point, graduating in 1870, but resigned the same year. In 1872, he re-entered the service, commissioned as a second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry. He was post quartermaster at Fort Whipple, and later served in the Departments of the Platte, and the Missouri. He was a captain at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 367-68) WILHELM, Thomas (1838-1922), native of Pennsylvania, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and was mustered out as major. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 8th Infantry in 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant the same year. He was assigned to Fort Whipple with the change of command in Arizona in 1874. He retired as a major of the 21st Infantry in 1899, and later served with the California Militia. He wrote several military histories and reference books. (Altshuler, 1991, 369) WILKINS, John Darragh (1822-1900), of New York, was an 1846 graduate of West Point, and served with distinction in the Mexican War. During the 1850s, he was posted to Texas and New Mexico. He finished the Civil War as major with several brevets for distinguished service. In 1869, he was transferred to the 8th Infantry, becoming lieutenant colonel four years later. He arrived at Fort Whipple with the change of command of the Department of Arizona in 1874, and assumed command of the post. He retired as colonel of the 5th Infantry in 1886. (Altshuler, 1991, 369-70) WILLIAMS, Robert (d. 1901), native of Virginia, entered West Point in 1847, and upon graduation was assigned to the 1st Dragoons (later 1st Cavalry). In 1861 he was breveted to captain and appointed assistant adjutant general, and served in the Adjutant General’s Department throughout the remainder of his career. In 1865, he was breveted to brigadier general for “diligent, faithful, and meritorious service in the Adjutant General’s Department dur-

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ing the war.” He was assistant adjutant general of the Department of the Platte during Crook’s administration. Williams retired in 1893 as brigadier general and adjutant general of the army. (Heitman, 1:1042) WOODSON, Albert Emmett (1841-1903) native of Kentucky, went to Washington Territory in 1859. Three years later, he enlisted in the territorial volunteers, serving as a hospital steward until 1863 when he was commissioned a second lieutenant. In 1867, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 36th Infantry in the Department of the Platte, and in 1870 was transferred to the 5th Cavalry. In Arizona, he participated in Crook’s Apache campaigns, distinguishing himself in fights in the Tonto Basin. As a captain, he was on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Slim Buttes fight. He later served in the Nez Percé War and in the Philippines. Woodson retired as brigadier general in 1903. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1593-94) WORTH, William Scott (1840-1904), native of New York, was the son of Mexican War hero William Jenkins Worth. In 1861, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 8th Infantry, his father’s old regiment. He earned two brevets in the Civil War and was promoted to captain. He came to Arizona with his regiment in 1874, remaining until 1878. He returned to Arizona in 1886 during the Geronimo campaign. He was severely wounded in the SpanishAmerican War, prompting his retirement as brigadier general in 1898. (Altshuler, 1991, 380-81) YOUNG may refer to Robert Hunter Young of Kentucky who, after distinguished service in the Volunteers during the Civil War, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 30th Infantry in 1867, and transferred to the 4th Infantry a year later. In 1890, he was breveted to first lieutenant for gallant service in action against Indians near Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, in 1869. He retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:1067) Civilians ARNOLD, Ben (ca. 1844-1922), was the alias adopted by Benjamin M. Conner because of chronic enlistments and desertions in the Union Army during the Civil War. A native of Ohio, Conner had already deserted twice when he enlisted under the name of Monroe in the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry in 1863, and traveled with the

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regiment to Platte Bridge Station (now Casper), Wyoming. Here he again deserted and permanently assumed the surname of Arnold. He wandered throughout the Northern Plains, working at times as a trapper, freighter, and wolfer. He eventually settled in the Grand River country of Dakota, driving beef to Indian agencies, farming, and working as a military courier to Nebraska and Wyoming. During the Great Sioux War, he served as a dispatch rider for General Crook. Following the Rosebud fight, he moved to Deadwood, and in 1891 to Pierre. He died at Fort Pierre. (Crawford) BARTLET or BARTLETT. Muleskinner and guide in the Department of Arizona. BELKNAP, William Worth (1829-90), native of New York, was secretary of war during the Grant Administration. Belknap was the son of Brig. Gen. William Goldsmith Belknap, who distinguished himself in the Mexican War, and on the Texas frontier. He served as a volunteer during the Civil War, rising to the rank of brigadier general. He was appointed secretary of war in 1869, but in 1876, a congressional committee on War Department expenditures found evidence that he had accepted a bribe in the appointment of a post trader at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. It was generally believed in the army that the corruption was not limited to Fort Sill. He was impeached, but the Senate did not get the majority needed to convict, largely because many of the senators were satisfied with Belknap’s resignation. He practiced law in Washington where he died. (Johnson and Malone, 2:147-48.) BENDELL, Herman, was Indian superintendent for Arizona; in 1871-72, after which the office was abolished. (Bancroft, 1889, 544) BESIAS, Antonio, Arizona guide and interpreter, had been kidnapped a child from his home in Sonora and raised by the Apaches. (Bourke, 1980, 19, 184; Porter, 9) CHANDLER, Zachariah (1813-79), succeeded Columbus Delano as secretary of the interior in October 1875, and held the position until the end of the Grant Administration in March 1877. He reorganized the Interior Department, restoring some if its integretiy with large-scale dismissals for dishonesty and incompetence. Chandler was a Republican political boss in Michigan, serving as one of that state’s senators from 1857 to 1874, and again for a few months prior to his death in 1879. During the Civil War, he was a member

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of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. See DELANO, Columbus. (Johnson and Malone, 3:618) CLARKE (or Clark), Ben, frontiersman from Oklahoma and married to a Cheyenne woman, served as a scout in Sheridan’s Winter Campaign of 1868-69. He guided Custer’s troops to the Indian camps along the Washita on November 27-28, 1868. For that reason, Sheridan summoned him to Nebraska to consult with Crook, although Clarke knew nothing of the region. See also BLACK KETTLE. (Hoig, 71, 123-24) CLUM, John Philip (1851-1932), native of New York, went west in 1871 as a meteorological observer with the U.S. Signal Corps in Santa Fe. In 1874, he accepted the position of Indian agent at San Carlos, which then was under the administration of the Dutch Reformed Church as part of President Grant’s Peace Policy. He left the Indian Service in 1877, eventually moving to Tombstone, where he founded the Tombstone Epitaph, and served as mayor and postmaster. See also ESKIMINZIN. (Thrapp, 1988, Chapter 14; Clum) COLYER, Vincent (1824-88), native of New York City, was a prominent artist. During the Civil War, his Quaker religion notwithstanding, he organized and became colonel of a black regiment. He was appointed secretary of the Board of Indian Commissioners by President Grant. In that capacity, in 1869, he visited New Mexico and northeastern Arizona, where his views on the Apache situation earned him the enmity of the local population. Feelings against him were so bitter that when he revisited the Southwest in 1871, Arizona Gov. Anson P. K. Safford believed it necessary to provide an escort for his protection. He also visited Alaska. See also ESKIMINZIN; NANNI-CHADDI; WELSH, William. (Thrapp, 1988, 102-03; Bancroft, 1889, 560-62) COSGROVE, Thomas, native of Texas and former Confederate cavalryman, who, together with Robert Eckles and Nelson Yarnell, lived among the Shoshones and trained their warriors in conventional cavalry tactics. DAILEY, James, Crook’s brother-in-law, sometimes accompanied expeditions as a civilian employee. He had been a Confederate guerilla fighter in West Virginia during the Civil War, and almost certainly was a member of a partisan group that captured Crook in early 1865. After the war, Crook married Dailey’s sister, Mary. In

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calling him a “bacon chawer,” Bourke probably meant that Dailey’s presence had no practical purpose, and was simply a case of nepotism, not uncommon among ranking officers of the period. George Armstrong Custer likewise carried civilian relatives on the government payroll, and Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan appointed his brother, Michael, as military aide. (Robinson, 2001, 72, 124) DANIELS, Jared W., an Indian agent, and member of the 1876 commission that deannexed the Black Hills from the Great Sioux Reservation. (Robinson, 1993, 261) DAVENPORT, Reuben Briggs (ca. 1852-1932), correspondent for the New York Herald during Crook’s administration of the Department of the Platte. He was born in New York City, and joined the Herald in 1871. He accompanied Custer’s Black Hills Expedition of 1874, and the Dodge-Jenney Expedition. Davenport was the prototype of the modern investigative reporter. His persistent questioning prompted many Westerners to tell him some tall tales, but his dispatches show that he generally was skeptical. Of all the correspondents, he was the least impressed with Crook, reporting the facts as he saw them. A Quaker, he nevertheless distinguished himself for valor during the Battle of the Rosebud. However, his unflattering account of the fight earned him the enmity of Crook and his inner circle. He later covered the Spanish-American War, and served as chief editorial writer for the Paris edition of the combined New York Herald-Tribune. He died in France. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:376-77; Knight, 172-73; Appendix 17) DELANO, Columbus (1809-96), secretary of the interior during the Grant Administration, initially joined the administration in 1869 as commissioner of Internal Revenue. During his term, already established whiskey revenue frauds continued. The following year, he was appointed secretary of the interior, and again, a preexisting pattern of corruption in the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs was allowed to continue, ultimately becoming a national scandal. Under pressure from newspapers, he resigned in 1875. (Johnson and Malone, 5:217-18) DE LONG, Sidney Randolph (1828-1914), native of New York, went to California during the Gold Rush in 1850. He went to Arizona as part of the 1st California Infantry in 1862, and was a member of the garrison that established Camp Goodwin. After the Civil War, he settled in Tucson, where he was a merchant, editor of the

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Tucson Star and a member of the local Committee of Public Safety. He was among those indicted for the Camp Grant Massacre. He later served as mayor of Tucson and member of the territorial legislature. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:389; Altshuler, 1981, 194, and 1991, 1001) DE SMET, Pierre-Jean (1801-73) a Belgian-born Jesuit, ministered to the Indians of Montana, Oregon, and Idaho for more than three decades beginning in 1840. During this period, he also made nineteen trips to Europe to recruit priests and nuns to work among the Indians. He served as mediator between the Indians and whites, including at the Fort Laramie Treaty conference in 1868. (Utley, 1997, 122) ECKLES, Robert (Texas Bob). See COSGROVE, Thomas. FELMER, Joseph, post blacksmith at Camp Grant I, was a native of Germany. He enlisted in the California Volunteers in 1861, and served in the Southwest. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1864. After the Civil War, he remained in the Apache country, where he married an Apache woman and learned her language. (Thrapp, 1988, 66 n.9) FINERTY, John Frederick (1846-1908), a political refugee from Ireland, became a correspondent for the Chicago Times, and covered more Indian war campaigns than any other professional journalist. In 1876, he covered Crook’s expeditions, and his book, War-Path and Bivouac is one of the most complete accounts. He also covered the Ute campaign of 1879, visited Sitting Bull in exile in Canada, and covered the 1881 Apache uprising. He was a member of congress from 1883 to 1885. (Finerty; Knight, 173-74; Lamar, 369) FORD, John W., was post telegraph operator at Fort Laramie. (Hedren, 1988, 58) FREE, Mickey. See Ward, Felix. GROUARD, Frank (1850?-1905) claimed that he was born in the Friendly Islands, the son of an American missionary and a Polynesian noblewoman. While this is the most generally accepted version, and most probably true, his numerous detractors disputed it, some insisting that he was mulatto, and others that he was Indian-white. Grouard was a braggart, and his own accounts cannot be considered completely reliable. Despite his assertions to the contrary, he also nursed an unexplained, but deep-seated hatred for

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the Oglala chief Crazy Horse, possibly resulting from several years spent in Oglala captivity. The animosity ultimately became a factor in Crazy Horse’s death. Despite his faults, Grouard was a great scout and an experienced frontiersman, and his services to the government were invaluable during the Great Sioux War. In later entries, Bourke spelled the name “Gruard.” See also CLARK, Walter Philo; CRAZY HORSE. (DeBarthe; Robinson, 1995) HAYES, Rutherford Birchard (1822-1893), served under Crook as a brigadier general of Volunteers during the Civil War, and became Crook’s life-long friend, supporter, and admirer, even naming one of his sons after him. Declared president after a controversial, and hotly contested election, Hayes held office from 1877 to 1881. He was determined not to be distracted by campaign considerations, and therefore did not seek a second term. Consequently, in many cases the full effect of his reforms was not apparent until after he left office. Nevertheless, he was one of the more capable presidents of the last three decades of the nineteenth century. (See Robinson, 2001, and Hoogeboom) JEFFORDS, Thomas Jonathan. (1832-1914), which Bourke spelled “Jefferds,” sometime prospector, mail contractor, and trader, became friends with Cochise in 1867, after he singlehandedly confronted the chief over the deaths of fourteen of his mail carriers. He was instrumental in bringing about peace with Cochise, and subsequently was appointed agent for Cochise’s reservation in the Dragoon Mountains. See also COCHISE; HOWARD, Oliver Otis. (Sweeney, 1991; Lamar, 572) JENNEY, Horace P. (1849-1921), was a professor at the Columbia School of Mines in New York, who was placed in charge of the surveying party in the Black Hills Expedition of 1875. His previous field experience was limited to fourteen months in west Texas and New Mexico conducting surveys for a projected railroad. He owed his position on the Black Hills Expedition to the recommendation of J. S. Newberry, the expedition’s geologist. His elitist attitude alienated the officers and soldiers of the expedition. Jenney later headed the U.S. Geological Survey’s Division of Zinc. (Kime, 1996, 6) LA GRANGE, Oscar Hugh, native of New York, became a captain of a Wisconsin Volunteer unit in 1861. He was breveted to brigadier general of Volunteers in 1865 for “faithful and meritorious service.” La Grange is listed in Appendix 1 of Warner’s Generals in Blue as

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“breveted as. . . brigadier general for services rendered during the Civil War, but not appointed to full rank.” (Warner, 588; Heitman, 1:611) MC COY, Mason, was a scout Crook had known in Oregon. (Thrapp, 1988, 119) MC GILLYCUDDY, Valentine T. (1849-1939), contract surgeon with General Crook, and topographer for the Dodge-Jenney expedition, was a native of Michigan. He served as post surgeon at Camp Robinson, where he tended the mortally wounded Crazy Horse. He served as agent for the Oglalas from 1879 to 1886, when he was relieved in part because of disputes with Red Cloud. McGillycuddy also was first mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota, and served as president of the South Dakota School of Mines. Bourke spelled the name “MacGillicuddy.” See also CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:905) MC INTOSH, Archie (1832-1902), was the son of a Scots Hudson’s Bay trapper and a Chippewa woman. After a period of clerking for Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada, he immigrated to the United States, where in 1855 he became an Army scout in Oregon. He served under General Crook in Oregon and moved with him to Arizona. He served several years as a guide, culminating in Crook’s Sierra Madre expedition of 1883. He was married to a Chiricahua woman and lived near the San Carlos Reservation until his death from cancer. His younger brother, Lt. Donald McIntosh, 7th Cavalry, died at the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:908-09; O’Neal, 164-66) MACMILLAN, Thomas, which Bourke spelled “McMillan,” a native of Scotland, reported for the Chicago Inter-Ocean. Although only twenty-five years old, his poor health cut short his participation in the campaigns of the summer of 1876. Like Reuben Davenport, he had accompanied the Dodge-Jenney Expedition. Dodge described him as “very gentlemanly, hard to stuff, & with excellent good sense” who won “the liking and respect of everyone.” (Knight, 171-72; Kime, 1996, 57) MARÍA, José, Arizona guide and interpreter who had been kidnapped as a child from his home in Sonora and raised by the Apaches. He and Tom Horn served as interpreters for Lt. Charles Gatewood negotiating the surrender of Geronimo in 1886. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:675; Bourke, 1980, 19, 184)

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MARION, John Huguenot (ca. 1836-91), publisher of the Miner, was considered the ablest newspapermen in central Arizona. Bourke called him “one of God’s noblemen.” Little is known of his early life, although he probably was born in New Orleans, and went to California in the mid-1850s. He was in St. Louis in 1856-57, returned West and purchased the Miner in 1867, operating it for ten years. One of his sons was named in honor of General Crook. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:942) MERIVALE, Joseph, whose name Bourke spelled “Marrivale,” was a long-time resident of the Fort Laramie area, who had served the army as a guide on several occasions prior to the Dodge-Jenney Black Hills expedition of 1875. Nevertheless, during the expedition, Dodge determined that Merivale knew very little about the Black Hills, and instead used him as a courier and interpreter. (Kime, 1996, 12-13) MOORE, Thomas (1832-96) was one of the preeminent mule packers of the West and, with General Crook, streamlined the military pack transportation system to a model of efficiency. A native of St. Louis, he began his Western career by traveling to California in 1850. He joined Crook as civilian chief packer in 1871, and served in virtually every major Indian campaign until 1895. He also organized transportation for hunting and camping trips by Crook and other dignitaries. His sister was Carrie Nation, temperance activist famous for smashing saloons in the Midwest. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:101112) NEWBERRY, J. S., was geologist for the 1875 Dodge-Jenney Black Hills Expedition. Bourke erroneously refers to him as an ornithologist. See also JENNEY, Horace P. (Kime, 1996, 6) O’BRIEN, M. A printed roster of acting assistant surgeons on duty in the Department of Arizona, pasted in vol. 1 facing page 149 of the diary, shows Dr. M. O’Brien as assigned to Camp McDowell. He appears to have been a civilian contract surgeon because Heitman does not list an army surgeon by that name, nor does he list contract surgeons prior to 1898. OCHOA, Estevan (1831-88), native of Chihuahua, became involved in the trade between the Southwest and St. Louis as a boy. He was a member of the Tucson firm of Tully, Ochoa & Co., which was the largest merchandizing house in Arizona until the arrival of the railroad in 1880. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:1072)

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PACHECO, Romualdo (1831-99), first native-born Californian to become governor under U.S. jurisdiction, served for nine months in 1875. As lieutenant governor, he succeeded Gov. Newton Booth, after Booth left office to accept a seat in the federal Senate. Pacheco later served two terms as a member of congress. (Bancroft, 1964, 764) PALMER, A. D., was agent to the Hopis (Moquis) in 1869-70. Bourke appears to have been under the impression that he still held the office at the time of Crook’s visit in 1874, but in fact the agent was W. S. Defrees, who was absent. (Bancroft, 1889, 548) PHILLIPS, John “Portugee” (1832-83), was born Manoel Felipe Cardoso in the Azores. He came to California on a Portuguese ship about 1850, and became a prospector. On August 14, 1866, he and two partners, James Wheatley and Isaac Fisher, arrived at Fort Phil Kearny, where they accepted employment with the post quartermaster. When Wheatley and Fisher were killed in the Fetterman Massacre of December 21, 1866, Phillips volunteered to carry news of the disaster and a plea for assistance from the besieged garrison at Phil Kearny to Fort Laramie. He left Phil Kearny that night, making the 236-mile ride alone through blizzards in four days, arriving shortly before midnight Christmas Day in the middle of a holiday ball. He was bedridden with exhaustion and frostbite for several weeks after the ride. He appears to have received no special reward or consideration for his efforts, although in 1899, the government gave his widow $5,000 in belated gratitude. Bourke never arrived at a consistent way of spelling Phillips’ name, or in using an apostrophe with the “s”. See also FETTERMAN, William Judd. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1140; Brown, 203) POURIER, Baptiste (1841-1932), called “Big Bat” to distinguish him from another scout, Baptiste “Little Bat” Garnier, was born in St. Charles, Missouri. The descendant of a long line of French fur traders and explorers, while still in his teens he accepted employment with trader John Richaud, who later became his father-inlaw. Pourier became an interpreter and guide at Fort Laramie in 1869, serving in that capacity until 1880. (Gilbert) RICHAUD, Louis (ca. 1846-1897) was the son of fur trader John Baptiste Richaud and his wife, Mary Gardiner, who was part Oglala. He grew up along the Platte River in Wyoming, where he and his brother-in-law, Big Bat Pourier, helped operate John Baptiste

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Richaud’s toll bridge. Although a competent scout, his service under Crook was marked with quarrels with Frank Grouard and he was permanently discharged after the fall 1876 campaign. Thrapp spelled the name “Richard,” but most works give it as Richaud, or, phonetically, “Reeshaw.” (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1214-15) SCOTT, W.G., a friend of Bourke’s who accompanied the 1874 expedition to the Hopi country. SIEBER, Albert (1844-1907), a native of the Rhineland who was brought to the United States as a child, achieved national fame as one of the leading scouts in Arizona. General Crook especially depended on him during his Apache campaigns. Sieber and Archie McIntosh, Crook’s other favorite scout, disliked each other but nevertheless worked well on a professional basis. (Thrapp, 1995) SOULÉ, Milan, served as acting agent at San Carlos from 1872 to 1873, when he was replaced by James E. Roberts. See DALLAS, Andrew James. (Bancroft, 1889, 565) STRAHORN, Robert Edmund (1852-1944), who signed his dispatches “Alter Ego,” was a native of Pennsylvania. He obtained his first newspaper job when he was fourteen. In 1870, he went to Colorado, where he worked in Central City and Black Hawk before joining the Denver Rocky Mountain News. In addition to his regular job with the Denver paper, he also sold dispatches to the Chicago Tribune, Omaha Republican, Cheyenne Sun, and New York Times. Strahorn later settled in Spokane, Washington, and became a land developer and railroad executive, with extensive interests throughout the Pacific Northwest. (Knight, 169-71; Thrapp, 1991, 3:1376) VANDEVER, William (1817-93), native of Maryland, served as United States Indian inspector under the Grant Administration from 1873 until 1877, prompting Bourke (who sometimes spelled it “Vandeveer”) to call him “the lying emissary of the Indian Ring.” Like many of Grant’s appointments, Vandever had served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was mustered out with the brevet rank of major general. He practiced law until his appointment as Indian inspector. He had served as a congressman from Iowa from 1858 to 1871, and, after moving to California, served as a congressman from that state from 1886 to 1891. He lived in Ventura, California, at the time of his death. (Warner, 523-24) WARD, Felix, born Felix Tellez, was the son of a Mexican woman, Jesusa Tellez, and was adopted by her husband, an Irishman named

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John Ward. In 1860, he was kidnapped by Apaches, and spent much of the remainder of his childhood with them. As an adult, he called himself Mickey Free, and scouted for the U.S. Army in Arizona. (Thrapp, 1988 and 1995; Lamar, 228) WASSON, Joseph, was one of the first newspaper correspondents who actually covered the Indian Wars from the field, joining Crook’s 1867 expeditions against Indians in Idaho, Oregon, and northern California. At the time, he and his brother, John, owned the Silver City, Idaho, Owyhee Avalanche. The Wasson brothers later established the Tucson Arizona Citizen, where Joe renewed his acquaintance with Crook and came to know Bourke. He was covering the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition for the New York Tribune, San Francisco Alta California, and Philadelphia Press. (Knight, 32-33, 168-69) WELSH, William, was first chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners. He resigned when the board failed to gain control of Indian expenditures, but remained active in the Indian Rights movement. Bourke spelled the name “Welch.” See also COLYER, Vincent. (Priest, 28ff.) YARNELL, Nelson. See COSGROVE, Thomas. Indians ALCHISAY (ca.1853-1928), White Mountain Apache, enlisted as a scout on December 2, 1872, quickly rose to sergeant, and won the Medal of Honor during the 1872-73 campaign. He was discharged in 1874, although he advised Crook on his return to Arizona in 1882, and served during the Geronimo Campaign. He received a gold medal from President Cleveland in 1888, and was prominent in reservation affairs until his death. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:12-13) AMERICAN HORSE (ca. 1840-1908), Oglala Sioux chief, sometimes confused with another Oglala chief named American Horse, who was killed at Slim Buttes in 1876. He participated in the Fetterman Massacre, but subsequently settled at the Red Cloud Agency and was not involved in the Great Sioux War. He was an associate of Red Cloud, toured with Buffalo Bill, and as a leader of the Oglalas, earned enemies by often siding with the government in controversies. He died at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:21-22) BLACK COAL, Arapaho chief, who, in 1874, led his people against the government and its Shoshone allies under their powerful chief Washakie. Nevertheless, he ultimately sided with the government

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during the Great Sioux War. Years later, in 1891, after the Arapahos had been placed on the Shoshone Reservation at Wind River, Black Coal challenged Washakie’s authority, demanding—and receiving— equal status for the Arapahos. See also WASHAKIE. (Hyde, 1975, 297; Hoxie, 676) BLACK KETTLE (ca. 1803-1868), Southern Cheyenne, generally was peaceful with whites, and was instrumental in avoiding the massacre of Colorado troops in a fight with Cheyennes in May 1864. Nevertheless, his band was attacked and many killed in the Sand Creek Massacre of November 29, 1864. Despite this, he signed the Little Arkansas Treaty of 1865, and the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1868. On November 28, 1868, almost four years to the day after Sand Creek, his camp was attacked by the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, and Black Kettle was killed. In writing of Black Kettle, Bourke appeared to accept the official military view that he had been hostile. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:122-23) BOCON. See ESQUIMASQUIN. CHAN-DEISI (d. 1874), whom Crook called “John Daisy” because of the similarity to the pronunciation, was also known as She-shet. He was a discharged scout who belonged to Cochinay’s band, and was involved in the killing of Lt. Jacob Almy at San Carlos in 1873. After the murder, he fled into the wilderness, and along with Chunz, Cochinay, and Delshay, ravaged the countryside. Crook offered a bounty for his head, which was brought in to Camp Apache in June 1874. See also ALMY, Jacob; DELSHAY; CHUNZ; COCHINAY. (Thrapp, 1988, 152ff.) CHUNZ or Chuntz (d. 1874), Tonto Apache chief, was one of the most ruthless and elusive Apache leaders of the era. He was declared an outlaw by the military after he split the head of a Mexican boy with an axe at Camp Grant in 1872. The civilian agent, however, would not permit his arrest. After the outbreak at San Carlos in 1873, his band, along with those of Delshay, Cochinay, and Chandeisi, terrorized Arizona until mid-1874. He was tracked down by a band of Apache volunteers under Desalin, who brought Chunz’s head, and six others, to San Carlos, where they were lined up on the parade ground. See also DELSHAY; CHAN-DEISI; COCHINAY. (Thrapp, 1988, 148 n.11, 151, 159-61) COCHINAY (d. 1874) was among the chiefs who broke out at San Carlos following the killing of Lt. Almy. He terrorized the coun-

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tryside for a year, until a band of scouts caught him about a mile from Tucson. His severed head was taken to San Carlos for bounty. See also ALMY, Jacob; DELSHAY; CHUNZ; CHAN-DEISI. (Thrapp, 1988, 155ff.) COCHISE (ca. 1824-1874) is one of the most famous American Indians, largely because of his efforts to maintain peace following the Cochise War. The war itself started after the incident with Lieutenant Bascom mentioned in the text, and lasted almost twelve years before Brig. Gen. Oliver O. Howard was able to negotiate a peace. At Cochise’s direction, the government established a reservation centered on the Dragoon Mountains, that occupied much of the southeastern part of Arizona. It was abolished two years after his death and the Chiricahuas were concentrated at San Carlos. Cochise was the son-in-law and associate of Mangas Coloradas, who is considered perhaps the greatest of all Apache leaders. He inherited the mantle of supremacy following Mangas’s death in 1863. In the nineteenth century, there was no consistent spelling of Apache names, and Bourke uses “Cochies,” “Cochis,” and “Cocheis,” the latter of which was most common among whites. See also JEFFORDS, Thomas Jonathan; HOWARD, Oliver Otis; MANGAS COLORADAS. (Sweeney, 1991; Lamar, 228) CRAZY HORSE (ca. 1840-1877), Oglala war chief, drew attention not only for his mysticism and introverted personality, but also because of his red hair and pale, freckled complexion. In 1865, he was designated one of the four Oglala “shirt wearers” or leading political chiefs, but lost the position five years later following an altercation involving another man’s wife. He distinguished himself in the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, and subsequently during the Great Sioux War. Arrested on September 5, 1877, he was bayoneted during a scuffle at the guardhouse at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, and died about midnight. During the latter half of the twentieth century, he became a symbol of Indian political and social resistance. See also BURKE, Daniel Webster; CLARK, Walter Philo; GROUARD, Frank; LITTLE BIG MAN; MC GILLYCUDDY, Valentine T. (Utley, 1997, 109-10; Nickerson, 20; DeBarthe, 117) DELSHAY or Delt-chay (ca. 1838-1874), Tonto Apache, was a noted raider, sometimes leading his band in concert with other raiding bands. Although he sometimes led his people onto reservations, he remained restless and could not refrain from raiding. Crook of-

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fered a bounty for Delshay’s head. Two separate claims were submitted, one with a scalp and ears, and the other with the complete head. Crook paid both. See also CHAN-DEISI, CHUNZ, COCHINAY. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:389-90) EL-CAHN, whom Bourke called “El Cal,” (d. 1890) Bronco Apache, apparently undistinguished until 1889, when he and several others were sentenced to life at Yuma, Arizona, Territorial Prison for murder of a freighter. El-cahn and two others escaped. El-cahn was killed by troops and the other escapees were recovered. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:457) ESKIMINZIN (d. 1896), Arivaipa Apache chief, was leader of the band that had been massacred at Camp Grant. His confidence in the government was restored after meeting with Vincent Colyer, and he became a scout for the army. He maintained a farm on the San Carlos Reservation. Eskiminzin established a working relationship with San Carlos Agent John Clum based on mutual trust and respect. In 1888, his association with an outlaw known as the Apache Kid led to his arrest, and internment in Florida and subsequently in Alabama. Allowed to return to San Carlos, he lived quietly until his death. See also CLUM, John Philip; COLYER, Vincent; WHITMAN, Royal Emerson. (Bourke, 1980, 183; Schmitt, 168; Lamar, 351) ESQUIMASQUIN (d. 1873), also known as “Bocon” (Big Mouth), was an Apache scout leader. Bourke described him as “crafty, cruel, daring, and ambitious,” but added he overindulged in tizwin. His tendency to become intoxicated from drink after a fast of several days led to his death a few months after the end of the 1872-73 campaign. (Bourke, 1980, 183) LITTLE BIG MAN, Oglala “shirt wearer” or senior chief of Crazy Horse’s band, initially was pegged—justifiably—as a trouble maker when he arrived at the Red Cloud Agency in 1872. His name had nothing to do with stature, but was to distinguish him from his father, also named Big Man. Little Big Man surrendered with Crazy Horse in 1877, pledging to General Crook that he would maintain the peace. During the scuffle in which Crazy Horse was killed at Camp Robinson, Little Big Man pinioned his arms. He always maintained the death was an accident. He settled at Pine Ridge where, in 1879, he became a policeman. See also CRAZY HORSE. (Hyde, 1975, 198, 243n 297-98)

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LITTLE WOUND, Oglala chief, attempted to be accommodating, but government blundering drove his band to hostility in 1865. He signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Like Red Cloud and other chiefs, however, he understood the treaty was simply to restore peace and trade, and refused to abandon his hunting grounds to the government. Nevertheless, he settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and, together with Red Cloud, probably saved Agent J. J. Saville’s life from a kangaroo court organized by Little Big Man and Pretty Bear over a dispute about rations. In 1877, he combined with Red Cloud and other Oglala leaders to support General Crook against Crazy Horse. He eventually settled at Pine Ridge. See also CRAZY HORSE, LITTLE BIG MAN, RED CLOUD. (Hyde, 1975, 155, 164, 169, 209, 297) MANGAS COLORADAS (1793?-1863), Chiricahua leader, was probably the greatest Apache chief of historic times. He first became known to the American public in the 1840s, although his relations with Americans at that time was cordial. As American settlement threatened the Apache way of life, however, he began raiding mining camps, ranches, and stagecoach stations. His ill-feelings were aggravated after he was badly beaten by a group of American miners. Mangas was badly wounded in a fight with troops in 1862. After his recovery, he attempted to negotiate a peace, but was taken prisoner, and appears to have been tortured with heated bayonets before being killed. Cochise was his son-in-law and protégé. See COCHISE. (Hoxie, 354-55) NANNI-CHADDI, Apache leader whose band was annihilated by troops under Capt. William Henry Brown on December 28, 1872. A year earlier, he had met with Vincent Colyer, and promised to obey the government. The destruction of his band demonstrated that soldiers could penetrate Apache country, and locate and destroy hostile groups, no matter how well secluded or defended. See also BROWN, William Henry; COLYER, Vincent. (Thrapp, 1988, 12730) OLD MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES arose to leadership of the Oglalas during a power struggle in the early 1850s. Details are sketchy but he appears to have been recognized by the government as head chief during this period. In 1854, he tried unsuccessfully to head off the confrontation between troops commanded by Second Lt. J. L. Grattan and Lakotas near Fort Laramie, which resulted in

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the massacre of Grattan and his men, and essentially marked the beginning of the Sioux Wars. This failure led the government to designate Bad Wound as head chief. Although the government considered him a peace chief, he joined Red Cloud in refusing to sign the proposed Fort Laramie Treaty of 1866. He did, however, sign the 1868 treaty. By this time, however, his prestige had begun to wane, and Red Cloud, about five years his junior, assumed preeminence. He eventually settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and later at Pine Ridge. See also RED CLOUD; YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES. (Hyde, 1975, 67-68, 73-74, 139, 164) RED CLOUD (1822-1909), Oglala, became a powerful war chief through his own accomplishments. He appears to have taken his first scalp at sixteen, in a raid against the Pawnees. He participated in the Grattan Massacre, and was a distinguished leader against Gen. Patrick Connor’s failed North Plains Expedition. During a treaty council at Fort Laramie in June 1866, Red Cloud and his followers walked out in protest of a proposal to surrender more hunting grounds to the government. This led to the Red Cloud War of 186668, that forced the government to abandon the Bozeman Trail and Forts Reno, Phil Kearny, and C.F. Smith. After signing the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, Red Cloud never again went to war, although during the Great Sioux War, his sympathies were with the hostiles. This led Crook to depose him as paramount chief of the Lakotas in favor of Spotted Tail in September 1876. Following the death of Spotted Tail in 1881, Red Cloud again emerged as paramount chief. More visionary than many of the other leaders, he saw that the survival of his people depended on adapting to government expectations. He died at Pine Ridge. See also YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES; SPOTTED TAIL; THREE BEARS. Red Cloud’s life is covered in Olson; Hyde, 1975; and Larson. ROCKY BEAR, Oglala chief, together with Sitting Bull of the South, and Three Bears, persuaded young warriors of the Red Cloud Agency to enlist as scouts for General Crook, over the objections of Red Cloud and Agent James S. Hastings. See also SITTING BULL OF THE SOUTH; THREE BEARS. (Hyde, 1975, 259) SHARP NOSE, Arapaho chief, led his tribe’s contingent serving under General Crook in the summer and fall of 1876. Besides being a noted warrior and leader, soldiers praised him as one of the most outstanding guides. He was especially valuable in guiding Mackenzie’s

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cavalry to the main Cheyenne camp on November 24-25. (Dunlay, 82) SITTING BULL (1831?-90), Hunkpapa war chief and holy man, as a young man attained a superlative record as a warrior, and in 1857, was designated a war chief. His conflicts with whites appear to have begun when Montana-bound gold seekers came up the Missouri River. The government soon began building forts along the river, prompting Sitting Bull to lead his people in a five-year war. By this time, his interest had turned to spirituality, and he was known among all the Lakota tribes as a holy man. In his combined capacity of military and religious leader, he became the focal point of the Lakotas resisting the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and the subsequent settlement on reservations. His warriors fought troops on a survey expedition into the Yellowstone Valley in 1872 and 1873. Rather than surrender during the Great Sioux War, he led a remnant of his people into Canada, where they remained until 1881, when he turned himself in at Fort Buford, North Dakota. He toured briefly with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, but spent most of his time on the Standing Rock Reservation, adopting white methods he deemed useful, and rejecting those he did not. As more of the Indian lands were taken, Sitting Bull became a leader of the Ghost Dance movement at Standing Rock. He was killed on December 15, 1890, in a fight that broke out when Indian Police tried to arrest him. (Utley, 1993; Hoxie, 593-95) SITTING BULL OF THE SOUTH (1841-76) was a name that whites gave to the Oglala leader Sitting Bull to distinguish him from the great Hunkpapa chief Sitting Bull. As a young man, Sitting Bull of the South became friends with a telegrapher, who taught him to read and write, and to use the telegraph. He was fluent in English. Following the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, he joined a hostile faction, and participated in several fights, including the Fetterman Massacre in Wyoming. Later he settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and accompanied two delegations to Washington. He was ambushed and killed by a group of Crows while on a truce mission to Crazy Horse. See also ROCKY BEAR; THREE BEARS. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1315) SPOTTED TAIL (1823?-81) , was a Brulé “shirt wearer” or senior chief, and war leader. Although he was involved in the Grattan Massacre of 1855, he surrendered the following month. He was de-

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tained at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Fort Kearny, Nebraska, for a year, during which he learned enough about the whites to realize their numbers and technology made them an irresistible force. From that point onward, he strove to maintain peace, and obtain education for his people, while preserving their ancient culture. He did, however, lead an assault against Julesburg, Colorado, in retaliation for the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, and government restrictions on Lakota travel along the Platte River. Soon after, he permanently ceased fighting whites, signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and took up residence on a reservation in Nebraska. In 1876, General Crook deposed Red Cloud as head chief of the Lakotas, and designated Spotted Tail in his place. Although Spotted Tail negotiated the surrender of hostile bands, he rejected the proposition that the Lakotas be relocated to Oklahoma. In 1880, a political struggle developed among the Brulés, with opposition centering around Spotted Tail’s cousin, Crow Dog. On August 5, 1881, an altercation developed between the two men, and Crow Dog shot Spotted Tail. After his death, the Brulés ceased to play a significant role in Lakota affairs. See also RED CLOUD. (Hoxie, 603-05; Hyde, 1987) THREE BEARS, Oglala, served as first sergeant of scouts during Crook’s Powder River expedition of 1876. Together with Young Man Afraid of His Horses, he opposed Red Cloud’s obstructionist policies. Previously, in October 1874, they had headed off a confrontation between several hundred unruly warriors at the Red Cloud Agency, saving a small detachment of troops from Camp Robinson, under Lt. Emmet Crawford, from potential massacre. After that, Crawford considered Three Bears a close friend. See also CRAWFORD, Emmet; RED CLOUD; ROCKY BEAR; YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES. (Dunlay, 137, 141-42) WASHAKIE (1804?-1900), powerful and autocratic chief of the Shoshones, spent most of his life maintaining peace with the federal government. His position was reenforced in 1863, when Col. Patrick Connor defeated and subdued Shoshone dissidents who had joined Bannocks in raiding against white emigrants. In 1868, he signed the Fort Bridger Treaty establishing a Shoshone reservation in what is now western Wyoming. In the 1870s, he led his people as scouts, first against the Arapahos, and later as part of Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He opposed some government policies, including the resettlement of Arapahos on the Shoshone

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Reservation. Nevertheless, he cooperated, realizing that to oppose the government would bring disaster for his people. In 1878, at General Crook’s behest, the government upgraded Camp Brown, Wyoming, on the Shoshone Reservation, renaming it Fort Washakie, in his honor. See also BLACK COAL. (Hoxie, 675-76; Robinson, 2001, 221) YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES (ca. 1830-1900) was a hereditary Oglala chief through is father, Old Man Afraid Of His Horses. He was an associate of Red Cloud, and participated in various fights along the Bozeman Trail and in the Fetterman Massacre during the Red Cloud War. He was a party to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and thereafter worked as a sort of mediator between Indians and whites. Although he opposed the sale of Sioux lands to the government, he eventually was designated president of the Pine Ridge Indian Council. He also adamantly opposed the Ghost Dance religion. See also OLD MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES; RED CLOUD; THREE BEARS. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1614-15)

Appendix 2 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Orders of particular importance to Bourke's narrative—Arizona

Crook Assumes Command of Department of Arizona [Volume 1, Page 15] * Headquarters Department of Arizona, DRUM BARRACKS, CAL., JUNE 4, 1871 GENERAL ORDERS, No. 12. In obedience to paragraph II, Special Orders No. 176, Adjutant General’s Office, current series, the undersigned assumes the command of the Department of Arizona. The following named officers constitute the Department Staff: Captain A. H. Nickerson, 23d Infantry, Aide-de-Camp, Acting Assistant Adjutant General. Lieutenant-Colonel Charles H. Tompkins, Deputy Quartermaster General, Chief Quartermaster. Captain John W. Turner, Commissary Department, Chief Commissary. Surgeon E. I. Baily, Medical Director. Major Charles J. Sprague, Chief Paymaster. * Volume numbers refer to the manuscript volumes as arranged in the West Point Library—ed.

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Major James Nelson, Paymaster. Major Robert Morrow, Paymaster. GEORGE CROOK; Brevet Major General, OFFICIAL: [No signature] Aide-de-Camp Bourke Named Aide-de-Camp [Volume 1, Page 18] Headquarters Department of Arizona, DRUM BARRACKS, CAL., SEPTEMBER 1, 1871 GENERAL ORDERS, No. 18. The following named officers having been directed by the War Department to report for duty upon the personal Staff of the Department Commander, are hereby announed as Aides-de-Camp to the undersigned: Second Lieutenant William J. Ross, 21st Infantry. Second Lieutenant John G. Bourke, 3d Cavalry. GEORGE CROOK, Lieut.-Col., 23d Infantry, Bvt. Major General, Commanding. OFFICIAL: [signed] John G. Bourke Aide-de-Camp. Cessation of Hostilities [Volume 1, Page 186] Headquarters Department of Arizona, PRESCOTT: APRIL 7, 1873 GENERAL ORDERS, No. 12. It is with pleasure the announcement is made of the surrender of large numbers of Indians lately hostile, against whom military operations have been prosecuted for the past four months; and the assurance through the chiefs and head men of these tribes of

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their desire and the desire of their people to conclude a permanent peace. These propositions are made in the midst of a campaign in which they have been severely punished, and the Department Commander, believing in their sincerity, announces and hereby declares peace with the tribes referred to. The basis of this peace is simply that these Indians shall cease plundering and murdering, remain upon their several reservations, and comply with the regulations made by the Government, through authorized agents, for them. So long, therefore, as they remain true to their agreement, they will be protected by the Military of this Department in the enjoyment of all their rights under the law. After sufficient time shall have elapsed to enable the friends of any renegades still at large to bring them in upon their proper reservations, post commanders will use the troops at their command to pursue and force them in, and in case any such straggling bands continue to remain absent without proper authority, they will be forced to surrender or be destroyed. BY COMMAND OF BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL CROOK: A. H. NICKERSON, Captain, Twenty-third Infantry, A.D.C., and A.A.A. General. OFFICIAL: [signed] John G. Bourke Aide-de-Camp. Instructions for Officers Commanding Troops on Indian Reservations [Volume 1, Pages 188-89] Headquarters Department of Arizona, PRESCOTT: APRIL 8, 1873 GENERAL ORDERS, No. 13. The following memorandum of instructions is hereby published for the guidance of officers commanding troops stationed on the several Indian Reservations in this Department: I. With a view to bringing the straggling bands and families still at large upon the reservation, and to serve as a nucleus for the es-

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tablishment of civil government, a small number of the Indians recently used as scouts will be retained in service under existing laws, at each of the reservations hereafter specified. Each of these detachments will be under the command of an officer, designated by the Department Commander, who will have charge, under the supervision of the commanding officer of the post, of their clothing and accounts; but the post commander may communicate with them direct, at any and all times. These Indians will be selected from among the best of their several tribes, and will be liable to be mustered out for misconduct towards the Indians of their own or other tribes, or other good cause, and their places filled by others duly slected. They will constitute the police force of the resrvations, and while required to attend regular musters and inspections will not only be allowed, but will be required to cultivate the soil and perform the various industries prescribed by the Indian Department, the same as other Indians. They will be used, from time to time, upon the application of the agent, or the commanding officers’ own motion, to preserve the peace, report and correct any irregularities that may occur among their own or other tribes in the vicinity. II. Commanding officers will aid the duly authorized agents in instructing the Indians in, and establishing among them civil government in the simplest form, enabling them to settle their differences according to the usages of civilization, gradually showing them its benefits as contrasted with their own barbarous forms and customs. To do this effectually will require different forms to suit the pecularities of different tribes, and the agents of the several reservations are requested to meet the officers commanding the military on their respective reservations and agree upon the necessary forms, being careful not to make them too complicated at first for the comprehension of the tribes to which they are to be applied, leaving them to be enlarged with their capabilities, so that when the auxiliary force an be dispensed with, they will be capable of self government and eventually become good citizens. While they should not be judged harshly for acts which in civil codes would constitute minor offenses, care should also be taken that they do not succeed in deceiving their agents and the officers, in matters of greater import, being careful to treat them as children in ignorance, not in innocence.

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Perfect harmony between the officers of the Indian and War Departments, on duty together, is absolutely necessary in treating Indians so lately hostile and so apparently incorrigible, and the Department Commander earnestly enjoins this harmony, and directs that in case of difference in the matters where the line is not plainly marked, that officers carefully avoid such differences being made known to the Indians, and that they refrain from any overt act in the matter at issue, until instructions from these Headquarters shall have been received. BY COMMAND OF BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL CROOK: A. H. NICKERSON, Captain, Twenty-third Infantry, A.D.C., and A.A.A. General. OFFICIAL: [No signature] Aide-de-Camp.

Appendix 3 ✦ [Volume 1, Pages 78, 80]

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Names of Indian tribes in Arizona Department Cocopahs Rio Colorado Friendly Yumas " " New River " " Chimahuevis " " Mojaves " " Cohuallas (Uilas) California " Diguneos " " Pah-utes Cal & Nevada Dubious Sevintz Rio Colorado " Sampas Arizona " Hualpais " Friendly Apache-Mojaves " Whipped Apache-Yumas " " Apache-Tontos " " Moquis Arizona Friendly Zunis Arizona and New Mexico Friendly Navajoes New Mexo. Dubious Apaches Arizona Whipped Tontos " " Pimas " Friendly Maricopas " " Papagoes " " Opatas Sonora " 456

N AMES

OF

I NDIAN T RIBES

IN THE

D EPARTMENT

OF

A RIZONA

Yaquis " " Mayos. " " The last three tribes come to Arizona to trade at Tucson, or to seek employment.

457

Appendix 4 ✦ [Volume 1, Pages 82, 84]

✦ ✦ ✦

Names of Indian agents and agencies in Arizona Hon. H. Bendell. (1871-72) Dr. R A Wilber J H Stout J A Robert C.F. Larrabee Dr. J.A Tonner. [Thomas] J Jefferds J. Williams Capt Ths Byrne

458

Superintendent, Prescott AT Papago Agency Maricopas & Pimas[,] Sacaton White Mountain Reservation[,] “Camp Apache” San Carlos Division White Mt. Res. Colorado Reservation Chiricahua Reservation Rio Verde Reservation Beales Springs Reservation

Appendix 5 ✦ [Volume 1, Page 86]

✦ ✦ ✦

Posts in the Department of Arizona Name

Latitude

Longitude

Altitude

Camp Apache Bowie Date Creek Beales Springs Grant Haulpa Lowell McDowell Mojave Fort Whipple Fort Yuma

34 deg 33. deg. 40 m 34 deg 45 m [Not recorded] [Not recorded] 35 deg. 10 m [Not recorded] 33 deg. 40 m 35 deg 24 sec. 34 de. 29. m. 6 s. 32 d. 23 m 3 s

109 deg. 45 m 109 d. 25 m 30 s 112 d. 18 m

5600 4826 3726

113 d. 50 m

[Not recorded]

111 d. 40 m 114 d. 34 m 40 s 112 d, 30 m 30.s 114 d. 36 m 9 s.

1800 600 5700 355

459

Appendix 6 ✦ [Volume 1, Pages 88]

✦ ✦ ✦

Table of distances between Prescott and the following points

San Francisco via Los Angeles Camp Apache via Tucson Camp Apache via Little Colorado Camp Bowie Camp Date Creek Prescott Florence Maricopa Wells Camp Hualpai Camp Beales Springs Camp Mojave Camp Colorado (Colorado Reservation) Ehrenberg AT San Diego Cal. Los Angeles Cal. Tubac AT Guaymas Mex Fort Yuma Cal. Arizona City Wickenburg La Libertad Mexico Fort Cumming NM 460

miles 916 481 268 364 60 259 [Not recorded] 161 39 124 165 236 190 530 430 207 610 338 338 88 484 473

T ABLE

OF DISTANCES BETWEEN

P RESCOTT

Camp Cady Cal Camp Verde

AND VARIOUS POINTS

295 39

Table of distances between Prescott and other points Lobos, Mexico old Camp Reno Camp McDowell Camp Independence, Cal Old Camp Pinal AT Old Camp Crittenden A.T. Old Camp Goodwin AT

473 miles 203 miles 170 miles 716 miles 244 miles 310 miles 409 miles

461

Appendix 7 ✦ [Volume 1, Page 118]

✦ ✦ ✦

Command of Maj. Brown which left Mt. Graham, February 15, 1873 Comdg. Officer W.H. Brown, Capt 5th Cav Brevt. Maj U.S.A. A.I.G. 5th Cav [companies listed below] 1st Cav [companies listed below] “L” Lt Bourke A.D.C. “A” E. Woodson & “M” Lt Brodie 1st Cav “F” L. W.P. Hall “G” Capt Burns & commd by Captain “H” “ Hamilton Geo Randall, 23 Infty “I” Lt Babcock “L” Capt Taylor Indian Scouts [listed below] “M” (1st Lt Almy[)] Grant Apach[e] Lt Almy 2d Lt Walls Sa. Blanca “ ” Brodie Yavapais ——— Lt Schuyler Volunteers Lts Ross, Rockwell, Bourke Surgeons Girard, Harper, Matthews Porter Guides McCoy, McIntosh, Ellet, Rice, Spears, Noble, Clark Officers d[itt]o 17 Rationed for 30 days

462

Appendix 8 ✦ [Volume 1, Pages 150, 152, 154]

✦ ✦ ✦

Tables of distances between Fort Yuma and Various Points Tables of distances from Ft Yuma to Camp Apache via Tucson Camp Bowie Camp Colorado Camp Crittenden Camp Date Creek Camp Goodwin Camp Grant (old) Camp Lowell (Tucson) Camp McDowell Camp Mojave Camp Reno Camp Hualpai Camp Verde Fort Whipple Guaymas, Mex La Libertad, Mex Ehrenberg AT Lapaz, AT Lobos, Mex Maricopa Wells AT San Diego, Cal Tubac, AT Los Angeles Cal Fort Cummings N.M.

497 miles 380 195 326 278 425 268 275 222 503 263 377 377 338 626 500 140 130 489 177 192 321 279 494 463

Appendix 9 ✦ [Volume 1, Pages 156, 158]

✦ ✦ ✦

Table of routes to posts in southern Arizona In the following table, Bourke lists two routes to posts in southern Arizona, one overland from San Francisco, and one via the Gulf of California and up through Mexico along the Colorado River. In the 1870s, the gulf route was often favored as more convenient and sometimes safer than the rugged overland route, and soldiers coming directly to Arizona from the eastern United States routinely sailed directly from Panama to the Colorado River with stopovers in Acapulco and Guaymas. Table of distances from San Francisco to miles Camp Colorado

via the usual route “ Gulf Cal Camp Lowell (Tucson) Fort Whipple (Prescott[)] Fort Yuma usual route Gulf Cal Yuaymas [sic] Mex Ehrenberg AT. usual route Gulf Cal Mouth of Colorado San Diego Cal Wilmington, Cal Camp Mojave usual road Gulf Cal 464

753 2459 1006 882 731 2280 1700 711 2420 2130 585 427 717 2595

Appendix 10 ✦ [Volume 1, Pages 160, 162, 164, 166]

✦ ✦ ✦

Names of chiefs who assisted Crook in the Apache Campaign Pah-Utes Captain Jack Hualpais Sharum Levi-Levi “Charlie” Allelulia Panao. Apache-Yumas Jamaspie Tom Wabbie-Yuma Apaches (S[ierr]a Blanca) Miguel Es-kel-te-se-la Es-qui-pi-tou-cha Pelona Capitan Chiquito Pedro The Beggar Na-va-ta-ne-a Es-quid-ti-es Santos 465

A PPENDIX 10

466

Lame chief Ba-ba-da-dinie Jose de Leon (Captive) Apaches. ([Camp] Grant) Es-qui-minzin Santos Es-qui-nopsus. Es-qui-nas-quisn. or “Bocon”=Big Mouth

Appendix 11 ✦ [Volume 1, Page 168]

✦ ✦ ✦

Names of hostile chiefs in the Apache Campaign Cocheis. Delt-chay Chlit-le-pin Clib-ba-cli Nanna-Chaddi

whipped (") (") Killed.

467

Appendix 12 ✦ [Volume 1, Pages, 177, 179, 181, 183]

✦ ✦ ✦

Interview between Major W. H. Brown and Cochise Account of the interview between Maj. W. H. Brown, 5th Cav and the Indian chief Cocheis or Cheis. February 3d 1873.1 Major Brown. I have come from General Crook to this part of the country to see Cocheis: the General hears that Cocheis is at peace and he knows by (Cocheis’) actions that he has kept it. The General is anxious also to keep this peace in all its integrity according to the terms of the treaty; but, in order to be able to do this, he wants to know what the terms of the treaty are. He has never been furnished with a copy of the treaty, and altho’ he will receive a copy, in time, yet it is a long way to Washington and the easiest way to get these terms [is that] he has sent me to Cocheis to find out what he understands these terms to be, and, especially with reference to the movements of troops within the reservation of Cocheis— and particularly, whether troops are to be permitted to come upon the Reservation or not—and also what has been the understanding about Mexico, whether the peace applies to the people of that country or not. Cocheis. The troops were to pass and repass by the roads in the Reservation, the same as ever, according as the emergencies of the service might require, but none were to come upon the Reservation to live, nor were citizens to do so. 1. This interview was interpreted by Agent Thomas J. Jeffords, Cochise’s friend and confidant. Bourke wrote it partly in transcript and partly in paraphrase.

468

INTERVIEW BETWEEN MAJOR W. H. BROWN AND COCHISE

469

Brown—What stipulations, if any, were made in the treaty with regard to the people of Mexico? Cocheis. (Endeavoring to evade the question) now said that permission had been given them by General Howard to go to Mount Graham in seed-time to gather acorns, [and] mesquite beans, but they were not to live at Mount Graham. Maj Brown [to Jeffords]—Tell them that is all right; they can go to Mount Graham and get seeds and such things as they may want, so long as they live upon the Reservation—but, they must always tell the agent so the troops may expect their coming. Say also if they want to come and see where the new post is going to be placed, some of them can accompany me on my way back. (Maj Brown now repeated the question about Mexico.) Cocheis. The Mexicans are on one side in this matter and the Americans on another. There are many young people here whose parents and relatives have been killed by the Mexicans, and now these young people are liable to go down, from time to time and do a little damage to the Mexicans. I don’t want to lie about this thing; they go, but I don’t send them. I made peace with the Americans, but the Mexicans did not come to ask peace from me as the Americans have done. I don’t myself want to go down to Mexico and will not go but my boys may go there. I consider myself at peace with Mexico, but my young men, like those at all the other Reservations, are liable to occasionally make raids. I don’t want to lie about this; I can’t prevent it. There are bad people everywhere. A great many of us were one time at peace at Fronteras2 and some of the Mexicans used to tell us to come up here and steal American horses, which are big and worth a great deal of money in Mexico. But when our people came back there with them, they killed them and took the horses and cattle away. Why don’t the Americans tell us to go down and steal from the Mexicans[?] Maj Brown. Tell them we are now at peace with Mexico and cannot do them any harm. When we make friends with a man we never to anything behind his back to hurt him. If ever we go to war with Mexico, we shall send word to the Mexicans, and tell them we are coming. If we whip them, we shall whip them fairly, 2. Fronteras, Sonora, in Mexico, due south of Cochise’s stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains of Arizona.

470

A PPENDIX 12

but not by doing anything behind their backs. I have said all I have to say & when I go back I shall tell the General all about Cocheis so that he will know all about him the same as if he had come here himself. Cocheis. It is all right. When this ground was given me it was that we might roam over it as we pleased. I don’t intend to let my young men do any wrong on this ground. I like the way in which you talk. (The remainder of this sentence, not being understood by me as Maj Brown appeared to understand it, has been omitted). I am glad of the peace and my people rejoice at it. The meeting closed, as it had begun, with a general hand-shaking. Present Capt. W. H. Brown, Bv [i.e., Brevet] Major & lst Lieut C.H. Rockwell, 5h Cav 2nd Lieut John G. Bourke, 3d Cav Mr Stevens, actg agent for the San Carlos Reservation Mr. Jefferds, Agent for Cocheis’ Band Archie McIntosh, Guide. The interpretation was made by Mr. Jefferds.

Appendix 13 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Letter from Bourke regarding Lieutenant Jacob Almy's Death Undated Clipping from the Arizona Miner Volume 1, Page 187 [Handwritten comment by Bourke] Murdered May 27th 1873 [Clipping from newspaper] “Readers of the MINER will be pained to learn of the murder, at the San Carlos Indian agency, on the 27th ultimo, of lst Lieut. Jacob Almy, 5th Cavalry, a young officer of prominence during the recent campaign. From the meagre details thus far furnished, I can only state that Lieut. Almy’s death occurred while endeavoring to quell a disturbance among the Indians of the San Carlos Reservation. These disturbances, growing out of rivalry and antagonism between the former and the present agent, to which the Indians became involved. The particulars of this hostility have been known to the Indian Department in this Territory for some time. Lieut. Almy was, I believe, a native of Massachusetts and a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, in the class of 1867. His first services were seen in the campaign of 1867-68, against the hostile Cheyennes and Arapahoes, in which he displayed the same high qualities which afterwards made him so conspicuous in General Crook’s operations against the Apaches. He was present for duty during that campaign, from its first inception to its close, and such were his gallantry, coolness, sound judgment and enthusiastic 471

472

A PPENDIX 13

desire for distinction, that although inferior in rank to many of the officers present, he was selected to command one of the columns to operate in the Tonto Basin. His arduous and valuable services were fittingly acknowledged by General Crook in the congratulatory orders issued upon the termination of hostilities, in which orders Almy’s name occurred three times. He won the esteem and regard of the Department Commander by his energy, capacity and modest demeanor; of his associate officers by his daring gallantry and noble qualities. His soldiers revered him as a man with whom failure was impossible, and our Indian allies as a soldier whose word was as inflexible as iron. In him our Territory has sustained a loss of the gravest character; it is rare, indeed, that so much ability is united to so much worth and that the desire to place our struggling Territory upon its feet is expressed in vigorous action in place of empty words. The grief of his family will be alleviated by the assurance that it is shared by all his brother officers and soldiers and by all classes of our citizens. May he rest in peace.” [clipping hand signed] John G. Bourke 3d Cav.

Appendix 14 ✦ [Volume 2, Pages 116, 118, 120]

✦ ✦ ✦

Extraneous notes of Hopi life

At the Moqui villages, a very noticeable feature is the agility and perfect fearlessness with which little baby children run up and down the steep narrow stone steps leading to the roofs of the four story houses. These stairways are unprotected by ballustrade or railings of any kind, have a “raise” of eight inches and a “tread” of only four to six. It was with extreme caution our heavily booted soldiers climbed up the same stairways and ladders. The rafters, beams and ladders used by the Moquis are constructed of cottonwood; a tree to which we should hereafter assign, under favorable treatment, a greater degree of durability than is at present conceded. No timber of this species can now be found in quantities, within less than 50 miles of Oraybe, and if much were needed search might have to be made for 100 miles. Secured some seeds of peaches, corn and other vegetables to take to Prescott. The Moquis have no doors, no window-shutters and no window panes. In very cold weather warmth is afforded by closing doorways with fur coverlids. Moquis make a regular Mexican “puchero” or “olla padreada” of chopped mutton, chile, tomatoes, beans, corn and onions. A large basin of the stew is placed on the floor and each of the guests squatted around it darts into a dirty pan and helps himself to such “bonnes bouches” as attract his eye or taste. The men eat alone and before 473

474

A PPENDIX 14

the women or children, who fall to on the remnants of their lord’s and masters’ feast. Moquis are, according to their own account, monogamists. Women marry almost immediately upon attaining age of puberty. Families average four and five children. Women nubile at twelve years. Towards strangers, women of this tribe are reserved and deserve commendation for chastity; among themselves, at least until after marriage, women are at liberty to follow their own inclinations. Referring to the Albinos among them, the people of Oraybe say they are now reduced to three; a man, a woman and a little girl. Once they were very many, but all, excepting the few now with them, have died. The other towns also have Albinos. For travelling purposes, they make a canteen of the long-necked gourd wound around with a network of woolen yarn. The women of the Moquis exhibit in many instances a pronounced Mongolian type of features. Some of the old men bore on their faces the marks of small pox.

Appendix 15 ✦ [Volume 2a, Page 18]

✦ ✦ ✦

Orders of particular importance to Bourke's narrative—Dept. of the Platte Orders of Particular Importance to Bourke’s Narrative– The Platte Crook Relinquishes Command of Department of Arizona Headquarters Department of Arizona, PRESCOTT, March 22d, 1875 GENERAL ORDERS, No. 7. Complying with the provisions of General Orders, No. 18, Adjutant General’s Office, current series, the undersigned relinquishes command of this Department GEORGE CROOK, Brigadier-General OFFICIAL: [Signed] John G. Bourke. Aide-de-Camp.

475

476

A PPENDIX 15

Crook Assumes Command of Department of the Platte [Volume 2a, Page 150] HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE PLATTE, Omaha, Nebraska, April 27, 1875 GENERAL ORDERS, No. 10 I....In accordance with the provisions of Paragraph III, General Orders, No. 18, current series, from the War Department, the undersigned hereby assumes command of the Department of the Platte. II...Captain Azor H. Nickerson, 23d Infantry, and Second Lieutenant John G. Bourke, 3d Cavalry, are hereby announced as the Aidesde-Camp of the Commanding General. III...Captain A. H. Nickerson, 23d Infantry, Aide-de-Camp, is appointed Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. IV...Captain Henry G. Litchfield, 2d Artillery, is assigned to special duty at these Headquarters. V...With the additions herein before-mentioned, the Department Staff will remain as constituted. GEORGE CROOK, Brigadier-General, Commanding. OFFICIAL: [Signed] John G. Bourke. Aide-de-Camp.

Appendix 16 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

New New York York Herald Herald c0verage of Crook's Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition Reprinted below are Reuben Davenport’s account of the Battle of the Rosebud, and the New York Herald editorial, that Bourke mentioned so derisively in his diary. The Herald bluntly suggested that Crook had been defeated, pointing out that he had been stalled and forced back to Goose Creek, while the Lakotas retained complete freedom of movement. Crook was furious. He expected correspondents to earn their keep by representing his views, and the contention that the Rosebud could be anything other than total victory was unforgivable. Davenport was ostracized, and the other correspondents, eager to maintain their “insider” status with Crook, took his side against their colleague. Davenport’s dispatch on the Rosebud Fight New York Herald, July 6, 1876, reprinted in Jerome Green, Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877: The Military View, 26-40. Three days ago the first fight of the campaign against the Sioux in this military department took place. The fighting column marched from the camp, situated at the fork of Goose Creek, on June 16, accompanied by the 250 Indian auxiliaries who had arrived on the preceding day, and numbered about 1,300 men. The infantry were mounted upon mules borrowed from the pack trains. Twenty mounted packers were also allowed to go, and carried carbines. The friendly Indians were loaned firearms belonging to the govern477

478

A PPENDIX 16

ment and their belts filled with cartridges. Old Crow was the principal leader of the Crows, and Medicine Crow and Good Heart were his lieutenants. Louissant, called by his tribe “Weesaw,” was the chief of the Snakes, or Soshonees [sic], who are divided into two companies, regularly disciplined in imitation of the white soldiers. Louissant is captain of one and Cosgrove, a white man, commands the other. They march sometimes in column, and nearly every Soshonee[sic], in going to war, carried a long white wand ornamented with pennants or streamers of fur, hair and red cloth. They wear parti-colored blankets, and ride usually either white or spotted ponies, whose tails and manes they daub with red or orange paint. Nothing could be more bright and picturesque than the whole body of friendly Indians as they galloped by the long column of the expedition early in the first morning of the march, as it wound around the bases of the low foot hills called Chetish or Wolf Mountains, which were traversed in moving toward the head waters of Rosebud Creek. Several of the Snakes still carry their ancient spears and round shields of buffalo horn and elk hide, besides their modern firearms. Imagination did not require more than the presence of the brown arid hills and the distant snow-capped mountains to convert them into a cavalcade of Bedouins. After crossing the sterile hills and leaving behind them stunted thorns and cedars the column stretched like a great serpent over a green divide, whose surface is undulating as billows of mid-ocean, and which separates the watersheds of the Tongue River and the Rosebud Creek. The country is beautiful. The march was silent as possible, and the column was dispersed so as to avoid causing dust, which might give warning to the enemy. It was hoped to approach within thirty miles of the Sioux village and then to advance on it during the night. After a weary march of thirty-five miles the column bivouacked at the head of the valley of the Rosebud on June 16. The soldiers placed their blankets so that in sleeping their lines formed a hollow square, inside of which the animals were picketed. On the morning of June 17 the command moved at five o’clock. The Crow scouts went in front and on the flanks, but they had omitted to send forward their spies during the night, although on the previous day they had found indubitable signs that the Sioux were then engaged in hunting the buffalo southward. About half-past seven an advance of ten miles had been made, when, suddenly, the Old

NEW YORK TIMES COVERAGE OF BIG HORN AND YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION

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Crow appeared on a hill near the stream, and gave a signal. Soon other scouts dashed into the valley. Meanwhile the Crows were catching their war ponies, stripping off their superfluous garments, and some of them had formed in line and were singing their war song. A halt had been made at the first signal of the scouts, and the order was given to unsaddle the animals, it being supposed that they had merely seen some of the Sioux, near their village upon the hills, engaged in herding their ponies. The two battalions of the Third cavalry were resting on the south side of the creek and one of the Second on the north side. Suddenly yells were heard beyond the low hill on the north, and shots were fired, which every moment were becoming more frequent. The Crows were wild with excitement, and shouted to the interpreters that their scouts were being killed and that they must go to join them. After circling on their ponies in the valley for ten minutes they dashed over the hill and disappeared. The firing became more and more rapid. The cavalry were making ready to mount, when scouts came galloping back again, hallooing that the Sioux were charging. General Crook rode to the first crest and saw that they were coming forward to attack the whole command in the valley. Orders were given to Colonel Royall to lead the battalions of the Third cavalry across the steam, deploy his troops as skirmishers and occupy the hills in the possession of the enemy. Captain Henry’s battalion of the Third cavalry, consisting of Companies D, B, L and F, advanced northward up a series of ridges occupied by the Indians, who retired before the steady charge from point to point. At last was reached the top of a ridge lying adjacent to the highest crest, but separated from it by a deep ravine. The Sioux were in front and were promptly attacked. They occupied also a palisade on the left, about 800 yards distant. Captain Andrews’ company had become detached from its battalion and had advanced on the extreme left, and it was employed in checking an early flanking movement of the Indians. Colonel Royall, in advancing, had crossed and left behind him the deep hollow west of the main ridge on which the Sioux first appeared and back over which they had been driven by a line of infantry to a higher crest, stopping on its northern extremity. The troops were going forward with an ardor and enthusiasm which found vent in cheers, and their officers were surprised to observe that they were receiving no support from the centre, which

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was yielding ground and permitting the enemy to turn their fire against the right flank. After checking the advance behind a friendly crest behind which his soldiers lay while pouring into the Sioux a hot answering fire, Colonel Royall was expectant of seeing the advance on his right resumed, as the latter were then apparently beginning to feel a panic. Seeing the long gallant skirmish line pause, however, they dashed forward on the right and left, and in an instant nearly every point of vantage within, in front and in the rear, and on the flank of the line, was covered with savages wildly circling their ponies and charging hither and thither, while they fired from their seats with wonderful rapidity and accuracy. At this moment the loss to the troops commenced. They opened a severe fire upon the Indians, which was seen to have instant effect, but a cry arose that they were the Crows, and immediately it was checked. Thus was lost an excellent opportunity for punishing them severely. They screened themselves behind elevations and continued a harassing fire. Still the troops on the right did not advance, and the suspense grew terrible and the position was every moment more perilous as the Sioux appeared at intervals on the left flank, charging on their ponies and each time further toward the rear. In the meantime they swept down into the valley where the command had halted in the morning at the first alarm, directly behind the left wing, and, killing a Snake, captured a small herd of ponies which he was guarding. Lieutenant Foster, with a squad of men from Captain Andrews’ company, was sent to cut off the Sioux and recapture the ponies. He dashed after them two miles and only halted when he found the enemy springing up so thickly around him that he feared it would be impossible to fight his way back. In rejoining the left wing he rode through a series of ravines, and in emerging from them at full gallop was unfortunately mistaken for a party of the enemy and three volleys were fired at him by the troops. No damage was done to his men. As Colonel Royall was determining to make a rapid charge on the heights held by the Sioux, and by desperately dislodging them, extricating himself from his exposed position, Captain Nickerson, aide-de-camp, having made a wide circuit around the hollow lying between the General’s headquarters and Colonel Royall’s line, dashed down a steep side hill under a concentrated fire, the bullets making the dust fly under his horse’s hoofs, and delivered the unexpected

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order to fall back. The line on the main ridge, backed by a mass of cavalry and infantry, still remained stationary. To retreat into the hollow on the right, which would be necessary in order to form a junction with the centre, was to risk the certain loss of nearly the whole battalion. Colonel Royall, however, obeyed his order to extend his line in that direction by sending Captain Meinhold’s company of the Third cavalry around by such a route as saved it from much exposure and then slowly receded from crest to crest, keeping a strong line of skirmishers continually deployed to amuse the enemy. As the retreat progressed they obtained better range upon the troops at every moment, but the skirmishers did their utmost in firing cooly and with steady aim. It cannot be doubted that their bullets took effect among the savages crowded on the high point of the main ridge. Many were seen to fall and subsequently several dead ponies strewed the ground. The horses belonging to the dismounted cavalrymen were led first into the small ravines in the bottom of the valley. At this juncture the soldiers felt great discouragement, but preserved their coolness, although death had just begun his work among them, a murderous enfilading fire causing them to drop every moment. Captain Vroom, Lieutenant Morton and Lieutenant Lemley [sic], of the Third cavalry, took places in the skirmish line when the enemy were within range, and used their carbines with effect. Unwilling to let slip an opportunity for helping the extrication of the left line, with which my own fate was identified by the chance of battle, I dismounted at several points during our retreat and fired with the skirmishers. At least, when the receding line reached the last ridge next the fatal hollow, it became evident that the sacrifice of a few lives was inevitable for the salvation of many more. Colonel Royall sent his adjutant, Lieutenant Lemley [sic], through the storm of bullets to ask a support of infantry to protect his retreat. About the same moment Captain Guy V. Henry, who had remained at the head of his battalion under the hottest fire, was horribly wounded in the face. He was lifted from his horse and led to the rear by two of his soldiers. The tide of retreat now grew more excited and turbulent, and I was pressed back, with the soldier attending me, over the rearward crest upon the slope, which was raked by an oblique fire from the north. The Infantry which was expected to relieve this line was not in position soon enough to check the wild advance of the Sioux, who,

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observing the retiring body becoming crowded together on the edge of the gap which it must cross under fire, rushed both down and up the valley on the right while they poured their fire from the high bluff across the low elevation, rendering it utterly untenable, while they were charging at the same time to prevent its abandonment. A swarm of Sioux were within 1,000 yards of me in front and I heard their shots in the rear as they murdered the poor soldiers of the rear guard of the retreat. I was obliged either to take the chance of death then or wait to cross with the battalion, which would attract a still more fatal fire, because it would form a large mark for the aim of the enemy. The hill where the General’s headquarters were and a large body of troops which had not yet been engaged was more than half a mile distant. I chose the converging ravines and rode through them a greater part of the way, but as I galloped up the slope opposite the one I had left I heard the yells of the savages close behind, and the reports of their rifles, as I emerged from the safer ground, sounded remarkably near and loud. Looking behind I saw a dozen Sioux surrounding a group of soldiers who had straggled behind the retreat. Six were killed at one spot. A recruit surrendered his carbine to a painted warrior, who flung it to the ground, and cleft his head with a stroke of the tomahawk. William W. Allen, a brave, old soldier, who had been twenty years in the army, fought with magnificent courage, and was killed. The Sioux rode so close to their victims that they shot them in the face with their revolvers and the powder blackened the flesh. Captains Burrow’s and Burt’s companies of infantry by this time were firing well directed volleys from a position half way down the west side of the high bluff, and just after my escape the Snake Indians, gallantly led by their chiefs, Louissant and Cosgrove, dashed with thrilling shouts into the hollow, among the Sioux who were on the rear of the cavalry, and drove them back. Captain Henry, weak from the bleeding of his wound, had been unable to keep up with the retreat and had sunk on the ground. Louissant put himself astride the body and for five minutes kept the Sioux off, when some soldiers of his company rushed back and rescued him. About the same time a corporal of F company, of the Third cavalry, made a last charge, with three men, and captured from the enemy the bodies of their comrades, thus saving them from the scalping knife. The Snakes took two scalps from the Sioux whom they killed in the

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hollow, and swung them, fresh and bleeding, with gleeful triumph above their heads as they returned. The infantry under Captains Burrows and Burt executed their part admirably. It remains to be said of the portion of the engagement which I have thus far described that it was the most important and dangerous, and that in it Captain Henry’s battalion of the Third cavalry and Captain Andrews’ company of the Second cavalry, with all their officers, displayed a most honorable degree of fortitude and bravery. They had a more arduous duty and suffered more severely than any other portion of the command. Colonel Royall was circumscribed by orders in every one of his movements, and the disaster attending the retreat would have been much greater had it not been so skillfully directed by him. On the left of his line was a lofty crescent-shaped palisade, toward which, early in the morning, he deployed skirmishers. Had the order to fall back been a little later this would have been occupied. It would then have been impossible for the Sioux to have circled around to the rear, and a fire could have been turned upon the last high point held by them, which would have compelled them to hide behind it, while the cavalry could have charged up the hollow and reached them before they could realize their predicament. Then the soldiers could have dismounted and fired such volleys as would have ended the fight and made a chase. It is now time to glance at the other portions of the field, where there were three times as many troops as were on the left, and yet where there was hardly any fighting, except that done by successive lines of skirmishers, which held the southern end of the great ridge. In the morning, after the Crows and Snakes had rushed forward to meet the Sioux, Captain Kane’s3 company of infantry was first ordered forward to the top of the nearest hill. From that point it commenced firing. The Sioux were seen in great numbers beyond, covering every summit, and were engaged with the friendly Indians in a warm fusillade. The infantry advanced toward the high ridge, resting upon each successive elevation, which they mounted to discharge volleys into the groups of the enemy occupying still higher points. Captain Noyes, in command of the battalion of the Second cavalry, composed of companies A, B, D, E and I, saw the impor3. Avery B. Cain.

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tance of carrying a portion of the main ridge immediately before they could advance further south and attack the column in the valley, where a portion of the cavalry was not yet mounted. He, therefore, advanced before receiving any orders, passed the right flank of the infantry and took a knoll beyond them. The friendly Indians had been carried by the impetuosity of their first charge far beyond the front of the infantry, and a party of Snakes seemed to be fighting independently on a cone-shaped mound, just visible two miles away. As the sequel showed, they killed and scalped a small party of Sioux there, and held their ground until the troops advanced beyond them. The Crows and the rest of the Snakes were between the troops and the Sioux, and it was feared that the bullets intended for the latter would strike our allies. After great shouting by the interpreters of General Crook’s wishes they retired running, as if in flight. The Sioux, was well as the cavalry on the left, mistook the movements, and the former became extremely bold and advanced in swarms. It was then that Colonel Royall’s line found itself too far ahead in the very midst of the enemy. Captain Mills’ battalion of the Third cavalry, composed of companies A, E, I and M, which had been ordered to make the first charge, now advanced through the battalion of the Second cavalry, deployed in a skirmish line and charged the point above where the smoke of the Indian rifles was growing dense. It was carried with inspiriting shouts, and the Sioux ran back to another, still higher, apex. The hostile lines were here face to face, although each availed itself of the protection of the stony summits. Volley after volley was exchanged between them, and the Sioux lost several of their warriors. General Crook saw thirteen of them fall. Early in the engagement a squadron of the Third cavalry, comprising companies C and G, under command of Captain Van Vliet, had occupied a steep bluff on the south side of the stream to protect the troops in the bottom while they were saddling their horses. It was withdrawn as soon as the whole command was engaged in the forward movement, and was now posted on the high ridge, dismounted and ready for action in the rear of Captain Mills’ line. The Indians meanwhile were flocking to a butte northeast of this position, and had opened fire upon it. Captain Mills received an order to wheel his battalion to the right, advance a furlong, then wheel to the left and charge the steep

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incline. It was executed with rapidity, and the summit carried, but not until the enemy before dispersing had delivered three heavy volleys at the advancing line. The battalion, after halting on the bluff, was ordered by General Crook to advance directly through the canyon of the stream northward, toward the supposed locality of the Sioux village. By transposition of the forces, it now formed the right of the command, and the Second cavalry battalion was ordered to follow it as a support. The General directed that the battle in progress should be ignored by this wing of the command and that it should capture and destroy the village. Frank Gruard was ordered to ride in front and select the route of march. It was expected that the tepees of the bands of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse would be found only ten miles distant. Hardly had the first battalion moved away when Captain Noyes was sent a counter order, based upon a new report brought to General Crook by a Crow, that the village was in an exactly opposite direction. Captain Nickerson, aide and acting assistant adjutant general, was dispatched at full gallop to check Captain Mills’ advance, and overtook him only after a chase of five miles, during which he was accompanied by a solitary orderly. The two battalions recalled were ordered to positions to protect the rear and command the valley where the morning halt had been made. The Indians, after the withdrawal of Captain Mills’ battalion from the long ridge, had regained the crest which he evacuated, and engaged Van Vliet’s squadron at the same time that they poured a terrible fire into Colonel Royall’s line on the left, compelling him, after holding his position at a disadvantage so long and with such brave retaliation, to order at last a rapid retreat across a deep defile, with the enemy charging both flanks and the rear. This was the last effort of the Sioux. The infantry and Snakes drove them steadily back from the moment that the left wing emerged from its race of the gantlet [sic]. After the firing had ceased the whole force was concentrated, and it advanced in pursuit of the Indians. It was observed, however, that the Crows remained behind on the summit of a hill, where they were holding a pow-wow. They had captured a pony from the Sioux, which they had left at home in their village and they feared lest it had been attacked during their absence. They also desired to take back two of their braves who were wounded, and to condole

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the squaw of the young Snake who belonged to their band and who was killed. General Crook, on learning of their disaffection, determined to return to the point where the battle began and to rest there until evening, so that the Crows might fully determine what they would do. They told him, at length, that they could not stay, but must have their war dance at home over the scalps which they had won. Believing that the Sioux village had been removed during the fight, and dreading to march forward through so rough a country after the desertion of his scouts, General Crook determined in the morning to move back toward Goose Creek. The object of the scout, which was so unsuccessful and yet not without an encouraging result, was to discover and destroy the village of the Sioux, which the guides, while half-breed and Indian, agreed in declaring to be on the Yellowstone River, between the mouths of the Rosebud and the Tongue. It proved to be nearer the base of the expedition than was believed, and General Crook’s ignorance of its proximity, due to the negligence and inactivity of the Crow allies, who were intrusted with the work of scouting, is the cause of the failure of the movement. The Sioux were certainly repulsed in their bold and confident onset, and lost many of their bravest warriors, but, when they fled, could not be pursued without great danger in the rough country through which their way lay. Had his scouts proved faithful, so that he could have been prepared to occupy the commanding positions with infantry in advance of the main column, he would have had warning of the concentration of the enemy to impede his course, and could have driven him back into his village and ended the campaign by destroying it. It will be seen that the blame of the miscarriage of the scout belongs to the Crows, whose instinct, vigilance and knowledge of their own country was relied upon to render every move of the force intelligent. On the contrary, their undisciplined frenzy and failure to discover the lodgment of the enemy in time to frustrate the meditated attack precipitated a battle which began with a stupendous advantage on his side and in a spot of his own choice naturally suitable to the success of their method of warfare. The Sioux’s strength was masked, except when, emboldened by the disastrous withdrawal of the left wing of the cavalry, they made a dash from both ends of a deep hollow which lay in its way and exposed it to a murderous fire, and suddenly swarmed on the front, left and rear. Then it was that

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the timely fire of the infantry upon their main body, the charge of the Snakes into the hollow and rapid pursuit of them for three miles, dismayed them utterly and they fell back and disappeared. Had it not been for their occupation, unperceived by the General, of positions from which they could pour an enfilading fire upon both flanks of the body of cavalry on the left, they would not have stood in the face of the troops a moment after their first charge. The injury inflicted upon them must have been much greater than that which we suffered. Their loss of lives is estimated at about one hundred. There is no doubt that all the northern Sioux warriors were engaged in the battle, and it is believed that they have been severely crippled. New York Herald, June 24 1876, clipping in Bourke Diary, Volume 6, Pages 676-77. The Battle in the Big Horn Country. The first regular battle between the United States forces and the hostile Sioux has resulted in what looks very like a defeat of the soldiers. The graphic despatch [sic] from the HERALD correspondent accompanying the expedition; and who witnessed the fight, will be found elsewhere. From it we learn that after a rapid march from his supply camp on Goose Creek General Crook, with one thousand three hundred mounted men and two hundred and fifty friendly Indians, came upon a force of Sioux warriors two thousand five hundred strong, under the command of Sitting Bull,4 near the head waters of Rosebud Creek, a tributary of the Yellowstone River. The attack was begun by the Sioux, who rolled back the Indian scouts on the main body. We judge that the friendly Crows and Snakes precipitated the fight before the troops could take position, in their haste to attack their traditional foes, the Sioux. The latter, who appear to have acted bravely, and to have been superbly handled, soon repulsed this Indian rush, and then took up commanding positions on the lower ridges above Rosebud Creek, from which they were dislodged only at great exposure to the troops, and retreated only to take up better positions on the higher ridges. In thus driving the Indians the troops had become dangerously sepa4. The Herald made the common, but erroneous assumption that Indians had an organized command structure comparable to that used by the whites. In fact, no particular chief was in charge, and Plains Indian culture rarely permitted any person to hold that much power.

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rated and in danger of having their flanks turned, necessitating a reconcentration in face of a galling fire. The strenuous effort made by the Sioux to prevent this junction of the separated forces shows that their leader thoroughly understands the art of mountain warfare; and, although his warriors were finally dislodged from their highest points, the absence of pursuit, and the fact that his prompt attack on the column saved the great Sioux village, proclaim him the victor. That he was able to cope successfully with such a force of regular troops backed by Indian allies and to march off free to choose his next battle ground marks out Sitting Bull as a formidable foe. There is no necessity to lay blame at present upon General Crook, whose decision not to pursue the Sioux into a dangerous country was probably the best under the circumstances. Whether he blundered in the fight we do not presume to say until he has been heard from at length. While Crook’s forces have been practically brought to a standstill for three weeks at least, he having returned to his headquarters on Goose Creek, and while Sitting Bull is free to move his village off where it may take two months to find him, we must revert to the other two bodies of troops moving against him under General Gibbons [sic] and General Terry. It has been reported that Gibbons was checked in his attempt to cross the Yellowstone by probably a detachment of the same band that stopped Crook. General Terry at last accounts was in a quandary on the Little Missouri River, whither he went to seek Sitting Bull, and although he may have effected a junction or established communication with Gibbons it seems extremely doubtful that he even now knows in what direction to seek the Sioux. The best fortune we can hope for is that Terry shall find Sitting Bull and prevent his running East, so that by the time Crook is ready to advance there may be a chance of co-operating with him. The war now looks as though it would be protracted, bloody and very costly. Ten killed and twenty wounded on our side against thirteen Sioux scalps is not an encouraging beginning.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Bibliography

Government Documents Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, From Its Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903. 2 vols. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903. United States Department of the Interior. Board of Indian Commissioners. Peace with the Apaches of New Mexico and Arizona. Report of Vincent Colyer, Member of the Board of Indian Commissioners. 1871. 1872. Reprint. Tucson: Territorial Press, 1964. United States Department of War. Office of the Adjutant General. RG 393. Special File. Military Division of the Missouri. National Archives Microfilm Publication 1495. Washington: National Archives and Record Service, n.d. As follows: Roll 2. “Citizens Expeditions” to the Black Hills. Rolls 2-4. Sioux War, 1876-77. —. Report of the Secretary of War: Being Part of the Message and Documents Communicated to the Two Houses of Congress at the Beginnine of the Second Session of the Forty-fourth Congress. Vol. 1. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1876.

Manuscript Sources Bourke, John Gregory. Diaries. 124 vols. United States Military Academy Library, West Point, New York. Microfilm in possession of the editor. 489

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Capron, Thaddeus. Diary. American Heritage Center. University of Wyoming, Laramie. MS 1694. Carr, Eugene Asa. Papers. United States Army Military History Institute. Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Crook, George. Collection. Microfilm edition. Rutherford B. Hayes Library, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. Fremont, Ohio. Kennon, Lyman Walter Vere. Diary. George Crook and Lyman W.V. Kennon Papers. United States Army Military History Institute. Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Nickerson, Azor Howitt. “Major General George Crook and the Indians.” Typescript. Walter Scribner Schuyler Papers. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, Calif.

Books—Primary Bourke, John Gregory. An Apache Campaign in the Sierra Madre: An Account of the Expedition in Pursuit of the Hostile Chiricahua Apaches in the Spring of 1883. 1886. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987. —. Apache Medicine-Men. 1892. Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. —. On the Border With Crook. 1891. Reprint. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1980. Carter, Robert Goldthwaite. On the Border With Mackenzie, or Winning the West from the Comanches. 1935. Reprint. New York: Antiquarian Press, 1961. Dodge, Richard Irving. Our Wild Indians: Thirty-three Years’ Personal Experience Among the Red Men of the Great West. Hartford, CT: A.D. Worthington and Company, 1882. Finerty, John F. War-Path and Bivouac: The Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. 1890. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966. Greene, Jerome A., comp. Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877: The Military View. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. —. Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876-1877. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. Howard, Oliver Otis. My Life and Experiences Among Our Hostile Indians. 1907. Reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1972.

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Hunt, Frazier, and Robert Hunt. I Fought With Custer: The Story of Sergeant Windolph, Last Survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947. Kime, Wayne R., ed. The Black Hills Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996. —. The Powder River Expedition Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. Mills, Anson. My Story. 2nd ed. Washington: Press of Byron S. Adams, 1921. Schmitt, Martin F., ed. General George Crook, His Autobiography. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1946. Reprinted, 1986. Summerhayes, Martha. Vanished Arizona: Recollections of the Army Life of a New England Woman. 1911. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1979. Sweeney, Edwin R., ed. Making Peace with Cochise: The 1872 Journal of Captain Joseph Alton Sladen. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. Willert, James, ed. Bourke’s Diary: From Journals of 1st Lt. John Gregory Bourke, June 27-Sept. 15, 1876. La Miranda, California: James Willert, 1986.

Books—Secondary Altshuler, Constance Wynn. Cavalry Yellow & Infantry Blue: Army Officers in Arizona Between 1851 and 1886. Tucson: The Arizona Historical Society, 1991. —. Chains of Command: Arizona and the Army, 1856-1875. Tucson: The Arizona Historical Society, 1981. —. Starting with Defiance: Nineteenth Century Arizona Military Posts. Tucson: The Arizona Historical Society, 1983. Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of Arizona and New Mexico, 15301888. The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft 17. San Francisco: The History Company, 1889. —. Register of Pioneer Inhabitants of California 1542 to 1848 and Index to Information Concerning Them in Bancroft’s History of California Volumes I-V. Los Angeles: Dawson’s Book Shop, 1964. Bigler, David L. Forgotten Kingdom: The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847-1896. Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier, Vol. 2. Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1998.

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B IBLIOGRAPHY

Brown, Dee. The Fetterman Massacre. Originally published as Fort Phil Kearny: An American Saga. 1962. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971. Buecker, Thomas R. Fort Robinson and the American West 18741899. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1999. Clum, Woodworth. Apache Agent: The Story of John P. Clum. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1936. Cordell, Linda S. Ancient Pueblo Peoples. Washington: Smithsonian Books, 1994. Crawford, Lewis F. The Exploits of Ben Arnold, Indian Fighter, Gold Miner, Cowboy, Hunter, and Army Scout. Originally published as Rekindling Camp Fires. 1926. Reprint. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. DeBarthe, Joe. The Life and Adventures of Frank Grouard, Chief of Scouts, U.S.A. 1894. Reprint. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1982. Dunlay, Thomas W. Wolves for the Blue Soldiers: Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860-90. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Reprinted 1987. Faulk, Odie B. Crimson Desert: Indian Wars of the American Southwest. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974. Fontana, Bernard L. Entrada: The Legacy of Spain and Mexico in the United States. Tucson: Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 1994. Frazer, Robert W. Forts of the West: Military Forts and Presidios and Posts Commonly Called Forts West of the Mississippi River to 1898. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. Reprinted 1972. Gilbert, Hila, with George Harris and Bernice Pourier Harris. “Big Bat” Pourier. Sheridan, Wyo.: The Mills Company, 1968. Gray, John S. Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876. 1976. Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. Hardorff, Richard G. Hokahey! A Good Day to Die! The Indian Casualties of the Custer Fight. Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1993. Hedren, Paul L. Fort Laramie in 1876: Chronicle of a Frontier Post at War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Herr, John K. and Edward S. Wallace. The Story of the U.S. Cavalry: 1775-1942. 1953. Reprint. New York: Bonanza Books, 1984.

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Hoig, Stan. The Battle of the Washita: The Sheridan-Custer Indian Campaign of 1867-69. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1976. Hoogenboom, Ari. Rutherford B. Hayes, Warrior and President. Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, 1995. Houk, Walter. The Botanical Gardens at the Huntington. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996. Hoxie, Frederick E., ed. Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. Hyde, George E. Red Cloud’s Folk: A History of the Oglala Sioux Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957. Reprinted 1975. —. Spotted Tail’s Folk: A History of the Brulé Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961. Reprinted 1987. Jackson, Donald. Custer’s Gold: The United States Cavalry Expedition of 1874. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966. Johnson, Allen, and Dumas Malone, eds. Dictionary of American Biography. 20 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1928-38. King, James T. War Eagle: A Life of General Eugene A. Carr. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1963. Knight, Oliver. Following the Indian Wars: The Story of the Newspaper Correspondents among the Indian Campaigners. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. Reprinted 1993. Krause, Herbert, and Gary D. Olson. Prelude to Glory: A Newspaper Accounting of Custer’s 1874 Expedition to the Black Hills. Sioux Falls, S.D.: Brevet Press, 1974. Kroeker, Marvin E. Great Plains Command: William B. Hazen in the Frontier West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976. Lamar, Howard R., ed. The New Encyclopedia of the American West. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. Larson, Robert W. Red Cloud, Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. Lazarus, Edward. Black Hills/White Justice: The Sioux Nation Versus the United States, 1775 to the Present. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. Loughmiller, Campbell, and Lynn Loughmiller. Texas Wildflowers: A Field Guide. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984. McFeely, William S. Grant, A Biography. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1981.

494

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Mangum, Neil C. Battle of the Rosebud: Prelude to the Little Bighorn. El Segundo, CA: Upton & Sons, 1996. Marston, Daniel. The Seven Years’ War. Essential Histories. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2001. Moorehead, Alan. The White Nile. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1960. Noble, David Grant. Ancient Ruins of the Southwest: An Archaeological Guide. 2nd rev. ed. Flagstaff, Ariz.: Northland Publishing Company, 2000. Nye, Wilbur Sturtevant. Carbine & Lance: The Story of Old Fort Sill. 3rd ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Pres, 1969. Reprinted 1983. Olson, James C. Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem. Lincoln: Unversity of Nebraska Press, 1965. O’Neal, Bill. Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America’s Westward Expansion. Stillwater, OK: Barbed Wire Press, 1991. Parkman, Francis. The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century. Frontenac Edition. 2 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1902. Pierce, Michael D. The Most Promising Young Officer: A Life of Ranald Slidell Mackenzie. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. Porter, Joseph. Paper Medicine Man: John Gregory Bourke and His American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma: 1986. Reprinted 1989. Priest, Loring Benson. Uncle Sam’s Stepchildren: The Reformation of United States Indian Policy, 1867-1887. 1942. Reprint. New York: Octagon Books, 1972. Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. Abridged ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986. Rice, Edward. Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton.1990. Reprint. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1999. Rickey, Don, Jr. Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay: The Enlisted Soldier Fighting the Indian Wars. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. Reprinted 1985. Robinson, Charles M., III. Bad Hand: A Biography of General Ranald S. Mackenzie. Austin: State House Press, 1993.

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495

—. The Court Martial of Lieutenant Henry Flipper. El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1994. —. General Crook and the Western Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. —. A Good Year to Die: The Story of the Great Sioux War. New York: Random House, 1995. Schubert, Frank N. Outpost of the Sioux Wars: A History of Fort Robinson. Originally published as Buffalo Soldiers, Braves, and Brass: The Story of Fort Robinson, Nebraska. 1993. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. Spellenberg, Richard. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. Sweeney, Edwin R. Cochise, Chiricahua Apache Chief. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. Thrapp, Dan L. Al Sieber, Chief of Scouts. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964. Reprinted 1995. —. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography. 3 vols. 1988. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. —. The Conquest of Apacheria. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968. Reprinted 1988. Utley, Robert M. Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. —. A Clash of Cultures: Fort Bowie and the Chiricahua Apaches. Washington: National Park Service, 1977. —, ed. Encyclopedia of the American West. New York: Wing Books, 1997. —. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 18661891. 1973. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. —. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1993. Vaughn, J.W. With Crook at the Rosebud. 1956. Reprint. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. Willem, John M. The United States Trade Dollar. 2nd ed. Racine, Wisc.: Whitman Publishing Co., 1965. Worcester, Donald E. The Apaches: Eagles of the Southwest. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.

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Articles and Pamphlets—Primary Bloom, Lansing B., ed. “Bourke on the Southwest.” New Mexico Historical Review. Vol. 8, no. 1 (January 1933): 1-30; Vol. 9, no. 1 (January 1934): 33-77; Vol. 9, no. 2 (April 1934): 159-83; Vol. 9, no. 3 (July 1934): 273-89; Vol. 9, no. 4 (October 1934): 375435; Vol. 10, no. 1 (January 1935): 1-35; Vol. 10, no. 2 (April 1935); Vol. 10, no. 3 (July 1935). Bourke, John Gregory. “The American Congo.” Scribner’s Magazine. 15 (May 1894): 590-610. Reprint, n.p. n.d. —. “General Crook in the Indian Country.” The Century Magazine. Vol. 41, no. 5 (March 1891): 643-660. Lemly, Henry Rowan. “The Fight on the Rosebud.” John M. Carroll, intro. The Papers of the Order of the Indian Wars. (Fort Collins, Colorado, 1975): 13-18.

Articles and Pamphlets—Secondary Adams, William Y. “The Development of San Carlos Apache Wage Labor to 1954.” Keith H. Basso and Morris E. Opler, eds. Apachean Culture History and Ethnology. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona No. 21. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1971): 116-28. Farnsworth, Janet Webb. “The Day the Southwest Shook.” True West. Vol. 42, no. 7 (June 1995): 35-39. Hedren, Paul. “Paper Medicine Man and the Renaissance in Frontier Military History: A Review Essay.” New Mexico Historical Review. Vol. 62, no. 1 (January 1987): 95-102. Hicks, Sam. “Aparajo, the Perfect Packsaddle.” The American West. Vol. 6, no. 1 (January 1969): 28-32. McDermott, John D. “The Military Problem and the Black Hills, 187475.” John D. McDermott, comp. Gold Rush: The Black Hills Story. (Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2001): 4-26. Ortiz, Alfonso. “Farmers and Raiders of the Southwest.” The World of the American Indian. (Washington: National Geographic Society, 1974): 157-201. Robinson, Charles M., III. “Fort Ringgold: A Well-Preserved Frontier Post Begins to Decay.” Old West. Vol. 27, no. 3 (Spring 1991): 46-49. —. “On the Border With Bourke: Two Borderlands Pamphlets of the 1890s.” Journal of South Texas. Vol. 15, no. 1 (Spring 2002): 38-46.

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Russell, Francis. “Apostle to the Indians.” American Heritage. Vol. 9, no. 1 (December 1957): 4-9, 117-19. Turcheneske, John Anthony, Jr. “Historical Manuscripts as Sources for Anthropological Study: The Ethnological Correspondence of John Gregory Bourke.” New Mexico Historical Review. Vol. 59, no. 3 (July 1984): 267-86. “War Against Peace or A New Attila. Contemporaneous episodes on the frontier of Texas, attested by facts compiled by ‘El Bien Publico’s publishers.” Rio Grande City, TX: Jesús T. Recio, Publisher, 1895.

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Index

A Abdul Asis (sultan of the Ottomans), 344 Absaraka Indians (see Crow Indians) Adam, Emil, 45, 55, 59, 61-62 Adams, Jeff, 52n22 Alchisay (Apache), 91-92 Aldrich, Lt. and Mrs. Bishop, 139 Allen, William, 140 Allison, James Nicholas, 157, 265 Allison, W.B., 196 Almy, Jacob, 49, 55, 58, 65-66, 74 Alta California (San Francisco newspaper), 87, 87n10, 130n11, 287 American Bureau of Ethnology, 4 American Fur Company, 160n2 American Horse (Oglala), 271 Andrews, William Howard, 288, 291, 302, 305

Angel Island, Cal. (military installation), 147, 147n3 Antonio (Pima), 49 Apache Campaign in the Sierra Madre, An (book), 1-2 Apache Indians (see also under individual groups, and Indian scouts), 2, 3, 17ff., 34, 37-39, 39 n.15, 43, 49-51, 56, 6061, 94, 100, 104-05, 116, 134, 142, 192, 213, 246; prisoners of war, 9, 84; war dance 9, 39-40; pacification of, 81-82; “Americanization” of, 84-85; trade with Hopis, 84, 100-01; tribal punishments, 92; observations on white business practices, 9293; social dance, 122 Apache Medicine-Men (book), 1 Apache-Mojave Indians (see Mojave Indians) Apache Wars, 10, 17ff. 499

500

Arapaho Indians, 126, 166, 210, 276-77, 290, 295n4, 378-79 Aravaipa Apache Indians, 20 Arikara (Ree) Indians, 270, 277 Arizona Weekly Miner (newspaper), 135n3, 140 Arnold, Ben (Benjamin M. Conner), 304n3, 360 Arthur, William, 374, 383 Augur, Christopher Colon, 125, 165 Austin, F. L., 42-43

B Babcock, John Breckinridge, 71, 90-91, 93 Babcock, Orville, 197, 261 Baily, Charles Meigs, 93, 93n17 Baily, Ella Wilkins, 93n17 Ball (courier), 368, 381 Ball, Edward, 367, 381 Banghart, George, 121-22 Banghart, Jennie, 135 Bannock Indians, 364, 370 Bartlett (guide/muleskinner), 34, 56 Bascom, George, 18-19 Bashford, Coles, 134-35 Bashford, L., 135 Bashford, Mrs., 139 Beach, Mr. and Mrs., 135 Beauvais, G. P., 196 Belknap, William Worth, 162, 197-98, 261, 272, 273n12, 281-82, Bendell, Herman, 81 Bendire, Charles, 62 Bennett, Private, 331 Benteen, Frederick William, 366n7

I NDEX Besh Ba Gowah Archaeological Park, Globe, Ariz., 84, 88n12 Besias, Antonio, 34, 37, 40, 42, 56 Big Horn Expedition, 199, 200, 206ff., 288; organization/ composition of, 206-07, 213; tactical problems of, 213; scouts on, 220-21, 226, 238, 239, 240, 245, 246, 260; disbanded, 263-64 Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 130 n. 11, 204, 288 ff., 383; hunting and fishing during, 204, 296-99, 301-02, 308-10, 333-34, 33637, 341, 343-45, 355, 35759, 363, 377-78, 384; composition of, 288, 291-92; formally organized, 289 Bird, Charles, 157, Bishop, Hoel Smith, 139 Black Coal, 210, Blackfeet Indians (non-Lakota group), 162 Blackfeet Lakota Indians, 160n3, 166, 332 Black Hills (see also Black Hills Expedition), 131, 158, 160, 165, 167, 172, 175, 184, 20810, 245, 265-66, 274, 283, 290, 293, 298, 370; significance to Indians, 127-28, 161, 195-96; gold discovered in, 128, 161-62, 189-91; logistical problems with, 129, 207; hunting in, 176-77, 181; described, 182ff. Black Hills Expedition, 129-30, 158, 168ff.; composition of, 160, 163-64

I NDEX Black Kettle (Cheyenne), (see also Sand Creek Massacre, Washita), 224, 224n4 Bloody Knife (Arikara), 366n8 Bloom, Lansing B., 10 Blue Horse (Oglala), 271 Board of Indian Commissioners, 8, 22, 23n9, 268n7 Bocon (see Esquimasquin) Bolling, Lieutenant (officer not listed in Heitman), 265 Bourke, Anna Morton (mother of JGB), 2 Bourke Diaries, 6ff., 18, 199, 200, 202-05, 373; lost volumes, 6-7, 10, 41n16, 83, 129; significance of, 7, 9-10; format of edited volumes, 1114 Bourke, Edward Joseph (father of JGB), 2 Bourke, John Gregory, 10-14, 24, 33n7, 34, 56, 65, 69-70, 87, 114, 137, 139, 139n5, 156, 198-203, 207n3, 224n4, 225n7, 227n8, 234n1, 248n3, 249n5, 260n8, 265n4, 268, 268n7, 285, 289, 337, 339n9, 342n13, 346, 361n3, 369n16, 373, 378n1, 382n4; significance to history, 1-2; ethnological work 1-3, 4, 84-85, 87n10; concerning George Crook, 1, 3-5, 5n13, 21, 201, 226-27, 321, 344; called “Paper Medicine Man,” 1; views on westward expansion and Indian fighting, 2-3, 130-31, 176-77, 188, 213, 213n12,

501

330, 330n19; early life, 2-3; Roman Catholicism of, 2, 75n8, 126; named aide-decamp, 3, 21; later career and death, 5-6; on Indian policy, 7-9, 51-52, 131-32, 176-77, 207, 228, 248, 275-76, 278ff., 338, 342, 361; changing attitudes, 8-9, 85, 13031, 207n2; on Indian ceremonies, 9, 39-40, 122; and Skeleton Cave fight, 50-52; on pre-Columbian ruins, 7374, 74n4, 81, 84, 88; on Hopis, 101ff., 266; on Mormons, 125-26, 149ff.; and Black Hills Expedition, 12930, 158, 163; journalistic efforts, 130n11; on uses of cactus, 174, 174n8; offered position in Egyptian Army, 192, 192n9; on Crazy Horse, 204-5; on mule packing, 21112; on heavy weather equipment, 217-19; on scouts, 220-21; and Powder River Fight, 249-50, 344; promoted to first lieutenant, 288, 370; hunting and fishing, 302-3, 337, 357; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 320-22, 320n6, 336; on Indian battle tactics, 320-21, 338; on sign language, 378-79 “Bourke on the Southwest” (compilation), 10 Bourke’s Diary (book), 10 Bowers, Mr. and Mrs. Ed, 136 Bowers, George, 136 Bowers, Mr. and Mrs. N., 136

I NDEX

502

Bozeman Trail, 126 Braddock, Edward, 257, 257n6 Bradley, Luther Prentice, 160, 211 Bradley, Mrs. Luther Prentice, 208 Brady, George Keyports, 265 Bratton, J. (civilian packer), 190-91 Brayton, George Mitchell, 136 Bréboeuf, Jean de, 330, 331n20 Brent, Thomas Lee, Jr., 288 Breon, Paul, 140 Brisbin, James Sanks, 157, 196 Brodie, Alexander Oswald, 71 Brodrick, Patrick Thomas, 157, 264 Brookes, Judge and Mrs., 136 Brown, Frederick H., 295, Brown, William Henry, 33-34, 37, 41, 45-46, 49-50, 49n19, 55, 60, 62, 71, 81-82, 192 Brulé Lakota Indians, 160n3, 165-66, 207n1, 277 Bryant, Montgomery, 155 Bubb, John Wilson, 210, 289, 345, 355, 357 Buffalo Head (Crow), 324 Buffum, Mr. and Mrs., 136 Burke, Daniel Webster, 383 Burmeister, Mr. and Mrs., 135 Burns, James, 45-46, 49-50, 55, 58, 61, 80 Burrowes (sometimes spelled Burroughs), Thomas Bredin, 286, 291, 305, 383 Burt, Andrew Sheridan, 13-14, 130n11, 164, 175-76, 180, 192, 208, 286, 291-92, 305, 308-11, 341, 345-46, 352, 354, 357, 383

Burton, Richard Francis, 9, 9n23 Butler, T. J., 135n3, 139 Byrne, Thomas, 139, 219

C Cain, Avery Billings, 288, 291 Calhoun, Frederic Sanscay, 370, 370n18 Calhoun, James, 368, 368n11, 370 Camps Apache, Ariz., 23, 23n10, 31, 34, 37-38, 41, 54, 91, 97, 118 Bowie, Ariz., 63, 63n11, 93 Brown, Wyo., 369, 369n17 Cady, Calif., 143, 143n12 Carlin, Wyo. (see Cheyenne Depot, Wyo.) Date Creek, Ariz., 24, 24n12, 37, 62, 62n8 Douglas, Utah, 148, 148n6, 155 Goodwin, Ariz., 93, 93n16 Grant I, Ariz., 2, 2n4, 20, 31, 33-34, 33n7, 39, 42, 52, 55, 59, 61-65, 67 Grant II. Ariz., 2n.4, 34, 34n8, 61, 61n6, 64 Hualpai, Ariz., 24, 24n12, 34, 37, 121, 139 Lincoln, Ariz., (see Verde) McDowell, Ariz., 37, 37n13, 42, 42n18, 45, 51-52, 5456, 59, 71, 73n4 McPherson, Ariz. (see Date Creek) Mojave, Ariz. (see Fort Mojave)

I NDEX Pinal, Ariz., 60, 60n5, 68 Reno, Ariz., 42, 42n18, 88 Rice, Tex. (see Fort Hancock) Robinson, Nebr., 207n1, 267, 267n1, 274, 284-85, 360, Sheridan, Nebr., 207n1, Verde, Ariz., 27, 27n1, 34, 37, 38, 42, 87, 91, 118 Camp Apache Reservation, Ariz., 23, 43, 83-85, 118; conditions at, 91-93 Camp Grant Massacre, 20, 20n5 Camp Verde Reservation, Ariz., 83-84, 118 Capron, Thaddeus Hurlbut, 164, 291, 339, 383; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 321 Carleton, James, 19 Carpenter, William Lewis, 291, 308, 346, 352 Carr, Camillo Casatti Cadmus, 42 Carr, Eugene Asa, 341 Carter, Robert Goldthwaite, 3, 3n9 Carter, William Harding, 136, 139 Cha-lipun (Apache), 81, 81n11 Challé, M.T., 168 Chambers, Alexander, 210, 261, 289, 298-99, 305, 316, 327, 338, 370, 383 Chandler, Zachariah, 196, 272, 273n12, Charles V (Holy Roman emperor, in Spain known as Charles I), 74 Chase, George Francis, 288, 291 Chenowith (muleskinner), 56

503

Cherry, Samuel Austin, 265 Cheyenne Depot, Wyo., 159, 159n1, 206, Cheyenne Indians, 8, 126, 130, 176, 181, 188, 201, 204, 210, 223, 229, 255, 259, 272, 277, 290, 295n4, 320, 369, 381, 387; fighting tactics of, 213n12; lodge accommodations, 219n2 Chicago Inter-Ocean (newspaper), 130n11, 339 Chicago Tribune (newspaper), 130n11 Chippewa Indians, 276 Chiricahua Apache Indians, 23 Chiricahua (Dragoon Mountains) Reservation, Ariz., 23 Chunz (Apache), 39, 40 Clark, William Philo, 156, 19899, 214, 219 Clark, Jefferson, 224, 224n6, 227, 242n4 Clarke, Ben, 206, 220-21 Clawson, Hiram B., 149, 149n8 Clements, Bennett A., 388 Clifford, Walter, 368 Closter (or Kloster) (muleskinner), 213, 241-42 Clum, John Philip, 90 Coale, John Holbrook., 163 Coates, Edwin Mortimer, 210, 213, 225, 225n7, 259 Cochise (Apache), 19, 22, 34, 62, 84; meeting with Maj. Brown, 63-64; described, 6364 Cody, William Frederick (Buffalo Bill), 386n5 Colquhoun, Archibald, 156

504

Collingwood (officer not listed in Heitman), 134, 134n2. Colusnotte (Jesuit missionary in Canada), 330 Colyer, Vincent, 8, 22-23, 51 Comanche Indians, 277, 308 Connor, Patrick, 210n9 Cooke, William W., 368, 368n10 Coppinger, John Joseph, 81, 133 Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de, 74-75, 74-75n7, 86 Cortéz, Hernán, 117 Cosgrove, Thomas, 314n5, 317, 340, 364, 385 Cowan, B. R., 272, 273n12 Craig, Louis Aleck, 164, 180 Craig, Samuel, 94 Crawford, Emmet, 288, 291 Crazy Horse (Oglala), 198, 201, 248, 252, 255, 259, 273; appraised, 199; white image of, 199, 204-05 Crazy Horse Fight (see Powder River Fight) Crews, Hanson H., 209, Crittenden, John Jordan, 368, 368n18 Crook, George, 9, 28, 30-31, 44, 52, 55, 61-64, 71, 81, 87, 90, 94-96, 114-15, 117, 120-21, 138-40, 139n5, 143, 146ff., 149 n. 7, 156-58, 177, 192, 196-98, 201, 203 n. 18, 2057, 208n5, 209, 219, 219n3, 221, 233, 239-40, 261, 264, 286-87, 296-97, 299, 303n2, 308, 316, 334, 341-43, 34546, 353-54, 361, 361n3, 365, 369, 370, 380, 383, 387; and Bourke, 1, 3-5, 5 n. 13, 21,

I NDEX 40, 83, 132; commands Department of Arizona, 3, 20; early career, 20-21; Apache campaigns of, 22ff.; Grand Offensive (first campaign), 24, 81-82, 212; public image, 24; and Indian Scouts, 34, 62, 204-5, 275, 310-15, 365, 377; assassination attempt on, 62n8; appointed brigadier general, 83; ill-feelings toward, 83, 344; and Hopi trade with Apaches, 84, 108; efforts toward Indian financial independence, 85; confers with Indians, 92-93, 202-04, 267ff., 314-15; and Hopis, 103, 104, 266; commands Department of the Platte, 125-26, 128-29, 133, 157, 162-63; and logistical problems, 129; honors for, 134ff.; relinquishes command of Arizona, 136; difficulties in the northern plains, 197; undermines Reynolds, 200-1; and Big Horn Expedition, 209, 211, 216, 223, 226, 22930, 232, 245-46, 254, 25760; described, 226-27, 24243, 242n5; proficiency with firearms, 243, 243n6; and Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 289, 304, 306, 308, 310, 313, 364, 374-75, 378; hunting and fishing, 302-3, 308, 338-39, 341, 344, 347-48, 351-52, 355, 357, 360, 363; and the Battle

I NDEX of the Rosebud, 319, 319n1, 320-22, 324, 327, 334-35, 334n23, 354, 373, 382; nervousness of, 373, 381; and Terry, 376, 380, 386; negative newspaper coverage of, 382-84, 382n4 Crook, Mary Dailey (wife), 380 Crow Agency, Mt., 345, 355 Crow Indians (see also Indian scouts), 131, 171, 269-70, 272, 276, 303-04, 304n3, 306-07, 310-11, 319-20, 32224, 332, 340, 360, 375, 37779, 381, 387; described, 31213; and mutilation of enemies, 330, 330n18; scalp dance, 332 Curtis, George, 136 Curtis (officer not listed in Heitman), 163 Custer, Boston, 366n8, 368, Custer, George Armstrong, (see also Little Bighorn, Battle of), 128, 161-62, 179, 180, 184, 186-87, 189-90, 196-98, 204, 211, 224n4, 380, 383; death of, 195, 321, 336, 338, 342n14, 361, 361n3, 365-68, 366n7, 368n12, 370, 373, 378, 388 Custer, Thomas Ward, 368, 368n9 Cuthead (or Cutnose) Sioux Indians, 166

D Dailey, James, 34, 56 Dakota (or Dacotah) Indians (see Sioux Indians)

505

Dallas, Andrew James, 54 Daniels, Jared W., 93 Davenport, Reuben Briggs, 130n11, 292, 294, 346, 382n4, 383-84 Dawes, Mr., 139 Dear, William, 273 Delaney, Hayden, 164, 180, 213, 370 Delano, Columbus, 162, 168, 168n5, 197 Delano, John, 168n5, 197-98 DeLong, Sidney Randolph, 62, 62n7, 93 Delshay (Apache), 46-47 Dennis (surgeon not listed in Heitman), 219 De Smet, Pierre-Jean, 299n7 Dewees, Thomas Bull, 210, 213, 291, 358 Dewey, Miss L., 208 DeWolf, James, 366n8, 368 Díaz, Porfirio, 6, 6n16 Dill (wagon driver), 288, Dodge, Frederick Leighton, 91, 91n13, 157 Dodge, Richard Irving, 91n13, 157, 161, 163, 169, 178, 196; and Black Hills Expedition, 129, 158, 160, 177, 177n3, 179, 183-84, 189-91; on Indian mutilation, 330n18; on Crook, 382n4 Dodge, Richard Paulding, 164 Dorman, Isaac, 366n8 Dougherty, Sergeant, 265 Drew, George Augustus, 207, 213 Drum Barracks, Calif., 19, 21 Dudley, Nathan Augustus Monroe, 342, 342n12

506

Dye, J. McE. (Anglo-Egyptian general), 192

E Eckles, Robert, 317 Egan, James, 157, 208, 219, 290; and Powder River Fight, 249-52, 254, 262 El-cahn (Apache), 90 Eliot, John, 74-75, 75n8 Emory, William Helmsley, 342 Endicott, William, 5 Eskiminzin (Apache), 34 Esquimasquin (Bocon) (Apache), 34, 34n9, 36-38, 42, 44-47, 56, 65-66, Evans (courier), 368, 378, 381, Evans, Andrew Wallace, 138, 288-89, 298, 327, 345 Evans, Miss, 136 Ewing, Everts Stinson, 134, 134n2

F Fabius Maximus, Quintus, 322n13 Fairbanks (courier), 386, 388 Felmer, Joseph, 34, 37-38, 40, 42, 56 Ferris, Samuel Peter, 210, 259 Fetterman Massacre, 208, 208n5, 227-28, 295, 299, 301; number of Indians participating and casualties in, 295, 295n4 Fetterman, William Judd, 208n5, 295, 299 Finerty, John Frederick, 292, 303n3, 346, 348-49, 353, 356, 375

I NDEX Fisher, Isaac, 295n3 Fitzgerald, Michael John, 267 Flathead (Salish) Indians, 162 Foote, Morris Cooper, 163 Ford, John W., 208 Forster, Chico, 156, 159 Forsyth, George Alexander, 190n8, 196 Forts Abraham Lincoln, N.Dak., 286, 286n1, 367 Apache, Ariz. (see Camp Apache) Bowie, Ariz., (see Camp Bowie) Bridger, Wyo., 290, 290n2 C. F. Smith, Mont., 126, 21415, 214n13, 227, 310 Craig, N. Mex., 2, 2n3 D.A. Russell, Wyo., 159, 159n1, 202, 206, 328, Duquesne, Pa. (French), 257n6 Ethan Allen, Vt., 6 Fetterman, Wyo., 197, 20811, 208n4, 208n5, 21415, 219, 220-22, 225, 229, 257, 259-61, 263, 268, 275, 286-89, 291, 307, 334, 338, 341-42, 344, 354, 369, 374, 377, 380-82, 387-88 Fisher, N.C. (Confederate), 198 Francis E. Warren, Wyo. (exD.A. Russell), 159n1 Grant, Ariz., (see Camp Grant II) Hancock, Tex. (Camp Rice) 5, 5n12

I NDEX Hartsuff, Nebr., 264, 264n3 Kearny, Nebr., 17n1, 227n8 Keogh, Mont., 380, 380n3 Laramie, Wyo., 126, 129, 156n10, 158, 160-65, 160n2, 168-70, 172, 179, 180, 184, 191, 201, 2089, 211, 215, 219, 262, 266, 277, 285, 287-90, 369, 380, 387 Leavenworth, Kans., 20n4, 362n5 McDowell, Ariz. (see Camp McDowell) McDowell, Calif., 146n3 McKean, N.Dak. (see Fort Abraham Lincoln) McPherson, Nebr., 264, 264n2 Marion, Fla., 9 Mojave, Ariz., 24n12, 138, 138n4, 139-40 Omaha, Nebr., (see Omaha Barracks) Phil Kearny, Wyo., 17n1, 126, 214n13, 215, 227, 227n8, 233, 295, 298, 299n8, 304, 363; described, 299 Reno, Wyo., 126, 210, 210n9, 214-15, 214n13, 225, 230-31, 259, 261, 287, 293, 342, 388; described, 227, 294-95 Ringgold, Tex., 5, 5n14, 6 Robinson, Nebr. (see Camp Robinson) Sanders, Wyo., 156, 156n10, 207, 217 Sedgwick, Colo., 264 n. 1.

507

Sidney, Nebr. (see Sidney Barracks) Tejon, Calif., 146, 146n2 Washakie, Wyo. (see Camp Brown) Whipple, Ariz. 21, 121-22, 122n5., 126, 133ff., 143 Fort Laramie Treaty (1868), 126-29, 161, 210n9, 214n13, 224n4, 227-28, 276-77, 293; terms discussed, 165-66 Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho, 364 Fort Phil Kearny Massacre (see Fetterman Massacre) Foster, Burt, 135 Foster, C., 139 Foster, Mr. and Mrs. Gray, 135 Foster, James Evans Heron, 163, 213, 288, 291, 327, 342 Fowler, Joshua Lounsberry, 156 Franciscans (see Order of Franciscan Missionaries) Free, Mickey (see Ward, Felix) Frémont, John Charles, 80n10 Furey, John Vincent, 62, 28889, 333, 339, 343

G Garnier, Charles, 330 Garrett, Mr., 139 Garza, Catarino, 6n16. Geronimo (Apache), 3 Gibbon, John, 197, 204, 264, 304, 310, 313, 340, 361, 366, 378 Gibson, Joseph Ruff, 287 Gillis, James, 265 Gilmore, Alexander, 139 Girard, J. B., 56 Good Heart (Crow), 312, 315

508

Grant, Orvil, 198 Grant, Ulysses Simpson, 20, 23, 23n9, 69n1, 83, 196, 273, 273n13; scandals and, 197-98, 261 (see also Peace Policy) Graves, Captain (leader of mining party), 354 Gray, John S., 338 Great Sioux Reservation, 12627, 129 Great Sioux War, 14, 131, 195ff., 362n5 Green, Private, 120 Gregg, Thomas Jackson, 163 Griffith, George R., 284 Gros Ventre Indians, 277 Grouard, Frank, 220, 246-49, 268, 275, 287, 292-95, 307, 310-11, 314, 345, 354-56, 365, 374-75, 385; background, 221 Grummond, George Washington, 295

H Hall, Christopher Tomkins, 163, 176, 181, 184, 208, 249 Hall, W. P., 61-63, 80 Hamilton, John Morrison, 45, 52, 54-55, 61, 73 Hannibal, 322n13 Hardoff, Richard G., 362n4 Harney, William F., 165 Harney’s Peak, 161, 190, 192 Harrington, Henry Moore, 368, 368n14 Harrison (mail rider), 307 Hartsuff, Albert, 289, 329 Hastings, James S., 203, 203n18, 267-68, 268n7, 271-

I NDEX 73, 275, 281, 285, 361 Hawley, William, 163, 206, 213 Hazen, William Babcock, 210 Hay, Charles, 71 Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 5n13, 342 Hayes, W. B., 266 Head, A. E., 147 Head, C. P., 135, 139 Hellman, W. B., 156 Henry, Guy Vernor, 162, 166, 291, 303, 303n2, 308-09, 339; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 319n1, 327, 327n16, 335 Hero (Indian guide), 93 Herodotus, 239 Heyl, Charles Heath, 264 Hewitt (guide), 34 Higgins, Mr., 139 Hinman, S. D., 196 Hitchcock, Kitty, 138, 139 Hodgson, Benjamin H., 368 Hoffman, William Edwin, 267 Hooper, William H., 149 Hopi Indians, 29, 74, 93, 94, 97, 101ff., 266; trading networks and business acumen, 84, 103-05, 107-08; trade with Apaches, 84, 100-01, 108; Crook and, 84; life and culture, 85-86, 105ff.; visited by Spaniards, 86; Bourke monograph on, 87, 87n10; agriculture and animal husbandry, 102, 105, 108-09, 114, 116; architecture, 10305, 109; fractional currency among, 104-05, 104n1; described, 105-06; art, 107,

I NDEX 109; illustrated 110-14; albinos among, 114-15; compared to Apaches, 116 “Horse Meat March” (1876), 4, 6 Howard, E. A., 268, 268n7 Howard, Oliver Otis, 23, 62n8 Hualpai Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 39, 104 Hunkpapa Lakota Indians, 160n3, 166, 195, 210, 275 Hunter, Billy, 275 Huntington, Henry Dunstan, 288, 291 Huntington, Henry Edwards, 146n1 Hunton, Mr. (rancher), 265 Huron Indians, 331n20

I Indian scouts, 58, 60, 62, 65, 203 n. 18, 317, 318, 322, 325; Apaches, 22, 34-35, 3738, 40, 42, 49, 49n19, 56, 62, 67, 72-73, 246; war dance 9, 39-40; Crows, 293-94, 31011, 314-17, 325, 328, 331, 333, 378; scalp dance, 332; Hualpais, 39; Maricopas, 54; Papagoes, 38; Pimas, 37 n.13, 38, 45, 49, 51, 54; Shoshones, 313-15, 317, 326-28, 331, 377, 384; battle preparations, 323-24 Iron Bull (Crow), 378 Iroquois Confederation of Indians, 331n20

J James, Sara Bourke (daughter of JGB), 10

509

Jay Cooke & Co. (see also Panic of 1873), 127, 155 Jeffords, Thomas Jonathan, 63 Jenney, Horace P., 129, 164, 170, 172, 175, 180-82, 183, 189, 191-92; relations with military, 177, 177n3 Jesuits (see Religious Society of Jesus) The Jesuits in North America (book), 276 Jewell, Mr. and Mrs., 135 Johnson, Andrew, 166 Johnson, John Burgess, 206 Johnson, W. W., 139 Johnston, John Lloyd, 254 Jogues, Isaac, 330 Jones, Roger, 207 Jordan, William Henry, 267-68, 271-72, 284-85, 360 Juan-clishe (Apache), 90

K Kansas Pacific Railroad, 159 Kautz, Augustus Valentine, 133, 134, 136-38 Kautz, Mrs. Augustus Valentine, 133, 138 Kearney, M., 139 Kearny, Philip, 17n1 Kearny, Stephen Watts, 17, 17n1 Keeney, Mrs., 156 Kellogg, Mark, 366n8 Kelly (courier), 374, 377, 379 Kendall, Dr., 135 Keogh, Myles, 368 Keyes, Edward Livingston, 52, 56 King, Albert Douglas, 163, 172, 176, 291

I NDEX

510

King Philip’s War (New England), 75n8 Kingsbury, Frederick William, 163, 259, 365 Kiowa Indians, 131, 277 Koehneman (draughtsman), 339 Kossuth Lajos (Eng. Louis Kossuth), 242n5

L LaGrange, Oscar Hugh, 148 Lakota (Western Sioux) Indians, 8, 126, 295n4, 319, 320; and Black Hills, 127-28, 131, 195-96; tribal composition of, 160n3; fighting tactics of, 213n12, 320-21; lodge accommodations, 219n2 Lane, J. R., 130n11, 163, 184 Lawrence, Dr. and Mrs., 140 Lawson, Joseph, 163-64, 206 Lee, Jesse Matlock, 267 Leib, Edward Henry, 34 Lemly, Henry Rowan, 306, 337, 343, 346; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 321, 327 Leonard, Private, 326, Leuttwitz, Adolphus H. von, 288, 291 Little Bighorn, Battle of, 195, 342n14, 343n15, 361, 378, 378n1, 387; estimated hostile Indian losses at, 362, 362n4; reaction to, 362, 36869, 388; Terry’s report on, 365-68; white renegades reported at, 368-69n15 Little Big Man (Oglala), 248, 255 Little Wound (Oglala), 271, 273, 273n13

Lockwood, James Booth, 157 London, Robert, 90 Long, Mr. (citizen on Black Hills Expedition), 189 Lopez (interpreter), 72 Lord, George Edwin, 366n8, 368 Loring, Frederick W., 23 Loshe, Charles Frederick, 136, 138 Ludington, Elisha Harrison, 267, 284 Luhn, Gerhard Luke, 291, 339 Luisant (Métis with Shoshones), 317 Luke, Mayor (of Prescott), 137 Lynch, Edward, 139 Lynch, Mrs. Edward, 133, 139 Lynch, Miss, 133, 139 Lyon, W.B., 156

M McAllister, Cutler, 156 McAllister, Mrs. J. G., 156 McAuliff, Mr., 213, McCaleb, Thomas Sidney, 267, 285 McCandless, Dr. and Mrs., 135 McCann, D. J., 271, 273, 281-82 McCavanaugh (agency clerk), 268, 275 McCoy, Mason, 30, 55 McDaniel, Major, 136 McGillicuddy, Valentine T., 164, 177, 292 McIntosh, Archie, 21, 37-38, 56, 91 McIntosh, Donald, 368 Mackenzie, Ranald Slidell, 3n9, 200 MacMillan, Thomas C., 130n11, 292, 339-40, 339n9

I NDEX Magruder, Surgeon and Mrs. David Lynn, 139 Maher, Sergeant, 326 Mandan Indians, 276-77, Mangas Coloradas (Apache), 17-19 Manifest Destiny, 131 Marcos de Niza, 74-75n7, 86 María, José, 34, 65 Maricopa Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 54 Marion, John Huguenot, 81, 139 Marion, Mrs. John Huguenot, 139 Marivale, Joseph, 164 Marks, Mr. and Mrs. Jake, 135 Marsh, Othniel C., 280 Mason, Charles Winder, 259 Mason, Julius Wilmot, 34, 42, 136, 138, 342, 342n13 Mason, Mrs. Julius Wilmot, 136, 138 Mears, Frederick, 267 Medicine Crow (Crow), 312, 340 Meinhold, Charles, 288, 291-93, 301, 303n2, 309 Merrick, Mr. and Mrs., 135 Merritt, Wesley, 342, 342n12, 354, 369, 375, 380-81, 386-88 Mexican War, 17n1 Michler, Francis, 64, 71, Mike (captive), 45 Miles, Nelson Appleton, 12122n5 Mills, Anson, 208, 213, 265, 291, 305, 308-09, 343, 345, 353-54, 363, 383, 386; and Powder River Fight, 249, 252, 254; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 322, 334n23, 360

511

Miniconjou Lakota Indians, 160, 160n3, 166, 210-11, 255, 259, 270, 277 Mix, John, 128, 161-62, 166, 190 Mize (officer not listed in Heitman), 341 Mojave Indians, 24n12, 45, 49, 62, 62n8, 72, 78-79, 104, 140 Monach, Frank, 56 Monje (also spelled “Mongo”), Presiliano, 75, 77, 77n9 Montgomery, Robert Hugh, 45, 55-56, 61, 91 Montgomery, Mrs. Robert Hugh, 94 Moore, Alexander, 202, 206, 213, 219-20, 219n3; and Powder River Fight, 249, 251-52, 254, 319n1;“cowardice” of, 255, 261, 265, 328, 340; courtmartialed, 265 Moore, Isaiah, 19 Moore, Thomas, 136, 139, 206, 213, 265, 292, 316, 327, 330, 360 Moqui Indians (see Hopi Indians) Morgan, Charles Hale, 139 Mormons, 84, 103, 114, 148n6; Bourke’s views on, 125-26, 149ff. Morrow, Albert, 156 Morton, Charles, 163, 184, 206, 209-10, 213, 262, 264, 291, 305 Moses (Indian Scout), 72 Mott, Thomas, 156 Mount Vernon Barracks, Ala., 9 Mountain Feather (Crow), 315

I NDEX

512

Munn, Curtis Emerson, 208, 236, 255-56, 267 Munson, Samuel, 164, 180, 266, 286, 288, 291, 305, 339, 383

N Naiche (Apache), 3 Nanni-Chaddi (Apache), 51-52 Navajo Indians, 74, 103, 108 Nelson, Anderson D., 136, 138 Nelson, William, 316-17 Nelson, William Henry, 134, 134n2 Newberry, J. S., 164 New Mexico Historical Review (journal), 10 Newton, Henry, 164, 172, 178, 181-83 New York Herald (newspaper), 294, 382-83, 382n4, New York Tribune (newspaper), 130n11, 166, 294, 382 Nez Percé Indians, 333, 340 Nickerson, Azor Howitt, 5 n. 13, 21, 61, 137-39, 156, 159, 192, 207, 208-09, 211, 262, 288-89, 296, 299, 314, 339, 339n10, 370, 380; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 319n1 Nickerson, Mrs. Azor Howitt, 156 Nickerson, Florence, 156 Niza, Marcos de (see Marcos de Niza) Norton, Charles Carroll, Noyes, Henry Erastus, 163, 202, 208, 213, 289, 291, 298, 301, 305, 308-09, 343, 345, 359, 383; and Powder River Fight, 249-52, 249n5, 254, 319n1

O O’Brien (hospital steward), 256 O’Brien, M., 71 Ochoa, Estevan, 63, 139 The Odyssey (epic), 329n17 Ogilby, Frederick Darley, 92-93, 134 Oglala Lakota Indians, 160n3, 166, 207n1, 277 Ojibwa Indians, 276 Old Crow (Crow), 312 Old Man Afraid of His Horses (Oglala), 271 Omaha Barracks, Neb., 125-26, 264, 290n2, On the Border With Crook (book), 1, 3n9, 4, 21, 24, 85, 126, 129, 204, 207n3, 320n6 On the Border With Mackenzie (book), 3n9 Ord, Edward Otho Cresap, 125, 162, 248 Order of Franciscan Missionaries, 74-75n7 Oto Indians, 277

P Pacheco, Romauldo, 148 Palmer, A. D., 103 Palmer, Innis Newton, 156, 207 Panic of 1873 (see also Jay Cooke & Co.), 127, 209 Papago Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 20, 23, 38, 44 Parker, Ely S., 23n9 Parker, Mr., 136 Parkhurst, Charles Dyer, 64, 71 Parkman, Francis, Jr., 5, 276 Patrick (student on Black Hills Expedition), 164

I NDEX Patzki, Julius Herman, 288, 292, 392 Paul, Augustus Chouteau, 208, 254, 265, 265n4, 291 Pawnee Indians, 277, 340 Peace Policy, 20, 203, 204, 280 Peale, James Thompson, 206, 210 Pearson, Daniel Crosby, 210, 291 Pearson, Mrs. Daniel, 210-11 Pease, William Barrett, 267 Perry, Alexander James, 159 Phillips, John (Portugee or Portuguese), 160, 208, 262, 295n3 Pima Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 23, 37n13, 38, 4445, 49, 51, 54 Pinal Apache Indians, 20 Pitcher, William Lewis, 136, 139 Pitone (Apache), 91, 92 Pollock, Otis Wheeler, 157, 264 Ponca Indians, 277 Pope, John, 125, 129 Porter, Charles, 136, 138-39 Porter, Joseph, 84 Pourier, Baptiste (Big Bat), 250, 292-94, 307, 311, 314, 345, 354-55, 375 Powder River Fight, 201, 202, 203n18, 249ff., 263-65, 272, 272n11, 288, 340, 344 Porter, James Ezekiel, 368 Powell, James W., 136, 139 Powell, John Wesley, 4 Powell, Junius, 292 Powell, William Henry, 383 Pratt, Edward Barton, 91 Pratt, Mr., 139

513

Prescott Barracks (see Fort Whipple) Preshau, Mr., 139 Price, George Frederick, 63, 71, 157, 219

R Ramsdale (officer not listed in Heitman), 92 Randall, George Morton, 13, 31, 34, 42, 45-46, 54, 62, 64, 71, 73, 75, 90-93, 133, 264, 28889, 316, 357, 370; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 326, 331 Randolph, John Field, 168 Rawolle, William Charles, 206, 210, 265, 291 Red Cloud (Oglala), 128, 16566, 195, 202, 267, 268n7, 271-73, 275 Red Cloud Agency, Neb., 168, 196, 202, 207, 207n1, 219, 222, 255, 259, 264-67, 268n7, 272-74, 281, 284-85, 304, 338, 341-42, 360-61, 369, 380, 387, Red Cloud, Jack (Oglala), 360, 360n2. Red Cloud War, 126 Ree Indians (see Arikara Indians) Reed, Armstrong, 366n8, 368 Reily, William Van W., 368, 368n13 Reilly, Bernard, 91 Religious Society of Jesus (Jesuits), 74, 331n20 Reno, Marcus Albert, 361, 366, 387 Reynolds (Nickerson’s orderly), 339

I NDEX

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Reynolds, Bainbridge, 220, 291, 309, 327, 340 Reynolds, Charles, 366n8 Reynolds, Joseph Jones., 13, 156, 159, 200-02, 206, 209; and Big Horn Expedition, 211, 213, 216, 226, 230, 245, 248, 257, 263-64; and Powder River Fight, 249, 253-54, 256-57, 259, 319n1; “imbecility” of, 254, 257; court-martialed, 261-62, 265, 286, 288; demoralization attributed to, 265-66 Reynolds Fight (see Powder River Fight) Rice (guide), 73, 75 Rice, William Fletcher, 91-92 Richards, Hugo, 135 Richaud, Louis, 220, 268, 289, 292-94, 307, 310-11, 314, 360, 384 Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Duke of, 228, 228n9 Rickey, Don, Jr., 200 Rio Verde Reservation, Ariz., 27n1 Roberts (Indian agent), 93 Robertson, Edgar Brooks, 291, 305 Robinson, Frank Upham, 206, 210 Robinson, Levi H., 278 Robinson, William Wallace, Jr., 164, 208, 235, 265, 291 Rockwell, C.H., 55, 71, 134 Rocky Mountain News (Denver newspaper), 210, 262 Rocky Bear (Oglala), 268, 271, 275

Rogers, William Wallace, 168 Roosevelt, Theodore, 2 Rosebud, Battle of, 319ff., 33435, 354, 360, 362, 370, 38283; Crook defends actions at, 319, 319n1; estimated hostile casualties at, 328, 335, 360; estimated government casualties at, 329, 335; burial of dead at, 331, 331n21; withdrawal from, 331, 332, 332n22 Ross, William J., 21, 30-31, 56 Root, William H., 164, 178 Roots, Joe, 285 Royall, William Bedford, 33, 52, 288-89, 291, 298, 305, 30809, 341, 346, 363, 383; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 319n1, 327-28 Ruggles, George D., 158 Rush, John A., 137 Russell, Charles, 292, 385 Russell Depot, Wyo. (see Cheyenne Depot, Wyo.) Russell, Gerald, 164, 290

S Safford, Anson P. K., 20 Sanborn, John B., 165 San Carlos Reservation, Ariz., 23, 27n1, 83-85, 93, 118, 122; conditions at, 88, 90 Sand Creek Massacre, 224n4. Sanford, George Bliss, 342, Sans Arc Lakota Indians, 160n3, 166 Santee (Eastern Sioux or Dakota) Indians, 166 Santos (Apache), 90, 93

I NDEX Savage, Egbert Barnum, 139 Saville, J. J., 268n7 Sayer, George B., 148 Scott, W.G., 87, 95, 103, 114, 117, 120, 266 Schneider, Private, 251 Schroeder, Charles, 140 Schuyler, Walter Scribner, 55, 341-42, 346, 351-52, 357, 370 Schwatka, Frederick, 291, 329 Seton, Henry, 168, 288, 291, 339 Sharp Nose (Arapaho), 210 Sheridan, Irene Rucker, 157n12 Sheridan, Philip Henry, 125, 157, 157n12, 163, 196, 198, 200, 259, 261, 286, 288, 304, 334, 341, 354, 360-62, 367, 369, 374-75, 380-81, 386-88 Sherman, William Tecumseh, 2, 165, 273n12, 286, 288 Shoshone Indians, 272, 277, 304, 306, 311, 319-20, 323, 340, 348, 363-65, 380, 385; proficiency in drill, 314, 314n5, 317, 372; described, 314, 371-72; preparations for field duty, 371 Shorb, James De Barth, 146n1 Sibley, Frederick William, 157, 206, 210, 252, 254, 291; scouting expedition of, 356, 359-60, 374-76 “Sibley Scout” (see Sibley, Frederick William) Sidney Barracks, Neb., 264, 264n1 Sieber, Albert, 91 Simpson, James Ferdinand, 288

515

sign language used by Indians, 378-79 Sioux Indians (see also Lakota, and under individual tribes), 126, 131, 160-62, 171, 176, 181, 188, 199, 204, 210-11, 213, 220-21, 223, 226-29, 235, 239, 244, 246, 248, 25152, 256, 264-65, 269, 27273, 275, 285, 293-95, 298, 304, 307, 310-11, 315-16, 322, 324-28, 330-33, 336, 340-42, 355, 360-65, 368, 374, 377-78, 384, 387; subsistence of, 221; chiefs described, 274; history, 27678; at Little Bighorn, 378 Sioux Wars (see also Great Sioux War), 10 Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa), 195, 198, 210, 246, 248, 248n3, 255, 260, 273, 331, 378, 378n1; appraised, 199; comment on peace overtures, 221 Sitting Bull of the South (Oglala), 202, 248n3, 268ff., 275 Slavey, Corporal, 225 Skeleton Cave Fight, 50-52, 57, 69 Small, Michael Peter, 81 Small, Mrs. Michael Peter, 139 Smith, Algernon E., 368 Smith, Edward P., 196, 273n12, 280 Smith, John Eugene, 148 Smith, Joseph, Jr., 150n9, 151 Snake Indians (see Shoshone Indians)

I NDEX

516

Snow, Bugler, 326-27 Soulé, Milan, 43, 54 Spanish-American War, 327n16 Spaulding, Edward James, 163, 184, 192, 341 Spear, Ben, 140 Spencer, James Herbert, 388 Spotted Tail (Brulé), 128, 16566, 195, 267, 270, 272 Spotted Tail Agency, Neb., 207, 207n2, 259, 264, 267-68, 268n7, 274, 281, 285, 360 Standing Rock Agency, N.Dak., 274 Stanton, Thaddeus Harlan, 13, 168, 206, 210, 220, 224, 233, 252, 254, 267, 268, 271, 284, 286 Stanton, William Sanford, 209, 266, 288-89, 308, 339 Stanwood, Frank, 56 Stevens (officer not listed in Heitman), 159 Stevens, Charles R., 292, 329, 357 Stewart, Corporal, 368, 375, 378, 381 Stoneman, George, 19-20, 146n1 Strahorn, Robert Edmund, 210, 249, 254, 256, 262, 267, 271, 289, 292, 309, 346, 352 Stubbs, Mr. and Mrs. J. C., 156 Sturgis, James G., 368, 368n12 Sturgis, Samuel, 368n12 Summerhayes, John Wyer, 93n18, 94, Summerhayes, Martha, quoted 93n18 Sumner, Samuel Storrow, 62

Sutorious, Alexander, 168, 291, 305, 382-85, 388, 388n6 Swigert, Samuel Miller, 288

T Taylor, Alfred Bronaugh, 34, 49, 55, 62, 71 Taylor, Nathaniel, 165 Terry, Alfred Howe, 125, 129, 165, 196-98, 204, 264, 286, 304, 313, 340-43, 342n14, 361, 361n3, 369, 374-75, 377-78, 381-82, 386; report on the Little Bighorn, 36568; and Crook, 380, 386 Thomas, Earl Denison, 45, 71, 135-36, 219 Thomas, Mrs. Earl Denison, 133 Thompson, Edmund F., 62, 140 Thompson, Mrs. Edmund F., 140 Thrapp, Dan L., 24 Three Bears (Oglala), 268, 275 Tierney, Francis (also known as Tinman or Doyle), referred to as “soldier of Captain Meinhold’s company,” 301, referred to by name, 303, 303n1, 303n2 Tom (Apache), 91 Tonto Apache Indians, 20, 45, 49, 104 Tonto National Monument, Ariz., 84 Tovar, Pedro de, 86 Townsend, Edward Davis, 133, 133n1 Townsend, Edwin Franklin, 266 Townsend, Lucy, 208 Traynor, Jim (John Bechtel), 375

I NDEX Trout, John Franklin, 163, 16869, 191-92 Turner, Frederick Jackson, 2 Turpin, Dick, 364, 364n6 Tuttle, Horace P., 164, 177 Two Kettles Lakota Indians, 160n3, 166

517

Van Horn, James Judson, 138 Van Vliet, Frederick, 206, 288, 291, 293, 341, 357, 383 Vanished Arizona (book), 93n18. The Virginian (book), 208n4 Vroom, Peter Dumont, 288, 291, 309

U Uklennay (also spelled Uclenny), 81 Union Pacific Railroad, 128-29, 148, 151-52, 155, 159, 191, 197, 219, 264, 275, 287-88 United States Army, 5, 7-9, 9n23, 20, 83-84, 129-30, 276; promotion system in, 5n13, 139n5; Union Army, 13, 83, 200, 362n5; brevet ranks in, 13-14, 21, 83; geographical organization of, 19-20, 125, 128-29; frontier forces, 130, 200-01, 362n5; and frontier logistics, 130, 161; infantry drill, 169; clothing and equipment, 170; frontier expedition procedures, 173-74; public attitude toward, 196, 200-01, 278-79, 362n5; and federal Indian policy, 203, 281-82, 338; soldier’s life, 236-38; reduced by congress, 362n5 Ute Indians, 84, 272, 277, 340, 364, 370, 380, 387-88 Utley, Robert Marshall, 200

V Vandever, William, 271, 273-75, 281-82, 344, 360

W War Bonnet Creek Fight, 380, 380n3, 386, 386n5, 387 War-Path and Bivouac (book), 303n2 Ward, Edward Wilkerson, 90, 93 Ward, Felix (Mickey Free), 1819, 84-85, 93-94, 107 Warfield, Sergeant, 330 Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. (ex-Fort D.A. Russell), 159n1 Washakie (Shoshone), 364-65, 369n17, 377 Washita, Battle of, 224n4 Wasson, Joseph, 287, 292, 294, 346, 352 Watts, Charles Henry, 65 Wells, Mr. and Mrs. Ed, 135 Wells, Elijah Revillo, 157, 214, 265, 291, 309, 357, 363, 383 Welsh, William, 280 Wessells, Henry Walton, Jr., 164, 184, 189, 341 Wheatley, James, 295n3 Wheaton, Charles, 157, 264 Wheeler, George Montague, 143 Wheeler, William A., 342 Whipple Barracks, Ariz., (see Fort Whipple) Whitman, Royal Emerson, 59, 164

I NDEX

518

Wickenburg Massacre, 22-23, 62n8 Wieting, Orlando Luther, 157 Wilhelm, Thomas, 135, 138-39 Wilhelm, Mrs. Thomas, 138 Wilkins, Carrie E., 138 Wilkins, Lt. Col. and Mrs. John Darragh, 138 Willert, James, 10 Williams, Robert, 388 Williams, William Sherley (Old Bill), 80n10 Wilson, Clark, 136 Wister, Owen, 208n5 Woodson, Albert Emmett, 73, 75 Worth, William Scott, 92-93

Y Yanktonnais (division of Central Sioux or Nakota) Indians, 166

Yarnell, Nelson, 317 Yates, George, 368 Yates, Mrs., 274 Yavapai Indians, 24 n.12, 62n8 Yellow Hair (also called Yellow Hand) (Cheyenne), 386n5 Young (muleskinner), 346 Young, Brigham, 149, 150, 152, 154; Bourke’s opinion of, 126, 150-51 Young Man Afraid of His Horses (Oglala), 268, 271 Young, Robert Hunter (?), 213

Z ZuZi Indians, 74

The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke Volume 2

Always good for a joke, Bourke hams it up as “Your Old Scout” in this studio photograph in Albany, New York, complete with false beard and “frontier” garb. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

The Diaries of ohn regory ourke

J G

VOLUME 2

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July 29, 1876–April 7, 1878

Edited and Annotated by Charles M. Robinson III

University of North Texas Press Denton, Texas

©2005 Charles M. Robinson III All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Permissions: University of North Texas Press P.O. Box 311336 Denton, TX 76203-1336 The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, z39.48.1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bourke, John Gregory, 1846–1896. The diaries of John Gregory Bourke / edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson III. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10 1-57441-196-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13 978-1-57441-196-6 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Bourke, John Gregory, 1846–1896—Diaries. 2. Soldiers—West (U.S.)—Diaries. 3. Indians of North America—Wars—1866–1895—Personal narratives. I. Robinson, Charles M., 1949– II. Title.

E83.866 .B75 2003 978’.02’092—dc21

2002152293 All illustrations are held by the United States Military Academy Library, West Point, NY. Cover photo of John Gregory Bourke is courtesy of the National Park Service, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

To William H. Leckie and Shirley A. Leckie, in gratitude and admiration

If the Government will only keep its promises and treat these red men with justice, we shall have no more Indian wars. —John Gregory Bourke, Diary, 20:1994 An Indian campaign is fruitless labor for the privates under any circumstances, defeat meaning death, and victory bringing no honor. . . . —Undated clipping, apparently from Chicago Times. Bourke, Diary, 20:1904

Contents Acknowledgments ...................................................................... viii Introduction .................................................................................. 1 Part 1: The Great Sioux War Background ................................................................................. 13 1. Camp Life ................................................................................ 21 2. Linking With Terry .................................................................. 44 3. On the Yellowstone.................................................................. 67 4. The Ordeal Begins ................................................................... 86 5. Fighting and Starving ............................................................ 105 6. The Campaign Ends .............................................................. 121 7. The Powder River Expedition ............................................... 149 8. Forging Indian Alliances........................................................ 164 9. The Dull Knife Fight .............................................................. 179 10. Grouard and Bourke on Indians.......................................... 201 11. Belle Fourche to Fort Fetterman ......................................... 221 12. The Hostile Bands Surrender .............................................. 240 13. The Indians Speak ............................................................... 265 14. Crazy Horse ......................................................................... 294 Part 2: Staff Officer Background .............................................................................. 305 15. A Hunting Trip..................................................................... 311 16. The Little Bighorn Battlefield .............................................. 330 17. Downriver By Steamer ........................................................ 344 18. Of Indians, Missionaries, and Irishmen .............................. 355 19. Memories of Old Tucson...................................................... 372 Appendix 1: Persons Mentioned in the Diary............................ 387 Appendix 2: Perspectives on the Horse Meat March ................. 464 Appendix 3: Conflicting Policies ............................................... 482 Appendix 4: Crook’s Animal Losses .......................................... 487 Appendix 5: Lieutenant W. Philo Clark’s Recapitulation of the Great Sioux War ......................................................... 489 Bibliography .............................................................................. 499 Index ......................................................................................... 507

Acknowledgments As I stated in Volume 1 of this series, transcribing a set of nineteenth-century diaries is a lonely task. However, certain people and institutions contributed to the completion of the project, and in some cases were responsible to the extent of making it possible. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas T. Smith, U.S.A., a notable historian as well as a soldier, and Frances Vick, retired director of the University of North Texas Press, endorsed the significance of this project when it was still in the early stages of an idea, and promoted it with UNT Press’ academic advisors. Thanks also go to two very special people at UNT Press, who suffer through the project itself, and my occasional foul temper as it progresses: Ronald Chrisman, the current director, and Karen DeVinney, managing editor. Friends who have followed this project and encouraged it from its inception are Paul Hedren, Robert M. Utley, and Jerome A. Greene. I wish to acknowledge the following individuals, publishers, and holding institutions for permission to publish extracts of material under their ownership or custody: Peter S. Mellon, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and John Mellon, Chico, California, heirs of Col. Walter Scribner Schuyler, for permission to publish his letter of November 1, 1876, in Appendix 2 of this volume. The letter is preserved as WS87 in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, an institution that has been of great help to me in this and other projects over the years. The University of Nebraska Press for permission to quote from John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks, Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, reprint published by the University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1988. The Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois, for permission to quote from the Powder River Expedition Journals of Lt. Col. Richard Irving Dodge, as published in Wayne R. Kime, ed. The Powder River Expedition Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. The United States Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, holding institution for the Eugene A. Carr Papers. VIII

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IX

The United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, for photos by Stanley J. Morrow, and of Indian personalities which were pasted in the diaries. Last, but not least, at South Texas College, McAllen, Texas, I have received support, encouragement (and a great deal of tolerance) from Dr. Shirley A. Reed, president; Juan Mejía, vice president for instruction; Dr. Margaretha Bischoff, dean, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences; and Dr. William Carter, chairman, Department of History and Philosophy.

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Introduction to Volume 2

T

his second volume of the John Gregory Bourke1 Diaries includes the period from July 29, 1876, through April 7, 1878, during which he served as Brig. Gen. George Crook’s aide-decamp. It is comprised of manuscripts designated Volumes 7 through 22 at the United States Military Library at West Point, which holds the collection. Altogether, the Bourke Diaries at West Point, with one additional volume in the library of the University of Arizona for March 26 through June 21, 1881, consist of 124 manuscript volumes and several subvolumes, beginning on November 20, 1872. The first volume in this series covers the period of November 20, 1872, through July 28, 1876. It begins with Lt. Col. (Bvt. Maj. Gen.) George Crook’s “Grand Offensive” against the Apaches in Arizona. Then, with Crook promoted to the active grade of brigadier general and given command of the Department of the Platte, it continues into the Great Sioux War of 1876–77. That volume ends and this one begins during Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Although there were other volumes as far back as 1869, Bourke himself noted that they were “mislaid, destroyed or stolen.” 1. “Bourke” is merely a Gallicized version of the old Irish name “Burke”or “Burk.” The “o” is not pronounced.

1

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The first section of this published volume, covering the six-week period of July 29 to September 8, 1876, was among those lost, and was reconstructed by Bourke from memory in two separate notebooks, now designated as Volumes 7 and 8 at West Point. Besides the reconstructed volumes, Bourke did not always have time to make continuous daily entries. He mentioned this in discussing preparations for the Powder River Expedition in November 1876. “There was such a pressure of work at General Crook’s Head-Quarters in the Field, about the beginning of November that I found it compulsory to abandon the diary form of narrative and confine myself to mentioning from time to time whatever of special moment might occur.”2 The reconstructed section, contained in Chapters 1 through 4, offers an interesting contrast to those portions of the diaries written as events unfolded. When he recalled those weeks, Bourke had had several years to think about the events and polish his writing skills. Consequently, the reader will find that this portion of the diaries more closely resembles his later published work than the narrative journal entries. Bourke’s classical education, received as the Romantic period of nineteenth century literature drew to a close, is apparent, as are his own romantic inclinations and his vivid imagination. In one entry of the reconstructed volumes, he writes about swimming in a stream in the Bighorn Mountains, and fantasizes that he is the hunter Actaeon, about to have his fatal encounter with the goddess Diana.3 Such musings become suspect when one considers that the volume immediately preceding this, part of the original work written in the field, contains numerous references to hostile Indians lurking about.4 Bourke himself acknowledged that the reconstructed portion was substantially different from the lost original. By now, he had come to realize that he was writing for posterity as much as for himself, and that others might one day read his journals. He notes, “A singular fact will be remarked by those who may have the curiosity, the patience and the courtesy to persist in the perusal up to this time.” Specifically, the volume numbers and pages do not match, because 2. Bourke, Diary, 14:1352. 3. Ibid, 7:721–22. In mythology, Actaeon became separated from his party and happened on Diana, chaste goddess of the hunt, bathing by a pond. She saw him watching her and, enraged, drenched him with a bowl of water. He was changed into a stag and torn apart by his own hounds. 4. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 20.

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the original journal consisted of only one manuscript volume, while the reconstruction fills two volumes. What occasions this discrepancy? The answer is that the restored. . . volume contains much more matter than the original and in this way. While writing the original, I had but one book and saw that each day became more and more filled with notes I began to apprehend that soon I should have no place for the daily record. I was therefore compelled to exclude much which is comprehended in the present [reconstructed] note-book. For example, the correspondence written by General Terry to General Crook has never been copied until the present moment: and the printed Roster of the command was not, of course, available at the date of our departure from Goose creek. I have endeavored to give a graphic, truthful and unprejudiced account of what took place, lavishing no praise and indulging in no censure where either could be avoided. For the failure of the military movement in the summer of 1876, I blame no one but the American Congress which had so hamstrung the poor sore-backed animal called the Regular Army that when its services were suddenly demanded, it could with great difficulty move one foot before the other. My journal is open to the charge of being too diffusive. I accept the imputation as it is a partial admission that if I wrote much, I must have seen much. Of the two Generals, Terry and Crook, no words of praise from me would add to their deservedly exalted reputation; of the subordinates, with few exceptions, I have said in the body of the journal all that was necessary. They bore great privations with fortitude and with the knowledge and experience that the hardest and most glorious campaigns are the soonest forgotten.5 One of the most outstanding aspects of this section of the work is the number of contemporary photographs that Bourke pasted in 5. Bourke, Diary, 8:894–96. This essay appears at the end of manuscript volume 8, but has been placed here as more relevant and, as much as possible, to avoid disrupting the flow of the narrative between volumes 8 and 9.

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manuscript volumes 13 and 18. Those in volume 13 are Stanley J. Morrow’s photographic chronicle of the Horse Meat March, and his landscapes of the region. Volume 18 contains a collection of portraits of the leading Indian personalities mentioned in the text. The Morrow photos offer a graphic account of what the soldiers endured during the march. Morrow, who maintained a studio in Yankton, on the Missouri River in what is now South Dakota, had taken his equipment to the Black Hills in early 1876 to photograph the gold rush. He was in Deadwood when Crook’s plea for help arrived, and joined the wagon train that carried provisions for the starving army. Meeting it on the trail between Whitewood Creek and Deadwood on September 14, he saw dirty, ragged soldiers, the wounded on their litters, and Indian prisoners from the fight at Slim Buttes. He shot thirty-one photos for a formal series of stereo cards, entitled “Views of General Crook’s Expedition and the Black Hills.” Although many of the incidents were restaged for the camera, they nevertheless form an accurate picture of the horrific march. Bourke acquired copies of the photos, as well as general views and landscapes by Morrow, that were not included in the series. All were pasted in the diary.6 Because of space limitations, and many similar views of the same scenes, I have selected only the most representative for inclusion here. The serious student of Morrow’s work can consult With Crook in the Black Hills: Stanley J. Morrow’s 1876 Photographic Legacy, by Paul L. Hedren. Likewise, of the many Indian portraits, I have selected only those of the principal characters mentioned in Bourke’s account. Fascinating as Morrow’s photographs are, and interesting as the Indian portraits might be, the most haunting photograph appears alone in the account of Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s fight with the Cheyennes on November 25, 1876. It is a type of pocket-sized portrait common during the era, called a carte-de-visit, that many people, including ordinary soldiers, had made and printed in bulk to hand out as a sort of calling card. This particular photograph was recovered in the Cheyenne village among trophies of the Custer disaster at the Little Bighorn. Undoubtedly it was taken from the pocket of a dead soldier at the Little Bighorn and most likely shows that soldier. This volume ends with a nostalgic recollection of Tucson, unrelated to anything else current at the time. Bourke was returning to 6. Hedren, With Crook, 10–11.

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Omaha from Fort Hall, Idaho, where Crook had been investigating rumors of discontent among the Bannock Indians. En route, Bourke learned of the death of Col. (Bvt. Maj. Gen.) Thomas C. Devin, Third Cavalry,7 who had commanded the Subdistrict of Southern Arizona when he first reported for duty there in 1870. This started him reminiscing about early days in Tucson and, with nothing to do during the long train ride from Ogden, Utah, to Omaha, he wrote a mini-memoir. He concluded by saying: This is a long digression to make but the mention of General Devin’s death has brought back to my mind my first meeting with him in Tucson and from that, the divergence has been easy and I find myself insensibly recalling to mind my very long and varied experience in that country, our associates, the scenery and peculiarities, as well as the sterner features of scouting against the hostile Apaches, who in 1869, 1870 and 1871 were complete masters of the Territory, but in 1873, and 1874, thanks to General Crook and his soldiers were the most completely subdued Indians in America.8

Bourke and the Indians Bourke made extensive notes of Indian life and customs, as well as giving strong opinions about certain Indian personalities, and, of course, the soldier’s view of a fight. His studies of Indian ethnology led to the Apaches calling him naltsus-bichidin, or “Paper Medicine Man,” because of his copious notes.9 Some might wonder about the Indian attitude toward his curiosity about their life and customs. From my own experience with Plains Indians and, to some degree, Fort Sill Apaches,10 I can say that Indians have no particular problem with outsiders wanting to learn something about their ways of life. Indeed, many whites of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were provided a great deal of information by Indian hosts or clients. Among the 7. Devin is best known for service with the 8th Cavalry, but was promoted to colonel of the 3rd to replace Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, suspended by court-martial. Devin died nine months later. Altshuler, Cavalry Yellow and Infantry Blue, 102–3. 8. Bourke, Diary, 22:58. 9. Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 181. 10. Descendants of the Arizona Apaches who were sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as prisoners of war after being interned in Florida and Alabama. The term “Fort Sill Apaches” is used to distinguish them from Plains Apaches who, in Oklahoma, are designated as “Apaches.”

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notables are historian Francis Parkman, Jr., school teacher Thomas Battey, ethnologists James Mooney, Frederick W. Hodge, and Frank Cushman, naturalist George Bird Grinnell, and reservation physician Thomas B. Marquis. These people viewed the Indians as ordinary human beings practicing a culture which had aspects worth learning and preserving. Indians do balk, however, at the type of anthropologist (“anthro,” to use Vine Deloria’s term) who attempts to study them as human curiosities—a sort of anthropological tourism. By and large, and especially as he grew older, Bourke seems to have fit in with the former category, as one who appreciated their humanity, their beliefs, and their thoughts. In 1890, he summed up his position by writing: My personal inclinations led me to associate as much as possible with our savage scouts, whose modes of life, language and religious thought were always of an indescribable interest. Nearly all the talk I had with anybody was with them and the result was the enrichment of note-books with references to aboriginal customs in war and peace which probably could not have been obtained under circumstances of greater advantage. The American Indian is by nature so secretive and reticent that unless one by long personal association learns how to watch and extract information, much of what may be called his inner life, would be inevitably lost.11 Even so, the Bourke diaries essentially are written by and for a soldier. Too, in order to obtain the balance that he himself most likely would have desired, I have endeavored whenever appropriate to include some Indian references to the matters discussed.

Format for the Edited Diary The best description of the Bourke diaries as a whole was written by William Gardner Bell, in John Gregory Bourke, A Soldier-Scientist on the Frontier.

11. Bourke, “Mackenzie’s Last Fight,” 10. In using the phrase, “what might be called his inner life,” Bourke probably was referring to Indian introspection, rather than denigrating Indian thought.

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Although the material is not in the form of a pure diary with daily entries, many of the notes—especially those related to military operations—are dated. The text is interlarded with ethnological observations and data. In addition to the narrative, the notebooks contain scrapbook material—orders, clippings, programs, postcards, menus—and Bourke’s pen and ink sketches, watercolors, and maps of the areas with which he came in contact.12 Editing such a work is not necessarily confined to transcription, but also to rendering a text into a readable form while preserving the author’s original flavor and intent. Purists, such as Wayne R. Kime, who achieved the monumental task of preparing the Richard Irving Dodge journals for publication, adhere strictly to the original text, including cross-outs and insertions. On the opposite side of the coin, Lt. Col. Thomas T. Smith, former assistant professor of military history at West Point, took Cpl. Emil Bode’s German syntax, fractured spelling, and erratic punctuation and rendered them more easily understood by the casual reader.13 With Bourke’s diaries, I have chosen the middle ground between these two positions, and have undertaken a basic format to preserve as much as possible the flavor of the manuscript, while making it intelligible to the reader and without being cumbersome. Orders and Clippings. The scrapbook nature mentioned by Bell becomes particularly evident beginning with the notebook designated by West Point as Volume 10; except for eleven pages of Bourke’s own handwritten text, this volume consists entirely of copies of orders (printed and handwritten), along with General Crook’s printed annual report for 1875, and various newspaper clippings, sometimes attributed to newspaper and date, and sometimes not. By and large, these clippings are simply correspondents’ versions of events that Bourke himself recounted in detail. Because of the enormity of this material, and its availability elsewhere, it has been deleted in favor of Bourke’s own manuscript text. In some instances, this includes entire volumes that are nothing more than collections of clippings and copies of orders. 12. Bell, John Gregory Bourke, 27 n.2. 13. See Smith, A Dose of Frontier Soldiering.

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Occasionally, however, the clippings elaborate on events that Bourke mentioned only in passing. These are included either in the body of the text or in the appendices, as most appropriate. Additionally, Bourke occasionally considered a correspondent’s account as true and accurate as anything he himself might write, and used the clipping instead. In all such cases, I have included the clippings in their proper places in the diary. As in Volume 1 of this series, I have deleted the Indian vocabularies collected by Bourke, as having limited appeal outside of the field of linguistics, and because of space considerations. Abbreviations, Spelling, and Grammar. Bourke used many abbreviations. The @ symbol often appears as a substitute for the word “or.” While I have tried to remain as faithful as possible to the original text, for the sake of clarity I have spelled out the more common abbreviations, such as cardinal directions, “left,” “right,” “miles,” and “road,” as well as those he used frequently, such as “good grass and water,” “creek,” and “mountains.” For those that are less common or obvious, I have inserted the missing letters in [brackets], except when the abbreviations are scattered, requiring several sets of brackets within one word; in such cases, I have spelled out the word in brackets. When a word is illegible, but the meaning can be inferred, I have placed the probable word with a question mark in [brackets?]. If the meaning cannot be inferred, I have written it as [illegible]. Except for the works of Mark Twain, an “American” form of spelling and punctuation had not yet fully developed in Bourke’s era. Consequently, he used many British forms, which are retained. Otherwise, I have transcribed the text as is, with all its inconsistencies, such as “tipi,” “teepee,” and sometimes even “tépi,” all of which he used to designate the conical Indian lodge. Names of individuals suffered in the same fashion. Among others, Capt. Emil Adam usually was rendered “Adams,” and Lieutenant Adolphus von Leuttwitz generally appeared as “Leuttewitz.” All such instances have been noted in the biographical sketches in Appendix 1. Arcane References. As noted earlier, Bourke’s primary education was grounded in the classics. His upper level education was at West Point, essentially an engineering school, with emphasis on geology and mathematics, with some heavy doses of French thrown in for good measure. From there, he went to the Southwest, where English and Spanish words, even now, are often used interchangeably.

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Consequently, there is a plethora of information on measurements and geology, often accompanied by technical words. He also made occasional references to classical subjects, and used French or Spanish words. Wherever possible, I have tried to provide an explanation of terminology and classical references, and a translation of foreign terms. Punctuation and Capitalization. Punctuation in the diary was rudimentary. Bourke often used a dash (—) in lieu of punctuation. In most cases, I have substituted the punctuation marks, unless the dash appears more appropriate. In cases where Bourke did use punctuation, it was erratic, although he tended to use periods and commas outside quotation marks rather than within. I lean toward leaving Bourke’s punctuation intact except for cases where it renders the text absolutely confusing. Capitalization was erratic. For example, in giving times of day, he might use a.m./p.m., A.M./P.M., or am./pm. I have preserved his capitalization as much as possible. Emphasis. Bourke emphasized words by underlining them. Most of the time (but not always), he underlined names of people and places, dates, and geographical features of interest. Yet some of his emphases seem little more than whimsy and, more than a century later, appear to have had no practical reason. In an effort to make it more readable, I have deleted the emphasis except where it enhances the impression he was trying to convey. Bourke occasionally annotated the entries after the fact, as new information came to hand. His notes are indicated by an asterisk (*) while mine are numbered. I have replaced Bourke’s brackets with parentheses, to avoid confusing his texts with mine. Personalities, etc. Often individuals are named with no explanation as to who they were. Bourke was, after all, writing for his own future reference and knew the people in question. I have attempted, in Appendix 1, to identify as many as possible, and in the case of army officers, have been relatively successful. After more than a century, however, it has not always been possible to identify Indians, enlisted soldiers, or civilians. The basic intention of the biographical sketches essentially is to explain who these people were, and why they went West. The criteria for the extent of the sketches is based on three factors: their importance in history, their importance to the narrative, and the availability of material on them. In many cases Bourke might

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make only a passing reference, such as, “I encountered Lieut. X,” this being the only reference to Lieutenant X in the entire narrative. Because of that, and because many such officers did not attain historical prominence, the sketch is minimal. Others, mentioned frequently, and/or historically important in their own right, receive more detailed treatment. Where Bourke uses the local name for plants, or names that might not be widely known, I have attempted to identify them and put the botanical name in the notes; I did not do so for commonly known plants. Bourke’s designations of the territories have been preserved, and when they do not reflect the modern name of the state, I have inserted the state in [brackets]. In my own commentaries, I have used the modern state names. Military Ranks. One of the more confusing aspects of the text is Bourke’s inconsistencies in rank. For example, Ranald S. Mackenzie is sometimes referred to as “General Mackenzie,” and other times as “Colonel Mackenzie.” The same applies to Thaddeus Stanton, Andrew Sheridan Burt, George Morton Randall, and many other officers. The reason is the system of brevet ranks used by the army during the nineteenth century. The brevet was bestowed to honor gallant and/or meritorious service, and generally was higher than the officer’s active rank. During the Civil War, when many officers of the Regular Army transferred to the Volunteer Service, one individual might have as many as three ranks simultaneously, viz., active rank in the Regular Army, brevet rank in the Regular Army, and brevet rank in the Volunteers. When the Union Army was demobilized after the war, these officers reverted to their most recent active rank in the Regular Army. Nevertheless, the brevet remained on the officer’s record, and as a courtesy he ordinarily would be addressed by the brevet. Again, using Mackenzie as one of the many examples, the expedition roster would carry him by his active rank as colonel, but outside of official documents and lists, Bourke often referred to him by his brevet as general. The biographical sketches of officers in Appendix 1 include both active and brevet ranks.

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Part 1 The Great Sioux War (Continued from Vol. 1)

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Background

I

n this volume, Bourke’s account of the Great Sioux War opens with Crook camped at Goose Creek in extreme northern Wyoming, in the final stages of preparation for resuming his Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. The expedition was organized the previous May, but went into hiatus after Crook’s defeat at the Rosebud, in Montana, on June 17. Consequently, he withdrew to Goose Creek, to resupply and wait for Shoshone and Crow Indian scouts. He and his officers spent several weeks hunting and fishing, with his men pulling minimal duty, and often occupying their time with various recreational activities. Bourke himself admitted that it was “nothing but a picnic without exploit and without advantage.”1 In the meantime, five companies of the 7th Cavalry, under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, were annihilated at the Little Bighorn, and the remaining companies badly mauled, by the same Indians who had driven back Crook at the Rosebud. From time to time, Bourke refers to the so-called “Crazy Horse Fight.” This occurred the previous March 17, when Bourke participated a fight on the Powder River, under the immediate command of Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, 3rd Cavalry. The fight was a fiasco. After 1. Bourke, Diary, 4:379.

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capturing and partially destroying an Indian village, Reynolds allowed himself to be pushed back by a counterattack, leaving his dead and wounded to fall into Indian hands. To make matters worse, the village was not hostile but, in fact, belonged to a band of Cheyennes, en route to check in with the military under a government edict. Bourke and Crook, however, preferred to believe it was a hostile Oglala village headed by Crazy Horse. Despite all evidence to the contrary, including a report prepared on Crook’s own orders immediately following the Indians’ surrender in 1877 (see Appendix 5) neither Bourke nor Crook ever admitted the mistake. As long as they lived, they both insisted Reynolds had attacked Crazy Horse. There is no question that Reynolds completely mismanaged the fight. Aside from hitting the wrong camp and losing his dead and wounded to the enemy, he had allowed his horses to become exhausted, and did not scout the terrain. Two company commanders likewise did not live up to expectations. Captain Alexander Moore found that the terrain did not allow him to fulfill his assignment, and held his men back, allowing other companies to carry the brunt of the fighting. Captain Henry E. Noyes, on the other hand, was overly concerned about carrying out his assignment of securing the pony herd, when common sense dictated supporting the companies that were actively engaged. Upon returning to Fort D. A. Russell at Cheyenne, Wyoming, Crook ordered all three court-martialed. The trial of Captain Noyes was held almost immediately, because charges against him, primarily involving poor judgment, were the most easily dispatched. He received an administrative reprimand, returned to duty, and appears frequently in the first half of this volume. The charges and specifications against Reynolds and Moore were far more severe, and their careers were on the line. After several postponements that severely damaged morale in the 3rd Cavalry, they ultimately were tried and convicted in January 1877. Reynolds was suspended from rank and command for one year, and Moore was suspended from command and ordered confined to the limits of his post for six months.2 While Crook hunted and fished at Goose Creek, two columns from Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry’s Department of Dakota linked on the Yellowstone. One, the Montana column, under Col. John Gib2. Robinson, General Crook, 171–72, 209–10.

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bon, had marched east from western Montana, while the Dakota column, under General Terry himself and including Custer’s illfated command, had moved west into Montana from Fort Abraham Lincoln,3 in what is now North Dakota. Prior to the Rosebud fight and the Little Bighorn, the divisional commander, Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, hoped to catch the Indians between the three converging columns and batter them into submission.4 News of the Custer disaster cast a pall over Crook and his men, and Bourke’s narrative reflects the edginess. Finally, the Indian scouts arrived and, unable to justify any further delay, Crook again headed north to link up with Terry. Bourke’s narrative in this volume begins as the expedition prepares to move out, and includes the infamous “Horse Meat March.” This period also shows the beginning of a change in Bourke’s attitude toward Indians. At the beginning of 1876, he was a firm advocate of Manifest Destiny and the extermination of the Indian way of life as the only alternative to extermination of the Indians themselves. In February of that year, he wrote, “We are now on the eve of the bitterest Indian war the Government has ever been called upon to wage: a war with a tribe that has waxed fat and insolent on Gov’t bounty, and has been armed and equipped with the most improved weapons by the connivance or carelessness of the Indian Agents.”5 Only fourteen months later, in April 1877, his view of these same Indians had completely altered. Having come to know them, he found much that was admirable in their culture, while he saw public policy as the source of much of the trouble. “These Indians in their family relations,” he observed: appear to much better advantage than when we study them as enemies; they are extremely kind to their aged[,] poor and infirm, and, at all dances, and all festive occasions. . . blankets, calico and other articles are laid upon the ground as free gifts for the poor. 3. Fort Abraham Lincoln was located at the confluence of the Heart and Missouri Rivers across from present-day Bismarck, North Dakota. It was established as Fort McKean on June 14, 1872, but on November 19 of the same year was redesignated as Fort Abraham Lincoln. The post was abandoned in 1891, and the structures were dismantled by area residents in search of building materials. The partially reconstructed post is now a North Dakota state park. Frazer, Forts of the West, 111–12. 4. Robinson, Good Year to Die, 37ff.; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 21ff. 5.Bourke, Diary, 3:1–2.

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Though they have prostitutes among them as other nations, yet the general average of chastity of their women is equal to that of the more civilized. Their ideas of friendship, hospitality and generosity are peculiar, but very marked and strictly adhered to. If the government will only observe one half its promises, the Indians will comply faithfully with their agreements, I am certain; the great danger of the future is not from the red man’s want of faith, so much as from the indifference of our government to the plainest requirements of honor. Our own faith is worse than Punic; yet, we always prattle about Indian treachery.6 If Bourke was cognizant of the Indian situation, his blind spot was his loyalty to Crook, and hastened to defend him even when he was indefensible. One of his most absurd comments concerned complaints by the officers: I cannot conceal from myself the fact that we have with us not a few officers who would gladly abandon the campaign upon the most frivolous pretext and who are now beginning to grumble because they haven’t sponge cake. The fairweather Christians loom up as grand soldiers in a ball-room; where with plenty of gilding and embroidery they find no trouble in passing themselves off among giddy young women as bolder than Hercules, braver than Ajax.7 While this type of officer certainly does exist in any army, it was a sorry description of these officers, particularly when one considers this description was written in hindsight. Within a few weeks of the time recollected, everyone in the command was on the verge of starvation, and as Bourke himself noted in On the Border with Crook, within fifteen years, more than half the officers on that march were either dead or invalided out of the army.8 The reader might want to contrast the description of “fair-weather Christians” with the accounts by other officers on the march contained in Appendix 2 of this volume. 6. Ibid., 20:1938. 7. Ibid., 7:764. 8. Bourke, On the Border, 360.

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During one particularly miserable night, Bourke himself questioned how much he really enjoyed the army. I tried to make myself believe it was a grand thing to have my garments saturated with water, my feet cold and wet, my miserable straw-hat torn by the breezes, no tent, no blankets, no supper to speak of; this, I said to myself, is heroism and I am a first class hero; but it wouldn’t work. Like Banquo’s ghost,9 the thought would not down that a good hot stove, with plenty of champagne and oysters would be good enough for the likes of me and it was then I made up my mind, if I ever married an heiress, to live for the remainder of my days in a brown-stone front and retire from the hero-business for ever.10 The march was frustrating, because of not only hunger and misery, but also uncertainty. Crook had an annoying tendency to confide in newspaper correspondents rather than his own officers. On September 5, even as Bourke and other officers wondered about his plans, he discussed them with John F. Finerty of the Chicago Times. [Crook] paused for a moment, and, pulling his peculiar beard, said very slowly: “We are five full marches from Fort Abraham Lincoln [on the Missouri River]. We are seven, at least, from the Black Hills. By going to the Missouri we lose two weeks’ time. By marching on the Hills we gain so much. I march on the Black Hills to-morrow. Between going to and coming back from Fort Abraham Lincoln we should lose more than half our horses.” “How much rations have you left?” “Only two days’ and a half [at] half-rations, but we must make them last for seven, at least. It must be done. The Indians have gone to the Hills and to the Agencies. The miners must be protected and we must punish the Sioux on our way to the south or leave this campaign entirely unfinished. . . . 9. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title character is haunted by the recurring apparition of Banquo, his former comrade, whom he had murdered. 10. Bourke, Diary, 7:792–93.

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“I know it looks hard . . . . but we’ve got to do it, and it shall be done. . . . Nobody knows much about this region but it looks fair. We’ll kill some game, too, perhaps, to make up for short rations. Half-rations will be issued after to-night. All will be glad of the movement after the march has been made. If necessary,” he added, “we can eat our horses.”11 Not everyone went on half-rations, however. The packers who handled the mule train were issued the full allowance, because, Bourke explained, “The poor fellows have to work so much harder than officers or soldiers that they must have a full allowance of food, or our transportation fails.”12 The soldiers did not necessarily share that sentiment. Toward the end of the march, some of the 5th Cavalry’s Irish soldiers expressed their resentment by composing a new stanza to a popular song of the period. Wid ‘bunkies shtarvin’ by our side, no rations was the rule; Shure ‘twas ate your boots and saddles you brutes, but feed the packer and the mule. But you know full well that in four fights no soldier lad was slow, And it wasn’t the packer that won ye a star in the Regular Army, O.13 A turning point of the march was the capture of an Indian village at Slim Buttes on September 8. Reading Bourke’s description of the village, one is struck by the fact that, by 1876, white culture was so all-pervasive that canvass, rather than buffalo hide, appeared to be the standard tipi cover. Likewise, many of their cooking and other utensils were of manufactured metal. There appear to have been very few hand-made indigenous implements, or, if there were, Bourke did not mention them. On the other hand, there were aspects of Indian culture from which the whites, if they had bothered, could have learned. One of these was Indian medical treatment. An American Indian could 11. Finerty, War-Path and Bivouac, 275–76. 12. Bourke, Diary, 8:877. 13. Quoted in King, Campaigning With Crook, 159.

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recover from virtually any type of injury or battle wound except to the heart, brain, or spine; the active participation of the Indian auxiliaries in the Battle of the Rosebud provided several wounded warriors so that army surgeons could observe their treatment first hand. Bourke noted one case in particular, where a warrior had received a gunshot wound that smashed the femur. In conventional white medical wisdom of the day, amputation would have been almost a foregone conclusion. The Indians, however, splinted the leg, and treated the wound by simply pouring fresh water on it. In just over a month, he was walking with the aid of a cane, prompting Bourke to remark, “The recuperative powers of the Indians is a source of astonishment to us all.”14 Bourke’s observations also tend to dispel modern notions of American Indians. One tends to lose track of the hatreds that existed long before the arrival of the Europeans, and that Shoshones and Lakotas were just as capable of mutual destruction as Frenchmen and Germans. These ancient animosities become evident with Bourke’s repeated references to the Shoshone custom of desecrating Lakota funeral scaffolds and plundering the corpses to get the grave goods, particularly the weapons of a warrior. Even after the fighting ended, Crook used these animosities to keep both friend and foe in line. Discussing his manipulation of the two leading Lakota chiefs, Bourke wrote, “Red Cloud and Spotted Tail are especially afraid of the ascendancy General Crook has gained over the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. These Indians have been for so many years associated so intimately with the Sioux that they have become practically the one people and know every thought and idea of the Sioux, and also every one of their hiding places.”15 Another comment stands in stark contrast to the modern notion of the American Indian as the ultra environmentalist: “The country was all burned over, the general estimate being that not less than 10.000 sq. miles of grass had been destroyed by the hostile Indians.”16 One might surmise that these were prairie fires, and undoubtedly they did rage out of control, a common enough occurrence in that part of the country. The fact remains, however, that Indians did fire the grass, as is verified by their own sources. Many 14. Hardorff, Hokahey!, 13; Rickey, Forty Miles a Day, 328; Bourke, Diary, 7:726–27. 15. Bourke, Diary, 19:1885–86. 16. Ibid., 7:753.

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years later the young Oglala Black Elk recalled, “Our people set fire to the grass behind us as we went, and the smoke back there was as wide as the day and the light of the fire was as wide as the night. This was to make the soldiers’ horses starve.”17 If the Horse Meat March did anything, it kept constant pressure on the Indians, forcing them to stay on the move, not allowing them to lay in a supply of meat for the winter, or to recuperate from the summer’s fighting. “Wherever we went, the soldiers came to kill us, and it was all our own country,” Black Elk said. Warriors wounded at the Rosebud or Little Bighorn, who normally would have recovered if given the chance to rest, began to die.18 Eventually, the Indians were driven almost in a circle, back over the same area they had burned earlier, an area they named the “Black Road.” Like Crook’s men, they also suffered from the early onset of winter, and their own ponies began to starve. “They died because the snow froze hard and they could not find the grass that was left in the valleys and there was not enough cottonwood to feed them,” Black Elk remembered. As the animals died, the Indians were forced to eat them, just as the hungry soldiers were doing only a few miles to their rear. Discouraged, many warriors untied the war knots in their ponies’ tails, and rode to the military posts or agencies to surrender.19 With Mackenzie’s destruction of a principal Cheyenne village on November 25, 1876, in which Bourke participated, and the campaigns of Col. Nelson Miles, 5th Infantry, in Montana, the defeat of the Indians was only a matter of time. 17. Neihardt, Black Elk, 133. 18. Ibid., 134; Marquis, Wooden Leg, 278–79. 19. Neihardt, Black Elk, 134.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Camp Life

[28 July 1876]1 I begin in this note-book an attempt to reproduce the contents of the 5th Volume of the Journal of the Sioux campaign, which 5th Vol. was lost or stolen sometime in the year 1877–1878. That volume comprehended the period between July 28th 1876 and the morning of Sept. 8th of the same year or the dates covering the reinforcement of General Crook’s column by the 5th Cavalry under Colonel Merritt, the advance down the valley of the Rosebud until we joined General Terry, our abandonment of the great Indian trail, which we had followed to Powder River, our stay on the Yellowstone to replenish supplies, our resumption of the pursuit and parting from General Terry, and the incidents of the ensuing painful and trying march through the grassy wastes of Dakotah: it covered the pages of my journal from 704 to 863 inclusive. This loss would have been a much more serious one, had I not occupied the position of Adjutant General of the Expedition and as such had access to the official records which have not alone supplied much of what was in the original volume, but served as aids 1. Date ascribed by librarians at West Point. This was the date from which Bourke was attempting to reconstruct his account.

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to memory in bringing back a great amt. that could not otherwise be remembered. Having carefully sifted through the mass of telegrams, orders, correspondence of all kinds, and read once more the extracts from the newspapers, (which will be found in the 6th, and succeeding volumes.) I compared the results with the route of our march as traced on the map and also with the journal kept on that march by 2 Lt. E. B. Robertson, 9th Infantry, which was very clear and concise. My conversations with General Crook and Lieut. [Walter Scribner] Schuyler also helped me greatly; so much indeed that I am confident this volume contains every fact of any importance mentioned in the lost book, unless it may be the newspaper extracts which referred mainly to our Rosebud fight and the terrible disaster which befell General Custer. Even these are duplicated in those which have been saved. Newspaper correspondents, however much they may vary in style or in their manner of considering plans and contemplating results, must discuss the same topics and describe the same facts. A patient examination of these pages will show that not a single fact worthy of record has been omitted, unless it might be matter of a nature so confidential that its insertion into its proper place would have been dangerous:—wherever printed letters could be obtained they have been used freely, as much to save my own labor as for their individual excellence, or some quality, good or bad, commending them to attention. The correspondents attached to our expedition were, with one exception, Davenport of the New York Herald, truthful men and anxious to present the exact condition of affairs to the public.2 General Crook’s column remained in camp at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains, in the grassy foot-hill country, between the Tongue River and Goose creek from June 20th 1876, until August 5th of same year; being unable to resume the offensive from want of reinforcements. The Snake Indians with their principal chief, old Wash-a-kie, a fine looking man, whose face is almost the fac-simile of Henry Ward Beecher’s, had rejoined us during the month of July, (see pp 581–83)[.]3 2. In fact, Davenport’s frank account of the Rosebud fight, which cast Crook in less than glowing terms, infuriated both Crook and his adherents. He was ostracized by Crook’s inner circle of officers, as well as by his colleagues, who were eager to preserve their “insider” status with the irascible general. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:382 n.4, 383–84, and Appendix 16. 3. This appears in Robinson, Diaries, 1:364–65.

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In his consultations with General Crook, this solid headed old Indian had always insisted that our force was not strong enough to fight the combined power of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull; “you are fighting the whole Sioux nation” he said, and must have more troops. “They have at least three to your one.” He considered that the Sioux not only had an overwhelming force, but since the Custer Massacre would be emboldened by success to such a degree of audacity and recklessness that they would not hesitate to attack our column and if victorious, as they might be, there would be no other troops in the country to oppose them. Better, he thought, wait until all our troops came up and leave nothing to blind chance. By waiting for a little while, the Sioux would begin to be pressed for subsistence, would very possibly quarrel among themselves over the division of the spoils taken from Custer and no inconsiderable portion of them would become weary of remaining in the field and would drift back, lodge by lodge, to the Agencies. If the cavalry under Merritt would join us without delay, we should have a very excellent opportunity to strike the enemy a good, hard blow,—one not easily forgotten. Merritt, with at first (8) and afterwards ten companies, of the 5th Cavalry, was under orders to join us, but a delay was occasioned by the divergence of his column after a lot of Sioux and Cheyenne, some hundreds in number, who had left Red Clouds Agency to join the hostiles. I have never been able to see the wisdom of this course; the Indians were turned back, it is true, with the loss of one warrior killed, but they never staid at the Agency; every one of them was in our front within three weeks.4 Merritt could have been of incalculable benefit to Genl. Crook and to himself by pushing forward and joining us and attacking the main body of our enemies; but by delaying, the Sioux were allowed time to mature their plans and elude our pursuit. The telegraphic correspondence upon this subject is so clear that I prefer to insert it in substance. The assistance of the Ute Indians had been invoked by General Crook; the tribe wished to send one hundred warriors to our column, but Agent Danforth (since relieved for speculation,) refused to let them leave the Reservation. Capt. Nickerson, A.D.C., to whom the business of their enlistment had been confided, was obliged to telegraph to General 4. Bourke refers to Merritt’s fight at Warbonnet Creek on July 17, 1876.

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Sheridan who obtained peremptory orders from Washington and the Utes, accordingly started from their Reservation, (White River, Colorado,) under Lt. [James Herbert] Spencer, 4th Infantry, but the Agent’s malevolence wrought such embarrassment and delay that the little column never overtook us but after pushing forward as rapidly as possible to Powder River was obliged to return. The weather during this time, July 22–28th, was charming summer.—at meridian, the sun’s rays were generally too fervid for comfort, and conduced to torpidity. Those of us who had books read them; many played cards, or chess, nearly everybody smoked, told stories or dozed. Fishing and bathing drew crowds to the chilly waters of Goose Creek or the other affluents of Tongue river upon which we happened to be camped. The exercises of drill, mounted and dismounted, the duties of guard and picket and herd demanded a great deal of attention and whenever a courier arrived with dispatches, a throng surrounded the Hd.Qrs. eager for the latest news. Camp was moved nearly every day: This gave our horses fresh grass, our men were exercised in taking down and putting up tents, saddling and unsaddling horses and in all the smaller duties of the campaign. It is a sad fact to note that the great mass of our command is of inexperienced recruits: very many of our officers are learning their first ideas of war in this expedition. As each new camp is established, sinks are dug,5 picket lines put down for the horses to be tied to, and in most cases bowers erected sheltering the tents. The soldiers are quite expert in this and take a pride in making the streets of their companies look neat and prim. The camps of our pack trains are models of order: the long lines of aparejos6 covering two sides of a square and the piles of boxes and blankets look as if they had been placed in position by compass and rule. As night approaches the bell of each train is sounded, the expectant head [mule], obedient to the warning, trots into the camp and after receiving its daily allowance of grain, is tied up to prevent a stampede by prowling Indians. 5. Latrine pits. 6. The aparejo is a packing rig of ancient and obscure origin, still used in the Middle East, Spain, and Mexico. It was brought to the Western Hemisphere by the early Spaniards. Essentially it consists of two leather pads stuffed with straw and stiffened at the front and rear edges by hardwood sticks. They hang down the sides of the mule, joined at the top by a leather gusset. The pads spread the load evenly over the mule’s back and sides to avoid stress or soreness. See Hicks, “Aparajo.”

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The meteorological rule has been that each afternoon the wind rises to a gale, blowing into great black clouds the smoke from the vast stretch of country fired by our crafty enemy,—then the sky has become obscured and about the time we are ready for supper, pattering rain drops fall upon the parched earth, the prelude for severe storms which beat down upon us for an hour or less and then dissipating expose once more the light of the stars. Now and then, a tent is “ballooned” by the wind: for barely one minute, canvass and rope and pin withstand the power of the blast sweeping down the cañon and then with a crackle and snap and swish some unfortunate’s habitation is dashed to the ground and books, papers and clothing are scattered in every direction: One evening, the wind blew down our dining tent, (fortunately we had finished supper,) and picked up our (empty) dining table and carried it along, just touching the ground, for (30) or forty feet, until it reached the edge of the bank of Goose creek, down which it tumbled, much to the disgust of our cooks, Phillips and Boswell, and the orderlies who had to work hard to get it up again. (I have spoken of the drilling of the troops: I must not forget that our Shoshonees were fully as attentive to drill as our own men: daily, under Washakie and Tom Cosgrove, they formed in their camp and moved out in column of twos & going through all the evolutions of a company of cavalry, in a manner to excite our envy and admiration.7 The concluding feature of each drill was a grand harum-scarum charge across the country back to their tipis. Several times, I accompanied them in their marches about camp, riding either with Washakie or Tom Cosgrove who would explain to me anything which attracted my interested. I did this, at request of Washakie who was afraid that some of our recruits might take alarm at the appearance of his company in full war-paint and wished some officer from General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. to accompany them that they might not be fired into. Truly, his fears were not altogether groundless. As they moved out in column of twos, riding their frisky war-ponies, which had been plentifully bedaubed with mud and paint for the occasion, and their own persons hideous in all the accessories of paint, war-bonnets, jingling bells and gleaming lances, these young 7. Tom Cosgrove, who served in a Texas cavalry unit during the Civil War, had instructed the Shoshones in the Confederate drill. See Appendix 1.

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Shoshonee warriors chanting the battle-song were well calculated to chill the blood or blench the cheek of Corporal Muldoon who so lately had been tramping the bogs of his beloved Ballynafad or Private Sweitzerkase whose mouth yet watered for the beer of Bavaria.8 My comparison may sound rather far-fetched, but these painted Indians appeared to me as expert in the art of war, as fearless horsemen and as much to be dreaded by their foes as the chivalry of Andalusia or the mail-clad knights who followed Ferdinand and Isabella across the vega to besiege Granada.9 Scarcely an evening passed that these allies did not indulge in horse-racing, their one amusement besides gambling, fishing, drilling and hunting. The greater the crowd assembled, the greater the pleasure they took in showing their [illegible] skill in riding and managing their fleet, little ponies. The course laid off usually was about 400 yards. The signal given, with whip and heel each Indian plied his maddened beast. It was evident that the ponies were quite as much worked up in the matter as their riders. With one simultaneous bound the half dozen or more contestants dart like arrows from a bow: a cloud of dust rises and screens them from our view. It is useless to try and pierce this veil; it is unnecessary, because within a very few seconds, the quaking earth throbs responsive to many-footed blows and quick as lightning’s flash the mass of streaming, panting and frenzied steeds dash past us and the race is over. Over as far as the horses are concerned, but only commenced in the matter of talk and dispute: the various points of controversy are soon settled amicably and the naked riders turn their horse’s heads homeward.) This is not always the end of the day’s entertainment. The Shoshonee, like all American Indians, is self-complacent in the estimate he puts upon his individual abilities. I speak mildly of the Shoshonees, because they are our allies in the campaign. This self-complacency tried my patience sorely whenever the Shoshonees got it into their 8. Bourke is not referring to specific soldiers, but rather to the large number of foreigners, particularly Irish and Germans, who served in the post-Civil War army. (He is also playing with words. “Private Sweitzerkase”—correctly spelled Schweitzerkasse—translates as “Private Swiss Cheese.) Rickey, Forty Miles a Day, 17–18. 9. This refers to the final conflict of Spain’s eight-hundred-year Moorish wars, from 1481 to 1492. It was waged by Ferdinand of Aragón and his wife, Isabella of Castile, against Granada, the last Muslim kingdom on the Iberian peninsula, and ended with the fall of the city of Granada on January 2, 1492. The kingdom of Granada encompassed most of Andalusia in southern Spain. The Vega is the broad Andalusian plain that extends out from the city of Granada. See Stewart, The Alhambra.

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heads that the camp needed the stimulating effects of a serenade. I do not pretend to be a musical critic, so I’ll say not a word about the vocal ability of our aboriginal friends, but I do think and say boldly that they will give more singing for less money than any people on God’s footstool. One bright night, we were awakened by the special energy of the chorus; I asked the interpreter for an explanation; he answered that the Indians were singing to the moon. While we were talking, I heard the deep, earnest tones of a voice in prayer,—it was Major Randall praying for rain. The thought struck me that if the chanting of the Shoshonees was efficacious enough to turn such a sinner as Jake Randall to prayer it was highly commendable and from that on, in face of bitter prejudice and cynical criticism, I constituted myself the champion of the Shoshonee songsters. Our packers have been, with the Indians and many of the soldiers, very earnest and successful hunters: by them the flanks of the Big Horn Mountains have been very carefully examined and much game scared up and secured. Mountain sheep, antelope, deer and elk figure with frequency in the messes, while bear is not as common and as for trout, it is the most ordinary item in the diet-list of the whole camp. Fishing doesn’t seem to exhaust the teeming multitudes of these crystal mountain streams; where too many men and horses have had access to the banks the coy fish have secluded themselves under projecting rocks or in the roots of trees growing near the water, but a tramp of one or two miles away from camp will always be rewarded by finding delightful little nooks in the cañons where bait will be seized almost the instant the hook touches the surface. My duties have kept me so closely confined to my tent and desk that I have not had the time to enjoy myself in fishing or hunting; a few minutes for a plunge in the swiftly flowing, sparkling current has been all the time that I could with propriety take away from the attention I felt it to be my duty to pay to official business. However, July 29th, I determined to stroll up the cañon of Goose creek, (North Fork,) and remain there long enough for a good bath and then catch one or two nice fish. Before I had gone three miles, I found that the rough little bridle-path was leading me into most romantic scenery. The grim walls of the cañon began to crowd very slowly upon the banks of the stream; in places, there was no bank at all and the swirling, brawling current rushed along the rocky wall, while our ponies carefully picked their way over a trail narrow,

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sharp and dangerous as the knife-edge across which believers were to make their way into Mahomet’s Paradise.10 It was not long before our little party had gained a mossy glade, hidden in the granite ramparts of the cañon, and here we found a few blades of grass for our animals to nibble at and shade from the too warm rays of the sun. The moss-covered banks terminated in a flat stone table, reaching well out into the current and shaded by overhanging boulders and widely-branching trees. The dark green pool in front rushed past us swiftly and almost noiselessly, but just below us, not more than five or six yards away, a few sharp-toothed fragments of granite barred the progress of the water which fairly grew white with rage as it hissed and moved on its downward course. We disrobed and entered the bath, greatly to the astonishment of a school of trout of all sizes which circled about us & darted in and out among the rocks trying to determine who and what we were. I am fully persuaded that we were the first white men who had ever entered at that place. Our bath was delightful; everything combined to make it so. Shade, cleanliness, convenience of access, purity and coolness of the water and such perfect seclusion that Diana herself might have chosen it for her ablutions. Splash! Splash! a sound below us! The illusion was very strong and for a moment I was willing to admit the idea that the classical huntress might have made her way to these wilds: the fancy made me uncomfortable. I had no wish to play the part of Actaeon and be changed into a stag. But my apprehensions didn’t last long. I peeped cautiously and saw that it was not Diana, but an army teamster washing a pair of unquestionably muddy pantaloons. Having finished our swimming, we took up positions on projecting rocks and cast our bait upon the stream. We were not long in finding out the politics of the Big Horn trout; they were protectionists every one. We tried them with all sorts of manufactured flies, of gaudy color or sombre hue—it made no difference. After suspiciously nosing them, they would give a flap of the tail, a sidestroke of their fins and then having gained the distance of ten feet would, most provokingly, stay there and watch us from under the shelter of slippery rocks. Foreign luxuries evidently had no charm 10. Bourke is confusing Islam with Zoroastrianism. The Zoroastrians of ancient Iran believed that the righteous could successfully negotiate a razor-edged bridge to paradise.

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for them. We tried them with home-made grasshoppers, caught on the banks of the native stream. The effect was magical: in a second, they darted out from all sorts of unexpected places,—from the edge of the rapids below us, from under gloomy blocks of granite, from amid the gnarly roots of great amphibious trees. My comrades had come for an afternoon’s fishing and began, without more ado, to haul in the struggling, quivering little beauties. My own purpose was simply to catch one or two good-sized ones and then, without further delay, return to camp. A soldier, named if I remember correct, O’Shaughnessy, of the 14th Infantry, was standing near by with a large mess newly caught. He handed me his willow branch rod, most temptingly baited with grass hoppers, at same time telling me there was a fine big trout—“a regular buster” in “the hole beyant”. He had been unable to conn him out from his retreat but thought that if anything could tempt him, my bait would. I cautiously let down my line, taking care to keep myself in the deepest shadow. I hadn’t long to remain in suspense. In an instant the trout spoken of came at full speed from his hiding place, running for my bait. He was a noble fellow; full-sized, heavy and gorgeous in his dress of silver and gold and black and red. He gave one glance at the grasshoppers and satisfied himself that they were the genuine article. One quick, nervous bound brought his nose to the hook and the bait into his mouth and then away he went! I gave him all the line he wanted, fearing I should lose him. His course took him close to the bank and as [he] neared the edge of the stream, with a quick, firm jerk I laid him sprawling on the earth. He flopped and squirmed so forcibly that I saw it was not so much my own skill that was to be thanked as his own stupidity: not experiencing my resistance from the line, he never suspected that he was a prisoner and made no fight. I was just as well pleased that he had not proved troublesome. I might not have been successful in landing him. He was of very good size, nearly 3 pounds and a perfect beauty. Going home, we overtook and passed several parties of fishermen well loaded down with booty. None of them had in his collection so fine a specimen as mine. That evening, he figured prominently on our dinner-table, roasted and stuffed in Phillips’ most artistic style.11 All over our camp, salted, smoked and fresh trout are to be seen. 11. Philips was the cook for the staff mess.

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Not having had any fresh beef since June 15th, they are invaluable for keeping away scurvy. The Shoshonees catch more of them and eat them more freely than our soldiers do. Coming near their lodges, which, being on campaign, they make of osier12 twigs planted in the earth and intertwined basket-wise[.]

This frame-work completed, blankets and robes are thrown over it and others spread along the ground. The whole arrangement is neat, comfortable and healthy. Much interest has been taken by our doctors in a case of gun-shot wound among these Indians. The young warrior was shot at the Rosebud fight; the bullet entering the thigh and smashing the bone. His comrades made splints from osier twigs, applied them to the limb to keep it in position and treated the wound with cold water alone. Our medical officers seeing the patient improve so rapidly made no change in the treatment, but called every day to render assistance in case it might be required. By the end of July, the wounded man was wonderfully advanced, able to walk around his lodge for short distances. Another Shoshonee, a young buck, not over fifteen years of age, was shot in the same fight, through the fleshy part of both thighs. In nine days, he was crawling around with the aid of a stick and by July 20th, was mounted once more on his pony. The recuperative powers of these Indians are a source of astonishment to us all. One of the Shoshonees who was with us at the Rosebud fight, accompanied the Crows on their return toward their reservation. They rejoined us with Washakie’s party and tell the story that the Crows on their homeward march ran close in upon a big Sioux village near the head of the Little Big Horn river. The Sioux didn’t discover them, but the Crows weren’t going to take any chances. They knew that, almost to a certainty, some of the hunters from the Sioux village would run across their train and their pursuit would be commenced at once. Flight was their only safety. One of the Crows had a frightful wound in the thigh:—I think the 12. A type of willow that can be woven, often used for baskets.

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bone was protruding. His comrades wouldn’t abandon him, but they had no good means of carrying him. The sole resource was to strap him down tightly on his pony, which was to be led by one of the party and beaten by another following close behind. These simple preparations were speedily completed. At the signal, the whole party plunged forward, keeping up a gallop and following the thread of streams, wherever it was possible, to avoid making any trail or sign. The wounded man shrieked and howled, but to no purpose. The detachment never halted until, late at night, they found themselves under the shelter of the Big Horn Mountains. Washakie, with the Shoshonees, has been very energetic in reconnoitering the country adjacent to our camp. They have found the remains of one large village of the hostile Indians near the head of the Little Big Horn. Their account agrees with that of General Terry in his official report regarding the number of lodges. They found the body of a young Cheyenne, supposed to be White-Antelope, killed in the fight with Sibley; from the decorations, they knew it to be the corpse of a sub-chief and from the position of the grave with respect to Sibley’s reconnaissance, knew it to be the remains of the young leader, shot by Frank Grouard.* The hostiles are still busy in their desire of burning the country around us: The district over which all grass has been fired must extend for scores of miles in the direction of the Yellowstone, and to the West and East, as far as the Big Horn and Powder respectively. The interpretation of this action is that in case of our resuming the offensive, they hope to put in the way the impediment of not finding grazing for our mules and horses. The following Endorsement is taken from the Official records of the Expedition, based upon Lieut. Sibley’s report of his reconnaissance.13 Hd.Qrs. Dept. Platte, In the Field Camp on Goose creek, Wyo. July 23rd, 1876 Respectfully forwarded to the Ass’t. Adj’t. Gen’l., Mly. Div. of the Missouri. The coolness and judgment displayed by Lieut. Sibley and Frank Gruard, the guide, in the conduct of this reconnaissance, made in the face of the whole force of the enemy, are deserving Insert by Bourke: Judging from the bones found around the campfire, the hostiles had been eating their ponies and dogs. *

13. Crook’s own report is in Robinson, Diaries, 1:374–75; Bourke’s account in ibid., 1:359–60.

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of my warmest acknowledgments. Lieut. Sibley, altho’ one of the youngest officers in this Department, has shown a gallantry that is an honor to himself and the service. I also take this occasion to express my grateful appreciation to the guides, Frank Gruard and Baptiste P[o]urier, to Messers Bechtel (called Traynor in my telegram,) and John F. Finerty, (citizen volunteers,) and to the small detachment of picked men from the Second Cavalry for their cheerful endurance of the hardships and perils such peculiarly dangerous duty of necessity involves. (Signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. Sent thro’ HdQrs. Dept. Platte Omaha. July 30th 1876. Nearly all day we had sharp showers of rain, with heavy blows of wind. Louis Richaud, with a detachment of halfbreeds and a few Indians [was] sent over the Big Horn Mtns. to examine the country along the waters of the Big Horn river. The record of the Gen’l. C’t. Martial, which tried Captain Alex. Sutorious, 3rd Cavalry, was forwarded to-day with the following remarks: “The proceedings findings and sentence in the forgoing case of Captain Alex. Sutorious, 3rd Cavalry, are approved and in conformity with the 106th Art. of War, are respectfully forwarded for the action of his Excellency the President of the United States.14 It is proper to say in relation to this officer that the offense herein tried is by no means the first of the same character of which he has been guilty. Since my assuming of the command of the Department of the Platte he has been charged with offenses of the same and even more grievous type, was place in arrest early last spring, (leaving his Company without an officer at a time when it was taking the field for the “Crazy Horse” campaign.) And should have been brought to trial then, had not his solemn protestations of repentance & assurances of reform, induced Colonel Reynolds to ask for a suspension of proceedings. Since starting on this trip, he has been reported to me by Colonel Royall and other officers as indulging, at times, to excess in the use of ardent spirits and was cautioned by his Regimental 14. The 106th Article of War states, “In time of peace no sentence of a Court Martial directing the dismissal of an officer shall be carried into execution until it should have been confirmed by the President.”

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Commander, (Colonel Royall.) to whom he reiterated his pledges of amendment. I hope for this reason that no mistaken notions of clemency may be allowed to prevail. (sig.) George Crook Brig. General”15 July 31st. Instructions were sent to company Commanders to have all flour sacks saved and turned in at Hd. Qrs. for use in making flags to be worn in the heads of our Shoshonee guides.16 August 1st. A sharp rain toward evening—cool wind from the mountains. Telegram received from General Sheridan dated Chicago, July 26th, announcing that the Indian Bureau had turned over control of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Indians to the military—officers to act as Agents,—Agencies on the Missouri also turned over. “As soon as we take possession, a list of all Indians in [at the agencies] will be made and no Indian or their families now out or who may hereafter go out, will be permitted to return without unconditional personal surrender, as well as the surrender of all ponies, guns and property. I have ordered Col. [Ranald S.] Mackenzie, with six companies of the 4th Cavalry to Red Cloud, as well as [George Alexander] Gordon’s Battalion of the 5th.” High Winds. Tents blown down. Aug. 2nd night quite cold. August 2nd. Louis Richaud and party returned. Reported lakes on summit of Big Horn Mountains frozen and that they had encountered a heavy fall of snow on 1st of August. They found on the Big Horn river the remains of a large Indian village. The Indians had gone in there to cut lodge poles. (July 30th) After moving camp about one and a half mile down stream (South Fork of Tongue river) to obtain better grazing, we were nearly burnt out by a prairie fire ignited in the camp of the Shoshonees. One of them dropped a match in the dry grass near his lodge and, in a second, a rattle and crackle told the camp of its danger. All hands, Indian and white, nearby, rushed up with blankets, blouses, switchers and branches of trees to beat back the flames. This was a most dangerous task: as one after another of the surging flames enveloped the Shoshonee lodges in their fiery embrace, the explo15. The Sutorious court-martial is discussed in Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 20. 16. During the Rosebud fight, soldiers had difficulty distinguishing Indian auxiliaries from hostiles.

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sion of cartridges and the whistling of bullets drove our men back to places of safety. In the tall and dry grass, the flames held high revel; the whole Infantry command was turned out and bravely set to work and, aided by a favorable change in the wind, secured our whole camp from destruction. While thus engaged, they discovered a body of Indians moving down the mountain slope. They immediately reached for their guns and prepared to resist attack:—a couple of white men advanced from the Indian column and called out to the soldiers that these were Utes and Shoshones on their way from Camp Brown, Wyo.,17 to join General Crook’s command. The soldiers conducted them, thirty-five in all to our camp, where their friends gave them a warm reception, including a dance and serenade. August 2nd. We witnessed to-day, what by a stretch of courtesy was called a game of base-ball, between the officers of the Infantry and Cavalry. Quite a number managed to hit the ball and one or two catches were made. The playing was much in the same style and of about same comparative excellence as the amateur theatrical exhibitions so frequent in garrisons, while those who came to scoff, remain to pray—that they may never have to come again. Charity covers such a multitude of sins in base-ball as in everything else that I cannot let pass this opportunity for showing how extremely charitable I am; I’ll say no more about the game for the championship of the expedition, except that the shades of night had closed around the contestants before the Infantry had made a run, so the umpires decided in favor of the Cavalry, who had made two or three. Couriers arrived to-day bringing dispatches from Chicago and Omaha, dated July 28th and 29th. General [Robert] Williams, Adjutant General Dep’t of the Platte, telegraphed “Indians at Spotted Tail reported restless and threatening, those at Red Cloud quiet.” Major Gordon, with two companies of 5th Cavalry, ordered to Spotted Tail. (On July 28th) General Sheridan telegraphed under date July 28th “Have your dispatch of 23rd. Col. Merritt will reach you on 1st or 2nd. He had made no delay after receipt of your order to join you. If you do not feel strong enough to attack, and defeat the Indians, 17. Camp Brown was established in 1871 on the Wind River to protect the Shoshones. In 1878, it was renamed Fort Washakie, in honor of the paramount Shoshone chief. It was permanently abandoned in 1909, and turned over to the Interior Department to use as headquarters for the Shoshone Agency. Frazer, Forts of the West, 186–87.

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it is best for you to form a junction with General Terry at once. I have sent to you and Gen’l. Terry every available man that can be spared in the Division and if it has not made the column strong enough, Terry and you should unite your forces. The conduct of yourself and command in the engagement of the 17th ultimo,18 and your actions afterward have been approved all the way through by myself and General Sherman and he directs me to inform you that you need not mind the newspapers.[”]19 Colonel [Edwin Franklin] Townsend, 9th Infantry, commanding at Fort Laramie,20 sent under same date, a synopsis of current news; I do not describe his dispatch as its contents have been anticipated. General Williams, (same date.) Sent the following which he had received from Division Hd. Qrs. “The Commanding Officer at Cheyenne Agency, Dakota Territory, states that eight Indians have just returned from the hostile camp, who reported that the whole force of Indians opposed to Generals Terry and Crook are moving South. It is also reported that large numbers are leaving for that and other Agencies. These Indians left hostile camp on 19th instant”. Notification also came from General Sheridan that the resignation of Captain Robert P. Wilson, 5th Cavalry, had been accepted by the President to take effect on July 29th 1876. Word was sent to General Merritt to remain in his camp (on Goose Creek) until General Crook’s arrival with the main command tomorrow. I rode over to General Merritt’s camp [(]about 8 miles.) and paid my respects to him, and also had the pleasure of meeting Colonel [Thaddeus Harlan] Stanton and very many friends. General Merritt is a very young man, of fine face and strong and large physique. His hair and eyes are dark and the tint of his complexion ruddy. In his speech he has a scarcely perceptible impediment. His manners are very soldierly, but cordial. 18. The Rosebud fight on June 17, 1876. 19. Sheridan is referring to critical dispatches and editorials, particularly those appearing in the New York Herald. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:477ff. 20. Fort Laramie was established as an American Fur Company post in 1834. In 1849, it was purchased by the federal government and garrisoned as a military post until 1890, when it was abandoned. Much of the post has been preserved or restored, and it is now a national historic site. Fort Laramie, which is about ninety miles northeast of Cheyenne, near the Nebraska line, should not be confused with the city of Laramie, about forty miles due west of Cheyenne. The military post at the city of Laramie was Fort Sanders. Frazer, Forts of the West, 181–82.

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August 3rd. Our column moved North East, eighteen miles to the junction of Middle & South Goose creeks. This march, small as it was, was hard upon our men and horses, the day being hot and dry and the trail dusty. I went with Big Bat [Pourier], one of our Scouts by a short cut: in crossing a small tributary, we saw in one place where the heat of the prairie fires had been so intense that not only did it destroy the cottonwood trees fringing the banks, but also completely dried up the current. I am certain of the truth of this statement, because when we reached the banks, some of the trees were still smouldering, and the path of the conflagration was still uncomfortably near. Before reaching this path, the stream was a good-sized brook from 8 to ten feet in width flowing with a moderate current of (3) or (4) miles, and a depth of half a foot. Almost at once it ceased flowing; the stream bed has all the appearance of baked clay, little heaps of ashes choked the current and no indication was lacking to prove that the drying of the streamlet was directly due to the heat of the conflagration: we waited there a few minutes looking into the matter and before we remounted, the water had commenced to trickle down once more; I have inserted a correct roster of the command as it was after General Merritt’s column joined us, at 5 P.M. of the 3rd, altho’ the wagon-train did not all get in to camp until 8 o’clock. Roster of command, the following written in hand by Bourke: Major Arthur, Paymaster, and Captain Sutorius, 5th Cavalry, left behind in Maj. Furey’s camp. Brigadier General George Crook, Comdg. 1st Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3d Cavl. A.D.C., A.A.Gen. 1” Lieut. W.S. Schuyler, 5h Cavalry, A.D.C. O=Officers, M=Men, H=Horses The following is a printed roster, pasted in the diary, with marginal notes by Bourke: TROOPS COMPOSING THE BIG HORN EXPEDITION POSTS OFFICERS TROOPS. th Colonel Wesley Merritt, 5 Cavalry. Lieut. Col. E.A. Carr, 5th Cavalry. Lieut. Col. W.B. Royall, 3d Cavalry. Major A.W. Evans, 3d Cavalry. Major Alexander Chambers, 4th Inf., Maj. John V. [sic] Upham, 5th Cavalry.

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Captain Thomas B. Dewees 1st Lieut. Martin E. O’Brien. 2d Lieut. Daniel C. Pearson.

A, 2d Cavalry.

Captain James T. Peale. 1st Lieut. William C. Rawolle. 2d Lieut. Daniel C. Pearson21

B, 2d Cavalry.

Captain David S. Gordon, 1st Lieut. Samuel M. Swigert, D, 2d Cavalry. 2d Lieut. Henry D. Huntington, Captain Elijah R. Wells. 1st Lieut. Randolph Norwood. E, 2d Cavalry. 2d Lieut. Frederick W. Sibley. Captain Henry E. Noyes. 1st Lieut. Christopher T. Hall. I, 2d Cavalry. 2d Lieut. Frederick W. Kingsbury. Captain William Hawley. 1st Lieut. Joseph Lawson. 2d Lieut. Charles Morton,

A, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Charles Meinhold. 1st Lieut. John P. Walker. 2d Lieut. James F. Simpson.

B, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Frederick Van Vliet, 1st Lieut. George E. Ford. 2d Lieut. James Allen.

C, 3d Cavalry

Captain Guy V. Henry. 1st Lieut. John C. Thompson 2d Lieut. John C. Gresham.

D, 3d Cavalry.

*

Bourke’s footnote: Wounded at Rosebud and sent back.

*

21. This, apparently, is a misprint.

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Captain Alexander Sutorius. 1st Lieut. A.H. von Leuttwitz. 2d Lieut. Henry R. Lemly.

*

E, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Alexander Moore. 1st Lieut. A.D. Bache Smead. F, 3d Cavalry. 2d Lieut. Bainbridge Reynolds. Captain Deane Monahan. G, 3d Cavalry 1st Lieut. Emmet Crawford. 2d Lieut. Edgar Z. Steever, jr. Captain William H. Andrews 1st Lieut. Albert D. King. 2d Lieut. James E.H. Foster.

G, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Peter D. Vroom, jr. 1st Lieut. John G. Bourke. 2d Lieut. George F. Chase,

L, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Anson Mills, 1st Lieut. Augustus C. Paul. Lieut. Frederick Schwatka.

M, 3d Cavalry.

Column below is Bourke’s notes: Captain Robert P. Wilson.** O. M. H. 1st Lieut. Jacob A. Augur. A, 5th Cavalry. 2. 52. 59. 2d Lieut. George O. Eaton.

B, 5th Cavalry.

2. 57. 63.

Captain R. H. Montgomery. 1st Lieut. William J. Volkmar. 2d Lieut. Walter S. Schuyler.

C, 5th Cavalry.

1. 59. 59.

Captain Emil Adam. 1st Lieut. J.B. Babcock. 2d Lieut. E.L. Keyes.

Bourke’s footnote: Left in arrest, with wagon train on Goose Cr[eek]. Bourke’s footnote: Resigned, in presence of the Enemy, July 29

*

**

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Captain Samuel S. Sumner. 1st Lieut. C.P. Rogers [sic]. 2d Lieut. George B. Davis.

2. 60. 71.

D, 5th Cavalry.

2. 59. 63.

Captain George F. Price. E, 5th Cavalry. 1st Lieut. P.P. Barnard. 2d Lieut. Charles D. Parkhurst. Captain J. Scott Payne. F, 5th Cavalry 1st Lieut. Alfred B. Bache. 2d Lieut. William P. Hall.

G, 5th Cavalry.

2. 54. 59.

Captain Edward M. Hayes. 1st Lieut. Earl D. Thomas. 2d Lieut. Hoel S. Bishop.

I, 5th Cavalry.

2. 50. 55.

Captain Sanford C. Kellogg. 1st Lieut. B. Reilly, Jr. 2d Lieut. Robert London.

K, 5th Cavalry.

2. 50. 56.

Captain Julius Mason. 1st Lieut. Charles King. 2d Lieut. Frank Michler.

M, 5th Cavalry.

1. 51. 56.

Captain Edward H. Leib. 1st Lieut. A.W. Greeley.[sic] 2d Lieut. Charles H. Watts. Captain Avery B. Cain. 1st Lieut. Henry Seton. 2d Lieut. Charles W. Foster.

D, 4th Infantry.

Captain Gerhard L. Luhn. 1st Lieut. David I. Ezekiel. 2d Lieut. H.E. Robinson.

F, 4th Infantry.

Captain William H. Powell. 1st Lieut. Horace Neide. 2d Lieut. A.B. Crittenden.

G, 4th Infantry.

2. 60. 72

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Captain Samuel Munson. 1st Lieut. Thaddeus H. Capron. C, 9th Infantry. 2d Lieut. Hayden Delany [sic]. Captain Thomas B. Burrowes. 1st Lieut. William L. Carpenter. G, 9th Infantry. 2d Lieut. Walter S. Wyatt. Captain Andrew S. Burt. 1st Lieut. William E. Hofman [sic]. H, 9th Infantry. 2d Lieut. Edgar B. Robertson. Captain James Kennington. 1st Lieut. John Murphy. 2d Lieut. Charles F. Lloyd. SIDNEY BARRACKS, NEB.22

B, 14th Infantry.

Captain Otis W. Pollock, Com’dg. 1st Lieut. Charles Hay, A.A.Q.M. And A.C.S. C, 23d Infantry. 2d Lieut. J. Rozier Clagett Captain George M. Randall. 1st Lieut. Frederick L. Dodge, Post Adjutant. I, 23d Infantry. 2d Lieut. Edward B. Pratt. Asst. Surgeon Charles K. Winne.

CAMP STAMBAUGH, Captain Edward J. Spaulding, ComW.T. manding. C, 2d Cavalry. st 1 Lieut. Thomas J. Gregg. 2d Lieut. John H. Coale, A.A.Q.M., A.C.S. and Post Adjutant.

22. Sidney Barracks, at the present down of Sidney, Nebraska, was established in 1867 as an outpost of Fort Sedgwick, Colorado. It became a separate post in 1879, and was redesignated Fort Sidney. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1894. Frazer, Forts of the West, 90.

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Post Chaplain David White. Act. Asst. Surg. R.W. Odell. FORT FRED. STEELE, W.T.

Captain John Miller. A, 4th Infantry st 1 Lieut. Joseph Keeffe, A.A.Q.M. and A.C.S. 2d Lieut. Sattleree C. Plummer. Major Eugene M. Baker, 2d Cav. 2d Lieut. John J. O’Brien, 4th Infantry, Post Adjutant. Act. Asst. Surgeon Thomas P. Pease.

Bourke’s narrative continues: William Cody, alias “Buffalo Bill”, was in command of the seven[?] scouts attached to Merritt’s column. Cody is a gentlemanly man, of pleasing address and quiet bearing. He is a good shot, fine rider and a fair scout. In the last mentioned capacity he plays a very insignificant part in association with our Indians: this is not said to his disparagement, at all, because they know almost every foot of this vast country, to which he is a stranger. Cody has good pluck and is a hard worker. The most objectionable feature about him is his long hair—he wears it flowing down his shoulders in a very theatrical sort of way: to sum him up, he is one of the best frontiersmen we have. I give his good points as well as bad. It is worthy of remark that nine out of the ten companies were commanded by their captains; the 10th captain, Wilson, had resigned in presence of the enemy, July 29th, 1876. Merritt also brought with him seventy-six men and 67 seven horses as reinforcements for the Cavalry and Infantry companies serving with the Expedition. The wagon-masters, teamsters, &c with Merritt were not counted, as they were left behind under Major Furey. I have placed opposite each company the number of Officers, men and horses, which will give very closely our effective strength at time of leaving Goose Creek. A number of newspaper correspondents followed along with Merritt’s column. Ever since the Custer Massacre, public interest has been very greatly excited about Indian and Military matters on the frontier; all the principal journals of the country are represented

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directly or indirectly with this command or General Terry’s. I met Mr. [Cuthbert] Mills, of the New York Times, a very quiet but at the same time genial young man with an old head.23 He impressed me as a man of travel and culture, inclined to examine carefully into causes and reasons and anxious to give just narrations. Mr. [Barbour] Lathrop, of the San Francisco Bulletin was garrulous and opinionated, but very good-hearted, decidedly bright and had “knocked around” a great deal, to use his own expression. The New York Graphic was responsible for the presence of a poor, half-witted young fellow, who, to me seemed a trifle daft. He couldn’t draw or write, had no money, nothing to eat, except what some good-natured subaltern or some pack-master would invite him to share in a mess of beans. I never could account for this man’s presence, never believed the Graphic sent him; but there he was, the butt of all the cock and bull stories of the camp.24 After leaving Goose Creek, I have seen men come half a mile to re-tail [sic] for his credulous ears some horrible story about Indians—he would swallow it all. He was never seen to laugh but once and that was a provocation sufficient to make a corpse shake itself out of its shroud. One of our half-breed scouts was riding along with him; the scout having two ponies, was riding one and pulling the other along; getting lazy or tired, he attached the halter of his led pony to the tail of the animal he was riding. This plan worked admirably for a few minutes and the scout was “getting in his work” in a series of Indian atrocities too blood-curdling for the pages of the New York Ledger.25 The led horse started at some Indian clothing on the road, jumped and pulled the tail of the front one, nearly pulled it out by the roots. The front horse wasn’t going to stand any such nonsense as that: he squealed and kicked and plunged in rage, sending his rider over his head like a rocket and then, still attached to the other, something after the style of a Siamese twin, charged through the column of scouts, scattering them in every direction. This paroxysm of hilarity was soon over, and the correspondent, I really can’t recall his name, subsided into his usual condition of deep-settled melancholy. He made his bed near mine almost every 23. Bourke apparently means mature beyond his years. 24. Knight can offer no insight as to who this supposed correspondent might have been. He does indicate that, except for three drawings of camp life by Charles Holtes, the Graphic’s coverage of the campaign was second-hand. Knight, Following the Indian Wars, 251–52. 25. A tabloid of the period.

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night and thus I could see without much trouble what treatment he was receiving: as soon as the usual routine duties of getting into camp were over, he became the focus of converging volleys of stories, each one a worse lie than those which had preceded it. Once in a great while, he would murmur a mild dissent from some especially horrible yarn, but his objections were drowned in an innundation of “Oh! that’s nothin’; that ain’t a circumstance to what I’ve seen ‘em do”, and as he had never been West of New York before, he was a helpless victim. He left us the day we reached the Yellowstone and I never blamed him. I don’t think he ever slept a wink during the whole time he remained with the column. Lieut. Robertson, 9th Infantry, found this afternoon a curious bowl, hollowed out of soapstone. It was lying half-buried in the ground, no sign of trail or human habitancy near it. There was but one explanation to account for its presence:—it must have been dropped by Indians; maybe it had been captured or bought by Sioux or Cheyennes from the Mandans who are the only people near here who would be likely to make such things.

Chapter 2 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Linking with Terry

August 4th. Very high winds prevailing all day. Prairie fires burning for miles; sky black with fog and smoke. The timber in the foot-hills of the Big Horn range is also burning and after dark the hills are crowned with a wreath of golden flame. The organization of the Command, as at present constituted, was announced in General Orders, No. 5 1. Colonel Wesley Merritt, 5th Cavalry, is assigned as chief of all the Cavalry serving with this Expedition. 2. Surgeon B.A. Clements having reported at this Hd. Qrs. in obedience to Par[agraph]. 2, G[eneral]. O[rders]. No. 98, Dept. Platte, is announced as Medical Director of the Expedition, relieving Assistant Surgeon Albert Hartsuff. 3. Captain John V. Furey, A.Q.M., will, in addition to his present duties, exercise the functions of Ordnance Officer of the Expedition. 4. Major T.H. Stanton, Paymaster, will assume command of the irregular forces, comprised of citizens, volunteers and such others as may be assigned to duty under him by the Expedition Commander.” and by Special Field Orders, No. 22, 2 Lt. C.A. Rockefellar [sic] 9th Inf. & 2 Lt. S.C. Plummer, 4th Infany. were assigned to duty with the 44

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Infantry and Cavalry columns respectively. By same orders, the unassigned recruits brought along by General Merritt were distributed among the companies. General Crook telegraphed to General Sheridan, “Three Crow Indians came through from General Terry on the 19th and at that time all trails were leading up the Little Big Horn to the Big Horn Mountains, not even a pony track going back. On the 25th or 26th, all hostile Indians left the foot of the Big Horn Mountains and moved back in the direction of the Rosebud Mountains, so that it is now impracticable to communicate with General Terry by courier. I am fearful they will scatter as there is not sufficient grass in that country to support them in such large numbers. General Merritt joined me with his command last evening. To-morrow morning, we will cut loose from the wagon train with about two thousand fighting men, including friendly Indians and a small party of citizen volunteers,—move down Tongue river in the direction we suppose the hostiles have gone, carrying with us fifteen days’ rations. If we meet the Indians in too strong force, I will swing around and unite with General Terry. Nothing has been heard from the Utes yet; but shall leave instructions if they reach here, within a reasonable time to follow on after us. Your management of the Agencies will be a great benefit to us here.” The work of organizing and arranging the Command kept everybody busy. Horses had to be shod, saddles to be repaired or exchanged, ammunition issued, provisions to be packed and all extra clothing and supplies—which were not to go on the pack-mules were to be stored with the wagon train. The allowance of baggage was cut down to the minimum. Every officer and soldier was to have the clothes on his back and no more; one overcoat, one blanket, (to be carried by the cavalry over the saddle blanket,) and one india rubber tent,—this was the amount carried by General Crook, the members of his staff and all the officers, soldiers and packers.1 Rations were carried along for fifteen 1. The normal packing order for the Model 1874 McClellan saddle was to strap down the overcoat and poncho in front of the pommel, and the blanket and India rubber ground cloth behind the cantle. By “tent,” Bourke probably meant the ground cloth because, a few sentences later, he notes that no tents were allowed except one to serve as a hospital for the Medical Department. Although he does not mention the infantry, photographs of the time show that infantrymen in the field tended to carry their blankets rolled up, and worn over one shoulder, diagonally across the chest and back, and tied just below the waist on

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days; half of bacon, sugar, coffee, & salt and full of hard bread, none of vinegar, soup, pepper &c.2 Of ammunition, we had two hundred and fifty rounds to the man; one hundred to be carried by the cavalrymen on their persons or in the saddlebags, the rest to be packed on the pack-mules, of which we had Three hundred and ninety nine.3 The pack-trains were in five divisions, each led by a bell-animal, as previously described.4 No tents were allowed, excepting one for surgical operations upon the wounded from any engagement. Travois poles are hauled along to enable us to drag our wounded men with us, should it become necessary. Our mess now numbers eleven and is beyond dispute the most remarkable military mess our Army has ever seen. I challenge comparison with it from anything that has ever been among our officers outside Libby or Andersonville prisons.5 General Crook has not allowed us either knife, fork, spoon or plate. Each member carried strapped to the pommel of his saddle a tin cup from which at balmy morn or dewy eve, as poets would say, he may quaff the decoction called coffee. Our utensils comprise one frying pan, one carving knife, one carving-fork, one large coffee pot, one large tin plate; one large and two small tin spoons, and the necessary bags for carrying sugar, coffee, bacon and hard-bread. I forgot to say we also had one sheet-iron mess-pan. Phillips, the cook, who is to go with us, is something of an expert in his profession and boasts of being able to do much with little. He will have the finest opportunity his heart could desire for proving his boasts. I shall speak more fully of our mess hereafter. General Crook has determined to make his column as mobile, if possible, as a column of Indians, and he knows that example is more potent than a score of General orders. By commencing with his own head-quarters, he will compel subordinate commanders to imitate his severity. August 5th. The command broke camp at day-break, the Infantry takthe opposite side. Personal items were rolled up in the blanket. This was done in lieu of the regulation packs that were impractical on the frontier. The infantry situation is discussed in McChristian, U.S. Army in the West, 191, 222–23. 2. Bourke means each man was given only half-rations of bacon, sugar, and coffee to last fifteen days, and full rations of hard bread or hard tack. In reality this meant they only had enough food for a full meal for seven and a half days. 3. Again, Bourke does not mention infantry, who also would have carried a hundred cartridges per man in their belts and haversacks, and the rest on the mules. 4. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:212–13. 5. Confederate prisoner-of-war facilities where food shortages led to starvation.

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ing up the line of march at 5 A.M., the Cavalry, one hour later.* This arrangement gives the foot-soldiers a good start, saves them from much of the dust to be expected in rear of a long column of mounted men and helps them along the road as Infantry move so much more freely in the cool, Fresh air of morning. The horses and mules graze better just after dawn, so the hour’s additional time is a great benefit to them. Our march was for twenty two miles, going in a northerly course down Prairie Dog creek to its junction with Tongue river and down the latter fine stream for a distance from the confluence of four miles. The grass was generally consumed along trail, but we found a fair camp with a small amount of good grass, plenty of wood and an abundance of cold, pure water. Captain [Avery Billings] Cain, 4th Infantry, this morning manifested symptoms of mental alienation and upon recommendation of Ass’t. Surgeon [Julius] Patzki, was ordered to be sent back to the wagon train. He escaped from his escort and rejoined the column about noon. His hallucination is that he is surrounded by enemies who are seeking to damage his reputation or destroy his life, by exposing him to the attacks of Indians &c. Our supper to-night was not a very gorgeous affair. We determined, however, to make the best of it. Not having any plates, each one of us had to take a cracker to hold his pieces of bacon which the cook had cut very small and thin: The knives hanging from our belts did us yeoman service. There was much envy exhibited at my good fortune in finding in a deserted Indian village, an extremely large tin cup and spoon; criticism ceased upon my presenting these acquisitions to the mess. We didn’t have any guests to dine with us. Not a single member has attempted to evade the stringent orders about personal baggage. Mr. [Joseph] Wasson of the Alta California and New York Tribune, who is messing with us, Lieut. Schuyler and myself, have with us notebooks, pencils and a very small quantity of paper for orders, correspondence and other necessary business. We move each day with Stanton’s scouts and camp alongside of them by night. This means that we shall have the clothing stolen from off our backs. Everything comes alike to them; halters, lariats, saddle-bags, canteens, mess furniture or blankets—anything portable, is spirited out of sight and never returned. We shall have to sit upon our saddles Bourke’s marginal note: (Along Prairie dog creek, was a village of the little Prairie Dogs, which was not less than six miles long.) *

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from the moment they are taken from our horses. The “Montana Volunteers,” as they style themselves, were known as the “Montana thieves,” among officers and soldiers. Among them was a Shoshonee or Ute Indian—“Ute John,” who spoke “Melican” pretty well. By preference he always rode with the white scouts, his apparent influence with whom and with the Expedition Commander gave him considerable power among his aboriginal comrades. “John” had lived for five or six years in the Salt Lake Valley, “dlivin team for Momon”6—and, according to his own story, had been baptized in the Mormon church. This may have been true, as the Mormons have made great efforts to proselytize the savages in the vicinity of their settlements. “John” was not a bad fellow, behaved himself well and became a favorite with the soldiers. He used to excite a great deal of amusement at Hd.Qrs, by his deportment toward General Crook, whose reticence and self-seclusion no one else dared to violate. “John” didn’t care for dignity: a Brigadier General was of no more consequence in his eyes than any other white man. His presence seemed to give the General a considerable share of amusement. “Hullo, Clook,[”] he would way, [“]how you gettin on? Heh? Where you tink dem Clazy Hoss ‘n Sittin’ Bull, is now, Clook?” “John” was not very talkative with any of the mess. He never made attempt to “unbosom” himself to anyone but the Commanding General. Thursday, August 6th. Moved North, down Tongue river for a total distance of nineteen miles. Our Infantry had a very hard time, as the river had to be forded thirteen different times. When they reached camp, very many of the men were footsore, from wading through the icy-cold water and then marching along a sandy trail. General Crook ordered a battalion of Cavy. to remain with the Infantry column to carry rifles and knapsacks over, or to give such men as wished it a ride on the back of the saddles, each horse carrying two men. A large percentage of the foot-soldiers actuated by false pride, refused any such assistance and waded across the current, at some points nearly waist-deep. The weather remained pleasant, but warm from the wind blowing across distance prairie fires—in every direction, we are confronted by a black expanse of desolation. Grazing is very scarce. Wood and water we find, thus far, in sufficiency. Louis 6. I.e., driving team for Mormon.

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Richaud, with a body of scouts sent over to the Rosebud, to examine for trails. Captain Cain acting very wildly, muttering to himself and flourishing his pistol. He is now under surveillance. His latest idea is that General Cook is “down” on him and can only be conciliated by a present of canned fruits. He sent the General this evening with his compliments a can of tomatoes, which he has brought in his coat-pocket from our camp on Goose Creek. August 7th. Moved nearly due West, twenty-three miles, crossing the divide called the Rosebud mountains and descending to that stream. The first part of the march was very hot and toilsome, going up a steep mountain slope and having a suffocating wind blow in our faces from the burning timber on the crests of the range. Near the summit, on the East side, at the head of a pretty rivulet, we found a bright little spring, with some fresh, green grass. Here the Hd.Qrs. and guides and Indians halted for an hour to allow the command to “close up.” On approaching the Rosebud, General Crook and his Hd.Qrs, had again left the main column far in the rear; we had with us the scouts and the Shoshonee Indians, enough to keep off a large force of the enemy, but not enough to withstand such an assault as could have been made by the multitude of savages whose trail we discovered on the banks of that stream. The trail was as well beaten and as fully defined as any wagon road; the manure of the ponies was so dry that our Indians concluded that the hostiles must have left this vicinity about ten or twelve days ago; but no little difference of opinion existed on this head. The weather has been so warm and dry that the age of a trail is more difficult to determine than when the temperature is mild. While the major portion of our scouts and guides passed down the river and along the slopes of the foot-hills scrutinizing the country, the Hd.Qrs., moved to the West bank of the stream and halted in a little clump of box-elder. The Rosebud at this ford was not over 15 ft. in width and the banks sloped so gently that the depth did not seem to be over one or two feet. This deceitful appearance beguiled Colonel Stanton and myself into entering the water, which, to our astonishment, proved to be more than girth-deep on our horses. Our feet and legs were thoroughly saturated, so we had nothing else to do but pull off our boots, empty out the water and then wring and dry our stockings. We had just put them on again and were beginning to feel a little more comfortable in the warm, bright sun when

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along came Doctor Hartsuff, and halted his spirited horse on the opposite bank: “is that a good bottom[,]” he asked; “excellent”, we answered. His horse all this while was sensible that that ford was no proper place for making a passage and was impatiently champing his bit and turning around to go back. Hartsuff, irritated, gave him the spur and the noble animal made one plunge and landed himself and rider in four and a half feet of water. After scrambling to our side, the Doctor dismounted and unsaddled. No one spoke a word of sympathy; there are times when grief becomes too great for words. Hartsuff saw that the present occasion was one of those. He never opened his lips. The silence was painful. One by one, Stanton, Randall, Schuyler, Wasson—withdrew behind the bushes where they remained for quite a while doubled up with emotion. By sun-down, our scouts had returned, and reported their examination of the trail. They found the site of the Indian village just below our bivouac: it covered an immense area of three to four miles and consisted of several thousands of lodges and multitudes of ponies. The same difference of opinion, as alluded to above, still obtained as to the age of the trail: some considered it as at least two weeks old, but the majority of our Indians and our most reliable guides fixed its age at eight days. This was the village which had annihilated Custer at Big Horn and attacked Crook at almost this same point only two months ago. The cañon into which I rode with [Capt. Anson] Mills’ column on the afternoon of June 17th is not over seven miles from here: our guides examined it carefully and found that a trap had been set, from which we had been extricated only by the arrival of Captain Nickerson with General Crook’s orders to discontinue pursuit in that cañon. The Indians had endeavored to lead us on until we should have become too deeply involved to return: Then they would have closed in on us and slaughtered our battalion to the last man. Across the cañon at its narrowest, deepest and most precipitous part, they had constructed an abattis of fallen timber, to prevent our escape toward the North. There was only one point in their scheme that proved defective; they didn’t know Crook. With a man like Custer, such a plan would have worked to a charm. In less than a fortnight[,] June 25th 1876[,] they wiped out Custer with a larger command than Mills had* and under Bourke’s note: That is the command which was slaughtered with Custer [i.e. five companies]. Custer’s whole command [the entire regiment] was very little inferior to Crook’s force of troops at the Rosebud. *

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conditions not one tenth as favorable for their purpose. General Crook is so cautious and so versed in Indian stratagems that he would take no risks, would make no division of his command and would fight the Indians on ground of his own choosing or not at all.7 The news brought back by our scouts and Indians of the great numbers of the foe and the frustration of their scheme at the Rosebud fight has done a great deal to diffuse a feeling of trust and confidence in Crook as a General who will not waste the life of a single soldier to secure for himself one additional line of clap-trap eulogy in sensational journals. I cannot conceal from myself the fact that we have with us not a few officers who would gladly abandon the campaign upon the most frivolous pretext and who are now beginning to grumble because they haven’t sponge cake. The fair-weather Christians loom up as grand soldiers in a ball-room; where with plenty of gilding and embroidery they find no trouble in passing themselves off among giddy young women as bolder than Hercules, braver than Ajax. Every army has a certain ratio of worthlessness in its ranks: our military organization is particularly blessed or cursed in the number of barnacles who draw pay and clog promotion. Frequently, these fellows are representatives of what, for some inscrutable reason, are known as the “good” families of the country. My personal idea of a young man of “good” family, to tolerate such an expression in a country pretending to be a Republic, is one, who will feel that he has not played his part well in battle unless severe wounds attest his prowess. I am behind the times: The view entertained generally is that a young “blood” emphasizes his claims to imitating the snobbery of dress and the drawls of the English swell: To[o] proud to work, too lazy to steal, with no genius for politics, no valor for war, the young American gentleman of to-day drifts along in the social tide of an inane vacuous idiot, without one compensatory feature of character.8 7. Bourke appears to have been writing to defend Crook against accusations, which arose almost immediately, that the battle of the Rosebud was a blunder, which, indeed, it was. The fight occurred almost spontaneously, on a chance encounter between Crook’s Indian auxiliaries and a hunting party from the hostile camp. The “abattis” found almost two months later—if indeed there was one—might easily have been a jam of tree trunks and brush swept into the canyon by high water. As for “ground of his own choosing,” Crook was playing cards with officers at the time the fight broke out, and was taken completely by surprise. See Mangum, Battle of the Rosebud; Vaughn, With Crook at the Rosebud; and Robinson, Good Year to Die, Chapter 13. 8. Here Bourke is describing the traditional aristocracy carried over from colonial times which, having been rendered irrelevant by the Jeffersonians and Jacksonians, spent its time with social and literary endeavors. The national economy and decisions of importance were controlled by individualists, often self-made, such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. This era is discussed by Michael Knox Beran, The Last Patrician, Chapter 2.

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Our camp to-night, as every other night, was in form of a circle, pack-trains and horses inside. We obtained little or no grazing for our horses. The valley of the Rosebud, of which last June I wrote in terms of such enthusiasm, is picked clean as a bone. Every foot of ground bears the mark of a pony hoof. Frank Gruard thinks that the hostiles have had not less than 10,000 and maybe as many as 20,000 ponies in this valley: without expressing an opinion as to numbers, I will say that they must have had thousands of people and thousands of animals to make such havoc with the rich vegetation of this fertile valley. August 8th. We moved down the Rosebud for four miles to a large patch of grass which had escaped the flames. We passed for the whole distance, nearly through the site of the Sioux village; this we could see had been arranged in the form of seven lodge circles and the content of the total space covered was not a foot less than four square miles: The village had extended on both sides of the creek and had apparently not remained long in one spot, moving frequently, perhaps to obtain good grazing or for better security. (We remained in this camp all day, bearing with as much stolidity as possible the intense heat. Along the Rosebud, are frequent passages of weird, picturesque scenes; the banded stratification of the enclosing bluffs with the harmonious blending of colors is a very attractive feature[.)] Mr. Scott, a young gentleman, who has travelled with the 5th Cavalry, from Kansas to see the country, and who claimed to be a graduate of Oriel College, Oxford, dined with us this afternoon. For a cockney, he was a pleasant gentleman; he had a good deal of mannerism and affectation about him, which was rapidly disappearing under the attrition of hard campaigning. We got to like him very well after the ice of first acquaintance had been broken. We told him we would waive the usual formal tender of thanks for a good dinner, and he replied with great frankness, that he hadn’t the slightest intention of expressing any such opinion as, on the contrary, he regarded his meal with us was by all odds the worst he had ever eaten. Frank Gruard was with Schuyler and myself all afternoon, talking about the manners and customs of the American savages. His conversation is unfailing in its interest. He told us about the secret societies among the Sioux—The “Brave Night-Hearts, The Owlfeathers and the Wolves and Foxes.[”] These control the tribe, fight

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its battles, manage its hunts, arrange its treaties and determine its policy. Initiation into some one of them is essential for the advancement of the young warrior. Their deliberations are in secret, the council lodges being, usually, pitched at the extremities of the village and guarded by one of the old men who performs the functions of crier. These societies represent the germ of the idea of ancient chivalry, which took its vice from the adoption and refinement by the Catholic church of almost identical ideas among the Germanic tribes. There is among the Sioux a method of swearing witnesses, which shows they have some idea of an oath. When scouts return from an examination of the enemy’s camp, they are brought into the presence of the council and made to tell their story, holding in each hand a piece of dried buffalo manure. According to Frank, there is among the Sioux of Sitting Bull’s band, a very bold-faced imposter—a medicine man—whose doctrines show the tinge of more or less complete association with the Roman Catholic missionaries. He says he was not born on this earth, but was born in the sky, having the Great Spirit for a father. He slid down on a rain-bow and was going back after a while. He wanted to stay with the Sioux to make cartridges for them. By taking a cartridge and swallowing it, as he pretended, he would by the processes of digestion turn it into a box-full.9 The Sioux didn’t swallow all this, but after he had produced box after box, each holding its cool thousand of bright metallic cartridges (which the astute rascal had purchased from the Milk river half-breeds and concealed in the places whence he afterwards had the squaws extract them,) all scoffing was silenced and the imposter’s influence waxed apace. Our Shoshonee allies have enjoyed their day’s work; the valley of the Rosebud is the cemetery of the Sioux roaming in this vicinity. Scarcely a hill-side, or bend in the stream but shows a rude grave, or to speak with strictness, a corpse wrapped up in robes and blankets and fastened to the branches of trees. As the trappings of the dead among the wild tribes always include arms, either bows or rifles, the Shoshonees are nearly every time rewarded with some spoil of value. Two or three good rifles were obtained by them this morn9. This claim was not restricted to the medicine men of the Northern Plains. In Oklahoma in early 1874, the Comanche medicine man Isa-tai claimed he could vomit cartridges. Isa-tai was one of the architects of the Red River War of 1874–75, which broke the power of the Southern Plains tribes. See Haley, The Buffalo War.

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ing and afternoon and half a dozen bows: a soldier of Capt. Mills’ company has in his hands, a fine nickle plated revolver and half a hundred metallic cartridges given him by a Shoshonee. Our scouts find that the Sioux must have remained here, and close by, for some days, as they are now agreed that the trail is fresher than it was yesterday; some good judges assert that it is not over four days old. The hostiles have left back a rear-guard of thirty or forty warriors, the tracks of whose ponies are distinctly discernible and much fresher than the main trail. General Crook wished to make a night march, availing himself of the moonlight and trusting to the night to conceal the dust of the column. We started at 8 o’clock and marched until 1 A.M. of the 9th, making between (15) and (18) m. and bivouacking close to the bank of the stream and about 50 ft. above the water. Just as we lay down, “Captain Jack” Crawford, the “poet-scout”, as he loved to have his friends call him, rode into camp, attended by a small retinue of comrades. He brought no news of importance. “Captain Jack” is to represent the Omaha Bee, during the campaign and aspires to the position of poet-laureate of the Expedition: specimens of his assaults upon rhyme, reason and good grammar may be found [elsewhere]. In the original [lost] vol., I had inserted a number of his effusions which he had with much kindness presented to me. Their loss is still a source of keen regret, but the citations preserved are sufficient to disclose the fact that the poet-scout had pressed into his services for a Pegasus, a spavined, string-halted and hidebound plug which wouldn’t climb much farther up the steep sides of Parneseus before cloud-compelling Jove, or some other of the offended deities, would hurl him and his rider to destruction. Jack was a brave man and a genial, good-natured liar, whose stories were welcomed at every fire-side. He made friends readily and preserved his popularity throughout the trip. August 9th. Marched fifteen miles down stream, following the trail. Cold wind, Day foggy and wet: marching difficult on account of the mud. After marching between 15 and 20 m. halted and went into camp, horses and footmen much jaded. Passed a great number of Indian corpses slung in branches of trees; these were all unrolled and robbed by the Shoshonees. I came upon a party of them standing under a tree whose limbs held one of these mortuary packages, quite old in appearance. Our Indians were afraid to touch this; said

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it would be “bad medicine”—“There was something alive inside the roll.” Ute John, more bold than the rest, knocked down the bundle which consisted of the bones of a skeleton, an old bow, a handful of arrows and sixteen little grey mice, which huddled together in a heap when the strong light was let suddenly fall upon them. The hills boarding the Rosebud, along line of our march, vertical bluffs presenting beautiful alternations of color in their stratification. There are bands of red, pink, cream color, black and purple, the different tints blending by easy graduations to make a general effect pleasing to the eye. We see quantities of lignite,—which will be of incalculable advantage to the white settlers when they shall flock in to this region. The sky cleared off at night and our clothing soon dried by the crackling fires bed from the great piles of dry wood lying near us. August 10th. A small party of our Ute and Shoshonee guides left us this morning. The Command continued down the Rosebud for fourteen miles, when the trail turned due East passing over the hills toward the Tongue river. Some of our Indian guides galloped back with the information that the Indians had been descried on the ridge to the North and East of us, a short distance away: others came charging back from our front saying there was a big column of people coming up the valley, thought it must be soldiers as they had a long line of canvas-covered wagons with them, but there were also a number of Indians in their front. This was so plainly General Terry’s column that General Crook ordered our Cavalry to unsaddle and await the arrival of our Infantry who did not tarry long in putting in an appearance. Our Indian scouts were pushed out to determine positively the character of the people coming up the stream. Before starting, they arrayed themselves in all the barbaric splendor of which they were capable. War-bonnets streamed to the ground, lances and rifles gleamed in the sun, ponies and riders daubed with mud pranced out to meet our friends as we felt assured the approaching column must be. As our Indians raised their yells and chants, the Indians at the head of the other column took fright and ran in upon the solid masses of horsemen following the main trail. These immediately deployed into line of skirmishers, behind which we saw or thought we could see a piece of artillery. Buffalo Bill, who was riding at the head of our scouts, waved his hat and putting spurs to his horse galloped up to the side of Major [Marcus A.] Reno, 7th

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Cavalry, who was in command of the advance of Terry’s troops as these now proved to be. When the news passed along from man to man, cheers arose from the two columns; as fast as the cheers of Terry’s advance guard reached the ears of our men, they responded with heart and soul. General Crook sent Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C. to inform General Terry where he was in camp and to welcome him and his officers to such hospitalities as we could extend. This mission was soon executed and Schuyler returned to the knot of trees, by which General Crook was seated, leading a band of officers at whose head rode General Terry. The meeting between the two commanders and the subalterns of the two columns was extremely cordial: many old friends met who had not seen each other for years, some had served together during the [Civil] war and very many of the younger Captains and Lieutenants had been associated as cadets at the Mily. Academy. Our mess was in no condition to entertain guests: on this occasion, we made strenuous efforts to receive our brother officers with cordiality. Messengers were sent down to the pack-train to borrow every knife, fork, spoon, plate, cup and coffee pot that could be spared. Tom Moore, our chief packer, responded nobly. Within fifteen minutes, we had gathered together between (20) and thirty of each article, except coffee pots of which we had two large ones and an extra frying and mess pan. Phillips, our culinary artist, had also the assistance of a French cook from the pack-train who had picked up his ideas of his profession during an apprenticeship served among the Pi-Utes and Nez-Percés. Two of the Hd.Qrs. orderlies volunteered to grind coffee, fry bacon and lay out the ménu on the strip of canvas which, stretched along the ground, served as table-cloth. Our napkins had not yet come back from the wash. General Terry and his staff, as well as the other officers who had accompanied him to our bivouac, helped themselves with good appetites to our luncheon. We let no one go away without food: what we offered was the best we had and we gave it with warm feeling. General Terry’s manners are most charming and affable; he has the general air of a scholar as well as soldier. His figure is tall and commanding; his face, gentle yet decided; eyes, blue-gray and kindly: complexion, bronzed by wind and rain and sun to the color of an old sheep-skin covered Bible. He won his way to our hearts by his

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unaffectedness and affability. He is the antithesis of Crook in his manner. Crook is simple and unaffected also, but he is reticent and taciturn to the extreme of sadness, brusque to the verge of severity.* Of the two men, Terry would be the more pleasing companion, Crook the stauncher friend. In Terry’s face I sometimes thought I detected faint traces of indecision, vacillation and weakness; but in Crook’s countenance there is not the slightest trace of anything but stubbornness, stolidity, rugged resolution and bull-dog tenacity. Of the two men, Terry alone has any pretensions to scholarship and his pretensions are so great that the whole Army feels proud of him; but Nature has been bountiful to Crook and as he stood under a tree, talking with Terry, his keen blue eye lighting up with interest in his story, I thought that within that clearly outlined skull, beneath that brow and behind those clear-glancing blue-grey eyes, there was concealed more military sagacity, more quickness of comprehension, celerity to meet unexpected contingencies—in short more future possibility, than in any one of our living Generals, excepting Grant, of whose good qualities he constantly reminded me or Sheridan, whose early friend and companion he was at West Point and in Arizona.10 Our united commands bivouacked on the Rosebud for the remainder of that day: our Shoshonees and Utes affiliated readily with the Rees and Crows, Terry had with him and from one camp to another, streams of soldiers were passing momentarily either to visit or for pleasure. Such supplies as our command needed were issued from Terry’s wagon train which had a large quantity. After a long consultation with General Crook, General Terry determined to send back to the Yellowstone all his wagons, supernumerary horses and such sick and disabled men as might be designated. He also determined to send back General [Nelson A.] Miles, with his regiment, the 5th Infantry which was to patrol the Yellowstone in a steamboat and prevent any crossing the hostile bands might attempt. He also offered to place on his steamboats any disabled men of Genl. Crook’s command. Captain Cain, 4th Infantry, whose insanity was now unmistakable and violent was ordered to Omaha. Crowds of officers kept coming to Hd.Qrs. all afternoon; those of Terry’s Bourke originally wrote “ferocity,” then crossed it out and put “severity.”

*

10. Bourke erred slightly. Crook and Sheridan became friends at West Point, but their early service together was in California, not Arizona. See Robinson, General Crook, Chapter 1.

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column meeting those of our own. I can’t pretend to give the names of all the old comrades I had the pleasures of once more meeting, of the old acquaintances renewed or new ones made. There were not less than one hundred & fifty officers at our Hd.Qrs. during the time between the meeting of the columns & nightfall. At sunset General Crook, Lt. Bourke, Lt. Schuyler and Colonel Stanton dined with General Terry, who had with him at his table his Aides, Capts. [Edward W.] Smith and Eugene Beauharnais Gibbs, Lieut. Maguire, Engineer Officer, Lt. Walker, A.C.S., Nowlan, A.Q.M., Lieut. Thompson, Acting Aide and Lt. Michaelis, Ordnance Off. Our meal was an excellent one and to our unaccustomed palates a marvellous [sic] production. We had meats and vegetables, washed down with good liquors. These luxuries were of course due to the fact of a wagon-train being with the command, but this, General Terry, is now going to send back and even as we sit at table, men are busy in sight of us rolling and packing into wagons every article which cannot with ease be carried on pack-mules. Captain Munson, 9th Infantry, was badly hurt this evening. He had bought a box of hard-bread for the use of his company. Not having any other way of getting it to his camp, he tried to carry it on the pommel of the saddle of the mule he was riding.11 It’s bulk was so great that he could not manage the mule which taking fright at some object in the darkness of the evening, pitched Munson to the ground, breaking his arm at the elbow joint. The Doctors wished to send him to the Yellowstone with General Terry’s wagon-train, but Munson determined to stick it out and remain with the Command. August 11th. General Miles with the 5th Infantry, Terry’s wagontrain and all the sick and disabled of the two columns, including Captain Cain, 4th Infantry, and Lieut. A.B. Bache, 5th Cavalry, moved down to the Yellowstone. The remainder of General Terry’s and all of General Crook’s column took up the Indian trail and followed it to Tongue river, fourteen miles. The country between the two streams at this point was pleasantly undulating and not nearly so difficult for marching as where we crossed it on the 5th. The country was all burned over, the general estimate being that not less than 10.000 sq. miles of grass had been destroyed by the hostile Indians; one hundred miles from the Big Horn range on the South to a point near 11. The McClellan saddle has a steep pommel, rounded at the top, and no saddle horn, so that balancing a large box would be virtually impossible without using both hands.

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the Yellowstone river on the North and for an equal distance from the Big Horn river to the West to perhaps the Little Missouri on the East. Within this vast expanse, we shall have to search with care for good grass: before the Sioux set fire to it, no finer pastoral region could be found in the whole world. The weather remained uncomfortably warm. General Terry told me yesterday that in his camp on the 7th, the thermometer marked 110° F, and on the 8th, 117° F. I may be mistaken as to the exact dates, as I quote from memory, but on both these days, the temperature in our camps, without tentage or shelter of any kind, was simply stifling. As the two columns strung out on the trail, I could not help instituting comparisons as to the relative merits and efficiency. Terry’s men, well clad and well fed, looked to the untrained eye much more soldierly than the men under Crook’s command, who certainly lacked the trimness to be seen on parade. But it only needed a second glance to answer a critic that these dust-begrimed, weather-beaten, sun-browned men in faded blue were veterans who, man for man, would whip any army of the civilized world. There was in their step an elasticity, in their whole manner a self-reliance one looked for in vain in Terry’s column, as a whole. Many of the fragments which went to make up that column were excellent soldiers, but the column itself was unwieldy, lacked cohesion and was spiritless to the point of demoralization. The massacre of Custer had fallen as a wet blanket upon the hopes and ambition of his associates and the time passed refitting upon the Yellowstone had been a period of idleness, productive of apathy and discontent. Crook’s men in their camps on Goose creek and Tongue river had been kept constantly up to the mark of military discipline and efficiency. They had become inured to the privations of campaigning, habituated to all the details of marching, camping and posting pickets and herding stock in presence of an active enemy, and from constant skirmishing had taught themselves not to despise the enemy and at same time not to fear him. As we marched along the trail, the sentiments in which our men held Terry’s column were not slow in manifesting themselves. It became from the first moment of the march to-day, a point of honor with our battalions to have no stragglers. Terry’s command straggled badly; this may be accounted for partly from the difference in their respective transportation. Crook’s pack-train was a marvel of system; it maintained a discipline much

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severer that had been attained by any company in either column. Under the indefatigable supervision of Tom Moore, who has had an experience of more than a quarter of a century with pack-trains, our mules moved with a precision to which the worn out comparison of “clock work” is justly adapted. They had been continuously in service and in training since December 1875: during every day of the interval they had in all kinds of weather, made long marches, carrying heavy burdens. Consequently they were hardened to the toughness and elasticity of wrought iron and whale-bone. Terry’s pack-train was a burlesque, formed of mules freshly taken from harness and superintended by soldiers who approached their new duties with ill-concealed indifference or reluctance, it was an embarrassment to the General for whose assistance it had been improvised. To see a long string of mules, each led by one soldier and beaten by another, attendants rivalling animals in dumbness, would have induced a smile had it not been the motive power of a military column in pursuit of hostile savages. On this first day’s march, and a very short and comparatively easy march it was, Terry’s pack-train dropped, lost or damaged more stores than Crook’s command had spoiled from same causes since the campaign commenced. When we struck Tongue river, the Indian trail became obscure, part of it went up the Tongue river, part down stream and part East toward Powder. We camped on the river, while our scouts and Indians made a careful inspection of the trail, to determine in what direction the main body of the hostiles had gone. The scouts did not return until late in the afternoon,—too late to make an onward movement.* Colonel Royall’s men found the bodies of two mining prospectors, in the bushes near the bank of the stream. We surmised them to have been prospectors or trappers who had been surprised and killed by the Indians. Close by General Crook’s Hd.Qrs., I came across the fragment of a soldier’s blouse, fresh in color and buttons still bright. As everything of that kind is considered as coming from the Custer massacre, this poor rag was placed in the category of relics from the same field of carnage.—There is nothing to contravene such an assumption, altho’ it may have been obtained by an Indian at one of the Agencies or Posts. At the top of the page, Bourke inserted: Passed a large protrusion of flat-faced sandstone, or more strictly speaking, a denudation. The Indians had regarded this as a [“]great medicine” lodge and in all the crannies and cracks had deposited various propitiary offerings, and upon the face of the rock itself had graven figures and symbols of fanciful and grotesque outline.

*

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Terry’s pack-train got into camp, with many of the mules tired and men fatigued; our pack-train came right upon the heels of the cavalry and crowding the Infantry, and, every mule was fresh as a daisy. It is evident to the dullest comprehension that Terry’s command is not strapped down as close as Crook’s. We have only one tent in a force of nearly twenty three hundred men; the other column has a considerable amount of shelter tentage and many superfluities are carried along for officers’ use. This evening, General [John] Gibbon, in command of Terry’s Infantry, was in our camp examining into our system of pack-train organization. The intense interest he displayed was convincing proof of the superiority of our arrangements. General Terry is not to be blamed for the inferiority of his transportation; that is a matter for which the Quartermaster’s Department in Washington is responsible; as long as [Montgomery] Meigs is Q.M. General, innovation will be looked upon as treason and heresy. Terry personally is a thorough soldier and so are many of his subordinates, especially Gibbon, but the great bulk of his command has not recovered from the effects of the Custer Massacre and will not, until a larger infusion of new material be added to it. The 7th Cavalry constituted the main element of Terry’s strength; when this whole Regiment was shattered, the only thing to be done was to send the 4th Cavalry and one or two regiments of Infantry to his support; so as not to counterbalance the despondency of the soldiers of the 7th; but, as matters have been arranged, it has turned out that the new accessions have been so few in number, so joined in such a fragmentary way that the demoralization, which is the only correct term to employ, of the 7th has had full chance to infect the newcomers.12 August 12th. Remained in camp until noon; resumed march at 12 o’clock, going North down Tongue river for fifteen miles, following the main trail of the Sioux. This looked for all the world like a wagonroad and at one sharp turn in the stream, where the Indians, having all come back on to one trail, had cut across, a projecting hill of marl and sandy clay, the lodge poles had cut into the soft soil to such an extent that we could almost believe we were on a road, freshly graded by laborers using pick, spade and shovel. For an hour or two we followed a very old, but still plainly marked trail which had been 12. In fact, the 4th Cavalry was sent to Camp Robinson, Nebraska, in Crook’s department.

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made by a part of General Conner’s [sic] Command in 1864.13 Rained all day—camp, wet and disagreeable. One of our mess caught a fine, large cat-fish, which we consumed at supper. After dark, I heard somebody inquiring for “Lieutenant Bourke”. I answered myself, and was asked by the visitor, a rough, burly, shaggybearded officer, “not Johnnie Bourke.” I asserted my claims to that title and felt my hand warmly grasped and shaken by that of Lieut. [Samuel Todd] Hamilton, 2d. Cavalry, who had been a comrade with me during the war. We talked over the past and once more were recruits in camp near Carlisle Barracks,14 then we made the journey by rail to Louisville, Ky., and marched with our regiment across Kentucky to Nashville, Tenn., and on down to the bloody battle-field of Stones River.15 Of course, we fought that conflict over again and for seven days and nights, held [Braxton] Bragg’s army at bay. I can’t say how much more of the war we would have gone over, but by that time, it was long after midnight and we agreed to give the rebels a rest. It made me feel old, as well as sad, to encounter one of my old comrades: my chequered life during the past fourteen years passed rapidly in review before my mind. I reflected how thankful I ought to be that I had the position I held with General Crook and I tried to make myself believe it was a grand thing to have my garments saturated with water, my feet cold and wet, my miserable straw-hat torn by the breezes, no tent, no blankets, no supper to speak of; this, I said to myself, is heroism and I am a first class hero; but it wouldn’t work. Like Banquo’s ghost, the thought would not down that a good hot stove, with plenty of champagne and oysters would be good enough for the likes of me and it was then I made up my mind, if I ever married an heiress, to live for the remainder of my 13. This refers to a three-pronged offensive against the Plains Indians. Brig. Gen. James H. Ford operated south of the Arkansas River, while Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully campaigned along the upper Missouri, and Brig. Gen. Patrick Connor moved into the Powder River country. Old Fort Reno, frequently mentioned by Bourke, was built by Connor’s troops. See McDermott, Circle of Fire. 14. Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, founded by the British in 1757, is the oldest active U.S. military post. After the establishment of the federal government, it served as the mustering point for troops sent to put down the Whiskey Rebellion. In 1863, the post was captured and partially destroyed by Confederates during the Gettysburg Campaign. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was the site of a school for Indian children; Olympic champion Jim Thorpe was an alumnus. Carlisle Barracks now houses the United States Army War College, and the U.S. Army Military History Institute. 15. Also known as Murfreesboro. Bourke later applied for, and received, the Medal of Honor for gallantry during this battle. It was a blanket award, authorized for all members of his unit, the 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, who performed creditably during the battle. Bell, John Gregory Bourke, 3.

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days in a brown-stone front and retire from the hero-business for ever. Schuyler and I slept or rather laid all that night in a puddle of rain and mud, the dripping water striking our faces and making us most uncomfortable. Poor fellow. He snored like a mule, but the snoring kept away the wolves and coyotes, so I didn’t complain of it much. August 13th. Down Tongue river for twenty-six miles, through the “Badlands”. Day very pleasant, in bright contrast to yesterday. Strange sight for us, we passed along a district in which the grass had nearly all escaped the flames. No straggling in Crook’s column; considerable of it in Terry’s. One of his men,—an orderly at his own Hd.Qrs.—has been missing all to-day and yesterday. He was not accustomed to riding a horse, but until the two columns joined had been allowed to ride in an ambulance. He probably became very tired from the unaccustomed exertion of horseback riding, dismounted to rest and let his horse get away from him. General Terry has become very anxious for his recovery and safety. He sent out a party of Ree Indians yesterday to hunt him up, but they returned last night, unsuccessful. Some of our Shoshonees started back this morning on same errand. They reached camp at dusk having found him some miles back on the trail. August 14th. Followed trail for seven miles down Tongue river, to within (5) or ten miles of Tongue river Butte on the Yellowstone. Here the trail turned East going up Four Horn creek, as Frank Gruard called it. We pushed up this creek for eight miles, passing the site of an Indian village, lately abandoned. Here a little Indian puppy was found by an Infantry soldier and brought along for the amusement of his comrades. Had plenty of wood and a sufficiency of fine grass. Water too alkaline to be pleasant. At mouth of this creek, we saw some remarkably fine grass; thick, curly, succulent and sweet. Our Indians said it was called “two days” grass because if a tired and hungry pony got a good belly-full of it, he would be able to keep up for two days longer. It looked to me to be a variety of Gramma. August 15th. Twenty two miles to Powder river: latter part of march in “bad lands”, and in a miserable country, with no vegetation except cactus. We were marching over a vast bed of coal-ashes; the seams of lignite had burned out, and the superior strata of marl and clay and sandstone had caved in, making sudden and deep gaps and crannies or leaving high tumuli, over and amid’st which

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we cautiously picked our way, cavalrymen dismounted and leading their horses. Our pack-mules skipped like goats along the dangerous places, but Terry’s command had no such good luck and it is not an unfair estimate to say that at least one third of his men and officers were working hard to keep their train closed up, while with us, not 5 p[er]. c[ent]. were so employed. On this march, which was quite severe, we didn’t lose a single box of hard-tack or a bundle of any kind. The Shoshonee Indians evince great impatience with the other command and say, without any qualification, that we could do more against the Indians without the aid of the “Yellowstone soldiers” than with it. In this dismal region, the rattle-snake found a congenial abiding place. The head of the column scared a great many of them, basking in the sun. The young Shoshonees had great fun lancing them to death. Surrounding some monstrous fellow and keeping their agile ponies far enough away to avoid the reptile’s spring, they would thrust at him with their sharp-pointed lances, until he was a writhing mass of ribbon, and at same time they would, at each lunge, exclaim, “Gott Dammee you! Gott Dammee You,” which was all the English they seemed to have mastered. General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. camped to-night in a fine grove of cottonwood and oak. The intense heat of the day was succeeded by a fierce thunder-storm. All night long, the pelting rain poured down to the accompaniment of growling thunder and lightning that dazzled the sight. August 16th. Marched Twenty miles down Powder river, trail running in “bad lands” most of the way. Heavy thunderstorm in latter part of afternoon. Wood sufficient; grass also. Water rather superabundant. This was one of the camps, which General Custer had made on his march to the Little Big Horn. August 17th. Twenty-five miles down the Powder to its confluence with the Yellowstone, leaving the main train of the hostiles near last night’s camp. Our rations and supplies of all kinds are exhausted and have to be renewed from the steamboats which have carried Terry’s base. The Powder river contrasts very unfavorably with the Tongue; the latter is about 125 to 150 ft. wide, depth two to four feet, current swift, water cold, clear and sweet and except in the “bad lands” near its mouth, not perceptibly alkaline. The bottom everywhere is gravel, “hard-pan” or rock. The banks are accessible in

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nearly all places. Powder River is the opposite in every feature. Water turbid and milky, current slow—bottom muddy and frequently miry. Water alkaline and not always palatable. Fords are rarely good and occasionally are dangerous. Mizpah Creek, near whose mouth we first struck the Powder, is a worthy daughter of the parent stream. Its water is the color and consistence of cream and scarcely to be swallowed. It received its name from Captain [William] Raynolds of the Corps of Engineers who was in charge of the Surveys in this part of the Western territories in 1859 and 1860. The story related is that he here lost a valuable seal ring, graven with the legend “Mizpah”. A long and painful search was at last rewarded by finding the lost treasure on the bank of this stream to which he very properly gave the name of the legend. This word “Mizpah”, means, I believe, “May the Lord be our helper when distance shall divide thee and me”.—and if there ever was a place on the surface of the globe where Divine Providence should be appealed to for help, it is right here in this miserable valley of the Powder and its tributaries. The Yellowstone is a noble body of water; its width is not great, not over (250) yards, but its depth is considerable, its bed constant and channel undeviating. The current flows so quietly that an unsuspecting person would have no idea of its velocity; steamboats can scarcely stem the current and bathers venturing far from the banks are swept off their feet. The depth is never less than five feet in the channel, during time of high water. The banks are thickly grassed and covered with cottonwood and other timber in heavy copses. The least picturesque part of the valley is at the mouth of the Powder; of other portions, especially those near the confluences of the Rosebud and Big Horn, steamboatmen and the officers and soldiers of Terry’s command speak in rapturous terms. Just as soon as we reached the mouth of the Powder, we crossed to the Left (West) bank, and went into camp; Terry’s column remaining on the Right bank. While Lieut. [John Wilson] Bubb, our Commissary and Quartermaster, started in to get our supplies replenished, others of our Hd.Qrs. found plenty of occupation in providing for the comfort of our animals, which this afternoon received a full meal of oats, the first grain for nearly a month. When Bubb came back from Terry’s Hd.Qrs., he brought the disagreeable news that the amount of supplies on hand was far below what we had anticipated. It was understood when we left the

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Rosebud that General Miles was to march down to the mouth of that stream and from the supply-camp bring on the steamer a sufficiency for all our needs. But with the exception of a few boxes of hard-bread and a few components of the ration, in all not enough to last one hundred men for ten days—he had brought nothing. The supplies were still at the mouth of the Rosebud, over (100) miles by water. It would take a steamer at least two days to go up and five or six to come down. Bubb also said that there were rations and forage at Glendive creek and Buffalo Rapids and at some other points where they had been deposited by craft too heavily laden. It was uncertain where they might be looked for. This information is very dispiriting. We had hoped to replenish our commissariat, supply our men and horses with new shoes where needed, get some forage for our animals and start back on the trail after a delay of not more than forty-eight hours on the Yellowstone. Now, we can look forward to a long stern chase and, perhaps, shall never see a hostile Indian. Swarms of men and horses lined the banks of the river at dusk; the horses enjoyed the cool bathing every bit as much as the men did. The bottom of the river bed is thickly strewn with agates; they are to be picked up at every step of our promenades. Everybody has taken one or two, intending to have these cut as souvenirs of the Expedition.

Chapter 3 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

On the Yellowstone

We remained on the Yellowstone from the 17th to the 24th of August, a description of one day answering for all the others. There was not much work to be done: cavalry commanders looked to their horses; Infantry officers picked out the men who began to show signs of exhaustion. General Crook’s command moved once up the Yellowstone to get better water and more grass and be more in proximity to fuel. The steamer Far West lay moored to the bank near our second camp. This craft is the one which first ploughed the waters of the Big Horn. General Terry embarked upon her with the survivors of the Custer Massacre. Captain Grant Marsh, her commander, was the first navigator of the Upper Missouri and the first one to run a steamboat up the Yellowstone. He made his first voyage in company with General Sandy Forsyth, of General Sheridan’s staff, in the summer of 1875 upon the steamer Josephine. They advanced as far as Pompey’s Pillar,1 and a few miles beyond, or something over a hun1. Bourke is referring to a Smithsonian expedition which, obviously, had a military escort. Pompey’s Pillar itself is a 120-foot sandstone pillar that rises above the plain on the Yellowstone. It was named by William Clark in honor of Baptiste Charbonneau, Sacagawea’s son, whom Clark called Pompey or Pomp. Clark carved his name on the pillar, and Marsh carved the Josephine’s name in 1875. In 1876, some 450 of Gibbon’s men added their names. It is now a national historic landmark. See Baumler, “Lewis and Clark National Historic Landmarks in Montana,” 69.

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dred miles above the mouth of the Big Horn. Very few, if any, of our Shoshonees and Utes have ever seen a steamboat; the Far West is a source of wonder and delight to them. Whenever permitted, they go on board and run over her from stem to stern, from upper deck to hold. But no remark escapes their lips; they preserve an immobile countenance and not even a grunt indicates their emotions. On the 18th, Our Indian guides told Genl. Crook, by Washakie, their chief, that it was useless to continue the campaign longer under the turn affairs had taken: the hostiles would be away, long before our supplies should arrive: why not let Terry’s command remain on the river until supplies came; while Crook, with everything available in the shape of food and forage pushed out on the line of pursuit. Terry’s column could not march as swiftly as ours—it would be nothing but a dead weight:—then why continue with it longer? Washakie was wiser than he knew. This was the course that should have been pursued, but General Crook being junior to Terry could not dictate the plan of operations and it was natural that Terry should wish the two columns to remain together to share in the glory of any engagement we might force the enemy to give us.2 Lieut. Bubb has had a number of boxes of hard-bread opened and found the contents to be more or less damaged by the heavy rains encountered on our march. He has done the best he could to save a portion, by cutting off from each cracker the mildewed part and spreading the good pieces on canvas to thoroughly dry under the rays of a scorching sun.3 Hard bread is one of the bulkiest and most perishable parts of the ration; this suggests to me that, sooner or later, our imbecile, dead and alive, military administration must institute a series of experiments to determine some combination of food, to supplant hard bread on marches. In Arizona, flour was used in preference; this cannot be done along the valley of the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone where the thunder storms of summer are so sudden, so penetrating and so destructive. The type of food 2. Although Terry and Crook both were brigadier generals, Terry had seniority, having been appointed in 1865, more than eight years prior to Crook. Additionally, once Crook left Goose Creek and crossed into Montana, he was in Terry’s department, and therefore subject to the latter’s jurisdiction. 3. Hard tack, also called hard bread, or crackers, very much resembles the modern saltine or soda cracker. The dough is made simply by mixing salted flour with water, rolling it out on a sheet, piercing air holes with a fork, pressing grooves into it so that it can be broken into individual crackers, and baking. It is hard and essentially tasteless unless broken and dipped into coffee.

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which presents itself to my mind as the one best suited for military purposes, is the Pemmican or Toro of the Assiniboines and Northern Sioux. We might make a combination of dessicated pea or rice flour, or, if found superior, dextrinated wheat, with Leibig’s Extract of Beef and a little vegetable and fruit, as tomato, chile and plum or cherry. This, thoroughly incorporated, with the addition of marrow if deemed advisable, and digested at a good heat and then, under hydraulic pressure, run into moulds of not over one pound each, wrapped up separately like chocolate, could be readily carried, either by companies or individuals, would withstand the weather better than hard bread or flour, could be made into a palatable broth in about as little time as would be required for boiling water, or in case of necessity, could be eaten cold. Some such mixture would possess all the strengthening properties of meat, the “filling” and fattening powers of corn or flour, be a carnimative from the presence of chile and an anti-scorbutic from that of the fruits. It would not answer for a steady diet, neither, for that matter, does the ration of hardtack and bacon, which the poor soldier now must use, altho’ one tastes as palatable as saw dust and the other be rancid. Heavy rain this night. On the 19th August, the Far West was sent up to the mouth of the Rosebud to bring down rations and forage. Captain [Andrew Sheridan] Burt, 9th Inf., was a passenger. His mission was to induce the Crows, who were encamped on the Yellowstone, near that point, to send a force of their tribe with the Expedition to act as scouts. General Crook is satisfied that if our Indian guides adhere to their intention to leave us, we must obtain the help of the Crows in the same capacity or our future operations shall be a failure. Ute John came over to our Hd.Qrs. this morning and told his friend, “Shennel Cluke” that the Shoshonees were all going home, much dissatisfied, but he, John, was going to stick to General Crook: wherever he went, John was going, also. General Terry to General Crook, August 17th Dear General. The steamer left here (Yellowstone,) last night, or rather yesterday afternoon and was expected back before this. I hope that she will be here this evening. A part of the rations which I ordered are

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here: I presume that the rest are aboard the boat. I have there now 60.000 lbs. of grain. I will direct Captain Nowlan to issue to your Quartermaster whenever you send for it. Yrs. Truly, (Signed.) A.H. Terry, B.G. P.S. Miles has a company on the river some (30) or 40 miles below this point, but there is no news from it: the company went down night before last and took with (it) both scouts and Indians. I am sure that if anything is discovered, the intelligence will be sent up here. (sig.) A.H.T. No date. August 18th (I think)* Dear General. The Far West has just arrived. I have just given orders to take her stores off, and then I propose to send her down to Wolf Rapids to make an examination and determine the question whether she can get back again if she goes below them. If she can, I shall send her down as far as Glendive creek to ascertain whether the Indians have crossed. Starting early to-morrow morning she can be back by to-morrow night. I should like if you would send her some of the people, in whose judgment you have the most confidence, to look out for trails coming down to the bank and going up on the other side. My Rees have come in; they say that they have been as far as the next creek, (I suppose O’Fallon’s) and that all the trails tend directly East, as if making for the Little Missouri, and that they have burned the entire country behind them. They say that they went out (20) miles, but this is, of course, an over-estimate. Yrs. Sincerely, (sig.) A.H. Terry, B.G. Daily, “Mackinaw” boats came down the Yellowstone, gliding swiftly upon the bosom of the river. These boats are rough affairs, managed chiefly by the rudder and driven along solely by the pressure of the current. Altho’ of all sizes, the favorite dimensions are those which admit of the transportation of from twenty to thirty tons of freight. The arrival of each one is announced by the songs and yells of its occupants, who as they pass over camp indulge in a running fire of *Bourke’s remark.

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witticisms with our soldiers, bathing and washing along the bank. The bronzed fellows in the boats seem to be glad their journey is over, while their companions on the land crowd down to learn the latest news, which means to us now, via the Union Pacific R.R. to Ogden, Utah, thence through the Territory of Idaho to Helena, Montana, and from the terminus of the telegraph lines by stage to Fort Ellis,4 Montana, on the head-waters of the Missouri, which is only twenty-six miles from the Yellowstone. The boatmen are not always soldiers; thrifty speculators have seen their interest in such a voyage and have braved the dangers of current and Indians to reach the harvest of coffee-pots at $1.50 and $2.50 each and canned fruits and fresh vegetables, eggs and beer at fabulous prices. The moment one of these “bum-boats” ties up to the bank, a horde of hungry soldiers and packers perches on her little deck, where she has a deck, or crushes into her hold, where, as is generally the case, there is no covering; each man yelling and screaming his wants. Men on horseback wade into the stream and swimmers hang on to the sides of the craft; the only perfectly self-possessed person is the “commodore” as the owner of the boat is called by a strange perversion of courtesy. He demands his own prices and, much to his disappointment, gets them at once: consequently, coffee-pots which in the morning go off “like hot cakes”, at $1.50 each, are found by evening to have been “by mistake”, undermarked, and the “Commodore” is reluctantly forced to ask the fine price $2[.]50. The soldiers get angry at this and there is some talk of drowning the scoundrel, but the whole matter is arranged by putting the price of the coffee-pots back at $1.50 and as that is a clear profit of not less than $1.00 each, I have no sympathy to waste upon the “Commodore” whom the soldiers, with a keen sense of the fitness of things, are now addressing as “old pirate”. There is another kind of vehicle used in these water—the “bull boat” of the Mandan Indians. Not having had a chance to make a close inspection of one, I prefer to adhere to the descriptions given me by people familiar with them. They are made with a framework of cottonwood and willow branches, but into proper form and held together by thongs of leather and small twigs. This framework is 4. Fort Ellis was established in 1867 on the East Gallatin River, three miles west of Bozeman, to guard Bozeman, Bridger and Flathead Passes. It was abandoned in 1886, and the military reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior. Frazer, Forts of the West, 80.

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covered with buffalo robes or canvas and the strange vessel has the appearance of a saucer. It is managed with a paddle, but to those not expert in its use, it affords more frequently a means of drowning than of being carried across the Missouri or Yellowstone. The old squaws handle them with great skill. After placing their goods and chattels, which means, of course, one or two little pappooses, in the bottom of the boat, they slide themselves into it, seize the paddle with both hands and paddle towards the boat.5 In this, apparently, hazardous way they cross in perfect safety the broad Missouri at the time of the most angry floods. Colonel Stanton and I rode over on the 19th August to Terry’s Hd.Qrs., where we were very kindly received. After remaining there a few minutes we rode to the Sutler’s tent, at mouth of Powder. This was packed full of officers, soldiers, packers, guides, steamboatmen and Indians. How any more people could have been crowded in except by hydraulic pressure, I don’t know. I hung on to Stanton’s coat-tails, trusting in his size and weight to break a way through the crowd for both of us. This he accomplished with some trouble and a free use of his favorite expression, “Christ! Maria!” We met a multitude of officers from our own and Terry’s columns. There wasn’t much chance for intellectual conversation; one moment, a soldier stepped on one of our feet, the next, some two hundred pound packer favored the other one in the same manner. We didn’t stay there long: it took us about fifteen minutes to fight our way out. Then we went over to see Lieut. W.P. Clark, 2d Cavalry. He had come down the Yellowstone in a Mackinaw boat, loaded with provisions. His escort consisted of but seventeen men and a Gatling gun. Clark showed he had not forgotten all he had been taught at West Point: as our columns had not yet come down, he set his men to work building a lunette. It was rather a parody upon the lunette of the text-books and would have made old Dinny Mahan6 gnash his teeth with rage had he lived long enough to see it. But it was good enough as a shelter and when Clark saw the dust from our immense column coming down the valley he thought it was Crazy Horse’s and Sitting Bull’s bands coming to eat him up, but he felt confident of being able with his Gatling gun to keep us off, until the arrival of reinforcements. He wasn’t especially 5. I.e., inwards against the side of the boat. 6. Dennis Hart Mahan (d. 1871), professor at the United States Military Academy, who set the standard for tactical instruction at the academy.

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sorry to see that it was white troops and not Indians approaching him. We had lunch with Clark—Col. Stanton, General [Eugene A.] Carr, (Lieut-Col. 5th Cavalry,) who was there when we arrived, and myself. The tent was very small, so we had to crowd closely about the box which served as table. We had friend bacon, bread, a can of peaches and a bottle of the Sutler’s best whiskey: the last named tasted good, because it has such a fine label. Without the label, I am quite assured, we’d have called it “rot-gut” or “hell-fire”. General Carr had left his horses under the charge of his orderly, one of the most faithful men in the Army, so he said. As our stay had been greatly prolonged, we bade farewell to our host and his guest and were soon loping back in the direction of our Hd.Qrs. tree. We saw in the middle of the road, wandering around uncared for, a finelooking horse, saddled and bridled, which we knew at a glance to be the property of some officer: near by, under a bush, on a soft pile of Yellowstone sand, lay the model orderly, regardless of the sun’s rays, of General Carr’s wrath or anything else. Five or ten feet from him, on the ground, lay a half-emptied bottle of whiskey and under the next bush a drunken comrade who had not wholly succumbed to the insidious advances of the brain-poison. His voice was still for war. Raising himself half up from the ground, he called out to us, and to the world in general, to come on with “yur Crazy’s Harss’es and Settin’ Bullses be Jaysus,” but as we didn’t happen to have any such articles with us, his defiant challenges passed unheeded. We more than suspected that the second inebriate was the high-toned “striker” whose praises Lieut. Clark has been vaunting so loudly in response to General Carr’s eulogies upon his orderly. We made no delay in reaching home, except to halt and unbridle our horses for a few moments at a great pile of oats which lay alongside the road. Who put it there, I don’t know: it was a great piece of neglect on the part of somebody in the Q.M. Department. Soldiers from General Crook’s column had come in large squads and helped himself to bags of this forage for the use of their horses. It is hard to determine how much there had been in the pile originally. I should not be surprised were I to be told there had been two or three tons. A disagreeable storm of hot sand blew into our faces the whole way back. It had commenced while we were dining with Clark and had filled dishes and food with sharp little particles to scratch the tongue and throat.

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Only a slight sprinkling of rain this afternoon. The air remained sultry, and oppressive; black folds of clouds enveloped the little butte called by the name of our Division Commander,—Phil. Sheridan—and dust whirled about us and against us until close on to sun-set. Our Shoshonee scouts were favored this evening with a complimentary dance from the Rees, who are attached to General Terry’s command. This “pony” dance, as it is styled, is Pyrrhic in character, if it have any character at all. The performers are almost naked and, with their ponies, are bedaubed and painted until they faintly resemble a Washington belle. They advance in a regular line which they will not break for any purpose, going over every obstruction, even trampling down the rude shelters of cottonwood branches erected by the Utes and Shoshonees for their protection from the elements. As soon as they had come within a few feet of the camp fires of the Shoshonees, the latter, with the Utes, joined the Rees in their chant and also jumped upon their ponies which staggered for sometime around camp under their double and even treble load, until, Thank Heaven! the affair ended. In spite of my having what might be considered a “dead-head” view of the dance, I didn’t enjoy it at all and wasn’t sorry when the Rees said they’d have to go back to their own camp. After Schuyler and I had turned in for the night, Tom Moore, our master of transportation, came and waked us up to go join him in a mess of boiled beans. We didn’t need any second invitation and as we were sleeping with all our clothes on, we were spared the necessity of an elaborate toilette. Around the camp-fire of our packers, we met Dr. Hartsuff, Colonel Stanton, and Lt. Bubb of our mess and also Mr. Wasson. The beans were excellent; packers understand how to boil them; then we had plenty of hard tack and coffee, with some sugar. It had been so long since we had eaten any beans that our gratification was extreme. Each one bred a small-sized famine in front of him. It was agreed, without dispute, that our supper with our friends, the packers, was better than anything to be obtained in New York or Paris; but, at the same time; some of us thought, if the peril of our beloved country ever became so grave that nothing could save her but to send us to either of those cities, we should make the journey and accept the station without a growl. August 20th. Early in the morning, our Utes and Shoshonees left,—

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Washakie coming up to shake hands with General Crook. True to his promise, Ute John, remained with us. The departure of our brave Indian allies had a decidedly dispiriting effect upon officers and men, which was not diminished by the spreading through camp of a rumor that the Crows had refused to come to the river to join us. General Terry came up to our Hd.Qrs. tree to call upon General Crook. General Terry appeared well on horse-back, and in his elegant, neatly fitting uniform was especially handsome: General Crook was hunted for high up and low down; no one could find him. At last, Butler, Major Randall’s orderly, was sent down to the bank of the Yellowstone to see whether or not General Crook was bathing. He found the General, sitting on the smooth pebbly shore, watching his clothes drying in the sun. After finishing his bath, he had set to and washed his clothing himself, not wishing to trouble any of the soldiers or servants with that duty. His example all through this campaign, as indeed all through his life, has been that of a wonderfully modest and patient self-denial and to all he appears as the most stoical and Spartan like of American generals. As a small matter of accuracy merely and not of any special importance, I may say that his clothes look as if he had washed them himself and also as if he had a hand in their fabrication. Crook’s example has been followed to a very great extent by his officers and men who are imbued with the idea that, only by depriving themselves of every semblance of luxury and of many comforts can they hope to make our transportation effective: whereas, in Terry’s column, there is much luxury, much inertness and some indifference as to results. Among the officers whom I saw this morning, there is current the report that they shall have to return to the Missouri next month, leaving here by September 15th. There was no sorrow expressed and I am afraid that but little was felt at this turn of affairs, even if it should leave the savages masters of the situation. These officers should not be censured for being dispirited; the Custer Massacre was a fearful shock—one which they cannot hope to avenge this season, as the transportation with their column is so poorly organized that it would be vain for them to expect to catch up with the enemy except in places where it may suit the Indians to have them do so. Terry to Crook, Aug. 18. 1876

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Dear General. Since I saw you, I have found that our supplies of subsistence are larger than I supposed. The whole force here is rationed to include the 1st of September, except that your commissary still needs two hundred boxes of hard-bread. Of these, I can furnish one hundred boxes and still have a little bread, a little coffee and a little sugar left. The difference between this amount and the fifteen days rations of which you spoke is so slight that I think that it ought not to detain us. But perhaps your animals are in such a state that a further supply of forage and a longer rest would be desirable for them. If such be your wish, I am entirely willing to wait until the forage can be obtained. Very Truly Yrs. (signed.) A.H. Terry. General Crook, U.S.A. (Over.) P.S. Col. Chambers mentioned to me to-day that his men need shoes very badly. If the steamer goes to the Rosebud, I can give him the shoes which he needs. (signed.) A.H.T. My understanding of the views entertained by the two Generals was this: General Terry wished the two columns to remain together and start out at once in pursuit of the Indians and in default of rations[,] to live upon our horses.7 General Crook did not concur in this plan. We had lost so much time in coming to the Yellowstone, that a day or two longer would make no great difference, provided the steamer should bring down from the Rosebud a sufficiency of supplies to last us on the march, forage for our animals, shoes for our Infantry and above all, a contingent of Indian scouts to act as guides and trailers. With a detachment of Crows, we could push on with more rapidity and with greater certainty of overtaking the hostiles than by starting now without them, especially as Terry’s part of the command, with its wretched transportation, couldn’t average fifteen miles a day. Schuyler and Randall worked hard all afternoon making a flag for our Hd.Qrs. The different battalion Hd.Qrs. in Terry’s column are distinguished by their standards, so that orderlies and messengers 7. I.e. eat the horses when food ran out.

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have very little trouble in finding them. The idea is an excellent one. The flag from our Hd.Qrs. was serviceable in texture, altho’ rather primitive in general make-up. It was a guidon, of two horizontal bands, white above, red beneath, with a blue star in center: in dimensions, but slightly larger than the regulation company guidon. The white was from a crush towel contributed by Colonel Stanton, the red came from a flannel undershirt belonging to Schuyler, and an old blue blouse which Randall was about to throw away furnished the material for the star. Tom Moore had a travois pole shaved down for a staff, the ferule of which, (and the tip also,) was made of a metallic cartridge. The standard was flung to the breeze shortly after midday. We had just finished supper, when we were exposed to as miserable a storm as ever drowned out the spirit and enthusiasm of any set of mortals. It didn’t come on us suddenly, but with slowness and deliberation almost premeditated. For more than an hour the fleecy clouds skirmished in the sky, wheeling and circling lazily until reinforced by multitudes from the West and then moving boldly forward and hanging over us in dense, black, sullen masses. We saw that we had a long siege before us and bestirred ourselves to make such preparations as we could. Willow twigs and grass were cut in quantities, and when these could no longer be found, sage-brush and grease-wood were brought in. Wood was stacked up for our fire, so that at the earliest possible moment after the storm should have broken, we might be able to rekindle it and have some chance of warming ourselves and drying our clothing. With the twigs and sage-brush, we built up a bed in a well-drained location, placed our saddles and bridles at our heads and our carbines and cartridges by our sides to keep them dry. As a last protection, a couple of lariats were tied together, one end of the rope fastened to a picket-pin in the ground, the other to the limb of an old cottonwood by which our Hd.Qrs. had been established. Over this we placed a piece of old canvass and a couple of blankets from the pack-train and—we had done our best. After that, all that remained was to grin and bear it. The storm-king had waited patiently for the completion of our preparations and now with a loud, ear-piercing crash of thunder and a hissing flash of white lightning gave the signal to the elements to begin the attack. We cowered helplessly under the shock, sensible that human strength

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was insignificant in contrast with the power of the blast that roared and yelled and shrieked about us. For hours the rain beat down, either as heavy drops which stung by their momentum, as little pellets which drizzled through the canvass and blankets, chilling our blood as they soaked into our clothing, or alternating with hail which in great, globular masses* crackled against our miserable shelter, whitened the ground and cooled the air. The reverberation of the thunder was incessant; one shock had barely commenced to echo around the sky when peal after peal, each stronger, louder and more terrifying than its predecessors, blotted from our minds the sound and flashes which had awakened our first astonishment and made us forget in new frights our old alarms. The lightning darted from zenith to horizon, appeared in all quarters, play around all objects. In its glare, the smallest bushes, stones and shrubs stood out as plainly as under the noon-sun of a bright summer’s day: when it subsided, our spirits were oppressed with the weight of darkness. No stringing together of words can make up a description of what we saw, suffered and feared during that awful tempest. The stoutest hearts—the oldest soldiers quailed. The last growl of thunder and last flash of lightning came between 2 and 3 in the morning, and then we turned out from our wretched, water-soaked couches and gathering around the spot where our fire had been, tried, but the smoke of sodden chips and twigs failed to warm our benumbed limbs and saturated clothing. Not until the dawn of day did we feel the circulation quicken and, our spirits revive: a comparison of opinion developed a coincidence of sentiment. Everybody agreed that while this was not perhaps the worst storm ever known, the circumstances of our complete exposure to its force had made it one of the severest any of the command had ever experienced: Many of us will carry not only the remembrance but the effects of this tempest for the rest of our lives.8 This prolonged bad weather will certainly be a source of injury to both men and animals. The command preserves its equanimity very remarkably. There is a great deal of growling and grumbling, as might be expected, but it is more good-nature[d] than serious. Colonel Evans, of the 3d Cavalry, who is a confirmed misanthrope, womanAbove “masses,” Bourke wrote, “crystals.”

*

8. In On the Border With Crook (358–59), Bourke’s description of the storm was taken almost verbatim from this passage.

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hater, cynic, and pessimist, has all through the campaign taken a most gloomy and unwholesome view of prospects and circumstances. Nothing seems to please him. To borrow an expression employed by Colonel Royall, he “is always even-tempered, always the same, always cross as a bear.” Since the really bad weather set in, Colonel Evans has, to the surprise of all his acquaintances, assumed a new rôle—that of Mark Tapley;9 let others complain as much as they will, Colonel Evans’ face lights up with a heavenly smile as he glances at the lowering sky and makes the prediction that the coming storm will be one of the worst he has ever known or ventures to prophesy that the lightning will strike some one sure next time. Colonel Royall, in command of the 2d and 3d Cavalry, is worse than an ordinary thunderstorm and more dreaded by the subalterns. He is not severe in manner—his manner is pleasant enough—but he is very exact in his ideas of discipline, yet being just and discriminating, his censures fall upon the shirking and worthless and are a source of merriment to those who try to do their duty. One of the worst specimens under him is Captain N–, a noted growler,—and hair-splitter, one always eager to question the validity of an order or to seize upon some ambiguity of expression to place upon it an interpretation which will frustrate its objectives. He has never loyally obeyed an order in his life.10 One day, while we were changing camp on Goose creek, Colonel Royal [sic] personally gave to Captain N., an order couched in these words—“Captain, when we halt, I wish you to put you to put [sic] your company into camp at once, on this side of the river.” Shortly afterwards, the bugle sounded, the column halted and the companies began to go into camp; that is all, except that of N, who, seeing a more pleasant camping place for himself, on the other side of the stream, crossed, dismounted and was about comfortably settled, when Col. Royall rode up in great rage and demanded an explanation. N– tried to shield himself under a quibble,—didn’t understand the order. The Colonel repeated the order and also said, “you were told to go into camp on this side of the river”, (that is the side where 9. A simple, cheerful character in Charles Dickens’s novel Martin Chuzzlewit. 10. The only captain listed in the cavalry roster with a name beginning with “N” is Henry E. Noyes. If, in fact, Bourke meant Noyes, his attitude would be understandable; after the Reynolds fight on the Powder River the preceding March, Noyes had been court-martialed and reprimanded for adhering too closely to orders when circumstances dictated otherwise. See Robinson, General Crook, 171–72.

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the other companies were.) “But Colonel Royall;[”] replied Capt. N.–“this is no river, this is a creek.” “Well By G–, sir,[”] roared the now thoroughly aroused Colonel, [“]I make it a river, it’s a river by my order, Sir”, and the discomfited Captain had to remount and move over to the other side, where he had to run the gauntlet of jokes from his comrades as soon as they learned the story. General Merritt, in command of General Crook’s cavalry column, has in use a system of signals for communicating between pickets and the main guard and sparing horses and men the labor of running to and from camp with orders and messages. It works very well in good weather, but in stormy days or nights, it will be a failure. The system might be improved upon by the substitution for the flags, of bugles or whistles—and by a preconcerted arrangement, almost any information could be transmitted from the position of the videttes to that of the main guard, or back, with very slight danger of misunderstanding. August 21st. Steamer “Carroll” arrived from below. Another storm, but not of same duration or intensity as that of 20th. We have had severe thundershowers every day for more than a week, but have not paid much attention to them unless they assumed the proportions of hurricanes. Lt. W.P. Clark, 2d Cavalry, assigned to duty on staff of General Crook, having been ordered to report to him by General Terry. August 22nd 1875 General Terry to General Crook. August 22nd 1876. Dear General. I have just received a dispatch from the Far West. She should have been here this morning by 10 o’clock, but, unfortunately, she has gone on the rocks at Buffalo rapids and has been obliged to partially unload. The Captain is confident that she can be here to-morrow morning. Yrs. Sincerely, (signed.) A.H. Terry. While we were reading this dispatch, the whistle of the Far West was heard and before very long the steamer’s pipes were discerned a short distance up stream (N.B. Buffalo rapids are about half way between Powder and Rosebud.) Major Burt returned on the Far West, unsuccessful in his mission. The Crow Indians declined to

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join the expedition, thinking their homes would be endangered by their absence. The Far West brought down the remains of Terry’s dépôt camp at mouth of Rosebud; to our great disappointment there was no considerable amount of supplies; there was quite a number of rocking chairs and such useless truck going to show that the accumulation of impedimenta had been permitted to a dangerous extent. There were, by good fortune, shoes for most of our barefooted soldiers: this was a great blessing. The officers in charge of the supply departments have not particularly distinguished themselves in forwarding stores to the troops on the Yellowstone. This is more true of the Subsistence than of the Q.M. Department.11 As a simple fact to substantiate any criticism, I will note that all the tobacco obtainable was eleven pounds. I know this because that number of orderlies at our Hd.Qrs., used tobacco and I, accordingly, put in a requisition for the allowance of one pound each. Shortly after it was handed to me by the Commissary Sergeant, Lieut. Bubb came up greatly excited and said there was no tobacco at all, that he wanted to keep the eleven pounds for emergencies, &c., but it was then too late: it had been distributed among the men of the detachment. Writing of orderlies, reminds me that the organization of General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. is in this respect, very defective. There is an allowance of only one orderly to each officer. After a long march, there is practically no body to carry dispatches to different parts of the command. Theoretically, each officer is to look after his own horse: this could be done, under pressure, by Company Officers, but, by staff officers, it is not practicable, unless the interests of the Government suffer. Thus, the Medical officers must look after their sick—they cannot neglect them in order to change the picketpins of their horses. Aides have communications to write and copy and transmit. All this takes time. The poor animal, meanwhile, is standing saddled and bridled, looking wistfully at his more fortunate comrades on their way to pasture. The orderlies, not being under close surveillance, either as a body shirk their duties, or else some of the more domineering have unchecked opportunities for forcing their work upon timid, or good-natured associates. The only proper way is for General Crook to have a company of Cavalry detailed under competent and efficient officers:—this is beyond a doubt, the 11. The Subsistence Department was responsible for rationing the men, while the Quartermaster Department had charge of providing clothing, equipment, animals, and their forage.

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method to be employed in any future movements we may have to make. Drizzling showers all day. In General Terry’s column, which I visited to-day, there has been prevalent an insane idea that the hostile Indians, under Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, have crossed the Yellowstone near the mouth of Porcupine creek, and then moved over the divide and down the stream called Dry Fork, to the Missouri. It is hoped, and asserted, that by crossing the Yellowstone, at this point, and moving directly to the Missouri at the place indicated, we can cut the Indians off—off from what? God only knows. It is useless to try and combat such notions; they are of the same general type as panics; like them, their origin is obscure, their arguments illusory but specious, their spread rapid, their results unsatisfactory and frequently disastrous, and after their ridiculous character has been demonstrated, not a single soul can be found in the Command to admit to having ever believed in them. In the present case, an alarming number of the officers of Terry’s command give support to this absurd opinion, alleging that the locality in question is and always has been a favorite crossing of the Indians. On the other hand, not a single officer of our column but has thrown discredit and even ridicule on the subject. Why should the Indians go across the Missouri? They are not retreating. The balance of success remains in their hands. After annihilating the best of Terry’s command, it seems odd, to say the least, that they should flee from the discomfited remainder. Crook, with his strong force of native auxiliaries is a source of dread to them, perhaps, but our removal to the Yellowstone is as well known to them as to ourselves. They are apprised [sic] of all our movement and if pressed, are more likely to scatter toward the Agencies than to keep in a compact body and go north of the Missouri. If the trail had turned north, we might have reason for assuming that they had some intention of crossing the Big Muddy, but it persistently keeps East, and if anything has a Southern tendency. There is only one thing certain about an Indian trail, as I remarked to a party of Terry’s officers, and that is that you are at one end of it and they are at the other. Lieut. W.P. Clark, 2d Cavy., reported to General Crook for duty to-day. August 23d. A mean, miserable day. Heavy showers or a dense London fog from morning until night. Trees dripping, grass sloppy

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and ground muddy and sticky. Camp very busy making ready for a forward move. Officers and soldiers moving with alacrity in their work, glad to get away from the Yellowstone, and take up the pursuit once more. Terry’s column is so heavy that it will only drag us down and so poorly equipped in the matter of guides and pack-animals that it can do no good by going far from the river. The proper thing to be done was to take every available mounted man from each column and make one compact, homogenous body of Cavalry; do the same with the effective force of Infantry; the remainder of the combined strength should have been kept on the river and could have been worked to great advantage in guarding stores on steamboats, patrolling the river occasionally, or best of all in constant drill and exercise.* One General to guard the river and superintend things generally; the other to take the field and keep it, until the last fragment of organized hostility had been trilurated[?] into fragments. I was often reminded of an expression to be found in Kent’s Commentaries. “Unity increases the efficiency, by increasing the responsibility of the Executive.”12 This remark is as true of a military Executive as of any other. We have two Brigadiers: consequently, we have two rival organizations, not rivals in the nobler sense of the word, but in all the signification of acrimonious and splenetic jealousy. The two commanders agree well together and are both noble-minded men; human nature crops out among the subalterns to a fearful extent. Terry’s two most prominent Cavalry officers are Reno and [Maj. James S.] Brisbin. Reno saved, more by good luck than good management, the remnant of the 7th Cavalry at the Custer Massacre. He saw enough at that fight to scare him for the rest of his life. He will never make a bold movement for ten years to come. Brisbin is one of the political dead-beats who have crowded into the Army since the War. Without record, without talent, education or common honesty of purpose, he is a low, vulgar-minded, ill-bred In the top margin, Bourke inserted: General Crook became tired of waiting for supplies which never came and resolved to strike out with his own column, leaving Terry to follow when he got ready.

*

12. Bourke refers to James Kent’s four-volume Commentaries on American Law. Consisting of a series of lectures and first published in 1826, it is a basic work on the subject, and went into multiple editions throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century. The most recent edition was published online in html format by the Constitution Society, from 1998 through 2002. http://www.constitution.org/jk/jk_000.htm

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ignoramus, possessing but the one merit that under his guidance his Battalion will never be surprised by the Indians, because Jim will smell them for twenty miles [away] and avoid danger. He had never heard a shot fired in a fair fight. Crook’s Cavalry leaders are Merritt, Carr, Royall & Evans—all old Indian fighters, excepting Merritt who won his spurs in the war of the Rebellion. Under them the good, ambitious, energetic young officers of Terry’s column would have an avenue to distinction. General Gibbon, who commands General Terry’s Infantry Battalions, is an exceptionally fine soldier, one who, as a Corps commander, during the war of the Rebellion, covered himself with undying honor. He would make an excellent commander of the new column, and with such an assistant as Lieut-Colonel Alex. Chambers, of Crook’s command, no delay would be had in putting everything in proper shape. The steamer Carroll, which arrived yesterday, brought a vague rumor that General Sheridan intended keeping the main-body of Terry’s command, under that officer, on the Yellowstone, while Crook, with his forces, continued the campaign. It is hard to determine the truth of such reports; the impression I have of the situation is as given above; by weeding out the two columns, make one powerful organization, under one head, and let those who are not fitted for active field-work, build a camp, to guard stores during the winter. We heard that Congress has passed the appropriation for building two posts in the Yellowstone country; wherever they may be, they, with Fort Ellis, Montana, the now rapidly-growing settlements in the Black Hills, and some position near the Big Horn Mountains ought to hold this entire country, with the additional safe guard of having the Sioux and Cheyennes placed under military jurisdiction. Our sick and disabled have been placed on steamboat and ordered to Omaha, under charge of Captain T.B. Burrowes, 9th Infantry, himself an invalid suffering from hypertrophy of the heart, due to a gun-shot wound in the Left lung, received during the War of the Rebellion. Captain Cain, 4th Infantry, insane, and Lt. Geo. O. Eaton, 5th Cavalry, suffering badly from chills and fever also accidentally shot in the finger of the Right hand are of the party. 1 Lt. A.B. Bache, 5th Cavalry, who was sent away from the column, on the Rosebud, August 10th and 11th, on account of inflammatory rheumatism, ob-

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stinately refused to remain away, but has rejoined and says he will stick with the column if he has to be hauled on a travois. The number of enlisted men sent down was twenty-one, one of them Eshleman, Private of Company D, 9th Infantry, violently insane. This night we had a frightful tempest of thunder, lightning, wind and cold rain. Lieut. Clark carried in his belt, a hunting knife as heavy as a hatchet: two or three blows from it will cut down a stout sapling. For several hours in the afternoon, we worked with it in turns, chopping and slashing young cottonwood and willow trees and making with them and branches of sage-brush, a pretty fair piece of wattle-work to screen us from the impending storm. Its fury was so great however that no great good resulted from our precautions which represented about so much labor thrown away. The whole camp was drowned out and towards midnight, men and horses were wandering from place to place in the dense darkness, chilled and scared almost out of their senses. I have exhausted all the language at my command in attempting to portray the future of the tempests to which we have already been subjected: of this, I shall say not one word except that it was grander and more terrible than any which had gone before it. For its scenic effects, it would have been a fine study upon canvas; but a man, lying in three or four inches of rain water with the pitiless clouds pouring down a perfect Niagara of Water upon him and his half-dead comrades is not much of an admirer of the fine arts.

Chapter 4 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Ordeal Begins

August 24th. We awakened, or rather arose, (because we had not slept a wink during the storm which lasted all night.) and after considerable trouble got our fires going once more and coffee boiling. A good cup of this helped greatly to cheer us for our task of marching which began almost immediately after. It was impossible to cross the Powder river, which was greatly flooded by the torrent of water which had filled it during the night: our line of march lay up the Left or West bank for about ten miles, men and animals floundering helplessly along in the deep, sticky mud, bearing as best they might the drenching rain which saturated their clothing and blankets and added much to their weight. Our poor horses and mules conduct themselves as if they never had a friend in the world. A fine black and white New Foundland dog has joined our Hd.Qrs. The orderlies call him Jack: where he came from, no one can say. It won’t do to inquire too closely: soldiers will steal dogs—they can’t help it and are not to be blamed as they must have a pet of some kind.* Received the following dispatches, during march and in camp. Immediately after this sentence, Bourke wrote, then crossed out, the following: August 24th. Moved about twelve miles upon Right (or East) bank of Powder to near the Indian trail, Halted up. . . . *

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Dear General. I was directed to send Lieut. [Charles Brewster] Schofield of my staff to find you and say that General Terry is looking for you. He came here on steamboat to find you, but you had gone. He left here for General Reno’s camp, 7th Cavalry, a few minutes since. As Mr. Schofield’s horse is on herd, I sent the scout Taylor to say Genl. T. wishes to see you. Please meet him or send definite word where he can find you. Yrs. Respectfully, (signed.) J.S. Brisbin, Major 2nd Cavy., Chief Cavalry. Dear General. I came up on the boat to see you, but found that you had gone. The boat brought up your additional rations, but of course will not land them. I can send your supplies, forage and subsistence to the mouth of the Powder if you wish it; but if you could send your packtrain to the landing it would be better for the boat is very busy. I propose to start in the morning. My cavalry will move up on your trail, until it can find a crossing, the Infantry on the East side. Please inform me to what point you will send your train. I enclose notes from the C.O. at Glendive creek. What do you think of them? I do not attach any great importance to them. At any rate, I see nothing in them to change our plans. Please preserve these notes. Yrs. Truly, (signed.) A.H.T. B.G. Aug. 24th 1876. The notes from the Commanding Officer the of camp at Glendive creek informed General Terry that the Indians in strong force had attacked his post, but had been driven off. August 24th Evening(?) Dear General Your note crossed over from me to you. I sent Lieut. Schofield out to find you, supposing that you were within four or five miles and intending to go out and meet you, if you were near. My note has fully explained all that I wished to say. I still intend to leave at six in the morning and I hope that your march will not be so long as to prevent my overtaking you.

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Yrs. Sincerely, A.H. Terry, B.G. on outside was written: “Sanger to open and read dispatches.”1 August 25th. Crossed Powder river and moved up on its Right or East bank for twelve miles or more to near the point where we had left the Indian trail on our downward march to the Yellowstone. Terry to Crook. Aug. 25th. Dear General. There is one thing which I forgot to say and that is that it appears to me that the band which has gone to the north, if any have gone there, is the heart and soul of the Indian mutiny.2 It is the nucleus around which the whole body of disaffected Indians gathers. If it were destroyed, this thing would be over, and it is for that reason that I so strongly feel that even if a larger trail is found leading to the South, we should make a united effort to settle these particular people. I will send you further news as soon as I get it. Yrs. Sincerely. (signed.) A.H. Terry, B.G. It is a masterful exposition of the comprehensive manner in which he acted throughout the campaign. From this moment the separation between the military policies of the two Commanders was broad and distinct. Terry committed himself to the error of supposing that some considerable body of the hostiles had crossed the Yellowstone and to the illusory strategy of endeavoring to head them off. Crook maintained that there was no indication whatever of any such passage having been contemplated or attempted; that even admitting such a division had been made, one branch of the Indian column would move in towards the Agencies to replenish its supplies and 1. May refer to Capt. Louis H. Sanger, 17th Infantry. 2. Terry is borrowing a page from the British. The actual Indian Mutiny, which occurred some twenty years earlier, began with a rebellion of native troops in India against their British officers. As such, it was a bona fide mutiny. The 1876–77 uprising of American Plains Indians, however, was among tribes not attached to the military, and chiefs who, to a great extent, had never signed any treaties establishing allegiance to the United States. The most significant incident among American Indians that legally could be termed a mutiny occurred at Cibicu, Arizona, in 1881, when U.S. Army Apache scouts turned on their officers. Two Apache sergeants and a corporal subsequently were hanged under sentence of court-martial. See Robinson, General Crook, 254.

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in so doing would threaten the exposed settlements in the Department of the Platte; that it was more advisable to follow this band of hostiles and so impede their progress than it was to follow the other band to the desolate and unsettled region contiguous to the Missouri river and run the risk of not catching any of its people, while the others meantime would be robbing and murdering with impunity in the Black Hills. It is proper to anticipate events a little in this chronicle and say that General Terry was mistaken from the very basis of his theory; that no considerable bands of hostiles crossed the Yellowstone;3 that General Terry’s marches after his separation from Crook were absolutely barren of results, but that, on the contrary, Crook’s movements were fully justified by events and that the Indian prisoners taken at Slim Buttes gave an account of the plans and purposes of their people entirely corroborative of General Crook’s predictions. General Terry rode into camp this evening accompanied by Buffalo Bill. The two Generals had a long and earnest conference, the upshot of which was that Crook was to stick to the trail and follow it wheresoever it might lead him. Terry decided to return to the mouth of Powder river with his command, place it on steamboats and move slowly down the Yellowstone, looking for the trails of any large bodies of hostiles on their way north. He would move down as far as the mouth of Glendive creek and there await word from Crook, which should decide whether he was to follow us or prosecute his scheme of moving to the Dry Fork of the Missouri. I should mention that there has been a great diminution of the number of correspondents with General Crook’s column. Many of them prefer the inglorious ease of life on a steamboat, to marching across the country, in good weather and bad, with meagre supplies and scarcely any clothing. Nobody blames them much. I myself think they were very level-headed. In this manner, we lost Mr.—, the half crazy correspondent of the New York Graphic and Mr. Lathrop of the San Francisco Bulletin. Mr. Lathrop in getting aboard the boat, missed his footing and fell, kewplash! in the Yellowstone. He didn’t seem to enjoy the occurrence half as much as the spectators did. General Terry, with great kindness, left five Ree scouts with General 3. In fact, Sitting Bull’s band did cross the Yellowstone, where it encountered Miles in October of that year.

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Crook; these scouts belong in this country, know it very well and will have no trouble and delay in carrying dispatches from one column to the other. Had a slight shower this afternoon. August 26th. Morning cold and foggy. Made to-day a march of twenty six miles, following Indian trail nearly due East to a point on O’Fallon’s creek, where we bivouacked finding pretty good water, & a sufficiency of fuel from the scrub pines and cedar in vicinity and from the sage brush growing about camp. Our animals had fortunately fair grazing. The whole expanse of country within sight has been burned off by the hostile Indians; this will oblige us either to lengthen or shorten our marches, dependent upon where and when each day we may discover pasturage for our animals. The scenery on this march was picturesque, the trail running along through Bad Lands. There are countless coal measures in this vicinity, offering an inexhaustible supply of fuel for the settlements of the future. In some places, these measures have been ignited and are still burning. Dispatch received this day from General Terry. Aug. 25th Dear General. I have had a reply to my dispatch to Whistler.4 Rice was not attacked, but the steamer Yellowstone was.5 I shall return, cross over, march far enough north to determine, if possible, whether the Indians have made for Dry Fork, and if they have not or if I believe that there is still a considerable body of them on the river, I shall turn to the Right. I shall cover the country West of Glendive creek and be at the creek in five days; unless I go north. I shall send a steamer to Buford6 with orders to take on supplies and come up to Glendive and await orders. She will supply you. Yrs. Sincerely, (signed.) A.H. Terry, B.G. 4. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Nelson Garland Whistler, 5th Infantry, at Glendive. 5. This is not clear. Terry probably means Lt. Edmund Rice, 5th Infantry, at Glendive, because an attack had been reported there. However, there also was a Fort Rice, Dakota Territory, although it was on the fringes of the war zone. 6. Fort Buford was established in 1866 on the Missouri River, just below the confluence with the Yellowstone, in what now is North Dakota. It was just downriver from the former American Fur Company post of Fort Union, and materials from the latter were used in its construction. Fort Buford protected the emigrant road from Minnesota to Montana, as well as navigation on the Missouri River. The post was abandoned in 1895, and the reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior. Frazer, Forts of the West, 110–11.

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August 27th. Sunday. Still on trail, which had about same appearance as on Rosebud; rain had freshened it up a little. Marched fifteen to eighteen miles, ground muddy, day cloudy, and slight showers falling. Ten miles out passed water-holes. Left O’Fallon’s creek at midday: camped at water-holes on head of some tributary of Cabin creek. Water alkaline, but cold. Fine blue gramma grass for our stock. Fuel scarce. August 28th. Marched twenty miles; about two hour’s march from last night’s camp, crossed a small creek and for rest of day had water in holes along line of travel. Country rolling and apparently finely adapted for grazing. We have reason to believe that we are approaching the boundary of the “burnt district”. If the wet weather continue, the hostiles cannot destroy any more grass. Found tolerably good pasturage for our animals, but had no wood and only a very small quantity of sage-brush for making coffee. A furious hail and rain storm attacked us: the trite expression that the rain fell in torrents loses its force when applied to this deluge: our camp was turned into a pond and over its whole area spread a glassy sheet of cold-water, shoe-top deep. In this dire misery, one of our soldiers raised a hearty laugh among his comrades by exclaiming—“Well, bi’s, if yez wants a toddy, if some of yiz’ll furnish the whiskey, oi can get the wather.” While we were grumbling and complaining of the rain, it ceased suddenly and then we received the pelting of a shower of hail-stones of an average size of plums and many of them as large as eggs. This bombardment lasted about an hour and we waited anxiously for the moment when our mules and horses should stampede. But they were so scared that they huddled closely together and bore it with dumb submission: it was well for us they did not stampede, because in such an unfortunate event, we never could have caught them again and would have been left, like ship-wrecked mariners, in an unknown sea of prairie and bad-lands. The lightning’s flashes playing around us were more than usually threatening. One bolt struck the ground close to the beat a sentinel was walking and set the grass in flames, but the sheets of rain and hail extinguished the fire before it had spread very far. August 29th. Marched eight miles to summit of ridge—travel bad, on

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account of mud. Clothing and blankets heavy with water. Halted and camped to let our scouts examine the trail which suddenly became much fresher from new additions. Indians had, to judge from appearances, converged near here. Had no wood for fires, only a scanty supply of sage-brush to make coffee. Water scarce. A spring was found at the foot of a hill near one of the Cavalry Battalions and from this the greater part of the Command obtained what was needed. Our scouts were pushed out with orders to thoroughly reconnoitre country in our front and come back with the least possible delay. August 30th. We remained in camp. The scouts did not return until near evening. The continued bad weather is having a detrimental effect upon our men; a number of them reported sick, with various forms of neuralgia, rheumatism, malarial fevers and diarrhea. Lieut. [Henry D.] Huntington, 2d Cavalry, has been very low; for two or three days past, he and Lieut. Bache, 5th Cavalry, have been hauled in travois. The rigorous orders governing camp, have been slightly relaxed on this account and bands of hunters from the different Battalions are now allowed to go out hunting for antelope, jack-rabbits, or anything in the shape of fresh meat for the sick. August 31st. Last night was so cold that Lieut Schuyler and I, who for warmth’s sake have been obliged to sleep together, very nearly froze to death. Our bed was on the ridge where Hd.Qrs. remained; the rest of the command having taken position in the ravines and hollows, escaped the full force of the piercing wind which began to blow shortly after mid-night and did not abate until sun-rise. Schuyler and myself were so stiff that we could barely arise from our blankets. The compensating feature was the truly magnificent scenery. Mr. [John F.] Finerty and I climbed to the summit of one of the buttes near camp last night and were rewarded for our labor by the vision of a panorama grander than any that artist has ever been bold enough to put upon canvas. In the Western sky, the effulgence of the setting sun was most dazzling. Scarlet and gold, pink and yellow—in beautiful contrast or graceful harmony were scattered with reckless prodigality from the horizon to near the zenith where the neutral tints of gray and pale blue made the dividing line between the gorgeousness of the Western heavens and the more placid charms of the East where millions of stars were twinkling in a faultlessly pure back-ground. The broken contour of the ground, seamed and furrowed with ravines and gulches of great depth, or

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riding into plateaux and ridges of considerable elevation presented the resemblance of an angry sea whose waves had been suddenly stilled at the climax of a storm. The pinkish colored hillocks were covered thickly with juicy, green grasses, but the total absence of foliage of any kind was a remarkable and painful feature. As a great pasturage the country in which we have been traveling since leaving the Powder, offers numbers of inducements; my companion and I gave full rein to our fancy as we anticipated the changes ten years would effect in this region, now the home of the savage and the beast. With the Northern Pacific R.R. completed, there is nothing to contravene the idea that civilization can make as rapid strides here as it has along the line of the Union Pacific. Moved to-day ten miles to Beaver creek, passing through a most charming country. The natural beauties of this part of our march are not greater than, perhaps, are not equal to, what we should have encountered on the Rosebud and Tongue, but there the brutal hands of the Indians had disfigured the face of the landscape by destroying the grass, while here their incendiary projects had not been carried out either because they had become tired in their work of destruction or because the dampness of the grass rendered their efforts abortive. A soldier was bitten in the thumb by a rattlesnake: Dr. Patzki, with promptness, cauterized the wound, then administered ammonia and finished up with a couple of stiff drinks of whiskey from the slender allowance of hospital supplies. Made camp on Beaver creek, with wood, water and grass in plenty and all of good quality. The reason of our short march was that the trail began to split, showing that the hostiles knew we were in pursuit and were employing every artifice to bewilder us. Louis Richaud and Frank Gruard both think they mean to draw us over to the broken country, near the Sentinel Buttes, where they can scatter like quail and reunite in our rear, or on our flank, at pleasure. Our scouts went out examining the trail with the utmost care: indications are becoming plain that we are close to a considerable band of the enemy, perhaps a strong rearguard, watching our progress. This night extremely cold. September 1st. Remained in camp. Frank Gruard returned, having found a fresh trail and bringing with him four ponies found abandoned. In the afternoon, marched ten miles down Beaver creek. September 2d. Twenty miles down Beaver creek, following a fresh trail. Trail of a war party found going due East. The Ree Indians,

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whom General Terry had left with us, thought that this was the trail of a band of warriors who had been detailed to watch steamboats or to attack some of the weakly-garrisoned supply camps on the Yellowstone. Good grass all day in the creek bottom which we followed. Rained. September 3d. Marched twenty miles to Andrews’ creek, near Sentinel Buttes. Excellent grazing all day. A party of our scouts had a skirmish with a detachment of the rear-guard of the hostiles and shot one of their ponies. Rained slightly. Day cold and raw. Night very chilly. September 4th. Twenty miles to the Little Missouri River. This is called by the Indians the “Thick-timber” creek, a name which it abundantly deserves, in comparison with the other streams flowing within one hundred miles on either side of it. We emerged from the narrow defile of Andrews’ creek into a broad, park-like valley, walled in by precipitous banks of marl, clay and sandstone, ranging from one to three hundred feet high. Adown [sic] the central line of this park grew a very thick grove of cottonwood, willow and box-elder trees marking the course of the Little Missouri, which is at this point some thirty yards wide and two or three feet deep, carrying a good volume of cold and sweet water, rather muddy in appearance. The bottom is clay and in places miry and the banks are only tolerably good approaches for fording. A very small amount of work is required to cut them down to proper shape and there is such a quantity of timber and brush at hand that bridges and corduroy causeways can be made almost without delay to the column. The fertility of the soil in this valley is attested by the luxuriance of the grass, the thickness of timber, the dense growth of grape-vines, wild plums and “bull” berries already ripening under the warm sun and constant rains of the past summer. General Terry and General Custer had camped here in the month of May: the corn upon which their animals had been feeding, had been scattered and tramped into the ground from which it had sprouted beautifully, giving this valley the appearance of an ill-kept corn-field. Many of the stalks were ten and twelve feet high, and all bore from two to four large ears, still in the milk. The scouts and advance-guard of the Cavalry, pushed into this unexpected treasure-trove, cutting and slashing the

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stalks and bearing them in to camp, in large arm-fulls. Our horses and mules had a glorious meal that night, while our men found the materials for good, soft beds in the thick-tufted grass or the luxuriant willow-copses. The half-ripened plums and bull-berries were boiled thoroughly and eaten as an anti-scorbutic, proving palatable enough without sugar. We have also made trial, altho’ not as yet in a sufficiently extended way, of the virtues of the common opuntia, or “nopal” or plate cactus which covers the plains in the central portion of the American continent. The spines are burnt off, the thick skin peeled and the inner meaty pulp fried. It is claimed as an infallible remedy for scurvy. The taste is not pleasant, being too slimy and mucilaginous.7 Our camp to-night was a very agreeable one: we rested well on good beds, of grass and cottonwood boughs. It had rained a little during the day, but after sun-set, the stars shone brightly. We discussed at supper the expediency of constructing a rail-road up this valley. As it debouches into the Missouri at Fort Berthold,8 up to and beyond which point, the navigation of the Upper Missouri is excellent, a wooden tramway, it occurs to me, might be built very cheaply from Berthold up to the location of to-night’s camp, a distance of seventy-five to eighty miles. This tramway would answer all purposes of transportation, not of course equal to a Railroad, but answering to the needs of new and moneyless communities, and, unlike a Rail Road, would not load down the energies and dampen the enthusiasm of farmers by the burden of bonds. The trail of the party which, under General [David S.] Stanley, came through this country in 1873 to locate the line of the Northern Pacific R.R. strikes the valley of the Little Missouri at this point. Our march to-day was through a very rough country. Captain Munson, 9th Infantry, came to see me to-night. He said there was much solicitude among officers and men to know what General Crook’s purposes were for the future. I have already stated 7. In the American Southwest, nopal pads are diced as the main ingredient of a soup. 8. Fort Berthold, North Dakota, was a trading post on the Missouri River below the mouth of the Little Missouri. It was established in the late 1850s as Fort Atkinson, and renamed Fort Berthold in 1862, when it was purchased by the American Fur Company. U.S. troops formed a garrison there in 1864, and remained until 1867 when Fort Stevenson was established slightly downriver. From 1868 until 1874, Fort Berthold was headquarters for the Arikara (Ree), Gros Ventre (Hidatsa), and Mandan Indians. During this entire period, the American Fur Company continued to operate it as a trading post. It was abandoned in 1874. Frazer, Forts of the West, 109–10.

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that we had been grievously disappointed in not finding on the Yellowstone the amount of supplies expected and in having to fritter away a whole week’s time in waiting until this steamer brought up forage and that steamer brought down shoes. The administration of the supply corps on the Yellowstone was unsatisfactory: everybody gave orders and as a consequence no one obeyed. When we left the river, Lieut. Bubb, our Quartermaster and Commissary had on his pack-mules supplies of hard-bread, coffee, sugar and bacon for fifteen days, besides the ration for the day, carried in the haversacks. We should now have three days and a half of supplies, but from this we must deduct loss by effects of rain and travel. By turning back to Glendive creek, General Crook might rely upon a replenishment of his stores but could he expect beyond a doubt that everything would be in ship-shape order so that his pack-train could load up and move out at once? The least to be looked for would be a delay of five days and meantime what would become of the hot trail we were pressing? I felt almost certain in my own mind that General Crook would not go back to Glendive creek, but whether or not he would strike for Fort Abraham Lincoln I couldn’t pretend to say. I shared to a considerable degree in Captain Munson’s apprehensions; as it was certainly a gloomy prospect to have an expedition of (2000) twenty-hundred men* left without rations, in the midst of a desert, unknown to the maps and hundreds of miles from any habitation of civilized people. The conviction is forcing itself upon our minds that we cannot avoid the alternative of starvation or killing and eating our mules and horses. Sept 5th. Made a hard march of 26 to thirty miles, to head of Heart river, going for first ten or twelve miles up valley of Davis creek, following trail of Custer’s column, which from the dozen or more bridges they had to construct, must have had a difficult time of it on their outward march from Fort Lincoln.9 In the morning, our Originally Bourke wrote “(2500) twenty-five hundred men” but changed the 5 into a zero and crossed out the written “five.”

*

9. In fact, this was the Dakota Column, commanded by Terry, with Custer as chief of cavalry. It was part of a three-pronged movement devised by General Sheridan for the previous spring, the others being Gibbon’s Montana Column moving east, and Crook’s Wyoming Column moving north. The idea was to catch the Indians in between. The plan broke down from the very beginning and culminated in Crook’s defeat at the Rosebud, and the disaster at the Little Bighorn. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:196–97.

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route lay in bad lands, leaving Rosebud Buttes on our Right and the Camel’s Hump (!) On our Left: In the afternoon, a cold, drizzling rain commenced and continued with low-lying fog to conceal the ground in our front. Colonel Stanton and Major Randall, with our scouts in the advance, ran in upon the rear-guard of the hostiles about 4 o’clock and exchanged shots, pressing them into the bluffs. Our main body closed up and pushed forward without losing any time, but the enemy got away in the dense fog. This encounter satisfied every fair minded soldier that General Crook had adopted the proper course in hanging to the trail, instead of leaving it and going back to Glendive to hunt for rations. The command was put on half-rations to-night, which will make our supplies hold out for five days; the computation we make is that we can, with good luck, communicate with Camp Robinson,10 on the northern boundary of Nebraska, in eleven days, and the settlements, lately opened on Deadwood creek, in the northern corner of the Black Hills, in seven days: but there is a very emphatic expression of doubt as to the existence of supplies in the new mining towns sufficient for our large force and under the most cheerful aspect of the case, we must from this [point] on expect horse meat as a portion of our bill of fare. Lieut. Bubb told me to-night that he had but seven pounds of beans in the pack-train, and these he was going to conceal for the use of the hospital. Dr. Hartsuff also has for same use, two cans of jelly, and a pound of corn-starch, carried in his saddle-bags, and the other medical officers have each a little something in the way of a half-pound of tea or other luxury for which our wounded, if we have any, may be in need. The packers are somewhat better off for food than the rest of the expedition, simply, because they have had more sense and been less wasteful in the beginning of the trip. The poor fellows have to work so much harder than officers or soldiers that they must have a full allowance of food, or our transportation fails. General Crook wrote dispatches to General Sheridan. . . . The Adjutant General’s department had shrunk down to one leadpencil and a scratch-book, 6x3, of which only 20 or 30 pages were 10. Camp Robinson was established in 1874 to control the Indians of the Red Cloud and Pine Ridge Agencies. It was redesignated as Fort Robinson in January 1878. During the Second World War, it was used as a dog training center for the K-9 Corps. It was abandoned in 1948 and now is a Nebraska state park. Buecker, Fort Robinson and the American West; Schubert, Outpost of the Sioux Wars.

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left. The Ree Indians were to have left us after dark,* on their way to Fort Abe Lincoln, Dakota, which they say they can reach on the morning of September 8th, in which case General Sheridan should have the dispatch by telegraph, by 10 o’clock in the morning and get word by the evening of the 8th to the Commanding Officer of Fort [sic] Robinson. Camp to-night was not bad, we had plenty of good water from Heart River, a small but clear stream: a sufficiency of fuel from the tenuous fringe of timber on its banks and an abundance of rich, juicy grass for our animals. There is a feeling of uncertainty— almost of awe—settling down upon us. We have great confidence in Crook, but cannot shake off the presentiment of dread as to the possible consequences of our bold plunge, without rations, across an utterly unknown zone of such great width, as that lying between us and the Black Hills. Frank Gruard says he knows nothing of the country this side of the Little Missouri river. Rained hard all night. The continuous series of storms, to which we have been subjected ever since we struck Powder river with Terry’s column, is having a most dispiriting influence upon us all: it is now more than a month since we have had a change of clothing. We have been reduced to one suit in all kinds of weather, tropical heat and bitter cold, fervid sun and soaking rain, and except one or two days on the Yellowstone without an opportunity to wash anything. Our rations have been so meagre and so entirely without fruit or vegetables, the marching so continual and as yet so void of result that very many of our people are broken down in spirit. Our hope is to overtake the main body of the hostiles in a day or two and get a fight which shall partially compensate for our privations and sufferings. We have passed through many villages of prairie-dogs, during the past two or three days: our noble Newfoundland, Jack, doesn’t know what to make of them. His great desire has been to catch one of the impudent little rascals, who confront us on all sides, sitting up on their haunches at the mouths of their holes and squeaking defiance at the column as it slowly passes. Jack will, from time to time, select one of the boldest for his victim and make a furious charge to seize him. The little fellow is too quick for him; gives one shrill shriek as he drops with the rapidity of lightning below the surface, while big, lumbering Jack, who has thrust his head well into the hole, finds the soft soil Insert on top margin: General Crook retained them until next morning.

*

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yield unexpectedly to his impulse and over he goes, kicking in the air, making a complete somersault. Jack has done this so many times that we can only account for it by supposing that Jack has been so long without fresh meat that he has become crazy for a good meal and hopes to get one by seizing a prairie dog. Rabbits frequently run through camp at night, driven out of their coverts by their fear of the horses’ hoofs. The soldiers derive great amusement every time one is started and as poor pussy darts from shelter to shelter, doubles and twists, bound boldly through a line of her enemies or cowers trembling under some petty bush, the soldiers armed with lariats, nosegays and halters advance from all sides and keep up pursuit until the poor little jackrabbit is finally run to death. There is enough shouting, yelling and screeching to account for the slaughter of a thousand buffaloes. We have learned to judge of the results of the chase in the inverse ratio of the noise. When an especially deafening outcry is made, the verdict is at once given that an unusually pygmy rabbit has been run to cover and that the men who had least to do with the capture had most to do with the tumult. Rained all night. September 6th. The Ree scouts left us at what should have been daybreak, if it had not been for the cold, chilling mist and rain. They bore with them the telegraphic messages for Lieut.-General Sheridan, intended to be transmitted from Bismarck, Dak. The rain drizzled mercilessly in our faces and the half-dozen dead cottonwoods on the bank of the stream at the crossing loomed up like spectres in the sombre mist, as our horsemen forded the current and turned their faces to the South. There was not much conversation that day, not much to interest or to amuse. We crossed a little plain strewn with pieces of riband or banded agate, some of them very beautiful. The general contour of the country was rolling prairie, dotted with buttes whose forms and positions could with difficulty be discerned through the gloom. Cactus and grass covered the ground, not a bush or tree of any kind being in sight. Early in the morning we crossed one or two insignificant rivulets trickling down to join Heart river. At noon, crossed the North Fork of the Cannon Ball river, which is like all the streams between the Head of Heart river and the Belle Fourche, timberless, muddy and rather sluggish. The Indian trail breaking very badly but all the side trails tending Southward. Our

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scouts well to the front, but not too far out, to prevent their being hired into by our advance in the mist. At dark 30 @ 35 miles reached a couple of large pools of alkaline water and went into camp. There was not a single stick of wood, not one as big as my finger. We resorted to the device of boiling coffee by fires fed with such dried grass as could be culled in the crevices and cracks of the soil. Little trenchings were dug with our knives, a cup filled with water and bearing the allowance of ground coffee placed over it, the fire started and then turn about we fed it with little wisps of dry grass twisted so as to make them as much like fuel as possible. There was no one in our mess enthusiastic enough to assert that the experiment had been a success; the water was so alkaline neither horses nor men cared to touch it and in boiling it threw up to its surface a scum of saline and sedimentary matter which made the coffee look decided repulsive. Rained all night. Command wet, cross, hungry and disgusted. September 7th. Marched thirty-five miles due South to the North Fork of Grand River. Raining all day. Marching severe on Infantry and horses. Viscous mud sticking to the feet and making advances almost impossible. Good grass plenty. Patches of wild onions in one or two places. Water in holes along road, but for that matter there was more than enough coming down from above. In camp, not a particle of wood. General Crook found a half dozen little rosebushes along creek, none of them half an inch thick or more than three feet in height: he placed a sentinel over them to guard them for the benefit of the hospital. They will do better than dry grass for making coffee. Lieut. Bubb has saved three or four cracker-boxes and is distributing the fragments to the different Battalions. It is wonderful how far a small handfull of fuel may be made to go with care and good judgment. A cracker-box lid, with the assistance of a few bundles of twisted grass, is made to boil what little coffee is still in the possession of a whole Company. Last night, it was discovered that there had been such a great melting of our bacon by carrying it in the hot sun, even when fully protected by coverings of stout canvas, that we had barely one day’s full ration of it left. This fact was imparted to the command, and the quarter ration which issued yesterday and to-day, is used most parsimoniously. Horse-meat appeared at our mess this evening. Each and Every officer of the

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Department Staff has his ration issued to him the same as a private soldier. At night, upon arriving in camp, Lieut. Bubb counts out the six hard-tack forming half-ration for each person, but gives the little piece of bacon, in bulk to our cook. The coffee served out to us is diluted to one-fourth its proper strength and we have just enough of it to warm our lips. While there is plenty of grass for our animals they too begin to show signs of fatigue from having to carry exhausted and hungry men who cannot ride as easily or gracefully as those with full stomachs. Those that play out first are to be butchered and eaten. Quite a detachment of stragglers, foot-sore, lame and weary, leading tired horses, reached camp to-night over an hour after the others had got in. I entered into a conversation with one, a Corporal in Company “E”, 3d Cavalry, who assured me that not one particle of food had entered his mouth to-day, and yesterday his only meal was made of two crackers and a tin cup full of cold water. I knew the man was telling me the truth; his pallid, peaked faced, glassy eyes and quivering voice appealed strongly to my sympathies, but I could do nothing for him; his rations were just the same as mine, in extent and quality, and I could no more cook mine without fire than he could. [“]From this point, 1 Lieut. John W. Bubb, 4th Infy., A.A.Q.M., and A.C.S., was ordered forward to Deadwood City and such other points in the Black Hills as may be necessary and purchase such supplies as may be needed for the use of this command, paying for the same at the lowest market rates. You are also authorized to purchase two ounces of quinine for the use of the sick.” Bubb took with him Tom Moore and fifty picked mules from the pack-train. The escort consisting of One hundred and fifty selected men from the 3d Cavalry, mounted on our strongest horses, was under the command of Captain Anson Mills, 3d Cavalry, who had with him Lieuts. [Emmett] Crawford, [George Francis] Chase, [Frederick] Schwatka, and [Adolphus H.] Von Leuttewitz with Dr. Stevens as medical officer. Mr. R.E. Strahorn, of the Rocky Mountain (Denver, Col.) News and Mr. R.B. Davenport of the New York Herald, thought it would be best to accompany this advance party. This detachment started late in the afternoon, leaving our main column before we had reached camp. To-night’s experience was almost a facsimile of last night’s: not a fragment of fuel, plenty of water, plenty of grass and a superabundance of cold, penetrating rain.

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September 8th. Made a comparatively short march of twenty-four miles to South Fork of Grand River. Trail very muddy and travel difficult. Country getting to be more rough. We were now drawing near to what is put down on the map as the Slim Buttes. Bivouacked in a narrow little ravine, which afforded us a good deal of shelter from the wind. We had plenty of wood, too, the first of any kind that had been seen for from between (80) to ninety miles. It was so wet with rain that the most we could do with it was to make a smoke. With that we endeavored to dry our clothes and books, but after patient trail gave the effort up in disgust: Rained almost without intermission all day. Three or four antelope killed by our guides, and divided around among the troops, the sick being served first. Plums and cherries, half and three quarters ripe, and bull-berries almost entirely so, have become plentiful. We marched alongside a small copse of plum bushes shortly before reaching camp. Officers and men dismounted and made a fierce scramble for the delicious fruit. General Crook celebrated his [forty-eighth] birth-day this evening. He drew out from the breast-pocket of his coat, a pint flask of whiskey which he had concealed there the day before we left the Yellowstone, and passing it around to the members of his mess and the other officers present—Colonel Evans and Colonel Chambers, called upon them to drink his health. There were (13) or fourteen in the group and the flask held a little short of sixteen ounces, making just a taste for each one. Then those of us who had a piece of cracker in their pockets ate them;—those who had none, went without. Take it for all in all, it was decidedly the “thinnest” birthday celebration I have ever attended. The day was so particularly lugubrious, that we turned in to sleep at an early hour. Rained all night. A dispatch was received from General Terry on the 7th, which I here quote. Hd.Qrs. Dep’t. of Dakota, Camp opposite Glendive creek, M.T., September 4th, 1876 Dear General. We crossed the Yellowstone at the mouth of Bad Route creek and made a short march Northward on the 27th ult. There we marched to the divide separating the head-waters of the streams flowing into the Missouri, from those of the streams flowing into the Yellowstone.

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A portion of my cavalry were then pushed over the divide for fifteen or twenty miles and the great trail, of which Frank [Grouard?] told me, was discovered, but there was no evidence that it had been used since early in the summer. Then, turning sharply to the East, we crossed the head-waters of several streams and examined the country as far East as the second creek beyond the one which empties into the Yellowstone on its left bank, a mile below Glendive. Still, we discovered no trail. I then sent the 7th Cavalry and the Indian scouts down the river bank; they have reconnoitered the country as far as [Fort] Buford, but have found nothing. I am much perplexed what to do. I have received orders to put up a cantonment at the mouth of Tongue river11 and supplies are being sent forward for fifteen hundred men, but the River has almost entirely given out and it is doubtful whether steamers can now ascend beyond this point. In fact, it seems certain that the great mass of supplies for the new post must be hauled by wagon from Buford. There is a considerable amount of freight already unloaded here and I must devote nearly all my transportation to getting it farther on. Under these circumstances, it is doubtful whether I can do anything more except to guard this river and, in case you push the Sioux, prevent their crossing it. You speak of going to Buford for rations. I very much fear that you will find none there. According to my promise, I ordered supplies here for you. They are now on the [steamer] Silver Lake, which is aground about twenty miles below here and to get them to Buford has been stripped. It is true that other supplies may have come there, but before going in with the expectation of finding them, I would send in and enquire whether they are there. I shall send a steamer which is now here down to relieve the Silver Lake and should you turn this way, the stores would probably be here by the time of your arrival. Yours sincerely, Alfred H. Terry, Brigadier General. General Crook, U.S.A. P.S. Keep the scouts of course. 11. Initially designated Cantonment on Tongue River, and upgraded in 1878 as Fort Keogh. Frazer, Forts of the West, 82.

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The missing portion of the journal of the Sioux campaign of 1876, has now been restored and from September 8th inclusive, the thread of the narration can be taken up and followed in the succeeding volumes. . . . EDITOR’S NOTE: There follows an explanatory essay which has been placed in the introduction to this published volume. The narrative of the campaign then recommences with the following, which was written as events unfolded:

Chapter 5 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Fighting and Starving

Friday Sept. 8th (Continued.) The smooth grassy contour of the district to the rear of us was gradually giving way to the encroachments of some rugged spurs of the little range laid down on the maps as the Slim Buttes. The sturdy little Indian fig thrust itself forward obtrusively, hand in hand with the feeble branchlets of the wild sage. This latter vegetation, once so unwelcome, was now regarded with more friendly eyes: it would furnish fuel and fuel in some shape has become a sine quâ non. It will be borne in mind that since leaving the Head of Heart River to this point, a distance of between eighty and ninety miles, our poor column had trudged along half-starved, half clad and not half-shod.* Plodding through exhausting mud and under merciless rain clouds by day, sleeping under merciless rainclouds and wrapped in wet blankets coated thickly with viscous mud by night. The joy of the soldier, the one solace in all his troubles he has a right to expect under almost every circumstance—the cheering blaze of the camp-fire—was denied him. Exhausted by a fatiguing march through mud and rain, without sufficient or proper food, the soldiers arrived in camp at sun-down, to find only a rivulet Bourke’s marginal note: Horse meat had now become our staple food: as one of our mess pithily remarked, “The steaks we munch have a horse or a mule shoe at one end of them.” *

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of doubtful water to quench their thirst and then went supperless to bed. It is pleasing to note at this point that in all the hardships and in all the privations of the humblest soldiers, General Crook and his mess fully shared. With the same allowances of food and the same allowances of bedding the officers of the General’s Staff made the weary campaign of the Summer of 1876: Criticism was silenced in the presence of a General who could reduce himself to the level of the most lowly and even tho’ dissatisfaction and grumbling found their vent as they always do from the men who wear uniforms without being soldiers, the thinking and observing in the command reflected that their sufferings were fully shared by their leader and honored him accordingly.1 This night as we made down our couches in the rain and mud, we little thought of anything but the provisions we hoped Mills’ Command would be able to secure in Deadwood and hurry out to us. For this bent of thought we should not be too severely censured: by this time, the rations at HdQrs. had run down to barely enough bacon to fry the horse-steaks needed for another meal. Of salt and sugar we had none whatever and of coffee so little, that our cook had great reason to felicitate himself upon the turbid water found in the streams we camped by as it partially concealed the weakness of the beverage served up to us. Hard bread, too, had come to an end and this evening we had served up to each one his last apportionment of six little biscuits and Deadwood still five days away! The remains of the antelope last killed were hoarded with care, not so much, however, that bestowed upon our other stores; because we had horse meat in plenty, and this was now issued regularly by the Commissary. In taste and appearance, no difference of great extent could be discovered between it and beef or old antelope. Hunger gave it a goodly flavor and our men ate it greedily. Saturday, Sept. 9th. My pen writes freely the routine chronicle of wet, foggy and cheerless morning. We awakened early and delayed but a few moments were resuming the march which would at least restore the circulation to our benumbed limbs. Our men are much more cheerful to-day, having had the exhilarating influences of good 1. Bourke either ignored, or had no idea of what many of the men—and officers—actually thought. In other accounts, Crook appears to have been roundly despised. He was called “Rosebud George” as a reminder of his near disaster at the battle of the Rosebud in June. Some questioned his sanity, and others thought he should have been court-martialed. See Robinson, General Crook, 194–95, 252.

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warm fires and good, invigorating coffee last night and this morning. Five miles out from bivouac, crossed the South fork of the Grand River, a meandering, lazy branch of muddy water, similar in volume, dimensions and general characteristics to those described within the past few days. A half dozen stunted willow and cottonwood trees, intensified the monotony and loneliness of its otherwise perfectly barren banks. Directly in front of the point where we crossed, a confluent came in from the South, and this we ascended, getting into rugged hills with a thin finger of cedar and juniper in the ravines near the summits. Here we met a courier riding back from Capt. Mills with the information he had captured a village of over twenty-five lodges, with all the plunder contained, and some two hundred horses. Most of the Indians had escaped and Mills was fearful they might return with reinforcements and sweep down upon him before General Crook could arrive with the main body. (On our side, Lieutenant Von Leuttewitz, 3d Cavalry, and five men, had been wounded and one man killed; the Indian loss was reported at six killed. A small party of hostiles had taken refuge in a ravine near the village and were hemmed in by our soldiers. It was also believed they were anxious to surrender.) General Crook immediately directed Surgeon Clements to designate the necessary medical attendanse [sic] to push to the front and sent word to General Merritt, the Chief of Cavalry, to hurry forward with his command. The Infantry Battalions, upon learning the enemy had been encountered in front, became very eager to participate in the expected engagement and pressed on through the drizzling mist, determined not to be passed by the mounted troops. So well did they succeed that in the long stretch of ten miles intervening, they marched fully as quickly as the Cavalry and came in right behind them to the scene of action. This we found to be a narrow ravine, well hidden by its own steep banks and the adjacent high hills, with a flowing stream of pretty good water and plenty of grass and fuel within convenient reach. (Mills had discovered the village the evening previous, but had not sent back word, as he should have done, to General Crook. Hence, when he attacked at day-break, he found himself unable to surround the village, the majority of whose occupants made their escape by cutting their way through the canvas of their tipis, and just barely

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strong enough to maintain himself against reinforcements, they would certainly return with, until the arrival of General Crook for whom he was now only too glad to send. Mills’ conduct in this feature cannot be commended, but he is entitled to praise for the plucky manner in which he attacked and carried in the darkness of morning, a village of unknown strength and resources.[)] The village comprehended thirty seven lodges, not counting four that did not yet have canvass stretched over them. Several of the lodges were of unusual dimensions; one, probably that occupied by the guard Frank [Grouard] calls the “Brave Night Hearts”, containing thirty saddles, and equipments. Great quantities of furs, almost exclusively untanned buffalo, antelope and deer skins wrapped in bundles, and several tons of meat, dried after the Indian manner, formed the principal part of the spoil, though mention must not be overlooked of the almost innumerable tin-dishes, blankets, cooking utensils, boxes of caps, ammunition, saddles, horse equipments, and other supplies that will prove a more serious loss to the Savages than gain to us. The herd of ponies of more than four hundred was stampeded early in the attack: not quite two hundred fell into our hands, many of them were fine looking little animals of good form and full of life. A cavalry guidon of silk, nearly new and torn from the staff, an overcoat once the property of an Army officer, a non-commissioned officer’s blouse, (Cavalry) saddles of the McClellan model, covered with black leather, after the latest pattern of the Ordnance Bureau, a glove marked with the name of the late Captain [Myles] Keogh, a letter addressed to a private soldier of the 7th Cavy., horses branded U.S. and 7C (one of them was branded D/7C)2 were the links of circumstantial evidence upon which we rested the conclusion that the inmates of these tipis had assisted in the butchery of Custer and his gallant comrades, on the Little Big Horn in June last. The first thing done by our Commanding General was to have a detail made to secure all the plunder, and arrange it in large piles for future disposition. The condition of our wounded was also examined into and everything possible done for its amelioration. Captain Mills had already pitched a lodge in a cool, shady spot, near the stream and sheltered from the annoyance of random shots still fired by the scattered Indians from the distant hills. The next task was to 2. I.e. Company D, 7th Cavalry.

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dislodge those holding the little gulch, fifty or sixty yards outside the line of lodges. Mills had reported the number as two only; the disclosure of the real state of affairs astonished him as much as it did us. Frank Gruard and Big Bat were ordered to crawl as close to the ravine as they could do, consistently with safety and open up a conversation with those imprisoned there. The colloquy was not satisfactory. The Indians declined to accede to any terms and seemed determined to fight it out to the last. Accordingly a small band of volunteers was picked out and placed under Lt. W.P. Clarke, 2nd Cavalry, with instructions to clean out the ravine. A very heavy firing attracted a crowd of idlers who swarmed up the hill in such numbers that Clarke’s movements were seriously embarrassed. It was easy for the imprisoned Indians to pick off a man for every shot: in such a thing the only wonder was that each bullet didn’t claim a billet of three or four killed and wounded. The ravine was so narrow, not over ten feet, and so deep, from fifteen to twenty, with a growth of box-elder trees inside that veiled them from our aim, and soft, loamy banks the Indians dug into, and thus speedily sheltered themselves against the great majority of our volley shots. The advantages of position rested with the Sioux entirely. “Buffalo Chips” (White) a sort of guide and scout following the command, a poor, harmless, good-natured liar who played the role of “Sancho Panza” to Buffalo Bill’s “Don Quixote”, was the first on our side to die, shot through the heart. His dying exclamation of “Oh Lord! Oh Lord! They’ve got me now, boys”! was blood-curdling. He fell from his position, thirty feet to the bottom of the ravine. About [the] same instant, one of our soldiers, Kennedy, a private of Company “C,” 5th Cavalry, was shot in the leg, the deadly missile carrying away the whole calf; and another, whose name I did not learn, was shot through the ankle-joint. The line of soldiers was ere this upon the crest of the ravine which through the interlacing branches of the trees within seemed to be alive with Indians, but mostly women and children. I don’t know how it happened but Captain Munson, and myself found ourselves in the ravine on one side, while similarly, Big Bat, and another guide, Carey, occupied the other. Alongside, was a pile, the term is the only accurate one I know of, of squaws, and little pappooses, covered with dirt and blood and screaming in a perfect agony of terror. The oaths and yells of the singing soldiers, pressing in behind us made the scene

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truly infernal. Just in front, three or four dead bodies lay stretched, weltering in their own gore. As is usually the case, what would seem from the description to have been a most perilous position, really enjoyed a greater exemption from danger than any other within rifle shot. The elbows of the narrow gulch prevented the Indians from molesting us or even noticing us, at least as long as so many others were in places so much more conspicuous. So, when in response to Bat’s encouraging call of Washté-hélo, (“All right” or “Very Good.”) the women and children came up to us, it did not take much time to get them out, following down the bends of the ravine, to a place of safety and in communication with General Crook, who came over to them and spoke pleasantly. The squaws divined at once who he was and clung to his hand and clothing, their little ones meantime clutching their skirts and yelling piteously. When somewhat calmed and reassured, the women said their village belonged to the Spotted Tail Agency and was commanded by two chiefs, Roman Nose and American Horse, or Iron Shield, the latter still in the ravine. General Crook bade one of them go back and say he would treat kindly all who surrendered; the squaw complied and went back to the edge of the ravine, there holding a parley, as the result bringing back a young warrior* of about twenty years. To him, General Crook repeated the assurances already given the squaw, and this time the young man went back, accompanied by Big Bat, whose presence, unarmed, convinced American Horse that General Crook’s promises were not written in sand. The interest felt about this moment was almost painful in its intensity, for the first time, almost in the history of American Indian warfare, hostile Savages were about to lay down their arms on the open field. American Horse, supported on one side by Big Bat: on the other, by one of his warriors, approached the little nucleus of officers, clustered about General Crook. The reception accorded the captives was gentle and the wounded ones made the recipients of necessary attentions. Out of this little nook, twenty-eight Sioux, little and great, dead and alive, were taken. The corpses were suffered to lie where they fell, a lesson in significance not lost upon their comrades. A little girl, not over five years old, attracted my attention by her Bourke’s footnote: Named Charging Bear, afterwards a corporal in General Crook’s Company of Indian scouts. *

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beauty and grace. I had her brought to HdQrs. In spite of her vociferous screams which quieted down very soon after she saw our dinner set out upon the piece of buffalo robe made to do service as a table. In other ways too, our mess had benefited [sic] by the capture. We had secured more than a score of tin cups and a great many articles of table-furniture: knives, forks, spoons, plates, dishes &c. Our cook, Phillips, had possessed himself of a considerable amount of dried buffalo meat** and one or two parfleche parnniers[?] of fresh and dried buffalo berries, wild cherries, plums and other fruit, a small trifle of salt and a little flour. Our meal was marked by a comparative sumptuousness and a good humor, somewhat in contrast with the forebodings crowding upon our minds only a day or two ago. In such an atmosphere our little Indian child, speedily recovered her composure and ate as heartily as the rest of us. Buffalo meat is not only as nutritious or palatable as Beef, and I now speak advisedly, having tried them both, dried as well as fresh. Buffalo tongues, dried, are esteemed as a delicacy, so is the ordinary dried flesh of the animal, pounded up with dried cherries, “bull-berries”, or plums. This mixture is called “Toro”. It is very pleasant eating, by far the most agreeable food of the aborigines I have tasted. As we were discussing the events of the day, congratulating ourselves upon the good luck of capturing a village with so much food, criticizing the culinary arts of the Sioux and condoling with the misfortunes of Lt. Von Leuttewitz, who had had his knee-cap knocked off by a bullet and whose leg had been amputated early in the morning, Mr. Wasson produced a couple of certificates of good character given Indians of this village, early last Spring. One was to Stabber, signed by Howard, the Agent at Spotted Tail Agency: the other to Charging Crow, with the name appended of one Bonchet, an infamous scoundrel since detected trading ammunition to the hostiles. Soldiers like we had almost completely forgotten our recent discomforts in the light of actual excitement; the food we had captured was not the best in the world, but much superior to none at all and then it was the Spolia Optima of a Sioux encampment and as such relished most keenly. To fully analyze and discuss the situation was not at this moment granted us: for the sharp cracking of rifles and carbines rouse to a new danger in the onslaught Crazy Horse, Above this Bourke inserted: pony meat, buffalo tongues.

**

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with a large band, was making upon our line of pickets. The Sioux thinking that Mills was alone and not believing General Crook was within striking distance, advanced very determinedly to avenge their disaster and disgrace of the morning. In expectancy of this event, our horses and mules had been picketed very close to camp and at the first rattle of musketry, were driven into camp, saddled, bridled and kept under the cover of the ridge, in an open space in the creek bottom. The Sioux came very close to our skirmishers who received them with a fierce roll of carbines and rifles; for a few moments, the enemy wavered. Their doubts were colored by the charge of our Infantry Battalions, which commanded by Captains Burt and Burke, lost no time in taking the ridge on our Left and front where the enemy made their strongest demonstration. From the summit of the little rounded knoll where General Crook’s HdQrs. were established, the view of the field was unobstructed and very inspiriting. The skirmish itself was not of much consequence, but it is rarely so free a view of a scene of action is obtainable. The Indians withdrew under cover of approaching darkness, taking with them their dead and wounded; our losses were very slight, five or six wounded, none seriously. Ten or a dozen broken down cavalry horses, too weak and sore to get into camp before the skirmish began, were congregated in a small herd [insert illegible] within full sight of our men and of the Indians; the latter, imagining they were some we could not get inside our lines, made a gallant dash to effect their capture. They were allowed to approach so close that it was as easy for them to continue on towards the herd as it would be to retreat; then when they were committed to the rash act, our skirmishers opened on them a very dangerous fire. The disgust and consternation of the Indians when they arrived in the midst of our broken down plugs were very amusing to our soldiers, who hooted and yelled in derision, as they resumed with increased vigor the fusillade the more thoroughly scared Indians sought to avoid by scattering and scampering in every direction. Lieut. Von Leuttewitz’s leg was amputated above the knee this evening. Patient bore the operation extremely well, so the Surgeons said.3 3. Bourke, who was reconstructing this part of the narrative from memory a couple of years later, seemed to have forgotten that only a few pages earlier, he recorded the amputation as being early in the morning. Considering that the battle of Slim Buttes started in the morning and lasted the better part of the day, and that the surgeons consulted before amputating, evening is more likely correct.

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Lieut. A.B. Bache, 5th Cavalry, suffering from a severe attack of rheumatism in the ankles and wrists, insisted upon being hoisted into the saddle and there remained until the termination of the skirmish.** We tried to sleep at night but failed very signally. The Indian ponies fretted and neighed until daylight and the curs left behind in their lodges barked unintermittably [sic] in reply to the howling of wolves and coyotes outside. Men were detailed under commissioned officers to gather up all the property taken from the Indians: the ponies, some of them very fine ones, were divided among the soldiers of Mills’ battalion; the buffalo robes and other furs, after what officers and men needed had been separated, were consumed by fire, and the same fate was reserved for the accumulations of fruit and meat these people had laid by for the winter. Twenty eight mules were packed with meat and fully as great a quantity was destroyed in one way or another. Of berries, not as much use was made as should have been, in my opinion; they were exactly what the men needed, but the Company Commanders somehow didn’t seem to realize their value. Instead of gathering them up and issuing them to the different battalions, they were suffered to be tramped underfoot, except where some of the soldiers felt inclined to help themselves. The destruction was complete; the smallest articles were burned or broken with as sedulous care as the largest. Ammunition and caps were exploded, guns broken, robes cut to pieces and then burned[,] and lodge-poles hacked to pieces before being committed to the flames.*** The lesson of neglect taught us at Crazy Horse had not been forgotten: this time our work was done thoroughly.4 As our forces numbered all total nearly twenty hundred men, and as the dried meat taken was abundant rations for all for three days, some idea can be gathered of the quantity of stores these Indians had accumulated. Sunday Sept. 10th. The cold, drizzling rain of yesterday continued well through the night, which remained damp and chilly. Toward In the margin Bourke inserted: Lt. Bache died in Nov. 1876 of disease contracted in this Campaign. *** Bourke’s footnote: This little village seemed to be greatly encumbered with baggage—probably was guarding supplies for a greater number than its own members. **

4. Bourke is referring to an attack the preceding March, on a village purportedly belonging to Crazy Horse, but which in fact was a Cheyenne village under Two Moons. The destruction, although not so thorough, was enough to leave the Cheyennes destitute, and prompted them to join the hostiles. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1.

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morning a heavy mist descended upon the earth, but the clouds showed signs of dissipating. Private Kennedy of “C” Co. 5th Cavalry, and the captive chief, American Horse, died of their wounds about midnight, and were buried at sun-rise. Our pickets had a little skirmish at early dawn: a party of Indians crept up under cover of the fog and commenced firing, but retired after developing the strength of our outposts. (The little stream flowing by this village, is a confluent either of Grand River or Owl Creek, the former the more probable. It is not delineated upon any chart I have seen and is scarcely deserving of mention, unless as the scene of a conflict with the red schools, or on account of the grotesque shapes assumed by the buttes of marl and argillaceous sandstone close by. One in particular had in every detail the form of a half ruined Medieval castle, buttresses, bastions, and crenelated walls all well defined.) The morning, our breakfast consisted of stewed meat, very tough and leathery, stewed cherries and a beverage, jocularly styled “coffee.” Before marching, General Crook set at liberty a number of squaws and children, retaining such as preferred to accompany us back to the Agencies. Strong lines of skirmishers, protected our front, flanks and rear, a precaution that rendered abortive an attempt of the Sioux to make an impression upon our rear as we were leaving camp. We had only one soldier wounded slightly, whereas five of the Sioux were tumbled from their saddles. Our wounded did very comfortably to-day, resting on “travaux”, constructed from the tipi poles and buffalo robes of the Indian village. Our progress to-day was dilatory, owing to the pressure of circumstances. We made some eighteen or twenty miles across a rough trail, bivouacking on a branch of what I should call the North fork of Owl Creek (at the foot of marl and clay butte, surrounding our position like an amphitheater. The grass growing hereabouts was fair in character, water poor[,] of fuel, sufficient, of cedar and juniper, clinging to the skirts of the Butte.) Raining nearly all day. A dispatch was written to Lieutenant General Sheridan from this point, as follows: “Marched from the Head of Heart River, passing a great many bands of Indians, going down all the different streams we crossed between Heart River and this point, apparently working their way in towards the different Agencies.

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“Although some of the trails seemed fresh, our horses were not in condition to pursue them. “From the North fork of Grand River, I sent Captain Mills, of the 3d Cavalry, with one hundred and fifty men, mounted on our strongest horses, in advance to Deadwood to procure supplies of provisions. On the evening of the 8th, he discovered near the Slim Buttes a village of thirty odd lodges and lay by there that night and attacked them by surprise the next morning, capturing the village, some prisoners and a number of ponies and killing some of the Indians. Among the Indians was the chief American Horse, who died from his wounds after surrendering to us. Our casualties were slight, but among them was Lieutenant Von Leuttewitz, of the 3d Cavalry, wounded seriously in knee and leg since amputated. “In the village were found, besides great quantities of dried meat and ammunition, an Army guidon, portions of officers’ and non-commissioned officers’ uniforms and other indications that the Indians of this village had participated in the Custer Massacre. “Our main column got up about noon that day and was shortly after attacked by a considerable body of Indians, who, the prisoners said, belonged to the villages of Crazy Horse, who was camped somewhere between their own village and the Little Missouri River. This attack was undoubtedly made under the supposition that Captain Mills’ command had received no reinforcements. “The prisoners further stated that most of the hostile Indians were now going into the Agencies, with the exception of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and their immediate followers. Crazy Horse intended to remain near the Head-waters of the Little Missouri and about one half of Sitting Bull’s band, numbering from sixty to One Hundred lodges had gone North of the Yellowstone River, while the remainder of that band, with some Sans Arcs, Minneconjous and Uncpapas, had gone in the vicinity of Antelope Buttes there to fatten their ponies and to trade with the Rees and others. “I place great reliance in these reports from other corroboratory evidence which I have. “The Indians with Sitting Bull will amount probably to three hundred or four hundred lodges and, in my opinion, can very easily be struck by General Terry’s column, provided it go in light marching order and keep under cover.

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“Our prisoners in their conversation also fully confirmed in every particular my opinions as already telegraphed to you. “We had a very severe march from Heart River: for eighty consecutive miles, we did not have a particle of wood; nothing but a little dry grass which was insufficient even to cook coffee for the mess. During the greater portion of the time, we were drenched by cold rains which made travelling very heavy. “A great many of the animals gave out and had to be abandoned: the others are now in such weak condition that the greater number of them will not be able to resume the campaign until after a reasonable rest. I should like to have about five hundred horses, preferably the half-breed horses raised on the Laramie Plains or in the vicinity of Denver and already acclimated to this country. “I intend to carry out the program mentioned in my last dispatch, via Fort Lincoln and shall remain in the vicinity of Deadwood, until the arrival of my wagon-train. [“](signed.) George Crook. [“]Brigadier General.[”] Learned to-day that one of the Indians, (a squaw) killed yesterday, had a partially healed wound in the thighs, (a souvenir of the Custer Massacre?) Monday, Sept. 11th. Captain Mills, 3d Cavalry, Lieut. Bubb, A.C.S., Frank Gruard, Thomas Moore, and fifty men, mounted on picked Indian ponies, under Lieutenants Schwatka, and Chase, 3d Cavalry, were dispatched once more to Deadwood to secure some foods for the command which more slowly followed the trail they pursued, going over a low line of buttes and then along an undulating prairie, with some grass and great quantities of cactus, that, with the tenacious mud made by the unceasing rain, clogged the progress of Infantry and Cavalry very much. Twenty five miles of arduous marching brought us to the steep banks of a little stream, flowing East, we were inclined at first to identify as the Belle Fourche. This mistake was a natural one, in the darkness and gloom of the day and the absence of any definite landmarks to enable us to determine position. The stream we at last concluded must be Owl Creek, and this conclusion proved correct. It is a sluggish little current of muddy water, not over ten feet wide and barely six inches in depth. A tenuous fringe of little cottonwood trees supplied fuel and a copse of wild plum bushes, passed on a small affluent just before we made bivouac, gave our

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men a pleasant treat of delicious, ripe fruit. Here we passed a fairly pleasant night, as in fact, nothing that could happen except a snowstorm, could worry us now. Wounded and sick doing extremely well, and circumstances regarded. Captain Andrews’ Company (“I”, 3d Cavalry.) Was detailed this morning to act as escort and guard to the travaux5 and mule-litters. Nearing this stream, General Crook discovered fresh trails running in several directions, mainly to the East, down stream. Tuesday, September 12th. Major Upham, 3d Cavalry started out with one hundred and fifty men to reconnoitre the trails noticed as we were coming into camp last night. Our own line of march was resumed, going nearly South, following Mills’ trail. This day’s march will always occupy a niche in my memory as the severest and most discouraging ever made. When we started, it was with the understanding, derived from careful scouting of our maps, that the Belle Fourche was barely twenty miles from us. Our animals made a way for themselves through extended areas of closely growing cactus, no grass to speak of being seen for the first six miles, when a broad belt of bright green, coarse grass was crossed and after that the alternations of grass and cactus patches was very marked in its regularity. Three or four water courses, very narrow and holding water only on account of the prevailing rain, which still hung to us, were crossed early in the morning, before the road had become too heavy for travel. Once or twice the rain-clouds lifted—not more than enough to make visible to us the Bear Butte—a long way off to the South—but that little was enough to satisfy us our course was correctly taken. Had men and animals been strong and hearty, the march now described would not have presented any obstacle: to troops, exhausted as ours were by a long, long campaign, more than half-starved, with clothing in tatters, shoes in patches, no rations but what had been captured from the Indians, a long march of 35 to 45 miles through cactus and mud, the latter so tenacious that every step made brought away from the ground a pound of it and our horses and mules were black to their houghs6 with the accretions of the journey, with blouses and blankets, saturated with an unceasing fall of rain; to a command, under these disadvantages, a march of this length is 5. The plural of travois, no longer used. 6. Hocks.

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nothing more or less than martyrdom. The Infantry columns which had been aroused at three A.M., did not reach Willow creek—our bivouac, until 10.15 at night. Men and horses fell out of ranks, at first singly, then in couples, in squads, and at last in platoons. The wounded had a bitter experience, the travaux and litters they were carried upon, were tumbled and jolted about by the slipping down of the mules, which carried them. Their scarcely less unfortunate comrades, still with sound limbs, moved wearily alongside of them scarcely able to put one foot before the other. In the darkness of night now closing densely about them, all semblance of formation was lost: each man had as much as he could do to maintain his own footing and keep the right direction. The pitiless, cold, soaking rain poured down, quenching every particle of spirit and enthusiasm: still, it was urgently essential to keep moving on hoping to strike the Belle Fourche, or some tributary where timber could be found and fires made to keep the men partially comforted during the night. By great good fortune, we hit the head of Willow Creek, thus escaping an additional six miles of journey.* Here we made ourselves as little miserable as we could: all ideas of ever making ourselves comfortable had long since vanished from our minds. From the box-elder, willow, ash and plum bushes growing at hand, large fires were soon made and burning brightly: but what use were they since we had nothing to cook. At Hd.Qrs, besides pony meat, we had the heart and liver of an antelope shot early in the morning, which I obtained from the bleeding carcass and had carried in a nosebag until we got into camp. There, we cut the liver into thin slices and roasted these upon twigs bent over the ashes, getting a “bonnie bouche”, not soon to be forgotten. Many of the men, especially of those who were at the rear of the column and made camp last, ate their pony meat raw. All through the night or at least until long after midnight, our butchers were kept at work slaughtering captured ponies, their flesh furnishing the best beef, as most of them were young, fat and tender. By the trail of the afternoon, there grew a very great number of wild onions or garlic: indeed, the little bulbs covered a tract of many Acres, and In the margins, Bourke wrote the following: On this march, men, frantic with suffering, cursed the God who made them. When Horses, exhausted, refused to go farther, their riders, in many instances, dragged them along by the bridle, until the poor animal fell down when he would be shot and a steak, cut from his meagre flank, devoured raw before he had given his last gasp. *

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the rains having washed away the covering of earth, there was no trouble in gathering any desired amount of them. My saddle pouches soon held all they could contain; a pleasant gift for our culinary artist, who at once set about preparing a râgoût of onions, pony meat and marrow extracted from the shin-bone of a Beef, found lying out on the trail, killed by the Indians a few days since and not yet decomposed. This would not be ready before breakfast, so there was no use waiting for it and, accordingly, we made down our couches of willow branches, and sage brush, covered with a strip of buffalo robe seized in American Horse’s village, and wrapped in wet overcoat and covered with wetter blanket lay down to dream of the soldier’s elysium where Glory alone should reign and Privation and Hunger be no more forever. Wednesday, Sept. 13th. Rained all last night. Mills had not yet been heard from: a courier sent out to obtain news of him, returned with the inspiriting announcement that Mills’ mission had been successful and that a wagon train laden with supplies was already on its way to us. This news diffused contentment and good feeling throughout all our Battalions: to obtain a better camping place and also to get so much nearer the approaching supplies, General Crook determined to cross to the Belle Fourche, five or six miles distant. We had some little trouble crossing Willow Creek, whose banks are steep, clay walls and whose bed in places is decidedly mirey. 1 Lieut. Charles King, 5th Cavalry, under orders from Genl. Merritt, soon had a party of men at work, making a causeway across the narrowest point, where the width did not exceed twenty five feet and where a ledge of rock protruding above the bed, gave a secure foot-hold to the laborers. We had this morning the first really palatable breakfast, since the day we parted from the Yellowstone River, (August 24th). The ragoût was a great success and the pony steak better than usual. Shortly after midday, having made a two hours’ march of five or six miles, we looked for the first time upon the waters of the Bell[e] Fourche, having first cursed, two miles out, a feeble tributary, lined with timber. The Belle Fourche seemed to deserve its appelation [sic];7 it was not less than one hundred feet wide, three deep and a good flow of water, four miles or something like that. The bottom is clay and sandstone drift and even if the water was muddy, it was sweet and 7. Belle Fourche translates as “Beautiful Fork.”

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pleasant after our late tribulations. Wells dug in the banks afforded even better quality for drinking or cooking. The dark, threatening clouds still hung sullenly over us and showers throughout the day were frequent; but what of that? All eyes were strained towards the Crook City, and Deadwood Road, looking for the first dust of the wagons that were carrying us our food for the morrow. Soon a murmur ripped through camp; in a second of time it had swelled into a yell and broken away in a wild cheer. Down the hillside we saw fifty head of beef cattle coming as fast as men could drive them, while not a mile in the rear, canvass wagon sheets gleaming in a cloud of dust betokened the replenishment of our Commissariat. As if in unison with the general character of the occasion, the Sun consented to unveil himself and for a good long hour shone down upon us through the scattering clouds, the first fair look we had of his face for ten dreary days.

Chapter 6 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Campaign Ends

Sept. 14th. The busy hum of lively conversation could now be heard around every camp-fire and from every knot of soldiers: the change was most agreeable from the glum and early moroseness of a few days previous. The inspirating [sic] influences of abundant food and bright, clean skies, were never more patent than now; the greatest enjoyment after our recent approximation to starvation was to sit about the fire and eat and chat: we had more than enough of all the components of ration to last the Command for four or five days and unlimited supplies were available in Deadwood. A wagon loaded with bread, beans, coffee and sugar was sent out to meet Major Upham’s command which left us yesterday very poorly provided. Major Upham’s detachment however returned to camp before the supplies were brought them. They saw no Indians, the trail they took up, proving to be a very old one. One of the men of the 5th Cavalry, straggling from this (Upham’s) command early this morning was shot and killed by a small party of Sioux lurking in advance. Several buggies, the first we had seen for months, drove into camp this evening. Among the gentlemen, was our old friend Wilbur Hughs. We gave the visitors a cordial greeting and as much shelter for the night as was possible. They supped with us on what fare we had, 121

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supplemented by an addition of fresh bread, butter, sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs brought down from Deadwood City. After sundown, a courier from General Sheridan brought General Crook a letter dated as follows, Chicago, August 1st 1876 A few of the Indians who were out with the hostiles in the battles of the 17th and 25th ultimo, (June?), have arrived at the agencies on the Missouri River and at Red Cloud. They report many of the Indians on their way back to the Agencies. Captain Mix, Comdg. at Camp Brown, sends me the following this morning: “Indian scouts sent out from here report hostile Indians moving South East, trailed them from about head of Crazy Woman’s to the head of Little Powder river; numbers unknown but believed to be large. I think they are making for the Agencies. “J Mix Captain.” The last of the six companies of the Fourth Cavalry will not arrive at [Fort] Laramie under ten days. Bill has passed Senate, increasing companies of Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Cavalry to one hundred men each. (Signed.) P.H. Sheridan, Lt. General Chicago, Ills., August 17th, 1876 The Bill for increasing the Regiments of Cavalry in the field passed Congress and I have designated Fort D. A. Russel1 [sic] as the rendezvous for equipping and mounting the recruits for the 2d, 3d, and 5th Regiments of Cavalry. Colonel [Ranald S.] Mackenzie is now at Red Cloud and in a few days will have six companies of the 4th Cavalry, two companies of the 5th and one of the 3d, four companies of artillery and five companies of Infantry there under his command. I have ordered the whole of the Eleventh Infantry from Texas to Cheyenne2 and Standing Rock Agencies. I will give orders to General Terry to-day to establish a cantonment for the winter at 1. Fort D. A. Russell was established in 1867 to protect workers constructing the Union Pacific. Because the fort became an important supply base, an adjacent subpost was established, officially designated Cheyenne Depot, but often referred to as Camp Carlin or Russell Depot. Cheyenne Depot was discontinued in 1890. In 1930, Fort D.A. Russell was renamed Fort Francis E. Warren. It later was transferred to the Department of the Air Force, and is now Warren Air Force Base. Frazer, Forts of the West, 184–85. 2. Cheyenne River Agency in what is now South Dakota.

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Tongue River and will send supplies there for fifteen hundred men, Cavalry and Infantry. I think also of establishing a cantonment for the winter at Goose Creek or some other point on your line for a force of about ten hundred men. I will send to you one hundred of the best Pawnee scouts, under Major [Frank] North, regularly enlisted, as Congress increased the number [of authorized scouts] to ten hundred. We must hold the country you and Terry have been operating in, this winter, or else every Indian at the Agencies will go out as soon as we commence dismounting and disarming them. Let me know at once what you think of the lo[d]g[e]ment at Goose Creek or vicinity, the men would have to hut themselves. General Terry’s men will also have to hut themselves. We cannot build the Yellowstone posts until Spring, as the low stage of water in the Yellowstone would not permit the transportation of material to the ground. One post will be at mouth of Tongue River, the other at mouth of Little Big Horn.3 (Signed.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieut. General. Chicago, August 23d, 1876 As the permanent occupation of the Big Horn and Yellowstone country has been resolved upon, and the thorough subjugation of the hostile Indians is an absolute necessity, it is deemed best to hold for the winter a point on the Yellowstone River, at or near the mouth of Tongue River, and also some point on the line of your summer operations, either at Goose Creek, Phil Kearney,4 Reno,5 or some place adjacent to those points where timber for hutting purposes is abundant. The latter is especially desirable as it covers the Powder river country and is shortest from the base of supplies. You will, therefore, after your return to Goose Creek from your present Expedition, detail five companies of the 5th Cavalry and such 3. Later designated Fort Keogh and Fort Custer, respectively. 4. Fort Phil Kearny (which everyone consistently misspelled as “Kearney”) was established in 1866 near the confluence of Big and Little Piney Creeks in northern Wyoming, to protect the Bozeman Trail. On December 21, 1866, a detachment from the post under Capt. William J. Fetterman was massacred nearby, in what was the worst U.S. military defeat by Indians up to that time. The post was abandoned in 1868 under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty, and the buildings subsequently were burned by the Indians. It is now a Wyoming state historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 183. 5. Fort Reno was established by Brig. Gen. Patrick Connor in 1865, and abandoned under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Its site is just east of the present town of Kaycee, Wyoming. Frazer, Forts of the West, 183–84.

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Companies of Infantry as will make a garrison sufficiently strong to hold the place. Your Chief Quartermaster notifies me of his ability to furnish all the supplies at any point you may select, with perhaps the exception of full forage of hay. You will also send from your Command six companies of either the 3d, 5th, or 2d Cavalry to report to Colonel Miles at Tongue River to form part of the garrison there. After making arrangements for hutting you will return with the balance of your Command to Fort Fetterman,6 from whence it will be distributed. The detail of Cavalry for Tongue River from your Command, arise from the necessity of using the 7th [Cavalry] in dismounting and disarming Indians at the Missouri River Agencies. Your chief Quartermaster has been directed to ship to Fort Fetterman tools needed for hutting purposes and to increase the contract with the Contractors so that; with the Gov’t. train, abundant supplies can be forwarded. I would like to meet you at Fetterman when you can conveniently come in, if you will notify me, giving me time to get there. I fully realize the inconvenience,—to some extent, hardship,—which will come to those Officers and men who may be obligated to stay out, but if we should give up the Powder River, Big Horn and Yellowstone country, all or most of the Indians would escape there, when we commence to dismount, disarm and punish the Agency Indians who have been out, and are now coming in. (Signed.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieut.-General Chicago, Illinois, August 23d, 1876. I sent you to-day instructions about the establishment of a cantonment for the winter at Goose Creek, Phil Kearney, or Reno, or some point adjacent thereto. I much prefer Reno, but you should know best. The misfortune which came to Custer virtually destroyed all hope of making the campaign successful by getting a fight out of the Indians. Since that time, I have been bending everything to the only 6. Fort Fetterman was established in 1867. It was abandoned in 1882, and turned over to the Interior Department two years later. The post buildings became a tough cow town that served as the model for the town of Drybone in Owen Wister’s The Virginian. It is now a Wyoming state historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 180–81.

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plan which will be ultimately successful, namely, to get military control over the Indians at the Agencies and the permanent occupation of the Yellowstone country,—by this I mean all the country West of the Black Hills. Good progress has been made, but the permanent occupation by building the posts on the Yellowstone could not be effected this summer on account of the lateness of the action by Congress, and the next best thing to do was the establishment of the cantonments for the winter. Colonel Miles will have at his cantonment the 5th Infantry and six companies of the 22d and the five companies of Cavalry from your command. The 7th Cavalry had to go in as the Indians at the Missouri River Agencies will not permit the dismounting and unconditional surrender without sufficient force to compel them. I ordered 11th Infantry from Texas and will soon have at Standing Rock nine companies and at Cheyenne Agency nine companies. Colonel Mackenzie has at Red Cloud nine companies of Cavalry and nine Companies of Infantry and Artillery and as soon as it gets a little nearer winter the work of disarming and dismounting will commence. (Signed.) P. H. Sheridan Lieutenant-General. Chicago, Illinois, September 8th, 1876 I have just this moment received your dispatch of September 5th.7 As it has been resolved upon to hold the Yellowstone and Powder River country, directions had been sent on August 17th to you to form a cantonment at old Fort Reno or Goose Creek for one thousand men for the winter and to General Terry to form a cantonment for fifteen hundred men at Tongue River. These directions I now presume have not reached you but it will be necessary to carry them out. We cannot abandon the Powder River country or lest the Indians will again go back there instead of surrender at the agencies as they are now commencing to do. I have therefore only ordered 50.000 lbs of grain and ten days’ supply for your command to be sent to Custer City, which amounts may be doubled if the Quartermaster Department take them out and I think it would be well to bring most of your command into Laramie 7. See pp. 127–28.

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where we can readjust, sending out to the cantonment at Reno, fresh companies and letting the tired ones with you take their places. I have now on the way to Fetterman all the supplies for the cantonment, and will make arrangements to bring in Furey’s train to Fetterman. I want you to come in to Laramie as quickly as possible after you get to Custer City; I will meet you there for consultation. The Cavalry Companies have been increased to one hundred men and most of the men are recruits and many of the horses purchased. The garrisons at all the agencies have been made very strong and everything is doing as well as could be expected. I do not consider Custer City a good point to operate from for the winter. You may if you think best leave a few troops there until I see you. (Signed.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieutenant-General. Chicago, September 11th, 1876. Twenty days’ supply and one hundred thousand pounds of grain have been sent to you at Custer City. I will be at Laramie on the 17th instant and would like to meet you there. If you think Custer City should be held to operate from, leave your Command or such portion of it as you think best there until you see me at Fort Laramie. Furey’s train has been ordered to Fetterman. I had no escort nearer than the Red Cloud agency to send with it to Deadwood; besides, I doubt if the mules are able to take train that far, as grain was asked for to bring them in to Fetterman. From Fetterman it can be ordered to any point you wish. I will change my views to meet yours on any plan you may have, but would like to see you personally at Laramie, on the 17th, or as soon thereafter as possible. Do not be in the least discouraged by newspaper reports. You have done as well as could be expected and I will faithfully support and supply you.8 8. In retrospect, Sheridan was less enthusiastic. The following February, after Crook complained that transportation on his Powder River Expedition of November 1876–January 1877 was hampered by “the want of proper transportation on account of the meagre appropriation [of animals and forage] allowed me for this purpose,” Sheridan exploded. In a letter to General-in-Chief W.T. Sherman, Sheridan contended the transportation problems on the Powder River Expedition were the direct result of the wastage of men and animals during the terrible march of August and September. The provisioning and transportation, he said, were rendered impossible by his march around the Black Hills which not only consumed the time necessary to provide for the winter but broke down his command. The fact of the case is, the operations of Gens. Terry and Crook will not bear criticism, and my only thought has been to let them sleep. I approved what was done, for the sake of the troops, but in doing so, I was not approving much. . . .

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(Signed.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieut.-General. September 15th. Another beautiful day. A lovely situation on the Left bank of Whitewood creek, four miles from bivouac of yesterday was chosen as camping ground. We found all the grass we needed, and a fine stream of cold, clear water in great pools, hemmed in by heavy belts of all kinds of timber. Wild plums grew plentifully and made a most palatable dessert for the men. Wild cherries, grapes and bull-berries were also visible on every side. Balmy breezes blew down from the Black Hills, fanning the tired and dispirited soldiery, whose animation was rapidly reviving with rest, romantic scenery, good weather, fresh rations and the prospect of an early arrival of our wagon train with clean clothing. Here we remained all day. Nothing of moment transpiring unless the arrival and departure of couriers from and to Lieutenant General Sheridan. The dispatches from General have been inserted in preceding pages in connection with those brought yesterday. The telegram of September 5th, alluded to by the Lieutenant General, was not written in its proper place, on account of the notebook I then had being too crowded with other matter. Telegram Hd.Qrs. B[ig]. H[orn]. and Y[ellowstone] Exped. Camp at head of Heart River, Dakota Try. September 5th, 1876. Lieutenant General Sheridan Chicago, Illinois. On 26th August, left Powder River on the trail of the Indians that we had followed down from the Rosebud; General Terry going north of the Yellowstone to intercept the trial of any Indians taking that direction. My column followed the trail down Beaver Creek to a point opposite Sentinel Buttes, where the Indians scattered and the deluging rains to which we have been exposed during the past week have so obliterated the trail as to make it very difficult and laborious to work up the case, but, undoubtedly, a very large majority of the trails led over Crook to AAG, MilDivMo, January 8, 1877, RG 393, Special File, MilDivMo, Sioux Wars (hereafter cited as “Special File–Sioux”); Sheridan to Sherman, February 9, 1877, Sheridan Papers. See also Appendix 4.

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towards the Little Missouri, going in the direction of the Black Hills, the separation taking place apparently about twelve days ago. I have every reason to believe that all the Indians left the Big Horn, Tongue and Powder River country in the village the trail of which we followed. The village was very compact and arranged in regular order of seven circles of lodges, covering an area of at least two thousand Acres. With the exception of a few lodges that had stolen off toward the Agencies, there was no change in the size or arrangements of the village until it disintegrated. All indications show that the hostile Indians were much straitened for food and that they are now traveling in small bands, scouring the country for small game. I feel satisfied that if they can be prevented from getting ammunition or supplies from the Agencies, a large majority of them will surrender soon. I have with me only about two days’ provision, but I shall, push out for the Black Hills to try to reach there in advance of the hostiles or as soon as they do, scouting the country on the march as thoroughly as the circumstances will admit. We have travelled over four hundred miles since leaving our wagontrain; our animals are now much jaded and many of them have given out, while our men begin to manifest symptoms of scorbutic affections. As things look now, Custer City will probably be the base to operate from. I would like to have two hundred thousand pounds of grain sent there at once, together with twenty day’s full rations of vegetables for the men. I would also like to have two companies of Cavalry sent across from Red Cloud Agency via Pumpkin Buttes, by forced marches, to escort my wagon train from the Dry fork of Powder River, by the Miners’ road to Deadwood City in the Black Hills, so as to get it there with all possible dispatch. I make these requests of you as I have not heard anything reliable from the outside world since your telegram of July 26th and do not know what changes may have transpired to modify the disposition of troops in my Department. (signed.) George Crook. Brigadier General.

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September 15th (Continued.) All day long, wagons and vehicles of all sorts, heavily loaded with provisions, rolled in from Crook City, and Deadwood: some, for issue to the command, others brought along for purposes of speculation. Evidences of sympathy and kindly appreciation were not lacking; all our visitors seemed anxious to manifest their pleasure at meeting us there and in ways more potent than words sought to assure us that pleasure was sincere. We were the recipients of all kinds of compliments, none the more grateful than the fresh vegetables, raised in the Black Hills, of which we had a plentiful share. These comprehended potatoes, onions, cabbage and some others: good butter and eggs once more figured on our Bill of Fare, after an absence of five mos. When Phillips called “supper!” this evening and the mess squatted around the canvass that fairly groaned as the catch phrase goes, with delicious hot coffee, warm bread, fresh eggs, fried and stewed meat, pickles, preserves and vegetables, we could hardly repress our hilarity. Then, too, we had a box of champagne, of the vintage known as the “Chateau de Busthead,” not the best wine I ever drank, but given so quietly and with so much heart, to the General and his mess, that we and our friends, who were duly summoned and obeyed the call with wonderful alacrity, enjoyed it more than if it had been Widow Clicquot’s purest.9 Schuyler had an old grudge to pay off against [Lt. William Curtis] Forbush, and called on me for help. I assisted all I could with moderate success. We kept filling Forbush’s tincup with champagne and then, while engaging him in earnest conversation, kept backing him up against the roaring fire, the company had, assembled around. As this was our last night in camp, we could not ascertain and this chronicle shall never know how Forbush’s head felt the next morning, when he arose, if he did arise and the truth began to dawn upon him. Probably when he came to himself and had breakfasted, we were twenty miles away. Hand shaking with old comrades whom we were to leave on the morrow, took up more than half an hour and then to bed—but not to rest. I remember distinctly lying down alongside of Schuyler, but in the middle of the night, awakened to find myself walking about in the woods near where they had made down our blankets. There is no theory to explain away this sommabulistic [sic] aberration; it was the Champagne and I had only 9. The house known as Veuve (Widow) Clicquot is one of the better French shippers of champagne.

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the feeble solace left that Forbush must be ever so much worse off than I, and with this inadequate reflection once more betook myself to my blanket and slept soundly until breakfast. Saturday September 16th Among the visitors to our camp yesterday of whom some special notice should be taken was a deputation from the Common Council of Deadwood City, soliciting the honor of a visit to their young town from General Crook and the officers of his staff. As General Crook was obliged to set out without further delay to meet General Sheridan, who was awaiting him at Fort Laramie he could very readily accept the invitation so kindly presented and at same time make a hurried call upon the inhabitants of the thriving hamlet of Crook City, which had requested the same recognition. Accompanied by Lieutenants Bourke and Schuyler, A.D.C’s, Lieut. W.P. Clarke, 2d Cavy., Major Randall, Colonel Stanton, Colonel Chambers, Major Powell, Major Burt, Surgeon Hartsuff, Lieutenant Sibley, (in charge of escort.) And Messers. Finerty and Wasson of the public press, General Crook started at half past six or seven in the morning and was soon in the depths of the romantic scenery of Whitewood creek; the road skirted rounded knolls of rich green pasturage, where the light of the sun brought out some beautiful contrasts of color and harmony. The crests of the loftier ranges were black with the shadows of impenetrable forests of the various coniferae, while the lower levels were monopolized by groves of willow and live oak and dense copses of the wild plum and rose. Where the trail crossed the crystalline waters of the Whitewood, the scenery presented in varying phases all the enticements and allurements of rustic beauty the poets have ever sung. Arches of the stately hemlock, festooned with the cluster of the ever-graceful vine, with pendulous bunches of the black and purple wild grapes striking almost against our cheeks, shaded our path from the brilliant sun light, while across our horses’ feet the limpid current rippled on its way to scenes of new beauty. The rare ripe fruit of the plum and the now disregarded berries, we had lately so eagerly sought, abounded on each side. Gradually, we left behind all foliage except the juniper and hemlock, with now and then a poplar or birch tree and the cottonwood and willow constant in their affection for the garrulous brook. A very pleasant ride of miles had passed amid such picturesque surroundings that the flight of time and space had scarcely been

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perceived when a cheer from the sturdy lungs of a large crowd of miners, assembled in front of the principal hotel aroused us from our reveries to acknowledge the hearty salutations of the people of Crook City who now thronged about us. After warmly greeting our party, our kind hosts delayed but a few moments before seating us at a table upon which lay spread a very comfortable looking dinner, to which we did complete justice. The vegetables served up were all grown in the hills the present season and from their quality, plenty and variety were good evidence of the adaptability of the country to agriculture and of the determination of the miners to maintain their foothold. Our stay was so limited, no great opportunity was possible for inquiring into the prospects of Crook City, it is very pleasantly situated in a small valley, guarded by high timber clad ridges and close to the waters of the Whitewood, where the enclosing gravel banks, rising to the dignity of hills, yield it is said from two to seventy five cents [of gold] to the pan! Preparations for the introduction of hydraulic works with the incoming of Spring have already been made and if the expectations of the miners are only one tenth realized, Crook City will rapidly assume importance as a great mining center. For the rest, we saw the usual “displatamembra” of a new mining community—saloons, hotels, restaurants, gambling hells [sic], stores, warehouses, magazines of all sorts of products, breweries and bakeries, the latter supplying an exceptionally good article of bread. It was now time to start: handshaking was resumed. Our horses were brought up, and we mounted amid the renewed cheering of the miners for General Crook, and the firing of anvils10 and cannon and screeching of steam whistles from saw mills, we took our departure. From Crook City to Deadwood is nine or ten miles, the road on either hand, bounded the sluice-boxes and deep ditches, excavated to develop or work the rich gravel lying along the whole gulch. (Outside of the metalliferous resources of these mountains, one cannot help being struck by the vast amount of wealth stored up in the forests of pine, oak, elm, box elder, willow, plume, Spruce, hemlock, Fir, Whitewood and Birch, crowding down from the mountain crests or making a jungle down by the water’s edge, which must 10. A sort of firecracker effect achieved by placing a small amount of black powder on a blacksmith’s anvil and igniting it.

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in the course of the coming few years be called upon to supply the wants of the great sheep and cattle interests of the treeless plains farther to the north.) Four miles out from Deadwood, a small party of mounted gentlemen awaited us. They were the Mayor, and members of the City Council delegated to welcome General Crook and escort him to the city. A few moments after we had met them, a sharp elbow of the mountain road was passed and we saw in a pretty little sheltered valley under a prominent peak the village of Montana City, nearly all whose inhabitants, some 300 or 400 in number, had gone on up to the larger community where the preparations for a reception were on a grander scale. Our hearts felt very light that morning; there we were in the centre of the hills which only last year on the occasion of my first visit with Colonel Dodge’s Exploring Party,11 had been the haunt of the timid fawn or the surely [sic] bear. Since that visit people had gathered from every section of our country and builded cities by magic and in these a welcome was in readiness for General Crook that paled into insignificance by brightest anticipations. Not in the splendour or magnificence of the details, because these necessarily failed in some of their minor points; but, in the heartiness and spontaneous embraces of the demonstration which under that point of view was the most remarkable I ever saw. Deadwood lines with a double fringe of block houses the long narrow gulch at the confluence of the little mountain rivulet of the same name with Whitewood creek. The main street, not less than twenty yards wide, comes packed with a force of men, numbering into the thousands. The windows of the upper and lower stories of the numerous eating houses, saloons, hotels, wash-houses &c, were occupied as a “aigus de vantage”12 by women of good, bad and indifferent reputation. The noise was tremendous as the head of our little cavalcade crossed the bridge leading into town; vociferous cheering, re-echoed back from the astonished hills, drowned the sound of the salute that was fired from blacksmith’s anvils, while high above all else rose the ear-piercing screams of the steam whistles belonging to the planing mills down the gulch. The closely pressing throng comported itself 11. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapters 8–9. 12. I.e., vantage point.

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remarkably well and, after the first ebullition of enthusiasm, maintained a respectful silence until the General had been conducted to the front of the Hotel where apartments had been secured for him, when the applause was resumed to the accompaniment of clapping hands and “tiger” after “tiger”. The enthusiasm of the occasion had infected all classes; I overheard the conversation of two Irishmen in the throng: it was amusing enough in itself, besides indicating the general tone of thought in Deadwood. “Auch! thin, which wan is Crukes?”, said one. “That’s him on the gray harse”, said the other. “Is that him? Is that Crukes?[”] replied the first. “Oh Wirra, Wirra, thin, oive seen Crukes, Thank God oive seen Crukes.” Even the almond-eyed Celestial, Sin Lee, had absorbed in some measure the contagion of the hour and from the door of his “Centennial Wash House”, gazed with a complacency unusual to him upon the doings of the Western barbarians. A respite from the public attention was granted General Crook, who with his Staff officers, was assigned to pleasant rooms in the Grand Central Hotel, a structure of two-stories, built of wood, necessarily in the plainest manner, but furnished far better than would have been imagined. The lower floor was given up to the purposes of Office, Dining Room, Sallon [sic], and Kitchens; the upper floor in the front was occupied by the parlor, a nicely appointed apartment; and in the rear by fifteen or twenty bed rooms, running along both sides of a central hall and having the odd feature that the partition walls did not reach quite to the roof, but were cut short at a height of ten feet, leaving a space above that permitted every word or act said or done in the other rooms to be overheard by the occupants of our own. The escort and packers were divided off between the I.X.L. and Centennial hotels, while our horses and mules found good accomodations awaiting them in Clarke’s Livery Stable. Meantime a crowd had accumulated in front of our caravenseria and, aivlens [?] voileur,13 General Crook had to address them a few remarks. After that our whole party enjoyed the luxury of a warm bath and a change of underclothing, supplied by the liberality of General Dawson, who generously advanced what money we needed to replenish our tattered wardrobes. When Lieut. Schuyler and myself had performed 13. The first French word is only semi-legible, but in the second, Bourke probably means voilure, which is to say they apparently were under a canopy or awning in front of the hotel.

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our toilette, an old Englishman who worked about the bathing establishment came up to me and said he wanted to blacken our boots. I incurred the old man’s displeasure by telling him I hadn’t a cent of money, because he replied with some asperity that he wasn’t a boot black, but wanted to do this “because he liked us”. He further stated that when at home, “hin Hengland, Sir, Hi makes my living writing istories of Habbeys and Castles.” He had read in the papers of our cruel privations and the terrible times that had delayed us and his sympathetic nature found vent in the only means left to display itself. But, in my own case at least, his benevolence was productive of ludicrous results; my tattered clothing and ragged straw hat, formed such a contrast to my clean and highly polished, but worn out, boots through which my toes protruded, that all eyes were fixed upon me as I walked the street back to our hotel. (Supper was served up in a very excellent style and discussed with much zest; then came the proceedings of the evening, worthy of a separate chapter for the commemoration.[)] The swelling hum of voices drew those within the Grand Central to the balcony whence could be viewed a perfect sea of up-turned faces waiting for the appearance of the orator of the evening. The twinkling stars gemming the sky above looked down upon the swaying pine forests whose recesses for the first time listened to the voices of an American convention. The preliminaries of introduction completed, General Crook began his remarks by saying he had not come to make a formal speech, but as he presumed many of his auditory felt an interest in knowing what the military were able to do for their protection, he would be glad to respond to any interrogations they might see fit to address to him. This drew out a running fire of questions, more or less pertinent to the subject of the occupancy of the Hills and the safeguards government might extend over the miners at work there. To all these General Crook made suitable responses. Following our commander, several officers, myself among the number, delivered a few sentences of thanks for the hospitalities extended ourselves and comrades since reaching the Black Hills. The crowd was getting greater and greater: bonfires of barrels and bacon boxes blazed fiercely in the streets, lighting up the swarthy countenances of the thousands standing almost breathless before the balcony. The general desire seemed to be to have a more extended talk with General Crook, but as this would interfere with the program

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laid down by the Committee of Arrangements, the General firmly declared acceding to the demands for his reappearance and started quietly for the point agreed upon. While leaving the hotel door, he was accosted by a refined-looking but rather unsophisticated young fellow who said: “General, I am from the Sunny South and wish to shake hands with a northern general: I want to clasp hands over the bloody chasm”. The General joined heartily in the laugh this sally evoked and entered into a brief conversation with the young gentleman who gave his name as Vogt, from Nashville, Tenn. His manners were very polished and his general bearing excellent. He evidently made a very favorable impression upon all the Northern soldiers near him. The Theatre in Deadwood didn’t remind me very much of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia; whether from lack of size or lack of beauty, or both is not proper to say. It was crowded this evening to its very fullest capacity and I don’t see how another human being would have been pressed into that audience and lived. The stage was reserved for General Crook, the Mayor of Deadwood, Council of the City and others. The exercises of this evening embraced besides the usual elocutionary efforts characteristic of such gatherings, the presentation of a petition to General Crook from (713) of the residents of Deadwood, asking for military protection against the hostile Indians, and also a copy of resolutions passed by the City Council at its last meeting, tendering to the General the freedom of the city. General Crook’s merits as an orator are not great; he makes no pretentions [sic] to abilities in that way and seems carefully to avoid appeals to the prejudices of his hearers. But he has one quality that the most skilful [sic] advocate might envy; he loses no time in attracting the attention of his audience and making them feel he is telling the truth, exactly as he understands it. Add to this an ennunciation[sic] slow but clear and well-modulated and a delivery and address that even a long military training has not robbed entirely of grace, and General Crook is before you. That he swayed to his will the vast multitude of bronzed-faced and horny-handed miners and adventurers that made up so large a part of the population of this gulch, could be seen with half an eye and that he used that influence fairly, unselfishly and to the best purpose must be conceded. They looked upon him as their own representative General, the soldier to whom they must cling for protection and safety in times of danger. Major Burt, 9th Infantry, suc-

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ceeded the General in a little speech, provocative of much merriment among the people. The vomitory of the little temple of the muses, (this I think is the high-toned way of putting it) soon emptied the building of its inmates, but after an interval of less than ten minutes nearly the same faces were back in their old seats looking upon a representation by “Miller’s Grand Combination Troupe, with the following array of Stars!!!!”. The troupe did possess some very superior negro minstrel talent, intermingled with much that was of little value. One feature, unpleasant to my taste, was the introduction of scantily clad “female artists”! alongside of the masculine performances. The performance, strange to say, was devoid of vulgarity, and but little inferior to the same style of theatrical representations in our smaller cities. There were many little allusions to General Crook, thrown in by way of “gags” to please the audience: some of these were witty and pointed. In fact, the performance, as a whole, was a great success. “Night had drawn her sable curtain round”; ten o’clock had come and passed and we, campaigners accustomed to going to roost with the birds, began to think of retiring to rest. The faintest intimation of our desires in this direction drew down a storm of dissent and disapproval from the gentlemen escorting us. “Bed! Why the town hadn’t commenced to wake up yet.” So the motion was defeated, while we were conducted in triumph from place to pace “to see the town”. I was very much fatigued at the time and did not enjoy fully the round of visits made by us: in looking back over this part of our journey, I feel glad we did make them, since we learned much that will always conjure up pleasant and instructive reminiscences. We passed from store to store, filled with all articles desirable in a mining district and numbers not usually to be looked for in towns so young, for be it remembered the first division of town lots in Deadwood was only made about May 15th 1876 and all that we saw before us had to be hauled in mule-teams from the Rail Road Two Hundred and Fifty miles away! Clothing, heavy and light, hardware, tinware, mess pans, camp-kettles, blankets, saddlery, harness, rifles, cartridges, wagon-grease and blasting powder, india rubber boots and garden seeds,—dried fruit, canned fruits and fresh, sardines and yeast powders filled the shelves in great profusion. [T]he medium of exchange was gold-dust: each counter displayed a pair of small, delicately balanced scales and every miner carried in a buckskin pouch the quantity of golden grain required for use each day. Greenbacks were not to be seen in circulation and

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already commanded a premium of 5 p[er]. c[ent]. on account of their superior portability. We heard no complaints of hard times; the happy faces and joyous, careless ways of the inhabitants spoke very plainly of Deadwood’s Exemption from want. The Gold “diggings” extended in all sorts of places and directions, sometimes stretching right under a house, the rule being that auriferous land cannot be held as real estate. In this way the office of the (Deadwood) Black Hills Pioneer was threatened, to the great dismay of its able young proprietor, Mr. Merrick. To all mining regions of later days, the Mongolian and the public strumpet are equally certain to go. Deadwood was full of both classes. The former were the laundrymen and cooks in the hotels; the latter held high carnival and acquired money rapidly from the free-handed miners. Gambling Hells flourished: all games could be found. Three card monte, Keno, Poker, Roulette and Faro; but Faro was the favorite. The tables of these games of chance were grounded with players, winning or losing with equal indifference and equal stolidity. Every now and then, a tap upon the little bell by the dealer’s side brought in refreshments of a liquid form for the crowd[.] Close by these were “hurdy-gurdys”, where the music from asthmatic pianos timed the dancing of painted, padded and leering Aspasias, too hideous to hope for profit in any village less remote from civilization.14 We saw and encountered all classes of society, representatives of its good grades and bad. We were prepared for any developments of reckless misrule and defiance of order: but our expectations failed to be realized. We admitted tacitly that we were in a little community where Order had cast the first rays of its light into the darkness of Chaos and where if Vice, in its most hideous forms did exist, it was only by tolerance and not by encouragement. Adventurers of the species to be encountered in all regions where it is supposed wealth can be attained without labor: Gamblers, chevaliers d’industrie, prostitutes, callow youngsters ignorant of the world and its ways, experienced miners who had labored in other fields, men broken down in every pursuit; keen eyed, sharp-nosed Indians, eager to trade—flocked in the streets and filled the stores of Deadwood. As is usual in such cases, the distribution of wealth was not made in the ratio of individual intelligence but in some instances at least Dame Fortune had indiscriminately bestowed her favors blindfolded. Mr. McAleer, a principal owner in one of the richest claims—is an illiterate Irishman without any education save 14. Bourke copied this sentence verbatim in On the Border With Crook (386).

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the little acquired by attrition with the world. He is possessed of much shrewd, common sense and acumen, and is apparently able to manage the fortune so suddenly heaped upon him. There was not at the time of our visit the over indulgence in alcoholic stimulants frequent in prosperous mining camps; certainly the bar-rooms had no cause to complain of want of patronage, but there was no drunkenness to be noted. The store-keepers, too, grumbled very much that the class of people hurrying to the hills was spending a very small percentage of the sums gained and in very question of expenditure acted with a thriftiness and forethought very unlike prodigality ordinarily ascribed to gold hunters. In proof of this, I found that the prices of all grades and descriptions of goods, were nearly identical with those prevailing in Cheyenne. Wonderful stories of the wealth of the Hills were told us; one party, owning a claim of great riches, had hired a six-mule team and an armed escort of more than a score of mounted men, to carry down to the Rail Road the summer’s yield, the weight of which was concealed most jealously from the world, but was estimated all the way from 1600 to 2500 pounds! this was certainly most extraordinary—more than a ton of solid gold for a few month’s washing for three or four men! but only on the same place with other stories narrated. I observed one thing; in speaking of the “clean-up” of any claim, the Deadwooders always said so many “pounds”, in other “diggings”, the word “ounces” is used. The difference in terms is significant. Deadwood boasts of a number of hotels—all good. The one that received us, especially so. In remembrance of our kind treatment while with Mr. Wagner, I have preserved his card in my journal.

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There are two journals in the Hills; one at Crook City, the other at Deadwood—both well conducted and well patronized. Their circulation is about four hundred copies each. . . . No churches have yet been erected in the Hills: a fortunate circumstance that may serve as an inducement to many living in states afflicted with a superabundance to emigrate to the gold regions. One preacher alone made his appearance; the Indians killed him too soon to allow any judgment to be formed of his merits or ability. Taking the generality of ecclesiastics, it is difficult to say that Deadwood has been much of a loser. Sunday, September 17th, We were agreeably surprised to learn that a shower of rain before sunrise had dampened the ground and laid the dust on the road we should have to travel over. Breakfast was waiting for us when we descended to the dining room, where a small knot of prominent gentlemen of the town had gathered to bid adieu to their guest. Mayor [E. B.] Farnham, Councilmen Kurtz and Philbrook, and General Dawson, the Committee of Reception, escorted our party to their horses, when a repetition of the scenes of yesterday was enacted. Cheers and yells rent the air, hands clapped, handkerchiefs waved and a loud salute pealed from anvils and engines along the main street. Deadwood was already a thing of the past; the pleasant reminiscences of our stay among its people would always be present with us and in time efface the remembrance of the privations suffered before reaching there. The murky sky shielded us from disagreeable heat, enabling us to make the pleasant journey through the hills from Deadwood to the head of one of the forks of Rapid Creek in very good time and without inconvenience. The distance, as we made it by taking “cut offs” and trails over the mountains, was twenty-eight miles, more or less, the character of country being rugged and heavily timbered. Much of the scenery is beautiful, without anything of majesty; The Hills, as far as could be observed from the road, fittingly claimed that designation and only at rare intervals rose to the dignity of mountains. Streams of pellucid water, flowing into Deadwood, Bear Lodge[,] Elk[,] Box Elder and Rapid creeks crossed our trail at short distances. Feeding these, were countless springs, one or two of which were of goodly proportions. Crowding down from the crests were gloomy forests of spruce, juniper, cedar, fir, hemlock & birch, while the whitewood and willow, and very rarely an elm

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claimed the damper soil near the stream bed. Of the streams, a few words of description will answer for all; they do not average more than a foot in depth and vary from ten to twenty feet in breadth. At this period of the year, the current was torpid, not over three or four miles an hour, but the water remained pure, sweet and icy. Approaching the banks, in nearly every case, there were indications that in wet weather anyhow, there would be great quagmires to cross over. The road travelled had much “corduroying” upon it, and heavy excavations and grading. It was an excellent mountain path, very creditable to the skill and enterprise of its constructors. On the steeper hill-sides, the large pine trees still showed, cut deep into their rough bark, the creases of the ropes used in letting down the wagons of the pioneer prospectors of Deadwood. Grass is not very plenty in this part of the hills; sunlight enough doesn’t get through the interwoven branches of the trees. Deadwood, Bear Lodge, Elk and Box Elder creeks plentifully water the North East corner of the Hills; on the last named stream, twenty two miles from Deadwood, we came upon the camp of three companies of the 4th Artillery, under Captain Frank Guest Smith, escorting a wagon train loaded with supplies for the Expedition. Captain Smith very courteously insisted upon our remaining to lunch with himself and subordinates, Captain [Harry Cooke] Cushing and Lieutenants [James Mills] Jones, [Myron Winslow] Howe, [Sydney Wentworth] Taylor and [George Lucius] Anderson and Doctor [Curtis Ethelbert] Price. When we came to the spot chosen for our night’s bivouac, the necessary adjuncts of good wood, water and grass were discovered in practically unlimited quantities; the scenery too was very enticing, but not to be fully appreciated under cloudy skies. Monday, September 18. Cold and white the frost lay over the ground when we stretched our limbs this morning at the call for breakfast: ten miles of quick marching warmed our chilled blood and brought us to Castleton, a settlement on Castle Creek. Here the inhabitants were working with untiring energy to get ready for the first approach of winter. A long line of loop-holed palisading marked the site of the block-houses, while the buzzing of a saw led us to look over toward the saw mills where great piles of lumber were accumulating for the houses yet to be constructed. The prospects on this stream are excellent, but it remains for next Spring’s thaw to determine the exact importance of the location. Along the streams in the vicinity of

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this town, were numerous picturesque scenes—arcades and arbors of interlaced trees and dark gorges filled with timber where the sun never penetrated. Hills City, a deserted village of more than one hundred comfortable huts, arranged in neat rectangular avenues, twenty miles from last camp, was passed towards noon, its solitary occupant gazing stolidly upon our procession filing by. A want of sufficient water-power or the superior attractions of Deadwood had depopulated this town since early in the summer. South of this point, and on to Custer City, sixteen miles, is the Park country,—gentle hills, enclosing valleys smiling in the beauty of luxuriant herbage and sparkling springs, set in little copses. During my former trip in the summer of 1875, I took such copious notes of the Black Hills country that it would be simply waste of time to devote much attention to the subject here. Custer City is a nest of horse thieves, broken down gamblers and scoundrels of every type, with their families. All told there may be as many as three hundred souls in the town which itself is composed of more than four hundred houses. What there is of this town is the remains of the establishment better people vacated in leaving for the more northerly districts. There are however, three saw mills and one planing mill still in position, and these give something more of an air of activity to the place than a closer observation will show it deserves. There are three or four hotels and fully as many restaurants, all of great pretensions but none of consequence. The “General Crook”, the “Custer”, the “United States”, the “Centennial,” and I think another, supplied hirsute hash and bedbugs, as big as snapping turtles, to the weary wayfarer. Of the inhabitants,—they were, judging from their looks and conduct, mostly bankrupt framers driven from their homes by grasshoppers and other misfortunes. Travellers were regarded merely as so many more bones to pick clean of meat; a score of greedy venders of grain and hay and hotel runners, crowded close to General Crook’s bridle, extolling their own merits and damning their rivals as liars and thieves. The exhibition was most disgusting and annoying, coming so soon after and in such violent contrast to the impression made by Deadwood and Crook City. In the evening the male inhabitants who had the money were drunk; those who had no money went to bed at sunset. Captain [James] Egan of the 2n Cavalry, and Lieutenant [James N.] Allison, of the 2n Cavalry, with their Company “K”, were here with

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a wagon train, like the one Captain Smith’s command was escorting, loaded down with supplies intended for the Expedition. We had a quiet chat with them and then lay down to rest. Tuesday, Sept. 19th We were indebted to Captain Egan for a remount from his fresh horses. The change was a luxurious one, tho’ we regretfully bad farewell to the jaded plugs that had served us so faithfully through months of toil and danger. Little is left to be told. South of us lay Camp Robinson, the military station at the Red Cloud Indian Agency, and the seventy-five or one hundred miles between was to be spanned in the next twenty-four hours. (For thirty five miles, our course kept us in the hills, in the balmy odors of the pine forests. Beautiful scenery surrounded us on every side, but we could not tarry to admire the charms of Nature when each minute of daylight was needed to light our march, if we would escape the pathless mountains and strike the road at the South Cheyenne, before dark.[)] The forests sheltered much wild game; we constantly came upon black tailed deer escaping to the bosky fastnesses and later in the day stumbled upon a shapely fawn drinking from the mirror like surface of a silvery fountain. Hardly had we seen him, ere he had bounded away in the rocks on the flank of the cañon. A successful shot brought down a fat young doe and dinner was soon ready; that is, slices of liver, heart and tenderloin were broiling in the ashes and cups of toddy prepared to wash them down. Below the valley where we partook of lunch, there rose a little stream of cold, but sweetish water. The bottom of rock was extremely treacherous. The weight of our horses caused them to break through and run great risk of breaking bones or drowning in the current. The formation was a Sulphuret of Lime, hard enough on its exterior surface to cut the horse’s feet and soft inside like putty. A deposit of pale lemon colored Sulphur(?) was visible cropping out below the line of bluffs on the Left hand. The distant hills to the West were golden with the last rays of the Sun, as we crossed the South Cheyenne and entered the road to Camp Robinson. Seven miles farther South, at the rise of a little creek, a halt of ten minutes was made and then a long tramp of twenty five miles terminated at midnight alongside of a hole full of muddy water, that gave our horses a little refreshment while we slept for three hours. The air was too keen to allow us to expose ourselves longer. We were now in the “Mauvaises Terres”, par excellence,—the

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former habitat of curious animals of exaggerated proportions, whose fossilized bones lie here in quantities so great that this belt of territory is likely to be a reservoir for the World’s great museums to draw from for years to come.15 But darkness hid the land from us and all we could do was to follow the dim gray streak experience had taught us to recognize as the way on road. By nine o’clock on the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 20th, our perspiring quadrupeds strolled quickly into Red Cloud Agency, almost at the same moment that the Committee designated by the President to submit to the Sioux Indians the proposition to transfer their tribe to the Indian Territory, had commenced its daily session. The members came over to pay their respects to General Crook; their names I cannot recall; I remember the faces of Bishop [Henry] Whipple of the Episcopal Church, of Judge [George W.] Moneypenny [sic] and Judge [A. S.] Gaylord, the Solicitor and Counsellor of the Department of the Interior.16 Hanging behind, like a whipped hound, General [William] Vandever slunk along. His reception was so chilling, he soon made off with himself.17 General Crook, Colonel Chambers, Major Burt and Major Powell left for Fort Laramie in an ambulance; the others of our party halted at Red Cloud to rest and then proceed on to Laramie by easy marches. Mr. Dear, post trader at Red Cloud, spread out for us a very bountiful lunch. Not long after that, officers from the garrison came over to see us. [Wentz Curtis] Miller, of the 4th Cavalry, an old friend and classmate of mine, and [Henry] Lawton of his Regiment, took charge of Schuyler and self and entertained us most hospitable at their Qrs. in the Post, during our stay. 15. Bourke is referring to the Badlands of South Dakota, which, in fact, became the object of paleontological expeditions within a few years of his writing. Even now, signs in Badlands National Park prohibit visitors from disturbing any fossil remains they may encounter. 16. The commission consisted of George W. Manypenny (which Bourke spelled “Moneypenny”), former commissioner of Indian Affairs; former Dakota Territorial Governor Newton Edmunds; Bishop Henry Whipple of the Episcopal Church; former Indian Agents Jared W. Daniels and Albert G. Boone; Assistant Attorney General A. S. Gaylord; and Henry C. Bulis. Their instructions from Congress were to force the Indians to relinquish all claim to the unceded lands of Wyoming and Montana, and all of the Great Sioux Reservation west of the 103rd meridian including the Black Hills. In exchange, the government would provide additional funds in the annual Sioux appropriation, as well as school, housing, and subsidies for those who abandoned the nomadic life for agriculture. Rations would be withheld until the Indians complied. Prucha, Great Father, 212; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 261–62; Robinson, Good Year to Die, 261. 17. Bourke despised Vandever, whom he considered to be a pawn of the Indian Ring, a group of Eastern contractors who enriched themselves at the expense of the Indians, and which he believed responsible for much of the trouble. See entry under Appendix 1. The “Moneypenny” referred to is George W. Manypenny.

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Thursday, Sept. 21st. Remained at Red Cloud. Randall and Sibley arrived with our pack-train. Friday, Sept. 22, Moved out for Fort Laramie. Marched eighteen miles to head of the White Earth River. Saturday Sept. 23rd. Thirty six miles to Rawhide River and Sunday, September 24th Twenty One miles to Fort Laramie. We came across the North Platte Iron bridge at same hour, Major J. V. Furey and his wagon train was descending the hills from the West. We were rejoiced to encounter Nickerson, looking hearty and bright after his absence of three months, and the officers of the post, all old friends. This march terminated the Summer campaign of 1876, with the exception of arranging and writing the necessary Reports. . . . Of the merits, defects if any, aims and accomplishments, it is not proper to make any review or to enter into detailed criticism until after the reports shall have been seen that a correct analysis of what had to be done, what odds had to be subdued and with what weapons, may be laid before us. September 28th. Major Furey, Lieutenant Schuyler and myself took our passage in the Cheyenne Stage for Omaha. A brisk drive of fourteen hours brought us ninety three miles to Cheyenne, where we remained until 3 P.M. of the next day. Twenty six hours’ journey on the U.P.R.R.,18 laid us at Omaha. The kind attentions shown us during our stay among them by all the officers connected with the Hd.Qrs [of the Department of the Platte], and their families was highly pleasing: our friends, among the citizens, were not less zealous in their courtesies. Wednesday, October 4th. Started back for Fort Laramie, arriving there the evening of the 6th. Oct. 10th. General Crook and party returned from their hunt to Laramie Peak. The success met with was unprecedented. Sixty-two head of venison, four elk, four mountain sheep and one Cinnamon Bear. They also had great good luck fishing in the North Platte River last week, Sixty odd pike, weighing one hundred and one pounds were caught with hooks in a few hours. Oct. 14th. Left Fort Laramie. Oct. 16th. Arrived at Red Cloud Agency. 18. Union Pacific Rail Road.

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[The continuing narrative is disrupted at this point. The following is Bourke’s summary of events between October 16 and 24] My intention to write a critique upon the summer’s campaign was frustrated by the amount of correspondence and other work of that kind, incident to my position as Aide de Camp, I found devolving upon me during our stay at Red Cloud Agency. To commence a winter’s operations, leaving thousand of insolent, ill-disposed Indians in our rear to harass the settlements along the Platte and threaten our communications was something not to be thought of: the attitude of the chief Red Cloud, had long been unequivocally that of a sympathizer, if not a participant with the Minneconjous and other Northern Bands. Fancying himself able to cope with the feeble forces of troops at the disposal of our Government, his contempt for the administration of affairs at his Agency, culminated in his withdrawing there from with his people to a point near the head of Chadron Creek, some twenty-five miles from the Agency. At that distance, as he well knew, a surveillance of his retinue became far [too] difficult and his communication with the hostiles a very easy matter. The action of Red Cloud’s, precipitated the effort to dismount and disarm the people of his band and that [other band] commanded by his associate, the notorious Red Leafe [sic], the leader in the now famous Fetterman, or Phil Kearney Massacre. General Merritt was ordered to push on with his command from the place of its encampment, near Custer City, in the Black Hills, to the Red Cloud Agency and surround it from the North, while Mackenzie was to do the same service on the Southern side. The 24th of October was the date affixed. Merritt made his disposition of troops accordingly, but Mackenzie’s command instead of moving out on the 24th, had to leave on the night of the 22d, to prevent an apprehended exodus of the bands near the Agency, who seemed to take alarm at something. Mackenzie marched forty miles, surrounded the villages of Red Cloud and Red Leaf and at first peep of dawn, without firing a shot, captured all the inhabitants, over five hundred in number, including eighty-seven warriors; took more than seven hundred ponies and fifty rifles. These Indians had been trading arms and ammunition with Sitting Bull’s band, which will explain why so few guns were captured in their lodges. Red Cloud, Red Leaf and the other bucks were at once incarcerated in the calaboose at Red Cloud Agency,

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while their families, arms and ponies were taken in under guard of a battalion of the 4th Cavalry. October 24th. General Crook’s sense of the service performed by Mackenzie’s command expressed itself in the following telegram to, Lieutenant General Sheridan Chicago, Illinois. Red Cloud’s and Red Leaf’s bands were successfully surrounded last night, disarmed and their ponies taken from them this morning. I have had difficulty in this matter for the reason that since the hostiles commenced scattering, these Indians have also scattered, locating their camps farther from the Agency, evidently communicating with and receiving the hostiles who came in. I am glad to report complete success and that it was accomplished without firing a shot. Thanks are due Colonel Mackenzie, under whose personal supervision the movement was conducted, and to Major [George Alexander] Gordon, 5th Cavalry and Captain [Clarence] Mauck, 4th Cavalry, who commanded the Battalions. I had a satisfactory council with Spotted Tail and am satisfied that he is the only important leader, who has had the nerve to be our friend and have therefore put him in charge as head-chief of all. The line of the hostile and peaceably disposed [Indians] is now plainly drawn and we shall have our enemies in the front only, in the future. Colonel Merritt made his scout; developing several trails running into the Agency, and is now near here. I could not wait for his command to get into position, as the Indians were about to leave. Colonel Merritt’s command will be here to-morrow, when I shall organize the new Expedition19 and leave with it at once. I feel that this is the first gleam of day-light we have had in this business. (signed.) George Crook. Brigadier General. Same afternoon, General Crook assembled the principal chiefs of the Ogallala Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes and gave them the first plain talking to they had ever received. He said our Government had been feeding them at great cost and without exacting any return. It was at least to be expected that they 19. The Powder River Expedition.

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should be loyal and friendly, but on the contrary, many of our best citizens, whose taxes had been paid to support the Sioux, had been murdered by Indians who had been trailed on to this agency. The belief of the settlers was these marauders came from Red Cloud [Agency], but whether this belief was true or false, [Chief] Red Cloud had shown by his insolent conduct last Spring that at least his sympathies were with the hostiles. Spotted Tail’s behavior was in pleasing contrast: he had been the friend of the white man. As a punishment, Red Cloud and Red Leaf had had their arms and ponies seized: as a reward, Spotted Tail should be the head-chief over all the Sioux and be obeyed by them as long as he remained true to the whites. There were enough troops here now (53 companies.) to clean out the whole Sioux nation and they knew well it would be done very soon if they didn’t behave. But he did not wish to do harm to any Indian. Indeed he desired to be friendly to them. They must learn to live and work like the whites; give up war and the chase and assume the care of stock. To all who wished to renounce their nomadic propensities, full assistance and encouragement were promised: to the hostiles, war only. This is a succint [sic] condensation, but elaborate enough to give an idea of the general tone of the General’s remarks. The Sioux listened attentively, from time to time ejaculating Ugh! Ugh! and How! How! as some sentence struck their fancy. Spotted Tail spoke a few phrases: he hoped now the Sioux would behave peaceably and keep their ears straight so they could listen to what was told them. For his part; he would do all he could to preserve good order and discipline among them. His eyes glistened with pleasure when General Crook handed him his commission, gorgeously illuminated with red ink and bound with red ribbon. Below is a copy. Army of the United States To whom it may Concern. Know ye, that: By authority from his Excellency, the President of the United States, through the Honorable, the Secretary of War, the General of the Army and the Lieutenant-General Commanding [the Military Division of the Missouri], and for the purpose of Enforcing and Preserving Order among the Sioux Indians, I have appointing and Commissioned

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Sintiega Leska, or Spotted Tail Head Chief of all the bands of the Sioux nation. Reposing Special trust and confidence in his Valor, Friendship and ability to discharge the duties pertaining to said position. And I do hereby charge all Officers and Soldiers of the Army of the United States, serving in the Department of the Platte, to respect and regard the said Sintiega Leska, or Spotted Tail, in the position of head-chief of the Sioux Nation, according to this Commission. Given at Head Quarters, Department of the Platte in the field, Camp Robinson, Nebraska, October 24th 1876. On this same day, General Merritt’s command marched into Red Cloud and was immediately assigned to duty and posts. . . . October 26th. General Crook and staff left for Fort Laramie, where they arrived the next day.

Chapter 7 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Powder River Expedition

The Powder River Expedition of the winter of 1875–76 was Crook’s last field operation during the Great Sioux War, and is remembered for Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s destruction of the main Cheyenne winter camp on November 25, 1876. Known as the Dull Knife Fight, because of one of the principal Cheyenne chiefs present, it effectively broke Cheyenne military power.1 Bourke, who accompanied Mackenzie’s cavalry column as a volunteer observer, used it as the basis for his article “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes, A Winter Campaign in Wyoming and Montana,” which appeared in the Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States. A very lengthy article, it has since been reprinted several times in book form. Bourke was not the only officer to keep a journal during this campaign. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, 23rd Infantry, who commanded the infantry battalions, kept a daily record, which has been published as The Powder River Expedition Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. It would be difficult to find 1. Dull Knife was the name given to this chief by the Lakotas, and by which he is best known. Consequently it is used here, even though among his own people he was called Morning Star. Probably the most complete history of the Powder River Expedition is Jerome A. Greene’s Morning Star Dawn.

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two accounts more dissimilar than those of Bourke and Dodge. A professional soldier of long experience, Dodge was slightly older than Crook, and neither awed nor impressed by the general or his record. Crook, he decided, wanted to convey the image of a man who utterly contemns [sic] anything like luxury or even comfort—yet he has the most luxurious surroundings, considering the necessity for short allowance that I have ever seen taken to the field by a Genl Officer—There is no doubt of his courage, energy [or] will—but I am loath to say I begin to believe he is a humbug—who hopes to make a reputation by assuming qualities foreign to him. . . . He is the very worst mannered man I have ever seen in his position. Though his ill manners seem to be the result rather of ignorance than of deliberate will—I believe him to be warm hearted—but his estimate of a man will I think be discovered to be founded not on what a man can or will do for the Service, but what he can or will do for Crook.2 Dodge remembered Reuben Davenport, the New York Herald correspondent who was ostracized by Crook and staff for his critical dispatches on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. “I don’t blame Davenport of the Herald one bit,” he remarked. “He stated what he saw and is cordially hated for it. I cant [sic] state what I see except in this private journal.”3 Although often critical of Crook, Dodge also realized the general did have good qualities, and could be genial when he wanted to be. Rather than an outright indictment, his journals serve to balance Bourke’s more or less unabashed hero worship. The great value of Dodge’s writing lies in the insights into the various people involved in the campaign. His observations of Mackenzie’s progressive mental deterioration are particularly noteworthy. Although the Dull Knife Fight was successful by any standard, Mackenzie felt otherwise. After the funeral of the soldiers killed in the fight, Dodge, Major E. F. Townsend, 9th Infantry, and Capt. Joseph B. Campbell, 4th Artillery, went to see him. Dodge recorded: We found him very downcast—bitterly reproaching himself for what he called his failure. He talked more like a Crazy man, than the sane Comdr of a splendid body of Cavalry. 2. Kime, Powder River Expedition Journals, 64–65. 3. Ibid., 66.

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He said to an officer that if he had courage enough he would blow his brains out. Townsend & Campbell went out soon, & Mac opened his heart to me. He is excessively sensitive—He said he had often done better with a third of the force at his comd here—that he believed he degenerated as a soldier as he got older—that he was a fool, & ought to have captured every Indian—that he regarded the whole thing as an utter failure. . . . He was so worked up that he could hardly talk, & had often to stop and collect himself. Dodge eventually calmed Mackenzie down, but worried enough about the matter to report it to General Crook. By the next day, however, Mackenzie had recovered his composure.4 If Mackenzie won the only fight of this campaign, Crook’s greatest personal accomplishment was getting the various mutually antagonistic tribes to put aside their ancient hatreds and serve together as scouts. In all of his councils with the Indians, he had one recurring theme: the Indian way of life was dying, and in order to survive, they would have to learn to adapt to the white lifestyle. Perhaps this explains the inclusion of Pawnee scouts who, being from the Southern Plains, were totally unfamiliar with the region, yet could serve as an example of more or less successful assimilation. Even in the councils, however, old grievances sometimes surfaced in the form of veiled allegations, as when one Shoshone chief accused the Sioux of past duplicity and told them to “Talk straight this time.”5 In spite of it all, Crook managed to instill a sense of unity and cooperation. The Indians served loyally and carried out their orders and duties, even when those orders and duties went against long-standing custom. [November 2, 1876] With this volume commences the chronicle of the 3d movement against the Sioux and Cheyennes in the Department of Dakota and the Platte.6 There was such a pressure of work at General Crook’s Head-Quarters in the Field, about the beginning of November that I found it compulsory to abandon the diary from 4. Kime, Powder River Expedition Journals, 98, 100. 5. Bourke, Diary, 14:1398. 6. The first two movements were the Big Horn Expedition of the previous March, covered in Volume 1 of this series, and the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, covered in Volume 1 and the first six chapters of this volume. Terry’s operations in Dakota were in conjunction with the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition.

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a narration and confine myself to mentioning from time to time whatever of special moment might occur. Fort Laramie after our return thither displayed a bustling activity; with troops moving in and troops moving out, officers running hither, thither and yon, changing quarters, drawing supplies or other duties. The sale of Indian ponies taken away from the bands of Red Cloud and Red Leaf, took place on the 2d of November, 1876, four hundred and five being sold, at an average of a little over five dollars. Nearly three hundred and fifty were retained by General Crook for the use of scouts, guides and friendly Indians. I purchased a very beautiful span of dark bays, perfectly matched and well-gaited, but not yet broken to harness, paying about forty dollars for the selection. November 3d. Hd.Qrs. Of the 9th Infantry Band and Company “H”, same Regiment left Fort Laramie for their new station at Sidney Barracks, Nebraska: the officers taken away from the Fort Laramie Garrison were Major Burt and Lieut. [Edgar Brooks] Robertson, Major [Alfred] Morton, R.Q.M., and Lieut. Leonard Hay, Regimental Adjutant, 9th Infantry. November 4th. Captain A. H. Nickerson, Aide de Camp to General Crook left for Hd.Qrs. at Omaha, after a long siege of six or seven weeks’ unintermitted work. During the whole time of his stay at Field Hd.Qrs., pen and ink never flagged; the amount of correspondence entailed upon the members of the Staff of a General like Crook, entrenched with important undertakings, is something not generally understood by people unfamiliar with the workings of the military establishment. In this place it is fair to say that General Crook’s whole Staff have stood up to the onerous work of the past summer without a complaint, and have been an assistance by none acknowledged more readily than by the General himself. This day, General Crook issued from Hd.Qrs. Powder River Expedition, Fort Laramie, Wyoming November 4th, 1876 General Orders No. 1. The following organization of the Powder River Expedition is announced: Colonel R. S. Mackenzie, 4th Cavalry, will command the Cavalry

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Battalion consisting of Company “K”, 2d Cavalry, Companies “H” and “K”, 3d Cavalry, Companies “B[”], “D[”], [“]E”, [“]F[”], “I”, and “M”, 4th Cavalry, and Companies “H” and “L”, 5th Cavalry. Lieutenant-Colonel R. I. Dodge, 23d Infantry will command the Battalions of Artillery and Infantry, composed of Companies “C”, [“]F:” [“]H”, and “K”, 4th Artillery, Companies “A”, [“]B”, [“]D”, “F”, [“]I” and “K”, 9th Infantry, Companies “D” and “G”, 14th Infantry, and Companies “C”, [“]G”, and “I”, 23d Infantry. First Lieutenant John G. Bourke, 3d Cavy., Aide de Camp, Acting Assist. Adj’t. General. First Lieutenant W. S. Schuyler, 5th Cavalry, Aide de Camp. Captain John V. Furey, A.Q.M., Chief Qr. Master and Acting Ordnance Officer. First Lieutenant C. H. Rockwell, 5th Cavalry, Chief Commissary of Subsistence. Assistant Surgeon J. R. Gibson, Chief Medical Officer. Captain G.M. Randall, 23d Infantry, Chief of Scouts. First Lieutenant W. P. Clarke, 2d Cavalry, Special Duty. Official. (sig.) W. S. Schuyler (signed.) George Crook. Aide de Camp Brigadier General General Mackenzie arrived with twenty odd Companies of Cavalry, Artillery and Infantry and nearly one hundred and sixty Indian scouts, from Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies (names of these Indians will be written on next page.) Major Townsend, 9th Infantry, ordered to duty with the Expedition. 1 Lieutenant W. P. Clarke, 2d Cavalry, assigned to command of the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe scouts from Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies and 2d Lieutenant Hayden Delaney, 9th Infantry to assist him, (commanding Company “A”, of these scouts.). . . . Roster of Powder River Expedition, November 5th, 1876 Brigadier General George Crook Comdg. l Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3d Cavalry, A.D.C. A.A.G. 1 Lieut. W. S. Schuyler, 5th Cavalry, A.D.C. Captain John V. Furey, A.Q.M.: C.Q.M. and Ordnance Officer. Absent Capt. G. M. Randall, 23d Inf. Chf. Scouts, 1 Lieut. C. H. Rockwell, 5th Cavalry, Chf. Comy. Asst. Surgeon J. R. Gibson, Chief Medl. Officer. First Lieut. W. P. Clarke, 2d Cavalry, Comd. Indian scouts.

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Second Lieutenant Hayden Delaney, 9th Infy. on duty with Indian scouts. Colonel R. S. Mackenzie, 4th Cav. Comdg. Cavy. Lieut.-Col. R. I. Dodge, 23d Infy. Comdg. Arty. & Infantry Battalions. Maj. G. A. Gordon, 5th Cavalry Comdg. Maj. E. F. Townsend, 9th Infy. th Battalions. Capt. C. V. Mauck, 4 Cavy. Capt. J. B. Campbell, 4th Artillery Mr. J. Roche, Staff of N.Y. Herald, Correspondent. Roll Call of the Friendly Indian scouts, enlisted at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, for duty with General Crook’s Powder River Expedition, 1876. Name Band Tribe 1st Serg’t. Three Bears Cut-off or Kioxsi Sioux Sergeant Pretty-voiced Bull “ ” Yellow Shirt “ ” Corporal Singing Bear “ ” Lone Feather. “ ” Private Tall Wild Cat “ ” “ Bad Boy “ ” “ Bull “ ” “ Big Horse “ ” “ Black Mouse Loafer “ “ Broken Leg. Ogallalla “ “ Charging Bear 1. “ ” “ Charging Bear 2. “ ” “ Crow “ ” “ Charles Richaud (Half Breed.) “ “ Eagle 1 Loafer “ “ Eagle 2 Ogallalla “ “ Feather on the Head. Cut-Off “ “ “ Fast Thunder. Brulé “ Fast Horse. Ogallalla “ “ Good Man. Ogallalla “ “ Grey Eyes. Loafer “ “ James Twist (Half Breed.) “ “ Kills First Loafer “ “ Keeps a Battle Ogallalla “

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“ Killed in the Winter Cut-Off “ “ Lone Dog Loafer “ “ Owl Bull Cut-Off “ “ Little Warrior “ ” “ Leading Warrior Ogallalla “ “ Little Bull. Loafer “ “ No Neck “ ” “ Poor Elk Ogallalla “ “ “ Rocky Bear Brulé “ Red Bear Loafer “ “ Red Willow Cut-Off “ “ Six Feathers “ ” “ Sitting Bear “ ” “ Scraper Ogallalla “ “ Swift Charger Loafer “ “ Shut a Door Ogallalla “ “ “ Slow Bear Brulé “ Sorrel Horse Ogallalla “ “ Swimmer “ ” “ Tobacco Cut Off “ “ Knife “ ” “ Thunder Shield Ogallalla “ “ Horse Comes Last Cut Off “ “ White Face Loafer “ “ Walking Bull. Ogallalla “ “ Waiting “ ” “ White Elk “ ” “ Yellow Bear Cut Off. “ “ Bad Moccasin Loafer. “ “ Bear Eagle “ ” “ Yankton “ ” “ Fox Belly Cut Off. “ “ Running Over Sans Arcs. “ Brulé “ “ Red Leaf7 The above will show vividly the Sioux mode of designation; it differs in no respect from that of the other tribes, of whom I shall name only the principal chiefs or prominent warriors: 7. Apparently a different Red Leaf from the one rounded up by Mackenzie. The latter Red Leaf was Oglala.

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Arapahoes. Sharp Nose. Washington, Six Feathers. White Horse. Yellow Bear Cheyennes [None listed] Pawnees [None listed] Shoshones [None listed] November 5th, 1876. General Crook and Staff left for Fort Fetterman at noon. Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., and self, being detained on public business at Fort Laramie, did not get away until nearly two o’clock, when we trotted out along the “lower” or “river” road, the General and others taking the “upper” or “hill” road. It was understood that camp should be made at Bull’s Bend, thirty miles from Fort Laramie, but the General finding it growing late and a black snow storm coming up, determined to bivouac at the Warm Springs, only half way out. Of this, of course, Schuyler and I were ignorant, and we kept up our gait along the dusty road, where the wind had so obliterated the different trails that we could not perceive that General Crook’s party had not come in to the lower road at the junction. We discovered our mistake, when we came to the North Platte at Bull’s Bend, but it was then nearly ten at night, our animals were weary and we had to make the best of the situation. An effort to go to sleep, wrapped in our saddle blankets did not meet with any success; the cold became so great we had to arise and sit or stand around the fire; already kindled of dry cottonwood logs. We had no supper and there was no prospect of breakfast, but we didn’t mind hunger: we had become accustomed to that. Cold was what we dreaded. We anxiously watched the Great Bear circling the frozen sky and gibbous moon climbing up to the Zenith and descending the Western Quadrant. Morning’s cold gray light at last flickered above the hill tops and then came fluttering the violet, yellow and scarlet bands of the glorious banner of the Sun. Our ponies had been quietly feed[in]g upon the rich meadow grass, surrounding camp and were now within reach; we quickly saddled up and rode down to Twin Springs there

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to await the coming of General Crook. He rode up with his escort very soon after that and gave us some lunch prepared through his thoughtfulness. Not knowing what had become of us, the General in his anxiety for our safety had caused signal fires to be built and signal guns to be discharged, while the Pawnee scouts kept up their singing until a late hour to guide us back to camp. Our march to-day was thirty miles to Elkhorn creek, and the next day, November 7th, thirty more to Fort Fetterman. November 8th. General Crook held a council with our Indian scouts to hear what they had to say and to give them some advice in return. The following remarks are from my own report of the proceedings, written down as each one delivered his words to the interpreter: Three Bears said: “Before leaving Red Cloud Agency, I told the agent I wanted him to give our people their regular allowance of rations while we were gone on this scout. I am talking now for all our families left back at Red Cloud Agency. I want the beeves turned out the same as they ever were. [“]I have three things to say and that’s all. When that delegation gets back from the Indian Territory I want it to wait for me and not go to Washington until we can start together.8 I don’t want them to start before that time. As soon as we get through with this business out here we can work together and that’s the reason I want them to wait for me. Sometimes, I may want to ask for something and whenever I do, I want the General (Crook.) to agree to it. When we travel together, we ought to work together as one. [“]A great many of our men back at the Agency have guns but no ammunition. I want to have a note sent to both those stores at the Agency to have them sell ammunition for a couple of days, because the hostile Indians will come down there and raise trouble with our people while we are away. [“]I want you to write right away, because if my young people don’t cry for grub while I am away, I’ll like you all the better when I come back. [“]Those things I can’t get I want you to tell me now. The Pawnees have a great herd of horses here; we want half to drive along.”9 8. Three Bears is referring to a delegation, grudgingly headed by Spotted Tail, to visit the Indian Territory where the government wished to resettle the Lakota Sioux tribes. Robinson, General Crook, 201–2; Hyde, Spotted Tail’s Folk, 258; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 261. 9. Three Bears probably meant half of the horses confiscated from Red Cloud and Red Leaf and held for the scouts, rather than appropriation of horses belonging to the Pawnees.

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General Crook. “All right. There’ll be a fair division made.” Three Bears. “I want you to put in your letter we got one half of those horses back. [“]When you send us out on a scout, we want to work our own way.[”] General Crook. That’s it exactly. Three Bears. If a man wants to live in this world, he has got to do right and keep his ears straight. Then he gets along without trouble. We are going to listen to you after this and do what you tell us: If we get any money for our country, (i.e. the Black Hills,) we don’t want it taken away from us. I want the Great Father to hear me when I call for oxen, wagons and sheep and when they are given to me, I don’t want the agent to keep them from me; I can keep them myself. I was glad you gave me those things to-day. We want to get boots and shoes for our women every time we draw Annuity goods. We want to draw those guns to-day. General Crook. There are better guns coming to-morrow and perhaps pistols too: you can have your guns now if you want them, but you had better wait till to-morrow for the better kind. Fast Thunder speaks: All the bucks you see here are from Red Cloud Agency: from Spotted Tail, there are seven of us. I want a letter sent there too: I want my words to go to Spotted Tail Agency. A great many Indians went out with that delegation (i.e. to Indian Territory.) We want the delegation to wait for us when they return. The Great Father sent us out here to do this business and told me to do it or die. I am going to do it. When we come back, we want to pick out an Agency, and when the other Indians come back we want to work together and tell the Great Father what we want. I have a Band at my Agency and there is no one to look out for them when I am away: when you send a letter down, I want you to tell the agent to treat my Band right and give them their rations right. I want you to give the Spotted Tail Indians permission to trade for ammunition for one day; the Northern Indians make trouble for them while we are gone. Some of these young men have no horses. We want, when you divide those horses, to get fast horses, so we can do whatever you tell us to do and catch whatever you send us after. After the Sioux had withdrawn, a deputation of Arapahoes, headed by their chief, Sharp Nose, stalked into the room and squatted

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against the walls. Like the Sioux they drew their coarse black and blue blankets closely about their shoulders and puffed slowly and laboriously at their clay pipes. The face-painting of these aborigines was not on an extended scale; a small dab of yellow ochre, or an occasional streak of green or black, on the cheeks and chin, with the inevitable cinnabar streak down the middle of the head. The language of the Arapahoes is a series of guttural sounds, jerked out spasmodically, in a way I can compare to nothing so much as the language of a ventriloquist, suffering with catarrh in the head. The palm of eminence, oratorically and elevationally, belongs to Sharp Nose; standing erect in the middle of the floor, with his red blanket draped gracefully about his loins and falling to his feet in broad folds, he impressed his listeners much more than did Three Bears and Fast Thunder who delivered themselves of their speeches, while sitting down. Waving his hand to the crouching circle of his people and then pointing to General Crook, Sharp Nose said: “These are Arapahoes; they are all my people. They are all your friends. Where you go they follow. When you told us you wanted us to help fight the Northern Indians, we said all right, we’ll go. When you told the Sioux, they said let’s talk about it. We didn’t want to talk about it—We said at once, we’d go. The Sioux said, “better wait till Spring when the grass is green”. The winters are very cold in this country and the rivers turn into ice. But we didn’t want to wait for Spring. We said[,] “we’ll go now.” We have come out to fight the Northern Sioux and we shall remain with you until you have got through with them. We are your friends, you must be our friends. As you say, two sticks together are harder to break than two sticks separate. We are your friends. We want to be like white men. We want plenty of ammunition to fight with and good fast horses to ride on. We want to scout in our own way, sending five men to one side of the river and five or six to the other; when they see any game they can kill it and bring it back to camp, because our people are different from yours and want plenty of fresh meat: if they see Sioux, they will come back and tell you. This country where this post stands is our country: we have never received any pay for this post and don’t want any. We are your friends and intend to be your friends always.” General Crook made a few remarks: he referred to the rapid extinction of the buffalo and other game, formerly the principal means

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of subsistence of the Indians. Meanwhile the waves of white immigration were surging in upon the Indian country. Peace, the white men wanted: War, they were prepared for. Many of the Indians now present had been to Washington. They must have seen how much more powerful than they [the Indians, that] the white men were. This was because they worked hard and had good laws. When a man did wrong among the whites, they sent their soldiers out to hunt him up and punish him. The Indians had no law, neither did they labor. Offenders too generally escaped proper punishment.10 All this must be changed. Discipline would have to be instituted and enforced: Laws observed. Those Indians who showed themselves most friendly to the whites, would be supported in the authority conferred upon them, after getting back to the Reserves. Instead of being dependant upon Government Bounty for subsistence, they must get for themselves cattle and sheep and betake themselves to the occupations of husbandry. Then, when they wanted to go to Washington, they wouldn’t have to ask the Great Father to take them, but could sell a few oxen or sheep, and go where they pleased. By and Bye, they would become wealthy, powerful and happy. November 9th. General Mackenzie’s command reached Fort Fetterman and November 10th the last of the Infantry, under Col. Dodge. The present expedition impresses me as the best equipped and best officered of any with which I have ever served; the experience of the past summer has opened the eyes of the National Legislature to the urgency of the situation and consequently appropriation for supplies have been conceded on a scale of unusual liberality. The Cavalry companies are stronger than they have been since the [Civil] War, and the personnel of all recruits of a superior standard. Mounted Companies are now allowed one hundred men each, dismounted, fifty each. The clothing of the present expedition includes several very necessary articles, not furnished heretofore. Seal-skin caps, gloves, fur leggings and felt boots. Three blankets are allowed each soldiers [sic], besides tentage and overcoats. The Guard at night is also to be provided with Guard tents; the sick and wounded with Hospital 10. Crook here takes the popular white attitude of holding the Indians to white standards of useful citizenship based on wage-labor and common law. The various Indian studies listed in the bibliography describe their own highly developed concept of productivity, the divisions of labor according to age and gender, and enforcement of order within the tribe and its various bands. See also Appendix 3.

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tents, mattresses and other conveniences. The detail of a cavalry company at Hd.Qrs., supplies a Provost Guard, Body Guard to the Comdg. Gen’l in time of action, Sentinels at Hd.Qrs., well-disciplined Orderlies, Attendance for the “travaux” and mule-litters carrying sick or wounded, and ready-mounted couriers to carry dispatches from point to point in Camp. Immediately after arriving in bivouac, Hd.Qrs. tents can be pitched without awaiting the coming of a special detail. These little advantages conduce much to our comfort and no doubt will make the approaching season of operations the most pleasant of all in which we have participated. The labor of our troops will be simplified by the work of our Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Indian scouts; more familiarized with our soldiers and officers and, assured of our overwhelming strength, willing to aid us to the utmost. Their rivals, the Pawnees, Shoshonees[,] Arapahoes and Crows (if the latter join us in time,) will goad them on to the performance of more than could reasonably be expected of them if acting singly. Knowing that Sitting Bull’s people have nearly all surrendered, they will so much the more readily act against Crazy Horse’s band.11 Lieutenant Rockwell, 5th Cavalry, Chief Commissary, has laid his plans and made his estimates with a keen eye for our comfort and his own efficiency. His Corps of assistance, numbers a citizen clerk, a Commissary Sergeant, an Acting ditto, four or five assistants, to help with issues, and two or three very expert butchers, and some herders. His field outfit comprises almost all that a Commissary can require, especially a trestle table and several sets of scales. In the list of stores to be brought along are canned soups, pressed tongue and corned beef and other luxuries, while stoves and cooking utensils are liberally allowed.12 Even the weather—so much to be dreaded at this season—is [illegible] mild. A change is pending as I write (Nov. 10th) but we are so well fitted out that cold weather will be 11. On October 21, 1876, Colonel Nelson Miles, 5th Infantry, battered Sitting Bull’s band in a fight at Cedar Creek in Montana, and continued pursuit the following day. Most of Sitting Bull’s disillusioned followers surrendered, leaving the chief with only about four hundred people. Miles to AAG, DptDak, October 27, 1876, and Miles to Terry, October 28, 1876, Special File—Sioux; Greene, Yellowstone Command, Chapter 5. 12. Rockwell’s well-stocked commissary stores also attracted the attention of the Indian scouts. In “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes” (7), Bourke recalled: The Indians saw plainly that a man who had absolute control over such immense quantities of bacon and sugar and coffee must rank very close up to the Great Father himself, as they made the friendliest overtures, offering to exchange not names alone, but clothes as well. Rockwell accepted the agnomen of “Six Feathers,” but drew the line at the clothing business.

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rather welcome than otherwise, as it makes the chances of success so much greater. We begin to fear that Crazy Horse may surrender without a blow; a fight is desirable to atone and compensate for our trials, hardships and dangers for more than eight months. The strength of the command is as follows. General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. Officers 8 Enlisted men. — 13 Medical Staff. Comd. 3[,] 3 Enlisted 2. 8 Company “K” 2d Cavalry Off. 2 ” “ “ Men. 41+2 att[ached].14 Cavalry Battalions Fourth Cavalry Officers 17. “ ” Men 485. Fifth Cavalry (“H” & “M”) Officers 6. 28 “ ” Men 150. +970 Third Cavalry (“H” & “L”) Officers 5. “ ” Men 135 Artillery & Infantry Battaln. Fourth Artillery Officers 9. “ ” Men 147. Ninth Infantry Officers. 11. 33 “ ” Men 294. +646 Twenty Third Infantry Off. 8. “ ” “ Men. 111. Fourteenth Infantry Officers 5 “ ” Men 85 Indian Auxiliaries Sioux Arapahoes 155 2015 Cheyennes Shoshonees 105 (91 Warriors) Utes. Bannocks (included with Shoshonees.) (15.) Pawnees 100 13. Bourke does not specify the purpose of the second group of three. 14. This company was attached to headquarters. 15. Based on the distinction for the Shoshones listed immediately afterwards, Bourke apparently means the Sioux, Arapahos, and Cheyennes brought 155 warriors and 20 noncombatants.

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[Here Bourke wrote “Crows” and “Gros Ventres” but crossed them out] Nez Percés 1. Civilian Employees Pack train (400 mules.) 65. * 219 Wagon train (124+10+34+7 amb[ulances]) Scouts and Guides [illegible] 4. Total [number not given] *

Bourke wrote “Wagons” above “124+10+34.”

Chapter 8 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Forging Indian Alliances

November 10th and 11th. Officers and soldiers busily engaged in the duties preliminary to our contemplated operations, receiving and issuing clothing, camp and Garrison equipage. Ordnance, Forage, ammunition, fur boots, and Quartermaster’s stores: drilling new recruits, and other incidentals of a campaign. The telegraph line brought news of the closeness of the Presidential election and the fierce excitement generated by the contest, which had become narrowed down to the decision to be given by Louisiana, North and South Carolina, and Florida. The friends of Hayes and Wheeler claimed all those states, the adherents of Tilden and Hendricks stoutly opposed this assertion so that nothing exact and definite could be obtained until the official count should be rendered. In Florida the rival political factions threatened bloodshed: to repress disturbances likely to arise, General Augur had been sent there with ten companies of Infantry and a Battery of artillery. Such news is more grave than would be an intimation of hostilities with foreign nations; internecine wars are always the most frightful and most costly, excepting always those having an impassion of religious fanaticism. Severe as our coming experiences may be, they will be more welcome than a campaign in the sunny lands of the South 164

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against our own misguided people.1 The first snow of the season fell, November 11th, after sun-down. From the official description of Fort Fetterman may be found that “the Post” is situated in Lat. 42°. 49' 8". Long. 105°. 27' 3": at junction of “La Piêle” (Rush) creek and North Platte river. (Established July 19th 1867.) 80 miles to the nearest stations, (Rock Springs and Medicine Bow.) On the U.P.R.R. The short road being blocked by snow during winter months, travel then follows the longer road to Cheyenne, 135 miles direct or 160 miles viâ Fort Laramie. [“]Buildings. Quarters for (300) men: officers’ Quarters; Qrs. for Ordnance and Commissary Sergeants; Hospital, with accomodations for (15) patients; guard-house: store-houses, two; stables, for fifty animals; corral, with capacity for fifty-six mule teams; offices, theatre building, root-house, ice-house, magazine, granary, bake-house; work-shops, saw mills, laundress’ quarters, employee’s quarters, &c. The buildings are principally constructed of adobe and are in fair condition.” Water is supplied from North Platte River, by steam engine. The quarters since our last visit in May, have been put in excellent shape, repaired, cleaned and painted. The veranda posts have been treated to a preparation, composed of one part of white lead to two of hydraulic lime, mixed with oil and laid on with a brush. It looks well, is preservative and economical. The walls of the Barracks and Quarters have been washed with a solution of lime, tempered with glue and colored with indigo to a violet or purple hue. The trim, exact arrangement of the parade ground, enclosed within the lines of officers’ cottages and mens’ quarters,—sentinels pacing with monotonous cadence their weary posts of duty,—a battery of cannon, covered but not concealed by paulins,—the evening parade of the companies with their well dressed alignments of disciplined stolidity; here and there, standing the accoutred horses of officers 1. The 1876 election consisted of the Republican ticket of Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler, and the Democratic ticket of Samuel Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks. Initially Hayes believed he had lost but, as Bourke noted, the results in the Carolinas, Louisiana, and Florida were disputed. Charges and countercharges ensued, and the government began to prepare for a possible renewed outbreak of civil war. Four months into the crisis, Louisiana and South Carolina broke the deadlock by throwing their electoral support to Hayes in time for his inauguration on the then-Constitutionally mandated date of March 4 (Hayes, a strict Sabbatarian, actually took the oath the preceding evening because March 4 was Sunday). There was, however, a tacit understanding with the South that this signaled the end of Congressional Reconstruction, which Hayes believed was a failure in any case. See Hoogenboom, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chapter 17.

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and orderlies, or heavily laden wagons rumbling along the road-way; were a scene of more animation than should have been looked for on the treeless, ice-locked channel of the North Platte. Far away to the distant horizon, the white-mantled terraces, extended in ridge upon ridge until they touched the hems of the leaden robes of cloud the sky had just doffed. Flocculent masses of vapor, like Golden Fleeces in an ethereal Pactolus; brilliant carmine and bronze patches straggling across the dome, catching the last reflections of the sun going down behind the Western ridges; amber-tinted zones, interspersed with steely-blue stripes resting upon the receding strata of snow clouds—were negligently mingled in a combination of rare beauty; in whose contemplation the weariness of official routine connected with the organization of a campaign was almost forgotten. The sharp boom of the evening gun signalled the descent of the Sun; slowly the golden tints of the clouds changed to bronze, to carmine, to a dull red; this latter turned into a pale amber blending imperceptibly into the darkness of night, relieved by myriads of sparking stars. The atmosphere in its purity gave free passage to every beam of light, or reflected the slightest sounds. Only the crunching of feet trampling in the crisp, crystalline snow, or the barking of some shadow-scared hound, relieved the stillness: night reigned supreme. November 11th. Lt. Col. Dodge issued his orders to Battalion Commanders to make “a thorough inspection of their respective commands and see that the following instructions as to allowances are in all cases complied with. [“]Tents will be allowed as follows: [“]To each Company: [“]One Wall tent for Officers. One common tent to each four men of Companies. One common tent for each 1st Sergeant and Company property. The proper allowance of shelter tents for both officers and men will be taken with each company. [“]One Sibley stove and pipe for each wall tent. [“]One Sibley stove and pipe for each 1st Sergeant. [“]One “ ” “ ” “ ” Eight enlisted men. [“]Each enlisted man will be allowed three Blankets, a change of underclothing, one extra pair of shoes[,] three pairs of stocking, overcoat, fur-cap, gloves, and Arctic snow excluders. It is left optional with the men whether they take the fur articles or not.

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[“]All personal baggage other or in excess of that mentioned in this order will be boxed up, properly marked and left in care of the Post Quartermaster at Fort Fetterman. [“]Battalion Commanders will, as soon as possible make to these HdQrs. a report of the amount of transportation required to each company, including two hundred rounds of ammunition to each man and ten days rations.” November 13th Thermometer last night indicated a temperature of thirteen degrees F. below 0°. Major [Caleb Henry] Carleton, 3d Cavalry and Lieut. [Bernard] Reilly, 5th Cavalry and about fifty recruits, mounted for “K” Compy., 2d Cavy., arrived last night and this morning: also ten six-mule teams from the Department of the Missouri. General Crook had another council with the Indians this morning; there was no unusual speech made, the only one in fact deserving preservation being that of Fast Thunder who said: “Last Spring a year ago,* I was in Washington. When I was there, the Great Father told me if any white man’s horses were stolen, I should go and get them and return them. When the Great Father told me that I knew it was right, because the white man wants his horses to work it. I did help to give back some that were stolen. The Indians that stay at the agency have never done any harm to the white man and I think it very wrong to take away their horses.2 I wish you to tell the Great Father not to take away any more of the hoses from these Indians. The reason I am going out to fight the Northern hostiles is that the country up there was given us by the Great Father and I want to get it back. [“]The Great Father and the Indians at the agency work together and the young men are going to help you. You know who to pick out. You have good sense and good eyes, and you have selected men who will help you when you get out there. I want you to tell the Great Father to give us back the country where we were living at the agency.3 The young men want this. We are your friends now Bourke’s marginal note: 1875 (spring)

*

2. Sheridan, who distrusted all Indians and had little confidence in them as scouts, had ordered agency Indians disarmed and dismounted. Crook, however, only partially complied, contending that confiscating weapons and horses of loyal warriors would constitute a breach of faith. Sheridan forwarded Crook’s explanation to army headquarters with an endorsement disapproving it. Crook to AAG MilDivMo, October 30, 1876, with endorsement by Sheridan, Special File—Sioux. 3. This apparently refers to the government’s seizure of the Black Hills and other portions of the reservation the previous August.

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and we don’t want you to take our homes away any more. We are going to work with you. We don’t know how to work yet. We want to have our horses, so we can trade them for cows and sell the cows to get money to buy other things. Now you say you do not want us to fight; but to find the Northern villages and Indians, but they do not know this and will make hard work for us. We want to know if we capture the horses at the village, if we can keep all we capture. [“]We are going out to capture the Northern Indians. We want to take them to our Agency, and have them work for us. After we capture them, they won’t have any horses and they won’t have any guns, and they will learn after a while that we will do what is right by them. Everything you say is good and whatever you have told us has been right and you have always done what you said you would do. When we have gone North heretofore, many of our women married the Northern Indians and when we capture those Indians, we will find in their villages a good many of our relatives. That is the reason we want to take them to the Agency with us. This is all for me.” November 14th. The old, familiar road to [Fort] Reno stretched out in a long snaky line running over the low bluffs before us, as the Command began picking its way through the floating ice across the North Platte: our day’s march was without aught worthy of narration. The Infantry Battalion bivouacked eleven miles out on Sage Creek, the Cavalry being obliged to march four miles farther to find other pools of brackish water in the same stream bed. Our fuel and baled hay had to be hauled in wagons from Fort Fetterman, there being no grass or fuel near this night’s place of bivouac. After sun-down, temperature became very cold and so continued during the night. November 15th. Our camp to-night was on the South Cheyenne, with a slight but chilly rain to welcome us as we approached. The sky all day had been gloomy and a cool breeze blew upon us from the North West. In this camp, were found plenty of wood and water, but scarcely any grass. In previous parts of this journal, the characteristic features of this country have been outlined at such length, no further reference is needed.4 November 16th. Day Cloudy and Windy. Ground nearly free from snow. Moved to North Fork of Wind River (branch of South Cheyenne.) twenty one miles. Saw our Sioux auxiliaries this morning shooting an antelope from their horses on the run and then chas4. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 11.

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ing the wounded animal until it fell exhausted; before it had time to die the Indians had surrounded it and divided the carcass into a dozen pieces. November 17th. Reveille was ushered in hand in hand with a bitter, cold snow-storm and a North West wind blowing right into our teeth. This episode was extremely unpleasant, but short-lived and by the hour we made bivouac on the Dry Fork of the Powder River, a comparatively clear sky spread over us. A detachment of our Arapahoe Indians started out at dusk to try and apprehend a small scouting party of six or eight Indians seen on our Right. They had no great difficulty in striking the trail, following it and surrounding the party of supposed Indians, but to their surprise discovered them to be white men: (Horse thieves perhaps.) Three Shoshonees together with Tom Cosgrove and Texas Bob. (Eckles.) rode in from Cantonment Reno,5 where the rest of their comrades, aggregating one hundred strong, were assembled. The Chief Warriors were two of Washakie’s sons, the old chief himself remaining back with his people near Camp Brown, Wyo. They supplied Genl. Crook with much information concerning the trails of the Sioux, now almost all running up towards the sources of the Crazy Woman, Clear and Tongue Rivers. November 18th Saturday. To Cantonment Reno is fifteen miles down the Dry Fork to its confluence with the main Powder. This distance we crossed in about four hours, reaching the Post early in the morning. There were four companies of Infantry commanded by Captain [Edwin] Pollock, 9th Infantry, viz. Pollock’s [company] of the 9th, [Charles John] Von Hermann’s and [Thomas Francis] Quinn’s of the 4th and Nickerson’s ([Greenleaf Austin] Goodale’s) of the 23d.6 Major Stanton, Paymaster, who caught up with the column on the 16th, commenced work at once after getting to the Cantonment. Cantonment Reno has been re-established, to serve, in conjunction with Deadwood City, in the Black Hills, and the Cantonment at the 5. Cantonment Reno was established on October 12, 1876, three miles south of old Fort Reno, to serve as a depot for the Powder River Expedition. It was upgraded to fort on August 30, 1877, and renamed Fort McKinney, in honor of Lt. John A. McKinney, 4th Cavalry, who was killed in the Dull Knife fight on November 26, 1876. In 1878, it was relocated to Clear Creek west of the present town of Buffalo, Wyoming. The original post, renamed McKinney Depot, functioned until 1879. Fort McKinney was abandoned in 1894, and given to the State of Wyoming. Frazer, Forts of the West, 182–83. 6. Nickerson nominally was company commander but, being on detached duty with General Crook’s staff, command devolved on Goodale as senior lieutenant.

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mouth of Tongue River, as bases of supplies for expeditions keeping the Field during Winter. It is laid out on the Left or West bank of the Powder River, One Hundred and Fifty miles above its junction with Yellowstone. The Qrs. are “dug outs”, excavated in grounds, palisaded with cottonwood logs and roofed in with dirt. The pressure of official business prevented my taking more than a glimpse at the improvements executed or in contemplation: enough to give a very pleasing idea of the energy and efficiency of Captain Pollock’s administration, but not enough to justify an attempt at detailed description, which task is reserved until our return. Six Arapahoes and Eight Sioux, with rations for four days, left this evening to scout [a]long and across the Big Horn Mtns. November 19th. Sunday. A grand council was held this morning in front of General Crook’s Head-Quarters, eight tribes being represented viz: Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Pawnees, Shoshonees, Utes, Bannocks and Nez Percés. General Crook opened the conference by saying: “We have come together as friends and must work together. The Buffalo, you must all know is rapidly becoming extinct, hence it is necessary for you to live like the whites, who as you know are getting stronger every day while the Indians are decreasing in numbers. [“]For this reason, you must adopt the white men’s habits, customs and laws; in order to gain their protection. The soldiers here are only a portion of those we have. When these get tired, fresh men and horses will take their places, as you must have seen was done at Red Cloud. We don’t want to kill the Indians: we only want to make them behave themselves. We want to find the village and make the Indians give up their ponies & guns, so that in [the] future they will have to behave themselves. Do not kill the women and children, because if the bucks get away, and we have the women and children, we can make them bring in the bucks and make them give up arms and ponies. I want you now to be all friends together, just like soldiers are. You must remain friends and stick to this thing right through until it is ended. In a little while, we shall know exactly who are our friends and who our enemies. When you are sent out as scouts, try to see without being seen. Don’t let the enemy know we are in the country. Those of you who do their duty shall be rewarded, those who do not shall

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be punished. If you capture stock, you can keep it, but do not let the enemy get away just in order to capture horses. If you do that you’ll be punished. [“]What we get in a big fight, I’ll divide so there may be no fighting or quarrelling about it. [“]I expect to leave here in the morning. After you start out, you must be careful of your ammunition and not waste it as we only bring along enough to last us for the trip. Now we have met here as friends. We must give up all old grudges, shake hands and be good friends together. That’s all I’ve got to say: I want you all to act together. If you have anything to say, I’ll listen to it now.[”] Sharp Nose. (Chief of the Arapahoes) said. “I have waited a long time to meet all these people and make peace. We have been living a long time with the white man and follow the white man’s road and do what he says. I hope these people will do the same. We have all met here to-day to make peace and I hope we’ll remain at peace. And I hope General Crook will take pity on us and help us.[”] General Crook. They see when they behave themselves, we treat them as well as we do our own people. They can’t ask anything better than that. Sharp Nose. All these people travel with General Crook and fight with him. He’ll listen to them if they ask him any questions. General Crook. I am glad to listen to any of those who want to do right, but the hostiles, of course, we must treat in another way. Sharp Nose, (lifting his eyes to Heaven.) I hold my hand up to the Great Spirit and swear that I’ll stick to General Crook as long as I’m with him. When this war is over and I get home, I want to live like a white man and have implements to work with. We have made peace with these people here to-day and we’d like to have a letter sent home to let our people know about it. The Pawnee chief “Li-Here-is-vo-la-shar” or “Leading Chief”, next addressed the meeting. Like most of the others, he wore the military uniform, but his face and head were grotesquely daubed with paint. Eyelids and Ears painted vermillion, which also daubed the median line of head and chin, forehead and cheek-bones, dark brown, and while lower part of face, yellow.* Bourke’s note: Hair, in two pig-tails, one on each side, wrapped in yellow tapes.

*

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He glanced up towards Heaven, before commencing his speech. “I am talking to friends. This is our head-chief. (General Crook.) talking to us and asking us to be brothers. I hope the Great Spirit will smile on us. Brothers. We are all Indians and have all the same kind of skin. We, Pawnees, have lived with the white men a long time and know how strong they are. We are afraid of them, because they are so strong. Brothers. I don’t think there is one of you can come out here to-day and say you have ever heard of the Pawnees killing a white man. [“]Brothers. We are all of the same color and we are all Indians. To-day, this Big Chief has called us together to have a Council and I am glad of it and glad to meet you all. Father (turning to General Crook,) I suppose you know the Pawnees are civilized. We plough, farm and work the ground like white people. Father, it is what the Arapahoes said. We have all gone on this Expedition to help you and hope it may be a successful one. [“]Father, I’m glad you have said you would listen to what we had to say. If we have any wrongs, we’ll come to you to tell about them. I suppose you have heard it is a good many years since we (Pawnees) have been to war, we have given that up long ago. When I was at home, I did what our Agent wanted us to do: farmed and worked the land. When they said at Washington, they wanted us for this trip, we threw everything aside but when we go back, we’ll take to farming again. Father, it is good what you have said to us. I hope these people understand it too and that we shall all be good friends. [“]This is all I have to say[.] I am glad you have told us what you did about the captured stock. The horses taken will help us to work our land.” General Crook. [to interpreter] Tell him to let the other Indians know how well the Pawnees get along living like white men. Leading Chief. Brothers, since we have learned how to farm, we have always had enough to eat. We raise good crops and want to see you do the same. The Buffalo is rapidly running out and if you don’t learn to farm, you’ll soon come to want. Brothers, What I have told you to-day is the truth. The reason we have plenty at home is we know how to farm. Since we stopped hunting buffalo and took to farming, we have always had plenty. I hope the same for you, that you may have plenty from your farms.

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Tup-see-paw (Rag Picker.) the Shoshonee chief, here spoke:7 My friends. You see me here to-day. I want to make peace. Here we are only two of us: the Pawnees and my people. We are farming now. That is what the agents told us to do and we did it. I went to the Great Father at Washington and listened to him. He told me to farm and I did so. He asked me if I wanted houses for my people and I said yes: and he Built them for me. Because I listen to the white man, I don’t get into trouble with them. Here is my friend, (turning to Tom Cosgrove.) his friend was killed and that’s the reason he is after the hostiles and I am with him. Cosgrove. Tell them General Crook says we must all be friends and I forget all about that now. I have no hard feelings with these Sioux here. I have smoked with them and we must make friends now. Tut-see-paw. We are going with General Crook now. We are his children now. We are all friends now. We will hunt the bad Sioux together. We will find them and fight them together like brothers. We are glad to hear that General Crook will divide the captured ponies among us. When we were friends long ago, you (the Sioux) were always the first to break peace. Now here is the Earth and there is the Sky. Talk straight this time. That’s the way I do. I have only one heart and only one tongue. Do as I do. Always talk straight and always tell the Truth. That’s all I’ve got to say. Three Bears (Sioux Chief.) I want you all to listen. I have only a few words to say, but they will go a great, long way. (i.e.—mean a great deal.) I am glad these people are going to shake hands with me today. That’s what I want. I am only a young man. The others who have spoken are all old men. When I have a friend, when I shake hands with him I don’t do it for nothing. When I want to have a friend, I give him horses and shake hands with him. This is the first man who shook hands with me. I’ll give him (Leading Chief, of the Pawnees.) a horse. It’s a poor one, but I’ll give it any how. It’s the best I’ve got. Keep the Battle (Sioux.) speaking to Tupe-see-paw (the Bannock chief.) and O-at-ta, the Shoshonee chief (the meaning of whose name is too filthy to be translated):8 7. Bourke was not consistent, either with the spelling of this chief’s name or his tribe. On this page of the manuscript (14:1397) he calls him a Shoshone, and two pages later (14:1399) a Bannock. The erratic spelling probably is due to the strange sound of these names to a person accustomed to European languages. The confusion over tribes might arise from the fact that the Shoshones and Bannocks were allied and generally scouted together when called into service by the army. Based on his deference to Tom Cosgrove, he probably was Shoshone. 8. The Indian notion of obscenity was totally different from that of the whites, and

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[“]I have only two horses. I’ll give them to you. I’ve only a few words to tell you. With this people, (the Shoshonees.) our fathers made a treaty at Fort Laramie a long time ago. This is the way we did it before. There are old men here who may remember about it. The last time we had a smoke and gave horses. That’s the reason I’ve done the same thing now. (I give you these horses because that’s the way our fathers used to do and we must make peace today and be friends.[)] General Crook is the Head Man and has the influence over all these people. What he tells them to do, they must do, they must all do. I am glad to see the Shoshonees to-day and have a talk with them. We’ll send you word in the Spring when all our people can come and make a treaty with all your people. I am very glad to smoke and eat with you as I did yesterday when I went to your camp. Some of these old men know about farms. My father was a farmer and told me about it. I listened to him.9 I have been farming two years now. I want to get rich by it. The Shoshonees told me today that the Great Father builds them houses, but he don’t do that for me. Yet I’ll be the first man to go to your Reservation to make a peace. That’s all[.]” U-sanky-su-Cola, a Pawnee chief of the Skeedy10 band, was about to speak, but merely said a few words expressive of his gratification at meeting all these people as friends, when the vast assembly broke up. The greater portion of the Indians appeared in their new uniforms, yet a few sported magnificent war bonnets of feather work and other warlike regalia. The rest of the day was filled in with drilling, parading and charging on horse-back, exchanging visits, smoking the pipe of peace and friendly singing, or grunting. All these have been delineated in other pages, excepting the Pony Dance, which is a rhytmic [sic] movement on horse-back to the accompaniment of a melancholy chorus. In the expedition, every officer and man was worked to the consequently, many names were avoided or deliberately mistranslated to avoid offending Victorian sensibilities. A classic case is the Penateka Comanche chief, whose name was rendered in English as “Buffalo Hump,” but in fact meant “Erection That Won’t Go Down,” a reference to his priapism. See Haley, Buffalo War, 232. 9. Far from being an ancient tradition, the Plains Indian buffalo economy was shortlived; only a generation or two earlier, many of the so-called “Buffalo Indians” were at least semi-agricultural. The difficulty in bringing down a buffalo weighing a ton or more, on foot with bow and arrow, meant that the animal was supplemental. The introduction of horses and firearms gave the Indians an edge, without which the buffalo economy would have been difficult, if not impossible. Robinson, Buffalo Hunters, 6. 10. Skidi.

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utmost, getting ready for a forward movement to-morrow, but the orders therefor were countermanded after dark. A small party of citizens approached camp from old Fort Kearney and reported Indian signs plenty in that direction. Mail came in from Fort Fetterman without news of moment. Rain storm commenced between 7 and 8 P.M. changing first to hail and then to snow, which mantled the ground as we arose in on the morning of November 20th. When it was discovered that a poor unfortunate soldier who had wandered off drunk last evening had become so affected by cold, exhaustion and intemperance that he died within a few moments after being brought to the Hospital. A citizen was caught selling whiskey to soldiers: his cart and stock in trade were confiscated and barrels destroyed. Some of our Indians were drunk yesterday; They undoubtedly obtained their liquor from this scoundrel. Thirty-four miners, came in from the Big Horn Mountains this morning, in a destitute condition; rations were issued them from the Cantonment Commissary. Rained and snowed a little during the day. In the afternoon, took place the funeral obsequies of the soldier who died this morning. We patiently awaited the return of the scouts from the Mountain. General Crook sent the following telegram to the Lieutenant-General. “Indications are that there has been a considerable body of the hostiles concentrating on the West side of the Big Horn Mountains during the past month; scouts are expected back to-day or to-morrow with definite information and as soon as that arrives we shall move with all possible dispatch. [“]I find everything very satisfactory here and expect that the whole work of the cantonment will be finished within ten days. Captain Pollock, 9th Infantry, the Commanding Officer, is entitled to much credit for his energetic administration in bringing the Post to this state of forwardness in such short time and with the facilities at his disposal. [“](signed.) Crook. [“]Brigadier General.” Tuesday, November 21st, Colonel Stanton, Paymaster, and Lieut. Reilly, 5th Cavalry, & Capt. [John D.] Devin, 9th Infantry, started back to Fort Fetterman. Our scouts returned, having gone as far

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West as Clear Creek, fifty miles from here. Just after getting into their bivouac on Clear Creek, a young Cheyenne joined them, asking where they were going.11 The reply was they were a war party on their way to fight the Snakes. This lulled his suspicions and he commenced talking freely. Our allies had taken the precaution to leave all the military trappings at home, so they readily deluded the young hostile who gave them all the news of the day, where the different villages were and how many in each. By the time he had finished half a dozen revolvers were cocked and pointed and he [was] told to surrender his gun. This he did without a word, but showed much amazement when the strangers told him they were white soldiers. Some of the captors proposed to kill him. This motion was overruled by the majority who had not forgotten General Crook’s injunctions not to kill in cold blood. So they decided to bring him back to our camp and let the Big Chief decide what should be done with him. Our Sioux and Arapahoe allies are now compromised and must remain our friends to the end. A singular manner of making a queue, or “pig-tail”, came under my notice this morning. The Indian, an Arapahoe, had gathered all the back-hair, on the crown of the head and plaited it in a long braid, without disturbing the rest of the coiffure. Then some red pigment was worked into the skin to make the line of division more distinct. The chiefs of our Indian allies differ much in character and disposition. Sharp Nose, the Arapahoe, is tall, straight, large frame, piercing eyes, Roman nose, firm jaws and chin and with a face inspiring confidence in his ability and determination. His manners are dignified and commanding, coming nearer to the Fennimore Cooper style of Indian than any I have seen since my visit to Cocheis, the head chief of the Apache Indians, in the Dragoon Mountains, in Arizona, in February, 1873.12 Li-here-is-vo-la-shar, the Pawnee, has a good face, prominent cheek bone, aquiline nose, large mouth, and frank, open eyes, not so piercing as one usually notices among the aborigines. His general 11. The young warrior’s name was Beaver Dam, member of a small party camped on the upper Powder River. Grinnell, Fighting Cheyennes, 362. 12. This visit is detailed in Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 2 and Appendix 12.

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expression is that of a far-seeing, judicious law-giver, one who takes note of all he sees and whose advice may be relied on. Still, he is no lamb, as the stern lines of the countenance plainly show. If aroused, he would be a bad enemy. Tupe-see-paw, and O-ah-ta, of the Shoshonees, are crafty old rascals, without much sentiment or romantic imaginativeness lighting up their features. Three Bears, of the Sioux, is young in years, but mature in thought. Of his character I cannot say much yet, but think he is a man whose friendship can be relied on. He does not make any pretensions as a speaker, and cuts but a poor figure as a declaimer, when Sharp Nose, is in the same Council. His power as a commander will depend more upon the success to be won from stealthy movements and crafty combinations, than from any lion-like attack, such as I think Sharp Nose might make if occasion demanded.13 The Cheyenne boy was taken to the tent of the General Commanding and subjected to a cross-examination yielding the results shadowed out in this telegram to Lieutenant-General Sheridan: “Scouts returned to-day and reported that the Cheyennes have crossed over to the other side of the Big Horn Mountains, and that Crazy Horse and his band are encamped on the Rosebud near where we had the fight with them last summer. We start out after his band to-morrow morning. [“](signed.) Crook. [“]Brigadier General.[”] Mr. Roche, the new correspondent of the New York Herald, and by the way a far more presentable, scholarly and genial gentleman than his predecessor, Mr. Davenport, hurriedly prepared his dispatches, the oiled-silk packet was closed and tied, and handed to the courier, who with a final, hearty “good night, gentlemen”, gave rein and spur to his steed and was soon out of sight to battle his way through the snow to Fort Fetterman, ninety miles. Before closing the flap of the tent and making all comfortable for the night, we looked out and saw the fleecy snow covering hill and valley as far as eye could see: this was exactly what we wanted to enable such a large command to creep upon the enemy undetected. 13. Bourke quoted this description of the five Indian leaders almost verbatim in 1891, in “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes,” 14.

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Wednesday, November 22d. Twenty-three miles to Crazy Woman’s fork of Powder River. Here our wagon-train was parked under command of Major Furey, ten days’ rations packed upon mules and one hundred rounds of ammunition issued per man.14 To-morrow, our line of direction will turn North West, and Crazy Horse’s village will be the objective point. The Sioux scouts in advance killed three buffalo bulls and carried the meat and robes to camp. This camp is noteworthy in being the first since leaving Fort Fetterman, 115 miles, with plenty of fuel and grass and pure water: an objection to the situation on account of comfort is its openness, which is a point in favor of its defensibility, however. Strength of Command leaving Crazy Woman’s Fork. Infantry 450 men. 33 Officers Cavalry. 729 men 28 “ Indian scouts 350. Two Medical officers. 14. In “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes” (9), Bourke wrote: [F]or the last time the combined and pent-up ill-humor had burst with cyclonic wrath upon the devoted head of Major Furey, our efficient and amiable, that is usually amiable, quartermaster. He had been hauled over the coals by the general commanding, growled at by the battalion commanders, sneered at by the captains and damned by the lieutenants until patience had ceased to be a virtue and poor Furey assured me (during a lull in the storm of objurgation about midnight, while I was mixing him a little paregoric and hot water, or something like that,—my notes are a trifle blurred at this point and I can’t clearly make out what it was,) that if he ever lived through the campaign he intended to resign from the Service and set up business as a pirate, anything, rather than be a quartermaster another day. However, he seems to have reconsidered this determination, for his name is still borne on the Register.

Chapter 9 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Dull Knife Fight

(Thanksgiving Day.) November 30th. As completely as the pressure of business and the crowd of events will admit, I shall now attempt to record the history of the work just accomplished. A page or so back, I transcribed a telegram from General Crook to Lt. Genl. Sheridan, conveying his determination to move down after Crazy Horse’s band on the Rosebud. For this movement, every preparation had been made, but a trifling circumstance was the cause of a material modification of the programme fraught with important consequences. Early on the morning of the 23d, Sitting Bear, a Cheyenne Indian dispatched from Red Cloud Agency by General Mackenzie to lay General Crook’s ultimatum before the hostiles, waved a white flag from the crest of a hill near our pickets and was soon admitted to the presence of the Commanding General. He asserted that the little village of five lodges, to which belong the young captive brought in on the 21st had discovered our advance and taking the alarm started off to warn Crazy Horse of our presence. General Crook at once made up his mind to send an expedition into the mountains to seek and if possible find and destroy the main village of the Cheyennes reported to be in the Big Horn Mountains. 179

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A party of advance scouts left camp without waiting a moment and galloped up the stream we camped on to discover, if they could, some signs of the foe. General Mackenzie, with all the Cavalry, except Egan’s Company of the 2d, and with all of our friendly Indian scouts, under command of Lieutenants Clarke, Delaney and Schuyler and Tom Cosgrove and Major North, left the wagon train the afternoon of the 23d of November, going ten miles, South, 23° 46 up the Right fork of the Crazy Woman’s Fork, before making camp. With the columns were Lieutenants Bourke, 3d Cav, Schuyler, 5th Cavalry, [James Nicholas] Allison, 2d Cavalry, and [James Mills] Jones (4th Artillery.) as volunteers. Lieutenant Bourke was assigned to Staff duty, Lieutenant Schuyler to take charge of Shoshonee scouts, and Lieutenants Allison and Jones to duty with Companies. The valley of the Crazy Woman’s, at least close to our trail, was well grassed and like all the terrace lands at base of Big Horn Range well adapted for pasturing cattle. We made bivouac not more than twelve miles from the main range, in a point well hidden, and with sufficient fuel, plenty of cold clear water and abundant grazing. Next day we kept up same general course, approaching the Big Horn Mountains diagonally. Upon leaving camp, a detachment of soldiers had to be kept hard at work for nearly an hour picking and shovelling to construct a causeway over the little stream for our column to march over. In the wintery season, the banks of these creeks acted upon by the stem frost offer grave obstacles to cavalry, especially with smooth-shod animals. Then came an interesting chase after my pony, which had taken it into his head to have a little gallop with a companion in the crisp and exhilarating morning air. Butler, the orderly, had a lively time catching him and, if practice makes perfect, improved greatly in profanity before Dick would allow himself to be saddled. Ten miles of marching had been made, when our scouts ran in upon us, as we had reached the end of a projecting spur of the Big Horn. Under such circumstances all kinds of rumors spontaneously germinate: everybody has his own story and while anxious to impart it to all about him is equally anxious to hear and adopt their rumors. But after boiling down all these reports and fanciful tales, the residum amounts to this; the main village of the hostile Cheyennes had been located and its position was not very distant from where we had halted. They could not say how many

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lodges were aggregated together nor how many ponies were in the Cheyenne herd: “heap ponies” is an expression too indefinite to serve as a basis for any strategic conclusions to be founded upon. The earnest manner of our auxiliaries carried with it so much weight that General Mackenzie ordered the column to remain where it was, under cover of a projecting ledge of rocks, without building fires lest the curling smoke betray us. A few moments before dark, our companies defiled around a salient spur of the range, crawling first through a narrow ravine, not over a mile in length, deep enough to prevent our being seen for any distance, then over a series of dwarfed knolls of the red ferriginous clays so abundant at the foot of this slope of the Big Horn Mtns. Upon getting to the summit of the last of these little ridges the surface, covered as it was for acres with little boulders of flinty limestone, was difficult for our horses to march over, a long, level hill-top, thickly tufted with grass was an agreeable interlude, for two or three miles, until the banks of the little confluent of the North Powder, called the Willow Creek, were reached. This pleasant little water-course, is twenty feet or more in width and nearly two in depth, with a brisk current. We watered our horses in the stream, then tightened girths and again forward! To avoid prolixity, let me say in one word, our uniform course of South South West was maintained for the next six or eight miles, the North Star guiding our march, for it was now dark. For a few hours the moon lighting our pathway enabled a good view of the country to be had and we were very fortunate in this dispensation as the view for this part of the march at least, was quite picturesque. We were in a pass, in the Big Horn Mountains, high walls of earth and rocks on both sides, with trees thickly congregated together near the crest, while our trail ran along a perfectly smooth causeway of velvety grass. This place has been aptly named by the Sioux, “the race-course”. The principal branch of the North Fork of the Powder river, apparently the one styled on our charts, “Bates Creek”, next brawled at our feet. The trail turned North West, up the creek: the moon had set and only the feeble but grateful glimmer of the stars illuminated the trail, winding in among the recesses of the mountains. Our progress became slow, painfully slow, the pathway was naturally difficult, and hereabouts so cut into by little ravines and “cut banks” with frozen sides as to be practically impassable. At one point, the

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whole column was delayed on hour and two at another. Generally Mackenzie’s natural impatience was aggravated by the solicitude of our Indian guides, who kept coming back every few moments to urge the column forward, saying in a low tone to the interpreters that the hostile village was at hand. True enough, we soon heard in a vague but awe-inspiring sort of indistinctness the thump! thump! thump! of war drums, and the jingling of their rattles sounding the message of a war-dance.1 Only a mile of distance intervened, but the light had broken in the East. The hostile drums ceased beating, a sign that the Cheyenne village had finished its dance and retired to rest. Now or never! Sharp Nose, the Arapahoe chief, came running up to General Mackenzie and asked if the whites were ready. The response was in the affirmative, then it seemed as if I could hear a sigh of relief from suspense go up from the dense throng of soldiery, as the command “gallop” was given, “and with the thundering roar of a waterfall, the column dashed through the embouchure of the cañon into the [illegible] space where the village was situate[d].” At our head, rode the Sioux, Arapahoe and Cheyenne auxiliaries under Lieut. Delaney, and abreast of them, the Shoshonees under Lt. Schuyler and Tom Cosgrove, and the Pawnees, under Major North, Lieut. W. P. Clark, commanding all the friendly Indians. The noise we made coming down the cañon had aroused the scarce-asleep enemy, who hurriedly tumbled out of their beds, and escaped from one end of their village as our surging squadrons dashed in at the other. In the exultation of the moment, our Pawnees and Shoshonees yelled out their war-chant to the droning accompaniment of reed-instruments that emitted the sound of a steamboat-whistle in a fog. The screeching and jubilant singing of our allies, the yells of the incoming battalions, the sharp words of command as the ap1. George Bird Grinnell and Cheyenne historian John Stands In Timber interviewed Cheyenne warriors who survived the fight, and received similar accounts. The survivors recalled that the Cheyennes were aware of the approach of the soldiers, and a heated argument ensued among the chiefs. Some wanted to strike camp and join a large Lakota band (presumably Crazy Horse’s) not far off. However, Last Bull, chief of the Fox Soldier warrior society, ordered the Fox soldiers to surround the camp to keep anyone from leaving, in effect, seizing control. As an extra precaution they cut the cinches of those who already had saddled up. Then the Fox Society built a large bonfire, and forced the families to attend an all-night dance (which is what the soldiers heard in the distance). Why Last Bull was so determined to stay and make a stand, the outcome of which would be disastrous for the Cheyennes, and why the other chiefs permitted it, remains a mystery. Grinnell, Fighting Cheyennes, Chapter 27; Stands In Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 214–16.

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parently inextricable entanglement of men and animals, deployed rapidly into line of battle met with no response from the foe, but the sharp crack of their rifles and the “sipping” of bullets about our ears. “Through the gray mist of morning, phantom forms were gliding, more or less rapidly; there were the herds of the enemy, those the enemy itself.2 My horse balked at a prostrate object—it was the dead body of an almost naked Cheyenne youth, shot as he was running out to save their herds.” About his neck was wound his lariat, ready to be used to catch the first pony he expected to come to. “A great number of horses had fallen into our hands, a number so great its loss would have crippled the Cheyennes, who seemed bent on retaining their ponies cost what it might. General Mackenzie, to frustrate this attempt, ordered Lieutenant John A. McKinney, to charge his Company, “M”, of the 4th Cavalry, into the place to which the Cheyenne appeared to be moving.3 The gallant youngster never hesitated a moment, but swept over the little plain at our feet, until he found his advance checked by a small gulch with perpendicular banks. He then wheeled by fours to the Right and had proceeded in the new direction a few yards, when a murderous fire was poured into his column by a small band of hostile sharpshooters, concealed almost under the horse’s feet. Poor McKinney fell, struck with six bullets, his horse shot under him, six of his command wounded and a number of horses shot.” Anxious to save his men, the young lieutenant called to them, “Get out of this, you are ambuscaded”. Many of the company, largely comprised of recruits, turned to flee. General Mackenzie, seeing the disorder, ordered in Captain [John M.] Hamilton’s Company of the 5th Cavalry to push the enemy. This charge, made under direction of Captain Hamilton and Major Gordon, the Battalion Commander had a very happy effect. The Cheyennes scattered to the rocks and little washes, seaming the mountain sides, hoping from behind the shelter they afforded to pick our men off leisurely. But Captain [Wirt] Davis of the 4th Cavalry, with his own Co. and a few of Hamilton’s men, charged them on foot and had a bitter encounter, of the nature of a hand to hand conflict. Scarcely one of the Cheyennes escaped alive from 2. Bourke probably meant “then the enemy itself.” 3. On a printed roster pasted in the diary (14:1358) Bourke noted that McKinney, who was not normally assigned to Company “M,” commanded it in the absence of its senior officers, Capt. William O’Connell, listed as “Absent within the Department [of the Platte],” and First Lt. L.O. Parker, listed as “On detached service without the Department.”

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that particular ravine, eight bodies falling into our hands, and the soldiers claiming to have killed ten more. Morning had fairly dawned, and I had soon the first good opportunity to study the nature of our surroundings. The village nestled closely to the threat of the stream, which at this point flowed nearly due East and West, its banks thickly fringed with willow and cottonwood. Through these, the smoke curled upwards from the tépis, arranged in an elliptical form, covering a space whose transverse axis was not short of one mile. On either hand, stood out sturdy battlements of red sandstone, while the valley itself was dotted over with hillocks of red clay capped with sandstone, each of which became the battle ground. Natural “covered-ways”,4 the ravines might be regarded that led in and around these. The Cheyennes, perfectly familiar with every foot of ground felt they had our men at a disadvantage and began to resume coverage. They stubbornly held to the lower end of the village and foot by foot were crawling up among the thickets and behind the tépis. But a long, re-echoing growl from the hill on our Left told the now baffled foe that Schuyler with the Shoshonees had gained the key-point of the field and commenced to rain down upon them showers of molten lead. Improving upon this, General Mackenzie ordered Company “L”, 5th Cavy. under Captain [Alfred B.] Taylor and Lieut. [Homer W.] Wheeler, to charge lengthways through the village while at the same moment [Capt. W.C.] Hemphill’s Company of the 4th, and Hamilton’s of the 5th, seized two commanding knolls on the Right of our line, [Capt. Henry] Wessells and [Capt. Gerald] Russell straightened out on the Left between Taylor and Hamilton and the friendly Pawnees, darted in under cover of Taylor’s charge and held the village. The second Battalion was mostly massed in Reserve behind some bluffs in the rear of [the] position held by Gordon’s (First.) Battalion. I shall endeavor to explain these movements and the general lay of the village by a diagram to be inserted at the end of this description; but, for the present, let it suffice to say, the enemy from this on gave up all hope of recovering their village or of even doing anything more than annoy us with the fire of their heavy rifles. 4. In conventional masonry fortifications, the defenses included “covert ways” or “covered ways.” These were protected walkways that served as an outer line of defense, provided communication with the main fort, and were assembly points for sorties against an attacker. This was the standard design of U.S. coastal defense forts of the period. Weaver, A Legacy in Brick and Stone, 210.

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Encumbered with their troops of squaws and children, they knew they must remain in our immediate front until retreat would be possible under the mantle of darkness, not fearing that we could dislodge them from the eyries in the sides of the precipices and upon the apices of the rocky bluffs where they had found shelter. General Mackenzie then took the determination to save his ammunition and most stringent orders were given to stop all firing except at close range. The engagement assumed the nature of a rifle-duel, neither contestant caring to waste a shot. The rifle practice of the enemy was especially fine and the number of close-calls on our side was most remarkable. In the centre of our line lay a grassy plateau, small in extent, but completely swept by the fire of the Cheyenne marksmen who understood perfectly that the immobile and silent ranks under cover were the companies of soldiers and that those who had to essay the passage of the “dangerous space”, as we soon learned to term it, were either officers high in rank, or orderlies carrying important dispatches. It would be too tedious to enumerate all the narrow escapes. It would be easier to say that everybody had one or more. General Mackenzie was constantly and, to my mind, often recklessly, exposed. Those officers who served on his staff that morning will long remember the whistling of the bullets flying about their heads as they carried the General’s orders from point to point.5 The extent of our success was not yet fully understood by us, but it soon began to dawn upon our minds that the expedition had completely cleaned out, the worst set of red-skinned rascals in America. The ponies secured by our friendly Indians footed up a few over six hundred,* in themselves no inconsiderable amount of plunder, but of slight consequence compared with the utter destruction of a village of Two hundred lodges, in the inclemency of a Wyoming winter and not less than ten days’ march from the band of Crazy H[orse]6 the only one capable of afBourke’s marginal note: 706.

*

5. Reckless valor was not the exclusive domain of the soldiers and scouts. John Stands In Timber recorded an account of an unidentified old man who emerged from cover, sat down on a high, open spot, lit his pipe and began to smoke. A Cheyenne named Spotted Black Bird joined him long enough for four puffs before returning to cover. Then a man named Long Jaw came out with a red cloth over his shoulder, and jumped up and down to draw fire. When Long Jaw returned, uninjured, to cover, his cloth was riddled with bullet holes. Stands In Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 104. 6. The next several pages are damaged by tears. Generally, words can be determined, but those that cannot are designated as [missing], and those which can be more or less inferred are enclosed in [brackets].

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fording relief. Dense volumes of smoke belching out the Eastern end of the village and spreading from tépi to tépi proved to the truculent Cheyennes that the sharp edge of the [missing] of punishment was at last falling [upon] them. Their vast stores of buffalo [meat] were remorselessly committed to the yawning flames—thousands of pounds were thus consumed, but even approximately how much, it is impossible to [say]. Fine robes and skins, mostly untanned, fell into our hands and were either packed away by Indian allies or else were sacrificed with the meat on the altar of our vengeance. Undoubtedly the most vexatious transient loss the enemy experienced was in the stores of ammunition, fixed and loose, we captured in their lodges. The supply they had saved so carefully from every disaster was exploding with loud reverberations [missing/unintelligible] as the flames [consumed] each separate tépi. Nor was the number of guns taken inconsiderable. We captured many, some of extra fine makes and finish. The lodges were all burned this afternoon (25th), but the thorough destruction of the hostile homestead was reserved until the next morning.7 Our own losses were ascertained by now: one officer and five men killed and twenty-six wounded. Of the enemy’s dead, we only knew that some thirty bodies had fallen into our hands, the scalps in the hands of our auxiliaries were no longer a criterion of the number of slain lying within our lines, because only a comparatively few were taken; the Pawnees had about twelve, the Shoshonees three or four, the other allies none.8 In the village were, among other gory trophies of the same kind; the scalp-lock of a little white girl, not over ten years old, another belonging to a Shoshonee maiden of the same tender [age]. With great glee, our Pawnees and Shoshonees pounced upon the abandoned war-drums of the enemy, and for hours kept up an unintermitted 7. As their lodges were burning, the Cheyennes brought out their Sacred Arrows, men and women appearing on the rocks to open the bundle and lay the arrows on the ground facing the soldiers. Then the Arrow Priest sang a song, and the others cried out and stamped their feet on the ground, repeating the ceremony four times. This, apparently, was to promote some sort of misfortune for the Cheyennes serving as military scouts during the fight. Stands In Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 217. 8. After studying various accounts on both sides, Jerome A. Greene believes a reasonable estimate of immediate Cheyenne losses to be about forty killed and perhaps eighty wounded. He points out, however, that this figure does not include deaths and injuries from exposure over subsequent days that can be directly attributed to Mackenzie’s destruction of their camp, possessions, and equipment. Likewise, many of the wounded carried away from the field subsequently died of exposure and the inability to receive treatment from their destitute comrades. Greene, Morning Star Dawn, 140.

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charivari, deriding the misfortunes of their enemy and exalting their own prowess. The tide of battle had turned completely in our favor; the pack-train left behind last night when our forward movement commenced, here trolled into camp with plenty of rations and Thirty thousand extra metallic cartridges, enough to whip off any force of the enemy that might assail us. To guard against any casualty of that nature, Gen. Mackenzie asked me early in the day to write to General Crook asking him to send down some Infantry with their long guns, to dislodge the enemy from the rocks. (As we afterwards learned, the message reached General Crook at 11 A.M., on the 26th, and the fifteen Companies of foot-troops with rations and ammunition on pack-train marched twenty-five miles over the frozen trail before midnight, same date.) Dull Knife, one of the two principal chiefs of the hostiles had a “talk”, at long range, with Roland,9 our interpreter. He said his three sons had been killed in the fight. For himself, he was willing to surrender and make peace, but the others were resolute in their derision of our overtures. Dull Knife called out to our Sioux and Cheyenne soldiers—“go home, you have no business here. We can whip the white soldiers alone, but can’t fight you too”. The other Cheyennes called out they were going over to a big Sioux village they asserted to be nearby and get its assistance and then come back and clean us out. “You have killed and hurt a heap of our people, they said, you may as well stay now and kill the rest of us”. The chiefs present were Dull Knife, Little Wolf, Roman Nose, Gray Head and Old Bear. Forty of their lodges had been in every fight with the whites this year. The next day, (November 26th.) our wounded were comfortably placed in mule litters, the best kind of transportation for wounded men, and our dead, wrapped in canvass and packed on mules, with the exception of Private Baird, buried where he fell on the field.10 Only one of our men was scalped. Private Sullivan who went into the charge through the village with Taylor’s company. A strong body of 9. William Rowland. 10. In his diary, Pvt. William Earl Smith, 4th Cavalry, noted he was kept awake the night of November 25–26, in part by his own frozen leg, and in part by the moans of the wounded from the hospital tent. He also wrote that Mackenzie, who was emotionally unstable in the best of times, seemed to have gone into a severe depression and spent all night pacing. The next morning over coffee, Smith wrote, Mackenzie “talked to me a good deal about the fite a[nd] seemed to feel bad about the boys that had been hirt and ciled [i.e. killed].” Smith, Sagebrush Soldier, 88, 91.

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men, under direction of Capt. Davis, 4th Cavalry, was kept at work all morning, burning and destroying every piece of property they could find among the ruined lodges. This work was performed most artistically. First, fires were made of the broken lodge-poles, then bags of marrow, fat and tallow were piled above and upon these the fuel the squaws had piled in front of their lodges for daily use. The heat from these fires was something remarkable and soon took the temper from axes, hatches, pans, picks, and shovel. Tin cups were split with axes, and in like manner plates, coffee-pots, kettles and other culinary implements. Untanned buffalo robes, skins, and blankets, not needed for use of Indians or troops, were heaped up in the flames and burnt to a crisp. Quantities of strychnine used to poison wolves; bullet moulds, metallic cartridge shells (empty.) knives, spoons, axes—all the Lares and Penates of the American Bedouin, shared the same fate. The complicity of these Indians in the Custer massacre was established by evidence of the character following: Pillow case, made of silk guidon. (7th Cavalry.) Guard Roster of Company “G”, 7th Cavalry. Memorandum Books of First Sergeants of 7th Cavalry. One of these had in it an entry made the very day of the fight, “Left Rosebud, June 25th:[”]—This had been subsequently used by a Cheyenne warrior to contain the picture-history of his own prowess. Here he was murdering a poor teamster, here again, a wretched miner. At one point, he was running away from Reno’s barricade on the hill, (represented by a round line of fire, with saddled horses lying down inside,) amid a hurricane of bullets; in this encounter, the Cheyenne represented himself wounded once and his pony four times. Cavalry Horses, branded U.S. Saddles, Canteens, nosebags, curry combs and Brushes, Rosters of Companies, Shovels and axes,—all the above marked with the letter of the Company, in the 7th Cavalry, that they had belonged to: A book with the names of the three best-shots at each target practice of Captain [sic] Donald McIntosh’s Company, 7th Cavalry.11 One officer’s Overcoat. 11. Lieutenant Donald McIntosh was the brother of Archie McIntosh, who had scouted for Crook in Arizona. He was killed in the Reno fight which opened the series of disjoined actions collectively known as the battle of the Little Bighorn. Likewise, the target score book must have been taken from soldiers of McIntosh’s company killed in the Reno fight. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1.

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Two Officer’s Blouses, An Officer’s India rubber water-proof Cape. A Buckskin jacket, lined with taffeta, supposed from its make and appearance, to have been worn on the fatal day by Captain Tom Custer. A gold pencil case. A silver watch. Pocket-books with currency and coin. (Sharp Nose, the Arapahoe chief, found in one of these, $47.00 in small Bills.) The hat of 1st Sergeant William Allen, Company “I”, 3d Cavalry, killed in Rosebud fight. Letters received from relatives at home and letters written and ready to be mailed. One to a young lady in the East had a stamp on it and everything ready for mailing. Photographs, as for example, this one pasted on this page.

Carte de Visite recovered in the Cheyenne camp during Mackenzie’s fight, and pasted in diary 14:1431 (U.S. Military Academy Library)

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A full cartridge-belt with a silver plate marked “Little Wolf”, (given to this chief when he was visiting Washington a few years since.) This was taken from an Indian to whom probably Little Wolf had given it. The scalps of two young girls, neither over twelve years old, one an American, the other a Shoshonee.* The hand of a Shoshonee squaw. The scalp of the Shoshonee warrior killed on our side at the Rosebud, June 17th, Recognized by his friends. No enemy was in sight this morning: our Indian scouts pushed out and found the Cheyennes in a cañon six miles from us, but no hostile demonstrations were exchanged. Another dead Cheyenne was found in the rocks and great pools of blood to denote where the enemy’s wounded had lain. Four more dead ponies were come upon, killed by our fire and the skeletons of six butchered by the starving Cheyennes for food. As our column moved out, it began to snow heavily. Two or three Cheyennes came into their ruined camp, almost as soon as our men had left, and sat down and wailed at the spectacle of their [devastated] home.12 They were not molested [missing] on the same creek, (10) or twelve [miles] from the scene of action. Day [missing]. November [27th] Marches [missing] miles (9 or 10.) We [went] north, nearly [missing] income trail, bivouacking on Willow Creek; as we came within sight of General Crook’s column of foot-soldiers returning to our supply camp. A party of our Pawnees and Shoshonees came back this morning, having lost five horses stolen from the retreating village. They had “rounded up” a herd of one hundred ponies and were making off with them when the whole village came upon them and had it not been for a furious snow storm, their tenacity would have been atoned for by their death. They reported the enemy badly cut up, almost naked, without blankets, shoes or ammunition and hauling many wounded in the direction of the head of the Crazy Woman’s Fork.13 In the top margin, Bourke wrote: A buckskin bag containing the Right hands of twelve Shoshonee babies. *

12. This page has been torn and repaired with tape which has stained and obliterated some of the writing. Once again those words that cannot be determined are designated [missing] and those that can be inferred are enclosed in [brackets]. 13. Caught in bed by Mackenzie’s attack, the Cheyennes fled their camp with almost nothing. Utterly destitute, they wandered about looking for another camp where they could find food and shelter. One group of young warriors went ahead and built a fire. When the others arrived, they warmed themselves, while the young men forged ahead and built another

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The ground was very slippery this morning, and where cut into deep ravines almost impassable for [“travaux” in some] place, the mules had to be [missing] banks and allowed to slide [missing] by guy ropes held by the [missing], and each of the travaux [missing] in a like manner. [Missing] we came to [Willow] Creek, which we crossed before going into camp on the other side, the ends of the travaux poles were secured in the bight of a rope and its extremity held by men on horseback, siding alongside the travaux. The beneficial effect of travaux travelling upon the health of the wounded men is due, it seems to me, to the absence of jolting and the fact that in every position the sick man’s head is higher than the rest of his body. November 28th. One of our worst cases of wounds—Private McFarland—died this morning. Command moved about ten miles to head of Right fork of the Crazy Woman’s Fork and (Snowing) November 29th, ten miles more into our Supply Camp. The trail we took was in fact almost identical with our outgoing line of march, so I have not given any of the topographical features. A rough sketch of the country is commenced. . . . Also a sketch of the scene of action of November 25th, 1876.

fire. Thus they moved from fire to fire in an effort to keep from freezing to death. A war party, absent at the time of the attack, encountered them on the trail. One member of that party, Wooden Leg, described the scene: They had but little food. Many of them had no blankets nor robes. They had no lodges. Only here and there was one wearing moccasins. The others had their feet wrapped in loose pieces of skin or of cloth. Women, children and old people were straggling along over the snow-covered trail down the valley. . . . Many of our men, women and children had been killed. Others had died of wounds or had starved and frozen to death on the journey through the mountain snow to Tongue river. Over the next two weeks many more starved, froze to death or died of wounds before they finally found refuge with Crazy Horse’s Oglalas on Beaver Creek in Montana. Marquis, Wooden Leg, 286–87; Stands in Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 217–18.

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General Crook sent the following telegrams to Lieut-General Sheridan, rough copies of which I appended below and tell better than any language of mine his sense of the work performed by Mackenzie’s Command. Camp on Crazy Woman’s Fork, W.T. Nov. 26th, 1876 Lt. General P.H. Sheridan, Chicago, Illinois. On our arrival here, on the 23rd instant, an Indian, [(]whom Mackenzie had sent to the hostile country before leaving Red Cloud.) came into our camp and gave information which determined me to carry out my original plan, (operating against the Cheyennes first[)]. Consequently, on the 24th I sent Genl. Mackenzie with his Cavalry and Indian scouts over the Big Horn Mountains. This morning (I received.) a dispatch from General Mackenzie saying he attacked the Cheyennes village, of over one hundred lodges, on the West Fork of the Powder River yesterday morning, capturing their village and greater portion of their herd. The loss on both sides he thought considerable, but was not ascertained when courier left. Lieut. McKinney, 4th Cavalry, was killed. The Indians had taken refuge in the adjacent Bad Lands and he wanted me to bring up the Infantry with their long range guns to help dislodge them. It has been snowing all morning with a prospect of a big snow. Expect to have trouble in getting over to Mackenzie. The Indian who came into us here says that while in Crazy Horse’s camp runners came in from Sitting Bull’s village with the information that he had made peace with the whites to the effect that they were to be allowed to hunt buffalo until Spring when they were to have an Agency on the Belle Fourche, in the Black Hills. That part of this, (Sitting Bull’s.) village was talking of moving up to join Crazy Horse, who has camped on the Rosebud near the point where General Terry and I met last summer. (signed.) Crook. Brigadier General. (2nd) Crazy Woman, November 28th 1876 Lt. General P.H. Sheridan, Chicago, Illinois. Before reaching General Mackenzie, I learned of the Indians’

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retreat and that he was returning with his Command, and countermanded the foot troops to this place. I send General Mackenzie’s report of his operations against the Cheyennes. I can’t commend too highly his brilliant achievements and the gallantry of the troops of his Command. This will be a terrible blow to the hostiles, as the Cheyennes were not only their bravest warriors, but have been the head and front of most all the raids and deviltry committed in this country. (signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General November 30th. Thanksgiving Day. General Mackenzie issued from his Hd.Qrs., the following General Field Orders No. 4. The funeral of the following enlisted men14 of this Command, killed in action with hostile Indians on the 25th instant, on the North Fork of Powder River, Wyo., will take place at 12 o’clock. M[eridian]., this day, viz: Corporal Patrick F. Ryan, Company “D”, 4th Cavalry Private John Sullivan, Company “B”, 4th Cavalry “ Alan Keller “ “E” “ ” “ “ John Menges “ “H” 5th “ “ Alex. McFarland “ “L” 5th All officers and enlisted men will be present and mounted. Each Company designated will furnish one Corporal and eight privates, except Company “D”, which will furnish one Corporal and twelve privates as firing parties and will be also mounted. By order of Colonel R. S. Mackenzie (Signed.) Joseph H. Dorst, 2 Lieutenant & Assistant Adjutant. 4th Cav. In compliance with the above, not only the officers of Mackenzie’s own command but also those from the Battalions of Artillery and Infantry attended the mortuary services of our late, gallant comrades. The graves were excavated on the summit of a low terrace, and arranged side by side. The funeral procession, numbering six hundred men and headed by General Crook, Colonel Mackenzie, Col. 14. Lieutenant McKinney’s body was returned to his family. It was not explained why Private Baird was buried on the field, instead of being brought back to camp. Robinson, Bad Hand, 223.

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Dodge, Col. Gordon, Col. Townsend and Staffs moved slowly to the place of sepulture and there halted until the close of the obsequies. The usual funeral salute was fired, and then the bugles sang “taps”, and our heroes were left to sleep their last sleep undisturbed. December 1st. A sergeant, (Patterson,) of Captain Hemphill’s Company, 4th Cavalry, was killed by having his horse fall upon him and burst some of the interior arteries. A body of our Arapahoe scouts started this evening to go back on the trail leading to the hostile village, or to the place where this once had been: their purpose to pick up abandoned ponies and discover what information they could. Seven of our Sioux, headed by Louis Chaugrau, were dispatched to Red Cloud Agency, to learn whether any of the Cheyennes had come in, and also to secure a new contingent of auxiliaries from among the Sioux there. December 2nd. Command moved back to Reno. December 3d. Command moved to the head of the Dry Fork of Powder River. Lieut. [Orlando L.] Wieting, 23d Infantry, came in after us, with the remains of poor McKinney, that Captain Pollock, 9th Infantry, Commanding at Reno, had had securely boxed up, ready for shipment to his brother in Memphis, Tenn. Our Shoshonees bad us good by this morning. They have been greatly distressed by what we found in the hostile village. They fear the rejoicing of the Cheyennes and the sounding of war drums we heard was on account of some recent victory over the Shoshonees. That they had the best of reasons for such suspicions we were all satisfied, but kept our views, of course, to ourselves. The tépi of one of the Cheyennes had in it a little buckskin bag, holding ten or twelve little Indian children’s hands!! cut off at the wrists and still very fresh. There were besides two or three female scalps, the scalp of the Shoshnee Indian we had lost at the Rosebud and one of a white man. (Mem. One of our packers gave me to-day, the scalp of a little white girl, not more than ten years old, whose bright golden silky ringlets, once the pride of a doting mother’s heart, had to all appearances, for a long time adorned the wigwam of the blood thirsty Indians.) The Shoshonee drew up in line of battle, as if on parade, and then Cosgrove told us they wanted to give General Crook, Capt. Pollock, Lt. Schuyler and myself a few testimonials of regard before setting out to rejoin their own people. These were all articles taken from the hostiles and very curious in workmanship. To General Crook,

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they gave a stone pipe: to Captain Pollock a “medicine shirt”, as it is called, of buckskin, painted black and fringed with scalp-locks, and yellow horse-hair plumes, taken presumably from the helmets of soldiers of the ill-fated 7th Cavalry.15 On the ground before Schuyler and self they laid a bow, and quiver full of vicious looking arrows of unusual size, a saddle cover of buckskin, embroidered in bead work, a bed-cover or something of that sort, adorned in much the same way, a pair of heavily ornamented moccasins, and a war-shield of grotesque workmanship, circular in form and protected in front by a thick coating of eagle and other feathers, difficult for a bullet to penetrate. The “totem” of the owner was conspicuously displayed on the outer side, under the overhanging plumage; the “field was one half asure, lower half red (ochre.).[“] Underneath is a crude representation, the plumage supposed to be blown to one side.

At all the dotted places feathers were attached The cover or case of this buckler was of plain, white buckskin, ornamented in center of a prairie chicken’s head. In reciprocation of these courtesies, we had nothing but an old Indian pony of mine, which however was sent to Washakie as an indication of good will. Our Arapahoe detachments came into camp by night, with a considerable number of ponies, gathered in on the trail of the retreating Cheyennes: A wagon-train loaded with forage, reached our bivouac, Lieutenant [Leonard Austin] Lovering, 4th Infantry, in charge. Monday, Dec. 4th. The blustering wind, low temperature and clouded sky, foretelling a storm, General Crook, by advice of the Indian chiefs, decided to remain here during the day, to avoid the risk of being caught out on the open plains, with inadequate protection. The aspect of the campaign at present is such that it [is] more than 15. This seems farfetched. It is highly unlikely that a cavalryman would have carried the socket and plume of his dress helmet in his field gear. A more reasonable explanation is that it might have been stolen from the barracks at one of the forts.

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doubtful if we see another hostile Indian on the trip. Crazy Horse’s band will be on the alert, like a herd of wild deer, ready to run at the first intimation of danger; our Indians insist they have already taken the alarm and started for the country about the headwaters of the Little Missouri and the Belle Fourche, just north of us. Our next movement will be down the Little Powder or Little Missouri or Belle Fourche, to some position where we can lie “perdu”, and wait until our Indian sleuth-hounds come upon the trail of the retreating enemy: This done, a very rapid march may give another opportunity of doing them damage. To make the column as mobile as possible, the General this morning sent off to Fetterman under command of Major Gordon, 5th Cavalry, all sick and wounded men and disabled animals, making a total reduction from our strength of nearly 250 men. Captain Taylor and Lieut. [Edward W.] Ward, 5 Cavy., Lt. Wieting, 23d Infantry, with Lieut. McKinney’s body, and A[cting]. A[ssistant] Surgeon W. T. Owsley, also accompanied the detachment. Colonel Gordon’s ultimate destination is Omaha, Lieut. Wieting’s, Cheyenne, and Taylor and Ward, Red Cloud Agency. Colonel Gordon’s wit has often served to re-animate the despondent minds and stimulate the weary bodies of his comrades; his stories are exceptionally good and told with a grace almost artistic in its attention to details. His conversation is very animated and usually droll and pungent. One of his anecdotes, narrated with great powers of mimicry, represents the interview of a malingering recruit with the late Surgeon [Benjamin F.] Harney, a thorough scholar in his profession, but noted for eccentricity. The recruit commenced his rambling, long-winded complaint of troubles, serious, complicated and vague. The Doctor’s face beamed with a tender sympathy. It was impossible for the man not to feel he was in the hands of a kind-hearted old gentleman, interested in alleviating his troubles. The Doctor now feels his pulse and examines his tongue: was his appetite good? so, so: and his digestion? Poor, of course. Pains in the back? Oh. Yes. Doctor and in the head too. The medical inquisition ended here—but the poor wretch who fondly imagined he was to be excused from all work and duty, felt the blood freeze in his veins as the Doctor called out in thunder tones to his Assistant: “Stevens, Poison this son of a b----!!” The recruit, believing from the sudden change in the Doctor’s voice and manner, that he meant what he said, jumped through the open window and ran for his life. He was

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never seen again in that part of the country, and the service found its ranks minus one poor specimen of a soldier. As a soldier, Colonel Gordon ranks deservedly high and displayed a high order of courage and ability in our late engagement. His temperament is in striking contrast to that of Genl. Mackenzie, who is brave indeed to recklessness, but too impetuous and also too variable in his moods. Yet Mackenzie’s services have been so brilliant, no recognition short of a General’s star can, in my opinion, requite them.16 A courier from Fort Fetterman brought information of the obstruction of the Medicine Bow road by snow. Colonel Carleton was obliged to employ Cavalry horses as draught animals, there being no mules at his post. Not to be able to keep our animals supplied with grain means that the campaign must end now, or very soon. Our animals already have become gaunt and worn out, and derive little nutriment from the frost-bitten gras, hidden quite frequently under a coating of snow. The cold north wind is roaring in our ears and a bitter storm impending. Winter has, beyond doubt, commenced in earnest and with an aspect more fierce and threatening than usual, even in this favorite abode of storm and tempest. Our policy must be outlined by the state of the weather; if continuedly unfavorable, no option will be left, but to resume station at Fetterman and other points until a moderation in climate may give a season for renewal of operations. Our wounded who left this morning, are objects of solicitude; yet, they have done extraordinarily well, in despite of cold and danger and privation. One patient, that I heard of the other day, was being dragged in a travaux [sic] over the snow; his wound, a fracture of the thigh, required in the attending surgeon’s estimation, gentleness of treatment and careful driving. [I]t was with much annoyance that he saw the mule trotting along very briskly; the driver with great nonchalance talking to the wounded man meanwhile. The Doctor’s annoyance was exceeded by astonishment when told the sick man had requested this rapid gait. “Yes, Doctor,[”] said he, [“]if I only had a few bells this would be as good as a sleigh ride.” Another, a Shoshonee scout, An-zi, perforated through the body by a Henry rifle bullet, rode all the next day and part of the second, on horseback, 16. The reference to Mackenzie as “general” was in deference to his Union Army brevet rank. His active rank in the Regular Army at this time was colonel.

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and had to be almost constrained to remain in the Hospital. Dr. [M. W.] Wood gave him a good stiff drink of brandy to stimulate him. That settled the business. Every time the medical man approached, Anzi would accost him with “Ho John, heap medicine”, meaning he wanted another drink which was always given him. The Doctors regard his case with wonder: according to the books, he ought to be dead, but persisted in living and improving each day. . . . A courier from Cantonment Reno, reached General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. this evening, with news to corroborate our impression that the Cheyenne village we destroyed had lately been committing raids upon the Shoshonees. December 5th (Tuesday.) Remained in Camp. Blustering storm of cold wind continued. Dispatch received from the Lieutenant General announcing the arrival at the Cheyenne Agency of the advance of the Indians who surrendered to General Miles on the Missouri early last month: also the following: Chicago, Illinois, Dec. 3d, 1876 To General George Crook. (To be forwarded by Commanding Officer, Fetterman,) It gives me great pleasure to transmit to you the following dispatch from the General of the Army, to which I add my own congratulations. (signed.) P.H. Sheridan, Lieutenant General. Washington D.C., December 2d 1876. Your dispatch of the 1st inst., embracing the reports of General Crook and Mackenzie is received. Please convey to Generals Crook and Mackenzie my congratulations and assure them that we appreciate highly the services of our brave officers and men who are now fighting savages in the most inhospitable regions of our Continent. I hope their efforts this winter will result in perfect success and that our troops will hereafter be spared the necessity of these hard winter campaigns. (signed.) W.T. Sherman, General. Mem. Couriers left for Fort Fetterman, this night.

Chapter 10 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Grouard and Bourke on Indians

December 9.1 In Camp on the Belle Fourche. Our progress to this point has been tedious and exhausting. Our departure from Supply Camp, at Dry Fork did not take place until 10 A.M., of the 6th , between which hour and two in the afternoon, our column got as far as a series of large water holes in the bed of a dry course tributary to the Powder. Sufficient fuel for cooking purposes had been carried along in wagons, to guard against any lack of wood at camp, but we found more than enough both of it and clear, cold water and as much grass as could reasonably be expected at this season. Our line of travel was very indirect, it being impracticable to get wagons or even mules over the country in a straight line. In every direction, ravines and arroyos, with almost vertical sides, cut up the surface of the earth and enclosed us in a network of difficulties. Our bivouac was South South East from the most easterly of the four Pumpkin Buttes. The country on the South East side of the Pumpkin Buttes is almost a barren tract, productive of nothing but a thin crop of grass and a heavy one of cactus. Late last night, Lieutenant Lovering, 4th 1. Bourke apparently means December 6.

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Infantry, with his supply train passed through our last Camp going back to Fort Fetterman. December 7th. The hazy, cold weather of yesterday gave way to a chilling storm of snow that beat down upon the column all day as we slowly trudged along between the two most Eastern of the Pumpkin Buttes, following the Miner’s Road to the Black Hills, for twenty miles, until after reaching head of the Belle Fourche, when we made bivouac, and awaited the arrival of our wagon-train, which rolled in after night-fall. For fuel, we were again obliged to place our main reliance upon the stock loaded into our wagons, which with sage-brush and grease-wood gave all that was absolutely necessary.* Went to bed almost immediately after supper, which was not served up until a late hour. Mr. Roche shot a porcupine this afternoon and roasted it in the ashes. The meat is fat and has a greasy, rancid taste, something like pork. The cattle-herd that had stampeded last night was recovered this morning more than twenty miles off to the West. The water at this camp was full of lively animalculae, sporting about in the clear and almost frozen liquid: no bad taste was perceptible. Frank Grouard gave us to-day, a list of the four Cardinal virtues of the Sioux Indians. 1. To hunt food for their own people. 2. To beware of the troubles women occasion in the tribes. 3. To help a wounded comrade: i.e. when retreating from the enemy, if one Indian has his horse killed or is himself wounded, his comrades must lend him their own horses to enable him to escape. 4. To be charitable to the poor: give food and horses to those in the village that need them. Sitting Bull is a very uxorious man and has had twenty-nine wives. Crazy Horse has had but one wife and one child. Sitting Bull’s intercourse with the whites has been quite limited, Crazy Horse’s very extensive. In fact, the youth of the latter was mostly passed at one of the Missouri River Agencies. The different tribes of the Sioux Nation bear names with the following significance. Wappeton People who live in Swamps. Sisseton “ ” “ ” Woods. Bourke’s marginal note: The site of this camp is known to the Sioux as the “Place where the Buffalo Calf killed the young warrior.”

*

GROUARD AND BOURKE ON INDIANS Yankton Yanktonnais Ki-ox-si Unca-pápas. Minneconjous. Ogallalla Ee-tazih-uit-chò. (Sans arcs.) O-ee-no-pah Wa-zá-shé (Brulés.) Sha-sa-pà See-chang-ò (Brulés.) Hohè “Strangers”.

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Village at the End of Nation. Village next [to] the Yanktons. Cut-Offs. Dried beef eaters. Planters by the Water. Smut in the face. (Blackened faces.) No Bows. Two Kettles. Wash your face. Blackfeet. Burnt thighs. Assinoibines. [sic]*

Wah-tópàh “Paddlers” Santee Those who live in thickets. Dec. 8th. Snow in a feeble kind of way, trickled down all the morning. The wind roaring from the north chilled our bones; the heavy leaden clouds, obscuring the entire sky, had a most dispiriting effect upon us. Through a series of bad lands, and for nearly twenty miles, we worked our way down the Bell[e] Fourche, every few yards surmounting grave obstacles in the shape of “cut-bank” ravines and steep grades. Our pioneer corps was worked to the utmost and, in despite of its efforts, numbers of the wagons failed to reach camp until nearly midnight. Passed a mile or two before getting to this camp, White Willow Creek, coming in from South East, apparently well timbered. When we made bivouac, had plenty of water, plenty of wood, and considerable grass, altho this was well hidden under a heavy covering of snow. In front of camp, a thick stratum of good lignite protruded above surface. We crossed the Belle Fourche several times without inconvenience: yet, in places, it is dangerously miry. In one ford, I saw two Indian ponies mired deeply and nearly dead from cold and exhaustion. They were extricated only by most strenuous labor, pulling them out by main strength. The latter part of this march, the contour of the country was that of an elevated plateau, cut into by arroyos, and dotted on Right and Left by prominences of small size, Bourke’s note: A Chippeway word meaning “Stone-Boilers”, i.e. people who boil their food by throwing hot stones into the vessels of water containing it. *

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excepting one to the West, which our guides said was the head of the Little Powder River. Our work in getting down this far has had its compensation in the really luxurious living that awaited us, within an hour after our wagons had reached bivouac. During my experience on the frontier, never have so much comfort and so much efficiency been combined in the same Expedition. The only drawback is the almost impossibility of getting enough grain for our animals, in the season of cold and snow, when grass is withered and scarce and the physical system needs more than the usual ration of grain to enable the poor quadruped to withstand the tax upon his strength. General Crook has made every arrangement to meet the requirements of our transportation, and has ordered 600.000 lbs. of corn forward to Ft. Fetterman and thence to Cantonment Reno. Unfortunately the short road from Medicine Bow, on the U.P.R.R., to Fetterman is now blocked with snow and teams have to take the road from Cheyenne, fifty miles longer. To supply the wants of such a command as this takes nearly 30.000 pound per diem. An accumulation of 500.000 pounds was made at Fetterman and nearly as much at Reno, before the present movement began, and 300.000 pounds more ordered forward as soon as we had left Fetterman; and a fortnight or so later, another 300.000. The failure of this to arrive promptly is due to causes beyond human control. We have no resource but to economize as much as possible which has been done by cutting down the ration one half and sending the weaker animals two hundred and forty in number to the rear; yet, it seems as if the bones of many of our horses and mules were fated to pave the trail we pursue. Yesterday, one mule and two cavalry horses were abandoned.2 Tomorrow, Dec. 10th fifty of our wagons return to Supply Camp on the Dry Fork, to bring back all the grain that 2. Dodge, who apparently was unaware of the logistical problems, blamed Crook, commenting that the general well knows that this part of the expedition must be a failure, if for no other reason, because we cannot transport our supplies. His train is in wretched condition yet he does nothing to get or keep it in order. . . . Mules are the very first element of success in such an expedn as this—yet he seems to care nothing whatever about his mules—The Cavy horses & Indian ponies are giving out every day, & by the time we reach the mouth of the Little Powder, it will be a miracle if more than half of us, do not walk back. General Sherman, who as head of the army ultimately was responsible for all logistics, shared Dodge’s view. When Crook later complained in his report of the expedition about “the want of proper transportation on account of meagre appropriation allowed me for this purpose,” Sherman countered, “General Crook was certainly empowered to provide for his command as liberally as any General that ever took the Field at any time. If his men were

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Colonel Carleton was to have sent out from Fort Fetterman, since our departure. (Same Day.) (Dec. 9th) Made four miles, in about five hours, half that time at least being employed in cutting roadways for our wagon trains. Many deer, antelope, elk and rabbits, killed yesterday and to-day,—a total of not less than seventy-five: shot by Indians, principally. General Crook shot a black-tailed deer this morning, and two of the Hd.Qrs. orderlies shot one each yesterday of antelope, affording the different messes plenty of fresh meat. Our present-camp, has plenty of wood and water from the Belle Fourche, and grass in the little foot-hills, distant a mile from the stream. It is a broad, open flat, easily guarded and makes a pretty fair camping place. The Day has been cold and hazy, but no snow. A few words, descriptive of the government of the Sioux villages &c.: one full of interest and instruction. They may be considered accurate, based as they are, upon Frank Gruard’s testimony. The government of the Sioux bands is essentially patriarchal. It is vested in a Council of twelve “old men”, of experience and capacity who select a subordinate council of twelve “soldier chiefs”, to assist in all deliberations affecting the general welfare. To make this selection, the “old men”, or “Senators” as we may call them, take their seats in the “soldier’s lodges”, and send out twelve bundles of stick, six bundles painted black, six red. The six black bundles are deposited in the tépis of the six warriors “who have counted ‘coup’, without quarrelling over it”, and the six red ones in the tépis of the same number of warriors who have been severely wounded in battle and recovered. This summons is mandatory: if the warriors selected, decline it, they must forfeit their best horse: if they accept the position, their squaws prepare a feast of meat or whatever else they have and send it to the “Soldiers’ Lodge”, for consumption. These young “soldier chiefs”, acting in unison with the “Senators”, attend to all affairs of the common weal, moving camp, hunting buffalo &c.* Bourke’s marginal note: During periods of trouble, say when the band is in proximity to a hostile village, the twelve old men and the soldier chief[s], habitually reside in the “soldier’s lodge”.—and sleep there. During their sessions, the public crier sits at [the] door of council and proclaims from time to time their orders to the people. *

not properly provided with everything it was his own fault.” Kime, Powder River Expedition Journals, 114; Crook to AAG, MilDivMo, January 8, 1877, Special File—Sioux; Sherman to Sheridan, February 8, 1877, ibid.

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In marching, the twelve “old men”, take the head of the column, the “soldier chiefs” guard the flanks and the rear. It is not etiquette for a squaw to give the name of any of her relatives, neither her father, mother, father in law, mother in law, brother, sister, husband or even cousin, but she may mention her children. Almost the same strictness applies to the men, who may give the names of father, mother, brother and children, but not of sister. A man never speaks to his mother in law, and only rarely to his father in law. Being in a lodge, other than his own, or at a gathering away from his own fire-side, if the mother in law’s name be mentioned, the son-in law, will generally draw his blanket over his head and take his departure: Women in child-birth are attended only by old squaws, who perform the necessary abscission. The young mother does not lie in bed at all, but resumes without delay her ordinary avocations. She must however live in a lodge by herself for twelve days. Her child for the first two or three days is suckled by other women. So, during the time of menstrual purgation, women inhabit for four days a lodge by themselves performing no indoor labor. They do not cook, nor even bring drinking water. In brief, it is looked upon as “bad medicine” to have anything to do with them. The musical instruments of the plains Indians, consist of the reed instrument already described, drums which look very much like a tambourine, and gourds, filled with shot or small stones, and exactly like the instrument employed by the Apaches of Arizona for [the] same purpose. The Apache, moreover makes a miniature four stringed fiddle of the stalk of the mescal or century plant: of such an instrument, no counterpart has come under my observation among the plains Indians, who are also unable to make pottery, wicker-ware, or woolen goods, while the Navajoes, Moquis3 and Zunis of Arizona, manufacture fine blankets and woolen garments, and also decorated pottery, and the while Apaches, of the same territory, fabricate a basket, so closely woven, that water cannot percolate through the fibres. The plains Indians make saddles and pack saddles; of great strength, and ornament the skins they tan with great care and not seldom with much beauty. It is a reflection upon the efficiency of our Ordnance Department, to learn that these wild nomads, on both sides of the Rocky Mountains, antedated Eastern manufacturers in 3. Hopis.

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reloading the once-used metallic cartridge of the breech-loading arms of precision. When I was first graduated from the Academy in 1869, the Apaches of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Sonora, used to break an aperture into the metallic cartridges and by inserting caps were enabled to reload them many times. I saw some of these crude but serviceable projectiles, or fixed ammunition in the mountains of Sonora, Mexico, in 1870: and at the Cheyenne village destroyed by General Mackenzie last month, the same thing: Equally efficacious with the reloading shell of Eastern manufacture, if not as artistic in mode of preparation. December 10th. A blue sky with scarcely a cloud. A train of fifty wagons started in this morning, to bring accumulated supplies from the Dry Fork of Powder River, Captain [William Henry] Jordan’s Company of the 9th Infantry, acted as escort. Orders were sent to 1 Lt. G. W. Taylor, 4th Artillery, to report at Cantonment Reno, for medical treatment. A party of miners came in from Deadwood City in the Black Hills. They reported having had five or six horses run off by hostile Indians, whose trails were very numerous on the North West corner of the hills. . . . Three Bears, chief of the Sioux (Ogallalla.) favored me with a visit this morning, after breakfast. Our conversation, of course, was limited, but I learned from him that he had two squaws and four children, all sons—one big enough to ride a horse. They would be “heap glad”, to see him back at Red Cloud. The chieftain’s heart and stomach were rejoiced by a collation of biscuits, jelly and tea: he asked for the latter. In speaking of corn, he called it “wàká-màze”, in which word can be detected the root of the name we have been taught to call it, i.e. “maize”. From this camp, Inyan-Kara Peak is East and Harren’s Peak, almost due north. December 11th. In the darkness of last night, we were aroused by two miners who knocked against Genl. Crook’s tent until they had awakened him to listen to their story. They said they were members of the same party that had followed the command from Cantonment Reno, but had remained at our second camp on the Belle Fourche, five miles above where we were then. About two o’clock last night they were surrounded almost by an unknown body of Indians, but judging from the size of the two volleys poured into them, the

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hostiles were undoubtedly in large numbers. With one exception, however, the miners succeeded in effecting their escape, losing their animals and effects. This story had on its face an air of improbability: near the place spoken of is a thick vein of coal our blacksmiths have been using to heat the shoes of the public animals, and until about the very hour mentioned, Major Furey had wagons busily employed last-night carrying loads of coal to camp. Still the report was made so seriously that General Crook had no option in the matter and had to order an investigation. The Pawnee scouts were ordered back to the scene of the trouble and there found that a party of five Cheyennes on foot had attacked the unguarded camp of these eleven doughty miners, for such was their full number, killed one of them with his own axe and scattered the others in every direction, capturing all the horses, blankets, guns, ammunition and provisions left behind in their flight. The hostiles were undoubtedly part of the village, destroyed by Mackenzie and had taken up our trail in the hopes of finding just the kind of good luck that befell them. Their destitution may be inferred from their leaving on their trail a mocassin, made of green buffalo skin. The Pawnees followed the trail for eight or ten miles, until it became obliterated by the Cheyennes, dividing in all directions. We have been annoyed beyond endurance of late, by loose animals wandering about Hd.Qrs., and stumbling over the guy ropes of the tents: this was bad enough, in itself, but there was one cold-blooded scoundrel of a wall-eyed horse that had calmly surveyed the situation and had viewed with scorn the impotent conclusions attained by the vulgar herd about him: for him, no mere disruption of a tent cord would suffice; nothing short of the destruction of the tent itself,—pulling it down over the ears of its inmates—could satisfy the ambitious longings of his noble soul. He determined to win renown or perish. So he stalked forward at a pleasant little trot and landed himself in one corner of our tent, tearing the concern almost to pieces, while Schuyler and self were unsuspectingly making our morning ablutions at the other. I cannot describe what followed. The Recording Angel had his hands full for the next five minutes. Observed a dark flat-topped blue peak in the Black Hills this morning: my Prismatic Compass placed it at 240° (i.e. North 60° East.) Also observed thickly-timbered tributary joining the Belle Fourche

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at this camp and coming in from about North, 30° West. Mail arrived in the afternoon: the contents were not of great importance. Major Pollock reported from Cantonment Reno that two miners had reached his post; wounded, and reported they had been “jumped” by a small party of hostile Indians in the Big Horn Mtns. near old Fort Kearney. These poor creatures like the one killed last night, incurred this danger thoughtlessly and without taking a single precaution for their own protection. Our experience is full of such incidents, so full indeed that at first they don’t impress us as painfully as they are certain to do when we come to reflect upon them and the woe the misfortunes of these poor devils will certainly bring to some unhappy family. Colonel Dodge told us yesterday that one of the Pawnees had approached him with something in his handkerchief, telling him it was “heap good”. An examination showed the “bovine bouche” to be the granulated liver of an elk, chased for so long a time before being killed, that it had lost the semblance of itself and had turned into big clots of blood. Over this had been sprinkled the gall of the animal and of this bloody, greenish looking mixture, the fastidious Colonel was invited to partake. He felt compelled to decline. Ralph looked at him with an air of compassion and then swallowed the mess himself leaving nothing but the dirty handkerchief.4 December 12th (Tuesday.) General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. and the Artillery Battalion, moved five or six miles down the Belle Fourche, to an open flat with plenty of pretty good grass. The valley of the stream is getting wider and more level and the summits of the bluffs begin to show plenty of pine timber. Dinner had just been concluded, when a strong North East wind arose and a cold storm of mingled rain and snow set in: This was over by the time we turned in for the night. December 13th, Wednesday, The General Court Martial for the trial of 2 Lt. H. G. Otis, 4th Cavalry, convened. The Charges preferred against this officer were of no great import, some little infringement of discipline and nothing more.5 Games of whist, euchre and poker 4. Dodge does not mention this incident in his diary. Ralph is apparently the name by which Bourke referred to the Pawnee. 5. Actually the trial convened on December 14, as Bourke notes in the next paragraph. Otis was brought up by Mackenzie on charges of neglect of duty and disrespect to his commanding officer. It seems largely based on a misunderstanding between an inexperienced young officer and an autocratic commander. Dodge, who served as president of the court-

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are springing up among the officers of the Command: they have this much to recommend them that they while away the time and serve to unite officers in friendly bonds of companionship. Dec. 14th. I was in error in saying that the Genl. Court Martial for Lieutenant Otis’ trial assembled yesterday; such was the intention, but a variety of causes combined to defer the convention until this morning. Captain [Harry Cooke] Cushing, 4th Artillery, showed us to-day, a series of sketches, illustrative of the campaign: a portrait of Three Bears, chief of our Sioux Indian scouts and one of General Crook, entitled “General Crook holding a council of War”, representing our Commanding Officer, standing alone on a rock, his hands deep in his pockets and his hat pulled down over his eyes; thinking out his plans and combinations—are very superior to the average of sketches intended, as these are, for publication in the pictorial press. If they print well, I shall try to secure the complete series and paste them in in some appropriate section of this journal. Frank Gruard gave a new conversation this morning, about the Sioux, of course: He says it is their custom after any engagement where a warrior may have distinguished himself, to allow him to choose a new name. (Our Pawnees all took new names yesterday, suggestive of their participation in the destruction of the Cheyenne village last month.) This system corresponds somewhat to the “agnomen”6 of the Romans. There is no such thing among any of these tribes as a “family name”, but in each band a person’s genealogy is well known, owing to the intermarriage common among the members. Marriage between near relatives is not countenanced: the marriage of sisters in law is valid, but not compulsory. It is not permitted in case the surviving brother is “not as good a man”, i.e. has not the same standing in the tribe as the deceased or when in any way it would be to the widow’s disparagement. As the Sioux are not monogamists, it happens sometimes that one man will marry a whole family of sisters and this is apt to be the rule when the girls are orphans. martial board, agreed with Bourke that the offense was trivial, commenting in his diary, “The offence amounts to but little & Mack had much better have given the boy a good scolding or a weeks arrest.” Otis was found not guilty of neglect, but guilty of disrespect and ordered to forfeit twenty-five dollars from the following month’s pay. Kime, Powder River Journals, 124–25, 127 n.143. 6. A name awarded to denote some great achievement, as in the case of Scipio Africanus, which proclaimed that Scipio had defeated the Carthaginians in Africa. The modern equivalent would be the British system of titled military, such as Mountbatten of Burma, Alexander of Tunis, Montgomery of Alamein, etc.

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Funerals are conducted after the general fashion of all rude communities. It has already been noted that the Sioux bury their dead in trees or upon scaffolds, alongside of streams. These simple preparations are made under the superintendence of some of the surviving friends or relatives, who also arrange the body in robes and coverings, sometimes ornamented richly with beads and quills. The gun of the deceased, if a warrior, is buried with him, tho’ the infractions of this convention are becoming more and more frequent, in these times when the demand for arms and ammunition to fight the whites and the difficulty of getting them are becoming so great. The wives and children, and sometimes others of the family, cut their hair short, in sign of grief, and then gather about the mortuary scaffold to indulge in extravagant lamentations. Professional “Keeners”, as among the Greeks and Celts, are to be encountered among the Sioux: they sound the panegyric of the dead, having their office requested by gifts of horses and food. The names of dead people are not mentioned until a long time after their [deaths?]. Superstition and credulity, are deeply rooted among this ignorant race; their range of knowledge is very circumscribed and beyond this horizon they attribute to supernatural agencies every unusual occurrence, or object whose origin is not self-evident. Their religious ideas are mainly a belief in the power or ubiquity of “little men”, or imps, to be placated by votive offerings, or “medicine” of some kind. Imposters, calling themselves “medicine men”, flourish: one is now in Crazy Horse’s band, styling himself the “Son of the Great Spirit”: he avers that he was born in the Sun and came down to earth, riding on a star. The Sioux consider the sun the abode of the Great Spirit, if not the Great Spirit Himself: on the other hand, the moon is looked upon in much the same light as Christian people look upon the Devil. I find it hard to reconcile this statement with the fact that the Sioux designate the moon as the “Sun of the Night”, ayímpi-wî. Eclipses are the occasions of great mental disquietude to the Dacotahs: they have no theory to account for them and believe they presage dessolution [sic] of the world. Scruples about partaking of different kinds of food are common: some individuals have ideas that the flesh of the Black-tailed deer is “bad medicine” for them; others nourish the same belief, concerning other animals: even the buffalo, strange as the assertion may seem,

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is not eaten by one or two of those whom Frank met. Amulets, made of buckskin, pouches of small size, covered with beads of one color on one side and another on the other, and filled with powdered sweet herbs, are in vogue, principally among the young squaws, tho’ the greatest warriors are not insensible to the efficacious mediation of a fossil tooth, a snake’s rattle or some potent stone. Crazy Horse wears a charm, made of a piece of white rock; those worn by the women are fastened in general to the back of the head. The Sioux cosmogony is vague and chaotic: they don’t appear to have reached any satisfactory conclusion yet as to whether they or the white man were first created. Speaking of white men, it is indicative of their feelings towards our race to know they call us Wâsíchi.* In the proper place,7 I omitted saying that the Indian “soldiers” must wear a streak of black paint somewhere on the face. If this distinguishing mark is not conspicuously visible, the other Indians will punish the delinquent by breaking his gun, shooting some of his ponies or other chastisement suited to the gravity of the case. (Fine Day.) December 15th. Wagons arrived from Fort Fetterman, laden with sutler’s supplies: a small mail, very old in date, also came (Reading in Tyler’s Early History of Mankind came across the astounding statement that the Arapahoe language is so feeble in inflective power or poor in elements that its people cannot hold a conversation in the dark, but must adjourn to the nearest fire to fully express their ideas by the “sign language”. This statement, made upon the authority of Captain Burton,8 is very incorrect; the Arapahoes living as they do in close affiliation with the Sioux and Cheyennes and having a language so apocopated and guttural, that few living strangers have ever mastered its simplest forms, feel the necessity of adaptFor some reason Bourke scratched out the remainder of the sentence, “a compound word meaning bad man.” The term Wâsíchi, used as Bourke says to denote a white man, generally translates as some sort of nuisance. *

7. Bourke refers to page 15:1459 in the manuscript. It is on page 205 in this volume. 8. Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) is generally considered to be the father of anthropology. The work mentioned by Bourke, Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization (1865), was the first systematic ethnological view of the world. This, and his two-volume Primitive Culture (1871) stimulated development of anthropology as a science. The “Captain Burton” referred to is Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821–90), British soldier, explorer, anthropologist, and linguist. The comparisons between his career and Bourke’s are discussed in Volume 1 of this series (9n23). http://www. britannia.com/bios/tylor.html

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ing themselves to the pressure of circumstances and have become proficient in the use of the “sign language”, which unconsciously, they use very often while in conference with their own people. Their language, for all that may be said to the contrary, is copious, and, deprived of the guttural and nasal modulation of their words these people are noted for, is not without beauty and softness. Sharp Nose and Washington, the two principal men of the tribe with us, often and often talk together in daylight and dark, apparently upon a wide range of topics: They make use of the sign language, at the same time, but one can see with half an eye this is from habit and not exigency.)

Signatures of Three Bears and Eagle Feather Three Bears and Eagle Feather, were in my tent this afternoon and saw me writing in my journal. Three Bears motioned for a pencil and paper and after a moment or two presented me with his own autograph and Eagle Feather did the same. . . . Cold wind storm this evening, some few drops of rain and snow. December 16th. Major Jordan sent a notification to General Crook that his train would reach our camp to-morrow with (128.000) pounds of grain, additional supplies and the newspaper mail. After night[fall]—tempest of cold and wind and snow. December 17th. Morning cold but clear. Temperature became quite warm during day. Wagon-train reached camp early in afternoon. For the rest of the day, found enough to do in perusing the files of newspapers received, most of them barren of incident and nearly a month, or more, old. December 18th. A very genial day—like summer. Still in our 4th camp on the Bell[e] Fourche, where we are to remain, until the return of the scouts sent to Red Cloud Agency. Fortunately what might otherwise have been a very monotonous existence, has been made very pleasant for me by the amount of

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clerical labor my position as Adjutant General of the Expedition entails: though sometimes pushed for leisure, yet on the whole, the days have passed most pleasantly. Mâtò-chámani or Three Bears, makes his regular morning visit and is most usually regaled with a few dough-nuts, or some little collation of that kind. It is a strange ethnological fact the amount of begging to be expected from any of these tribes: my experience has been so slender and my reading upon the subject so slight any opinion I may give is entitled to very meagre consideration: at a venture I will say the North American Bedouin is as much of a beggar as his cousin of the Arabian Desert but differs from him in being without a particle of gratitude. A more charitable view of the case would be that these nomads, well disciplined in studying human nature have attained cynical conclusions not yet fully admitted among ourselves; they make professions of friendship only to mask the advances of Treachery: and if distrustful of strangers, whom they invariably regard as enemies, judge them simply by a standard, correct enough as far as it goes:—their self-knowledge of themselves. To an Indian, as I said, all strangers are enemies; to a white man, friends. With one, war is the normal relation with the exterior world, with the other, amity. The act, most solemn because most unusual in the history of a civilized nation is its Declaration of War against a neighbor: we have diplomatic notes and remonstrances exchanged without number until the Ultimatum and even then, the intercessory offices of contiguous Powers are often solicited, before resorting to the arbitrament of the Sword. But with the American Indian, the reverse obtains: he don’t deem any solemnity necessary in his declaration of War because he never has had any to declare. The war he is now waging with the adjacent tribes was fiercely going on when he was a boy playing at his mothers knee. His father was either a great warrior who had slain and mutilated and tortured many enemies, or a great sage skilled in the councils which deliberated over their wars, or he was a great “medicine man” and potent in charms and incantations which should turn back the enemy’s arrow in its fight or leave the enemy himself in the hands of his people. If he wasn’t one of those three, he was nobody and the son would never have reason to recall his lineage with pride. Thus it is that the American Indian is truly a wild beast. The Sioux fights the Pawnee because he is a Pawnee and the Shoshonee be-

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cause he is a Shoshonee. So when Peace is determined upon, its ratification is a matter of some solemnity, and speeches and calumet smoking such as have been adverted to at length in preceding pages take place: each side tried to outdo the other in lying and it seems as if both succeed. But an Indian has a very mildly defined conception of truth: he doesn’t indulge in it himself and don’t expect it in others. The territory they roam over is so great, that it prevents their amalgamation into homogenous bodies from two very different reasons. One is that by being diffused in small bands over such vast expanses, they lose that identity of thought which alone can preserve the unity of language. The other, that Danger can only rarely threaten all their communities at once, so those bands more immediately concerned have to bear the brunt of foreign contests unaided. To improve the condition of the Indians as tribes is simply an impossibility; they must first be crushed by the overwhelming forces of the Government, whose civilizing influences can then hope to find a free, perhaps a fruitful, field of labor among the new generations, treated as individuals but never as communities. The drudgery of agricultural life and the mechanic arts is never alluring to nations who find an easier, because more congenial, mode of sustention in the devices of the chase. But the Law of Nature has made all hunters Ishmaelites and they must for self-preservation exterminate all interlopers into their hunting grounds. I say exterminate because experience has taught them that the average yield of their hunting grounds is only adequate for the sustenance of their own people: and captives if taken in too great numbers would only increase the pangs of hunger these hunting tribes must all feel at periods recurring with an ill-defined but certain regularity. Consequently, as they will have to choose sometime or another between killing their prisoners and seeing their own children starve, they take time by the forelock by killing them when they first fall into their hands. We enlightened people who prate so much about our goodness and elevation would do just the same thing, under the same circumstances. We have but little more morality than the savage, mean as he is; but we have a great deal more bread and butter. To consider with any degree of intelligence the question of meliorating the condition of these Indians, we should first consider how far they would be capable of civilizing themselves without our help,

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to the end that the complement of improvement we would have to furnish to bring them up to our own plane, could be determined. It has been outlined that a nation of hunters by a fixed natural law is obliged to be at war with all its neighbors; to adduce authorities or advance additional arguments would occupy too much of the space of my journal and demand an amount of time I cannot spare. Now it is not only possible but probable that a nation of hunters, settling in a country, fairly watered, with fertile stream-beds, and a climate possessing the advantage of equability, should with the lapse of time become pastoral and finally agronomical in their mode of life: discovering the art of tanning skins, of twisting rope, making pottery and baskets and spinning and weaving cloth and blankets. That such changes have taken place, the history of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Mexico, Yucatan and Peru conclusively prove. Never have such advancements been made by tribes dwelling in the land of frost and desolation: civilization must be transplanted from more congenial climes. The Dacotah and Cheyenne can never be expected to become much better of themselves in a tract where the North Wind holds dominion for eight months of the year, and the only hope of their improvement must be founded upon what our Government may force upon them. To treat with the innumerable petty bands living in but not occupying the great stretch of country between the Missouri and the Columbia, and running down from British America to the Rio Grande is a proceeding as undignified as it is useless. Our statutebooks are loaded down with acts making most liberal appropriations for carrying into effect the stipulations of treaties, which were only made to be broken: our vacillating policy of trying to bribe Indians into Peace with largesse of bright-colored calico and cheap looking glasses, and of coercing them into submission by detachments of troops so weak the smallest war-party of the enemy can defy it, has produced exactly the results the feeblest intellect might have foreseen. Our government has lost the confidence of its own people and obtained in exchange nothing but the contempt of the savages. There is one rule of policy to be adopted and one only, with these people. Justice backed by Power. Insist upon the disruption of the tribal relation and recognize instead the family ties. Give lands in severalty, not alienable for at least fifty

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years;9 introduce the ruder mechanic arts, compel attention to the laws of hygiene, and impart to the children, noleus-voleus, a small amount of instruction in the elementary principles of education, rewarding those who progress and punishing the negligent. Issue to able-bodied men and women, who but what they give an equivalent for in daily labor. To apply these principles rigidly would cost more at the outset than the American people would be willing to allow. As a measure of economy not much can be said of them, for that period at least. It would only be after the first few classes of children had left school, after the first few villages had been constructed of bush or board-slabs, or adobe, laid out in rectangular streets and cleanly kept, or perhaps after the first crop of farm-produce had been sold for ready cash and the astonished Indian learned practically that labor had its recompense and is not merely the menial drudgery of the squaw—that the value of the method proposed would commence to disclose itself in the diminution of taxes for the maintenance of armies to war upon the Indians and of Indians to war upon the armies, and in that assurance of Peace and Prosperity now so sadly needed on our Western Border. December 19th. Major Pollock, Commanding at Reno, has sent several couriers to us within the past week: one reached us yesterday, the second rode in this evening, late. The news brought out is not of much general interest. The destruction of the Brooklyn Theatre, by fire, with the death of three hundred and fifty spectators is the principal event, almost too horrible to narrate. In Army circles, the death of General [James Allen] Hardie, Inspector General and of 1 Lieutenant [A. B.] Bache, 5th Cavalry, are announced. Poor Bache was a most gallant soldier. During our summer campaign, he became used up with rheumatism and was ordered to proceed to Chicago for medical treatment. He stubbornly refused to accept the indulgence and persistently remained with the Expedn. He was dragged in a travaux [sic] until the afternoon of the action at Slim Buttes, when he had himself lifted into the saddle and kept his place 9. Bourke anticipates by almost eleven years the General Allotment Act of 1887, also known as the Dawes Act, that partitioned Indian lands into individual holdings. Heads of families received title to 160 acres, and all other individuals over the age of eighteen, 80 acres. This represented an attempt, as suggested by Bourke, to “civilize” the Indian by breaking up the system of tribal lands (thereby diluting tribal authority), and making him or her a landowner. Once the allotment was completed, the balance of tribal lands—more than ninety million acres in all—was opened to settlement. Hoxie, Encyclopedia of North American Indians, 154.

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until the enemy were routed, when he was again placed in his sick bed, which he never left. His death occurred at Fort Dodge, Kansas. December 20th. A snow of nearly two inches in depth lay on the ground this morning when we were routed out of our tents at four o’clock by the cook’s call for breakfast. General Crook’s Hd.Qrs., and the foot-soldiers marched six or seven miles down the Belle Fourche, nearly North East, changing our camp because grass had been eaten off the hills by our large herd of animals. On the way, passed two small affluents from the Left. They were very short, rising in the low, pine topped knolls to the Left, a couple of miles from the main stream. Tho’ neither had any flowing water, both were thinly timbered with cottonwood. Day continued cloudy and cold. It is now a settled fact that the 23d Infantry is to leave the Dept. of the Platte and go to that of the Missouri. (Its officers, with no exceptions of consequence, are old friends whose acquaintance I first had the pleasure of making in the campaigns against the Apaches in 1872–73.) General Sheridan has notified General Crook that the expenditures on account of transportation in this Department have exceeded a monthly average of $60.000, while the allowance from the appropriation is only $28.000! Those few words mean that this campaign must terminate speedily. The transportation now in the Department is not one half as great as it should be and what disastrous results a further curtailment may have I dare not at present writing venture to say. Our expert orderlies soon made us comfortable in our new bivouac, cutting out with powerful blows of the pickaxe the stony clods of hard frozen ground, before making down our beds. After the solid chunks of frozen earth are removed, willows are cut and strewn over the ground, and a carpeting of gunny-sacks is laid down: Then a fire is lit in the Sibley stove, our office table and materials for writing brought in and the work of the day really commences. We are so very comfortable on this campaign that the whole movement has seemed like a picnic. The manner of warming two soldiers’ tents with one Sibley stove is depicted. . . .

Manner of heating two tents with one stove.

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My ears have suffered all evening from the agony occasioned by a Pawnee concert. One or two nights ago, the Sioux entertained the Pawnees with singing and dancing and presented them with eight or nine ponies. This outburst of nocturnal melody is in reciprocation of the distinguished courtesy of the Sioux. The Pawnees made presents of horses and have been doing their best to excel the music of the Sioux. It is well for [Richard] Wagner’s peace of mind he cannot hear this rivalry of his Music of the Future: there is this much said for the Sioux—They are very generous in the extent of the programme and never end a musical entertainment before daybreak next morning. If any officers at Hd.Qrs. had ben consulted, it is among the possibilities that a curtailment of the soirée would have been firmly but delicately urged: this night’s performance is more than usually pungent. The Pawnee Camp is very near our tents, so near that not a thump of their drum is lost. However, as we are not to start in the morning, we can better afford to have our slumbers disturbed a little. Information has been received from Major Randall during the two or three days past that he has reached Cantonment Reno, with seventy-six Crow Indians, who were enlisted on the Mussel Shell River in Montana, so far to the North of us that it took them thirty one days to cross the intervening distance although each one of them had two good ponies. At the mouth of Prairie Dog Creek, on Tongue River, they struck the trail of the retreating Cheyennes whose village was destroyed by General Mackenzie on the 25th of November. This they examined carefully, following it nine or ten miles, in the direction of the Rosebud. In their opinion it had been made by not more than 500 ponies. The hostiles had no lodges and must have suffered from the coldest night: The Crows examined one of their camps where they counted one hundred fires, or rather the ashes of that many and saw where the Cheyennes had brushed the snow off the ground as well as they could and then prepared couches of grass and willows to sleep upon. They had abandoned many of their animals, all poor and broken down. The Crows selected nineteen of the best and brought them along. One of the horses seen on the trail had belonged to the 7th Cavalry, and was so branded. The Crows also say that they have sent out one or two war parties the past Fall, and that one of these encountered the same band of

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Cheyennes in the Big Horn Mtns., at the head of Tongue River, and ran off forty of their horses. Had we only enough forage for our animals, we might strike across country and hit those fellows another blow, on the Rosebud; but what can we do, without either rations for men or forage for animals? General Crook has vainly essayed all that ingenuity could suggest to overcome this obstacle, but with utter failure as the only recompense for his exertions. We must now turn back and leave until Spring the completion of the task commenced under auspices so bright. Until an accumulation of not less than 2.000.000 pounds of grain shall be in store at Reno, or Fetterman or Laramie, whichever may be our base, any advance the Expedition may make will result in failure,—perhaps in disaster. If our Nation is ever to learn wisdom, which is doubtful, it will only be after millions of dollars have been wasted in abortive attempts to accomplish economically what could have been done with such an expenditure as reason and foresight would have suggested in the first place. General Sheridan, General Crook, and others high in military position, have urged for a long time the necessity of establishing the Yellowstone Posts, but the appropriation failed to pass Congress until the season had so nearly terminated that the posts have not served as nuclei of operations, as was hoped, but merely as cantonment for troops who had barely enough provisions for their own maintenance. . . .

Chapter 11 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Belle Fourche to Fort Fetterman

December 21st. Another snow storm last night: two inches on a level. General Crook summoned the Indians to a council, at which all the principal chiefs of the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahoe bands made their appearance. After dwelling upon the fact that our lack of forage for the animals prevented our continuing in the field much longer and the non-return of our messengers from Red Cloud Agency deprived him of any clue as to the whereabouts of the retreating Cheyennes, so that there was no use trying to do any more scouting for the present, the Commanding General went on to say: “I understand they have been turning in their (the Indians’) horses and guns at the Agency. I don’t know by what authority. It was not by my order, but I don’t know whether it was by orders from Washington or not. [“]You are very lucky in having been out here with us, because if you had been at the Agency, you would have had to turn in your ponies; now, you have plenty. [“]I want some of you to go on ahead pretty fast, as I want to send a letter through before the rest get in. Most of you have friends or 221

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relatives out with Crazy Horse and the Northern Cheyennes and I want you when you get back, each one to try and get in your own friends. When they come in, they will have to give up their ponies, horses and guns, but the ponies will be given to the men who help bring them (the hostile Indians) in to the Agency. [“]You had better advise your friends to come in, because this thing is going to last until they do. You see we have with us Shoshonees and Pawnees and we’ll have more in the Spring. [“]They will have easy terms if they come in now, but when Spring comes, we are going to turn all those Indians in after them and kill them like dogs wherever we find them. [“]I want you to set about this as soon as you get back. Send out some of your people to impress this on the minds of the hostiles so they will come in at once. We have already spent a great deal of money in sending out many soldiers:—the more money we spend the madder we get. By and Bye, we won’t let the hostiles come in at all. We are all very much pleased at the way you have acted on the scout. General Mackenzie says you were very brave in the fight and he is very much pleased with you. [“]When I first talked with you, I told you if you became soldiers you would be the principal men of the tribe. If you get the horses of the hostiles, of course you will be the rich men. I want you to work hard. I have to go down to the river and Railroad. After a while, I’ll come back to see you again. I don’t know just yet, but it is probable General Mackenzie will go back to Red Cloud[.] [“]Of course, you know you must do what he tells you. You can take your guns and keep them at the Agency as long as you are soldiers. If you want to wear your Indian clothes at the Agency and save your soldiers clothes, you can do it; then, you won’t have to buy new ones when you go out again. I want you to remember what I have told you and work hard to get in your friends. This is what I wanted to talk about. We separate in the morning, unless you want to march home with us”. Three Bears, Sharp Nose and Fast Thunder now interrogated the General very closely regarding the reported surrender of horses at Red Cloud Agency, but the General could give no satisfactory answers as he was as much in the dark as they. All the Indians promised to set to work at once to bring in the remaining hostiles and expressed gratification at their service under General Crook

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and General Mackenzie. Sharp Nose said they had never told him anything that wasn’t so. The conference ended in the usual way, handshaking and how-howing. Sharp Nose and Old Eagle were invited to my tent and remained with me until a late hour, giving the material for the vocabulary of their language. . . . Old Eagle speaks a little Cheyenne, enough for ordinary intercourse, thereby giving a double channel of communication between us: The Cheyenne language spoken by Roland, the interpreter and the “sign language”, in which both Roland and Lieutenant Clarke are proficient. . . . My search after knowledge as represented in the Cheyenne and Arapahoe dialects became so much of a task to Old Eagle and Sharp Nose that nature began to claim support and relaxation. Supper, they thought would be a decidedly good thing. Unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in my project of wresting from them the secrets of their mother tongue, that I quite forgot to offer them any collation. Old Eagle Played a good joke upon me in retaliation and as a gentle hint that refreshments would be acceptable. “To eat”, he said, naming a word, is so and so, but thus and thus, repeating a sentence in his own language, [“]means to eat something to-night, something to eat right now.” I saw the point and ordered a collation prepared at once for my guests who disposed of it in short order. The Day has been very cold, snow falling since morning. A courier left with dispatches for Lieutenant General Sheridan. These will be pasted in on the next page, more to serve as specimens of General Crook’s chirography than from any intrinsic value attached to them. To be relieved from the suspense and uncertainty of future movements was a positive benefit to all the command which had sometime before concluded that further continuance in [the] campaign was useless with our impoverished horses and animals and with the suspicion staring us in the face that Crazy Horse and other hostiles must have already taken the alarm and scattered through Montana, Wyoming and Dakota like a flock of frightened partridges.

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December 22d. Bitter cold wind and cutting snow. Our Arapahoes, Sioux and Cheyennes bad us good bye and started back for Red Cloud Agency. Command moved up the Belle Fourche thirteen miles: many men had their noses, hands, ears and toes frozen, but no severe cases were reported. Our animals have done better than could have been expected on their meagre diet. This may be accounted for by the perfect freedom allowed them, none being tied up at picket lines but all permitted to wander about on herd, nibbling what grass they could find and taking shelter under the lee of bluffs whenever the wind became too cold. Cottonwood trees have been cut down in great numbers and the bark fed out to the stock in lieu of long forage; it is bitter, but not unpalatable and much used by the Indians for their ponies in winter. Lieutenant [C. M.] Callahan, 4th Cavalry, a fine soldier, has perfected an ingenious idea for keeping his horses’ feet warm. He in cases[sic] them in a sock or mocassin of buffalo hide, closely buckled about the pasterns and falling down over the crown of the hoof. Theoretically, this protection ought to work well: practice may suggest some modifications, however. The sharp, cold air of these winter mornings has had the effect of intensifying the profane language of our packers and teamsters whose language is quite often as amusing from its originality as it is shocking in its blasphemy and irreverence. Whack! goes the whip and ---- comes a stream of objurgation from the irate mule-driver: the mule’s long ears catch the stream of unsanctified music floating through the air which warns him “business” is meant. So he commences to tug in dead earnest in the traces with the encouragement of another crack or two from the “black-snake” and another string of expletives, succeeds with the help of his comrades in pulling the wagon through the mud hole or snow drift in which it has mired. This is an outline description of their behavior under ordinary circumstances. In the presence of graver difficulties they become appalled and not even the encomiums of mule-drivers can induce them to move one foot before another. Suppose the wagon at the foot of a steep acclivity, the ground encrusted with ice or frozen snow. The leaders look upwards and see the case is hopeless. They consult with each other. Mules are the greatest animals in the world for consulting together and when the driver of a team sees his animals

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turning their heads towards each other and about to commence a conference, he at once abandons the struggle in despair altho’ he usually cracks his whip a half dozen times and explodes in a volley of objurgation by way of a dignified retreat. His next step is to send for the pioneer party which loses no time in breaking into the sandy ground, frozen hard as flint by the inclement winds. After a footing has been picked out and dug out for the mules, long ropes are attached to the wagon tongue and strong hands take hold and pull, while hands equally strong seize upon axle and wagon body and push with might and main. The mules may still refuse to stir a foot: the genuine Army mule loves to be coaxed and if the driver be not a fraud now is the time to discover that his wages have not been paid him in vain. [“]Whoop! Whoop-La! Gee! Gee! You puss mules—you Billy!—Damn you, Billy! Gee! You salivated son of a whore’s ghost! By the Cast iron Jesus! Billy! Dick! You Kate! You bitch you!” The men whoop and yell and cheer, and push and pull. All at once the mules make a simultaneous effort and jerk the wagon up the grade on the run. Then the teamster licks his mules just for luck, the wagon-master damns the teamster, the Quartermaster damns the wagon-master, and the pioneer party damn the Quartermaster. But the team has surmounted its last difficulty before reaching camp for the night and the voices of the mules are now upraised in a song of gladness. Much objection has been made to this chanting as practiced by mules, but the objections strike me as frivolous and untenable. The mule’s song may be just a particle monotonous and the nasal pitch he commonly employs somewhat harsh for cultivated ears: but the question of pitch is a question of taste and the mule’s taste may be better than our own; (or, if worse, this is the land of liberty and the mule is free to enjoy himself as he pleases. The charge of monotony is true, but it applies with equal force to the song of the lark we all pretend to admire. We may admit the mule’s want of taste and skill in the rendition of his scanty repertoire, but we cannot deny him a full meed of praise for the earnestness with which he throws his whole soul into his work and pours forth his voice in song.[)] Our pack-train has frequently received my favorable notice in these pages. I can only add to what has already been said that in winter as in summer and spring, our packers, under the able supervision of Tom Moore, have attended with an assiduity almost [amounting

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to] devotion to the wants of the animals under their care. Some of these packers are droll fellows: all of them are far more intelligent that the average of frontiersmen or than their rough garments and unshaved faces would allow an observer to imagine. Seated around the camp fire by night, I have often listened unobserved to the conversation of the packers and never failed to be impressed that their judgments, if not invariably accurate, were invariably founded upon close and careful observation. Last night, one of them came up to my tent, much under the influence of liquor, and began narrating his ups and downs, or rather his unchanging downs, in the world. He had been a private soldier in the same company of the 4th Infantry, before the war that General Crook had commanded as a 2d lieutenant. And, he continued, here we meet to-day again: “he’s a Brigadier General—I’m nobody. I never [sic] was nobody. The highest I ever got to be in the world was a lance-corporal’s bunky”. This night brought another intoxicated visitor: a soldier of the 4th Cavalry, who examined the inside of my office tent with a critical eye and caused me to look up from my writing with the remark that he thought he’d sleep there—he liked the place—it was good enough for him &c. My objection to the proposed arrangement displeased him greatly and aroused his stubbornness. I called for the Sergeant of the Guard, whereupon Hospital Steward Bryan ran up and giving the inebriate a shake asked him “do you know who you are talking to?[”] (I was in citizen’s dress and the poor drunkard did not recognize me as an officer). To whom thus Ajax: Arrah! thin do oi know who oim tarking to? Hospital Steward wid yur pin in jur mouth so foine! Shure an oi hed a pin in moi mouth lang befoor oi saw you or the loikes of you &c to the end of the chapter which was the guard tent. To give an idea of the paucity of transportation in the Department of the Platte, one instance only need be given. At Fort Fetterman, Colonel Carleton has been obliged to dismount Co. “I”, 3d Cavalry, and use the horses as draught animals; the Quartermaster of that post had only one mule and yet that is considered the centre of operations for the whole Department! For one reason I am glad to have made the campaigns of which these notes are the souvenir. Many points of interest have attracted investigation and the results have always been in the nature of improvement.

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Among other items for future use, is the question of supplying companies with mess-kits, at least culinary utensils. Heavy Block tin is the only material at all suitable for campaigning. The dishes and kettles should be cubical in form, made to fit inside the other and each covered and baled. One pack-mule could carry enough for two companies. Tent pins should be of iron only. Tents should be leathered at corners and strapped, not tied with strings, strengthened with transverse canvass bands, arranged with canvass pockets, and, if for officers, canvass to cover the floors or ground and keep out damp. The inefficiency of the Cavalry Carbine .45, has been demonstrated and it is to be hoped that a weapon with a heavier barrel, & stronger ejective power may soon be provided. Soldiers preparing for campaign should be exercised daily at target practice.1 In the matter of hard bread any how, the ration is too bulky, but for remarks on this subject see preceding pages. Lariats should have swivels at one end. Cinches should be made of long hair and not less than five inches broad. Our own office need for field service: a desk and table, office chairs, candlesticks and lanterns, Carpet and wash-basin. There is about the winter scenery of this part of Wyoming, a bleak and barren dreariness whose monotony at times almost overwhelms the traveller who recognizes its magnitude. Mile succeeds mile as the column of troops advances, but no change occurs in the perspective of snow-mantled hillocks, gashed with ravines and tufted on their summits with a scanty line of timber. [T]he leaden pall of the cloudy sky is an effective setting for the cheerless landscape which in spite of its gloom has still a weird fascination over the sight which never tires of looking at it. The winding lines of the stream-beds are defined by the skeleton limbs of trees, whence every bird has flown. Even crows and such 1.Although the army adopted a policy of small arms practice on a target range in 1872, it was virtually non-existent because a parsimonious government begrudged the money spent on metallic cartridges. Officers who requisitioned ammunition for practice often were told they would have to pay for it themselves. Consequently soldiers rarely fired their weapons, and many went into battle totally unfamiliar with them. Extractor failure on the Model 1873, caliber .45-55 Springfield carbine was another common complaint, and some have cited it as a cause for the disaster at the Little Bighorn. Custer’s command, however, was not the only regiment to experience the problem, and it did not affect the outcome of the war. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day, 99–103; Robinson, Good Year to Die, 215.

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carrion birds are only seen at rare intervals. Last night, a flock of wild geese flew over us going Southward, their “honk-honking” awakening us long before the day star had arisen. December 23d. Two degrees above zero when we started. Wagons made merry music as their ponderous wheels crunched a way through the snow. Five hundred yards out from Camp ravine blocked the line. Pioneers set to work with a will, but the glassy ground yielded very slowly to the attack of pick, axe and spade. It was at least two hours before the first wagon crossed. Day intensely cold. In the hazy sky, “sun-dogs” warned of approaching bad weather. Moved twelve or thirteen miles up Belle Fourche and then had to make camp [so] that our tired mules might join us and have harness taken off before night. No fuel here but sage-brush and the wood carried along from last camp. Good, cold water obtained by breaking through solid, glassy ice, a foot thick. Animals looking gaunt and feeble. Country traversed to-day, black and open to every wind. Small hills bound the horizon on every side. At 4 P.M., thermometer indicated -5° F.: beards and moustaches frozen stiff. A savory stew for dinner was made out of four rabbits Genl. Crook killed[.] At night-fall, a very cold wind arose. December 24th. Xmas Eve. Last night was so cold that none of us slept for any length of time with comfort. To keep our heads under the blankets and buffalo robes was to endanger suffocation, while to thrust them outside in the cold air of the tent put us in imminent peril of freezing ears and noses. Doctor Gibson’s thermometer failed to register at 8 P.M: its minimum graduation is only twelve degrees below Zero, so how much below that the temperature was none of us could imagine. Colonel Dodge had a thermometer also: it would indicate as low as 20° below Zero, F., but we derived as little information from it as from the other. The coldest hour was between 2 and 3 in the morning when the packers were aroused by the beating of a stick upon a tent. They had to go, poor fellows, out into the bitter cold air to hunt up and drive in their wretched animals, which huddled on the lee-side of our tents to get what little warmth this position offered. Three of the poor brutes were discovered dead—frozen—one just in front of the tent of Major Campbell, 4th Artillery. Still another was so badly frozen about the feet, he had to be abandoned. One died in harness on the road to-day.

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We marched ten miles on the back trail, making site of bivouac of December 7th. The cold could not have been less than 30°.F. below Zero; the breath congealed on beard and moustache and fastened them to overcoat and fur collar. Eye-lashes froze to the eye-lids. A number of cases of frost-bite, but, Thank God, none of them severe. One of our soldiers, who shot his elbow joint away by accidental discharge of his carbine, on the 18th, is doing nicely. This camp was extremely cheerless. No fuel but grease-wood and the stream frozen solid. Major Randall joined us about 6 P.m., at head of a body of seventy handsome looking Crow warriors, the majority very young, but all made of good material. Their trip had been severe beyond example. For nine days, they had to subsist on raw buffalo-entrails. Crossing the Big Horn Mts., they encountered five feet of depth of snow on a level. The rest of their story has already been told. Major Randall said that the Bannocks wanted to send two hundred of their warriors to help General Crook in the Spring. December 25th. Xmas, Merry Xmas, made to bow under the chapéronage of old Father Winter. The cold was so bitter this morning that the mercury could not be coaxed out of the bulb, but sullenly lay there congealed. Considerable suffering from cold and numerous instances of frost-bite, but excepting one poor fellow who will have to lose his toes, none of any significance. Last night, General Crook invited General Mackenzie, Colonel Dodge, Colonel Townsend and the officers of his own staff to assist him in disposing of a hot whiskey punch prepared by Captains Eagan [sic] and Furey. After that to bed. This days’ march of 18 miles to a point near Pumpkin Butte Springs or Gruard’s Springs was full of discomfort. The keen air seemed full of sparkling crystals of ice; our beards and moustaches froze into solid masses of ice and hands and feet ached as if they had been beaten with clubs. Eyebrows and Eyelashes white with frost. Horses and mules shivered while they stood in column, their flanks white with crystals of perspiration, congealed on their bodies and nostrils full of icicles. Many dropped out of the harness on this march; the worst of the campaign was over by the time we reached this bivouac and the temperature had then moderated to 5° Below Zero, F., altho’ in the sun, it was almost as pleasant as a bright winter’s afternoon in Pennsylvania.

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Mr. Fox, interpreter for Major Randall’s party of Crows, told me that the chief’s name was Spotted Horse and the route taken was from the Judith Basin to Fort Ellis, Montana, thence (26) miles to the Yellowstone river, down that to Clark’s Fork, up the Fork tow[ar]d. the Big Rosebud to their heads, then over to head of Gray Bull or else the Stinking Water, I forget which, then down to the Big Horn River, across it and the Big Horn Mountains to the head of Tongue River which they followed to the wagon road and then along that to Cantonment Reno. They saw in the valley of the Big Horn river the remains of the great village reported there by Louis Richaud, August 2d. Randall brought us telegrams from Fort Fetterman, viâ Reno, stating that since November 28th. (634.000) pounds had been shipped to Fetterman for use of Expeditn. Also that the General Court Martial for trial of Captain E. H. Leib, 2d Cavalry, was to assemble at North Platte, Dec. 20th.2 This, the merriest day of all the year, ended for us very quietly, at Pumpkin Buttes, Wyo. We were very grateful to have good beds, tents and stoves and plenty to eat. The road was so glassy that none of the supply teams reached Camp before midnight. On the South side of the Buttes, the depth of snow was perceptibly increased over what we had floundered through on North side. December 26th. Weather somewhat milder. Snowed during day. Marched fourteen miles, breaking a new road to the Wind River fork of the South Cheyenne. This road courses along a gently rolling surface, going about South, or a trifle East of South from the most Eastern of the four Pumpkin Buttes, for seven miles when it struck the Fetterman and Reno road, thence 8 miles East, by South to the Wind River fork, which it touched four miles below last camp on the stream. Here we had plenty of wood and grass, but water noisome in smell, probably from Sulpha. Hydrogen. Found here train of supplies for our own use, and in camp, Lieuts. [James Evans Heron] Foster, 3 Cavy., [G. W.] Taylor, 4th Arty. and [Charles Winder] Mason, 4th Infantry: they brought also a large newspaper and letter mail for the Command. The Crow Indians left us this morning. Louis Richaud and Louis Chaugrau came into camp last night from Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, with dispatches 2. See Appendix 1–Military.

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for General Crook. They had had with them two hundred and forty additional Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe scouts who turned back upon meeting with those whom General Crook sent back on the 22d. The mail received was generally very old and almost valueless: it contained a summons for General Crook, self and many others with the Expedition to appear as witnesses before the Court, organized for the trial of General Reynolds and Captain Moore, 3d Cavalry, to convene at Cheyenne, Wyoming, January 5th, 1877. We have had another snow flurry to-day: they are peculiar to this region and very uncomfortable, not especially from the amount of snow falling, but from the violent gust of wind, the unfailing accompaniment, which blinds and annoys while it benumbs the unfortunate caught out in one. The flurry may last one hour, or it may last one day; but it always departs as suddenly as it came, generally leaving a serene sky. A second mail came in late at night. The distribution of letters is an important piece of business at Hd.Qrs., however for which volunteers eagerly present themselves, influenced by some delusion that if they don’t hunt out their own letters, nobody else will. The deciphering of the addresses upon these packages is very often a perplexing piece of work, sometimes a very amusing task. At last the throng of the expectant faces melts away from in front of the tent, the last inquiry has been answered—there are no letters “for McCloskey of I Company”, and with great pleasure we turn in to bed, happy to know that our mules and horses, their stomachs well filled with corn, will not sound in the stillness of the midnight air their appeal to a powerless Q[uarter]. M[aster]. to aid them. December 27th. Snowing all day. Moved to South Cheyenne River. Wood, Water and Grass. Day cold. Distance 21 miles. December 28th. General Crook started along in an ambulance for Fort Fetterman. Command moved to Sage Creek. Found water black and greenish like writing ink, and putrid with Sulphuretted Hydrogen. Wood—none, except what we hauled. Grass sufficient with the double ration of oats our horses were now receiving. Weather very cold. Day dusky and hazy. Perspiration frozen on animals bodies. Nothing of consequence to note. Distance 20 miles. December 29th. Command moved into Fort Fetterman eleven miles. At our camp of last night, thermometer must have indicated at least 35° below Zero F.: at Fort Fetterman, where it was much warmer,

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to my feelings at least, than at Sage Creek -26° F. was reached. The morning seemed extremely trying. Our broken down mule teams made a good fast trip along the road, the mules knowing as well as the drivers that rest, warmth and plenty of food were certainties for the future. The drivers flapped their hands, stamped their feet and rubbed their ears, almost frozen stiff under the wrappings of cloth and fur. I suppose they were no colder than we were, but they looked frozen, with their hoary eye-lashes, and glacier moustaches. We had made an early start to get in betimes. The panorama we saw from the rising sun repaid us for all our trouble. We were heading a little South of East, so we enjoyed the full benefit of every scintillation of light until the sun in full majesty beamed upon us. The gray sky turned at the Eastern horizon to a dull purple, then came a deep red horizontal band, edged on the lower side with a coppery fringe, which at [the] same instant a sensation of light thrilled across the whole Eastern horizon. (This must have been some electrical impulse communicated to the atmosphere by the warmth of the sun’s rays.) It was not light itself but the harbinger of light. The air remained calm and the temperature seemed to be sinking but at same time to become more inspiriting. Within the next few moments, an exquisite combination of the colors red, gray, blue, purple and gold, filled the space where the Sun was soon to arise, then a single ray of gold shot upwards and gaining strength each moment soon was a brush of golden thread emanating from a globular nucleus we erroneously took to be the sun itself behind a cloud: on the South side, a small, iridescent arc or “sun dog”, bordered the gorgeous picture. Countless cloudlets, clothed in gold and bronze and scarlet were compressed into the upper angle almost to the Zenith:—a few moments more and the true sun, darted his beams from under the clouds so much more dazzling than his false rivals their splendor dissipated instantaneously, leaving to him the field from which the dark masses of snow-clouds were fleeing. We turned a small bluff: off to the Left, across the North Platte, on a squatty projection of land, a long straggling line of buildings, a dozen or more columns of smoke and in the centre, a flag-staff, were discerned and greeted with a cheer. They were not much in themselves, but they constituted Fort Fetterman, the advance post of civilization. Our ponies waited for no spur, but voluntarily struck

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out at a brisk pace and within twenty minutes we were seated by cheery, hospitable firesides, answering the greetings of warm-hearted friends. Colonel Carleton, 3d Cavalry, the post Commander took charge of General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler and self and treated us most courteously. From Fort Fetterman, General Crook sent a telegram to Lieut. General Sheridan and at this post General MacKenzie [sic] presented a report thanking certain officers, myself included, for good conduct during the action of November 25th, 1876. December 30th. Snow Storm. General Mackenzie, with the Cavalry, left Fort Fetterman, on account of the scarcity of forage and pushed on towards Fort Laramie. December 31st. General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler and self took ambulance and started for Cheyenne. Passed Mackenzie’s command near Elkhorn creek (30 miles)[.] Camped on Horse creek (39 m.) with our pack-train which we found there, in company with a detachment of Cavalry, repairing telegraph line between Forts Laramie and Fetterman. 1877 New Years: January 1st. Passed New Years’ Day in making the trip from the Horseshoe creek thirty-five miles to F. M. Phillips’ ranch at junction of Laramie and Chug rivers.3 Morning tempestuous. High wind, drifting snow across road. At Cottonwood Ck. half-way passed train, parked, loaded with grain for Fetterman. Weather moderated towards noon. [We] Were kindly received by Mr. Phillips. Passed the afternoon in pleasant converse and in reading late papers. (35 miles.) January 2d. Thirty miles, by the “Cut-off” to Portuguese Phillips: road for the first ten miles, until we crossed Chug, heavy with drifted snow. Day very bright and fair. Soon after entered Cheyenne and Laramie road. Passed many trains loaded with stores, principally military supplies. January 3d. Kept awake nearly all last night by howling wind which rocked the house upon its foundations. Arose long before dawn, partook of a good breakfast and started on road for Cheyenne. Our party now comprised General MacKenzie [sic] and Lieutenant [Augustus Cleveland] Tyler, 4th Cavy. Much drifted snow blown about by a fierce North West wind. An extra team was waiting for 3. This is a different Phillips from John “Portuguese” Phillips, whose ranch was the next stop on the road.

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us at Lodge Pole Creek. This didn’t let the snow melt under its feet before it had run us in to Cheyenne, and a march for the day of fifty-two miles. Put up at Inter-Ocean Hotel. The town was full of officers, one hundred being drawn from various localities, by the Reynolds and Moore Court Martial. I was examined as a witness for the prosecution, January 8th. . . . The attempts I made at various times to obtain from our Indians an account of themselves failed as such attempts generally do from your mutual ignorance of each other’s wants and ideas and the distrust they have for all strangers. I finished, while on this last campaign, the perusal of Tyler’s history of civilization and obtained from that many ideas of value which I tried to work up and put in practice. The first notion I explored to my own satisfaction was that, so current among anthropologists, that savages make no distinction between the terms “stranger” and “enemy”: on the contrary, the Pawnees, Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Utes and Shoshonees, all have a separate name for “stranger”, and of course must dissociate the idea. Again, Tyler quotes Captain Burton as saying the Arapahoe language is so meagre that conversations in it cannot be carried on in the dark. These tribes are very superstitious compared with the white races, but differ among themselves in the grade of their mental degradation, the Cheyennes being, to my mind, the boldest thinkers, as they are the boldest warriors. The Pawnees are very superstitious, the Crows most of all I have seen. Some of the plains Indians will not touch the wolf or bear, but the Cheyennes eat them and the tortoise also. Certain people living underground occasion earthquakes, according to the Cheyennes, while the Sioux account for thunder by saying that tribes of spirits are engaging in conflict and that their horses are charging. Albino Buffaloes are regarded with the same veneration the Siamese pay to the white elephant: their robes are trimmed with great care and preserved with scrupulous jealousy. Execrations are not frequent among these Indians and no tribe that I know of uses the name of the Great Spirit as an oath. . . . While all these tribes seem to have had at one time a repugnance to any association between fathers and mothers in law and the husband and wives of their children, which repugnance still betrays itself,

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yet the doctrine of the white men are spreading among them to a greater extent each year that they are brought into closer contact. An Indian will not enter his mother in law’s lodge, nor speak to her unnecessarily; but even this barrier is falling away and among some has already disappeared. The Sioux Indian will not put a knife in the fire: this would entail bad luck. . . . The Cheyennes once lived along the Belle Fourche where buffalo were very plenty. Bear Butte, on the North East Corner of the Black Hills is the great medicine house of this people and the Sioux believe that up there the Cheyennes are invincible and can make anything they please out of buffalo manure. Bear Lodge Butte, on the North West side of the Black Hills is also held in awe by all the plains tribes. The Sioux say it is the petrified kidney of a great bear and the center of the whole world. On foggy days, the Great Spirit stands on top of the Butte and throws out wild game in all directions for food for his Indian children. No Indian has ever set foot on the summit, but there must be a secret path somewhere, because they insist that a buffalo head can be seen on a flat rock at or near the top. The Sioux believe the spirits of their dead are constantly in the air, near them, and they also aver that good Indians after death pass another life in the “happy hunting grounds”. Inyan-Kara Peace they call “I hancia-paja (Sp[elling]?) Ghost hills” that is to say “The Hill where the Ghosts live” The Belle Fourche, they style “Bear Lodge creek[.]” The main Cheyenne [river], “pretty creek,” The Platte, the Shell river, and the Yellowstone, the Elkhorn. In the “sign language”, the representation for a rainbow is first, the sign for clouds in the sky, then for rain falling, then for stopped or passed away. The delineator next waves his hands in a semi-circle above his head to convey the idea of a bow, and then points to its principal colors, Red, yellow, and Blue. On the opposite page, is a map of the Big Horn country, sketched by a Sioux Indian chief, with the names of the streams written in, under his dictation, by Tom Cosgrove.

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Chapter 12 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Hostile Bands Surrender

Bourke made no entries from January 3 until February 7, 1877. December 28 through January 3 takes up the first twelve pages of manuscript volume 16. The remainder of that volume, together with all of volumes 17 and 18, consists of pasted-in clippings and orders. He begins volume 19 on February 7, with a recapitulation of the intervening events. Even portions of Volume 19, however, show signs of having been written later. In one instance he writes, “February 12th. Left Camp Robinson and, making the dreary trip of seventy-five miles, reached Fort Laramie, April 13th.”1 He obviously means February 13, which was reasonable for a group of experienced cavalrymen on a seventy-five-mile trek. The passage was written in April, and he mistakenly used the current month. [February 7, 1877] The journal of the operations carried on by General Crook against the hostile Indians in the Department of the Platte, would be incomplete were no mention made of the embassy undertaken by Spotted Tail, head chief of the Brulé Sioux and the detachment of his people who went with him to Crazy Horse’s (Ta-shumca-uitcû) village and 1. Bourke, Diary 19:1835.

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the important results flowing therefrom which may be regarded as the concluding acts of the war. It should be premised that during the time of our stay in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in attendance upon the General Court Martial which tried Colonel J. J. Reynolds and Captain Alex. Moore, 3d Cavalry . . . Major J. W. Mason, 3d Cavalry, commanding at Camp Robinson, had sent a small deputation to visit the hostile camp, there to state the ultimatum of our Government, so that the Indians disposed to do so, might avail themselves of it. Altho’ no immediate good results flowed from this message, enough was ascertained to assure the Military authorities that the back-bone of the opposition had lost its former strength and that, if vigorously pushed in the spring, the enemy would gladly enough surrender. General Crook, for this reason, determined to visit Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies, find out what he could with reference to the hostiles and make his dispositions accordingly. He started from Cheyenne and reached Camp Robinson, viâ Fort Laramie, January 26th being, as usual, the recipient of the courteous and refined hospitality for which the officers of that post are noted. At the same time, I left Omaha, (whither I had been sent on public business,) January 28th and proceeded by the Union Pacific Rail Road to Sidney, Neb., 413 miles West; there taking breakfast on the 29th and commencing a ride of one hundred and Twenty Five miles by stage to Camp Robinson, (due North.) Of this ride not much can be said; it is only remarkable because the line had recently been started from Sidney to catch some of the travel for the Black Hills, the magnet of attraction to thousands of needy and destitute people in the East. The only passenger besides myself was an adventurer from Colorado on his way to Deadwood to seek his fortune. We had plenty of buffalo robes and blankets and managed to pass the night comfortably enough. The road was even and, except in one or two places, of easy grade; with plenty of water distributed at convenient distances. (15) miles out from Sidney, we found the water holes; 30 miles, Greenwood creek; 42 miles, Cottonwood creek, which we followed down for 3 miles to its junction with the North Platte river, crossing the latter over a new wooden bridge erected by the people of Sidney,

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(at a cost of $20.000.) Then came a spring, then Snake creek, then the Niobrara river, then White Clay creek, following down which for twelve miles brought us to the White Earth river and into Red Cloud Agency. Coming down White Clay cañon, the grade was so steep and slippery from ice that our stage was only prevented from overturning, by the passengers holding on to one end by log-chain the other extremity being fasted to the top of the coach. We had to walk alongside and do some good pulling to keep the lumbering old vehicle from toppling over: by good luck, we met coming up the cañon a wagon train whose teamsters very kindly joined us and helped nobly. Our stay at Camp Robinson was quite brief. We were entertained most kindly by Mr. Dear, Major D. W. Burke, Dr. Munn and others. Colonel Stanton paid off the troops and Indian scouts, greatly to the astonishment of the latter, as yet unaccustomed to sums of money of the magnitude of (50), [(]60,) and seventy dollars. The purchases made from the traders were oft-times ridiculous, no impediment was placed in their way, it being considered best at first to let them waste a little and then General Crook found occasion to tell the head men that money was not made to be thrown away; but to be saved and judiciously invested. The harpies and vultures, attracted by such occasions, began flocking to the Agency; gamblers, whores and horse-thieves. Major Burke: post commander, had his hands full to arrest and confine all unauthorized people found within the Reservation limits. The guardhouse was packed and not till ready to escort them to the boundary of the Agency would the Commanding Officer allow a single one of these bummers and dead-beats to leave the calaboose. The newspapers of this date were blazoned over with the wonderful achievements of General Miles’ command on Tongue river; to reason from the accounts we read, it was vain to hope for any further chance of distinction. Miles had evidently whipped the last of the Indian bands into fragments: or at least, so his telegraphic dispatches asserted. Still, we hoped for the best.2 February 7th 1877. General Crook, with Lieuts. Bourke, Schuyler, Clark, Colonel Stanton and Mr. Chase, Major Randall, and Mr. Strahorn, started for Camp Sheridan, (45) miles East of Red Cloud. (The 2. Miles had defeated and scattered Crazy Horse’s band on January 8, 1877. See Greene, Yellowstone Command, Chapter 7.

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country between these two posts presents no distinctive features not already chronicled in my previous descriptions of this Northern region. Half a dozen streams, tributaries of the White Earth river are passed before reaching that on which Camp Sheridan is situated,—Beaver creek, itself a confluent. On the Right of the road, ten miles out from Red Cloud, is Dancer’s Hill or Crow Buttes, famed in the annals of the Sioux, as the place where their ancestors once surrounded a party of Absaroka, or Crow, Indians, who, in their despair of being able to escape by flight, ensconced themselves on the comparatively level and wooded summit of this vertical sided bluff. The Sioux were afraid to attack them in this position, but made a cordon around the buttes and quietly awaited the starvation of their victims. It happened that in one place the precipice was not so high as at every other point and, by the same chance, the vigilance of the beleaguring [sic] force at that particular spot was almost entirely relaxed. The Crows cut their buffalo robes into long stripes, made lariats, attached these to the scrub pine trees and climbed down, hand over hand; every one escaped in safety and, by day-dawn, they were twenty miles away.) The post of Camp Sheridan is the station of the military detachment overlooking the Brulé (or Spotted Tail’s band of) Sioux, who to the number of five thousand, live in this neighborhood. Originally intended for five companies, the post is now garrisoned by one only.—Company [“]M”, 3d Cavalry,—Captain Anson Mills Commanding. The perimeter of the ground-plan is strangely like a coffin,—a resemblance frequently noticed; One mile from the post is the Agency, where the Episcopalians have a church and a children’s school; I visited the latter and was much interested in observing the deportment of the Indians assembled. I counted fifty-five [students], altho’ sister Sopley and “Mother” Lee, the good ladies in charge told me the range of daily attendance was much higher and that, occasionally, as many as one hundred were present. The little ones were rather more cleanly than Indian children usually are, the inducements to daily lavation of the hands and faces being bright new slates and clean spelling books. Some there were

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so wedded to their aboriginal dirt that they accepted with nonchalance the dog-eared volumes and cracked slates doled out to them; to tell the truth, few if any, manifested much interest and none any enthusiasm. The free life of a savage was more to their fancy and to chase the birds; hunt prairie-dogs and splash about in the muddy roads more to their taste than any amount of learning. The exercises were conducted exclusively in the Sioux language, Santee dialect. Sister Sopley very kindly presented me with a primer, containing the “Lord’s Prayer”, “Rock of Ages”, [“]Nearer My God! to thee!” and other pious passages in the aboriginal dialect. Criticism is robbed of half its severity when directed against the well-meant even if badly-regulated efforts of those who are trying to accomplish the elevation of the savage and illiterate. Such elevation, however, could more assuredly be brought about by teaching the children our language which they are all anxious to learn and in which our ideas can be much better conveyed than through the medium of any Indian tongue, which from the paucity of its vocabulary and infeasibility of its grammatical construction is not suited as the receptacle for the advanced ideas of modern civilization. The Spotted Tail Agency, like its neighbor, the Red Cloud, is under the care of army officers:—greatly to the pleasure of the Indians, whose stomachs appreciate the difference even if their heads cannot comprehend the reason for it. Lieut. C. A. Johnson, 14th Inf., was in charge of the Red Cloud Agency and Lieut. [Horace] Neide, 4th Infantry, of the other, but replaced at this time by 1 Lieut. Jesse M. Lee, 9th Infantry. February 8th, 9th, and 10th were passed in making the arrangements for the departure of Spotted Tail, who took with him two hundred of his warriors and started out on the 13th to hunt Crazy Horse and the other Northern Indians. Spotted Tail was specially told that no stipulations would be approved that did not involve the surrender of arms, ponies and ammunition. The ponies taken from the hostiles should be distributed among such of the Indian soldiers as should distinguish themselves most in work against the hostiles. Spotted Tail promised to be back within one moon or one moon and a half and also to send notification to General Crook either by way of Deadwood, Dakota, Cantonment Reno, Wyo., or Camp Sheridan, Neb.

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February 11th. General Crook and party left Camp Sheridan with most grateful feelings toward Colonel Mills and lady, Lieut. [Frederick] Schwatka, Lt. Neide, and Dr. Koerper, for courtesies received. February 12th. Left Camp Robinson and, making the dreary trip of seventy-five miles, reached Fort Laramie, April 13th [sic]. [T]his post was now under the command of Colonel [Andrew Wallace] Evans, 3d Cavalry, with Hd.Qrs., Staff and Band of that Regiment and Companies, “A” [“]D” [“]E” [“]F” and “G”, 3d Cavalry, and “C,” 9th Inf’t., with the following officers; Lts. [George Augustus] Drew, [John Burgess] Johnson, [Charles] Morton, [George Francis] Chase, [John Charles] Thompson, [Francis Hunter] Hardie, [Henry Rowan] Lemley, [Alexander D.B.] Smead and [Bainbridge] Reynolds, and Captains [Alexander] Moore, (in arrest.) [Joseph] Lawson and [Deane] Monahan, all of 3d Cavalry, and Captain [Samuel] Munson & Lieut. [Thaddeus Hurlbut] Capron, 9th Infantry. Surgeon Alb[er]t. Hartsuff, (Medical Director in the early months of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition,) and Dr. Gray3 were the Medical Staff. Colonel T. H. Stanton, Paymaster, was now ordered to proceed to the Crow Agency, Montana, and pay off the Crow Indian scouts, who had come down from there, (the Judith Basin,) in the winter. Lieut. Clark had to remain at Red Cloud Agency to superintend the enlistment of Indian scouts and other very important business, while Major Randall started for Cantonment Reno, Wyo., there to await Spotted Tail’s messengers should they come that way. Mr. Strahorn went with him. Old Joe Merivale and Boucher went in company with Spotted Tail to write any communications he might wish to send back. These two individuals, one a native of New Mexico, the other a Frenchman, have lived among the Brulé Sioux for the past (25) or (30) years, are married into the tribe & to all intents and purposes identified in interests with the red men. They are for the needs of the present trip, trustworthy enough, but outside of this, Boucher certainly is in bad odor with the white frontiersman. 3. Probably a contract physician. The only medical officer named Gray listed in the service at that time was Charles Carroll Gray, who was a surgeon major with ten years’ seniority over Surg. Maj. Hartsuff. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:471.

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The garrisons of Fort Laramie and Camp Robinson took the benefit of the open winter and devoted many hours daily to drill and other instruction. Both posts were reviewed during our stay by General Tony Forsyth, A.D.C. on the Staff of Lieutenant General Sheridan. I found him an amiable, bright officer, well up in his profession, and a thorough man of the world, besides. He has travelled over Japan, China, India, North Africa, Europe and almost every foot of our country. As a dinner talker, he is the equal of any I ever met. Every morning, the troops of these two garrisons have been put through the school of the Company, dismounted, Manual of Arms, Skirmish drill, and in the afternoon Mounted Drill, besides the occasional sabre exercise and target practice. This severe training is having a very marked effect upon the physique of the recruits. Colonel Evans is also busily at work damming the Laramie River to divert its course which now threatens the safety of the post. The findings and sentence of the General Court Martial in the cases of Colonel J. J. Reynolds, 3d Cavalry and Captain Alex. Moore, 3d Cavalry were now published. The former was sentenced to suspension for twelve [months], the latter for six months, both sentences remitted by the President. Colonel Buchanan, Judge Advocate, Dep’t. of the Platte, arrived at Fort Laramie with Court Martial proceedings for General Crook’s revision. He staid with our mess one day and then returned to Omaha. The citizens of Deadwood, Dakota, petitioned for aid against hostile Indians who have made numerous attacks. Captain P. D. Vroom, with Companies “B”, [“]C” and “L”, 3d Cavalry, was stationed in the Black Hills during the latter part of February, all of March and the beginning of April. The Black Hills, serving, as all new communities do, as a resort for crowds of the vilest and most unprincipled outlaws, became from the proximity to the Indian Agencies, a den of horse-thieves who depredated upon the peaceably disposed Indians without intermission. General Crook made every effort to break up these gangs, pursuing them with white and Indian troops and recapturing much plunder and, in one or two cases in Lieut. Lemly’s scout, apprehending some of the robbers who as soon as turned over to the civil authorities were immediately released upon technicalities. Lieut. Lemly’s labors were especially arduous and suitably commemorated in General Orders issued by General Crook. . . .

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But to eradicate horse-thieves there is but one remedy; the Indian reservations should be put under martial Law, in default of which, the good people of the Territories when sufficiently strong will most certainly institute Lynch Law courts. Lieut. [J. F.] Cummings, 3d Cavalry, behaved with great gallantry during his presence near Deadwood and in like manner the behavior of Sergeant [C. A.] Bessey, C. “A,” 3d Cavalry, was a most gallant affair.4 Lieut. Hayden Delaney, 9th Infantry, who has been attached to General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. in the field during the winter, serving under Major Randall and Lieut. Clark in charge of Indian scouts and who has rendered excellent service in every capacity (as well as upon the summer campaign.) left for the Eastern states and Europe during the month of February. His arduous labors during the past eight months entitled him to every consideration. The daily outline of our lives at Fort Laramie was rather monotonous. We arose and dressed about 7; breakfasted, listened to the music of the Band at Guard Mounting, then visited the Hd.Qrs. stables to see that the horses were properly groomed. The stables were in the sheds on the inside of the old sod redoubt that constituted Fort Laramie when it was a post of the American Fur Co, 30 years ago. It abuts upon the current of the Laramie river, is not commanded by any of the adjacent bluffs and from its shape and construction, (being a square redoubt with covered lunettes, pierced for small field-pieces at the extremities of the North West and South East diagonal,) impregnable to the assaults of Indians armed, as in those days, with bows and arrows and lances. It was very compactly built of sod, with walls ten @ twelve feet high and was still, (in January–April 1877) in very good preservation. Dick, the little pony, who has carried me through the campaign since May last, is doing very nicely and shows good grooming and kind treatment. He is a very pretty little bay, half-bred, of affectionate disposition. 4. On February 23, 1877, Cummings, with Company C, 3rd Cavalry, and a party of citizen volunteers, charged and captured a hostile village of ten lodges on Crow Creek, about fifty miles north of Deadwood. The detachment recovered six hundred sheep, seven head of cattle, and seventeen ponies and horses, most of which had been stolen from area citizens. Bessey and three privates were repairing a telegraph line between Forts Laramie and Fetterman, on January 13, when three herders nearby were attacked by a large party of Indians. The soldiers managed to rescue the herders and fight their way out, although Bessey and two privates were wounded. All four soldiers were commended in General Orders. Headquarters Department of the Platte, General Orders no. 8, March 14, 1877, General Orders No. 9, March 16, 1877, copies pasted in Bourke, Diary, 19:1842–43.

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Returning from the stable, the opening hours of the morning were devoted to whatever business was contained in the mail of the preceding evening: after that we read until lunch time, 12–1 o’clock, then resumed our books, which were not relinquished until dark, except during the moments that the music of the afternoon openair concert tempted us to promenade the broad veranda encircling the house. In the evening, the mail was delivered and read; after dinner, which was served at retreat, if we did not pay any visits or receive callers, the allurements of our books engaged us again until the hour for bed-time, 11 o’clock, approached. Thus the time passed, stupidly enough, but not without improvement. The libraries of Co. “E”, 3d Cavalry, Co. “C”, 9th Infantry, and that belonging to the Post, were kindly placed at my disposition by their respective guardians. During the two months of our stay, many volumes, already read some of them, were eagerly perused and studied. Macaulay’s History of England, His Essays, Draper’s conflict between Science and Religion, Prescott’s Charles V., Ferdinand and Isabella, Conquest of Peru; Burke’s Sublime and Beautiful, Thackeray’s Newcomes, Vathek, A voyage around my chamber, Anatomy of Melancholy, (in part only.) Tyler’s Early history of Mankind, and half a dozen besides, were gone over,—a heterogeneous mass, but each good of its kind. Living on the frontier, an Army officer’s changes of literary treasures are so slight that he must cheerfully embrace whatever opportunities come within his reach without waiting for a selection.5 Dr. Hartsuff, Captains Lawson, Monahan and Munson and Lieut. Lemly did much to make our stay pleasant and to them I feel especially under obligations, altho’ there were others, not situated to entertain, who did their best to be courteous to the stranger within their gates. The uniformly mild weather of the present winter, since January 15th, is the theme of general comment. Many of the days have been as balmy as summer and the average temperature of the season since the date mentioned has been but little colder than that of Northern Arizona. 5. This condition is not restricted solely to nineteenth-century army officers. As a seventeen-year-old sailor on a slow tramp freighter with a polyglot crew, and with nothing to look at for weeks except the Atlantic Ocean, I read things I otherwise never would never considered, including Lord Jim, Dr. Zhivago, the Castilian “Colección Búfalo” of Western pulp fiction, and every issue of the Norske Handels- og Sjøfarts Tidening. I had learned quickly and from necessity to read several languages.

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Several times, on mild afternoons, Lieut. Schuyler and myself, went riding, taking the best road out from the post. Three miles out there was a nest of ranches, Cooneys and Écoffey’s and Wrights, tenanted by as hardened and depraved a set of wretches as could be found on the face of the globe. Each of these establishments was equipped with a rum-mill of the worst kind and each contained from three to a half dozen Cyprians, virgins whose lamps were always burning brightly in expectancy of the coming bridegroom, and who lured to destruction the soldiers of the garrison. In all my experience, I have never seen a lower, more beastly set of people of both sexes. Colonel Evans has been hard at work in the construction of a dam across the Laramie river, for the purpose mentioned some pages back. He hopes that the diversion of the main channel may be effected with the means at his disposal. He has a number of old, worn-out wagons, which will be run into and across the stream, making an angle with the line of direction of the current; their wheels will be secured together with iron logchains. These wagons filled with stone and old iron will serve as the foundation of the dam. March 2d. President Hayes’ election announced by the Electoral Commission. This gratified us exceedingly. Hayes is a man with a fine record as a soldier and Governor [of Ohio]. Without especial claim to extraordinary intellectual capacity, he is also without any of the inconvenient eccentricity of character so often associated with genius. His policy will no doubt be moderate and conciliatory in non-essentials, but firm and unshakable in all that touches the ground-work of our Constitution. His tone of character is pure and conscientious. Of his predecessor, General Grant, in justice it must be said that the failings of his administration were due principally to the force of circumstances. He was certainly too anxious to place Government positions to the swarm of needy adventurers who called him relative, but this, his chief defect, can be forgotten in the remembrance of the glory he conferred upon our banners while our Army looked to him as leader. During the month of March. (1877.) great wonder was excited in the scientific world by the practical demonstration of the capability of electricity to transmit musical sounds. This has been known to

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a few scientific men for a year or two back, but it has remained for this year to see that musical transmission is a possibility. In Chicago a concert has been given, the music being played in Milwaukee and telegraphed over the wires, a distance of more than eighty miles. Electricity has yet to be employed to send photographs, so that thieves and malefactors shall have no chance to escape from town to town. March 7th. General Crook started for Cheyenne to meet General Sheridan and make arrangements for any movements that may be rendered necessary for the coming summer; he returned March 11th, bringing with him General Mackenzie, and Lt. Lawton, 4th Cavy. April 3d. General Crook, Lt. Schuyler, Lieut. Thompson, 3d Cavalry, and the Messers Collins started for Laramie Peak to hunt elk and deer. That evening, we had an old-fashioned thunder-storm, changing by night to a cold rain and, before morning, to a driving snow. April 4th. A courier arrived from Lieut. Lee, at Spotted Tail Agency, bringing letters from that officer, Colonel Mills, 3d Cavy., General Mackenzie and Lt. Clark, saying that Spotted Tail had been successful in his mission and was now on the Belle Fourche, returning with (1600) Indians, four hundred of them warriors. Same day, a telegram came from Captain Vroom in Deadwood saying Merivale had reached Crook City and reported substantially the same as we had learned from the Indian runners at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies. The Cheyennes, with whom we had the fight in November, also began to weaken. Nearly Four hundred (to be exact, three hundred and eighty six,) had already surrendered at Red Cloud, in February and March. This band was under Little Wolf, one of their best fighting chiefs, who stated that the rest of his people would be in just as soon as they could reach Red Cloud Agency. They had suffered terribly in their fight with our Cavalry, under General Mackenzie, in November last and were obliged to surrender or starve. They had first joined Crazy Horse, who was on Tongue river, only a couple of marches from where the troops were, (i.e., the new cantonment.) but Crazy Horse wouldn’t do anything more for them. The Cheyennes were very mad with Crazy Horse and didn’t like the way in which he had

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acted towards them. They would surrender at Red Cloud, which was their old home. Little Wolf said that his part of the band had the best ponies and was not encumbered with wounded, and for that reason had got in a good long time ahead of the others who would have to travel slowly—but, he persisted, “They also will be along; they are coming”. Those of us who were in the fight with MacKenzie and knew the severity of the blow he had dealt the Cheyennes in the total destruction of their fine village, felt that Little Wolf was speaking the truth and that he was, as he said, the advance guard of his whole tribe; but there were a few doubting Thomases who did not repose much confidence in his story. General Crook quietly maintained that Little Wolf was correct and that we might at any moment, expect the arrival of the others. Those who were with Little Wolf were in a miserable plight and told a sad story of want and destitution, after losing their village. They claimed that the Northern Sioux, (under Crazy Horse,[)] had not behaved toward them with compassion. They expressed a desire to be enlisted as soldiers that they might go out to fight Crazy Horse’s people. About the same time, (Feby. 20th.) some two hundred Sioux also surrendered at the two agencies. While this was going on, Lt. Clark was busily employed enlisting a force of Indian soldiers at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail. He picked out most excellent material, the only difficulty being in making a choice where so many aspirants thrust themselves forward. He secured Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Little Wolf, Young Man Afraid of his Horses and others of renown. Old Red Cloud asked to be enlisted as a soldier and was accepted. This enlistment of Indians to fight Indians is the great secret of General Crook’s success in the management of the wild tribes; its efficacy is recognized by no people more readily than the Indians them-selves who look up to General Crook as their master. Sioux6 Spotted Tail Red Cloud Poor Elk Big Bellied sorrel horse.* Three Bears* Feather on head* Indians whose names are marked thus * were with us in our campaign from October 1876 until January 1877[.] *

6. The reader will note that some common names are repeated. There are, for example, two American Horses, one Sioux and one Cheyenne, and that Brave Bear was shared between Sioux and Arapaho.

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Horse comes last* Running Bear* High Bear American Horse Blue Horse Bear robe Red shirt* Charging Bear* Young Man Afraid of his horses Pretty place.* Trunk Brings the Pipe Hand Owns Gray Horse Kills a hundred* Little Wolf Sitting Bear* Roan Bear Big Wolf American Horse.

THE GREAT SIOUX WAR Weasel Bear Red Kettle Jack ass.* Kills first.* Horn Eagle* White Face* Hunts the Enemy Painted Horse.* Torn Belly. Brave Bear Broken leg* Yellow Bear Arapahoe Red Dog Cheyennes Living Bear Black Bear* Wild Hog. Plenty Camps

Arapahoes. Black Coal Sharp Nose* Washington* White Horse* Six Feathers.* Friday. Horse White Breast Wolf moccasin* Big Man* Shaved Head* Standing Feather. Medicine man. Walks in the Water. Red Beaver Setting Bear Half Shirt Sage Black Shirt Water man Lone Bear Scraper Ree Broken Horn Little Chief Brave Bear The Sioux have not been arranged by bands. April 5th. General Crook telegraphed to Major Vroom to return to Red Cloud with his command. Vroom had been robbed of eighteen mules by the people in the Black Hills whom he had been sent to

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protect. Word was also telegraphed to Randall and Stanton to join us at the agency, and a report of the news received forwarded to the Lieutenant-General. April 6th. Major [Julius Wilmot] Mason, 3d Cavalry, arrived. April 8th and 9th. Heavy rain and snow. April 10th. General Crook, Colonel Mason, 3d Cavy., Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C. and Lieut. Bourke, A.D.C., started from Fort Laramie in a murky atmosphere and drove across the uninteresting country, already described, between that post and the Niobrara. Our wagons didn’t reach camp until 11 P.M. We passed a rather uncomfortable time until they came in[.] April 11th. Drove to Camp Robinson. At the distance of six miles from the camp, we passed through the two hundred lodges forming the camp of the Arapahoe chief, Sharp Nose, who called to us to stop and come in to his lodge; General Crook was not able to comply. There must have been something like a thousand mongrel curs in the village and of these a large representation started out to meet us. Jack, our dog, usually bold and defiant, trotted along under the ambulance with his tail tightly pressed between his legs and an air of subdued and even dejected piety visible on his countenance. The Indian hounds barked for him to come out and fight, but Jack was obliged to decline. Some two or three hundred dogs and children ran along in the road with us for a hundred yards, the children hoping to get a ride and the dogs hoping to get a fight, but neither were gratified. Lieut. Clark was asked to go to a dog feast to-night. He was privileged to bring a friend and asked me to go with him. I couldn’t get away in time, altho’ I should have been very glad to attend, as “choked pup” is one of the few aboriginal delicacies I have never eaten and I wish very much to be able to say what it tastes like. April 12th. General Crook, General Mackenzie, Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C. and Lieut. Bourke, A.D.C., drove to Spotted Tail Agency, forty five miles. On the way, Paul, the driver of General Mackenzie[’]s ambulance, became very communicative and gave us the benefit of his experience in the West. His views of the Bad Lands would no doubt have amused Professor [O. C.] Marsh. “Lieutenant, it’s the dog-gonedest country I ever sed; regular boneyard. W’all, I got lots of things out thar;—thighs and jawbones! There’s no’ count; the ground is chock-full of them. But petrified

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terrapin and snappin’ tortle, why tem’s wallerble. But I wunst got a bone full of crystallized mar-rer; looks like white glass. Guess I’ll send it to a museum”! While at Red Cloud, (Camp Robinson,) General Crook had a talk with old Turkey Legs and other chiefs of the Cheyennes, who all said that they wanted to go out and fight the Northern Sioux. Turkey Legs, who is paralyzed and unable to do much physical labor is evidently a man of acute mental powers and a strong, but concise talker. “These,[”] he said, waving his trembling hand around the semi-circle of grim-faced warriors who stood by him, “these are the Cheyennes. You, who have fought us, (pointing to General Crook and General Mackenzie,) know what we are. We claim for our people that they are the best fighters on the plains”. He then went on to say that eighty lodges of his tribe, numbering nearly a thousand people, were on their way in to Red Cloud Agency, to surrender, being tired of war. Each lodge averaged two families. They had lost everything they had in their fight in the Big Horn mountains with General Mackenzie, but they didn’t bear MacKenzie or Crook any ill will. They wanted to be our friends now,—and to go out with us to fight Crazy Horse. If General Crook would take the Cheyennes out against Crazy Horse, every warrior would go with him. There must be some fire in all this smoke. The Cheyennes adhere to this idea with great tenacity, and from every source comes the information that the Cheyenne’s “hearts are bad” against Crazy Horse and that they are going to have revenge on him. They are holding themselves aloof from the Sioux at the Agency; a circumstance which adds weight to their language in Council. The Sioux have been manifesting an ill-concealed anxiety to have their relatives come in from the north and submit. They seem more afraid of this alliance between Crook and the Cheyennes than they do of the soldiers themselves. The ring of Lieut. Van W. Reilly,7 7th Cavalry, killed in the fight with Custer, has been recovered and was shown me by Lieut. Clark. It is a heavy, plain circlet of gold with bloodstone deal, engraved with a griffin’s head & sword. 7. Bourke means William Van W. Reily, who transferred from the 10th Cavalry to the 7th on January 26, 1876, just one day short of five months prior to his death at the Little Bighorn. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:823.

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While at Red Cloud Agency, I narrowly missed seeing Rain in the Face, the Sans Arc who is reported to have struck the dying Custer in the face with his riding whip and who forms the subject of a lack-a-daiscal poem by Longfellow.8 Shunca-ca Luta (Sorrel Horse.) came to see me at Spotted Tail Agency. He told General Mackenzie that he is one half Brulé, one half Ogallalla. He professes to be a big medicine man and performs a good many tricks which make the other Indians afraid of him: one is to take a small piece of tobacco which he inserts in his side and extracts from his throat. He claims to be able to cut a lock of hair from a squaw’s head and by dancing and singing around it, to make the squaw die inside of three days. None of the squaws will let him try the experiment9. April 13th. Colonel Stanton, Paymaster, Colonel Buchanan, Judge Advocate, Mr. Chace [sic], Mr. Ford, correspondent of the Chicago Times, Lt. Clark and Lt. [Joseph] Dorst arrived at Camp Sheridan. The Indians had a game of “shinny”, in which the young girls participated. On gala days, the young maidens and braves engage in this amusement to the number of hundreds, each arrayed in the best of the Indian raiment. A curious specimen of bead-work came under my notice yesterday: the beads were not sewed to the cloth, but strung on strings and each string attached to its neighbors, making a complete coating entirely distinct from the cloth, to which it was only fastened at the edges. The amount of labor required to complete this must have been very great. Have to-day had time to look over Sir Rose Price’s book, the Two Americas. He speaks in high terms of the American Army officers. Sir Rose is a very pleasant-mannered gentleman of extensive travel and considerable culture. Part of the trip of which he speaks was 8. “The Revenge of Rain in the Face.” 9. Bourke considered the medicine man to be a major impediment to Indian progress. In Apache Medicine-Men (144–45) he wrote: It will only be after we have thoroughly routed the medicine-man from their intrenchments and made them an object of ridicule that we can hope to bend and train the mind of our Indian wards in the direction of civilization. . . . [T]he reduction of the medicine-men will effect more for the savages than the giving of land in severalty or instruction in the schools at Carlisle and Hampton. . . . He believed Indian children at Carlisle and Hampton should be taught science and technology, as well as ventriloquism and parlor tricks so that “when they return to their own people, each will despise the fraud of the medicine-man and be a focus of growing antagonism to their pretensions.”

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made in company with Lieut. Clark and myself and some of the anecdotes retailed on that journey reappear in his volume.10 Spotted Tail, (who had come into Camp Sheridan a few days ago in advance in order to meet General Crook,) went out this morning with White Thunder and one or two other chiefs to the camp of the Northern Indians and returned in the evening. Spotted Tail is looking better than when I last saw him. His face has a kindly expression and in conversation he is vivacious and witty to a degree. In stature, Spotted Tail impresses me as being but little over medium height, frame slender but well knit in bony tissue, and carrying a good deal of flesh. I have often thought that Spotted Tail could with great facility be dressed up so as to look like a French abbé. White Thunder, the second in importance, is a fine-looking Indian; countenance good-humored but resolute, eyes bright, animated and mild-tempered; in all respects, a very handsome man. A comparison suggests itself between White Thunder and Sharp Nose, chief of the Arapahoes; of the two, White Thunder is the more handsome, Sharp Nose the more intelligent. April 14th. Spotted Tail and Mr. Boucher left the Agency early this morning and rode down to the mouth of Beaver creek, six miles, where the incoming Minneconjou had camped over night. By ten o’clock, a large party of Minneconjou braves, numbering about two hundred and twenty-five, galloped into the Agency, charging “as foragers”, yelling and firing guns. It looked for a moment like Rosebud over again. Then, within another hour, the head men and councilors of the village, escorted by Spotted Tail and Boucher, rode up in three lines, twenty-five abreast. As they crossed the line of the parade ground, (Camp Sheridan.) a song was started, all joining in. 10. This is Bourke’s first mention of Sir Rose Price in the diary. Price’s sojourn in the Department of the Platte was from September through November 1875, one of those periods of gap in the existing volumes of the diaries. Therefore it must be assumed that if Bourke did record the visit, it is in one of the lost volumes. Price expressed his high esteem of U.S. Army officers by writing: Of all the good fellows in the world I really believe the U.S.A. officers are about the best. It is simply impossible to do them justice in describing their kindness and hospitality to any one bringing letters of introduction who may visit their posts. No trouble is too great if they can only give you a “good time,” and no inconvenience you can possibly put them to is considered of the slightest moment if they can add to your comfort and enjoyment. They are all highly educated, the course at West Point being one of the most thorough a man can receive. . . . Price’s overall enthusiasm extended to the American people in general, and was unusual for British gentry of the time, most of whom tended to view Americans with a certain disdain. Price, Two Americas, 353.

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The band halted in front of Colonel Mills’ qrs., where General Crook, General Mackenzie and other officers were assembled. Spotted Tail said, turning to the first Indian on his Left.—This is Lone Horn’s son—The young man whose head touches the clouds. The young man, shaking General Crook’s hand, said “Cola! (friend.) my heart is good; let our hearts be one. I give you this gun as a sign that I submit to you”, at same time laying his gun down upon the ground. Roman Nose laid down two long clean sticks and said[,] “My friend, these are two ponies which I will give to you”. The others of the old men were introduced as they came up, each shaking hands and all expressing kind feelings. The village, with its great herds of ponies, packs of dogs and crowds of women, children and superannuated men; filed along, covering over a mile of distance, with an irregular breadth of 150 yards to half a mile. Indians travel so loosely and are not “closed up” like military columns. It was hard to tell how many were in this band, but I should say that all told they numbered not less than (1200) to 1300 souls, and fully 1800 ponies. When the whole party reached the agency enclosure, one mile beyond the post, and began to climb the hill-side of the place where their camp was to be pitched, the procession looked for all the world like a swarm of black ants. In company with Mr. Ford, I took a walk over to the Agency, passing in our promenade a party of young bucks who were enjoying themselves in a certain game, played by throwing arrows through the air toward a certain point. The Minneconjous, during the afternoon, turned over to Spotted Tail, their arms, which he sent to the post in a wagon. In company with Colonel Mills, I visited the saw-mill, post bakery and corral, seeing much to admire in each. General Crook was very indignant with Spotted Tail for endeavoring to save the Minneconjous and Sans Arcs from turning in their arms. Only thirty eight were given up and various flimsy excuses urged for the rendition of this small number. General Crook quietly told Spotted Tail he must turn over all the arms or our Indian soldiers would take them from the tépis. It was fully 11 o’clock in the morning of the 15th before the Indians were ready for the council. General Crook, Lt. Schuyler, A.D.C.

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and Lt. Bourke, A.D.C., of his staff, General MacKenzie, Lt. Dorst, Colonel Mills and other officers of the post, formed one semi-circle, while Spotted Tail and the other chiefs of the Brulé, Loafer, Sans Arcs and Minneconjous made the other. Thirty four guns, or twigs to represent them, were laid on the ground. They were all Government carbines, evidently from the Custer Massacre. I should say here that the twigs were in each case redeemed by the carbines they represented. After smoke had been puffed, General Crook told the interpreter to say to the Indians that he was ready to listen to whatever they had to tell him. Thereupon, Roman Nose, “My friend, I want to say a few words. I want to live at peace with the whites. I want to live like Spotted Tail’s people, but there are some of my band who haven’t come in yet”. General Crook. I let Spotted Tail go out to see you, because he was head man here and an Indian who would tell the truth, and whom you would believe (How!).11 The buffalo are getting scarce and cannot last but a short time. A few years ago, the country was filled with them, but now the whites are crowding in and settlements are springing up every where. For that, I am glad you have come in for your own good. It may be more pleasant to live out in the buffalo country, but the Great Father will not allow it and has ordered his soldiers to make war on you until you all come in. For this, I let Spotted Tail go out to see you, not wanting to have you all killed. In a fight, you may kill many soldiers, but other soldiers will keep coming on until you are all killed. I am glad you have listened to reason and come in; by doing so, you have saved your lives. I hope that the others still out will come in, as our soldiers have orders to stay out and make war upon them until they are all killed or come in. I told Spotted Tail that when you all came in and were peaceable, if you wanted sometime to go out and hunt buffalo, I would send soldiers out with you, to look after you and take care of you. I am glad you have come in now while you can get such good terms; after a while, we will not give such good terms. If you have any friends up north whom you wish to have come in and live at peace, you had better send out now and tell them they 11. The Indians interjected this into Crook’s remarks.

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must come in at once. The Great Father has ordered three big posts to be built; one at the mouth of Tongue river, one at the mouth of Little Big Horn, and one at Cantonment Reno:12 he is determined to make war upon you, until you all come in and live at peace. I hope you’ll listen to reason and have good sense from this one. You can talk to these Indians here and find out how we treat them, and see whether it would be better to stay out or live at the Reservation. (How! How!) I am very glad to see you and glad to see you have come in with the good feeling you seem to have. (How! How!) Altho’ you’ve been up north fighting against us, now that you have come in to live at peace, you’ll be treated well and like the other Indians here., (How! How! How! How!) Old John. Here handed General Crook a stick, saying, “My friend, this represents a horse—give it to any of these Indians you please. General Crook. I’ll give it to Roman nose as a sign of my friendship for him. (Laughter.) Roman Nose thanked the General by passing his hand lightly down his face and then shaking his hand. Spotted Tail[:] My friend (to General Crook.) I am going to get up in front of you and talk to you. I ought not to talk with you now because I am your friend, but I’ll do it. General Crook. That’s right. I want to hear you. Spotted Tail To-day, I will tell you all my business: how I have thought for my children and tried to get along; how I have always listened to the Great Father. I’ll tell you all. As you told me, my friend, you wanted me to help you and the Great Father, I have always done it. So you, to-day must help me and the Great Father must also. As the people sit before us here, I see the very ones I went after. You told me I should take care of them and counsel them. My heart is good; all these people here,—their hearts are good. The Day’s Heart is good; the winds don’t blow and everything is good and solemn. Now I think this way; after I get all these people in, I want them to have a place of their own like mine. The bad white men are coming in and taking all the country. But in this way, we can save more country, by giving these people (i.e. Minneconjous.) a place for themselves where they can live and raise their children. 12. Forts Keogh, Custer, and McKinney, respectively.

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The reason I say I want the Great Father to help me is, the white men are going in to our country. I want the Great Father to do something for us now. This country belongs to the Indians; of course, if I give the country away, I cant pay for it for my children. I want the Great Father to decide about the matter soon for the sake of my people. Now, the country is mine. From this on, I want my children to be taught to live like the whites and get tools to work with like the whites. You (General Crook.) are one of the Great Father’s men,—sent here to do his business. You have power and always do business straight, so I want you to attend to this business for me. Now, my friend, you see the country yourself. I cannot plant and work with my hand. I want tools and if I had them, I could go to work and live well. You all know that men who sit still, never make anything, but those who stop travelling about and go to work, make a good living. Now, my friend, I want you to help me; use your best judgment and tell your views to the Great Father and get those things from the Great Father. The Commissioners here last-summer, told me they would feed me as long as I couldn’t support myself. Since the soldiers took charge of the Agency, you can see for yourself we are fat and I want that to continue. I told you when we went to see those Indians, to take good care of our people here. Now, we have a new Great Father;13 I want you to tell him when he sends a new Agent to send one with plenty of money to take good care of my people. When we get a new Agent, we want one belonging to the Catholic church to teach my children. I want you to send word to my Great Father not to ask me to move to the Indian country14 any more. I want to live here where I am. Yesterday, the white men living near here took some stock from these Minneconjous. This is not the right way. They should make a claim and prove it before taking stock. That’s the right way. These Indian soldiers here are yours; they belong to you. What we buy in the store, the prices are big. When you pay off the soldiers, the prices are big, and the store-keeper gets all the money; we want you to fix that. When a man does business, he 13. President Hayes. 14. I.e. the Indian Territory.

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puts a price on his goods whatever it is, so every [one] can know it. These store-keepers ought [to] be made to do the same. I thought those miners and men who stole horses were rascals, but these store-keepers (alluding to the Indian traders,) steal more than they. I have got the price for a beef-hide; it is $2. You know a white man don’t take such a price for a beef-hide, but we have to. General Crook. You asked me a lot of these things before you went away and I have not forgotten them. I am glad you have been successful on this trip as it will assist me in doing what you want. While the Indians were out, if I had asked for anything they would have said in Washington[,] “The Indians are all bad, they don’t deserve anything”. But if the Indians come in, of course they’ll do anything in reason. I don’t know what promises were made before I came here, but you can judge for yourself whether I am honest in my efforts for your good or not. I have but one way of doing business; I don’t talk one way and act another. I will remember what you ask and will do the best I can. I have it all down on paper, but can’t say how much I can do; it will depend on whether all Indians come in or not. It is necessary that all should come in, because if even a few stay out, people East will say that the Indians are all bad. After a little while when these Minneconjous see how things are working, they can send word back to their friends to let them know. (How! How!) After lunch, Colonel Burnham and I, started in the post ambulance, taking with us Bugler Kreger (a young soldier who speaks Sioux with some fluency,) to act as interpreter. We visited the lodge of Waka-ózka or White Thunder, and were presented to his young wife. He has no family. The unexceptionable neatness of the lodge was very gratifying, but not more so than the politeness of our treatment. White Thunder deported himself fully as well as the generality of white men would have done under the same circumstances. When we told him we were also going to call upon Spotted Tail, he very graciously said that he would show us the way as we might have trouble in finding the lodge. Spotted Tail received us with urbanity, as a virtue common to all Indians, I have ever seen. Their treatment of visitors is fully equal, in essentials, to that of white men, even if they don’t know as much, of the minor points of etiquette. Spotted Tail is very dignified, but also very kind. His manner is that of an Indian, White Thunder acts like a

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white man. From Spotted Tails lodge, White Thunder suggested that we drive to the Minneconjou camp where the dancers were getting ready for the entertainment to be given to General Crook. So, we drove to the place where the lodges of the lately-surrendered hostiles were pitched and saw enough to satisfy us for having complied with the invitation. The village was arranged in the form of a circle and the parade in the center, (of 200 to 250 yds. Diameter.) was one dense, black mass of humanity. Not alone in the village, but streaming far out over the hillocks beyond, were the crowds of Brulés and Loafers, with the crowds, equally great almost, of Minneconjoux and Sans Arcs. The number present was not less than 3000, little and big, and may have run up as high as 4.000. In the center was a company of dancers not far either way from one hundred, accoutred in every conceivable mode of fantastic and grotesque invention. Some were naked except for the breech-clout and had their faces and bodies painted in all colors and in all patterns, green, blue, yellow, striped, black and red; piebald, specked and spotted. They only agreed in one point. Their head-dresses of father-work had a faint approach of uniformity. Every costume was trimmed with sleigh-bells; one Indian wore a dress covered with them, down his legs in two or three lines, down and around his arms, about his neck, ankles, and waist and slung across his shoulders. Another dancer was a boy, Red Nose’s son, not ten years old. The masters of ceremonies were mounted on ponies, painted as oddly as themselves, usually with imprints of the human hand in yellow on the flanks. The performers wore, as already stated, a sort of uniform head-gear; the masters of ceremonies all appeared in their magnificent war-bonnets trailing to the ground. White Thunder staid with us until the procession was ready to move. It was a strangely grand sight and as gorgeous and gaudy a combination of colors as I ever saw put together. The object of the preliminary grouping I could not make out. I supposed it had some symbolical meaning, as, while the dancers congregated closely together, old women of the Brulé band covered the ground with pieces of calico, blankets, and other textures, which were immediately taken up and distributed among the destitute Northern Dacotahs. Driving as fast as possible back to the post and,

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picking up on the way our friend Shuncaca Lutu, (Sorrel Horse.), we reached Hd.Qrs. in time to witness the arrival of the immense procession which had stripped the village of every soul except the smallest children and oldest women. A large circle was formed for the dancers who without delay began their exercises. A stranger, ignorant, as I, of the language and ideas of the Sioux could not presume to give more than an outline of this dance. The following description is necessarily meager but it is faithful in representing only what I saw and jotted down, in lead-pencil, at the time. The general plan, if such a term is appropriate, consisted in the masters of ceremonies riding around on the inside of the circle and calling out in a loud tone of voice what the nature of the coming act was to be. Then one of the performers would start around the circle and give in pantomime a very graphic history of the achievements he, or some of his friends, had performed, a chorus of voices meantime chanting the verbal account of the same. This being concluded, the main body of performers thronged to the center and united in a grand chorus, and war dance, the drums all the while keeping up a fearful racket. Each warrior had his turn and thus we were favored with an almost photographic picture of their attacks upon their enemies, their daring feats and capturing stock, in striking “coup” and in escaping death, after having been severely wounded. Three of the performers simulated the actions of a desperate Indian, wounded and at bay, surrounded by enemies; the pantomime was perfect. Colonel Mills had Lieut. Clark, Lt. Schuyler, Colonel Burnham, Spotted Tail and myself at dinner. In the evening, White Thunder called and after expressing his regret to learn that we were going away, presented me with a very elegant tobacco-bag and a nicely-worked pair of moccasins. Monday, April 16th. Our party returned to Camp Robinson. Our stay at Camp Sheridan had been a delightful one, thanks to Colonel and Miss Mills, Lieut. And Mrs. Lee, Dr. Koerper, Lt. Schwatka and others. Within sight of Camp Robinson, a large party of young Indians, of both sexes, were actively running about, in the game of “shinny”. There were not less than two hundred in the party. The game itself differs in nowise from the American sport which may have been derived from the aborigines.

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Telegrams to-day contain the fearful announcement of the burning of the Southern Hotel, Saint Louis, with the loss of fifty lives. General Crook telegraphed to Lt-General Sheridan, giving an outline of occurrences at Camp Sheridan. Runners from the Indian camp state that Crazy Horse’s whole band is on its way in to Red Cloud Agency, there to surrender. According to their statement, the village should now be at the crossing of the Belle Fourche.

Chapter 13 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Indians Speak

Tuesday, April 17th. Heavy shower in the morning before reveille. Day gloomy and chill. Major Randall and Mr. Strahorn arrived from Cantonment Reno. Companies “B” and “L”, 3d Cavalry, returned from the Black Hills, Lieuts. Simpson and Cummings in command. Parties from Crazy horse’s [sic] village have been coming in all day yesterday and this morning; their stories agree in the main points. All say that Crazy horse’s people are anxious to make peace, Crazy horse himself yielding to the pressure. The attitude of the Cheyennes of which Crazy horse [sic] and the other hostile Indians have been duly informed by runners, is having a powerful effect, and the bands which have been within striking distance (i.e. 250 @ 300 miles) of the Agencies for some time past are now moving in as fast as possible. General Crook, in a conversation with Red Cloud a week ago, told that chieftain that he was going to recommence active work at once and keep it up all summer and winter; that he had delayed his movements simply to give those who were tired of war an opportunity to surrender, but that those who had been dilatory in coming in should now have their “bellies full”. 265

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We expect to take with us every man of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, besides a large contingent of Shoshonees, Bannocks, Pawnees, and Utes. Red Cloud and Spotted Tail are especially afraid of the ascendancy General Crook has gained over the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. These Indians have been for so many years associated so intimately with the Sioux that they have become practically the one people and know every thought and idea of the Sioux, and also every one of their hiding places. Red Cloud asked General Crook to give him a chance to go out and see Crazy horse, who is his relative; General Crook replied that he could go if he wanted to, but not as his representative. To tell Crazy Horse that preparations for the campaign were to be hastened and not delayed and every day his surrender was deferred was one day closer to the moment when the troops and their Cheyenne allies were to sally out and attack and kill his warriors wherever found. Red Cloud assured the General that he should have Crazy Horse and his people at Red Cloud Agency within ten days, but it is now April 17th, and Red Cloud has been gone about a week and nothing definite from him. This evening Lieut. Clark had an interview with six of the warriors from Crazy Horse’s camp. One of them told a curious story of Crazy Horse’s interview with Colonel Miles at mouth of Tongue river. Miles sent back to the hostile camp a Cheyenne squaw he had captured last Fall and with her a half-breed interpreter. The hostiles, after some parley, sent a small number of their people to visit Miles, who had five tents put up for their reception and their ponies herded by white soldiers. In a speech he told them they should come in and live at that place and trade; that they should give up their old guns and ponies so he could tell the Great Father that he had taken their arms and ponies from them but their good arms and good horses they could keep. He also told them that if they came in to Red Cloud Agency, the people here would take the last thing they had. This like other Indian stories, must be taken cum grano salis.1 The arms surrendered by the Minneconjous and Sans Arcs comprehend every pattern of breech and muzzle-loader. Springfield carbines which they captured in abundance at the Custer massacre, Sharp’s, Henry’s and Winchester repeaters. They have also a few Sharp’s 1. With a grain of salt.

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sporting rifles and a number of the old fashioned, small-bore, heavy muzzle-loading rifle, effective at long range. Couriers were sent out in the afternoon to carry dispatches for General Sheridan to the end of the telegraph line which is now not more than (20) or twenty-five miles from the post. The poles are already in position for the remainder of the line & the wire will be strung between this Camp and Hat creek, on the Cheyenne and Black Hills’ Line before the end of a week. Wednesday, April 18th. Not much to note. Rained all day, From new arrivals, Lieut.Clark attained a confirmation of the Miles’ story, (see preceding page.) which I am now somewhat inclined to credit.2 Mr. Robinson Crusoe, presented himself to Genl. Crook this morning in the orthodox buckskin rig of the Western dead-beat, who is working to secure a soft Government berth at good salary. He said that times were hard and he wanted to go out as a scout. “Thar war a piece about one in the paper—you must’a seed it”, he modestly remarked. The General disclaimed any acquaintance with the biographical notice alluded to and further, was pained to be obliged to decline the services of this eminent “bilk”, who “had bin seventeen years West of the Missouri.” The idea is wide-spread and there must be some money in it, too—that, by simply donning a suit of dirty buckskin and staying away from home for a number of years that an American butcher boy becomes a noble frontiersman and capable of acting as guide and of fighting Indians. The slim basis of such an assumption was detected by Hand one of the two or three Indians present in the room when Mr. Robinson Crusoe made his bow. Hand asked what that man wanted. Billy Hunter, the interpreter replied that he wanted to act as guide for the troops. “Why[”] said Hand, [“]if he should go outside of this post alone he’d get lost.” Billy then told Hand that these men, (like Robinson Crusoe[)] thought the Indians were afraid of them. Hand never replied a word, but a cynical smile overspread his face making him look like a statue of Sarcasm. . . . Major Randall and Mr. Strahorn tell a good story of a miner,—one of a party at whose fire they camped one cold night last week. 2. These meetings did, in fact, occur. See Greene, Yellowstone Command, 192–95.

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Two or three of his comrades were grumbling against Crook’s management of affairs in the Department, and this old cuss heard them through to the end without interruption. Then he said slowly; “fellers, I know Crook. I knowed him in Oregon. He fit them [th]ar Injuns in Oregon and licked them. He fit ‘em in Arizona in licked em again, and he’ll lick these Sioux afore he gits through. Thot [th]ar hook nose and ‘sot’ jaw aint stuck on his face for nothing; they means iz, they does, you hear me”. Thursday, April 19th. Colonel Burnham and Mr. Ford left for Fort Laramie. Mr. Hibberd, manager of the telegraph line started for the terminal station to hurry forward the work of construction. Last night, the Cheyennes, who are coming in to surrender, camped at Hat creek, 45 miles from here. During the morning, Horny Horse a surrendered Indian, gave the following account of the Custer Massacre. “Some lodges came out from Standing Rock Agency and told us the troops were coming. The troops charged on the camp before we knew they were there. The lodges were strung out as far as from here to the Red Cloud Agency slaughterhouse (about 2½ miles.) I was in the council house with a lot of the old men; when we heard shots fired from up the river. The troops first charged from up the river. We came out of the Council House and ran to our lodges. All the young bucks got on their horses and charged the troops. All the old bucks and squaws went the other way. We ran the troops back. Then there was another part of troops on the other side of the river. One half of the Indians pursued the first body of troops, (i.e., Reno’s); the other half went after the other body, (i.e. Custer’s.) I didn’t see exactly all the fight, but by now, all of one party, (i.e. Custer’s.) were killed and the others driven back into a bad place. We took no prisoners. I didn’t go out to see the bodies, because there were two young bucks of my band killed in the fight and we had to look after them. We made the other party of soldiers, (i.e. Reno’s.) cross the creek and run back to where they had their pack train. [“]The reason we didn’t kill all of this (Reno’s) party was because while we were fighting his party we heard that more soldiers were coming up the river, so we had to pack up, and leave. [“]We left some good young men killed in that fight. We had a great many killed in the fight and some others died of their wounds. [“]I know there were between (50) and (60) killed in the fight. After

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the fight, we went to Wolf Mtns., near the head of Goose creek. Then, We [sic] followed Rosebud down, and then went over to Bluestone Creek. We had the fight on the Rosebud first and seven days after [the Rosebud] this fight. When we got down to Bluestone, the band broke up, the Ogallallas starting for the Agency. [“]The lodges captured at Slim buttes were trying to run into the Agency. [“]We had no chief in the fight. Every one of us had to go in and do the best he could.” He also went on to say that both Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull were present at the Rosebud and probably at the Custer fight also, but he didn’t know positively. In the fight with General Miles last winter, there was one Sioux killed and one Cheyenne: also one died next day of wounds. Did not know of any soldiers being killed. Heard afterwards by the half-breeds bringing flag of truce that three had been killed. Captain P.D. Vroom, and A[cting]. A[ssistant]. Surgn. McGillicuddy, with Company “L”, 3d Cavy., arrived from the Black Hills. This has been an exceptionally serene and lovely day: nothing has been left to be desired in temperature or clearness. Under the mild radiance of the sun the young grass is making rapid headway. April 20th. A miserably dusty day; one couldn’t get ten yards without getting covered with dust. General “Sandy” Forsyth of General Sheridan’s Staff arrived on the stage during the night. (This is the gallant officer who had such a desperate fight with an overwhelmingly large body of hostile Cheyennes, on the Republican river, in Kansas in 1868. He was badly wounded in the left leg.) He has come to obtain General Crook’s views as to the policy of moving the Sioux to a new reservation on the Missouri River. General Crook objects to the Missouri as a location and has been urging a tract bounded by the Yellowstone, Tongue and Big Horn rivers, accessible by way of the Yellowstone and possessing all the qualifications for a first-class reserve. The Chicago Times received this morning contains a strange letter from General Miles, virtually claiming as “his” Indians all those who have surrendered at the Agencies of late. I insert it to let it tell its own story;

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THE GREAT SIOUX WAR Promissory Notes. Of a Cessation of Hostilities on the Part of the Hungry Savages. Gen. Miles Relates How the Tribes Came In and Accepted the Government “Conditions.” Breaking Up of the Camp on Powder River—Sitting Bull in British America. The following was received at Gen. Sheridan’s headquarters yesterday. HEADQUARTERS YELLOWSTONE COMMAND, Cantonment at Tongue River, Montana Territory, March 24, 1877.—Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, St. Paul, Minn.—Sir: Referring to my letter of the 23d ult. regarding the coming of certain Indians pursuant to communication with them that I had established, I have the honor to state that the Indians who left on the 23d ult. with my interpreter found the hostile tribes on the Little Horn on the 4th inst., and so far disposed to accept the terms that I had sent out, namely, placing themselves under entire subjection to the government, and either coming in here or going to the agencies at the south, that it was cried through the camps that the war was over, and that no more hostile expeditions would be allowed against the white man. The camp moved toward this place immediately, and my interpreter traveled with it two days, crossing from the Little Horn to Tongue river, and down Tongue river to Otter creek, and during this time a runner from a party under Spotted Tail agency arrived, conveying news of their approach, and bringing ammunition. My interpreter saw one bag of it. From Otter creek one hundred and sixty Indians, chiefly warriors, came here on the 16th inst., led by sixteen chiefs and head warriors, of whom a part had been in before, all of whom desired to learn for themselves under what conditions they could come in, and whether the conditions were modified in accordance with the very liberal terms alleged to have been offered through Spotted Tail or by him. Among other things they stated that he promised them the opportunity of obtaining abundant ammunition at

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the agencies, which is doubtless an unauthorized promise. The names of the chiefs and head soldiers who came are as follows: Of the Cheyennes, White Bull or the Ice, Two Moons, Little Chief, Old Wolf, Magpie Eagle, Little Creek, Spotted Wolf, Sitting Night, and Chief Bear; of the Sioux (Ogallalas), Wahato, Little Hawk (uncle of Crazy Horse), Red Horse, Rock or Four Crows, Horse Road, Hard-To-Kill, and The Hump. I told them plainly, as I had done before, the terms (as hereinbefore given), that I would not permit their going backward and forward between the hostile camps and this post armed; but while the government had no desire to impoverish them, they must cheerfully surrender such ponies and arms as I might require. As they were impressed from Spotted Tail’s answer that the military authorities directed him to say that the troops would be taken away from here, I informed them emphatically that the troops would be retained here. White Bull, or the I[c]e, acting and [sic] head warrior of the Cheyennes, the Hump, head soldier of the Ogallalas, his brother, Horse Road, a Sioux chief, and Little Chief, Crazy Mule, and Magpie Eagle, Old Wolf, Little Creek, chiefs of the Cheyennes, and Fast Whirl, a[l]so a Cheyenne, remained at this place as proof of their good faith, and as a guarantee that the people will come in here, and remain, or go to their agencies. The remainder of the Indians left yesterday, intending to participate in the general council with Spotted Tail to be held on the Little Powder river, whither they stated their tribes would move from the Otter creek. The result of the council will probably determine their final action. I have impressed upon them that while I would receive their surrender, in accordance with my original demands, and communications heretofore reported, yet if they would go into their agencies, it would be quite as satisfactory. Many of these Indians state that they have never lived at the agencies, and never before shaken hands with the white man. I learn that there is a half-breed named Tom living at or near the Spotted Tail agency, who trades ammunition to the Indians, and had been with it into their camp shortly before the engagement at Wolf mountain of Jan. 8. Also, that there is a Spaniard, name unknown,

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who has a ranche [sic] near the Black Hills, ungaged [sic] in the same business, and that the Indians go to his place at night to procure the ammunition. There are indications that the camp on Powder River is breaking up. A considerable body, estimated, variously at fifty to one hundred and fifty lodges, crossed the Yellowstone and went up Cedar creek Feb. 26 or 27. A part of Sitting Bull’s band, as heretofore reported, has taken refuge in the British possessions, and I would request that most prompt and decided measures be taken to retain them, or to prevent their refitting for further hostilities against the people of the United States. Whatever may be the result of facts herein related to the conferences with the Indians neither have delayed or will delay active operations which are at this time impracticable, much less from swollen streams and from deep mud than from lack of forage. I have kept the animals on short allowance of forage for several weeks and shall have none whatever a week hence. The Indians by coming here as they do[,] show that they have confidence in me, and, I am, of course, to place some confidence in them in order to bring about if possible what we most desire. I remain, etc., NELSON A. MILES, Colonel, 5th Infantry., Transmitted by Alfred H. Terry, St. Paul, April 11. The new reservation to be laid out for the Sioux, Northern Arapahoes and Northern Cheyennes will be included within the following lines; Beginning at the intersection of the 104° West Long. And 46° North Lat., thence West along said parallel to the Little Big Horn River, following down said stream to its confluence with the Big Horn and down the latter to its mouth; then following the channel of the Yellowstone to the mouth of Powder river and from that point due East to the 104° West Long. and thence South to the initial point. The new reservation can be cheaply supplied by way of the Yellowstone and contains within its limits much cultivable land in the valleys of Big Horn, Powder, Tongue, Rosebud and Little Horn rivers, with all the grazing and timber area that can be needed for any purpose. The absence of mineral lands will keep away prospectors, while the new posts will fully watch & protect the Indians.

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It is a great buffalo range, as has already been noted, (See February, March[,] April, May, June, July and August 1876.)3 Saturday April 21st. Punctual to arrangements, the Cheyennes rode into the Agency this morning. General Crook, with General Forsyth, General Mackenzie and other officers, awaited the column, which preserved much better order than did the Sioux at Camp Sheridan, last week. The warriors rode in compact order, halting when in front of General Crook. Roland, the interpreter, presented “Standing Elk”, who said: “I want to give you, (General Crook.) my gun. I want to shake hands and give you my gun. All my young men here want to give you their guns. We want to give up our guns to-day. We want to shake hands and bury the hatchet.” He surrendered a Henry rifle; the next gave a Sharp’s rifle, the next a Spencer rifle and the next an old-fashioned Yager rifle.4 The destitution of these Cheyennes is very apparent. They had no lodges, nothing but tépi poles, covered with old rags and pieces of hide. Their clothing is in accord with their general poverty. The description given of the party surrendering at Spotted Tail Agency will answer very well for this. The difference is to be found in the greater suffering endured by the Cheyennes this winter. Mackenzie, it will be remembered, destroyed all their lodges on the 25th of November 1876 (See. . . that date.) and with their lodges they lost everything, blankets, clothing, supplies, and only saved a few clothes in which they had been sleeping, and the fire-arms they were able to snatch up in their hurried flight. Since then they have been living on pony meat and have undergone many privations. Those who came in this morning number five hundred & twentyfour. Their property is of no value. They are almost entirely without blankets and with only a very scant supply of robes. They have many widows and many people with frozen feet: both these are melancholy souvenirs of their fight with Mackenzie. 3. See Robinson, Diaries, Volume 1. 4. Yager (from the German jaeger) was a name commonly applied to the U.S. Model 1842 “Mississippi” rifle, and to a lesser degree to the Pennsylvania (so-called “Kentucky”) long rifle. In this case, Bourke probably meant the Model 1842.

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Their apologies for lodges are made of old remnants of canvas, old hides and robes, and even pieces of gunny sacks—just such things as they could pick up in the old camps of General Crook’s Expedition. I saw not one perfect lodge. The squaws are also compelled to carry water in skin bags, as they have not a single utensil of any description. They surrendered six hundred ponies and sixty eight guns and thirty four pistols of the following models; Remington Breechloadg. Carbine 1 Springfield B.L. carbines dft. Calibers 14 Muzzle Loading riles. 31 Sharp’s Sporting Rifle. 2 “ Carbines 10 Spencer “ 6 “ Rifle 1 Remington Revolvers 7 Colt’s “ Cal. .45 7 Schofield’s Smith & Wesson , Revolver 1 Colt’s Revolver, Old pattern. 17 Pistol Belt Holsters 19 Bows and Arrows. 14. April 22d. A disagreeable day; ground slushy with rain and snow. The Cheyenne chiefs and head men called upon General Crook today. I give the names of those I remember. Little Wolf, who wore his hair hanging loose and was dressed in a red shirt and black pantaloons.The face of this chief is very resolute. He did not speak during the interview. Dull Knife, the principal talker, dressed in green blanket. Standing Elk a fine-looking Indian, with hair divided in center by a vermillion stripe and hanging down over shoulders. Vest trimmed with brass-headed tacks, neck-lace and breast-plate of porcelain pipe-stems. Pile of Bones Broken Jaw, so called from having been shot in the jaws by the Pawnees. Many Bears, Blacksmith, Big Wolf, a man of gigantic frame; who can lift a six mule wagon off the ground, on its hind wheels. Fire-Crow, who has a very deep black moustache. White Rabbit, Walks Over, Crow on the Neck, He Wolf, Sits in the Night and others.

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In their speeches which were very short, Dull Knife and Standing Elk stated that after losing their village, in their fight with Mackenzie last November, they started north, hoping to get assistance from Crazy Horse, but he did not receive them hospitably. They then sent to General Crook to know if he would allow them to surrender and live with their people at the Red Cloud Agency. When his reply came that they could surrender, but must give up all arms and ponies, the weather was so bad and their ponies so thin and broken down that they couldn’t travel very fast, and were a long time in getting in. Besides they had a number of wounded from the Mackenzie fight. (These wounded people, General Crook has treated with all possible attention.) It is worthy of remark that one of these Indians ate so much upon coming in that he died of a surfeit. The telegraph line has been completed to Camp Robinson to-day and the first Press Dispatches were received this evening.

Neck-lace of porcelain pipe-stems worn by Standing Elk[,] Chief of Cheyennes. April 23d. We had another Omaha dance, with forty-six performers. One of the pantomimists fell from his horse very cleverly and went through his part of the programme amid great applause. He represented himself as “having been killed and come to life again”, (i.e. as having been knocked senseless.) The dresses were very much of the same style as those used among the Brulés. Billy Hunter says that the Omaha dancers have a company on the same principles as operatic organizations among ourselves. Presents are bestowed very bountifully upon the poor, the end of each act being the signal for placing upon the ground blankets and calico for the aged and infirm.5 Note: Their head-dresses are made of the hair from the neck of the elk, colored red and yellow and ornamented with a single eagle-feather. 5. I have observed the same custom among modern Kiowas, who distribute baskets of groceries after a pow-wow.

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A few were trimmed with beaver and other fur. The “beard” of the wild turkey is also used extensively. I saw some very pretty necklaces; one of bears’ claws, scraped and polished; one of crow skins and a number of mussel shells. An electrical machine from the Hospital afforded great amusement and as much surprise to the crowds of Indian boys who had gathered around us. We placed one pole in a bucketful of water and threw in a handful of nickel 5 cent pieces,6 telling the youngsters that if they would take hold of the other pole, they should have every penny they could snatch from the bucket. This was about as good a contract as the average Indian boy’s heart could wish. Their bright-eyes grew brighter and smiles of expectancy played upon their dusky countenances. A grip of the pole, a plunge into the water and a howl of pain, drowned in the yells and cries of the delighted spectators, were pleasing signs that our efforts to entertain were bearing good fruit. In the crowd there was a young squaw beautifully arrayed in a chemise of white antelope skin covered to the waist with bead-work and heavily-ornamented in like manner around the bottom and up the sides and seams. I have seen many elegant costumes of the same sort, but this was by all odds the most elaborate that had ever yet come under my notice.

Squaw’s dress 6. Bourke specified a nickel five-cent piece because the United States also produced a silver half-dime coin until 1873. Its circulation overlapped the nickel coin which was introduced in 1866.

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Couriers from Crazy Horse’s camp came in last night and confirmed the story that he is moving as fast as he can towards this Agency. He appears to be travelling eight or ten miles a day. Doctor Munn has under his care a Cheyenne wounded in our fight with the Cheyennes on November 25th. His injuries are most serious. His knee-pan has been fractured and the joint is anchylosed, so that the heel of the right foot is drawn up closely against the right flank. Another one has five severe flesh-wounds all from same fight. Little Wolf bears two scars received that afternoon; one in arm, one in left breast, both insignificant. The Indians here tell us that twenty one lodges more of Cheyennes are coming in to this Agency: the Cheyennes evince unusual docility and friendliness toward us, a fact not very pleasing to the Sioux. War has finally commenced between Russia and Turkey; what the end can be, no one can predict. It will be a bad day for England when Russia shall seize upon Constantinople. April 24th. Major Randall started for Camp Sheridan, (Spotted Tail Agency.) this morning. A number of Cheyennes dropped in to see the wonderful electric Battery and to try their luck at getting a silver half dollar from the bottom of a bucket full of water. We have become so reckless from success that we are not afraid to risk any amount. It was very amusing to watch these Indians; every one of them went through some “medicine” before trying the power of our Battery. Some pick up chips and sticks, some pluck little weeds and green grass, others little stones and very many limit their “medicine” to puffing from their pipes or half-articulating gibberish we, of course, don’t understand. When we saw them doing this, we felt that they were going to do their level best. It was to be a fight between the “medicine” of the Cheyennes and our electric Battery. We looked carefully at our magnet and coil, much in the same manner as a careful General should scrutinize the arrangement of his line of battle before a fight commences, and finding that everything was in perfect order awaited the contest with serenity and composure. The current was so strong that few of the Indians could keep their hands in the bucket more than a second. Big Wolf, a gigantic Cheyenne, whose strength I have already remarked, displayed great powers of endurance and bore the shock of the Battery until his hand was

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turned completely back upon itself. We gave him the money as a tribute to his pluck. April 25th. A big medicine man of the Cheyennes made a very bold effort to get the half dollar out of the bucket this morning. His first trials were ludicrous failures, but by pure “grit”, he succeeded finally in getting it. He had to get [it] or lose his influence among his people[.] He went through an unusual amount of medicine before essaying his final attempt which was watched with breathless interest by the room-full of Cheyennes. Lieut. Dost, 4th Cavalry, made a bet of $5 that no Indian could repeat the performance. Dorst, I grieve to relate, lost his money, but not until a score of crippled and maimed attested the potency of our Battery. The young children stand in great awe of the machine and that we are a band of wonderful medicine men is one of the facts they pin their faith to. The Cheyennes to-day said that fourteen of their number froze to death, the night after the Mackenzie fight. These Cheyennes seem to be the most docile of any of the Plains tribes to-day; one year ago, they were the fiercest and most insolent. With justice and honesty in our dealings with them, we need have no fear of their going on the war-path again. April 26th. A small number of Cheyennes, the advance guard of thirteen lodges of their people, were at Hd.Qrs. early in the morning: after giving up their guns, they told the interpreters that the remainder of the Northern Cheyennes, (i.e. some forty-seven lodges.) would probably come into this Reservation instead of presenting themselves at the cantonment at mouth of Tongue River. The surrender of Indians has become so ordinary an occurrence, within the past fortnight, that I chronicle it as a matter of course and not as of special significance. Lately, the public journals, especially those of the Democratic side, have taken up the cudgels against the Army and are advocating its reduction to 5.000 men. I surely hope this plan may succeed; the people of the country would soon be rudely awakened to a realizing sense of their own stupidity and foolishness. April 27th. Half a dozen of the Indian soldiers, who had gone out with Red Cloud[’s] party to meet Crazy Horse, returned late last

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night and, after breakfast this morning, have been interviewed. They brought with them, Yellow Bear, one of Crazy Horse’s warriors, who gave up a Henry rifle. Crazy Horse’s band proper consists of two hundred and forty six families and is now at mouth of Beaver Dam creek, a tributary of the South Cheyenne, (75) to (80) miles north of here. They will reach this place in eight nights. Mr. Thomas Moore, of the Qr. Master’s Department came in on today’s coach from Sidney, Neb. He is to attend to matters connected with the transportation of the Department and is also to instruct the Indians how to construct ovens and make bread. April 28th. General Crook, General Forsyth, and Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., started this morning for Omaha, Chicago and Washington, on public business. A very severe storm of snow burst upon us between 9 and 10 o’clock, A.M., whitening the ground in a few moments. April 29th 1877. A bright and clear day. We had a “squaw dance” in the afternoon; forty to fifty squaws, as nearly as I could count, danced to the accompaniment of rattles and drums. Their dresses were very elegant, with few exceptions. The measure was rather slow, altho’ it varied at intervals. One old gal acted as mistress of ceremonies; after the dance had proceeded for an hour or so, she came forward and told General Mackenzie they would like to have some of “the nice young men”, standing on the porch, join them. The compliment was so delicately given and we felt it to be so fully deserved that we blushed our sweetest acknowledgments. I mean we tried to; most of us blushed about as easily as a cast-iron cigarsign could have done. We begged to be excused from joining the gay circle, on the ground that we did not dance, the round dances, but the old hag wasn’t to be put off in that way. She seized upon Major Mauck, 4th Cavalry and with the assistance of a half-dozen ablebodied squaws, tried to carry him off bodily. Poor Mauck struggled hard for freedom and what, with begging, twisting, pleading, kicking and squirming, managed to make his escape from their clutches. To conciliate the squaws, we made up a purse and presented it to the dancers who greeted the gift with loud applause. Two Indians came in from Crazy Horse’s camp this evening, having left it between the South Cheyenne and Old Woman’s Fork. Sorrel Horse, (Shuncaca Lutu,) a Brulé Sioux, whose name has

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occurred with frequency in these pages, dined with us yesterday and to-day. He claimed to be a great medicine man and supports his pretensions by sundry feats of sleight of hand. One that he performed in my presence was to shuffle a pack of cards, have one picked out by someone in the company, and noted and replaced in the pack, without letting him see it. After much elaborate mouthing and mysterious mumbling, the pack, previously shuffled with care, was opened and the identical card held up to view. This trick has been repeated a number of times and, of itself, is nothing wonderful, but what did strike me with astonishment was his calling out the name of the card selected. Thus, when I took out the eight of diamonds, he held up eight fingers and pointed to the color red; when General Mackenzie took the Queen of Clubs, Sorrel Horse said “Squaw” and pointed to the color black. He has given us his personal history and truly his career has not been without adventure. He claimed to have traveled from the Missouri in the Far North to the Arkansas and Republican in the South and from the Yellowstone to the Missouri, East and West; most of the time in predatory excursions against the Crows, Pawnees, Omahas, Rees and Utes, with a slight sprinkling of white men thrown in, I suppose. His physical endurance is extremely great; he will leave Spotted Tail Agency, where he belongs, at 2 in the morning and by noon of the same day reach this place, a distance of forty-three measured miles. These Indians in their family relations appear to much better advantage than when we study them as enemies; they are extremely kind to their aged poor and infirm, and, at all dances, and all festive occasions, as the “squaw dance” of to-day, blankets, calico and other articles are laid upon the ground as free for the poor. Though they have prostitutes among them as other nations, yet the general average of chastity of their women is equal to that of the more civilized. Their ideas of friendship, hospitality and generosity are peculiar, but very marked and strictly adhered to. If our Government will only observe one half its promises, the Indian will comply faithfully with their agreements, I am certain; the great danger of the future is not from the red man’s want of faith so much as from the indifference of our Government to the plainest requirements of honor.

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Our own faith is worse than Punic; yet, we always prattle, about Indian treachery. Washington, or Old Crow has been suffering from ophthalmia for three or four days. Dr. Munn has taken him in hand and given him a wash that is already doing much to alleviate his trouble. The Indians place great reliance in our “medicine” men who possess considerable influence over them. The electric Battery from the Hospital is still a source of attraction to dozens who crowd into our quarters every morning to test its powers. The old “stagers” cannot be prevailed upon to touch it, but they will sit for hours waiting for some “greeny” to come along in the hope that he may be prevailed upon to take hold of the poles and receive a heavy charge of the fluid. April 30th. A beautiful morning. This being Muster Day, the troops were paraded at 8 in the morning and inspected. Another Indian came in from Crazy Horse’s camp this morning, but brought no news. I rode over to the Agency and paid a visit to the wife of Lieut. Johnson, 14th Infantry, Acting Indian Agent, and to Mrs. Yates, wife of the Indian trader; these are pleasant ladies, whose companionship must be a comfort to their husbands in their isolation from anything like civilization. Rumors are current that a new Commission is soon to start out from Washington to treat with the Indians; also that these two Agencies, (i.e. the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail,) shall surely be moved to the Missouri River. It is to be hoped that neither of these measures may prevail. Commissioners are notoriously a bad way of doing business with Indians; and if the Reservations are to be moved, the Missouri is, under present circumstances, the last place to which to move them. While these Indians were on the war-path, these Agencies were magazines of supply; as a military measure, it would then have been wise to transfer them to the Missouri, because then those drawing rations from our Gov’t. would have so much more distance to travel, (225 miles,) in going to and returning from the hostile camp and so much more difficulty in keeping the enemy supplied with ammunition and arms. Now that these Indians have been allowed to surrender at this place and with the understanding that they were to live here, our

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Government has no right to violate the compact. The Indians are worried about the matter and, altho’ they don’t say much, it needs no prophet’s eye to foresee that the removal, if insisted upon, will produce trouble. General Crook’s idea of locating them on the Yellowstone river, near the mouth of Tongue river, commends itself for many reasons already set forth in full. This afternoon, seventy-five or eighty Cheyennes marched from the agency into the Post, singing and beating time with rattles and drums. The interpreters said they had come to give us a “spoon” dance. The performers stood up in a large circle, open on the side nearest the porch of our Quarters, where General Mackenzie and nearly all the ladies and officers of the garrison took their position. There were very decided differences between this dance and the “Omaha”. In this, there was but little painting and not much fancy dressing, possibly on account of the great poverty of the tribe. The great majority of the performers wore red leggings or red blankets or both. At the opposite end of the diameter from us, five old men, provided with switches, sat around a drum supported on a tripod. While the whole band chanted their song, this party of old men, aided by another with a rattle, kept time. Presently two Cheyennes, mounted on ponies, rode into the circle and drawing near the drummers, told them something in a low voice. We couldn’t learn what it was, but the interpreters said they were speaking of their past deeds of prowess. Whenever the taking of a scalp was mentioned a loud stroke was beaten upon the drum and a loud war-whoop sounded. After a little singing, the great circle, with the exception of the drummers, would break into two groups and yell and dance like fury. In their dancing, they went through no very complicated evolutions, but marked time in a shuffling gait, while joining hands and circling to the left or right. There was quite a number of boys in the circle. One of them, not more than fourteen years old, had perfectly gray hair, and all his family are said to have the same peculiarity. Down at the trader’s store, we saw a young Sioux girl, not over (15) years old, very pretty and modest. We tried, unsuccessfully, to

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persuade her to tell her name. Each of our party exerted his skill in blandishments, without avail, until a present of a small package of the sutler’s best candy opened her mouth and she told us her name was the Tall Pine Tree. She bore our quizzing and raillery with great good humor and behaved in a very dignified and modest manner at [the] same time. Sorrel Horse took dinner with us again to-day and indeed is so prompt and punctual that we have not had to send messengers after him when the meal was ready. He told us by signs how great a warrior he was; how he had gone through the terrible ordeal of the Sun Dance, fasting two nights, without a drop of water or a wink of sleep. The skin of his shoulders and arms was then slit; thongs of raw hide passed through, buffalo heads tied to the ends and he himself fastened by the wrists to a tree and there he swung until the weight of the buffalo heads pulled the ropes through the tortured flesh. This evening, he went into a tra[n]ce; his face became of the color of ashes, perspiration rolled down his cheeks and deep sighs escaped him. After he had partially recovered, he stuck the hot bowl of a pipe into his mouth and breathing into it, forced a great, long pencil of smoke through the stem: then he commenced to suck the smoke into his stomach and, I fancy, swallowed some of the tobacco. Pretty soon, we heard sounds, like voices, coming from his stomach, and learned from that that Sorrel Horse, besides his other tricks, was a smart ventriloquist. When he came to, he told me it was the Great Spirit who had been talking inside of him; I can imagine the terror of the squaws and children, when Sorrel Horse attempts any of his tricks in their presence. May 1st. Gentle and refreshing showers have been falling all morning. Lieut. Carpenter, 9th Infantry, told me last night that the Cheyennes have a tradition that their tribe came originally from the far north, where the snow and ice and cold prevailed all through the year. This would appear to identify their descent from the same ethnic stem as the Esquimaux,7 or at least as the Timich tribes of the great Athapascan family in British America. Philologists have shown that the Apaches of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are derivatives from 7. Eskimos or, as they are now called, Inuit.

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this source, so it does not [seem] absurd to attribute the same distant origin to the Cheyennes.8 I have been struck with the resemblance in many of the commonly used words of the Apache language to those of the Dog-rib band of Timich, but I must candidly admit there is not the slightest that I can detect between either of those and the Cheyenne; still, a divergence of idioms is the smallest objection that can be urged against the above theory of descent. Indian languages decompose so rapidly that I doubt if a Cheyenne, who died say in 1800, could make himself understood in his own tribe to-day if he were to come back to life. It may not be amiss to note that the beaded hood of buffalo fur worn by the Cheyennes in winter is patterned closely after the representation of the Exquimaux hoods to be seen in pictures in the narrative of Polar Explorations. This Exodus must have occurred several centuries ago, as the Cheyennes have lived on their present “range” for at least one hundred years. Lewis and Clark met them and the Canadian Jesuit missionaries came in contact with them about the time of the Revolution. Their custom of taking the fingers and hands of their slain enemies as trophies, is peculiar to themselves, and beyond doubt gave rise to their name in the “sign language”—the cut-wrists, just the same as an analogous practice, now discontinued, among the Dacotah has caused them to be known as the cut-throats. Mr. Strahorn and myself mounted our horses and rode in the afternoon to the Agency and into the Cheyenne village. Rations were in course of distribution to a large circle of squaws, children and old men, who waited patiently and decorously while the men in charge of the distribution dealt out coffee, sugar and flour from the piles of those articles spread out on blankets in the centre of the village. The quality of the supplies was good and the improvement already made in the appearance of the surrendered Cheyennes very noticeable; fifty or sixty lodges have been given them and a few wall tents have been given, all that can be spared from the small amount of canvas on hand. Blankets have been issued, sufficient to clothe the whole band, comfortably. 8. The Athapaskan-Eyak family of languages is part of the Na-Dene phylum, and includes such languages as Chipewyan and other northern languages, as well as Navajo, Western Apache, Chiricahua-Mescalero Apache, Jicarilla, Lipan, and Kiowa Apache. Cheyenne, however, is part of the Algonquian family of the Macro-Algonquian phylum, which also includes such geographically diverse languages as Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi, Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo, Shawnee, and Arapaho-Atsina-Nawathinehena. Lamar, New Encyclopedia, 523.

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As we crossed the White Earth creek, which flows around the village, we passed a group of youngsters playing “shimmy”, and splashing in the water. They spoke to us very politely, and at this point I must pay tribute to the general courtesy of the savages to any strangers inside their villages. Once [you] get inside a lodge or even within the enclosure of the tépis and not an unkind word will be spoken to you. Continuing our ride, we ascended the skirt of the range of high hills north of the Agency and dismounting when our horses could climb no farther, made the steepest part of the ascent on foot. The view from one of the high points in the ridge was very pretty and decidedly expansive. To the North, South, East and West, we gazed over a broad and seemingly flat plain, not much less than twenty miles in any direction. When we came back to our own quarters, we found Fire Crow, a soldier of the Cheyennes, waiting to see General Mackenzie, with a young warrior from Crazy Horse’s band, who said the village of that chieftain would be here in three sleeps more[:] that is on the 3d or 4th of the month. While we were talking Major Randall and Spotted Tail came in from the Agency of the latter, who wants to see the arrival of the northern Indians. Spotted Tail told me in conversation that he couldn’t remember when the Sioux first got horses, but he had often heard the “old men” say that in times gone by the Sioux used dogs, as many of the Assinaboines [sic], [(]who are Sioux,) do to this day. He had always understood that their first horses came from the South.9 Fire Crow, (a Cheyenne,) here interposed and said the Cheyenne claimed to have been the first Northern Indians to use horses and told the following legend: “A Young Cheyenne maiden wandered away from home, and could not be found. Her friends followed her trail, going South, until they came to the shore of a large lake, into which the foot-path led. While the Indians were bewailing the supposed sad fate of their lost relative, she suddenly returned, bringing with her a fine young black stallion, the first the Indians had ever seen. She told her friends she was married to a white man, living nearby and that she would go 9. I.e., introduced by the Spaniards.

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back to obtain a mare, which she did. From this pair have sprung all the horses the Cheyennes, Sioux and Arapahoes now have.” Friday, one of the head-men of the Arapahoes, told me this morning that the “old men” had told him their people “long ago” used to have dogs to haul their lodges across the country, but they afterwards obtained horses from the South. The Cheyenne belong to this country, but the Arapahoes are the same as the Gros Ventres and Blackfeet. (Friday meant the lower Gros Ventres, or Big Bellies; the Upper Gros Ventres are Crows.) “The Gros Ventres speak our language but the Blackfeet do not. Still, relations are kept up with them and we have among us many half-breeds—Blackfeet and Gros Ventres. The young man who just left my side is a Blackfeet. (Note. I have learned from other sources that the Blackfeet are of the Chippeway stock. If Friday’s story be true and I am more than half-inclined to believe it is, then the Arapahoes are a Chippeway off-shot [sic] also: certainly, they don’t belong to the same family as the Sioux, Cheyennes, Crows, Utes or Pawnees.) “The Arapahoes, of late years, have roamed as far South as the Arkansas, but their real country is farther north towards the Yellowstone, where the Crows now run. Some years ago, I went to the other side of Milk river, to the Blackfeet country and visited my friends among the Gros Ventres. I speak English well, because I once lived for seven years among the whites and was at school for two years in Saint Louis.” (Milk River is a large tributary of the Missouri. It rises on the boundary line between our country and British America.) [(]Friday is a smart old rascal, with an air of faded gentility about him that cloaks his real character until you get acquainted with him. He bears a bad reputation as a panderer to the vicious tastes of the whites.) Major Randall has succeeded in recovering forty-nine breechloaders, mostly all of govt. pattern, from the Northern Sioux of the Spotted Tail Agency. High Bear, one of the Sans Arcs told him, Randall. “I want to be a soldier now and work for the Great Father. When you had white soldiers alone I wasn’t afraid because I don’t care anything for them. I used to sleep good when you had white soldiers, but now

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you have my own people fighting against me. I don’t know what to do. My squaws are too frightened to sleep at night and my children can’t go to sleep. We don’t know when your Indian scouts may lead you into one of our villages and destroy it just as the Cheyennes had their village taken this winter, (Referring to Mackenzie’s fight in November.) We feel so suspicious now that when a strange Sioux comes into our village, we think he is one of your soldiers and set young men to watch him and follow him back. I can’t fight you in this way. I want to make peace and stay at peace.” Randall enlisted forty picked Indians, twenty Brulés, and ten each from the Sans Arcs and Minneconjous. The Indians at Spotted Tail Agency told Major Randall they lost (118) or one hundred & twenty killed and wounded in General Crook’s fight with them on Rosebud. (June 17th 1876): fourteen were killed outright, on the field, eight died of their wounds that night and four died next morning; and there were besides these eighty-six wounded badly. Mr. Thomas Moore has been hard at work all day teaching the Indians how to make bread from the flour issued to them. All they do with it now is to sell it to the traders for beads and other gew-gaws. Thirty Northern Sioux surrendered at Spotted Tail Agency on the th 29 [of April] three bucks and twenty-seven women & children. They gave up one rifle, one revolver and one bow and quiver. Sioux Jim’s son who speaks the Cheyenne language fluently, came in here late last night. He left the camp of the forty lodges of Cheyennes still out, at the mouth of the Crazy Woman’s Fork of the South Cheyenne [River]. He says he does not think those Cheyennes will go in at mouth of Tongue River; they talk of surrendering at this Agency. It is believed here that their friends in the party which came in under Dull Knife have sent them word they should join them. It is more than likely they will soon be here. Rained heavily towards evening and continued during most of night. May 2d. Morning gloomy and Damp. Spotted Tail took breakfast with us this morning, as he did dinner yesterday. He understands English pretty well, altho’ he does not speak it. Having heard him say at the Council last month that he wanted Roman Catholic priests to take charge of his people, I thought he might know something of the late

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Father de Smet, who was a missionary among the Dacotahs for many years. I asked him the question and he answered promptly “Tô”(Yes.) and added that he, Father de Smet was Wash-té, (good.) It is a great pity that the wish of the Brulé and Ogallalla Sioux cannot be gratified and ecclesiastics of the religion they prefer sent among them. The Catholic missionaries are so zealous, untiring and disinterested that their success would be rapid and solid. Six lodges of Indians have surrendered at the Agency; one yesterday and five to-day. May 3d 1877. Bright, pleasant day with a few dissolving clouds in the Sky. Lieut. Lawton, 4th Cavalry, Mr. Strahorn and myself took a ride to the Arapahoe camp which was moving down the White Earth river to a position nearer the Agency. As we passed the cavalcade, we saw little shavers some of them certainly not over 5 years old & all very young, prancing about on ponies, while the women led or drove the pack-animals. Friday told me many items of interest about his nation. The Arapahoes do not claim any territory north of the Missouri; but from this side of it clear down to the head-waters of the Arkansas has been their “range” for years. They have uniformly been at peace with the surrounding tribes, but used to make war on the Pawnees. The Black-feet do not speak the Arapahoe language but are kin to them as are the Gros Ventres, who however of late years have associated more with the Crows than with their own people. Friday says that, in his youth, the tribe didn’t have very many ponies, but used dogs to haul their lodges, which were then very small in size. The “old people” told him that “long ago” they had great big dogs, almost as big as young colts. They first obtained ponies from the Comanches, who used to steal them from the Mexicans and catch them wild on the plains to the South, (Texas.) A pony was worth in those day one blanket; a flint-lock musket was worth ten buffalo robes. The Gros Ventres, Blackfeet and Arapahoes used to go down to Bent’s Fort (“Billy Bent’s,[”] Friday called it) on the Arkansas where they would meet the Cheyennes, Comanches, Kiowas, Lipans and Apaches for trade.10 10. There were two trading posts known as Bent’s Fort, both constructed by William Bent. The first, known as “Bent’s Old Fort,” was built of adobe in 1833–34. It was located on the north bank of the Arkansas River, about twelve miles upstream from the mouth of the Purgatoire. In 1849, a cholera epidemic devastated the Southern Cheyennes, who were its

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(Note. The Apaches and Lipans are the same people with the Navajoes: circumstances have caused their separation into distinct tribes. “Lipan” or “Lipunni” in Apaches means “buckskin”, in which the Lipans dressed more generally than did the Apaches proper.) The Comanches used bows and arrows principally and these were supplied them by the Cheyennes and Arapahoes who obtained them at Fort Laramie and “Bisnettes”11 on the North Platte, from the Dacotahs who were regarded very justly as the most skilled in their manufacture. This statement recalls to my mind Longfellow’s line in Hiawatha about “the land of the Dacotahs, the land of arrow-makers”. Once on the Cimarron river, (in what is now South East Colorado,) a great quarrel arose among the Blackfeet, Arapahoes and Gros Ventres and several influential men were killed on each side. The bands hurriedly separated and Friday, then a very small boy, became very much frightened and ran off to the mountains, losing the trail of his people. He was found on a Friday by a party of white men who sent him to Saint Louis, Mo., to be educated. Since that time the Gros Ventres and Blackfeet have not roamed much South of the Yellowstone. Previously, the confederated bands ranged in on the West to Green River (Wyoming & Colorado.) & Bear river, (North West Wyoming.) and Eastward into the Pawnee country on the Loup Fork of the Platte and on the South to the Smoky Hill Fork, (in Kansas). These tribes, the Arapahoes especially, are much reduced in numbers; the worst blow the Arapahoes ever received was the Cholera which swept through them, a very blast of Death, many years ago, probably forty, when Friday was a very small boy: (The cholera, if I remember aright what I have read swept up the Missouri valley about 1837.)12 primary customers, and Bent, having removed his trade goods and stores, abandoned the fort and blew it up. In 1853, Bent established a second post, “Bent’s New Fort,” thirty miles downstream. It was never profitable, although it was, at times, garrisoned by soldiers. The War Department refused to purchase it, however, insisting that Bent did not have title to the land. In 1867, the post was abandoned. Robertson, Competitive Struggle, 67–71. 11. This refers to a small log cabin trading post on the North Platte built in 1843 or 1844 by Joseph Bissonette (hence “Bisnett’s” or “Bisnettes”), a few miles downstream from the mouth of the Laramie River. Robertson, Competitive Struggle, 73. 12. Bourke probably has confused cholera with the 1837 smallpox epidemic, which made its way up the Missouri River by steamer, and devastated the Upper Missouri tribes. Among the hardest hit were the powerful Mandans, who were reduced to virtual extinction. Cholera was introduced into the Western Hemisphere in 1832, but its effects on the Plains tribes was

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When Friday came back to his people from Saint Louis, he wanted to be a big warrior; his first achievement was in a fight with the Pawnees when he shot a Pawnee’s pony from under him in the thickest of the fight. For this he changed his name[,] Black Coal Ashes[,] and took his father’s names—White Crow—while his own cousin, out of compliment to him assumed Friday’s cast-off name. In a fight with a party of Shoshonees, he again behaved with great gallantry and this time took a second name which had been borne by his late lamented paternal progenitor—Thunder—and was again honored by having a step-son assume his own former agnomen of White Crow. Finally, being one of the prominent warriors in a detachment which destroyed a village of seven lodges of Utes, on Bear river, near where it debouches from the Wah-satch Mountains, he took the designation, “The man who sits in the corner and keeps his mouth shut”. He says that he and a Ute warrior became engaged at close quarters; the Ute leveled his gun at Friday’s breast, but the cap snapped and in a second Friday had shot him through the body and snatched the loaded gun out of his dying hand. According to this authority, if two warriors rush at the same enemy and one fire [sic] the shot which fells him to the ground and the second Indian rush up and hit the fallen antagonist before life be extinct, he has counted “coup” and is looked upon as equal in valor to him who really killed. When villages are taken, all stock is run off, the lodges burned and everything contained in them destroyed, unless time allow of the transportation of the goods back to the raiders’ country. Women and girls are taken prisoners as are all males under seven or eight years of age. Grown boys and old men are killed or scalped. It is customary to leave some token of the raiders, ordinarily a moccasin. The orthodox method is to stick a twig or stake in the ground, and attach it to a piece of clean bark, upon which are traced in characters of red, (the war color.) the number of scalps carried off spotty until it was carried west by California gold seekers in 1849. Hoxie, Encyclopedia of North American Indians, 164–65; Lamar, New Encylopedia, 307–8.

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by the victors, the number of captives and ponies as well as their own (the raiders’) losses in killed and wounded. Formerly, the plains’ tribes made themselves knives by splitting the shoulder or hump bones of the buffalo for handles and for blades, using shells, slate or other suitable stones. When sheet iron kettles were first brought among them, they used carefully to save such as were “burnt out” by the campfire and now make blades of them. A generation ago, when they began to receive iron and steel knives from the traders, the plainest kind of them cost a buffalo robe. In those days, buffalo were hunted on foot. They were “rounded up” and driven into stockades or narrow ravines selected for the purpose and so chosen after the herd began to stampede, and the Indians could close in upon it, frightened animals would have to jump down a precipice not less than (30) or forty feet deep. In doing this, many of the buffalo would break their limbs, and all that was left for the Indians was to run up and slaughter them like sheep. In naming children, the parents call in the oldest men and women of the band, to secure a “lucky” appelative for the infant, thinking that people who have had so much experience in the world ought to know what designation is most likely to start the youngster fairly on its travels. It is “bad medicine” to put a knife or any sharp instrument in the fire: Friday couldn’t tell exactly why, but their “old people” wouldn’t allow it. The Sioux and Cheyennes he looked down upon as superstitious for compelling their women to live in seclusion during the time of their menstrual purgation. The Arapahoes, he said do not do it. I told him I had heard that among the Kiowas there was sometimes practiced the rite of circumcision; he said he didn’t believe it. He knew something of the Kiowas and should have heard of the custom did it exist. The Kiowas, he didn’t think amounted to much: he had less opinion of them than of almost any other tribe. He had traded at an old trading post, Fort Giblert, at the mouth of the Yellowstone; at Fort Sarpy,13 on the Yellowstone, above the 13. The former post could not be located under “Giblert,” “Gilbert,” or “Guilbert.” Fort Sarpy was established in 1850, by representatives of Pierre Chouteau, Jr., & Company. Because of mismanagement, the fort operated at a loss, and in 1855, the company ordered it abandoned and burned. A few years later, Chouteau established a second Fort Sarpy, which subsequently was abandoned. Robertson, Competitive Struggle, 219–20.

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mouth of the Powder river, at another post, name not known, on Powder river itself, at Bisnett’s, on Deer Creek, near its junction with the North Platte, at Chouteau’s, now called Fort Laramie, at “Billy Bent’s”, on the Arkansas, and also with a party who used to come in on the Cache a la Poudre; he had also traded on this, (the White Earth) river. I satisfied myself by a rigid cross-examination that the above story was strictly true. Having been at, or in the immediate vicinity of all those places named, I put to him such questions relative to appearance of the adjacent country &c., as would at once have exposed any falsehood; but he answered every one of them in a way to prove that his statement was absolutely true. Anybody who thinks that Friday hasn’t been a great traveler, has only to take a map of our Western territories and calculate the amount of ground this old man has traveled over on horseback. He says he was present at the Peace made in 1851, at the mouth of Horse creek, on the North Platte, to secure the immigrants from molestation on the new road, then just opened, up the Sweetwater Valley, towards California.14 Nearly, if not quite all, the tribes on the Plains sent deputies to the conference. Friday says there were Crows, Shoshonees, Utes, Kiowas, Pawnees, Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Blackfeet, GrosVentres and others, either in bands or as individual spectators. The “war-record” books we find, he says are not necessarily the military history of one person: pretty nearly every boy has one which he keeps as a memento of his own prowess, but it is extremely common for intimate friends to insert in each other’s books, evidence of mutual esteem, by drawing scenes from their past lives, (to serve about the same purpose as the interchange of photographs and autographs does with us.) The Kiowas came from the same country as the Crows now inhabit; old people remember when a considerable force of Kiowas lived with the Crows; but now all the Kiowas have gone down to the Comanche 14. This refers to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, negotiated with the Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahos, Crows, Assiniboins, Gros Ventres, Mandans, and Arikaras. The Indians agreed to cease intertribal war, and to recognize the right of the federal government to establish roads and military posts in their territory. They also agreed to allow lawful passage of citizens through their lands, and to make restitution for any depredations committed against those citizens. The initial government obligation was an annual annuity of $50,000 for fifty years, later reduced to ten years with a possible five-year extension. Prucha, Great Father, 117.

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country15 with the exception of a small party who have remained among the Absarakas16 (Crows.) but have ceased to converse in their own (Kiowa.) language. When the Plains Indians used dogs, travelling was more difficult than now, especially in an arid country or in warm weather. The squaws had to carry bags, made of the paunches of buffalo; full of water which was sprinkled on the dogs’ faces or given them to drink every little while. Charging Bear, one of our Sioux soldiers, (the same man whose life was spared by General Crook, at the Slim Buttes skirmish, Sept. 9th, 1876.) came in from Crazy Horse’s camp this afternoon. He says that Crazy Horse’s band ate too much when the rations arrived from this post, (Red Cloud sent in word a few days ago that the whole band was out of supplies, stuck in the mud; and some supplies of beef on the hoof and hard bread were sent out to them.) that nearly all the children sickened, and the march could not be resumed the next day. The village will move to-day to a branch of Hat Creek, nineteen miles from this post, and to-morrow night will reach the head of Hat creek itself, only eleven miles out; coming in to the Post, Saturday or Sunday. 15. I.e., Oklahoma and northwest Texas. 16. Literally, “Bird People.”

Chapter 14 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Crazy Horse

May 4th. 1877. Spotted Tail is still with us. He has been installed as an honorary member of our mess. He conducts himself quietly and with perfect propriety at the table, calling for the different dishes in his own language, but understanding most of what we say to him in English: when he said—“Ahúyapé” we have learned that he means “bread”; Wosanría, Butter; Chahumpiská=White sugar; Wáka-máza, corn; Tollo, Beef; Pazuta-sapa, Coffee; Wit-ka, eggs; Minnie-quia, Salt; Wassúnâ, Butter; Bellô, potatoes; and so on, and we have even got so proficient that we tackle boldly such words as, Ya-ma-nu-mi-ni-Pawpi=pepper; and Muncatchámuncapa=mushrooms. Spotted Tail has one action at table, I can hardly call admirable; whenever a piece of meat which he doesn’t like, is put upon his plate, he puts it back on the main dish and waits quietly to be served with another. Major T. T. Thornburgh, Paymaster and his clerk, Mr. Clark, arrived last night May 3d. As the morning was very pleasant, I thought I should improve it by riding over to the camp of Sharp Nose and Friday, the Arapahoe chiefs, to interview an old squaw of that tribe who is reputed to be between one hundred and one hundred and twenty years old. 294

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I was unable to see the old woman on account of a fierce gust of wind and rain which compelled me and my orderly (Orr, 3d Cavalry) to take refuge in the tépi of Sharp Nose, where I found that chieftain with White Horse, Six Feathers, Washington and others of his tribe, and Standing Elk, one of the principal war-chiefs of the Cheyennes. My reception was very kind and, as best we could, we conversed by signs. Six Feathers’ squaw was there engaged in making coffee. A wretched cur stretched at full length by the fire in the middle of the lodge, and a small boy reclined against the dog. The small boy and the big dog are two of the principal features of every Indian village: the boy is far ahead of his white contemporary in healthy vigor and manly type of beauty. Looking at the matter as a boy would, I don’t know of an existence with more happiness to the square inch than that of the Indian boy from eight to twelve years old. With no one to reproach him because his face or hands are dirty, to scowl at him because his small allowance of clothing has run to tatters, and no confoundedly long-winded lessons in Geography or the Constitution of the United States, his life is one long, uninterrupted gleam of sun-shine. Then again he is not bothered with Sundays and Sunday schools. Nobody asks him what the text was; no oleaginous-faced old hypocrite propounds to him conundrums on the catechism. The Indian youngster,—brat, if you want to call him such,—knows every bird’s nest for miles around, every good place for bathing, every nice pile of sand or earth to roll in. With a pony to ride, and a rifle or bow for shooting, he sees little in the schools of civilization in excite his envy. It has often seemed to me that we are going ahead too fast with our boys & that while we are teaching them much stuff and nonsense from books, the great secrets and beauties of nature, through which they might learn to look up to nature’s God, have been withheld. Our cities are filling up with tallow-faced children; tallow faced children will grow up to be tallow-faced congressmen; tallow-faced congressmen make tallow-faced Laws and these a tallow-faced country. We have too many stump-tailed monuments to George Washington and other corpses and not enough money spent providing means of healthy recreation and amusement for our children in the big cities. The storm without raged most fiercely and should have blown down any Government tent, but the lodge braced by twenty-two

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poles withstood the assault bravely. The rain beat down through the smoke-hole wetting the middle of the floor and almost putting the fire out but did not much inconvenience us [as] we were seated on rugs of skins placed around the lodge. The couches were very comfortable and made as follows; a bed of twigs and small willow-branches had first been laid, then covered with buffalo robes and blankets. At head and foot, were guards, made of plaited osier, covered with buffalo hides and on the side nearest the canvass was a piece of cotton sheeting covered with rude drawings of horses and mounted men.

ARAPAHOE BED At sun-down, a courier came in from Red Cloud, saying that he with Crazy Horse and band would camp on a creek (about 15 or 16 miles from the post[)] and should reach here on Sunday. The forty-three lodges of Cheyennes and four of Sioux, previously spoken of had gone on down to the mouth of Tongue river, intended to surrender there. Red Cloud had with him a courier, (Indian.) from General Miles, who had been directed, so he said, to tell the Indians not to surrender at the Agencies but to surrender to General Miles, because if they came to surrender themselves to General Crook he would treat them badly.1 Rained and blew all night with a great vehemence; weather extremely disagreeable. May 5th. I have in my possession a little sack ornamented with beads which I bought from a squaw yesterday. It is for a little Arapahoe child to wear and is quite neat and tasty in appearance. 1. To some extent, Miles was correct, although no blame can be attached to Crook. The government was determined to transport the Cheyennes to the Indian Territory, and Crook, the West Pointer, felt compelled to oblige regardless of his personal opposition to the plan. Miles, on the other hand, circumvented the policy by enlisting those Cheyennes who surrendered to him, and allowed them to remain unmolested on the Tongue River. Robinson, General Crook, 214, 226.

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ARAPAHOE CHILD’S DRESS. Had frequent showers of rain and hail during the day. May 6th. Not long after Meridian, Crazy Horse’s band approached the Agency, descending the hills in the following order: First, Lieutenant Clark, with the agency Indians, that is Red Cloud and his Indian soldiers, then the soldiers of Crazy Horse’s band having at their head Crazy Horse himself, together with Little Hawk, Little Big Man, Old Hawk, He Dog, and Bad Road. Closing up all were the women and children, with the lodges, ponies, and other plunder. Lieutenant Clark, had gone out early in the morning to receive the party; he met them some seven or eight miles from the Agency. Crazy Horse received him in silence but not ungraciously. The pipe of peace was smoked, after which Crazy Horse shook hands with him. He did this, sitting on the ground and with his left hand, saying that he sat down to signify that the Peace now made was to last forever and with his Left hand because his heart was on that side. The principal men were then introduced, each one shaking hands. As a token of good-will, Lieutenant Clark was presented with a war-bonnet, a war-shirt trimmed with scalps, a buffalo robe and a pony. As the procession filed on to the place chosen for the site of its camp, its animation and bustle were very marked, altho’ there was none of the charging on horseback and firing of guns and pistols, noticeable upon the corresponding occasion at Spotted Tail Agency. (last month) The tépis were soon erected;—one hundred and forty six in number, nearly all of them small and badly worn, a sure indication that the close pursuit of last summer and fall had prevented this band from securing its wonted comforts. The number and weight of the robes to be seen was very meager—scarcely any in fact worth mentioning.

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The herds of ponies were very large; the total number could not have been less than Two thousand two hundred. Crazy Horse first laid down on the ground seventy-six arms; Lieut. Clark told him very firmly that that wouldn’t do; there must be more and we should have every one. Clark began the search of the tépis, taking with him a wagon and a small detachment of men, with Frank Gruard and Billy Hunter as interpreters. One hundred and seventeen arms of all kinds were found, not including those turned in by men who have come in ahead of their families during the past few days. (This does not include anything but fire arms.) Every kind of gun was found; the greatest in number were the Government carbine and Winchester rifle. Crazy Horse himself gave up three of the latter and Little Hawk two. There was no disorder, no bad feeling, which was remarkable enough considering that many of this band had never been on a Reserve before. While the counting and disarming were going on, our Cheyenne soldiers, apprehending that Crazy Horse might be disposed to be unruly and perhaps, hoping he might do something which would give them an excuse for attacking him, had quietly saddled up, mounted, and crept under cover of the knolls to the summit of a little eminence commanding Crazy Horse’s village and from that concealed position quietly but interestedly watched the progress of affairs ready to rush down to Clark’s help, should their assistance be needed. This behavior of the Cheyennes impressed me very deeply; it was, to my mind, more confirmatory of their declaration that they hated Crazy Horse than any amount of Council-talk and pipe smoking could be. Ever since their surrender, the Cheyennes have deported themselves with great civility and have tried by every means in their power to gain our good-will. Some of their chiefs and head-men are extremely handsome and martial in their general type. They have isolated themselves from the Sioux, with whom they associated scarcely at all, seeming to find more congeniality in the society of the Arapahoes. Every morning they come in great numbers to Hd.Qrs. and have put themselves on easy terms with us all. Lieut. Clark, is especially a favorite and from his familiarity with the sign language, is able to converse with them by the hour. Standing Elk laughingly told

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Clark “you have stolen my pipe”, pointing to a very elaborately ornamented pipe, taken from their (Cheyenne’s) village, during Mackenzie’s fight with them on the 25th of November last. “I am not mad about it,[”] he continued, [“]you can keep it, but I’ll come to see you very often and you must let me have plenty of tobacco to smoke in it.” Clark told him there would be no trouble about that; he should always be glad to see him and he could have all the tobacco he desired. These Cheyennes are to-day in a better frame of mind towards us than any Indians on the Plains, and to insure their continued goodwill, nothing is needed on the part of our Government and its agents but honesty and fair dealing. While the surrender of arms was going on, I improved the occasion by strolling around the village, picking up any items of interest that might be floating about. There was nothing to see which has not already been described in my accounts of the other Indian villages. Crazy Horse behaved with stolidity, like a man who saw he had to give in to fate, but would do so as doggedly as possible. I went over to see him, going in company with Frank Gruard, who had been Crazy Horse’s captive for three or four years. Frank is the only one whom Crazy Horse seems at all glad to see; to the rest of the world he is sullen and gloomy. His face is quiet, rather morose, dogged, tenacious, and resolute. His expression is rather melancholic. When we approached, a couple of squaws were busy making coffee and preparing supper. Crazy Horse remained seated on the ground, but when Frank called his name, Ta-shunca-uit-cô, he looked up and gave me a hearty grasp of the hand. He looks quite young, not over thirty years old, is lithe and sinewy and has a wound in his face. (scar.)2 The other Indians give him a high reputation for courage and generosity; [and] say that he never allows one of his warriors to ride ahead of him when advancing towards the enemy and that he has gained multitudes of friends for his generosity to the poor; he never keeps anything for himself. He is, always taciturn and rarely jokes or smiles. Opposite in character is Ta-Tonqui-ô-tácâ, Sitting Bull, 2. According to the winter count of the Bad Face Band of Oglalas, Crazy Horse was born in the Winter the Oglalas Took One Hundred Horses from the Snakes, which would have been 1840. Consequently, he was about 36 or 37 when he surrendered. The scar on his face was from a near-fatal gunshot wound inflicted by the enraged husband of a woman with whom he had eloped. Hoxie, Encyclopedia, 137–39.

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who is said to be a great talker and very fond of his joke. Of the two, Crazy Horse is the greater and more influential. It is asserted that during the Custer fight, Crazy Horse killed with his war-club, one of our soldiers who was riding an unmanageable horse. Little Hawk, the second in importance is about the same size as Crazy Horse, but is more kindly in expression and more fluent in speech. He wears the silver medal his father received nearly sixty years ago, (1817.) from President Monroe, to commemorate a Council and Treaty made on the North Platte. Little Big Man is the chief who did so much to break up the Black Hills’ Commission at this place, (Camp Robinson,) in 1875, going so far as to threaten the lives of the Commissioners. Had it not been for the coolness and good judgment of Capt. Egan, 2nd Cavalry, and Lieut. Crawford, 3d Cavalry, there would have been a fearful scene of bloodshed. Little Big Man is a crafty looking savage, with considerable ability and force marked in his features. He looks like a hard customer, but may not justify my prejudices against him. Iron Shield, the messenger sent in by Genl. Miles, was with the party. I saw him and spoke to him, but had no good chance to interview him. This surrender terminates the Indian war, so far as Genl. Crook’s forces are concerned. If the Government will only keep its promises and treat these red men with justice, we shall have no more Indian wars. I have not kept an exact account of the numbers surrendering, but it is not far, either way, in the aggregate, from forty-five hundred. Perhaps fully as many have come in at Standing Rocking [sic] and Cheyenne Agencies, or sneaked in at the Yankton and Santee Agencies on the Missouri. Of these I only speak speculatively. Fully one thousand are still with Sitting Bull, nearly three hundred and fifty have surrendered to General Miles and a party, reported to be with Lame Deer and Tall Bull, numbers, according to Indian accounts, not far from sixty lodges. May 7th, 1877. Major Randall left for Spotted Tail Agency, with Major Thornburgh, Paymaster. At luncheon, our mess entertained three of old Dull Knife’s daughters. The eldest was a young widow; her husband had been killed in the fight with General Mackenzie, November 25th. As a mark of mourning, her arms had been badly slashed with knives in three or

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four places. The other two daughters were respectively sixteen and eleven years old; both bright and pretty, the youngest especially so. Spotted Tail and his brother and Sorrel Horse were also present. Received orders, this afternoon to proceed to Omaha and report at Hd.Qrs. I separated with no little regret from the companions with whom I had been associated at Camp Robinson. That post has for me the great number of very pleasant reminiscences and not the least pleasant are the Indians. May 8th. Reached Sidney, Neb. and May 9th arrived at Omaha.

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When Crook’s starving soldiers arrived near Bear Butte, they were met by a column of wagons bringing much needed provisions for the hungry troops. Among those along for the ride was photographer Stanley J. Morrow, who took these photographs which Bourke pasted into the diary. Morrow followed Crook to the agencies, photographing the scenery en route, events at the agencies, and notable Indians. A representative assortment is given here, all courtesy of the Special Collections Division, United States Military Academy Library, West Point, New York.. The complete Morrow photographs for 1876 will be found in With Crook in the Black Hills: Stanley J. Morrow’s 1876 Photographic Legacy by Paul L. Hedren.

A group of prisoners captured at Slim Buttes includes Charging Bear (standing left), who later became an army scout and was mentioned frequently by Bourke. Although most Indians captured in the Slim Buttes fight were released after interrogation, this group opted to remain and accompany the troops to one of the Indian agencies. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

Members of the 3rd Cavalry sit on front of a tepi that was used as a shelter for the wounded at Slim Buttes. It is decorated with a 7th Cavalry guidon captured by the Indians at the Little Bighorn, and recaptured at Slim Buttes. The group includes (seated, l-r) Lt. Col. William B. Royall, Capt. William H. Andrews, Capt. Anson Mills, Lt. Joseph Lawson, (standing, l-r) Frank Grouard, Pvt. William J. McClinton, who captured the guidon, and Lt. Frederick Schwatka. The guidon is preserved at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Historic Site, and the tepi at the Smithsonian Institution. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

Chief Packer Tom Moore (left) and another packer cinch a mule in this photograph, which shows the aparejo method that evenly distributed the weight to avoid overly stressing the animal. Crook first hired Moore during his Arizona campaigns, and later brought him to the Department of the Platte. Moore’s skill and his ability to manage a train of tough, independent muleskinners was largely responsible for Crook’s mobility, which was remarkable for that era. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

Crook’s troopers, whose carbines show them to be dismounted cavalrymen, gather in front of a stockade on French Creek near Custer. At least 40 percent of the horses had to be replaced after the march to the Black Hills. The stockade was constructed in 1874 by miners who had invaded the Black Hills in violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

Crook (seated left on tree root) sits with his headquarters staff and enlisted orderlies. The headquarters flag had been made in camp the month before, as described by Bourke, “two horizontal bands, white above, red beneath, with a blue star in center: in dimensions, but slightly larger than the regulation company guidon. The white was from a crush towel contributed by Colonel Stanton, the red came from a flannel undershirt belonging to Schuyler, and an old blue blouse which Randall was about to throw away furnished the material for the star. Tom Moore had a travois pole shaved down for a staff, the ferule of which, (and the tip also,) was made of a metallic cartridge.” Stanton stands immediately to the left of the pole, holding a Springfield rifle. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

The normally baby-faced Col. Wesley Merritt (front, white scarf) appears haggard and care-worn in this photo with officers of the 5th Cavalry following the Horse Meat March. Immediately to the left facing Merritt is Maj. Julius Mason, who distinguished himself under Crook, first in Arizona and later in the Platte. Immediately above Mason, with his legs spread, is Lt. Charles King, a prolific author and career soldier, whose military career spanned six decades beginning with the Civil War, and ending following the First World War. Three officers are missing, including Lt. Col. Eugene A. Carr, who resented Merritt’s assuming active command of the 5th. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

American Horse. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

Sharp Nose. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

Young Man Afraid of His Horses. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

Rocky Bear and his wife. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

A soldier shoots an abandoned horse, a scene repeated many times during Crook’s Horse Meat March, as worn-out animals were dispatched and butchered for food.

Infantrymen cut up a horse in this restaged scene. In reality the horses were turned over to the commissary department for slaughter. Note the long Springfield rifles used by infantrymen, and the prairie style cartridge belts which the soldiers preferred over the standard issue leather belt and McKeever cartridge box.

Soldiers fight over horse meat in a scene that author Paul Hedren speculates Morrow and the troops staged “for laughs.” None of the contemporary accounts mention fighting over meat, and considering the overall disdain for horsemeat, and the infantry disdain for horses in general, it is unlikely scenes like this would have occurred except in a case of near total starvation. The soldier on the far right has the model 1874 canteen (or “water bottle”) made of metal, with a metal-reinforced cork stopper, cloth cover and leather strap.

At the end of their grueling march, troops camp in wickyups in the mud near Bear Butte, just outside of the present-day city of Sturgis, S.D.

Two men reenact how the wounded were transported after the Slim Buttes fight. The mule-drawn travois was Crook’s preferred method of moving the wounded foillowing a fight.

Crook appoints an unwilling Spotted Tail as head chief of the Sioux on October 24, 1876, in front of the Spotted Tail Agency headquarters. Spotted Tail replaced Red Cloud whom Crook deposed after he moved away from the agency in a show of sympathy with hostile factions.

Red Cloud.

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✦

Part 2 Staff Officer

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Background

O

n May 7, 1877, Miles attacked and destroyed a hostile camp of about three hundred people under the Minneconjou chief Lame Deer. This camp had been spared much of the chasing and fighting of the previous six months, and its wealth was intact. It contained robes, about thirty tons of dried meat, along with firearms, powder, and ammunition. The troops captured the camp herd of about 450 horses, some of which were branded for the 7th Cavalry. They also recovered souvenirs of the Custer fight, and of various raids. This was the last major action. Although scouting expeditions would clash with small parties of Indians throughout the summer and fall of 1877, for all practical purposes the Great Sioux War was over.1 Bourke, meanwhile, was at departmental headquarters in Omaha, where he handled the regular duties of a staff officer. Because General Crook did not exercise field command during the remainder of his tenure in the Department of the Platte, this would be Bourke’s home until 1882. Nevertheless, various errands for Crook and the army, such as courts-martial, inspection tours, and other assign1. The Lame Deer Fight is discussed in Greene, Yellowstone Command, Chapter 9, and Robinson, A Good Year to Die, Chapter 31.

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ments took him throughout the country, and he spent so much time on trains that railroad executives consulted him on ways to expand and improve service.2 Although he continued to keep his diary, there is a gap between Manuscript Volume 20, which ends with Bourke’s arrival in Omaha on May 9, 1877, and Volume 21, which begins on July 1, 1877, at Camp Brown, Wyoming, where General Sheridan was hosting a hunting and fishing trip. Apparently Bourke did record the interim period, because Volume 21 appears to be the continuation of an on-going narrative. Thus it may be assumed that the interim was contained in the lost notebooks. The Western hunting and fishing trip was one means by which Sheridan gained support for the army. He had begun the practice earlier in the decade, upon assuming command of the Military Division of the Missouri. The guest list invariably included business leaders and press lords from New York or Chicago, whose prestige and connections might influence government policy in favor of the army. Metropolitan newspaper readers eagerly consumed accounts of American millionaires and European aristocrats in wild country, with big game and Indians. This trip was no different.3 As in the hunting trips during the summer of 1876, discussed in Volume 1 of this series, one is struck by the amount of waste. In one instance, Bourke killed a buffalo bull, and wrote, “[T]he huge fellow was cut up: we would take only the tongue, heart and a little of the hump, rump, loin and rib steaks, scarcely a tenth of the meat.” Yet waste was not confined with the whites alone. In the very next paragraph he noted that three of the Indian guides between them had killed sixteen buffalo which, given the size of the animals, would have yielded roughly eight hundred to a thousand pounds of meat each. Although Bourke acknowledged their ponies were “heavily laden with meat and fat,” it is hard to imagine that three Indians would save at least 12,800 pounds of meat.4 A week later, he wrote, “Indians to-day killed three elk, bringing in the hind quarters only. A great waste. On this march we have left on the ground four times as much meat as we took for consumption.”5 Modern folklore notwithstanding, this indifference to wildlife was, in fact, universal. 2. Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 64. 3. Robinson, Buffalo Hunters, 38–39. 4. Bourke, Diary, 21:23–24. 5. Ibid., 21:46.

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The hunting trip completed, the party visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield less than thirteen months after Custer’s disaster. Bones of the soldiers, hastily buried immediately after the fight and later washed out by erosion or dug up by scavengers, were strewn about. Confronted with this sight, and freshly emerged from that same war, Bourke can be forgiven for referring to it as a “slaughter-ground,” and the Indians as “red fiends,” mentioning only in passing that they were defending their homes and families against an attack by Custer’s troops.6 A more detached and realistic view was offered by a survivor of the battle, Sgt. Charles Windolph, a member of Capt. Frederick Benteen’s company, who won the Medal of Honor for his part. Recalling the fight more than seventy years later, the aged Windolph commented, “People call it ‘The Custer Massacre.’ It wasn’t any massacre; it was a straight, hard fight, and the five troops who were with Custer simply got cut to ribbons and every last white man destroyed.”7 This section also includes a detailed description of a trip down the Bighorn, Yellowstone, and Missouri Rivers by steamboat. Often forgotten in the glitter of the Mississippi’s great floating palaces, these tough little mountain steamers were a unique design, built specifically for the narrow, shoaling, snag-ridden western rivers. They were designed for utility rather than looks. The hull-planking might be sturdy enough, but the flimsy bulkheads, decking, and upperworks were made of lightweight pine or poplar. The powerful, wasteful, dangerous engines were built to force the boats upriver against the fast currents and over the shoals. Designers worked on the idea that the western forests would provide all the wood needed, and exploding boilers and blown cylinder heads were taken for granted. Their purpose was simple and straightforward—to take passengers and tons of cargo upriver in water that might be less than two feet deep.8 The steamers were a symbol of the inexorable push of white civilization. Even as troops were mopping up scattered bands of hostile Indians, Bourke described an almost continuing parade of steamers moving up and down the river. As his own steamer neared Miles’ camp by the Tongue River, he observed that a mowing ma6. Ibid., 21:69–70. 7. Hunt, I Fought With Custer, 2. 8. O’Neil, Rivermen, 92.

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chine had already been at work cutting the grass on the plain back from the river.9 As the boat passed Glendive Creek, he wrote, “Hay Camps from this point are becoming frequent: how the unfortunate hay cutters managed to withstand the mosquitoes was a problem for which I could find no solution.”10 Less than a year earlier, no hay cutter would have dared venture into the area without military escort because of the Indians. Ironically, a crisis arose involving not Indians, but restive railroad workers. By the summer of 1877, the nation was about to enter the fourth year of the economic depression known as the Panic of 1873. In response to financial difficulties, railroads cut wages and increased workloads. In July 1877, the Baltimore and Ohio cut wages by ten percent for the third time, and disgruntled workers in West Virginia walked off the job. The walk-out spread to rail centers in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. Fighting erupted between the workers on one side, and strike breakers, police, and militia on the other. On July 24, it was obvious that all main lines into Chicago would be closed by nightfall. Sheridan’s adjutant, Col. Richard C. Drum, took command of the immediate situation. The War Department sent troops into the city, and Sheridan, who arrived in Bismarck from his hunting trip on July 27, received orders to return to Chicago immediately. By the time he arrived, however, the situation was under control. Although city police had clashed with five thousand rioters on July 26, the only confrontation with troops ended quietly when a single shot in the air from an infantry detachment had been enough to break up a mob. The soldiers remained in the city until August 20, by which time the strike had ended and order was restored.11 Bourke and Crook did not remain in Chicago for the strike, but continued to Crook’s headquarters in Omaha. Bourke was never too busy to keep track of the latest technical developments. His mentality, evenly divided between soldier and scientist, showed a keen appreciation, not only for new achievements, but also for their future possibilities. Discussing a trip from Omaha to Fort Hall, Idaho,12 with General Crook and Schuyler, he made a near-clairvoyant observation: 9. Bourke, Diary, 21:83. 10. Ibid., 21:87. 11. Hutton, Phil Sheridan, 175–77. 12. This was the second military post named Fort Hall, and the third Fort Hall in the vicinity. The first was a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, originally constructed in 1834, on

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On our way out from Omaha, we had very little to do except to discuss the latest wonderful achievement in science—the phonograph—which by bottling up the human voice—has added another leaflet to the wreath crowning the brow of man. It will be not many years before sermons and operas,—the speeches of great orators and the songs of eminent vocalists—shall be boxed or bottled up and sent across the country, to be repeated in small towns for the delectation of provincial audiences.13 One almost suspects that if Bourke could be brought forward in time to the twenty-first century, he would not be in the least surprised by compact discs and DVDs. Bourke, by now, was in his thirties. He had spent half his life in the army. He was confident, and his youthful illusions and prejudices had gone by the wayside. His slowly developing outrage at the government Indian policy was reaching fruition. After discussing the recent Nez Percé War with Col. John Gibbon, who was severely wounded during one of the battles, he wrote: That war, in [Gibbon’s] opinion, as in that of all army officers, was an unjustifiable outrage upon the red men, due to our aggressive and untruthful behavior towards those poor people; and yet it will be repeated with every tribe until the whole race shall become extinct.14 Just as his opinions on the Indian policy had developed, so did Bourke’s sense of humor begin to manifest itself. It is a dry, understated wit, covering anything from Western accommodations to small children. After riding in a railroad coach full of Mormons bound for their annual conclave, he wrote: Every man brought a wife, and every wife had a baby. Every baby had a cold or a colic, and every twinge of either the Snake River. In 1849, a military post was established three miles upriver from the Hudson’s Bay post, but was abandoned a year later. The military post was reestablished in 1870, east of the Hudson’s Bay post, between the Snake and Portneuf Rivers, to control the Shoshones and Bannocks on a nearby reservation. Fort Hall was closed in 1883, and transferred to the Interior Department for use by the Indian Service. Frazer, Forts of the West, 44–45. 13. Bourke, Diary, 22:1. 14. Ibid., 22:12.

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complaint evoked a yell. It was a horrible experience of nearly eight hour’s duration—one I don’t care to have to go through again. I am trying to perfect a project for the erection of a monument to the memory of that great and good man, the late lamented King Herod.15 Food—good or bad—also got his attention. “At Hampton [Utah],” he wrote, “we met the down-train and waited for dinner—a good, honest, God-fearing meal,—one that could look you squarely in the eyes and ask for 50 cents.”16 On the other hand, one rundown Western hostelry served a steak so tough and rubbery that it “was an infringement upon the Goodyear patent.”17 He also used humor to vent his ire against early graffiti artists. After day-break, came to a palisade basaltic rock, defaced by inscriptions. “S.T.–1860-X”—Plantation Bitters, “Read the Western World” and the like. This defacement is an outrage upon good taste and should be punished with death, or something near it.18 Increasingly, Bourke was a man ahead of his time. 15. Ibid., 22:37. 16. Ibid., 22:9. 17. Ibid., 22:21. 18. Ibid., 22:28.

Chapter 15 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

A Hunting Trip

[July 1, 1877]1 Our party assembled at Camp Brown, Wyo., a pleasant little post on the Little Wind River, one of the head-waters of the Big Horn River. To reach there, Lieut. Schuyler and self started in advance of the main party and came, via U.P.R.R. to Green River Station, 900 miles or so West of Omaha, Neb., thence by stage and ambulance (150) miles north to Brown. (A description of this portion of the trip has been given in another diary.)2 At Camp Brown, we were received most hospitably by Captain [John] Mix, 2d Cavalry, Lieut. [Henry Clayton] Lapointe, of same Regiment, and Doctor Grimes, the Post Surgeon. We found Lieuts. Rockwell and Wheeler already in camp with the escort, Company “L”, 5th Cavalry, which had marched across country, up the Sweetwater Valley, from Fort Fetterman. By June 29th, the entire excursion had assembled, comprising the following members: Lieutenant General P. H. Sheridan Brigadier General George Crook ------ D. B. Sackett 1. West Point’s designation, but more likely June 30. 2. Apparently in a missing notebook.

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------ “Tony” Forsyth ------ Sandy Forsyth. Mr. Welch, of Chicago, Supt. Pullman Car Co. Mr. Ferrar of “ , Editor “Evening Journal” Asst. Surgeon J. H. Patzki. Lieut. W. L. Carpenter, 9th Infantry Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3d Cavl., A.D.C. “ W. S. Schuyler, 5th Cavl., A.D.C. Lieuts. Rockwell and Wheeler, 5th Cavalry and [Thomas Jackson] Gregg, 2d Cavalry, in charge of escort, Mr. Moore and Mr. Delaney, in charge of pack-train. Frank Gruard and Baptiste Pourier, with following named Indian guides, Red Shirt, Jackass, Big Bellied Sorrel Horse, Charging Bear, Sword, No Neck, Lone Bear, Little Bull. Tom Cosgrove came with us from Camp Brown for a distance of twenty-five miles, after which until reaching the crest of the Big Horn Mountains, we had a guide from Lauder City, Wyo., whose name I did not learn. Our transportation consisted of One Hundred and Forty Seven mules, well provided: our Escort numbered (97) men and we had for the use of the officers present twelve wall tents well furnished with flies for carpets and shades and to wrap up bedding. Nearly all of us had fishing tackle, rifles and other incidentals for a hunting and piscatorial campaign. Pending the arrival of Generals Sheridan and Crook and the other members of the party, we had the pleasure of bathing in the refreshing waters of the warm sulphur springs about two miles from the Post. This is a wonderful gift of nature, one to which reference has been made in another one of my notebooks. This spring covers an area of not less than one-sixth Acre and has a depth of six feet on an average: its water is impregnated with Sulphur and Magnesia, besides other minerals and has a temperature of 100° F, or a little greater. Its healing properties in all cases of gunshot wounds, old ulcers, sores, skin diseases and syphilitic or scrofulous complaints are much extolled. Upon first entering, the warmth is rather too great for comfort. An after-effect of delightful languor is induced and the bather sports in the water until warned by those best acquainted with its effects that it is occasionally apt to occasion nausea when people remain in over half an hour. As a detersive this water can

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scarcely be equalled anywhere: no soap need be used. Looking down into the water our limbs had the appearance of being carved out of ivory, but when we withdrew them to the upper air, they looked like the claws of boiled lobsters. We were much pleased with the convenient bath-house, built over the pond and separated into large sized compartments for the use of ladies and gentlemen. A wounded soldier was in charge, at the time of our visit and evidently was very faithful in his attention to his duties. July 1st A telegraphic notification arrived of the retirement of Colonel J. J. Reynolds, 3d Cavalry, which occasioned, in its proper place, the promotion of 1 Lieut. Gregg, 2d Cavalry, to be Captain in same Regiment. We made a good start from Camp Brown, getting away about half past eight in the morning. For an hour or more, after leaving the Post, had to bear the brunt of a brisk little storm of hail and rain, the concluding spasm of one which had endured throughout the greater part of the night. Our course lay a little North of East, down the broad level valley of the Little Wind River, a stream of cold, clear water, (30) to (40) yards wide, of an average depth of two feet, running over a gravelly bottom and having a current of five miles an hour. There is some mud in the bed of the stream and the water in places is turbid, this being the season for the annual rise. We saw very little to record: the weather was most charming after the storm had abated, the air being fresh and rare enough to make us congratulate ourselves we were not in the sultry valley of the Missouri. The soil along the line of march was excellent, but very thin, and bore a good crop of grass. After this country shall have been settled, this country, from half a mile to a mile wide, ought, with the aid of fertilizers, to be made to produce fine crops of barley, oats and potatoes. The shortness of the season may prove a great disadvantage, but should not prevent the cultivation of the products named. Wild oats, finely headed, were seen during the day. Three or four large herds of cattle were grazing in the valley: of these, many belong to Wash-akie and other prominent men of the Shoshonee Indians who, so Tom Cosgrove tells me, own over a thousand head. This year, they were very anxious to commence farming, but the Indian Bureau had only 5000 pounds of oats to distribute among the whole tribe. We moved down the valley (13) or (14) miles, camping finally near a small copse of trees, one of the few seen on the way.

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The members of our party have begun to get acquainted with each other and seem to be much more congenial than is generally found to be the case. The Lieutenant General is just the man to command such a party, owing to his good sense, unfailing good humor and great consideration for the comfort of those about him. His Aides and the civilian gentlemen accompanying him are jolly good fellows and determined upon having a pleasant time. Sheridan looks like a man who can stand any amount of hardship, but doesn’t appear quite so wiry as Crook: the one [Sheridan] may be regarded as the type of Irish, the other of American, strength. Lieutenant Carpenter, 9th Infantry, was with us on the campaign of last summer and his special mania is entomology, altho’ no branch of natural History is neglected. He is a man who has attained an exceptional degree of knowledge in many branches of science and by reason of his peculiar habits of isolation in the woods and mountains, searching for specimens, has been dubbed by irreverent young officers, “Grizzly Bill.” Retired to rest at 10 o’clock and had as much as we could do to keep warm during the night. I slept under a buffalo robe and comforter, but did not feel at all too warm. July 2d. Had reveille at 4 A.M.: breakfast half an hour later. Expect to have some good fishing trout or cat-fish, to-day or to-morrow. Yesterday afternoon, General Sheridan caught one trout and General Crook, five. The water is still too swift and deep to admit of catching many but it will undoubtedly subside a good deal during the coming week. Our camp presents a very pretty appearance, laid out with military regularity on the Emerald green grass, close to the riverbank: we have an abundance of tentage and many conveniences I have never seen before on a trip of such intended length. Took up the line of march at 6 in the morning, still following down the Little Wind River, which widened gradually although no tributaries came in. Six miles from bivouac of last night, it was sixty yards in average width. Grazing along line of route rapidly deteriorated and at length was supplanted entirely by sage-brush and grease-wood. There is a very unusual scarcity of game in this part of the country. Since our departure from Camp Brown, we have failed to rouse up a single deer or game animal of any description. To-day, we have turned much more to the North than during yesterday: we have

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the Wind River mountains almost directly at our backs. In these mountains, I confess to a feeling of disappointment. They are by no means as majestic as the Big Horn, Wahsatch or Uintah ranges, even though they occupy a place of much greater importance in the geography of the Country. Have seen but little timber to-day and that principally cottonwood and willow: the valley of the Little Wind river is put poorly supplied. After marching twelve miles, we came to the confluence of the Little and Big Wind Rivers, which latter had been in sight on our Left for some time. In the salient angle of the junction of the two streams was a fine meadow of grass with plenty of fire-wood on either hand: here we should have camped, but General Sheridan, fearing a sudden rise in the river, very wisely crossed to the other side, and made bivouac in a site not nearly as good as the one mentioned, but still having many advantages. We had a sufficiency of good grass and an abundance of fire-wood and clear, cold water. The Big Wind River, below the junction of its tributary, is almost one hundred yards wide, a yard deep and very strong current, but has a fine gravelly bed. The ground at this bivouac was full of small holes made by the “seventeen year” locusts, which are now swarming out in great numbers. I examined several: they were one inch long, one quarter inch broad at shoulders, have a head shaped something like that of the common house-fly, back of body black with light yellow markings, belly, yellow with black blotches: legs six in number and eyes dark red. The eyes protrude from the head. They had just concluded shedding their outercoats, which we could see in little heaps under every small clump of grass or sage-brush. The chirping noise made by this insect is produced by the mouth, but it also, when disturbed makes a whirring sound by rubbing its four wings together. Lieut. Carpenter pointed out a “tern”, a sort of white gull, on bank of a little sand-bar in the stream this morning. The weather this morning was bright and pleasant, but in the afternoon heavy clouds rolled together in the sky and the temperature became quite high. The mosquitoes too bothered us fearfully. We commenced fishing, as soon as we had unsaddled our horses: the fish did not bite very well, but enough were caught to show how many kinds the stream contained. White Fish, and trout were brought in. Lieut Rockwell from one hole took half a

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dozen white fish, which our sable cook made no delay in turning into a toothsome dish for dinner. Read to-day, the Honorable Knatchbull-Hutchessen’s [sic] Lecture on the Life of Cromwell: an excellent tract whose principal defect is its brevity.3 July 3d. The pleasant tinkling of the bells in the pack-train abruptly terminated our sweet slumbers at early dawn this morning. To jump out of a seductive bed and into the chilly air, to dash over our necks, arms and shoulders, the frigid water of the Big Wind River, and then to rasp and scrape our faces with rough towels until the skin was flayed off took but a minute. A quarter of an hour was allowed for breakfast, but we lingered twice that long over our good coffee, fresh fish, hot rolls, new potatoes and sweet butter. By six o’clock, we were pushing down the broad valley of the Big Wind River: for seven miles we found this not much under one and a half to one and three quarters miles broad and pretty fairly covered with emerald grass. The lay of the land is such that canals could be dug without great labor and superfluity of water obtainable from the current of the stream. A heavy growth of cottonwood fringes the banks, some of the trees reaching to as great a diameter as four feet. We rested in a shady copse awaiting the closing up of our pack-train which had met with trouble in crossing an abrupt and very steep little mound that jutted out almost to the river bank. One or two of the mules slipped and fell injuring their loads a great deal. Lieutenant Schuyler had his baggage spoiled to a small extent: the venerable patriarch who was weighed down with the enormous cook-stove, belonging to General Sheridan’s mess, knew his business too well to slip and fall at such a juncture: he stood still for a moment in the trail, looking half in pity, half in contempt, at his weaker brethren who were rolling amid pickles, coffee, crackers and clothing to the bottom of the hill. The valley of the Big Wind River now began to change its appearance: the soil became much more sandy, the vegetation was reduced to sage-brush and grease-wood, bluffs of “drift” and sandstone closed in on the trail and at last pools of alkali water covered 3. This refers to a book by Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, first Baron Brabourne (1829– 1893), best known as a writer of children’s stories, some of which are considered precursors to J.R.R. Tolkien. Brabourne also served as commissioner of the treasury in the Palmerston and Russell governments in 1862–65. http://www.wikisearch.net/en/wikipedia/l/li/list_of_commissioners_of_the_treasury.html

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with a rank growth of dark green tule grass, disfigured the ground. For one stretch of three miles, the soil was a hard baked mud, bearing scarcely anything in the shape of a plant and throwing back in our eyes the fervid rays of the sun which had now climbed to the Zenith. For a short space each day the heat is very uncomfortable, especially so to us travelling on horse-back. But no sooner are we in camp and ready to rest than cool zephyrs spring up and the heat is slowly tempered down to the chilliness of night. The thermometer yesterday morning indicated only (47°F.) After unsaddling this morning, I strolled down to the banks of the river, hoping to have some luck, in catching fish; but there was no shady, cool spot to be found, on our side, altho’ pools there were in plenty ten and twelve feet deep. I picked up specimens of chalcedony and quartz crystals, which many do to polish after I get back to Omaha. Tents were in position upon my return to camp, so I thought about as good a thing as I could do would be to stretch myself at full length on my buffalo robes and woo the drowsy god. How long I slept I cannot say, but soon I fell to dreaming and somehow or another became conscious or semi-conscious of something in which my interests were involved and Rockwell, my old class-mate, was making himself unpleasantly officious therein. By and bye, it seemed as if he was seeking to thrust a quarrel upon me. I fancied I heard my name called in a very disrespectful and exasperating way, which left me no recourse but hostility to put an end to the confounded noise and Din-DinDin-n-a-a-a-r, now if there is any one word in the English language provocative to disgust and hatred it is this call to refection, coming from the lips of a man who professes to be your friend and who bawls the offensive yell in your ears, always just at the moment when sleep is sweetest and all your cares are forgotten. But camp rules are the laws of the Medes and Persians: there is no use trying to evade them and no benefit to be gained by grumbling, so I made the best of the situation and sat down with my comrades to the midday meal. July 4th. Kept on down Big Wind River; marched about three miles, trail turning nearly East from the almost North course which we pursued for three miles yesterday afternoon. Left the river on our Left hand and crossed a long level stretch of “bad lands”, drift and alkali. Eight miles out came to Bad Water creek, which is not over twenty-five feet wide, 12 or 15 inches deep, clayey banks, firm bot-

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tom and swift current. The water is yellowish and muddy and not very pleasant to the taste, altho’ this is the most favorable season for Fishing it. Its narrow valley is completely choked up with cottonwood trees, numbers of them of very good size and much sagebrush larger than any I have seen for a long time. Grapevines and rose-bushes flourish, the pretty little bud of the wild rose, one of the loveliest of flowers to my fancy, flourishes all over the Big Horn Country, during the month of June and July, adding much to the beauty of the landscape, in the moist valleys. Four miles beyond, passed a tributary of the Bad Water, and three or four miles further still, turned into the valley of a second affluent, which we ascended a short distance until we made Camp, in the shade of some small cottonwood. Our move to-day was through an extremely poor piece of country, nearly all of it drift and hills of tertiary formation; vegetation was almost entirely wanting and our animals suffered extremely, and the march was the hardest thus far made. I saw to-day granite, hornblende, quartz, and slate in the broken stones in the drift hills. Lieut. Schuyler brought in from the top of one of the mounds within sight of camp, selenite, and sandstone. Lieut. General Sheridan very kindly invited all the officers to visit his tent and take a glass of champagne in honor of the [independence] day: a pleasant hour was passed in conversation and story-telling and then—to bed. July 5th. A sterile country, a perfect desert of small hills of drift and red sandstone, with some red clay containing, I think, Sulphate of Lime, had to be crossed on our Easterly march of fourteen miles along the Southern slope of the Owl creek Mountains, before we struck Bridger’s creek, a pretty good-sized branch of the Bad Water. It is not over twenty feet in width, fifteen inches deep, has a good current and gravelly bottom. Clay and marl banks, and its water is sweet but not clear. There are only occasional trees on the banks of this stream near where we crossed it, but in a ravine, a mile or two to the East, there seemed to be a considerable quantity. Here we saw the old Bridger road, which before the war was the great highway between Montana.4 4. This sentence, as it stands, does not appear to make sense. Initially Bourke wrote “between Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger,” but crossed out “Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger,” and wrote “Montana” in the space above. Given the line of march on this trip, he could have meant either between Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and Montana, or between Fort Bridger, Utah, and Montana.

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General Sandy Forsyth and I had a chase after an antelope, but without success. Besides Bridger’s creek, we passed this morning, one or two smaller tributaries of the Bad Water, but so small as hardly deserve mention. We now began to turn to the North and climb up a wide and easy graded ravine, in which grass was growing in patches, alternating with sage-brush. Four miles of marching brought us to the summit of a broad rolling table land of some extent, upon which, to our great delight, countless buffaloes were grazing. Our Indian guides, under Frank Gruard, advanced rapidly upon the nearest herd, while a small detachment of soldiers and packers, among whom was included myself, followed at a convenient distance and at a more moderate place. The plan of action was for the Indians to rush up, attack the herd, wound as many as possible, and scatter it, while the white men in the rear, should close up in the rear and kill all stragglers and wounded animals. The buffaloes as we approached evinced no fear but looked at us curiously from out [of] their big lady eyes. Suddenly, one of them gave a snort and, with heads bent low and tails in air, the whole band was on a lope out of the way of our horses. They seemed to be going at a very slow gait, but we pressed our horses to the utmost to catch up with them. While we were in pursuit, a fine young buck antelope ran out of a ravine on our Right hand and followed our horses like a dog. All of us were so interested in shooting larger game that the young venison was completely disregarded. Soon our Indians were upon the herd and the cracking of their rifles sounded like the opening of a skirmish. The buffaloes began to scatter and our men rushed out to slaughter them by ones and twos. The ride was a very exciting one up hill and down dale, jumping buffalo wallows and sage brush, dodging rocks and other obstructions, running close upon to the frightened wild cattle or dashing ahead and trying to turn them from their course. It was indeed the severest steeplechasing I ever heard of and no less hard on horses than men. Once I had a fine opportunity to shoot two fine young buffalo, but after I had closed with them, to my great vexation my carbine missed and before I could check my pony, extract the cartridge and insert another, my prey had escaped over the hills. A little while after, I discovered an old fellow cut off from the herd, leisurely rambling along in a pleasant little grassy ravine, through which a feeble

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stream of bright cold water was flowing. As soon as he saw me, he made a desperate effort to run up the side of the hill and would assuredly have succeeded in giving me the slip had it not been that I had a better grade from where I was. By briskly spurring my pony I gained the summit of the acclivity, time enough to dismount, cock my piece and fall on one knee, before the buffalo lumbered by at point-blank range. I drew bead, took a dead sight, aiming from the rear at a point near the middle of the body, and a span behind the foreshoulder, and fired. A dull thump told me my shot had struck: the lordly bull shook for a moment, staggered to the Right and fell on his side: in a second of time, he rose again, made a struggle to run, made about thirty yards, fell on his knees and rolled over and over, stiffening out with his feet in the air. I had been prepared for him and as he rose after the first shot, sent another into him near the right flank and, I believe, breaking the thigh bone of that leg. A half dozen more bullets were put into him to make sure and then with the help of my orderly, Private Glennan, and some other soldiers, the huge fellow was cut up: we would take only the tongue, heart and a little of the hump, rump, loin and rib steaks, scarcely a tenth of the meat. Big Bellied Sorrel Horse, Sword and Charging Bear came along, their ponies heavily laden with meat and fat. They said they had killed sixteen buffaloes. Charging Bear gave me some raw liver, which tastes something like a raw oyster: it is the great delicacy of all the buffalo in the view of the Indians. Private Gatchell, 2d Cavalry, killed an elk and an antelope and, I suppose the number of buffaloes killed by the little detachment under me would not have been less than ten. We slowly made our way to camp, situated on a little creek without wood and with only a small quantity of grass, (the buffalo having eaten or trampled out all the grass.) This little brook, only two or three feet wide in places, flowed to the East side of the Owl Creek Mountains. Here I must record a very unusual circumstance. The hills surrounding this camp were covered with herds of buffalo: it was estimated that thousands were in sight, from the top of the bluff where our pickets were stationed. Within half an hour, an alarm was raised that a herd was charging straight for camp. A few of our Indian guides had got in [the] rear of them and commence running them straight towards us. On they came, two hundred or three hundred strong.

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Our men began firing at them from the line of tents and already had knocked over five or six, when our horses, frightened by the firing and the sight of such unexpected visitors to their pasture, stampeded. General Sheridan ordered the firing to cease and had “stable call” sounded, while the bells of the pack train were rung loudly. Our finely disciplined pack-mules obeyed the call, not one running away, but more than half of the Cavalry horses were so scared that they never stopped for ten miles and this too with hobbles and side-lines on their feet. Lieutenant Wheeler, 5th Cavalry, took some of the Escort and mounted them bare-back upon such of the horses as were still with us. After a long chase, he was successful in turning the herd and bringing it back after sun-set. A pleasant shower intervened towards sun-down, cooling the air delightfully and refreshing the grass. As we were sitting down to supper, a second alarm was raised that the buffalo were coming down the hill into camp. This time it was a small herd, but a very wild one, which dashed right into our lines. As they neared the tents, all of them defected to the Right, excepting two; of these, one dashed at full speed across the muddy bottom of the little creek running through camp, fell with a slam! and mired in the mud of the bank on the opposite side and then stumbled over the cords of the packers’ cook tent. The other had like to break through the tent in which Doctor Patzki, Lieut. Schuyler and myself abided, but changed his mind at the last moment. The bodies of four huge beasts lay within a hundred yards of our fire, and if anybody wanted a nice piece of steak, a liver, heart or tongue, all to be done was to cut off the amount desired. The skeletons of two white men, probably prospectors killed by Indians, were discovered by our people near this bivouac. Mention has been made of the coolness of the nights in this country: the days are as warm as could be wished. General Sackett, who keeps the thermometer, says that yesterday at 11 o’clock, it registered just at 100° F. July 6th. The main body moved Eastward down No Wood creek, eighteen miles, to a beautiful amphitheatre, finely grassed and watered and having some wood. Early in the morning, General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler, Mr. Delaney and Private Peter Butler found us: they went hunting from the Com-

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mand yesterday and became separated so great a distance that they had to camp out by themselves overnight. Their day’s trip brought them in among a vast herd of buffalo, running up into the thousands, many antelope and one band of elk not less than fifty. This band of elk they ran into a little pocket of the mountains and could have killed every one of them had they been incline[d]. The buffaloes near their place of bivouac were just as tame as those about our camp: two of them came up between their horses and their camp and there remained all night. I followed General Crook through the mountains to-day and had the pleasure of seeing some very picturesque landscape. We passed over all kinds of ground—rocky and rough, greatly rolling, grass, sage-brush and a little without any vegetation at all. There was quite as great diversity in the character of the water. The little branchlets were mostly of good, sweet water, but not very cold. There was one fine spring of water about as cold as ice of which we drank profusely. We did not come upon much game, but could see in the distance numbers of buffalo. On the rolling plains beneath us and almost out of sight, we discerned a bull running away from one of our mounted Indians. Upon level ground, the Indian’s pony steadily gained upon the bovine, but the reverse occurred when the buffalo had steep and rocky country to travel over. Then, he left the little horse a long distance behind and should have escaped had not a long, level plain intervened where the pony had no trouble in overtaking or the Indian in dispatching him. The stratification of the rocks along this valley is in several places extremely contorted: in the cañon, in front of which we found camp, the strata are arranged thus:

The formation is sandstone principally. We made a long detour through the country and finally came upon No Wood creek at the place where we had expected to run across the command, but none of our people could be seen. We then pushed up the stream, a very pretty body of water, 20 feet wide, 2 deep and current extremely swift, not less than six or seven miles an hour. Many good sites for camps were passed: good grass was very plenti-

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ful, but wood in great scarcity. A small party of miners and prospectors was bivouacked in a little grassy glade: seeing our Indians in front, they made ready for a fight, but fortunately did not fire before seeing who the Indians were. Gypsum in great quantity was present in the soil as we advanced up the valley: The formation was entirely of red sandstone and red clay containing a large percentage of gypsum; yet, strange to say, the stream is full of trout. A very strange sight was presented when we suddenly saw our camp from the crest of a little hill overlooking it. The white tents were pitched in a field of larkspurs of vivid blue: the effect of this contrast, taken with the bright green of the grass and the dazzling light of the sun made a most agreeable picture. Back of camp was the dark and rugged cañon of the stream, while the creek itself winding through its low, grassy valley, enclosed a number of spaces extremely well adapted for the wants of a camping party. Many trout were caught this afternoon: we have trout and buffalo, elk or antelope, at every meal now and may consider ourselves in the heart of the hunting grounds. The annoyance suffered from mosquitoes almost counter-balances the advantages of this camp; by making “smudges”,5 we managed to drive them out of our tents, but were pleased when a wind storm arising swept them down the valley. July 7th. Kept down No Wood creek, flowing North of East, for six miles. Halted, watered and grazed. Grass along line of march very fine: some of it is girth-high and already in the seed; our horses and mules eat it like oats. Saw this morning an “inscription rock”, (i.e. Medicine Rock.) covered with figures of horses, elk, mountain sheep &c. Whenever the Sioux, Arapahoes or Cheyennes made a raid into this country they would scratch some of these emblems upon the rock to propitiate good luck. Our Indian guides say that the name of the rocky cliff over-hanging our camp of last night is the Bull’s Nest, so called because a buffalo bull once made his way to the top and lived there a whole year. Crossed No Wood creek and kept on nearly North by a little East for sixteen miles more: moved through red clay hills and sandstone bluffs for nearly all of this distance. Grass excellent all the way and scrub pine and juniper growing on the Northern Exposures. All the little streams in this vicinity are full of trout of good size. 5. Some sort of smudge pot, which would give off heavy smoke.

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Came upon a band of crickets on this march, also saw a deep and dark cave in a sandstone bluff, overhanging a confluent of No Wood creek. A fine view of the Big Horn range was had in the afternoon, but from this side it doesn’t appear to as great advantage as from the other, neither does the main range of the Rocky Mtns. Look of much account, although it, like the Big Horn, is covered with perennial snow. Our march is barely relieved from being stupid. The days are too warm and at night there are too many insects flying about to admit comfort, but by the time we reach the crest of the Big Horn and find ourselves getting an abundance of game and fish—, this monotony will most certainly be relieved. July 8th. Went six miles North by two or three degrees West down No Wood creek valley, very narrow and winding. Country composed of drift hills of no great height, covered with sage-brush and grass. Day pleasant and bright, but rather warm. A short march of two or three miles from the last mentioned point took us across the hills North to a beautiful broad valley down which rushed a torrent of icy-cold snow water, fresh from the Big Horn Mountains. This valley is a most beautiful one, not much less than a mile in width; it is abundantly watered by this affluent of No Wood creek which is not under thirty yards wide, three feet in depth and a current of eight miles an hour. Clumps of cottonwood are scattered along the banks, while a perfect luxuriance of rich grass filled the valley, up to the summits of the red clay buttes that hemmed it in. Distance to-day ten miles. From this position until we shall have crossed the range and get well down the valley of the Little Big Horn River, we anticipate some trouble from swollen streams. Fortunately, our Sioux guides are thoroughly familiar with every foot of the route, and will save us a great deal of labor in hunting fords across the torrents. July 9th. March a total distance to-day of fourteen or fifteen miles, through a series of small red clay and sandstone hills jutting out from the Big Horn Range, by this time close upon our Right. Country covered with sage-brush, interspersed with grass. Two or three small streams of good water crossed but very little, if any, timber close to trail. A small band of buffalo galloped across the head of the column early in the morning. The Indian guides killed four. Passed an al-

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kali pond, one thousand yards long, one hundred yards wide. Saw a small flock of ducks rise from it as we approached. Came down to the banks of an important tributary of No Wood creek, whose current fairly hissed and roared as it rushed along with the velocity of not less than ten miles an hour. It is one of the most charming of all the water courses in this part of Wyoming or Montana. The members of our party were enchanted by the spectacle of creamy water dashing over the heavy blocks of granite in the center of the course, and the cool refreshing shade of the foliage that screened these charms from the too fervid rays of the sun. It was not possible to ford this torrent without exposing men and animals to unnecessary danger. It was about one hundred and twenty five feet wide, three in depth and with a tremendous velocity. Two of our Indians crossed, but, in returning, one was knocked from his pony by the impetuous waters. General Sheridan determined to go into camp on this side and if, by morning, the volume be not diminished, bridges can be built by felling trees and covering them with dirt. Sleep this night broken by the roaring of the swollen creek. July 10th. A detachment of men under General Sandy Forsyth and Lieutenant Carpenter have been detailed to construct a bridge across the torrent of this creek, which General Sheridan has named Sackett’s Fork of No Wood Creek. Lieut. Rockwell found a good crossing but rather too far down to be available. Captain Gregg with his Company of the 2d. Cavalry, and the guide who came with us from Camp Brown, in place of Tom Cosgrove, left our party and started back about noon, taking with them letters to be mailed from Camp Brown. Went down to see the work of bridge construction and enjoyed a quiet half hour in gazing upon the picturesque scenery of a foaming torrent, dashing over granite boulders and between two masses of heavy foliage lining both banks. The bridge was completed but not used, as General Sheridan becoming impatient, crossed the command at a ford three miles below the site of our camp. The water was up to and over the saddle girths and the ford full of large boulders, but no danger or trouble was experienced in making the passage. Our course after this turned up the stream (Painted Rock Ford of No Wood Creek, it is called by the guides.) going between it and a tributary a mile to the north of it, and after marching along a low plain covered with sage-brush and grass for six miles, we came

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to a very pretty little stream fed by springs of icy-cold water: from there we began to climb the first foot-hills or bench of the Big Horn, travelling almost due East. Within twelve miles we had attained the summit and made camp in a grove of spruce or pine. Water was obtained from three or four springs and grass in sufficiency carpeted the ground under our feet. Overlooking us to the East was the main range of the Big Horn Mountains, crested with the snow: to the West, the Wind River range, also snow-clad, while to the South lay the Owl Creek range, scarcely discernible through the clouds. Below us could be viewed the panorama of the Big Horn valley, cut up with the timber fringed tributaries of its main artery. A rain storm of an hour’s length came upon us this afternoon while upon the march. Total distance to-day eighteen miles. July 11th. Moved North East over mountains thickly covered with spruce and pine: grass rather coarse but abundant: water plentiful, running in rivulets or standing in pools and springs. In occasional places, the ground was dangerously miry: saw our first snow along trail to-day, lying in big patches, also many varieties of beautiful flowers—forget me nots, cowslips, larkspurs and lady-slippers. After moving about five miles, descended into a cosy little park, where a couple of buffalo bulls had taken up their quarters and were enjoying a delightful existence. Their repose was rudely interrupted by the reverberation of the sound of General Crook’s rifle, but fortunately for themselves they were not hit and scampered slouchily away through the woods. The difference in temperature between to-day’s march and those preceding it has been favorably commented upon by everybody. Frank Gruard carried with him a pet in the shape of an atrociously ugly little Indian dog which rides contentedly behind him on the saddle all day long. This little Indian pug was found in the Indian village captured by General Crook’s forces at Slim Buttes, Dakota, in September 1876, and has since been a member of Department Hd.Qrs. in the field. A turn to the Right and a short march of one mile brought us to the banks of a lake, (since called by General Sheridan Lake Stager,) one mile long, six hundred yards wide, perfectly clear, blue water, nestling in among the bluffs of granite, covered with spruce timber. Here we made camp having everything we needed except good grass,

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that growing around us being coarse and innutritious. The scenery at this place is remarkably picturesque and made us believe that the long, hot journey hither from Camp Brown was fully repaid by the landscape spread before us. I shall not allow myself to dilate upon this subject, fearing I might exhaust the limits of my note-book were I to expatiate upon every beautiful vista we may expect to behold while in this Mountains. General Sackett has determined our elevation by the aneroid barometer to be between 9.000 and 10.000 feet. Lieutenants Carpenter and Schuyler left us to-day to attempt the ascent of Cloud Peak. About 5 in the afternoon, we were visited by a cold rain. July 12th. Remained in Camp. Day bright and clear. Mail brought in from Camp Brown, containing news of a general engagement on banks of the Danube between Russians and Turks in which the former suffered the more severely, but succeeded in lodging sixty thousand of their own men on the Turkish side of the stream: The chequered existence of the Supreme Pontiff, Pious IX had ended and the poor old man soon finds in the grave the rest the world denied him. (Note: This report proved unfounded.)6 I went this morning across the small granite ridge directly in front, (East.) of my tent and strolled along for two miles until I had reached a beautiful little lake, one of a chain dotting the vicinity, where I made preparations to catch some trout. The coy little brutes paid no attention to my baiting which floated on the surface of the water until I became tired of waiting and looking upon the finny beauties darting about from point to point or jumping into the air, so I did the next best thing—took a bath from off the summit of a smooth, flat rock in the shadow of a clump of pine trees. The bottom of the lake was as hard as iron and composed of rock covered with fine sand. After resuming my garments, I meandered from lake to lake, vividly impressed at each pace with the charm of scenery, scarcely any of which has, up to the present, ever been bared to the glance of the white man. At one spot, I was so delighted that I remained in mute admiration, feasting my eyes upon the picture: there was a combination of lake and mountain and forest scenery not often met with. The crystal sheet of water sparkled in the sun, except where clumps of graceful and slender pines threw their shadows adown 6. Pope Pius IX actually died seven months later, on February 7, 1878.

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[sic] the banks and viewed their own well-proportioned forms in the fluid beneath. Little bluffs of granite broke the elliptical contour of the lake and gave shadowy shelter to the shoals of trout which took refuge there: but, as a general thing, a fine sandy beach shelved gently to the waters edge. Granite hills, pine-covered, shut in these waters from observation: down the flanks of these hills sped pretty streams, fed by drifts of snow, slowly dissolving. Groups of soldiers paced the banks, intent upon gaining a mess of trout. The most successful, as it was the oddest, way to effect this was by discharging firearms. The percussion of the bullets upon the water stunned the little fish and caused them to float helpless upon the surface. Returning to camp, rather tired from my journey, I followed over rough crags until I came to the little stream flowing to the immediate North of our tents, not more than one hundred yards back of us. It breaks its way through a rocky gorge, one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventh-five feet deep, forming a picture too beautiful for any canvass. The creamy current boomed over the boulders that in vain essayed to withstand its progress: pine and spruce trees stood sentinel over this narrow crevice where the sun’s light rarely made its way. From the top of one of the highest promontories, I threw a large lump of granite that went rolling, tumbling and bounding from projection to projection until it landed in the hollow of a little spring, almost at the torrent’s edge. The landscape was too beautiful for my powers of description and kept me a delighted prisoner for nearly an hour. July 13th. Had a rain shower last night, grass was wet at reveille. Thermometer indicated 43°F, at breakfast: we found the heat of a large pine knot fire very agreeable. Moved in a northerly direction, going toward head of Shell Creek passing through a windfall of dead timber and seeing to the West, at foot of range, a dense column of smoke from some burning forest. Day very bright and pleasant. This march was not remarkable for any especial feature: The configuration of the country and the scenery remained much the same as they were yesterday and the day before. For the charms of mountain scenery our practical-minded mules don’t seem to care much: to them such things mean slipping down steep and rocky paths, stumbling across foaming rapids or breaking through fallen timber. We had a rough trail for three or four miles

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and then came into a belt of country composed of high hills, well covered with grass and easy of ascent. Doctor Patzki has amused himself in collecting specimens of the flora of this mountain range: he has obtained many varieties, rare and beautiful. Distance to-day ten to eleven miles. Camp made on head of Shell Creek. Our horses have been severely annoyed by black flies and mosquitoes on this trip. Indians to-day killed three elk, bringing in the hind quarters only. A great waste. On this march we have left on the ground four times as much meat as we took for consumption. This part of the mountains is full of prospectors’ trails: several parties of miners are traveling behind us for protection.

Chapter 16 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Little Bighorn Battlefield

July 14th. Broke camp, taking trail alongside of Mountain overlooking Shell Creek. Had considerable difficulty in forcing a trail through trees and bushes and over rocks and especially across ground made miry by the great number of springs bubbling to the surface. After one and [a] half miles march, found Shell creek at a point where it had split into several channels: the largest some thirty feet wide, three deep and with a current whose velocity could not have been less than twelve miles an hour. When we had accomplished this feat, we heard the booming and roaring of a great affluent a short distance ahead and knew that our day’s labor had but just commenced. This “affluent”, as we at first termed it, turned out to be the main stream. It was nearly twenty five yards broad, two and three feet deep and of an exceeding velocity, its waters being churned to foam as they fretted along among the rocks which projected like teeth from the bottom. On this account these crossings have had enough of the element of danger to make them interesting, but up to this time no disaster has occurred. (General Sandy Forsyth was nearly drowned in No Wood creek, but I forgot to refer to the incident in its proper place.) 330

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Shell creek runs through a wild, belt of rugged mountains, whose flanks are covered with granite boulders of very great size, heavy bodies of pine timber chock up the gorges through which tributary streams force a passage. Great quantities of brush and fallen trees disfigure the valley. While on the trail this morning crossed a dyke of indurated mud extending down the hill side for fifty to seventyfive yards: could not discover its origin. A black bear ran across our trail, making for the water. Frank Gruard shot him through the hind quarter, breaking his back, causing him to fall across a log into the current. General Sheridan fired and hit him back of the fore-shoulder. I fired two shots, going over a little each time but my third shot took him in the head at the intersection of the jaws. We stripped off the skin and paws, but took none of the meat, which smelt too strongly of the wild onions upon which the animal had been feeding. The valley or “cañon” of Shell creek is remarkably striking: his must be truly an impassive nature that could view it from the crest of the hills environing it, without feeling emotions of admiration and delight. The sides of the mountains are clothed with heavy forests, most of them with trees graceful and verdant, but in many places acres of bare and burnt trunks testify to the course of forest fires or show where the lightning had struck. At some points, ragged rocks projected as precipices above the timber at their feet: at others, the contour became more gentle and was carpeted with grass and sweet wild flowers. Regardless of the charms and fascinations of its mountain home, the cold river poured down over the rocks eager to reach the ocean and view its wonders. Having passed across the ridge bounding this valley, we continued on to the North-East, entering a broad inviting park, of undulating greensward, gemmed with wild flowers, while clumps and forests of pine contrasted in their olive green foliage with the lighter hue of the grass about them. The walls of this cosy retreat were heavy buttresses of granite, on which broad patches of snow still lingered. At the head of the park as we came into it, was a spring, or rather dozen[s] of springs, of icy-cold water which sought an outlet through the babbling rivulet which traversed the valley. In this park we pitched our tents, glad to remain, altho’ our march had not been more than five or six miles. This valley is enclosed by two parallel ridges of the Big Horn Range, that to the Eastward being the higher of the two and rather

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more distant. I ascended the Western ridge having an easy climb up a gentle grade, the compensation for this work lay in an extended panoramic view of the Big Horn Valley, which stretched out beneath us like a vast topographical chart. The river itself, with its tributaries and the ridges in which they have their Sources was very distinctly traceable for a great distance, the sky in the West and North being clear as crystal, but in the East dark clouds were accumulating about the higher peaks of the mountains. Lieutenant Wheeler, my companion in the ascent, thought we had better descend as soon as we could, an opinion in accord with my own, as I was afraid we might get caught in some sudden rain squall and be drenched before we could get back to camp. We reached our tents before the storm broke and saw the heavy, gray clouds pushing themselves down into our valley. A cold, chilling fog obscured the sky and hung close to the earth. As we gathered around our blazing fires, the rain gently pattered down, but without becoming unpleasant. We did what we could to kill time by roasting a couple of elk marrow bones and eating the contents which we considered delicious. This made us reflect that there are numerous palatable dishes our poor people in the Eastern states could have for a song if they only knew something of the comparative values of the different parts of the carcasses of animals, killed for their use. The heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, lights, lips, marrow-bones, testicles, shin-bones and entrails, not to mention the blood, are all capable of being made into toothsome dishes fully as wholesome as the ragged rumpsteaks and leathery corned pieces so many poor families are forced to put up with. Frank Gruard tells me that five or six years ago a village of Cheyenne Indians was encamped at this place, or a little above it, when a Crow Indian crept in among them to run off horses. Being discovered, he slowly made his way towards the Cheyenne lodges. This act disconcerted the Cheyennes who imagined he might be a visitor from some other of their villages and sent a small party of their braves to follow him and ascertain his identity. He allowed them to approach within arm’s length when he suddenly turned, drew a self-cocking Colt’s Revolver, fired three shots and killed or wounded five of his assailants. He then started to run, but before going far, turned and shot still another Cheyenne through the bowels and then jumped

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into a little clump of bushes, where his dead body was discovered next morning, pierced by one of the innumerable bullets fired at him in his flight. All of the wounded Cheyennes died.1 Our Indian Scouts killed twenty-seven elk to-day. July 15th. Our eyes this morning rested upon hill and dale sheeted in snow, half an inch deep, fallen during the night. Remained in camp all day, snow melting away before noon. General Crook sent a dispatch across the Mountains to the Commanding Officer of the Battalion of the 5th Cavalry, in the Field, to move without delay to Tongue River and there await our arrival. Doctor Patzki and myself dined with Lieut.-General Sheridan and the officers and gentlemen comprising his mess. Lieutenants Carpenter and Schuyler returned from their attempt to ascend Cloud Peak, in which they were unsuccessful. They found the peak and a congeries of granite precipices, cut up with yawning chasms, inaccessible to the foot of man. In one place they had to crawl along a “knife edge” of granite, with a depth on either hand of nearly a thousand feet. On their way back, they slid down an incline of snow of uncertain thickness, but full of fissures, bedded with steely, black ice. In one of the lakes near our camp of the 13th instant, trout were hauled out almost as fast as hooks could be thrown in. Mountain Sheep were seen in numbers, five being shot from the interior of their little bivouac. Alto’ we haven’t done much hunting since starting, there has never been any dearth of fresh meat among officers and men: the game killed, generally elk, buffalo or deer, has been so large that it would have been a waste of life to pursue more than we actually required from day to day. July 16th. Morning very cool, as they all are at this altitude. General Sackett told me that, yesterday, the thermometer indicated only 37°F at 5 o’clock, and at 12 m[eridian]. in the sun 67°F. At reveille this morning it stood at 36°F. Marching for half an hour to the East brought us to the head-waters of Tongue River, (Flowing North,) 1. Bourke apparently uses Colt’s as a generic for revolver. Samuel Colt was opposed to self-cocking (i.e. double-action) arms, and the company did not introduce a double-action revolver until the Model 1877 Lightning, the year this entry was made, and fifteen years after Colt’s death. It is also hard to imagine three shots killing five Indians. The only possible way would have been for a bullet to go clear through one warrior with enough force to kill the warrior behind him. While this might have been possible, it is highly unlikely, given the low muzzle velocity of handguns of the era. See Wilson, Colt: An American Legend, 199.

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and not over four for five miles from the position where Lieut. Sibley and Frank Gruard had their encounter with the Cheyennes on the 7th of July, 1876.2 This march was the most pleasant, in my opinion, of all those made since leaving Brown. We not only had a gently rolling country to travel through, but the weather was delightfully cool and refreshing. Sparkling rivulets traced a path for themselves through the flower-decked green sward that stretched like a meadow for miles on every side. The traces of a former encampment of Sioux were very plentiful. We then began to descend a small narrow cañon, where we floundered through mud, worked across little branches or wound through the heavy forest of pines until we attained the banks of the stream about (25) or (50) yards above its junction with the main Tongue river which we saw boiling down from the high mountains to the South-East. Near this place was a small party of prospectors who said they had come into the mountains from Deadwood City in the Black Hills. In front of us to the North could be discovered the broad valley of Tongue River winding down to the Yellowstone. A total march of eighteen or twenty miles took us to a very lovely spot, secluded among lofty but well rounded hills covered with grass and flowers from summit to base. A small stream flowed through it, a confluent of Tongue River, which we left a few hundreds of yards to the East. Here in the life-giving odors of the balsamic forest, we erected our canvass and made ready to pass the rest of the day and night. Before the animals were sent out to graze, three Sioux Indians rode in from the Cavalry Battalion, commanded by Colonel [Verling Kersey] Hart, who sent me by them an official letter, announcing his arrival at Tongue River. After lunch, Mr. Delaney and I crossed the hills back of camp and climbed down the side of the cañon to Tongue River, a noble mountain stream whirling over its rocky bed with much noise and great rapidity. We tried for trout, but had no luck, The stream being probably too cold or, at this place, too elevated for the abode of fish. The climb back to camp was arduous and wore us out completely: the only good the excursion did was to let us see a very beautiful glimpse of mountain landscape but of that we might have had fully as much from the mountain top without breaking our necks to look at it from the river bank. The opposite side of the cañon was shrouded 2. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:359–60.

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in pine forest; through this, in two or three localities, we knew by the sound that brooks of good size were flowing, but nothing of them was open to the eye. The grass at this camp was exceptionally good and much relished by horses and mules which do not thrive well upon the sour and scarcely matured grasses growing in the pine wood generally. Clay, our Ethiopian chef de cuisine,3 laid himself out to-day and spread before us a very tempting supper of young elk steaks and boiled ham, with corn bread, jelly, green peas, tomatoes and potatoes, the whole washed down with a couple of bottles of Denver Beer and one of claret, carried along surreptitiously by Lieutenant Wheeler, and now produced from some hidden recess. It was not in the dinner itself that we found the enticement, but in the cool, mountain air, fragrant with the resinous balm of the pine cones, in the limpid, sweet and icy water, in the charming scenery, in the bright, cheery blaze of our camp fire and in our own companionship. This last is an important fact: we have had no snarling, no growling: each one has been determined to get along without bad feeling and this mutual desire has been blessed with perfect success. General Sheridan and General Crook are men who evince great consideration for those under and around them. July 17th. A day very pleasant in spite of a cloudy sky: made ten miles, or a little less, descending the mountain range and getting to the valley of Tongue River, about three miles to the South of Colonel Hart’s Camp. Our march was rather severe, owing to the steepness of the ridge which scarcely permitted us to keep our feet and gave our packmules no little trouble with their heavy burdens. Near the crest of the hill awaiting us, we met Colonel Hart, Colonel Thornburgh, Assistant Surgeon [Robert Wilson] Shufeldt and Mr. Snyder, post trader at Cantonment Reno. They gave us cordial greeting and rode in our Company to the lovely bivouac General Sheridan had selected in the park-like valley of the Tongue, fifty or sixty yards from the silvery water whose gentle murmur soon had soothed us into our daily nap. Later in the day, I paid a visit to Colonel Hart’s camp, meeting there besides the gentlemen above mentioned, Colonel [Sanford Cobb] Kellogg, Captain [Calbraith Perry] Rodgers and Lieutenant 3. By this, Bourke means a black man, rather than a native of Ethiopia.

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[Edwin Proctor] Andrus of the 5th Cavalry and Lieutenant [Francis Hunter] Hardie of the 3d. Cavalry. On the way thither (four miles) passed a half dozen camps of miners who have gathered here to prospect the Mountains: They will never find gold fields richer than those waving in green grass at their feet. Saw Mr. Taylor and our old mess-cook, Phillips, on the road: both had been with us on the campaign last winter. Colonel Hart was ordered to leave his wagon train and one company of cavalry at this point and be ready to move with the others, rations for ten days, on the 19th instant: conjecture has laid down our line of march to go from this place across the narrow divide into the waters of the Little Big Horn, there to the Custer Battle ground, to Post No 2, at the mouth of the stream,4 then take steamer down the Big Horn and Yellowstone rivers to the Post at mouth of Tongue River5 and on to Fort Buford, at mouth of the Yellowstone and Bismarck on the Missouri river, at termination of the Northern Pacific Rail Road: thence to Saint Paul, Minn[.] and Omaha, Neb. July 18th. Remained in camp. Major Thornburgh paid off our escort. Day serene but perceptibly warmer than during our stay in the mountains. July 19th. Moved North, crossing Sun Dance creek in about three miles, crossing a low divide to the waters of Box Elder creek, an affluent of the Little Big Horn river. Maj. Hart with three companies of his Battalion accompanied us. Major Thornburgh and Lieut. Hardie started on their return to Fort Laramie, taking with them the mail written last evening. Lieut. Rockwell and I called upon Major Hart and his officers after sun-down yesterday. Our reception was most agreeable. We were offered wine, which, of course, we accepted. Going home, we fell in the creek which seemed somewhat larger than when we first crossed it. Encountered our first swarm of grasshoppers this morning. This has been one of the most agreeable days I ever knew, weather balmy as an Italian spring, air cool without being chill. Everywhere, our column filed through the most nutritious grasses. I can see no 4. Established only two weeks earlier on July 4, 1877, this post was named Fort Custer the following November 8. It was located on a bluff above the confluence of the Bighorn and Little Bighorn Rivers. Nothing now remains of the post, which was abandoned on April 17, 1898. Frazer, Forts of the West, 79–80. 5. Fort Keogh.

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reason to alter my enthusiastic account of this region, given in my journal of the campaign against the Sioux last year. It ought, inside of two years to be filled with a population of herders and graziers superintending hundreds of thousands of fat cattle. Mowing machines can be used here and thousands of tons of hay of the most superior quality, gathered every year. Wild barley covers the broad valley for miles. We camped on the Little Big Horn set in a broad valley, looking like some meadow, with an abundance of water from the fine stream, here one hundred feet wide, two and half deep, current of five miles. Wood rather scarce on the side of the stream upon which we camped, but plentiful upon the other bank. A spring of water, eleven feet in diameter and five feet in depth breaks out from the ground thirty yards in rear of our tent. Distance to-day 18 m. July 20th. Very cool in the morning. Sky cloudless. Moved down valley of Little Big Horn, nearly due north, trail keeping in the bluffs to avoid the windings of the stream. Country excellently grassed and well watered: no timber except along banks of water-courses. Thirteen miles out, crossed a large tributary coming from the West. I did not mention in proper place that, after marching eight miles, we forded the Little Big Horn and moved down along its West bank. At the ford, river was one hundred and fifty feet wide and eighteen inches deep: bottom of gravel and sandstone shingle. The bottom of the ford across the tributary was also very good and the cross-section of that stream forty feet by eighteen inches, current five miles. This camp was distinguishable for beauty of situation and abundance of wood, water and most excellent grass. Frank Gruard says that the stream we camped on is the Rotten Grass creek and that the Sioux call the Little Big Horn the Greasy Grass. No trout have been caught in this water but a number of fat cat-fish have been taken: the water is quite muddy, but not turbid and the current is very strong. Schuyler and I bathed in the stream about five o’clock and pronounced it the most luxurious bath of the trip: the water so soft and warm that it contrasted favorably with the colder currents farther up in the mountains. Distance marched to-day Fourteen miles.

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The moon was nearly full this night and brought in soft relief the extended camp of our Battalion and the placidly picturesque, and cultivated looking valley surrounding it. A detachment of our Indian scouts was sent out to-night to explore the country as far West as the Big Horn River. Half a dozen of our Arapahoes organized an opera troupe and serenaded us till some hours after midnight: the muttered curses of their unwilling audience evinced an understanding, if not an appreciation of their vocalization. July 21st. Sky perfectly spotless: weather charming in softness and Italian warmth. Marched North and North East, threading the course of the Little Big Horn, an admirable stream, full of abrupt bends, enclosing grassy savannahs, studded with clumps of timber. The absence of undergrowth gave the appearance of the well-kept grounds of some of mansion, an illusion maintained by the clean-cut banks of the placid river. A soft shell tortoise lazily floated down stream, plying his flippers and indolently lifting his head from the water, but too shrewd to look above the surface while passing the point where a squad of our soldiers waited his coming ready to shoot him for supper. We crossed over two or three little branches this morning but saw none of much importance. After marching twelve to fourteen miles, we entered a broad valley, of meadow land, running back at least a mile from the river which wound in and out on its Right hand: signs of former Indian habitancy were here to be seen in a manner that could not be mistaken. Pots, pans, kettles, tépi-poles, cups and dishes of several varieties lay strewn upon the ground, scarcely concealed by the grass. On the far side of the stream, ran a low chain of bluffs of clay and sandstone, the latter only in small quantity: on our side, the stream was fringed with goodly sized cottonwoods and one clump of these was pointed out by our guides as the position assumed by Major [Marcus Albert] Reno when he first attacked the village. A little further on was the point where Custer vainly essayed to cross the stream to charge the village near its center. On the site of the village, we erected camp and then forded the stream to examine the spot where Custer’s Command was butchered. A short half mile back from the stream we came upon the ground passed over by Custer: it was almost level, or gently inclining, and

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extremely well suited for making rapid movements. A cross by the side of the trail drew our eyes and we read: (see cross) One hundred paces farther, a similar rude monument was marked

while right next to it one commemorated the spot where Colonel Myles Keogh died, with his whole company “I” 7th U.S. Cavalry. It looked to me as if Keogh must have attempted to make a stand on foot to enable Custer to get away, because he and his company died in one compact mass whereas from here on, the graves are scattered in irregular clumps and at intervals about like those in a slaughter of buffaloes.6 From the place where Keogh fell was one hundred or maybe one hundred and fifty yards to a little knoll which abruptly terminated at the divide or bluff, followed by Custer when pursued. This knoll served as the “holy ground” where our poor men died like sheep in the shambles. A great number of skeletons of horses, killed perhaps by our own people to serve as bulwarks against the enemy, strewed the ground at this point. On the summit of this knoll is the skeleton of Custer’s horse and here Custer’s own spirit took its flight. Lower down are scattered the graves of other officers and soldiers: at the head of each, a stout sapling, cleft at the extremity to hold a fragment of paper with the names of the fallen. On this knoll, the butchery practically ended: a frightened herd of thirty or forty poor wretches, still surviving, strong to gain the banks of the river. They were killed like wolves. As we made our way along the ravine, we stumbled upon four skulls in one collection, a lone one in another place, another under a little bush and still another, picked up by my orderly, Private Glennan, 3d. Cavl. 6. Archaeological work, cross referenced with Indian accounts, indicates Custer first attempted to cross the river, as Bourke stated. For whatever reason, he withdrew, then posted Keogh’s wing on the bluffs while he continued on with Capt. George W. Yates. Establishing his headquarters on what is now known as Last Stand Hill, he sent Yates farther on, to try and come in at the rear of the village. That part of the village, however, was too strong, so Yates positioned himself approximately where the national cemetery is now located. Keogh’s line collapsed first, then Yates’s. Remnants of the command then reassembled around headquarters on Last Stand Hill. See Fox, Archaeology, 139ff.; Hardorff, Lakota Recollections, various entries; and Robinson, A Good Year to Die, Chapter 18.

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These corpses had been buried exactly where they fell by General Terry’s and Gibbon’s Commands over a year ago, but had been washed out by rain or dug up by wolves: it was hard to go ten yards in any direction without stepping on portions of the human anatomy and skeletons of horses, singly or mingled together. Colonel [Michael] Sheridan, of Lieutenant General Sheridan’s staff,7 was out here a fortnight ago to take up the bodies of the officers and also to re-bury the remains of any of the soldiers that might from any cause have been exhumed. The extent of the field was a great obstacle to the accomplishment of this task which indeed may never be done, unless the skeletons of the animals are likewise buried. Pieces of clothing, soldiers’ hats, cavalry coats, boots with the leather legs cut off, but the human feet and bones still sticking in them, strewed the hill.8 Well down the ravine of which I write was the grave of Captain Tom. Custer and below that still another, surmounted by a sapling, in whose paper I read the name scrawled in a rude hand, (on the leaf of a pocket diary, (bearing the printed day, “May 26th[”]) “BOSTON CUSTAR”.9 Sticking out from the ground in the ravine was the body of a man still clad in the rough garb of a scout: boots and bullet-ridden hat still by him: there was nothing to give the slightest idea as to who he might have been—and this was the Custer battle-ground or slaughter-ground!!!10 Evidently, Custer’s men broke at the point where Lieutenant [John Jordan] Crittenden was killed, stampeded on the knoll where brave Keogh turned to make his stand, and, what few remained alive, ran like frightened deer for the river from the little bluff where Custer died. 7. Michael Vincent Sheridan was the lieutenant general’s younger brother. 8. Bourke’s emphasis. 9. Five members of the Custer family died at the Little Bighorn, including Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer; his younger brother, Capt. Thomas Ward Custer, and brother-in-law, Lt. James Calhoun, company commanders; his youngest brother, Boston Custer, who was employed as a scout; and their nephew, Arthur Harry (Autie) Reed, who accompanied the expedition as a guest. Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 108–9. 10. The scout almost certainly was Michel Boyer (also known as Mitch Bouyer), whose remains were recovered in excavations in 1984, and whose identity was confirmed in 1987. He has been reburied in the Custer Battlefield National Cemetery. Gray, Custer’s Last Campaign, 397–99.

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It is unjust to criticize the poor fellows who fell under the bullets and arrows of the surging thousands of red fiends who thronged around them like blood thirsty wolves. But, laying aside the question as to whether or not the whole 7th Cavalry could have routed this immense village, it would have been better to make the onslaught by charging across the open plain near the locality of Reno’s first attack. Under the impetus of sudden terror, the savages might have abandoned their village which might have been set on fire to their great loss and discomfiture, even had they rallied and pressed our united force as strongly as they did Reno’s single Battalion11 until Terry came to his rescue. The report of the massacre as made by General Terry, I find to be very correct, but the newspaper accounts of that date are the veriest bosh, where they are not wilful lies. I will close this little sketch by saying I don’t believe fifty Indians were killed in any way during this action.12 General Sheridan sent a courier to the Commanding Officer of the Military Post, at the mount of the river, (i.e. Little Big Horn.) and also detailed sixty men from our Command to reinter the bones and skeletons lying on the hills. This work was carried out under the superintendence of Colonel Kellogg and Lieut. Wheeler and finished before dark. Seventeen skeletons were found ten of which had never been buried. Our Indian scouts say that in this fight, Crazy Horse killed the first one of Reno’s men who entered the village: he split the man’s head with a war club. They pointed out the skeleton of a soldier, one of Custer’s Battalion, who, thanks to the fleetness of his horse made his escape[.] [T]hey pressed after him for over a mile, but then concluded to let him go that some one might be left alive to tell the tale. The soldier must have been crazed with fright, as he was seen to pull out his revolver and blow out his brains. Had he continued his race for a little over another mile he might have reached Reno’s column. 11. Actually, Reno commanded two battalions from his position: his own, and Capt. Frederick W. Benteen’s. 12. Examining Indian accounts given over the ensuing years, Richard G. Hardorff determined that according to the most consistent estimates, seven Cheyenne combatants, twenty-four Lakotas, and eight members of other tribes were killed in the fight. This does not include non-combatants (i.e. women and children) who may have died in Reno’s initial assault, nor does it include those who died of wounds during the grueling retreat ahead of Crook’s troops in the late summer of 1876. Hardorff, Hokahey!, Appendices B–D.

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A courier came in from the Commanding Officer of the post at the mouth of the Little Big Horn, bringing information of two steamers being in the stream (Big Horn,) three miles or so below the post, and two others ten miles, on one of which were Generals Sherman and Terry. The presence of great numbers of adventurous prospectors in this region has already been spoken of: nearing the post, we came upon men engaged in cutting logs for the construction of its buildings and some men met to-day have brought their families into the valley with them. Eight wagons came in from Tongue River to-day. Traces of a recent terrible hail-storm in this part of the valley confront us on all sides. (This hail-storm killed five hundred ponies belonging to the Crow Indians, so we were afterwards informed.) Grass is cut out, bushes broken down, graves washed out and many other marks of its severity were visible in the river bottom and upon the hill-sides. Big Bat, who came in here with Colonel Kellogg last month, says that then the grass was green and luxuriant all about here. July 22d. Another pleasant balmy morning. Marched fourteen miles; our line of direction was North and North West, keeping on the Left side of the Little Big Horn and through a gently rolling plateau, covered with grama grass. Not much timber to be seen. Along the banks of the river itself and of its tributaries may be found quantities of cottonwood and occasionally box-elder, ash, oak (seen yesterday.) wild plum and wild cherry. Approaching the post which we could clearly make out eight miles off, we saw wagons, tents and every other sign of military occupation. Reached the post early in the morning: temperature very high, (107°F in the shade so Colonel [George Pearson] Buell told me, and later in the day, it climbed up to 108°F.) Four companies of the 11th Infantry are stationed here, under command of Colonel Buell who is making great advances toward the construction of buildings and quarters. After a pleasant conversation with Colonel and Mrs. Buell, we moved down to the pretty flat on the Little Big Horn and there under the shade of very graceful cottonwoods, went into camp. The heat was so extreme, nothing was done during the day but loll about on our beds with just as little covering as decency demanded.

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Lieutenants [Harry] Tiffany, [George] Ruhlen, Doherty,13 and Doctors [Louis Stanislaus] Tesson and Burgin14 called to visit us during the afternoon. After departure, we made up a party and went to the river to bathe. I was astonished to find a depth of six, seven and eight feet in spots. We sported in the water, riding on the logs which were floating down for the use of the post. Although we didn’t look as beautiful as a troop of mermaids, we had fully as enjoyable a time as they could have had in the warm and invigorating water. About six o’clock, the steamers Western, Big Horn and Silver City, succeeded in steaming up to the post: they had been in sight of it all day, but unable to cross a sandbar, running across the stream. By General Sheridan’s orders, they discharged some of their cargo on the banks and then had but little difficulty in ascending. In the evening, we called upon the ladies of the garrison, Mrs. Buell, Mrs. [Joseph] Conrad, Mrs. McTiel15 and Mrs. Swahn.16 Of the post itself not a great deal can be said. It is still in embryo and not yet taken shape. A couple of hundreds of workmen are employed as carpenters, builders, blacksmiths &c. A great many steamers have been chartered to deliver freight and an air of bustle and activity prevails all over the ground. Its situation is at the confluence of the Big and Little Horn, and should be one of comfort, salubrity and strategical value. 13. Heitman’s does not list a lieutenant named Doherty for this period. Bourke probably meant Lt. John Jefferson Doughtery, 11th Infantry. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:380. 14. Not listed in Heitman’s. Probably a contract surgeon. 15. No McTiel is listed in Heitman’s. 16. No listings match this name under Swain, Swaine, Swahn, or Swahn.

Chapter 17 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Downriver By Steamer

July 23d. We embarked on the steamer Silver City, a new boat, which had just completed its maiden trip. Before casting loose, the officers of the post, those of our Battalion, Mr. Moore and Mr. Mears, Frank Gruard and Baptist[e] Pourier and our Indian guides, came aboard to shake hands and say good bye: then the gangway planks were run aboard, the hawsers undone and, with the customary amount of backing and filling, bell-ringing and puffing of smoke and steam, we swung into the narrow channel. While running down the river, noticed its general dimensions and characteristics. At the post, it is perhaps, one hundred yards wide and has a depth in the main line of its current, of at least six feet. The force of the water is very great, not less than six miles an hour which for so narrow and crooked a stream, one too having such a number of small islands to divide its waters, makes navigation very tedious and difficult. Several times, the steamer butted against the points of land running out into the channel and each time our Captain swung the boat around and let her drift down with the current, until a good, wide reach was found where she could be turned. 344

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A great abundance of timber, mostly, as it looked to one, cottonwood with a little ash, is to be found in this valley: on each hand runs a line of low bluffs of clay and marl and concretionary sandstone, curtailing the view very much, but not enough to prevent my forming the opinion that there is plenty of good grazing close to the river. Mosquitoes bothered us very much and must be extremely tormenting to persons travelling along the river bottom. Three miles down, passed the General Sherman, (which had blown out a cylinder head last night and was now tied up to the bank of the stream[)]; and eight miles down, the Rankin, both bound upstream. Ten miles from the post, we boarded the Rosebud, Captain Grant Marsh, who last year commanded the Far West and acquired great distinction, not alone as being the pioneer of navigation on the Big Horn, but for the promptness with which he brought Reno’s wounded from the Custer battle-field down the Big Horn, Yellowstone and Missouri rivers to Bismarck, Dakota. I had the pleasure of first meeting him last Fall at the mouth of the Powder River. On the Rosebud, we met Generals Sherman and Terry, Colonels [John Mosby] Bacon and [Orlando Metcalfe] Poe of General Sherman’s staff, General B. C. Card, Chief Qr. Master and Captain [Edward Worthington] Smith, A.D.C., of General Terry’s staff, Mr. Tom Sherman, son of the General, Major [Charles Gratiot] Bartlett and a number of officers of the 11th and 6th Infantry (whose names I cannot recall.) with two companies of the 11th Infantry, en route to the new post. We were very kindly treated and offered the luxury of iced water and iced lager-beer. (at post no 2 there was no ice and the water, especially about the middle of the day, was rather disagreeably warm.) General Sherman was on his way to the Yellowstone Post and General Terry to inspect Post No. 2: their boat had met with some little trouble in working up stream, having left Bismarck, Dakota, on the 9th of July. One of the boats passed yesterday, the Rankin, was sixty days in delivering passengers from Bismarck to Post No 2. I may remark here parenthetically that it is in contemplation to call post No 2 Camp Custer and the post at the mouth of Tongue River, Camp Keogh. After leaving General Sherman and party we got into a world of difficulty: between snubbing against points, rasping over gravel banks, sticking on sand-bars and running through

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narrow sloughs, our advance was no advance at all and practically terminated by our sticking on a reef about sun-down. There we staid until about three o’clock in the morning. During the afternoon, the sun’s rays had been extremely torrid, but as evening approached a heavy mantle of clouds screened the earth and a refreshing breeze arose which lasted through the night. July 24th. Did not awake until the sounding of the breakfast bell. Our meals on this boat have not been worthy of much praise: the difficulty in obtaining supplies and the uncertain length of the trip are alleged as excuses for this shortcoming, but the passengers all believe the principal reason is the uncontrollable avarice of the owners of the boat whoever they may be who wish to gouge as much money of her as they can each trip. Shortly after breakfast passed steamer Florence Mayers, bound upstream, and a few moments after, we swung into the Yellowstone River. A beautiful stream winding amidst scores of timbered islands and faced by bluffs of brownish-yellow sandstone from which it probably gets its name. We have now plenty of room for sailing and can count upon rapid travelling. The Captain of our boat this morning told me that the average depth of the Big Horn channel was only four feet: that the channel is, in general, so narrow the boat could not turn around and that the swiftness of the current, seven to eight miles, makes voyaging laborious. He thought it would be better for the Government to establish a Depot on the Yellowstone at the mouth of the Big Horn and freight by wagon thence to the Post. Fort Pease at Mouth of Big Horn is on the North Bank of the Yellowstone and is now laid out as a Ranch which seems to be well planted in grains and vegetables.1 Nearby could be seen the Camp of a Company of Cavalry. We have on board with us a half-breed Yankton Sioux named Johnny Brougier who told me he had been educated at the Christian Brother’s College in Saint Louis: he has [been] for many years a guide and Interpreter for the Government and translated for the Red Cloud Commission in 1875. Rumor credits 1. Fort Pease was not a military post, but a stockaded trading post established in 1875. In February 1876, the post was beseiged by a band of Indians. A relief column from Fort Ellis, Montana, under command of Maj. James S. Brisbin, reached Fort Pease on March 4, evacuating the nineteen survivors, eight of whom were wounded. Although no Indians were encountered, Brisbin found traces of war lodges of some sixty Sioux who had moved on southward. Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 53–54.

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him with being a hard case and Rumor I guess is right for once. It is said he has been much with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse of whom he told me something of interest. Sitting Bull according to him is a good hearted, well disposed man, fond of his jokes and inclined to be hospitable[.] Crazy Horse as I know to be the case, he says, is morose, taciturn and unamiable. Another passenger is “Snoleky”[?] who was one of Genl Crooks scouts during the Campaign of 1876; he is now a scout for Colonel Miles. We had some amusements during the day in firing at Wild Geese and Buffalo, the buffalo is an expert swimmer: two of them swam the Yellowstone directly under our noses. We have been exceptionally well pleased with our voyage so far on the river. [I]t is not less than two hundred and seventy five yards in average breadth, with a velocity of seven miles an hour and a mean depth in channel of six feet. Between the Big Horn post and Yellowstone River there are dozens of pretty little Islands covered with a heavy growth of Cottonwood, and but little underbrush. The presence of these trees would indicate the permanency of the Channel. Broad level “vegas”2 of grass lined the banks soon after we had passed the Big Horn, in one of these could been seen where a mowing machine had lately been at work. Bluffs of Sandstone and shale seamed with coal, strata, pressed upon the right bank, but the coal was not of much value. No stream of importance was seen until Tongue River was reached shortly after dark. Outside of the Main Garrison we saw the Camp of a Battalion of Mounted Infantry, which we learned had been Equipped with Indian ponies and accoutrements, taken by Colonel Miles in an Engagement with Lame Deer’s Band. Lying at the bank, discharging cargo, was the Steamer Tidal Wave: at the post were Colonel Miles and family and a dozen or more of the Officers of his Regiment, the 5th Infantry. I had old acquaintances among them—Captain [Charles Stewart] Heitzelman, A.Q.M. Lieut Woodruff, T. M. of “71” and Pope J. W. of “68”3 the latter drove me about the Post, explaining the plan of its construction and giving many details. Returning to Genl. Miles’ quarters we were 2. One of several Spanish words to describe a prairie or a plain. 3. Bourke means that Thomas Mayhew Woodruff was West Point Class of 1871, and James Worden Pope was Class of 1868.

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served with Champagne and remained in conversation for several hours, taking our leave about 10 O’clock. Our Steamer dropped down the River a couple of miles to a wood yard, where we tied up for the night. It rained a little at Sundown just enough to cool the atmosphere. Saw while at the Post the first Mountain Lamb I ever had been near. [I]t was not over a month old and looked almost exactly like the domestic Lamb. Our party were delighted by the presence of a thousand pounds of Ice, which will be a great luxury if the weather become Sultry again. July 25th Long before Sun-rise, our steamer got up Steam and was nearly at the Wolf Rapids before we had finished breakfast. Passing the mouth of Powder River we saw the site of the Encampment where we lay about this time last summer without any raiment but that which we carried on our backs, without blankets, except those which we carried on the backs of our horses and with an insufficiency of food while we were Exposed to the pitiless Elements. The Yellowstone continued much the same river as descended in the notes of yesterday: it has gradually widened from the accretions of tributaries, whose points of junction we have not always been able to see, on account of the Islands which fill up the Channel: Near Powder River, there is a scarcity of timber, but ten or fifteen miles further down there is again to be found an abundance. Bad Lands obtrude themselves below the mouth of the Powder and extend along the banks for thirty miles, Seams of Coal Eighteen to twenty inches thick crop out at the water’s Edge and could be traced all day. Entering Wolf Rapids we met the Steamer Far West coming out; on the right bank was the bivouac of a detachment of Engineers at work removing the obstructions; not far below Wolf Rapids the Steamer General Meade lay tied up to the bank and a short distance down stream we came upon the Peninch upward bound with sails outspread to catch the help of a favorable wind. Just above Glendive Creek met the little Steamer Tiger, while not over half a mile below was the Arkansas: this latter was Ferrying a Battalion of the 2” Cavalry across the River: among the officers I met Schofield and Hamilton of the 2” both old friends. Lieut. [Frank] Baldwin 5th Infantry came aboard to go as far down as Fort Buford. Six Miles below Glendive Creek, met the John C. Fletcher. Glendive Creek was re[oc]cupied as a post during the season of active opera-

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tions and has only lately been abandoned. Its comfortable mud and Log Huts afford shelter to hay cutters and wood choppers and its well filled Ice house is laid under contribution by passing Steamers. About 75 Miles from Fort Buford met the Alex Kendall. Hay Camps from this point are becoming frequent: how the unfortunate hay cutters managed to withstand the Mosquitoes was a problem for which I could find no solution. Our roustabouts, as deck hands are called on the River Steamers, suffered untold agonies in get[t]ing wood aboard from one of the yards where we stopped for a moment. The little pests become a great plague and fairly drove our negroes wild: to carry any load at all they had to put it on one shoulder only thus leaving a hand free to shake a green bough to drive off the clusters that hummed about their Ears. In the midst of the heaviest swarm, one of our deck passengers landed, to stay. He was frequently too drunk to care for the Mosquitoes but patriotism animated his breast. General Sheridan came to the forward part of the hurricane deck at the moment this fellow had landed and was greeted with a drunken Cheer and a “God Bliss you Giniral Sheridan”. Twenty Miles from Fort Buford met steamer Key West. Here a cool breeze sprang up and soon cleared our boat of mosquitoes but we had another visitation from them at the post. The Savannah was working in to the Yellowstone, as we emerged from it, to get into the Missouri. Buford is on the Missouri, two miles below the confluence of the Yellowstone; it is an important post and strongly garrisoned. Our arrival was at such at late hour, nearly 11 P.M., that we could not visit the Post, much to our regret, but we were glad to meet a party of the Officers, representing Companies of the 6” and 11 Infantry. Moored to the landing were the Fanehon[,] Victory and Ashland their cabins brightly lighted. torches [sic] of pine knots blazing from bow and stern and large fires sparkling on the shore, the effect of this on the water was weird and picturesque, enhanced by the figures of men heavily laden with boxes and bags passing in and out through the gloom. All these Officers, soldiers and roustabouts wore hats of mosquito netting to baffle their tiny enemies. We learned to our cost what the Yellowstone and Upper Missouri Mosquitoes can do when aroused: none of us slept during the night, but rolled and tossed and cursed as they slowly ate big chunks from our faces, arms and legs.

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July 26th Untied and started down stream: at twenty minutes to four in the morning, found the Missouri to be not less than 1.000 yards wide and having a channel of (6) feet in the shallows parts. The current will average 6 miles, but there are no surge and no shoals to baffle the navigator. It has low banks fringed with small cottonwood Trees, which disappear entirely 100 miles below Buford and from there on to Fort Berthold4 timber is not as plenty as it is on the yellowstone [sic]. In the afternoon, had a small shower of Rain. One hundred miles from Berthold’s saw a Company of Cavalry encamped Left Bank of the River. In a land slide running into the stream were the bones of a number of buffaloes which had been driven in there at some time by the Indians. Coal strata occur all along the Right Bank of the Missouri and will prove a valuable object, in the settlement of this valley. Passed the mouth of the Little Missouri not much more than 25 yards in width and giving little promise of the lovely valley we saw along its banks last year. Five miles below the Little Missouri passed the steamer General Custer bound up. Instead of laying to during the night our Captain determined to wait only until the rising of the moon and then wend his way down toward Bismarck. Consequently upon awakening in the morning, we learned we were many miles below Forts Berthold and Stevenson5 and almost at the end of our journey by water. By this we missed seeing the Mandan Indians, an interesting race, who live near Fort Berthold, with them are associated the Rees and Gros Ventres. These people 4. Fort Berthold was established as a trading post called Fort Atkinson in the 1850s, and was purchased by the American Fur Company and renamed Fort Berthold in 1862. It was occupied by troops under Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully in 1862. The troops were removed and assigned to Fort Stevenson in 1867. The following year, it became headquarters for the Arikara, Gros Ventre and Mandan Indian Agency, and remained so until 1874. All the while, it continued to be used as a trading post. The site is now covered by the Garrison Reservoir in North Dakota. Frazer, Forts of the West, 109–10. 5. Fort Stevenson was established in 1867 on the left bank of the Missouri River above the mouth of the Knife River, as a permanent post for the garrison at the trading post of Fort Berthold. Interestingly enough, the site and name had been selected three years earlier, but establishment probably was delayed by the Civil War. Fort Stevenson was part of a line of posts guarding the proposed emigrant route from Minnesota to Montana, protecting navigation along the Missouri River, protecting the Indians of the Fort Berthold Agency, and helping control the Sioux. The conclusion of the Indian Wars rendered the post unnecessary. It was abandoned in 1883 and turned over to the Fort Berthold Agency. It served as an Indian school until 1894, and was transferred to the Interior Department the following year. It is now under the Garrison Reservoir. Frazer, Forts of the West, 114–15.

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cultivate a kind of corn called Ree Corn which is rather peculiar. It grows to the height of 2½ feet and bears only two or three Ears to each stalk, the ears bigger than ones finger, but ripening early in the season and of very excellent flavor. July 27th Reached Bismarck, Dakota, on the Left bank of the Missouri, the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Saw at the levee, Steamers Josephine, Dagan and Kate Kinney. Among other things, this town is renowned for mosquitoes, the size of jack-snipes. Bismarck is the main supply depôt of the Department of Dakota: four miles below the town and on the opposite bank of the “Big Muddy”, can be seen the important military post of Fort Abraham Lincoln. These two circumstances accounted for the presence in town of a great number of military officers. Lieut[.] [Charles St. John] Chubb, Lieut[.] [Andrew Humes] Nave, 7th Cavalry (an old friend whom I had not seen since I left West Point, in 1869.) Lieut. Walker, whom I met on the Yellowstone last year, and Mr. Ned Miller, Chief Clerk of Captain [James Grafton Carleton] Lee, the depôt Qr. Master, a valued friend of years agone in Arizona. We dined at the Sheridan House, a new hotel, just thrown open that morning. This hotel reflects a great deal of credit upon such a small community as Bismarck. While we were eating, an old gentleman entered the dining room and saluting General Sheridan said, “you must excuse us for our failure, General, but we have tried to give you a salute and now we find we have just enough powder to fire off our cannon three times.” Sheridan laughed very heartily at the mishap and told the representative of the population of Bismarck that he was just as much obliged as if they had fired one hundred rounds. (Last night there was an extremely heavy frost which made the upper deck of our steamer so slippery that it was dangerous to walk there. From Knife River, which puts into the Missouri about Berthold, we used coal taken from one of the seams cropping out of the Missouri. It cost, delivered on board, $2.50 per ton, and made steam very readily.) Telegrams received by General Sheridan at Bismarck announced the general strike of the laboring classes on all the Railroads East of Omaha and Leavenworth: bands of armed men had seized upon the Pennsylvania Rail Road, the Pittsburg[h], Fort Wayne and Chicago,

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the Erie, the N.Y. Central, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Burlington route and many others, while in the coal regions of Pennsylvania, perfect lawlessness prevailed. This condition of affairs is traceable to many causes: after all great wars, especially civil wars, destitution is largely increased, but to this natural element of trouble, we must add in the present case, the abnormal extravagance of the American people. Dry Goods clerks try to live in the style of European bankers and our day laborers as merchants only should. There has been no community of interest between the capitalist and the workman: the former has looked only to the sums he might grind out or steal from the laborer to-day, while the latter, indoctrinated in the foolish idea of the Commune demands wages beyond reason. The necessity for General Sheridan’s presence in Chicago was such that a special train was placed at his disposal. Not over 15 minutes were consumed in getting our baggage on the Director’s car and then away we rushed across the tame looking interminable grassy prairies, noting very many pools, lakes and swamps as we drew near to Fort Seward.6 This is a pleasant looking little one company post maintained for the protection of the R.R. and the farmers who have commenced to settle the country. The Sisseton Sioux, once quite formidable are at present peacefully inclined and give no trouble: more than a score of them were at Fort Seward, upon our arrival. All of those we saw were engaged as freighters, a capacity in which they render effective service. A very pleasant mannered lady had supper ready for us at Seward and treated our party with every kindness. During the night, our progress was extremely rapid, averaging thirty-five miles, including all stoppages and in several places dashing along at the rate of fifty miles: this for a track-bed like that of the Northern Pacific was velocity indeed. Long before day, we were aroused from our slumbers to find we had crossed the Red River of the North and were scurrying through heavy forests of Pine, birch and tamarack, with boughs still dripping with the gentle rain of last night, and that we were drawing close 6. Fort Seward was a short-lived post established in 1872, abandoned in 1877, and transferred to the Interior Department in 1880. It was established to protect the Northern Pacific Railroad where it crossed the James River, just above the present city of Jamestown, North Dakota. Frazer, Forts of the West, 114.

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to the village of Brainerd, in the state of Minnesota, on the Upper Mississippi river. The river at our place of crossing is not notably broad, but is of good size and considerable volume. At Brainerd, we made a comfortless breakfast, before resuming our onward pace in the cold, gray mist of the morning. From Brainerd to Saint Paul, there was not much of value to speak of, except the pretty lakelets near the track and the increasing evidences of the thrift and industry as the Iron horse brought us more and more to the Eastward. Saw-mills were plentiful, all busy taking out and cutting up for the market the valuable timber yielded by the extensive forests of this great North West. At Saint Paul, we remained just long enough to transfer ourselves and baggage to the Director’s car of the [Chicago and] North Western Rail Road and to shake hands with General [George David] Ruggles, Colonel Lee, Major [William Burton] Hughes of General Terry’s staff, and others who had assembled to welcome our party. Our speed was extremely great; debarring me from writing with any amount of intelligence. Supper, or rather a late dinner, was served at Hudson, Wisconsin, a little town charmingly placed on the Sainte Croix river, the dividing line between Minnesota and Wisconsin. At Black River Falls, a supper was in readiness, one of the nicest and cleanest I ever set down to: in this opinion, every one of our party concurred without hesitancy. Fresh butter, sweet cream, raspberries, trout, chicken, and good bread and coffee were the principal components and everything was cooked with such skill and served so daintily that our rustic supper partook of the character of a grand banquet. At Madison, Wisconsin, at dead of night, some ambitious admirers of General Sheridan thought to give him a serenade. They meant well, but the performance was an awful fizzle, viewed in an aesthetic light. At half past six in the morning, of July 29th we alighted at the Grande Pacific Hotel, in Chicago, Ills., and were at once conducted to commodious baths which were doubly enjoyable on account of the heat and our own dusty condition. Major Burt and others called upon General Crook, and told of the dispositions of the various companies of regulars, scattered throughout the city, and which had been drawn from the Department of the Platte. General Sheridan and the others of our party drove to their own homes and all that remained to us, except the pleasant remembrance of their society, was the

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duty of returning to HdQrs., at Omaha, which place we reached next morning by ten o’clock. This very pleasant excursion, included the following magnificent distances: Omaha to Green River, Wyoming. miles by the U.P. Rail Road 840 Green River to Camp Stambaugh,7 (By stage.) 40. Camp Stambaugh to Camp Brown. (By ambulance.) 50. Camp Brown to Post No 2, by marches. 276 Down Big Horn and Yellowstone Rivers, (by steamboat.) to Ft. Buford. 460 Down Missouri River, to Bismarck, Dakota. (by steamboat.) 400. Bismarck, Dakota, to Saint Paul, Minn, (by N.P. Rail Road.) 300. Saint Paul, Minn. viâ Madison, Wisconsin, (to Chicago Ills, by C. and N.W.R.R.) 409. Chicago, Ill’s, to Omaha, Neb., (by C. and N.W.R.R.) 500. Total [figure not given] I should refer to the superstitious story, accepted by many of the employees at Post no 2., who placed implicit faith in it. They say that one soldier, who escaped from the dreadful Custer Massacre, still wanders about that desolate field, a raving maniac, seeking for his dead comrades. At the sight of human being or sound of human foot, he flees in abject terror to the hills and no horse so fleet as to overtake him. Many pretend to have seen him, but the whole story is too silly almost for mention. 7. Camp Stambaugh was established about eight miles north of the Sweetwater River in Wyoming, to protect miners from the Shoshone Indians, whose reservation was adjacent to the mining district. It was abandoned in 1878, and transferred to the Interior Department in 1881. Frazer, Forts of the West, 185–86.

Chapter 18 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Of Indians, Missionaries, and Irishmen

The extant diary skips almost exactly eight months from July 29, 1877, to March 28, 1878. In this instance, we may assume that Bourke did not bother to record mundane, day-to-day activities, because in his entry for March 28, he mentions a demonstration of a telephone, the preceding December, as though it were fresh news. Nevertheless, two major events occurred during this period. On September 5, 1877, Lt. W. P. Clark attempted to confine Crazy Horse in the guardhouse at Camp Robinson, and in the ensuing scuffle, the chief was bayoneted. He died about midnight. Bourke writes a retrospective account of events leading to the death of Crazy Horse in Manuscript Volume 24, which will be included in Volume 3 of this series. On September 9, only four days after Crazy Horse’s death, a band of Northern Cheyennes under Little Wolf and Dull Knife, suffering from their removal to the Indian Territory, broke out of the reservation and started home. Bourke mentions the outbreak in Manuscript Volume 27, but much of it is copies of official correspondence, the originals of which are on file in Record Group 393, Special File, Military Division of the Missouri. By early 1878, 355

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the Bannocks and Shoshones of the Snake River area in Idaho were stirring. March 28th [1878] General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., and Lieut. Bourke, A.D.C. (the writer.) left Omaha, Neb., for Fort Hall, Idaho, to inquire into the spirit and intentions of the Shoshonee and Bannock Indians, belonging to that agency, concerning whose purposes much alarm has been excited of late by the reports that many, if not all, of the younger men of both tribes were about to commence hostilities. On our way out from Omaha, we had very little to do except to discuss the latest wonderful achievement in science—the phonograph—which by bottling up the human voice—has added another leaflet to the wreath crowning the brow of man. It will be not many years before sermons and operas,—the speeches of great orators and the songs of eminent vocalists—shall be boxed or bottled up and sent across the country, to be repeated in small towns for the delectation of provincial audiences. The companion invention of the phonograph—the telephone,— equally wonderful and equally simple—is something with which we were all well acquainted, from the exhibition of its powers and explanation of its principles given in General Crook’s home last December, by Mr. J. J. Dickey, the Superintendent of the Union Pacific Rail Road Telegraph Line. On the occasion in question the telegraph line between Omaha and Omaha Barracks, four miles distant, was brought into requisition, and conversation maintained between the officers and ladies assembled in General Crook’s house, on the one side and General King’s, (Colonel 9th Infantry,) at the other. Music was passed over the wire, the sound of the Cavalry Bugle ringing out most clearly. It was wonderful to see the great flocks of wild geese near North Bend, Nebraska: of these there appeared to be two separate kinds; one called by General Crook, the “Wilson Whites”, which in hundreds and tens of hundreds feed upon the budding grass, and the other, the “Canada Blacks”, flying in the air.1 At Fremont, we had lunch, at Grand Island supper; the latter excellent, the former poor enough. During the afternoon and evening, I entertained myself with Baring-Gould’s Myths of the Middle Ages—a 1. Snow geese and Canada geese respectively.

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work of great value and interest.2 Coming nearer to Sidney, we were much disturbed by the knowledge of a snow storm prevailing in the Rocky Mountains, which may blockade us before getting to Ogden. Colonels Gordon and Sumner, 5th Cavalry, and Lieut. Paddock, same regiment, were awaiting us at Sidney; in their society we passed pleasantly the half-hour the train stayd [sic] at that station. Before going to bed, Mr. Harlon, an old acquaintance, whom we used to know very well at Camp Apache, Arizona, came into our car for a little chat. Strange to relate, at the U.P. depôt where Mr. Harlon met us, there were also Captain Randall and Lieut Rice, of the 25th Infantry who had come up from their present station at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to pay a little visit to their old friends in Omaha. The last time we had all been together was at Camp Apache, in North East Arizona, in Oct. 1874; Rice was then Quartermaster of the Post; Randall its Commanding Officer, and Harlon the post trader. General Crook and myself were on our way to the village of the Moqui Indians, of which strange nation a very full account may be found in my journal of that trip.3 Both Randall and Rice, as well as Schuyler, gained a deservedly high reputation for service against the hostile Apache Indians; after their surrender, Randall was placed in command of the agency at Camp Apache, which he conducted with so much firmness, wisdom and good sense that the worst Indians became the best friends of our people. Last winter, 1876–77, it was reported that Major Randall was cut off in the Big Horn Mountains, Montana, while trying to lead a detachment of friendly Crow Indians to General Crook’s command on the Belle Fourche in the Southwest corner of the Black Hills: this report penetrated Arizona and even to Camp Apache. There the Indians manifested every symptom of inconsolable grief for the loss of their “Nan-tan-shune” (“Good Captain,”), frequently taking out his photograph to examine and asking all sorts of questions of Mr. Harlon, who at last had the pleasure of telling them the report was false and that Randall might yet come back to them. 2. Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924), vicar at Lew Trenchard, Devonshire, is best remembered as the hymnist who wrote “Onward Christian Soldiers.” However, he also was a scholar and folklorist, who wrote many comprehensive and standard works, ranging from his mammoth, sixteen-volume Lives of the Saints to a study of the werewolf legend. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages was published in 1867. http://www.commonplacebook. com/fiction/myths/bio/ 3. Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 5 and Appendix 14.

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March 29th The bleak, snow-covered plains of Eastern Wyoming looked chilly and drear as we sped along swiftly toward Cheyenne, and to the uninitiated gave little indication of the wealth they hold. Yet year by year the world is beginning to recognize the importance of this great grazing region upon which already hundreds of thousands of fat-cattle roam, intended for the food of England and the European countries. At Cheyenne, Captains Rogers, Kellogg, and Hamilton, and Lts. King, Swift and Reilly of the 5th Cavalry, and Weir of the Ordnance Corps, awaited us[.] Miss Chambers, sister of Mrs. Rodgers, was with the party, also Mr.[,] Mrs, and Miss Tillinghast, of Troy, N.Y., cousins of Capt. Kellogg. These last were making a continental tour and were glad to have our company as far as Ogden. We found them intelligent and cultivated people, but like many Americans ignorant of their own country. This afternoon, while crossing the Rocky Mountains, we encountered a severe hail-storm. At Laramie City, Dana Thayer came aboard and accompanied us as far West as Rock Creek, his present home. A half-faded English actress was one of our party in the Pullman car; to her, she had attracted two callow, semi-idiotic youths, who needed the devoted attentions of the “fool-killer.” It was disgusting to hear these idiots talk about “Yurrup”,4 where perhaps they hadn’t any more sense to profit by their travel than they now manifested. March 30th General Crook received a telegram from Genl. Williams telling him that he was detailed as a member of the General Court Martial, convened for the trail of Colonel and Bvt. Major General A. V. Kautz, 8th Infy., lately in command of the Department of Arizona. The court is not to assemble before May 1st.5 Eight miles East of Carter, there has been established since our last trip, a new station, for the shipment of cattle belonging to Judge Carter, of Fort Bridger. He is the owner of nearly 10.000 head of all kinds and is each year able to sell from $40.000 to $60.000 worth for shipment to the East. This little statement will serve to give an idea of the immense increase in the monetary interests of the Western 4. Europe. 5. Kautz succeeded Crook as commander of the Department of Arizona in 1875. His administration was mired in controversy, and increasing Apache depredations brought calls for his removal. Eventually the squabble extended to the army command, and Kautz wrote and circulated a denunciation of the judge advocate general of the army. He was court martialed for “Conduct to the prejudice of good order, etc.,” and convicted of the specification within the charge, but found not guilty of the charge itself; the court attached “no criminality” to the action. Altshuler, Cavalry Yellow and Infantry Blue, 184–87.

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territories within the past ten years: the coming lustrum6 will witness a still grander improvement, if I am not greatly mistaken. I mention Hilliard station to get an opportunity to speak of its great rows of charcoal furnaces and the long flume, running back into the Wahsatch Mountains, from which immense cuttings of timber are shipped and floated each season to this little village, to be made into charcoal or cut for rail-road ties and fencing. Evanston, Wyoming, is another little town, equally noted for its activity: here there is a large quantity of charcoal burned and also much coal excavated from the mines close at hand. Lieut. Hasson, 14th Infantry, Quartermaster at Ogden, boarded our train at Evanston and rode with us to Ogden, where we arrived in time for supper. The Beardsley House is a well-managed hotel, setting a good table, and having clean rooms and beds: beyond that the accomodations [sic] do not amount to much. Lt. Schuyler and I walked up into the town and were agreeably surprised by the neatlooking streets, with board walks, rows of trees on each side shading cosy little cottages: the general tone of the place was one of good order and cleanliness. The population is said to amount to 8.000, but I cannot persuade myself that it is quite so much. Before going to bed, we amused ourselves watching the antics of a couple of brown bear cubs, playing in their cage in front of the hotel: they were very ugly, sharp-snouted, piggish looking brutes, and had been caught six months previously in the Wahstach range, where a party of hunters found them hiding in the branches of a lofty tree. March 31st. This day has been balmy as a summer’s morning. Slept last night with wide open windows and under a single blanket: yet the peaks of the Wahstach, under which the town is built, are sheeted in perennial snow. Taking the Utah Northern R.R. we jogged long the valley of Bear River, which is from 5 to 10 miles wide, and a bottom of rich, black soil, studded with farm-houses and farms finely-cultivated; most of the fences are of stone and very many of the cottages of rubble. At Hampton, we met the down-train and waited for dinner—a good, honest, God-fearing meal,—one that could look you squarely in the eyes and ask for 50 cents. I enjoyed it greatly; it was rough enough, 6. An obsolete word for a five-year period.

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but the woman in charge of the house had taken such pains to please that the dinner tasted as if it was some of the best Delmonico could prepare. At this point, met Colonel Delancy [sic] Floyd-Jones, 3d Infantry, going to leave of absence to the East: his regiment is now at Helena, Montana, hutted for the winter. A Montana miner, one of the down train’s passengers, who sat next to me at dinner spoke of the recent wonderfully rich strikes in gold digging in that Territory. Five stamps at Silverton, near Helena, has been grinding out $1000 per diem and a ten stamp $4.000—The cost of reduction &c is about $30 per ton. Could see but little change in the country since my former visit in 1875.7 Cache valley is fairly sprinkled with little towns. At Logan, saw great piles of ties and rails for the extension of the road, now building. Franklin, Idaho, is noted principally for being one of the few Mormon communities in that territory and also because it is at present writing, the only one having R.R. communication with the outside world, being 1000 yards north of the Utah line. The Mormons here have only one wife, as the Idaho code is very stringent against polygamy; but the surplus wives are kept in Utah just across the line, at least so says Dame Rumor. After supper, met General Gibbon, (7th Infantry.) and daughter, on their way from Montana to Washington. The General was during the war of the Rebellion one of our most distinguished soldiers and was also severely wounded in the Big Hole fight with Joseph and the Nez Percés. Miss Fanny, the young lady, was bright, vivacious and pleasant mannered, not withstanding her fatiguing ride of eleven days and nights from Fort Shaw, Montana,8 to Franklin. During this terrible journey, they had to stop several times by night or day to rest themselves and stage-mules and at such times would sleep where they could, on sacks of corn or anything else to be found in the stage-stables. Twice they were overturned in the snow-drifts, but happily escaped serious damage. General Gibbon told us of a rich mine just discovered in Montana, which he had examined on his way down from Fort Shaw. 7. This refers to a trip made in November and December 1875, the diaries of which apparently are among those lost. Bourke, Diary, 22:20. 8. Fort Shaw was established in 1867 on the right bank of the Sun River, about twentyfive miles above the confluence with the Missouri, to protect the road between Fort Benton, Montana, and Helena. It was abandoned in 1891, turned over to the Interior Department the following year, and served as an Indian school until 1910. Frazer, Forts of the West, 83–84.

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This mine, or to speak more strictly, hole in the ground, is not over 70 feet deep and about 12 feet-square at the surface. In the past 45 days, the owner has taken out $60.000, and is trying hard to take out $60.000 during the month of April, to fulfil a bet made to that effect when badgered by a comrade. The mine has been bonded for $500.000. Every bit of the quartz showed free gold: a piece of the quartz, shown me by General Gibbon was assuredly very remarkable, showing “free” gold to the naked eye, on every side. Montana is one of the most promising of our territories, whether as a mining, pastoral or agricultural country: the extension of the Utah Northern Rail Road will do wonders for its development. The conversation then drifted to the late Nez Percé war in which, I think I have already said, General Gibbon was very severely wounded in the leg. That war, in his opinion, as in that of all army officers, was an unjustifiable outrage upon the red men, due to our aggressive and untruthful behavior towards those poor people; and yet it will be repeated with every tribe until the whole race shall become extinct. Last summer, a year ago, according to General Gibbon, the Nez Percés were on their way back from their accustomed annual buffalo hunt to the country near the headwaters of the Yellowstone and stopped at his post, Fort Shaw. Looking Glass, since famous as Joseph’s second in command, offered to give a sham-fight for the amusement of the garrison: one of the peculiarities of the exhibition was the burning of a quantity of hay to represent a prairie-fire, under cover of the smoke from which they made a fierce charge upon the fancied enemy. “Little did I then think,[”] said General Gibbon, [“]that these very Indians should, within less than a year, repeat the very same strategy upon me, as they did in my fight with them at Big Hole and had not the grass been too green and the wind adverse, their tactics would have succeeded completely.” The Nez Percés are now, March and April 1878, confined at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. One of the officers wounded under General Gibbon, has just been appointed Captain and Commissary of Subsistence. This young man Captain C. A. Woodruff, has had a remarkable history. Serving during the war as a private soldier in a Volunteer Regiment of Infantry from Vermont, he was four times wounded three of these wounds being received in one engagement—Cold Harbor, Va. After

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the war he was appointed a cadet at the Military Academy where I became well acquainted with him. From 1869 until 1876 we never met until the time of the junction of Terry’s and Crook’s columns on the Rosebud creek, Montana. Woodruff took part with his company throughout all that campaign and also in the movement conducted by General Gibbon against the Nez Percés in 1877. At the Big Hole fight he was again wounded three times, making a total of seven: intelligent and assiduous in the discharge of duty, brave in action and generally fitted for the position conferred, the appointment has created some little comment and astonishment among the younger officers who of late years have become accustomed to seeing Staff positions filled by broken down political hacks or military wire-pullers with more impudence than ability. Speaking of the Nez Percés, we naturally diverged to the tribes living near them—the Pends d’Oreilles, the Coeurs d’Alenes, Spokanes and others. Among these the Roman Catholics have for nearly half a century worked most energetically. Missionaries, formed of the same mould, as Father de Smet, have lived and died in this uninviting field, their places always kept filled by new arrivals from France or Belgium. One of these, is a Father Chalét, who came into this country with Father de Smet, over thirty five years ago, and whose life-dream has been to lay his bones among the Indians of his charge. General Gibbon described very vividly the appearance of his little hut, the squalor and general penury of all his surroundings:—the torn and dirty bed clothing, the only furniture of the dingy room lit up by the rays of a single old lamp, by whose feeble, flickering light the old man was studying medicine,—a science in which he had made enough progress to be of great help to the sick Indians who consulted him. In charming contrast with this discomfort and rudeness, were the covertly tender manners of the old priest, who showed in his deportment the careful training of the French gentleman of a past generation. The influence he has acquired among these Indians is immense, but his failing wish will soon be gratified and his bones laid away to rest among his adopted people. Right here is a proper place for the insertion of an anecdote of Father de Smet himself. I give it, upon the authority of General Gibbon, as having been told him by the Rt. Revd. James O’Connor, the present R.C. Bishop of

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Omaha, whose diocese comprehends Montana Territory, and who in a recent pastoral visit was the guest of General Gibbon, at Fort Shaw. Father de Smet had made a visit to the Shoshonees and Bannocks with the intention of preaching the Gospel; he had succeeded in bringing together a great number of the tribe and to them he began an exposition of the beauties of the Christian faith. His dissertation carefully avoided all theological complications, while giving prominence to the duty we owed our neighbors, the necessity of a virtuous life and the rewards in store for those who persevered to the end. The broad circle of painted and feathered warriors stolidly listened to the oration and calmly smoked their pipes without one grunt of either censure or commendation. The poor priest was in despair, seeing his best efforts fall dead to the ground. His heart was so caught up in his words that for a few moments he perceived nothing ridiculous in the remark addressed him by one of the head chiefs who sat, plumed, tattooed and daubed, a gaudy object, in one of the principal positions of the circle—“An shure, yur Rivirince that interpreter hasn’t bin talking right at all at all, yur Rivirince. Phoi, oi cud do better nor that moisilf, yur Rivirince”. Father de Smet asked the chief to translate for him and sure enough as he commenced talking, the missionary saw plainly that he had secured the services of a good interpreter, a man of influence and one with oratorical gifts of no mean order. The Indians leaned forward, eagerly listening to every word and signifying their approbation at the end of each sentence by a chorus of grunts and How! How’s! Father de Smet was delighted:—“but where did you learn to speak English so well?” he asked the Chief. “In Oireland, yur Rivirince”—“And what, pray, were you doing in Ireland?” “Shur, yur Rivirince, I was bor-run there”. Questioning developed the history of this curious character who was a poor orphan boy, kicked about from pillar to post, now eating the bread of dependence with one relative, now with another, until at last he found himself on the remote frontier, a half slave, half member of the tribe in which Father de Smet met him. To rise any higher in the society about him, he quickly saw, would require two things; the aspirant must distinguish himself greatly in battle and be favored with a “vision” or other supernatural manifestation. Never having been in a battle he felt rather nervous about that part of the business, but screwing up his courage to the sticking point, he joined

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all the scouting and war parties and soon had an opportunity to show what his valor amounted to. In a little skirmish with a band of Sioux or some other tribe, the Shoshonees routed their opponents, killing two or three warriors and capturing five or six women and children. Pat saw his chance had come; he howled and yelled at a great rate, gave a great number of orders to his comrades and, in brief, acting as if everything in the fight depended upon himself. After the battle, no one was found to dispute Pat’s bravery and he observed with great pleasure that his position in the tribe was extremely improved. So much for the gallantry in battle part of his task. “As for the vision, yur Rivirince, thor wor no thrubble about that—not the laste in the wor-ruld.” The vision was soon divulged to the credulous Shoshonees:—Pat had seen his dead grand-mother—who had been a renowned medicine woman, so he said, and who told him to marry the head chief’s daughter without delay. The young lady was willing enough; undoubtedly, Pat’s oily tongue had prepared the way for the vision with the dusky damsel; the old gentleman was not obdurate and the general sense of the tribe approved of the match. So, wedded they were at once and their union was blessed with twelve lemon-colored brats, the eldest of whom was named Patrick. Before turning in for the night, Schuyler and I promenaded about Franklin, looking at the preparations for continuing the Rail Road to the North: the rails for the new positions of the Road weigh more than those on the old line, and the ties are heavier, broader and longer, which circumstances will make the new part of the line much firmer and easier to travel on. A few miles north of Franklin, there is an extensive deposit of drift gravel, that the Company can use upon its road-bed, packing it in firmly. Our Hotel, the Keeny House was described in my diary of the trip made in November and December, 1875: if any change has occurred since then, it has been for the worse, altho’ the Keeny House even then was the most miserable hole, I had ever stopped at in the shape of a hotel. It is two stories in height, the lower floor divided into Parlor, Dining Room, Bar-room, and Kitchen; the upper separated by paper or thin frame partitions into small sleeping dens. In the parlor we saw cheap furniture and little of it. The fine arts were represented by

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an oil painting of a young lady in black dress, leading mongrel dog; both had the air of being stamped out of tin; the canine looked sick, the lady cross and cock-eyed. In the dining-room there was a sleepy young waiter-girl whom we had to blarney in order to get anything to eat; the beef-steak was an infringement upon the Goodyear patent, so we made our meals of bread and butter and milk and thanked God they weren’t any worse. The “Bar-room and Office” spoke for itself: it consisted of a long counter, a row of flashy bottles, some advertisements of liquor firms and the “Stonewall Bitters”, as well as the usual Rail Road cards, showing that the “very popular Burlington Route”, was the “only line” running Pullman dining cars, Miller’s coupler Buffers, Westinghouse air-brakes, and safety platforms, through between Omaha and Chicago. Flanking this on either side were the Hand-bills of the Rival roads, claiming the monopoly of identically the same advantages for the benefit of the travelling public. Our landlord was an old game-legged wretch, who had all the rapacity of a Long-Branch hotel-clerk, without the diamond pin on the bosom of his shirt instead he wore a trail of tobacco-juice which no doubt answered the same purpose. April 1st. We were shaken out of bed between 4 and 5 o’clock: through the partitions, heard the muttered growls and curses of a half-score of luckless travellers and then the sound of pulling on boots and scraping and sozzling of eight or ten tooth-brushes. Breakfast—Good Lord! Reported at table by one gentleman that one of the boarders in the hotel had been eaten up last night by the bed-bugs:, this report was scoffed at by another gentleman who was piling his fried eggs down his throat on the blade of his knife. Well, all things have an end sometime. At six o’clock, we were off on the construction train, for Bear River, Idaho, twelve miles north of us. Train consisted of a dozen flat cars, loaded with Rail Road iron. Mr. Tim Henderson, the Stage Agent lent us three wooden chairs, upon which we sat comfortably during our ride. Wrapped up in our buffalo robes and heavy over-coats, it was an exhilarating journey, even if the air blew a little keenly at first. The sun was brightly shining, the meadow lands of the valley green with the freshly-stirriging [?] grass of spring, larks twittering gayly

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and a mild breeze scarcely cold enough (after the sun got above the horizon,) to form tiny flakes of ice in the still and shallow pools. Our companions were almost all laborers, a jolly, good-natured set, who looked at the world through rosey spectacles. At Bear river crossing, the train stopped, the laborers began unloading its cargo of rails and we our tedious plod of half a mile across the river to the stage station. Burdened as we were with heavy overcoats, and carrying buffalo robes, mufflers, fur-gloves and valises, we were mightily pleased when we had finished our tramp. By and Bye, the stage came along and took us all up: the vehicle itself weighed not much under a ton; then there were the driver, his six passengers and a miscellaneous cargo of freight and mail matter, weighing at least 1000 pounds. How the poor horses ever pulled us along I don’t know; they didn’t at any time go over five miles an hour and generally averaged about 3 and a half. One of our fellow-passengers was a lady travelling to the bedside of her mother who was dying at Helena, Montana; two others were “tender-feet,” on their way to the mines and the last one sat up on top with the driver and never gave us a chance to find out who he was. A large train of freight wagons was encamped at Bear River; two, three and even four wagons hitched one behind the other. By this arrangement, it is easier to cross gullies and ravines as no unloading is necessary, all the driver has to do being to unhitch one or more of the “trailers” as the rear wagons are designated. Then there is much economy in the method also, as one driver can do the work of four, or at least three. One of the “tender-feet” spoken of above was a good-natured, bright and resolute young boy from New Jersey. He seemed to be very well-read, but knew nothing of Indians. He asked for information on that subject and he got it. Our stories were all founded on fact, but somewhat toned up to suit circumstances. My impression now is that during that brief conversation, I killed every bosom-friend I ever had and had the Indians torture, scalp and eat everyone. The young Jerseyman began to shiver before we desisted, to get out for dinner, which was served at one of the stations, in a little room at the back-end of the Stage-Company’s stables. We had to pass through two rows of scrawny, hide-bound horses and didn’t expect under the circumstances and from my previous experience at this place, to get anything fit to eat: we were most agreeably disappointed to

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find a very palatable meal, served by neat and tidy-looking woman, who had lately been placed in charge. On my last trip, this was a beastly hole; no cloth on the table and every dish and platter dirty and greasy. Now, the little room shone with all the brightness of the best-kept household. At Elkhorn, changed teams and listened to the usual conversation between the driver and hostler about the horses; the “flea-bitten grey was sick”—nothing could be done with him. “Never eat a bit of nawthin all day—hay, nor grain, nor nawthin’ else”. The “off-leader” of “Jimmy’s” team was “a’ doin’ well”, but “acting kinder bad when you go to puttin’ the halter on ‘im—damn him, whoa! You Pete!”. “That dark-complected feller”—(the conversation was now about a man, not a horse.—) warn’t no’ count, didn’t know ‘enough to pack a bucket o’water”—“must tell the ole man ‘bout [‘]him, so’s he kin git [‘]nother manin’s place”. On all sides we saw farms, and farmers who were breaking in fresh land or recultivating that which had already been tilled. Substantial fences, good out-buildings and houses, which in many instances were built neatly, compactly and with some good taste, witnesses the progress made by this part of Idaho. Shortly after sun-set; we reached the toll-gate and bridge over the Port Neuf River kept by Mr. Harkness. Our progress had been very slow, because the coach was overloaded at starting: several times, we came near upsetting[.] Harkness’ ranch includes a well-stocked store and no doubt from all his sources of revenue, the proprietor must be deriving a very comfortable income. (I have been told his receipts last year were over $75.000.) We were ushered into rooms each furnished with two beds, two woodenbottomed chairs, a simple wash-stand and a stone china set; floor covered with a decidedly well-worn rag carpet, walls papered in a cheap figure and windows shaded with the old stereotyped outrage upon perspective in the form of a tumble-down castle, resting against a single-arched bridge and trees of some unknown genus. A small looking glass and two clothes’-pegs completed the equipment of the apartment, not too luxurious certainly but truly worthy of encomium because of the scrupulous cleanliness of everything, except the sheets. By no manner of reasoning were our accomodations [sic]worth $3 per night, the price extracted from the stage passengers.

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3 o’clock in the morning found us collected in the “gentlemens’ room”, a barren apartment with no furniture except two tin washbasins. Breakfast was soon desposed [sic] of,—a warm and pretty-well cooked meal: at 4.15 A.M:, we rolled out in the dark to finish our journey to Ross’ Fork. At first, we were all very sleepy and dozed as best we could in the corner of the stage; the dawning of day wakened us up a little and the chittering of birds and lowing of cattle in the ranches passed roused us thoroughly. The country hereabouts is finely watered with mountain streams and suited very well to both farming and grazing. After day-break, came to a palisade basaltic rock, defaced by inscriptions. “S.T.–1860X”–Plantation Bitters, “Read the Western World” and the like. This defacement is an outrage upon good taste and should be punished with death, or something near it. The weather continued perfectly charming. At noon, we sighted the Shoshonee and Bannock Agency at Ross’s Fork with the Indian lodges and ponies clustered around about. Alighting from the stage, we were received by Colonel Trotter, Colonel Bainbridge and Lieut. Lovell, 14th Infantry, who brought us to the encampment of the Battalion near by. All these gentlemen were old friends. Trotter and Lovell in Utah, and Bainbridge at Fort Hall, Idaho, on the occasion of my former trip in 1875. On our way to the encampment, noticed some half-breeds castrating a young stallion; the animal was thrown and tied very skillfully, and after the incision, the artery leading into the scrotum was lignited, not cauterized.9 Mr. Schilling, the trader, has a new store, fully stocked with goods suited to the wants of his trade. The pièce de résistance at dinner was a large, finely flavored trout, caught in Ross’s Fork; all these streams, Bear River, Port Neuf, Marsh, Ross Fork, Snake River and Lemhi are trout-bearing and would also be full of salmon and salmon trout were it not for the Shoshonee Falls which keep these fishes from coming up the Snake River. In the Lemhi, I have been told salmon can be found, but as I have never been that far north in Idaho, I don’t know of my own Knowledge. Very soon, Buffalo Horn, Madison John and Tokio, the latter head chief of the Bannocks, called upon General Crook, accompanied by 9. I.e. sealed with coal tar.

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Cayuse Mary, a Bannock woman who acted as interpreter. (Cayuse Mary was at one time married to Cayuse George a worthless vagabond, supposed to be a white man, who lived with the Cayuses and Bannocks in Central Idaho. For a short time he was a scout for General Crook at Fort Boise,10 but was soon discharged for inefficiency.)11 In the tent, there were besides the above, and the military officers, Major Danielson, the Agent; and Gilson Jack and Major George of the Shoshonees. The Indians smoked long nines12 with all the aplomb of New York street Arabs. Outside the tent was clustered a throng of eagerly listening Indians with a few soldiers and civilians sprinkled in among them. General Crook. “How are you getting along?[”] Tokio. “We feel all right and think everything is all right and quiet.” General Crook. “There has been a good deal of talk that these Indians are going to break out, but I am very glad to know that they are satisfied and feel friendly towards us. There are very few people here and if they break out it will be like the Nez Percé war;—they’ll be chased, and taken and sent away just as they [the Nez Percé] were, better let well enough alone; stay here and go to farming like white men. In a short time, the buffalo will all be killed off and then the Indians must live like white men. I am very glad these people helped us last year against the Nez Percés: that showed their feelings were good towards us. They got well paid and I hope their pay did them good. In case we have war with the Sioux, I should like to have their services again. We’re very friendly now. But in case these Indians become troublesome, the Sioux would enlist as soldiers against them. But there is no use in going to war; there is enough land for everybody and they’d better settle down and farm. Those Indians who have sense, see the way of the white men and know what is right. Whenever they know of any bad going on they stop it right away. They ought to be careful to have everything go straight, because a little report from here becomes big in Washington and people will think they are going to break out, so they’ll lose many privileges. I 10. Fort Boise was established in 1863 just north of the Boise River at the present city of Boise, Idaho, to control the Shoshones and protect the emigrant road to Oregon. It was redesignated Boise Barracks in 1879, and is now administered by the Veterans Administration. Frazer, Forts of the West, 44. 11. Crook was commanding officer of the District of Boise (later expanded to the District of Owyhee), in Idaho, 1866 and 1867. Robinson, General Crook, 86ff. 12. A cheap cigar of the era.

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have learned from Major Danielson and the officers here that those ponies, (alluding to the ponies taken from the Bannocks last year by Colonel John E. Smith, 14th Infantry.) were taken from our friends. I shall recommend that they be given back. Those ponies would not have been taken from them only for the acts of one or two bad men. In Washington, they thought there was going to be a general outbreak, so they took the ponies away from them.”13 These remarks were well received by the Indians, who replied that they were now and had always been the firm friends of the whites. They wished to live at peace and be our friends. To show their friendship, they had in former years gone with General Crook in his campaigns against the Pi-Utes, (in Nevada and California,):14 against the Sioux, (in Wyoming and Montana,) and lastly had enlisted as our auxiliaries in the war against Joseph and his Nez Percés. If the Sioux went to war again, they wished to help with whites. There were bad people in all tribes, but they thought they could restrain their bad men without trouble. They hoped the great Father would send seeds and farming implements and teach them to farm. They wanted to learn to make their own living just like the white men. They didn’t get enough to eat: four days out of every seven, they had nothing to eat. Formerly, they used to hunt the buffalo on the other side of the Big Horn Mountains, but now the Great Father wouldn’t let them leave the Reservation at all. They asked for the same allowance as was now received by the Sioux and other Indians. General Crook sent dispatches embodying the result of the conference to General Sheridan, and also sent some to General Williams, in Omaha. At Ross’ Fork, saw the “Count de Badai”, a private soldier in the th 14 Infantry, who had been for a few days detailed as a clerk at Dep’t Hd.Qrs. Soon after reaching Omaha, he artfully circulated a story of having come into possession of a fortune of 2000.000 of florins 13. Crook was referring to an incident in which random acts of violence, stemming from the rape of a Bannock girl, broke out around Fort Hall in the summer and fall of 1877. The Bannock agency was placed under military occupation, and one Indian, Tambiago, was hanged on June 28, 1878, for the murder of a white man the previous fall. In the summer of 1878, however, there was a minor uprising of some 150 poorly armed warriors. These were rounded up, and disbursed to posts throughout the Military Divisions of the Missouri until they had cooled down sufficiently to return home. Crook blamed government incompetence for the problem. Robinson, General Crook, 216–20. 14. These campaigns were from 1866 to 1868. Robinson, General Crook, 89ff.

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in Hungary:15 many people were credulous enough to swallow his story and for a few days he made a ridiculous splurge, borrowing money in small quantities from various storekeepers, and driving about town in a carriage having at his side a painted creature, who assumed the title of the Countess de Badai. It is all very funny now that it is over, yet while the delusion lasted there were numbers of persons who imagined there might be some validity to his claims. For my own part, I was very much disappointed that more people were not swindled as they would then be cured of this American idiocy of believing every story a scheming foreigner may invent. We left Ross’ Fork at 2.30 P.M., going at a rapid pace in Col. Bainbridge’s spring wagon to Harkness’ where we were to overtake the stage. In going through the basalt-walled glens, already spoken of, I was reminded very much of the scenery in the immediate vicinity of Camp Apache, Arizona. Reached Harkness’ at 8.30, a distance of just 36 miles. 15. About $400,000 U.S. at the time. The florin (Magyar: forint) was a silver coin worth about twenty cents. See Jaeckel, Die Münzprägungen des Hauses Habsburg.

Chapter 19 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Memories of Old Tucson

April 3rd. Not being able to secure seats in the stage, we had nothing to do, but keep on to Bear River in our spring wagon, in the hope of catching the construction train before it had left for Franklin. General Crook had me telegraph to Mr. Thatcher, the Superintendent of the R.R., asking him to detain the train for us. The whole day was beautiful beyond description. We had unusually good luck in reaching Bear River some hours before the train, an interval employed in rambling about in the hills. A hundred yards or so back of the tank where we waited was a spring fed by the snows of the ravines above. The sun was so hot that my forehead and nose were completely blistered, but the sheltered position of the little ravines had completely protected the snow, of which great drifts yet remained to feed the spring. Going back we rode on empty nail kegs and made a distance of fourteen miles in just an hour, including several stoppages. A number of Railroad men were aboard with whom we were soon in conversation. They had much to say, of course, about their road and its prospects and gave us many points of interest. Cache Valley, according to them, has already 18.000 inhabitants, nearly all Mormons. This statement was easy to believe, seeing so 372

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many towns and villages sown broadcast over the valley. Midway between Bear River and Franklin is a fine, level plain, five miles in diameter, excellently well adapted for farming. This the Mormons are about to irrigate with water drawn [from] the streams in the cañons of the Wahsatch Mtns. In these valley[s], there are already many saw and grist mills running; and the condition of affairs for a territory is very promising. I had first jotted down a reference to what I took to be the great number of Mormon school-houses, but my informant corrected me and said they were Mormon families: one man had three wives and twenty-seven children; another four wives and thirty-five children. The windows of all the homes were full of little shock-heads and dozens of little, curious eyes peer at us as we rumbled past. I have looked in vain for anything like refinement of appearance or manner among the Mormon women, and can remember only one girl, Miss Hinckley, of Cove Fork, in Southern Utah, whom I would consider handsome. The children on the contrary are generally handsome and healthy looking. Between Franklin and Ross’ Fork the ground was in several places covered with little, black crickets. Another miserable night at the Keeny House. I will draw a veil over the picture. The Utah Northern has at Ogden in its service two or three engines of the Summit County R.R., a little narrow-gauge concern which runs out from Evanston, Wyo., to the coal mines and pineries in the Wahsatch Mountains. The annual conference of the Mormon church which takes place at Salt Lake in the month of April, completely filled our coach with brethren and sisters on their way to take part. Every man brought a wife, and every wife had a baby. Every baby had a cold or a colic, and every twinge of either complaint evoked a yell. It was a horrible experience of nearly eight hour’s duration—one I don’t care to have to go through again. I am trying to perfect a project for the erection of a monument to the memory of that great and good man, the late lamented King Herod. In the suburbs of Ogden, the peach, apricot, plum and cherry trees were loaded down with blossoms. Received information of the organization of the Court to try Genl. Kautz: this is to assemble in Omaha, May 1st.

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As the cars came to a stand-still, it was positively refreshing to hear the fine, round Italian voice of Jimmy, the hotel porter, proclaiming the merits of his establishment—“convaynient to all the day-po’s[.]”1 General Crook left on the evening train for San Francisco, leaving me with a copy of his report to General Sheridan, which reads as follows: Hd.Qrs. Dep’t. of the Platte, In the Field, Franklin, Idaho, April 3d, 1878. Adjutant General, Mily. Division of the Missouri, Chicago, Illinois. Colonel. I have the honor to report that on the 2d instant, I reached the Shoshonee and Bannock Agency, at Ross Fork, Idaho, and immediately had a conference with the military officers temporarily stationed at the Agency, Capt. Bainbridge, 14th Infy., Comdr., Fort Hall, Mr. Danielson, the Agent and the principal men of the Bannocks and Shoshonees. This conference satisfied me of the peaceable intentions of the Indians and their determination to remain on good terms with our people. The murder committed last summer was an individual act and not one with which any portion of the tribe sympathized.2 The disarming and dismounting of the tribe appears under these circumstances to have been unnecessary, especially since such of them as were the least disposed to be friendly had time to learn of the move contemplated and to conceal their animals, and guns, leaving the burden of our punishment to fall upon our friends and those upon whom we should have to rely in case of any trouble. The tribe would not feel the loss inflicted, which was, probably, not one fourth of the total number of ponies and its remembrance will only survive as an irritant. Altho’ the loss of their ponies would not cripple these Indians in the event of hostilities, it will seriously interfere with their farming, for which purpose they are beginning 1. Once again, Bourke is being facetious. Jimmy obviously is Irish. 2. This refers to the murder, mentioned earlier, for which Tambiago subsequently was hanged.

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to use them; the return of these animals would be good policy, as would also be that of the arms which are almost entirely old-fashioned pieces, of very little account except for shooting such small game as can be found near the Agency, while their retention will be dwelt upon as a grievance. While there seems to have been some occasion for alarm in the fact of the murder refered [sic] to, the spirit of the Indians in general was not properly represented and the condition of affairs was unduly exaggerated; the tribe has no intention of going to war and manifests most friendly feelings. In my conversation with Mr. Danielson, and from the complaints of the Indians, I learned that the rations issued at this Agency are entirely inadequate; hitherto, it has been the practice to permit the young men to hunt the buffalo in the Big Horn and Yellowstone country; but the rapid settling up of that region as well as the country around this Agency makes any such dependence for the future most precarious and I therefore urgently recommend an increase to the amount now allowed the Sioux and other Indians. The maintenance of troops at the Agency, is in my opinion no longer necessary and they can now be returned to their proper station at Salt Lake.3 Very Respectfully, Your Obedt. Servant, (Signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. th Friday, April 5 . Started on our return to Omaha. Met Mr. Skyle of Denver, Colorado, and daughter. Learned of the death of Colonel Thomas C. Devin, 3d Cavalry, Brevet Major General, U.S. Army. This announcement recalled to my mind my first meeting with “old Tommy[”] Devin, in Tucson, Arizona, in March, 1869, when he was Commanding Officer of the District and I was Quartermaster of Major Dubois’ Battalion of the 3d Cavalry, which had just marched in to Arizona from the previous station on the Rio Grande [in New Mexico]. The small-pox was raging furiously in Tucson, spreading each day on account of the curious custom the Mexican population had of burying their dead with processional honors and the music of violin, flute and harp. 3. I.e., Fort Douglas.

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General Devin, after consultation with Bishop Salpointe, determined to stretch his official authority to the utmost and prohibit any more funeral processions until the pest had abated; then the town authorities took courage and insisted on all garbage and refuse being removed outside the town limits and burned. The infected were next isolated, and every means taken to eradicate the disease, for which everybody seemed to give the lion’s share of the praise to General Devin. It was a curious place in those days—Tucson: the capital of the Territory of Arizona and the site of a military post, Camp Lowell,4 it had a greater percentage of American population than would have resided there without those attractions. As a trading point, it was at that time the emporium of Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora and the depôt of supplies for all our military posts between the Mexican boundary and the Gila river. The stores were numerous and well filled with goods required in that climate; the streets lively with people, clad in peculiar garb—Mexicans dressed in loose white shirts, calzoncillos or drawers coming to the feet; which were either bare or covered with canvass shoes; hats of coarse straw reaching far beyond the shoulders and having wound about them a band of velvet and bead-work, made to resemble a rattlesnake. So much for day costume; at night, this was supplemented with a coarse serape, or blanket wound about the shoulders. It might be proper to mention as part of the costume the cigarrito, as no Mexican was ever seen without one. In smoking, they display excessive urbanity: the most-ragged payazo or clown could approach the wealthiest ranchero and ask for a light which was never refused. In doing this there was always an immense amount of bowing and scraping and interchange of polite salutations. The situation of Tucson was extremely beautiful. To the traveller coming from the East during the month of March the town presented a most inviting aspect, set as it was in a garniture of emerald green barley fields, through which coursed scores of little rivulets flashing like diamonds in the sun. These were irrigating ditches, carrying to the fecund earth the moisture needed for the great crop of barley 4. Camp Lowell was established in 1862 as the Post of Tucson. Few permanent buildings were constructed, and in 1873, a new site was chosen for the post seven miles northeast of Tucson. Permanent buildings were constructed, and it was upgraded to fort in 1879. The post was abandoned in 1891. Some of the remaining buildings are maintained as state historic sites. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 33–37.

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and corn raised yearly in the valley of the Santa Cruz. A ramble through the narrow, dirty streets of one storied adobe houses rather rudely dispelled the illusions of beauty aroused by the first glimpses of the town from the hills six miles to the East. Chickens, pigs, dogs and children, played, fought, yelled, crowed, squeaked and barked in, around and over piles of manure and garbage; such women as appeared were so closely wrapped in thick, black shawls, called rebosas, as to be unrecognizable. At each corner, little stores, called tendajons, dispensed supplies which were as different from the articles usually vended in American establishments as was the crowd of Mexican and Indian half-breeds frequenting them from the patrons of village stores in the United States. For example there was no whiskey for sale, its place was taken by a fiery distillation from the saccharine principle obtained by roasting the stalks and leaves of the Century Plant—mescal: sugar appeared in the form of little solid, black cakes weighing a pound apiece and with eight for a dollar. Carne seca, or dried beef, “jerked[”] in the sun and tasting, when first put in the mouth, like a bunch of rope, Chile colorado, an aromatic pepper, the condiment par excellence of the Mexican cuisine, eggs, garlic, radishes, oranges (from Sonora.) and little flat loaves of bread were the main supplies, in each of these little places, but coffee and other of our groceries with tobacco, commanded ready sale. A sufficient number of rum-mills, bearing such titles as “Congress Hall”, [“]Dew Drop” and “Magnolia”, existed to attest the presence of American residents. In all, “music”, that is to say the squeaking of an ill-tuned harp and mouth organ, charmed the ears of the votaries of the gaming tables. There was no attempt made at concealment. Faro, Poker, Diana, and Roulette were the American games but there was also a class of games of Mexican derivations, patronized with equal ardor by both nationalities; there were chusas, Loteria, and Monte. It was very funny to watch the expressions of the different countenances: the impassive stolidily [sic] and cunning of the dealer, mechanically shuffling the cards or rolling the balls, the anxiety, greed, fear, disappointment, hope and exultation alternating in the faces of the betters as they lost or won. The sums changing hands were not great: generally, the stakes ran from 50 c[ents] to $5.00; occasionally, some fortunate winner, flushed with wine! I should have said flushed with rot-gut whiskey, would pile up 20, 30, maybe 40 chips, of an aggregate value from 10 to 25 dollars,

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and then all interest would converge upon him. The Mexicans were nearly all named “Jesus” or “José”, but their American elbow-touchers were “Colonels”, “Judges” and “Doctors”. The principal restaurant, in those days, was the “Shoo Fly”, on the street running into the Plaza from the Main street. Mrs. Allen was the name of the presiding genius. The food wasn’t as bad as it might have been. Some grumbles used to take exception to the number of flies in the soup, forgetting that the poor little flies had appetites as well as any other form of creation and that if the soup was not good they would not fly into it. Mrs. Allen, in person, waited upon the table, carefully looking after the wants of each guest. The first time I dined there, she hobbled into the room, very lame in one foot. I lost my appetite when I heard her say: “oh my sore toe! That poultice I put on came off again this morning!” The young officers then in Arizona were a harum-scarum, good-natured, devil-may care set, who gave General Devin a great amount of trouble to keep them in order. One of them, Lieut. Jerome, of the 8th Cavalry, (long since resigned from service.) Was marching on Christmas Day, at the head of his Company, down the Santa Cruz Valley, into Tucson. As he reached the mill-dam, three miles from town, he dismounted from his horse and threw himself by a dexterous somersault into ten feet of water. His performance was to gain a bet of $10, made with a brother officer riding by his side. The half chilled officer. (winters are sometimes chilly in Arizona, at least too chilly for such actions as above,) rode into town and there spent his gains in treating the men of his detachment to whiskey. General Devin sent for the delinquent and after giving him a sound talking to upon the unseemliness and want of dignity of such conduct, dismissed him to his quarters with an admonition not to repeat the offense if he didn’t want to be courtmartialled. Such is the account of the affair given by Genl. Devin’s friends; but there is another side of the story which must not be ignored in any narrative pretending to be impartial. This is the story of Lieut. or ex-Lt. Jerome. He admitted the correctness of the story up to the moment of the interview, but he always claimed that just as soon as General Devin began to berate him, he fixed his eagle eye upon the General and froze him in his seat. Most of the people in Tucson believed General Devin’s story, and discredited Lt. Jerome’s altogether.

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About the time, of my arrival, Lieut. Winter’s [sic], of the 1st Cavalry, a very gallant soldier, was married. The usual festal supper was had and then the wedding party separated. A quartette [sic] of Winter’s friends thought they would serenade him, but when they assembled under the windows of the room occupied by the bridal couple, none of the party had brought along any music and they were all so elevated with liquor and enthusiasm that they could sing but one song in concert.—“just before the battle, Mother”, which they rendered with telling effect. One of the eccentric, indefinable characters to be met with so frequently on the frontier, was “Major” or “Marshal” Duffield: he was to outward appearance remarkable chiefly from the fact that he was the only man in Tucson who ever wore a stove-pipe hat. But he was also renowned for the number of rows and personal “difficulties” in which he had figured always with success. He carried about with him a small-sized arsenal of revolvers and pistols of all calibers:—if my memory is not entirely at fault, I think he never had less than ten or eleven about his person at one time. Well, as might be expected, he was an object of dread to his neighbors even in that rough community, one day, a [wagon] train came in from Texas, and one of the teamsters immediately started to the nearest saloon to “hist in a cargo of pizen”. Becoming pretty full, he stampeded most of the quiet citizens from the streets by displaying his revolver in a belligerent way: an operation, called I believe, “shelling the town”. But it was a bad day for him when he started out upon his mission. It wasn’t very long before he found a small cluster of “gentlemen”, to whom he made known the object of his search. “Gents, I’m ‘Waco Bill’, from Texas, blood’s my color, I kerries mee karfin on mee back, kin whip mee weight in bar meat and the hummin’ of pistol ball is mu-u-u-u-sic in mee ear—Whar’s Duffield? I’m ‘ goin’ ter whip Duffield”. The last words had just left his mouth when he found himself sprawling on his back, levelled to the ground by a lightning blow from the horny hand of his opponent. True to his instincts, the Texan as he rolled grasped his revolver but before the weapon could be drawn, Duffield had shot from out of his coat pocket and a pistol bullet lodged in the groin of the unfortunate Waco Bill. “My name is Duffield[”], said the distinguished Arizonian, with a Chesterfieldian wave of the hand, “and them eer’s mee visiting keerd.”

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(This story was told by me to Sir Rose Price when we were travelling together with a party of officers on the Loup Fork of the Platte River in Nebraska, in 1875, and he made use of it in his book, The Two Americas, where it may be found even worse told than here.5 I make mention of this fact to save myself from the charge of plagiarism.) Duffield was killed by a man named Holmes in a dispute about a mining claim on the Rio San Pedro, in Arizona, in 1875. Then there was Charlie Meyers, the Judge of the town, who was a sturdy, honest, well-meaning Dutchman, quite well versed in pharmacy and physiology, but rather “off color” as a disciple of Blackstone. He discharged the duties of his position with commendable fidelity, making a grand display of Wood and Bache’s Dispensatory, Parke’s Military Hygiene, Beck’s Medical Jurisprudence, and other works of that kind which the ignorant Mexicans who mostly thronged his forum fondly imagined to be Digests and Pandects of all the laws in creation.6 A few petty fines and amercements, or where the offender was a vagamundo,7 (or tramp) sentencing him to two weeks in what the Judge called the “Shane-Gang”, constituted the extent of the business transacted. The Judge followed the even tenor of his way, and was growing dignified, bald, gray and heavy-paunched, surrounded by a galaxy of little Mexican children, when one evening his post-prandial meditations were disturbed by a case calling for the exercise of rather more legal ability than the Judge felt he possessed. This was nothing more or less than a plain case of fraud of this complexion. A German Jew, named Wolf, doing business in a small way as a Monte Pio, or Pawn-broker, had hired a family of Papago Indians to work in a field he owned. He told them he would give them one peso (dollar.) for their day’s labor. Now the rascal well knew that they understood him to mean the current rate of wages 5. Price tells the story in Two Americas, 312–13. 6. The Dispensatory of the United States of America, by George B. Wood and Franklin Bache, first appeared in the 1830s, and went through many editions. First published by Grigg, Elliot and Co. of Philadelphia, publication was later taken over by J.B. Lippincott and Co. Bourke probably means one of the later, Lippincott editions from the 1860s or ‘70s. “Parke’s” probably refers to Edmund A. Parkes, A Manual of Practical Hygiene Prepared Especially for Use in the Medical Service of the Army, published in London by John Churchill & Sons in 1864. Although a subsequent edition was published in the United States, with specific references to American practices, it did not appear until 1883. The two-volume Elements of Medical Jurisprudence by Theodoric R. Beck was first published in Albany, New York, by Websters and Skinners in 1823. It went into several editions both in the United States and Great Britain during the first half of the nineteenth century. 7. The correct word is vagabondo, meaning “tramp” or “vagabond.”

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which was one dollar per diem for each grown hand and half for children—as the family was composed of father, mother, son and daughter, it may be understood—they were grievously vexed when they were offered only one third of the stipend for which they had contracted, not to count the pound of flour which generous people frequently presented to each of these Indians after an unusually hard day’s labor. Appeals to Wolf’s reason and generosity were alike in vain: no help was to be had, unless the Juez (Judge.) could extend it and the Jew felt he was a match for the representative of the blind-folded Goddess almost any time. Indians were not competent witnesses, so he told the Judge, and more than that he stood ready to prove by his clerk that he had only promised a dollar, that he had already offered it and was now ready to pay it. The poor Papagoes could only urge, through the interpreter, immemorial custom and usage. The judge was non-plussed: his sympathies were plainly on the side of the defrauded Indians, but he couldn’t find any way to help them. He looked over his Webster’s Dictionary and carefully scrutinized the Materia Medica—he could do nothing except adjourn the Court until morning and seek the advice of some well-informed lawyer. So he said slowly: “Volf I can’t find nudding in dem law-books shust now about dis matter and I adshurns dis Gourt undil dermorrer at den o’glock when ve’ll resume id—bud, Volf, vile I can’t find nuddin in der law about der gase, I dink it my dooty, Volf, to dell yer that the sheneral obinion of dis gommunity, Volf, is dat you is von Gottammed son ov a ----, in vitch obinion, Volf, dis Gourt most heartily goincides”. Wolf lost his temper at this novel exordium, answered the judge in an impudent way, was fined ten dollars for contempt of court, started home a wiser and sadder man. The judge gave half the fine to the poor Papago Indians, who started off in gay spirits, thinking Judge Meyer’s Court the very fountain of Justice. The Papago Indians herein spoken of are as good people as any tribe of savages on the face of the earth. Docile, well-behaved and subordinate, they have never yet killed a white man and for generations have abstained from going on the war path, except when harassed and plundered by their hereditary enemies, the Apaches. Their women are proverbially chaste:—a Papago prostitute is a thing unheard of. These people are devout Catholics and rightfully proud of the beautiful church, built with their own

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hands two hundred years ago, under the superintendence of Jesuit missionaries. This church, San Xavier del Bac, is one of the most beautiful examples of the Moresque style I have ever seen, and altho’ it would be presumption for one to lay claim to architectural taste, I will say that San Xavier, altho’ built simply of adobe and lava will sustain the most rigid criticism for perfection of detail, of proportion and general effect. It is impossible for any examiner, be his creed what it may, to stand under its cloistered arch and survey its parts, without yielding to a sentiment of religious veneration and paying a tribute of respect to the memory of the great and good men who crossed the sea generations ago to bring the Bread of Life to these poor benighted savages. My first ball or baile in Tucson was an affair deserving of mention; the room was without flooring, other than the pounded dirt, the walls coarsely whitewashed and lighted with candles backed by tin reflectors. The ladies were all Mexicans of various shades from deep chocolate, through black and tan to pale lemon: they sat upon wooden benches extending round the room and without backs, so that to save dresses from the lime of the walls it was necessary to sit bolt upright. No introduction was necessary; if a gentleman wished to dance with a lady, he asked her and she accepted or declined at her option. After each dance it was de rigueur to invite your partner to partake of dulces, or refreshments, and in all cases these invitations were accepted[,] not that the young lady always ate what was purchased for her; frequently she would take the pasas (raisins,) bollos (sweetcakes,) or other refection, wrap them up in her handkerchief and keep them to take home. Those who wished it could have mescal or wine. In Arizona this wine is mostly imported and a viler decoction of boiled vinegar, logwood alum and copperas was never bottled. The ladies had a curious method of expressing their preference for a gentleman; this was done by breaking over his head a cascarrón (lit: egg-shell.) Or eggshell filled with cologne water or finely cut gold paper. The recipient of this delicate compliment had to return it in kind and then lead the young lady to the dance. The energetic musicians extorted something like music from their wheezy mouthorgans and tinkling harps. This is my recollection of a Tucson baile,

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barren and meagre enough it looks to me now, but there was a time when my companions and myself thought nothing of staying at one of them all night and of going to six in a week if we could. This is a long digression to make but the mention of General Devin’s death has brought back to my mind my first meeting with him in Tucson and from that, the divergence has been easy and I find myself insensibly recalling to mind my very long and varied experience in that country, our associates, the scenery and peculiarities, as well as the sterner features of scouting against the hostile Apaches, who in 1869, 1870 and 1871 were complete masters of the Territory, but in 1873, and 1874, thanks to General Crook and his soldiers were the most completely subdued Indians in America. On our train, we had the pleasure of meeting Surgeon Charles Alexander, on his way from his late station, Portland, Oregon, to Saint Louis, Missouri. During the Nez Percé war, Surgeon Alexander was chief Medical Officer for General Howard and rendered most important service. Surgeon Alexander’s brother, William, was a class-mate of mine, but left the Academy without graduating: was commissioned in the 8th Infantry and accidentally killed by a sentinel at Fort Macon, North Carolina, in 1867.8 His sister, Miss K. Alexander of Saint Paul, Minn., made a visit to Omaha, last January, where she was most kindly received by a large circle of Army friends and where we had the good fortune to make her acquaintance. Mr. Powers, a mining expert from Arizona, was also in our car. He is now the owner of the Silver King North and the Silver King South, two fine mines situate[d] at the extremities of the Silver King; This latter is now the property of Colonel James M. Barney, who paid half a million dollars for it. It is located thirty-five miles north of Florence, (a town on the Gila river,) in the Pinal Mountains, and was first discovered by a soldier of the 21st Infantry. Some of the ore is so rich that it yields over $1000 net to the ton, after paying more than $200 for the expenses of mining and hauling to San Francisco for reduction. 8. Fort Macon was a Third System walled fortification, begun in 1826 and completed in 1834. It guarded the approaches to Beaufort and Morehead City, North Carolina. After its capture by Union forces in 1862, it served as a coaling station. It then became a federal prison until 1876, when it was abandoned. The fort was restored by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934–36, and became a state park a year later. It is now administered by the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Weaver, Legacy in Brick and Stone, 139–41; Page, Ship Versus Shore, 81–82.

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April 6th. Read Macaulay’s Essay on Chatham. At Cheyenne met General and Mrs. Merritt, Genl. and Miss Gibbon, [(]who had halted at Fort Russell for a couple of days and now came on the train to go East,) Lieut. and Mrs. King, Captain and Mrs. Munson and Lt. Delaney. At Sidney, we saw Colonel and Mrs. Sumner, Surgeon Munn and daughter, Lieuts. Paddock, Baldwin, and other friends. Heard of the death of Professor [Albert E.] Church of West Point: an eminent mathematician and sound thinker, there have been, in my view, few men connected with the Military Academy, who have done more to develop healthy reasoning powers in the minds of the young cadets than Professor Church. Understanding his own branch of science most thoroughly, he also possessed what so many of knowledge lack, the powers of imparting to pupils the treasures accumulated by patient research during years of labor. No pupil ever asked Professor Church a question without obtaining a lucid answer, none ever made a recitation in his presence without being detected in his ignorance if he was ignorant or commended for his progress if he had made progress. I can’t say we liked Professor Church too well: we were all rather in awe of his attainments; but we admired and respected his ability and certainly none of the class of 1869 will be lacking in a warm regard for his memory. While I am indulging thus in the retrospective, before finishing this account of a pleasant trip, I wish to say that Capt. A. K. Long, of the Subsistence Department, whom Captain Woodruff has succeeded was the first officer with whom I travelled after receiving my commission. He was going to Fort Union, New Mexico,9 to be dépôt Commissary and I was journeying to Fort Craig, New Mexico,10 a post on the Rio Grande about 200 miles below Santa Fe. We met in Saint Louis, at the R.R. dépôt of the Missouri Pacific R.R. and travelled together to Kansas City, thence over the Kansas Pacific R.R. to Sheridan, Kansas, (a little town, 809 miles West of St. Louis.[)] 9. Fort Union was established in 1851 about twenty-four miles northeast of Las Vegas, New Mexico, on the Santa Fe Trail, to protect the trail, suppress the Jicarilla Apaches, and serve as a depot. The fort was relocated about a mile from the original site in 1861, and reconstructed as a star-shaped earthen fortification. Construction on a new post, immediately adjacent to the star-fort, was begun in 1863. The fort was abandoned in 1891, and in 1894, the land reverted to its original owners. It is now a national historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 105–6. 10. Fort Craig was established in 1854 on the Rio Grande, about four miles south of the present town of San Marcial. It guarded the north-south route along the Rio Grande against depredations by Apaches. The post was abandoned in 1885. Frazer, Forts of the West, 98.

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We stopped at Fort Harker, Kansas,11 a post build for the protection against the Cheyenne Indians, then very bad. From Fort Harker, we went North 30 miles to the camp on the Republican [River] (Solomon’s Fork) of Major Tilford’s Battalion of the 7th Cavalry, with which my friend Tom March was then serving. Unfortunately, a cold strong wind was blowing, so we couldn’t go hunting the buffalo as we intended, but we had all the buffalo meat we wanted to eat. In going over the Kansas Pacific R.R., herds of buffalo several times ran across the track directly in front of the engine and passengers had a lively time popping at them from the car windows; one or two seemed to be wounded, but none was killed. Ellsworth and Abilene, in those days, were hard towns, filled with the worst dregs of Texas and Missouri society, not to forget the gamblers, dead-beats and cut-throats who had flocked in from all points of the compass, North, South, east and West. Vigilance committees had been organized previous to our arrival and many victims of outraged justice had already expiated their crimes, without much time for repentance. At Sheridan, we took the stage and travelled 330 weary miles to Fort Union, which was then the Head.Qrs. of our Reg’t.12 I was temporarily assigned to the command of Company “I,” of the Regiment, and remained at the post a fortnight. Thence I went to Santa Fé, 110 miles, and from there, a wearisome jog, of 182 more, to Fort Craig, (since abandoned.)13 Bourke ends his reminiscences here. 11. Fort Harker was established in 1864, about three miles east of the present town of Ellsworth, and relocated one mile northeast in 1867. Originally known as Fort Ellsworth, it was renamed Fort Harker in 1866. It protected remote frontier settlements and construction crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The post was abandoned in 1872, and the reservation transferred to the Interior Department in 1880. Frazer, Forts of the West, 53–54. 12. 3rd Cavalry. 13. This parenthetical notation must have been inserted at a later date. Fort Craig was abandoned in 1885.

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Appendix 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Persons Mentioned in the Diary

Due to the large number of sources for the biographical sketches in this section, footnotes or endnotes would have been impractical. Consequently, I have placed the sources in parentheses at the end of each entry. In cases where the author has only one publication in the bibliography, I have used only the author’s last name. In cases of multiple publications by the same author, I have placed the date of publication of the edition cited. Military When discussing the careers of cavalrymen, the designation of units overlapping the Civil War tends to be confusing. In mid1861, the Regular Army had six mounted regiments, viz. First and Second Dragoons, Mounted Riflemen, and First, Second and Third Cavalry. On August 3, 1861, Congress reorganized these regiments, designating them all “cavalry,” and renumbering them as follows: First Dragoons to First Cavalry Second Dragoons to Second Cavalry Mounted Riflemen to Third Cavalry First Cavalry to Fourth Cavalry Second Cavalry to Fifth Cavalry 387

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Third Cavalry to Sixth Cavalry. After the war, additional Regular Army mounted units were authorized as needed (Herr and Wallace, 116). ADAM, Emil (1831–1903), which Bourke spelled “Adams,” was captain in the 5th Cavalry. A native of Bavaria, he served in that country’s army before settling in Illinois. He served in the Illinois infantry during the Civil War and entered the Regular Army in 1867. He was breveted to major for gallantry in action against Indians at Muchos Cañones, Arizona, on Sept. 25, 1872, but was suspended for six months in 1874, when his failure to react to an attack on a wagon train near San Carlos led to a major outbreak. He participated in Crook’s Bighorn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876, and in the Nez Percé War. He retired as a major in 1893. (Heitman, 1:151; Altshuler, 1991, 2–3) ALLEN, James, of Indiana, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was posted to the 2nd Cavalry. He rose through the grades, and in 1888 became captain. In 1890, he was assigned to the Signal Corps, and in 1899 became lieutenant colonel. During the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection, he served in the Volunteers, attaining the rank of brigadier general in that service in 1901. (Heitman, 1:159) ALLISON, James Nicholas, entered West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was posted to the 2nd Cavalry as a second lieutenant, a position he held at the time Bourke knew him. (Heitman, 1:160) ANDREWS, William Howard (d. 1880), joined the Volunteers as a captain in 1862, and was mustered out as a brevet major. He was named first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry in 1866, and assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp McDowell, Arizona, in December 1870, serving as post adjutant for the next ten months. He retired in disability as captain in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 10; Heitman, 1:167) ANDRUS, Edwin Proctor, of New York, was appointed second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry upon graduation from West Point in 1875. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1883, captain in 1893, and major of the 3rd Cavalry in 1902. (Heitman, 1:167) ARTHUR, William, joined the Volunteer artillery as first lieutenant in 1862. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. He joined the 3rd Artillery as

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second lieutenant in 1866. He was appointed major and paymaster on July 26, 1876, and retired in 1898. (Heitman, 1:172) AUGUR, Christopher Colon (1821–98), entered West Point in 1839, and upon graduation was breveted as second lieutenant of the 2nd Infantry. Two years later, in 1845, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. Augur served honorably during the Mexican War and on the Indian frontier, working his way up the grades. In 1861, he was promoted to major. After spending the first few months of the Civil War as commandant of cadets at West Point, he was posted to the Washington defenses. He was breveted for gallant and meritorious service during the Shenandoah Campaign of 1862, and the Mississippi Campaign the following year, and finished the war as brevet major general. In 1869, he was appointed brigadier general, and spent the remainder of his career commanding various departments in the Military Division of the Missouri. He retired in 1885. (Warner, 12; Heitman, 1:175) AUGUR, Jacob Arnold, entered West Point in 1865, and was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry upon graduation. In 1871, he was promoted to first lieutenant, and in 1879, captain. After serving as major and lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry, he was promoted to colonel of the 10th Cavalry in 1902. (Heitman, 1:175) BABCOCK, John Breckinridge (1843–1909), a native of Louisiana nevertheless served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was breveted to major for gallantry. In 1867, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutenant the following year. He went to Arizona with the regiment in 1872. He was breveted to colonel for gallant service in action against Indians at Tonto Creek, on June 16, 1873, and at Four Peaks, Arizona, on January 16, 1874. He retired as a brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 14–15; Heitman, 1:178) BACHE, Alfred Boyce (c. 1846–1876), was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant the following year. Although his health appears to have been frail, he was active in scouting expeditions in Arizona, and several times was recommended for brevets. His health was broken by the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, especially during the Horse Meat March, when he insisted on joining his company in the fight at Slim Buttes. He died two months later. (Altshuler, 1991, 15)

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BACON, John Mosby, of Kentucky, served in the Volunteers and was mustered out as major in 1865. A year later, he was commissioned captain in the 9th Cavalry. From 1871 to 1884, he served as aide-de-camp to General Sherman. In 1884, he was promoted to major of the 7th Cavalry, rising to lieutenant colonel of the 1st Cavalry in 1893, and colonel of the 8th Cavalry in 1897. During the Spanish-American War, Bacon served as brigadier general of Volunteers. He retired in 1899. (Heitman, 1:179) BAKER, Eugene Mortimer (d. 1884), of New York, entered West Point in 1854, and upon graduation was breveted as second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons. In 1860, the position of second lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons fell open and he was appointed to the active rank. He was promoted to first lieutenant in May 1861, three months before the 1st Dragoons was redesignated 1st Cavalry. He distinguished himself in combat, attaining the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel in the Civil War, and colonel during operations against Indians during the three years immediately following the war. In 1869, he was promoted to major of the 2nd Cavalry. A year later, with two squadrons of the regiment, he attacked a Piegan village in Montana. Although the number of women and children taken captive and later released far outweighed the combatants, and Sherman and Sheridan maintained these Piegans had committed depredations, the Eastern press branded Baker a murderer. The public outrage essentially ended any hope of military participation in the development of President Grant’s Peace Policy. (Heitman, 1:184; Utley, Frontier Regulars, 1984, 191–92) BALDWIN, Frank Dwight (1842–1923), two-time Medal of Honor winner, entered the army as a lieutenant of the Volunteers in 1861. He won his first Medal of Honor (awarded in 1891) for distinguished bravery during the Atlanta Campaign, and was mustered out in 1865 as a lieutenant colonel. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 19th Infantry in 1866, and in 1869 joined the 5th Infantry as first lieutenant. He won his second Medal of Honor (awarded in 1894) for valor at McClellan Creek, Texas, during the Red River War in 1874. During the Great Sioux War, he distinguished himself in Col. Nelson Miles’s campaigns in Montana. He served in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection, retiring as major general in 1906. Baldwin was one of only five men ever to win the Medal of Honor twice, and

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the only one to receive it for both the Civil War and Indian Wars. (O’Neal, 38–40; Heitman, 1:185–86) BARTLETT, Charles Gratiot (d. 1901), of New York, joined the militia as a sergeant in April 1861, and was commissioned captain of the 12th Infantry in August of that year. While remaining nominally in the 12th, he served in various Volunteer capacities during the Civil War, including a brief stint as colonel of the 119th U.S. Colored Infantry. After several transfers of regiment in the postwar army, he was promoted to major of the 11th Infantry in 1876. He retired as colonel of the 9th Infantry in 1896, and drowned in 1901. (Heitman, 1:196) BARNARD, Phineas Pierce (1820–97), native of New York, joined the Volunteers as an assistant quartermaster in 1863. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1867, joining the regiment at Fort Laramie. He joined the 5th Cavalry in 1869, and accompanied the regiment to Arizona. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1875, and served in the Platte until 1884, when he retired because of age. (Altshuler, 1991, 20) BENTEEN, Frederick William (d. 1898), native of Virginia, was living in Missouri when the Civil War broke out, and received a commission as second lieutenant in one of that state’s Union Volunteer units. He distinguished himself during the war, and by 1865 was colonel of the 138th U.S. Colored Infantry. After the war, Benteen became senior captain in the newly organized 7th Cavalry, serving in every campaign. He also headed a faction of officers opposed to the regiment’s lieutenant colonel, George Armstrong Custer. Benteen survived the disaster at the Little Bighorn and retired in 1888 as a major. (O’Neal, 41–44) BISHOP, Hoel Smith (1850–1925), graduated from West Point in 1873, and was posted to Fort Whipple as second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. In 1876, he participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Bannock War in Wyoming and Idaho in 1878. He retired as colonel in 1913. (Altshuler, 1991, 35) BRADLEY, Luther Prentice (1822–1910), native of Connecticut, was appointed lieutenant colonel of a Volunteer regiment in 1861, rising to brigadier general by 1864. In 1866, he entered the Regular Army as lieutenant colonel of the 27th Infantry in 1866. He commanded Fort C.F. Smith, Montana, during the Red Cloud War. As lieutenant colonel of the 9th Infantry, he was in command of Camp

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Robinson, Nebraska, when Crazy Horse was killed there in 1877. Bradley was appointed colonel of the 3rd Infantry in 1879, and was commander of the Military District of New Mexico in 1881, during the Cibicue outbreak in Arizona. He took troops to reinforce Fort Apache, Arizona, and commanded a special military district created to deal with the crisis. When New Mexico was attached to the Department of Arizona during the Geronimo War, Bradley served under Crook in an effort to contain the raiding. He retired in 1886. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:157; Heitman, 1:239) BRISBIN, James Sanks (1837–92), known as “Grasshopper Jim” for his interest in developing Western agriculture, was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons (renumbered 1st Cavalry) in 1861. He finished the Civil War as major general of Volunteers. In 1866, he was transferred to the 9th Cavalry, as captain, and two years later was appointed major of the 2nd Cavalry. As commander of Fort Ellis, Montana, Brisbin led a relief force to rescue forty-six citizens besieged by Indians at Fort Pease, a private stockade on the Yellowstone River. This incident, in February 1876, was one of the first actions of the Great Sioux War. He later served under Col. Nelson Miles, when Miles followed Sitting Bull as far as the Canadian border. He was colonel of the 8th Cavalry at the time of his death. Brisbin wrote several books boosting development of the West, the best known of which is The Beef Bonanza: or, How to Get Rich on the Plains. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:170; Heitman, 1:246) BUBB, John Wilson, enlisted in the 12th Infantry in 1861, and was commissioned as lieutenant five years later. In 1869, he was assigned to the 4th Infantry as first lieutenant, serving as quartermaster from 1872 to 1875. During Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, he was acting commissary of subsistence, and played a significant part during the campaign. (Heitman, 1:257) BUELL, George Pearson (d. 1883) of Indiana, served in the Volunteers and was mustered out as brevet brigadier general in 1865. He also was breveted to brigadier general of the Regular Army for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War. Buell was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 29th Infantry in 1866, and transferred to the 11th Infantry three years later. He was colonel of the 15th Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:260) BURKE, Daniel Webster (1841–1911), native of Connecticut, enlisted in the 2nd Infantry in 1858, serving in Minnesota, Dakota,

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and Nebraska. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1862, serving with distinction in the Civil War. In 1876, he was captain of the 14th Infantry, serving in Crook’s campaigns. He commanded Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, at the Spotted Tail Agency, when Crazy Horse surrendered, and it was at his suggestion that Crazy Horse went to Camp Robinson, where he was killed. Burke, however, had no knowledge of any plans to confine Crazy Horse at Robinson. He retired in 1899 as brigadier general. See also CLARK, William Philo; CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:192–93) BURNHAM, Horace Blois (d. 1894), served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and finished as a brevet colonel. In 1867, he was commissioned major and judge advocate, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel judge advocate general in 1884. He retired four years later. (Heitman, 1:265) BURROWES, Thomas Bredin (d. 1885) was appointed first lieutenant of the 18th Infantry in 1861, dismissed and reinstated. He was promoted to captain in 1864. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was captain of the 9th Infantry. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:267) BURT, Andrew Sheridan (1839–1915), native of Ohio, enlisted as a Volunteer in 1861, but almost immediately was commissioned second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry. He was promoted to the active rank of captain in 1863, and breveted to major for gallant and meritorious service during the Atlanta Campaign. After the war he was posted to Fort Bridger, Utah, and Fort C. F. Smith, Montana. With the reduction of the army he was reassigned to the 9th Infantry. Burt participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. He retired as brigadier general in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 50–51; Heitman, 1:267) CAIN, Avery Billings (d. 1879), of Vermont, was appointed first lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1861, and promoted to captain in 1863. He was breveted to major for gallant and meritorious service at the North Anna River in Virginia in 1864. Despite his mental breakdown, he was still in service at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:273) CALLAHAN, Charles Michael (1839–90), native of Ireland, enlisted as a sergeant in the Volunteers in April 1861, rising to lieutenant the following September. He was mustered out as captain in 1865, and a year later was appointed lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery.

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He was transferred to the 4th Cavalry in 1874, and served under Crook in the Platte. Promoted to captain, he served in Arizona from 1884 to 1886, and was retired due to ill health the following year. (Altshuler, 1991, 53). CALHOUN, James (d. 1876) of Ohio, was brother-in-law of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, and died with Custer’s command at the Little Bighorn. He entered the army as a private of the 23rd Infantry in 1865. Two years later, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 32nd Infantry. After serving in the 21st Infantry, he was assigned to the 7th Cavalry on January 1, 1871, and promoted to first lieutenant eight days later. See also CUSTER, Boston; CUSTER, Thomas Ward; REED, Arthur Harry. (Heitman, 1:274) CAMPBELL, Joseph Boyd (d. 1891), entered West Point in 1857. Upon graduation he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 4th Artillery. During the Civil War, he was breveted to major. In 1867, he was commissioned captain in the 4th Artillery, and was major of the 2nd Artillery at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:278) CAPRON, Thaddeus Hurlbut (d. 1890), enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned first lieutenant in 1863. After the Civil War, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1871. He retired in 1887. Capron left a diary and series of letters on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Heitman, 1:281) CARD, Benjamin Cozzens, joined the army as first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry on September 27, 1861, and was promoted to captain and assistant quartermaster the same day. He finished the Civil War as a brevet brigadier general. He retired in 1889 as lieutenant colonel and deputy quartermaster general. (Heitman, 1:281) CARLTON, Caleb Henry (1836–1923), native of Ohio, was an 1859 graduate of West Point. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry, and by 1862 had risen to captain. During the Civil War he served as colonel of the Volunteers and earned two brevets. Returning to the Regular Army, he served at Forts Laramie and Fetterman from 1867 to 1869, when he was dropped under the Army Reduction Acts. A year later, he was appointed to the 10th Cavalry at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, and in 1876 was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry and posted to Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming. He served in Arizona from 1882 to 1885, and later was posted to Texas. He retired as brigadier general on June 30, 1897. Bourke often spelled

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his name as “Carleton.” (Althshuler, 1991, 58) CARPENTER, William Lewis (1844–98), native of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Artillery in 1864. He was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to the 9th Infantry in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1873. He served on survey and scientific expeditions, including to the Bighorn Mountains, and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He later served in Arizona, where he was promoted to captain. (Altshuler, 1991, 58–59) CARR, Eugene Asa (1830–1910), native of New York, was an 1850 graduate of West Point, and served on the frontier until the outbreak of the Civil War when he joined the Volunteers. He was breveted to brigadier general of Volunteers in 1862, and received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. After being mustered out of the Volunteers, he was appointed major of the 5th Cavalry, retroactive to 1862, and again posted to the frontier. He was appointed lieutenant colonel in 1873. After service in Arizona from 1872 to 1876, the 5th was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Carr participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and led the preliminary relief force at Slim Buttes, on September 9, 1876. He was promoted to colonel of the 6th Cavalry in 1879, and retired as brigadier general in 1893. See also MERRITT, Wesley. (King; Altshuler, 1991, 60–61; O’Neal, 67–72) CHAMBERS, Alexander (1832–88), native of New York, was an 1853 graduate of West Point. He served in the Southwest and against the Seminoles in Florida. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was captain of the 18th Infantry. He finished the war as a brevet colonel of the Regular Army and brevet brigadier general of Volunteers. In 1876, he was major of the 4th Infantry, in command of Fort Fetterman. In October of that year, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 21st Infantry. He commanded the infantry contingent of Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and led them in the fight at Slim Buttes. He was colonel of the 17th Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:293; Thrapp, 1991, 1:248) CHASE, George Francis (1848–1925), 1871 graduate of West Point, was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry the following year. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and, as first lieutenant, served in Arizona. He retired as a brigadier general in 1912. (Altshuler, 1991, 67)

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CHERRY, Samuel Austin, of Indiana, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry. He transferred to the 5th Cavalry on July 28, 1876. He was murdered by a soldier on May 11, 1881. (Heitman, 1:298) CHUBB, Charles St. John, of the District of Columbia, served as a private from 1873 to 1875, when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 17th Infantry in 1875. By 1903, he was major of the 15th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:301) CHURCH, Albert E. (d. 1878), of Connecticut, entered West Point in 1824, and upon graduation, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1836. Two years later, he was appointed professor of mathematics at West Point, a post he held until his death on March 30, 1878. Together with his immediate predecessor, Charles Davies, Church was instrumental in shaping the mathematics program at the academy. He was the author of seven textbooks. (Heitman, 1:301; http://www.dean.usma. edu/math/about/history/contrib.htm) CLAGETT, John Rozier (d. 1902), of the District of Columbia, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1875. He rose through the grades, becoming captain in 1892. He was major of the 2nd Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:302) CLARK, William Philo (1845–84), which Bourke often spelled “Clarke,” was a native of New York. He graduated from West Point in 1868, and was appointed second lieutenant, 2nd Cavalry, at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming. He served on General Crook’s staff in 1876 and 1877, figuring prominently in the Great Sioux War, particularly with events surrounding Crazy Horse’s death. Much of the acrimony between Clark and Crazy Horse that set the event into motion appears to have stemmed from Frank Grouard’s mistranslation of a remark by Crazy Horse. During the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1878–79, Clark managed to round up a large band without bloodshed. His book, Indian Sign Language, remains definitive. He also wrote an account of Crazy Horse’s death, which was edited by Robert A. Clark, and published in The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, in 1976. See also BURKE, Daniel Webster, GROUARD, Frank; CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:278; Robinson, 1995, 337–38) CLEMENTS, Bennett A., was assigned to departmental headquarters in Omaha. He joined the army as a first lieutenant and assistant surgeon in 1856, serving in Florida, Texas, and New Mexico.

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He was promoted to surgeon and major in 1863, and administered hospitals during and after the Civil War. Dr. Clements participated in General Crook’s Horse Meat March, and filed a report giving the medical effects of the ordeal. He also was one of the medical officers who, in 1884, certified that Ranald Mackenzie was insane and unfit for further duty. Clements’s report on the Horse Meat March is found in Greene, 1993, 97ff, and in Appendix 2 of this volume; and on Mackenzie in Robinson, 1993, 323–24. See MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell. COALE, John Holbrook (d. 1883), of Maryland, was commissioned as a captain of the commissary service in the Volunteers in 1862, and promoted to lieutenant colonel a year later. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 27th Infantry, but at the time of Bourke’s writing, was serving in the 2nd Cavalry. He was a first lieutenant at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:312) COPPINGER, John Joseph (1834–1909), native of Ireland, was a professional soldier. He was appointed captain of the 14th Infantry in 1861, and served with distinction during the Civil War. In 1866, he was assigned to the 23rd Infantry, serving in San Francisco and Alaska before arriving in Arizona in 1872. He commanded Camp Verde until 1874 when he was reassigned to the Department of the Platte. He was breveted to colonel for service against hostile Indians. He was confirmed as brigadier general in 1896, and commanded the Department of the Platte. He retired in 1898, after being appointed major general of Volunteers. (Altshuler, 1991, 78; Heitman, 1:327) CRAWFORD, Emmet (1844–86), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Volunteer during the Civil War and was mustered out as first lieutenant. In 1866, he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 27th Infantry. With the consolidation of regiments, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp Verde in 1871, moving with the regiment to the Platte where he served in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Crawford was promoted to captain in 1879, and in 1882 was assigned to Camp Thomas, Arizona. Upon Crook’s return to Arizona, he assigned Crawford as commander of Indian Scouts, and military superintendent at San Carlos. During the Geronimo Campaign, he was killed in a skirmish with Mexican militia. See also THREE BEARS. (Altshuler, 1991, 84–85; O’Neal, 95–96)

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CRITTENDEN, Albert Burnley, of Kentucky, was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1874. He resigned in 1880. (Heitman, 1:338) CRITTENDEN, John Jordan (d. 1876) of Kentucky, was appointed second lieutenant of the 20th Infantry in 1875. He accompanied the 7th Cavalry in Terry’s Dakota Column on temporary assignment because of a shortage in officers of one of the companies. He died at the Little Bighorn. Not to be confused with a cousin, also named John Jordan Crittenden, who was an officer of the 22nd Infantry. (Heitman, 1:338) CUMMINGS, Joseph Franklin (1851–1912), native of Texas, graduated from West Point in 1876, and served in the Platte and Dakota in the 3rd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1881. Cummings served in Arizona in 1882 and 1883. He was dismissed under sentence of court martial effective February 15, 1884. He returned to Texas, where he became superintendent of public schools in Brownsville, and later inspector of Customs. There is a Cummings Middle School in Brownsville. (Altshuler, 1991, 89) CUNNINGHAM. Neither Heitman nor Altshuler lists a lieutenant named Cunningham in the 3rd Cavalry during this period. CUSHING, Harry Cooke (d. 1902), served a brief stint in a Rhode Island artillery unit before being commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Artillery in October 1861. He was promoted to first lieutenant the following year, and captain in 1871. He retired as a major in 1895. (Heitman, 1:347) CUSTER, Thomas Ward (1845–76), younger brother of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, who died with him at the Little Bighorn. Tom Custer entered the army as a private in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1862. He finished the Civil War as a brevet major of Volunteers, and later was brevet lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army. He also was awarded the Medal of Honor twice, which occasionally aroused the jealousy of his older brother. Tom Custer was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Infantry in February 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant of the 7th Cavalry, the following July. He was a captain at the time of his death. See also CALHOUN, James; CUSTER, Boston; REED, Arthur Harry. (Heitman, 1:348; Day) DAVIS, George Breckenridge (1847–1914), is best known for supervising publication of the monumental War of the Rebellion:

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Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. A native of Massachusetts, he entered the Volunteers as a sergeant in 1863, and was mustered out as first lieutenant. He entered West Point and graduated in 1871, after which he was posted to Fort D. A. Russell as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1873, when he was assigned to the academy as assistant professor. Davis was promoted to first lieutenant in 1877, and rejoined his regiment in the Platte. In 1883, he returned to the academy as principal assistant professor of history, geography, and ethics, and assistant professor of law, and wrote Outlines of International Law. He was promoted to captain in 1888, and after service in the Indian Territory, was promoted to major and judge advocate. Later he served for twelve years as judge advocate general of the army. He was a major general at the time of his retirement in 1911. (Altshuler, 1991, 95) DAVIS, Wirt, (1839–1914) native of Virginia, enlisted in the 1st Cavalry in 1860, and was sergeant when the regiment was renumbered as 4th Cavalry a year later. In 1863, he was commissioned as second lieutenant, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1865. He earned three brevets during the Civil War, one for action against Indians in Texas in 1872, and a fifth for the Dull Knife Fight on November 25, 1876. He served in Arizona from 1884 to 1890, and in Cuba and the Philippines. He retired as colonel of the 3rd Cavalry in 1901, and was advanced to brigadier general (retired) three years later. (Altshuler, 1991, 98–99) DELANEY, Hayden (1845–90), native of Ohio, served as an enlisted man in the Volunteers during the Civil War. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1867, and was breveted for service against the Paiute Indians of Oregon in 1868. He was breveted a second time for action in Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s attack on the Cheyennes on November 25, 1876, during Crook’s Powder River Expedition in Wyoming. He was promoted to captain in 1889, but suffered from lung hemorrhages. He died during sick leave. (Altshuler, 1991, 100; Bourke, 1980, 390–92) DEVIN, John D. (d. 1882), joined the army as a second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in April 1861, and was promoted to first lieutenant a month later. In 1863, he was promoted to captain, and finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:370)

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DEVIN, Thomas C. (1832–78), native of New York, formed a company of Volunteer cavalry for the Union Army and within a year, he had risen to colonel, rising to become brevet major general of Volunteers and brevet brigadier general of the Regular Army. He was regarded as one of the great cavalry leaders of the war. In 1866, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the newly organized 8th Cavalry. He commanded the District of Nevada before assuming command of the Subdistrict of Prescott in January 1868, and later held temporary command of the entire District of Arizona. Devin gained a reputation as a troubleshooter who was sent to straighten out problems in garrisons, and with Indian relocations. He was appointed colonel of the 3rd Cavalry in 1877, and went on sick leave shortly before his death on April 4, 1878. (Altshuler, 1991, 102–3) DEWEES, Thomas Bull (d. 1886), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1858. When the regiment was redesignated 2nd Cavalry in 1861, he was promoted to second lieutenant, eventually attaining the rank of captain. In October 1881, he was named major of the 9th Cavalry. Bourke occasionally refers to him as “major,” but no such brevet appears on his record. (Heitman, 1:370–71) DODGE, Frederick Leighton (d. 1891), native of New Hampshire, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and was appointed first lieutenant in 1865. In 1867, he was named second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in the Department of the Columbia. He was transferred to Fort Whipple, Arizona, in 1872, and promoted to first lieutenant a year later. His regiment transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1874. In 1889, he suffered a mental breakdown, and retired two years later. A few months after his retirement, he committed suicide. (Altshuler, 1991, 105) DODGE, Richard Irving (1827–95), 1848 graduate of West Point, was a grand-nephew of Washington Irving who shared Irving’s literary bent. Like Bourke, Dodge was a prolific diarist and observer as well as a naturalist, publishing several books on western wildlife and on Indian culture. Perhaps his best known are The Black Hills: A Minute Description of the Routes, Scenery, Soil, Climate, Timber, Gold, Geology, Zoology, etc. (1876), and Our Wild Indians: Thirty Three Years’ Personal Experience Among the Red Men of the Great West (1882). He spent part of the period prior to the Civil War on the Texas Frontier. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who transferred to the

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Volunteers to attain advancement during the war, Dodge remained in the Regular service, although he was breveted to colonel for faithful and meritorious service in the organization of the Volunteer armies. Promoted to the active rank of major in 1864, he spent much of the postwar era on the frontier. He was named lieutenant colonel of the 23rd Infantry in 1873, and promoted to colonel and aide-de-camp to General Sherman in 1882. He retired in 1891. Wayne R. Kime has edited Dodge’s book, The Plains of North America and Their Inhabitants (1989), as well as four volumes comprising his service journals from 1875 to 1883. For all his work, it is remarkable that Dodge has received little mention in biographical encyclopedias. (Kime, 1997, 9; Heitman, 1:377) DORST, Joseph Haddox (1852–1916), native of Kentucky, was an 1873 graduate of West Point. He was assigned to the 4th Cavalry in Texas, and distinguished himself during the Red River War of 1874–75. He was active in the Powder River Expedition of 1876, and the Geronimo Campaign of 1886. He later taught at the Military Academy, served as military attaché in Vienna, smuggled arms to Cuban insurgents, and served in the Santiago Campaign and the Philippine Insurrection. He retired as colonel of the 3rd Cavalry. (Altshuler, 106) DOUGHERTY, John Jefferson (d. 1899), whose name Bourke spelled as “Doherty,” entered West Point in 1868. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 11th Infantry in 1872, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1880. He retired as a captain in 1890. (Heitman, 1:380) DREW, George Augustus (1832–1921), native of Michigan, was appointed a captain of the Volunteers in 1862, and promoted to major the following year. He was breveted for distinguished service in the Shenandoah and against Richmond. He was named second lieutenant of the 10th Infantry in 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1868. A year later, he was reassigned to the 3rd Cavalry. He was transferred to Camp Bowie in 1871, and to the Department of the Platte the same year. He served as acting assistant quartermaster for the Big Horn Expedition under Reynolds in 1876. He retired as a captain in 1896, but was advanced to major in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 108–9) EATON, George Oscar (1848–1930), native of Maine, was an 1873 graduate of West Point. He joined the 5th Cavalry at Camp

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Verde, Arizona, and was recommended for a brevet for scouting expeditions. He may have been the model for the hero in Charles King’s novel, The Colonel’s Daughter. He served on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. Eaton resigned in 1883, and later moved to Montana, where he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention. (Altshuler, 1991, 116–17) EGAN, James (d. 1883) called Teddy by his friends, was a native of Ireland who enlisted in the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1856. He served with distinction in the Civil War, and was named second lieutenant of the new 2nd Cavalry in 1863. He was promoted to captain in 1868, and in 1872 was among the officers assigned to the Grand Duke Tsarevich Alexis’s tour of the Plains. Egan’s initiative during Reynolds’s Powder River fight prevented a confused, blundering situation from becoming potentially disastrous. He retired on disability in 1879, due to wounds and injuries received in the line of duty. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:454; Heitman, 1:399) EVANS, Andrew Wallace (1829–1906), native of Maryland, graduated from West Point together with Crook in 1852. He served on the frontier until 1863, and was breveted for the battle of Valverde in 1862. He was named colonel of the 1st Maryland Cavalry in 1864, and was breveted for distinguished service in the Appomattox Campaign. In 1865, he was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry, and posted to the frontier. He went to Arizona in 1870, and served under Crook as departmental inspector general. Evans transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1876, and commanded a battalion during Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1883 as lieutenant colonel of the 7th Cavalry. (Altshuler, 1991, 123) EZEKIEL, David Israel (d. 1895), of Ohio, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. The following year, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, and was mustered out as captain of the 6th U.S. Volunteers in 1866. He was appointed first lieutenant of the 38th Infantry, and in 1870 was assigned to the 4th Infantry. He retired in 1878. (Heitman, 1:411) FETTERMAN, William Judd (ca. 1833–66), native of Connecticut, enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was breveted to lieutenant colonel for distinguished service. Commissioned as a captain in the 18th Infantry, he was posted to Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming. On December 21, 1866, he led his men against a band of Indians, following a decoy party into a trap. Fetterman and his entire

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eighty-man command died in the fight. (O’Neal, 113–15; Brown) FLOYD-JONES, De Lancey (d. 1902), of New York, entered West Point in 1841, and was breveted to second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry upon graduation in 1846. Shortly thereafter, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He rose through the grades and was commissioned major of the 11th Infantry shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War. He was breveted for service in both the Mexican War and Civil War. In 1867, he was appointed colonel of the 6th Infantry, and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry in 1871. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:426) FORD, George Edward (1841–93), native of Philadelphia, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant in 1862. He finished the Civil War as captain and brevet colonel of Volunteers. Ford was commissioned second lieutenant of the 39th Infantry in 1867, but was cut from the list by army consolidations. He served as Indian agent in New Mexico and Montana from 1869 to 1870, when he joined the 3rd Cavalry as first lieutenant. He was a captain when he was retired for disability in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 132–33) FORSYTH, George Alexander “Sandy” (1837–1915) is best remembered for holding out with fifty men during a six-day siege by some 750 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors at Beecher’s Island, Colorado, in 1868. A native of Illinois, he enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was appointed first lieutenant later that year. He served as an aide to Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, and was breveted to brigadier general. In 1866, he was appointed major of the 9th Cavalry. After serving intermittently as secretary and aide to General Sheridan between 1869 and 1881, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry. He served in Arizona from 1884 to 1887. A year later, he was suspended for three years on half pay for financial irregularities. He retired in 1890, and wrote two books, The Story of the Soldier and Thrilling Days of Army Life. (Altshuler, 1991, 133–34; Lamar, 381; Thrapp, 1991, 1:509–10) FORSYTH, James William “Tony,” of Ohio, entered West Point in 1851, and in 1856 was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. He had known Sheridan since West Point, and prior to the Civil War, they had served together in the Pacific Northwest. He served under Sheridan from 1864, distinguishing himself in the battles of Opequon, Fisher’s Hill, and Middletown. He finished the

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Civil War as a brevet brigadier general. Forsyth served as Sheridan’s aide-de-camp from 1869 to 1873, when he became the lieutenantgeneral’s military secretary. In 1878, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 1st Cavalry, and joined that regiment. In 1886, he became colonel of the 7th Cavalry, which he commanded in the slaughter at Wounded Knee in 1890. (Hutton, 153–54; Heitman, 1:430) FOSTER, Charles Warren, enlisted in the Engineers in 1846, and served for ten years. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he became captain of the Volunteers, attaining the brevet ranks of lieutenant colonel of Volunteers, and lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army. In 1865, he was appointed captain and acting quartermaster, and in 1883, major quartermaster. He retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:431) FOSTER, James Evans Heron (1848–83), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1864 and was discharged in 1865. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry in 1873, and distinguished himself in the Rosebud Fight. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879, but tuberculosis forced him onto the inactive list in 1881. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:511) FUREY, John Vincent, of New York, enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in 1861. Taking a discharge in 1862, he reentered the Volunteers two years later as quartermaster captain. He was breveted to major of the Volunteers for meritorious service in the Quarter Master Department during the Civil War. Furey was appointed captain and assistant quartermaster of the Regular Army in 1867. Although Altshuler (Cavalry Yellow & Infantry Blue) does not list him among the officers who served in Arizona, he was Crook’s quartermaster both there and later in the Platte. He retired in 1903 as brigadier general. (Heitman, 1:441) GIBBON, John (1827–96), known to the Indians as “No Hip Bone” or “One Who Limps” because of a crippling wound he received at Gettysburg, was an 1847 graduate of West Point. During the late 1840s and 1850s, he served in Mexico, the frontier, and in the Seminole campaigns in Florida. During the Civil War, he commanded the “Iron Brigade” at Second Manassas and in Maryland, ultimately rising to the rank of major general of Volunteers. After the war, he was appointed colonel of the 36th Infantry, and in 1869, of the 7th Infantry. With Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry, he relieved Maj. Marcus Reno at the Little Bighorn, and discovered the remains of

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Custer’s column. He also participated in the Nez Percé War, and in 1885, was appointed brigadier general. He retired in 1891. (Warner, 171–72; Thrapp, 1991, 2:551–52) GIBBS, Eugene Beauharnais (1833–82), son of a former governor of Rhode Island, joined the Volunteers as captain in the 2nd California Infantry, in 1861. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 8th Infantry in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant two years later. In 1871, he joined the 6th Infantry and served as aide to Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry during the campaigns of 1876. He was a captain of the Quarter Master’s Department at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 139) GIBSON, Joseph Ruff, of Pennsylvania, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1862. He was breveted to captain and major for service during the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel in 1866 for meritorious and distinguished service during a cholera outbreak at Harts Island, in New York Harbor. He was a lieutenant colonel and departmental surgeon general at the time of his retirement in 1895. (Heitman, 1:454) GOODALE, Greenleaf Austin (1839–1915), native of Maine, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and became first lieutenant of the 77th U.S. Colored Infantry in 1864. He earned two brevets during the Civil War and was mustered out as captain in 1866. He then was commissioned first lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry, serving in California and the Pacific Northwest. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1874 when he was reassigned to the Department of the Platte. When he was major of the 23rd Infantry, his command captured Cebu in 1898. He retired as brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 140–41) GORDON, David Stewart, was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons in April 1861, and promoted to first lieutenant six weeks later. He remained when the regiment was redesignated 2nd Cavalry, and was promoted to captain in 1863. In 1877, he was promoted to major. Gordon was colonel of the 6th Cavalry at the time of his retirement in 1896. A combat soldier, he was breveted to major for the Gettysburg campaign, and to lieutenant colonel for action against Indians in Wyoming in 1870. (Heitman, 1:465) GORDON, George Alexander (1833–78), native of Virginia, was an 1854 graduate of West Point. After serving in the artillery, he transferred to the 2nd Dragoons in 1855, and took part in suppress-

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ing disturbances in Kansas. He was promoted to captain in 1861, shortly before the 2nd Dragoons were renumbered as 2nd Cavalry. During the Civil War he was breveted to lieutenant colonel. In 1867, he was promoted to major of the 4th Cavalry, but was dropped during the Army Reductions. Gordon was reappointed as major of the 5th Cavalry in 1873. He served in Arizona and in the Platte, before being assigned to headquarters of the Military Division of the Missouri in Chicago. (Altshuler, 1991, 141–42) GREELY, Adolphus Washington (1844–1935), is best known for his ill-fated Arctic expedition of 1881–84. On the Powder River Expedition, however, he was first lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. A native of Massachusetts, Greely enlisted in a Volunteer unit with the outbreak of the Civil War. He served with distinction, rising from private to brevet major. After the war, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 36th Infantry, and in 1873 was promoted to first lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. In 1881, Greely was placed in command of an expedition to construct a polar scientific station in Greenland, part of an international chain of thirteen circumpolar stations in which the United States participated. The expedition landed in 1881, but by late 1883, no supply ship had arrived. By the time the expedition was rescued in mid-1884, only six had survived. In 1886, Greely was promoted to captain, and the following year was jumped four grades to brigadier general and chief signal officer, the first Union Army private to be appointed general. He headed the U.S. Weather Service until it was transferred to the Department of Agriculture in 1891, and remained chief signal officer until 1906. He retired in 1908. Greely was a founder and trustee of the National Geographic Society. On his ninety-first birthday, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, by special act of Congress, for his heroic leadership of the Arctic expedition. See also LOCKWOOD, James Booth. (Johnson and Malone, 21:352–55) GREGG, Thomas Jackson, (d. 1900) of Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Volunteer in 1862, and promoted to second lieutenant the same year. He finished the Civil War as captain of the Volunteers, with brevets to captain and major. He joined the 2nd Cavalry as second lieutenant the same year. He retired as captain in 1890. (Heitman, 1:177) GRESHAM, John Chowning, of Virginia, entered West Point in 1872, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of

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the 3rd Cavalry. He was transferred to the depleted 7th Cavalry effective June 16, 1876, the day after the Custer disaster, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1878. He participated in the fight at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890, for which he received the Medal of Honor. He was promoted to major of the 6th Cavalry in 1901. (Heitman 1:477) GRIMES. Surgeon at Camp Brown, Wyoming. There is no surgeon named Grimes listed in Heitman’s. Apparently Dr. Grimes was a contract physician. HALL, Christopher Tomkins (d. 1887), entered West Point in 1864, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. In 1869, he was promoted to first lieutenant. He resigned in 1880. (Heitman, 1:488) HALL, William Prebel (1848–1927), native of Missouri, graduated from West Point in 1868, and joined the 19th Infantry in Arkansas. On March 31, 1869, he was dropped from the lists by army consolidations, and three months later assigned to the 5th Cavalry. After service in Kansas and Nebraska, he was assigned to Arizona, where he participated in Crook’s Grand Offensive. After a year of sick leave, he returned to duty in 1875, and rejoined his regiment at Fort Dodge, Kansas. Hall was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. In 1879, he and a three-man reconnoitering detail rescued an officer who was being attacked by more than thirty Indians. Hall received the Medal of Honor for that action. Hall retired as brigadier general and adjutant general of the army in 1912. (Altshuler, 1991, 150–51) HAMILTON, John Morrison (1839–98), native of Ontario, enlisted as a Volunteer in New York in 1861. He attained the rank of first lieutenant with a brevet to captain during the Civil War. In 1867, he was commissioned as captain of the 39th Infantry in 1867. In 1870, he was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, and was posted to Camp McDowell, Arizona, in January 1872. He was breveted to major for gallantry in action against the Tonto Apaches in the foothills of the Tortilla Mountains on January 16, 1873. After the 5th was reassigned to the Department of the Platte in 1876, he participated in Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s roundup of Red Cloud’s band at Chadron Creek, Nebraska, and the attack on the Cheyenne camp during Crook’s Powder River Expedition. He was lieutenant colonel of the 9th Cavalry when he was killed in the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba in 1898.

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(Altshuler, 1991, 152–53; O’Neal, 130–31; Heitman, 1:493) HAMILTON, Samuel Todd, of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and finished the Civil War as quartermaster and commissary sergeant. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutenant a year later. He retired as captain in 1892. (Heitman, 1:493) HARDIE, Francis Hunter, entered West Point in 1872, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1876. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1881, and served as regimental quartermaster from 1884 to 1888. He was a major of the 14th Cavalry as of 1901. (Heitman, 1:499) HARNEY, Benjamin Franklin (d. 1858), was named surgeon of the 3rd Infantry in 1814. He was honorably discharged the following year but reinstated in 1816. He was commissioned surgeon major in 1821. (Heitman, 1:501–2) HART, Verling Kersey (d. 1883), of Indiana, entered the army as captain of the 19th Infantry in 1861. After two transfers among the infantry regiments, he was transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1871, and was promoted to major of the 5th Cavalry in 1875. He received brevets to major and lieutenant colonel for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War. (Heitman, 1:506) HARTSUFF, Albert, entered the service as assistant surgeon in 1861, and was promoted to major and surgeon in 1876. He accompanied Crook’s 1876 expeditions, and assisted Dr. Clements on the Horse Meat March. He was breveted to captain and major for faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel in 1866, for meritorious and distinguished service during a cholera epidemic in New Orleans. He was colonel and assistant surgeon general at the time of his retirement in 1901. (Heitman, 1:507) HASSON. Heitman has three entries under Hasson, but none listed as quartermaster of the 1st Infantry. HAWLEY, William (1838–1914), a native of Washington, D.C., enlisted in the Volunteers in April 1861, but was commissioned first lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry four months later. He was promoted to captain in 1864, and in 1870, was posted to Camp Verde, Arizona. He participated in Crook’s campaigns in the Platte in 1876, including the Horse Meat March. This march undermined his health, and he retired for disability in 1879. His retirement was upgraded to lieutenant colonel in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 161)

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HAY, Charles (1840–92), was first lieutenant of Company C, 23rd Infantry, at Camp McDowell, Arizona, until 1874, when his company was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He was promoted to captain in 1888. He died in Denver. (Altshuler, 1991, 161) HAY, Leonard (1835–1904), native of Indiana, was the brother of John Hay, who served as Secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Hay entered the 15th Infantry as a private in June 1864, and was promoted to second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry two weeks later. He was promoted to first lieutenant in September of that year. He served in the Department of the Platte and later in Arizona. He retired for disability as captain in 1891, and in 1904 was advanced to major on the retired list. (Altshuler, 1991, 162; Heitman, 1:514) HAYES, Edward Mortimer, entered the service as a bugler of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1855. In 1863, he was appointed second lieutenant of a Volunteer unit, and finished the Civil War as captain and brevet major. In February 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutenant the following August. By the 1876 campaigns, he was captain. He retired in 1903 as a brigadier general. (Heitman, 1:515) HAZEN, William Babcock (1830–87), an 1855 graduate of West Point, served with distinction against the Indians in California, Oregon, and Texas, and was seriously wounded in action with Comanches in 1859. This wound, aggravated by diabetes, ultimately caused his death almost thirty years later. He was breveted to major general for his service in the Civil War. In 1867, he was assigned to the Southern Military District in charge of the Indian tribes in Kansas and Oklahoma. As colonel of the 6th Infantry, he commanded Fort Buford, North Dakota, from 1872 to 1877. In 1880, he was promoted to brigadier general and chief of the Army Signal Corps. An outspoken critic and reformer of the army system, he made many enemies. (O’Neal, 142–44; Kroeker) HEINTZELMAN, Charles Stewart (d. 1881), of Michigan, entered West Point in 1863, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery in 1867. He was captain and assistant quartermaster at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:521) HEMPHILL, William C. (d. 1892), of Virginia, served in the ranks of the 2nd (later renumbered to 5th) Cavalry from 1855 to 1866,

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when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1867 and captain in 1876. Hemphill was dismissed in 1881. (Heitman, 1:521) HENRY, Guy Vernor (1839–99), the son of an army officer, was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas. Upon graduating from West Point in 1861, he was appointed to the 1st Artillery. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, earning brevets as colonel of the Regular Army and brigadier general of the Volunteers. He rejoined the 1st Artillery as captain, and in December 1870, transferred to the 3rd Cavalry which was posted at Camp McDowell, Arizona. In July 1871, Henry led an expedition from Camp Apache to McDowell, which established the efficiency of Indian scouts in the Apache campaign. During the battle of the Rosebud in 1876, he was severely wounded in the face, losing the sight in his left eye. He recovered and as major general of Volunteers, he commanded the Department of Puerto Rico following the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers in 1898, and assumed that rank in the Regular Army following his discharge from the Volunteers in June 1899. He died four months later. (Altshuler, 1991, 164–66; O’Neal, 145–46) HERMANN, Charles John von (d. 1889), native of Prussia, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, rising to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1866, he was commissioned captain of the 33rd Infantry, and in 1870 was reassigned to the 4th Infantry. He retired in 1886. (Heitman, 1:989) HOFFMAN, William Edwin, entered the service as first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1862, and was promoted to captain a year later. In 1867, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 31st Infantry, and in 1870, was assigned to the 4th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1889. (Heitman, 1991, 1:527) HOWARD, Oliver Otis (1830–1909), native of Maine, graduated from Bowdoin College and West Point, spent more than half his antebellum service at West Point. Known as “the praying general,” he was a devout Congregationalist, and at one point considered resigning from the army to enter the ministry. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he resigned his commission as first lieutenant in the regular army, and became a colonel of Volunteers, and was breveted to brigadier general in September 1861. He lost his right arm in the battle of Seven Pines. He finished the war as major general of Volunteers, and brevet major general of the Regular

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Army with the active rank of brigadier general. He headed the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands from 1865 to 1872, after which he was appointed special Indian commissioner. Among his accomplishments was negotiating an end to the Cochise War. He later served as commander of the Department of Columbia, where his high-handedness helped provoke the Nez Percé War. After a period as superintendent of West Point and commander of the Department of the Platte, he was promoted to major general in command of the Military Division of the Pacific, and subsequently the Military Division of the Atlantic. He retired in 1894. He also founded Howard University, serving as its first president. See also COCHISE; JOSEPH. (Warner, 237–38; Thrapp, 1991, 2:683–84) HUNTINGTON, Henry Dunstan, entered West Point in 1871, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry upon graduation in 1875. He was first lieutenant at the time of his death in 1886. (Heitman, 1:558) HUGHES, William Burton (d. 1896), of Tennessee entered West Point in 1852, and after a brief brevet with the 4th Infantry, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1856. He was promoted to first lieutenant of the 1st Infantry in 1861. In 1863, he was commissioned captain and acting quartermaster, major quartermaster in 1876, and lieutenant colonel deputy quartermaster general in 1889. He was colonel assistant quartermaster general at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:553) JOHNSON, Charles Akers (d. 1893), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was mustered out as a second lieutenant in 1865. Two years later, he was appointed second lieutenant in the 14th Infantry, joining the regiment at Camp Grant, Arizona. He was promoted first lieutenant in 1876 and, after the military takeover of the Indian agencies that year, served as acting agent at Red Cloud. He retired on disability as captain in 1892. (Altshuler, 180) JOHNSON, John Burgess (1847–96), native of Massachusetts, was named second lieutenant of the 6th U.S. Colored Infantry in 1863. In 1870, he joined the 3rd Cavalry as first lieutenant in Arizona, remaining there until his regiment was withdrawn in 1871. He participated in Crook’s expeditions of 1876. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 181)

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JONES, James Mills (d. 1886), native of Ohio, was an 1871 graduate of West Point. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Artillery in 1875, and was first lieutenant at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:581) JONES, Roger, entered West Point in 1847, and upon graduation was breveted to second lieutenant of the Mounted Riflemen. After moving up through the grades, in 1861, he was appointed major and assistant inspector general, and in 1867, lieutenant colonel AIG. At the time of his death in 1889, he was brigadier general and inspector general. (Heitman, 1:582) JORDAN, William Henry, of Ohio, entered West Point in 1855, and upon graduation was breveted to second lieutenant of the 2nd Infantry. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1861, and by the end of the Civil War was major of the 8th California Infantry. In regular service he had risen to captain of the 9th Infantry, and at the time of Bourke’s writing, commanded Camp Robinson. He retired in 1891 as colonel of the 19th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:584) KAUTZ, Augustus Valentine (1828–1895) was a native of Germany brought to the United States as an infant. After serving with an Ohio infantry regiment during the Mexican War, he was appointed to West Point where he graduated with Crook in 1852. They traveled together to their first assignment in California. During the Civil War, he rose to brigadier general of Volunteers, and brevet major general in the regular army. As commander of the Department of Arizona, Kautz was the opposite of Crook. Suffering from ill-health and domestic problems, he rarely exercised decisive command. Indian depredations increased while Kautz became embroiled in disputes with the territorial government and internal controversies within his regiment. In 1878, he and his regiment were transferred to Angel Island, California. Kautz served briefly again in Arizona in a subordinate role in 1886. He retired as a brigadier general in 1892. (Altshuler, 1991, 184–87) KEEFFE, Joseph (d. 1891), of Ireland, enlisted in the 2nd Artillery in 1853, and in 1862 was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Artillery. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, earning brevets as first lieutenant and captain. Promoted to first lieutenant in 1866, he transferred to the 4th Infantry nine years later. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:587)

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KELLOGG, Sanford Cobb (1842–1904), native of New York, enlisted in that state’s National Guard in 1862. He became a captain of Volunteers, serving as aid to Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, his uncle by marriage. Commissioned as second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry on February 23, 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant on May 15, he was dropped from the list by army consolidation in 1869. In 1870, he was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, and in 1871, was promoted to captain. He served as Sheridan’s aide from 1871 to 1873, when he was assigned to Arizona. He accompanied his regiment to the Department of the Platte in 1875. Ten years later, he was again appointed Sheridan’s aide. Kellogg was promoted to major of the 4th Cavalry in 1892, and the following year, appointed military attaché in Paris. He retired in 1898. (Altshuler, 1991, 188–89) KENNINGTON, James (d. 1897), of Ireland, enlisted in the 11th Infantry in 1851. In 1862, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1864. He received brevets as first lieutenant and captain during the Civil War. In 1870, he was assigned to the 14th Infantry. He was captain at the time of his retirement in 1887. (Heitman, 1:593) KEOGH, Myles Walter (1840–76), native of Ireland, served in the British Army and in a Papal guard unit before immigrating to the United States. He joined the Volunteers as a captain in 1862, and was breveted to lieutenant colonel for uniform gallantry and good conduct. He also received brevets as major and lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army during the Civil War. Keogh was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Cavalry in May 1866, and was promoted to captain of the 7th Cavalry two months later. He was killed at the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. His horse, Comanche, is officially listed as the only survivor of Custer’s command in that battle, although other horses are known to have been captured by Indians and were recovered in subsequent fights. (Heitman, 1:593; see also the substantial body of literature on the Little Bighorn) KEYES, Edward Livingston (1843–1917), which Bourke sometimes spelled “Keys,” native of Massachusetts, joined the 5th Cavalry as a second lieutenant in 1872. During Crook’s 1872–73 campaign, he was recommended twice for brevets. He later served in the Department of the Platte during the Great Sioux War. He was courtmartialed and dismissed for drunkenness in 1877, studied medicine, and became a prominent surgeon. (Altshuler, 1991, 191)

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KING, Albert Douglas (1844–1900), native of Ohio, enlisted in the 2nd California Cavalry in 1864. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1867, and was posted to Camp McDowell in 1871. He transferred to the Department of the Platte, and served in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Returning to Arizona in 1882, he scouted extensively against the Apaches. He was retired for ill-health in 1891. (Altshuler, 1991, 191–92) KING, Charles (1844–1933), soldier and author, perhaps has the record for serving over a longer period of time than any soldier in the history of the United States military. He was in virtually every conflict in which the United States was involved, from the Civil War through the First World War. A native of New York, he grew up in Wisconsin. With the outbreak of the Civil War, then sixteen, King volunteered as an orderly to his father, Brig. Gen. Rufus King. He subsequently was appointed to West Point, and upon graduation in 1866, was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 1st Artillery. Upon promotion to first lieutenant in 1870, he transferred to the 5th Cavalry. King scouted against the Apaches in Arizona, distinguishing himself in the fights at Diamond Butte and Sunset Pass. He served during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. Upon promotion to captain in 1879, he was retired on disability from an old wound received in Arizona. He then became a popular novelist and playwright, and was known as “America’s Kipling” for his stories of army life. When the Spanish-American War broke out, King was appointed brigadier general of Volunteers, and commanded the District of Hawaii. He later served in the Philippines, and was adjutant general of the Wisconsin National Guard. (Altshuler, 1991, 192–93; King, 1890; Russell, Campaigning With King) KING, John Haskell (d. 1888), of Michigan, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Infantry in 1837. He rose through the grades until, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, he was promoted to major of the 15th Infantry. After service with the Volunteers as brigadier general, he was mustered out and commissioned as colonel of the 9th Infantry. He was breveted to major general both of Volunteers and of the Regular Army for gallant and meritorious service during the war. He retired in 1882. (Heitman, 1:599) KINGSBURY, Frederick William (d. 1897), entered West Point in 1866, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of

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the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1880, and was captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:601) KOERPER, Egon Anthony, native of Prussia, served as assistant surgeon for a Volunteer regiment during the Civil War. After being mustered out, he was appointed assistant surgeon of the Regular Army in 1867, and was promoted to surgeon major in 1885. He retired in 1900 as lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon general. (Heitman, 1:608) LAPOINT, Henry Clayton, of Vermont, served as a Volunteer from 1864 to 1865. After the Civil War, he was appointed to West Point, graduating in 1869. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutneant in 1881. He was dismissed in 1888. Bourke tended the spell the name “Lapointe.” (Heitman, 1:615) LAWSON, Joseph (ca. 1821–81), native of Ireland, joined the Volunteers as a second lieutenant in 1862. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in February 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant five months later. He was posted to Camp Date Creek from 1870 to 1871, when the 3rd transferred to the Department of the Platte. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. During the Milk River fight in Colorado in 1879, command devolved on Lawson after Maj. Thomas T. Thornburgh was killed, and he is credited with averting a massacre. (Altshuler, 1991, 198) LAWTON, Henry Ware (1843–99), native of Ohio, enlisted as a sergeant in the Volunteers in 1861, finishing the Civil War as lieutenant colonel. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 41st Infantry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following year. Upon the consolidation of regiments, he was transferred to the 24th Infantry, as regimental quartermaster under Col. Ranald Mackenzie. When Mackenzie transferred to the 4th Cavalry in 1871, Lawton went with him. As RQM, he was responsible for the logistics behind Mackenzie’s many successful field expeditions against the Southern Plains Indians. Lawton was promoted to captain in 1881, and later was posted to Arizona, where he served in the Geronimo campaign. He later escorted Geronimo to Skeleton Canyon, where the chief surrendered to Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles. He subsequently was promoted to major and inspector general. During the SpanishAmerican War, he was appointed major general of volunteers. He was

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killed in the battle of San Mateo, during the Philippine Insurrection. Lawton, Oklahoma, site of Fort Sill, is named in his honor. See also MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell; MILES, Nelson Appleton. (Altshuler, 1991, 198–99) LEE, James Grafton Carleton, native of Canada, served as captain and quartermaster of Volunteers from 1862 to 1864, when he was commissioned in the same rank and duty in the Regular Army. He was breveted to major and lieutenant colonel for his Civil War service. He was promoted to major quartermaster in 1879, lieutenant colonel deputy quartermaster general in1892, and retired in 1900 as colonel acting quartermaster general. (Heitman, 1:624) LEE, Jesse Matlock (1843–1926), native of Indiana, enlisted in the Volunteers in November 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant eleven months later. He finished the Civil War as a captain, and was appointed an infantry officer. By the mid-1870s, he was first lieutenant of the 9th Infantry at Camps Sheridan and Robinson, Nebraska. He reported that he was in the Powder River fight in March 1876, but this was purely a cavalry action with no infantry involved. Bourke does not mention him until a visit to Camp Robinson, after the expedition ended. In 1877, Lee convinced Crazy Horse to accompany him to Camp Robinson. Upon arrival, however, Crazy Horse was placed under arrest over Lee’s protests, and in the ensuing fight, the chief was mortally wounded. In 1879, Lee, now captain, was recorder for the board inquiring into the conduct of Maj. Marcus A. Reno during the battle of the Little Bighorn. He retired as a major general in 1907. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:832) LEIB, Edward Henry (ca. 1839–92), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry in April 1861, and promoted to first lieutenant six weeks later. He was promoted to captain in 1863, and served with distinction in the Civil War. He was assigned to Camp Grant in 1872. He also took part in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in the Department of the Platte. He was dismissed in 1877 for unspecified reasons. (Altshuler, 1991, 201–2; Heitman, 1:627) LEMLY, Henry Rowan, of North Carolina, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He served with Crook on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in the 3rd Cavalry, and wrote an account, “The Fight on the Rosebud,” that later was included in the Papers of the Order of

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the Indian Wars. He was a captain of the 7th Artillery at the time of his retirement in 1899. (Heitman, 1:627) LEUTTWITZ, Adolphus H. von (d. 1887), native of Prussia, entered the service as a private of Volunteers in 1862, and was commissioned second lieutenant the same year. He finished the Civil War as captain. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry. Three years later, he was cashiered as first lieutenant, but reinstated to former date of rank in 1874. Leuttwitz served in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and lost a leg in the battle of Slim Buttes. He retired in 1879. Bourke sometimes spelled the name “Leuttewitz.” (Heitman, 1:989; Robinson, 2001, 196) LLOYD, Charles Frederick, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He resigned in 1883, but served as a lieutenant colonel of Volunteers during the Spanish-American War. (Heitman, 1:637) LOCKWOOD, James Booth (1852–84), native of Maryland, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1873, and was posted to Camp McDowell briefly in 1874 before being transferred to Nebraska. A member of the Greely expedition, he died before the party was rescued. See also, GREELY, Adolphus Washington. (Altshuler, 1991, 204) LONDON, Robert (ca. 1850–92), native of North Carolina, was assigned as a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry after graduating from West Point in 1873. He was posted to Camp Lowell, and later to Camp Apache, where he was recommended twice for brevets for distinguished service during scouting expeditions. He also served at San Carlos and Camp Apache. During the Great Sioux War, he participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Altshuler, 1991, 204–5) LOVERING, Leonard Austin, entered West Point in 1872, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He rose through the grades becoming a captain in 1893. During the Philippine Insurrection, he rose to lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. In 1901, he was promoted to major of the 29th Infantry, and two years later was assigned to the Inspector General’s Department. (Heitman, 1:644) LUHN, Gerhard Luke, native of Germany, enlisted in the 6th Infantry in 1853, and in 1863 was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in

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1864, and captain in 1875. He wrote a diary and letters on Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1895. (Heitman, 1:646–47) McCALEB, Thomas Sidney (1853–1934), 1875 graduate of West Point, was appointed to second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, serving in the Department of the Platte during the Great Sioux War. He later served in Arizona, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine Insurrection, and retired as major in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 208) MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell (1840–89), called “Bad Hand” or “Three Fingers” by the Indians because of an injury received to his right hand at Petersburg, was an 1862 graduate of West Point. He served with distinction in the Civil War, rising to the brevet ranks of brigadier general of the Regular Army and major general of Volunteers. In 1867, he was appointed colonel of the 41st Infantry, and in 1870, he was transferred to the 4th Cavalry. He developed the 4th into a mobile assault force, fighting the Southern Plains Indians with their own hit-and-run tactics. During the Red River War of 1874–75, he smashed a large Indian camp in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, destroying their lodges, food stores, and pony herds, a stratagem he would repeat under Crook in Wyoming. Nevertheless, he was mentally unbalanced, which would become increasingly evident during the Great Sioux War. Promoted to brigadier general in 1882, he was institutionalized for insanity in December 1883, and invalided out of the army the following year. See MANYPENNY, George W.; CLEMENTS, Bennett. (Pierce; and Robinson, 1993) MAGUIRE, Edward (d. 1892), of Tennessee, entered West Point in 1863, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the Engineers. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1869, and captain in 1881. (Heitman, 1:684) MASON, Charles Winder, was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 13th Infantry in 1875, and transferred to the 4th Infantry later that year. (Heitman, 1:694) MASON, Julius Wilmot (1835–82), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry (subsequently renumbered as the 5th Cavalry), in April 1861. He earned two brevets in the Civil War, and emerged from the war with the active rank of captain. He was posted to Camp Hualpai in 1872, and was recommended for two additional brevets for the 1872–73 campaign. As commander of Camp Verde, and acting agent of the reservation,

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he made substantial improvements. Mason was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry in the Department of the Platte in July 1876, but remained with the 5th until the end of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He joined the 3rd at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, in October 1876. He returned to Arizona in 1882, as commander of Fort Huachuca, where he died on December 19 of that year. (Altshuler, 1991, 223–24) MAUCK, Clarence (d. 1881), was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Cavalry in March 1861, and remained with the regiment at first lieutenant when it was renumbered to 4th Cavalry. He was promoted to captain in 1863, and served with distinction in the Civil War, earning brevets to captain and major. He was major of the 9th Cavalry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:697) MEIGS, Montgomery Cunningham (1816–92), native of Georgia, was quartermaster general at the time of Bourke’s writing. An 1836 graduate of West Point, he was assigned to the Engineers and, among other things, was involved in the additions of the House and Senate wings of the Capitol, as well as the present dome. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was jumped within two days from captain of the Engineers to brigadier general and quartermaster general. Under his guidance from 1861 until his retirement in 1886, the quartermaster department was efficiently run, and the entire $1.5 billion expenditure during his tenure was accounted for, even though circumstances of that era caused large sums to be paid to speculators and dishonest contractors. Following his retirement, Meigs served as architect for the Pension Office in Washington, and became regent of the Smithsonian Institution. (Warner, 381–19) MEINHOLD, Charles (ca. 1827–77), native of Berlin, enlisted in the army 1851, possibly with previous military experience in Germany. He served in Texas and New Mexico until his discharge in 1862, after which he served as an officer of the 3rd Cavalry. During the Civil War, he distinguished himself in New Mexico, and during the Vicksburg campaign, and was promoted to captain in 1866. Sent to Arizona in 1871, he investigated the Wickenburg Stagecoach Massacre the following year. He also served in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. (Altshuler, 1991, 226) MERRITT, Wesley (1834–1910), native of New York, was an 1860 graduate of West Point. He served with distinction as a cavalry leader during the Civil War, rising to the rank of brevet major general of

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Volunteers. After the war, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 9th Cavalry, spending much of his time on the Texas frontier albeit in largely administrative functions. When Merritt’s promotion to colonel of the 5th Cavalry was announced, Lt. Col. Carr presumed that he would continue to exercise de facto command while Merritt, like Emory, remained on detached duty. When Merritt announced his determination to assume active command, Carr (who was yet unaware of the disaster that had befallen Custer) wrote his wife, “It seems curious that the government should find it necessary to spend huge amounts of money & some blood to teach Terry, Crook, Gibbon, Merritt & others how to fight these prairie Indians when there are Custer & myself who know how to do it and are ready & willing.” Upon assuming command, however, Merritt quickly made up for his lack of actual Indian fighting experience, distinguishing himself in the Great Sioux War, the Nez Percé War and the White River Ute Uprising. During the Spanish-American War, he commanded U.S. troops in the Philippines. He retired in 1900 as a major general. See also CARR, Eugene Asa. (O’Neal, 166–67; Heitman, 1:706; quote from Carr to Mary Carr, July 3, 1876, Carr Papers) MICHAELIS, Otho Ernest (d. 1890), of Germany, entered the army in 1863 as second lieutenant of the Signal Corps, but soon was reassigned to Ordnance. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1864, to captain in 1874, and was major at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:797) MICHLER, Francis (1849–1901), native of New York, was assigned to the 5th Cavalry after graduating from West Point in 1870. He was posted to Camp Hualpai in 1872, and took to the field almost immediately. He was commended in departmental general orders five times, and later received brevets for gallantry at Muchos Cañones and Tonto Creek. In 1873 he was appointed aide to Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, and later served as aide to Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles. He was promoted to major shortly before his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 227–28) MILES, Nelson Appleton (1839–1925), native of Massachusetts, was a self-made soldier, and the last general-in-chief of the United States Army before the position was abolished. A store clerk, Miles joined the Volunteers as a first lieutenant, and finished the Civil War as major general. Transferring to the Regular Army in 1866, he was appointed colonel of the 40th Infantry, and with the consolida-

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tion of regiments, was transferred to the 5th Infantry in 1869. He distinguished himself in the Red River War on the Southern Plains in 1874–75. During the Great Sioux War, he drove Sitting Bull into Canada, and defeated Crazy Horse at Wolf Mountain in January 1877. Later that year, he accepted the surrender of Chief Joseph, effectively ending the Nez Percé War. Miles hated Crook, and was openly critical of him, and Crook reciprocated in kind. Appointed brigadier general in 1880, Miles relieved Crook in Arizona in 1886. He ended the Geronimo War, although he infuriated Crook by allowing loyal government Apache scouts to be sent into exile in Florida along with the hostiles. Promoted to major general in 1890, Miles became commander of the Military Division of the Missouri upon Crook’s death. In 1895, he was appointed general-in-chief, and served in the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1900, and retired three years later. Miles was married to Mary Hoyt Sherman, niece of Sen. John Sherman and Gen. W.T. Sherman. The marriage, however, may have worked against him to some degree, in part because the Sherman brothers wanted no accusations of favoritism, and in part because General Sherman detested him. See also, JOSEPH, SITTING BULL, CRAZY HORSE. (Altshuler, 1991, 229–31; Greene, 1990; Wooster; Robinson, 2001) MILLER, John, of New York, entered the army as a private in a state unit during the Mexican War. He then served in the ranks of the 4th Infantry from 1848 to 1862, when he was commissioned second lieutenant. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1863, and captain in 1866. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:711) MILLS, Anson (1834–1924), native of Indiana, is perhaps most famous as the designer of the Mills cartridge belt, which became the standard equipment of many of the world’s armies, and made him wealthy. Although a resident of Texas at the outbreak of the Civil War, Mills departed for Washington, D.C., where he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 18th Infantry. He received three brevets during the war, rising to major for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Chickamauga. He emerged with the active rank of captain. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in December 1870, and was posted to Arizona the following spring. In 1871, he and his company were transferred to the Department of the Platte, where he figured prominently in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He later was breveted for his part in the fight at Slim Buttes on

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September 9, 1876. He retired in 1897 as brigadier general, and in 1918, published his memoirs, My Story. (Altshuler, 1991, 231–32; Heitman, 1:713; Mills) MIX, John, of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1852, with its reorganization as the 2nd Cavalry in 1861, he was commissioned second lieutenant. He was major of the 9th Cavalry at the time of his death in 1881. (Heitman, 1:718) MONAHAN, Deane (1836–1920), native of Ireland, enlisted in the Mounted Rifles in 1856, and appointed second lieutenant in 1862, after his regiment was redesignated the 3rd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1865, and the following year assigned to Fort Union, New Mexico In 1868, he was promoted to captain, and in 1870, participated in the Red River Expedition in Arizona. He remained there until 1871, when his regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Monahan retired in 1884, having been on sick leave for two years. (Altshuler, 1991, 234–35) MONTGOMERY, Robert Hugh (1838–1905), native of Philadelphia, enlisted in the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered to the 5th) in 1860, earning two brevets during the Civil War, and spending the last twenty months of the war as a prisoner. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1865, and to captain in 1870. He was posted to Arizona in 1872, and served with distinction during the 1872–73 campaign, earning brevet as major for gallantry at Muchos Cañones on September 25, 1872, and during a scout through the Tonto Basin in November and December 1874. During the notorious Horse Meat March of 1876, his company lost fewer horses than any other in the 5th, largely because of his attention to training. He retired as major of the 10th Cavalry in 1891. (Altshuler, 1991, 235; Heitman, 1:720) MOORE, Alexander (1835–1910), native of Ireland, was appointed first lieutenant of Volunteers in October 1861, and was breveted to major for service during the Civil War. In 1867, he was commissioned captain of the 38th Infantry, and posted to New Mexico, where he served on scouting expeditions. In 1870, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry, joining it in Arizona in early 1871. Moore aroused Crook’s ire in 1871, when he moved his troops openly across a plain, spoiling the chance to surprise an Apache raiding party. His failure to act decisively during the Reynolds fight on the Powder River in March 1876, led to his court-martial and suspension. He resigned

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in 1879, and became a wealthy rancher. (Altshuler, 1991, 235–36; Robinson, 2001, 110) MORTON, Alfred (1834–1920), native of Maine, moved to California in 1852. He joined the Volunteers as a sergeant in 1862, and was mustered out as major and provost major of San Francisco in 1866. In March 1866, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, and was promoted to first lieutenant of the following July. He was regimental quartermaster from 1866 to 1879, serving in the Department of the Platte. He served in Arizona from 1886 to 1891. He retired in 1898, and in 1904 was advanced to major on the retired list. (Altshuler, 1991, 239) MORTON, Charles (1846–1914), native of Ohio, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. After the war, he entered West Point, graduating in 1869. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and served with distinction in Arizona in 1870 and 1871. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. He retired as brigadier general in 1910. (Altshuler, 1991, 239–40) MUNN, Curtis Emerson, joined the Volunteers as a hospital steward in 1861, and in 1863 was appointed assistant surgeon. He was commissioned as assistant surgeon in 1868, and served in the Crook-Reynolds Big Horn Expedition. He was a surgeon major when he retired in 1900. He died in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 239–40) MUNSON, Samuel, enlisted as a sergeant in the Volunteers in 1861, but was shortly commissioned second lieutenant. Later that year he accepted a commission in the Regular Army as second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. In 1865, he was promoted to captain. He died in 1887. (Heitman, 1:736) MURPHY, John (1836–1920), native of Ireland, enlisted at West Point in 1858. During the Civil War, he served in the 5th Artillery. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 14th Infantry in 1867, and a year later was posted to Arizona. Murphy was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and served in the Great Sioux War. As a captain, in 1898, he commanded five companies during the First Philippine Expedition. He was promoted to paymaster major five days before his retirement in 1899. (Altshuler, 191, 241–42) NAVE, Andrew Humes, of Tennessee, entered West Point in 1867, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 7th Cavalry upon graduation. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and a year before his retirement, in 1885, to captain. (Heitman, 1:741)

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NEIDE, Horace, of Pennsylvania, entered the Volunteers as a second lieutenant in 1861, and finished the Civil War as a brevet brigadier general of Volunteers. He was commissioned first lieutenant of the 44th Infantry in 1866, and assigned to the 4th Infantry in 1870. He was a captain at the time of his retirement in 1893. (Heitman, 1:742) NICKERSON, Azor Howitt (1837–1910) served on General Crook’s staff from 1866 to 1878. A native of Ohio, he joined the Union Army as a second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861. He was breveted to major for gallantry at Antietam and Gettysburg, receiving a near-fatal chest wound in the latter battle. He entered the Regular Army in 1866. His wound left him in frail health and, although he tried to accompany Crook on his Indian campaigns, sometimes the surgeons would declare him unfit for field duty. He attempted to retire in 1882, but a scandal over a fraudulently obtained divorce from his second wife prompted the War Department to void his retirement. He resigned in 1883 to avoid court-martial. Nickerson later wrote an essay, “Major General George Crook and the Indians,” which, although never published in its entirety, has become an integral part of the Crook hagiography. (Crook to Rutherford B. Hayes, January 4, 1872, R.B. Hayes Papers, Crook Collection; Heitman, 1:747–48; Altshuler, 1991, 244–45) NORWOOD, Randolph (d. 1901), entered the Volunteers as second lieutenant in 1861, and was mustered out as captain in 1864. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry in February 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant six months later. He became captain in 1876, and was breveted to major for action against Indians in 1877. (Heitman, 1:753) NOWLAN, Henry James (d. 1898), of New York, was listed by Bourke as Terry’s acting assistant quartermaster general for Terry’s column in 1876, although Heitman lists him as commissary of subsistence. He joined the Volunteers as a first lieutenant in 1863, and in July 1866, was appointed second lieutenant of the 7th Cavalry. Promotion to first lieutenant came the following December. Not present at the Little Bighorn, he was promoted to captain effective the day of that fight, no doubt due to the large number of vacancies created by the destruction of the five companies with Custer. He was breveted to major for gallantry in a fight at Cañon Creek, Montana, in 1877, and had the active rank of major at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:753)

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NOYES, Henry Erastus (1839–1919), native of Maine, graduated from West Point in 1861 and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons (later redesignated as 2nd Cavalry). During the Civil War, he earned two brevets, and finished the war as a captain. His failure to provide adequate support during the Reynolds fight on the Powder River in 1876 led to a reprimand. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition the same year. He retired as colonel of the 2nd Cavalry in 1901, and his retirement was upgraded to brigadier general in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 249; Robinson, 2001, 171–72) O’BRIEN, John Joseph, of Ireland, served in the ranks of the 4th Artillery from 1854 to 1859. In 1861, he joined a Volunteer cavalry unit, and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1864. He finished the Civil War as a captain of Volunteers, and reentered the ranks of the 12th Infantry. In 1867, he was promoted to second lieutenant of the 30th Infantry, and transferred to the 4th Infantry two years later. He was a captain at the time of his retirement in 1896. (Heitman, 1:755) O’BRIEN, Martin Edward (d. 1888), enlisted in a state cavalry unit in 1862, and finished the Civil War as a captain. In 1867, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following year. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:755) ODELL, R.W. Heitman’s does not list an acting assistant surgeon named Odell. OTIS, Harrison Gail, of New Jersey, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation, was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Cavalry. He transferred to the 4th Artillery in 1877, and resigned in 1881. (Heitman, 1:762) OWSLEY, W.T. Heitman’s does not list a surgeon named Owsley. He may have been a contract surgeon. PADDOCK, James V. Seaman, of Illinois, entered West Point in 1873, and upon graduation, was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1886, and retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:764) PALMER, Innis Newton (1824–1900), native of New York, was an 1846 graduate of West Point. He was assigned to the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated 3rd Cavalry), and served with distinction in the Mexican War. He spent much of the period between the Mexican

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and Civil Wars on the frontier. At the close of the Civil War he was brevet major general of Volunteers, and brevet brigadier general of the Regular Army. During the Great Sioux War, he was colonel of the 2nd Cavalry. He retired in 1879. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1104) PARKHURST, Charles Dyer (1849–1931), native of Massachusetts, graduated from West Point in 1872 and was posted to the 5th Cavalry at Camp Date Creek. He participated in the 1872–73 campaign, and was commended in departmental orders and recommended for a brevet. In 1875, he was transferred to Kansas, and a year later, participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He received a Silver Star for gallantry during the SpanishAmerican War. Parkhurst retired as colonel of the Coast Artillery. (Altshuler, 1991, 257–58) PATZKI, Julius Herman, native of Prussia, enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in 1863, and was appointed assistant surgeon the following year. He was appointed assistant surgeon of the Regular Army in 1867, and retired in 1892 as surgeon major. Dr. Patzki’s moment in history came in 1871 when, as post surgeon of Fort Richardson, Texas, he examined the bodies of the victims of the Warren Wagon Train Massacre. The massacre led to the trial and imprisonment of two Kiowa chiefs, and permanent divisions within the Kiowas. (Heitman, 1:776; Nye, 131) PAUL, Augustus Chouteau (1842–1904), native of New York, was appointed captain in the Volunteers, and served with distinction in the Civil War. In 1869, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and was posted to Arizona a year later. He remained in Arizona until December 1871, when his regiment was sent to the Department of the Platte. He resigned in 1881 following court-martial. (Altshuler, 1991, 258–59) PAYNE, John Scott (1844–95), native of Virginia, was an 1866 graduate of West Point. He was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, where he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1867. After resigning, he practiced law and edited a newspaper. Payne reentered the army as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, in 1873, but by act of Congress was given the first vacancy for lieutenant in that regiment, retroactive to 1867. He served in Arizona and in the Department of the Platte, where he was promoted to captain in 1875. He served on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Wind River Expedition against the Nez Percés. In 1879, he assumed command in the Milk River fight,

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after Major Thomas T. Thornburgh was killed, and was commended for gallantry. He retired in 1886. (Altshuler, 1991, 259) PEALE, James Thompson, was commissioned second lieutenant in the Volunteer cavalry in 1862, and finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. He entered the 2nd Cavalry as second lieutenant in 1866, and shortly was promoted to first lieutenant. He attained captain in 1875, and was dismissed in 1880. (Heitman, 1:778) PEARSON, Daniel Crosby, of Massachusetts, entered West Point in 1865, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:779) PEASE, Thomas P. Heitman lists two assistant surgeons named Pease, neither of whom is Thomas, and neither with a service record coincidental to Bourke’s narrative. (Heitman, 1:779) PLUMMER, Satterlee Clark (d. 1881), of Wisconsin, entered West Point in 1861 and upon graduation received dual commissions as second and first lieutenant of the 17th Infantry. After a promotion to captain and several reassignments, he was honorably discharged at his own request in 1870. Six years later, he reentered the army as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry, but was dismissed in 1877. In 1880, he reentered the army a final time as second lieutenant of the 15th Infantry, a position he held at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:795) POE, Orlando Metcalfe (d. 1895), of Ohio, entered West Point in 1852, and in 1856 was commissioned second lieutenant of the Topographical Engineers. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1860. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, holding a temporary appointment as brigadier general in 1862–63. He finished the war with a brevet as brigadier general in the Regular Army, awarded for gallant and meritorious service in General Sherman’s campaign against Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate army. In 1873, Poe, now a major, was appointed Sherman’s aide-de-camp, a position he held until 1894. He was a colonel at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:795–96) POLLOCK, Edwin (d. 1885), of Pennsylvania, entered the ranks as a Volunteer in May 1861, and was appointed second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry the following August. He was promoted to captain in 1864, and held that rank at the time of his retirement, twentyone years later. (Heitman, 1:796)

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POLLOCK, Otis Wheeler (1833–1916), native of Pennsylvania, was appointed first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, and promoted to captain the following year. In 1866, he was commissioned as lieutenant of the 14th Infantry which was later amalgamated into the 23rd. Promoted to captain, he served in Arizona in 1873–74, and then in the Department of the Platte, serving in Crook’s campaigns during the Great Sioux War. He retired as a major in 1897, upgraded to lieutenant colonel in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 264) POPE, James Worden, entered West Point in 1864, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry upon graduation. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879. In 1885, he became captain and acting quartermaster, rising to major quartermaster in 1891. During the Spanish-American War, he served as chief quartermaster of Volunteers. In 1902, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel deputy quartermaster general. (Heitman, 1:798) POWELL, William Henry (1838–1901), native of Washington, D.C., enlisted in the District of Columbia Militia in 1861, and was commissioned as an officer of the 4th Infantry the same year. He was captain in the 4th when he served on Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1899 as colonel of the 9th Infantry. He was the author of several professional and historical works about the army. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1169–70) PRATT, Edward Barton (1853–1923), native of Virginia, joined the 23rd Infantry as second lieutenant in 1872, and was posted to Arizona from 1873 until 1874, when his regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He served in Crook’s Powder River Expedition of 1876–77. Pratt retired as brigadier general in 1909. (Altshuler, 1991, 267) PRICE, George Frederick (1835–88), native of New York City, joined the 2nd California Cavalry as second lieutenant in 1861, and participated in several Indian campaigns over the next two years. The first reference to service in Arizona is on a reconnaissance between Salt Lake City and Fort Mojave in 1864. In 1866, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He was posted to Camp McDowell in 1872, and soon after was promoted to captain. He was nominated for brevets twice for service in Crook’s 1872–73 campaign, and was commended for moving Indians to the Rio Verde Reservation after Date Creek was closed. He also supervised construction of the military telegraph between San Diego and Tuc-

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son. Transferring to the Department of the Platte, he participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876, and was present at the Slim Buttes Fight. In 1882, he published his memoirs, Across the Continent with the Fifth U.S. Cavalry. (Altshuler, 1991, 268; O’Neal, 185–86; Heitman, 1:806) QUINN, Thomas Francis, of Ireland, served in the 2nd Artillery from 1853 to 1858, when he transferred to the 4th Infantry. In 1863, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and was promoted to first lieutenant two years later. He was breveted to captain for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War. In 1876, he was promoted to captain, which rank he held at the time of his retirement in 1894. (Heitman, 1:811) RANDALL, George Morton “Jake” (1841–1918), native of Ohio, was one of the most competent officers to serve under Crook in Arizona. He commanded Camp Apache from 1872 to 1874, during which it was considered the best administered post in the entire department. He also had the most outstanding scouting record of any infantry captain in Arizona. Randall was breveted to colonel of the Regular Army for gallantry at Turret Mountain and Diamond Butte in 1873, and Pinal in 1874, and for distinguished service during the Indian campaigns in Arizona. He enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in July 1861, and commissioned as second lieutenant in October. By the end of the war he had been breveted to colonel of Volunteers. He was appointed brigadier general of the Regular Army in 1901 and retired four years later. (Heitman, 1:814; Altshuler, 1991, 272–73) RAWOLLE, William Charles (d. 1895), native of Prussia, was commissioned as second lieutenant of the Volunteers in 1861. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry in 1869, and promoted the following year. He was captain at the time of his death. Bourke spells the name variously as “Rowelle,” “Rowell,” and “Rawolle.” (Heitman, 1:817). REILLY, Bernard (1843–1906), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in April 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant in November. In May 1868, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He went to Arizona as a first lieutenant in 1872, and was nominated for a brevet for leading several successful scouts. Transferred to the Department of the Platte, he participated

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in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He resigned in 1878 to practice law. (Altshuler, 1991, 277) RENO, Marcus Albert (1834–89), an 1857 graduate of West Point, was commissioned brevet lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons (later renumbered 1st Cavalry), and given the active rank the following year. He served in the Pacific Northwest prior to the Civil War, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1861. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, earning brevet ranks of brigadier general of Volunteers, and colonel of the Regular Army. Given the active rank of captain, he served as acting assistant inspector general of the Department of the Columbia. He was promoted to major of the 7th Cavalry in 1868, and was reassigned to the Great Plains. He was posted to Fort Abraham Lincoln in 1875, and was the senior surviving officer of the regiment after the battle of the Little Bighorn. Because of the controversy surrounding the fight, he demanded a court of inquiry in 1879, which exonerated him. In 1877, he was suspended without pay for two years following court-martial for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, but dismissed in 1880 under sentence of a second court-martial for conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. Over eighty years later, he was posthumously exonerated and restored to rank, when a review board found the evidence on his conviction did not support the charges. He is buried in Custer Battlefield National Cemetery. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1206–7) RAYNOLDS, William Franklin (d. 1894), of Ohio, was breveted as a second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry upon graduation from West Point in 1843. Within a few days, however, he transferred to the Topographical Engineers. He rose through the grades, becoming captain in 1857. Two years later he led an expedition that mapped much of south-central Montana and eastern Wyoming, and predicted that the Powder River country would become an important thoroughfare. Raynolds was breveted to brigadier general for meritorious service in the field during the Civil War. He retired as colonel of the Engineers in 1884. (Heitman, 1:818; McDermott, 5) REYNOLDS, Bainbridge (1849–1901), eldest son of Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, was born at West Point, where he graduated in 1873. He was posted to the 3rd Cavalry and was breveted for action in the Battle of the Rosebud in 1876. He served in Arizona from 1882 to

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1884. He resigned in 1891 to avoid court-martial. See also REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones. (Altshuler, 1991, 277–78) REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones (1822–99), native of Kentucky and an 1843 graduate of West Point, initially served on the Texas frontier. Resigning to enter private business in 1857, he rejoined the army at the outbreak of the Civil War. His distinguished service resulted in his being breveted to major general of Volunteers. In 1870, he was named colonel of the 3rd Cavalry and, with his brevet rank, commanded the Department of Texas. During that tenure, Col. Ranald Mackenzie hinted that Reynolds was involved in corruption with supply contracts for Fort McKavett, which Mackenzie commanded. Reynolds was transferred with his regiment to the Department of the Platte in 1872. Despite the verdict and sentence handed him by Crook’s court-martial following the Powder River fight, Reynolds was allowed to retire for disability in 1877. Many historians believe that Crook should have shared a heavy amount of the blame for the fiasco. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1210; Heitman, 1:825; Robinson, 1993, 52–53) RICE, William Fletcher (d. 1884), native of Massachusetts, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1863. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1866, and was first lieutenant when he arrived in Arizona in 1872. During the 1872–73 campaign he served as acting company commander, and was recommended for brevets. He commanded Indian scouts at San Carlos. In 1874, he was transferred with his regiment to the Department of the Platte. He was killed when he fell from a moving railroad train. (Altshuler, 1991, 278–79) ROBERTSON, Edgar Brooks (1852–1924), native of Massachusetts, graduated from West Point in 1874, and was assigned to the 9th Infantry at Camp Robinson, Nebraska. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and was in the fights at the Rosebud and Slim Buttes. He later served in the Southwest, in Cuba, and in the Boxer Rebellion in China. He retired as colonel. (Altshuler, 1991, 284) ROBINSON, Henry Eleazar, of Pennsylvania, entered West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant in the 4th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:838) ROCKEFELLER, Charles Mortimer (1844–1900?), native of New York, served as a private in the state militia from April to August 1861. In 1863, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the Vol-

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unteers, and was mustered out in 1866. Thirty-one years later, he received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Fort Blakely, Alabama, in 1865. Rockefeller was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1867. He rose through the grades, becoming captain in 1889. Serving in the Philippines in 1899, he was apparently captured by guerillas while inspecting the guard. Shortly before his disappearance he was promoted to major, but had not yet received his commission. In 1900, he was dropped from the rolls and presumed dead. (Altshuler, 1991, 285–86; Heitman, 1:840). ROCKWELL, Charles Henry (1848–88), of Ohio, graduated from West Point in 1869, and was assigned to the 5th Cavalry. He served in Nebraska, Wyoming, and Arizona. In 1872, he was promoted to first lieutenant. When the 5th was transferred, he served at Fort Hays, Kansas, and Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming. In 1880, he married General Sherman’s niece, Cecilia Sherman Moulton. Rockwell was quartermaster and commander of an artillery detachment at West Point, when he was promoted to captain in 1886. In 1887, he was at Camp Supply, Indian Territory, when he became ill. He took sick leave in April 1888, and died four months later. (Altshuler, 1991, 286) RODGERS, Calbraith Perry (d. 1878), of Maryland, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry in 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant a year later. He became captain in 1876, and was killed by lightning in 1878. (Heitman, 1:841) ROYALL, William Bedford (1825–95), native of Virginia, was commissioned as first lieutenant of a Volunteer unit in 1846, after the outbreak of the Mexican War. After two years of service in the Southwest, including a major Indian fight in 1848, he left the Volunteers. In 1855, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry). He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the brevet rank of brigadier general. He served in Arizona as major of the 5th from 1872 to 1875, when the regiment was transferred out. In December 1875, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Cavalry, commanding Crook’s cavalry during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He later was breveted for gallantry at the Battle of the Rosebud. In 1881, he succeeded Ranald S. Mackenzie as colonel of the 4th Cavalry. He retired in 1887. (Heitman, 1:849; Altshuler, 1991, 288–89) RUGGLES, George David, of New York, entered West Point in 1851, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of

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the 2nd Infantry. In 1857, he was appointed regimental adjutant, and would hold adjutant’s or aide-de-camp’s positions for the remainder of his long career. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was a lieutenant colonel and acting adjutant general. He retired in 1893 as brigadier general and adjutant general of the army. (Heitman, 1:851) RUHLEN, George, native of Germany, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was assigned as second lieutenant of the 17th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and served as regimental quartermaster from 1878 to 1879, and regimental adjutant from 1889 to 1890, when he was promoted to captain and acting quartermaster. In 1900, he became major and quartermaster of the army. (Heitman, 1:851) RUSSELL, Gerald (1832–1905), native of Ireland, enlisted in the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated as 3rd Cavalry) in 1851. In 1862, he was promoted to second lieutenant. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, and earned a brevet. He arrived in Arizona as captain in 1870, and participated in scouting expeditions until the 3rd was transferred to the Department of the Platte. During the Powder River Expedition, he participated in Mackenzie’s fight with the Cheyennes in November 1876. He served in Arizona a second time from 1882 until 1885. He retired as major in 1890, later upgraded to lieutenant colonel. (Altshuler, 1991, 290–91) SACKET (sometimes spelled Sackett), Delos Bennet, (1822–85), of New York, entered West Point in 1840, and upon graduation was breveted as second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons. He earned a brevet as first lieutenant at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma in May 1846, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons six weeks later. Shortly after the close of the Mexican War, in 1848, he was promoted to first lieutenant. Sacket served on the frontier, and while posted to Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, married Amanda Fields, daughter of a prominent Cherokee Indian merchant. He was major of the 1st Cavalry (later renumbered to 4th Cavalry) when the Civil War broke out. By the end of 1861, he had been promoted to colonel and inspector general. He distinguished himself during the war, earning brevets as brigadier general and major general. In 1881, he was appointed brigadier general and inspector general. In 1880, together with Crook, Bourke, Sheridan, soldier-author Charles King, and several others, Sacket formed a consortium in an ill-fated venture to develop a gold mine. When it

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failed, Schuyler, who was managing partner, carried the blame, and lost his position as Crook’s aide-de-camp. See SCHUYLER, Walter Scribner; KING, Charles. (Heitman, 1:856; Foreman, 365; Robinson, 2001, 248–49) SANGER, Louis H (d. 1884) , of Maine, served in the ranks of the 17th Infantry from 1861 to July 1862, when he was appointed second lieutenant. A month later, he was promoted to first lieutenant, and to captain in 1865. He was dismissed in 1872, but reinstated the following year. He earned brevets as captain and major for gallantry at Gettysburg. (Heitman, 1:859) SCHOFIELD, Charles Brewster (d. 1901), of Illinois, entered West Point in 1866, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879, and to captain in 1890. In 1895, he served as lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp to Lt. Gen. John Schofield, general-inchief of the army. (Heitman, 1:865) SCHUYLER, Walter Scribner (1849–1932), native of New York, was an 1870 graduate of West Point. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1875 as a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, distinguishing himself in several actions during that period. After a year’s leave in Europe, he joined Crook as aide-de-camp in Wyoming as a first lieutenant in 1876. He resigned as aide-de-camp and returned to his regiment the end of 1881, after a falling out with Crook over his management of a mine in which Crook had invested heavily. He was breveted several grades for gallantry in action in Arizona and Wyoming. He retired in 1913 as a brigadier general. See SACKET, Delos Bennet. (Altshuler, 1991, 294–95; Heitman, 1:867; O’Neal, 193–94; Robinson, 2001, 249–50) SCHWATKA, Frederick (1849–92), native of Ohio, attended West Point and was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1871. He participated in campaigns against the Yavapais and Apaches in Arizona until 1872, when his regiment was transferred to the Platte. During Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, he took part in the Rosebud fight, the Horse Meat March, and the Slim Buttes fight. Subsequently, as both soldier and civilian, he became a noted explorer in the Arctic, southwestern U.S., and northwestern Mexico, lecturing and writing several popular books. He died of an overdose of laudanum (tincture of opium), which he took to relieve chronic stomach pain. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1279–80)

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SETON, Henry, of New York, was appointed captain in the Volunteers in 1864, and second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1866. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1872. Heitman lists him as still being with the 4th until 1898, when he was promoted to major of the 12th Infantry. Bourke, on the other hand, lists him as being in the 9th. He retired in 1899. (Heitman, 1:874) SHERIDAN, Michael Vincent, served on his older brother’s staff from 1864 almost to Philip Sheridan’s death in 1888. Michael Sheridan joined the army as a first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1863. Eight months later, in May 1864, he joined General Sheridan as a captain and aidede-camp. During the Civil War he was breveted to major and lieutenant colonel for service during the Shenandoah Campaign of 1864. Although nominally commissioned to the active rank of second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry and captain of the 7th Cavalry during 1866, he remained with his brother, serving again as aide-de-camp from 1870 to 1878, and military secretary for another ten years. He retired as a brigadier general in 1902. (Heitman, 1:881; Hutton, 154) SHUFELDT, Robert Wilson, was appointed acting assistant surgeon in 1876, and retired in 1901. (Heitman, 1:885) SIBLEY, Frederick William (1852–1918), native of Texas, graduated from West Point in 1874, and was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry in the Department of the Platte. He participated in the Reynolds fight on the Powder River, and, during Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition led what became known as the Sibley Scout. He and a small party of men encountered a large band of Lakotas and Cheyennes, but managed to withdraw under heavy fire without losses, and make their way back to Crook’s camp on foot. It is considered one of the narrowest escapes in the Indian Wars, and Sibley was breveted for gallantry. He afterwards served in the Far East, and in the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916, retiring later that year as brigadier general. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1303–4) SIMPSON, James Ferdinand (1841–99), native of Massachusetts, was appointed second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1862. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, and in 1867, was commissioned as an infantry officer. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1871. He served in Arizona throughout much of the period until 1884, when he was committed to a government mental institution, after which he was released on sick leave. After a second commitment in 1887, he was retired as a captain. (Altshuler, 1991, 302–03)

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SMEAD, Alexander Dallas Bache (b. 1848), of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1868, and posted first to New Mexico, and then to Arizona. In July 1872, he was promoted to first lieutenant, retroactive to May of the previous year. He also served in the Department of the Platte. He resigned in 1880, and practiced law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but reentered the service during the Spanish-American War as a captain of the Signal Corps. (Altshuler, 1991, 304–5) SMITH, Edward Worthington (d. 1883), served as General Terry’s adjutant in the Deaprtment of Dakota. He was commissioned first lieutenant of the 15th Infantry in 1861. By the end of the Civil War he was a brevet lieutenant colonel and assistant adjutant general of the Regular Army, with the brevet rank of brigadier general of Volunteers. At the time of his service with Terry, he held the active rank of captain in the 18th Infantry. He was a major in the 22nd Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:896) SPAULDING, Edward James (ca. 1836–88), native of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons (later renamed 2nd Cavalry) in 1857. He was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1862, earning a brevet during the Civil War. He was promoted to captain in 1867, and transferred to the 4th Cavalry as major in 1886. He was killed in a hunting accident in Arizona. Bourke spelled the name “Spalding.” (Altshuler, 1991, 313) SPENCER, James Herbert, of Massachusetts, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1863. He was mustered out as captain. In 1866, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry. In 1869, he transferred to the 4th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1885. Five years later, he was breveted for gallant service in action against Indians near Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, in 1869. (Heitman, 1:910) STANTON, Thaddeus Harlan (1835–1900), native of Indiana, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. On October 3, 1862, he was designated paymaster, a position he held for the rest of his career. He finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. Apparently Stanton moonlighted as a correspondent for the New York Tribune, and in that capacity accompanied Crook and Reynolds on the Big Horn Expedition in the convenience position of chief of scouts. With no previous combat experience, he distinguished himself in the Powder River fight, and later commanded the citizens and

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irregulars who joined Crook on the train during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. In 1890, Stanton was breveted to lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army for the Powder River fight, and in 1895, he was appointed paymaster general of the army with the rank of brigadier general. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1357; Heitman, 1:916) STEEVER, Edgar Zell (1849–1920), of Pennsylvania, graduated from West Point in 1871, and was posted to the 3rd Cavalry at Fort McPherson, Nebraska. He participated in the roundup of a band of Sioux, returning them to Standing Rock Agency. In 1872–74, he commanded the American Palestine Expedition to survey the Holy Land, and subsequently taught mathematics at West Point. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1878, and rejoined his regiment in Arizona in 1882. He served in the Philippine Insurrection in 1899. Steever retired at a brigadier general in 1913. (Altshuler, 1991, 317–18) STEVENS, medical officer, Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Maybe a contract surgeon. STEVENS, Lieutenant. Heitman does not list a Lieutenant Stevens on active duty during this period. The only one who would approximate is Robert Ratcliff Stevens, who entered the Military Academy in 1873, and was assigned to the 6th Infantry in 1877, which would have placed him in West Point at the time Bourke made this entry. This does not necessarily mean, however, that a Lieutenant Stevens did not exist. (Heitman, 1:922–23) SULLY, Alfred (1820–79) of Philadelphia, graduated from West Point in 1841, and was sent to Florida where he fought against the Seminoles. After serving in the Mexican War, he was assigned to California, where his regiment campaigned against Indians in the vicinity of the Gila, San Joaquin, and Colorado Rivers. Assigned to Dakota Territory, he established Fort Randall. After Civil War service in Virginia, he was breveted to brigadier general, and assigned to suppress the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota in 1862. In 1863 and 1864, he led expeditions against Indians in Dakota Territory, where he established Fort Rice. After the Civil War, he resumed his active rank of major, and in 1868 led an expedition of cavalry and infantry into the Indian Territory, where he had a five-day fight in the Sand Hills. He also served against the Nez Percés in 1878. He commanded Fort Vancouver, Washington, at the time of his death. (O’Neal, 211–12)

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SUMNER, Samuel Storrow (1842–1937), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1861. He earned several brevets during the Civil War, and emerged from the war as a captain. He was posted to Arizona from 1870 until 1876, when he joined the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1906 as a major general. (Altshuler, 1991, 324–25) SUTORIOUS, Alexander (ca. 1837–1905), native of Switzerland, enlisted in the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated 3rd Cavalry) in 1854. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1863, and was breveted for gallantry in the Civil War. He went to Arizona in 1870 as a captain, serving until 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He was court-martialed and dismissed for drunkenness during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Altshuler, 1991, 325) SWIFT, Eben, entered West Point in 1872, and upon graduation was briefly posted as second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He transferred to the 5th Cavalry in July 1876. He worked his way up the grades and was major of the 1st Cavalry as of 1903. (Heitman, 1:940) SWIGERT, Samuel Miller, of Kentucky, entered West Point in 1863, and upon graduation was appointed to second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1869. He retired in 1903 as colonel of the 5th Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:941) TAYLOR, Alfred Bronaugh (d. 1903), native of the District of Columbia, served briefly in the Volunteers before enlisting in the 5th Cavalry in 1862. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1863, and was breveted for service in the Appomattox Campaign. He arrived in Arizona at a captain in 1872, and was breveted for gallantry in action in the Salt River Caves fight of December 28, 1872. (Altshuler, 1991, 327; Heitman, 1:945) TAYLOR, Sydney Wentworth, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Artillery in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1873. He was breveted to captain for gallantry in the Modoc War in California, and was given the active rank in 1892. In 1901 he was promoted to major and attached to the Adjutant General’s Office. (Heitman, 1:948) TERRY, Alfred Howe (1827–90), native of Connecticut, was an attorney rather than a trained soldier. With the outbreak of the Civil

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War he joined the Volunteers, ultimately rising to the rank of major general. His successful assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in 1865, which hastened the end of the war, won him an appointment as brigadier general of the Regular Army. Terry commanded the Department of the Platte at the time of the Great Sioux War. In 1886, he was appointed major general, and commanded the Military Division of the Missouri until his retirement in 1888. (Warner, 197–98) TESSON, Louis Stanislaus (d. 1901), of Missouri, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1875, and was surgeon major at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:951) THOMAS, Earl Denison (1847–1921), native of Illinois, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and graduated from West Point in 1869. He joined the 5th Cavalry, and went to Arizona as a first lieutenant in 1872. He was breveted for gallantry in the Salt River Caves fight. When Kautz assumed command of the Department of Arizona, Thomas remained as his aide until 1878. He then joined his company in Wyoming. He later was appointed brigadier general, and commanded the Department of the Colorado. He retired in 1911. (Altshuler, 1991, 330; Heitman, 1:953) THOMPSON, John Charles (d. 1889), of Maryland, entered West Point in 1862, and upon graduation was posted as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1868, and at the time of his death was a captain. (Heitman, 1:957) THORNBURGH, Thomas Tipton (d. 1879) of Tennessee, served in a Union Volunteer regiment from Tennessee from 1862 to 1863 when he was appointed to West Point. Upon graduation, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Artillery, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1870. Three years later, he was promoted to paymaster major. In 1878, he was appointed major of the 4th Infantry. He was killed in action at Milk River, Colorado, during the White River Ute uprising on September 29, 1879. (Heitman, 1:959) TIFFANY, Harry, of Maryland, served in the ranks, first in the 4th Cavalry, and then the 3rd Infantry, from 1869 to 1876. On August 15, 1876, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 11th Infantry. He was dropped from the Army List in 1879. (Heitman, 1:961) TOWNSEND, Edwin Franklin, entered West Point in 1850, and upon graduation was breveted second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. He resigned in 1856, but reentered the army as first lieutenant of the 14th Infantry in 1861. He distinguished himself during the

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Civil War, and was breveted to major for gallantry at Shiloh, and to lieutenant colonel for continued and faithful service in the Ordnance Department. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was major of the 9th Infantry. He retired in 1895 as colonel of the 12th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:967) TYLER, Augustus Cleveland, entered West Point in 1869, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Cavalry. He resigned in 1878, but saw service again during the Spanish-American War (Heitman, 1:976) UPHAM, John Jacques (d. 1898) was breveted second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in July 1859, and commissioned second lieutenant of the 6th Infantry the following December. In 1861, he was promoted to first lieutenant and then to captain, transferring to the 6th Cavalry in 1870. He was breveted to major for gallantry at Gettysburg, and commissioned to the active rank of major of the 5th Cavalry in 1874. He was colonel of the 8th Cavalry at the time of his retirement in 1892. (Heitman, 1:978) VAN VLIET, Frederick (1841–91), native of New York, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1861. He earned brevets to lieutenant colonel during the Civil War, and was promoted to the active rank of captain in 1866. He served in Arizona from 1870 to 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Van Vliet participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. As major of the 10th Cavalry, he served again in Arizona during the Geronimo Campaign. He died of injuries received in a wagon accident. (Altshuler, 1991, 341) VOLKMAR, William Jefferson (1847–1901), of Pennsylvania, served in the Volunteers in 1863, before being appointed to West Point. He graduated in 1868, and was posted to the 5th Cavalry at Fort Harker, Kansas, where he distinguished himself in an engagement with the Sioux. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1870, and two years later was sent to Arizona, where he commanded Camp Date Creek. He was detached for recruiting duty from December 1872 until 1876, when he was appointed aide to Maj. Gen. John Pope. Later he served as an aide to Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan. Volkmar retired at colonel in 1900. His son, whom he named after Walter Schuyler, served as an officer of the Artillery. (Altshuler, 1991, 344–45) VROOM, Peter Dumont (1842–1926), native of New Jersey, served

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as an officer of Volunteers, earning several brevets during the Civil War. In February 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following July. Promoted to captain in 1876, he participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, distinguishing himself at the Battle of the Rosebud. He served in Arizona from 1882 to 1885, when he was appointed major/inspector general. He retired as a brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 346) WALKER, John Perry (1840–1915), native of Ohio, was an 1866 graduate of West Point. After serving in the infantry with a promotion to first lieutenant, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp Verde, Arizona, in late 1870. In December 1871, he moved with his regiment to the Department of the Platte, where he participated in the Sioux Expedition of 1874. Walker’s subsequent career was marked by mental deterioration. Courts-martial alternated with commitments to the government asylum in Washington. In 1882, he filed charges against General Crook, which Sheridan shrugged off with the remark that Walker “was for some time an inmate of the Insane Asylum.” The following year, he was retired as captain. (Altshuler, 1991, 348–49; Robinson, 2001, 252) WARD, Edward Wilkerson (d. 1897), a native of Kentucky, was appointed first lieutenant of the Kentucky Scouts in 1861, and was mustered out of the Union Army in 1865. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry in 1869, and was posted to the Department of the Platte. He served in Arizona from 1873 to 1875, commanding Indian Scouts at Camp Apache, and serving as post commander at San Carlos. He retired as captain due to ill health in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 352) WEIR, William Bayard (d. 1879), of New York, entered West Point in 1869, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Artillery. In 1874, he was promoted to first lieutenant of Ordnance. He was killed during the White River Ute uprising in Colorado. (Hetiman, 1:1015) WELLS, Elijah Revillo, of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1858. After its reorganization as 2nd Cavalry, he was commissioned second lieutenant. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, earning brevets up to major. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was captain of the 2nd Cavalry. He retired in 1879, and died in 1891. (Heitman, 1:1017)

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WESSELLS, Henry Walton, Jr. (1846–1929), native of New York, attended the Naval Academy for two years before enlisting in the 7th Infantry in March 1865. The following August, he received dual commissions as second and first lieutenant retroactive to July 21. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1870, joining his company in Arizona in April 1871. Eight months later, the regiment transferred to the Department of the Platte, where Wessells was promoted to captain. He commanded Fort Robinson, Nebraska, during the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1879, and was wounded in the fighting. He was retired for disability as colonel in 1901. Karl Malden’s portrayal of Wessells as an alcoholic Prussian martinet with a heavy German accent, in the 1964 film Cheyenne Autumn is fictitious, as is the film itself. (Altshuler, 1991, 355–56) WHEELER, Homer Webster (1848–1930), of Vermont, went west in 1868, where he became a companion of Willi Comstock, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Wild Bill Hickok. In September, he took part on the expedition that rescued Forsyth’s command at Beecher’s Island. After distinguishing himself as a civilian volunteer at the Sappa Creek fight in April 1875, Maj. Gen. John Pope recommended him for appointment as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He joined his company at Fort Lyon, Colorado, in December of that year, and in July 1876, he was transferred to Camp Robinson. He took part in Mackenzie’s Dull Knife Fight on November 25. He also served during the Nez Percé War of 1877, and the Bannock uprising two years later. He retired as colonel in 1911. He later recalled his experiences in two books, The Frontier Trail (1923), and Buffalo Days (1925). See also, CODY, William Frederick. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1545–46) WHITE, David (d. 1901), joined the 107th Illinois Infantry as a private in 1862. Two years later, he was named regimental chaplain. After being mustered out of the Volunteers, he was assigned as chaplain at Fort Reno, and appointed post chaplain in 1867. He retired in 1882. (Heitman, 1:1027) WIETING, Orlando Luther (1846–93), native of Pennsylvania, served as an enlisted man in the Volunteers from 1864 to 1865. After the Civil War, he entered West Point, graduating in 1870, but resigned the same year. In 1872, he reentered the service, commissioned as a second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry. He was post quartermaster at Fort Whipple, and later served in the Departments of the Platte,

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and the Missouri. He was a captain at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 367–68) WILLIAMS, Robert (d. 1901), native of Virginia, entered West Point in 1847, and upon graduation was assigned to the 1st Dragoons (later 1st Cavalry). In 1861 he was breveted to captain and appointed assistant adjutant general, and served in the Adjutant General’s Department throughout the remainder of his career. In 1865, he was breveted to brigadier general for “diligent, faithful, and meritorious service in the Adjutant General’s Department during the war.” He was assistant adjutant general of the Department of the Platte during Crook’s administration. Williams retired in 1893 as brigadier general and adjutant general of the army. (Heitman, 1:1042) WILSON, Robert Phillips (1841–1926), castigated by Bourke for resigning during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, was haunted through later life by allegations that he had resigned to avoid an Indian campaign after learning of the Custer disaster. Wilson entered the army as a Volunteer in 1862, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry the following year. He was wounded at Brandy Station, and taken prisoner at Beaver Dam, earning brevets for both actions. In 1864, he was promoted to first lieutenant. After the war, he was active in scouting expeditions in Nebraska, and was promoted to captain in 1869. Following service in Wyoming, he was posted to Arizona, and later to Kansas. In June 1876, he was sent to Wyoming for the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He resigned July 29. Two years later, he was appointed U.S. consul in Moscow. In 1880, a bill was introduced in Congress to reinstate him in the army, but failed because of allegations concerning his resignation. (Altshuler, 1991, 373–74) WINNE, Charles Knickerbocker, of New York, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1861. He was breveted to captain and major for meritorious service during the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel for his work during a cholera epidemic at Tybee Island, Georgia. He resigned in 1873, but was reappointed assistant surgeon a year later. He retired in 1902 as lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon general. (Heitman, 1:1050) WOOD, Marshall William, of New York, served as private in the Volunteers in 1864–65. In 1870, he reentered the army as a hospital steward, and in 1875 was commissioned as assistant surgeon. He

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was promoted to surgeon major in 1894, and retired in 1902 (Heitman, 1:1055). WOODRUFF, Charles Albert, served in the ranks of the Volunteers from 1862 to 1865. In 1867, he was appointed to West Point, and upon graduation posted as second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry. In 1877, he was promoted to first lieutenant. He was breveted to captain for gallantry at the Big Hole fight during the Nez Percé War in 1877, in which he was wounded three times. In 1878, he was promoted to captain and commissary of subsistence, working his way up the grades of the Commissary Department until 1898, when he was appointed colonel and assistant commissary general of subsistence. (Heitman, 1:1057) WOODRUFF, Thomas Mayhew (d. 1899), entered West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879, and to captain in 1891. During the Spanish-American War he served as major and inspector general of volunteers. He was breveted to first lieutenant for gallantry in action against the Nez Percés at Bear Paw Mountain in 1877. (Heitman, 1:1058) WOODSON, Albert Emmett (1841–1903) native of Kentucky, went to Washington Territory in 1859. Three years later, he enlisted in the territorial volunteers, serving as a hospital steward until 1863 when he was commissioned a second lieutenant. In 1867, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 36th Infantry in the Department of the Platte, and in 1870 was transferred to the 5th Cavalry. In Arizona, he participated in Crook’s Apache campaigns, distinguishing himself in fights in the Tonto Basin. As a captain, he was on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Slim Buttes fight. He later served in the Nez Percé War and in the Philippines. Woodson retired as brigadier general in 1903. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1593–94) YATES, George W. (d. 1876), native of New York, was company commander of the 7th Cavalry, and died with Custer at the Little Bighorn. He entered the army as a sergeant in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned first lieutenant the following year. He served with distinction in the Civil War, earning the brevet rank of major. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry, and was promoted to captain of the 7th a year later. (Heitman, 1:1065)

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Civilians BEECHER, Henry Ward (1813–87), Presbyterian minister, author, lecturer, and political activist, was one of the most influential public figures of his era. He was not an original thinker, and his large following was based on his practical, realistic approach to life, together with his gift for the spoken and written word. His sister was Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and although Beecher shared her aversion to slavery, he was not a rabid abolitionist. A nephew, Lt. Frederick H. Beecher, 3rd Infantry, was killed in Forsyth’s fight with the Cheyennes in Kansas, on September 17, 1868. The fight subsequently became known as Beecher’s Island. (Johnson and Malone, 2:129–35) BRUGUIER (sometimes spelled Brouguier), Johnny (1849–98), son of a French father and a Santee Sioux mother, was born at the site of what is now Sioux City, Iowa, and educated at the College of the Christian Brothers in St. Louis. In 1875, he was a scout and interpreter at Standing Rock Agency, Dakota Territory, when he accidentally killed a man in a fight involving his brother. He fled to the Black Hills, where, in the summer of 1876, he arrived in Sitting Bull’s camp. He handled the chief’s correspondence with the military, and acted as interpreter during Sitting Bull’s confrontation with Miles. In exchange for protection from a murder charge stemming from the Standing Rock incident, Bruguier agreed to work for Miles, who credited him with much of the success for his campaigns against Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse that winter. He ultimately was acquitted of the charge. In 1890, he again served as Miles’s interpreter during the Ghost Dance outbreak. In 1891, he moved to an Indian agency near Poplar, Montana, where, seven years later, he was killed from a blow to the head by an unknown assailant. See also MILES, Nelson Appleton; SITTING BULL. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:181) CODY, William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” (1846–1917) was one of the army’s foremost scouts in the decade immediately following the Civil War, and gained worldwide fame as an entertainer with his Wild West Show. A native of Iowa, he moved with his family to Kansas in 1854. At the age of eleven, following the death of his father, he became a teamster, then worked at various other jobs, including riding for the Pony Express. His first experience with the military appears to have been as a guide for a scouting expedition on the Santa Fe Trail in 1862. During 1867–68, he was employed by a

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contractor to hunt buffalo to feed railroad construction workers, and became known as Buffalo Bill. In 1868, Cody became chief scout for the 5th Cavalry, serving in the capacity over the next several years. Among other things, he organized hunting parties for dignitaries being cultivated by General Sheridan. He entered show business in 1872, and, with the exception of the campaign of 1876, remained an entertainer for the rest of his life. (O’Neal, 84–90) COSGROVE, Thomas, native of Texas and former Confederate cavalryman, who, together with Robert Eckles and Nelson Yarnell, lived among the Shoshones and trained their warriors in conventional cavalry tactics. CRAWFORD, Jack, also known as “Captain Jack” and “the Poet scout,” who published a book of rhymes, was a scout and part-time correspondent with the 5th Cavalry during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He weathered the Horse Meat March reasonably well. As the march neared its end, correspondents turned in their dispatches to Frank Grouard, who would carry them to Fort Laramie for relay by telegraph. Reuben Davenport, knowing that, as a pariah, his dispatches to the New York Herald might be delayed in favor of competing papers, paid Crawford to carry duplicate copies. Instead of Fort Laramie, Crawford carried them to the nearest telegraph office, and the Herald beat the rival Tribune. Crawford later served as correspondent for the Herald as well as the Omaha Bee, and maintained a ranch in the Southwest and a home in Brooklyn. (Knight, 252, 276–78, 304) CUSTER, Boston (1848–76), youngest brother of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, who died with him at the Little Bighorn in 1876. Boston Custer was hired by his older brother to serve as a scout for the 7th Cavalry, in an obvious case of nepotism. He also was interested in river piloting, and considered accompanying Capt. Grant Marsh on the steamer Far West, while his brothers campaigned against the Indians in June 1876. At the last moment, however, he opted to go with the 7th Cavalry in the expedition that culminated with its near-destruction at the Little Bighorn. See also, CALHOUN, James; CUSTER, Thomas Ward; MARSH, Grant; REED, Arthur Harry. (Day, 20, 235) DANIELS, Jared W., agent at Red Cloud from 1872 to 1873, who secured his appointment through the effort of Bishop Henry Whipple. He was a member of the 1876 commission that dean-

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nexed the Black Hills from the Great Sioux Reservation. See also, WHIPPLE, Henry Benjamin; RED CLOUD. (Hyde, 1975, 196–202; Robinson, 1993, 261) DAVENPORT, Reuben Briggs (c. 1852–1932), correspondent for the New York Herald during Crook’s administration of the Department of the Platte. He was born in New York City, and joined the Herald in 1871. He accompanied Custer’s Black Hills Expedition of 1874, and the Dodge-Jenney Expedition. Davenport was the prototype of the modern investigative reporter. His persistent questioning prompted many Westerners to tell him some tall tales, but his dispatches show that he generally was skeptical. Of all the correspondents, he was the least impressed with Crook, reporting the facts as he saw them. A Quaker, he nevertheless distinguished himself for valor during the Battle of the Rosebud. However, his unflattering account of the fight earned him the enmity of Crook and his inner circle. He later covered the Spanish-American War, and served as chief editorial writer for the Paris edition of the combined New York Herald-Tribune. He died in France. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:376–77; Knight, 172–73; Appendix 17) DE SMET, Pierre-Jean (1801–73) a Belgian-born Jesuit, ministered to the Indians of Montana, Oregon, and Idaho for more than three decades beginning in 1840. During this period, he also made nineteen trips to Europe to recruit priests and nuns to work among the Indians. He served as mediator between the Indians and whites, including at the Fort Laramie Treaty conference in 1868. (Utley, 1997, 122) ECKLES, Robert (Texas Bob). See COSGROVE, Thomas. EDMUNDS, Newton, former governor of Dakota Territory, and member of the Manypenny Commission of 1876. See MANYPENNY, George W. (Prucha, 212) FINERTY, John Frederick (1846–1908), a political refugee from Ireland, became a correspondent for the Chicago Times, and covered more Indian war campaigns than any other professional journalist. In 1876, he covered Crook’s expeditions, and his book, War-Path and Bivouac is one of the most complete accounts. He also covered the Ute campaign of 1879, visited Sitting Bull in exile in Canada, and covered the 1881 Apache uprising. He was a member of Congress from 1883 to 1885. (Finerty; Knight, 173–74; Lamar, 369) FORD, John W., was post telegraph operator at Fort Laramie. (Hedren, 1988, 58)

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GROUARD, Frank (1850?–1905) claimed that he was born in the Friendly Islands, the son of an American missionary and a Polynesian noblewoman. While this is the most generally accepted version, and most probably true, his numerous detractors disputed it, some insisting that he was mulatto, and others that he was Indian-white. Grouard was a braggart, and his own accounts cannot be considered completely reliable. Despite his assertions to the contrary, he also nursed an unexplained, but deep-seated hatred for the Oglala chief Crazy Horse, possibly resulting from several years spent in Oglala captivity. The animosity ultimately became a factor in Crazy Horse’s death. Despite his faults, Grouard was a great scout and an experienced frontiersman, and his services to the government were invaluable during the Great Sioux War. In later entries, Bourke spelled the name “Gruard.” See also CLARK, William Philo; CRAZY HORSE. (DeBarthe; Robinson, 1995) HAYES, Rutherford Birchard (1822–1893), served under Crook as a brigadier general of Volunteers during the Civil War, and became Crook’s lifelong friend, supporter, and admirer, even naming one of his sons after him. Declared president after a controversial and hotly contested election, Hayes held office from 1877 to 1881. He was determined not to be distracted by campaign considerations, and therefore did not seek a second term. Consequently, in many cases the full effect of his reforms was not apparent until after he left office. Nevertheless, he was one of the more capable presidents of the last three decades of the nineteenth century. (See Robinson, 2001, and Hoogenboom) HOWARD, E. A., agent at the Spotted Tail Agency from 1873 to 1876. Little is known of him except that beneath his quiet demeanor was great strength of character. He was the only agent who lasted more than a year at Spotted Tail during that period. Removed as part of the military takeover of the agencies, he was reassigned to the Ponca Agency, where a strong hand was believed necessary. (Hyde, 1987, 226–27 n2) LATHROP, Barbour, was a Harvard-educated Virginian who served as correspondent for the San Francisco Bulletin. Independently wealthy, he had lived in San Francisco for several years, where he founded the Bohemian Club, prior to joining Crook. Despite his background, Bourke considered him and Cuthbert Mills of the New York Times the only bona fide correspondents of the group. His later

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life was spent in philanthropy. He is responsible for the introduction of several major food and ornamental plants to U.S. agriculture and horticulture. (Knight, 252–53, 321–22) McGILLYCUDDY, Valentine T. (1849–1939), contract surgeon with General Crook, and topographer for the Dodge-Jenney expedition, was a native of Michigan. He served as post surgeon at Camp Robinson, where he tended the mortally wounded Crazy Horse. He served as agent for the Oglalas from 1879 to 1886, when he was relieved in part because of disputes with Red Cloud. McGillycuddy also was first mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota, and served as president of the South Dakota School of Mines. Bourke occasionally spelled the name “MacGillicuddy.” See also CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:905; McGillycuddy) MANYPENNY, George W., third commissioner of Indian Affairs for the newly formed Department of the Interior, served in that post from 1853 to 1856. He spent much of his subsequent career heading Indian investigation and treaty commissions. His significance in this instance is as head of a commission formed in 1876 to force the Indians to cede the Black Hills. Manypenny’s book, Our Indian Wards (1880), describes Indian-white relations in what is now the U.S., from the first contact in the sixteenth century up to the date of publication. He was unpopular with the military. Ranald Mackenzie, who considered his efforts to negotiate a settlement to the White River Ute crisis of 1879–80 disruptive and annoying, described Manypenny as a “chronic commissioner.” See MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell; EDMUNDS, Newton. (Prucha, 113–15, 212; Robinson, 1993, 269) MARSH, Grant (1834–1916), called “the most popular steamboat captain on the upper Missouri,” became an almost legendary figure when he forced the steamer Far West 710 miles from the Yellowstone to Bismarck in only fifty-four hours, to deliver the wounded from the battle of the Little Bighorn. The Far West had been leased to the government for the duration of the Great Sioux War, and Marsh was credited with being “always ready to take any chances when the services of his government demanded them.” A native of Rochester, Pennsylvania, Marsh became a cabin boy on a steamer at age twelve. He worked his way up becoming first mate of the steamer A.B. Chambers, when Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) was second mate. After assisting the Union fleet with small craft on

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the Mississippi, Marsh served with Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully’s steamers on the upper Missouri in 1864. From then on, he operated steamers on the Missouri and its tributaries. In 1881, he headed a flotilla of five steamers transporting 1,500 Sioux from Montana to agencies in the Dakota Territory. He died in Bismarck, North Dakota. See also, CUSTER, Boston. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:944) MARSH, Othniel Charles (1831–99), paleontologist, native of New York, was an 1860 graduate of Yale, where he received the chair in paleontology six years later. In 1870, he led the first of several formal expeditions to locate deposits of vertebrate fossil remains on the Great Plains. His discoveries led to his appointment in 1882 as vertebrate paleontologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He remained associated with the Geological Survey, and held his chair at Yale for the remainder of his life. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:945) MERIVALE, Joseph, whose name Bourke spelled “Marrivale,” was a longtime resident of the Fort Laramie area, who had served the army as a guide on several occasions prior to the Dodge-Jenney Black Hills expedition of 1875. Nevertheless, during the expedition, Dodge determined that Merivale knew very little about the Black Hills, and instead used him as a courier and interpreter. (Kime, 1996, 12–13) MILLS, Cuthbert, New York Times correspondent was one of only two persons on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition whom Bourke considered to be bona fide correspondents. The other was Barbour Lathrop of the San Francisco Bulletin. Knight (251) has very little information about him, not even his first name. MOORE, Thomas (1832–96) was one of the preeminent mule packers of the West and, with General Crook, streamlined the military pack transportation system to a model of efficiency. A native of St. Louis, he began his Western career by traveling to California in 1850. He joined Crook as civilian chief packer in 1871, and served in virtually every major Indian campaign until 1895. He also organized transportation for hunting and camping trips by Crook and other dignitaries. His sister was Carrie Nation, temperance activist famous for smashing saloons in the Midwest. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:1011–12) MORROW, Stanley (1843–1921), photographer, was born in Ohio, but grew up in Wisconsin. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Volunteers. He became a member of the Iron Brigade, which served with distinction at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and

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Gettysburg. In 1864, he transferred to duty at Fort Lookout Prison, Maryland, where he studied photography under Matthew B. Brady. In 1869, he moved his family to Yankton, Dakota Territory, and opened a photographic gallery. He also documented Indian and military life along the Missouri River. He was in the Black Hills documenting the gold rush when he received the opportunity to photograph Crook’s troops at the end of the Horse Meat March. In 1879, he accompanied the burial detail that reinterred the remains of Custer’s command at the Little Bighorn, and took the earliest surviving photographs of the battlefield. He later lived in Florida and Georgia, and died in Dallas, Texas. (Hedren, 1985, 10–11) NORTH, Frank J. (1840–85), commander of the Pawnee Battalion on during Crook’s Powder River Expedition. A native of New York, he moved to Nebraska at the age of sixteen with his family. Over the next year, he learned the Pawnee language from a band of Indians camped near his home. In 1860, he became a clerk at the Pawnee Agency store in Genoa, Nebraska, and eventually handled day-to-day operations of the agency. In 1864, he became lieutenant of a company of Pawnees who scouted for Brig. Gen. Samuel Curtis’s expedition against the Sioux and Cheyennes. His performance was such that Curtis authorized him to raise a second company and he was appointed captain. In the winter of 1866–67, he was promoted to major, and raised a four-company Pawnee battalion to guard construction crews for the Union Pacific Railroad. Between 1865 and 1869, North and his scouts were actively engaged in combat against hostile tribes. In 1877, following the Powder River Expedition, the Pawnees were formally mustered out of the service. For several years, they participated in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, but in 1884, North was severely injured when his saddle girth broke and he was trampled. He died of his injuries on March 14, 1885. (O’Neal, 178–81) PHILLIPS, John “Portugee” (1832–83), was born Manoel Felipe Cardoso in the Azores. He came to California on a Portuguese ship about 1850, and became a prospector. On August 14, 1866, he and two partners, James Wheatley and Isaac Fisher, arrived at Fort Phil Kearny, where they accepted employment with the post quartermaster. When Wheatley and Fisher were killed in the Fetterman Massacre of December 21, 1866, Phillips volunteered to carry news of the disaster and a plea for assistance from the besieged garrison

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at Phil Kearny to Fort Laramie. He left Phil Kearny that night, making the 236-mile ride alone through blizzards in four days, arriving shortly before midnight Christmas Day in the middle of a holiday ball. He was bedridden with exhaustion and frostbite for several weeks after the ride. He appears to have received no special reward or consideration for his efforts, although in 1899, the government gave his widow $5,000 in belated gratitude. Bourke never arrived at a consistent way of spelling Phillips’ name, or in using an apostrophe with the “s”. See also FETTERMAN, William Judd. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1140; Brown, 203) POURIER, Baptiste (1841–1932), called “Big Bat” to distinguish him from another scout, Baptiste “Little Bat” Garnier, was born in St. Charles, Missouri. The descendant of a long line of French fur traders and explorers, while still in his teens he accepted employment with trader John Richaud, who later became his father-in-law. Pourier became an interpreter and guide at Fort Laramie in 1869, serving in that capacity until 1880. (Gilbert) REED, Arthur Harry (d. 1876), called “Autie” by his family, nephew of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, who died with him at the Little Bighorn. He accompanied the 7th Cavalry as a guest of his uncle. See also CALHOUN, James; CUSTER, Boston; CUSTER, Thomas Ward. (Day, 229–30. 268) RICHAUD, Louis (ca. 1846–1897) was the son of fur trader John Baptiste Richaud and his wife, Mary Gardiner, who was part Oglala. He grew up along the Platte River in Wyoming, where he and his brother-in-law, Big Bat Pourier, helped operate John Baptiste Richaud’s toll bridge. Although a competent scout, his service under Crook was marked with quarrels with Frank Grouard and he was permanently discharged after the fall 1876 campaign. Thrapp spelled the name “Richard,” but most works give it as Richaud, or, phonetically, “Reeshaw.” (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1214–15) ROCHE, Jerry, correspondent for the New York Herald, was the only reporter who was present at Mackenzie’s attack on Dull Knife’s village during the Powder River Expedition. Even as the fighting was underway, he wrote a hurried dispatch, which he sent back with the Indian couriers who were taking a message asking Crook for infantry support. His later career is not known, but Bourke understood that he abandoned journalism and became a man of substantial means in Texas. (Knight 290, 325)

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ROWLAND, William, was a white who had married into the Cheyennes and served as interpreter at Camp Robinson. He had charge of the Cheyenne scouts on the Powder River Expedition. Bourke spelled the name “Roland.” (Grinnell, 1983, 360, 364) STRAHORN, Robert Edmund (1852–1944), who signed his dispatches “Alter Ego,” was a native of Pennsylvania. He obtained his first newspaper job when he was fourteen. In 1870, he went to Colorado, where he worked in Central City and Black Hawk before joining the Denver Rocky Mountain News. In addition to his regular job with the Denver paper, he also sold dispatches to the Chicago Tribune, Omaha Republican, Cheyenne Sun, and New York Times. Strahorn later settled in Spokane, Washington, and became a land developer and railroad executive, with extensive interests throughout the Pacific Northwest. (Knight, 169–71; Thrapp, 1991, 3:1376) VANDEVER, William (1817–93), native of Maryland, served as United State Indian inspector under the Grant Administration from 1873 until 1877, prompting Bourke (who sometimes spelled it “Vandeveer”) to call him “the lying emissary of the Indian Ring.” Like many of Grant’s appointments, Vandever had served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was mustered out with the brevet rank of major general. He practiced law until his appointment as Indian inspector. He had served as a congressman from Iowa from 1858 to 1871, and, after moving to California, served as a congressman from that state from 1886 to 1891. He lived in Ventura, California, at the time of his death. (Warner, 523–24) WASSON, Joseph, was one of the first newspaper correspondents who actually covered the Indian Wars from the field, joining Crook’s 1867 expeditions against Indians in Idaho, Oregon, and northern California. At the time, he and his brother, John, owned the Silver City, Idaho, Owyhee Avalanche. The Wasson brothers later established the Tucson Arizona Citizen, where Joseph renewed his acquaintance with Crook and came to know Bourke. He was covering the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition for the New York Tribune, San Francisco Alta California, and Philadelphia Press. (Knight, 32–33, 168–69) WHIPPLE, Henry Benjamin (1822–1901), Episcopal bishop and Indian rights advocate, was born in Adams, New York, and was ordained a priest in 1850. Nine years later, he became the first bishop

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of Minnesota, where he resolved to serve the needs of the state’s twenty thousand Indians, as well as those of the whites. Whipple predicted the Minnesota Uprising of 1862, which he blamed on corruption in the Indian Bureau. He met and corresponded with every president during his career. Although he was vilified by white settlers and frontiersmen, and was the target of an assassination attempt, Whipple was not an apologist for the Indians, insisting they had responsibilities as well as rights. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1547) WHITE, Charles (c. 1841–76), also known as Jonathon White, Frank White, and James White, and called “Buffalo Chips,” was a scout associated with Buffalo Bill Cody. White had ridden with Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart during the Civil War, and was described as an excellent horseman and a good shot. He first met Cody when the latter intervened on his behalf so that he could be treated for an injured leg at the post hospital at Fort McPherson, Nebraska. Thereafter White attached himself to Cody, and was sometimes called his “shadow.” The name “Buffalo Chips” is said variously to have been bestowed on him by Sheridan and by Lt. Alfred Norton, 9th Infantry, and is supposedly a sanitized version of “Buffalo Shit.” White was considered one of the most gentlemanly of all scouts, who did not drink, swear, or lie. He was killed during the mop-up at Slim Buttes. See also CODY, William Frederick. (Thrapp, 1881, 3:1552) YARNELL, Nelson. See COSGROVE, Thomas. Indians AMERICAN HORSE (ca. 1840–1908), Oglala Sioux chief, sometimes confused with another Oglala chief named American Horse, who was mortally wounded at Slim Buttes in 1876. He participated in the Fetterman Massacre, but subsequently settled at the Red Cloud Agency and was not involved in the Great Sioux War. He was an associate of Red Cloud, toured with Buffalo Bill, and as a leader of the Oglalas, earned enemies by often siding with the government in controversies. He died at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:21–22) AMERICAN HORSE (d. 1876), also known as Iron Shield, Oglala chief and cousin of Red Cloud, refused to accept the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and continued a nomadic life. Soon after participating in the battle of the Little Bighorn, his band split

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from the main group of Oglalas, and was camped at Slim Buttes when it was attacked by Capt. Anson Mills on September 9, 1876. American Horse was killed in the mop-up. (Lamar, 33) BLACK COAL, Arapaho chief, who, in 1874, led his people against the government and its Shoshone allies under their powerful chief Washakie. Nevertheless, he ultimately sided with the government during the Great Sioux War. Years later, in 1891, after the Arapahos had been placed on the Shoshone Reservation at Wind River, Black Coal challenged Washakie’s authority, demanding—and receiving—equal status for the Arapahos. See also WASHAKIE. (Hyde, 1975, 297; Hoxie, 676) CHARGING BEAR, Oglala warrior captured at Slim Buttes, together with Big Bat Pourier negotiated the surrender of the mortally wounded American Horse, ending the battle. He later became a corporal of Indian Scouts. COCHISE (ca. 1824–1874) is one of the most famous American Indians, largely because of his efforts to maintain peace following the Cochise War. The war lasted almost twelve years before Brig. Gen. Oliver O. Howard was able to negotiate a peace. At Cochise’s direction, the government established a reservation centered on the Dragoon Mountains, that occupied much of the southeastern part of Arizona. It was abolished two years after his death and the Chiricahuas were concentrated at San Carlos. Cochise was the son-in-law and associate of Mangas Coloradas, who is considered perhaps the greatest of all Apache leaders. He inherited the mantle of supremacy following Mangas’s death in 1863. In the nineteenth century, there was no consistent spelling of Apache names, and Bourke uses “Cochies,” “Cochis,” and “Cocheis,” the latter of which was most common among whites. See also HOWARD, Oliver Otis. (Sweeney, 1991; Lamar, 228) CRAZY HORSE (ca. 1840–1877), Oglala war chief, drew attention not only for his mysticism and introverted personality, but also because of his red hair and pale, freckled complexion. In 1865, he was designated one of the four Oglala “shirt wearers” or leading political chiefs, but lost the position five years later following an altercation involving another man’s wife. He distinguished himself in the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, and subsequently during the Great Sioux War. Arrested on September 5, 1877, he was bayoneted during a scuffle at the guardhouse at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, and died

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about midnight. During the latter half of the twentieth century, he became a symbol of Indian political and social resistance. See also BURKE, Daniel Webster; CLARK, William Philo; GROUARD, Frank; LITTLE BIG MAN; McGILLYCUDDY, Valentine T. (Hoxie, 137–39; Utley, 1997, 109–10; Nickerson, 20; DeBarthe, 117) DULL KNIFE (c. 1810–83), was one of the four “old man” or senior chiefs of the Cheyennes. Dull Knife, the name by which he is best known, was his Lakota designation. Among his own people, he was known as Morning Star. He became known to the whites when he signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Following the destruction of his camp by Mackenzie, on November 25, 1876, he and his band wandered until the following spring, when they surrendered. They were transported to the Indian Territory where, after two years of suffering, his band joined Little Wolf’s in an outbreak. North of the Platte River, the two groups split and Dull Knife surrendered at Fort Robinson. In January 1879, Dull Knife’s band staged an uprising and escaped. He eventually was allowed to lived at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. See also LITTLE WOLF; MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell; WESSELS, Henry. (Utley, 1997, 132–33) FAST THUNDER, Oglala, chief and ally of Red Cloud, who accompanied him to Washington in 1875, to dispute proposed relocation of the agency, and was prominent in subsequent negotiations. (Olson) IRON SHIELD. See AMERICAN HORSE, also known as Iron Shield. JOHN. See UTE JOHN. JOSEPH (1841–1904), Nez Percé, sometimes called the Xenophon of the Indians, was leader of the Nez Percés on their monumental but futile trek toward refuge in Canada. Joseph was born Heinmot Tooyalakekt, the second son of the Nez Percé chief Tu-ya-kas-kas and the baptized Nez Percé woman, Arenoth. When Heimnot Tooyalakekt was about two years old, his father likewise was baptized, and took the name Joseph. After the death of his father, in 1871, Heinmot Tooyalakekt, who by now also was known as Joseph, became the political chief of the Wallamotkin band of Nez Percés. In 1877, federal authorities ordered all Nez Percés on to a reservation to accommodate mining interests in their territory in eastern Oregon. This enraged some of the younger warriors, who killed several settlers. Fearing retaliation, Joseph, Looking Glass,

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and several other chiefs led their people on a four-month trek of over a thousand miles, across the continental divide toward Canada. Ultimately, they were forced to surrender to Col. Nelson Miles less than a hundred miles short of their goal. By now, Joseph and White Bird were the only surviving chiefs. Initially, the Nez Percés were interned at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and later sent to the Indian Territory, where many died of malaria. In 1879, Joseph traveled to Washington to present his case, and became a national celebrity. The result was that the Nez Percés where allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest, but not to their old homeland. See also MILES, Nelson Appleton, HOWARD, Oliver Otis, LOOKING GLASS. (Hoxie, 309–11) LAME DEER (d. 1877), Minneconjou chief, whose band was one of the last major holdouts in the Great Sioux War. He was killed when fighting broke out between his people and Miles’s troops in his camp, on May 7, 1877. (Greene, 1991, Chapter 9) LITTLE BIG MAN, Oglala “shirt wearer” or senior chief of Crazy Horse’s band, initially was pegged—justifiably—as a trouble maker when he arrived at the Red Cloud Agency in 1872. His name had nothing to do with stature, but was to distinguish him from his father, also named Big Man. Little Big Man surrendered with Crazy Horse in 1877, pledging to General Crook that he would maintain the peace. During the scuffle in which Crazy Horse was killed at Camp Robinson, Little Big Man pinioned his arms. He always maintained that the death was an accident. He settled at Pine Ridge where, in 1879, he became a policeman. See also CRAZY HORSE. (Hyde, 1975, 198, 243n 297–98) LITTLE HAWK, Oglala, uncle of Crazy Horse, and second in importance in Crazy Horse’s band. Together with Young Man Afraid of His Horses, Little Wound, and Crow Dog, he became one of the leaders of the Ghost Dance movement at Pine Ridge. On January 14, 1891, following the disaster at Wounded Knee, this group met with Miles to finalize the break-up of the Sioux Ghost Dancers. See also CRAZY HORSE, YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES, LITTLE WOUND, MILES, Nelson Appleton. (Hyde, 1956, 313) LITTLE WOLF (c. 1820–1904), Northern Cheyenne, was chief of the Bowstring Soldier warrior society. He apparently was present during the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, and the Custer fight in 1876. It is not known, however, whether he was in Dull Knife’s

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village during Mackenzie’s attack on November 25, 1876. After the Cheyennes surrendered to Crook, he was among the group sent to the Indian Territory. In September 1878, he and Dull Knife led three hundred of their followers out of the Territory and north toward their homeland. The two bands split after crossing the North Platte River, and Little Wolf continued to Montana, while Dull Knife surrendered at Fort Robinson. Little Wolf ultimately surrendered to Miles, who enrolled him as a scout. He remained a respected figure until his death. See also DULL KNIFE; MILES, Nelson Appleton. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:862–63) LITTLE WOUND, Oglala chief, attempted to be accommodating, but government blundering drove his band to hostility in 1865. He signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Like Red Cloud and other chiefs, however, he understood the treaty was simply to restore peace and trade, and refused to abandon his hunting grounds to the government. Nevertheless, he settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and, together with Red Cloud, probably saved Agent J. J. Saville’s life from a kangaroo court organized by Little Big Man and Pretty Bear over a dispute about rations. In 1877, he combined with Red Cloud and other Oglala leaders to support General Crook against Crazy Horse. He eventually settled at Pine Ridge. See also CRAZY HORSE, LITTLE BIG MAN, RED CLOUD. (Hyde, 1975, 155, 164, 169, 209, 297) LOOKING GLASS (c. 1823–77), Nez Percé, was a war chief of the Alpowai band of Nez Percé, who gained distinction in battles against other tribes on the buffalo plains east of his home in the Wallowa Valley of Oregon. In the great Nez Percé trek of 1877, he became de facto leader of the warriors. However, his miscalculation that his people were beyond danger from the whites led to heavy losses in the Battle of Big Hole, in Montana. After that, he was no longer paramount war chief, although he retained much prestige. He regained control, but another miscalculation led to the six-day siege at Bear Paw Mountain, September 30–October 5, 1877. He was killed on the final day, and this prompted the Nez Percés to surrender. See also JOSEPH. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:873–74) OLD BEAR, Cheyenne, was present at both the Little Bighorn and the Dull Knife fight five months later, and was among those who surrendered with Dull Knife. (Grinnell, 1983, 353, 367) OLD CROW, also known as Washington, a chief of Crow Indian scouts.

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OLD MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES arose to leadership of the Oglalas during a power struggle in the early 1850s. Details are sketchy but he appears to have been recognized by the government as head chief during this period. In 1854, he tried unsuccessfully to head off the confrontation between troops commanded by Second Lt. J. L. Grattan and Lakotas near Fort Laramie, which resulted in the massacre of Grattan and his men, and essentially marked the beginning of the Sioux Wars. This failure led the government to designate Bad Wound as head chief. Although the government considered him a peace chief, he joined Red Cloud in refusing to sign the proposed Fort Laramie Treaty of 1866. He did, however, sign the 1868 treaty. By this time, however, his prestige had begun to wane, and Red Cloud, about five years his junior, assumed preeminence. He eventually settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and later at Pine Ridge. See also RED CLOUD; YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES. (Hyde, 1975, 67–68, 73–74, 139, 164) RED CLOUD (1822–1909), Oglala, became a powerful war chief through his own accomplishments. He appears to have taken his first scalp at sixteen, in a raid against the Pawnees. He participated in the Grattan Massacre, and was a distinguished leader against Gen. Patrick Connor’s failed North Plains Expedition. During a treaty council at Fort Laramie in June 1866, Red Cloud and his followers walked out in protest of a proposal to surrender more hunting grounds to the government. This led to the Red Cloud War of 1866–68, that forced the government to abandon the Bozeman Trail and Forts Reno, Phil Kearny, and C.F. Smith. After signing the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, Red Cloud never again went to war, although during the Great Sioux War, his sympathies were with the hostiles. This led Crook to depose him as paramount chief of the Lakotas in favor of Spotted Tail in September 1876. Following the death of Spotted Tail in 1881, Red Cloud again emerged as paramount chief. More visionary than many of the other leaders, he saw that the survival of his people depended on adapting to government expectations. He died at Pine Ridge. See also YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES; SPOTTED TAIL; THREE BEARS. Red Cloud’s life is covered in Olson; Hyde, 1975; and Larson. ROCKY BEAR, Oglala chief, together with Sitting Bull of the South, and Three Bears, persuaded young warriors of the Red Cloud Agency to enlist as scouts for General Crook, over the objections of

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Red Cloud and Agent James S. Hastings. See also SITTING BULL OF THE SOUTH; THREE BEARS. (Hyde, 1975, 259) ROMAN NOSE, Lakota leader from the Spotted Tail Agency, was among the hostiles at Slim Buttes. After the fight, he joined Crazy Horse, but eventually he, Touch-the-Clouds, and other chiefs broke away, surrendered, and were allowed to live at the Spotted Tail Agency. Sometime after mid-1877, however, he left and joined Sitting Bull in Canada. Not to be confused with the great Cheyenne chief Roman Nose, who was killed in a fight with Forsyth’s troops at Beecher’s Island, in 1868. See also TOUCH-THE-CLOUDS. (Hyde, 1974, 266 n 8, 287 n3) SHARP NOSE, Arapaho chief, led his tribe’s contingent serving under General Crook in the summer and fall of 1876. Besides being a noted warrior and leader, soldiers praised him as one of the most outstanding guides. He was especially valuable in guiding Mackenzie’s cavalry to the main Cheyenne camp on November 24–25. (Dunlay, 82) SHUNCACA LUTU (Sorrel Horse), Brulé medicine man mentioned frequently by Bourke in 1876–77, but there is little other information about him. SITTING BULL (1831?–90), Hunkpapa war chief and holy man, as a young man attained a superlative record as a warrior, and in 1857, was designated a war chief. His conflicts with whites appear to have begun when Montana-bound gold seekers came up the Missouri River. The government soon began building forts along the river, prompting Sitting Bull to lead his people in a five-year war. By this time, his interest had turned to spirituality, and he was known among all the Lakota tribes as a holy man. In his combined capacity of military and religious leader, he became the focal point of the Lakotas resisting the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and the subsequent settlement on reservations. His warriors fought troops on a survey expedition into the Yellowstone Valley in 1872 and 1873. Rather than surrender during the Great Sioux War, he led a remnant of his people into Canada, where they remained until 1881, when he turned himself in at Fort Buford, North Dakota. He toured briefly with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, but spent most of his time on the Standing Rock Reservation, adopting white methods he deemed useful, and rejecting those he did not. As more of the Indian lands were taken, Sitting Bull became a leader of the Ghost

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Dance movement at Standing Rock. He was killed on December 15, 1890, in a fight that broke out when Indian Police tried to arrest him. (Utley, 1993; Hoxie, 593–95) SITTING BULL OF THE SOUTH (1841–76) was a name that whites gave to the Oglala leader Sitting Bull to distinguish him from the great Hunkpapa chief Sitting Bull. As a young man, Sitting Bull of the South became friends with a telegrapher, who taught him to read and write, and to use the telegraph. He was fluent in English. Following the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, he joined a hostile faction, and participated in several fights, including the Fetterman Massacre in Wyoming. Later he settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and accompanied two delegations to Washington. He was ambushed and killed by a group of Crows while on a truce mission to Crazy Horse. See also ROCKY BEAR; THREE BEARS. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1315) SPOTTED TAIL (1823?–81) , was a Brulé “shirt wearer” or senior chief, and war leader. Although he was involved in the Grattan Massacre of 1855, he surrendered the following month. He was detained at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Fort Kearny, Nebraska, for a year, during which he learned enough about the whites to realize their numbers and technology made them an irresistible force. From that point onward, he strove to maintain peace, and obtain education for his people, while preserving their ancient culture. He did, however, lead an assault against Julesburg, Colorado, in retaliation for the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, and government restrictions on Lakota travel along the Platte River. Soon after, he permanently ceased fighting whites, signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and took up residence on a reservation in Nebraska. In 1876, General Crook deposed Red Cloud as head chief of the Lakotas, and designated Spotted Tail in his place. Although Spotted Tail negotiated the surrender of hostile bands, he rejected the proposition that the Lakotas be relocated to Oklahoma. In 1880, a political struggle developed among the Brulés, with opposition centering around Spotted Tail’s cousin, Crow Dog. On August 5, 1881, an altercation developed between the two men, and Crow Dog shot Spotted Tail. After his death, the Brulés ceased to play a significant role in Lakota affairs. See also RED CLOUD. (Hoxie, 603–5; Hyde, 1987) STANDING ELK, Cheyenne, led the surrender of the Cheyennes at Camp Robinson in April 1876. Most of the band had been among

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those devastated in Mackenzie’s attack the preceding November. Having negotiated with government officials previously, he accepted the army’s proposal to relocate the Cheyennes to the Indian Territory. (Grinnell, 1983, 400) SWORD (Man Who Carries the Sword), also known as George Sword, Oglala, served as a guide for Sheridan’s hunting trip of 1877, and later was appointed captain of the Indian Police force at Pine Ridge Agency. He proved the reliability of the Indian Police, when he led a force of twenty-five officers 180 miles from Nebraska to Wyoming, in pursuit of a band of Cheyennes under Spotted Wolf, who had bolted from the agency. In the arrest attempt, Spotted Wolf drew his pistol and Sword killed him. The other Cheyennes were taken into custody and returned. (McGillycuddy, 124–25) THREE BEARS, Oglala, served as first sergeant of scouts during Crook’s Powder River expedition of 1876. Together with Young Man Afraid of His Horses, he opposed Red Cloud’s obstructionist policies. Previously, in October 1874, they had headed off a confrontation between several hundred unruly warriors at the Red Cloud Agency, saving a small detachment of troops from Camp Robinson, under Lt. Emmet Crawford, from potential massacre. After that, Crawford considered Three Bears a close friend. See also CRAWFORD, Emmet; RED CLOUD; ROCKY BEAR; YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES. (Dunlay, 137, 141–42) TOUCH-THE-CLOUDS, Minneconjou, so-called because he was seven feet tall. He persuaded Crazy Horse to report to Camp Robinson for internment, leading to the scuffle that resulted in Crazy Horse’s death. In mid to late 1877, he left Spotted Tail’s camp to join Sitting Bull in Canada. See also ROMAN NOSE. (Hyde, 1974, 287 3n; Olson, 214) UTE JOHN, Ute, scout serving with Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, with whom the general dispensed the formalities of rank. Previously he had worked as a teamster in the Salt Lake Valley, and claimed to be a baptized Mormon. (Bourke, Diary, Vol. 7) WASHAKIE (1804?–1900), powerful and autocratic chief of the Shoshones, spent most of his life maintaining peace with the federal government. His position was reenforced in 1863, when Col. Patrick Connor defeated and subdued Shoshone dissidents who had joined Bannocks in raiding against white emigrants. In 1868, he signed the Fort Bridger Treaty establishing a Shoshone reservation in what is

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now western Wyoming. In the 1870s, he led his people as scouts, first against the Arapahos, and latter as part of Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He opposed some government policies, including the resettlement of Arapahos on the Shoshone Reservation. Nevertheless, he cooperated, realizing that to oppose the government would bring disaster for his people. In 1878, at General Crook’s behest, the government upgraded Camp Brown, Wyoming, on the Shoshone Reservation, renaming it Fort Washakie, in his honor. He also was presented with a special medal from Congress. See also BLACK COAL. (Hoxie, 675–76; Robinson, 2001, 221) WHITE THUNDER, subchief of the Brulé Orphan Band, was popular among the officers and families posted to the Spotted Tail Agency. He was among the group that escorted Crazy Horse to interment at Camp Robinson, where the chief was killed. (Hyde, 1974, 229, 285) YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES (ca. 1830–1900) was a hereditary Oglala chief through is father, Old Man Afraid Of His Horses. He was an associate of Red Cloud, and participated in various fights along the Bozeman Trail and in the Fetterman Massacre during the Red Cloud War. He was a party to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and thereafter worked as a sort of mediator between Indians and whites. Although he opposed the sale of Sioux lands to the government, he eventually was designated president of the Pine Ridge Indian Council. He also adamantly opposed the Ghost Dance religion. See also OLD MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES; RED CLOUD; THREE BEARS. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1614–15)

Appendix 2 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Soldiers’ Perspectives on the Horse Meat March

The notorious Horse Meat March was the low point of General Crook’s career. Even Bourke, loyal though he was, found his patience strained. The following writings are from others who accompanied the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition on the trek. They begin with Crook’s orders as transmitted to the 5th Cavalry by its lieutenant colonel, Eugene A. Carr. Orders to Cavalry, August 4, 1876 [From Charles King, Campaigning With Crook and Stories of Army Life, 57–58] All tents, camp equipage, bedding, and baggage, except articles hereinafter specified, to be stored in the wagons, and wagons turned over to care of chief quartermaster by sunrise to-morrow. Each company to have their coffee roasted and ground and turned over to the chief commissary at sunset to-night. Wagons will be left here at camp. A pack-train of mules will accompany each battalion on the march, for the protection of which the battalion will be held responsible. The regiment will march at seven A.M. to-morrow, “prepared for action,” and company commanders will see to it that each man carries with him on his person one hundred rounds car464

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bine ammunition and four days’ rations, overcoat and one blanket on the saddle. Fifty rounds additional per man will be packed on mules. Four extra horses, not to be packed, will be led with each company. Curry-combs and brushes will be left in wagons. Special instructions for action: All officers and non-commissioned officers to take constant pains to prevent wastage of ammunition. “I Am a Hippophagist” This extract is from a letter from Colonel Carr to his wife, written on September 8, 1876. It is dated from “Camp Hippophos [Horse Eater] branch of Grand River, Dakota.” The letter is in the Eugene Asa Carr Papers, United States Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. I have just now received orders to send 3 horses to the Commissary to be butchered hence the name [Camp Hippophos] above. I got some horse meat here but have not yet tasted it as I want it to keep awhile. Others have eaten it and pronounce it nice. Mine looks very nice. It is a piece of tenderloin. The horses are of course thin as only such are likely to give out. Tho[’] I saw one left behind today which was in quite grave condition. There were about ten left back today from all that Cavalry. Genl. Merritt is quite exercised and started back himself with the rear guard. He spoke quite frankly today about Genl. Crook. Said that he heard one of the orderlies at his Headquarters last night say he ought to be hung but could not tell who the man was. . . . 6 p.m. The deed is done[.] I am a Hippophagist. I had some very nice duck, ate more than half, as the Doctor insisted, but thought I would try the horse and it is better than Texas beef often is. Have had a hearty supper consisting of duck[,] hippo and hard tack and coffee with very little sugar. This is the last of the sugar, but we probably will have coffee all the way through, it is expected that rations will meet us at Belle Fourche on Monday evening 11th. So we only have to provide for tomorrow and next night. “For breakfast,—water and tightened belts.” An Officer’s Letter Home This letter was written by Lt. Walter Schuyler, one of Crook’s aides-de-camp, to his father, George Washington Schuyler. Schuyler was Bourke’s bunkmate during the march, and describes the

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suffering and the fight at Slim Buttes. The letter is preserved in the Walter Scribner Schuyler Papers, WS87, in The Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, Calif. Fort Laramie, Wyo. November 1, 1876 Dear Father. I want to give you some idea of our operations of the past summer, and think that a concise description of the most important incidents will be more interesting than a daily journal. We marched from Goose creek on the morning of August 5. Our wagon train with all our baggage was ordered to encamp at the forks of the creek, to await our return, on orders to meet us at some designated point. Leaving camp in three columns, we moved north-east to Prarie-dog [sic] creek, and then to its junction with Tongue River, the scene of the attack on Gen. Crook’s camp, June 8,1 bivouacking on the river some miles below. By moderate marches we moved down Tongue River, across to Rosebud c[ree]k, and down that stream to within 30 miles of the Yellowstone. Here we met Gen. Terry’s column moving up from its steamboats. We caused some consternation among them, as their scouts seeing our dust mistook us for the Sioux moving to the attack. We camped together that night, and thence marched together to where the Indian trail turned south from Powder River. One day as we were moving up a small stream called Four Horn Creek, the command was marching in four columns. Just before going into camp, the Headquarters came up, onto a bluff from which we could overlook the whole valley. As the sun came out with unusual brilliancy for a few moments the aspect was grand. The advancing columns of horse and foot with the glistening equipment and the bright colored flags which marked the heads of the different regiments, the long train of pack mules in the centre, and the squads of Indian scouts with their parti-colored dress scattered over the hills, combined to make a picture calculated to excite a soldiers enthusiasm. After going into camp, the Ree scouts of Gen. Terry’s command favored us with a pony dance. A few cattle had been driven along for issue, and on this day the last of them were killed. Our Sho1. Bourke recorded the attack as coming on the evening of June 9. Bourke, Diary, 1:305.

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shones consequently had a feast. The Rees had been invited, and about sundown we were amused to see them coming across the creek, mounted, in perfect line, and all singing in chorus. The line advanced slowly to the centre of the Shoshone camp, riding down every obstacle, trampling over blankets, brush huts, saddles and everything that happened to be in their path. The Shoshones took up the chorus until the Rees had come to a halt, when the latter broke ranks with a whoop, turned their ponies out to graze, and immediately fell to work devouring the meat that had been already roasted on the fires. Sometime ago, shortly before this war, the Indians at the Standing Rock Agency, treated the commander of the garrison to one of these pony dances, setting at defiance the feeble force of two companies of Infantry. They rode over his tents and nearly destroyed his camp. From time to time we came across beds of Lignite, which are numerous in this country. Many of them are burning and in places make travelling dangerous by reason of the liability of the earth to cave in, the fire having left cavities extending far underground. There is a large bed of this Lignite near the mouth of the Little Powder River which the Indians say has been burning for forty-five years. Occasionally we would be deceived by such fires, seeing the smokes at a distance and thinking them made by Indians. After some pretty disagreeable marching, we arrived at the Yellowstone River, camping just north of the mouth of Powder River. The headquarters, of which I was an adjunct, occupied the only clump of trees in sight. The rest of the command stretched for two miles up the sandy bank of the stream which here flows through a broad valley with no bluffs to shelter from the high winds of that region. The order for our march prohibited any officer or man from carrying any baggage except such as could be packed on the saddle. Each one therefore, had but one blanket, one saddle-blanket, one overcoat and one rubber blanket. We at Hdqrs fared like the rest, except that some one found on the march an old piece of canvas which we managed to take along. In the field one eats only to live, and we had for rations coffee which each prepared in his tin cup, sugar, bacon and hardtack. We had in our mess eight individuals including the General, who can live on a very small amount of food and sleep.

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Well! we went into camp under the trees, that is, each threw his possessions down on the smoothest spot he could find, and turned his horse loose to graze. As we had made a long hot march of 13 days without any change of clothes or chance to bathe, the river, muddy as it was, proved very refreshing. One day Gen[.] Terry, whose command was camped about two miles below, came up to see the General [Crook], and found him with several of his staff, serenely seated in the water washing their only set of garments. For three days we had pleasant weather and then came the rain and wind. We first made a sort of tent with our canvas and some brush and piled ourselves up in that. About midnight the storm increased to a hurricane and tore our tent away. We slept in several inches of water for the rest of that night,—slept—except when the wind would lick our blankets up and make us stir to recover them. In the morning we cooked our breakfast as well as we could in the rain, and spent the day in standing around the fire trying in vain to dry our clothes. Then came the dreary night again! Bourke and myself half dried our blankets over the fire, and made our couch as downy as possible by pulling grass and putting it under the rubber blanket which consisted [sic] the lower stratum of our formation. We had another rubber over us, and thought that we should be happy, but the top one drained into the lower that formed a beautifully water-tight bowl in which we lay in soak. The next night we passed in sitting around the fire in utter gloom and discomfort. Occasionally somebody essayed a joke, but the best were passed over in silence. Under such circumstances no one seems given to hilarity, at least, until one gets sufficiently miserable to be desperate and reckless. After remaining on the river for seven days, we marched up the Powder, in the mud, and continued the pursuit of the Indians, who had gone south. Our Shoshone Indians amused us greatly on the Yellowstone by their admiring interest in the steamboats, they never having seen any before. Whenever the supply boat,—the “Far West,” approached our camp, they lined the bank and continued to gaze and wonder until she was out of sight, when they would return to their camp to reopen the discussion of the new sensation. From the Powder to Heart River we passed over a very interesting country of diversified character. Near Beaver C[ree]k, we made one

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camp which deserves notice. We were in some sharp bluffs, bivouacking on the slopes and summits to avoid the damp ground. The grass was very thick and fine, and the camp with its surroundings a fair picture. We,—the Hdqrs, were on the top of a knoll, protected from the wind by a ridge that overlooked us from the East. At our feet was camped the Infantry in column, and on either flank stretched the cavalry, some on the ridges, and some in the little valleys between the latter. Directly in front was a gap in the hills through which we could overlook the country that we have paced over during the two preceeding [sic] days. Two days later we reached the Little Missouri, a shallow, muddy stream, but well timbered. We made our camp in a flat where the stream bent around so as to enclose a park of circular shape. The command was extended along the timber, so as to give the horses shelter should the rainy day terminate in a cold night; and after dark the circle of camp fires nearly 3/4 of a mile in diameter gave us a very pretty effect. From this point to Heart River we saw occasionally small parties of Indians, who succeeded however in eluding us. We left Heart River one morning with the sun dimly glaring at us out of a dismal sky, and started on a march of 200 miles to the Black Hills, to relieve the settlements, which were believed to be the objective point of the Indians. We had only rations enough for 2/3 days,2 and our party set the example of living on half allowance. The first night after a very long march, we had to encamp on a pond of white bitter water, where there was not a bit of wood large enough to make a toothpick,—not even sage brush which is ordinarily so abundant. Take away coffee and our rations amounted to nothing: for a soldier will give up everything else before that. With the exception of ourselves, the army went supperless to bed. As for us, we clubbed together, and gathered grass in considerable quantities, twisted it into little bundles, then digging a little hole in the ground, set our cups around its edge, lit some grass in the midst, and fed the fire with the little bundles until the water boiled. It is simple enough, but takes patient labor. In the morning we repeated the operation, and set out at sunrise, everyone confident of getting wood in a short march. We advanced over thirty miles and camped on a stream of beautiful water; but where even the grass was scant, 2. I.e., two or three.

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and again not a sign of fuel. During the afternoon it rained, and so the grass would not burn. The surgeon had a little keg (one gallon) which had been filled with whisky some time before, so that the staves were soaked with alcohol, with this we cooked our supper. Still the army had nothing. For breakfast,—water and tightened belts. Then came another long march in rain and mud; but that night we had a little wood, enough for cooking, but not enough to dry our blankets. Next morning the advance, going by forced marches for rations, struck the camp of American Horse and captured the village, sending back for reinforcements. We got up about 10. A.m. and found that there had fallen into our hands, 100 ponies, 5000 pounds of dried meat and fruits, and much other plunder. This was a Godsend, as we had already been obliged to eat some of our horses; the rain having ruined nearly all of our scanty stock of rations. In the afternoon, the Indians were reinforced and attacked us, hoping to recover their village: but their property was already disposed of, and we had a very pretty fight until dark, the affair being resumed at daylight. From this point we lived for two days on the captured meat, and then for five days on the ponies. And let me tell you that fat colts are ever so much better eating than beef, though one does not like to see them killed, nor does one like to see the shanks & hoofs [sic] left on the haunches. To us who have to depend on them so much, it seems like murder to kill horses. I have told you what I experienced on this march, but you can gather from that no realization of the suffering of the men, and particularly the Infantry. I have seen men become so exhausted that they were actually insane, but there was no way of carrying them, except for some mounted officer or man to give them his own horse; which was done constantly. I saw men who were very plucky, sit down and cry like children because they could not hold out. When there came a chance to fight however, every one was mad enough to fight well. I never have seen such a sight as was presented in the captured village, when 2000 men were scattered through it in orderless confusion, picking up buffalo robes and other articles, and burning the lodges, while at the head of a gulch a hundred yards away, a circle of men were held at bay by a handful of Indians in a hole, and off to the south the pickets were engaged. Occasionally a bullet would

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come in among us, but no one appeared to mind it much, though all stood horrified for a moment when [Charles “Buffalo Chips”] White,—a scout, was heard to wail out,—“My God, I’ve got it,” and seen to fall shot through the heart. And again a few minutes later, when, a rush having been made on the Indians by the rapidly increasing forces at the gulch, two soldiers were carried back wounded. And there was a push when we saw the enemy coming in force, and the sudden return to discipline and order was wonderful. The alarm was given just in time, too, for they came near getting some of our horses. We were attacked on all sides at once, the Indians being very quick in movement, and being much better mounted than ourselves, (our horses at this time could only travel with difficulty, having worn out,) and in carrying orders about the field, I had a very good view of the whole thing. General Crook’s headquarters were on a knoll in the center of our camp whence we could overlook the whole field, and the troops were deployed in a skirmish line, nearly in a circle. We lost some men, both killed and wounded, and one officer had his leg amputated that night [Lt. Adolphus H. von Leuttwitz]. As for myself, my duties did not happen to lead me into any dangerous places. I was kept pretty busy carrying orders to the battalion commanders, and in watching to see if anything went wrong. The prisoners captured in the afternoon (in the hole I spoke of) were under guard near the pack mules. It wasn’t a very great fight but hurt the Indians considerably. In the morning when we broke camp, they attacked our rear guard but only wounded three men, whereas we killed four of them. They now acknowledge to have lost ten men killed in the two days action. Many of the cavalrymen were on foot, their horses having died or given out, and all of our animals had to be eased as much as possible by the riders’ dismounting and walking from time to time. Occasionally have incidents sufficiently comical to put us all in good humor. For instance, one day we saw a cavalryman who after getting his weak horse along as far as he could, unsaddled him, shot him, cut out the tenderest steak he could find, built a fire and philosophically sat down to a hearty meal. This finished he shouldered his carbine and went on refreshed. The Infantry made a standing joke of the boast that if we only marched far enough, they would eat all the cavalry horses.

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At last after the most fearful march of all[,] through mud so thick and sticky that whenever one raised a foot he brought up with it about ten pounds of clay, a march prolonged far into the night, during the last portion of which the command got scattered, and some of the wounded were thrown out of the mule litters by the stumbling and jumping of the animals,—the Belle Fourche of the Cheyenne River was reached, and rations arrived from Deadwood City. The cheer that went up when the herd of beef cattle came in sight, was magnificent. The wagons with flour and vegetables arrived soon after, accompanied by delegations from the towns in the Hills, who came out to welcome the army that had come through so much hardship to save them from massacre. Everyone ate as though he never expected to see another meal, and indeed it was difficult to realize that such would not be the case. Double rations were issued, and the camp for the first time in many days rang with laughter and merriment. I myself was spared the last march,—by a worse one. Three companies under Major Upham were sent on a fresh trail of Indians going toward the Hills from the camp previous to that on the Belle Fourche. I accompanied this detachment as a volunteer. After marching two days in mud and rain, we arrived with exhausted horses, on the Belle Fourche about 12 miles below the main camp. Here we found plenty of wood and made ourselves comfortable for the night. Our men had had nothing to eat for over twenty-four hours, while the officers had made the first day’s supply of horse-meat last up to this night. About 3 o’clock in the morning I was awakened by hearing the howling of coyotes. I listened attentively and concluded that it was not coyotes, but a tolerably good imitation. Suddenly there came the call of the night owl from below the camp. This was repeated twice, and then all was quiet again. I had been taught these signals by my Indians in Arizona, and immediately woke Major Upham, and told him that there were Indians about the camp. He gave orders to double the guard over the horses and to be on the alert. At daylight when camp was awakened, some of the men wanted to go out hunting. Major Upham at first refused to allow them to go, but was at length persuaded by some of the officers to give the desired permission. The men commenced shooting at rabbits around the camp, and a good many shots were fired up and down the river. On leaving camp we discovered quite accidentally, that one of our

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hunters had been killed and scalped about half a mile beyond the picket, the scene being hidden from their sight by a slight rise in the ground. It seems that five Indians had been watching us all night, hoping to get a chance to steal horses. Seeing this man start out, they had waited for him behind the point of a bluff, and killed him and his horse as he rode toward them. They had taken his saddle, arms, and scalp, and had put two crossed gashes in his breast, their mark for a brave man. The empty cartridge shells showed that he had fired two shots before he died. We caught sight of the Indians as they went over a hill about three miles on the other side of the river. After burying the soldier where he fell, we moved on and reached the main command in the afternoon. There are three fruits or berries quite common in this country.—The wild plum, which is very fine, the small black cherry, and the Buffalo berry. The latter is very like a red currant, but more acid. All three grow on bushy trees which seldom attain a height greater than ten feet, and form a very close thicket or “Chapperal” [sic]. While we were on short rations we sometimes ran across patches of these berries, and they, being devoured by every one with great avidity, undoubtedly did much to prevent scurvy. One day the whole staff including the General stampeded into a plum patch, going down on our hands and knees to pick up the ripe fruit that the wind had shaken off. The men suffered on the trip more than the officers for the reason that they were so very improvident, it being impossible to impress them with the importance of saving their rations. Then many of them lost their horses, mostly through inattention. In these campaigns a man has to nurse his horse very carefully, attending to his food and water, seeing that he is always put on good grass. It seems impossible to make some men understand this. Sometimes an hour on good grass will save a horse, that if left to stand hungry would give out. Such is in brief the history of the closing operations of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and of the campaign which commenced so disastrously by the destruction of Custer and his command on the Little Big Horn. It has been a march through the heart of the enemys’ [sic] country, almost wholly unexplored by white men and thoroughly misunderstood by them; a march which has tried men’s souls as well as their constitutions; a march which will live in our history as the hardest ever undertaken by our army,

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and on which the privation and hardship were only equaled by the astonishing health of the command while accomplishing it. Our country and perhaps the world can afford no school for the officer and soldier equal to this, and those who have gone through it may congratulate themselves that they have had the opportunity. Upon the older men it has been hard indeed, for out of 52 days we had 26 days of rain, the exposure to which has caused many to suffer with rheumatism and kindred ails. The success of the expedition, though on first consideration apparently small, has in reality been great, for a new and fine country has been explored, and the Sioux though having lost but one small village, have been so kept on the move, that they have been unable to lay up the stores of meat &c which will be indispensable to them this winter. It was unfortunate that our Indian allies became disgusted with the delay at the Yellowstone, and deserted us at that point, as we could have used them to good advantage at Slim Buttes. Not only will the knowledge gained of the country be useful in a military sense, but also in the cause of emigration. The southern portion of Montana and the southwestern part of Dakota afford us as fine grazing as can be found; and in addition, it has been proven that the land is well fitted for agriculture, for on the Little Missouri we fed our horses on corn which had sprung up from seed dropped by Terry’s wagon train in May, and had attained the height of four or more feet. And this is only a small section of the country, the gates of which have been locked to civilization on the plea that it was the hunting ground of the savage. Yours very truly Walter S. Schuyler A Medical Officer’s Perspective The following is an extract of a report prepared by Surgeon Bennett A. Clements, major in the Army Medical Service, attached to headquarters, Department of the Platte. Clements joined the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition at Goose Creek on August 3, 1876, and accompanied it on the Horse Meat March. The original, dated December 14, 1876, is on file in Record Group 94, Office of the Adjutant General, in the National Archives. An abbreviated

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version, from which this extract is taken, appears in Jerome A. Greene, Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877, pp. 97ff. The command consisted of about 1500 cavalry, 450 infantry, 45 white “volunteers,” and 240 Snake and Ute Indians, in all, over 2200 men. It was provided with rations for fourteen days, limited to hard bread, bacon, coffee, sugar and salt. Each officer and mounted man carried on his horse four days’ rations, and one blanket for each officer and man was allowed. No tents or cooking utensils except tin cups were permitted, and no ambulances or wheeled vehicles of any description taken. The rations were transported on two hundred and forty pack mules. On the morning of August 5, 1876, the command left its camp and wagon trains on Goose Creek, marching down Tongue River, and on the 7th crossed westward to Rosebud River, making a very hard march for the infantry of 22 miles, over a rough country and in blazing sun, and coming upon a very large Indian trail which was followed down the river until noon of the 10th instant, when a junction was effected with the forces under Brigadier General Terry. The united force continuing upon the trail, then turned to the eastward and crossed Tongue river, and marching over some “Bad Lands,” encamped on Powder river on the 15th. Continuing down the Powder river, the Indian trail was found to turn eastward at a point some ten miles from its mouth; nevertheless the entire command proceeded to the Yellowstone, at a point where the Powder empties into it, arriving there on the 17th August, 1876. Up to this time there had been but few men who reported sick, though several heavy rainstorms had occurred. The command remained here, resting the animals and waiting for supplies, until the morning of August 24, 1876. But few of our stock of medicines had been used, and none of the surgical dressings, but I procured a few ounces of quinine from General Terry’s command and inasmuch as it was supposed we would of necessity reach some point of supply at the expiration fo the time for which we were now freshly rationed—fourteen days—and as no estimation to the contrary was given, it was deemed unnecessary to make any further addition to the medical supplies. On the 23rd of August, the day before leaving the Yellowstone, thirty-four sick and disabled men were transferred to the steamboat

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“Far West,” of which number fourteen were cases of acute dysentery and diarrhoea. The night before our departure, a most violent storm of rain and wind occurred, rendering sleep impossible, and saturating everything with water. On August 24th, at an early hour, the command moved out and marched up the Powder river. On the 25th General Terry arrived at our camp in advance of his troops, but returned the same evening, and thereafter General Crook’s force operated alone. Leaving Powder river, the command now made long marches to the northeastward, finding but scanty grass and only alkaline and extremely muddy water, and on the 28th encountering a severe storm of rain and hail. . . . For the three following days we either remained in camp or made very short marches, and the opportunity was embraced to construct some mule-litters (of which two had already been needed) and to organize their management. I was efficiently aided in this by the previous experience of Surgeon A. Hartsuff, U.S. Army, was placed in charge of them; but fortunately there was need of only three to five of them for the next six days. It was also determined to keep the seriously sick (who were transported on the litters) in a spot when in camp designated as “the hospital;” but for this purpose there was but one tent fly, no bedding except four blankets, and no cooking utensils but the tin cups of the men, and one frying-pan borrowed from the packers. Nevertheless there was a great advantage in having all these men together. I also at this time advised the commanding general on the state of health of the command, and in regard to the necessity that would soon arrive for antiscorbutics. Some experiments were here made, at the suggestion of the general, in the use of the cactus and the Indian turnip as food and antiscorbutics, but it was found impossible to procure or use them to any extent. At this time also, some of the medical officers reported a scorbutic tendency among the men, inferring its existence from the ascertained character of the diarrhoea then prevailing, and one case of probable scurvy was reported, but the patient never presented himself again, and the medical officer was afterwards satisfied that he could not verify his diagnosis. But one case occurred in the command (in the latter part of October) marked by stiffening of the ham tendons, and induration of the calf of the leg.

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On August 31st we were on Beaver creek, a stream of pure and comparatively clean water, and remaining on it for several days, it was found on September 2d, that the cases of diarrhoea had decreased to about 2½ percent of the command, for forty-nine cases in all, and thereafter the complaint continued to decrease, and soon after reaching the Little Missouri river, on September 4th, where an abundant supply of astringent berries was procured, it seemed to wholly cease, and the opposite condition prevailed. The Indian trail which we had so long followed, was found to have entirely scattered at the Little Missouri, and the command continuing eastward, arrived on September 5th at Heart river, about one hundred miles west of Fort Lincoln, when the trail was abandoned, and the commanding general announced his intention to return to the south and reach the Black Hills. Long marches had been made in the midst of frequent rain-storms, with cold nights and heavy dews, and the prospect of achieving satisfactory results, always so encouraging to the soldiers, was not apparent. There were but five and a half days rations of coffee, and less than two days of bread and salt left; the distance to the Black Hills was not definitely known, and the Ree Indian scouts, who alone knew anything of the intervening country, left us at this point to carry despatches [sic] to Fort Lincoln. Under these unfavorable conditions the command moved from its camp directly south on the morning of September 6th, and marched thirty miles over a broken, rolling country, and camped at some alkaline water holes, without enough wood to even boil coffee with. On the 7th we again made thirty miles over the same kind of country, and had an equally bad camp. All the litters, nine in number, were in use this day; many entreaties of sick and exhausted men had to be resisted; many horses were abandoned, and men continued to struggle into camp until 10 P.M. On this day the men began to kill abandoned horses for food. The sick and exhausted men of the infantry were carried on pack mules, whose loads were now used up, but only a small part of those applying could be so carried. On the night of the 7th a command of 150 cavalry, with 50 pack mules, was sent forward under Captain Mills, 3d Cavalry, with orders to proceed to the settlements in the Black Hills and return with food for our command. On the 8th we marched twenty-four miles in a bitterly cold, driving rain-storm, and the ground being saturated with water, made

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progress difficult for both men and animals; but on reaching camp some wood was found, and it being thus possible to cook it, horse meat was issued to the command. It rained heavily all this night, but having fires, there was less discomfort than for the two previous nights. On the 9th occurred the action of Slim Buttes. Soon after leaving camp a courier arrived from Captain Mills (who, as stated, had left us on the 7th to proceed to the settlements in the Black Hills) informing the general that he had discovered and attacked an Indian village. The best of the cavalry was immediately ordered forward, and being directed to send a suitable number of medical officers or go myself, I at once went in person, and ordered up the pack mules with medical supplies, and proceeded at a trot with the commander of the cavalry to the scene of the engagement, some fifteen miles in advance. Arriving at the village (which was already in possession of Captain Mills’s force) at 11 A.M. with the advance of the cavalry, and with the hospital pack mules immediately at hand, I at once proceeded to examine and dress the wounded, who had been collected in and about an Indian teepee, and was efficiently assisted by the medical officers of the cavalry as soon as they came up. Owing to a desperate resistance made by a few Indians concealed in a ravine from which they could not escape, a few wounded continued to be brought in, but by 3 P.M. all had been dressed and cared for, except one case of an officer requiring amputation, which was deferred until a consultation could be had. The teepee used as our hospital station was during this time repeatedly exposed to the shots of the Indians. At 4 P.M. a concerted attack was made on three sides of our camp (our entire force having meanwhile arrived) by the Indians who had been driven from the village in the morning reenforced by others from Crazy Horse’s Band, in which a few more men were slightly wounded. Before this attack began Surgeon Hartsuff had been authorized to take some of the teepees for an hospital, but by some misunderstanding or lack of discipline, their selection for this purpose was not respected by our men when the village was given over to pillage, and he only succeeded by personal resistance and determined exertions in saving one of them. Into this some of the less severely wounded had been removed when the afternoon attack began, and it being

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exposed to the fire of the Indians, the nurses and wounded hastily left it, and before it could be again secured, it was torn down and carried away by our men. We were thus without any shelter for our sick and wounded except the tent-fly previously used. There was an abundant supply of surgical dressing, and the amputation was done, and all the wounds dressed by sundown; but we had no food for them except the dried meat found in the captured village, which it was difficult to eat, and impossible with our means to cook. In this action one man was killed and fifteen wounded, including one officer, in addition to one citizen scout [White], killed. During the night additional litters were made at my request, and a company of cavalry detailed to escort and manage them under the immediate direction of Surgeon Hartsuff. A great number of fine lodge-poles suitable for litter-poles were found in the village, and I requested that some of them, with a large and fine teepee that Lt. Colonel Carr of the 5th cavalry had cheerfully placed at my disposal for the use of the wounded, should be carried along for future use; but notwithstanding it seemed almost certain that we would be attacked on the next march, the request was denied as being impracticable, though quantities of plunder, much of it useless, was transported. Greater good fortune than, under the circumstances, it seemed reasonable to expect, attended us, however; and though our rear was attacked the following day, but one man was wounded. On the 10th September, the day following the fight, we marched fifteen miles, having twelve litters in use, leaving three in the rear for emergencies. In the order of march the loaded litters were immediately in the rear of the infantry, which always started in advance, while the unoccupied litters moved in front of the rear guard, where Surgeon Hartsuff remained to designate who should or should not be carried on them, a very harassing and sometimes responsible position. The cavalry who were sick, and those whose horses were abandoned or eaten, marched in rear of the litters, or as near to the infantry as possible. On the 11th we marched twenty-one miles in a cold rain and bitter wind, the transportation of the wounded requiring extraordinary labor and care, on account of the “bad lands” through which we passed, and numerous ravines. The command had had no bread, bacon or salt since the 9th instant, and an order of August 30th, permitting hunting for the sick, under certain restrictions, had

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resulted in securing only two bucks and one leg of antelope—the latter contributed by a medical officer. Another leg of antelope was thus contributed, and the Acting Assistant Commissary having assiduously searched every bag or parcel in his charge, fortunately found some salt, half a pound of sugar, and two quarts of flour shaken from old sacks, upon which the sick and wounded made a meal, supplemented by a few cans of preserved fruit that had been scrupulously reserved for such an occasion, that cheered their spirits and gratified all that had the care of them. The next day, September 12th, the command marched soon after daylight. Frequent showers of rain occurred during the day. At noon we suddenly came in sight of “Bear Butte,” a prominent outlying spur of the Black Hills, and descending somewhat lower came upon a slightly rolling plain, which the rain had converted into a most tenacious quagmire. Men and animals struggled through it with difficulty; many of the latter were abandoned, and the saddles of abandoned or slaughtered horses, and even boxes of ammunition, “cached” to relieve the struggling pack mules. Some of the litter mules fell in crossing streams and ravines, or sank nearly to their knees in the tenacious soil, but none of their occupants received any injury. Thirty-four miles were made before the main body of the command reached camp on a tributary of the “Bell[e] Fourche,” at 9 P.M. The indomitable infantry column arrived at 10 P.M.—numbers of men were strewed exhausted on the line of march, and all did not arrive until noon of the next day. The litters with the wounded and sick reached camp at 9½ P.M.; it was difficult to pilot them in the inky darkness to the spot selected for them, and as soon as they were halted a great part of the men in charge left them, and neither the commands nor entreaties of the medical officers could induce them to return; exhausted by the harassing duties of the day, they disappeared in the darkness to seek rest and sleep in a cold rain, without food and with scanty fire. Nevertheless, by the personal exertions of Surgeon Hartsuff and myself, aided by the Steward and a few of the more willing men, the mules were detached from the litters, and the latter being placed side by side with their occupants, a tent-fly and a teepee cover were spread over them, and some protection thus secured from the rain, which again fell heavily, and some hot coffee was soon after served out to them.

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The following day we again moved out about 1 P.M., cheered by news that wagons with supplies were near at hand, and after marching five miles, and crossing our wounded and sick over the rapid “Belle Fourche” with difficulty, all the command encamped, and an abundance of wood and fine water. The sun suddenly shone out brightly, and before night wagons with supplies from the settlements in the Black Hills arrived; a double allowance of rations was issued and at last our perilous march was ended without death. . . . I have related at some length the circumstances of this march, to detail the existence of causes which ordinarily operate unfavorably to the health of the troops, and to point more strongly to their apparent freedom from serious sickness. Yet it was manifest that they could not longer have borne these unusual privations, exposure and fatigue; they had reached the limit of human endurance, as an organized body, and it is unpleasant to contemplate the probable consequences of another march like that of September 12, 1876. . . . Hundreds of men remained “on duty” during the latter part of the march to the Belle Fourche, who, under ordinary circumstances, would have been excused and transported, and in recording the small portion of sick on our arrival at this river, these circumstances must be considered, and should in justice be placed to the credit of the discipline and fortitude of our men. Nevertheless the duties of the medical officer was [sic] most exacting, demanding unwearied patience and exertion, and the use of every resource that ingenuity or experience could suggest. The service of the litters required patience and fortitude on the part of the medical officers, both to appease the complaints and entreaties of stragglers and exhausted men [who were hardly able to continue on foot], and to endure the spectacle of suffering it was impossible to relieve, and of the results of demoralization that they were powerless to prevent. . . .

Appendix 3 ✦ [Clipping in Volume 12, Pages 1292–94]

✦ ✦ ✦

Conflicting Policies

The following interview is between Major Frederick Mears, 9th Infantry, and Joseph Wasson, correspondent for the San Francisco Alta California. It appeared in the Alta California on October 14, 1876. It illustrates the frustrations facing the civilian authorities in dealing with Indians and, using Mackenzie’s showdown with Red Cloud, makes a case for military control. AN INDIAN TALK _____ Interview with Major Mears, Direct from the Indian Country—Nothing Anticipated from the Work of the Peace Commission–General Crook to make a winter Campaign— Traits of Indian Character— The Subject of Placing the Indians Under the Control of the War Department. -----------

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Major F. Mears, Company I, Ninth Infantry, having arrived on Wednesday from Camp Sheridan, Spotted Tail Agency, and Camp Robinson, Red Cloud Agency, in Nebraska, our reporter had an interview with him, and gleaned the following interesting facts: He started on the twenty fourth of September. The Peace Commissioner had just completed their labors. Some were en route for Washington, and others for the Agency on the Missouri River. GENERAL CROOK’S PROPOSED CAMPAIGN. Crook was on his way to [Fort] Laramie to have a conference with General Sheridan, and since Major Mears had left the Red Cloud Agency he had learned that an active Winter campaign against the hostile Sioux had been determined upon. It will be conducted mainly with the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Cavalry regiments, all of these with the exception of the Fourth Cavalry having taken part in the Summer campaign. Six companies of the Fourth are now lying at the Red Cloud Agency and the other six are down in the Indian Territory and will be ordered back to Red Cloud; as, in accordance with the late Act of Congress, each company is to be recruited up to its full strength of 100 men, the nominal force in all will be 12,000. Allowing one-third as non-combatants, there will remain a force of 8000 men for actual service. The campaign will be directed toward the country in the neighborhood of Slim Buttes, the locality where Crook lately gave the Sioux their severe beating, and will be inaugurated immediately. Major Mears estimates the hostile force at about 2000 under “Sitting Bull” and “Crazy Horse,” and not more. He believes that at the beginning of the late campaign, the hostile Sioux were greatly underestimated, and that since the Custer Massacre that an opposite tendency to overestimate prevails. As an example, on August 10th, when the Spotted Tail Agency was turned over to Major Mears’ temporary charge, 9135 Indians were reported as under its control. By actual count, including whites, squaw-men and half-breeds, 4700 only were found. At the same time, on Major Jordan taking control of the Red Cloud Agency, 12,000 were reported by actual count.1 1. These vast discrepancies between the number of Indians listed and the actual count led to charges that the figures had been inflated to allow the Indian agents to profit from the difference, charges that continue to appear in modern works. The actual reasons were more complicated. The government ration deliveries in 1875 and 1876 were not adequate to feed the Indians on the reservations, if each family received its official allotment. To avoid widespread suffering, as well as a potential uprising among hungry Indians, the agents deliberately inflated the figures to assure that each family received enough to survive.

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THE EFFORTS OF THE LATE PEACE COMMISSION. But little faith is felt in what the Peace Commission has done, and its expenses ($20,000) are considered as good as wasted. The experiences of the past show that neither side intends to keep its promises, and that is effects upon those Indians still remaining hostile will be nil. The Indians that this Commission has been treating with, the hostiles look upon with scorn and contempt and call them “the coffee-cookers.” The so-called chiefs have so little influence that they cannot even keep their own young men on the Agencies. Major Mears has been living among the Indians and on the frontier ever since 1865, and he records it as the result of his experience that if the country wishes to solve the Indian problem, the first step will have to be to disarm them all, friend and foe, take away their ponies and make them work, giving them land which they can cultivate and not such as they have now. At the present time, at the Agencies where the Major has been serving, the Indians spend their time in eating, drinking, sleeping and horse-racing. They do no work of any kind.2 The Indian Bureau even goes so far as to hire a butcher to kill and dress the beef that is issued to them at the block. It is true that a year ago the Bureau issued an order that the Indians should be made to work, but as the Agents had no means to enforce this decree, the Indians laughed at the order, and thought it was a good joke. They never did and never will do any work. All the policing, the loading and unloading of stores at both these Agencies are done by white employés, the Indians scornfully looking on. The Indian Bureau is even so careful about the Indians, that in a circular it authorizes the employment of a gunsmith at the Agencies to repair their firearms. In the same circular the agent is also instructed in making any change of subordinate employés at the Agencies to carefully consult the good will of the Indians. Additionally, during 1875, there had been abnormal movement among the Indians, who often checked in and were listed on the rolls at several agencies. The following year, however, many stayed away from the agencies because of the fighting, and hundreds of others left before the army census, resulting in a substantially lower count. Robinson, Good Year to Die, 260; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 309–10. 2. Like most whites of the era, Mears and Wasson failed to grasp that Indian warriors labored and were productive according to the value system of their own culture, which is to say, in hunting and fighting. For some reason, the military was unable to comprehend that the Indian warrior saw himself as a professional soldier, no different from the army officer, and therefore no more required to engage in civilian labor than an army officer. In concentrating them at the agencies, the government disrupted their system of labor in favor of an alien system they did not understand.

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The Indians have plenty of ammunition, and are constantly endeavoring to obtain more. One trader at Red Cloud admitted that last year he sold over 12,000 rounds of ammunition. PAWNEE SCOUTS. The power given General Sherman to employ one hundred Pawnees as scouts and runners has been availed of, and they are now equipped, uniformed and armed as cavalry, and are under the command of Frank North and were ready to leave Sydney for Laramie last week. Many of them speak English fluently. A mortal animosity exists between the Pawnees and the Sioux, and neither side gives quarter when they encounter one another. To the question, How is it that the Indians at the Red Cloud Agency are reported to be fierce, warlike and constantly prone to break forth in hostilities, while the Indians at the Spotted Tail Agency, although of the same tribe, are quiet and peaceful? Major Mears replied by saying that the Indians under Red Cloud and Red Leaf have never been whipped, while the Indians under Spotted Tail at the Agency, in 1854–5, got a sound thrashing, whose memory has never disappeared from their minds.3 The swift, strong and heavy hand is the only argument an Indian can comprehend, and stern force the only thing that can move them. Probably another one hundred years will elapse before such another opportunity presents itself for the settlement of the Indian problem as we now have. That it will be fully and effectively settled, Major Mears has not the slightest doubt, if General Crook only be suffered to carry out his plans in the manner he proposes, and without interference. THE TRANSFER OF THE INDIANS TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT. [Wasson:] From your long service and experience among and with the Indians are you prepared to give your opinion as to whether it would be better for the Indians and the Nation that the management of them be transferred to the War Department? [Mears:] I am, but give it unofficially, for you must understand that if Congress in its wisdom deems it unadvisable, in the face of the overwhelming testimony in its favor, it is my duty as an officer to acquiesce without a murmur. Beyond a question as a matter of policy for the protection of the Indian and the whites and settlements, the War Department should have charge of the Indians. The 3. This refers to a punitive expedition under Brig. Gen. W.S. Harney.

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Indian respects force, and knows the Army possesses it and is able to use it. Add to this, they respect and believe in what an Army officer tells and promises them not that I claim that the Army officer is more truthful than the Indian agent, but the officer promises nothing that he cannot perform, or is authorized by his superior to do or say; while the Indian Agent, alone and single-handed, will say and promise anything for peace, or to bridge over a coming trouble; and there has grown out of this course of the Indian Agent what I might call a cringing, pleading, “please do this and please don’t do that, and you shall have a blanket” policy that has led the Indian to believe that he is the superior of the white man. On the other hand, when the Indian comes in contact with an army officer, the officer invariably listens patiently to what he has to say; deliberately tells him there and then what he can do, what he will do and what he will not, and there he rests, and Mr. Indian retires well satisfied that it will be just as he has been informed. To illustrate: For the first time in the life of Red Cloud, he heard in plain and firm language, from General McKenzie, the commanding officer of the District of the Black Hills, what was expected of him in the matter of turning over the hostiles to the General, if any of them attempted to come in to the Agency and be peaceful for the Winter. I was present at the interview, and saw the effect on Red Cloud’s nerves of the plain talk. Hitherto the Agent, when he tried to gain a point, and he never secured one from Red Cloud, it was done by what the Bureau called “diplomacy;” another name for “the please-do and-please-don’t policy.” Never in Red Cloud’s life had he ever been talked to by a white man, as he was at this interview, and never in his life was he ever lifted from his lofty breech-clouted pedestal and made to feel that he stood in the presence of his superior, and the reason was this, at the beck and call of the General were eighteen companies of troops, ready at a moment’s notice to carry out his orders. On the other hand, had a civil agent dared to say to Red Cloud what General McKenzie did, Red Cloud would not only have laughed at him to his face, but probably some young buck of the tribe, burning for some such distinction, would have put a bullet in Mr. Agent and settled him for this earth.

Appendix 4 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Crook’s Animal Losses

(From Charles M. Robinson III, “Crook, Crazy Horse and the Great Chief Myth,” M.A. Thesis, University of Texas-Pan American, pp. 115–17) One of the most remarkable features of Crook’s 1876 campaigns was the extensive loss of animals, most of whom were literally driven to death. The total number of animals killed in action, shot for food by starving soldiers, or simply wasted will never be known for the simple reason that army record keeping during that period was not what it is today. Animal requisitions usually were handled on a regimental basis, with company commanders reporting their needs to the regimental quartermaster. Sometimes these reports were submitted to the departmental quartermaster for action, but often the RQM simply would organize a remount detail to purchase fresh animals at the nearest large town, submitting the paperwork later. Rarely did animal losses appear on battle reports. On Crook’s expeditions, some company, battalion, and regimental commanders kept records of their animal loses; others did not. Nevertheless, enough figures are available to show the appalling

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wastage of animals from overuse or misuse, compared to actual battle losses, during Crook’s campaigns in 1876. The nominal commander of the Big Horn Expedition of March 1876, Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, Third Cavalry, kept the most meticulous records. He reported the expedition included 656 “public horses” (i.e. government-owned), and 892 “public mules,” of which two horses were killed in action, and fifty-eight horses and thirtytwo mules were killed or abandoned due to exhaustion.1 Because Crook maintained actual control of the expedition, he must bear responsibility for these losses.2 After the Battle of the Rosebud in June, Captain Anson Mills reported that in his battalion, one horse was killed, and ten were wounded.3 Mills apparently was the only battalion commander who obtained animal casualties from his company commanders, for none of the other company or battalion reports list animals. The most devastating period for the animals was August and September 1876, the so-called “Horse Meat March.” Two reports of this march are particularly indicative of the hardship on the animals. The first was on September 10, when Crook notified General Sheridan that he needed, among other things, five hundred horses.4 As a cavalry company during this period generally contained a maximum of fifty men, five hundred horses would mount at least ten companies. Since Crook’s forces included twenty-five companies of horse, the requisition of five hundred animals would remount more than forty percent of his cavalrymen. Crook did not mention mules but, as a mule has more stamina than a horse, mule losses may be presumed to be proportionately lighter. Nevertheless, mules could wear out too, and their losses undoubtedly were severe. The second is Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Carr’s report of the Slim Buttes Fight, in which he noted that en route to relieve Mills, the Fifth Cavalry “lost about fifteen horses, unable to travel,”5 further emphasizing the effects of exhaustion on the animals. 1. Reynolds to AAG, Platte, April 15, 1876, Special File—Sioux. 2. Robinson, General Crook, 167. 3. Mills to Battalion Adjutant, Third Cavalry, June 20, 1876, Special File—Sioux. 4. Crook to Sheridan, September 10, 1876, ibid. 5. Carr to AAAG, Cavalry Command, Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, September 15, 1876, ibid.

Appendix 5 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Lieutenant W. Philo Clark’s Recapitulation of the Great Sioux War

The following account of the Great Sioux War was prepared by Lieutenant William Philo Clark, Second Cavalry, on orders from General Crook. It was submitted to Lieutenant General Sheridan, who endorsed it on October 31, 1877. If Crook intended this as a justification for his actions, he was only marginally successful. Clark refutes Crook’s and Bourke’s continuing insistence that the village attacked by Reynolds on March 17, 1876, was Crazy Horse’s. Nevertheless, as late as 1891, Bourke persisted in calling it “‘Crazy Horse’s’ village.”1 Clark also hints that Crook was less than successful at the Rosebud. In discussing Indian combat wounds, Clark remarks that he believes “that of all animals they are the superior in point of tenacity of life, magnificent horsemen and fine shots. . . .” Given Clark’s overall interest in Indian culture, and his generally reasonable dealings with them, it is doubtful that by “animals,” he meant that they were a subhuman species. Most likely it was a figure of speech referring to the animal kingdom—including humans—as a whole. 1. Bourke, On the Border, 277.

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(National Archives, Office of the Adjutant General, Record Group 393, Special File, Military Division of the Missouri, Sioux War, 1876–1877) Camp Robinson, Neb. Sept. 14. 1877. Adjutant General Department Platte. Sir: In compliance with the verbal instructions of the Dept. Commander I have the honor to submit the following report of the late Sioux War; based upon facts gleaned from statements made to me by Indians who have surrendered at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies during the past eight months and information obtained from Interpreters and friendly Indians it has been a very difficult matter to get accurate information in regard to the different engagements. Not only as the Indians from Crazy Horse down have been extremely reticent, but some of the battles were on so extensive a scale that no one Indian could possible be conversant with all the details. Especially difficult has it been to ascertain the number of killed and wounded in the Rosebud and Little [Big] Horn fights, where so many bands participated, I am confident however that as the Indian account it is the most reliable that could be obtained. The small number of killed is due to the fact that an Indian has a wonderful faculty of protecting himself and unless he is shot through the brain, heart or back there is no certainty at all about his dying, for since I have been here I have seen many Indians here to have been shot in all manner of ways through the body and still enjoying excellent health. I have been convinced that of all animals they are superior in point of tenacity of life, magnificent horsemen and fine shots—doing about as good execution on the backs of their thorough[ly] trained speedy and hardy Ponies as on the ground, accustomed from their earliest youth to take advantage of every knoll, rock, tree, tuft of grass and every aid the topography of the country affords to secure game and their education completed and perfected by constant warfare with other tribes and the whites; each warrior become an adept in their way of fighting, needing no orders, to promptly seize, push and hold any opportunity for success, or in retreating protecting themselves from harm. Each tribe is organized by accident or pleasure into several different bands. Each band

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having a chief, but his powers and authority are in a great measure diminished by the will and wishes of his people. Great prominence has been given Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in this war; the good fighting strategy and subsequent muster by retreats being attributed to them, whereas they are really not entitled to more credit or censure than many others so far as plans and orders were concerned, but they headed two of the worst bands on the plains, and were the two fiercest leaders the Sioux nation has produced for years. Constantly in the northern country these bands had renegades from all agencies as well as some of the strongest men from a neutral standpoint that the Sioux as a nation possess to-day. These latter worked from conviction and held fast to their non treaty ideas[. T]he impression seems to have obtained that the Arapahoes participated with the Sioux and Cheyennes in this war, this is a mistake as they remained quietly at this Agency [i.e. Red Cloud] till they went out as our allies where they performed excellent service. In March 1876, about sixty lodges of Cheyennes under Old Bear2 and fourteen Sioux under He Dog were encamped on Powder River, they knew that the troops were in their vicinity, and on the evening of March 16 a party of young bucks was sent out to scout the country and ascertain their whereabouts. It was a bitter cold night and the Scouts went into camp; in the morning they discovered a trail which they followed [;] it led them to the ashes of their own lodges. Genl Crook’s cavalry under Colonel Reynolds by a long and terrible [sic] trying night march completely surprised the village on the morning of March 17th, captured and partially burnt it. This village was particularly rich in bead work, buffalo robes, furs, dried meats, fine skin lodges, in fact everything that goes to make Indians wealthy and comfortable. The first charge upon the lodges swept everything before it, men[,] women and children rushed frantically from comfortable teepees (Many cutting their way out with knives) to the adjacent ravines and rocky bluffs, but a rally was soon made and from behind rocks and other shelter they fired on the troops which soon abandoned the village and retired. This was a complete surprise yet nearly every Indian as he rushed from his lodge took his gun and cartridges with him, this presence of mind or instinct never seems to fail this warlike and savage race. About one thousand ponies were captured, but the Indians recovered nearly 2. Some accounts name Two Moons as head Cheyenne chief of this village.

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all of them that night. There was one Sioux, one Cheyenne and one Squaw killed in this fight which was erroneously called Crazy Horse’s as that Chief and Sitting Bull were camped at this time on the Little Missouri and did not know that a fight had taken place till some time after. The Indians gathered up what they could and started for Crazy Horse’s camp which they soon afterwards found, suffering greatly en route however. Soon after this, Indians commenced going out from the Agencies here and on the Missouri River, well armed with plenty of ammunition thoroughly equipped for field service. Nearly every tribe or band of the Sioux nation was well represented. They kept themselves thoroughly posted in regard to the movement of troops in this Department and the Department of Dakota, and as the forces advanced into their country they harrased [sic] and annoyed them by firing into their camps and trying to steal stock, and kept a sharp watch on all small parties. While Genl Crook’s forces were encamped on Goose Creek in June ‘76, a small party was sent out under Lieut. Sibley, which made an almost miraculous escape. The Indians discovered it soon after it left camp but the spirited resistence offered when they attempted to captur[e] it—one Indian being killed and some wounded[—]and the prompted caution taking [sic] in abandoning the horses in some brush as well as the favorable topography of the country saved the party. The escape was so cunningly conducted that it was not suspected and the horses were not taken out of the brush until the next morning. On June 17th the Indians were camped on a small tributary of the Little Big Horn about eighteen miles above the place where Gen. Custer’s troops found them on the 25th. They had at this time about 1200 standing lodges and 400 wickey ups or brush shelters and numbered about 3,500 fighting men. General Crook[’]s forces left their camp on Goose Creek early on the morning of June 16th and started for the Rosebud where the Indian village had been, but a few days before[. S]oon after the troops left camp the Indians knew of the movement, and nearly all of their available fighting men started out to meet them. The Ogallalas, Mineconjous, Sans Arcs, Uncapapas, Cheyennes, Yanktonis, Yanktonais, Blackfeet and Brulés3 were all represented. On the morning of the 3. The Oglalas, Minneconjous, Sans Arcs, Hunkpapas, Blackfeet, and Brulés (to use the modern spellings) were tribes of the Teton or Lakota (Western) Sioux Nation. The Yanktonis and Yanktonais were tribes of the Yankton or Nakota (Central) Sioux Nation. The Cheyennes, of course, were an entirely different people, Algonquian in origin, who were allied with the Sioux.

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17th the Crows were first discovered and in chasing them the engagement was perciptated [sic], as it was intended that the fight should take place a little further down the Rosebud; The Indian tactics of carrying everything before them with a grand rush or wild charge was tried and failed. They were repulsed but though driven back they vanished only to reappear at some other point of the line, and in this way the Engagement was kept up some three hours. Failing however in their efforts to stampede the troops a retreat was made down the Rosebud cañon for the purpose of decoying the white soldiers into an ambush, where if they had been followed in all human probability, Genl Crook’s forces would have suffered the same fate that befell Genl Custer’s troops a few days later. In this fight eight Indians were killed (two Cheyennes, two Uncapapas, one Sans arc, one Mineconjou, and two Ogallalas) and a large number wounded. Some few remained behind to watch the troops and the rest returned that night to their village which in a day or two they moved down the Little [Big] Horn to the point where General Custer found it. . . .4 Though the Indians knew that the troops were in their vicinity and though their Scouts had seen them on this very morning yet they [Custer’s men] marched at such a rapid rate that a comparative surprise was made. . . . The right hand bank of the Stream is a species of bad lands rough[,] precipitous, cut into ravines and nearly impossible to cross the river except at the regular fords. . . . On account of the peculiar topography of the ground, but a small portion of the village could be seen. . . . A grassy flat led back from the river on the left hand bank for about two miles terminating in bluffs and ridges with a dry creek bottom or ravine. . . . As soon as the troops were seen on the bluffs. . .the old men, women and children were hustled into the thick timber. . . . The village was about three miles and a half in length and its widest part about two miles. The Uncapapas, Ogallalas, Mineconjous, Cheyennes and Sans arcs were each camped in a circular or crescent shape forming the outer circumference of the village. The Brulés, Santees,5 Blackfeet, Yanktons and Yanktonians having their lodges with the other bands or between them. The white forces separated. . .one column going down and crossing the river. . .the other turning to the right of the 4. The gaps within and between sentences contain references to a map not on file with the report. 5. Dakota (Eastern) Sioux.

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ridge with the evident intention of striking the village in the centre, this however was impossible from the nature of the ground and crossing till the trails leading down to the ford. . . were reached. The first column under Col. Reno after crossing were thrown out as skirmishers. . . the Indians rushed out and formed line opposite them, especially strong against the flank. . ., doubled it up and forced the troops across the river at a very difficult ford. . . not however without suffering great loss. After driving Col. Reno’s forces across the river most of the Indians left his immediate front and went down to join those who were fighting General Custer’s column, which came down and made an attempt to cross at the mouth of the little stream. . .[and] finding it impossible turned up the ridge; then turned again as the trails leading down to the ford. . .were reached. The indians [sic] had massed in the ravines and timber and opened such a terrific fire from all sides that the troops gave way. [T]he Indians rushed in and made it a hand to hand conflict. The troops attempted to rally once or twice but were litterally [sic] overwhelmed with numbers and in [a] few moments not one was left alive to tell the story. The temporary respite gave Col. Reno time to gather his forces on a sort of bluff. . . and partially entrench himself. The Indians believing that they had him anyway in a measure abandoned the attack for the night, and besides they had a large number of dead and wounded on their hands to care for. If Col. Reno had attempted to succor Genl Custer and forces he would most surely have met their fate. The next day the approach of General Terry’s column was discovered and as General Custer had fallen upon them so much more quickly than they anticipated, they hurriedly broke camp leaving much of their camp equipage behind them. The timely arrival of this force saved Col. Reno’s party. In this fight about 40 Indians were killed and a very large number wounded. They say the white soldiers fought bravely and desperately, and give instances of personal gallantry, which created admiration and respect even in their savage hearts; but it is impossible to positively identify the Individuals from their imperfect descriptions.6 I am 6. In his endorsement to this report, General Sheridan astutely observed, “the narratives of the Indians should be received with a considerable degree of allowance and some doubt, as Indians generally make their descriptions to conform to what they think are the wishes of those who interview them. . . . As to the number of Indians in the fight, and the number killed, accounts greatly differ.” Sheridan, endorsement to Clark, October 31, 1877, Special File—Sioux.

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convinced however that none were taken prisoner and subjected to torture as has been represented. The Indians say that many of the dead soldiers carbines were found with shells stuck fast in the chambers rendering them entirely useless for the time being.7 This fight brought Crazy Horse more prominently before all the Indians than any one else. He rode with the greatest daring up and down in front of Col. Reno’s skirmish line, and as soon as these troops were driven across the river, he went at once to Genl Custer’s front, and there became the leading spirit. Before this he had a great reputation, in it he gained a greater prestige than any other Indian in the camp.8 Sitting Bull seems not to have marked his conduct on this day with any special fierceness though of course he was a leader where the fighting was hardest.9 They moved over the mountains to Tongue river thence to Powder and from there to the Little Missouri, here to subsist they separated a little and on the 9th of Sept a small village of some forty lodges was struck by Col. Miles10 near Slim Buttes. The main camp was on the Little Missouri about twenty miles away—and in the afternoon those who had been in the small village having gone to the main camp, they returned with all the available young bucks to annihilate the small force that had commenced the fight, but instead of this they found an army opposed to them, and as they knew that quite a number of captives had fallen into our hands, this taken in connection with the warm reception they met, caused them to desist and also refrain 7. This statement may be an example of the Indian tendency to tailor accounts according to their listeners’ expectations; the jammed carbines already had entered the mythology of the Little Bighorn even before the war ended, offering a convenient rationale for the disaster. It appears first to have been raised in a complaint by Reno shortly after the battle, that six of the 380 carbines in his command had jammed due to malfunctioning extractors. Modern archaeological investigation at the battlefield shows evidence of extractor failure in only 3.4 percent of the cartridges cases recovered. Jamming was a common complaint during the Great Sioux War, but did not affect the outcome of the war, and does not appear to have been a major factor at the Little Bighorn, popular belief notwithstanding. Reno to Stephen Vincent Benét, chief of ordnance, July 11, 1876, in Overfield, Little Big Horn, 60–62; Fox, Archaeology, 237–41; Robinson, Good Year to Die, 215. 8. This does not necessarily conform to subsequent Indian accounts, many of which do not even mention Crazy Horse. 9. In fact Sitting Bull, who was less a war chief than a political chief at this point in his career, appears to have been more of an observer, staying on the fringes of the fight, making certain the women and children were safe, and giving advice to younger warriors as the battle progressed. See Utley, Lance and Shield, 150ff. 10. Clark means Capt. (Bvt. Col.) Anson Mills.

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from firing into the troops afterwards. Nine Indians were killed in this fight. [The dead included] Four bucks, four squaws and one child, and some twenty men[,] women and children captured, about 200 ponies were secured in the first charge of our cavalry. This village had several thousand pounds of dried meat, some little flour, quite a quantity of dried berries all of which fell in our hands and as Genl Crook’s forces were reduced to rations of horse meat, made a most desirable and necessary acquisition to the subsistence Department. The lodges, robes, blankets, saddles, cooking utensils, in fact all that the camp contained except what could be used to subsist our troops was thoroughly destroyed. About this time many Indians left the hostile camp and returned to the Agencies[;] some went in to get a fresh supply of ammunition and obtain information, but the most of them had become tired of war. The camp separated on account of the Scarcity of game, Sitting Bull with some three hundred lodges crossed over the Yellowstone, and soon after had his council and fight with Genl. Miles’ forces[. O]ne Indian was killed in his fight[,] an Uncapapa. After this council some lodges recrossed to this [south] side of the Yellowstone and the rest went north, some going as far as the British possessions.11 Crazy Horse went to the Rosebud Country, and while en-route at the mouth of Clear Fork of Powder river, the Cheyennes left and crossed over into the Big Horn valley. The Cheyennes numbering one hundred and eighty lodges finally reached the head waters of the north fork of Powder river on Bates Creek and here on November 25th Genl. Crook[‘s] cavalry with three hundred and twenty Indian Scouts all under command of Col. R. S. Mackenzie 4th Cavalry, completely surprised them, captured and destroyed their entire village with nearly all it contained, secured six hundred ponies[,] killed fourteen bucks and two squaws, wounded many more and left them in bitterly cold weather on the top of the Big Horn mountains without shelter with few blankets, scarcely any saddles, nothing to eat but their few remaining ponies and what game they could find and kill. Under these trying circumstances they started to rejoin Crazy Horse 11. This occurred on October 20–21, 1876, when Miles overtook a coalition of Lakotas and Northern Cheyenne headed by Sitting Bull. The two leaders met on October 20, but reached no agreements. The following day, they met again, and Miles demanded the Indians either place themselves under military jurisdiction on the Yellowstone, or report to an agency. When Sitting Bull refused, a fight ensued. Miles’ infantry overran their campsite, but the Indians set fire to the grass and escaped under the cover of the smoke. See Wooster, Nelson A. Miles, 84–85, and Greene, Yellowstone Command, Chapter 5.

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who was supposed of them to be on the Rosebud, but that Chief had moved his band down Tongue river near the mouth of Beaver creek. The Cheyennes suffered terribly en-route; infants died of cold at their mothers breasts, fourteen men[,] women and children were badly frozen. This blow inflicted in part by their own people, one hundred and fifty Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes scouts having been enlisted at these Agencies and acting as our allies in the fight created consternation in the minds of all the hostiles. Every Indian who now came to their camp from the Agencies they suspected as a spy and the surprise at Slim Buttes and on Bates Creek kept them in a constant state of suspense and fear of a like disaster. Soon after the Cheyennes joined Crazy Horse they all moved by short marches up Tongue river and on January 5th 1877 were camped a few miles above the Cañon by which that river breaks through Wolf mountain. There were in this camp at the time about 500 lodges. Gen. Miles’ forces consisting of Infantry and a few Crow Scouts had been seen coming up the river and were met at the mount of this Cañon and a portion of Indians engaged them. They were to fall back and the troops were to be entrapped in the Cañon, the plan did not succeed however, as the troops did not follow and the ambush prepared for them failed. If the troops had followed in all human probability they would have been all killed. In this fight three Indians were killed [viz.] two Sioux and one Cheyenne and some wounded. The day previous 8 Cheyenne Squaws who were away from the main village cutting up game and did not know of the approach of the Soldiers were captured by the Crow Scouts. Soon after this Engagement the camp broke up as they could not subsist on the game in the immediate vicinity. Sitting Bull had returned to this side of the Yellowstone and was camped with about 50 Lodges at the mouth of Little Powder river near about one hundred and fifty more lodges of Sans Arcs, Mineconjous and Uncapapas joined him and he went north. All the hostiles this side of the Yellowstone through efforts made at the different Agencies surrendered with the exception of about fifty lodges of Mineconjous, Uncapapas and Cheyennes under Lame Deer who declined to accept the terms offered. He moved to a branch of the Rosebud where on May 25.77. he was completely surprised by Genl Miles’ cavalry his entire village captured and destroyed with nearly all it contained, and also suffered a loss of some four hundred

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ponies, Lame Deer, his son, and six other Indians were killed and many wounded. The remnants of the band fled to the vicinity of Slim Buttes and have since committed some depredations near the Black Hills and mouth of the Tongue river. They are headed at present by Fast Bull. Some twenty of the Cheyennes who were with the band at the time of the fight surrendered at this agency soon after it took place, and some sixty of the Sioux have come into Spotted Tail. The rest, with the exception of some five lodges of Uncapapas who have gone north remained out till Sept. 9th when they surrendered at Spotted Tail Agency. I have not been able to find an Indian who was in Lieut. Baldwin’s fight, but I am told that it was with the Uncapapas and that three Indians were killed and seven captured.12 I am, Sir very respectfully Your obedient servant W. P. Clark 1 Lieut. 2d Cavalry 12. On December 18, 1876, a battalion of 5th Infantry under Lt. Frank D. Baldwin intercepted Sitting Bull near the headwaters of Redwater Creek, and captured most of his winter stores. No casualties were reported on either side. See Wooster, Nelson A. Miles, 87–88, and Greene, Yellowstone Command, 140–43.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Bibliography

Government Documents Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, From Its Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903. 2 vols. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903. Overfield, Loyd J., II (comp.) The Little Big Horn, 1876: The Official Communications, Documents and Reports with Rosters of the Officers and Troops of the Campaign. 1971. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. United States Department of War. Office of the Adjutant General. RG 393. Special File. Military Division of the Missouri. National Archives Microfilm Publication 1495. Rolls 2–4. Sioux War, 1876– 77. Washington: National Archives and Record Service, n.d. ———. Report of the Secretary of War: Being Part of the Message and Documents Communicated to the Two Houses of Congress at the Beginning of the Second Session of the Forty-fourth Congress. Vol. 1. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1876.

Manuscript Sources Bourke, John Gregory. Diary. 124 vols. United States Military Academy Library, West Point, New York. Microfilm in possession of the editor. 499

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Capron, Thaddeus. Diary. American Heritage Center. University of Wyoming, Laramie. MS 1694. Carr, Eugene Asa. Papers. United States Army Military History Institute. Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Crook, George. Collection. Microfilm edition. Rutherford B. Hayes Library, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. Fremont, Ohio. Schuyler, Walter Scribner. Papers. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, Calif. Sheridan, Philip Henry. Papers. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.

Books—Primary Bourke, John Gregory. Apache Medicine-Men. 1892. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. ———. On the Border With Crook. 1891. Reprint, Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1980. Finerty, John F. War-Path and Bivouac: The Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. 1890. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966. Greene, Jerome A., comp. Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877: The Military View. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. ———. comp. Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. Hardorff, Richard G. (comp.). Lakota Recollections of the Custer Fight: New Sources of Indian-Military History. Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1991. Howard, Oliver Otis. My Life and Experiences Among Our Hostile Indians. 1907. Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1972. Hunt, Frazier, and Robert Hunt. I Fought With Custer: The Story of Sergeant Windolph, Last Survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947. Kime, Wayne R., ed. The Powder River Expedition Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. King, Charles. Campaigning With Crook and Stories of Army Life. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890.

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Marquis, Thomas B. (int.). Wooden Leg, A Warrior Who Fought Custer. 1931. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, n.d. Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks, Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. 1932. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Price, Rose Lambert, Baronet. The Two Americas; An Account of Sport and Travel. With Notes on Men and Manners in North and South America. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1877. Robinson, Charles Moore, III., ed. The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke. Volume One, November 20, 1872–July 28, 1876. Denton, Tex.: University of North Texas Press, 2003. Schmitt, Martin F., ed. General George Crook, His Autobiography. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1946. Reprinted, 1986. Smith, Sherry L., ed. Sagebrush Soldier: Private William Earl Smith’s View of the Sioux War of 1876. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. Willert, James, ed. Bourke’s Diary: From Journals of 1st Lt. John Gregory Bourke, June 27–Sept. 15, 1876. La Miranda, Calif.: James Willert, 1986.

Books—Secondary Altshuler, Constance Wynn. Cavalry Yellow and Infantry Blue: Army Officers in Arizona Between 1851 and 1886. Tucson: The Arizona Historical Society, 1991. ———. Starting With Defiance: Nineteenth Century Arizona Military Posts. Tucson: The Arizona Historical Society, 1983. Bell, William Gardner. John Gregory Bourke, A Soldier-Scientist on the Frontier. The Great Western Series No. 14. Washington: Potomac Corral, The Westerners, 1978. Brown, Dee. The Fetterman Massacre. Originally published as Fort Phil Kearny: An American Saga. 1962. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971. Buecker, Thomas R. Fort Robinson and the American West 1874– 1899. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1999. Day, Carl F. Tom Custer: Ride to Glory. Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2002. DeBarthe, Joe. The Life and Adventures of Frank Grouard, Chief of Scouts, U.S.A. 1894. Reprint, Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1982.

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Dunlay, Thomas W. Wolves for the Blue Soldiers: Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860–90. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Reprinted, 1987. Fox, Richard Allan, Jr. Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle: The Little Big Horn Reexamined. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. Frazer, Robert W. Forts of the West: Military Forts and Presidios and Posts Commonly Called Forts West of the Mississippi River to 1898. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. Reprinted 1972. Gilbert, Hila, with George Harris and Bernice Pourier Harris. “Big Bat” Pourier. Sheridan, Wyo.: The Mills Company, 1968. Gray, John S. Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876. 1976. Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. ———. Custer’s Last Campaign: Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn Reconstructed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Greene, Jerome A. Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyennes, 1876. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. ———. Slim Buttes, 1876: An Episode of the Great Sioux War. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. Reprinted, 1990. ———. Yellowstone Command: Colonel Nelson A. Miles and the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. Grinnell, George Bird. The Fighting Cheyennes. 1915. Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1983. Haley, James L. The Buffalo War: The History of the Red River Indian Uprising of 1874. 1976. Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. Hardorff, Richard G. Hokahey! A Good Day to Die! The Indian Casualties of the Custer Fight. Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1993. Hedren, Paul L. Fort Laramie in 1876: Chronicle of a Frontier Post at War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. ———. With Crook in the Black Hills: Stanley J. Morrow’s 1876 Photographic Legacy. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Publishing Company, 1985. Herr, John K, and Edward S. Wallace. The Story of the U.S. Cavalry: 1775–1942. 1953. Reprint, New York: Bonanza Books, 1984.

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Hoogenboom, Ari. Rutherford B. Hayes, Warrior and President. Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, 1995. Hoxie, Frederick E.,ed. Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. Hutton, Paul Andrew. Phil Sheridan and His Army. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985. Hyde, George E. Red Cloud’s Folk: A History of the Oglala Sioux Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957. Reprinted, 1975. ———. A Sioux Chronicle. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956. ———. Spotted Tail’s Folk: A History of the Brulé Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961. Reprinted, 1987. Jaeckel, Peter. Die Münzprägungen des Hauses Habsburg 1780– 1918 und der Republik Österreich seit 1918. Basel, Switzerland: Münzen und Medaillen A.G., 1970. Johnson, Allen, and Dumas Malone, eds. Dictionary of American Biography. 20 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1928–38. King, James T. War Eagle: A Life of General Eugene A. Carr. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1963. Knight, Oliver. Following the Indian Wars: The Story of the Newspaper Correspondents among the Indian Campaigners. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. Reprinted, 1993. Kroeker, Marvin E. Great Plains Command: William B. Hazen in the Frontier West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976. Lamar, Howard R., ed. The New Encyclopedia of the American West. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. Larson, Robert W. Red Cloud, Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. McChristian, Douglas C. The U.S. Army in the West. 1870–1880: Uniforms, Weapons, and Equipment. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. McDermott, John D. Circle of Fire: The Indian War of 1865. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2003. McGillycuddy, Julia B. Blood on the Moon: Valentine McGillycuddy and the Sioux. 1941. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. Mangum, Neil C. Battle of the Rosebud: Prelude to the Little Bighorn. El Segundo, Calif.: Upton & Sons, 1996.

504

B IBLIOGRAPHY

Manypenny, George W. Our Indian Wards. 1880. Reprint, New York: Da Capo, 1972. Mardock, Robert Winston. The Reformers and the American Indian. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1971. Monnett, John H. Tell Them We Are Going Home: The Odyssey of the Northern Cheyennes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. Nye, Wilbur Sturtevant. Carbine and Lance: The Story of Old Fort Sill. 3rd ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969. Reprinted, 1983. Olson, James C. Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965. O’Neal, Bill. Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America’s Westward Expansion. Stillwater, Okla.: Barbed Wire Press, 1991. O’Neil, Paul, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. The Rivermen. The Old West. New York: Time-Life Books, 1975. Page, Dave. Ships versus Shore: Civil War Engagements Along Southern Shores and Rivers. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1994. Pierce, Michael D. The Most Promising Young Officer: A Life of Ranald Slidell Mackenzie. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. Porter, Joseph. Paper Medicine Man: John Gregory Bourke and His American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma: 1986. Reprinted, 1989. Priest, Loring Benson. Uncle Sam’s Stepchildren: The Reformation of United States Indian Policy, 1867–1887. 1942. Reprint, New York: Octagon Books, 1972. Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. Abridged ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986. Rickey, Don, Jr. Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay: The Enlisted Soldier Fighting the Indian Wars. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. Reprinted, 1985. Robertson, R.G. Competitive Struggle: America’s Western Fur Trading Posts, 1764–1865. Boise, Idaho: Tamarack Books, Inc., 1999.

B IBLIOGRAPHY

505

Robinson, Charles Moore, III. Bad Hand: A Biography of General Ranald S. Mackenzie. Austin, Tex.: State House Press, 1993. ———. The Buffalo Hunters. Austin, Tex.: State House Press, 1995. ———. General Crook and the Western Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. ———. A Good Year to Die: The Story of the Great Sioux War. New York: Random House, 1995. Russell, Don. Campaigning With King: Charles King, Chronicler of the Old Army. Edited by Paul L. Hedren. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Schubert, Frank N. Outpost of the Sioux Wars: A History of Fort Robinson. Originally published as Buffalo Soldiers, Braves, and Brass: The Story of Fort Robinson, Nebraska. 1993. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. Smith, Thomas T. A Dose of Frontier Soldiering: The Memoirs of Corporal E.A. Bode, Frontier Regular Infantry, 1877–1882. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. Reprinted, 1999. Stands In Timber, John, and Margot Liberty. Cheyenne Memories. 1967. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press: 1972. Stewart, Desmond, and the Editors of Newsweek Book Division. The Alhambra. Wonders of Man. New York: Newsweek, 1974. Sweeney, Edwin R. Cochise, Chiricahua Apache Chief. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography. 3 vols. 1988. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Utley, Robert M., ed. Encyclopedia of the American West. New York: Wing Books, 1997. ———. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 1866–1891. 1973. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. ———. The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846–1890. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984. ———. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1993. Vaughn, J.W. With Crook at the Rosebud. 1956. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964.

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Weaver, John R., II. A Legacy in Brick and Stone: American Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, 1816–1867. McLean, Va.: Redoubt Press, 2001. Wilson, Robert Lawrence. Colt: An American Legend. Sesquicentennial Ed. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. Wooster, Robert. Nelson A. Miles and the Twilight of the Frontier Army. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.

Articles—Primary Bourke, John Gregory. “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes, A Winter Campaign in Wayoming and Montana.” Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States 11 (1890). Reprint, New York: Argonaut Press, 1966.

Articles—Secondary Baumler, Ellen. “Lewis and Clark National Historic Landmarks in Montana.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 53 (Summer 2003): 67–69. Hicks, Sam. “Aparajo, the Perfect Pack Saddle.” The American West 6, no. 1 (January 1969): 28–32.

Websites http://www.britannia.com/bios/tylor.html. http://www.constitution.org/jk/jk_000.htm. http://www.commonplacebook.com/fiction/myths/bio. http://www.wikisearch.net/en/wikipedia/l/li/list_of_ commissioners_of_the_treasury.html.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Index

Absaraka or “Bird People” Indians (see Crow Indians) Adam, Emil, 8, 38, 388 Alexander, Charles, 383 Alexander, K., 383 Alexander, William, 383 Alexander of Tunis, Harold, Earl, 210n.6 Allen, James, 37, 388 Allen, William, 189 Alex Kendall (steamer), 349 Allison, James Nicholas, 141, 180, 388 Alta California (San Francisco newspaper), 47, 482 American Fur Company, 35n20, 90n6, 95n8, 247, 350n4 American Horse (Cheyenne scout), 252 American Horse (Sioux scout) 252, 454 American Horse or Iron Shield (Oglala), 110, 114–15, 119, 454 American Indians, white cultural influences on, 18; medical treat-

ment and recovery, 18, 19 30, 31, 490; animosities and warfare among, 19, 173, 214, 215, 290, 291, 490, and the environment, 19–20; notions of obscenity, 173–74n8, buffalo economy among, 174n9, nomadism, 215, 216, general observations on, 237, 238, 291, names repeated, 251n6, weapons, 266, 267, dances, 275, 276, indifference to wildlife, 306; division of labor and value system among, 484, 484n2, organization of, 490–91; accounts of battles, 494, 494n6, 495n7. Anderson, George Lucius, 140 Andersonville, Ga. (Confederate prisoner-of-war camp), 46 Andrews, William Howard, 38, 117, 388 Andrus, Edwin Proctor, 336, 388 An-zi (Shoshone), 199–200 Apache Indians (see also under individual groups, and Indian 507

508

scouts), 5, 206, 207, 283, 284, 289, 381, 383, 384n10 Apache Medicine-Men (book), 255n9 Arapaho (Sioux scout), 252 Arapaho Indians (includes both Northern and Southern bands), 19, 146, 158, 159, 212, 213, 223, 237, 266, 289, 291, 292, 294, 295, 296, 299, 323, 491, new reservation for, 272, 273, acquisition of horses, 286, 288, epidemic among, 289 Arikara (Ree) Indians, 95n8, 115, 350, 350n4 Arkansas (steamer), 348 Arthur, William, 36, 388 Ashland (steamer), 349 Assiniboine Indians, 203, 285 Athapaskan Indian group, 283, 284, 284n8 Augur, Christopher Colon, 164, 389 Augur, Jacob Arnold, 38, 389

Babcock, John Breckinridge, 38, 389 Bache, Alfred Boyce, 39, 58, 84, 92, 113, 389, death of, 217–18 Bache, Franklin, 380, 380n6 Bad Boy (Kioxsi scout), 154 Bad Moccasin (Loafer scout), 155 Bad Road (Oglala), 297 Badlands National Park, S.D., 142–143, 143n15 Bacon, John Mosby, 345, 390 Bainbridge, A.H., 368, 371, 374 Baird, Private, 187, 195n14 Baker, Eugene Mortimer, 41, 390 Baldwin, Frank Dwight, 348, 384, 390, 498, 498n12

I NDEX Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 308, 352 Bannock Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 5, 266, 308–09n13, 356, 363, 368–70, 370n13, 374 Bannock Uprising, 370n13 Baring-Gould, Sabine, 356, 357n3 Barnard, Phineas Pierce, 39, 391 Barney, James M., 383 Bartlett, Charles Gratiot, 345, 391 Battey, Thomas, 6. Bear Eagle (Loafer scout), 155 Bear Robe, 252 Beaver Dam (Cheyenne), 176, 176n11, mentioned but not identified, 177, 194 Beck, Theodoric R., 380, 380n6 Beecher, Henry Ward, 22, 445 Bell, William Gardner, 6. Bent, William, 288–89n10 Bent’s Fort or “Billy Bent’s,” 288, 288–89n10, 292 Benteen, Frederick William, 307, 391 Bessey, C.A., 247, 247n4 Big Bellied Sorrel Horse (Sioux Scout), 251, 312, 320 Big Hole, Battle of, 360, 361, 362 Big Horn (steamer), 343 Big Horn Expedition, 32., 151n6; animal losses on, 488. Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 1, 145, 388, 473, 474; hunting and fishing during, 13; composition of, 36–41; organization, equipment and order of march, 44–47, 45n1, 46n2–3; termination of, 144, 151n6; strength of, 475. Big Horse, (Kioxsi scout), 154 Big Man (Arapaho scout), 252

I NDEX Big Wolf (Cheyenne scout), 252, 277–78, described, 274 “Billy Bent’s” (see Bent’s Fort) Bishop, Hoel Smith, 39, 391 “Bisnett’s” (see Bissonette, Joseph) Bissonette, Joseph, 289n11, 292 Black Bear (Cheyenne scout), 252 Black Coal (Arapaho scout), 252, 455 Black Coal Ashes (see Friday) Black Elk (Oglala), 20 Black Shirt (Arapaho), 252 Black Hills (see also Black Hills Expedition), 4, 17, 238, 241, 265, 269, 272, 334, 477–78, 480, 498; gold mining in, 131; settlements and town life in, 131ff.; lawlessness in, 246–47, 252–53. Black Hills Pioneer (Deadwood, S.D., newspaper), 137 Black Mouse (Loafer scout), 154 Blackfeet Indians (non-Lakota group), 286, 288–89, 292 Blackfeet (Sha-sa-pΒ) Lakota Indians, 203 Blacksmith (Cheyenne), 274 Blue Horse (Oglala scout), 252 Bode, Emil, 7. Bonchet (renegade), 111 Boone, Albert G., 143n16 Boucher (squawman), 245, 256 Bourke Diaries, 1ff., lost volumes,1–2, 306; reconstructed portions, 2–3, 104; described, 7; format of edited volumes, 6–10; gap in, 355 Bourke, John Gregory, 1ff., 13–14, 18–19, 36, 38, 58, 62, 78n8, 79n10, 130,180, 209–210n5,

509

240, 242, 253, 256n10, 258, 276n6, 289–90n12, 307–08, 347n3, 355–56, 464; classical education, 2, 8; romantic notions, 2; on diary reconstruction, 2–3, 21–22; champions Crook, 3, 16, 51n7, 75, 106, 135; on congress, 3; ethnological work 5–6; called “Paper Medicine Man,” 5; changing attitudes, 6, 15; and Powder River Fight, 14, 149; on westward expansion and Indian fighting, 15; on government Indian policy and duplicity, 16, 216–17, 220, 217n9, 280–82, 309; on army life, 17, 62–63; on Indian medicine, 19; on mule packing, 24; hunting and fishing, 24, 27–29, 306, 311, 317, 319, 320–22, 333; on American aristocracy, 41, 41n8; on Terry, 56–57, 59–61, 64, 74–75; Medal of Honor, 62n15; on army administration, 68–69; views on rations, 68–69; account contrasts with Dodge’s, 150; and Powder River Expedition, 153; on 1876 election, 164–65, 165n1, 249; inconsistency on names and tribes, 173n7; on army weapons and equipment, 229–30; on medicine men, 255n9; on Indian virtues, 280; compares white and Indian child rearing, 295; resumes administrative duties, 305–06; on Little Bighorn battle, 307; predicts sound recordings, 309, 356; humor, 309–10, 374n1; on management-labor relations, 352; conclusions on Powder

510

River Fight refuted, 489, 491, 492 Boyer or Bouyer, Michel (Mitch), 340n10 Brabourne, Edward KnatchbullHugessen, Baron, 316, 316n3 Bradley, Luther Prentice, 160, 211, 391 Bragg, Braxton, 62 Brave Bear (Arapaho scout), 252 Brave Bear (Sioux scout), 252 Brings the Pipe (Sioux scout), 252 Brisbin, James Sanks, 87, 346n1, 392, described, 83, 84 Broken Horse (Arapaho scout), 252 Broken Jaw (Cheyenne), 274 Broken Leg (Oglala scout), 154, 252 Brugier, Johnny, 346, 445 Brulé (Wa-zá-shé or See-chang-β) Lakota Indians, 203, 243, 245, 258, 262, 275 Bubb, John Wilson, 65, 68, 74, 81, 96–97, 100, 392; ordered to Deadwood, 101, 116. Buchanan, Colonel, 246, 255 Buell, George Pearson, 342, 392 Buell, Mrs. George Pearson, 342, 343 Buffalo Horn (Bannock), 368 Buffalo Hump (Comanche), 173–74n8 Bulis, Henry C., 143n17 Bull (Kioxsi scout), 154 Burgin, Dr., 343 Burke, Daniel Webster, 112, 242, 392 Burnham, Horace Blois, 261, 263, 268, 393. Burrowes (sometimes spelled Burroughs), Thomas Bredin, 40, 84

I NDEX Burt, Andrew Sheridan, 10, 40, 69, 80, 112, 130, 135, 143, 152, 353, 393 Burton, Richard Francis, 212, 212n8, 237 Butler, Peter, 75, 180, 321

Cain, Avery Billings, 39, 45, 48, 57, 58, 84, 393 Calhoun, James, 340n9, 394 Callahan, Charles Michael, 227, 393 Camp Apache, Ariz., 357, 371 Brown, Wyo., 34, 34n17, 122. 169, 306, 311–14, 325, 354 Carlin, Wyo. (see Cheyenne Depot, Wyo.) Date Creek, Ariz., 415 Douglas, Utah, 375n3 Grant, Ariz., 411 Lincoln, Ariz, (see Verde) Lowell, Ariz., 376, 376n4 McDowell, Ariz., 388, 428 McPherson, Ariz. (see Date Creek) Robinson, Neb., 61n12, 97n20, 98, 142, 148, 240–42, 245– 46, 253–54, 263, 275, 301, 355, 393, 455–56, 483 Sheridan, Neb., 242, 243, 244, 245, 255, 256, 263, 264, 273, 277, 393, 483 Stambaugh, Wyo., 40, 354. 354n7 Thomas, Ariz., 397 Verde, Ariz., 397 Campbell, Joseph B., 150, 154, 231, 394 Cantonment on Tongue River (see Fort Keogh)

I NDEX Cantonment Reno, Wyo., 169, 169n5, 196, 200, 203, 207, 209, 217, 219, 220, 233, 244–45, 259, 265, 335 Capron, Thaddeus Hurlbut, 40, 245, 394 Card, Benjamin Cozzens, 345, 394 Carey (guide), 109 Carlton, Caleb Henry, 167, 199, 205, 229, 236, 394 Carlisle Barracks, Pa., (see also Carlisle Indian School), 62, 62n13 Carlisle Indian School, 62n13, 255n9 Carnegie, Andrew, 51n8. Carpenter, William Lewis, 40, 283, 312–14, 325, 327, 333, 395 Carr, Eugene Asa, 36, 73, 84, 395, 464, 479, 488; on eating horse, 465 Carroll (steamer), 80, 84 Carter, Judge, 358 Cayuse George, 369 Cayuse Indians, 369 Cayuse Mary (Bannock), 369 Cedar Creek, Battle of, 161n11 Chalét, Father, 362 Chambers, Alexander, 36, 76, 84, 102, 130, 143, 395 Charbonnaeu, Baptiste (Pompey), 67n1. Charging Bear 1 (Oglala scout), 110, 154, 252, 293, 312, 320, 455 Charging Bear 2 (Oglala scout), 152 Chase, George Francis, 38, 101, 116, 245, 395 Chase, Mr., 242, 255 Chaugrau, Louis, 196, 233 Cherry, Samuel Austin, 265, 396

511

Cheyenne Agency, S.D., 35., 125, 200, 300 Cheyenne Depot, Wyo., 122n1 Cheyenne Indians (includes both Northern and Southern Bands), 4, 14, 19, 23, 31, 42, 84, 113n4, 146, 151, 180–81, 200, 207–08, 212, 216, 221–23, 237, 238, 266, 269, 284, 287–88, 288–89n10, 291, 292, 296, 323, 332–34, 384; and Dull Knife Fight, 149, 182–90, 182n1, 194, 195–97, 254, 273, 278, 496; Fox Soldiers, 182n1; valor among, 185n5; war trophies, 186, 188– 90; at Little Bighorn, 188; destitution among, 190, 190–91n13, 208, 219–20, 254, 273–74, 497; surrender, 250–51, 273, 287, 498; rupture with Sioux, 254, 265; new reservation for 272– 73; weapons, 273–74; confer with Crook, 274–75; wounded among, 275, 277; and electricity demonstration, 277–78; dances, 282; possible origins of, 283–84; acquisition of horses, 285–86; transported to Indian Territory, 296n1; efforts at accommodation, 298–99; outbreak from Indian Territory, 355; at Powder River Fight, 491–92. Cheyenne River Agency, S.D., 122, 122n2 Chicago and North Western Railroad, 353, 354 Chicago Railroad strike, 308, 351, 352 Chicago Times (newspaper), 17, 255, 269 Chippewa Indians, 203, 286 Cholera, 289, 289–90n12

512

Chouteau, Pierre, Jr., 291n13, 292 Chubb, Charles St. John, 351, 396 Church, Albert, 384, 396 Cibicu Mutiny, 88n2 Civil War, 84, 160 Clagett, John Rozier, 40, 396 Clark, Mr. (paymaster clerk), 294 Clark, William, 67n1, 284. Clark, William Philo, 72–73, 80, 82, 85, 109, 130, 153, 180, 182, 223, 242, 245, 247, 250–51, 253–56, 263, 266, 267, 297–99, 355; official recapitulation of Great Sioux War, 489ff.; refutes Crook and Bourke, 489 Clay (cook), 335 Clements, Bennett A., 44, 107, 396, and Horse Meat March, 474ff. Coale, John Holbrook., 40, 397 Cochise (Apache), 176, 455 Coeurs d’Alene Indians, 362 Cody, William Frederick (Buffalo Bill), , 55, 89, 109, 445, described, 41 Colt, Samuel, 333n1 Comanche Indians, 288–89, 292, Commentaries on American Law (book), 83, 83n12 Connor, Patrick, 62, 62n13, 123n5 Conrad, Mrs. Joseph, 343 Cooper, James Fennimore, 176 Coppinger, John Joseph, 81, 133, 397 Cosgrove, Thomas, 25, 25n7, 169, 173, 173n7, 180, 182, 196, 238, 312–13, 325, 446 Crawford, Emmet, 38, 101, 300, 397 Crawford, Jack, 54, 446 Crazy Horse (Oglala), 14, 23, 72, 82, 111–12, 115, 161–62,

I NDEX 177–79, 182n1, 185, 190– 91n13, 194 198, 221, 223, 240, 242n2, 250–51, 254, 266, 271, 278–79, 281, 285, 293, 296, 347. 393, 396, 445, 455, 457, 460, 478, 483, 489, 490, 492, 496, 497; surrender of, 264, 265, 277, 297–98; at Rosebud, 269; described, 299, 300, 347; background of, 299n2; at Little Bighorn, 341, 495, 495n8; death of, 355; appraised, 491 Crazy Horse Campaign (see Bighorn Expedition) Crazy Horse Fight (see Powder River Fight) Crittenden, Albert Burnley, 39, 398 Crittenden, John Jordan, 340, 398 Crook, George, 177, 2–3, 5, 7; 14– 16, 20–23, 25, 32–36, 45–46, 48–49, 54, 58–60, 62–64, 67, 80, 82, 84, 87, 90, 95–98, 96n9, 100, 103, 117, 122, 128, 143, 146, 152, 156–57, 169, 169n6, 175, 187, 190, 194–98, 200, 207–10, 213, 220, 229, 234, 236, 240–42, 244–47, 251–54, 256, 262, 264, 267–68, 279, 282, 287, 308, 335, 347, 353, 356–58, 362, 372, 383, 476, 482, 485, 492, 496; Grand Offensive (Arizona), 1; appointed brigadier general, 1; commands Department of the Platte, 1; and Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 1, 13; and Horse Meat March, 4, 17–18, 106, 464, 467–68; hunting and fishing, 13, 14, 144, 205, 231, 250, 311–13, 321–22, 326; undermines Reynolds, 14; and newspaper

I NDEX correspondents, 17–18, 22, 150; ill-feelings toward, 18, 106n1, 150, 465; influence among Indians, 19, 151; negative newspaper coverage of, 22, 22n2, 35, 35n19; confers with Indians, 23, 146–47, 157–60, 167–68, 170–74, 221–23, 258–61, 274–75, 368–70; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 50–51, 493; links with Terry, 55, 56, 466; described, 57, 75, 135,313; and Sheridan, 57, 57n10; and Terry, 68–70, 68n2, 75–76, 87–88; administrative deficiencies, 81–82; celebrates birthday, 102, and Battle of Slim Buttes, 107ff., 293, 471, 496; complains to Sheridan, 126n8; reception in Black Hills settlements, 129ff.; meeting with Sheridan, 130, 250, 483; and Red Cloud, 146–48; and Spotted Tail, 147–48; and Powder River Expedition, 153; on Indian assimilation, 160, 160n10; in Arizona, 188n11; complains of transportation, 204–05n4; blamed for logistical problems, 204, 204–05n2; departmental finances of, 218; celebrates Christmas, 232; accepts Indian surrender, 257, 273; confers with Red Cloud, 265–66; objects to Sioux relocation, 269; and Nelson Miles, 296, 296n1; resumes administrative duties, 305; commands District of Boise, 369n11; and Bannock Uprising, 370n13, 374; criticizes government policy, 374–75; animal losses of,

513

487–88; claims on Powder River Fight and Rosebud disputed, 489, 491, 492 Crow Agency, Mt., 245 Crow Indians (see also Indian scouts), 30, 31, 45, 69, 163, 237, 243, 245, 286, 288, 292–93, 332–33, 342, 357 Crow on the Neck (Cheynne), 274 Cummings, Joseph Franklin, 247, 247n4, 265, 398 Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (book), 356–57, 357n2 Cushing, Harry Cooke, 140, 210, 398 Cushman, Frank, 6 Custer, Boston, 340, 340n9, 446 Custer, George Armstrong, 4, 13, 14, 22, 23, 41, 50, 60, 61, 64, 67, 75, 94, 96, 96n9, 108, 124, 230n1, 254, 255, 268, 307, 338, 339, 339n6, 340, 340n9, 341, 473, 492–95. “Custer Massacre.” See Custer, George Armstrong, and Little Bighorn, Battle of. Custer, Thomas Ward, 340, 340n9, 398 Cuthead or Cutnose (Kioxsi) Sioux Indians, 166

Dagan (steamer), 351 Danforth (Ute agent), 23 Daniels, Jared W., 143n17, 446 Danilson, W.H., 369, 370, 374, 375 Davenport, Reuben Briggs, 22, 22n2, 101, 150, 177, 447 Davis, George Breckenridge, 39, 398 Davis, Wirt, 183, 188, 399

514

Dawes Act (see General Allotment Act of 1887) Dawson, General (Deadwood civic leader), 133, 139 Dear, William, 143, 242 Delaney, Hayden, 40, 154, 180, 182, 247, 399 Delaney, Mr., 312, 321, 334 Deloria, Vine, 6 De Smet, Pierre-Jean, 288, 362– 63, 447 Devin, John D., 175, 399 Devin, Thomas C., 5, 5n7, 375, 376, 378, 383, 400 Dewees, Thomas Bull, 37, 400 Dickens, Charles, 79n9. Dickey, J.J., 356 The Dispensatory of the United States of America (book), 380, 380n6 Dodge, Frederick Leighton, 40, 400 Dodge, Richard Irving, 7, 160, 196, 209, 209n4, 231–32, 400; and Black Hills Expedition, 132; and Powder River Expedition, 149, 153–54, 166; account contradicts with Bourke’s, 150; on Crook, 150; insights on campaign, 150; blames Crook for logistical problems, 204–05n2; on Mackenzie’s overreaction, 209–10n5 Dodge, Richard Paulding, 164 Dorman, Isaac, 366n8 Dorst, Joseph, 195, 255, 258, 278, 401 Dougherty, John Jefferson, 343, 401 Dougherty, Sergeant, 265 Drew, George Augustus, 207, 213, 245, 401

I NDEX Drum Barracks, Cal., 19, 21 Du Bois, John Van Deusen, 375 Dudley, Nathan Augustus Monroe, 342, 342n12 Duffield, “Major” (Tucson character), 379, 380 Dull Knife or Morning Star (Cheyenne), 149, 149n1, 187, 274, 275, 287, 355, 456; daughters of, 300, 301. Dull Knife Fight, 182ff., 299, 300, 496; government losses at, 186; hostile losses at, 186, 186n8; war trophies found, 186, 188–90; hostile ceremony before, 186n8; destruction of village, 186, 186n8; report on, 194; funeral of dead from, 195–96; Cheyenne suffering after, 278, 497; Indian losses at, 496

Eagle 1 (Loafer scout), 154 Eagle 2 (Oglala scout), 154 Eagle Feather (Sioux Scout), 213 Easton, George O., 38, Eckles, Robert, 169, 447 Edmunds, Newton, 143n17, 447 Egan, James (Teddy), 141, 142, 180, 232, 300, 402 Elements of Medical Jurisprudence (book), 380, 380n6 Eshleman, Private, 85 Eskimos (See Inuit) Evans, Andrew Wallace, 36, 78, 79, 84, 102, 245, 246, 249, 402 Evans, Miss, 136 Ezekiel, David Israel, 39, 402

I NDEX Fanehon (steamer), 349 Farnham, E.B., 139 Far West (steamer), 67, 68, 69, 70, 80, 81, 345, 348, 468, 476 Fast Bull (Miniconjou), 498 Fast Horse (Oglala scout), 154 Fast Thunder (Oglala scout, sometimes given as Brulé), 154, 158, 159, 222, addresses Crook, 167–68 Feather on the Head, (Kioxsi scout), 154, 251 Ferdinand V (King of Aragon), 26, 26n9. Ferrar, Mr., 312 Fetterman Massacre, 123n4, 145 Fetterman, William Judd, 123n4, 402 Finerty, John Frederick, 17–18, 32, 92, 130, 447 Fire Crow (Cheyenne), 274, 285 Florence Mayers (steamer), 346 Floyd-Jones, DeLancey, 360, 403 Forbush, William Curtis, 129, 130 Ford, George Edward, 37, 403 Ford, James H., 62n13 Ford, Mr., 255, 257, 268 Ford, John W., 208, 447 Forsyth, George Alexander (Sandy), 67, 269, 273, 279, 312, 319, 325, 330, 403 Forsyth, James William (Tony), 246, 312, 403 Fort Abraham Lincoln, N.D., 15, 15n3, 17, 96, 98, 116, 351, 477 Apache, Ariz. (see Camp Apache) Atkinson, N.D., (see Fort Berthold) Berthold, N.D., 95n8, 350,

515

350n4–5, 351 Boise, Idaho, 369, 369n10 Bridger, Utah, 318, 358, 393 Buford, N.D, 90, 90n6, 103, 336, 348, 349, 354 C. F. Smith, Mt., 393 Craig, N. M., 384, 384n10, 385, 385n13 Custer, Mt., 123n3, 259n12, 336n4, 345 D.A. Russell, Wyo., 14, 122, 122n1, 384 Dodge, Kans., 218 Ellis, Mont., 71, 71n4, 84, 233, 346n1 Fetterman, Wyo., 124, 124n6, 126, 156–57, 160, 167–68, 175, 177–78, 198–200, 202, 204, 205, 212, 220, 229, 233, 234, 236, 311, described, 165, 166, 235 Francis E. Warren, Wyo. (exD.A. Russell), 122n1 Fred Steele, Wyo., 41 Giblert, Mont. (trading post), 291, 291n13 Hall, Idaho, 5, 308, 308–09n12, 356, 368, 370n13, 374 Harker, Kans., 385, 385n11 Keogh, Mt., , 103, 103n11, 123n3. 169, 170, 259n12, 336n5, 345 Laramie, Wyo., 35, 35n20, 122, 125–26, 130, 143–44, 148, 152, 156, 165, 174, 220, 236, 240–41, 245–47, 252, 268, 289, 292, 318, 336, 483 Leavenworth, Kans., 357, 361, 457 McKean, N.D. (see Fort Abraham Lincoln) McKinney, Wyo., 259n12

516

Macon, N.C., 383, 383n8 Pease (trading post), 346, 346n1 Phil Kearny, Wyo., 123, 123n4, 124, 175, 209, 402 Reno, Wyo., 62n13, 123, 123n5, 124, 125, 126, 168 Rice, 90n5 Robinson, Neb. (see Camp Robinson) Sanders, Wyo., 35n20 Sarpy, Mont. (trading post), 291, 291n13 Sedgwick, Colo., 40n22. Seward, N.D., 352, 352n6 Shaw, Mt. 360, 360n8, 361, 363 Sidney, Neb. (see Sidney Barracks) Sill, Okla., 5n10. Stevenson, N.D., 95n8., 350, 350n4–5 Union, N.M., 384, 384n9 Union (American Fur Company), 90n6 Washakie, Wyo., see Camp Brown Fort Berthold Agency, 350n5 Fort Laramie Treaty (1851), 292n14 Fort Laramie Treaty (1868), 123n4–5 Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho, (see Shoshone and Bannock Reservation) Fort Phil Kearny Massacre (see Fetterman Massacre) Fort Sill Apache Indians, 5n7 Foster, Charles Warren, 39, 404 Foster, James Evans Heron, 38, 233, 404 Fox (interpreter), 233 Fox Belly (Kioxsi scout), 155

I NDEX Friday, also known as Black Coal Ashes, White Crow, or Thunder (Arapaho scout), 252, 286, 288, 289–92, 294 Furey, John Vincent, 36, 41, 44, 126, 144, 153, 178, 178n14, 208, 232, 404

Gatchell, Private, 320 Gaylord, A.S., 143, 143n16 General Allotment Act of 1887 (Dawes Act), 217n9. General Custer (steamer), 350 General Meade (steamer), 348 General Sherman (steamer), 345 Gibbon, Fanny, 360, 384 Gibbon, John, 14–15, 61, 67, 84, 96n9, 309, 340, 360–63, 384, 404. Gibbs, Eugene Beauharnais, 58, 405 Gibson, Joseph Ruff, 153, 231, 405 Gilson Jack (Shoshone), 369 Glennan, Private (orderly), 320, 339 Good Man (Oglala scout), 154 Goodale, Greenleaf Austin, 169, 169n6, 405 Gordon, David Stewart, 37, 405 Gordon, George Alexander, 33, 34, 146, 154, 183, 184, 196, 198, 199, 357, 405 Grant, Ulysses Simpson, 57, 249 Gray Head (Cheyenne), 187 Great Sioux War, 13ff., 300, 305; official recapitulation of, 489ff. Greely, Adolphus Washington, 39, 406 Greene, Jerome A., 149n1, 186n8 Gregg, Thomas Jackson, 40, 312, 313, 325, 406

I NDEX Gresham, John Chowning, 37, 406 Gray, Charles Carroll, 245n3 Gray, Dr., 245, 245n3 Grey Eyes (Loafer scout), 154 Grimes, Dr., 311, 407 Grinnell, George Bird, 6, 182n1. Gros Ventre (Hidatsa) Indians, 95n8, 163, 286, 288, 289, 292, 350, 350n4 Grouard, Frank, 31–32, 52–53, 63, 93, 98, 103, 116, 298, 312, 319, 326, 331–32, 334, 336, 344, 448, and Battle of Slim Buttes, 108–10; on Indians, 202, 205, 210, 212, and Crazy Horse, 299, 396

Half Shirt (Arapaho scout), 252 Hall, Christopher Tomkins, 37, 407 Hall, William Prebel, 39, 407 Hamilton, John Morrison, 183, 184, 358, 407 Hamilton, Samuel Todd, 62, 348, 408 Hampton School, 255n9 Hand (Sioux scout), 252, 267 Hard to Kill (Lakota), 271 Hardie, James Allen, 217 Hardie, Francis Hunter, 245, 336, 408 Harlon, Mr. (trader at Camp Apache), 357 Harney, Benjamin Franklin, 408. Harney, William S., 485n3. Hart, Verling Kersey, 334, 335, 336, 408 Hartsuff, Albert, 44, 50, 74, 97, 130, 245, 245n3, 248, 408, 476, 478–80 Hasson, Lieutenant, 359

517

Hawley, William, 37, 408 Hay, Charles, 40, 409 Hay, Leonard, 152, 409 Hayes, Edward M., 39, 409 Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 164, 165n1, 249, 260, 448 He Dog (Oglala), 491 He Wolf (Cheyenne), 274 Hedrin, Paul L., 4. Heintzelman, Charles Steward, 347, 409 Hemphill, William C., 184, 195, 409 Henderson, Tim, 365 Hendricks, Thomas, 164, 165n1 Henry, Guy Vernor, 37, 410 Hermann, Charles John von, 169, 410 Hibberd, Mr., 268 Hidatsa Indians (see Gros Ventre Indians) High Bear (Sans Arc), 286, 287 High Bear (Sioux scout), 252 Hodge, Frederick H., 6. Hoffman, William Edwin, 40, 409 HohΠ Sioux Indians, 203 Holtes, Charles, 42n24. Hopi (Moqui) Indians, 206, 357 Horny Horse (surrendered hostile), 268, 269 Horse (Arapaho scout), 252 Horse Comes Last (Kioxsi scout), 155, 252 Horse Meat March (1876), 4, 15, 20, 397, 464ff.; preparations, 67, 68; begins, 88, 476; horse meat appears at mess, 100, 477; horse meat becomes part of regular diet, 105, 471; suffering on, 117–18, 470, 474, 477, 481; orders to cavalry concerning, 464–65, rations

518

on, 469–70; medical report of, 474ff., medical problems on, 476, 477, 480–81; animal losses on, 487–88 Horse Road (Lakota), 271 Horn Eagle (Sioux scout), 252 Howard, E. A., 111, 448 Howe, Myron Winslow, 140 Howard, Oliver Otis, 383, 410 Hudson’s Bay Company, 309– 09n12 Hughs, Wilbur, 121 Hughes, William Burton, 353, 411 Hump (Lakota), 271 Hunkpapa Lakota Indians, 115, 203 Hunter, Billy, 267, 275 , 298 Hunts the Enemy (Sioux scout), 252 Huntington, Henry Dunstan, 37, 92, 411

Indian Mutiny (Great Britain), 88n2 Indian scouts, 55, 152–54, 157, 198, 341; reaction to steamer; 68, 468, dancing among, 74, 174–75, 219; return home, 74–75; animosities among, 151; roster on Powder River Expedition, 154–56; interest in commissary, 161n12; confer with Crook, 170–174, 221–23; strength on Powder River expedition, 178; and Dull Knife fight, 180–81; on hunting trip, 319–20, 333; strength of Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 475. Apaches, 88n2 Arapahos, 143, 156, 161–62,

I NDEX 162n15, 170–71. 196, 227, 234, 497; compromised, 176; at Dull Knife Fight, 182 Bannocks, 162, 170, 232 Brulés, 287 Cheyennes, 153, 156, 162, 162n15, 170, 180, 227, 234, 497; at Dull Knife Fight, 182, 187 Crows, 57, 69, 75–76, 161, 219, 220, 232–33, 497; return home, 80–81 Minneconjous, 287 Nez Percés, 163, 170 Pawnees, 156–57, 161–62, 170– 72. 208, 485; at Dull Knife Fight, 182, 184, 186–87, 190, 210, 219, 222, 289 Rees, 57, 63, 70, 74, 89–90, 93–94, 98–99, 466–67 Sans Arcs, 287 Shoshones (Snakes), 22, 33, 55, 57, 63, 68, 74–75, 151, 156, 161–62, 162n15, 170, 173, 180,184, 190, 196, 222, 467–68, 475; impatience with Terry, 64, 68; at Dull Knife Fight, 182, 186–87, 190; give war trophies to officers, 196–97 Sioux, 151, 153, 161–62, 162n15, 168–70, 178, 196, 219, 227, 234, 324, 497; compromised, 176; at Dull Knife Fight, 182, 187 Utes, 23–24, 55, 57, 68, 74, 162, 170, 475 Inuit, 283–84 Iron Shield (See American Horse or Iron Shield) Iron Shield (Sioux), 300 Isa-tai (Comanche), 53n9

I NDEX Isabella I (Queen of Castile), 26, 26n9 Islam, 28, 28n10

Jack (Newfoundland dog), 86, 98–99, 253 Jackass (Sioux scout), 252, 312 Jerome, Aaron Brainard, 378 Jicarilla Apache Indians, 384n9 John C. Fletcher (steamer), 348 John Gregory Bourke, Soldier-Scientist on the Frontier (book), 6 Johnson, Charles Akers, 244, 411 Johnson, John Burgess, 245, 411 Johnson, Mrs. Charles Akers, 281 Jones, James Mills, 140, 180, 412 Jones, Roger, 207, 412 Jordan, William Henry, 207, 213, 412, 483 Joseph (Nez Percé), 360, 370, 456 Josephine (steamer), 67, 67n1, 351 Journal of the Military Service Institution, 149

Kansas Pacific Railroad, 384, 385, 385n11 Kate Kinney, 351 Kautz, Augustus Valentine, 358, 358n5, 373, 412 Keefe, Joseph, 41 Keeps a Battle, sometimes rendered Keep the Battle (Oglala scout), 154, 173 Keller, Alan, 195 Kellogg, Sanford Cobb, 39, 335, 343, 342, 358, 413 Kennedy, Private, 109, 114 Kennington, James, 40, 413 Kent, James, 83n12

519

Keogh, Myles, 108, 339, 339n6, 340, 413 Key West (steamer), 349 Keyes, Edward Livingston, 38, 413 Kills a Hundred (Sioux scout), 252 Kills First (Loafer scout), 154, 252 Killed in the Winter (Kioxsi scout), 155 Kim, Wayne R., 7 King, Albert Douglas, 38, 414 King, Charles, 39, 119, 358, 384, 414 King, Mrs. Charles, 384 King, John Haskell, 356, 414 Kingsbury, Frederick William, 37, 414 Kiowa Indians, 275, 288, 291, 292, 293 Kioxsi Sioux Indians, 203 Knatchbull-Hugessen, Edward (see Brabourne) Knife (Kioxsi scout), 155 Koerper, Egon Anthony, 245, 263, 415 Kreger, Bugler, 261 Kurtz (Deadwood councilman), 139

Lakota (Western Sioux) Indians, 19, 157n8, 182n1 Lame Deer (Minneconjou), 300, 305, 457, 497–98 Lame Deer Fight, 305, 305n1, 347, 497, Indian losses at, 498 Lapointe, Henry Clayton, 311, 415 Last Bull (Cheyenne), 182n1 Lathrop, Barbour, 42, 89, 448 Lawson, Joseph, 37, 245, 248, 415 Lawton, Henry Ware, 143, 250, 288, 415

520

Leading Warrior (Oglala scout), 155 Lecture on the Life of Cromwell (book), 316 Lee, Colonel (member of Terry’s staff), 353 Lee, James G.C., 351, 416 Lee, Jesse Matlock, 244, 250, 263, 416 Lee, Mrs. Jesse Matlock, 263 Lee, Mother, 243 Leib, Edward Henry, 39, 233, 416 Lemly, Henry Rowan, 38, 245, 246, 416 Leuttwitz, Adolphus H. von, 8, 38, 101. 107, 111–12, 112n3, 115, 417, 471 Lewis, Meriwether, 284 Libby Prison, Richmond, Va. (Confederate prisoner-of-war facility), 46 Li-here-is-vo-la-shar or Leading Chief (Pawnee), 173, 176; addresses Crook, 171–72; described, 176–77 Lipan Indians, 288–89 Little Bighorn, Battle of, 4. 13–14, 50, 83, 96n9, 115–16, 188n11, 254n7, 300, 473, 483, 490, 493–95; recovered trophies from, 188–89, 305; carbine malfunction at, 230n1, 495, 495n7; carbines recovered from, 258, 266; Indian account of, 268–69; speculation about, 339–41; rumored insane survivor of, 354; Indian accounts of, 495n7–8 Little Bighorn Battlefield, 338–42; described, 307, 336, 339; Indian camp at, 338; archaeological work at, 339n6; burial details at, 340–41

I NDEX Little Big Man (Oglala), 297, 457; described, 300 Little Bull (Loafer scout), 155, 312 Little Chief (Arapaho scout), 252 Little Creek (Cheyenne), 271, 457; (Oglala), 271, 297, 298, 457; described, 300. Little Warrior (Kioxsi scout), 155 Little Wolf (Cheyenne), 187, 190, 250–52, 355; described, 274; wounded in Dull Knife Fight, 277 Lives of the Saints (book), 357n2 Living Bear (Cheyenne scout), 252 Lloyd, Charles F., 40, 417 Loafer Indians (members of various Sioux and affiliated tribes who “loafed” about military posts), 258, 262 Lockwood, James Booth, 157, 417 London, Robert, 39, 417 Lone Bear (Arapaho scout), 252, 312 Lone Dog (Loafer scout), 155 Lone Feather (Kioxsi scout), 154 Lone Horn (Lakota), 257 Long, A.K., 384 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 255, 289 Long Jaw (Cheyenne), 185n5 Looking Glass (Nez Percé), 361, 458 Lovell, Robert Armstrong, 368 Lovering, Leonard Austin, 197, 201, 202, 417 Luhn, Gerhard Luke, 39, 417

McAleer (Deadwood mine owner), 137, 138 McCaleb, Thomas Sidney, 267, 285, 418

I NDEX McFarland, Alexander, 191, 195 McGillycuddy, Valentine T., 269, 449 McIntosh, Archie, 188n11 McIntosh, Donald, 188, 188n11 McKinney, John A., 183, 183n3, 194, 195n14, 196, 198 Macbeth (play), 17n9 Mackenzie, Ranald Slidell, 10, 33, 122, 125, 160, 179, 180–81, 207–08, 232, 236, 250–51, 253, 255, 258, 275, 279, 280, 282, 285, 287, 299, 418, 482;. and Dull Knife Fight, 4, 20, 149, 182–85, 187, 190n13, 194–95, 199, 199n16, 219, 222–23, 254, 257, 273, 496; rounds up Red Cloud and Red Leaf, 145–46, 486; mental deterioration, 150–51, 187n10, 397; and Powder River Expedition, 152–54; praised for Dull Knife Fight, 200; overreaction to minor offense, 209–10n5 “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes” (article later published as book), 149, 161n12, 177n13, quoted, 178n14 Madison John (Bannock), 368 Major George (Shoshone), 369 Magpie Eagle (Cheyenne), 271 Maguire, Edward, 58, 418 Mahan, Dennis Hart, 72, 72n6. Man Who Carries the Sword (see Sword) Mandan Indians, 43, 71, 95n8, 289–90n12, 350, 350n4 A Manuel of Practical Hygiene (book), 380, 380n6 Many Bears (Cheyenne), 274 Manypenny, George W., 143, 143n16–17, 449

521

March, Tom, 385 Marquis, Thomas B., 6. Martin Chuzzlewit (novel), 79n9 Marsh, Grant, 67, 67n1, 345, 449 Marsh, Othniel Charles, 253, 450 Mason, Charles Winder, 233, 418 Mason, Julius Wilmot, 39, 241, 253, 418 Mason, Mrs. Julius Wilmot, 136, 138 Mauck, Clarence, 146, 154, 279, 419 Mears, Mr., 344 Mears, Frederick, 267, 482–86 Medicine Man (Arapaho scout) Meigs, Montgomery, 61, 419 Meinhold, Charles, 37, 419 Menges, John, 195 Merivale, Joseph, 245, 250, 450 Merrick, Mr. (Deadwood newspaper publisher), 137 Merritt, Wesley, 21, 23, 34, 36, 42, 45, 84, 119, 145–46, 148, 384, 419, 465; described, 35; commands cavalry during Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 44, 80; and Battle of Slim Buttes, 107 Merritt, Mrs. Wesley, 384 Meyers, Charlie, 380, 381 Michaelis, Otho Ernest, 58, 420 Michler, Francis, 39, 420 Miles, Nelson Appleton, 20, 57–58, 66, 70, 90, 124–25, 200, 242, 242n2, 266–67, 269, 300, 307, 347, 420, 457; and Sitting Bull, 161n11, 496, 496n11; report to Terry in newspaper, 270–72; and Crook, 296; 296n1; and Lame Deer Fight, 305, 497; and Wolf Mountain Fight, 497 Miller, John, 41, 421

522

Miller, Ned, 351 Miller, Wentz Curtis, 143 Mills, Anson, 38, 54, 101, 106, 116–17, 119, 243, 245, 250, 257–58, 263, 421, 477; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 50, 488, and Battle of Slim Buttes, 107ff., 478, 488, 495, 495n10 Mills, Cuthbert, 42, 450 Mills, Nannie (Mrs. Anson), 245, 263 Minneconjou Lakota Indians, 115, 145, 203, 260–62, 266, surrender, 256, 257, 258 Missouri Pacific Railroad, 384 Mix, John, 122, 311, 422 Monahan, Deane, 38, 245, 248, 422 Montgomery of Alamein, Bernard Law, Viscount, 210n6 Montgomery, Robert Hugh, 38, 422 Mooney, James, 6 Moore, Alexander, 245, 422; and Powder River Fight, 14, 37; court–martialed, 14, 234, 237, 241, 246 Moore, Thomas, 56, 74, 77, 101, 116, 228–29, 279, 287, 312, 344, 450 Moqui Indians (see Hopi Indians) Morning Star (see Dull Knife or Morning Star) Morning Star Dawn (book), 149n1 Morrow, Stanley J., 2, 450 Morton, Alfred, 152, 423 Morton, Charles, 37, 245, 423 Mountbatten of Burma, Louis, Earl, 210n6 Munn, Curtis Emerson, 242, 277, 281, 384, 423 Munson, Samuel, 40, 58, 95, 96, 109, 245, 248, 384, 423

I NDEX Munson, Mrs. Samuel, 384 Murfreesboro (Stones River), Battle of, 62, 62n15 Murphy, John, 40, 423

Navajo Indians, 206, 289 Nave, Andrew Humes, 351, 423 Neide, Horace, 39, 244, 245, 424 New York Graphic (newspaper), 42, 42n24, 89 New York Herald (newspaper), 22, 35n19, 101, 150, 154, 177 New York Ledger (tabloid newspaper), 42 New York Tribune (newspaper), 47 Nez Percé Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 56, 360. 369, 370 Nez Percé War, 309, 361, 362, 369, 383, 388 Nickerson, Azor Howitt, 23, 144, 152, 169, 169n6, 424; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 50 No Neck (Loafer scout), 155, 312 North, Frank, 123, 180, 182, 451, 485 Northern Pacific Railroad, 336, 351, 352, 352n6, 354 Norwood, Randolph, 37, 424 Nowlan, Henry James, 58, 70, 424 Noyes, Henry Erastus, 37, 425; and Powder River Fight, 14, 79n10

O’Brien, John Joseph, 41, 425 O’Brien, Martin Edward, 37, 425 O’Connell, William, 183n3 O’Connor, James, 362, 363 O-at-ta (Shoshone), 173, described, 177 Oglala Lakota Indians, 146, 203

I NDEX Old Bear (Cheyenne), 187, 458, 491 Old Crow or Washington (Crow scout), 281, 458 Old Eagle (Arapaho), 223 Old Hawk (Oglala), 297 Old John (Lakota), 259 Old Man Afraid of His Horses (Oglala), 271, 459 Old Wolf (Cheyenne), 271 Omaha Bee (newspaper), 54 On the Border With Crook (book), 16, 78n8 “Onward Christian Soldiers” (hymn), 357n2 Orr (orderly), 295 Otis, Harrison Gail, 209, 210, 209–10n5, 425 Owl Bull (Kioxsi scout), 155 Owns Gray Horse (Lakota scout), 252 Owsley, W.T., 198 Paddock, James V.S., 357, 384, 425 Painted Horse (Lakota scout), 252 Paiute Indians, 56, 370 Palmer, Innis Newton, 156, 207, 425 Panic of 1873, 308 Papago Indians, 381, 382 Parker, Leopold O., 183n3 Parkes, Edmund A., 380, 380n6 Parkhurst, Charles Dyer, 39, 426 Parkman, Francis, Jr., 6. Patterson, Sergeant, 196 Patzki, Julius Herman, 47, 93, 312, 321, 329, 333, 426 Paul (driver), 253 Paul, Augustus Chouteau, 38, 426 Pawnee Indians (see also Indian

523

Scouts), 151, 214, 237, 286, 290, 292, 485 Payne, John Scott, 39, 426 Peale, James Thompson, 37, 427 Pearson, Daniel Crosby, 37, 427 Pease, Thomas P., 41, 427 Pends d’Oreille Indians, 362 Philbrook (Deadwood councilman), 139 Philips (cook), 29, 29m11, 46, 56, 336 Philips, F.M., 236 Phillips, John (Portugee or Portuguese), 236, 236n3, 451 Pine Ridge Agency, S.D., 97n10 Pius IX, 327, 327n6. Plains Apache Indians, 5n10, 288. Plenty Camps (Cheyenne scout), 252 Plummer, Satterlee, C., 41, 44, 427 Poe, Orlando Metcalfe, 345, 427 Pollock, Edwin, 169, 175, 196, 197, 209, 217, 427 Pollock, Otis Wheeler, 40, 428 Poor Elk (Oglala scout), 155, 251 Pope, James Worden, 347, 347n3, 428 Pourier, Baptiste (Big Bat), 32, 342, 344, 452, at Slim Buttes, 109–10 Powder River Fight, 13–14, 79n10, 113, 113n4; described, 491, 492 Powers, Mr., 383 Powder River Expedition, 2, 126n8, 149ff., 149n1; organization of, 152–56; Indian scouts on, 154–56, 161; provisions and equipment, 160–61; strength of, 162–63, 178; infantry allowances on, 166–67; logistical and transportation problems on, 204, 204–05n2

524

The Powder River Expedition Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge (book), 149. Powell, William Henry, 39, 130, 143, 428 Pratt, Edward Barton, 40, 428 Pretty Place (Lakota scout), 252 Pretty Voiced Bull (Kioxsi scout), 154 Price, Curtis Ethelbert, 140 Price, Rose, 255–56, quoted 256n10, 380, 380n5 Primitive Cultures (book), 212n8

Quinn, Thomas Francis, 169, 429

Rain in the Face (Sans Arc), 255 Ralph (Pawnee), 209, 209n4 Randall, George Morton (Jake), 10, 27, 40, 50, 75–77, 97, 130, 144, 153, 219, 232–33, 242, 245, 247, 253, 265, 267, 277, 285–87, 300, 357, 429 Randolph, John Field, 168 Rankin (steamer), 345 Rawolle, William Charles, 37, 429 Raynolds, William, 65, 430 Red Bear (Loafer scout), 155 Red Beaver (Arapaho scout), 252 Red Cloud (Oglala), 19, 252, 278, 296–97, 455–56, 459, 482, 485; hostility of, 145, 152, 157n9, 293; arrested, 145–46, 486; deposed as head chief, 147; enlists as scout, 251; and Crook, 265, 266 Red Cloud Agency, Neb., 23, 33–34, 97n10, 122, 125–126, 128, 142–48, 153, 157–58, 179, 196, 198, 207, 213, 221–22,

I NDEX 233, 241–45, 250–51, 254–55, 264, 266, 268, 275, 281, 288, 296, 483, 490; discrepancy in Indian counts, 483–84, 483n1; ammunition available at, 485 Red Dog (Lakota scout), 252 Red Horse (Lakota), 271 Red Kettle (Lakota scout), 252 Red Leaf (Brulé scout), 155, 155n7, 157n9 Red Leaf (Oglala), 145, 485, arrested, 145, 146, 147, 152, 155n7 Red Nose (Lakota), 262 Red River War, 53n9 Red Shirt (Lakota scout), 252, 312 Red Willow (Kioxsi scout), 155 Ree (Arapaho scout), 252 Ree Indians (see Arikara Indians) Reed, Arthur Harry (Autie), 340n9, 452 Reilly, Bernard, Jr., 39, 167, 175, 358, 429 Reilly, William van W., 254, 254n7 Reno, Marcus Albert, 55–56, 83, 87, 188, 188n11, 268, 338, 341, 345, 430, 494–95, 495n7. “The Revenge of Rain in the Face” (poem), 255, 255n8 Reynolds, Bainbridge, 38, 245, 430 Reynolds, Joseph Jones, 32, 431, 488, 490; court-martialed, 5n7, 234, 237, 241, 246; and Powder River Fight, 13–14, 491, retires, 313 Reynolds Fight (see Powder River Fight) Rice, Edmund, 90n5. Rice, William Fletcher, 91–92, 357, 431 Richaud, Charles, 154

I NDEX Richaud, Louis, 32–33, 48–49, 93, 233, 452 Roan Bear (Cheyenne scout), 252 Robertson, Edgar Brooks, 22, 40, 152, 431 Robinson, Henry Eleazar, 39, 43, 431 Roche, Jerry, 154, 177, 452 Rock or Four Crows (Lakota), 271 Rockefeller, Charles Mortimer, 44, 431 Rockefeller, John D., 51n8. Rockwell, Charles Henry, 152, 161, 161n12, 311, 312, 314, 317, 325, 336, 432 Rocky Mountain News (Denver newspaper), 101 Rocky Bear (Oglala, sometimes given as Brulé), 155, 459 Rodgers, Calbraith Perry, 39, 335, 432 Rogers, William Wallace, 358 Roman Nose (Cheyenne), 187 Roman Nose (Lakota), 110, 257, 259, 460; addresses Crook, 258 Rosebud (steamer), 345 Rosebud, Battle of, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 30, 36, 36n18, 37, 50–51, 96n9, 269, 488, 490, 493; Bourke’s defense of Crook, 51n7; war trophies from, 189, 190, Indian losses at, 287, 493 Rowland, William, 187, 187n9, 223, 273, 453 Royall, William Bedford, 32, 33, 36, 60, 79, 80, 84, 432 Ruggles, George D., 353, 432 Ruhlen, George, 343, 433 Running Bear (Lakota scout), 152 Running Over (Sans Arc scout), 155

525

Russell Depot, Wyo. (see Cheyenne Depot, Wyo.) Russell, Gerald, 184, 433 Ryan, Patrick F., 195

Sacket, Delos Bennet, 311, 321, 327, 333, 433 Sage (Arapaho scout), 252 Salpointe, Bishop, 376 Sanger, Louis H., 88n1, 434 San Francisco Bulletin (newspaper), 42, 89 Sans Arc (Ee-tazih-uit-chβ) Lakota Indians, 115, 203, 257, 258, 262, 266 Santee (Eastern Sioux or Dakota) Indians, 203 Santee Agency, S.D., 300 Savannah (steamer), 349 Schilling, Mr. (trader), 368 Schofield, Charles Brewster, 87, 348, 434 Schuyler, Walter Scribner, 22, 36, 38, 47, 50, 52, 56, 58, 63, 74, 76–77, 92, 129–30, 133, 143–44,. 153, 156, 180, 182, 184, 196–97, 236, 242, 249–50, 253, 257, 263, 279, 311, 316, 321, 327, 333, 336, 356, 359, 364, 434; on Horse Meat March, 465ff Schwatka, Frederick, 38, 101, 116, 245, 263, 434 Scipio Africanus, 210n6 Scraper (Arapaho scout), 252 Scraper (Oglala scout), 155 Seton, Henry, 39, 435 Setting Bear (Arapaho scout), 252 Sharp Nose (Arapaho scout), 156, 213, 222, 223, 252, 253, 294, 295, 460; addresses Crook,

526

158–59, 171; described, 176, 256; and Dull Knife Fight, 182 Shaved Head (Arapaho scout), 252 Sheridan, Michael Vincent, 340, 340n7, 435 Sheridan, Philip Henry, 24, 33–35, 35n19, 45, 67, 84, 97–99, 122ff, 146, 179, 194, 220, 223, 236, 253, 264, 267, 269, 335, 340–43, 340n7, 349, 351, 353, 370, 374, 488, 489; and Crook, 57, 57n10, 114, 167n2, 218, strategy, 15, 96n9, castigates Crook, 126n8, meeting with Crook, 130, 250, 483, praises Crook and Mackenzie, 200, uses hunting and fishing trips to gain support, 306, and Chicago Railroad Strike, 308, 351, 352, hunting and fishing, 311ff., 331, 333, described, 313 Sherman, Thomas, 345 Sherman, William Tecumseh, 35, 126n8, 345, 485, blames Crook for logistical problems, 204–05n2 Shoshone and Bannock Agency, Idaho, 368, 370n13, 374, 375 Shoshone Indians, sometimes called Snakes (see also Indian scouts), 22, 26–27, 33–34, 34n17, 64, 169, 174, 176, 200, 214–15, 237, 266, 292, 308–09n12, 313, 354n7, 356, 363–64, 374; desecrate Lakota corpses. 19, 53–55; proficiency in drill, 25–26; horse racing, 26, preparations for field duty, 33 Shufeldt, Robert Wilson, 335, 435 Shut a Door (Oglala scout), 155 Sibley, Frederick William, 37, 130,

I NDEX 144, 435; scouting expedition of, 31–32, 334, 492 “Sibley Scout” (see Sibley, Frederick William) Sidney Barracks, Neb., 40, 40n22, 152 Silver City (steamer), 343, 344 Silver Lake (steamer), 103 Simpson, James Ferdinand, 37, 265, 435 Singing Bear (Kioxsi scout), 154 Sioux Indians, see also Indian Scouts, Lakota, and under individual tribes), 16, 23, 30, 43, 54, 84, 121, 147, 148, 151, 158– 59, 196, 212, 214–16, 237, 243, 254, 286, 291–92, 298, 323, 334, 336, 350n5, 369–70, 375, 466. 474, 483, 491ff.; group designations, 155; warrior societies among, 52–53; at Slim Buttes, 109–11; forced to relinquish land, 143, 143n16, 167, 167n3, 173; virtues, 202; meaning of tribal names, 202–03; tribal government, 205–06; home and social life, 206, 210; names, 210; funeral customs, 211; religion, mythology and taboos, 211–12, 238; surrender, 251, 273, 287; dancing described, 263; proposed relocation, 269; new reservation for, 272–73; resentment of Cheyennes, 277; acquisition of horses, 285–86; tribal divisions among, 492n3 Sisseton Sioux Indians, 202, 352 Sits in the Night (Cheyenne), 274 Sitting Bear (Kioxsi scout, sometimes given as Cheyenne), 155, 179, 252

I NDEX Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa), 23, 72, 82, 89, 115, 145, 161, 299, 300, 347, 445, 460, 483, 492, 497, 498, 498n12; and Miles, 161n11, 194, 496, 496n11, at Rosebud, 269, refugees to Canada, 272; appraised, 491; at Little Bighorn, 495, 495n9 Sitting Night (Cheyenne), 271 Six Feathers (Arapaho scout), 156, 252, 295 Six Feathers (Kioxsi scout), 155 Slim Buttes, Battle of, 4, 18, 89, 107ff., 217, 269, 326, 470–71, 495, 496, Seventh Cavalry equipment recovered at, 108, 114–16, wounded from, 478, 479; Indian losses at, 496 Slow Bear (Brulé scout), 155 Smallpox, 289–90n12, 375–76 Smead, Alexander D.B., 38, 245, 436 Smith, Edward Worthington, 58, 345, 436 Smith, Frank Guest, 140, 142 Smith, John Eugene, 370 Smith, Thomas T., 7 Smith, William Earl, 187n10 Snake Indians (See Shoshone Indians) Snyder, Mr., 335 “The Song of Hiawatha” (poem), 289 Sopley, Sister, 243, 244 Sorrel Horse or Shuncaca Lutu (Oglala scout sometimes given as Brulé), 155, 255, 263, 279, 301, 460; recounts life, 280, demonstrates medicine, 283 Spaulding, Edward James, 40, 436 Spencer, James Herbert, 24, 436 Spokane Indians, 362

527

Spotted Black Bird (Cheyenne), 185n5 Spotted Crow (Lakota), 111 Spotted Horse (Crow), 233 Spotted Tail (Brulé), 19, 146, 157n8, 240, 243–44, 245, 258–59, 261, 262–63, 285, 288, 294, 301, 461, 485; named head chief, 147–48; arranges surrender of hostiles, 250, 256– 57, 270–71; enlists as scout, 251; described, 256; objects to removal to Indian Territory, 260; and Crook, 266 Spotted Tail Agency, Neb., 33–34, 110–11, 153, 158, 233, 241, 244, 250, 253, 255–56, 270–73, 277, 280–81, 285–87, 297, 299–300, 489, 498; discrepancy in Indian counts, 483–84, 483n1 Stabber (Lakota), 111 Standing Elk (Cheyenne), 273–75, 295, 298–99, 461 Standing Feather (Arapaho scout), 252 Standing Rock Agency, N.D., 122, 125, 268, 300, 467 Stands In Timber, John, 182n1, 185n5 Stanley, David S., 95 Stanton, Thaddeus Harlan, 10, 35, 44, 47, 49, 58, 72–74, 97, 130, 169, 175, 242, 245, 253, 255, 436 Steamboats, 307, 466, maneuvering on Yellowstone, 344, 345, 346, 354, loading and unloading, 349 Steever, Edgar Z., Jr., 38, 37 Stevens (physician), 101, 437 Stones River. (See Murfreesboro.)

528

Strahorn, Robert Edmund, 101, 242, 245, 265, 267, 284, 288, 453 Sullivan, John, 187, 195 Sully, Alfred, 62n13, 350n4, 437 Sumner, Samuel Storrow, 39, 357, 384, 438 Sumner, Mrs. Samuel Storrow, 384 Sutorious, Alexander, 32, 36, 38, 438 Swift Charger (Loafer scout), 155 Swigert, Samuel Miller, 37, 438 Swimmer (Oglala scout), 155 Sword, or Man Who Carries the Sword (Oglala), 312, 320, 462 Tall Bull (Minneconjou), 300 Tall Pine Tree (Lakota), 282–83 Tall Wild Cat, (Kioxsi scout), 154 Tambiago (Bannock), 370n13, 374n2 Taylor (scout), 87, 336 Taylor, Alfred Bronaugh, 184, 187, 198, 438 Taylor, G.W., 207, 233 Taylor, Sydney Wentworth, 140, 438 Terry, Alfred Howe, 3, 14–15, 21, 31, 35, 42, 45, 58, 63, 65, 67, 80–84, 87–88, 90, 94, 96n9, 102–03, 115, 122–23, 125, 151n6, 194, 271, 340–42, 345, 353, 362, 438, 468, 475, 494; links with Crook 55–56, 466; described, 56–57, 75; transportation problems, 59–61, 64, 83; and Crook, 68–70, 68n2, 75–76, 88–89 Tesson, Louis Stanislaus, 343, 439 Thatcher, Mr., 372 Thayer, Dana, 358 Thomas, Earl Denison, 39, 439

I NDEX Thompson, John Charles, 37, 245, 250, 439 Thompson (member of Terry’s staff), 58 Thornburgh, Thomas Tipton, 294, 300, 335, 336, 439 Three Bears (Oglala or Kioxsi scout), 154, 159, 207, 210, 213, 222, 251, 462; addresses Crook, 157–58, 157n8–9, 173; described, 177 Thorpe, Jim, 62n14 Thunder (see Friday) Thunder Shield (Oglala scout), 155 Tidal Wave (steamer), 347 Tiffany, Harry, 343, 439 Tilden, Samuel, 164, 165n1 Tilford, Joseph Green, 385 Tobacco (Kioxsi scout), 155 Tokio (Bannock), 368, 369 Tolkien, J.R.R., 316n3 Tom (mixed blood trader), 271 Torn Belly (Lakota scout), 252 Touch-the-Clouds (Lakota), 257, 462 Townsend, Edward Davis, 150, 154, 196, 232 Townsend, Edwin Franklin, 35, 439 Trotter, Frederick Eugene, 368 Trunk (Lakota scout), 252 Tup-see-paw or Rag Picker (Shoshone), addresses Crook, 173, described, 177 Twist, James, 154 The Two Americas (book), 255– 56, 256n10, 380, 380n5 Two Kettles (O-ee-no-pah) Lakota Indians, 203 Two Moons (Cheyenne), 113n4, 271, 491n2

I NDEX Tyler, Augustus Cleveland, 236, 440 Tylor, Edward Burnett, 212, 212n8, 237, 248

Union Pacific Railroad, 144, 165, 241, 311, 356, 357 United States Army, brevet ranks in, 10; soldier’s life, 24–25; foreign soldiers in, 26, 26n8; weapons training in, 230n1, troops on payday, 242, officers appraised, 256n10, reduction advocated, 278, cavalry reorganization in, 387, 388; animal requisitions, 487 Upham, John, 36, 117, 121, 440, 472. U-sanky-su-cola (Skidi Pawnee), 174 Utah Northern Railroad, 359, 360, 373 Ute Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 23, 24, 34, 45, 237, 266, 286, 290, 292 Ute John (Indian volunteer), 48, 55, 69, 75, 462.

Vandever, William, 143, 143n17, 453 Van Vliet, Frederick, 37, 440 Victory (steamer), 349 The Virginian (book), 124n6 Volkmar, William J., 38, 440 Vroom, Peter Dumont, Jr., 38, 246, 250, 269, 440

Wagner, Mr. (Deadwood hotel owner), 138

529

Wahato (Lakota), 271 Waiting (Ogglala scout), 155 Walks Over (Cheyenne), 274 Walker, John Perry, 37, 351, 441 Walker (member of Terry’s staff), 58 Walking Bull (Oglala scout), 155 Walks in the Water (Arapaho scout), 252 Wappeton Sioux Indians, 202 Warbonnet Creek Fight, 23, 23n4 Ward, Edward Wilkerson, 198, 441 Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. (exFort D.A. Russell), 122n1 Washakie (Shoshone), 22, 25, 30, 31. 169, 313, 455, 462, advises Crook, 23, 68; Fort Washakie named for, 34n17 Washington (Arapaho scout), 156, 213, 252, 295 Washington (see Old Crow) Wasson, Joseph, 47, 50, 74, 111, 130, 453, 482, 484n2., 485 Wah-tópΒh Sioux Indians, 203 Water Man (Arapaho scout), 252 Watts, Charles Henry, 39 Weasel Bear (Lakota scout), 252 Weir, William Bayard, 358 Welch, Mr., 312 Wells, Elijah Revillo, 37, 441 Wessells, Henry Walton, Jr., 184, 442 Western (steamer), 343 Wheeler, Homer Webster, 184, 311–12, 321, 332, 335, 341, 442 Wheeler, William A., 164, 165n1, Whipple, Henry Benjamin, 143, 143n16, 453 Whistler, Joseph Nelson Garland, 90, 90n4 White Antelope (Cheyenne), 31 White Breast (Arapaho scout), 252

530

White, Charles or Jonathon (Buffalo Chips), 109, 454, 471, 479. White Bull (Cheyenne), 271 White Crow (see Friday) White, David, 41, 442 White Elk (Oglala scout), 155 White Face (Loafer scout), 155, 252 White Horse (Arapaho scout), 156, 252, 295 White Rabbit (Cheyenne), 274 White Thunder (Brulé), described, 256, 261–62, 463 Wieting, Orlando Luther, 196, 198, 442 Wild Hog (Cheyenne scout), 252 Williams, Robert, 34, 35, 358, 370, 443 Wilson, Robert Phillips., 35, 38, 443 Windolph, Charles, 307 Winne, Charles K, 40, 443 Winters, William Henry, 379 Wister, Owen, 124n6 With Crook in the Black Hills (book), 4. Wolf (Tucson pawnbroker), 380, 381 Wolf Moccasin (Arapaho scout), 252 Wolf Mountain Fight, 497, Indian losses at, 497.

I NDEX Wood, George B., 380, 380n6 Wood, Marshall William, 200, 443 Wooden Leg (Cheyenne), quoted 190–91n13 Woodruff, Charles Albert, 361, 362, 384, 444 Woodruff, Thomas Mayhew, 347, 347n3, 444 Woodson, Albert Emmett, 73, 75, 444 Wyatt, Walter S., 40

Yankton (Loafer scout), 155 Yankton, S.D., 4. Yankton Agency, S.D., 300 Yankton Sioux Indians, 203, 346 Yanktonnais Sioux Indians, 203 Yates, George W., 339n6, 444 Yates, Mrs., 281 Yellow Bear (Arapaho scout), 156 Yellow Bear (Kioxsi scout), 155, 252 Yellow Bear (Oglala warrior), 279 Yellow Shirt (Kioxsi scout), 154 Yellowstone (steamer), 90 Young Man Afraid of His Horses (Oglala scout), 251–52, 463 Zoroastrianism, 28n10 ZuΖi Indians, 206

The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke Volume 3

The Diaries of

J G ohn

regory

VOLUME 3

B

ourke

June 1, 1878–June 22, 1880

Edited and Annotated by Charles M. Robinson III

University of North Texas Press Denton, Texas

©2007 Charles M. Robinson III All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Permissions: University of North Texas Press P.O. Box 311336 Denton, TX 76203-1336 The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, z39.48.1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bourke, John Gregory, 1846–1896. The diaries of John Gregory Bourke / edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson III. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10 1-57441-196-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13 978-1-57441-196-6 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Bourke, John Gregory, 1846–1896—Diaries. 2. Soldiers—West (U.S.)— Diaries. 3. Indians of North America—Wars—1866–1895—Personal Narratives. I. Robinson, Charles M., 1949– II. Title.

E83.866 .B75 2003 978’.02’092—de21 2002152293 All illustrations are held by the United States Military Academy Library, West Point, NY. Cover and frontispiece photo of John Gregory Bourke is courtesy of the National Park Service, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

To Paul L. Hedren

[I]t matters not whether the grievances of our Indians be true or false, exaggerated or under-estimated, the fact that the word of our Government is mistrusted by every tribe on the continent cannot be denied and is a black blot upon our national escutcheon. —John Gregory Bourke, Diary, 26:19 It seems to me to be an odd feature of our judicial system that the only people in this country who have no rights under the law are the original owners of the soil: an Irishman, German, Chinaman, Turk or Tartar will be protected in life and property, but the Indian commands respect for his rights only so long as he inspires terror for his rifle. —Brigadier General George Crook, Letter copied in Bourke, Diary, 29:34–35

Contents Acknowledgments ....................................................................... ix Introduction to Volume 3 ............................................................. 1 Part 1. The Life of a General’s Aide Background ................................................................................. 15 1. Nostalgia, a Society Wedding, a Day at the Races, and a Parting ........................................... 19 2. The Bannock Uprising ............................................................. 35 3. Retrospective on the Sioux War and Crazy Horse .................. 53 4. The Death of Crazy Horse ....................................................... 65 5. The Developing Frontier ......................................................... 79 6. Sojourn in the Mountains and a Visit to Denver ..................... 97 Part 2. The Cheyennes and the Poncas Background ............................................................................... 113 7. Cheyenne Life ....................................................................... 117 8. Hunting the Refugees ............................................................ 144 9. Misery on the Trail ................................................................ 160 10. The Ponca Affair .................................................................. 177 Part 3. Americanizing the Frontier Background ............................................................................... 205 11. Of Irish Lords and Irish Soldiers ......................................... 208 12. “It Is of Such Stuff that Good Commonwealths Are Made” ..... 225 13. Fort Craig to Camp Grant ................................................... 249 14. Back to the Present ............................................................. 276 Part 4. The White River Ute Uprising Background ............................................................................... 291 15. Merritt’s Ride ....................................................................... 294 16. Camp Under Fire ................................................................. 317 17. From Field to Staff............................................................... 338 Part 5. Staff Duties and Nostalgia Background ............................................................................... 364 18. Procuring Mules and Mounts ............................................... 366 19. Phil Reade and Old Jerry .................................................... 388 20. More Horses, More Nostalgia, and Miscellaneous Rambling .... 400

Appendix 1: Persons Mentioned in the Diary............................ 420 Appendix 2: Authorities. Personal notes of the Campaigns Conducted by Brig. General George Crook ................... 503 Bibliography .............................................................................. 518 Index ......................................................................................... 529

Acknowledgments A large group of people have made this series possible, particularly Ron Chrisman, director, and Karen DeVinney, managing editor, University of North Texas Press, for whom this is an on-going, and sometimes seemingly endless project. Special thanks go to Robert Wooster for his review and valuable comments on each volume, and to Sherry Smith for her equally valuable suggestions for this volume. Friends who have followed this project and encouraged it from its inception include Lt. Col. Thomas T. Smith, U.S.A., Frances Vick, retired director of the University of North Texas Press, Jerome A. Greene, Robert Utley, and Patricia Stallard. Thanks also to the Rev. Michael Coleman, archivist, Diocese of Kansas City, for background on the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Kansas City. The United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, provided copies of photographs pasted in Bourke’s manuscripts. The administration of South Texas College, McAllen, Texas, Dr. Shirley A. Reed, president; Juan Mejía, vice president for instruction; Shirley Ingram, director of Human Resources; Dr. Magaretha Bischoff, dean, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences; and Dr. Christopher Nelson, chairman, Department of History and Philosophy, have provided both latitude and encouragement for this project. Finally, almost from the beginning of my writing career some twenty years ago, Paul L. Hedren has provided criticism where it was due, praise where it was due, and in all cases, friendship and encouragement. For that reason, this volume is gratefully dedicated to him.

IX

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Introduction to Volume 3

V

olume 3 of this series covers John Gregory Bourke’s diaries from June 1, 1878, through June 22, 1880, and manuscript volume 23 to half-way through volume 34. During this period, the notebooks progressively deviate from the standard daily journal to a “stream-of-consciousness.” Increasingly, Bourke is aware that he is writing for posterity. He shifts from the word “journal,” referring more to his “note-books” and “scrapbooks.” This, in part, reflects more time on his hands. For almost the first time in the ten years since he graduated from West Point, Bourke was neither in the field nor preparing for a new field expedition. He could look back on events so far, which gives several interesting retrospectives on his early days in Arizona. He also was able to enjoy the amenities of the East and the urban Midwest, and when he did accompany General Crook, it was in the capacity of administrative inspection, as in the Bannock uprising and site selection for what became Fort Niobrara, Nebraska.1 In fact, Crook rarely appears in this volume; more often, Bourke is on his own. 1. Fort Niobrara was established in 1880 on the Niobrara River, to protect cattlemen and settlers from whatever roaming bands of Indians might remain, and as an additional control over the Indians at the Spotted Tail Agency. It was abandoned in 1906 and is now a national wildlife refuge. Frazer, Forts of the West, 89.

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He found time to dedicate all of manuscript volume 24 to a retrospective on the Sioux War, which includes a long dissertation on Crazy Horse, whose death he called “an event of such importance, and with its attendant circumstances pregnant with so much of good or evil for the settlement between the Union Pacific Rail Road and the Yellowstone River that I do not feel that it would be proper for me to pass it over with the condensed account given in my notes of July and August last year [1877].”2 Throughout the narrative, Bourke refers to various letters and telegrams which he included at the end of this volume under the heading: Authorities. Personal notes of the Campaigns conducted by Brig. General George Crook, U.S. Army, against the Sioux Indians in Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Dakota—1876–1877. This includes correspondence surrounding the surrender and death of Crazy Horse as well as an account provided by Billy Hunter, one of the mixed-blood interpreters, of the chief’s death. Because of the continuing interest, as well as the controversy, surrounding Crazy Horse, I have deviated from my usual practice of deleting all but the most relevant correspondence, and have included Bourke’s “Authorities” as Appendix 2.3 Bourke betrays a grudging admiration for Crazy Horse, calling him a “truly great man,”4 and in his summation, he unintentionally contributes to the modern Crazy Horse mystique. A dead lion is of no account in the regard of those who lately were wont to trouble at his faintest roar; thus, Crazy Horse being dead, an exaggerated importance has attached to the war with the Nez-Percés, but how much more costly in blood, treasure, time and material would have been that war had 2. Bourke, Diary, 24:1; Bourke’s account of these months is published in Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapters 18–19, and Vol. 2, Chapters 1–4. Crazy Horse had become a sort of symbolic “boogey man,” whose actions—real and imagined—during the Great Sioux War had unnerved both Crook and his counterpart in the Department of Dakota, Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry. The surrender of Crazy Horse’s band, in May 1877, was considered to be more or less the end of significant Lakota resistance. See Robinson, General Crook. 3. Bourke, Diary, 24:1; Bourke’s account of Crazy Horse’s surrender is in Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 2, Chapter 14. 4. Bourke, Diary, 24:49.

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Crazy Horse broken away and rallied around him the disaffected elements of the Dakotas and obliged us to fight 3000 or 4.000 skilled warriors instead of 3 or 400.5 The comment is absurd. There is no real evidence that Crazy Horse planned to go to war, and it is doubtful that he could have, even if he had wanted. Only a few pages earlier, Bourke had noted that the Northern Plains tribes were thoroughly beaten and divided into too many quarreling factions to offer any further resistance, as Crazy Horse himself was aware.6 Meanwhile, the flight of the Nez Percés under Joseph garnered national attention—and sympathy—and Joseph himself emerged as a heroic figure.7 Three other key events during this period were the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1878–79, the Ponca Affair, and the White River Ute Uprising, both in 1879. The Cheyennes and Poncas will be discussed in the introduction to Part 2 of this volume, and the Utes in the introduction to Part 4. The Cheyenne and Ute crises contain the most action in this volume. For those accustomed to the nearly continuous scouting expeditions and Indian fights of Volumes 1 and 2 of this series, at least half of Volume 3 will appear almost mundane. Bourke spends a great deal of time in Omaha, Kansas City, and St. Louis. He visits factories and foundries. He is a member of a remount board that buys horses in Kentucky for the cavalry. And he takes advantage of every opportunity to enjoy local society. Bourke visiting factories and horse farms does not correspond to the image of Bourke the soldier and the ethnologist. For that reason, readers might wonder why I bothered to include these sections; indeed, I initially considered omitting them. Bourke, however, realized—and commented—that he was witnessing a transformation. The United States now fronted two oceans. The North-South sectional conflicts that for so long had hindered national development were resolved. There was a feeling of unbridled optimism as the 5. Ibid., 24:39. 6. Ibid., 24:34–36. 7. The Nez Percé War began in the spring of 1877 when a band of young warriors, resentful of relocation to a reservation, attacked and killed several white settlers. Fearing retaliation, Joseph, Looking Glass, and several other chiefs led their bands in a trek of a thousand miles across Idaho and Montana, seeking refuge in Canada. Pursued by troops, Joseph finally surrendered on October 5, 1877, less than a hundred miles from the border. See Beal, “I Will Fight No More Forever,” and Greene, Nez Perce Summer, 1877.

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nation rapidly grew into a major industrial and economic power. Noting the shipment of California wine to Germany, he writes, “This new and important demand will stimulate our wine-growers to new energy and beyond question American wine will within the next twenty years assume a high place in the list of our staple resources.” He even went so far as to predict that the American West would be ideal for ratite culture.8 In the case of wine, his foresight was correct, the disaster of Prohibition notwithstanding. As for ostriches and emus, the attempt made almost a century after Bourke’s death never lived up to expectations. The horse-buying visits give a better view of Bourke’s racial attitudes. Until this point, most of his references to blacks have involved soldiers, and he has been favorably impressed. Here, however, he ventures to parts of the country where there are large numbers of black civilians, and his impressions are less positive. In Kentucky, he writes: The blacks flock to the towns like Lexington whose streets they throng, either as downright idlers or pursuing such apologies for labor as polishing boots, waiting on hotel tables or running errands. It disgusted me greatly to be accosted half a dozen times to the block with the question, “shine yer butes, Boss?”9 He has made many previous references to restaurants, and no doubt his orderly regularly polished his boots. But as he has never referred to these as “apologies for labor,” he seems to feel that there is something particularly menial about it if blacks do it. That, together with appellations like “niggers” and “darkies,” shed light on his views, which were in line with most whites of his era, regardless of his Union Army service. Likewise, he is completely unsympathetic over the problems of Johnson Whittaker, who became West Point’s only black cadet following the graduation of Henry Flipper in 1878. Whittaker contended that he had received a threatening note, and, on the night of April 5–6, 1880, he was bound, beaten, and slashed. A hastily 8. Bourke, Diary, 33:529–30. 9. Ibid., 33:499.

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convened board of inquiry determined Whittaker had written the note and inflicted the injuries on himself as a means of avoiding the examinations. Following the story, Bourke commented, “[A]s the injuries of which he made so much ado are now found to have been too trivial for mention, the burden of proof in the whole business is thrown upon Whittaker & such sympathizers as may still adhere to him.”10 Whittaker, however, demanded a court-martial to clear his name. He was found guilty, but in 1882, President Chester A. Arthur threw out the verdict on the grounds that a court-martial was not legally applicable to the case. By then, however, Whittaker had been dismissed from the academy for failing his examinations.11 Bourke’s view of the Whittaker Affair no doubt is based in part on his racial attitudes, and also because he was what might be called “all West Point.” References to the academy and to classmates abound in the narrative. In fact, on April 25, 1880, he was offered an appointment as assistant professor of Spanish at West Point. Although he initially accepted, eventually he opted to remain with Crook.12 This volume not only covers the Plains and Midwest, but also digresses to Bourke’s time as a young junior officer, fresh out of West Point, and experiencing his first introduction to the Southwest. Recalling a march from his first post, Fort Craig, New Mexico, to Camp Grant,13 Arizona, he writes: I wish I could remember as vividly and in proper sequence the general features of the topography of the line of march. My memory is constituted in such a way that I retain for a 10. Ibid., 34:572. 11. The Whittaker Affair is described in John F. Marszalek, Court-Martial: A Black Man in America. 12. Once before, in 1872, Bourke had been called to West Point, as an instructor in French and Spanish. Crook, however, had blocked it, saying his services were needed in Arizona. In this instance, Bourke noted in his entry for July 26, 1880, that he asked the War Department to revoke the appointment to the academy, although he did not give a reason. Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 20–21; Bourke, Diary, 34:639. 13. Fort Craig was established on the Rio Grande, to provide protection against Apaches and guard the road along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1885. Camp Grant was established in 1865 on the San Pedro River near its confluence with Aravaipa Creek. Located on the site of the abandoned post of Fort Breckenridge, it guarded the road between Tucson and Sacaton. An Indian reservation was established briefly at Grant in 1872, but after the Indians were reconcentrated at San Carlos later that year, the post no longer was necessary. It was abandoned in 1873, a new Camp Grant having been established at the head of Sulphur Springs Valley. Frazer, Forts of the West, 4–6, 8, 98; Altshuler, Starting With Defiance, 28–30.

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long time the impressions made upon me by individuals, but in a sense of locality I am lacking in details but always capable of describing the character of a district with an approach to correctness; even if my account of the lesser meanderings of roads and streams be somewhat at fault.14 Yet this period of Bourke’s life gets only three paragraphs in On the Border With Crook,15 and without the lengthy diary entries of New Mexico and Arizona, we would know little about this early part of his career. Here, and elsewhere throughout the diaries, Bourke pokes fun at the quirks and foibles of the Irish soldiers who made up such a large part of the frontier army. Both his parents were from Ireland, but they were well-to-do, and not refugees from famine or clearances that so often made up the Irish immigrant class. He expresses sympathy with the Irish country people caught up in the famine of the late 1870s, and resents the apparent indifference of the British government to their suffering.16 Nevertheless, he was thoroughly Americanized, apparently devoid of any romantic fantasies of an ancient, heroic Ireland that so often permeate Irish-American mythology; he seems to view immigrant and home-country Irish as a species that was interesting, and perhaps a little odd. His parodies come to full fruition as he recollects an encounter between Sir Rose Price, an Irish baronet, and two Irish officers in the U.S. Army, Col. John Joseph Coppinger, and “Old Jemmie” Henton, blistering (in his own humorous way) their accents, vanities, and mannerisms. Yet there was no malice in his accounts. Lengthy descriptions of Capt. Gerald Russell, 3rd Cavalry, whom he first met as a new lieutenant fresh from the academy, show a young officer’s admiration for a crusty, vain, but extremely competent old soldier who ruled his troops with just the right balance of terror and paternal affection. A shrewd Irish peasant who, in his own view, has done well in his adopted country, Russell boasts of his background to emphasize his achievements. In the “Jerry Russellisms,” the Western movie fan 14. Bourke, Diary, 30:189. 15. Bourke, On the Border, 3. 16. This famine was in no way as severe as the one of the 1840s, but served to point up the abuses in Irish land law that kept the country people impoverished and on the verge of starvation. No British government seemed capable of arriving at a solution. Churchill, Great Democracies, 343.

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can easily hear Victor McLaglen. Bourke describes a drinking bout the night before a scouting expedition against Apaches, in which Russell and other senior captains had to be carried to their cots by the junior officers. It is a humorous scene that portrays these battle-hardened veterans as human beings, capable of kindness and sentimentality. The second half of this volume contains frequent references to General U.S. Grant, who seemed to be a major news topic as the 1880 election approached. After completing his second term in March 1877, Grant and his wife, Julia, departed for Great Britain to visit their daughter, Nellie, who had married into the English gentry. The vacation turned into a two-and-a-half-year, round-theworld tour, with the Grants feted from London to Tokyo. There being no constitutional prohibition on a third term at the time, Grant was considered a contender in 1880, and his biographer, William S. McFeely, calls the trip “a campaign tour unlike that of any previous candidate for the presidency.” The world tour was followed by a tour throughout the United States, along with Cuba and Mexico. Through 1879 and the first half of 1880, Bourke has little doubt that Grant would make a political comeback and become the nation’s first three-term president. Indeed, when the Republicans held their convention, he was the strongest candidate, but failed to get a clear majority. The convention delegates deadlocked, and the compromise ticket of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur was chosen, one that Bourke calls “essentially weak.” The Democrats nominated Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, another Civil War hero, for president and William Hayden English for vice president. “This ticket,” Bourke writes, “will be a formidable one and, beyond reasonable doubt, will carry success.”17 He was mistaken. Garfield won the election, although with a fractional margin. Taking office in 1881, he was assassinated a few months into his administration, and Arthur assumed the presidency. Throughout the diaries, Bourke inadvertently dispels the image of the frontier army as being somewhere in what the British might call “the back of beyond.” Certainly this was the case in the antebellum army, entering the Great Plains and Southwestern deserts for the first time. By the time Bourke went West, however, 17. Bourke, Diary, 34:583–84. Grant’s tour and third term ambitions are discussed in McFeely, Grant: A Biography, Chapters 26 and 27. The quote is from page 478.

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the situation was rapidly changing. Although reading material was limited, and army officers as a general rule were not well informed, neither did they live in a vacuum. The post libraries of frontier forts might not have had a wide variety of books, but newspapers and magazines, while slightly dated, were available. Opportunities for self-improvement did exist if the officers and soldiers chose to utilize them.18 Arizona was in the midst of development, and was adjacent to already-cosmopolitan California. The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 began to open the most remote regions of the frontier. Even at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, which in 1876 neared the furthest extension of what Easterners might term “civilization,” the officers and ladies performed theatricals that Bourke called “capitally interpreted.”19 Field service was more isolated, but even then, railroad, telegraph, and regular courier service kept the soldiers informed. In camp at Goose Creek, Wyoming, following the near disastrous Rosebud Fight of June 17, 1876, the mail brought regular contact with the outside world. “Our newspaper files were very complete,” Bourke noted, “representing prominent New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, Omaha and Cheyenne publications.” Besides American political news (1876 was an election year), there even was the report of a palace revolt in Constantinople, half-way around the world.20 In various places in this volume, Bourke comments about the Zulu wars in South Africa, including the British disaster at Isandhlwana on January 22, 1879, and the death of Prince Louis Napoleon, who was killed in action while serving in the British Army in the Natal.

Format of the Edited Diaries Editing a work like the Bourke diaries is not necessarily confined to transcription, but also to rendering the text into a readable form while preserving the author’s original flavor and intent. Purists, such as Wayne R. Kime, who achieved the monumental task of preparing the Richard Irving Dodge journals for publication, adhere strictly to the original text, including cross-outs and insertions. On the opposite side of the coin, Lt. Col. Thomas T. Smith, former assistant 18. Knight, Life and Manners, 57, 83. 19. Robinson, Diaries, 1:208. 20. Ibid., 344.

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professor of military history at West Point, took Cpl. Emil Bode’s German syntax, fractured spelling, and erratic punctuation and rendered them more easily understood by the casual reader.21 With Bourke’s diaries, I have chosen the middle ground between these two positions, and have undertaken a basic format to preserve as much as possible the flavor of the manuscript, while making it intelligible to the reader and without being cumbersome. Beyond the exceptions listed in the introduction, I have followed the format of the first two volumes of this series, which is to say: Orders and Clippings. By and large, clippings are simply correspondents’ versions of events that Bourke himself recounted in detail. Because of the enormity of this material, and its availability elsewhere, it has been deleted in favor of Bourke’s own manuscript text. In some instances, this includes entire volumes that are nothing more than collections of clippings and copies of orders. Abbreviations, Spelling, and Grammar. Bourke used many abbreviations. The @ symbol often appears as a substitute for the word “or.” While I have tried to remain as faithful as possible to the original text, for the sake of clarity I have spelled out the more common abbreviations, such as cardinal directions, “left,” “right,” “miles,” and “road,” as well as those he used frequently, such as “good grass and water,” and “creek.” For those that are less common or obvious, I have inserted the missing letters in [brackets], except when the abbreviations are scattered, requiring several sets of brackets within one word; in such cases, I have spelled out the word in brackets. When a word is illegible, but the meaning can be inferred, I have placed the probable word with a question mark in [brackets?]. If the meaning cannot be inferred, I have written it as [illegible]. Otherwise, I have transcribed the text as is, with all its inconsistencies, such as “tipi,” “teepee,” and sometimes even “tépi,” all of which he used to designate the conical Indian lodge. Names of individuals suffered in the same fashion. All such instances have been noted in the biographical sketches in Appendix 1. Interestingly enough, as the years progressed, Bourke tended to pay more attention to spelling out words, as well as to punctuation and capitalization. Consequently these become less of an issue in this volume than in Volumes 1 and 2. Nevertheless, 21. See Smith, A Dose of Frontier Soldiering.

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differences exist, and words that Bourke commonly misspelled, or were spelled differently in the nineteenth century, such as “accomodation” and “Mississipi” have been copied without any particular notation. Punctuation and Capitalization. Bourke tended to use periods and commas outside quotation marks rather than within. I lean toward leaving Bourke’s punctuation intact except for cases where it renders the text absolutely confusing. Capitalization was erratic. For example, in giving times of day, he might use a.m./p.m., A.M./P.M., or am./pm. I have preserved his capitalization as much as possible. Paragraphing was also erratic, with new paragraphs sometimes indented, but often flush with the left margin. Emphasis. Bourke emphasized words by underlining them. Most of the time (but not always), he underlined names of people and places, dates, and geographical features of interest. Yet some of his emphasis seems little more than whimsy and, more than a century later, appears to have had no practical reason. In an effort to make it more readable, I have deleted the emphasis except where it enhances the impression he was trying to convey. Bourke occasionally annotated the entries after the fact, as new information came to hand. His notes are indicated by an asterisk (*) while mine are numbered. I have replaced Bourke’s brackets with parentheses, to avoid confusing his texts with mine. Personalities, etc. Often individuals are named with no explanation as to who they were. Bourke was, after all, writing for his own future reference and knew the people in question. I have attempted, in Appendix 1, to identify as many as possible, and in the case of army officers, have been relatively successful. After more than a century, however, it has not always been possible to identify Indians, enlisted soldiers, or civilians. The basic intent of the biographical sketches essentially is to explain who these people were, and why they went west. The criteria for the extent of the sketches are based on three factors: their importance in history, their importance to the narrative, and the availability of material on them. In many cases Bourke might make only a passing reference, such as, “I encountered Lieut. X,” this being the only reference to Lieutenant X in the entire narrative. Because of that, and because many such officers did not attain historical prominence, the sketch is minimal. Others, mentioned

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frequently, and/or historically important in their own right, receive more detailed treatment. Where Bourke uses the local name for plants, or names that might not be widely known, I have attempted to identify them and put the botanical name in the notes; I did not do so for commonly known plants. Bourke’s designations of the territories have been preserved, and when they do not reflect the modern name of the state, I have inserted the state in [brackets]. In my own commentaries, I have used the modern state names. Military Ranks. Bourke tended to use brevet ranks for officers who had attained them in the Union Army. Thus we see a reference to “General John H. King, Col. 9th Infantry,” the former being his brevet rank and the latter being his active rank at the time of writing. The biographical sketches of officers in Appendix 1 include both active and brevet ranks.

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Part 1 The Life of a General's Aide

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Background

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his section covers a period of relative peace on the frontier. Concerned mainly with office work, and inspection and procurement assignments, Bourke offers more detail on daily life in the Midwest and along the frontier. Little, if any, of this material appears in On the Border With Crook, or in his other writings, so this is a fresh view of his activities, attitudes, and opinions. Among other things, he attended the wedding of Lucy McFarland, a second cousin of First Lady Lucy Hayes,1 to his old classmate, Eric Bergland. This event, which occurred in June 1878, appears to have been written in retrospect, although not necessarily by any great length of time. The prenuptials were written after the fact, because, in discussing a courtesy call to her home, he commented, “Miss Lucy McFarland, at the time of this writing Mrs. E. Bergland, pleased me very much as a talented, refined and good-hearted lady of great personal attractions.”2 Yet it was close enough to the event to paste in a newspaper clipping describing the wedding. 1. The term “first lady,” which has no legal or constitutional standing, was used for the first time with Lucy Hayes, the first presidential wife with a college education, which she used to promote social causes. See Appendix 1. 2. Bourke, Diary, 23:12.

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Bourke, still a bachelor at the time, appreciated the young women at the celebration: “During all my travels and experience, I have never seen so many beautiful young women together as there were at this wedding. Nothing but my diffidence prevented my falling in love with some one of them: to being able to tune my nerves up to making a particular choice, I fell in love with them all.”3 Bourke recorded a frontier in transition. He attended cultural events in theaters filled with gun-toting rowdies. He listened to a post commander’s plans for lining his fort’s parade ground with shade trees and building an artificial lake. He described a modern mill where heavy machinery extracted silver from ore. He also came to know cattlemen in the rapidly developing Territory of Wyoming, observing that only three years earlier, hostile Indians traversed the region at will. Now, however, one saw “thousands and thousands of fine fat cattle peaceably grazing and increasing in value to the undisguised satisfaction of their owners.”4 This development did not always extend to the military. On a visit to Rock Island Arsenal, he marveled at officers quarters, and thought how much better frontier officers might live “if only the tenth part of the moneys wasted on these palatial structures had been properly applied to the legitimate purpose of maintaining an Army.”5 Like many people, then and now, he blamed the army’s problems—and by extension those of the nation—on self-interested “professional politicians . . . the grandest lot of ‘dead beats’, thieves and scoundrels outside of jail.”6 Many of the people mentioned in this volume were companions from expeditions during the Great Sioux War. One person, however, is noticeably missing from the bulk of this, and subsequent volumes: Azor Nickerson, Crook’s senior aide-de-camp, with whom Bourke had worked closely since 1872. At Crook’s behest, Nickerson was promoted to major and assistant adjutant general on June 16, 1878, which led to his assignment in Washington and separation from Crook’s staff. During their last meeting, in Wyoming in late July, Bourke wrote, “We could only stammer out the stereotyped phrases of kindly feeling, but knew that no empty conventional expressions 3. Ibid., 23:17. 4. Ibid., 25:3–4. 5. Ibid., 23:31. 6. Ibid., 23:15.

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could adequately convey the regard and esteem in which we mutually held each other.”7 Bourke also followed Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s incursions into Mexico. Previously, in 1873, Mackenzie had led a substantial raid some sixty miles into the Mexican interior, smashing Kickapoo and Lipan camps at Remolino, in order to stop their depredations in Texas. The attack, unauthorized but tacitly encouraged by General Sheridan, created a furor but had the desired effect. After serving with Crook in the Department of the Platte during the Great Sioux War, Mackenzie had been transferred back to Texas, where Indians and bandits again were raiding back and forth across the border with relative impunity. As commander of the Subdistrict of the Nueces, at Fort Clark, Texas, he sent or led several expeditions into Mexico. By now, however, Mexico was capable of military retaliation, and for awhile it appeared the two countries might go to war. Like many Americans of his era, Mackenzie believed that Mexico would be better off if completely absorbed into the United States, and so did Bourke.8 Commenting on Mackenzie’s exploits on the Mexican border, he noted: With (3) or four strong columns of invasion, aggregating a greater of a million of men, we could within two years be able to plant strong colonies, at eligible points, connected together and with our Rio Grande and Rio Gila systems by Rail Road and telegraphs and with these fortified colonies as foci we could easily establish such relations of commerce and manufactures with the Mexicans as would make our possession of their Territory not alone tolerant but agreeable. Intercourse with these colonies would make the Mexicans see the necessity of having their children taught our language and with a knowledge of our language would naturally come to desire to learn more of our customs. By strictly respecting the religious convictions of the people, by encouraging marriages between American men and Mexican women and above all by establishing a secure and remunerative market for all Mexican supplies, we could it seems to me, 7. Ibid., 23:67. 8. Mackenzie’s activities are covered in Robinson, Bad Hand, Chapter 16, and Pierce, Most Promising Young Officer, 196–201.

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soon reduce and pacify and even do much to Americanize our Spanish-Indian neighbors.9 Typically, he expressed the viewpoint that American men would marry Mexican women, and not the reverse. 9. Bourke, Diary, 25:19–20.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Nostalgia, a Society Wedding, a Day at the Races, and a Parting

[June 1, 1878] he present year, 1878, has been rendered illustrious in its century, by the discoveries of the celebrated scientific electrician, Mr. [Thomas] Edison: in other note-books, allusion occurs to the telephone, one of the emanations of his inventive genius.1 This one must chronicle the “phonograph”, or sound-writer, which has for its singular office the preservation and reproduction of all sounds, confided to its cylinder.2 What with our improvements in machinery, rail-roading, hotel-keeping, telegraphy, printing and photography, it would seem as if but little more was needed to make good man’s boast that he is the lord of creation. June 1st. Left Omaha, and Council Bluffs, by the Kansas City, St. Joe and Council Bluffs R.R. for St. Louis, where a quick connection

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1. Bourke is mistaken. The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. 2. Edison patented the phonograph in 1878, by embossing the groove on tinfoil. Although it did reproduce sound, it was not commercially viable, and Edison did little work on it for another ten years, until Alexander Graham Bell, his cousin Chidchester Bell, and Charles Sumner Tainter patented the Grammophone, which used an engraved wax cylinder. Faced with the competition, Edison improved his invention, and introduced the “Perfected” phonograph to market. Reiss, Compleat Talking Machine, 154–56.

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was made in the Grand Union dépôt with the Ohio and Mississippi R.R. for Cincinnati. On the latter train was pained to find my old friend, Lieut. E. L. Keyes, 5th Cavy., and mother, travelling from Texas to Washington. Keyes, a bright intellect ruined by addiction to liquor, promised at one time to be an ornament to the service, but dissipation brought about his dismissal and, to my unfeigned regret, I saw that he was still a victim to his degrading passion and steadily running down hill. In 1872, Keyes and myself, formed part of the detachment, which, under command of Col. Coppinger, 23d Inft., sailed from San Francisco, in the good steamer, “Newbern”, to the mouth of the Colorado river, in the Gulf of California. The voyage of some 2.000 miles occupied 13 days, a period long enough to enable us to become pretty thoroughly acquainted with each other, outside of the pleasant comradeship of the occasion, not much can be said of the journey. The arid cliffs of Baja California, Sinaloa, and Sonora,3 gave us a very unfavorable idea of Mexico; a school of dolphins, glistening in the sun, a long shark, or, semi-periodically, a whale, or what we land-lubbers thought must be whales or sea-serpents, helped to kill time pretty well; then at meridian, we used to “haul the log” or “take the sun” with Captain McDonough, an odd genius, (since drowned at sea.) The astronomical part of business didn’t interest us very much; strictly speaking, I never thought that our worthy skipper knew how to handle a sextant; he preferred running his ship along the coast, of which every promontory and indentation was perfectly well-known to him; but, if he couldn’t manage a sextant, he could make a very acceptable toddy, and every day, just as soon as the log had been read and the bearing determined, proofs of his skill in his favorite line were in eager demand by a throng of thirsty young officers. As McDonough was a perfect skinflint about his whiskey, strategy had to be brought into play whenever we felt like having more than one round of the enticing beverage; there was only one vulnerable point in the skipper’s character; it was his Achilles’ heel, but we found it out almost intuitively and assailed him there every time with success. He was very fond of telling us about his “viges”; 3. States in northwestern Mexico. Baja California (now partitioned into two states—North and South) is the peninsula on the west shore of the Gulf of California, while Sonora and Sinaloa are on the east shore. Sonora borders Arizona, and Sinaloa is immediately to the south of Sonora.

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his “vige” to Callao,4 his “first vige” out from Liverpool, his “second vige” to Puget Sound, and so on. To these we listed with intense gravity and interest, more or less simulated. Our patience never went without its reward. The Captain’s throat was certain to become parched and we shared in the toddy, brewed for its refreshment. Peace be to his Ashes. Softly let the waves of the Gulf of Cortez sing his requiem. He was the biggest liar I ever met, and some of his stories of adventure were masterpieces of mendacity. Colonel Coppinger, our worthy commander, was one of the neatest men in his dress I ever knew: the one apprehension that clouded upon his mind was that one large batch of recruits would not keep themselves clean. To insure absolute cleanliness among them became almost a mania with him: every fine morning, he would have large squads stand out on the forecastle [of the ship], while water was thrown over them from the force pumps. This seemed to tickle the soldiers amazingly: the voyage was made very pleasantly, only one man lost and he drowned through his own cursèd carelessness and disobedience of orders, while we were steaming into the mouth of the muddy Colorado. Then as we got upon the river steamboat, “Cocopah”, Jack Mellon, Master,5 and steamed up the channel to Ehrenburg, (400) and odd miles, it seemed as if our troubles had, only commenced.6 We couldn’t make more than (60) miles a day against the swift current, and, while the sun lasted, groaned on account of the heat and at night suffered a little from the mosquitoes, but not much, for it was then in the month of November (1872). When we could come to a “wood-landing”,7 everybody rushed ashore. Our “roustabouts” were Cocopah Indians and Mexicans, 4. In Peru. 5. Mellon was a renowned Colorado River pilot who, in 1874, was master of the steamer Gila, carrying Lt. John W. Summerhayes and his wife, Martha, to Fort Mojave. Martha Summerhayes remembered Mellon as “then the most famous pilot on the Colorado, and he was very skilful [sic] in steering clear of the sand-bars, skimming over them, or working his boat off, when once fast upon them.” Bourke mentions the Gila in the next paragraph. Summerhayes, Vanished Arizona, 36ff. 6. The first attempt at steam navigation on the lower Colorado appears to have been in 1852, when the steamer Uncle Sam, delivered in pieces by schooner, and assembled at the mouth of the river, reached Fort Yuma in December of that year. She ran aground and sank after a year or two of service. After another false start, in 1854, steam service finally began on a regular basis in the fall of 1855, and continued throughout most of the remainder of the century. Bancroft, Arizona and New Mexico, 490. 7. A depot where the steamer would put into shore to take on more wood for fuel.

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who worked to my unpracticed eye very faithfully: this wasn’t the first mate’s opinion and the way that man poured out profanity and tobacco juice from his mouth was a caution. The “roustabouts” never seemed to mind him in the least, and probably fancied he was praising their good looks whenever he “damned their eyes”. About half way up from Point Isabel, (the miserable collection of hovels at the mouth of the river,)8 to Fort Yuma, Cal.,9 (the first point inside of the American lines,) we met the steamboat “Gila”, commanded by Captain Mellon’s friend and comrade of years, Captain Steve Thorn. The meeting was very funny: the two men were of the same general type—red-faced, broad-shouldered, warty-knuckled, deepchested, profane, good-hearted, honest old fresh water mariners, who could out-drink, out-smoke, out-chew, or out-swear any two men in Arizona—and that’s saying a good deal. Each was very proud of his boat, and as this periodical meeting was always looked forward to with fond anticipation—the respective commanders were arrayed sumptuously in their “nobbiest” apparel. Each wore black doe-skin pantaloons, and a white linen shirt which would have been very presentable, if it had not been disfigured with so much jewelry. Neither wore a collar, but Mellon’s garment was buttoned at the neck, while Thorn’s lay open carelessly, exposing a red-flannel undershirt beneath. In the matter of jewelry, Thorn completely eclipsed our more unpretentious commander, but either could have equipped a Jew pedlar with the amount carried on his person. Thorn had, besides the usual studs, and cuff-buttons, not far from half a dozen breast-pins, all of them bounteous in material and one or two of good workmanship. He had a good-sized gold anchor, held by a small cable to a gold cross, and, if I remember correctly, he also wore a gold anvil, almost big enough for the uses of a blacksmith. But, he didn’t have any hat, at least not at that moment, while Captain Mellon, 8. Not to be confused with Point Isabel, Texas, near the mouth of the Rio Grande, which gave access by steamer to Fort Brown and Fort Ringgold. 9. Fort Yuma was established as Camp Independence in 1850 on the Colorado River about half a mile below the mouth of the Gila. A few months later, in March 1851, it was relocated to a low hill on the west bank of the Colorado, opposite the present city of Yuma, Arizona. The post subsequently was abandoned, but reoccupied and renamed Fort Yuma in 1852. Initially established to protect the emigrant routes and control local Indians, it later became a supply depot for military posts in Arizona. It was abandoned in 1883, when the railroads rendered it redundant, and was transferred to the Interior Department the following year. An Indian school and mission now occupy the site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 34–35; Altshuler, Starting With Defiance, 67–72.

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in a brand new, black silk “plug”, presented by admiring friends in San Francisco, fairly obscured the glories of Solomon. As the steamboats, bumped their prows together and the gang of “roustabouts” were, under the jealous supervision of two screaming and swearing first mates, actively fastening cables and running gangway planks between them, two streams of simultaneous objurgation burst from the lips of our rival skippers. “Easy thar with your blank, blank, blank, old canal-boat, you hornyhanded, land-lubber”. “Avast you bilious-eyed, blabbering mouthed mud-turtle—don’t talk to your boss, your master, you dash, dash, dash, dash, son of a sea-cook”. I didn’t hear all the conversation; about the time, I descended to the lower deck, the air was blue and hot and sulphureous [sic] with profanity, but our gallant Captain was already silencing his less accomplished adversary. At Fort Yuma, our party broke up; myself, under orders to rejoin General Crook, at Prescott and the others, under Colonel Coppinger, to proceed, by easy marches, to their proper stations. Fort Yuma fully merited all the bad reputation given it in the camp-talk of the Army, as the hottest and most dreary post in our country. During the time of our stay, there wasn’t much to be seen, except now and then a squad of Cocopah, Yuma or Mojave, Indians lazily floating in the water which appeared to all intents and purposes to be their native element: Give one of those Indians enough blue mud with which to plaster his hair as a shield against the sun and a cottonwood log to support him partially in the water, and he will be happy as any king and float on the turbid bosom of the Colorado, until he meets an upcoming steamer, whereon he knows he is always welcome to ride back to his little patch of squashes and melons, with which he will surfeit himself until the humor take him for another float in the river, or until some other Indian challenge him to a game of cards—the ruling passion of all these tribes. I am wandering away from my text—seemingly, but not in reality, as Keyes* has been in my mind all this time. He was a most jovial companion, one fitted for better things than the life of a drunkard. [Bourke’s footnote] Lt. Keyes, 5th Cavalry, dismissed for drunkenness, April 1877.

*

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These reminiscences, awakened by meeting with him, are inserted because I fear that the note-books of that date, 1872, have been mislaid, destroyed or stolen.10 [Bourke returns to the present, which is to say, June 1, 1878] At Cincinnati, I rested for a day at the Grand Hotel, a hostelry very inferior to the hotels of Chicago or San Francisco, but to be noted as one of the first to employ the telephone, which was there used to connect the Office with the Stable, six blocks distant. Here I had the great pleasure of meeting my old class-mate, Saml. Tillman, as well as [James Alfred] Dennison (of 68)11 who has since resigned and is now enjoying himself as a gentleman of leisure, in Baltimore. They informed me of the death of Major and Bv’t. Brig. Genl. L. H. Pelouze, of the Adjutant General’s Corps. June 4th. We three took the Kentucky Central R.R. to Lexington, and from the slowness of our ride had ample opportunity for an inspection of the beauties of the famed Blue Grass Region, and of Paris, Cynthiana and other little towns. At Lexington, in the Phoenix Hotel a quaint, old-fashioned rookery, very clean, with good table and good beds, but with an air of “going to seed” about it that I cannot describe, we found good accomodation [sic] and a number of old friends, viz. Price, P. M., Rockwell, C. H., and Bergland of our class (’69), [Rezin G.] Howell (of ’64), [William C.] McFarland of ’72, and [George Brinton] Walker, of ’72. We had a great deal to talk about and our tongues rattled so that strangers might have thought our room was a girls’ boarding school, but all things have an end, as well as a conversation. Our ablutions were soon completed, but we were not allowed time to change our clothing, as Mr. Henry Clay, (grandson and namesake of the distinguished senator,) was waiting to take us out for a drive. We got into two carriages and trotted along the streets of the town, which can boast a number of fine residences, some few good stores and a general air of thrift and wholesomeness, but withal offers many an odd surprise in the juxtaposition of dingy negro [sic] cottages, squalid blacksmith shops, or livery stables and elegant residences, the abodes of the cultivated, rich and influential people of the city. 10. Bourke probably is correct. The earliest extant volume in the West Point collection commences on November 20, 1872. 11. Heitman states Dennison entered West Point in 1866, and was commissioned in 1870, indicating he graduated that year, rather than 1868. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:367.

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After sun-down, we called en masse at the residence of Mr. McFarland, to pay our respects to the bride elect, his daughter, and her bridesmaids. The young ladies were very bright and entertaining and the hours flew by until nearly midnight; when we took our departure. Miss Lucy McFarland, at the time of this writing Mrs. E. Bergland, pleased me very much as a talented, refined and good-hearted lady of great personal attractions. At midnight, Bergland entertained us all at supper, his “last shriek for freedom”. Our party broke up about (2) in the morning, but as there was a liberal supply of 26 year old Kentucky whiskey in our rooms upstairs, our adjournment from the supper table did not signify that we were going to bed. We saw the sun rise before any such idea was thought of. June 5th. Mr. Clay again escorted us to the points of interest within and about Lexington: we visited the training grounds and stables of Mr. [H. P.] McGrath, Col. Withers and Mr. Treacy, whose horses are highly considered in this region. The red stallion, Cassius M. Clay, now over 26 years old, was a finely preserved specimen of equine power and grace. Almost, a noble animal, whose descendants are making a fine record as family carriage horses of speed, power, beauty, and above all extreme gentleness—and many other notabilities of the turf, whose names unfortunately, I cannot remember. By all the gentlemen mentioned above we were treated most courteously; I may as well here mention also Mr. Buford and Mr. Morton, and also Mr. Preston, son of General Preston, our former minister to Spain, who called upon us in his father’s name, very soon after our arrival. Our next visit was to the cemetery, which is at once the sacred field and the public park of the town. It is maintained in a style worthy of all praise and is, beyond question, the most beautiful abode of the dead I ever saw. Each plot of ground is kept trimmed and sodded, ornamented with choice flowers; and very generally, a pretty iron railing encloses a monument of granite or polished marble upon which may be read the names of the best families of Kentucky. In one corner, cluster the graves of the Union dead, each mound marked by a pretty little head and foot-piece of white marble. Similarly, in another corner, are to [be] found the burial-places of the gallant, even if misguided men, who perished in support of the “Lost Cause”.

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There is a monument to the Union heroes, and also a beautiful shaft to the memory of the Confederates. One cannot help feeling proud of those rebels; they displayed in the highest degree the virtues of valor, fortitude and devotion to their principles. Slavery extirpated and the bad blood, engendered by long years of bitter political discussion, let out by the sharp edge of the sword, there is some reason to hope that our people may become united and homogenous,—a result which can never be fully accomplished until some method shall have been devised for exterminating the “professional politicians” who infest our land,—they are the grandest lot of “dead beats”, thieves and scoundrels outside of jails. The cenotaph to Henry Clay is a fine piece of masonry, polished Aberdeen granite, I think, (80) or (90) feet high. The residence of Henry Clay, Ashland, some 3 miles outside of Lexington, is preserved by the State of Kentucky in the same condition as that in which it was left at the time of her great son’s death. There the visitor may see the Library, bed-room, dining-room, the cozy little nook in which he did so much of his studying and the picturesque walks along which he so often sauntered. Our last visit of the day was to the house of Colonel Preston, a long, one-story building pleasantly arranged in grounds, of nearly a square in extent, plentifully studded with outrageous [?] oak-trees. This mansion was as tastefully arranged on the inside as we had been led to suppose it might be from its exterior appearance. It was a source of regret to Tillman and myself, (we went in company) that none of the family could be seen; the young ladies, who were out driving, are reputed to be among the loveliest in their State. At (7) in the evening, we assembled at the mansion of Mr. McFarland, which I should say was one of the most elegant in Lexington, and there found a large concourse of invited guests, nearly all of whom were relatives of the family. Of the ladies present, it must be stated in simple justice that they sustained the reputation of the Blue Grass Region for having as beautiful, finely-formed, graceful and animated young ladies as there are in the world. During all my travels and experience, I have never seen so many beautiful young women together as there were at this wedding. Nothing but my diffidence prevented my falling in love with some one of them: to being able to tune my nerves up to making a particular choice, I fell in love with them all. The officiating clergyman, Mr.

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Christy, of the Presbyterian church, delivered a brief, but very sensible and affecting address. The bride looked sweet and lovely in a dress of white silk or satin, trimmed with lace or illusion of some kind. She was a very sweet girl. The young lady, whom I had the honor of escorting, Miss McPheeters of Saint Louis, Mo., was dressed in white silk and illusion also, if I remember aright, and presented an appearance at once stately and charming. The wedding supper was a summary of all that money could purchase in the fine markets of Cincinnati, O[hi]o. or Louisville, Ky., aided by the fullest exertion of the powers of local cooks and confectioners. Fruits, of every description and of the finest quality, creams, ices, bonbons, wine—everything to tempt the palate, made a glittering and costly array. With feasting and dancing, the wedding reception was kept up in full vigor until 3 in the morning, at which hour, the brides-maids were placed in carriages and under the escort of the groom’s men taken to their homes. Bidding them good night and good bye, we returned to our Hotel, but remained up all night, talking over old times at the Point and the varied scenes in which we had been thrown since last we had met. June 6th, We left Lexington, viâ the Cincinnati and Southern Rail Way. With us we had the pleasure of having Lt. and Mrs. Bergland, on their bridal tour, and Miss Scott, of Cincinnati, one of the brides-maids. The others drove down to the R.R. dépôt to say farewell. . . . By the Cincinnati Southern, passengers are taken into Cincinnati, across the fine new iron bridge spanning the Ohio river at this point. This structure stands high in the list of those which would be called “first class” in all parts of the world, and is one of which the “Queen City” may well be proud. When we reached the terminus, our pleasant party scattered in every direction. I was sorry not to have time to make a more extended inspection of the exceptionally fine markets through which I strolled on my last visit, or to attend an evening concert at some one of the numerous beer gardens on the hills overlooking the city, where the performances are said to be of a high order of merit. As I entered the sleeping car, Lieut. R. P. Brown, 4th Infantry, accosted me, and in his company, I made the journey to Saint Louis. Early the next morning, we were at the Illinois side of the immense

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iron bridge, arching over the “Father of Waters.”12 By this connection, Saint Louis, in the matter of R.R. facilities, almost equals Chicago. As soon as the train touched the Missouri side, it entered a deep, dark tunnel, running entirely under the city and emerging only in the suburbs, where we found ourselves in the large edifice known as the Grand Union Dépôt, where all tracks converge and every accomodation needed by the traveller is at hand. The Lindell Hotel, Saint Louis, is an extremely large building, well-constructed and arranged, but devoid of many of the modern conveniences. My room was 163,—on the best floor or as good a floor as any in the house,—but it was a narrow, low-ceiled den, with one petty window, and without even a stationary wash-stand. The clerk said he could do no better, on account of the great throng drawn to S Louis to witness the races. The fine rotunda of the Lindell was one surging mass of people, strangers “doing” the races and an outside swarm of people come to the metropolis to prey on those less cunning than themselves. In the Hotel, I met Genl. [Daniel] McClure, of the Pay[master’s] Dep’t. and Col.[William H.?] Johnson of the Same Corps: the latter had served in Oregon with General Crook and made many inquiries about him. With Col. Johnson, was Mr. Halliday, his gentlemanly clerk, who offered his services to show me the city. I cannot say that I am particularly impressed with this place. My opinion of it remains pretty much as it was in 1869, the last time I was there. It certainly had great capabilities for the future, and must erelong take its stand as one of the busiest cities in the world. Blocks of elegant private residences attest the wealth and refined taste of its citizens, while its numerous R.R.’s may be cited in evidence of their being alive to their own interests: Chicago, to me, is far ahead in enterprise and is also better placed, St. Louis is hot and insalubrious. Mr. Halliday escorted me to the Race Grounds, pointing out on the way Forest Park and such public and private edifices as were most worthy of notice. The race-track was as fine a piece of ground for the purpose as I ever saw. Neither dusty nor heavy for the horses, and so laid out that from the Grand Stand every step taken 12. I.e. the Mississippi River. The Mississippi sometimes is mistakenly referred to as “Big Muddy,” but that, in fact, is the Missouri River. The distinction was well-known in the nineteenth century.

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by each horse was distinctly visible to every one of the thousands of spectators. I tried to estimate the numbers in the audience, but couldn’t satisfactorily do so. There was any number from 9.000 to 11.000 present. Major [Edward B.] Grimes, A.Q.M., and Captain Luke O’Reilly, 19th Infantry, were on the grounds: I had a few words of conversation with each of them. The horses assembled were beautiful creatures. Miss Malloy, Hardy, D’Artingan [sic] and five or six others were perfect in form and action. It is impossible for me, much as I love fine animals, to take much interest in the turf, on account of the number of villains and rascals who seem to have control of all racing matters in our country. Better take a seat and look at what is going on, without venturing to wager money on a race when the chances are so great that it is already “sold out”. The second day previous to my visit, the fine horse McWhirter, running on this course, had broken both his legs and had to be shot to put him out of his misery. In the. . . races, Hark-Away, Miss Malloy and Hardy were the winners. Of the whole return trip from S’Louis to Omaha, about 500 miles, (Omaha is about 925 or 950 miles from Lexington, Ky.) Not much remains to be stated. Ass’t Surgeon Springer was in the same car with me—he on his way to Arizona. At Hamburgh, Iowa, a washout, occasioned by an overflow of the Missouri river, detained us nine hours. When I arose from sleep, I found my friends Lt. E. Pratt, 23d Infantry, and wife, were on the car, having joined us during the night at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.13 We made the best of our forlorn situation, which we knew couldn’t last very long. By (2) in the afternoon, the break was repaired and before sun-set; we were in Omaha. June 18th 1878. Started for Chicago in company of Genl. Crook. We took the Chicago and N-Western line, which has lately com13. Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827, and is the oldest United States active military post west of the Mississippi. During the last half of the nineteenth century, it was headquarters for the Department of the Missouri, a subdivision of the vast Military Division of the Missouri which comprised much of the central two-thirds of the United States. During the 1850s and ’60s, it was the depot for supplies for all military posts of the Rocky Mountain region, and remained a primary frontier defense unit throughout most of the Indian Wars. Frazer, Forts of the West, 56.

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menced to run “Hotel” cars of a pattern not to be credited until seen. These cars cost $30.000 each and contain every improvement the experience of the past quarter of a century in Rail-Road management has been able to suggest. The wheels are of papier maché, made under hydraulic pressure, and bound with steel rims: these cause the cars to move very smoothly over the fine steel rails and good, firm road-bed of this company, which has now become known as one of the best-constructed in the world. The interiors of these cars are embellished with ornate and costly inlaid work, executed in Europe by skilful [sic] artists. The finishing is in Hungarian maple, a curiously grained wood, firm, hard and receiving an attractive polish. The restaurant was very well supplied, but the prices charged we found to be very dear. While in Chicago, stopped, as usual at Grand Pacific Hotel. Coming back from Chicago, by the Rock Island line, I visited the Rock Island Arsenal, partly to see the arsenal itself and partly to call upon my class-mate, D. M. Taylor, who was then stationed there. By himself and wife, I was received very warmly and courteously entertained during my stay. Col. Flagler, the Commandant, Lt. James Rockwell, (1868.) and Captain Martin, were also extremely cordial and made me feel that I was among old friends. Col. Flagler took me around the buildings and about the grounds—the former amount in value to something over $5.000.000 and are as Colossal in size as they are grand in design and commodious in arrangement. The material used is the Joliet (Ills.) Stone, of a light cream color which contrasts prettily with the deep green of the foliage embossing the Arsenal and Warerooms. Altogether, there are a dozen buildings, each not less than 300 feet by (60) to (100) feet wide. The Island belongs entirely to the General Gov’t. and has been laid out in pleasant drives and delightful little parks, where the Qrs. of the officers cluster very prettily. These Qrs. are extravagant in plan and appearance: at least such was the idea which struck me when I saw one and thought how much comfort might have been brought to the poor devils of officers on the frontier, if only the tenth part of the moneys wasted on these palatial structures had been properly applied to the legitimate purpose of maintaining an Army. It is my belief that if the Ordnance Corps had a few more such men as Colonel Flagler, it would stand higher in military estimation than it now does. The general verdict of the

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Army is that the Ordnance Corps just now is rather a thin outfit.14 On My way back from Rock Island to Omaha, our car was robbed by sneak thieves, who had taken berths at one of the way stations; by this I lost ($40.) In speaking of Chicago, I should make mention of how favorably its big hotels, the Palmer and the Grand Pacific (where we staid) impressed me, who so lately had been in the caravansaries of St. Louis and Cincinnati. The two hotels spoken of are equal to any in this country, which means that they are superior to almost any in the world. In Omaha, the main topic of conversation was the Army Bill, passed by Congress in the last throes of adjournment. It may be à propos to say that the Congress just in session has been thus far a severe test of the potency of that Article of War which forbids any disrespectful comments being made against the National Legislature and there have not been wanting evil-minded men who have boldly asserted that it has been composed of as big a lot of fools, dead-beats and bummers as ever disgraced our history. There have been few, if any, thieves in the present Congress; parties are so evenly divided now that there is no certainty of concealment for any great length of time of any villainy that may be attempted: our “statesmen”, God forgive me for using such a word in speaking of dumb, driven cattle, are content with playing the baboon and do not aspire to the nobler intellectual flights of thievery which distinguished the Republican Majority immediately after the War. The immediate effect upon ourselves was the removal of Hd.Qrs. to Omaha Barracks,15 (4½) miles from the city. This gave a great deal of trouble to officers having families and was a bad move so far as the transaction of Government business was concerned, but the Barracks is a beautiful post, one of much attractiveness and which can be made, at slight expense, still more charming. 14. This period saw what author Douglas C. McChristian has called “a long struggle between the Ordnance Department and the common soldier.” There was an immense supply of surplus equipment from the Civil War that remained on hand for more than a decade after the war ended. While it often was of poor quality, and totally unsuited for the frontier, a parsimonious Congress was unwilling to appropriate adequate funds for new equipment. Consequently, the Ordnance Department took what was on hand, altering and modifying it, without actually improving it. See McChristian, U.S. Army in the West (quote from page 34). 15. Omaha Barracks was established in 1868 on the right bank of the Missouri River within the present city limits of Omaha, Nebraska. It was designated Fort Omaha in 1878. The post was replaced by Fort Crook in 1895, but has been reactivated several times, and the government has retained the military reservation. Frazer, Forts of the West, 89.

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Captain A. H. Nickerson, who for so long a time, had been my friend and associate upon the staff, received the appointment of Major and Ass’t. Adjt. General, vice Pelouze, deceased. For the vacancy there was a great struggle, over seventy candidates presenting themselves, all backed more or less powerfully and many of them men of great powers, enlarged experience and fine records. Neither in fitness nor in experience was there one to compare with Nickerson, who had filled with such especial acceptance the onerous and delicate position of Chief of Staff for General Crook; during the war of the Rebellion, desperate wounds sealed his devotion and courage, while since the War, instead of hunting a soft place, as so many of our officers do, he accompanied General Crook to the field upon all his arduous campaigns against the hostile Indians and made his presence felt at all times and in all places. Nickerson’s claims were supported by the Governors of every state and Territory in which he had served in Indian campaigns, viz: Arizona, Nevada, Washington T[erritor]y., Oregon, Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska; by Senators [William B.] Allison of Iowa, [Algernon S.] Paddock and [Alvin] Saunders of Neb., [John B.] Gordon of Georgia, and [Daniel W.] Voorhees of Indiana. Gordon, then a General in the Confederate Army, was wounded in front of and at same time with Nickerson, at Antietam. General Crook sent the following telegram to President Hayes. Omaha, Neb., June 16th, 1878 President Hayes, Washington, D.C. I urgently solicit Captain Nickerson’s appointment as a favor to myself and assured that he is the best selection that can be made. His record during and since the War, his severe wounds, cultivated mind and high tone of character as known to me for more than twelve years, are the qualifications upon which I base my recommendation. (Signed) George Crook And again after the appointment had been made and confirmed. Omaha, June 16th 1878 President Hayes Washington, D.C. Permit me to thank you most sincerely for the appointment

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of Nickerson. It was a deserved recognition of a soldier, who, not content to rest upon the laurels gained during the War, has each year acquired fresh distinction in arduous and perilous service on the Border. (Signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. The following orders, which it will appear were not issued until after Nickerson had received his commission and been relieved from duty at General Crook’s Hd.Qrs., are inserted at this point to maintain unbroken the chain of reference to a gallant comrade and sincere friend, whose equal we shall not soon have with us again. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE PLATTE, Omaha Barracks, Nebraska, July 17, 1878. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 8. In obedience to Paragraph 2, Special Orders No. 148, current series, Adjutant General’s Office, Major A.H. Nickerson, Assistant Adjutant General, is relieved from duty at these Headquarters. The Brigadier-General Commanding, cannot let pass this occasion for making known his deep sense of obligation for the valuable and distinguished services rendered him by Major Nickerson, during the twelve years that that officer has been a member of his military family, and for congratulation upon a promotion so richly deserved, which will assuredly secure a general recognition for the high qualities of mind and character which have won the warm regard and esteem of those from whom he is now to be separated. BY COMMAND OF BRIGADIER GENERAL CROOK: ROBERT WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant General. OFFICIAL: [Signed] John G. Bourke, Aide-de-Camp. I might fill several pages with the extracts from the Omaha newspapers, showing the esteem and regard in which Captain (or Major) Nickerson was held by his neighbors, civil, as well as military and also of the regret manifested at the separation from our little circle of this bright and genial member, with his fine wife and sweet little

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daughter, but such clippings are more appropriately used in my Scrap Book than in this Journal which records my personal experiences and expresses my personal views.16 16. This is an interesting comment, considering how often Bourke used the journals as a reflection of his experiences and views, as well as a scrap book.

Chapter 2 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Bannock Uprising

C

ompared to the other outbreaks of the 1870s, the Bannock Uprising was a small affair, caused by the usual problems of expanding white settlement and the government’s inability to adequately plan and implement an Indian policy. Although the Bannocks were friendly, and some of their warriors had scouted for Crook in 1876, grievances had been building for several years. The Bannocks and Shoshones shared a reservation in Idaho, centered around agencies at Fort Hall1 and Ross Fork. Here they continued to hunt, as well as harvest the quamash camas (camassia quamash), a bulb that was a staple of their diet. Encroaching white settlement, however, depleted the game, and settlers’ hogs began eating the camas bulbs. As was so often the case, government rations were inadequate and poorly distributed. Facing famine, the Bannocks grew restless, and the army put them under surveillance. Random violence broke out in the summer of 1877.2 1. This refers to the second Idaho post designated Fort Hall. The first Fort Hall was established in 1849 and abandoned less than a year later because of a shortage of forage. The second Fort Hall was established in 1870 between the Snake and Portneuf Rivers, near a Hudson’s Bay post of the same name. Fort Hall was abandoned in 1883 because of heavy development in the area, and advances in transportation that allowed rapid deployment of troops into southern Idaho from Fort Douglas, Utah. Frazer, Forts of the West, 44–45. 2. The Bannock outbreak is discussed in Brimlow, The Bannock Indian War of 1878. The history of the tribe is covered in Madsen, The Bannock of Idaho.

35

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The trouble centered around Fort Hall, in southern Idaho, which was in the Department of the Platte, prompting Crook and Bourke to visit, so the general could personally assess the situation. In a bristling letter to divisional headquarters, he wrote: [W]e have promised faithfully to feed and clothe them and teach them to earn their own living, and they insist upon our living up to our contract, or they will, if driven to the war-path, wreak vengeance upon the unprotected ranchmen and miners near them. Then, too, they are dissatisfied because while they, who have been for years our steadfast friends and allies, are nearly starving, the Sioux—so lately our bitter enemies— have twice the amount of supplies provided them.3 Ultimately, most of the Bannocks remained calm, in part because of Crook’s influence over the chiefs. About 150 hostile warriors crossed into Oregon, where they fell under Brig. Gen. O. O. Howard’s jurisdiction. Chased back into Idaho, they were rounded up and distributed among various military posts to give them a chance to calm down before being returned home.4 En route to Fort Hall and the meeting with the Bannock leaders, Crook and Bourke passed through Utah. Here Bourke demonstrated an attitude toward Mormonism which, while certainly less vitriolic than his earlier writings,5 nevertheless was condescending: Passengers on train to-day are of the same general type of poor, ignorant and squalid European peasantry who have come here to find homes, which are certainly better than those they have left over the water. Mormonism can’t degrade such people and if it make them honest, industrious and laborious, even if they remain ignorant and benighted, a great good will have been accomplished.6 3. Crook to AG, MilDivMo, April 3, 1878, 1:413, George Crook Letter Books. The Plains Indians commonly complained that if they maintained the peace, the government treated them with indifference and neglect, but if they started trouble, the government would try to buy peace with better rations and annuities. 4. Robinson, General Crook, 220. 5. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 7. 6. Bourke, Diary, 23:47.

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July 15th, 1878. General Crook, Lt. [Walter S.] Schuyler, A.D.C., and self left Omaha for the Shoshonee and Bannock at Fort Hall, Idaho. Weather was fearfully hot. Mr. R.E. Strahorn and wife were on train with us, on their way to the “parks” and springs of Colorado. The Chicago Times received to-day, contained a telegram, announcing resignation of Captain Alex. Moore, 3d Cavalry. Moore was tried by General Court Martial, at Cheyenne, in January 1877, for cowardice in presence of enemy, in attack upon the village of the Indian chief, Crazy Horse, on Powder River, Montana, March 17th, 1876.7 Enough was proved to bring in a sentence of suspension from rank, pay and command for (6) months. With this cloud upon his reputation, Capt. Moore felt it [to] be incumbent upon him to resign from the service. Dashing along the plains of Nebraska, covered with a rapidly ripening harvest of golden grain, we could see the developing power of this great West which, under our own eyes, during the past three years, has been growing like a young giant. Omaha is reaching out in every direction, new houses springing up, new enterprises inaugurated and a general air of prosperity evident. Stock Yards have been established: a lead works for the manufacture of white paint from the raw material obtained from the smelting works, a nail factory to utilize the old iron from the R.Rs. converging at Omaha, a starch factory to work up the grain yield of the state,* an Opera House (also only in contemplation,) and a great number of subsidiary enterprises too numerous to mention. The Union Pacific and B. and M.8 R.Rs., the great highways traversing the state, are planning new feeders to tap every section of this great Trans-Missouri Country.9 Above this Bourke inserted: (contemplated)

*

7. The attack, frequently discussed in Volume 1 of this series, actually was against a band of Cheyennes who were bound for Fort Laramie in compliance with a government mandate, a fact which Bourke and Crook both later discovered, but never admitted. Crazy Horse’s Oglalas were some fifty miles away at the time of the fight. See also Robinson, General Crook, 169–71. 8. Burlington & Missouri River. 9. Omaha was occupied as early as 1820, when the army established Fort Atkinson immediately to the north. The city itself can be traced to the establishment of the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry by Iowa promoters in 1853. The following year, when the Omaha Indians ceded their land to the federal government, and Nebraska Territory was created, the Iowa group platted a town across from Council Bluffs, which they named for the Indians. Acting Governor Thomas B. Cushing chose Omaha as the capital of the new territory, which it remained until 1867, when Lincoln was specifically established as the seat of government. From its earliest years, however, Omaha was an important transportation center, first for wagon roads, and later for railroads. The settlement of the Nebraska back country further boosted the city’s importance. Lamar, New Encyclopedia, 821–23.

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In viewing the evidence of our nation’s solidarity, we forgot the paucity of intellect in the National Councils and the petty policy which curtailed our incomes. We chatted about the Peace Congress in Paris, where Beaconsfield10 attained such distinction, and by the terms of which Great Britain acquired possession of the Island of Cyprus and paramount control in Mesopotamia. If nothing occur to change this appointment Great Britain will within ten years dwarf the other Powers by her swollen proportions. Gibraltar, Cyprus and Malta give her the ownership of the Mediterranean, this, with Mesopotamia, more than counterbalances Russia’s future acquisition of Constantinople. England’s victory is the victory of money over impecuniosity: if Russia were not bankrupt, the war would go on until Cossack troopers watered their steeds by the Dardanelles and to my mind, it seems that a resumption of hostilities is merely a question of the pecuniary strength and not one of will or inclination.11 July 16th, Read with pain and astonishment, the telegrams giving a brief account of the death by drowning of my old friends, Lieuts. [John Anthony] Rucker and [Austin] Henley, 6th Cavalry.12 At the time of the fatal accident, these young officers were stationed at Camp Supply, Arizona,13 in charge of Apache Indian scouts. A cloud-burst, caused a stream of water to pour down along an arroyo, running through camp, and imperilled the safety of men and government property. Lieut. Henley dashed into this torrent, hoping to swim it and reach his men on the other side. His horse became 10. Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, British prime minister, and a key architect of the British Empire. 11. Bourke refers to the Fourth Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which secured independence for Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, and autonomy for Bulgaria, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Suspicious of a growing Russian hegemony, Disraeli dispatched units of the British Mediterranean Fleet to take up station in the Dardanelles and protect the Ottoman capital of Constantinople. In return for guaranteeing protection against the Russians, Britain received the right to occupy Cyprus as a base, although technically it remained Ottoman territory. This war inspired Tchaikovsky’s “Marche Slave.” The outbreak is mentioned in Bourke’s diary entry for April 23, 1877. See Robinson, Diaries, 2:277; Palmer, The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire, Chapter 10. 12. July 11, 1878. 13. Bourke refers to the second post known as Camp Supply (the first being a temporary encampment for the California Volunteers in 1863). Camp Supply was established in April 1878 in White River Canyon, forty-two miles south of Fort Bowie. In October of that year, it was renamed Camp Rucker, in honor of Lt. John A. Rucker, who drowned in the rescue attempt mentioned by Bourke, and who, coincidentally, was the brother-in-law of Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan. In 1880, it was designated as a picket station, and later downgraded to a heliograph station. Altshuler, Starting With Defiance, 51, 54.

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frightened and was swept off his feet by the foaming waters. Rucker, without a thought of self, plunged in to rescue his friend and former class-mate. But he too fell a victim to the remorseless fury of the waves and was swept out of sight before his panic-stricken men could throw him a rope. The Indian and white soldiers made a prolonged search for the bodies which were not found for some hours: resuscitation was impossible and the Army had to mourn the loss of two exceedingly bright and promising officers. Both Rucker and Henley belonged to the Academy during the term of my Cadetship. Rucker, a finely formed, reckless, dashing, good-natured young fellow had too much of the devil in him to avoid demerits, which cut short his career, altho’ he had brain enough if he would only apply himself. He was a fine rider, an expert athlete and man of great muscular development. Henley had been a private soldier in the Regular Army during the latter days of the War: his soldierly bearing, intelligence, vivacity, studiousness, and courage, won the regard of his Regimental officers who united in a petition to the President for the appointment of Henley as a Cadet. This was done and the wisdom of the choice was manifest. Henley did extremely well in studies and was graduated in 1872, and appointed to the 6th Cavalry, to which Regiment, Rucker had by this time also been assigned upon the application of his father, General Rucker of the Q.M. Dep’t., and perhaps also through other influence, as his sister a charming young lady, about that time married Lieut-General P. H. Sheridan.14 Henley’s parents, he often told me, were very poor: they lived in the vicinity of Easton, Penna, and made their living from a small farm and vegetable garden. For both these boys I had formed a high opinion and deep regard, which was not at all diminished when I heard of the gallant manner in which they had distinguished themselves in Kansas and in Arizona, while in action with hostile Indians. At Cheyenne, parted with our friends the Strahorns. On the dépôt platform, met Lts. [William Bayard] Weir, [George Oscar] Eaton, [Alpheus Henry] Bowman, Robinson,15 [Jacob A.] Augur, and Messers Wilson and Woodworth, with Mrs. and Miss Cham14. Irene Rucker, who married Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan. Lieutenant William H. Brown committed suicide in 1875, supposedly distraught because of the marriage. See Volume 1, page 394, in this series. 15. Bourke knew several lieutenants named Robinson. Given time and place, this probably was William Wallace Robinson Jr., 7th Cavalry.

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bers, Mrs. Rodgers, Mrs. Merritt, Mrs. Hart, Mrs. Montgomery, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. and Miss Nash. Mrs. Merritt and Mrs. Hart were en route to Fort McKinney16 to join their husbands: most of the others came with them as far as the E. Bound train, on which we saw Lt. [George] Palmer, 9th Infantry. Lt. Augur was a class-mate of mine and with Mrs. Merritt and Mrs. Hart we were already quite well acquainted. We passed a very pleasant afternoon in their society and were very sorry when the end of their journey arrived. At Laramie City and Fort Sanders,17 saw Mr. Zano [?] and Lt. [Horace] Neide. At Laramie City received a dispatch from Nickerson, urging the General’s return to Omaha to meet the Secretary of War, who was expected there the next day: but this, General Crook was, unable to do. At Rock Creek, the Government was building a new warehouse for the storage of freight, for Fort Fetterman18 and Fort McKinney, which reaches these posts by an excellent new road, which leaves the R.R. at this point. This road had just been completed by a detachment of soldiers under command of Lt. [Joseph] Keefe, 4th Infantry. A military bridge has also been built over the Rock creek. At St. Mary’s, Major [Thomas Tipton] Thornburgh and Capt. [William Henry] Bisbee, were waiting for us and rode in our car to Fort Steele.19 Across the North Platte river, at this point there is a Howe truss bridge of considerable length crossed by the Rail Road which almost immediately after cuts across the [military] Reservation. 16. Fort McKinney was established on October 12, 1876, as the new Cantonment Reno to supply Crook’s Powder River Expedition. In 1877, it was designated Fort McKinney, in honor of Lt. John A. McKinney, 4th Cavalry, who was killed in the Dull Knife Fight of November 25, 1876 (see Volume 2 of this series). In 1878, the fort was relocated to the confluence of Clear Creek and the Powder River, just west of the present city of Buffalo, Wyoming, and the original site was redesignated McKinney Depot. The post was abandoned in 1894, and the following year the buildings were given to the state, which used it as the State Soldiers’s and Sailors’ Home. Frazer, Forts of the West, 182–83. 17. Fort Sanders was established three miles from Laramie in 1866, to protect emigrant routes, the Denver-Salt Lake stage route, and Union Pacific construction crews. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1882. Not to be confused with Fort Laramie, which is in extreme east-central Wyoming near the Nebraska line. Frazer, Forts of the West, 185. 18. Fort Fetterman was established in 1867. It was abandoned in 1882, and turned over to the Interior Department two years later. The post buildings became a tough cow town that served as a model for the town of Drybone in Owen Wister’s The Virginian. It is now a Wyoming state historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 180–81. 19. Fort Fred Steele was established in 1868 at the crossing of the Union Pacific Railroad over the North Platte River, to protect the railroad and the Overland Trail. The post was abandoned in 1886 and transferred to the Interior Department. Frazer, Forts of the West, 186.

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Inside the post we had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Thornburgh and Mrs. Chase, Surgeon [Calvin] De Witt and Lieut. Geo. N. Chase, 4th Infantry. Since entering the mountains, the weather had been very cool and exhilarating. Shortly after passing Evanston, Wyo., encountered a flight of grasshoppers, and as we entered the Cañons of the Wahsatch, temperature became very warm, but not very oppressive. At Ogden, Colonel [Charles Warren] Foster, A.Q.M., and Mr. Kreuger were awaiting us: also met Lt. Ludlow and Lt. Loring of the Wheeler Survey20 and Mr. Barkalow, of Omaha. Colonel Foster and Judge Highbee took us for a drive about Ogden and give [sic] us an insight into the growth and beauty of the town: it is truly very well placed for drainage and comfort and nesting at the foot of the towering Wahsatch commands a picturesque view of the mountain and Valley and Lake scenery combined. Every house is embowered in groves of fruit trees, all the streets are finely shaded and there are also reservations of public squares to afford a maximum of breathing space. There are very few costly buildings, but many cosy cottages, showing a high average of comfort among the inhabitants. The new Court-House is a presentable building of brick and stone. From its cupola is obtained a grand view of the country, hundreds of miles in extent. The Catholic Church is building a fine stone schoolhouse:—altogether, the town looks thrifty and progressive. Our sleep this night was most refreshing: cool breezes, reduced the temperature to a point at which covering was not regarded as torture. July 18th. Was surprised and delighted to be accosted by my old class-mate, Shirley, of Mississipi, [sic] who was with me at the Point for two years: since leaving the Academy, he has engaged in cotton planting on the Yazoo (River), but was now on his way to Logan, Utah, for the restoration of his health, and travelled with us to that point. With him was a very bright young lady, Miss Park and her grand-mother, an old lady 86 yrs. of age. It was surprising to see 20. This survey was conducted throughout the 1870s by George Montague Wheeler of the Topographical Engineers. Initially begun as a survey of eastern Nevada and Arizona, it eventually expanded to include much of the territory west of the 100th Meridian that had not been surveyed up to that point. Ultimately the plan was to map about 1.5 million square miles, but rival civilian surveys lobbied Congress to terminate the project two years before its completion. Thrapp, Encyclopedia, 3:1544–45.

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how bravely the old lady bore the fatigue of the long journey out from Washington. Took dinner at Logan, in a newly-opened building: appearances rather slipshod, but food tolerably well-cooked and in variety. Fresh raspberries and currants of excellent flavor:—everything raised in the immediate vicinity. The lumber used at Logan is white and red pine from the peaks of the Wahsatch. This is cut early in Spring, while snow is still hard and allowed to run down the steep mountainsides: it rushes down with such velocity that if one of the logs deviate from the marked path and strike rock, the log will generally split from end to end. Passengers on train to-day are of the same general type of poor, ignorant and squalid European peasantry who have come here to find homes, which are certainly better than those they have left over the water. Mormonism can’t degrade such people and if it make them honest, industrious and laborious, even if they remain ignorant and benighted, a great good will have been accomplished. With us was Mr. [Philatus] Norris, the Superintendent of the Yellowstone Park: a gentleman of great intelligence and extended travel in our Western Country. Reached Oneida, the present terminus of the R.R. at 8.30 P.M: this is a mushroom village of canvass and balloon framed shanties with no signs of permanency. Saw here Major [Montgomery] Bryant, 14th Infantry. Travelled in four-horse ambulance to Ross’ Fork Agency: on leaving Oneida, ran into a chuck-hole. General Crook was severely cut in the scalp by being bumped against [wagon cover] bows. Night at first cool and agreeable but towards morning so chilly that my teeth rattled. At and beyond Pocatello, where we changed teams, the dust became so thick that we were nearly stifled; once or twice came near upsetting in the dark. Reached Schilling’s Ranch (Ross Fork,) at 3.45 A.M: here we found Colonel [Thaddeus H.] Stanton, Mr. Chase, his clerk, and Lt. [Richard Thompson] Yeatman who kindly turned out of their beds to let us have a nap. Awakened at 7 A.M. for breakfast, which we ate with but little appetite. Captains [Augustus Hudson] Bainbridge, and [John Morrison] Hamilton, Lt. [Robert] London and Major Danielson [sic], (the Indian Agent,)21 came over to see us. 21. William H. Danilson.

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Major Danielson drove us to look at the Indian farms: they have (350) A[cre]s (300) A[cres] sown broadcast in Wheat, and (50) A. in potatoes and garden truck, such as peas, tomatoes, beans and beets of which the Indians are becoming very fond. At the Agency, there are only (200) A., the rest being in nooks and valleys adjacent. The wheat certainly looked fine. From the wheatfields, drove to the Agency for a conference with the leading men of the Shoshonees and Bannocks. There met Genl. Kimball and his son, Lt. Kimball, 14th Inft.: the other white men were General Crook and his Aides de Camp, Lieuts Schuyler, and Bourke, Captains Bainbridge and Hamilton and Major Danielson, the Agent. The speakers for the Indians were Captain Jim and Major George. General Crook. Jim[,] how long since you came from Boisé? Jim. I don’t know. The Major knows. Major Danielson. Jim came to the Agency about a month ago: about the time of the outbreak. General Crook. How many people stay over at Boisé? Jim. I don’t know. I have never counted them. Probably (20) or (25.) General Crook. How do they live over there? Jim. Some men over there give them flour and a little to eat and they hunt a little. General Crook. How many Bannocks went on war path? Jim. I don’t know: Major (Danielson) may know. General Crook. How many Shoshonees? Jim. Eight lodges that I know of; that’s all I could see together. General Crook. Are they in the Steen’s Peak Country where Jim and I campaigned some years ago? Jim. Yes. Some of the same Indians you were fighting then are there now. I don’t know what has become of their brains. They promised you they’d go to farming. I don’t know why they have broken the peace after shaking your hand. I have kept your hand and have not thrown it away. Here is an old letter I want you to see. (Showing the one given him years ago by General Crook when in Oregon.) I want you to give me another one like this: this is getting old. (New letter given him, as requested.) General Crook. You know the way of Indians pretty well. What do you think these Pa’-Utes and Bannocks mean? Jim. I don’t know what they do want to go to war for. I don’t know their minds or their hearts or what they are going to do.

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General Crook. Are they coming back by Stein’s [sic] Mtn? Jim. I don’t know anything about where they are or where they are going, only what I hear from the papers; I can form no idea: There is no danger of their coming in here by ones and twos, or of people going out from here to them. They would be too much afraid of the white men. General Crook. What has caused them to go on the war-path? Jim. An Indian, by the name of Issie-po-po-nan-die, came to the Agency this spring and told us that all of Wash-akie’s Indians and all of the Utes and other Indians were going to War. Buffalo Horn told the same thing. General Crook. Did they have any intention of going to war when I was here last Spring? Jim. Yes. When you were here, they were just lying to you. General Crook. How do you like farming? Jim. We like it: we all want to farm. You can see our wheat-fields. I was farming on Indian creek when the troubles began. Then I ran away and came here. One of my friends, Charlie Curtis, a white man, has charge of my farm. I had water-melons, wheat, potatoes, onions, apples and peaches. I like apples. I planted them: a white man gave me the seed and told me that in ten years the trees could grow and I should have plenty of them. General Crook. You ought to farm on the Reservation, then the white man couldn’t take your farm away from you. Jim. I want to go to Washington when the war is all over. After the war is over, I want to go back to see how my apple trees are getting along. General Crook. See your agent about that. Jim. I don’t want to do wrong. I have shaken the white man’s hand and I will hold on to it. Whatever you tell me, I will obey, and tell the other Indians to do the same. General Crook. When the troops push the Bannocks where will they go? Jim. I don’t know; they can’t come in here. There are too many white men here & won’t let them come in. General Crook. Have they their families with them? Jim. Yes, Sir. General Crook. Are any families here of those who are out fighting? Jim. None.

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General Crook. Have those on the war-path plenty of arms and ammunition? Jim. Some are armed and have plenty of ammunition. Some have good arms, but not all. General Crook. Do you hear frequently from Washakie? Jim. An Indian came here a little while ago and told me Washakie said all his Indians were going to stay there (at Camp Brown.)22 Tindoy’s band say the same thing. Tin-Doy’s people are Shoshonees principally with a few Bannocks. General Crook. Why did those eight lodges of Shoshonees go out? Jim. Because they listened to Buffalo Horn when he was lying to them: they couldn’t see or hear and hadn’t any brains. There are a lot of Indians just the same way. If you speak, they can’t hear, and if you tell them anything that is good, they won’t listen to you. The Indians that are there, their hearts are all good. When they look at their farms and see their wheat and potatoes, it makes them feel good. It makes my heart glad and feel good to see you and talk to you. When I was young, I used to fight, but I am getting old now and don’t want to fight. When the Indians hear that you have been looking at what they have done, it will make them feel good. General Crook. I understand that Egan (a chief.) was killed in a fight lately. Jim. When I heard of the fighting, I am not going there. I am not going around with my eyes shut: the first thing I’d know, I’d know nothing. I want to get sick and die and not die any other way.23 A long time ago, when the first letter24 came here from Washington, I said “Yes” to it and I don’t want to talk two days. General Crook. You see the whites are coming in all around you and you had better keep the peace with them. Jim. I know that. The land I farm, I know it belongs to me and no one can take it away. General Crook. Better plant your apple trees on the Reservation, so that no white man can take them away. 22. Camp Brown was established in 1871 on the Wind River in west central Wyoming, to protect the Shoshones. In 1878, it was renamed Fort Washakie, in honor of the paramount Shoshone chief. It was permanently abandoned in 1909, and turned over to the Interior Department to use as headquarters for the Shoshone Agency. Frazer, Forts of the West, 186–87. 23. I.e., he wanted to die of natural causes, and not in battle. 24. Treaty.

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Jim. I know that. The Indians love this place because they know that when they plant wheat here the white men can’t take it away: there is no salmon here, no camas.** There are choke-cherries and service-berries up in the mountains, but no yamp [sic], no camas and no salmon. General Crook. Better become like white men. They don’t have everything they want. They must plant what they want. The white men are putting hogs on the camas grounds and they’ll soon eat it all up. Better plant what you want:—apple-trees, camas and wheat and when you die, your children will have something. Jim. I know you are telling me the truth. General Crook. You have plenty of land here now: better get some of it for yourself and go to farming. Jim. If I was farming, I wouldn’t do like some white men; if their horses reached over and got a mouthful of wheat, I’d not get mad. General Crook. All men are not alike. Jim. That’s so: some Indians have very little hearts. General Crook. And white men too: you have to get spy-glasses to see their hearts. Jim. Yes. Indians and white men are very much alike. General Crook. Camas is good, but meat is good too. You must get cows to eat up the grass and give you plenty of meat. Jim. When you were here before there were no farms, there were no farms like we have now; when you come again, maybe we’ll all have farms. General Crook. That’s right; the world wasn’t made in a day. You must commence with small things. Jim. The Indians who want to learn farming must take two years to learn. General Crook. Each family ought to get at least one cow and raise calves; but, even if the Agent have [sic] no beef, they mustn’t kill their cows; they must kill jack-rabbits and eat them in preference. ** Bourke’s note: The “camas” or “cammas” is an [esculent?] in high repute among the Bannocks & other tribes. The plant grows in damp, meadow land, is about (2) to (3) feet, purplish-green stem, often bi-furcated and topped by a blue or white flour [sic]. The bulb is the part used: being very starchy, when baked in hot coals, it has a very pleasant, sweetish taste, not unlike baked apples or pears. Pigs are very fond of it and root it out of the ground in great quantity, to the annoyance of the Indians, who relish this food so highly. This bringing of hogs in upon the Camas grounds, I am inclined to suspect has had not a little to do with engendering the bad feeling of which the present hostilities have been the culmination.

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Jim. I have five head now. General Crook. I am glad to hear it. Jim. That’s the way I got a start: six years ago, I got a calf from a big herd going through here: now I have lots of calves. I found another calf the other day. The herds going through often leave calves that cannot travel and I look out for them. I am afraid to go over to the Post any more. A soldier got on my back and told me to go home and go quick. When the Captain, (Bainbridge.) comes here, we don’t tell him to go home. I don’t think he told the soldiers to say that. Captain Bainbridge. The Indians are always welcome to come over to the Post. Jim. I believe that. You always treat us right and are glad to see us and shake us by the hand. Captain Bainbridge here explained to General Crook that, last winter, while the ponies which had been taken from the Indians, were at his post, he gave orders to the sentinels to allow no Indians to go near the herd, for fear they might try to stampede it. Jim. We want permission to go over to the Post when we please. We don’t carry arms with us. General Crook. You must ask your agent. Jim. I am going to listen to what you have to tell me, and I am going to do it. I don’t want my young men to listen to anything wrong. Major Danielson knows how my breath is. I don’t lie to him. Whenever I want anything, I come to him. I don’t think Captain Bainbridge can say I lied to him. I’ve always told him a straight story. Some of our young men lie when they talk; some Indians lie plenty; some white men do the same. They told me that when I’d commence farming, they’d build me a house. I want a house so I can live like a white man. They have told me that for (4) or (5) years. Every year they are going to build me a house, but they don’t do it. Agent Danielson. I have the saw mill ready now and will build him a small house this Fall. General Crook (to Jim.) That winter when we campaigned together, we didn’t have even a tent. Jim. I was told the Great Father said if we would come on the Reservation, he would build us all houses. General Crook. Well, that’s your own fault: you haven’t all come in. When you were at the other Agency, houses were built for you, but you used to burn them up for fuel. Now that you mean business, we

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can build houses for you right away. Jim. Are there those who’ve been farming, all to get houses this Fall? Agent Danielson. The Great Father told me to build a school-house with the first lumber saved. I am going to build Major George a house, because I promised him, but I’ll ask the Great Father and, if he will allow it, I’ll build them all houses after the school-house is finished. Major George. Are the cars (i.e. Rail Road.) to come along here? General Crook. Yes. Major George. Well when they come through our Reservation, won’t we be entitled to ride on them? I want a pass to go on the cars to Salt Lake, to buy goods, and trade. General Crook. Major Danielson has written to Washington about it. Jim. I want you to write the Great Father and tell them how well we are doing with our farms. When the answer comes back from the Great Father, I want to see it. I want to know if the Great Father talks good and if he is going to give us wagons and other things. General Crook. Major Danielson has sent a letter about that to Washington. Jim. I want to know if I am made the leading man here, after a while, if I ain’t going to get pay like Wash-akie? (Mem[orandum]. Wash-akie, principal man of the Camp Brown (Wyo.) Shoshonees, gets by treaty $(500) per annum.) General Crook. Wash-akie don’t get any pay after this year, unless there should become [a] new understanding at Washington. Jim. I think I ought to get paid; I think we all ought to get paid. General Crook. I think that that was part of the treaty. Wash-askie was to get so much for five years and this is the last year. Jim here remarked that when the R.R. reached their Reservation, (the Utah and Northern R.R.) He wanted to ride on the cars all the time. He didn’t want to ride like the Pi-Utes, who had to go on the freight cars, but he wanted a ticket like a white man and a car all to himself, with plenty of cushions on it, so he could sleep all night. (i.e. a Pullman Car.) He wanted General Crook to write about this to the Great Father and to put his hand down strong on the paper, so his words would “go straight[’] and to use black ink, that the letters might not rub out &c.

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The conference here ended in a grand hand-shaking and how! how!ing, after which we were very glad to get back to Mr. Schilling’s and partake, of a palatable lunch. Left Ross Fork, a few minutes after mid-day and drove leisurely to Oneida, (42½ miles.[)] The clouds of dust in the road reminded me,—and in no feeble way either, of similar journeys in the valleys of the Gila and Salt Rivers, in Arizona. At Oneida, Colonel Stanton and Mr. Chase were awaiting us; also Major Bryant and his bride. The hotel was composed of a number of tents, two being used for sleeping apartments one for the bar-room and another for refectory. We tasted the liquors at the bar and found the lemonade genuine, but the “French Brandy” I very strongly suspect, was spurious. We soon turned into bed, sleeping (3) or four men in a “room”, to call by that name the divisions in the tent made by suspending cotton strips across from wall to wall and to the height of five or six feet from the floor. We had the advantage of hearing all the snoring of our neighbors;—there was no extra charge for this. Major Bryant was especially active during the night; but Colonel Stanton was not much behind in his music. Among the passengers on the R.R. train with us was Miss Harvey, of Helena, Montana, who was travelling to Brooklyn, there to join relatives for a tour through Europe. She was very bright, genial and entertaining—a pleasant travelling companion on this dreariest of Rail Roads. She told me a very funny anecdote of a young Presbyterian divine, who, from frequently visiting at her home, had become acquainted, after a fashion, with the Chinaman employed as cook by her mother. The clergyman was anxious to convert the Mongolian and the latter felt grateful for the many little attentions shown him by the theologian. Being discharged for some fault, “John”, went to the parson and told him he had determined to set up in business for himself, a business that would pay “big money”,—so big indeed that if the preacher would accomodate [sic] him with a loan of money to make a start, he would engage to pay him one half his gains as interest. The young divine, anxious to gain influence with the people of the Celestial Kingdom and win this representative over to Christianity, consented without critically examining the project, to advance the money; but, to his horror and dismay, found, before it was too late, that his pig-tailed friend was going to open what he styled “a gam-min

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Hell”.25 The Chinaman retired in high dudgeon at what, I suppose, he considered the “Melican Man’s too muchee dam fool pigeon”. At Logan, we had a good homelike meal of raspberries, in plenty, and rich, thick cream as the chief item. Plodded slowly along behind the Iron horse on the R.R. with its steep grades, abrupt curves, and innumerable deviations from a right line: it was built originally for local traffic only, so it winds around from town to town, wasting many valuable hours by so doing. Minden is the name of the place where we met the “up-train”, loaded with a contingent of newly-converted Scandinavians—Mormons just from Denmark. Our train brought down a car-full of their friends, who greeted the new-comers with warm shakes of the hand and with some good singing. Weather has been quite warm on this trip, but not debilitating. When we read the telegrams, telling of the heat-wave, creeping down on the Missouri Valley and on the Eastern States, which in Saint Louis alone in one day, prostrated one hundred and fifty persons, nearly fifty of whom died,—of poor men and women dying in their bed, we felt that we ought to bear without complaint the slight increment of solar fervor to which we were exposed during the day, particularly, while we had such tonic breezes at night. Our bed last night was a shabby enough affair, covered with one dirty blanket and one dirty sheet, but Schuyler and I cuddled up in it and slept like cherubs. Nearing Ogden, in the Bear River and Salt Lake valleys, the ground partitioned off into large fields of wheat and corn, or planted in fruit trees bending under the weight of ripening clusters gave a most pleasing impression of the value of the land and the industry of its owners. At Ogden, met besides the officers seen on our out-come, Lt. [Stephen John] Mulhall, 14th Infantry, and Bvt. Col. J.B. Campbell, 4th Artillery. Called at Colonel Foster’s residence this evening and remained with him and Miss Foster until about nine P.M., when we returned to our Hotel. Retired at 11 P.M. and enjoyed a refreshing nap. July 21st. Left Ogden and the Salt Lake Valley, with its ripening peaches, apricots, plums, and apples, and its ripe raspberries and started back for Omaha. In Weber Cañon, our train ran over and killed a horse belonging to a party of emigrants, camped alongside the track. 25. I.e. Gambling hell.

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Near Evanston, passed a Westward Bound train, having on it Lieut. [Benjamin Harrison] Randolph 3d Artillery, Qr. Master of the Wheeler Expedition, an old West-Point friend whom I had not seen for years. Weather very pleasant. Sky Cloudy. At Green River, Wyo., were joined by Col. R. D. Clark [sic], Paymaster and Mr. [Cuthbert] Mills. At Rock Creek, saw Lt. Keefe, whose company had just gone into camp at that place after finishing [the] new road between [Union] Pacific R.R., and Fort Fetterman. At Laramie City, Major Nickerson came on our train, and rode with us to Hazard. Day very cloudy and cool. When the time came to say Good Bye to Nickerson we all felt how strong are the links of sympathy and good feeling which unite soldiers who have served together as long as we had. We could only stammer out the stereotyped phrases of kindly feeling, but knew that no empty conventional expressions could adequately convey the regard and esteem in which we mutually held each other. At Cheyenne and Sidney met a number of friends, nearly the same as mentioned in outgoing trip. Mr. Hooker of the C.R-I and P. R.R.26 rode on the train with us as far as Sidney. At Grande Island, Neb., Col. [Gilbert Saltonstall] Carpenter, 14th Infy. came aboard and travelled to Omaha. July 23d. A Cool morning with pleasant breeze brought us back to Omaha, where we soon experienced anew the tortures of Tartarean Heat and sultriness. . . . Hd.Qrs. Dep’t. of the Platte, Commanding General’s Office, Omaha Barracks, Neb., July 27th, 1878. Assist.’ Adjt. General, Military Division of the Missouri, Chicago, Illinois. Sir, I have the honor to report that, during my recent visit to the Shoshonee and Bannock Agency, at Ross’ Fork, Idaho, I had sat26. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific.

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isfactory interviews with the principal men in the presence of Mr. Danielson, the Agent. The Indians seemed well disposed and anxious to keep the peace; many of those now there are becoming interested in farming and have sown this Spring some (300) A. in wheat, and about (5) Acres in Potatoes and Garden truck. Those fields which I inspected with Agent Danielson certainly looked fine and promised an encouraging yield. From my conversation with the chiefs, many of whom I have known for years, I am satisfied that not more than one hundred and fifty fighting men are absent from the Agency, presumably with the hostiles, and of this number many are but indifferently armed. I would respectfully invite attention to the importance of changing the post of Fort Hall, just as soon as the completion of the Utah and Northern Rail Road, now approaching the Snake river fork of the Columbia, shall enable the Division Commander to determine the proper position of the site. The terminus of this Road is now at Oneida, Idaho, one hundred and Twenty seven miles South of Ross’ Fork Agency and I understand it is the intention to push the Road to the latter point or even to Snake River before snow falls. Very Respectfully, Your Obedt. Servant, (Signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General.

Chapter 3 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Retrospective on the Sioux War and Crazy Horse

[August 1, 1878]1 he death of the renowned chief Crazy Horse was an event of such importance, and with its attendant circumstances pregnant with so much of good or evil for the settlement between the Union Pacific Rail Road and the Yellowstone River that I do not feel that it would be proper for me to pass it over with the condensed account given in my notes of July and August last year. At that time, altho’ I appreciated fully the future value of an exact and truthful narration of this event and accordingly kept an eye upon all notes, memoranda, telegrams and reports, official or semi-official, bearing upon the state of affairs at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies (Nebraska,) prior to and terminating in the death of this truly great warrior and statesman, the back-bone of Dakota hostility to the white man and the white man’s government yet I was so pressed for leisure,—being obliged to travel with General Crook to Camp Brown, Wyoming, and other places, on account of the Nez Percé war which was then at its height, that I was obliged to postpone to some more eligible occasion the completion of a task which should have been performed during our stay at Red Cloud Agency.

T

1. Date inserted in manuscript diary at West Point.

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Yet, as I have a vivid recollection of all that which took place under my own observation, as my memory is likewise fortified by copious notes and as I have in my possession all the documents bearing upon the case, I am content to let this journal pass as a true and almost impartial account of Crazy Horse’s death. I say almost impartial, because no white man can write impartially the history of our Indian conflicts; it is against human nature to write with mathematical even mindedness of wars and contests in which one’sself [sic] or one’s own people has taken a part, however insignificant. Therefore, all that I can promise is that I will guard carefully against any bias or prejudice and that I will fortify each statement by a reference, when practicable, to the authority for making the same. To understand the topography of the region comprehended in 1876–7–8, under the title of the military departments of Dakota and of the Platte, commanded at the time mentioned by Generals Terry and Crook respectively and forming the most important position of the Military Division of the Missouri then under Lieutenant-General P. H. Sheridan, it would be well to carefully consult the map prefaced to this little volume, for which I am indebted to the courtesy of Captain [William S.] Stanton, Corps of Engineers, Chief Engineer of the Department of the Platte.2 Of all the chieftains of the widely scattered nation of American savages known as the Sioux* or Dacotah or Lacotah,** there was not one who in 1874 and 5 was the cause of more solicitude to the United States government than the subject of this sketch. Ta-Shunca-uites or the Crazy Horse was known to the American settlers and officers upon the North-Western border as the leader of a band of his people who had become the terror and the scourge of the feeble villages in Montana and Wyoming. To all overtures made him by the Great Father he had turned a deaf ear: no reservation had ever seen him or any of his band and his persistent hostility, & brilliant success in eluding the troops sent in pursuit of him had gained him so great an influence with the young men of his own nation that the reservations along the Missouri and Bourke’s note: A French Canadian contraction from Chippeway Na-wah-don-niSioux=enemies.

*

** Bourke’s note: Da-cotah or La-cotah in the language of the Sioux is generally supposed to have some affinity with the word Cotah or Codah-friend.

2. The map was not included in the extant volume. See map on page ix.

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in Northern Nebraska had become so many depôts of supplies where recruits and material in any amount would be furnished him at a moment’s notice. How long such an inflamed and threatening state of affairs would have been borne is hard to say: probably the venturesome ranchmen, miners and freighters of Montana would be in just as much peril to-day if it were not that the discovery of gold in the Black Hills on the reservation set aside for the Sioux precipitated the bloody and costly war of which the death of Crazy Horse was one of the closing episodes.3 The different bands and divisions of the Great Sioux nation have been given in a preceding note-book;4 I am consequently spared the trouble of any reference to them at this time, or of giving an epitome of the causes leading to the war of 1876–77, which in truth had been coming on so surely for so many years that it would be very difficult to specify when the conduct of the Indians first became avowedly hostile and when it ceased to be friendly. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills may be regarded as the point from which the preponderance of bad feeling is to be dated. The principal chiefs from that time, seeing that their Reservations were to be invaded by gold-seekers, began to yield to the clamors of their young men and call for pecuniary indemnity or else covertly encourage war. In September 1875, the Commission, of which Senator Allison of Iowa was chairman, met at Red Cloud Agency, Nebraska, and laid before the Indians, (who had assembled to the estimated number of 25.000,) the terms of the General Government.5 The savages became highly enraged that for a while it looked as if the lives of 3. Army losses from February 1876 through December 1877 were 283 killed and 125 wounded, the majority of which were from the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. The number of civilians, Indian auxiliaries, private citizens, or hostile Indians is not known. The monetary cost of the war was placed at $2,312,531.44, a phenomenal amount for an Indian campaign, and one incurred in the midst of a major economic depression. Robinson, Good Year to Die, 336. 4. Robinson, Diaries, 2:155–56, 202–3. 5. This commission was an effort to purchase the Black Hills and the “unceded Indian lands” of Montana and Wyoming, both of which had been guaranteed to the Indians in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The subsequent discovery of gold in the Black Hills had led to such a large influx of miners that the government was unable to evict them according to the terms of the treaty. The non-treaty bands boycotted the council, and the reservation bands that did attend felt they already had made enough concessions. The government’s offer of $6 million for outright purchase was rejected, as was an offer to lease mining rights to the region. Ultimately, the Indians fell to quarreling among themselves, and the negotiations collapsed. Robinson, Good Year to Die, 37–40; DeLand, Sioux Wars, 15:272–75; Department of Interior, Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1:33–34.

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the Commissioners were not worth an hour’s purchase and so far as any understanding was arrived at, the Commission might just as well never have left Washington. Little Big Man, Crazy Horse’s right hand man and who had come down from Powder River to represent his superior on this occasion, was especially noticeable for his violence. To the coolness and intrepidity of Captain [James] Eagan [sic], 2nd Cavalry, the salvation of the who[le] Commission and the white spectators was generally attributed. I was not present during the last days of this Commission, as the whole business seemed so farcical that Captain Nickerson and I left Red Cloud Agency shortly after the commission had assembled and returned to Omaha, satisfied that there was nothing to be learned by remaining. The Commission having separated without accomplishing anything, the Indians became more and more bold each day: the Secretary of the Interior (Zach Chandler,) determined to strike a crushing blow against Crazy Horse’s band, then supposed to be in camp on Powder River. A summons was first sent to this chieftain to come in to the Agency at once and remain there, or failing in that, to take the consequences. A full account of the winter campaign which resulted upon his refusal and of the whole Sioux war is to be found in my journals, from Feby. 17, 1876 to May 10 1877.6 From these journals it will be gathered that General Crook’s pet scheme of enlisting auxiliaries from among the Sioux themselves to aid in the reduction of the persistently hostile of their tribe, was frustrated by the antagonism of [William] Vandeveer [sic],7 the Inspector and [James S.] Hastings, the Indian Agent at Red Cloud Agency: the summer campaign was consequently arduous, unduly protracted and void of result. Had General Crook taken with him in June, one hundred Sioux scouts, it is my opinion that Custer and his brave comrades would yet have been alive.8 6. See Robinson, Diaries, Volumes 1 and 2. 7. Bourke despised Vandever, whom he considered to be a pawn of the Indian Ring, a group of Eastern contractors who enriched themselves at the expense of the Indians, and which he believed was responsible for much of the trouble. See entry under Appendix 1. 8. Bourke may be been sincere in his belief. Nevertheless, this passage attempts to absolve Crook of any blame for the disaster at the Little Bighorn, which many modern historians believe he must share. Crook failed to immediately notify General Terry that he had been turned back at the Rosebud, leaving Terry and Custer to believe that he was en route to meet them. In fact, he was hunting and fishing at his base camp at Goose Creek, Wyoming. Robinson, General Crook, 179; Carroll, Court Martial of Frederick W. Benteen, i–ii.

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The disasters of that terrible summer (1876) opened the eyes of our imbecile government. The clamors of the people could no longer go unheeded and the administration of the Indian agencies (of the Sioux nation,) was immediately turned over to the care of the war [sic] Department. General Crook’s first action was to depose Red Cloud and Red Leaf, who had behaved in a manner that augured badly for the solidity of their good feelings towards the whites and next he organized his winter expedition which accomplished such wonderful results. This was composed of ten companies of Cavalry (6 of the 4th 2 of the 3d and 2 of the 5th,) under General R. S. Mackenzie and fifteen cos. of Infantry and Artillery (four of the 4th Art. 6 of the 9th Infantry and the others of the 4th and 14th Infantry,) under Lt. Col. R. I. Dodge, 23d Infantry. The most peculiar feature of this command has now to be noted; our contingent of Indian scouts was composed of one hundred Pawnees from the Indian Territory, one hundred Shoshonees and Bannocks from the Wind River and Snake River regions in Wyoming and Idaho, one hundred Arapahoes from Red Cloud Agency and one hundred Sioux and Cheyennes from same place. I am gliding rapidly down the current of these important events for the simple reason that in my other note-books they have been exhaustively treated: I shall not allude further to this campaign, except to say that on the 25th of November, 1876, our Cavalry forces, under General Mackenzie, were led by our Indian allies to the village of Dull Knife, the Cheyenne chief, on the banks of a little fork of Powder River, debouching from a steep and dark cañon in the Big Horn Mountains. This village of nearly 200 lodges was totally destroyed, and the vast herd of 2000 ponies captured (750) killed, wounded or stampeded in great numbers over the country. The Cheyennes lost all their worldly effects and indeed escaped with nothing but the arms in their hands and a few cartridges, not to mention the great loss of life and the numbers of wounded and frozen in the cold weather which set in at this time. Over seven hundred ponies were captured and brought away and of those which did not fall into our hands, great numbers were badly wounded and others afterwards killed for food or died from overwork and exposure. Many of the enemy’s dead fell into our hands, and great pools of

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blood upon the trail of the retreating hostiles showed us they were carrying away many wounded. Among our own loss[es] we had to mourn the gallant John A. McKinney 1 Lieut. 4th Cavalry (for full particulars of that fight, see my note-book of proper date.)9 The bitter coldness of the weather, (the mercury nearly congealed in the bulb.) Assured us that the Cheyennes must be suffering terribly, destitute as we knew them to be of clothing, blankets, furs and provisions; but we never learned until after their surrender at Red Cloud Agency how truly effective the blow had been. The Cheyennes, under Dull Knife and Standing Elk, made their way along the base of the Big Horn Mountains, and by following the thread of the Powder and Tongue river, within 15 or 20 miles of the Yellowstone, where they expected to find help and sympathy. But for some reason, Crazy Horse received them with very slight manifestations of pity and made them feel that their presence in his camp was only tolerated and not desired. The Cheyennes, after remaining a few days with Crazy Horse, determined to leave him, and surrender at Red Cloud Agency, provided they should be assured of kindly treatment. The first detachment (of 385.) under Little Wolf reached Camp Robinson,10 (Red Cloud Agency.) Neb., in January–February, 1877, and, after being dismounted and disarmed, was allowed to send back some of its people to hurry up the remainder of the tribe. Few persons, excepting General Crook, attached much importance to Little Wolf’s assertion that the Cheyennes had become hostile to the Sioux and wished to help us against them, in retaliation for Crazy Horse’s bad treatment, but the truth came out when one thousand more surrendered at Red Cloud Agency early in April. The destitution of these people was extreme; their clothes were in tatters; for lodges they had branches of trees or half-burned tépi poles, covered with pieces of skin, horse-hides, half-scorched buffalo-robes, and even gunny-bags, picked up from the deserted camp of our command on the Belle Fourche, in December and January. 9. Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 2, Chapter 9. 10. Camp Robinson was established in 1874 to control the Indians of the Red Cloud and Pine Ridge Agencies. It was redesignated Fort Robinson in January 1878. During the Second World War, it was used as a dog training center for the K-9 Corps. It was abandoned in 1948, and is now a Nebraska state park. Buecker, Fort Robinson and the American West; Schubert, Outpost of the Sioux Wars.

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They said that after the engagement of Nov. 25th, the weather became so cold in the mountains that many of their wounded died and in one night fourteen little children froze to death in their mothers’ arms. They would have surrendered to us at once, but were afraid, on account of our Indian allies. One night they sent spies into our camp to learn what Indians we had with us; but when these had crept slowly along through the brush and approaching one of our camp-fires, heard their own language spoken, they skulked back in precipitation to their own people and counselled them to go to Crazy Horse. The chilling reception accorded them in his camp embittered them as already stated and they made up their minds that, if General Crook would accept them as auxiliaries, to enlist as soldiers under him and go out to fight Crazy Horse and the Northern Indians. To explain away any seeming delay in the execution of this plan, I will say that the engagement took place Nov. 25th 1876, that the Cheyennes did not all reach Crazy Horse’s village until 15 or 20 days after, that they remained with him until January 1877, when the first detachment of the Cheyennes left him and moved to Camp Robinson, Neb., which post it reached early in February. From Camp Robinson back to Tongue River is nearly (300) miles as the crow flies; to traverse this distance in mid-winter where snow covers the grass and the hillsides are slippery with ice is a toilsome undertaking even for Indian runners and when the worst season of the year for its journey. So it came along slowly but surely, through mud and slush and snow as fast as broken down men and women could urge broken down ponies to drag it. Their best ponies had fallen into our hands during the MacKenzie fight, hundreds of others had been injured by our bullets or by running against rocks and trees during the stampede, had been eaten for food or broken down by extra work and insufficient forage while exposed to the bitter cold of winter. The great number of widows and orphans and people with frozen limbs and half-closed wounds was a melancholy souvenir of the Mackenzie fight. Such of the wounded as yet needed medical help were promptly attended to by the surgeon at the post. One strapping big fellow was in miserable plight; he had been shot squarely through the hips and the right leg was so bent back that the sole of the foot rested against the flank; the knee-joint had ancylosed

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and to add to his sufferings the right heel and toes were frozen off. I must here take occasion to praise the stoical fortitude of these Indians, many of whom were wounded in what I should call a horrible manner, but they didn’t seem to mind it much and went to the post surgeon more, as it were, out of compliment to him than regard for their own safety. In conversation with them, they would from time to time astonish us by showing a freshly healed scar which they had received on the hill back of their village that cold November day which the Cheyennes are never to forget. Such wounds would keep an American soldier in bed for months; the free life, pure air and simple food of these people must have much to do with the rapidity of their convalescence. In my note-books, written upon the spot, I gave such complete details of the surrender of these Cheyennes that I may well spare myself any further reference to them, but I can, without stringing out this account too much state the fact that one of the half starved Cheyennes ate himself into a surfeit and died soon after reaching Camp Robinson.11 Of the Cheyennes who came in in February, Little Wolf, one of their head chiefs in the fight with Mackenzie, was enlisted as a soldier to go out after the hostile bands, and, April 11th, old Turkey Legs and other chiefs of the Cheyennes came to see General Crook; they said they wanted to go out and fight the Northern Indians, (Crazy Horse’s band.) and spoke of the ungenerous treatment they had received from them when in trouble. Turkey legs who was paralyzed and unable to do much physical labor, was evidently a man of acute mental powers and a good talker. He said he claimed for his people that “They were the best fighters on the plains” and, turning to Generals Crook and Mackenzie, “you who have fought us know what we are”. The spirit of these first comers was reflected by the later arrivals: indeed the change in the attitude of the Cheyennes was truly wonderful. One year previous, they had been the boldest warriors and most intractable Indians at this Agency; now, they appeared as docile and subdued as if they had never been on the war-path. These Indians dread nothing so much as an encounter with our Indian allies; white troops they despise. 11. Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 2, Chapter 13.

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High Bear, a surrendered Sans Arcs, told Major [George Morton] Randall, at Spotted Tail Agency, Neb., in April (1877.) “I want to be a soldier now and work for the Great Father”. [“]When you had white soldiers, I wasn’t afraid because I don’t care anything for them. I used to sleep well when you had white soldiers, but now you have my own people fighting against me, I don’t know what to do. My squaws are too frightened to sleep at night and the children can’t go to sleep. [“]We don’t know when your Indian scouts may lead you into one of our villages to destroy it just as the Cheyennes had their village taken this winter. We feel so suspicious now that when a strange Sioux comes into our village we think he is one of your soldiers and set young men to watch him and follow him back. [“]I can’t fight you in this way and I want to make peace and stay at peace.” While these things were occurring at Camp Robinson, events of almost equal importance were transpiring at Camp Sheridan,12 45 miles distant. At that point, Touch the Clouds, with his own band of Minneconjous and the band of Sans Arcs under Roman Nose, (whose village had been destroyed by General Crook’s troops at Slim Buttes, Dakota, Sept. 9th 1876.) surrendered early in April:—a few days earlier in fact than the Cheyennes did at Camp Robinson, but I have with propriety given prominence to the Cheyenne surrender, it having been prior both in time and consequence and the greater celerity with which the Sans Arcs and Minneconjous traveled was due entirely to the superiority of their animals and equipment while the Cheyennes as already stated, were burdened with many sick and wounded and had lost everything in their fight with Mackenzie, in November. Charging Bear, one of Roman Nose’s band of Sans Arcs, captured by us at Slim Buttes and who owed his life to Gen’l. Crook, was now a soldier, ranking as Corporal in the Company of Indian scouts. His influence with his surrendered relatives was very strong and gratitude impelled him to act as recruiting agent for General Crook. 12. Camp Sheridan was near the Spotted Tail Agency, on the west fork of Beaver Creek, twelve miles above its confluence with the Niobrara River. It was one of two posts established in 1874 to control the Lakotas and protect the agencies, the other being Camp Robinson at Red Cloud. It was replaced by Fort Niobrara in 1880. Frazer, Forts of the West, 89–90; Heitman, Historical Register, 2:544.

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It was hard to say whether Cheyennes or Minneconjous were more desirous of furnishing soldiers, but the Cheyennes [capped the chinaso?] by telling General Crook he could have every man of their tribe if he wanted to go fight Crazy Horse. We have digressed from the main line of this story very much, but not more than has been necessary to give a complete bird’s eye view of the situation. We now return to Crazy Horse who by this time had moved into the North West corner of the Black Hills and formed his village on the Belle Fourche of the Cheyenne river, where he watched the progress of events, keeping himself in constant communication with his people at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies. He saw now that the game was up: he had either to surrender within six weeks or prepare himself to be hunted to death by the vindictive Cheyennes, just as soon as the troops got ready to resume the campaign. The great secret of General Crook’s success in Indian warfare, is based upon three facts. Firstly, while he is not the only American general who has employed Indians to fight Indians, he is the first to initiate and successfully rival Julius Caesar’s famous plans of making the shattered fragment of conquered tribes furnish, as an earnest [demonstration] of their peaceful intentions, a contingent of auxiliaries to assist in the reduction of their persistently hostile relatives. While other commanders have employed Crows, Rees and Gros Ventres to fight Sioux and Cheyennes, they have never dared to enlist any large bodies of the two last tribes to fight their own people. General Crook, on the contrary, has fought and whipped Pi-utes with Pi-Utes, Snakes with Snakes, Apaches with Apaches, Cheyennes with Cheyennes and Sioux with Sioux. Nor has he discarded the services of other tribes, but the large employment of subdued hostiles to fight unsubdued hostiles is the key-note of his strategy; is what has made him by placing the jealousy of tribe against tribe, complete master of the situation, independent of the whin[in]g caprices and superstitions to which other commanders much defer, and given him as thorough a knowledge of the enemy’s position and plans as if he were sitting in their Council Lodge. The transportation of troops has all his life been a favorite study

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with him: in campaign he strips officers and soldiers down to the clothing on their backs and does this by that most widely obeyed of all General Orders—Example.— No one can truthfully say that in any campaign, General Crook took with him for his own comfort more than he allowed the humblest soldier, and for this reason, his columns have always been noted for the velocity and for keeping so close to the heels of the Indian scouts that scarcely have the latter detected the presence of a hostile village before the Cavalry and Infantry Battalions have pushed forward, surrounded and stormed it.13 Lastly, his reticence: General Crook will never tell what he is going to do, will never speak of what he had done. His soldiers, consequently, when they start on a campaign, are always prepared to encounter the worst privations and hardships and to take things just as they come.14 To preserve the chain of narration, I will mention that early in January [1877], an embassy sent by the Red Cloud Indians to find the Northern bands and induce them to come into the Reservation was obliged to visit General [Nelson A.] Miles’ post at the mouth of Tongue River15 While approaching that post, they were murdered in cold blood by some of the Crow Indians allowed to loaf about the Garrison. One of these friendly Sioux Indians was Sitting Bull of the South,16 a man of great prominence among his people, a firm friend of the whites and a strong supporter of General Crook in his efforts to manage the Indians. In May, 1876, he had entered heartily into General Crook’s scheme for the enlistment of a body of Indian scouts, which was frustrated at the time by the opposition of Indian Inspector Vandeveer and Indian Agent Hastings. 13. Bourke completely ignored—as he generally did—the situation at the Rosebud, which Capt. Anson Mills, Third Cavalry, accurately summed up with the observation, “I did not think that General Crook knew where [the hostile Indians] were, and I did not think our friendly Indians knew where they were, and no one conceived we would find them in the great force we did.” The closest Bourke ever came to admitting Crook narrowly averted disaster was in On the Border With Crook (311) where he said the Rosebud “was a trap.” Mills, My Story, 398. 14. This characteristic, which Bourke apparently considered admirable, was cordially resented by many of the officers, who often came away from officers’ calls with no idea of what Crook expected of them. They also attributed the “worst privations and hardships” more to poor planning and organization than to any virtues on Crook’s part. Bourke, On the Border, 109; Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 57; and General Crook, 194–95. 15. Later permanently established as Fort Keogh, Montana. 16. An Oglala chief, designated “of the South,” to distinguish him from the great Hunkpapa chief who was a key leader of the hostiles. See biographic sketch in Appendix 1.

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The death of this chieftain, Sitting Bull of the South, was a heavy blow to our national credit with the plains Indians: it shook their faith in our professions of good will and satisfied them that we were not to be trusted and that the Indians who, bearing white flags, entered our forts and Reservations should like the victims descending into Hell, “leave all Hope behind.”17 17. Quote from Dante, Divine Comedy, Canto III.

Chapter 4 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Death of Crazy Horse

Bourke’s retrospective continues. hen, finally, after many days of waiting, it was announced at Red Cloud Agency that Ta-Sunca-Uit-Co, Crazy Horse was on his way in to surrender it was understood at once that our campaigning days in the Department of the Platte were over and that the Sioux problem, as a problem, was solved. No further resistance was to be expected from a coalition of the bands of this great nation; the leader, who could organize such a coalition and hold its elements together by the force of his intellect and will, was about to bury the hatchet. Sitting Bull,1 who has gained such a reputation from the jottings of journalists, has not and never has had the influence possessed by Crazy Horse. He is without power among the Southern Dakotas whose reservations have always been magazines of men and material for Crazy Horse. Any trouble which Sitting Bull may make will be that which any other ill-disposed Indian demagogue may make; trouble demanding prompt and energetic measures for its suppression, but not taxing

W

1. In this case, Bourke means the hostile Hunkpapa chief.

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to the utmost the resources of our military Establishment. I venture to say that had not General Crook been in command of the Dep’t. of the Platte and the measures of Crazy Horse been frustrated by the far-reaching calculations of our Commander, the regular army would have been increased to 50.000 men and its annual cost to $40.000.000 before this insurrection, (for such it was worthy to be called.) could have been suppressed. The entry of Crazy Horse’s band into Red Cloud Agency was one of the most impressive spectacles I ever witnessed. In the bright, exhilarating sunlight of a May morning, (May 6th, 1877.), the long column of swarthy warriors descended the grass-covered hills overlooking the Agency and debouched upon the plain about a mile from the Government buildings. First came Lieut. [William Philo] Clark, with 1st Sergeant Red Cloud and the company of friendly Sioux soldiers, then Crazy Horse, with Little Hawk, Little Big Man, He Dog and Big Road—his head men. Then the warriors of the tribe in solid rank, showing fine discipline; lastly the women and children, with the camp equipage and pack animals. There was not the usual number of dogs, many probably had been devoured as food. The entire column was not much under two miles in length. As the Indians approached the Agency, the warriors broke out into a low chant, which gradually swelled into a loud song of gladness—the Hymn of Peace, as our Indians said. As the procession filed out to the place chosen for its encampment, its animation and bustle were very marked, but there was none of the charging at full speed on horse-back and firing of guns and pistols which Indians are always so fond [of] when first coming to a new village of their people. The erection of the lodges at once commenced and, in less than half an hour, they were all in position to the number of One Hundred and Forty Six, but as most of the lodges contained two families each, the aggregate strength of the band was found to be nearly Eleven hundred. The day previous to the entry into the Agency, Lt. Clark had gone out to meet Crazy Horse and had shaken hands with him and smoked the pipe of peace. It was remarked that Crazy Horse did this while sitting on the ground and that he extended his Left hand, saying that it was the “heart-hand”2 and he wanted this peace to be forever. 2. I.e., the hand closest to his heart.

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He Dog bestowed upon Lieut. Clark a war-bonnet, war-shirt, and a fine buffalo robe, in token of good-will: Crazy Horse gave all his war-equipment to Red Cloud, his near relation. The herds of ponies and horses brought in by this band were simply immense: experts estimated the number of animals at from (2200) to (2500.) My own opinion was (2200) or (2300.) As soon as the lodges were erected, the surrendered Indians were called upon to give up their arms: Crazy Horse first laid down on the ground seventy-six, but Lieut. Clark at once told him that that was too thin—everything must be given up, and that he would now search the lodges. In this work, he was assisted by the guides and interpreters, Frank Gruard and Billy Hunter,* and a detachment of Indian and white soldiers. Only One hundred and seventeen guns could be found, but these were taken away without any evidence of acrimony or ill-feeling. But what struck me as a fact of great significance was the presence of our Cheyenne scouts, armed to the teeth and concealed behind one of the knolls commanding Crazy Horse’s Camp and not over 100 yards away. I accidently rode in among them while taking a short cut back to my quarters. Standing Elk and Little Wolf smiled rather grimly and looked as if they would like some excuse for pitching into the tribe they hated so bitterly. Our friends, the Arapahoes, to the number of 150, were assembled at Camp Robinson, under Sharp Nose and White Horse, apprehending some treachery on the part of Crazy Horse. All the Agency Indians seemed to distrust Crazy Horse personally very much, but to have great confidence in the friendly feelings of the Indians with him. Some of our Indians said in my presence that Crazy Horse didn’t at all like the idea of coming in but that his head men were satisfied with the inutility of further resistance. That evening, I visited the village and had an opportunity of seeing Crazy Horse and his associates. Crazy Horse’s face was of a quiet and melancholy cast, dogged, tenacious and resolute. He was very taciturn and reserved, speaking to no one, Indian or white.3 At the time of my coming to his lodge, a Bourke’s note: See Hunter’s account, at end. [Appendix 2]

*

3. In On the Border With Crook (414–15), Bourke elaborated, saying: I saw before me a man who looked quite young, not over thirty years old, five feet eight inches high, lithe and sinewy, with a scar on the face. The expression

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squaw was making coffee and another one making arrangements for the evening meal. Crazy Horse was seated upon the ground, when Sorrel Horse, the Indian who accompanied me, moved forward and told Crazy Horse that I was one of Three Stars (General Crook’s) Officers.4 [(]Crazy Horse had never yet seen General Crook, who had been called away to Chicago a few days previously to consult General Sheridan.) but he had heard about him long ago and learned of him from the other Indians. He leaned forward, grasped my hand very warmly and grunted “how!” This was the extent of our conversation and as Frank Gruard was waiting to take Crazy Horse down to supper at his home, I sauntered about the village, scrutinizing the faces of the other chiefs and seeing what was to be seen. (My note book of the proper date has a very full description of this village)5 Frank Gruard had for five years been Crazy Horse’s prisoner and was well thought of by that chieftain. We all believed that if anybody could make Crazy Horse unbosom himself, Frank was the man. But no such result was obtained. Crazy Horse remained during the whole of his life the same strange combination of genius, moroseness, generous love for his own people and hatred of the white man. Little Hawk, the second in command, was about the same size as Crazy Horse, 5’ 8”, and like him lithe and wiry. His countenance was more kindly his speech more fluent. On his breast appeared the silver medal received by his father from President Monroe, in 1817. Little Big man, the chief who did so much to break up the Red Cloud Commission, in 1875, had the look of a shrewd politician and, altho’ his face did not strike me as a good one, I remember it impressed me as an able one.6 Day by day, as he remained at Red Cloud, Crazy Horse became more and more melancholy and sullen, withdrawing into himself as he felt his power waning away. of his countenance was one of quiet dignity, but morose, dogged, tenacious, and melancholy. He behaved with stolidity, like a man who realized he had to give in to Fate but would do so as sullenly as possible. 4. “Three Stars” refers to the individual stars of a brigadier general, one on each shoulder strap, and a third possibly sewn or pinned to his hat. It would not have referred to three stars in a line on his shoulder strap, the designation of a lieutenant general, and a rank that Crook never achieved. 5. Robinson, Diaries, 2:297–99. 6. Again, in On the Border With Crook (415), Bourke wrote of Little Big Man, “He and I became better friends afterwards, and exchanged presents.”

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As he well knew, the total number of Indians surrendering at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies was very great. (Note. It was a little over [4400]. J.G.B.) Few, if any, of these Indians would ever take to the war-path again, because dissensions had been introduced among them with so much skill that the weakness of factions had been made to replace the solidity of harmony. Crazy Horse took in the situation without delay: he saw that General Crook had arrayed Spotted Tail against Red Cloud and had, besides, alienated completely the former good feeling of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. Were Crazy Horse to take to the field again, he would have to fight his way out from the heavily-garrisoned Agency, would be instantly pursued by every man the Cheyennes and Arapahoes could raise and even if aided by Red Cloud would be opposed by Spotted Tail, or if encouraged by the latter, bitterly antagonized by the former. After his enlistment as a soldier, which enlistment was made at his own request, Crazy Horse had his eyes still more completely opened to the power General Crook had gained over the Indians at the Agency. Of all three tribes there assembled, numbering all told not quite (15.000) souls, (1200) were Arapahoes, (1400) to (1500) Cheyennes and the remainder Dakotas. Of these last Crazy Horse’s own band numbered 1100 and the Minneconjous and Sans Arcs who had formerly associated almost exclusively with his people (1000) more. The Indian soldiers were equally apportioned among the various tribes; they acted as a police force, and exercised a system of espionage which made conspiracy impossible. Then too, as time flew by, Crazy Horse found that his own people were tampered with by their fellow-soldiers and began to give evidence of a strong leaning to the white man’s administration. Little Big Man was one of the first to weaken, but the others fell into line so rapidly that Crazy Horse soon found himself without any support whatever. This was in the summer of 1877. General Crook had promised the Indians that if all came in and no hostiles remained on this (South) side of the Yellowstone, he would not object to their having an escort of a Battalion of Cavalry, while they engaged in a Buffalo hunt in the Big Horn Mtns. to the West of Fort McKinney; but from this promise he afterwards withdrew upon the recommendation of some

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of the Indian chiefs, who suspected and indeed detected a growing disposition on the part of Crazy Horse to make trouble and, if possible, to incite the Sioux to recommence War.7 About the 1st of June, the Cheyenne Indians asked to be sent to the Indian Territory to join those of their people already there: this request was granted and the band started down across country under charge of Lieut. [Henry Ware] Lawton, 4th Cavalry, a fine soldier, and a small detachment from that Regiment.8 After the departure of those warriors, Crazy Horse daily grew more insolent and intractable thinking that perhaps he could manage matters better to suit himself. The Sioux chiefs, one by one, gave up the desire for a buffalo hunt, until at last Crazy Horse was the only one of prominence who adhered to it, but with such persistence that no one doubted it was to serve only as a pretext for getting away from the Agency never to return. Early in August, Crazy Horse was invited by General Crook to become one of the delegation of (30) Indians whom Commissioner [Ezra] Hayt had asked to have sent on to Washington to consult with the Great Father on the question of removing the Agencies to the Missouri River. At first Crazy Horse assented, but solely upon condition that no Indians should go but those whom he selected and that all should be from his band.9 Lieut. Clark told him in as kind a way as possible that his band was only a small part of the total at the Agency and that Red Cloud, Spotted Tail and Sharp Nose were also big chiefs and should be consulted by the President relative to the welfare of their people. Crazy Horse then sullenly answered he wouldn’t go. From that time, affairs daily grew more serious and only wanted an excuse for being brought to a head. This excuse was soon found in the Nez Percé war then waging. Joseph and his band, pressed by General [Oliver O.] Howard, had retreated from the basin of the Columbia river, across the Rocky 7. There is a strong possibility that other chiefs, fearing Crazy Horse’s influence and the possibility of more trouble, spread rumors to undermine his position with the whites. See Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 28. 8. There is no indication the Cheyennes actually requested transportation to the Territory, but rather resigned themselves to a decision of the government. Monnett, Tell Them We Are Going Home, 5. 9. The various correspondence concerning Crazy Horse is found in Appendix 2.

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Mountains, and taken refuge in the Yellowstone Park with the evident intention of working their way farther East. General Crook was ordered to organize an expedition to head off the Nez Percés, who were supposed to have the intention of coming into the Bannock and Shoshonee country: as guides for this column, he enlisted a band from these two tribes and also called upon the Sioux for a quota of one hundred men. That number was at once made up of their best young men and an additional one hundred presented themselves to serve without pay. Crazy Horse now said that he would move out slowly towards the north with his whole village and when our column overtook him, he would join it and go fight the Nez Percés: but this manoeuvre was entirely too transparent and he was told he must remain where he was. He hereupon grew very sulky and said he would not allow any of his young men to go upon the proposed expedition. Our Indian spies said that Crazy Horse had lately been in correspondence with the Indians who had escaped into British America10 and that he had determined to leave the Reservation and join them. This information was not credited at first, but each day it was repeated and finally it was learned that in a council with his own band, Crazy Horse had proposed breaking away from the Agency even if he had to go alone. On the 31st of August, he told Lieut. Clark in council that he didn’t intend to stay any more and would leave at once. General Bradley, then in command of Camp Robinson and Lt. Clark, who had charge of the Indian soldiers, kept General Crook fully posted on every turn of affairs and it was at last decided by General Sheridan and General Crook that Crazy Horse should be made a prisoner, his band disintegrated and scattered among the other bands and himself sent to some place East. General Crook started on his way to Camp Brown, Wyo., there to assume, if necessary, the command of the expedition to head off the Nez-Percés: on his way, he telegraphed to General Bradley to “round up” Crazy Horse at once not thinking it worthwhile to go in person to the scene, as Crazy Horse’s power had been so thoroughly undermined and the Nez-Percé problem was then apparently more deserving of attention. 10. I.e. Sitting Bull and the remnants of his band.

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But General Sheridan did not share in this feeling; in his opinion, any disturbance that Crazy Horse might raise was far more to be dreaded than the whole power of an insignificant band like the Nez-Percés. A dead lion is of no account in the regard of those who lately were wont to trouble at his faintest roar; thus, Crazy Horse being dead, an exaggerated importance has attached to the war with the Nez-Percés, but how much more costly in blood, treasure, time and material would have been that war had Crazy Horse broken away and rallied around him the disaffected elements of the Dakotas and obliged us to fight 3000 or 4.000 skilled warriors instead of 3 or 400. Joseph was a brave and dextrous chieftain, but not more brave, not more dextrous than Crazy Horse and not to be mentioned on the same page where resources were to be counted. General Crook and self arrived at Red Cloud Agency, Neb., Sept 2d [1877], with the intention of superintending the “round up”, which was to have occurred at once, had not unexpected events caused its postponement. Colonel [Julius Wilmot] Mason, with three companies of the 3d Cavalry, had just reinforced the garrison from Fort Laramie:11 Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, Sharp Nose and the other head men had been sounded and answered that they considered the safety of all demanded the deposition of Crazy Horse and the dismemberment of his band. But that very day, news came that the small party of Lame Deer, recently broken up by General [Nelson] Miles, was making its way in to Red Cloud Agency to surrender and might be there in a very few hours: that morning seventy three men, women and children surrendered at the Agency. There was much reason to fear that if Crazy Horse’s village should not be completely surrounded and his warriors not all captured, those that escaped might get mixed up among those of Lame Deer’s band and some of the latter might be killed or wounded. Such a misfortune was especially to be averted at this moment, since the advance members of the Lame Deer village asserted that General Miles had dealt treacherously with them and after persuad11. Fort Laramie was established as an American Fur Company trading post in 1834. In 1849, it was purchased by the federal government and garrisoned as a miitary post until 1890, when it was abandoned. Much of the post has been preserved or restored, and it is now a national historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 181–82.

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ing them to surrender had murdered Lame Deer and his two companions who had gone down to Miles’ camp to make terms. I may as well here give the whole story as these Indians told it. They said that General Miles had attacked their village at day-break, had set fire to their tépis, (between 50 and 60 in number.) and routed themselves to the hills; that they lost a good many of their ponies, but from the hill-sides kept up a galling fire on the troops, of whom they killed six, while their own loss thus far had only been three, slightly wounded. They also claimed to have sent a party in upon Miles’ rear, who killed the detachment guarding his ammunition train and ran off three mules loaded with six boxes of cartridges, (i.e. 6000 metallic cartridges.) General Miles called upon the Indians to give up and Lame Deer with two companions12 concluded to go down and arrange stipulations, thinking there was no use in remaining out in the mountains during the winter, without lodges.13 When Lame Deer and the two other Indians laid down their guns, General Miles ordered an officer to pick them up; remembering the cold-blooded murder of Sitting Bull of the South, at Miles’ post on Tongue river, a few weeks before,14 these Indians at once apprehended duplicity of some sort and seized their guns to fight for their lives; in the mêlée, they were all killed, which being perceived by their comrades who were watching affairs from the neighboring hill-tops, they took to the brakes and scattered in all directions, satisfied that the white men were all murderers. A repetition of such a criminal piece of carelessness would have jeopardized General Crook’s plans and impaired his influence; hence his anxiety in a military point of view, to avoid it; aside from any abhorrence he might feel for the needless shedding of blood. To give Crazy Horse one last chance for self-vindication, General Crook sent him word that he wanted to hold a council with him that day (Sept. 3d) and hear what he had to say for himself. As the General started for the Council Building, one of our friendly Indians a soldier, named Woman’s Dress, came up alongside the ambulance and said there must be no Council held, that he was down with Crazy Horse’s people the preceding night and heard that chieftain 12. Greene, citing Miles, mentions only two Indians, Lame Deer and Iron Star. Greene, Yellowstone Command, 208–10. 13. The Lame Deer Fight actually occurred on May 7, 1877, one day after Crazy Horse surrendered at the agency. 14. Actually four months.

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tell his band he was going to leave the Reservation at once, but that, before leaving, he was going to the Council and would then and there stab General Crook, believing he was the one soldier the Dakotas had to be afraid of. He stated that during the interview, he would address some angry words to General Crook, which were to be the signals for his followers to get ready and when General Crook replied, Crazy Horse was to stab him with a knife which he was to keep concealed under his blanket and then the other Indians were to rush on, kill Lieut. Clark and any other officers and white men who might be present and in the confusion break away from the Reservation. The Indian was so earnest in his statement and had proved himself so perfectly trustworthy that General Crook gave full credit to his story and instructed General Bradley to make the “round up” already ordered without waiting for any Council.15 September 4 [1877], General Crook and self left Camp Robinson for Fort Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyo., going through to Fort Laramie by daylight and then catching the Black Hills Stage for Cheyenne 93 miles farther, which place we reached next day @ 1.30 P.M., in time for the Western Express, (U.P.R.R.)16 For Green River, Wyo., 330 miles by rail. We reached Green River at 8 in the morning, took breakfast, climbed aboard the stage, a most miserable “dug-out”, plodded along up Green River valley and all along its tributaries, the Big Sandy, Little Sandy, and Dry Sandy, past “Starvation ranch”, which a rude inscription, scrawled on the door, informed us was “one mile from water, six miles from wood and two inches from Hell”.—on through South Pass, & Atlantic City to Camp Stambaugh17 in the Rocky Mountains, some 9000 feet above the sea. Here we were very courteously received by Capt. Bisbee, who had just taken station at the post, and invited to breakfast.—a very excellent one it was too—by 15. Crook easily would have believed this. On September 8, 1872, he had survived a remarkably similar assassination attempt during a council with Yavapais at Camp Date Creek, Arizona. The Indian scout who reported the supposed Crazy Horse conspiracy was Woman’s Dress, who was jealous of the chief’s prestige. Baptiste “Big Bat” Pourier vouched for it to Crook and Clark. The rumor appears to have been encouraged by Frank Grouard who, despite his outward cordiality, apparently nursed old hatreds from his period of Oglala captivity, and who may or may not have heard about the earlier incident at Date Creek. See Robinson, General Crook, 125–26; and Good Year to Die, 338; De Barthe, Frank Grouard, 337–39; William Garnett in Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, 77–78. 16. Union Pacific Rail Road. 17. Camp Stambaugh was established in 1870 between Atlantic City, Wyoming, and the Oregon Trail, eight miles north of the Sweetwater River to protect miners adjacent to the Shoshone Reservation. The post was abandoned in 1878. Frazer, Forts of the West, 185.

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Mr. Baldwin, the post trader, whose charming wife and daughter, did their best to make our stay pleasant. From Stambaugh to Camp Brown, a distance of (45) miles, we were driven by one of the General’s former scouts, Texas Bob [Eckles], on a wild, harum-scarum specimen of the frontiersman; our horses were Texas mustangs, unbroken and wild as could be. They ran away with us at one time, but our driver was an expert; our ambulance strong and the roads the mountains, fortunately not rocky. Still it was by a stroke of good luck that we came out with-out a scratch and reached Brown about dark (Sept. 7th). General Crook busied himself with the preparations for the expedition to head off Joseph and the Nez-Percés, but as telegrams informed him that the Nez-Percés instead of coming South to the Shoshonee country had turned North East and started to effect a combination with the River Crows, he saw it was no use to wait at Brown, so leaving Genl. [Wesley] Merritt, 5th Cavy., in command of the corps of observation, he started back, Sept. 9th for Omaha. (1000 miles distant.) At Camp Robinson, in the meanwhile, all had been excitement. The troops moved out from their camps early in the morning of the 4th of Sept., the Cavalry under Col. Mason, the Indian soldiers under Lieut. Clark; General Bradley superintending the whole movement. Crazy Horse’s village was six miles from the Post. When the troops came in sight of the spot where the village had been they found it deserted and knew that the enemy had left during the night or early in the morning. Upon the skirts of some of the hills near by, a few of the lodges yet lingered, not being able to move fast enough to escape the observation of our keen-eyed scouts. Our column pushed forward, pressing the runaways so closely that out of the Seventy Three lodges which had remained faithful to the fortunes of Crazy Horse, over fifty were captured before noon and our scouts closely pressed the remainder, now making for the Spotted Tail Agency, (45 miles East of Red Cloud.) Lieut. Clark stimulated the exertions of his scouts as much as possible, even offering Mini-Wa-nichi (No Water,) the head man, a reward of ($200.) if he would catch Crazy Horse. Couriers were sent in hot haste to Camp Sheridan, the military station at the Spotted Tail Agency, and everybody there, red and white, was put on the qui vive18 for the whole party of fugitives. 18. Taken from the French. In this particular instance, it means, “on the lookout.”

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Before noon, every lodge had been picked up except Crazy Horse’s, but shortly after sun-set he was apprehended by our Indian soldiers and delivered to Major [Daniel Webster] Burke, the Post commander. The Indians seemed to comprehend the necessity of surrendering him to the Military authorities, feeling assured that if he once got away from the agency, he would in less than no time stir up anew the embers of war which they had begun to perceive it was to their own interest to extinguish. Crazy Horse was taken in an ambulance the next day, to Camp Robinson, under charge of Major Burke, Touch the Clouds, Swift Bear and High Bear. By some mistaken courtesy, his stiletto and revolvers had not been taken from him. At the door of the Camp Robinson guard-house, he made a sudden attempt to escape, striking out with great force, to hew “a way for himself[”] with his knife. Little Big Man jumped upon his back, throwing his arms over Crazy Horse’s arms, but not succeeding in this soon enough to escape a fierce thrust in the wrist, which, luckily for him did not make a bad wound. In the excitement and confusion occasioned, Crazy Horse was stabbed in the abdomen. By whom I cannot say, nor do I think that this is a point which can with satisfaction be determined. There are two conflicting accounts, each sustained by a number of adherents. One is that the sentinel on post No 1, in front of the Guard House, inflicted the fatal thrust;19 the other, is that Little Big Man, enraged at the wound given him by Crazy Horse, wrenched his stiletto from him and stabbed him. Either story is plausible enough: in either way, the wound could have been made. As the stiletto Crazy Horse had would make a wound like that which caused the death of this truly great man, it was not easy to come to any conclusion from the medical examination to which, of course, the patient was at once subjected. Permission was granted to Crazy Horse’s father, to Touch the Clouds, and to other friends of the dying man, to remain by his bedside and to ease his last moments by such friendly offices as he might desire. Crazy Horse spoke but little; he knew that the hand 19. In one of his last articles, the late John Carroll wrote that when the commotion began, the guard, Pvt. William Gentles, instinctively raised his rifle. As that moment, Little Big Man grabbed Crazy Horse, who lost his balance and fell against Gentles’ bayonet which pierced him through both kidneys. Carroll, “Man Who Killed Crazy Horse,” 41.

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of death was upon him and with a calmness and fortitude worthy of all praise awaited the approach of the dread messenger. To such tender inquiries as were addressed to him from time to time, he returned brief answers, but his conversation was laconic as had ever been usual with him. He said he blamed no one for his death; he had tried to leave the Reservation and escape to the north, and failed. He had intended to kill all he could before leaving; he had tried to kill Little Big man and the soldiers standing near him. He didn’t have any ill-will towards them for what they had done. At midnight, the soul of the Great Implacable took its flight and the last Great Organizer of the North American savages had entered the happy hunting grounds of his people.20 I confess that in reading the telegrams conveying the news of his death,21 I felt, combined with the contentment of knowing that our borders ever for the future to be free from any extended war, a sentiment of regret for the gallant savage who had so skilfully [sic] combined against our people all the bands of his widely-scattered nation and resisted with so much science and daring the forces sent against him. Crazy Horse was greater than Tecumseh; he united in himself all the qualities of a great ruler:—generous to a fault, skilfull, cool in battle, ever in advance of his warriors, his recklessness in the moment of conflict commanded the respect which his shrewdness and sagacity in the council chamber retained. Modesty and reticence were marked features of his character; he was the only perfectly modest Indian Chief I ever saw. Cocheis, the famous leader of the Arizona Apaches, was a much handsomer man and perhaps equally able as a statesman, but he never attained the eminence of Crazy Horse who swayed the tribes from the Saskatchewan to the North Platte. In coming years, the encroachments of settlers upon the hunting ranges of the red men will provoke other wars in which many valuable lives will be lost and many millions expended, but the United States will never again be forced to cope with an aborigine who is a 20. Bourke’s account in On the Border With Crook (421–23) does not vary greatly from that given here. Likewise, the eyewitness accounts in Clark, Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, may differ in detail, but follow essentially the same scenario. Most agree, however, that Crazy Horse died of a bayonet wound. 21. See Appendix 2.

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match in the field for the whole miserable skeleton called its army and in the Council for the shrewdest men Civilization could pit against him. Much notoriety has been given Sitting Bull: the slender claim of that chieftain to a place in the same rank with Crazy Horse may be shown by the fact that since Crazy Horse’s death, his influence has shrunk to a shadow:—all that he had formerly came from Crazy Horse who let the boastful Sitting Bull arrogate to himself a reputation to which he was not entitled. When Crazy Horse had ceased to breathe, Touch the Clouds laid his hands upon his dead comrade’s breast and said, “it is well, he has looked for death and it has come.” The common sense of the Indians at the agencies enabled them to see that Crazy Horse’s death was the result of his own folly, and the leading chiefs exerted themselves to allay the excitement among their bands. The Indians said that Crazy Horse had always told them a bullet couldn’t kill him and they looked upon the manner of his taking off as supporting in a great measure the pretensions he had always made as a prophet and great medicine man. His remains were taken to Spotted Tail Agency for burial: a photograph of the rude grave in which this renowned chieftain now reposes is given on this page.

Crazy Horse’s Grave at Camp Sheridan, Neb.

Chapter 5 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Developing Frontier1

W

ith no military campaigns, Bourke’s routine duties took him not only through the Department of the Platte, but elsewhere in the West as well. He writes virtually nothing of this in On the Border With Crook, or his other published works, yet his observations published here and in Chapter 6 allow us to see how rapidly the West was developing even as mop-up operations continued against various Indian bands. In Chapter 6, he is impressed with the rapid growth of Denver, at this time less than two decades old, but already a large, cosmopolitan city, whose markets, he notes, “are equalled by but few places in the world. . . . I should say it was far ahead of Omaha in all that concerns a city’s comfort & welfare.”2 1. Manuscript volume 25 begins at this point. Although it is listed at West Point as running from August 19 to September 9, 1878, it actually includes material on the Ponca Indians and their legal case against the federal government, in the spring of 1879. The record of Crook’s conference with the Ponca leaders appears to have been written at the time, and supplemented later by newspaper clippings, one notation being made as late as December 5, 1880. These are placed in their chronological sequence. 2. Bourke, Diary, 25:63. Denver was created on April 6, 1860, with the merger of the competing villages of Denver and Auraria, both of which had been established about eighteen months earlier. Although the first ten years were sluggish, Denver began to boom in 1870, as a smelting center and railroad hub. In 1880, it had a population of 35,629. See Lamar, New Encyclopedia, 296–99.

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Taking a ride on one of Colorado’s famous narrow-gauge mountain railroads, he passed Idaho Springs, “a summer resort, rapidly acquiring prominence on account of its valuable mineral springs, hot and cold,” arriving in the mining community of Georgetown. “There were numbers of tourists in Georgetown, ready to go to the Colorado Parks, which are most accessible from this point,” he wrote, but added, “reports of a threatened Indian outbreak among the Utes deterred them.”3 August 19th 1878. General Sherman who had been in Omaha since the preceding day, left for New Mexico. General Crook started same afternoon for the East. August 20th. Lieut. Schuyler and self took the U.P. train for Salt Lake, under orders to proceed to Camp Douglass.4 The first day’s journey was so similar in its general features to the others already described, that there is no use in doing more than refer to it. It will live long in our memories as one of the most oppressive and sultry of days. The first part of the night was extremely dusty and quite too warm to allow us to sleep with comfort. August 21st. Had the pleasure of seeing Lieut. [Hayden] Delaney, who had entered train during night at North Platte. The flues in our engine boiler burnt out, causing us a disagreeable detention of several hours. In the seat next to mine in the Pullman car was a very bright and interesting boy not over ten years old, who devoted himself to the care of his almost blind father. He read to him from the guide books and kept on explaining in his childlike, but very quaint way, the various localities of interest and beauty as we passed along. The boy told me it was their first trip West of the Mississippi and that they were coming on account of his father’s health: I was invited to make an examination of his journal which I did to my great pleasure and amusement, astonished occasionally by the boy’s shrewdness and perceptiveness. At Cheyenne, we met Captain and Mrs [Calbraith Perry] Rodgers,5 Mrs Chambers and her daughter, Major and Mrs. [James?] Gilliss, Lieut. Eaton and Lt. & Mrs. [John Haskell] King. Also met Mr and 3. Ibid., 25:66. 4. Camp Douglas (which Bourke often spelled with a double “s”) was established in 1862 east of Salt Lake City, to protect the Overland Mail and telegraph, control the Indians of the region, and watch over the Mormons, whose loyalty was suspect. It was upgraded to a fort in 1878. Frazer, Forts of the West, 166. 5. Rodgers was killed by lightning three days later. See p. 84.

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Mrs Strahorn, Mr Slack and Dr Corey. Lieut Delaney left us at Cheyenne. A gentle rain began to fall at Cheyenne and continue throughout the day. The scenery from Dale creek bridge never looked more charming; the purling brook, one hundred feet beneath us, flowed gently over its rocky beds between banks of fresh verdure and large blocks of granite. This week, an affluent of the South Platte river offers fair sport to the fisherman seeking trout. I think I have elsewhere noted the strange peculiarity that all the waters of the South Platte are trout-bearing, while not one of those flowing from the North Platte contain any, altho’ the sources of these respective tributaries are often not more than ten or twenty feet apart. At Rock creek, Mr [Francis] Wolcott, who had been with us from Cheyenne, left to go to his stock-ranch on Deer Creek, near Fort Fetterman. The increasing importance of the cattle-interests of Wyoming, Montana and Colorado can only be fully appreciated by men like myself who, by travelling constantly in this country keep themselves posted in everything relating to its development. Where only three years ago the hostile Sioux and Cheyenne roamed at will, there are now to be seen thousands and thousands of fine fat cattle peaceably grazing and increasing in value to the undisguised satisfaction of their owners. The cattle-men of Wyoming rank among her most intelligent and enterprising citizens: not rarely, we meet with men of the stamp of Mr Wolcott, who has been highly educated, has seen much of the world and manifests refined taste and mental cultivation. At his ranch, he has a fine Library, which is used constantly by its owner and his friends. Finished this afternoon the last volume of Miss [Louisa May] Alcott’s Little Women, a sweet, natural little story which has given me an exalted opinion, of its author’s powers. Also advanced in the Annals of a Fortress, by Viollet Le Duc,6 the French Engineer. This sketch gives a more comprehensive, bird’s-eye view of the successive stages of improvement in the art 6. Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (1814–79) was a French architect, whose restorations included the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, and the walled city of Carcassonne. Annals of a Fortress: Twenty-two Centuries of Siege Warfare has been reprinted many times, into the current century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Emmanuel_Viollet-le-Duc

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of defending and attacking camps and cities than the whole course of Engineering at West Point. In the Sleeper next to us was a party of Spanish Americans, returning from the Paris Exposition to their homes in Guatemala. I had a little conversation with them and found them bright and entertaining. They gave a very good acc’t. of their own country, its resources and commerce; spoke of the rapidly increasing coffee trade with San Francisco and the wish their countrymen had that more Americans might come with their energy, pluck and capital to develop Guatemala. One of these Spaniards was a Doctor—a very old man—whose services were demanded about dusk by a young lady, (in one of the Pullman cars,) who had made herself sick by an over-indulgence in pea-nuts. It fell upon my lot to act as interpreter while the Doctor prescribed; the young lady was too squeamish to have the Doctor go into her car to see her—an over-delicacy which offended the old gentleman, who thereupon declined giving any advice beyond that of refraining from eating or drinking anything until morning, saying that he couldn’t tell what was the matter with the patient until he had seen her—a remark so axiomatic that the gentleman who came to interview the Doctor admitted at once the correctness of the position he had assumed. The young lady recovered during the night much to my relief as I was decidedly perplexed and embarrassed. My Spanish is good enough for any ordinary conversation or to procure for myself anything I desire, but I was afraid that some word or phrase might go wrong while making an interpretation for others, especially in such a critical case as sickness. Near Evanston passed [R. Lyman] Potter, the “wheel barrow fiend”, pushing his barrow towards the Setting Sun, to gain the wager of $1000 that he would walk from ocean to ocean, wheeling a barrow, within 150 days.7 At Weber, the Mormon girls sold our passengers delicious peaches at exorbitant prices. 7. Bourke’s information was not entirely accurate. R. Lyman Potter and L. P. Federmeyer raced by foot from San Francisco to New York, each pushing a loaded wheelbarrow. The combined weight of wheelbarrow and contents could never be less than one hundred pounds. The race was contrived as a publicity stunt by newspaper magnate George Hearst, father of William Randolph Hearst, who offered a $2,000 prize to the winner. A referee was sent ahead to check the weight as each man arrived in town, and validate it with the local postmark. Federmayer won the race, leaving San Francisco on December 8, 1878, and arriving in New York on July 23, 1879, a walk of 4,500 miles in 227 days. http://americahurrah. com/SanFrancisco/Federmeyer.htm

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Rained in heavy showers all the afternoon. Were received at the dépôt in Salt Lake by General [John E.] Smith and Col. Stanton, and by them driven to Camp Douglass. We whiled away a couple of hours in pleasant conversation with the ladies of Colonel Stanton’s household and in rummaging among the many fine books in his Library, which certainly excels in numbers as well as in literary and pecuniary value that of any gentleman in this part of the country. A refreshing repose crowned the end of the day and of our journey. Saturday,8 August 23. Finished the last few pages of Le Duc’s treatise on Fortification. Colonel Stanton directed my attention to a book lying on the table—Absaraka, the Land of Massacre, by Colonel [Henry B.] Carrington of the Army. The book is not badly written, but full of errors calculated to deceive the ignorant and unwary. Nothing but the insufferable conceit of the author could have suggested the publication of this work. Too much of a coward to see service either during the war or since, he is one of those who trusted to political influence for his appointment and to a restless pen to achieve a reputation. Officers who served under Colonel Carrington at old Fort Kearney,9 in 1866, tell me he was known there as a most contemptible coward.10 8. This is an error. August 23, 1878, was a Friday. 9. Fort Phil Kearny (which Bourke almost inviarably spelled “Kearney”) was established in 1866, about fifteen miles north of present city of Buffalo, Wyoming. Together with Forts Reno and C. F. Smith, it was intended to protect the Bozeman Trail. The post was abandoned in 1868, under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty, and the Indians then burned the buildings. It is now a Wyoming State Park. Not to be confused with Fort Kearny, Nebraska, which was named in honor of Stephen Watts Kearny. Frazer, Forts of the West, 183. 10. Absaraka, the Land of Massacre was an attempt by Carrington, who commanded both the post of Fort Phil Kearny and the district, to justify his inaction during the massacre of Capt. William Judd Fetterman and eighty men near the fort on December 21, 1866. Earlier, on December 6, Carrington himself had led a squad of men into essentially the same trap, and had barely escaped. This made a profound impression on him, and he later claimed he verbally ordered Fetterman to stay within range of support, although no one else heard the order. Carrington was roundly criticized for failing to relieve Fetterman, even though those in the fort could hear the distant gunfire. In fact, Fetterman’s departure with eighty men had so reduced the garrison as to render it vulnerable. It should be remembered that in 1866, Congress was in the midst of massive post-Civil War reductions in the army, and the garrison strength of Phil Kearny suffered accordingly. Carrington’s requests for additional support were received with indifference by his superior, Bvt. Maj. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, who nevertheless pressured him for an offensive operation against the Indians. Besides allegations of cowardice stemming from the massacre itself, virtually all the officers of the garrison formed an anti-Carrington faction; most had distinguished themselves as combat soldiers during the Civil War, while Carrington spent the war behind a desk. Additionally, many officers of the Regular Army never really understood Indian fighting, and Fetterman’s total contempt for Plains Indian military strength and tactics was another key factor in his destruction.

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Drove to Salt Lake City and visited the Museum. This is a repository of relics, illustrative of Utah’s history and progress. Much trash has been accumulated, but the careful student can find several hours’ work in examining the specimens of the stone age, pottery, fossils and Indian trinkets: of the last named, the collection, although small was quite good. I noticed some fine baskets from Arizona; these are woven so tight that they will hold water: pottery from New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah, the older specimens showing a great advance over the newer, which in some cases it could be seen had been made over baskets as moulds, while the former had evidently been manufactured on a wheel: stone implements, such as “metates” for grinding corn and crushing seeds;11 pestles, hammers and axes, garments of various kinds, (made of skin,) I found bones of “mammoth” and buffalo. The great numbers of fossil bones of the buffalo found within the limits of Utah, shows that the “habitat” of this animal once extended far to the West of the Rocky Mountains. The curator of the museum told me the Indians had a tradition that once upon a time a great many seasons ago, there came a very heavy and long-continued cold spell which caused all the buffalo to die. From the museum went to some of the stores, with which Salt Lake is so abundantly supplied. Having already described several of these in my notes of last year, I shall merely say that the business of the present season appeared to be decidedly brisk, altho storekeepers generally complained of dull times.12 August 24th. We were horrified to read in the dispatches in the Salt Lake Tribune an account of the death by a stroke of lightning, of Captain Rodgers, 5th Cavalry, an old and esteemed friend. The dread calamity occurred while in his tent on the road between Rock Creek and Fort Fetterman. He had taken refuge in his tent to escape a fearful rain-storm; with him were to Indian (Arapahoe,) scouts, one on each side. The bolt struck Rodgers at the base of the skull Whether Carrington did order Fetterman to stay within range of support is academic. There was enough blame to go around, although Carrington was the convenient scapegoat. See Dee Brown, The Fetterman Massacre, and Utley, Frontier Regulars, Chapter 7. 11. The metate is a flat slab of stone, about twelve inches long, the top surface of which has been smoothed, used as a bed for grinding corn. The grinding stone, or mano (literally: “hand”) is shaped like a rolling pin and used in generally the same manner. Metates and manos still are used in Mexico and the American Southwest. 12. There are substantial gaps in Bourke’s diaries for 1877–78, and he may be referring to observations in the lost volumes. He does, however, describe Salt Lake City at length in 1875. This may be found in Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 7.

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and ran down his back and legs, burning his body in a curious way, as if he had been sitting upon a hot gridiron. Poor Rodgers was one of the most popular young Captains in the Army, had seen much [that was] valuable, acquired a distinguished reputation and was held in high esteem by superiors, associates and inferiors. At breakfast, the one topic of conversation was the sad fate of our friend:—indeed, we made very little breakfast at all, scarcely tasting the fine melons, plums, peaches and grapes Mrs. Stanton had prepared for us. In my opinion, the Salt Lake Valley will before long become a formidable competitor of California in the fruit market. Surgeon [Bennett A.] Clements invited me to visit his Hospital. It is a large structure of red sandstone with fine, broad porticoes and spacious surroundings. The ventilation is perfect and accomodations excellent. The number of patients is always small, owing to the salubrity of the climate. From the second story, the view obtained of Salt Lake and the city is very attractive. It is the intention to surround the Hospital next year with a row of shade trees and to sow the sertilage [sic] in grass seeds, which improvements will add not a little to the charms of the place. Doctor Clements and I had a long talk about our previous experience together in the campaign of 1876,13 and of his first entry into the valley of the Salt Lake, 20 yrs. ago, when he marched with General Albert Sidney Johnston’s Command through the Timponague Cañon which the Doctor pronounced one of the finest genic scenery in the world.14 As this is a place I hope to be able to visit soon I hope to supplement with [the] Doctor’s very interesting description with my own notes. As a pleasant means of passing our day, drove to town and then to the Warm Springs for a bath; these Springs contain Carbonate of Lime, Chlorine and Hydrochloric Acid, Sulphur, Carbonic and Sulphuric Acids, and other chemicals, and remain at a uniform temperature of 120°F. They bear in many points a decided resemblance to the Warm Springs near Camp Brown, Wyo and like them give to the bather a sensation of coolness, freshness, and cleanliness, but not altogether free from languor. 13. See Clements’ report in Robinson, Diaries, Volume 2, Appendix 2. 14. This refers to Johnston’s expedition to Utah in 1858–60, which resulted in the replacement of Brigham Young as governor with Alfred Cumming. Utley, Encylcopedia of the American West, 302; Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, 2:735.

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At the Townsend House, called upon Mr. Hart of Chicago, a friend of my friend, Col. Farrar, and a gentleman whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Chicago Club, this Spring. Sunday, August 25th Breakfast over, we gathered on the porch to listen to the music of the band at Inspection and Guard Mounting, and to look upon the picturesque valley spreading out for miles beneath us. Lieut. Schuyler started on a bear hunt, intending to travel about twenty miles up the Cañon and to remain out all night. Colonel Stanton and I not having lost any bears and being somewhat blasé on the subject anyhow, thought a day’s quiet would be good enough for the likes of us, especially since we had both been bone tired and had never gotten entirely rested. The chances of seeing and shooting a bear were so slim and the attractions of the Library so great that the latter prevailed. I finished the perusal of Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, a book to be read more on account of its great author than for any especial artistic merit in its construction; so far as the latter is to be regarded De Foe’s Robinson Crusoe, Rev. Hale’s “Man Without a Country,” and some of Jules Verne’s works display much more realistic power than can be discerned in the Utopia, and had they been written in the credulous age in which the Utopia appeared,—I mean to use the term credulous only so far as it implies a willingness to swallow every wonderful story travellers might choose to tell of the newly explored regions of American & Africa,—they would have been accepted as true by the greater part of Europe. By one thing in the Utopia, I was greatly surprised and pleased—the fluidity of style, the easy-rolling sentences, perfectly comprehensible by the humblest reader of our vain day. The praise for such a work must indeed be great, since the fashion of that Age was to write all learned treatises in Latin, and Roger Ascham, Queen Elizabeth’s instructor, a contemporary with or perhaps subsequent to Sir Thomas More, devoted his abilities, in a work called the Schoolmaster, to demonstrate the propriety and wisdom of writing for the English people in the English Language!15 The Utopia was dedicated to 15. Roger Ascham (1515–68), sometimes called the most likeable of the early humanists, served as tutor to Queen Elizabeth I, and upon her accession became her secretary. The Schoolmaster (the Elizabethan title is The Scholemaster) was a treatise on education begun in 1563, and published posthumously in 1570. Sir Thomas More’s work introduced the word “Utopia” as an earthly paradise. It describes a fictional voyage by a Portuguese navigator to

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Erasmus of Rotterdam, the great Reformer, who held it and its great author in paramount esteem. Yet here were Stanton and myself, two pygmies, dissecting and criticizing the thoughts, and ideas of two men whose shoes we would not be worthy to latch; probably on the same principle that a musquito [sic] thinks he is entitled to bite an elephant, if he wants to. Utah’s mining resources are rapidly developing and drawing in among the Mormons, who confine themselves exclusively to agriculture and manufactures, a new class of people,—miners, speculators and frontiersmen, who make and lose money with a rapidity that is something astonishing. The “Antonio” mine near here has just paid its 32nd dividend within 19 mos., each dividend being 50 c[ents]. A share and the number of shares being, I think, 100.000. Other leads promise yields fully as large altho’ not yet developed to so great an extent. This morning, I heard a story, of a Mr. Keyser, a successful miner in Brigham Cañon who has just been married. He has more money than education and is, if the truth must be told, somewhat behind in his knowledge of etiquette. Having made up his mind to take up his cross, he naturally consulted a friend whom he asked to “help him out.” “Certainly, old man, what can I do for you?”. Well, said Keyser, whose notions of the necessary ceremonies were somewhat confused, “I want you to give me away”. The friend, like the good fellow he was, promised to do all that was required, and nobly fulfilled his word. The bride, of course, looked charming and the groom, poor wretch, was declared by the old women to be the very image of happiness. The friend stood by his side “to give him away”, and when the Judge had pronounced the formula which sealed away his bachelor happiness, the newly-made husband rushed to the door and shouted down the narrow lane of grog-shops, dead-falls and gambling hells which formed the town—“turn ‘em loose, set ‘em up for the boys”, whereupon the expectant bartenders began to dispense over their counters to the eager throng of thirsty customers all the forms of Hell-Fire whiskey, French Brandy, (from Oshkosh,) and Port Wine, (from Milwaukee,) and other deadly the mythical island of Utopia, where a communal people governed themselves in peace and harmony. It has certain parallels to the late Medieval Amadis de Gallia and James Hilton’s later Lost Horizon. More, who was executed on a matter of religious principle during the reign of King Henry VIII, had not yet been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, or doubtless Bourke would have referred to him as “St. Thomas More.” http://www.luminarium. org/renlit/aschbio.htm

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beverages, which from not immediately killing the inhabitants of these mountains have caused the climate to be regarded as one of the salubrious wonders of the world. If the firing of revolvers, yells of drunken men, howling of dogs and music! of such instruments as were available would serve as a criterion, the wedding might be pronounced a grand success; not so “toney” as if held in a 5th Avenue Mansion, but much more hearty and enthusiastic. While mentioning mining resources, I should say that the Sulphur deposits of Southern Utah will soon be made available. There is much talk even now of establishing a manufactory of Sulphuric Acid in Salt Lake. Sulphuric acid is used to a great extent in manufactures, principally in the preparation of Carbonate of Soda, but Sulphur itself is needed for making matches, for bleaching and dying establishments and commands at all times a very remunerative price. Dined to-dy with Lt. and Mrs. [William W. Mc]Cammon, who had as their other guests Captain Alfred Smith, 8th Infantry, and his sister, Mrs. Bascom, (son and daughter of General John E. Smith, post commandant.) And Miss Lindsay of Salt Lake. Went to divine service in the evening and listened to a very good sermon from Chaplain [Thomas B.] Van Horn, one of the worthy and earnest men of his grade in the Army. The public journals are discussing affairs on the Rio Grande and General Mackenzie’s raids into Mexico—are regarded generally as the prelude to more serious complications. A war with Mexico is almost inevitable. We have one of three courses to pursue: we must crush Mexico completely, a system of action repugnant to the dictates of humanity: we must render it tributary, which would be antagonistic to republican government, or we must occupy it and absorb its population. This last plan is the only one by which we can hope to succeed and yet it is the one most difficult of prosecution. With (3) or four strong columns of invasion, aggregating a greater of a million of men, we could within two years be able to plant strong colonies, at eligible points, connected together and with our Rio Grande and Rio Gila systems by Rail Road and telegraphs and with these fortified colonies as foci we could easily establish such relations of commerce and manufactures with the Mexicans as would make our possession of their Territory not alone tolerant but agreeable. Intercourse with these colonies would make the Mexicans see the necessity of having their children

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taught our language and with a knowledge of our language would naturally come to desire to learn more of our customs. By strictly respecting the religious convictions of the people, by encouraging marriages between American men and Mexican women and above all by establishing a secure and remunerative market for all Mexican supplies, we could it seems to me, soon reduce and pacify and even do much to Americanize our Spanish-Indian neighbors. The student will see that some of my ideas have been borrowed from Machiavelli, whose Prince I have just perused with much pleasure and profit. I give as my opinion that Machiavelli is one of the best abused and least understood authors that have [sic] ever written. His treatise upon Government, (the Prince) is a very exact description of the method employed by sovereigns in the administration of their Kingdoms; and where censure has most been levelled against Machiavelli has been just where he least deserved it, unless he be deemed a fit subject for reprehension on the same principle that a skillful painter should be criticized for depicting the blemishes in the countenances of his sitters. In one chapter, however, Machiavelli avows that princes are not bound to fulfil their promises:—it was the acceptance of this idea which cost Charles 1st his head.16 Monday, Aug.[26] To my great relief, Schuyler returned from his bear hunt: knowing the ferocious character of these monsters of the mountains, we had not been without forebodings during the whole time of our comrade’s absence and seeing him return to us safe and sound, we plied him with questions which for some moments, such was his modesty in speaking of his own prowess he was disinclined to answer. Importunity finally overcame reluctance and obtained the following outline of a most thrilling and blood-curdling adventure. Schuyler, with the soldier who was to act as his guide, had proceeded up the cañon not more than five miles when they came to the lodges of some wood-choppers and charcoal burners who confirmed the 16. The Prince is a dissertation on government by the Florentine civil servant Niccolô di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469–1527), consisting of political theory and advice based on his study of public policy throughout history. Machiavelli’s basic thesis is that a ruler should govern according to realistic needs and conditions rather than altruism, and avoid radical changes that might unsettle the citizenry. Bourke’s reference to King Charles I is a poor example, because Charles I attempted to impose absolute rule as a matter of royal prerogative, whereas Machiavelli cautioned that absolutism is valid only if it serves a practical purpose.

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story that bears had lately been seen in their vicinity. With renewed precautions our young hero and his companion, pushed along up the difficult path to the summit of the range where all traces of a bye-way disappeared and further progress was only possible by breaking through a matted jungle of stunted undergrowth. While doing this a crackling of branches was heard and, horror of horrors! two ferocious, blood-seeking monsters were dashing towards them and not two hundred yards away. The soldier started to run, seeing that by remaining they would be at a disadvantage, but Schuyler stood to his post, resolved to die bravely sooner than flee. His face blanched and drops of cold perspiration stood upon his brow: he thought of his home, so far away, and the sweetheart who would wildly howl to the mail-carrier for a letter from her darling who had been lunched upon by a bear in the Wahsatch and consequently wasn’t very likely to continue the correspondence. It is a terrible thing to be torn to pieces and devoured by a wild animal—and Schuyler felt that nothing but a miracle could save him from such a fate, but the miracle occurred. The bears turned out to be two nanny-goats which had escaped from a herd in the Valley, and run wild in the mountains. Schuyler bore with philosophic resignation all our banking upon the subject and said he would willingly trust to Time, which he knew one day would give him the laugh upon us. After breakfast, General Smith took me about the post, to the Company Quarters, to the warehouse of the Q.M. Dep’t., (where we saw a large pile of corn which had spoiled from having heated, because bought when too new,) then to the Guard-House and finally to the Ordnance Magazine. This last is of stone, with wooden pent roof and remarkably dry; no chloride of Calcium or other chemical has to be used to keep away dampness. We put on India-rubber shoes before entering, and then proceeded to examine the ammunition: there is a large quantity of this, as well as guns & equipments belonging to the Territory of Utah stored here for protection. The field guns, carriages and limbers belonging to the post are of antiquated patterns, worn out and worthless except to ornament the parade-ground and perhaps for moral effect. The vents of the guns are extremely large. Much obsolete ammunition and other Ordnance stores have accumulated here since the establishment of the post by General [Patrick] Connor, in 1862.

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General Smith wants to put a fence around the [military] Reservation, to prevent petty depredations now so frequent; to plant a row of trees about the parade and to fill in with water and make a lake out of some ugly ravines which now disfigure the post. These improvements will greatly enhance the beauty of the reservation. With $15.000 and the labor obtainable from a garrison of six cos. which he considers to be the about the normal strength of the post, he feels confident of being able to complete it in all its details and make Camp Douglass, a credit to the service. He expressed himself much in favor of the idea that Regimental Commanders should be ordered twice each year to inspect the Companies of their respective Regiments with a view of learning of their discipline and tone. In the evening, Colonel Stanton, Lieut Schuyler and I took a little walk going out as far as the pretty cemetery of the post, where rest the remains of many brave soldiers, a great percentage were killed or died of wounds received in actions with the hostile Utes and Shoshonees who infested this region during our civil war. A monolith of sandstone commemorates the services of the California and Nevada Volunteers who did such hard work here under General Connor.17 The roll of dead was quite large as was also that inscribed under the carved heading—“Killed while on vidette duty”. A neat sandstone wall had been built across the enclosure, but this is at present much disfigured because some of the people living close to the post have been in the habit of sneaking up, during dark nights and carrying away the capping stone which they use for building material. At night, we went to a largely advertised [“]Spiritualistic Manifestation”. The crowd was great and the collection of money quite large. As far as the performance itself, too much cannot be given to the managers, for the dexterity with which bells were rung, tambourines played, guitars twanged &c. &c. &c., by a lady sitting with hands bound inside a cabinet, closed by a curtain. 17. This refers to troops under Col. Patrick E. Connor, Third California Infantry, commander of the District of Utah and Nevada. Connor established Camp Douglas in 1862, to put down Indian raids, and also to oversee the Mormons whose loyalty was suspect. Connor’s troops defeated the Bannocks and Shoshones in Idaho in January 1863, effectively ending the Indian disturbances and opening the region to settlement. He also suppressed the Utes and Gosiutes, who he suspected were being encouraged to raid by the Mormons. For this he was promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers. Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, 1:308–9; Utley, Frontiersmen in Blue, 222–26.

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There was no “materialization”, and if there had been, as our party was armed with glass-pipes and plenty of putty, we confidently relied upon our ability to rout the spirits without much trouble. The audience was unusually turbulent and demonstrative: cat-calls, whistling, yells and cries of all kinds filled the air, but finally impatience gave way to hilarity and it looked as if each spectator was doing his best to make the exhibition ridiculous. There was a committee appointed from the audience of four persons who did their full duty in inspecting the cabinet, tying knots and such work, but nothing would satisfy the jolly concourse of hoodlums in the galleries. Each time that Mr. Bishop, the manager would announce that a trick had been concluded and that the Committee reported they found the knots still tied, he would add in his blandest tone: “Ladies and Gentlemen! Can I do anything more for you?” Then fierce would come the howls from scores of throats:—“shoot the committee”! which would set everyone to laughing so heartily that nothing could be seen or done for the next five minutes. An old man, very wise in his own conceit, but very officious and stupid in the view of the audience, made himself a nuisance by pushing forward with the Committee to examine, and by standing in the way and obstructing business. Some one in the audience roared out, “won’t somebody please kill that old man?”, which exasperated him so much that he drew out a card and called to the audience that there was his name as well as his address for anybody who would like to try the job. As might be understood, this increased the din and uproar to a frightful extent: cries of “oh! shoot that old man! Shoot his spectacles!” and others of like ridiculous import, rent the air: the boys in the gallery squealed, kicked, screamed and howled.—and in the midst of the turmoil, we retired almost sick with laughing. Tuesday. Colonel Stanton, Lieut [Charles Henry] Warrens, Lt. Schuyler and myself started in ambulance about 9 a.m., moved rapidly up Valley of Salt Lake, which appeared to good advantage with its multitude of thrifty farms; about six miles from post turned in to Parley Park Cañon, which has pretty scenery, but nothing to compare with that which we saw in American Fork Cañon last year. The road up this cañon is very narrow; much difficulty is experienced in passing wagons. Met a number of wagons, loaded with coal from Coalville, near the head of Weber creek which rises near Parley Park. The seam from which the coal is taken is almost eight feet

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wide and yields an inexhaustible supply of good, hard, merchantable fuel to the people of Salt Lake. The cost of transporting it in wagons down from the Mtns. raises its value very much before reaching its market, where it commands eight dollars per ton. The construction of a narrow gauge tramway, either for steam or horse power, to this coal ledge would reduce the price in Salt Lake at least one half and be a good, paying investment for the capitalist who might engage in it. At 11 o’clock, halted to give our animals, rest, water and a nibble of grass. Passed up the cañon to the “divide”, where we entered Parley’s Park, a mountain meadow, about 2 miles in Diameter, producing a good grass, but not suited for fruits, vegetables or the cereals, (being too cold.) Did not see any great quantity of timber: a few pine, balsam firs and red pine on the crests of the ridges and some quaking asp[en] in Parley Park. Descended into the valley of Ontario Creek by a gentle grade and after a ride of 30 miles drove up in front of the McHenry House, [at] Ontario Gulch, or Park city, as it is commonly called. This “city” is a straggling line of frame shanties on either side of a narrow ravine; some of the houses are neat but generally rough and unfinished looking. (The water from the gulch flows to a branch of Weber creek.) A stroll of half a mile brought us to the Ontario Mill where we hunted up the Superintendent to whom I presented our letter of introduction from Mr. Chambers, one of the principal owners. Our letter secured us a very cordial reception and we at once began the tour of the immense building, the asst. superintendent explaining as he went along, the uses and purposes of the machinery, the value of each particular grade of ore and the method of its reduction. The “Oneida” ledge is 3000 ft. long, between one and two feet wide, and has been developed to a depth of 500 feet: the ore runs from $100 to $200 to the ton, and enough ore is “in sight” to keep the mill going for two years. Forty stamps are at work, run by a (250) horse power Engine, [(]made in San Francisco,) with a sixteen foot Driving Wheel and a 5 ft. by 20 in. cylinder. The entire cost of mill was $250.000.18 This company employs (165) men, but gives indirectly occupation to about 300. 18. The dollar of that era was roughly $12–13 in modern currency.

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The monthly expenses are $30.000; the monthly gross yield $125.000 to $145.000, leaving for a net yield to be distributed in dividends $95.000 to $115.000 monthly. Shares are now worth about $50 each. The stamps are old-fashioned and crush only about 50 Tons per diem, which is only half of what can be accomplished by the new model. The ore is a friable and decomposed quartz, very easily milled. Ten tons of coal, (worth $8.50 per ton,) are consumed each day and the same number of cords of wood. The mill runs Sunday and Monday, as to stop it would cost the company not less than $3.000. The whole theory of reduction may be simply stated in a few words; the ore must be crushed to a fine powder and incorporated with quicksilver which takes up the precious metals, from which it is afterwards separated by sublimation. The ore is first put through the “rock-crusher”, a proceeding which seemed to me to be unnecessary, such was the soft, clayey condition of the material: afterwards, it is run under the stamps which grind it speedily to such a fineness that it will sift through wire-screens, with meshes 2500 to the inch; it is then looked upon as fit for the “amalgam pans” and is so hot that it will almost burn the fingers. The “amalgam pans” are large, cylindrical vats, each of which is charged with (3000) pounds of the levigated ore and 300 pounds of Quicksilver. By the revolution of flat, circular iron plates about vertical axes, (the pans being filled up with water,) the mixture is agitated and the mercury speedily combines with the precious metals. The whole contents of the “pans” are now run off into another and lower set, called the “condensers”, in which, by the principle of decantation the earthy matters are separated from the “amalgam”, the former running off with the water from the top and the latter running out at the bottom into tubs with canvass bottoms which allow the uncombined mercury to run into receptacles provided for it, while the amalgam is kept until it hardens, (which is a sign that it has gathered up all the silver it is able to hold.) And there is carried to the “retorts”, which sublime the mercury and leave the silver to be run into coarse blocks. (The mercury is afterwards condensed and saved for future use.) This is an outline of the process employed, without dwelling upon the various appliances for measuring “charges” of mercury &c.

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When the ore contains much “base metal”, it must first be roasted: this is a very curious operation, the finely pulverized rock being thrown down through a sort of reverberatory furnace, where fierce flames seize upon it and burn out every trace of sulphuret. The value of the silver lost by this mill is something to wonder; nearly half in fact, so that ores which “assay” $200 to the Ton, don’t “work” over $100. An immense pile of “tailings”, said to be worth $100.000 to $150.000 has been collected below the mill and here an industrious Swede works, by permission of the Company to which he pays ($10) per diem for the concession. It is said he makes $75 daily, by using a kind of “concentrator”, which saves much of the silver. Returning to the McHenry House, we were surprised to find an excellent bill of fare, comprising various kinds of fresh fruit, 3 or 4 styles of meat and as many of vegetables, well cooked and served and all for the reasonable price of 50 c[ents]. After dark, we drove to Kimballs’ Ranch, down the Parley Park cañon, some six miles. Here we were presented to a party of young Mormon ladies, among them Miss Jennings whom I met in Salt Lake last year. They did their best to make the evening pass agreeably, entertaining us with a number of sweet and tender ballads, sung with good expression, and with conversation which showed them to be welleducated, intelligent and observing. I could not help feeling sorry to think that the future of these bright, pure-minded girls would very probably be ruined by a polygamous union, without happiness or even worldly advantage. Mr. Kimball, the father, came to this valley in 1848 and got his first start in the world by hauling freight for General Johnston’s column in 1857. Wednesday. August 28th. Perhaps, I ought to give here a glowing account of our fishing excursion and go into ecstasies over the clear stream, with the schools of finny beauties, delightful weather and all that sort of thing; but I cannot. In plain prose, we got up long before sun-rise, worked our way up the creek through wet grass which soaked our feet, and ankles, failed to get a single bite before the rays of the sun had struck the water and then caught only such wee little bits of things that Schuyler threw one or two of his back into the water. I didn’t take any rod with me: a fortunate circumstance, as there was not fish enough to go around. What little I know

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of the habits of trout will keep me from ever going after them before daylight. They are the most curious of fish in some respects that I have ever seen: no one rule will do on two separate occasions. The fisherman has to study the inhabitants of each pond or creek and learn their ways before he can hope for much success. The stream itself is a beautiful one: no trees to bother you, no bushes to catch the line and water so clear that everything can be seen in it as if a mirror. Passed one fine spring on our way home and stopped for lunch at another which poured out a larger stream of pure icy-cold water across the road. A fine view was presented by the sun’s setting behind the Oquirrh Mtns. The clouds lazily floating in the Western horizon gleamed like burnished gold & the contrast of purple peaks and gloomy, cavernous valleys was very effective. Made our farewell calls on the ladies of the garrison. Passed the evening at the Quarters of Colonel [Frank Eugene] Trotter, with all the officers of the Post:—an enjoyable Bachelors’ party.

Chapter 6 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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hursday, August 29th. Bade farewell to our good friends, the Stantons and started at 6 in the morning for Salt Lake, to take the train for the East. On the cars, fell into conversation with a gentleman from Arizona; his description of the overt progress made in that Territory amazed me greatly. He showed me a mining map [marking] the locations of the various ledges, mills &c. in what are known as the “Globe”, [“]Mineral” and “Pinal” districts. I scouted all over that region in 1870-1-2-3, when it was the chosen haunt of the Apaches, who defied every effort of our Government to subdue them until General Crook was sent to take the field against them. How well his work was done, it is not necessary here to say, but for his important services, Crook was made Brigadier General in response to the demands of the whole Pacific Coast. It was with great interest that I listened to the account of the progress of a Territory which in my day was such a wild and hostile region. The Yellow Fever, the papers still tell us, is making deadly advances in Louisiana, Mississipi [sic], and Tennessee. All communication, except telegraphic, with the infected cities is cut off: we read of whole towns depopulated, abandoned by their terror-stricken inhabitants; of families dying without medical attendance, of dead 97

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bodies lying unburied and of all the other horrible accompaniments of the Plague. On the train received a telegram from Major Thornburgh, asking me to go with him as far East as Hazard, Wyo., and there meet the train, upon which would be his brother, (Congressman Thornburgh.) Postmaster-General Key and others. When the trains met, we entered the special car in which we found the Postmaster General and family, Mr. and Mrs. Thornburgh, Mr. Harrison and the rest. None of the party, except Mr. Thornburgh impressed me as being of much depth. The Postmaster-General looked like a plain, bluff farmer, of no great intellectual powers. It has been my misfortune, perhaps that none of the public men whom I have met of late years, have been of a high mental average; some few, like General Grant, for instance, as powerful-minded, honest of purpose, and endowed with good, common sense. Returned to Fort Steele, with the Postmaster General’s party. Mr. Herbert Thayer and I occupied same seat and as old friends passed the hours in pleasant talk until we reached his home at Rock Creek station. At Fort Sanders, the 2nd [?] Infantry Band played a complimentary march and the officers and ladies of the Garrison came to the train to pay their respects to the Postmaster General and the ladies with him. Sunday, Sept. 1st. Major Thornburgh, Lieut. [James Herbert] Spencer and Lieut. Bourke, with a small party of soldiers, left Fort Steele for a visit to the “pinery”, 50 m. off in the mountains. We journeyed due South keeping in the valley of the North Platte which we crossed, about a mile South of the post and then took across the bluffs, leaving the river between 1½ and 2 miles to the Right (West.) Seven miles out, came to Stockwell’s Ranch, where we had to cross Pass creek, a bright little tongue of water joining North Platte. At this ranch there is also a very fine spring. At Bennett’s (or Forney’s) ranch 22 miles from Fort Steele, halted to change teams and to take lunch. The scenery thus far had been tame; the Mtns. to the east of us, i.e. the range comprising Elk, Sheep and Sheridan (or Agassiz.) Mtns. looked in grander proportions than when gazed at from the Rail Road, but did not appear very attractive from the absence of timber. In the valley of the North Platte, which we had once more entered[,] a straggling fringe of cottonwood lined the banks, but no

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other trees were to be discerned. Our line of direction had been nearly South all day. Lunch was soon ready and our little party had appetite enough to enjoy it. We were all dirty and uncouth in appearance and probably as much on that account as any other felt a mutual “trampy”, brotherly regard. With feet cocked on table, hats on head, faces sun-burned and hands crusted with dust, we, that is today the gentlemen, “Tom”, the settler, and the young boy who cooked (!) for the march, enjoyed the tempting lunch of cold beef sandwiches, apples and whiskey toddy produced from our huge baskets; there was enough for ourselves and the drivers of our conveyances. We didn’t take long to finish our meal and without great delay were again whirling along the road behind a fresh team. Immediately after leaving Bennett’s we forded the North Platte once again, and kept up its valley, close to the stream, not more than 2 miles at farthest from it until we came to Jack creek, like all the other tributaries, of good size and sweet, cold water. After crossing Jack creek, our course made a greater angle with that of the river. A few miles farther on, we crossed both forks of Hot Spring creek then Cow creek and finally Calf creek, wh[ich]. joins it. There were one or two springs of considerable volume of cold, clear water, and there is said to be a fine Hot Spring, a short distance off the road, at the head of the creek of the same name. Major Thornburgh did some fine Shooting at long range, but altho’ we could see he hit an antelope, (at 350-400 yards.) the animal got away. A Hawk on the wing was not so fortunate; as he was sailing over our heads, a bullet from the major’s rifle pierced him through the body and felled him to the ground. Excepting this shooting our itinerary of this day would have been void of incident, had not Lt. Spencer’s wagon run into a chuck-hole and sent him flying into the air: I was afraid he was going to be seriously hurt, but Spencer was quick as a cat and landed on his feet with the skill of an acrobat. Crossing Calf creek, we saw that we had entered the timber line: our path became steeper, road rougher and pine trees began to cluster thickly about us. Before half an hour had elapsed, we reached the camp made by our advance party and dismounted from our wagons. This camp was happily located on a shelving bench, giving fine drainage, alongside of a sparkling little brook (joining Calf creek.) and at the feet of noble, shady firs and pines, through whose topmost branches the wild winds of the mountains sang paîans of never-end-

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ing gladness. A stroll around our bivouac led me to see some pretty good grass close by for our horses, and to examine the icy, crystalline waters of the little streamlet which was to be our water-supply for drinking and our mirror for the toilet. This last idea is strictly poetical; the water was too cold and we too indifferent to make much of a toilet. Our men had killed a couple of antelope and a hare before we arrived and thus secured an abundance of good meat. While we were enjoying the fine view spread below us in the valley almost to Ft. Steele, the cooks were busy in preparing supper to which we were quickly called. Fried antelope, fried potatoes, bread, butter and coffee, all washed down with a fine julep Maj. Thornburgh concocted from the wild mint growing along the banks of the creek, made, with our appetites and good humor, a finer supper than Delmonico ever spread before a guest. After supper, Major Thornburgh, one of the finest rifle shots in America, hit with a rifle, 5 times in succession, a condensed milk can which Lt. Spencer threw up in the air for him to shoot at, and also knocked into kingdom come a five cent nickel, under same circumstances. This was about as good marksmanship as I had ever seen. Thornburgh was born in the mountains of E. Tennessee where, as he told me, he used to take part in the shooting matches, which had for the centre of the bull’s eye a silver dime. The best shots would hit this (3) times out of 5, at one hundred yards and that too with a rifle so rudely made that the marks of the village blacksmith’s hammer were yet discernible in the barrel. Our tent was pitched under the spreading pines whose resinous odors are to match the sweetest perfume, but, altho’ we were greatly refreshed by the cool air of the night, none of our party could get to sleep until nearly daylight, the coffee being so strong that it kept us from closing our eyes. Towards morning, the air became so chilly that the shelter of four blankets was most acceptable and we gladly hugged the buffalo robes that made our coverlets. Monday. Sept. 2nd. At a very early hour, before sunrise, Major Thornburgh awakened the camp. The air was very crisp, and a heavy frost whitened the grass. We had had a “running” guard of one sentinel all night to look after stock and guard against fire. The active cooks soon had breakfast hissing on the fire and said we should have just about time enough to wash our hands before finding our meal ready. So to the brook we went with rather gruesome countenances, the

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water being cold as ice and our fingers and cheeks tingling with fire after our rough ablutions had been finished. Breakfast over,—and it was a palatable meal eaten with hunger and good-humor as our only sauce—the work of the day was laid out in felling a straight and shapely pine, whose future destiny was to grace the parade-ground of Fort Steele, as a flag-staff. Muscular arms and horny hands were already swinging the sounding axe: a few moments hard work and the lofty trunk began to tremble; the cutters redoubled their blows; a crash is heard, the tree bends gracefully a few inches, stops for one instant, bends still more, pauses again for perhaps a second and then with a loud groan falls prostrate to the ground. Its beautiful branches, like the tresses of a lovely woman, form its chief beauty; but the remorseless axe has already stripped them from the parent trunk, which in a very business-like way, has been measured and found to run a little over (110) feet in length and four in circumference at the butt. While the axemen were stripping off the bark and rough-hewing the mainmast, the rest of our camp had an exciting hunt after a bad-tempered rattlesnake which had made a spring for one of our men near the brook. We pursued him with axes, branches of trees & shot-guns, but he eluded our efforts and took refuge in the impenetrable jungle in the darker recesses of the Forest. A march of ten miles, over the mountains in a Southerly direction, climbing nearly all the way over steep mountains covered thickly with burnt and fallen timber, brought us to a beautiful lake, whose waters find their way through Battle creek and Green River to the Colorado of the West. On this march, we passed several important tributaries of the North Platte, the principal one being Cow creek, upon a streamlet joining which I think I have already noted our camp was situate[d]. Close by the bank of this lake, there is a little log shanty, erected by mining prospectors who, no doubt were induced to explore these mountains by the great quantities of “float” quartz visible on our trail yesterday and to-day. In this cabin, pasted or tacked to the walls, are a series of cards, recording the names of the few hardy adventurers who have penetrated to this asylum either for pleasure or profit. The lakelet is a gem in its way; the very difficulty of access to it

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I think adds not a little to its beauty when you finally clamber to its rocky shore and look across the lengthening expanse of water. The hills closing in about it are covered with pine timber, most of it burned or blown down in the great conflagerations which swept these mountains, 5, maybe 10 years ago, destroying hundreds and thousands of acres of excellent fuel, within sight of the ranches along the U.P.R.R., to whose inhabitants it would have proved of such great value. It was nearly sunset when we got to the lakelet, but before supper our party of five, (i.e. Major Thornburgh, Lt. Spencer, Privates Rodman and Tupan and myself.) had caught enough trout for supper that night and breakfast the next morning. My catch was the smallest of all—only twelve—as I broke my line and a fish ran away with my hook—but the others caught all the way from 35–50 each. For the night, we made down our bedding under a clump of pine trees, close to a bubbling spring and convenient to good pasturage for our animals. Major Thornburgh made all hands a cheering toddy and then we lay down to a rest, but not immediately to sleep. The bright stars twinkling in the sky were so bright and lovely, no one thought of sleeping and there we lay for several hours chatting about any subject that presented itself and each declaring that the ceiling of our sleeping apartment was ornamented more grandly than any we had ever seen. Tuesday. Sept. 3rd. Another heavy frost this morning. Major Thornburgh proposed that he and Lt. Spencer should start out along the trail and hunt for elk, black-tailed deer or bear, and await upon the summit of the “divide” for the two soldiers and myself who were to go back to the Lake which we expected to reach about (7½ o’clock), fish for trout until 10 and then rejoin our comrades with the spoils. This programme was carried out in all its essential features: Rodman, Tupan and I forced our way through fallen [timber] to the far end of the lake whereupon a spot which should have filled Izaak Walton’s wildest dreams of applicability and appropriateness, I took my stand armed with Major Thornburgh’s splendid rod and tackle. There was nothing wanted excepting a good fisherman at the end of the pole, and I felt that General Crook or some other enthusiastic sportsman should have had my place. It was a boulder of granite rising about 10 or 12 feet above the surface of the water, and presenting an area on top of perhaps 12 feet square. Beneath it the dark, green

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unrippled water looked like a mirror of purest glass. It would be hard to say how much depth there was near me; but it must have been considerable. At first, I thought ten feet, then twenty and finally (30) @ forty. Thornburgh afterwards told me that near the banks, it measured forty feet and a ranchman who had been there said his party made a raft of pine logs, floated it to the center and paid out one hundred & fifty feet of line without touching bottom. However, there I was upon this boulder, overhanging the crystal waters in which, disporting themselves in its depths, darting and flitting from point to point, could be seen the red-streaked and black-speckled beauties I hoped so soon to entice to my hook. Baiting with a fine fat grasshopper, I let my line down until the hook floated upon the surface, where I suffered it to play idly for a moment and in a freak of mischief, drew it away from the first trout or two which approached it. This game exasperated them so much that it occurred to me they must in some manner of summoned others of their tribe from the watery depths; because dozens of them in another moment were darting about just under the surface and even leaping into the air to seize the enticing bait. The sun’s rays had kissed the water and at [the] same instant a fine, fat young trout made a spring for the grass-hopper, caught the hook in his jaws and started away with it, intending, I suppose, to run over to the other side of the Lake; his plans were never realized. In a second, he was dangling in the air, in one more he was squirming and twisting in my hand and in a third he lay gasping and flapping on the rock, a willow withe thrust through his gills. Oh! it was grand sport to look over and see dozens of the bright little creatures swimming about, to throw the line, watch them seize the bait and draw them out in triumph from the limpid element. Eight separate times, I caught and landed two fish, one on each hook: but through my own carelessness, four of them were allowed to squirm off from the rock. Within two and a half hours that I kept my post, I must have lifted nearly two hundred fine trout out of the water, but I succeeded in bringing only one hundred and three back to Fort Steele, losing about as many as I caught, because I didn’t know very well how to secure them. During the same time, Private Rodman, whose pole was a cottonwood sapling caught one hundred and Forty Five and Private Tupan, similarly equipped, took in One hundred and twenty Two. They used the same bait as I, grasshoppers until the trout became

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excited and would bite anything and then trout-eyes which do pretty well, altho’ not half so good as grass-hoppers. After we had picked up our things and shouldered our rifles, it was no joke to work our way back to the place of our last night’s bivouac. Luckily, the fish were all “pan-fish”, but even small as they were, their weight oppressed us grievously, before we got them back to our campfire. There in the clear little spring brook, we had to set to work and clean them:—a task which took us not less than three or four hours. We then laid them in layers on beds of freshly moistened sedgegrass, with which and gunny-sacks, we wrapped them up securely for transportation on the back of our sturdy pack-mule. “Muley” was something of a philosopher—a cynic—and it wasn’t Fancy altogether that led me to believe the curl of his under-lip was expressive of contempt for my ignorance of packing; but at last the load was made up, put on the poor beast’s back, tied after a fashion, and with a sublime dependence on Good Luck, we made ready to commence the ascent of the mountains. It was getting well along in the afternoon; swollen-bellied clouds, black as ink, glowered at us from the neighboring pinnacles; the vivid flash of lightning and the deep-voiced thunder warned us that a mountain tempest would soon be upon us. In the distance, a couple of rifle-shots fired one in quick succession of the other were recognized as a signal from our comrades and answered with four whose echos reverberating across the rocks were immediately heard by Thornburgh, who, with Spencer, rejoined us as soon as they could descend the declivity. Trusting to Thornburgh’s unerring skill as a woodsman, we set out upon the trail, creeping slowly up the mountain side, with cold rain drops, beating against our heads, soaking through our clothes, or dripping down into our boots. But we didn’t mind it much; our catch of fish had been wonderful and a little rain would help to clean us.— From the top of the ridge back to our “flag-pole” camp was mostly downgrade and we had the beaten path of yesterday to follow. We pushed along energetically, our noble old mule hanging to our heels. How it happened that he didn’t throw his load more than once, I can’t tell; but such is the fact and we felt jubilant over it, too. The drenching rain, shrouding in mist the nearest mountain tops and almost hiding the path along which we marched, did not, as we at

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first feared it might; prevent our reaching camp that night. Thanks to Thornburgh’s great skill as a woodsman, we made our way without much difficulty and with considerable rapidity to the bivouac of our flag-pole party, where a cup of hot coffee and good warm bedding awaited us. Almost at once after supper, we jumped under cover, and made up our minds to go to sleep as soon as we could; but a pitiless, pattering rain beat against the canvass all night and kept us awake until it was almost morning. Wednesday, Sept. 4th. Our flag-pole was very neatly rough-hewed and trimmed and altho’ quite short, (only 60 feet.) on account of the tornadoes of wind which occur at Fort Steele during the autumn and winter, was pronounced a beauty by all of our party. It was loaded upon two sets of wheels and brought down from the mountains under the personal supervision of Maj. Thornburgh who as soon as it was on the road in the level plain, gave his horses the rein and drove rapidly back to Ft. Steele. The following table of distances taken from the odometer may be considered almost exact. From Flag Pole Camp to Fort Steele Miles Flag-Pole Camp to Jones’ Ranch 5.11 “ ” “ ” Wagner’s “ .1 Spring C[ree]k. came from [where] Grassy Bottom 14.1 commenced [Flag-Pole Camp to] Bangs’ [Ranch] Had Spring Ck. on Left to Bang’s where we crossed it: end of Grassy Bottom. [Flag-Pole Camp to] North br[anch]. Hot Spring Creek 16.14 N. Platte river on our Right, and converging toward our line. [Flag-Pole Camp to] Jack creek 21.58 24.44. [Flag-Pole Camp to] 1st crossing, N. Platte River. [Flag-Pole Camp to] Bennett’s (Forney’s.) Ranch 24.94. High Grassy Plateau, between these two Ranches. [Flag-Pole Camp to] Stockwell’s Ranch 34.40 Fine Spring at this Ranch: also crossing of Pass creek. 39.58 [Flag-Pole Camp to] 2nd crossing. N. Platte River [Flag-Pole Camp to] Fort Fred. Steele 40.95

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Thursday, Sept. 5th, 1878. Remained all day at Fort Steele. Friday, Sept. 6th. Left Fort Steele at 5 o’clock in the morning. Was pained to hear of the total destruction by fire of the Grand Central Hotel of Omaha and the great damage to the office of the Omaha Herald. The Grand Central cost $300.000, was one of the most imposing hotel-buildings in the West and its loss at this time will be very severely felt. After reaching Hazard, changed to cars of the Colorado Central Rail Road and traversed the fertile plains of the Centennial State to Denver. Put up at Chaupiot’s Hotel which I was told was the best in that part of the country. The cooking was admirable, attendance all that could be desired and the rooms clean, large and handsomely furnished. Denver impressed me as one of the most go-ahead cities I had ever seen. Its people are enterprising and ambitious, its situation for trade, travel or health cannot be surpassed and within the next century, or sooner if we have a foreign war, it may be the capital of the United States. That evening I dropped in at a performance by Callender’s “Georgia Minstrels”, and was much amused. The audience was very large—fully as large as the hall would admit and many people had to stand. There is not burnt cork about these minstrels; they are all genuine darkies and their performances are not so much imitations as reminiscences of plantation life. One of them, in the course of some burlesque song imitated hens, cocks and little chickens with such fidelity to nature that it was hard to believe there was not a lot of barn-yard fowls concealed behind the scenes. Saturday, Sept. 7th. In the morning, took a little stroll along 14th Street, the finest in Denver. There are a great many fine residences, all of them with grassy lawns and fountains in front, trailing vines growing about the porticoes and every sign of comfort and refinement. Denver is abundantly supplied with excellent water from the South Platte river; has good gas, and a finely organized fire Dept. At present time, the R.Rs. are the Denver and Rio Grande with a mileage of 250 m., the Denver Pacific, 125, the Kansas Pacific 450 m., and the Colorado Central 131.—all these having branches and feeders. Then the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé and the Burlington & Missouri River R.R.’s are contemplating the construction of branch

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lines into Denver. The markets of this little city are equalled by but few places in the world; all varieties of game & domestic meat, fruits, vegetables and cereals, besides imported liquors and fine groceries of all descriptions can be obtained at fair prices in the large and well-conducted establishments for which Denver is noted. I should say it was far ahead of Omaha in all that concerns a city’s comfort & welfare. Like Omaha, none of the streets are paved, but Denver has the advantage of being built upon a soil of gravel, which is as good as could supply: the scenery to the West of Denver is very exhilarating; Pike’s and Long’s Peaks are in full view, snow-crested and majestic, the cañons and streams at their base being accessible without trouble by the various Rail Roads. Took the afternoon train on the Colorado Central for Golden, where we changed to the “narrow gauge” and began the ascent of the cañon of Clear Creek. The curves are so sudden that the train takes every point of the compass and scarcely ever can the occupants of the rear car see the Locomotive. The engineering skill displayed in the construction of this little road is of the very highest order. Grand as the scenery of the Clear Creek Cañon must be conceded to be, it cannot be compared to that of the American Fork Cañon, in Utah, but there is a remarkably beautiful body of water in Clear Creek, which extorts the admiration of every beholder. Leaping over great blocks of granite or dashing angrily and vainly against the rocky walls which confine its channel, the current goes roaring down toward the Platte, now white with foam, now turbid with the sediment of the gold miner’s sluices. Tunnels, shafts, prospect-holes and even finely-proportioned mills of brick are to be seen every few yards; the amount of the precious metal taken from this creek in the past has been very great and is still paying handsome returns to all those intelligently engaged in it. On way up, passed the Idaho Springs, a summer resort, rapidly acquiring prominence on account of its valuable mineral springs, hot and cold. About dark, reached Georgetown, a bustling mining town, claiming to have 5.000 inhabitants. This little town is prettily situated in a narrow gorge, with streets so steep that the houses at one end of a block are perched in the air high above those at the other end. There

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were numbers of tourists in Georgetown, ready to go to the Colorado Parks, which are most accessible from this point, but reports of a threatened Indian outbreak among the Utes deterred them. The weather during the day of my stay was extremely disagreeable, cold and damp, with occasional drops of rain and flakes of snow. The Barton House is a fair enough hostelry, without attractions enough of itself to keep me in Georgetown on a rainy day. I had contemplated going up to the summit of the Argeuta Pass and perhaps into the Middle Park, but everything considered[,] it appeared to me that I had better defer a tour through these mountains until an earlier date next year. Sunday, Sep’t. 8th 1878. Left Georgetown on an “excursion” train: passengers nearly all Dutch and Irish on their way to a “Turner” picnic in Denver. At Idaho Springs, met Mrs. Dodge, wife of my friend, Lieut Fredk. Dodge, 23rd Infantry. We had a long conversation about mutual friends and in this manner passed the 5, or nearly five, long weary hours it [took] us to make (from 7 to 11.45 A.M.) the 36 miles between Georgetown and Golden. At Golden, which in ordinary weather would be considered a bright little village of say 1000 @ 1500 inhabitants, I had to make out as best I could for the remainder of that dreary, drizzling, rainy day, without books, without newpapers later than a week old and without companions. The cold rain and snow kept everyone indoors, where the mental capacity of the individuals in the “gents” sitting room was something painful to encounter. As I didn’t take part in the conversation, my ears were at full liberty to take in everything that was said: one fellow wanted to burn every ship, another damned and God-damned the banks; one [illegible] looking youth, smoking a cigar that didn’t seem to be doing him any good, thought it was the damn-n-n preachers that were ruining the country, for upon one point they were all agreed and that was that the whole country was going to the demnition [sic] bow-wows. Good God! I thought and these are the intelligent(!) thinking voters upon whose suffrages the destinies of a great nation depend! I was bilious, I suppose, or dyspeptic; anyway I was cross and looked at things mundane through cerulean spectacles; a glass of whiskey warmed me up and made me feel better-humored, but not enough to enjoy the society of my enforced companions. The young clerk admitted that Golden was rather dull that day, but

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said he, [“]if you will only wait over for a week, we can show you something next Sunday when we are to have a picnic here with two military bands.” I reluctantly tore myself away from such promised attractions and next morning, Monday, Sept. 9th, 1878, was at the dépôt waiting for the train for Cheyenne. That was an hour late: going up the heavy grade and curve just north of Golden lost us another hour, as the rails were so wet and slippery, it was all we could do to move with engines in front and rear. But at last we reached the Union Pacific R.R., at Hazard, where the train going West passed us, having on board General John C. Fremont, who has been appointed Governor of Arizona Territory. Schuyler joined me at Cheyenne, where on the platform were Lieut. Weir, and other friends. Next day, we reached Omaha in safety, no accident having happened to our train, altho’ attacks from organized bands of train-robbers are now to be looked for at any time. The authorities of the Union Pacific R.R. are apprehensive of some dire calamity such as the train being run off the track and sacked by desperate plunderers and have appealed to General Crook for guard to be detailed with each passenger train. This request has been granted, but the number available for each train is so small that a few determined robbers could clean them out without much trouble.

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Part 2 The Cheyennes and the Poncas

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Background

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he Cheyenne Outbreak and the Ponca Affair involved northern tribes that had been transported to the Indian Territory. The Northern Cheyennes who surrendered to Crook as the Great Sioux War drew to a close, were relocated to congregate them with their Southern Cheyenne cousins, who already were established in the Territory. The Poncas were victims of a bureaucratic error in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, in which their lands on the Missouri River were ceded to the Lakotas as part of the Great Sioux Reservation. At the close of the Great Sioux War, the government decided to concentrate the Lakotas on those lands for ease of management. The Poncas, who never in history had opposed the government, then were removed to the Territory. In the cases of both the Cheyennes and the Poncas, the trauma of the move, the sudden change in climate, and the neglect of the government all contributed to suffering and death.1 1. The records of the Cheyenne Outbreak are found in RG 393. Special File. Military Division of the Missouri, Little Wolf’s Cheyennes, March–June 1879, and the George Crook Letterbooks. An excellent recent account is Monnett, Tell Them We Are Going Home. The Ponca Affair has been the subject of extensive writing over the years, including Howard, The Ponca Tribe; Tibbles, Buckskin and Blanket Days and Standing Bear and the Ponca Chiefs; Jackson, Century of Dishonor; and, most recently, Mathes and Lowitt, The Standing Bear Controversy. The material in this introduction is drawn from this sources.

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The Cheyenne Outbreak began on September 9, 1878, when a band under Dull Knife and Little Wolf bolted the reservation and started north. Initially, they held their own, driving off a detachment of soldiers, and attracting a certain amount of public sympathy. In Kansas, however, some warriors began a rampage of murder, rape, and plunder. The main band, however, continued on, and, after crossing the North Platte River in Nebraska, split into two groups. Little Wolf took his people to the Tongue River country of Montana, where Nelson Miles, who never had favored relocation, allowed them to settle. Dull Knife’s band, however, surrendered near Fort Robinson, where they were interned pending transportation back to the Territory. Equally determined not to go, they barricaded themselves into a barracks. To force them into submission, the post commander, Capt. Henry Wessells, withheld food and water. Although he since has been vilified, in the subsequent investigation he pointed out this action was done with the tacit consent of both Crook and Sheridan, and his correspondence bears him out. Unbeknownst to the soldiers, the Cheyennes had disassembled their weapons, concealing the pieces in their clothing. On January 9, 1879, they reassembled them, and that night, attacked the guards and escaped. Most were recaptured over the ensuing weeks. Some were returned to the Territory, while others, including Dull Knife, were allowed to settle with the Oglalas at Pine Ridge, in what is now South Dakota. Bourke’s attention naturally was drawn toward the Cheyennes by the outbreak, and in his diary, he allows himself time to reflect on the humanity of these people against whom he sometimes has been called upon to fight. “They are formidable competitors in the field as well as most astute in council,” he notes. “From my acquaintance with them at Red Cloud Agency in 1877, and my service against them, I formed a very high opinion of their general character and always found them truthful and to be relied upon.”2 In discussing childbirth, he blasts the notion that Indian women are somehow more resilient, and their husbands more stoic or indifferent than their white counterparts. Many Cheyenne women are attacked with puerperal fever and not infrequently deaths occur in labor. All the stupid 2. Bourke, Diary, 26:26.

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nonsense we read about the lack of peril, the immunity of Indian women while passing through the ordeal of the curse primeval, is silly bosh. Upon marches, and especially when pressed by an enemy or compelled by hunger to move a village from one situation to another, Cheyenne women have brought forth their children unaided and even when exposed to cold and fatigue, but the rule is as I give it above—that both they and their husbands and friends appreciate the gravity of their condition and make every effort to diminish its pains and perils.3 Farther on, he adds, “The cardinal virtues among the Cheyenne are Valor, Generosity, Prudence and Tenderness for family.”4 Bourke used the opportunity to make substantial notes on Cheyenne life and culture, including child rearing, education of warriors and women, marriage, dress, and other aspects. That which he did not gather from first-hand observation he learned from Ben Clark, a scout who had lived many years among them and had married into them. He also had some observations on Interior Secretary Carl Schurz, whom he, and many others, considered responsible for the sufferings of the Indians, particularly after the Ponca Affair attracted national publicity. In Bourke’s view, Schurz was keen, subtle and mendacious in character, quick to perceive the weak points of an adversary’s arguments, and perfectly brazen in the suggestion of plausible explanations to cover the shortcomings of his Department, he has, without being personally dishonest, done more to protect and strengthen the thieves of the Indian Ring than any champion who has ever assumed that task.5 Like the Cheyennes, the Poncas found the Territory unendurable. When the son of Chief Standing Bear died, early in 1879, the chief was determined to bury the boy in their old homeland. He and a band of followers transported the body back to the Missouri River 3. Ibid., 26:28–29. 4. Ibid., 26:36. 5. Ibid., 32:438.

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country, molesting no one, and attracting a substantial amount of support among citizens of the area through which they passed. Upon arrival, they were interned at Omaha Barracks pending a forced return to the Territory. Standing Bear (probably encouraged by General Crook), sought an injunction against the federal government to prevent the move. The landmark case was tried in Omaha before U.S. District Judge Elmer Dundy, with Crook as one of the witnesses. The question came down to whether American Indians had legal standing in court and could, in fact, bring suit. Judge Dundy ruled in the affirmative. Just as Indians were required to obey the laws of the United States, he said, so were they entitled to the protection of those laws. The treatment of the Poncas infuriated Bourke. Recording the initial meeting between Crook and the Poncas, he wrote, “This conference is inserted verbatim merely to show the cruel and senseless way in which [the] Government of the United States deals with the Indian tribes who confide in its justice or trust themselves to its mercy.”6 Bourke also included two clippings of Thomas Henry Tibbles’ coverage of the Ponca Affair in the Omaha Herald because, he said, they “will be found both interesting, and accurate, and much more elaborate than mine.”7 I have omitted the clipping concerning the conference with Crook because much of it is the same as Bourke’s own account, with additional background detail available in any of several works listed in the bibliography. I did, however, include the Omaha Herald account of the subsequent suit to recover their reservation, which Bourke used in lieu of recording it himself. In the West Point arrangement of the diaries, the volume concerning the Ponca Affair is placed ahead of the volumes dealing with the Cheyennes. I have reversed the order to maintain Bourke’s chronology. 6. Ibid., 25:71. 7. Ibid., 25:88.

Chapter 7 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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his chapter almost could have been called “The General and the President’s Son,” because Webb C. Hayes, son of President Rutherford B. Hayes, accompanied Crook and Bourke on an expedition to the West. At Sidney Barracks, Nebraska, 1 however, Crook conferred with a group of Cheyennes about the Outbreak from the Indian Territory, and Cheyennes then became the focal point of Bourke’s writing. The Indians were particularly pleased that Webb attended the meeting, because, as the son of the Great Father, he could give President Hayes a first-hand account of their grievances. He very likely did, because the president was genuinely concerned about Indian welfare, and was more prone than his immediate predecessors to standing up against special interest groups that so often harmed the Indians.2 It is obvious that Bourke knew less of Crook’s personal life than he might have believed. The general tended to keep his private relations separate from his official ones, and the Hayes family was 1. Sidney Barracks (which Bourke sometimes spelled as “Sydney”) at the present town of Sidney, Nebraska, was established in 1867 as an outpost of Fort Sedgwick, Colorado. It became a separate post in 1879, and was redesignated Fort Sidney. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1894. Frazer, Forts of the West, 90. 2. Bourke, Diary, 26:11.

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a case in point. Bourke wrote off Webb’s presence with the comment that he was along because Crook was “the old friend of his father” dating back to the Civil War, and that of Crook’s “skill as a hunter no doubt his father had sometimes spoken.”3 In fact, the relationship was much stronger than the usual wartime comraderie; they were like a second family. Not only did Rutherford Hayes frequently exchange letters with Crook, but so did the children. When his military duties allowed, Crook and his wife, Mary, often visited Spiegel Grove, the Hayes mansion in Fremont, Ohio, and Webb Hayes became a surrogate son to the childless couple. The general followed his education and career, and Webb stood by Mary at Crook’s funeral.4 [September 26, 1878] The journey from Omaha to Sidney, Neb., has been alluded to and described so often in my note-books, that in this I feel excused from saying anything more than I made it; Sept. 21st and Sept. 22nd, 1878, in company with General Crook, Lieut Schuyler, A.D.C., Mr. John Collins of Omaha and Mr. Webb Hayes, son of his Excellency, the President. Mr. Hayes came on a visit to General Crook the old friend of his father, who during the war had commanded a Brigade and a Division in the Corps led by Genl. Crook. The intimacy and good feeling engendered during perilous service, had continued into the poping times of Peace and extended to a younger generation. Mr. Webb Hayes was anxious to see something of Far Western life in company with General Crook of whose skill as a hunter no doubt his father had sometimes spoken. Contrary to my expectation, I found Mr. Hayes a very pleasant, companionable sort of a young man—not at all spoiled by the elevation of his father and the amount of flattery Washington parasites must lavish upon him. He presents much the appearance of the picture of his mother—medium size, dark hair and eyes, dark complexion, mouth large, teeth good, expression gentle and frank. In age he might be (24) or (25), though from his beardless face, he might pass for at least three years younger. Pretty soon we got talking unreservedly together and became acquainted with 3. Ibid., 26:1. 4. The Crook-Hayes connection is discussed in detail in Robinson, General Crook, and Hoogenboom, Rutherford B. Hayes. The George Crook Collection at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio, preserves extensive correspondence, not only between Crook and President Hayes, but also between Crook and Webb Hayes.

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the rapidity so peculiar to railroad and steam boat travelling. Mr. Hayes had but lately been graduated from Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.), and Schuyler being a native of that town many persons there were of whom they could talk as common acquaintance. He told us a very amusing story of the artfulness with which a young Sophomore at Cornell obtained a copy of the questions to be asked his class at the approaching Examination. The rule of the university is that each professor prepare his own questions, then have them put in press and after correcting the proof, see that the type is distributed in the case. All efforts, of the pupils of the particular class of which I speak, to obtain copies of the Examination papers had resulted in mortifying failure; but the genius of one indomitable young scape-grace rose superior to adversity. Dressing himself in a very natty walking suit, he wended his way carelessly down towards the Printing Office at the door of which he saw Professor ____ busy in the preparation of his manuscript. The Professor didn’t see anything harmful in the mere presence of the young man, especially since he looked upon himself as being too smart for any dodges the student might attempt to play upon him. But in this estimate of relative capacity he found himself sadly mistaken. The young man sauntered carelessly around the printing office, apparently lost in wonder and admiration of the Art preservative, until he saw the old Professor adjust his spectacles and prepare to read the final proof. Then and not till then did this innocent young man feel tired: there were several chairs in the room, but he preferred sitting down upon the form which held the type of the list of questions to be propounded on the morrow, and as it so happened that he was wearing a pair of white pantaloons, a very fine impression was immediately taken. Before the old Professor got through with the revision of his proof, that noble young man was thoroughly rested and on his way to his rooms where a detachment of breathless class-mates was awaiting his arrival. The examination of that class next day was justly regarded as one of the most brilliant ever held in Cornell. In the car next to ours, was Senator [John J.] Patterson, of South Carolina, Chairman of the Committee on Territories and a party travelling to the Pacific Coast. Among these was a Captain Garrick Mallery, of the Army, who is at present on detached service under the Secretary of the Interior, preparing articles on

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American Ethnography.5 Approaching Columbus, Neb., the fine appearance of the crops and the fatness of the cattle extorted general admiration and praise. This little town is building up with great rapidity; within the last few months the Roman Catholics have commenced and almost completed a large monastery for Franciscan monks, and as an educational establishment. Fifty miles East of Grand Island, the eccentric of our locomotive broke:6 this detained us so long that we did not get in to Grand Island until midnight. Consequently, we had no supper and many of the passengers grumbled not a little. We were worse off, I thought, at North Platte, next morning where a perfectly vile breakfast was served up at an exorbitant price. This fleecing of passengers by conscienceless eating house sharks is the greatest blot upon American railroading: along the Union Pacific line, there are some very well served tables, but just as many where the Bill of Fare is an offense against decency and the price extorted an act of highway robbery. Met Mr. Leech [sic], a young man, who has distinguished himself lately by his pursuit and capture of the highwaymen who last summer, stopped the express train at Big Springs, Neb., and made away with $60.000 in gold. Mr. Leech, at time of robbery, was a clerk in a store at Ogallalla: the day after the depredation, two men, strangers, came to the store and bought a pair of boots. From their conversation he gathered that they were getting ready for a long journey. Trifling as was this incident, it served him as a clue to follow their trail a long distance to their camp, where he saw them and their confederates sitting around the fire counting out their money and 5. Garrick Mallery (d. 1895) was a captain of the First Infantry, who first entered the army as a captain of Volunteers during the Civil War. He finished the war with brevets to colonel of Volunteers and lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army. Like Bourke, Mallery became interested in American Indian culture during service in the West. He pioneered research into Indian winter counts with The Dakota and Corbusier Winter Counts. He was placed on detached duty to work on the monumental Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, but soon abandoned it for his own field work in American Indian pictography and sign language; the Handbook was completed by Frederick F. Hodge. Mallery’s two-volume Picture Writing of the American Indians, published in the Tenth Annual Report of the American Bureau of Ethnology in 1893, remains in print, as does his Sign Language Among North American Indians. Mallery was one of the founders of the American Anthropological Society, and served as its president for several years. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:686; Fletcher, “Colonel Garrick Mallery,” 79–80; http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/preface.htm 6. The eccentric is a sort of auxiliary crank that causes the valves to open and close in the steam chest of the locomotive. This, in turn, forces the pistons in and out causing the drive wheels to turn. http://www.railway-technical.com/st-glos.html#E

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tying it up in the legs of old pantaloons, to be slung over the backs of horses. Leech made his way back undiscovered, got to the Rail Road, telegraphed to the Union Pacific authorities what he had seen, followed the thieves to Texas and succeeded in killing or capturing the last one of the gang and in recovering the major portion of the money.7 We also fell into conversation with a Mr. Fulton, a young Englishman of intelligence and education, who gave us a good idea of the interest felt by his young countrymen in the sheep and cattle interests of Colorado. Great numbers of them are already in business in that state and many more, with small capitals, will soon be on their way there. The whole of Middle Park, is now owned by English cattlemen, who intend fencing it in on the north and south to prevent their cattle from straying. At Sidney, we met Ben Clark, Major Thornburgh, Captains [Thomas Bredin] Burrowes and [John D.] Devin and Lieuts. [George Breckenridge] Davis, [Albert] Austin, Palmer & [Robert Armstrong] Lovell; also Major [George Alexander] Gordon, the post commander, who took General Crook to his quarters.* In the afternoon General Crook had a long conference with the Cheyenne Indians, in their camp one mile from town: none of these Indians were chiefs, but several of them were warriors of prominence. They belonged to the party who, after Mackenzie had destroyed their village at the head of Powder River in the Big Horn mountains, had made their way down to the mouth of Tongue river where they surrendered to Colonel Miles, the Commander of the troops in that vicinity. The rest of the Cheyennes of the north, (1200 @ 1300) in number had surrendered to Genl. Crook at Camp Robinson, Neb., in April 1877, had been removed from there to a location in the Indian Territory, with which they had become much dissatisfied and not having their grievances redressed, had determined to break away from the Reservation and force a path for themselves to their old homes, in Nebraska. They told the Agent, Mr. [John D.] Miles, that if unmolested, they would go peaceably, but if hindered, they would fight. *

Immediately after this, Bourke inserted: Maj. Gordon died Oct. 26th 1878.

7. This was the robbery of the Union Pacific eastbound train, on September 18, 1877, by a gang that included noted desperado Sam Bass. The storekeeper who tracked them down was M. F. Leach. The robbery and Leach’s subsequent efforts are described in Miller, Sam Bass & Gang, beginning with Chapter 5.

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While our party was assembling in front of the tent of Lieut. [H. M.] Creel, 7th Cavalry, I noticed one of the Cheyenne Indians making himself a whetstone from a piece of greenstone or hard rock of some kind, which he patiently hacked with a knife and hatchet. He worked carefully and quietly and I suppose by the time the stone would be ready for use, he would have employed not less than two days’ hard and constant labor in its preparation. The white men present were General Crook, with his Aides de Camp, Lieuts. Bourke and Schuyler, Mr. Webb C. Hayes, Major Thornburgh, Lieuten’ G.B. Davis, 5th Cavalry, Ben Clark as interpreter, with young Bill Roland, as assistant.* The Indians were Little Chief, who had decorated himself by painting hands & hair a deep yellow; Ridge Bear, Red Hat, who had a very well defined moustache, White Thunder, a gray-headed, superannuated old man, and Crazy Mule. General Crook. We stopped here to see you all again and hear what you have to say. I haven’t anything particular to say, but if you have anything to say, I will be glad to hear it, but I have no intention of holding a Council. From what I have seen of the Cheyennes here and in the South, I like them very much. They are good fighters and I think would be good friends. Little Chief. As you are here, I’ll tell you we had a council with General Sheridan at Chicago; we intend to obey the counsels we have received. You can see these people how poor they are; the blankets they have received from the Government are all in rags. We understood we were going to get more to eat than we do. The sugar don’t hold out, neither does the beef. We would like to get plenty of ammunition. We have heard that there is plenty of game below here,—antelope and some buffalo South of the Platte: we want pistols to run the buffalo with. We belong to the soldiers: we were told we could keep the arms and horses given us and we want to be assured of that. We like very well to be with the soldiers; we like them first rate, but we want more rations than we are getting. We are glad the great Father’s son is here to hear what we have to say and tell it to his father and the other big chiefs. Tell them we don’t want to do anything foolish. I am glad you have come here and given us a chance to talk with you. We all feel very much troubled at the news of those Indians going North; they are liable to get into fights Bourke originally included Mr. John S. Collins, of Omaha, but crossed out the name.

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and some of our friends and relatives may be killed. We have given ourselves up to [the] Government and don’t think the Government ought to keep anything from us. We shan’t do anything on the sly. None of us are chiefs, but all are warriors of the Cheyennes. We speak alike, one for all and want you to put it down straight. We are very glad you have come and seen us just as we are; you can see we are very poor. By your coming, we may get better blankets. Those we have, you can see, are nearly worn out. We were told that that, (meaning the Indian Territory,) was a very good country but we now know differently. This country is the land of our fathers and we like it best—we have never owned that country & have heard that all the people down there die off, so we like this country best. When we find our agent down there cheats us, we want to throw him away and get a good man in his place. If he don’t give us our rations, we want to get a soldier who won’t cheat us. We were told in Chicago that any of those agents caught stealing our rations and annuity goods should be removed and we should have soldier chiefs in their places. We also understood that when we got there, (Indian Territory) if we couldn’t get along with those fool Southern Cheyennes, we could leave them and get our own country back. These Black Hills as long ago as we can remember, belonged to us,—long before the Sioux were there;—our dead fathers are buried all over there and we hate to leave it, but because the Government wants us, we are going down South. We are not fools, we have our senses; but we are going down there because we have to. That’s all I have to say. Ben Clark here explained that the Cheyennes receive one half pound hard tack each, (that is adult or child.) and one and a half lbs. beef net each and eight lbs. Sugar, & three of Beans and four of coffee to the one hundred Rations. [“]They have killed several hundred antelope since leaving the Missouri River, selling their skins and eating the meat. They expect, from what they hear, to get buffalo this side of the Republican river, forty miles South of the Platte, in the Sand Hills, of S. Nebraska. I don’t think there are many buffalo there. The Utes were down there hunting a month ago I have been issuing limited quantities of cartridges, on the way down. I gave them two hundred and fifty at Camp Robinson at rate of five a week. They used them in killing antelope and brought the meat in. Little Chief and Ridge Bear haven’t made any trouble on

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the trip. Lieut. [John Burgess] Johnson prevented me from starting (from Camp Robinson.) the day I fixed, but it was just as well I didn’t meet them (the refugee Cheyennes.) on the Kansas Pacific Rail Way.[”] Ben Clark also said that these Cheyennes are great meat eaters and that it was no unusual thing for a grown man to consume from ten to twelve pounds of flesh-food in one day. General Crook. [“]I am very glad to have had this talk and to hear them talk so sensibly. When they were at Red Cloud (Agency.) they were in my country.8 While in the Missouri and in the South, they were not.9 Now, while they are passing through my country, I want to hear what they have to say. I take a great deal of interest in them and want to hear good of them. I can and will give them some ammunition to hunt with on their own. I don’t know much about that country (meaning the Indian Territory.) I hunted there last winter. It looks like a good country. Bill Roland (here pointing to young Bill Roland, a half-breed Cheyenne.) wants to go down there. He likes it better than this country and I understand that those people (Cheyennes.) down there, left because you didn’t come in sooner. They became impatient to see you and came as much to meet you as anything else. Last night I got a dispatch from the Commanding Officer down there, General Pope, that they were away beyond the Arkansas and the soldiers after them. If they should escape those soldiers, there are a great many other soldiers at Red Cloud just come in from the Black Hills, and if they succeed in getting through from Red Cloud, these people will be allowed to go to them. “That is one reason why I wanted you to stay here till this matter was settled. If you had gone down and met those others, I was afraid they might have induced some of you to go away and get you into trouble. Somebody is bound to get hurt pretty soon. When this matter is settled I’ll let you know: you know I always tell you the truth. If those Indians, (i.e. the refugee Cheyennes) go back, you can go on down: if those Indians are allowed to go to Red Cloud (Agency.) I’ll ask to have you sent to join them. “The Government wants to get you all together. When I was in Chicago, the other day, General Sheridan told me it was his intention to send there those now at [the] mouth of Tongue River, so as to get you all together.” 8. I.e., the Department of the Platte. 9. The Department of the Missouri under Brig. Gen. John Pope.

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The conference here terminated and the Indians left, but Little Chief came back and said, “It is getting close to winter; we want to get off as soon as we can. We want to stay two days down here (on Republican river.) and hunt buffalo.” General Crook. Just as soon as the matter is settled, you’ll get a telegram. After the conference, I had a talk with Ben Clark, whom I had the pleasure of meeting several years ago, when he was a scout for General Crook in the campaign made in the winter of 1876, in the Tongue and Powder River country. Ben’s life has been a singular one; for twenty-one years, he has lived among the Cheyennes, among whom he found a wife to whom he was devotedly attached. Upon her death, five years ago,10 he sent to Saint Louis for a marble headstone, which now stands on her grave on the Reservation near Fort Reno, Indian Territory.11 He has lately made a trip in Government service as far as Fort Walsh, British America,12 to induce a fragment of the Nez Percé tribe now with the bands of Sitting Bull, to leave the Sioux and rejoin their own people in the United States. Ben thinks that the buffalo are nearly extinct; he estimates that there are now only (250.000) left in the northern herd, on the Saskatchewan, and not over 25.000 in the Southern herd on the Llano Estacado in Texas.13 Late in the afternoon, we were called upon at the Rail Road Hotel, by the officers of Major Thornburgh’s Command. It is opportune to say here that this command (organized to repel the advance of a small band of refugee Cheyennes who had stolen out from their Reservation in the Indian Territory,) was composed of the “scrap10. Bourke may have been referring to an early wife, or may even have been mistaken. In his entry for Ben Clark, Dan Thrapp (Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, 1:274–75) mentions only one Cheyenne wife, who died on May 16, 1913, fourteen months before Clark himself. Both, however, are listed as buried in the cemetery at Fort Reno, Oklahoma. 11. Fort Reno, Oklahoma. Not to be confused with Fort Reno, Wyoming, which figured in the Great Sioux War of 1876. This post was established in 1874 on the North Canadian River, to protect the Cheyenne-Arapaho Agency at Darlington, on the opposite side. The post was abandoned in 1908, and became first, a remount depot, and then a quartermaster’s depot. It is now a livestock research station. Frazer, Forts of the West, 123. 12. Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan, was established in 1875 by the North West Mounted Police to enforce the law and maintain peace on the Canadian frontier. In 1878, following the Great Sioux and Nez Percé Wars in the United States, it became headquarters for the NWMP to deal with Indian refugees from those wars. The post became obsolete when the Canadian tribes agreed to accept reservations, and was abandoned in 1883. In 1942, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, successor to the NWMP, reoccupied the property and used it until 1968 as a remount ranch. Fort Walsh is now a national historic site, located near the present town of Maple Creek, Sask. www.oc.gcca/lhn-nhs/sk/walsh/indez_e.asp. 13. The Llano Estacado (Staked Plain) is the high plains area of the Texas Panhandle.

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ings” of the Department of the Platte. Individually, the companies or fragments of companies were good enough but the organization presented what might be called the “incoherency” always to be detected in corps formed of various organizations suddenly jumbled together. There was one company of the 14th Infantry from Camp Douglas, near Salt Lake, one of the 9th Infy. from Omaha Barracks, one of the 9th Infy., from Cheyenne (dépôt), Wyo.,14 one of the 4th Inf. from Fort Fred Steele, Wyo., one of the 5th Cavy. from Fort McPherson, Neb.,15 one (a mere skeleton) of the 7th Cavalry, from Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota,16 and a small detachment of the 3d Cavalry, from Camp Robinson, Neb. And this force had been suddenly assembled to head off the flight of a band of savages who had absconded from their Reservation because they felt that our Gov’t. was lying to them; it matters not whether the grievances of our Indians be true or false, exaggerated or under-estimated, the fact that the word of our Government is mistrusted by every tribe on the continent cannot be denied and is a black blot upon our national escutcheon. At [the] same time that General Crook was thus harassed and worried about the Cheyennes, telegrams came pouring in from Idaho and Montana, appealing for aid against hostile Bannocks, who have been depredating in that section for months. Called in the evening upon the ladies of the garrison of Sidney Barracks, meeting the families of Colonel Gordon, post commander, Col.[Thomas C.] Devin, Cap’t. [Michael John] Fitzgerald, Lieut. [William Barrett] Pease, Dr. [Curtis E.] Munn, Maj. [Henry Goddard?] Thomas, and Lt. [John Arthur] Baldwin. Also, Maj. Thornburgh, Cap’t. Burrowes, Lt. Spencer, Lt. Bowman, Dr. Marston, Lt. [William Foster] Norris, Cap’t. [Edward Gustave] Mathey, Lt. Creel, Lt. G.B. Davis, and Lts. Palmer & Lovell. 14. Cheyenne Depot was the official designation of a subpost of Fort D. A. Russell, at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Often referred to as “Camp Carlin” or “Russell Depot,” it was discontinued in 1890. Frazer, Forts of the West, 184–85. 15. Fort McPherson was established in 1863 on the South Platte River, eight miles above its confluence with the North Platte. It was abandoned in 1880, and transferred to the Interior Department in 1887. The post cemetery is a national cemetery. Frazer, Forts of the West, 90. 16. Fort Abraham Lincoln was located at the confluence of the Heart and Missouri Rivers across from present-day Bismarck, North Dakota. It was established at Fort McKean on June 14, 1872, but on November 19 of the same year was redesignated as Fort Abraham Lincoln. The post was abandoned in 1891, and the structures were dismantled by area residents for building materials. The partially reconstructed post is now a North Dakota state park. Frazer, Forts of the West, 111–12.

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Monday, Sep’t. 23rd, General Crook, Lt. Schuyler and Mr. Webb Hayes left for Fort Steele, (Mr. Collins had kept on in his journey yesterday.) General Crook directed me to remain with Major Thornburgh’s command, do everything in my power to make it a success and to report to him everything that might occur. Lieut. [Walter Scott] Wyatt, 9th Infantry, arrived this morning from Omaha Barracks and reported for duty with Captain Burrowe’s [sic] Company Lieut. [Thomas Sidney] McCaleb, arrived from Fort McPherson to attend a General C’t. Martial, in session at Sidney Barracks. Before noon, I visited in company with Dr. Munn, the post surgeon, the fine Hospital just completed and not yet occupied. The ventilation, by ridge windows and apertures in the flooring under the stoves, pleased me very much: altho’ I was acquainted with the method theoretically, I had never seen it in actual operation before. The latrines, kitchens, ward and dining rooms were all excellently managed, the bedding of newest styles and mattresses of woven wire. Before starting for Fort Steele, General Crook instructed Major Thornburgh to call upon telegraph operators along the line of Rail Road for any information they might receive regarding the advance of the Cheyennes: also to ask citizens living in the district through which they were likely to come to advise him without fail of everything they might discover of whereabouts of the hostiles, and for all such information a liberal recompense was promised. While the General was anxious to have everything possible done for Major Thornburgh in whom he placed great reliance, he didn’t seem at all sanguine of our success: indeed it didn’t require much military learning to see that the command assembled at Sidney was very poorly prepared to take the field against anything. It had no pack-mules, no guides and no scouts. With a few Indians as trailers, a great deal might be hoped for. Major Thornburgh told me that he asked Genl. Crook to let him have some Arapahoes from Camp Brown, but that the General told him the distance was too great to admit of their being brought on in time to join the Expedition. As more than half our men were dismounted, Genl. Crook directed me to telegraph the Comdg. Officer, Fort McPherson, to send to Sidney every serviceable public horse at his post; and Lt. W. B. Weir, Ordnance Officer, and

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Cheyenne dépôt, Wyo., for all the Cavalry equipment needed. The great trouble in all exigencies like the present is that our little army is found unprepared—nominally 25.000 strong, it is in reality not over 22.000 @ 23.000 in the aggregate, and it has imposed upon it more work than could be done by a strength of 50.000. Each little station along the line of the Union Pacific Rail Road is now anxious to possess some of the troops congregated at Sidney; last night, Ogallalla telegraphed an urgent appeal for a company of troops, but Major Thornburgh couldn’t comply, as his force was too small to admit of being scattered in fragments. Dined to-day with Dr. Munn and family; after dinner, listened to some very agreeable music on the zither, an instrument of sweetness and power, Miss Thomas, the young daughter of the Paymaster, played upon the violin and Miss Munn upon the guitar. Sept. 25th On the Westward-bound train this a.m. were Lt. Keefe, 4th Infantry, three young graduates of the Mily. Academy, Colonel [Horace Blois] Burnham, Judge Advocate of the Dep’t. Platte, and Mr. [William H.] Lyon of the Bd. of Indian Commissioners. Horses for the command arrived from McPherson at 4 o’clock this morning; saddles arrived from Cheyenne last night. As the horses were unshod and there were no suitable nails at Sidney, I ordered Lt. Baldwin, 9th Infantry, Post-Quartermaster, to purchase in open market such quantities as he might require for shoeing the fore feet. The weather to-day has been quite windy, but nothing like the bad storm of dust which annoyed us yesterday, making walking or riding almost an impossibility. Seventeen families came in from the ranches on the South Platte today, scared by the reports of the Indian advance. Major Thornburgh and his subordinates have been continuously employed all day in distributing horses, saddles and equipments among the men of the two Infantry Companies, Bowman’s of the 9th and Spencer’s of the 4th, which are to be mounted. In my conversations with Ben Clark, I have been successful in eliciting much information of considerable value upon the ethnography of the plains tribes, specially the Cheyennes, among whom, as I have mentioned already, he has lived for over 21 yrs. continuously. Clark is a man of clear intellect, expressing himself in good language, honest and truthful in his statements and accurate in his deductions. The Cheyennes call themselves His-tàs, a derivative probably from

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the verb É-histà=to wound, to slash. Now in the sign-language, as I have said in another note-book, the mark for Cheyenne is made by drawing the right forefinger across the Left wrist. This would mean either “to cut” or else “striped”. Generally the first meaning has been assigned and many people call the Cheyennes the “cutfingers,[”] just as for similar reasons the Sioux have been known as the “cut-throats”. But the Cheyenne say that the whites first heard of them through the Comanches who wished to describe them as the people who had arrows with “striped” features, because the Cheyenne arrows were always feathered from the wings and tails of the wild-turkey. A misinterpretation of the sign caused them to receive the name I speak of.17 In general character, the Cheyenne are extremely fierce, cruel, skilled in battle, unequalled in horsemanship, precise as marksmen. They are formidable competitors in the field as well as most astute in council. From my acquaintance with them at Red Cloud Agency in 1877, and my service against them, I formed a very high opinion of their general character and always found them truthful and to be relied upon. (See my note-books of 1876–1877.)18 Bancroft, in his history of the Native Tribes of the Pacific Slope, says the Comanches and Cheyennes are unequalled as horsemen.19 The language of the Cheyennes is mellifluous and sonorous, but from a curious manner of eliding and apocopating. They have made many of their words so hard to distinguish, that their language is scarcely more easy for an American to learn than is the Arapahoe. As among all other tribes the women have a jargon of their own, using expressions which the men do not consider sufficiently dignified for their use. I noticed one very curious fact in their language: the word for nose is Nay-é-ve, but in all compounds, they use “May-é-his”=“red-nose”.* General In the half-line below May Bourke wrote red, and below é-his, he wrote nose.

*

17. According to George Bird Grinnell (Cheyenne Indians, 1:3–4), the Cheyennes call themselves Tsistsistas, which translates more or less as “people.” As for the sign, Grinnell said it has variously been attributed to striped feathers on arrows, as well as a practice of slashing themselves as a sacrifice. 18. This material is contained in Robinson, Diaries, Volume 2. 19. Bourke refers to a passage in Hubert Howe Bancroft’s Native Races (1:517–18), which states: Of all North American Indians the Comanches and Cheyennes are said to be the most skillful riders, and it would be difficult to find their superiors in any part of the world. Young children, almost infants, are tied by their mothers to half-wild, bare-backed mustangs, which place thenceforth becomes their home. . . . A favorite horse is loved and cherished above all things on earth, not excepting wives and children.

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Custer, whose sanguine complexion and sun-peeled nose obtained for him the appellation from the Southern Cheyennes when they first met him in his campaign of 1866–67.20 The Northern Cheyennes always called him “Long Hair”. This fact of having two words in use for common objects would be a philological indication to my mind that the Cheyennes are the result of a merging at some distant day of two distinct ethnic streams, just as in English we have the Saxon word Bull and the Norman word Beef for the same thing. They call an elk “móe”, and a horse móe-ini, this shows of course from the fact that the word for horse is a compound of the word for elk, that they knew the latter animal before they knew the former, as we might suppose to be the case. The word for “moon” is “night-sun”. The most convenient point of departure in narrating the peculiarities of the Cheyenne Indians, is, it seems to me, their birth. During the critical period of maternity, their women are carefully attended by mid-wives, and supplied with everything in the way of good food or warm herb-teas that the limited resources of their cuisine will admit. Many Cheyenne women are attacked with puerperal fever and not infrequently deaths occur in labor. All the stupid nonsense we read about the lack of peril, the immunity of Indian women while passing through the ordeal of the curse primeval, is silly bosh. Upon marches, and especially when pressed by an enemy or compelled by hunger to move a village from one situation to another, Cheyenne women have brought forth their children unaided and even when exposed to cold and fatigue, but the rule is as I give it above—that both they and their husbands and friends appreciate the gravity of their condition and make every effort to diminish its pains and perils. For months before and after delivery, husbands do not approach their wives.* The child, when born, is washed in warm water, clothed and handed to its mother. No traces of the “coewade” [?] have been observed among the Cheyennes. The birth of a boy is the occasion for much rejoicing; sometimes, feasts are spread to which all friends are invited. Children are treated with great kindness—are rarely Above this, Bourke inserted: Abortion is known among them.

*

20. This refers to the campaigns of 1867–69, during which Custer attacked and destroyed a group of Cheyenne villages on November 27, 1868. See Hoig, Battle of the Washita, and Greene, Washita.

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punished, sometimes girls may be slapped by their mothers, but boys scarcely ever are struck. For games and amusements, the boys have fishing lines and bows and arrows from the time they can first stand up. They are also placed upon horseback and taught equitation while they are only able to crawl. When a boy is five or six years old, he is able to shoot birds off from the limbs of trees. They also have tops, rudely whittled out of hard wood, the extremities of the vertical axis often terminating in brass pins: these are “whipped” with buckskin strings. Little girls have dolls and have imitations of “travaux”,21 with poles, baskets &c, in which they sling their dolls, frequently using a little puppy as a horse. They also make toy cradles for their dolls. A favorite game with little girls is “foot-ball”, the projectile being made of buck-skin, stuffed with buffalo hair, and balanced on foot. As they grow older, girls from ten to fifteen years of age are very fond of “shinny”,—but this is rarely, if ever, played by boys or young men. This game is exactly the same as ours with established bases, sides and rules. The forfeit is a feast to be given the victors by the vanquished. Both sexes and all ages are greatly addicted to cardgambling: they procure their cards from traders and do not make them of horse-hide as do the Apaches. One of their card games bears too close a resemblance to our “muggins” to be mistaken; in it, the unfortunate loser’s face is blackened amid the jeers of the other players and the bystanders. They play casino generally and many of them are familiar with both forms of “monte”. [They] are very fond of “odd or even”, played with small pebbles: they have no game of colored sticks like the Pacific Coast Indians,22 but do possess their game with lances, arrows and hoops. An arrow placed upright as a mark has the others thrown at it; the one nearest takes the prize. Or arrows are thrown simply for display of skill in throwing; casts of thirty to forty yards with the hand are not uncommon. A hoop is rolled along the ground and lances thrown after it; the most skilful [sic] players are those who can pass the lance through the hoop while rolling. Or, they will hold a bow ver21. A now-obsolete plural of “travois.” 22. Among the modern plains Indians, the Comanches in the vicinity of Apache, Oklahoma, play stick games. I have seen games where a considerable amount of folding money is strewn about the pit in wagers. They often are accompanied by a respectable amount of barbecued brisket on side tables.

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ticle [sic], take an arrow by the feathered end, tap it smartly against the taught [sic] string and as it rebounds from the hand, determine the value of the stroke by noting where it strikes the ground with reference to an arrow inserted in the ground as a “pointer”. The young warriors are extravagantly fond of horse-racing; their favorite racers and war ponies are well looked after. Upon them can generally be seen some painting—a mark of a human hand in yellow, black or red paint; red flannel or feathers in main [sic] and tail or even a piece of skin or horn of the antelope, in the belief that by wearing those charms the horse will become swift enough to catch the fleet venison. The young married women have a game for indoors, at which they pass many hours of their time: it is played with brass needles, six inches long, to which are attached threads of sinew, filled with beads; at ends of threads are four large rings and four bones, (from the legs of the prairie dog,) which bones are perforated with holes. Taking the needle in her fingers, the squaw swings the rings and perforated bones in the air and essays to catch them on the needle.

The counting is determined by the number of rings thus secured. The women have sewing “bees”, with hash and gossip, just as among the whites: and when a family is about to make a new lodge all the women folks of the village are invited to take a part in the work which is really very laborious. The most experienced old woman is deputized to superintend the “cutting out”, no small task when we consider that from ten to twenty buffalo cow skins are needed for each lodge and that there is just as much paring, gusseting, piercing and stretching required as in the most elaborate American dress. The sewing is done in sinew, taken from the buffalo hump. As they grow to maturity, the young Cheyennes aspire to become great warriors; the general tenor of their education is to make them capable of enduring fatigue, undergoing privations and despising danger. Contrary to general apprehension on the subject, the Sun Dance is not the ordeal to which all young men must submit before securing recognition as brave soldiers; while I am not ready to say that there

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are any warriors in this tribe who have not subjected themselves to this test, I do know from Ben Clark, Frank Gruard, old Friday of the Arapahoes, Billy Hunter, and Lieut. Clark, (2nd Cavalry,) that the Sun Dance is a propitiatory act, a vicarious sacrifice for the whole tribe, as well as a personal oblation to the Great Spirit, whose wrath, they suppose can be conciliated by self-mutilation and torture. There are many young bucks who have passed through this terrible suffering two and three, occasionally even four times. . . .[T]he Sun Dance must take place in the month of June as the medicine lodge in which much mummery is practised during the ceremony, has to be made of leafy boughs; farther to the South, the Cheyennes celebrate it sometimes as early as April when the foliage first appears. Having fasted from food and drink for (2) days and gone without sleep for two nights, the candidate for these honors has the clothing stripped from the upper party of his body, slits are made in the skin of his shoulders, breast and arms, through which are passed ropes of hair or buffalo hide, having attached the heads of buffalo, elk or the domestic cattle. The young man must pull and strain until he has torn loose from these impediments; sometimes, he faints away with pain. In such a case his friends may march in and stamp on him and pull and haul until they tear the ropes through the flesh and liberate the prostrate victim. . . . The cardinal virtues among the Cheyenne are Valor, Generosity, Prudence and Tenderness for family. About this time, if he amounts to anything at all, the young man, has a voice in the public councils; here, they behave like other Indians, serious, seemingly impassive and stolid, but on all other occasions when among themselves, they are cheerful, chatty and even hilarious, and greatly given to telling stories. The young men marry at any time from 18 to 20, generally when about 20 or 21. An Indian may have as many wives as he feels he can support, but monogamy seems to be getting more and more the rule. When in permanent camps, the Cheyennes are very neat and cleanly in dress and person: dirty and lousy habits are derided. On marches, necessarily, all this changes to a greater or less extent according to circumstances. The devoted Cheyenne mother scours the heads of her babies and eats the objects of her search.23 The young men and women are very 23. I.e., lice.

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nearly all provided with fine combs. Girls are nubile at fourteen, but ordinarily marry at a later age than is the case among the Kiowas or Arapahoes. During time of menstrual purgation, women live apart in small lodges. When two or three girls in [the] same condition are in one village, they live together, for company sake. Food is brought to them and sometimes, for medical reasons perhaps this is prepared in a peculiar way. During this time, a young girl must not enter her parent’s lodge or indeed any lodge, but she is at liberty to go wherever she wants out of doors. The chastity of women is highly regarded. In courting, the Cheyennes use rings made of Brittania [sic] metal, German silver or silver, ornamented with carvings of lizards or other animals. When a young Cheyenne warrior becomes interested in a young girl, he proceeds to her parents’ lodge, near which he takes his station, while his sister or some other female relative goes inside and hands to the young maiden a ring, made as above described. If this be refused, the young man knows that his suit is rejected; but its acceptance gives him no right to her hand but simply places him on the “anxious bench”, and enrolls him as one of her suitors; she may have as many of these as she pleases, three or four being not uncommon, and a ring from each worn on the fingers. The lover now has to wait until he can catch the young maiden coming out of her lodge, when he will seize her in his arms and wrap his blanket about her. This is a formal declaration of his love. Young people may be seen sitting on the ground wrapped in [the] same blanket, and when the young lady’s affections are finally enlisted on the side of her lover, she allows him to kiss her, much in the good old-fashioned way to be noticed among other nations. (This sitting, wrapped up on the same blanket can also be seen among the Apaches and Navajoes of the South-West.) Finally, when the young lady’s heart has been won, the suitor must apply for her hand, not to her parents, but to her “guardian”, who is most frequently an elder brother, altho’ he may be some other relative. This wardship is an odd feature. The mother and father, probably exercise great influence in the matter but externally at least, the guardian has full powers: these, he may exercise arbitrarily, and in that case, the young lady to escape a marriage repugnant to her notions, often will elope with the favored lover. Taught as she is to submit to the inevitable, the young lady often accepts with

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good grace the hand of her guardian’s—“avisin-hit” or “bosomfriend.”—that is the friend who will remain by his side in battle or any other danger. The marriage ceremony is very simple, that is if we can consider it a ceremony at all. The groom sends to parents of [the] bride, a present, generally of horses, proportional to the importance of her family, and her own worth. These are led over by some of the females of his family and picketed in front of the bride’s parents lodge. If these be accepted any time during the day, the young man immediately has his lodge erected, in time to receive his bride, who comes to the lodge escorted by her women-friends, while she is elaborately painted and arrayed in her best attire. It is to be remarked that she wears no plumage, nor indeed are feathers ever allowed to be worn by women, as they are looked upon as the peculiar decoration of warriors only. There are no nuptial songs, and no congratulatory ceremonies. Occasionally, the bride’s parents give a feast to their friends. There is a well-defined “honey-moon” passed in travelling to other villages of the tribe; upon arriving at such villages, the bridal pair are treated with special deference and consideration. High Wolf, who has lately married Red Hat’s daughter, is at this writing, (Sept. 22nd–Oct. 4th 1877.) in the camp of these Cheyennes:—he is very attentive to his bride, who seems to dote upon him. They live apart from the rest of the band and are just as “spooney” as lovers in a fashionable novel. Ben Clark assures me that there is much affection in the married life of the Cheyennes, altho’ they are careful to conceal any manifestations of it from the public gaze. Polygamy being recognized, we need not be astonished when we sometimes come across 2 or three wives living in the same lodge: the rule however is to separate from the old wife before taking a new [one]. Divorces are easily obtained; the husband simply sends his wife away. While I was in Sidney, Crazy Mule took back a wife with whom he had quarrelled and from whom he had separated. He acted as if ashamed of himself, in having admitted by his last act that his first one had been an injustice. Here Bourke inserted a picture which is now darkened beyond recognition, possibly by the glue used to affix it to the page almost 130 years ago.

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The picture on this page represents a young Cheyenne courting his sweet-heart: it is one of a series from a book in my possession, painted by the Cheyennes. The book itself, they say, was taken from the body of a soldier killed in [the] Custer Massacre. Ben Clark presented me with the book. I have made many inquiries concerning “totems”, or clan-marks; thus far with scarcely any success. Ben Clark says, so far as the Cheyennes are regarded, a Cheyenne warrior can marry any Cheyenne girl excepting his sister or first cousin. Like the Spaniards and Mexicans, they call their cousins by the endearing title of “sister”. I have, however, found that all these plains tribes, the Crows, Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes have certain secret-politico-military organizations throughout the tribe and charged with the defense of its interests, in peace or war.24 Among the Cheyennes, these are known as the Bull-soldiers, Elksoldiers, Fox-soldiers, Dog-soldiers, and Crooked Lances. The Dogsoldiers, have been of late, by far the most famous and are the best known to our people, who for a while in 1866–67 considered them almost as a separate band. The Cheynne scarcely ever tattoo. Painting is very commonly practised. The face is painted almost any color, preferably yellow. Black and Red are most affected as “war paint”. The median line of the head is for “full dress”, powdered with Chinese vermillion, and the eye-lid, at the eyes, tipped with a brush holding some of [the] same pigment. Contrary to general opinion, I must say that the North American Indians are not very dark naturally; sometimes as light almost as white babies, but exposure to the sun tans them very dark. The Moqui25 Indians who live constantly in the shelter of stone houses are to my model of thinking, fairer than the Mexicans inhabiting the country near them. The Cheyennes manufacture no stimulants; they are passionately fond of whiskey, obtained at times from white men and Mexican half-breeds. When their nerves are depressed, they will eat the gall of the buffalo as a tonic and exhilarant. 24. These are the warrior societies. In battle, they function as quasi-combat units, and in camp as a sort of civil police. Among some plains tribes, these societies have been resurrected in modern times as veterans’ organizations. A notable example is the Kiowa Black Leg Society. See Time-Life, Way of the Warrior, 120ff. 25. I.e., Hopi.

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Their ordinary language is almost free from invective; in their imprecations, the name of the Great Spirit is never used. Their expressions of contempt are Mas-sìm=fool, enhé-to-vàn=silly-head, hí-â-tam=dog, níssi-keh=bitch, O-îsh-kish=pup, and rarely, when very angry, Natsi-vis=____ mouth26 and I-ehé-his=snot nose. The common prayer, to call it by such a name, is, among the Northern Cheyennes, at least, Nâchi-*vettàn,** i.e. help me (Great Spirit.) Occasionally they will ascend to the tops of lofty mountains and there remain for 3 or four days, fasting and crying, calling upon the Great Spirit to help them because they are poor Indians, want more horses &c. Bear Butte, at the North East. corner of the Black Hills27 was once a sort of a Mecca for the Cheyennes; its summit, they imagined, was the place of resort of the spirits of their dead and to go there and remain isolated from the world for a few days, until half starved was looked upon as an act of great piety. In smoking the pipe, each Indian has his own method of handling it, waving it to the Right or Left, upwards or downwards, in a circle or straight line and of inhaling and ejecting the smoke. From all I can gather, the act of smoking, at least in council, has much “medicine” connected with it. They are superstitious to a fault in some things; as for instance, when they hear owls hooting after dark, they are certain that their dead friends are embodied in the owls and trying to communicate with those they left on earth. They have no superstitions about food, as other tribes have; but when a Cheyenne has made a vow not to partake of certain kinds of food, he will religiously observe his contract, even where the article from which he has vowed to abstain is whiskey. Thunder they believe to be occasioned by a large and malevolent bird—Na-nó-moh=thunder, is derived from I-ná-_=to kill. Both Cheyennes and Arapahoes fire off guns to drive away thunder and lightning. In Battle the warriors sing a monotonous chant of howls and hiaya, ya, Hi–ya-ya’s, and shout to the enemy “we don’t want to live until our teeth are short”, alluding to the fact that the teeth of their old people are often worn down to the gums from eating dried buffalo meat which the wind fills with sand.28 They call the enemy Below this Bourke wrote: me. And below this: help.

*

**

26. Bourke’s Victorianism is showing. He almost certainly meant “shit mouth.” 27. Plainly visible to the north from the Veterans’ Administration center at Fort Meade, South Dakota, about five miles due east of Sturgis. 28. Meaning the buffalo meat was dried in the sun, exposing it to grit and dust.

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cowards and dogs, and defy them to come close and fight. “Chivymumuawitz” which literally means “hurry up and strike against us”. Of their method, if any, of declaring war, I have been able to obtain very meagre and incoherent accounts, and I consider that Ben Clark’s statement is a well-founded one. He says that they have made no new wars since he came among them and that all their feuds and enmities are hereditary. They admit that the Pawnees and Shoshonees are brave, but say that the Utes are braver than either. The Crows are daring horse-thieves, but don’t fight well. As for the Sioux, they gained this country by sheer force of numbers and not by any especial bravery. At this point it is appropriate to remark that for some cause, probably the incoming of the Sioux, the tribes of the plains have within the past century been much disintegrated; bands of the same nation, speaking the same language, are to be found at opposite poles, so to speak; thus, the Arickarees and Pawnees speak the same language; the upper Gros-Ventres and the Crows are the same and the lower Gros Ventres [sic] are identical with the Arapahoes. The Asiniboines and Dacotahs are of same stock; the Kiowas are closely related to the Crows and the Shoshonees to the Comanches. The Blackfeet, altho’ using a different idiom, are of the same derivation as the Arapahoes. (Upon this subject, remarks were made in my note-books of NovrDecr 1876 and April 1877.)29 The Northern Arapahoes call themselves Nan-na-é, but are styled by the Southern Arapahoes—Nahthé-n_. Of their tribal government, I couldn’t obtain much more knowledge than already possessed; in one word, we may say the administration of affairs is in the hands of a senate of old men, and distinguished warriors, in which every man of the tribe, who has distinguished himself in battle, has a voice. (See preceding note books.)30 Old people are kindly treated, but when hard pressed by an enemy, the Cheyennes have been known to abandon them. Their commerce with other tribes is at present reduced to a nullity; all trading is done with the whites whose stocks are greater and prices lower than could be obtained in a trade carried on by barter with their neighbors. As our money circulates freely, they have no 29. This material is contained in Robinson, Diaries, Volume 2. 30. Ibid.

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wampum or shell currency. They buy with great eagerness the “hair pipe”, sold by the traders; of this they make fanciful breast-plates and sometimes earrings. I don’t know what this hair-pipe is made of; it is made by a man in New Jersey, who thus far has kept the secret of its manufacture to himself. It looks like porcelain or fine glass tubing, but many people think that it is made from sea-shells. The Indians value it highly and will pay almost any price for it.31 They take scalps in war, simply as a proof that an enemy has been slain. In holding relations of a pacific nature with other tribes, it is their custom to send a herald, armed with a pipe. Before proceeding on his mission, this envoy will fast for several days, to insure success. Dramatic societies have only lately been introduced among the Cheyennes; these are evidently organized in imitation of those among the Sioux of which a full account can be found in my notebooks of April and May 1877.32 They take great pleasure in the dance and will organize parties for that purpose upon the slightest pretext. In one of these, the participants take their places in couples; while dancing, the young buck will sing to the girl who happens to be his partner—“I am looking for a nice girl to live with me and be my wife and stay with me wherever I go; I think I see the girl I am looking for”. The young lady answers in the same strain and then they join hands and dance together down the line. (Of the Buffalo dance a description will be given farther on.) Their literature, whether as tradition or graphic delineation amounts to nothing: they do not show much proficiency as picture-writers and are unable or unwilling to give an account of their lineage or the locality from which their progenitors migrated. My experience has been that an Indian will frame for the occasion just such a tradition as he thinks will suit the fancy or prejudice of his inquisitors. Their lodges, formerly made of elk or buffalo cow skins, are now framed of canvass, wrapped around poles, (18 @ 24 in number.) of a length all the way up to 24 feet. These are made from the heart of pine, fir, (among Northn. Cheyennes) or cedar trees, (among Southern Cheyennes. The saplings are selected for their straightness and flexibility and 31. Generally considered porcelain. 32. The material for April 1877 is found in Robinson, Diaries, Volume 2, Chapter 13. The notebooks for May are missing.

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are trimmed down to the proper diameter, four inches. Around the inner side of [the] lodge are strewn couches made of furs spread over willow branches, with head and foot-boards of twigs, covered in like manner; pillows of buffalo hair. A fire is made in [the] center of floor, the smoke escaping through [an] orifice left in the apex of the cone. Outside of each lodge may be seen the owner’s shield and sometimes his lance, bow and war-bonnet.—also a scaffold upon which meat is “jerked”. (Consult note-books of 1876–1877, for fuller description.)33 Their villages are always arranged in [the] form of [a] circle; the space enclosed is used for dances, councils, &c. Before starting on a buffalo hunt in the Fall of the year, they hold their “buffalo dance”. In centre of camp, they erect a big lodge of boughs, covered with skins, &c., much after the manner of a “medicine” lodge. In this all the mummery of the festival is carried on. The master of ceremonies is a very important personage and orders things much to his own fancy. A grand Mardi Gras procession dances through the village, the characters represented being those of wild animals; lions, wild-cats, panthers, buffalo, elk, deer, mountain sheep, bears and wolves are cleverly imitated, the actors decked out with the heads and skins of the proper animals whose actions they assume with great cleverness. Besides these actors proper, there are a lot of clowns, who are entirely naked, except a breech-clout; there seems to be no recognized color to be followed, each one being left to the dictates of his own fancy. The procession moves along, as I have said, much in the style of a carnival;—the ludicrous, burlesque, obscene and serious blended. The clowns indulge in vulgar jokes to excite the laughter of the spectators. The actors meantime are faithfully carrying out their respective parts; the buffalo bulls lower their heads and rush at each other in deadly combat; the vanquished bull runs away, and the conqueror suddenly darts into the crowd, seizes some young girl and carries her off. This is the signal for great merriment. The maiden is derisively called the buffalo cow and must remain with her captor until the farce is over. While the dance is going on, all the sick and infirm are brought to the front of their lodges; the masqueraders make a grand circuit of the village and upon coming 33. Robinson, Diaries, Volume 2.

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to one of the sick people march around him three times in single file—this, they think, will alleviate his sufferings. The clowns keep dancing about among the villagers and frequently try to shoot with blunt arrows, some of the young girls and if they succeed, she must follow the clown all day. This is all there is of the dance in public, but afterwards there is a meeting in the big lodge, at which appear two young girls, eight to ten years old, naked and painted to represent buffalo calves. While in public view, these girls were kept covered with buffalo calf heads and skins; but among the Arapahoes, this part of the ceremony is carried on with less regard to decency. They have one full grown woman and two young girls, perfectly naked and their chief of ceremonies is not a man but a naked woman who takes the part of a white buffalo cow. This dance is considered sure “medicine” for bringing the hunters plenty of buffalo. They are superstitious about the albino or white buffalo to this extent that when one is killed, the woman who is to tan the hide must first have a lot of mummery and incantation performed over her by the “medicine” men. Their burial ceremonies may be delineated in a few words.34 “Formerly they buried their dead on scaffolds, erected on poles, 6 ft. above the ground (feet of corpse to the East.); they also placed their dead on trees where there was plenty of them. When a warrior died, they painted him, put on all his finest clothes, ornaments &c. and rolled him and his implements of war, shield, war bonnet, in his finest blankets, and robes, and with them fineries contributed by friends and relations. All these were tied up on a large robe. The body then [was] placed on a travaux [sic], or ‘Um-sto-ase’, as these Cheyennes call it and taken by the relations and friends to the place of burial: a favorite horse (sometimes two or more;) led to the grave and shot. The relatives then cut their hair, which is worn full length by both men and women when not in mourning. The women gash their legs from the ankle to the knee, sometimes, a mother will cut her finger off at first joint. Their hair is left to hang loose during the period of mourning which is arbitrary in its duration. When not in mourning, men and women have their hair done up. The women 34. Here begins an account of Cheyenne burial customs, and their connections with Arapahos written by Ben Clark.

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wear it in two neat braids; the men twist theirs up in strips of blue or red cloth or otter skin. [“]At time of burial, relations remain crying near grave until the fall of night when they return to the village, and then cry at intervals during night loud enough to be heard all over the Camp. (At foot of grave or scaffold—for I must here interpolate the remark that they now bury nearly as often in the ground as upon scaffolds—articles of food and drink are placed.) They sometimes visit a grave after several months, place articles of food and drink in kettles and leave them there. This habit is not so generally observed now as it once was; in the last year or two, they have begun to bury in ground for better security, there having been several bodies stolen from scaffolds and trees. [“]The name Cheyenne, as they are known by the whites, was given them by the French at an early day & is derived from the French for dog=chien.35 The Cheyennes were then, and are yet, great dogeaters, and their first French visitors were feasted so often on dog that they called them the “dog-eaters”; some of the oldest men of the tribe, yet living, say the above version is true. Their Indian name His-tah, means the ‘Wounders’; it is abbreviated from the word, ‘A-his-tah’=to wound. How they came to get that name they say they can’t tell; they only know that their fathers before them called themselves ‘His-tah’. [“]The range of the Arapahoe Indians, as regards their ancient and present locality, are exactly the same as the Cheyennes, they having always been a neighboring and friendly tribe and much intermarriage. They roamed the same range before and their Agency and Reservation are now together. Their Indian name is ‘Non-nôha’=Tit-suckers or Sage men. They [are] always buried in the ground feet to the East and their other ceremonies are same as (those of) the Cheyennes. [“]Yours Respectfully, (Sig.) Ben Clark.” The above was sent me by Ben Clark, from the Cheyenne Agency, Fort Reno, Indian Territory, Oct 2d, 1877, and was by me sent to 35. Grinnell (Cheyenne Indians, 1:2–3) acknowledges this was thought to be the case for many years, but adds it is now known that the word “Cheyenne” is a contraction of the Sioux words Sh_ h_’ y_ na, or Sha h_’ _ la. This literally translates as “red talkers,” which means people whose language cannot be understood. Cheyenne is an Algonquian language, while the Siouan languages and dialects are in a group of their own.

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Dr. H. C. Yarrow, who was compiling a work for the Dep’t. of the Interior on the mortuary services of our native tribes.36 John G. Bourke Aide de Camp In our conversations at Sidney, Ben supplemented the above by saying that as a sign of mourning, Cheyennes will crop the manes and tails of their ponies: widows, mothers and sisters slash arms and legs with knives. Whenever, they pass by the graves of any of their kindred, they will halt for a time and wail. 36. Yarrow’s book, A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians, was published by the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of Ethnology in 1880. Like Bourke, Yarrow was a soldier, in this case, a surgeon in the Regular Army, although Heitman does not list him. In researching the book, Yarrow sent a questionnaire to every Indian agent, as well as agency physicians, and to army officers serving at frontier posts. The volume was one of a series of books on North American ethnology prepared under direction of Maj. John Wesley Powell, director of the Bureau of Ethnology, under whom Bourke later also would work.

Chapter 8 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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S

ept. 26. Thus far no news of any kind concerning the Cheyenne refugees: Major Thornburgh has had scouts sent out along the South Platte river, to the South and East of Sidney, to watch for the first intimations of their presence. Day before yesterday, Dr. Munn told me a story he had heard from one of the cattle men employed on the ranch of the Bosler Bros. This was to the effect that on the night of the 21st, or 22d instant, a dark, but starlit night, two men of that ranch who were out hunting for stray cattle, came suddenly upon seven figures, closely wrapped, mounted on Indian ponies and moving in single file at a rapid gait, (jog-trot.) towards the North. The cattle men at first halloed at them, but the only effect produced was to make the Indians, if such they were, go faster. The cattle men then becoming alarmed, hid themselves in the hills until dawn when they took up the trail of the mysterious travellers and followed it until they came to where a beef had been slaughtered, in the way peculiar to Indians.1 At first I was not inclined to put much credence in the story, and besides was afraid that anything 1. These probably were Cheyenne foragers, trying to round up livestock to feed the refugees. Because farmers and stockmen were putting up fights, the foragers tended to work by stealth, avoiding confrontation whenever possible. Monnett, Tell Them We Are Going Home, 74.

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I might say would be repeated and great alarm and anxiety occasioned; but as the same story came to me afterwards of the same mysterious seven night-wanderers, mounted on ponies, journeying northward, I concluded and still believe that they were an advance party pushed out by the Cheyennes to scan the country or perhaps to open up communication with the Sioux at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies. Major Thornburgh has been working hard to have the mounted Infantry learn something of drill and horsemanship. They are divided into two companies under Lieut. Bowman of the 9th and Spencer of the 4th Infantry. Each morning, they drill for two hours and each afternoon for same time. There are many laughable occurrences to note, but the general good humor of the men and patience of the officers is worthy of all praise. One man at morning drill, mounted his horse in a rather clumsy way, sticking his spurs in the animal’s sides and making him trot slowly out of ranks. The recruit, of course, grabbed hold of the mane and the horse feeling the spurs pressed against his flanks, started at a good round “lope” for the stable. Headed off by the members of the stable police, he started back towards the platoon, his pace accelerated at every stride and the poor devil on his back holding on like grim Death with both arms about his neck. The sarcastic yells and suggestions from his comrades didn’t sooth his mortification very much and added greatly to his perplexity. “Arrah! thin, take your sphurs orf!” Och! Murther! luk at the Curcus roider! and others of the like import. The steed had by this time come to the conclusion that he had had enough of such a rider and very dexterously chucked him over his head, into a sand-bank, as he raised himself and scraped the sand from his eyes, nose and mouth, the unfortunate victim cried out reproachfully to his tormenters, “Och! thin, boi Jaysus, it’s moighty aisy to say, take yur sphurs orf, but how the Hill can oi?” Taking this fellow as a fair average and he wasn’t very far below it, I couldn’t help thinking that our Expedition wasn’t likely to accomplish anything very brilliant in the shape of a Cavalry charge. Friday, September 27th. Colonel [William B.] Royall Insp. Genl. of the Department of the Platte, passed West on his way to Fort McKinney. A party of our scouts returned from the South Platte, reporting no signs of Indians. They say that buffaloes in considerable numbers are coming north and are now near the Head-waters of the Republican river, not more than fifty miles South of the South

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Platte. The newspapers to-day contained telegraphic accounts of a fight between the Cheyennes and the troops sent to intercept them, in a cañon near Sand Creek, on the Kansas and Colorado line. In the fight, the Cheyennes retreated up the cañon to a point where they had excavated rifle-pits, hoping to induce the troops to follow. The latter camped in front of the enemy all night, intending to commence an assault at early dawn; but during the night, the Indians, not wishing to risk an engagement, decamped and pushed out to the North-West. The account was so meagre we couldn’t rely much upon it.2 Saturday, Sept. 2d. Dr. Munn drove me around the town of Sidney, growing to a place of importance; the Black Hills’ traffic; and the shipment of supplies to the Sioux Indians at the Agencies to the North are the sources of considerable business. The residence of Mr. Van Tassel, a wealthy stock raiser, is very neat in appearance and shows the good taste of the owner. The only new building of any size was a Roman Catholic church, the only church I believe in town. Sunday. Sept. 20th. A very disagreeable storm of wind and dust arose in the afternoon and reached to greatest height about sun-down: the velocity of the blast could not have been less than (50) @ (60) miles an hour, before which the supple cottonwood trees fringing the barracks’ parade bent like blades of grass. Mr. James Chambers invited Major Thornburgh and myself to dine with a small number of friends; we enjoyed the little affair greatly and as is wont to be the case at all military parties, we talked a great deal about our old friends and indulged in reminiscences of days passed away. Thanks to Dr. Munn, the post Surgeon I have been furnished with a pleasant room in the new Hospital, as yet unoccupied by patients. Here, I have a good bed, warm fire, as well as desk and stationery, with which to keep my journal. Major Thornburg [sic] and the officers belonging to his command are in camp, with their companies, the Cheyennes, who are to go South under Ben Clark, being alongside of them. The post of Sidney Barracks, built to be occupied by three companies of Cavalry, has at present only one, Fitzgerald’s, of the 9TH 2. This refers to a fight on Sand (or Big Sandy) Creek, in Kansas, on September 21–22, 1878, when Dull Knife and Little Wolf dug in on high ground overlooking troops and cattlemen volunteers. Fearing the whites might be reinforced, the Cheyennes slipped away during the night of September 22, crossing the Arkansas River the following day. Monnett, Tell Them We Are Going Home, 63–66.

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Infantry, altho’ Cap’t. and Bv’t. Lt. Col. Devin of the same Regt. is in command. Col. G.A. Gordon, 5th Cavalry, in command at the time of our arrival, has since gone on sick leave, his health being very much in danger and life threatened.* The parade ground is a charming sward of green grass, surrounded by a row of thriving cottonwood trees; the quarters are prettily built, in the cottage style and are in very good condition. Ditches filled with water from the Lodge Pole creek, supply moisture to the roots of the cottonwoods, and serve also to lay the dust of the roads. The society at the post is very pleasant and agreeable, much of it old friends of mine; being kept very busy with my note-books, and official duties, I have very little time for making social visits, but those which I have made have been very enjoyable indeed. There has been very little, if any, time for reading, but such as has been available has been employed in re-perusing some of the chapters in Green’s Short History of the English People—a very carefully digested book, written in a spirit of fairness and impartiality.3 Monday, Sep’t. 3d. Telegram received from Colonel Williams, Assistant Adjutant General, Hd.Qrs. Dep’t. of the Platte, giving intimation to Colonel [sic] Thornburgh that the Cheyennes had broken through the line of the Kansas Pacific Rail Road and that he (Thornburgh.) might be required to act. Lieut. Davis, 5th Cavalry, with his company, “L”, was at once ordered out to patrol the line of the South Platte, to cross that river and push out in direction of the Republican, and upon the first approach of the enemy, to avoid an engagement, but to watch them closely, and at the same time send couriers to Colonel Thornburgh, who would keep the main body of his troops well in hand at Sidney. The Union Pacific R.R. was to have a train ready for us to move the command at the shortest notice possible: the work of drilling our mounted Infantry was redoubled and we now began to have some hope of getting them into shape before they could be called upon to confront an enemy. Above this, Bourke wrote: (Since died, Oct. 27th 1878.)

*

3. John Richard Green (1837–83) was an English clergymen who held parishes in London as well as serving as librarian of Lambeth Palace. He was considered one of the leading amateur historians of his day. The Short History of the English People, to which Bourke referred, was published in 1874, and was a smooth, colorful narrative that made it the second best-selling English history book of the nineteenth century, Macaulay’s History of England being the first. Green later expanded the project into the four-volume History of the English People, which was completed by his wife after his death. http://www.litencyc. com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1858

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Lieut. Spencer has been especially zealous and hard-working with his company. Heard from the papers to-day of the fight of the 27th inst. in which Lieut-Col. [William H.] Lewis, of the 19th Infantry, was killed, also that the Cheyennes had certainly crossed the Kansas Pacific Rail Way on the 29th at 9 in the morning, near Carlyle Station.4 Major Thornburgh’s Command is composed as follows: Co. “D” 14th Infantry, Lts. Austin & Lovell 38 men. “H” 4th Infantry, Lieut. Spencer & [Silas A.] Wolf 38 “G” 9th Infantry, Capt. Burrowes & Lt. Wyatt. 40 “A” 7th Cavy., Cap’t. Mathey & Lt. Creel. 21 “L” 5th Cavy., Lts. Davis & Merrill 52 “K” 9th Infy. Lieut. Bowman & Palmer 32. Lieuts. Merrill and Wolf, are young graduates of this year’s Class at the Mily. Academy, who are on their way to join station; they volunteered to accompany the Expedition & have been assigned to duty as above stated. In addition to the above, were Lieut Bourke, Lieut. Norris, A. A. Surgeon Marston and Lieut [Robert H.] Young. The three Lieutenants named were volunteers. Lt. Young did not arrive until later, but I put his name in at this point to keep the organization complete by itself. Nearly all the officers of Thornburgh’s command messed at the Rail Road Hotel, in Sidney, about half a mile from camp; they had a separate table and received kind attention. Tuesday, Oc’t. 1st. Nothing to-day to record. Wednesday, Oct. 2d. [I] feel pleased to think that I have been so careful in collecting materials for this note book: the little Cheyenne war-cloud, erewhile [sic] no bigger than a man’s hand is each day gathering to itself huger proportions. To-morrow or next day, we expect to encounter the enemy in their effort to cross the Union Pacific Rail Road and while we may not perhaps be successful in foiling them, we shall certainly not be found lacking in duty. 4. This fight occurred on September 27, on Punished Woman’s Fork, where the Cheyennes decide to make a stand against Lewis, who was trying to intercept them before they could cross the Smoky Hill River. The Indians were dug in among the bluffs of a canyon, but an impatient warrior fired too soon, warning troops of the trap. Although the Cheyennes withdrew after dark, they had lost more than sixty ponies loaded with provisions. Monnett, Tell Them We Are Going Home, 67ff.

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Extracts from the various newspapers bearing on this subject are here inserted. General W. T. Sherman, with Colonel A. McD. McCook, his Aide de Camp, passed through Sidney, going East this evening: they had been on a tour of inspection through New Mexico and Arizona, returning by way of San Francisco: the general made me sit down with him at table and asked me many questions concerning the situation; I then went for Major Thornburgh who came in and had a long talk with the General until the train started. A dispatch came this evening from Colonel Williams, Assistant Adjutant General of the Dep’t. to the effect that the Cheyennes when last heard from, were on Beaver creek, (which is on the South boundary of the State of Nebraska,) while Major [Clarence] Mauck, 4th Cavalry, commanding forces in pursuit, was close behind. In the opinion of Colonel Williams, the Cheyennes might be expected to cross the Union Pacific R.R., in from (24) @ 36 hours. But at almost same time, the operator at Ogallalla transmitted to Major Thornburgh, a copy of a dispatch from Major Mauck stating that in his opinion and in that of the cattle men with him the Indians would cross the Union Pacific Rail Road on the night of the 5th. Messages also came from several of the stations along the Union Pacific Rail Road [(]Big Springs, Julesburgh, Ogallalla &c.) asking that troops be sent at once to relieve them from any danger of attack. Major Thornburgh has done and is doing all that mortal man can be expected to do, in preventing the Indians from doing any great damage and if possible to intercept and defeat them. While he, as well as all of officers with him, is much perplexed by the conflicting information sent him, he has made up his mind not to be thrown off his guard by sensational reports; incited by panic, but to do all in his power to secure accurate information. This is not going to be an easy task, with so many little stations, scared out of their wits and magnifying every stump into a hostile Indian and every two or three Cheyenne skirmishers into a war party. Our wagons and ambulance have been loaded on the train* and from present indications we shall sometime to-morrow be on our way to Ogallalla, or Julesburgh, unless the Cheyennes, as they are likely to do, turn in this direction and cross to the West of Sidney. We cannot understand matters very well; early this morning, Lt. Davis With rations for ten days and half-forage for same time.

*

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reported that his advance had discovered a party of twenty of the Cheyennes, coming slowly up Frenchman’s creek, in a direction which would cause them to cross the Union Pacific Rail Road near Sidney. Evidently, these Indians are throwing out skirmishers in every direction to bewilder our people as to their real intentions and the real point at which they will attempt the crossing of the South Platte river and the Rail Road. Word has been sent to the people of Ogallalla, Julesburgh and Big Springs to send out scouts and make careful examination of Cheyenne movements. On train this morning, as I omitted to mention in proper place, were Lieut. Robert H. Young, 4th Infantry, a volunteer for this Expedn. Altho’ broken down in health, Young is an excellent soldier—one with a fine Indian record. He was with us on the campaign of 1876 and did good work. His services will no doubt prove of value to Maj. Thornburgh. We are not properly provided with transportation; wagons are of no account in hunting Indians; nor have we any good guides—none at all in fact. I have been deputed to select such as would apply, but haven’t as yet found a single one who knew the least thing about the country between the U.P.R.R., and Camp Sheridan. The Cheyennes in leaving their agency asserted that they were going to try and force their way through to the Red Cloud Agency where they had formerly (1877.) been located, and which Agency is now somewhere near the Camp indicated. Mr. Evans, an old hunter, a man of honesty and intelligence, tells me that the country I speak of is a terrible region of sand and without wood or water: no person to his knowledge, was at all acquainted with it. A number of brazen-faced impostors had presented themselves for employment, but a few moments’ examination always discovered their fraudulent pretensions. October 4th Fearing to leave behind him an armed and mounted band of ill-disposed, perhaps secretly hostile savages, Maj. Thornburgh determined to take away from the Cheyennes in camp near Sidney, all the horses and arms in their possession. As they numbered 45 men, besides women and children to a total of one hundred & eighty, they might, if they took a notion, be able during our absence to break away from Sidney, raid the whole of the adjacent country and make off to the north before troops could be summoned for their repression: every consideration of prudence & policy demanded such action. So at a very early hour in the morning, our mounted

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troops commenced drilling; their evolutions were so arranged that one company took up position on each side of the Cheyenne camp, while a small detachment moved out towards where the Cheyenne herd was grazing and got between it and their lodges. The Infantry also were assembled under arms and in close proximity to the Cheyenne camp which was thus completely in our power. The employment of such an overwhelming force had a good effect; they made no attempt at resistance when Lt. Creel was sent among them with a small squad of men to receive their arms, but Little Chief came out to see Major Thornburgh and assure him that this band of Cheyennes intended to remain friendly and take no part with the refugees from the Territory. About 9.40 or 10 in the morning a telegram came from Ogallalla that Indians could be seen through a telescope in the bluffs, lining the South Platte to the South of that station. The observer, I think, was a Mr. Farrow. At 11 o’clock, word was flashed over the wire that the Cheyennes had succeeded in crossing the South Platte and also the Union Pacific Rail Road at Alkali, a station five minues to the East of Ogalalla. Our command was working hard to get everything on the cars; altho’ a train had been kept in readiness on a side track, it was discovered at the last moment that the engine intended for it was a “passenger”, not suited for “freight” as it would not couple to the box-cars we had to use. This compelled Major Thornburgh to have his cars run along by hand, whenever he wanted to move them from place to place on the switches.5 When our horses were run into the box cars, holes had to be cut for ventilation; the section-hands had to run after axes. The greater number of our men were recruits unused to such business; everything seemed to conspire against us. But at last, at 12:25 P.M., we were off.* The train-dispatcher promised to get us a clear track and to send us at 30 miles an hour to Ogallalla seventy-four miles: no doubt, he did his best, but there was a number of cattle-trains on the track ahead of us; at Julesburgh the main Co. “G”, 9th Inf. Cap’t. Burrowes & Lt. Wyatt, left [at Sidney] in charge of the Cheyenne prisoners, with Ben Clark.

*

5. By 1878, the modern Janney automatic, or “knuckle” coupler gradually was replacing the old link-and-pin, but was not required until 1893, when federal law finally mandated both the automatic coupler and the air brake. A locomotive equipped with one coupling system could push cars with the other system, but could not couple and pull them. Consequently, when shunting the cars to and from sidings, a gang of soldiers had to line up the length of the car on both sides, and push them. On the main line, the locomotive would have pushed the cars ahead of it. See Wheeler, The Railroaders, 176.

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track was clogged, we were switched off on a side track and there alone lost half an hour’s time. At Julesburgh, we found Lt. Davis and his company had arrived in obedience to instructions sent by Major Thornburgh; we did not wait for them, as a special train had been ordered down for their use and was already in place. We arrived at Ogallalla, precisely at 4 o’clock in the afternoon: at the station was an excited crowd of men, most cattle-herders, each of whom had his own version of everything about the Cheyennes. Thornburgh with great common sense, insisted upon seeing men who had seen the enemy and with these only would he talk. One of these stated in my hearing that the band he had seen did not number over one hundred and Fifty; this would seem to show that the Cheyennes had crossed the river in several detachments, because we know from official reports that the number escaping from the Reservation was Three hundred and Sixty. One party of cattle-men had exchanged shots with the rear-guard of the Indians and showed us some felt hats they had found on their trail. Acting under the Major’s direction, I made every effort to obtain guides—not one single man could be found who knew the country north of the North Platte. Neither could any of them be persuaded to go as volunteers. I must make two exceptions; one a Mr. [William D.] Street, a cattle man, who had been with Mauck’s column and brought in the dispatches mentioned on page 68.6 and another, Mr. [name left blank]. Both these were good, reliable persons. Mr. Street had forty-six horses stolen by the Cheyennes and was anxious to recover them, if possible. He told me that nobody in Ogallalla would let him have a fresh mount, altho’ there were hundreds of horses collected at that point, run in from the vicinity for safety against the hostiles. [(] Take it for all in all, the people of Ogallalla didn’t make a very favorable impression upon me.) This is the first opportunity I have had for writing that just previous to our departure from Sidney, telegrams were sent to Genl. Crook, at Ft. Steele, the A.A.G.,7 at Omaha, to Col. [Caleb Henry] Carlton, in command of 3d Cavalry, near Camp Robinson, Neb, and to Cap’t. Mauck, 4th Cavalry, in command of the troops in pursuit of the Cheyennes. All these were of the same purport and explained the position of the officers. 6. See page 149. 7. Assistant Adjutant General, i.e., Col. Williams.

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The Cheyenne (Wyoming) papers received last night had a report that in an engagement on the 2d, Lt. [Patrick Thomas] Brodrick, 23d Infy. was wounded and six men killed, this mornings papers say nothing of the matter, so the whole story has a fishy flavor.8 At 4.25 P.M., our mounted men moved out at a fast gait, (trot and lope.) from Ogallalla, going towards the North Platte river. The day has been dark and lowery and altho’ we made the ten miles in excellent time, it was just dark before the head of our column struck the river. Lt. Norris, Lt. Wolf and myself, with two orderlies had taken what we thought would prove to be a short cut to the ford, but we found out the truth of the old saw that “the longest way around is the shortest way home”. A brisk gallop along the riverside brought us to the point where the Indians had crossed; their trail was broad, well-defined and seemingly not over two or three hours old. The night was getting very dark: through a thick, cold mist rising from the surface of the broad, cheerless river, we could only indistinctly see the stars. No traces [sic] of our command was to be found; trails there were in plenty, the whole valley was filled with them, both of ponies and cattle—but nothing that would help us out of our difficulty. We once more carefully examined the trail at the river-bank—there was not reason to doubt that; pony tracks and horse-tracks, but no signs of lodge poles. It has been made by not less than (150) @ 200 animals, and led straight across the river. Suddenly, on the farther bank, we saw a flash of light! It blazed up with distinctness for a few moments, died out and re-appeared, this time followed by a half a dozen smaller slights undulating in an uncertain way in the air. They could be nothing else than signals and to us, standing as we were right on the Indian trail, it occurred that they must be for the purpose of warning some stray band of Cheyennes where to cross. We had heard from Major Thornburgh,—a few moments before leaving him that he had been overtaken by a courier from Ogallalla, bringing information that another band of Cheyennes, said to be one hundred strong, was crossing the South Platte, at Dexter, a small place, to the East and South of Ogallalla. Major Mauck’s command was also reported at same time as being on the South Platte. Taking this information in connection with the 8. In this instance, Bourke appears to have been correct. The last fight between soldiers and Cheyennes in this stage of the Outbreak appears to have been at Punished Woman’s Fork on September 27.

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signals, we became greatly alarmed and thought that we were in great danger of capture. We lost no time in pushing back at a fast lope, for at least three miles when, in crossing a small knoll, we saw in front and to the right of our course, on our side of the river, another fire. This made us stop to consider: we determined to reconnoitre carefully and pushed up in line until within (500) yards of the fire, when we heard voices shouting; reassured, we advanced closer, and soon heard the cracking of whips and the braying of mules. It was the rear end of our wagon train and the fires had been made on both sides of the river, to mark the ford. We got over our fright at once and plunged into the cold current; the water rose above the girths, but the ford was not bad for horsemen, and the only damage done us was a very cold wetting of our feet and ankles. The Infantry and wagons had a worse experience. Two or three of the wagons broke their tongues in the middle of the stream and had to be hauled to the opposite bank by hand, a difficult job, in so wide a river, with current so swift and cold. The poor Infantry men, who were in the wagons, had to get out and wade across on foot; one of them stripped off all his clothes and carried them over dry on top of his head. We found Major Thornburgh and the other officers, clustered around miserable little piles of burning cow-manure, trying to be as philosophical as possible. When they had by careful cross-questioning extorted the story of our scare, they bantered us without mercy. Lt. Davis and his company got across about 9. P.M. They had been detained at Julesburgh by the great number of stock trains obstructing the track near that place. The Infantry and all the wagons did not make the passage until nearly midnight. Our Bivouac was a cheerless one; there was not a stick of timber to be found on the river bank, and the mist became so dense, cold and penetrating that with the few blankets we had, it was with great difficulty we managed to keep warm. Scouts were sent out to look for the Indian trail and observe all they could: they returned at 3 o’clock, on the morning of the 5th, reporting that they had pushed out for twelve miles nearly to the head of White Tail Creek, where they came upon the herd of the Indians. The mist was so dense they dared not trust themselves to too close a reconnaissance but they were sure the Indians had camped for the night at that place. Our command was at once aroused and ordered to saddle up; the obscurity was so great that the order took everyone as somewhat of a burlesque,

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but all recognized its necessity. It was impossible to discern a horse thirty yards away, a man, ten, or a wagon at forty. Few, of the command, officers or men, were able to get as much as a cup of coffee for breakfast, there being no wood at all and but little dry manure. My old friend, Lt. George B. Davis, 5th Cavalry, gave me a few exhilarating sips from a cup of coffee which he had boiled while I was engaged in writing a set of dispatches for Maj. Thornburgh. As it was plain to the most ignorant that we could do nothing with our heavy transportation, our wagons were ordered back from this point with the foot-troops under command of Lt. Austin, 14th Infy. Lt. Lovell, our A.A.Q.M.,9 went back also. As we started out, (between 4.30 and 5 A.M.[)], it was as much as we could do to see the length of a horse in our front; the air was bitingly cold and raw, and our men shivered in their saddles as they rode. We were soon on the Indian trail, which being at this time, quite plain was followed easily at a gallop. Scouts were thrown out in front and on flanks; through the mist, men would loom up as big as Gog and Magog, and horses looked as bulky as young elephants almost. Before we had gone far, from last night’s camp, a small party of cattle-men, under a Mr. Ware, joined us as volunteers: they didn’t do much, if any, good as trailers but as their herds roamed in that part of the country, it was hoped they might act as our guides. Our gait was so rapid that no time was given for taking extended notes of the topographical features of the country; we kept along the narrow valley of White Tail creek, on its Left bank. This stream is not far from 12 @ 14 miles long, flows in a nearly due South course, is a fine body of water, pure and icy-cold, of from 20 to 30 feet in width and 2 @ 3 in depth. The crossings are pretty good, the bottom stiff clay, and occasionally rocks. The current is very rapid and a few picturesque falls and swirls can be seen as the head of the stream is approached. Here the bluffs draw closer to the water and the narrow valley constricts to a small cañon, with almost vertical walls. These, tho’ not very high, were gashed and scarred with such a multiplicity of ravines and hollows that to withstand a large force with a few skilful [sic] men was a very easy matter. No one was surprised to hear from the advance guard that the Cheyennes had bivouacked here over night. We came upon the remains of seven beeves, which they had slaughtered for food and cooked over small fires of scrub pine wood gathered in the cañon. 9. Acting Assistant Quarter Master.

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Farther on they had bivouacked without fires and in a ravine, with sides so steep that mounted troops could not approach it. A few abandoned ponies were wearily nibbling the grass, but no other signs of the Indians could we see. There lay the trail, however, and with redoubled energy we took it up, hoping almost against hope, that the fog might soon be dissipated and a clear sky be opened out to us. In the morning, our course was nearly north, with perhaps a slight general inclination to the Eastward, but by noon, when the sun’s rays had begun to struggle through the heavy mist, it began to trend more to the West and by 2 o’clock, when the clouds had rolled up like a curtain and we could see in every direction with a distinctness, the Cheyennes evidently were so closely pressed that they must soon turn to fight; to avoid this, they doubled, twisted and scattered in every direction. At one moment, we were going due West, at another, straight to the South; while every few hundreds of yards, the trail would show fewer and fewer tracks. The Cheyennes were leaving it in small parties, partly through fear of a fight with our fresh troops and partly because they wished to draw us into the Sand Hills and there lose us. All day long, we pushed ahead at a killing place, Lt. Loring, who had command of the advance doing all that mortal man could to do expedite the pursuit and Major Thornburgh urging him every little while with the remark: “Mr. Loring can’t you go just a little faster?” At 4 or 5 o’clock, Mr. Ware and his comrades left us, advancing the plea that their horses were played out and that they didn’t know the country in front of us. We were sorry to lose Mr. Ware, but the others didn’t amount to much. We had soon come to at least 40 miles from the camp of last night on the South Platte, and since leaving the head of the White Tail creek, hadn’t seen a drop of water, or a stick of timber; that is to say for 30 miles. Dispatches were sent back by the cattle men to be telegraphed to Genl. Crook’s Hd.Qrs. from Ogallalla. The Indians had succeeded in their object and we were now completely at sea, in a desert of sand, with much good grass in places, and in others nothing but extended and depressed plains, whereon grew weeds and which had no doubt once been the beds of small lakes or ponds. We still kept up our pursuit, going as fast as we could to economize what little was left us of sun-light. Indian ponies were found more frequently; about 20 @ 25 had already been counted, while bundles, packages, clothing & provisions were

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found scattered with great regularity, abandoned by the Cheyennes in their flight. By night fall, our march had reached at least sixty miles and some persons thought it much greater than that. We could follow the trail no longer for the day, which was a most exasperating misfortune as our close proximity to the Cheyennes was shown by a series of small rifle-pits they had excavated for themselves in a “blow-out”, on the crest of a small sand-hill. At this place, they had abandoned seven ponies, one of them with his pack still on his back. All these animals were covered with sweat, still damp and were completely ridden down. Packages of flour, sugar, meat and clothing were picked up and examined. I saw one black silk dress, of odd and antique pattern, probably stolen from some German settlers in Kansas. We had done all we could for the day; altho’ the moon was very bright, there was such difficulty in making out the trail where it had scattered in the grass that the only thing remaining for us to do was to camp upon the trail until morning and then endeavor to pick it out again. We made a bivouac, in the form of a square, our animals picketed on the inside. They had all the grass they wanted, but were so tired and thirsty that most of them lay down the moment the saddle was taken off. There wasn’t a drop of water to be seen, nor had any been visible since leaving the hand [sic] of White Tail creek; nor did we have any fuel of any kind. In every respect we passed an uncomfortable night; many of our men were badly chafed from hard riding, our horses were suffering from exhaustion and thirst and worst of all we felt that the enemy had not only broken on us, but had led us into a desert country, of which not one of us knew a single foot. Voices were heard in the distance calling as if in distress; Major Thornburgh felt satisfied it was a decoy and that some Cheyennes prowling about our camp were trying to get one or two of our men to leave camp, and when they had drawn them far enough away from the main body, they could fall upon them & kill them before assistance arrived. But their design was frustrated, because a strong little party was sent out under a non-commissioned officer, and proceeded back on the trail for several hundreds of yards without finding anyone and as each company was present or accounted for, we felt all the more assured that the cries had been raised by the Indians. The night turned very cold about 12 o’clock. The ambulance with medical stores which Major Thornburgh had ordered to keep up

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with us did not come into camp until midnight & then with mules so jaded and driver so wearied that no further good could be obtained from them. The light wagon which had been ordered to follow us, did not arrive at all. Late in the afternoon, Major Thornburgh had ordered a small detachment of men to wait for it and in case it should appear that it could not catch up with us, they were to take on their saddles what canned stuff they could and move on with the ambulance. Consequently, we were unexpectedly provided with a dozen cans of pork and beans, and fruit. Major Thornburgh very generously divided these around among the officers and the orderlies who had brought them. The enlisted men of the command had five days’ rations each on their saddles, the officers nothing but a can of beans for nearly every one and a saddlebag full of hard tack. A courier reached camp at 3 o’clock in the morning of October 6th, bringing dispatches from General Sheridan and General Crook. The general tenor of these was that the pursuit must be kept up to the very utmost and Mauck’s command was to follow in our trail. Command marched at first dawn of day; morning chilly, sky partially covered with clouds. Street, Totten and Shorty, the cattle men, who had brought dispatches, took the lead; trail very indistinct. All tracks now leading due South. One of our men, Private Lacey of Co. “H”, 4th Infantry, whose horse had played out, was left back on trail to await the arrival of Mauck’s battalion. He was instructed to hide himself in the Indian rifle-pit, on account of danger from prowling Cheyennes. Pushing along as fast as possible, we discerned as soon as the day cleared the long line of bluffs which marked the course of the North Platte river: our great object was to get water. After marching ten miles, we turned suddenly to the left and halted on the banks of a very pretty little stream of cold, sweet water with half a dozen trees to supply us with fuel. Here we unsaddled and unbridled and led our horses down to water; they were wild with thirst and struggled hard to get to the water. It required the whole strength of two men to pull some of them back;—at first they were allowed to drink only a few mouthfuls and then were driven out to graze: at the end of half an hour, they were permitted to take as much as they pleased. Yet with all this precaution, one or two of them, narrowly escaped foundering. Lt. Young with the advance scoured the country in hopes of striking the Indian trail; his scouts found a Mr. Barngrover, who came to Maj. Thornburgh and said that we

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were now on Ash creek, a small stream, almost due north from Big Springs, on the Union Pacific Railroad. He took dispatches across to the Rail Road, and also agreed to pilot our ambulance across the river, it being proved impossible to take any wheeled vehicle along with the Expedition. Sergeant Otis, “L”, 5th Cavy., was sent back to last night’s camp with instructions to Major Mauck, 4th Cavalry. The want of a good pack-train and of good guides was so apparent to us all that no one cared to speak of the deficiency; without them, to pursue Cheyennes was a task almost hopeless, but we were hoping almost against hope that we might find their trail & head them off. After halting for two hours, we struck out North and North, North West for thirty miles, over a hilly, grassy country, to the Blue Water creek, not many miles from the head of which we made bivouac for the night. Saw a great number of cattle, all of them wild as deer. They had evidently been chased by the Indians and been badly scared. Had no wood for fires, but used such cow-manure as we could find. Killed a couple of fine, fat beeves, and warmed the steaks as best we could in the ashes. Passed through a fine grazing country all day, but no timber to be seen. The creek (Blue Water.) is 15 feet wide, 2 @ 3 feet deep, current of five to six miles, water sweet and pure. Bottom in many places marshy and fords generally poor. Bluffs from 50 to 75 feet in height and approaching quite close to water. Great numbers of ducks flying about in the air and very many springs of good water emptying into the creek. Total march to-day nearly forty miles.

Chapter 9 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Misery on the Trail

O

ctober 7th. Awakened at a very early hour: night had been very cold. Tried to make ourselves a cup of coffee or tea with a fire of cow-chips, but the attempt was not a success. Lt. Bowman and Lt. Palmer had quietly monopolized the fire which Major Thornburgh and I had made with so much difficulty and crowded us out. When I came back with my arms filled with dried cow-chips, I piled them on the fire and in so doing inadvertently filled up Bowman’s cup on which he was trying to boil tea. When he came to taste the noisome mixture of tepid water, sage brush, weeds, grass, mud and cow-chips, Bowman, who is something of an epicure, expressed his opinion of the production in very decided and emphatic language. We didn’t have much of a breakfast, but we did have a good laugh. Captain Mathey did not get into camp until late last night. He had moved down to the Platte and then over to the mouth of Blue Water. Before leaving the Platte, he sent a detachment of his company to look up his wagon—this was without orders from the Expedition Commander and without his knowledge,—a very unsoldierly proceeding. In coming up the Blue Water to rejoin us, his Co. had great trouble in crossing miry places; one (or two) of the horses was nearly drowned. 160

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At starting on this march, the temperature was very low; our fingers and noses suffered greatly until the bright sun arose and made all bright and pleasant. After marching up the Blue Water for (5) or (6) miles, came to some extremely large springs; one poured out a volume of water of, certainly, not less than (2) or three Barrels a minute. A distance of eight miles brought us to the end of the stream, altho’ there seemed to be to the West another fork, which came from a large blue lake which we afterwards saw half a dozen miles, perhaps to our Left. (West.) Our course was almost due north. Saw early this morning three black buffaloes, or what we were certain were buffaloes. Twelve @ thirteen miles from site of last night’s bivouac, began to climb the first range of the Sand Hills. These are lofty dunes of loose sand, destitute of vegetation, excepting a thin coating of weeds and at rare times, patches of grass. Stagnant, reedchoked ponds of alkaline and brackish water added a great deal to the barren and bleak look of the country, which in some respects is like the desert immediately to the South of the Moqui villages in North East Arizona.1 And here I may remark that the country at the head of White Tail Creek, reminded me very much of that as the Old Woman’s Fork of the South Cheyenne is approached, (in Southern part of Wyoming Territory.) During this day’s travel, saw a few antelope: yesterday could see nothing in shape of game, excepting one or two prairie chickens, a cowbird2 and, I think, a couple of meadow larks. Day became warmer and more pleasant towards noon: we watered at a small pond, (175 yds. long by 75 yards wide.) of slightly brackish water: of this, our animals drank a little, but to my taste it was too much like soap-suds to be palatable. At 2 P.M., halted for half an hour, to let the animals rest and have a nibble of grass; the first halt for strictly such purpose, since starting on the trip. Moved on, our horses greatly refreshed, and found that we were entering a country full of small ponds of brackish water: one of these was of perfectly black water, unpleasant to sight and smell. Away off in the distance to the West saw a small bunch of wild cattle. 1. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1. 2. Molothrus ater, a species of the icteridae (blackbird and oriole) family, found from southern Canada to northern Mexico. Peterson, Field Guide, 252.

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Now that we had climbed the first spur of the Sand Hills, country assumed more the character of a sandy mesa, or table-land, and had less of the bluff and ridge in its contour. Traces of aquatic submersion are plain there are many sun-baked patches of ground, looking very much like beds of wood-ashes, which at some period, not very long ago either, were the bottoms of great pools and lakelets. The country improved in the afternoon, so far as grass was concerned, but the contour of the land remained the same wearisome succession of hills, and swales,—we made good marching, as the soil, altho’ sandy, was firmer than in the early part of the day. As the sun’s rays became more and more feeble, we made up our minds that we should have to bivouac for the night without water, but fortunately a party of Lt. Davis’ men, sighted from the summit of a high hill, a set of three or four little lakes about 3 or 4 miles to the West of our course. The command changed direction at once, and in another hour had reached the banks of the nearest one: this was a large pool or lake of very indifferent water, and dangerous of access as its banks were of boggy mud and alkali. Numbers of our horses mired in going to or returning from water and gave the men a great deal of trouble to extricate them. The immediate vicinity of the lake, was a great bed of reeds, stunted sun-flowers, and what may have been dwarf rose-bushes or osiers, with some tulé and other coarse grasses, but it was so dark when we reached the spot that it wasn’t an easy thing to distinguish what sort of vegetation we had about and around us. By moving back, 400 or 500 yards, we came to the declivity of a small hill where we found pretty fair grass, as well as a small quantity of stunted grease-wood. Bivouacking in the form of a square, as usual, we picketed our horses on the inside, and then pulled some of the grease-wood and started fires, upon which we cooked steaks. None of the officers had any coffee: I had a package of tea, given me by Dr. Marston. This we boiled as best we could with the water of the pond and had enough to give two or three sips to each of our mess. It was a bitter decoction, very beastly in every respect. Distance, over forty miles. October 8th. Last night was very warm, much more agreeable than any since we left Ogallala. Camp aroused at 3.30 A.M. Made another cup of tea for breakfast. Have heard no praises of my skill as a cook; this may be on account of the inherent ingratitude of mankind or it may be that I don’t amount to much as a cook. But the latter as-

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sumption is untenable. Moved at first streak of day. Lt. Loring has adhered faithfully to his instructions to keep a due North course; this he determines by a prismatic compass, and does not deviate from it except to avoid high hills, or, as we did last night, to reach water. Found a few stray steers, succeeded in killing one marked on off side. four [sic] miles out, came to five ponds of alkaline water. Stopped a few moments at one to give animals what they wanted. No wood to be seen in any direction. Day clear and rather warm; horses and men seem to be in better spirits than on the second day out (Oct. 5th.) At 8.45, four couriers reached us, bearing dispatches from General Crook’s Hd. Qrs.; from these we learned that all the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Indians were on the war-path; also that Colonel Carlton’s command, (3d Cavalry;) had moved East from Camp Robinson, along the line of lakes, South of the Niobrara river. These couriers also told us that Mauck’s command had followed on our trail to Ash creek, picking up our wagon on the way, and from Ash creek had gone back to Sidney, Neb., where Dodge’s and Dallas’ commands were also expected. Great alarm was felt along the line of the Union Pacific Rail Road about the gravity of the Indian situation: guards were sent out with each passenger train to quiet the fears of travellers. (These guards are of no use, except for such a purpose.) Lacey, the soldier of “H” Co. 4th Infy., left back in our camp of 5th, to notify Mauck of our whereabouts and intentions, was surrounded while in his rifle-pit, by a band of Cheyennes, who stole his horse and equipments and came near getting him; he was shot through the blouse, and the trigger of his rifle carried away, but the providential approach of Major Mauck’s command saved his life. Major Thornburgh answered the dispatches and sent two of the couriers back: command kept on due north, through the same sandy country, and in a belt of good grazing land, and coming to three good-sized lakes, of brackish water, but rather better than that of last night. Here we struck Carlton’s trail, going due East and apparently one day old. Sent two couriers ahead at full gallop to overtake him. About twelve miles out from our bivouac of last night, we passed one of Carlton’s abandoned wagons. The region in which we now were, was a most beastly collection of hills and bluffs of heavy sand; marching in this wore out both

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horses and men, but we had a plain trail (Carlton’s) to follow, one well beaten out, which made our progress much more easy. The hills because of great height, cut up in all directions by ravines, gulches and deep valleys, in which, to our continued disappointment, no water could be discovered, except at great distances apart, small pools of salty, soapy and semi-putrid rain. No trees to be seen anywhere and no vegetation save weeds and some patches of good gramma grass. The frequency with which the “amole” or Arizona soap-weed3 was seen, surprised me very much, but convinced me of the hopeless sterility of the soil. Eighteen miles out from our bivouac, we came upon two soldiers of Company “C”, 3d. Cavalry, who said that they were couriers sent from Camp Robinson, Neb., with dispatches for Major Carlton. The pack-mules they had with them had played out and they were making a halt to rest. We opened Carlton’s dispatches, but found nothing newer than our own information. Major Thornburgh, seeing that the horses of these men were much fresher than ours, sent one of them, Johnson, an old soldier of Co. “C” 3d Cavalry, on to overtake the other Command and retained with his own column the two whom he had sent out early in the morning when we had first struck the trail and who had halted to await our arrival when they had caught up with the men of the 3d Cavalry, just spoken of. Rested here an hour, during which time, Thornburgh, Loring, [William Foster] Norris and I, made a cup of coffee, from grains borrowed from one of the 3d Cavalry men, who had plenty of rations on their mule, and also wrote a note to go forward to Col. Carlton, telling him that our men were now out of rations, that the officers hadn’t anything at all, excepting such as they could pick up from cattle killed in the Sand-Hills and asking him to please send us back something to eat and a pack-mule loaded with good water, provided he had come across such a thing by the time the messenger overtook him. Carlton must have travelled very fast, to speak from what we could see on his trail. In several places, his wagons had been pulled by hand up steep bluffs of heavy sandy, and then let down in same way on the other side. 3. Also known as wavy-leaved soap plant (chlorogalum pomeridianum) a member of the lily family. The roasted bulbs yield a substance that was used to glue feathers to arrows. Spellenberg, Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, 574.

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The country along our trail continued wretched; occasionally, there were patches of grass, but the unvarying monotony of sand bluff and alkali flat was rarely thus broken and we had to plod along through weeds and forbidding vegetation which made the absence of water and foliage all the more sensible. Reached a camping place about 8 P.M., obtained water from a slightly alkaline and salty lake, a small allowance of fuel from the tail-gate of another of Carlton’s abandoned wagons which we found there, and also from a pot of axle-grease in its jockey-box. The grass was fair in quality and quantity. Distance to-day, only thirty-five miles, but we had had so many detentions that our horses had been under the saddle for fourteen hours, the same as on other days. October 9th. Awakened at 3.30 A.M. Last night was very cold; heavy frost on ground this morning—water in our canteens frozen. Started at daybreak, still on Carlton’s trail, which since late yesterday afternoon has been going due north and is still so pointing. It looked as if we were never to get out of the sand-hills which still loomed up before and around us, ridge after ridge, of sandy soil, loosely covered with grass or weeds, and flat valley after flat valley of sun-dried, alkali mud. At 9.10 a.m., sighted three trees, two small pines and one a cedar, the first timber of any kind seen since we first struck the Blue Water, on the 6th. Soap-weed in great quantity on to-day’s trail. A strong wind blowing all morning, directly in our faces, and making travel very disagreeable. Tops of hills scooped out by the wind into “blow-outs”. At 10 o’clock, struck an old, almost effaced wagon-trail, coming from South South East. Took this to be either that made by Captain Mills 3d Cavalry, in 1873, or one made by Col. Royal, 3d Cavalry, (then of the 5th Cavalry[)], in 1870–71. Nothing yet heard from Col. Carlton’s command. There being another fresh horse in the command, Major Thornburgh sent out the other of the two 3d Cavalrymen whom we had overtaken yesterday, with a letter to Colonel Carlton, saying that we had been entirely out of rations since yesterday and urging him to send us back some at once. At 1.30 P.M., descended into a broad flat valley, covered with a luxuriant growth of tall gramma and other grasses. Along the banks of a dry streambed, were a dozen small cottonwoods. Here we commenced to dig for water and to start fires, but the velocity of the winds was so great that we had to forego our intention.

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Just then Street came back with the welcome information that he thought we had struck Clifford’s fork of Snake river, and that the River itself was not more than six miles in advance & could be distinctly seen from the hill-top just in front. We resaddled in great good humor: pressed forward and in less than five miles’ journey reached Snake river, a little stream beautiful at all times, but precious in our sight at that moment. It carries a fine volume of water, clear as crystal, cold and pure as ice. It is ten ft. wide by 3 and even four in depth. Bottom firm clay, fords very good, altho’ banks are somewhat steep and in places quite high. Grasscoated bluffs approach close to water’s edge; these are well fringed with good timber;—cottonwood, box-elder, oak, pine, cedar, willow and ash, together with plum, cherry and gooseberry bushes—grow in this valley and upon the adjacent hills. For first time in six days, our camp had wood, water and grass together, and all these necessaries were of excellent quality. Here we met a detachment from Carlton’s command, sent out to gather up abandoned stock. They had no reliable news other than that Carlton’s camp was on the Niobrara river, at Newman’s ranch, near mouth of Antelope Creek, not more than twenty miles to the north of our present position. We first had the enjoyment of washing our faces, hands and heads in the cold, flowing stream and then we set about cooking a meal for our mess from the rations left on the pack-mules by the last of the Camp Robinson couriers. We had fried beef, tea and bread, and to wash it down, Dr. Marston surreptitiously gave me a little drink of good brandy which he had been carrying for use in case of emergency. At 4 P.M., Mr. Gay, a guide arrived from Carlton’s camp; this Gay is a squaw man, married to Spotted Tail’s sister. At 4.30 P.M. Lt. Baxter, 9th Infantry, with a detachment of the 3d Cavalry, rode into camp bringing fourteen pack-mules, carrying three hundred rations and a supply of water in canteens and kegs. The water of course we didn’t need any longer: the rations were immediately issued to our men, and the forage brought along for Baxter’s mules & horses taken from them and divided among our animals which needed it more. Colonel Carlton stated in his note to Major Thornburgh that he had rations enough to take both commands to Camp Sheridan for which place he thought of moving in the morning.

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Distance to-day, Twenty-five miles. October 10th Camp broke at 6 o’clock. Last night cold, morning bright and crisp. Our horses and men vigorous and in fine spirits, from a good rest and plentiful supper and breakfast. The pack-train moved along as fast as we did and appeared in good trim for active work. A very strong north wind prevailing; country became more level and better grassed as we drew near the Niobrara. A march of seventeen miles brought us to Carlton’s camp at Newmann’s Ranch, 40 miles East of Camp Sheridan. Colonel Carlton received us with the greatest courtesy and inquired with interest into the particulars of our experience in the Sand Hills. With him were Captain [John Burgess] Johnson, Lieuts. [George Augustus] Drew, [Henry Rowan] Lemly, [John Charles] Thompson, [Alexander D. B.] Smead, [George Francis] Chase and [George King] Hunter and Ass’t. Surgeon [Edward Buckland] Moseley,—all with the bronzed look of old campaigners, most of them having been in the field since last May. They had no news later than our own, except that the Sioux had killed about one hundred and fifty cattle on the Niobrara, taking out the tongues, and leaving the bodies to rot.4 Newmann’s Ranch is a log hut, of 2 or 3 rooms, one story in height, small in size and unpretentious,—small in size and unpretentious and squalid in appearance; yet its proprietor, Mr. Newmann, is one third owner of twenty two thousand head of cattle, nearly half of which range along this part of the Niobrara. At this point, the Niobrara is twenty yards wide, three feet deep, good current, firm and hard crossing, bluffs hemming in the banks. Plenty of scrub pine & cedar available. The united command moved up Antelope Creek one & half miles for grass. Before leaving Newmann’s Ranch, its owner gave a number of us a hearty welcome to a “cow-puncher’s” dinner of fried beef-steak with gravy, fresh bread, pickles, syrup and coffee. Mr. Linchard, the correspondent of the Chicago Times, Dr. Marston and myself ate like a trio of starved cayotes [sic]. Our camp on Antelope creek was prettily situated; the stream is 4. Contrary to popular belief, the American Indian was not overly sensitive to the environment. George Catlin recorded an incident in 1832, in which six hundred Sioux warriors slaughtered 1,400 buffalo, taking only the tongues, which they traded at a fur company post for whiskey. Catlin, Letters and Notes, 1:256.

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(15) feet wide, 2 feet Deep, good current, water pure, bottom clayey and sticky, fords good but not numerous. The depth of water near a Beaver Dam below our camp was reported as not less than ten or twelve feet in depth. We found wood, water and grass in plenty. Total distance marched to-day (18½) to nineteen miles. Paid my respects to Colonel Carlton in his tent where I found nearly all the officers of his command; everybody is pleased that the two commands have united and that we did not suffer a greater loss of men or animals during our march through the Sand Hills. Colonel Carlton sent a courier to Camp Sheridan on the 7th, but he has not since been heard of: one who left the command after he did got into Camp Sheridan all right, hence it is feared that the first one was lost. Colonel Thornburgh also lost a courier, a man who was sent the morning of the 6th, with a written message to Captain Mathey; nothing has since been seen or known of them.* Colonel Carlton says that his guides knew nothing of the Sand Hills; one of them, Hank Clifford, after whom Clifford’s fork of the Snake river was named, had been in this part of the country before, but was the first person to become confused. The Sand Hills, to quote an expression I heard employed by Mr. Linchard, the Chicago Times’ correspondent, are a “geographical blank”, known only to the Indians and not too well to them. Major Thornburgh is confident that the Cheyennes are still in the Sand Hills; that our pursuit was so hot, they had to scatter on the 5th and that afterwards, we passed them and kept up our march at so rapid a gait that they were left far behind. In this belief, I coincide most heartily; yet it is extremely annoying to hear from Camp Sheridan that they passed between that post and Robinson on the 6th.5 This, if true, is a most extraordinary circumstance, and one that involves our belief that they travelled in an air line, over heavy sands, and high hills, at least one hundred and forty miles in less than two days. Supped this evening with my old friend, Lt. [Oscar] Elting, 3rd Cavalry. Bourke’s note: Both these men have since been found.

*

5. This would have been Little Wolf’s band, which earlier had separated from Dull Knife’s. See Monnett, Tell Them We Are Going Home, 162.

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After night-fall, Elting and I walked down to the camp of the packers, where I met Barron, Delaney and other old friends. October 11th. Camp aroused at dawn of day. Last night clear and very cold. Water frozen in canteens. Were dilatory in moving out this morning as we did not intend making a long march and wished to let our animals have all the morning grazing they wanted. Our trail led almost due West up antelope creek [sic] , along its banks we saw a thin fringe of timber, but the stream soon ran out; about 6 miles out on the Right fork of the creek, came to three willow trees and a large pool or spring of water; one and half miles farther on found water in a ravine. In the distance to our front and Right, the sky was filled with heavy columns of smoke, from fires supposed to have been ignited by the disaffected Indians of the Sioux nation. One of our stupid soldiers, a recruit, with criminal carelessness, dropped the match with which he had just lit his pipe; it fell in the thick, dry grass and in one instant, the flames were roaring and hissing all around us. Officers and men were dismounted and set to work to beat out the flames with blankets and overcoats: to unstrap these from the saddles required a little time and it was then too late to try to make headway against the conflagration. A high wind blew the flames at the rate of ten or even twenty miles straight towards Newmann’s Ranch and undoubtedly wrought serious damage to the grass upon which his herds were pastured. All day long we marched through as fine a grazing country as I ever saw; altho’ we intended going straight towards Camp Sheridan, which is almost due west from the mouth of Antelope Creek, we noticed that our guides, that is those with Carlton’s column which was in the lead, took us well to the north and to touch the easternmost head waters of the Wounded Knee creek, thence to the head of the White Clay which we followed down for a mile before going into camp. Landscape picturesque and beautiful; as far as eye could see rounded hills appeared covered with grass and thick clumps of pine timber. Saw at foot of hills and about six miles to north of our trail, a large village of Sioux Indian lodges: in their choice of an agency, the Sioux have displayed excellent judgment and have probably the best place between the Missouri River and the Big Horn Mountains. Having marched nearly thirty miles, we went into camp, as stated, on a branch of White Clay Creek, in a beautiful situation with all the requisites of wood, water and grass in profusion. Day very warm, but a pleasant breeze blowing. The

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creek to-night is 12 feet wide and in Depth averages at this season not less than two feet, the bottom is clayey and in places miry; the banks are steep but not very high and are readily broken away to allow animals to get to water’s edge. Water here flows with a good current, (to the north,) and is pure and sweet to the taste. Timber in plenty for fuel along banks and rich gramma grass on hill-slopes. October 12th Last night quite cold, but somewhat warmer than its immediate predecessors. Slept soundly until 5 A.M. Colonel Carlton and the officers with him were all extremely kind and hospitable and wished us to share their blankets, tents and rations; considerations of discipline prevailed, and, let it be said to their credit not one of our officers left his command; all remained with the men, whose hardships they had more than shared, determined to finish the scout as they had commenced it. A march of (12) to fifteen miles downgrade through a fine grazing, hilly and well watered region, brought us to Camp Sheridan, on the Beaver creek, an affluent of White Earth river. At the post we had the pleasure of meeting Cap’t. [Deane] Monahan, the Commanding Officer; Lieut. Brown, 4th Infantry with a train of supplies for our command. There was a Roman Catholic missionary, Father Brassart, who had been for five or six months among the Red Cloud Indians and was, when I met him, under orders to proceed to Fort Reno, in the Indian Territory. Mrs. Monahan prepared for us a very delicious dinner, which was very completely disposed of by our hungry officers. At 2 ‘o’clock, Mr. Clay Dear, Lieut. Creel, 7th Cavalry, and self, started in Mr. Dear’s buggy, for Camp Robinson. On the road we met a herd of three thousand three hundred head of beef cattle—an immense column, stretching for a mile or more down the road and to a good distance on each side of it. Reached Camp Robinson at 8 P.M., and put up at the house of Major Paddock, the post-trader. Here we met Lt. Johnson, 14th Infy., Lt. Simpson, 3d Cavalry and Lt. Goodwin, 14th Infy. To our great annoyance we learned that the stage had left an hour previous, so we had to leave over for a dreary twenty four hours: this time I improved by ascertaining the amount of stores on hand at the post, and the length of time they would last the troops expected to arrive. Carlton and Thornburgh united had Six hundred and fifty men and at least (750) animals. Mauck, I learned, had been ordered to stay at

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Sidney, but Dallas, with four or five companies of mounted Infantry was to push through the Sand Hills to Camp Sheridan. Then Maj. Tilford of the 7th Cavalry was marching towards Robinson for supplies for his command of nine companies of the 7th Cavalry, two of the 1st and two of the 11th Infy. Camp Sheridan had not quite (8000) lbs of Bacon and 15.000 lbs. of flour, with only seven boxes of hard bread; 70.000 lbs. grain & something like (200) tons of hay: Consequently, there was nothing for Carlton and Thornburgh to do, but march down to Robinson where there were 70 Boxes of hard tack, 25.000 lbs. flour, 12.000 Bacon (and 10.000 more on way from Sidney.); 400 l[bs]. Hay and 60.000 lbs. Grain, and several large trains en route from Sidney, Neb. It was Major Thornburgh’s intention, when I parted from him, to have arranged for an interview with Red Cloud and his chiefs, and try to induce them to give up any Cheyennes who might take refuge among them and also to send out scouts from the Sioux bands to help our troops find the Cheyennes who must still be lurking in the Sand Hills. I may anticipate events and bring my narrative to a speedy close by saying that a very satisfactory interview was had, that Red Cloud furnished scouts and that Captain Johnson, 3d Cavalry, captured the first batch of the Cheyennes, 150 in number and brought them to Camp Robinson; other parties were picked up afterwards and confined at same place.6 They gave an apparently truthful statement of having been starved on their Reservation and that they came north to get once more under General Crook, who had gained their confidence and was regarded as their best friend. In justice to Lt. Loring, I must say that for an invalid as he was when we started, he worked like a slave; his assistance to his chief was beyond estimation and his general conduct such as to excite the admiration and emulation of every true soldier: all our officers did well[,] as well as they knew how, many of them being young and inexperienced. October 13th, Lunched with Mr. Dear and then Creel and myself took the stage for Sidney. At every station, people had seen Indians or asserted they had which amounted to the same thing: all our passengers were in a ferment of excitement and when, shortly after midnight, our driver stopped the coach and yelled, “Here they 6. This was Dull Knife’s band. See Monnett, Tell Them We Are Going Home, 112.

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come! Indians!”—The effect was all that might be expected. For a few seconds, we were badly frightened, but it turned out that our fears had been raised by a drove of ponies, horses and mules, which a boy, wrapped up in a blanket à la Indienne, was driving to water from a train which had been making a forced march. Then it took nearly an hour for each one of us to swear that he hadn’t been in the slightest degree alarmed so we passed the night without noticing it and at a reasonable hour in the afternoon we reached Sidney, in time for the train for Omaha. The officers of the post came down to see us, also those of Mauck’s command. Mauck, Leeper, Martin, Wood &c. . . . Oct. 15th Returned to Omaha and reported in person to General Crook. November 1878. Almost immediately after my return from the scout made under Major Thornburgh, and after the rendition of my report . . . it became my pleasing duty to assist at the wedding of a brother officer, Lieut. James C. Ayers, of the Ordnance Corps, who had been at the Military Academy with Lieutenant Schuyler and myself and afterwards associated with us at General Crook’s Hd. Quarters in Omaha, where for some months, during the summer and Fall of 1877, he performed the duties of Chief of Ordnance of the Department of the Platte. The bride was Miss Ella Rodman, youngest daughter of the late Brigadier general T. J. Rodman of the Ordnance Corps, U.S.A., whose invention and improvements in Ordnance, as well as his work in laying out the great arsenal on Rock Island, (in the Mississipi [sic], opposite the town of Rock Island, Ills.) had given him a more than national reputation.7 On the 28th of Oct. (1878,) Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., and myself left Omaha, Neb., for the scene of the ceremony (Rock Island, Ills.) Before starting for the dépôt, General Crook told me that he had received that morning a telegram from Lt. General Sheridan that Colonel Gordon, 5th Cavalry, had died on the 26th. Colonel Gordon had been on sick leave for some weeks and his 7. Thomas Jefferson Rodman (1815–71), commander of the Allegheny Arsenal, determined that a stronger cannon barrel could be made by cooling the casting from the inside out. The stress of the metal then worked against the stress caused by firing, creating less metal fatigue and reducing the chance of the gun exploding over extended use. This also allowed a substantially larger projectile so that Rodman guns and their successors were classified according to diameter of the bore, rather than weight of the projectile. Weaver, Legacy in Brick and Stone, 39–40.

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death was therefore not entirely unexpected, but it was no less a sad piece of news for his friends to hear. Under General Crook, he had performed valuable and distinguished services against hostile Indians and his name occurs a number of times in my journal of the campaign against the Sioux & Cheyennes. (in 1876–1877[)]8 While going across the fine iron bridge, over the Missouri River, Mr. P. P. Shelby, asked Lt. Schuyler and myself to look after a friend of his, a Captain Storrow, who had been, as the phrase goes, “shot to pieces” in the war of the rebellion. We did the best we could to make him comfortable on the transfer train and in taking him to the hotel car of the Chicago and North-Western train, on which he was to travel. His wounds were so severe that paralysis had attacked the lower extremities and he, who in his youth had beyond question been a splendid specimen of physical power, was now a complete wreck, merely the shell in which, bright and vigorous, his mind still dwelt. The men who risked their lives and property to make treason odious, are rapidly passing away from our midst. Scarce half a generation has grown up since the surrender of Lee at Appomatox [sic], and already the sickle of the dread Destroyer, Death, has gathered in a ghastly crop of the valorous and intellectual young men who for four long years bared their breasts to the shock of battle and, conquering, convinced a doubting world that the foundations of our Government were not built upon sand and that the waves of invasion and rebellion should beat against them in vain. The wonderful advances in railroading in the West have already been the theme of admiration in several of the volumes of my journal: on this trip, we took our supper on the dining car of the Rock Island Road, where everything was served in a neat and attractive manner, dishes well cooked and the colored waiters attentive and pleasant-mannered. At Rock Island, we were received by Lieut. Ayers, who drove us to the Harper House, where the best rooms of the establishment had been secured for our accomodation; a very polite invitation from the bride’s mother to accept the hospitalities of her home was declined for the reason that we knew she was already entertaining a number of guests, and under the circumstances we were afraid that 8. See Robinson, Diaries, Vols. 1 and 2.

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our presence might prove a source of trouble and embarrassment. We didn’t see much of the Hotel, for, just as soon as we had breakfasted, bathed and made a change of garments, we were driven to the home of Mrs. Rodman; there we met the young bride, the ladies of her family and those who were to officiate at the ceremony as her maids of honor:—also her two brothers, and her brother-in-law—T. J. Butler, Esq., ex-mayor of the city, a former officer of the Ordnance Corps, and a graduate of the Military Academy where in the year 1865–1866, he commanded the Company, “C”, in which I served as a “plebe.” We were within a very few minutes on excellent terms with all the young ladies and remained with them until after dinner; we had then to return to our hotel to dress for the ceremony which took place at 8 o’clock. The bridal party proceeded in carriages to the new church of the Presbyterian denomination: it fell to me to have charge of Miss Black of Pittsburgh, Lieut. Schuyler, had charge of Miss McClellan of the same place, and the bride’s two brothers, Messers Thomas and Burt Rodman escorted Miss Merrill and Miss Buford, respectively. The first two bridesmaids were cousins and the last two intimate friends; Miss Merrill, the daughter of Colonel Merrill, (Major of the 7th Cavalry from Fort Lincoln, Dakota,[)] and Miss Buford, a resident of Rock Island. Revd. Mr. Holcomb, an Episcopalian, performed the ceremony. Everything connected with the affair was in elegant taste; the dresses and appearance of the young bride and her attendants, the congregation and at home, the reception, attended by the very best people of that part of the country. The presents were very elegant: one in particular struck my fancy. It was from the mechanics and artificers of the Rock Island Arsenal—a fine pair of heavy, burnished bronze andirons of the design of two corinthian [sic] surmounted by lobes, bearing in relief on the pedestal the arms of the Ordnance Corps. The reception was over by half past one in the morning of Oct. 30th. We remained in Rock Island all that day, passing our time, of course, with the bridal party until 6 in the evening when the express train bore us away to Omaha, with the most delightful recollections of the pretty and charming young ladies, of the generous hospitality shown us and with the sincerest wishes for the prosperity and happiness of the bride and groom who, at same hour, to the express train for Chicago, on their way to their new home at Fort Lincoln, Dakota.

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Oct. 31st. Reach Hd. Qrs., at Omaha, Neb., and reported to General Crook. When I returned to Hd. Qrs. Dep’t. of the Platte and submitted my report of the operations of the battalion commanded by Major Thornburgh during the time I accompanied it in pursuit of the Cheyennes who had burst out from their Reservation in Indian Territory sooner than starve to death or perish from chills and fever, I little imagined that this Exodus from the land of American Pharaohs, should assume such an importance that it would one day rank with the Retreat of the Ten Thousand or put to the blush the desperation and valor of the Greeks at Thermopylae. I feel painfully sensible of my deficiencies as an annalist, altho’ I believe my theme to be worthy the pen of Xenophon or Tacitus. There is no flight of rhetoric which would not be sustained by the narrative of the achievements of this little handful of half-starved, half-frozen savages, disfigured tho’ they were by the concomitants of brutal outrage upon defenseless women who fell into their hands. Had it not been for this one stain, the record of this little legion would have been grander and brighter than the stories in Niebelungen or Jerusalem delivered. Editor’s Note: The remainder of this notebook, Manuscript Volume 27 and all of Manuscript Volume 28, is taken by copies of official reports and correspondence, printed orders, and newspaper clippings concerning the outbreak. Much of the correspondence and reports can be found in Record Group 393, Special File, Military Division of the Missouri, Cheyenne Outbreak, September 1878–February 1879.

Chapter 10 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Ponca Affair

M

arch 11th 1879. Lieutenant-General P. H. Sheridan, with Generals G. A. Forsyth, A.D.C. and Captain [James Fingal] Gregory, Engineer Officer of his Staff, and Brigadier General Crook and the writer, left Omaha, Neb., for a visit to the posts of Forts Robinson and Sheridan. The journey by rail, over the Union Pacific Rail Road, as far as Sidney, Neb., was accomplished in the usual time and without special incident. At Sidney, all the officers of the garrison had assembled to pay their respects to the Division and Department Commanders. From that point we proceeded by stage to Fort Robinson. Our vehicle was new, our horses fresh, driver experienced, careful and quick and our party very congenial and good-humored. We laid over for the night at Elliott’s Ranch, and the next day reached Robinson about noon. Colonel Van Vliet, the Post Commander and his subordinates, did everything in their power to make us comfortable. Mr. Paddock, the post-trader, took charge of me, and with the assistance of his amiable wife, made my stay most agreeable. March 14th. The forty-five mile drive between Robinson and Sheridan, was made by 2 o’clock in the afternoon, as Colonel Van Vliet had taken the precaution to send out relays half-way on the road. 177

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At Fort Sheridan, we saw nothing beyond what has time and again been inscribed in my note-books. Captain Monahan, Lieut. [Emmett] Crawford, Doctor [William Henry] Corbusier and Lieut. [Frederick Halverson] French were very kind and attentive to all our party. March 15th. We returned with expedition to Fort Robinson, reaching there in time for lunch and to take the stage-coach for Sidney. Captain Vroom, 3d Cavalry, and Lieut. [George Allen] Dodd, 3d Cavalry, had arrived at post and Captain Monahan and Lieut. Crawford followed closely after our party from Sheridan—These were all members of a General Court-Martial convened at Fort Robinson. Our downward drive to the rail-road was made without trouble, altho a severe snow-storm, prevailing at the time we left the post, made us fear for the worst. We were so well wrapped up that we did not heed the cold wind or the drifting snow. At every little stream, the bodies of dead cattle, which had mired in the mud and being too weak to extricate themselves, told of the great severity of the winter just ending: other carcasses lay alongside the road, torn and mangled by wolves and cayotes. The loss to the cattle dealers of Nebraska and Wyoming has been very severe; much more so than for obvious business considerations they are willing to admit. (During a great part of this extremely cold weather, five companies of the 5th Cavy. were out after Little Wolf’s band of the Cheyennes; and at almost same time, the companies of the 3d Cavalry, from Forts Robinson and Laramie were pursuing those who had escaped from confinement at Fort Robinson. . . . March 16th. We reached Sidney, in time for the Eastward-bound train on the U.P.R.R., and March 17th arrived in Omaha. Editor’s Note: The foregoing material is in Manuscript Volume 29. The following, concerning the Poncas, appears in Manuscript Volume 25, pages 71–88, but is inserted here to be in proper chronological order. Conference held between Brigadier General George Crook, Commdg. Dept. Platte and a small band of Indians of the Ponca tribe. at Fort Omaha, Neb., March 31st 1879

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This conference is inserted verbatim merely to show the cruel and senseless way in which [the] Government of the United States deals with the Indian tribes who confide in its justice or trust themselves to its mercy. Where the savages are numerous enough to offer armed resistance, our Government has [?] in each and every case plays [sic] the part of a craven and concedes terms beyond reason. After the savages have buried the hatchet, all subtleties of statesmanship(!) are employed to nullify the compacts so solemnly subscribed. We discover difficulties in the mode of settlement, make new definitions by which to interpret clauses in treaties which are unfavorable to ourselves or where the Indians are more thoroughly in our power, we quietly recede from our concessions or ignore every stipulation. It was thus with the Poncas. Once they formed with their allies and blood-relatives, the Omahas—a very considerable band whose hostility was averted and alliance courted by our people. Since the completion of the Union Pacific R.R., their relative importance has diminished, settlements have surrounded their Reservation and as our Governments’ good intentions are always in the inverse ration of its power, as we become stronger we become more and more indifferent to the performance of our obligations. The Poncas had made advances in civilization; had adopted the dress of the whites; had begun to build houses and stables, to break ground, to sow crops and to collect small herd[s] of domestic animals. Suddenly, in the spring of 1877, they were taken from their Reservation, without authority and without warning; they were dragged from their homes and taken to a point in the Indian Territory, leaving behind their ungathered crops, their farming implements, their houses and improvements. While in the Indian Territory, chills and fever broke out among them; many died (157) and the survivors, a small band, of seven lodges, determined to steal away from the Indian Territory and march across the country to their old home in the North East corner of Nebraska, (the reservation of their relatives the Omahas.)1 Taking their families in wagons, the men marching on foot, the journey was made in two months’ time. 1. Actually, the Ponca lands were on the Dakota side of the Missouri River, although this often was referred to as Nebraska, because the boundary was not finalized until 1874.

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They had just reached the Omaha Reservation and had been warmly welcomed by their kinsmen, when the Indian Bureau called upon the military authorities to send these poor wretches back to their prison-house. Lieut. [William Lewis] Carpenter, 9th Infantry, with four men of that Regiment, left Fort Omaha, marched to the Omaha Reservation and effected the capture of the entire band. When informed that they were to go back to the Indian Ty., the men declared that they would die just where they were and for a few moments very serious trouble was threatened: this was averted entirely by Lieut. Carpenter[’s] coolness and firmness. The Indian Agent and all his employees kept away from the scene, esteeming discretion the better part of valor. The captive Poncas wept and wailed while leaving the Omahas, whose sorrow was expressed in loud lamentation. Lt. Carpenter arrived safely at Ft. Omaha with his charge and on the 31st March, the Poncas held their interview with General Crook. Those present were Brigadier General George Crook, Lieut-col. Robert Williams, Ass’t. Adjt. Genl. Lieut-col. Wm. B. Royall, Inspector General Colonel M. I. Ludington, Chief Qr. Master, Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3 Cavalry, A.D.C. General John H. King, Col. 9h Infantry, Lieut. W.L. Carpenter, 9h Infantry, Captain A. S. Burt, 9h Infantry. Mr. [Thomas Henry] Tibbles of the Omaha Herald, and Mr. Charles Morgan, an Omaha Indian, who acted as interpreter. Lieut. Carpenter then presented the following named Indians, who shook hands with General Crook and the other officers and then squatted in a semi-circle on the floor. Standing Bear, Buffalo Chips, Cries for War, Yellow Horse, Long Runner, Crazy Bear, Buffalo Track, and Little Duck. Standing Bear, the head man, was a noble looking Indian, tall and commanding in presence, dignified in manner and very elegantly dressed in the costume of his tribe. He wore a shirt made of blue flannel, having collar and cuffs of red cloth, ornamented with brass buttons: leggings of blue flannel, mocassins [sic] of deer-skin, and over his shoulders was draped a beautiful blanket, one half red, the

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other half blue, with the lines of suture covered by a broad band of beadwork. His hair was parted in the middle, the dividing line marked with red paint; the hair itself gathered in two tresses, one hanging over each shoulder and braided in with otter fur. The most striking feature in his attire was a necklace of claws of the grizzly bear, of which he appeared highly proud. The other Indians were attired in the costume of the whites excepting that they wore green blankets, a la Mexicaine.* The interpreter, Morgan, altho’ a full-blooded Omaha Indian, spoke English as fluently and clearly as any American: he told me that he had served through the war as a private in the 1st Nebraska Volunteer Infantry. General Crook. What do they want to say? Standing Bear, (shaking hands with General Crook.) “Brothers, I think that the Great Spirit has given me life to see all my friends here, to-day;—all that I see. [“]Brothers, You can see me, how I have been used, that I have been travelling from place to place, and that I am getting thinner each day. [“]But you can see that I am an Indian but I think I can see forward; if nothing hinders me: not only that, the Great Spirit has created us as Indians and the white people can do almost everything because they’ve got something to work with. But we, poor Indians can’t do anything because the Almighty hasn’t given a book to read but the books have been given to the white people—That’s why I am weak. [“]Brothers, whenever I see any paper or any kind of a book, I always think to myself that it would be a good thing if I could read & know what was going on in the world. But, hereafter, I hope to send my children to school so they can learn like the white people. Here are my white friends. I suppose they know that we have come back from the ocean,—the great water to the East, (—The interpreter said that this referred to the ancient home of the Poncas having been along the shores of the Great Lakes—.) And that we have travelled and travelled and traveled until we have got to Dacotah Terry.2 For a Bourke’s note: None of the Indians [was] painted on this occasion.

*

2. The apparently refers to the Ponca migration to the Missouri River, the date of which is vague. See Howard, The Ponca Tribe, 15ff.

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good many years, I have lived there. A good many of our tribe have died there on that old Reservation. [“]The first thing we know, my Brothers, somebody came there to our Reservation, took us by the arm, made us stand up, and took us to another Reservation,—a bad place. Before I started, I wanted to have time to speak to my friends;—but they wouldn’t let me. [“]We had just to leave our plows—our mill—everything that we worked with.—and start on down. [“]When I got down to Indian Territory and stayed there for a few months,—I went to see my Great Father.3 When I went in his office, he shook hands with me—Good—We had a talk with him. I said to him—My Great Father—I have come to see you. With all my might, I hope you may do something for me as I am in an awfully bad place. [“]I told my Great Father that before I started down to Indian Territory, I had built my house with my own hand.—stables—broke land—had horses and cattle. Then somebody else came there and threw my things away. [“]My Great Father stood up and said in a few words to me: “how is this? I don’t understand this. I don’t know it. Who did this? I will try to find out who did this.[“]4 [“]I told him:—“I am in a bad fix. I want to get out of it and go back to my old home”. [“]When he said those words, I stood up again and said to him: “My Great father, I would like to ask permission to go back again to my old place where I now live and make my living. I can go home without expense [to the government].” [“]He didn’t say, No or Yes but only this. “Yes, I would like you Indians to go back up there, but I think it’s too late,—I think it’s too far. I would like you to see if you can’t find some land close by there (i.e. in Indian Ty.) and if you like it, you can take it.” [“]When I got back to the Agency, I started back to look for land. I found some good looking land. I thought it might be a good place. We tried it. But something came down upon us and about one hundred 3. President Hayes. 4. Hayes initially had acquiesced to the removal of the Poncas upon assurances from Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz that it was in the best interests of all concerned. Upon learning of the true situation, he regretted that decision and attempted to alleviate the problem. By then, however, the Poncas remaining in the Territory had adjusted to the new situation. Schurz never admitted he had made a mistake. Robinson, General Crook, Chapter 14.

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and fifty-seven of us died right there. A few days after that, a few Inspectors came out and visited us and asked us questions. I told one of them, I would like somebody to help me move out of that place,—that dreadful place. [“]He spoke to me this way: “my friend, I can’t say anything else, but that when I get back East, I’ll do all I can to get you back to your old place,—that’s all, I can say,—that I will try.” [“]But he didn’t say that I could go back up there or that I should stay. But I was in haste to save the lives of the rest of my tribe,—I wanted them to live. [“]As I am saying, my Brothers,—I mean the soldiers and officers—I hope that all my brothers may turn in and help me to get back to the old place that I may save myself and the rest of my tribe. [“]My Brothers, It just seems this way to me; as if a big prairie-fire was coming towards me: I would take hold of my wife and baby boy and run with them to a safe place. As like if the Great River, (the Missouri.) was overflowed, I’d try to get them up on the hills, out of danger. It seems that way to me. [“]My Brothers, The Almighty has looked down upon me. He knows what I am saying. I think he has given me a reason for saying these words. I hope The Almighty may send a good spirit to my Brothers and make them think of me. [“]If any white man had land and some one would try to swindle him and he had no time to make arrangements, but was taken away to a strange place,—whenever he thought of his land, he would want to go back to see about it. [“]Oh, My Brothers and my Friends outside! I want you to look at me and take pity on me, and help me to save my women and children. [“]My Brothers and Friends—as I am saying, there is somebody clamping me down to the ground. I need help to get that man off of me, so I can stand up. I need help.” Buffalo Chips. “When the first movement was made, I didn’t know anything about it. I was holding my plough-handle when they commence this movement. I had a house, built with my own hands, and a good stable,—had raised cattle and hogs and broke land so I could work it:—all that is lost by the conduct of some bad men. [“]My Brothers. Every body knows that the coldest days will freeze any man and the heat of the sun will make any man sick and kill

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him. There were seven lodges of us; they didn’t want us to go down with the Poncas. We told the man that took us down that we were going down with our friends to see how they would like it down there. Yes. I have come up home now and my Brothers, the soldiers, have come up after me. [“]I didn’t say a word; I took my brothers and just came on down. When we got up there—the Omahas gave us land. We went to work and were going to put in wheat. The first we knew some soldiers came after us and we had to drop all and come down. I look at this business this way, my Brothers. Our Government feeds me. I don’t get enough but I’ve thought it best to till the ground and plant; that’s the only way to get enough to eat. When I was in Indian Territory, it weakened me:—weakened every body; we didn’t have any strength; we couldn’t do anything; only let our arms drop down alongside of our bodies.[”] General Crook. When did they move down to Indian Territory? Morgan, (the interpreter.) Sometime in May or June, 1877. General Crook. I understand when they went down that the matter was just as they represented it; The whole matter was reported to Washington. I think myself it is a very hard case,—but it is something I haven’t anything to do with. I must obey my orders from Washington, where they know all these facts and still order them down. If we intercede for them, it will do more harm than good. They can stay here a few days to feed and rest their stock and then move on down slowly, taking all their stock with them. I would telegraph on to Washington, but it would do no good. Standing Bear. “I speak to you all. I would like today one, two or three words. I have been wandering around for the last three years, going from one place to another. I always wondered what men had done this. Yes, my Brothers, of course, I know that I cannot say No! Whatever my Brothers say to me, I am willing to do. Of course, you’ve got an order from the Department to send us back down to Indian Territory and, of course, we’re willing to go. Of course, if I travel on down, I wish my Great Father and Brothers to let me have a little money to put in my pocket so I can spend a little once in a while on the Road. Half of my family are sick;—half are not very strong. While we travel, the sick will die and the rest of us will think we’ll die before we get there.[”] General Crook. It’s not our place to give them money; they must get

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that from Washington. We will give them plenty to eat while they are here. I know it’s very hard and painful for them to go down and it’s just as hard and painful for us to have to send them there. With another general hand-shaking, the conference ended. In talking with Morgan, I found out to my great surprise that the Poncas and Omahas who are the one people, speaking the same language and affiliating closely, are of the same ethnic stem as the Sioux, altho’ Morgan strenuously disclaims any relationship. An examination of the two vocabularies would, I am sure, prove my assertion to be correct.5 Thus, from the little I know of Sioux, I ascertained that the following words are identical in the two dialects. Water=Mininni (Sioux) and Ni, (Ponca) Ni being an abbreviation of mininni, which is understood by the Poncas. Horse=Shunca, in both languages. Bear=Mâto, in both languages. Salt=Minni-squia, in both languages. The numerals are almost identical, the differences, where any exist, being one of pronunciation, merely. Manuscript Volume 29 resumes. From March 17th to April 14th, the following events are to be noted. The case of the Ponca Indians. The surrender of Little Wolf, with thirty-three lodges of Cheyennes to Lieut. W. P. Clark, 2d Cavalry, near Fort Keogh, Montana.6 As these Indians were personally well acquainted with Lieut. Clark, and as not a shot was fired, the whole thing looks to one like an arranged surrender. . . . The triumphant vindication of Fitz-John Porter was a source of gratification to his thousands of admirers throughout the country. His vindication was Pope’s condemnation. . . . 7 5. The Poncas are, in fact, a Siouan people. Howard, The Ponca Tribe, 4–5. 6. Fort Keogh, known in Bourke’s early narratives as the Cantonment or Post on the Tongue River, was established in 1876 as a supply base for Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry’s and Col. Nelson A. Miles’ operations during the Great Sioux War. Construction of a permanent post began in 1877, and the following year, it was designated Fort Keogh. It remained an active post until 1900, and served as a remount depot until 1908, when it was converted into a livestock experiment station. During the First World War, it was a quartermaster’s depot. It was transferred to the Interior Department in 1924. Frazer, Forts of the West, 82. 7. During Second Manassas, Maj. Gen. John Pope, who was unable to comprehend the situation, ordered Porter to execute an impossible maneuver. Animosity already existed between the two men, and when Porter failed, Pope brought him up on charges. Porter belonged

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April 10th. Major Burt’s company of the 9th Infantry suddenly ordered by special train to Hastings, Nebraska, to protect the civil authorities from the Texas cattle men, during the trial of [Isom Prentice] Olive, the man-burner. As the President declined to sustain this order, it being in contravention of the Posse-Comitatus Act,8 the troops were ordered to return to Omaha, April 14th. The same night this decision was reversed and they were allowed to remain at Hastings for a few days, “for moral effect”.9 The Stanley-Hazen Court-Martial convened at Governor’s Island, New York Harbor, on the 7th April. This was the result of a long and bitter quarrel between the two generals named, dating back as long ago as the Battle of Shiloh, in 1862. Without knowing anything of the merits of the case, my sympathies are entirely with Stanley, who was my Commanding General at Stones River and for some months after.10 to a faction supporting Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan against Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who decided to ruin him. A carefully orchestrated court-martial convicted Porter and sentenced him to dismissal. The review board mentioned by Bourke reexamined the case, exonerated him of wrong-doing, and commended him for having saved the army from complete disaster at Second Manassas. Porter eventually was reinstated. The original courtmartial record is contained in War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Vol. 12, Part 2 Supplement. See also Warner, Generals in Blue, 379–80. 8. The Posse Comitatus Act was passed in 1878 in response to military involvement in Southern civil government during Reconstruction. It forbids the use of the Army for civilian law enforcement except where specifically authorized by the Constitution or by Congress. The military may lend support and technical assistance, but may not directly participate in law enforcement. The law was amended in 1956 to include the Air Force. Although it does not include the Navy and Marine Corps, the same restrictions apply by Navy Department regulation. The Coast Guard is considered a civilian law enforcement agency, and therefore is not subject to the act. 9. Isom Prentice “Print” Olive (1840–86), one of the area’s leading cattlemen, was on trial for the hanging deaths of Ami Ketchum and Luther Mitchell, homesteaders with reputations as cattle thieves. Earlier they had killed Olive’s brother, a deputy sheriff. After Ketchum and Mitchell were hanged, their bodies were set on fire. Whether or not Olive was responsible, he was blamed, and became known as the “man-burner.” He was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, but after serving twenty months, he was granted a new trial and acquitted. He was gunned down in Dodge City. See Myers, “Cattleman Print Olive,” 24, and Lamar, New Encyclopedia, 819–20. 10. As Bourke noted, the feud between William B. Hazen and David S. Stanley went back at least to Shiloh, and in the intervening time, Stanley had found numerous allies. Hazen’s brusque manner, his outspoken attacks on corruption, and his opposition to the railroad corporations made him many powerful enemies. For years, General Sherman had tried to reconcile the two but neither would give. Finally, each demanded the other’s court martial, and Sherman obliged by ordering them tried simultaneously. Hazen was charged with disgraceful conduct at Shiloh, false claims concerning his actions at Stone’s River and Mission Ridge, and giving false testimony at former Secretary of War W. W. Belknap’s impeachment. Stanley was charged with conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, and conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline because of his public allegations against Hazen in newspapers. As Bourke later notes, Stanley was acquitted of conduct unbecoming an officer, but convicted of conduct prejudicial to good order, and sentenced to be admonished in general orders issued

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The arguments in the Habeas Corpus case of the Ponca Indians were heard before Judge Elmer S. Dundy, of the Supreme Court of the United States, for the District of Iowa and Nebraska, at Omaha, commencing on the 1st of May 1879. [A. J.] Poppleton and [John L.] Webster for the Indians and U.S. Dist. Attorney [G. M.] Lambertson for the Indian Bureau. From the very first clash, it was apparent that the Government had “no case” and the decision of Judge Dundy that the Poncas should be set free occasioned much joy and no surprise. The Indian Bureau ordered its Attorney to take an appeal. Again the following is taken from Manuscript Volume 25:106–7 for the sake of proper chronological order. This Ponca case was tried before his Honor, Judge Elmer C. Dundy, U.S. Dist. Court, at Omaha, Neb., May 1st 1879, and resulted in a complete victory for the Poncas. Dec. 5th 1880. The legal points in the case were argued by Mr. Poppleton and Mr. Webster, two able lawyers of Omaha. After gaining the first victory, above referred to, suit was brought to obtain an ouster of the Sioux Indians from the Ponca Reservation. The account herein given, taken from the Omaha, Neb., Herald, of the 4th of December 1880, gives a clear exposition of the whole business. JUSTICE AT LAST. ----The Ponca Indians Recover Their Old Reservation, ----Which was Wrongfully Taken from Them and Given to the Sioux. ----Judge Dundy Decides the Suit in Favor of the Ill-Used Tribe. ----The noted suits of the Ponca Indians to recover their reservation, which was taken from them and given to the

by the commanding general (i.e. Sherman). The court determined the charges against Hazen legally could not be heard because all were subject to a two-year statute of limitations that had expired in every case. Kroeker, Great Plains Command, 155ff.

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THE CHEYENNES AND THE PONCAS Sioux by the treaty of 1868, and from which reservation the Poncas were removed, three or four years ago, was submitted, two or three days since, before Judge Dundy in the United States court clerk on printed arguments. The title of the case was “Ponca tribe of Indians, plaintiff, vs. Makh-pi-sh-lu-tah, or Red Cloud, in his own behalf and in behalf of the Sioux Nation of Indians, defendant.”11 Widespread interest has been aroused in the suit, and the story of the wrongs of the Poncas is now too familiar to require a recital anew. The cause of the Poncas has been championed from the outset by Hon. A. J. Poppleton and Hon. J. L. Webster of this city, and they have conducted the suit ably and well. Their labors have not been fruitless. Judge Dundy rendered a decision IN FAVOR OF THE PONCAS in court yesterday morning, to the effect that they have a legal estate in the reservation, and are entitled to the possession thereof. THE JUDGMENT is substantially as follows: This cause coming on for hearing without the intervention of a jury, and the Court being fully advised in the premises, finds that the Ponca tribe of Indians has a legal estate in the lands described in the petition, and that the Sioux nation of Indians wrongfully kept the Ponca tribe of Indians out of the possession thereof. It is therefore adjudged by the Court that the Ponca tribe of Indians recover possession of the lands described, &c. And thus, the heavily-used Poncas, their tribe reduced to two-thirds of its number, their houses destroyed, are at last to be permitted to return to the lands that are theirs. “AN IMPERTINENT REPORT.” Under this caption the Boston Advertiser, one of the many newspapers in the east which has taken a lively inter-

11. This case would have been of considerably more interest to the government bureaucrats than to the Sioux. Just as the Poncas were unwillingly relocated from the Missouri River to the Indian Territory to make way for the Sioux, so the Sioux resented being relocated to the Missouri River. Already, they had come to an accord with President Hayes that allowed them to remain in their preferred haunts of Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock. Hyde, Red Cloud’s Folk, 299ff.

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est in the righting of the Poncas’ wrongs, says in its issue of November 23d [1880]: “The Indian commissioner in his annual report, given to the country yesterday, speaks of certain “meddlesome persons,” who are still endeavoring to induce the Ponca Indians to defend their rights in Dakota. It would be impossible to mention here all the persons who have rendered service of this kind, to whom this creature of an hour applies the insulting epithet. But foremost among them is the judge of the United States court for Nebraska, who, in delivering the captives who came to him for justice, demonstrated this act of captivity as without defence in law, and a flagrant outrage upon human rights. Next to him should be mentioned Dr. [Robert Harper] Clarkson, the Episcopal bishop of Nebraska, who has given to a name already illustrious fresh claims to gratitude by the courage with which he has thrown the shield of his high office and good name over the cause of these outraged people, who, while differing as to the remedy, were one in denouncing the whole proceeding on the part of the United States as without justification and demanding at the hands of the government speedy and full redress. It also includes countless thousands in all parts of the land who have protested against this premeditated wrong, and who do not intend that shall be consummated as long as appeals to the honor and the conscience of the country are of any [the rest of the clipping is missing from the diary]. Manuscript Volume 29 resumes. The Stanley trial developed much testimony, directly or by implication damaging to the fair fame of General Hazen. May 9th 1879. In company with General and Mrs. Crook started for Chicago viâ the Rock-Island R.R. The wonderful improvement made in the R.R. communications of the Trans-Mississipi country during the past ten years is a matter of pride to every man whose pride can be aroused by the improvement of his country. The three connecting lines between Omaha and Chicago, each five hundred miles long, are laid entirely with steel rails, ballasted with sand and gravel, provided with the best motive power and rolling stock and the most luxuriant and comfortable dining and sleeping

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cars. Within ten years more Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon will be girdled with lines of rail and telegraph. In Chicago, General and Mrs. Crook became the guests of Lieut-General and Mrs. Sheridan. I took up my quarters at the Grand Pacific, one of the best kept and best appointed hotels in the world. My first evening was taken up entirely with necessary change of clothing, supper, various purchases and a visit to the Theatre, to see Henry VIII. The play was sadly curtailed, not more than one Act and a portion of another being given, but the acting was very good, the interpretation of the characters of Henry, Wolsey, & Queen Catherine being decidedly impressive and faithful. On Sunday morning, after a visit to General Sheridan’s Hd.Qrs., I called upon the family of General Bradley,—then to the Chicago Club, where I lunched with my friend General Forsyth, (A.D.C. to General Sheridan) and Col. H. H. Farrar, of whom I had such pleasant impressions since our first meeting in the Big Horn Mountains in 1877. After lunch, General Forsyth very kindly drove me out along the newly-opened boulevard to the Water-works and Lincoln Park and then by way of the ever-beautiful lake side to General Sheridan’s residence on Michigan Avenue. Here we dined, our party consisting of General and Mrs. Sheridan, General and Mrs. Crook, Genl. Forsyth and myself. I was delighted with Mrs. Sheridan—a beautiful and refined lady, dignified but cordial in her manners,—who made one feel on friendly terms with her at once. The dinner was a very agreeable one and it was quite late in the evening when we separated. The next morning, I had the pleasure of meeting at the Palmer House, Governor Safford and W. C. Parsons of Arizona, with whom I had a long talk about affairs in that Territory, which he pronounced to be in the most flattering condition. Returned by that morning’s train to Omaha, reaching there May 13th. Read, while on the cars, that Indian Commissioner Hayt had been indicted by the Grand Jury of Jersey City, N.J., for falsely certifying to the financial status of a defunct savings Bank, of which he was President. In Omaha, everything quiet, excepting that the citizens were greatly disturbed over the removal of the Q.M. Dépôt to Fort Omaha. They now see that the removal of the Dep’t. HdQrs can have but one result—the pecuniary damage of their business. As they neglected

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to take proper steps in time, there is hardly any use in bolting the stable door now that the horse is stolen. June 3d. General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C. and Col Ludington, Chief Quartermaster, started for Fort Hall and the Lemhi Agency, Idaho. June 11th. I started for Kansas City, Mo., having been detailed a member of the B’d of Officers convened to inspect Cavalry horses purchased at that point. The weather was extremely hot and sultry after recent heavy rains: it was impossible to get to sleep altho’ our car was kept as cool and our bedding as light as practicable. The train stopped for some time at the inconsiderable village of Hamburgh, Iowa, interesting to me only from former associations; I was delayed there for a whole day last summer, on account of the track being overflowed by the Missouri river. I never want to see the place again if I can help it. Saint Joseph, Mo., 125 miles South of Omaha, is a town of importance. We were awakened by the yells and cries of a crowd of rival hackmen importuning descending passengers to patronize their conveyances. We were not exactly awakened, because we hadn’t as yet fallen asleep, but the doze disturbed was almost as sweet as the sleep of which it promised to be the fore-runner. After the racket and noise made at St. Joe, I lay awake, open-eyed, in a half-stupor, until I was thoroughly aroused by noticing that our train was crossing the iron bridge over the Missouri at Kansas City, when I arose and dressed hastily in time to leave the car the moment it entered the depot at 3.30 A.M. (June 12th) The Coates House is a very fair hostelry, the best in town; cleanly kept, with rooms well-furnished and beds sweet and good. I enjoyed a nap of several hours and then plunged into a cold bath which invigorated me fully. After breakfast, I strolled about the town, which is a great R.R. center and a very bustling busy market of traffic, to all appearances. It contained many substantial brick and stone edifices, public and private, boasts of somewhere in the vicinity of 60.000 inhabitants and has an air of vigor and go-aheadativeness that augurs well for its permanence. There is the drawback of unequal surface for building: the town is situated upon a limestone bluff, badly cut up with steep, abrupt ravines, to fill up which will cost the tax-payers thousands of dollars in time to come. There is any amount of good building material, good

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brick being made of clay from the front of the bluff and limestone quarried out from the same depository. The streets, altho’ it was still quite early in the morning, were thronged with people, on foot, mounted or in vehicles. It was evident to me that Kansas City was doing a heavier amount of traffic than Omaha. I likewise regretted to see that the metropolis of Western Missouri was far ahead of the chief town of Nebraska in public spirit and in desire for necessary improvement and this too in face of natural obstacles far greater than any that have yet stood in the way of Omaha’s growth. Meeting Lieut. Hall, 5th Cavalry, who was one of the members of the Board with me, I was informed that the Board had adjourned until Tuesday, June 17th. Colonel Van Vliet had gone to Fort Leavenworth, Mr. Chambers was about to start back for Omaha, and Lt. Hall was in readiness to take the morning train to his home in Saint Joseph. This left me my own master and I was not many minutes in making up my mind to return to Omaha by the first train: the temperature was absolutely torrid and make[s] one gasp for breath. An odd feature of the street was the great number of stores, advertising lemonade for sale—and very good lemonade it was too, as we found out by testing at several places. Such a beverage is better suited to the climate of this hot valley in summer than is beer or whiskey. The most important item of news on the lips of the frequenters of the public streets was the “Rail Road War”, among the lines running from Kansas City to Saint Louis and Chicago. Tickets sold to Saint Louis for as low as $3 each and the same price was accepted for a passage to Chicago. The respective distances are 345 and 680 miles!! Such a rivalry is suicidal and antagonistic to every sound principle of commercial prosperity. Kansas City, from a hasty inspection, I should judge to be a fine market for corn, hogs, cattle, horses &c. The stock-yards did not impress me as being especially large, but I had no really good chance to look at them and must indeed defer any attempt at describing Kansas City and its surroundings until my next visit. Returning, I had nothing of value to note. The train was without parlor or sleeping cars, and as every seat was filled, the sky brazen, wind hot as a sirocco and charged with burning dust, comfort was not to be dreamed of. Fortunately, a dining car was attached in which for the very reasonable price of 75¢. I obtained an excellent meal

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of boiled mutton, with all kinds of new vegetables, strawberries &c, washed down with a glass of ice-cold beer. There is a very good bridge across the river at Saint Joseph, making the fourth structure of the kind already in existence, viz. Omaha, Saint Joseph, Kansas City and Glasgow. One will be thrown across Bismarck, Dak., very soon, and maybe, another at Plattsmouth, Neb. The line of this Rail Road, the Kansas City, St. Jo. and Council Bluffs, follows the valley of the Missouri, the whole way: for the part, between Kansas City and St. Joseph, I can say that these are numerous stretches of charming scenery,—heavy masses of thickly-leaved cottonwoods and elms and moss-covered bluffs which will yet pay a fine tribute of excellent building stone. Here are evidences that the Missouri occasionally forgets its usual placid dignity and swelling in angry passion sweeps over great stretches of fine country which would otherwise be made productive. Cords of drift-wood lodged against its banks gave employment to bands of fuel-gatherers. With a good system of masonry embankment, this danger will be reduced if not averted and fertile fields take the place of the broad grassy wastes lining the track for such distances. The country is not very thickly settled and with the exception of Saint Joseph, there is no large town between Kansas City and Omaha, but there are plenty of farm-houses, well-built of brick and complete in all surroundings. Farms are generally neatly fenced in. The principal productions seem to be corn, hogs and cattle. The corn-fields all looked well. I was so hot and so tired while jotting down the first part of these notes that I forgot to refer in fitting terms to the magnificent Union R.R. Dépôt in Kansas City; it will not merely compare favorably with the best in the country—those in Chicago, the Union in Saint Louis, that at Altoona, Pa., the N.Y. Central in N.Y., and others, but its fine system of management is worthy of imitation. Everything seems to go by clock-work. One of the oldest inhabitants of Kansas City is Father Dunn,12 who has been stationed here as a missionary priest of the Roman 12. Bourke evidently is confusing the Rev. James A. Dunn (1838–1888) with the Rev. Bernard Donnelly (1810–1880). Dunn arrived in Kansas City as pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in 1873, only five years before Bourke’s visit, while Donnelly had served in the area since 1845. A native of Ireland, Donnelly was assigned as a circuit riding missionary to Independence, Missouri, and the adjacent region shortly after his ordination. After living briefly

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Catholic Church for more than thirty-five years. The remarkable changes wrought during the time of his pastorate, which has seen this town grow from a little trading post doing business with the savages to be the metropolis of the South-Western country have struck the old man with a mute astonishment. To our great relief, a refreshing thunder-storm commenced about 2 o’clock and lasted until nearly 6, making the country roads run with water. We reached Council Bluffs, Iowa, at 8 P.m., and Omaha at 9. June 12th. After a hurried supper at Wirth’s restaurant, I visited the Academy of Music; where I had the pleasure of listening to that divinely-gifted songstress, Miss Annie Louise Cary and the sweetvoiced M’lle Litton, in “Mignon” and part of “Martha”. The Rough sketch . . . will give a feeble idea of the relative position of the principal towns noted on this trip. The distance from Council Bluffs to Kansas City is 196 miles: from Omaha 199½ miles. The distances are all roughly approximated.

Total Distance from Omaha, Neb., to Kansas City, Missouri, 199 m. in Independence, he established himself on a bluff overlooking Westport Landing, which later became Kansas City. He continued to live in Westport Landing/Kansas City until his death in 1880. Probably Bourke met both priests, and later wrote the wrong name when he recorded the visit. The Rev. Michael Coleman, archivist, Diocese of Kansas City, to Charles M. Robinson III, October 9, 2005.

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June 15th General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C. and Colonel Ludington, Chief Quartermaster, returned from their visit of inspection to Fort Hall, Idaho and Fort Douglas, (Salt Lake,) Utah.13 June 19th A little boy, 12 years old, named Charley Green, came into the offices this morning to seek pecuniary assistance. He said that he had left his home in Buffalo, N.Y., sometime last month and went with a detachment of recruits for the 2d Cavalry, under Captain Whalen, to Fort Keogh, Montana Territory, (at the junction of the Tongue and Yellowstone rivers.) From Keogh, he took the steamboat down the Yellowstone to the Missouri and down the latter stream to Bismarck, Dakota where he crossed over to Fort D. A. Lincoln.14 From Lincoln he started with a wagon train for the Black Hills; but becoming wearied by the slow rate of travel, he got on the stage and was carried fare to Fort Meade,15 near Bear Butte, at the North East extremity of the Black Hills. He made no delay at that place, but rode on another stage South to Sidney, Nebraska, and from that town was given fare passage on the Union Pacific R.R. to Omaha. We helped him with small contributions, making him feel very glad; he stated that he would “this afternoon start back over the Burlington road for Chicago and from that city travel back to Buffalo”. He was a bright, talented boy, one upon whom all this travel will not be lost. I hope that the success attending his first journey may not cause him to degenerate into a worthless tramp. The finding of the General C’t. Martial which tried General D. S. Stanley for alleged defamation of General Hazen’s character reached here to-day. General Stanley was sentenced to be admonished by the General of the Army in General Orders. The impression left in the minds of unprejudiced people is that Stanley did not fully make out his case simply because under the statute of limitations much valuable testimony was excluded from the trial. Hazen is left in a worse state than he was before the case 13. Fort Douglas, or Douglass, was established as a camp in 1862 east of Salt Lake City, to protect the Overland Mail and telegraph, control the Indians of the region, and watch over the Mormons, whose loyalty was suspect. It was upgraded to a fort in 1878. Frazer, Forts of the West, 166. 14. Fort Abraham Lincoln. Bourke apparently had Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming, on his mind. 15. Fort Meade was established in 1878, just east of the present town of Sturgis, S.D., to protect the mining district in the Black Hills. It was transferred to the Veterans Administration in 1944, and currently houses a museum and VA facilities. Frazer, Forts of the West, 136.

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came before the public and this in spite of all the extraneous influences, political and social, brought to bear by his friends to bias public sentiment in his favor. June 20th. News reached this country by cable that Louis Napoleon, Prince Imperial of France was killed by the Zulus near Natal, Africa, while on a reconnaisance [sic]. Since the death of his father in exile, the Prince and his mother, the Empress Eugenie, had resided in England, principally at a villa, called Chiselhurst. The education of the Prince was finished at the Military School at Woolwich, from which he graduated No 11, in a class of 45.16 When the news reached Great Britain that the African chief, Cetawayo [sic], king of the Zulus, had almost annihilated the English troops, under Lord Chelmsford, at Isandula [sic], the young Napoleon was the first, I think the only, young gentleman of distinction to offer his services as a volunteer.17 He joined the English troops, in the northern part of the Cape Colony, South Africa, early in the present year, but was almost immediately prostrated by a severe attack of the malarial fever incident to the climate. As soon as he was able to go to the front, he participated with great credit to himself in a number of reconnaisances [sic], in the last of which he was ambushed by a party of Zulus who slew him with their peculiar spears, called “assagais”, his body was found, stripped of its clothing and marked with seventeen wounds. His death was a glorious, but mournful termination of a career which gave every promise of becoming valuable to France and to the civilized world. Peace to his ashes. 16. Louis Napoleon (1856–79), Prince Imperial of France, and only legitimate son of Napoleon III, was commissioned an officer in the British Army during his family’s exile in Great Britain. His party, commanded by a Lieutenant Carey, encountered a group of Zulu warriors on June 1, 1879. Carey and the others fled, but the Prince Imperial, slowed by a defective saddle, stood his ground and was the only casualty in the party. Stacton, The Bonapartes, 351–52. 17. The Zulu conflict of 1879 stemmed from British efforts to federate all the white states in South Africa. Using Zulu power as a pretext for annexing the Natal, a combined British-Boer force marched into Zululand, where it was crushed at Isandhlwana on January 22, 1879, with a loss of over 1,700 men. Stung by this defeat, the British organized a massive invasion, in which Louis Napoleon was killed. Cetewayo, meanwhile, had decided on a purely defensive war that resulted in defeat for the Zulus in front of their capital at Ulundi, on July 4, 1879. Cetewayo was taken to Cape Town as a prisoner. Omer-Cooper, Zulu Aftermath, 47–48. In his book, The Dust Rose Like Smoke, James Gump draws comparisons between the British subjugation of the Zulus and the U.S. subjugation of the Western Sioux, with particular emphasis on Isandhlwana and the Little Bighorn. Similarities certainly exist, but also differences. The Sioux essentially were a tribal people with a highly individualistic warrior mentality, whereas the Zulu were an organized state, with a well-trained, highly disciplined professional army, albeit one that specialized in close combat rather than long-range firearms.

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The following letter from General Crook to Mr. Tibbles, assistant editor of the Omaha Herald, (the gentleman who first commenced proceedings against the Gov’t. in behalf of the Poncas.) contains General Crook’s views on the Indian question and for that reason is worthy of a place in this record. HdQrs. Dep’t of the Platte, Commanding General’s Office, Fort Omaha, Neb., June 19th, 1879.* My dear Mr. Tibbles. I have been so busy since my return to HdQrs. that I have not previously had leisure to answer your questions in reference to the management of the restive tribes, and while I believe that the views I am now about to express will cover all the salient features of the case, I am afraid there may be, in the hurry of correspondence, some omissions which, however, can be remedied whenever desired. To begin with, my experience with the red men embraces much more than a quarter of a century, during which time I have been thrown in contact with them, both in peace and war, in all the grades of military rank from a brevet second lieutenancy to that of General Officer, and have had under my control Reservations whereon were congregated Indians in numbers ranging from several hundreds well up into the thousands. I have had, I may say, excellent opportunities for studying the character of the Indians who roam, or lately did roam, over Washington Territory, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Dakota and Montana, or the tribes known at Klamaths, Pit rivers, Modocs, Apaches, Hualpais, Pimas, Caricopas, Papagoes, Yumas, Mojaves, Yavapais, Cocopahs, Moquis, Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Pawnees, Bannocks, Shoshonees, Utes and Pi-Utes. Some of these, as the Pawnees, Papagoes and Maricopas, I have only known as friends in peace and allies in war: of the others, there have been tribes expressing friendly feelings towards our people, but sympathizing with and aiding our enemies, and others still, like the Apaches, Klamath’s, Sioux, Cheyennes, Bannocks, Below 19th Bourke wrote 20th.

*

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THE CHEYENNES AND THE PONCAS Shoshonees and Pi-Utes, with whom it has been my fortune, after vigorous campaigning, to have been on terms of intimacy and confidence. I have been at pains to give an outline of my experience that you may feel confident that my views and opinions are not given at hap-hazard, after brief service in this Department of military administration, but that they are the slowly-formed convictions of a deliberate judgment, based upon unusual facilities for observation; in addition to the tribes above enumerated, I have had some opportunity for studying the British management of the Indians near Puget Sound and have had under my command, Mexican Indians, representatives of the tribes known as Opata, Yaqui and Otomi. But I will restrict my remarks to our own tribes, for obvious reasons. Our Indians act under precisely the same impulses and are guided by identically the same trains of reasoning as would white men under like circumstances. They are fierce, warlike and blood thirsty as long as war is the only avenue by which their young men are to gain prominence and distinction, but they are by no means slow to perceive when their best interests demand the cultivation of peaceful relations with former enemies, be they white or red. It is not to be denied that, whenever tribes, which have for generations been on the war-path, have made peace, either of their own seeking or under compulsion, some of the restless and dissatisfied spirits have resumed hostilities, dragging after them more or less of their comrades. Such a fact is to be attributed to the want of suitable employment, to the craving for eminence among their fellows, or, especially, to the general lack of tone of our system of dealing with them; yet, in face of all this, I will say, without hesitation, that our Indians have adhered more closely to the spirit of treaty stipulations than the white man or the white man’s government has ever done. The leading chiefs thoroughly understand the changed condition of affairs;—they see that they can no longer depend upon game for their support, and are anxious to obtain cattle, seeds and implements and to have their children educated.

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They see the necessity of adopting the white man’s way and of conforming to the established order of things. But, I am very sorry to say, they have, to a very great degree, lost confidence in our people and their promises. Indians are very much like white men in being unable to live upon air. If you were to collate from treaties all the promises made to the red men and contrast them with our performances, you would have to admit that there was a very serious margin of compacts broken and unfulfilled upon which the Indians could ground their distrust and contempt. We sent them too many Commissioners: there is no class of men for whom the Indians have less respect. Better select one tribe and stick closely to the letter and essence of the compacts we have entered into with it; such an example would not be lost upon adjacent tribes. Our method is different. Let a tribe remain at peace; we starve them. Let them go to war and spring suddenly upon our scattered settlements, we make every promise, yield every concession. Thus the Indian learns that by being “bad”, he is all the more certain to be the recipient of kind treatment. This was the very point so forcibly urged by the Bannock and Shoshonee chiefs in a talk I had with them at Fort Hall, Idaho, last summer.—“They had been our allies in the war with the Sioux and Cheyennes, but the latter who had given us so much trouble, (that is to say the Sioux), were kept well supplied whereas the tribes which had been friendly in the our of our need were exposed to starvation.” And yet thousands of our people wondered why we should have war with the Bannocks! But, supposing that the appropriations do admit of feeding the Indians and that the Agent is a thoroughly honest and capable man;—there is now to be encountered a new and a greater danger. The Indians have absolutely no status for claiming protection under our laws. Let me cite the case of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail bands of Sioux, now living on Reservations lying along the northern boundary of this Department. I am personally ac-

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THE CHEYENNES AND THE PONCAS quainted with the chiefs and head men of these two powerful bands which aggregate somewhere from 12.000 to 14.000 souls. I believe that they are earnestly desirous of remaining at peace and they will remain at peace until aggressions goad them to war. You know to what an extent these two Bands have been preyed upon by organized companies of horsethieves; during the past winter and spring alone, they have been robbed of over one thousand ponies. Their Agents, Dr. [James] Irwin and Dr. V. T. McGillicuddy, have been exceptionally zealous and capable, but they have been utterly powerless to check the evil complained of. Under the “Posse Comitatus” Act, the military arm of the Government is paralyzed. The Sioux can’t understand anything about legislation in military affairs;—they don’t want to understand it. All they know is that bands of white thieves boldly seize their ponies and drive them off, finding a ready sale for them among ranchmen and cattle-herders. For all this there is no redress whatever. As I understand the law, we cannot even seize Indian property when found in the hands of well-known thieves. The Indian owner has the privilege of sueing [sic] for the recovery in the State Courts, but this would prove to be, in most cases, a very shadowy consolation. It seems to me to be an odd feature of our judicial system that the only people in this country who have no rights under the law are the original owners of the soil: an Irishman, German, Chinaman, Turk or Tartar will be protected in life and property, but the Indian commands respect for his rights only so long as he inspires terror for his rifle. We have conscientious, able men interested in the civilization of the aborigines, but the system, or want of system, under which they are working is a grave obstacle to success. Between the advocates of the theory that an Indian is incapable of good and the supporters of the antipodal idea that he will never do wrong, the red man is in danger of annihilation;—of starving to death in the centre of a country which is feeding the world with its exuberant harvests, or of

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being killed for trying to defend rights which the Negro and Mongolian are allowed to enjoy. The true, the only, policy to pursue with the Indian is to treat him just as we treat a white man; if he make war upon our frontier settlements, pulverize him; but after he has been reduced to submission, protect him in life and property. Keep white thieves from plundering him, let him see that Peace means Progress; that he has a market for every pound of beef, every hide and every sack of grain, and, my word for it, he will make rapid advances. Self-interest will impel him to imitate us, to send his children to school, to adopt our clothing, perhaps our language, and to devote his attention to raising cattle and horses, and eventually to qualify himself for citizenship. My letter has become longer than I intended, but I wish to add another remark. The Indian, in his nature, is in one respect, the opposite of the Chinaman. The latter is frugal even to abstemiousness and economical to the verge of perniciousness; the former will frequently, at feasts and dances, give away the bulk of his possessions to needy friends and relatives. We must endeavour to correct this defect in the Indian character. As affairs are now managed, he has no encouragement to save. When his horses and cattle are big enough to be of service, they are driven off in herds by white renegades; when his wheat and corn and vegetables are almost ready for the market, his Reservation is changed and, sometimes, as in the case of the Poncas, he is compelled to abandon everything. Were we to treat some of our foreign immigrants in such a manner, it would not take long to turn them into prowling vagabonds, living by robbery and assassination. I remain, Very Truly Yours, (Signed.) George Crook. Brigadier General, U.S. Army.

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Part 3 Americanizing the Frontier

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Background

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fter a retrospective on Irish officers and their often humorous quirks, Bourke spends much of this section on the rapid development of what, only a decade earlier, was raw frontier. Homesteaders were pouring into the area, willing to endure privation in order to be their own masters. Visiting one family of settlers, living in squalor in a sod hut and maintaining a subsistence farm, Bourke believed their shabbiness was more than offset by their determination to succeed. “It is of such stuff that good commonwealths are made and, no doubt, in another quarter of a century, this family will be comfortable, prosperous and well-placed,” he commented.1 In contrast to the Eastern and Midwestern farmers, who were doing the best they could and determined to do better, Bourke was appalled by the Spartan conditions of the local cattle ranches. The cowboys seemed to be satisfied with their scant accommodations, and had no inclination to improve them, an attitude he blamed on the influence of Texas, without giving any particular reason. Even so, he developed a grudging admiration for the hard, spare life of the cowboys, their overall good nature, and their generosity. “[A]fter all,” he decided, “our lives are only what we make them and . . . a 1. Bourke, Diary, 29:84.

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cow-boy happy is better than Alexander sighing for new worlds to conquer.”2 The ranches are part of Bourke’s account of an expedition to pick a site for a new post that eventually became Fort Niobrara, Nebraska. Here we see the care and attention that went into these selections by the late 1870s. In the antebellum West, posts often were established at unsatisfactory locations because very little was known about the country. By 1879, however, there were many considerations, not the least of which were defensive, as Bourke notes: “the hills close to [one site] had such a perfect ‘command’ that a few Indians creeping into secluded nooks in the rocks could annoy the garrisons terribly.”3 Besides Indians, consideration was also given to availability of water, space for company quarters, support buildings, post garden, whether a parade ground would have to be graded, and various other requirements. Yet even as the army worried about Indian snipers “annoying” soldiers in a fort, the West was industrializing, and Bourke visits Omaha’s modern new factories. In the Union Pacific shops, he describes the manufacture of railroad wheels and axles from molten steel, and construction of express, mail, and paymaster cars (passenger coaches were built by Pullman in Illinois). Nail and white lead works also are on the afternoon’s agenda. To those who came up after the 1950s, the innocence with which lead was treated seems almost incredible. The lead oxide produced in Omaha was used for women’s face powder.4 In fact, lead oxide-based cosmetics, as author David Stacton notes in his history of the Bonapartes, is the reason nineteenth-century society women tended to be lethargic and suffer from bad teeth. They were being poisoned.5 As anyone who watches modern “how-to” programs on television is well aware, even lead oxide paints, which Bourke also describes, must be carefully handled for removal and disposal in many jurisdictions. Hazards notwithstanding, progress and optimism were everywhere. Bourke’s entry for August 20, 1879, is one simple sentence indicative of the times: “Telephonic communication established between Fort Omaha and Omaha.”6 2. Ibid., 30:29 3. Ibid., 30:123. 4. Ibid., 30:223–25, 31:226–33. 5. Stacton, The Bonapartes, 119. Stacton was describing the effects of lead-oxide on Madame Mère, Napoleon’s mother and the family matriarch. 6. Bourke, Diary, 31:233.

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Bourke’s duties carry him throughout the Department of the Platte, and he spends much of his time on trains. Where, only a few years before, he had to travel by horse, ambulance, or wagon, he now rides in the comfort of a Pullman. He is keenly aware of the importance of railroads in tying the country together and developing it, and watches the expansion and consolidation of railroad lines with great interest. Remembering his scouting expeditions in Arizona in 1870–72, he writes, “The giant strides making [sic] by the Atchison and Southern Pacific R.R. lines will soon bring that hitherto neglected country of Arizona into deserved prominence.”7 The narrative is punctuated with references to railroad magnate Jay Gould, whom he calls “that wonderful genius. . . .one of the most extraordinary men the world has ever produced.”8 Gould, in fact, did rescue Union Pacific from collapse in 1874, merging it with Kansas Pacific. He continued snapping up other lines, until only he could challenge the mighty Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. He also controlled a substantial share of the communications industry through his acquisition of Western Union.9 While he probably was not the ogre that the vehemently anti-Gould New York press made him out to be, Bourke’s view of him, and of the industry as a whole, is overly simplistic. Bourke’s background was comfortably middleclass, and his own association with railroads is that of a beneficiary. He rides on courtesy passes or at government expense, often in the company or with the blessing of high corporate officials. His views, naturally, would be their views. He ignores the other side of the coin, the sordid world of monopoly and price-gouging that was the theme of Frank Norris’ railroad exposé, The Octopus. 7. Ibid., 32:436. 8. Ibid., 32:442. 9. Utley, Encyclopedia of the West, 184.

Chapter 11 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Of Irish Lords and Irish Soldiers

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his night, (June 20th) a Farewell Hop was given by the officers of Fort Omaha to Colonel [Edwin F.] Townsend and family. Colonel Townsend has just been promoted from the majority of the 9th to the Lieutenant-Colonelcy of the 11th Infantry, (Station, Fort Custer, Montana.)1 The affair was a decided and pleasing success, the attendance of young people from town being quite large, notwithstanding the bad weather! The almost continuous rains which have fallen in the Missouri Valley, during the month just ending have been of incalculable benefit to the growing crops, but have made the atmosphere so murky and damp that a great deal of sickness prevails, mostly a mild type of chills and fever. Yet Fort Omaha never looked more beautiful. It depends upon its natural advantages alone for its attractiveness; the buildings constructed, with exceptions to be named further on, are entirely of wood, and in a condition suggesting grave apprehensions of their durability and safety. But they look cosy and comfortable which is 1. Fort Custer was established in 1877, on a bluff above the confluence of the Bighorn and Little Bighorn Rivers. Nothing now remains of the post, which was abandoned in 1898. Frazer, Forts of the West, 79–80.

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a great advantage. The officers’ cottages fronting to the East, look out over a beautiful emerald-green parade of twenty Acres, upon the broad bosom of the turbid Missouri and the bluffs on the further side. The post, altho’ built for occupancy by ten companies of Cavalry, is now garrisoned by only two of the Infantry, 9th Regiment, as well as the Hd.Qrs. and Band. The Department Hd.Qrs. offices &c fill the Barracks on the South side. At the North East corner, or near it, is the beautiful brick building, almost finished, as the residence of General Crook. On the East side are the Engine House, from which water is forced over the grounds and to all buildings, Commissary and Q.M. warehouse (brick) nearly finished, Post Adjutant’s Office, Guard House, Main Entrances and Bakery. The new Hd. Qrs. Building, (Brick and stone,) is in process of erection, at the centre of the parade. The post is, in most respects, a delightful station and, at date of writing, has a very refined society. The city of Omaha, four miles distance is a Rail Road center of importance and the outlet for a great amount of trade. In some points, its citizens are deplorably wanting in public spirit. The town is to-day without paved streets, water-works, market houses, Opera House, Theatre, good Hotels, or adequate drainage. The better classes of its inhabitants are noted for their intelligence, refinement and hospitality. The present year has thus far been characterized by a wonderful interest in mining and Railroad development in the West: hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars have been thus invested and to-day, there is no Territory, except Montana without a Rail Road. A reviving interest in the protection and development of American shipping interest, so long shamelessly neglected, is also perceptible. June 23d. Colonel Townsend, Captain Morton, and Captain Lee, entertained the officers of the Garrison this evening with champagne &c, in celebration of their promotion: these officers and their families have played an important part in the social and military relations of the Garrison and their departure from among us, even as a consequent of well-earned promotion, is the occasion of sincere, and deep-felt regret. June 30th. Water let in the first time from the Hale and Norcross[,]

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and Savage mines on the Comstock lode into the Sutro tunnel; and in eight hours had lowered the depth of the Savage mine One Hundred feet. This Sutro tunnel is one of the greatest engineering achievements of this generation and is worthy of mention in the same breath with the Hoodae tunnel, the Suez Canal, the Menai bridge, the fine iron bridges across the Mississipi, Missouri and Ohio, and the railroads across our continent and in India. Mr. Adolph Sutro, the originator of the idea, has most tenaciously adhered to his plans and now after years of weary, heart-breaking obstruction and repulse, sees his tunnel completed and views in the near future a vision of Golden harvests as a reward for his labors. This tunnel is over 5000 feet long and connects a point in the valley of the Carson river, Nevada, with the 2000 ft. levels of the great mines on the Comstock. These mines[,] some one hundred in number[,] have netted since 1862, about Three hundred and sixty five millions of dollars2 to their owners and in some cases, as notably in those of the Ophir, Savage, Hale and Norcross, Gould and Curry, Sierra Nevada, Union Consolidated[,] California[,] and Consolidated Virginia, share-holders have jumped from obscurity and indigence to the affluence of Croesus or Monte Cristo.3 Of late months, the net yield of bullion has been small, partly because the great depth now attained makes it impossible to reduce the low grade ore and partly on account of the presence of great bodies of water in the lower levels. At the depth of 2000 feet, the heat was found so great that the consumption of ice to the fabulous apportionment of 93 pounds per diem to the man was necessitated. Now this great tunnel will establish 1st a constant draught of air, inducing fair, even excellent ventilation and lower the Tophet-like temperature of the greater depths: 2nd It will cut down the enormous expenses heretofore incurred for hoisting ore which can in the future be run out on horizontal tramways and lastly, it will empty the accumulations of water which have done so much to obstruct the progress of 2. This is the final figure, several others having been crossed out. Bourke apparently updated this notation as time passed. 3. Croesus was king of Lydia in modern Turkey from 560 to 546 B.C. Because of rich gold deposits, he is believed to have been the wealthiest man of his age, and under his reign the Lydians were the first to mint coins for money. The Count of Monte Cristo, a novel by Alexandre Dumas, is about a man, falsely imprisoned, who escapes and discovers a fabulous treasure.

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exploration and development. Yet more, it is suggested that as the work of excavation goes on, the water of the upper levels can be allowed to fall upon over-shot wheels working pumps which will keep the newly opened drifts and crescents as dry as powder and after having fulfilled this important duty the stream can be conducted in boxes to the mouth of the tunnel and these let into the Carson River, whose waters can be used for irrigating barren lands farther down its course. July 2nd Received from my friend, Mr. Ben Clarke, interpreter at the Cheyenne Indian Agency, Fort Reno, Indian Territory, a book of Indian pictures made by warriors of the Cheyenne tribe. This is an important addition to my collection of such sketches and contained delineations, in a rude style, of events in the fights with Crook’s troops at the Rosebud, Custer on the Little Big Horn, Mackenzie on Powder and Miles on lower Tongue river. July 4th The anniversary of the Declaration of Independence passed quietly at Dep’t. Hd. Qrs: all work, not of necessity, stopped and every office closed. Mrs. J. W. Mason, wife of Colonel Mason, 3d Cavy, an old friend of mine, was at the post, on a visit to the family of Colonel Royall, previous to starting for the West, to rejoin her husband at Fort Fetterman, Wyo. A feeble attempt at pyrotechnical display was indulged in, most of the rockets and Catherine wheels fizzing out and the balloons burning up before they had ascended to any great height. The effect of the fire-works upon Colonel Ludington’s bright dog, Don, was most dispiriting. Don had never seen such strange things before and could not be induced to go near them. The 4th being Colonel Ludington’s Birth-day, we drank his health in a goblet of champagne, before going to bed. July 5th A couple of men have been exhibiting in Omaha what they call a “headless chicken”, said to have “lived” for nearly three months, since decapitation. I went to see the curiosity and examined it carefully. Making due allowance for any imposition that may have been practiced upon me, it struck me as a very strange affair & had all the semblance of a real decapitation. I have been informed that a chicken will exist for some days if the head be severed from the truck in such a manner as to leave a small portion of the brain at the base of the cranium attached to the neck.4 4. I.e., the brain stem.

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Started this morning for Fort Hartsuff, Neb.,5 in company with General Crook, Lieutenant Schuyler, A.D.C., & Captain W. S. Stanton, Engineer Corps, Engineer Officer of the Department. On the train with us, were also Captain Fred. Van Vliet, 3d Cavy., en route to his post, Fort Robinson, Mr. D. P. Foster, of New York, formerly of Arizona, and Mr. Williams and Wife of San Francisco, the later old friends of General Crook. The weather was most propitious. The immense growing crop of the State surprised and delighted everybody as we rapidly made our way up the valley of the Platte. Wagons, loaded with immigrants, could be seen alongside the R.R. track, at almost any moment. At Grand Island we descended from the train to await the departure of a conveyance for Fort Hartsuff; Mr. Wiltze and his wife, the proprietors of the hotel, received us with their accustomed friendliness. A pleasant evening stroll about Grand Isle. surprised me by the extent of the improvements and the remarkable increase of population since my last visit, which was in April, 1878, when I came out to hear Captain Nickerson’s (now major and Ass’t. Adjt. General.) lecture upon Gettysburgh, [sic],—a noble oration, listened to with rapt attention by a large gathering of people. Grand Island is looking forward to another Rail Road connection, to lead from the town of Hastings, (the point of junction of the Saint Joseph and Denver [Railroad] with the B. and M.6 in Nebraska,) up the Loup Valley to Fort Hartsuff. This will give an additional impetus to settlement, affording a market for the future productions of a vast area of arable land, yet virgin. Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota and Dakota are the field of greatest activity in Rail Road construction just now, altho the great cheapness of construction and improvement in the financial outlook of the country have occasioned a general revival in the business of transportation. No allusion to the Railroads of the Great West would be complete which did not refer to Mr. Jay Gould, the intellectual colossus who presides over the destinies of the Union Pacific and its de5. Fort Hartsuff was established in 1874 near the present town of Burwell, Nebraska, and named in memory of Maj. Gen. George Lucas Hartsuff. It was abandoned in 1881, after the establishment of Fort Niobrara rendered it redundant. The reservation was transferred to the Interior Department in 1884. See Chapters 13, 16. Frazer, Forts of the West, 86–87. 6. Burlington & Missouri Rail Road.

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pendent lines: to him, more than to any other man that I know if, is due the development of the great business principle that long lines of Rail Road are the only ones that can be depended upon to pay well. Aided by his subordinates, S. H. H. Clark, Superintendent of the Union Pacific, who fourteen years ago was a brakeman and has since risen by the simple force of his mental powers to his present eminence, and T. L. Kimball, a wary, shrewd manager—by the aid and upon the suggestions of such men, Gould has gradually and silently obtained control of various lines, until at this date he has an unbroken track from New York, to Ogden[,] Utah[,] and is reaching out boldly for an independent line to the Pacific; with arms stretching to the Right and Left to Montana and Arizona. Doctor Towns, & Mr. West guided our party around town and pointed out everything calculated to interest or instruct. Mr. West is Q.M. Agent at this point and Dr. Towns was post Surgeon at Fort Hartsuff at the time of my last visit there in 1875, of which more anon. Dr. Towns is now engaged in stock-raising on the Niobrara. One of the first buildings in Grand Island is the new brick schoolhouse, costing $20.000 which accomodates a daily average of 500 scholars. This evening we had a remarkably fine sun-set. The sky would have been perfectly cloudless were it not for one large purple mass in the West which the declining sun ribbed and edged and flecked with gold. Beneath this, floated a few slight [illegible] cloudlets of gray and gold and silver, over which the sun, like a colossal brazen ball hung immobile in the firmament, shedding rays and streaks of soft light in all directions. July 6th Our conveyance was ready at an early hour and as soon as breakfast was over we clambered in, and saying farewell to our friends were on the road to the north. I recognized the vehicle as an old acquaintance being the same one which in 1875 had carried a party consisting of Capt. [Charles] Wheaton, Capt. Henton, Lieut. Clark, Lt. Broderick, 23d Infantry, Lt. W. P. Clark, 2d Cavalry, Sir Rose Price and myself. The officers were on duty as members of a General Court-Martial to be convened at Fort Hartsuff and Sir Rose Price, was taken along to give him a chance

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to see the country.7 Then, as now, the conveyance I rode in, was in a shaky, asthmatic condition, creaking and wheezing fearfully while going down every grade. It is the living representation of Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “One Horse Shay”, but may hold together for a few weeks yet.8 Our driver, Mr. Washburne, the mayor of Grand Isle, is an old kiln-dried veteran who has rought [sic] it in every state and territory from Maine to California. We had a very bright and cheery drive, the four horses attached to our old rattle-trap pulling it along at a respectable pace; our course being almost due North through a finely-grassed country, possessing a very good soil and settling up with remarkable rapidity. The houses are of all materials, very many being of sod and of pisé. with a great deal of chopped hay. Six miles from Grand Island, we crossed the Prairie Creek and eighteen miles out entered the valley of the Loup. Here we saw a brick yard, turning out a fair article of building material. Nearby is a settlement of German Catholics, called Saint Labon, their modest little church being a prominent feature. Soon after, we crossed the Loup River on a good wooden bridge, the river being very broad[,] 200 yd.[,] shallow and full of sand-bars: and, possibly, very much swollen in spring. The valley of the Loup is fast filling up with a very good class of people. 7. Sir Rose Lambart Price later wrote a book about the trip through the Western Hemisphere, entitled The Two Americas. In it, he expressed admiration for Americans in general, and U.S. Army officers in particular, a sentiment unusual in the British gentry of the period. Price’s comments on Army officers are quoted in Robinson, Diaries, 2:256n10. His visit is discussed in ibid., 255–56, and 380, and later in this chapter. 8. The shay (from the French chaise) is a two-wheeled carriage with a single seat over the axle. The driver sits in a box above and to the rear of the passengers. Bourke is referring not to the type of vehicle in which he and his companions were riding, but to its dilapidated condition, which Holmes expressed in the poem, “The Deacon’s Masterpiece; or the Wonderful ‘One-Hoss Shay’.” Have you heard of the wonderful one-horse shay, That was built in such a logical way It ran a hundred years to a day, And then, of a sudden, it—ah but stay. . . . Now in building of chaises, I tell you what, There is always somewhere a weakest spot, In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill, In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace,—lurking still, Find it somewhere you must and will,— Above or below, or within or without,— And that’s the reason, beyond a doubt, That a chaise breaks down, but doesn’t wear out. . . .

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Saint Paul, the seat of Howard County, is a good-sized village of neat houses, planted right in the middle of a broad green prairie. Here we took dinner and a miserable meal it was; served up in a slouchy, dirty manner, with a superabundance of flies. The vegetables were all raised in the settlement. Nebraska has for five years enjoyed immunity from the depredations of grass-hoppers which in 1874, 1875 wrought such destruction. Four miles beyond Saint Paul, we crossed the North Fork of the Loup, ascending it for fourteen miles to the house of Wentworth, or “Buckshot”, at one time a Government scout and guide of considerable reputation. On our way, we saw many broad fields of wheat, bearded out finely and most of it promising a fine yield. There was a very noticeable absence of fences, and of timber, but in many localities, groves had been planted often of fruit-bearers, but mainly of the cottonwood. Prairie-fires are guarded against in this region by fire-breaks, made by turning over the side for a width of 25 @ 30 ft: this space is often planted in corn which can be gathered before the coming of the high winds of November which spread conflagrations through the high grass. The Loup Valley is sandy and alluvial until you reach Buckshot’s, where a protrusion of sandy limestone is visible in the bluffs close at hand; this becomes pure limestone a couple of miles to the north, and at Beebe’s is burnt for building purposes. Buckshot was not at home when we alighted, but his wife took good care of us and busied herself in getting us something to eat. Their home is a neat, homelike little cottage, a pretty flower garden lying in front of leafy vines clamber[in]g on trellises against the walls: wells, spring-houses,9 chicken-coops and other appentenances kept in a clean and sweet condition. In the conversation maintained while waiting for dinner and from the conclusion of that meal until bed-time, Mr. Washburne gave us in a quiet, modest way, a recital of his adventures while making the overland trip to California, in 1849. The Sioux Indians were then a tribe much more numerous even than they are to-day, but inclined to friendliness and peace, but among the immigrants were many hard customers who would just as soon shoot an Indian in cold blood as eat their breakfast. 9. As the name indicates, a spring-house is a structure built over a spring, and used for cool storage of butter, milk, and other perishables.

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About the time, Mr. Washburne made the trip, one of these desperadoes, belonging to a train moving up the Platte Valley, saw an old Sioux squaw alone and thinking it would be good fun shot her dead. The joke was a very excellent one in its way, but not quite so happy in its general results as the perpetrator expected. A large band of Sioux happened to be in the vicinity and learning of the murder of their relative and suspecting the immigrants surrounded their camp, and demanded the surrender of the murderer. The trembling whites produced him without delay and the exasperated Indians skinned him alive and then burned him. From this circumstance, Raw-Hide creek, an affluent of the Elkhorn river, in Nebraska, takes its name. On this journey across the plains, Mr. Washburne says his party encountered many Indians: 1st, a great concourse of Pawnees, number several thousands, on their way to Sarpy’s store, near Omaha, to trade. 2d. an immense village of Sioux on the Platte river, 20 miles East of Fort Laramie. This village was so long that the immigrants were ten hours in passing it: the tepees were five and six deep. On the north Platte, near the Sweetwater, they encountered a fabulously large herd of buffalo moving across their line of travel. The immigrants were so afraid that the buffaloes might charge through their camp, that they kept up their march without halting for two days and two nights, before they reached the end of the herd. In the Big Horn country, they came across a large band of Shoshonee and Bannock Indians, with whom they found an old Frenchman deriving a good trade. Beyond the Rockies, they saw Pi-Utes and Diggers, but not in parties strong enough to be threatening. The Loup Valley was then the hunting ground of the Pawnees and was not looked upon as habitable by white men. A storm raging to the South of us cooled the air and enabled us to sleep soundly in spite of the devoted attentions of a host of bed-bugs. July 7th. Awakened at 4 o’clock; air cool, balmy and invigorating. Ate heartily of a well-cooked breakfast of fried chicken, new potatoes, fresh bread and butter, coffee and milk. Moved North of the Loup, passing Beebe’s, where a new house of concrete was a-building. Near this flourished a small grove of ash, elm, cottonwood and willow, while in the little ravines close by, was scrub-oak. Day cloudy, but

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travelling excellent. Captain Stanton gave a most interest[in]g account of his experience at Fort Saint Philip and Fort Jackson, on the Mississipi, below New Orleans.10 As these posts are situated on the muddy, low-lying river bottom, water can only be kept off the parade by the constant use of steam-pumps. On one occasion, the pump broke and the river water soon covered the parade with a deep, treacherous slime, in which alligators and gar-fish made themselves at home. When the pump was again in operation, many of these animals were left high and dry by the receding water and dying, poisoned the super-heated air with the stench from their decomposing carcasses. This effluvia and that from the stagnant pools and ditches about the fort produced aggravated forms of fever and placed all the garrison on sick-report.11 On to-day’s march, we have seen but little timber. The Loup meandered gently down a broad valley of emerald green and were it somewhat more thickly timbered would remind one of descriptions I have read of scenery in Great Britain and Ireland. Several hundreds of Polish families and also many Bohemians have taken up land at the head of the tributaries of the Loup and are actively at work building settlements and planting crops. Two or three German families passed us this morning in carts drawn by oxen, the animals being hitched and not yoked. 10. These forts defended the main channel of the Mississippi River below New Orleans, where a force of invading ships would have to slow to round Plaquemines Bend and continue upriver. Fort St. Philip was begun by the Spaniards as Castillo San Felipe in 1793, and was remodeled and strengthened by the United States in 1812. Two years later, it withstood a British bombardment. The U.S. Army continued to maintain Fort St. Philip, and, on the opposite side of the river, began construction of a second stronghold, designated Fort Jackson, in 1824. After the outbreak of the Civil War, the two forts were taken over by the Confederates, and, in the 1862 New Orleans Campaign, fell to Union forces after a siege lasting about a week. In the 1890s, both forts were modernized with concrete emplacements for mortars and long-range coastal defense guns, and new facilities for garrison and support. They continued in service until 1922, when they were declared surplus and abandoned. Fort Jackson now is the centerpiece of a park owned and operated by Plaquemines Parish, which maintains a museum in the guardroom and magazine. Fort St. Philip is privately owned and not open to the public. See Manuel, Coastal Castles, 18ff. 11. Anyone familiar with Forts Jackson and St. Philip cannot avoid the suspicion that Stanton was telling a tall tale. Both forts were infamous for their flooded parade grounds, but except for rises in the river (most recently in Hurricane Katrina in 2005), the water pooled from ground seepage rather than an outside source. Additionally, they are surrounded by masonry walls, and when garrisoned and with gates and casemate shutters closed, should have been inaccessible to fish or alligators. At this time, the parade ground and galleries of Fort St. Philip are filled with silt and debris from river flooding, but that is because of abandonment and lack of maintenance.

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Ord City, Loup City, (both on West side of the river.) and Scotia, are fast -growing towns. All these have newspapers. I had a chance to read several copies of the Scotia paper—the Greeley Tribune—and found it full of matter, original and selected. At Ord, met Lieut. Norris, 9th Infy. Approaching Fort Hartsuff, the valley of the Loup is more heavily timbered. Fort Hartsuff is a beautiful post, altho’ not located in the best available site. The Quarters for two companies, Barracks, Officers, &c are all of concrete, well-built, finely finished, with veranda and other conveniences. Water is supplied by a force-pump, operated by a windmill. The post, at time of our visit, was garrisoned by one Company (“C”) [Samuel] Munson’s, of the 9th Infantry. The men were at target practice, under the supervision of Cap’t. Munson and Lt. [Thaddeus] Capron, who left the company and hastened over to pay their respects to Genl. Crook. Capt. Munson took charge of Genl. Crook and Cap’t. Stanton, Lt. Norris of Lt. Schuyler[,] and Lt. Capron of myself. We were taken to visit the Company (then in tents on account of the Qrs. being cleaned.) and to the Post Garden, a finely cultivated strip of 3 Acres, yielding abundantly of Beets, Beans, Lettuce, Onions, Parsnips, Peas, Cabbage and Potatoes. We then went to the Guard-House and to the Q.M. warehouse, in which Lt. Capron was preparing a set of hanging shelves, or rather hanging boxes, to keep the company clothing and blankets from the depredations of mice. The supports were wooden slats, covered with tin. The Reservoir, we were told, gave a “head” of 60 feet above the parade ground. The changes occurring, in the country between Grande Island at Ft. Hartsuff and at Ft. Hartsuff itself since my last visit in 1875, are something wonderful and illustrated well the progressive tendency of American colonization, if such a word be the correct one to explain this connection. Then, the town of Grand Island was a very small and comparatively insignificant affair; now its schools afford the elements of education to more than five hundred children; the settlements which in that year did not come beyond Saint Paul, only twenty-four miles this side (North) of the R.R. now reach to a point thirty miles beyond Hartsuff itself and a Rail Road extension is under way for their benefit. Of my former trip in some particulars, I might, if so disposed, write

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much that is ridiculous. We had with us, as I have already remarked, a real, genuine, sure-enough, live Lord—a member of the British Aristocracy! Well, as Sir Rose Price, to all outward appearances, was a perfect gentleman, we quietly determined to treat him as such and let him feel that he was one of ourselves. Sir Rose being a sensible fellow and himself an Army officer of some considerable experience in all parts of the world, entered heartily into our companionship and we all talked, joked, told stories and tales of adventure, drank toddies, smoked or shot game all the way from Grand Island to Fort Hartsuff. This was exactly as it should be[.] Sir Rose was just as good as we were, but no better. When we reached Fort Hartsuff, then commanded by Captain and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel John J. Coppinger, 23d Infantry, everything changed at once. Coppinger, altho’ calling himself an Englishman, was really a Corkagian Mick from Ireland. He was a man of education and travel, having served in the Pope’s Army, during the war with Victor Emanuel and in our own during that of the Rebellion.12 But with all his worldly knowledge and common sense, he could not shake off the trammels of early ideas and at heart, in all cases where rank was concerned he was as thorough a snob as ever I have met. The idea that he was to have a live “Lord” under his roof was too much for him and he lost his equilibrium entirely. This conduct struck us as extremely funny, because we had extracted from Sir Rose much of his history; Sir Rose, a younger son of a younger son, had counted himself lucky in the possession of a Captaincy in the Marine Infantry, serving at Hong Kong, China, when a gouty-toed old relative “pegged out” and left him the residue of a small “estate” in Ireland,—an “estate”, about as big as many a Western farmer’s corn-patch, but carrying with it a Baronetcy and a small income on which Sir Rose was economically travelling around the world.13 To see those two confounded “tare and ages” Muldoons playing the “blarsted Hinglishmen”, and talking of “Pell-Mell[”], “Wotten Wo” and “Wegents Pawk”14 would give a Government mule the blind 12. Bourke refers to the Wars of Italian Unification, in which the various Italian states, and ultimately the States of the Church, eventually were fused together in a single kingdom under Victor Emanuel II. 13. A baronetcy is one step below British peerage, which begins with baronies, but one step above a knighthood. A baronet is addressed as “Sir,” as is a knight. While technically not peers, baronets have enough prestige to be listed in Burke’s Peerage and Debrett’s Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage. National Geographic, This England, 201. 14. Pall Mall, Rotten Row, and Regent’s Park.

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staggers, but the spectacle of Coppinger’s obsequious deference, almost servile abjection, to the other’s miserable rank was as galling as it was absurd. Now, in our party, we had old Captain “Jemmie” Henton, also an Irishman, an honest, old soldier, who had, by his own merit, won his way up from the ranks. Jemmie was not “up” in the ways of Courts or the niceties of etiquette, but had thus far succeeded in getting along admirable with the “aristocrat”. But, when we reached Hartsuff, Col. Coppinger made so much of a fuss over the “Hinglishman”, (from Cork,) that “Old Jimmie Henton”,15 as we called him, became bewildered. One of Coppinger’s ideas was that the Americans didn’t know how to address distinguished foreigners, so he instructed us that, under no circumstances, must we say “Lord Rose” and “Sir Price”, but always the contrary method, i.e. “Sir Rose” or “Lord Price”. We took the whole thing very quietly but it required no gigantic intellect to foretell that the demure young lieutenants meant mischief. Pretty soon, dinner was announced and in we marched, Sir Rose being very properly assigned to the seat of honor as a stranger and guest. Conversation had barely began [sic], in fact the ice of new acquaintance had just about cracked, when Old Jimmie Henton made a fearful break by addressing “Lord Rose”. Coppinger looked daggers at him. Poor Jimmie’s red neck and pulpy blue eyes grew redder and more pulpy, his short sandy hair stood erect and a great lump protruded from his throat. He tried to correct himself, but the more he taxed his memory for the proper title the less willing it seemed to be to respond. So he kept repeating the wrong title over and over again, his neck by this time a brilliant carmine, his eyes dodging clear out of the sockets, every individual hair on end, and cold globules of perspiration rolling down his cheeks, and the whole table, of course on the “qui vive”, the Lieutenants coughing ominously and stuffing their napkins into their mouths. Old Jimmie was in for it, surely. “Lord Rose, Lord Rose, may I help yiz to some banes?” Coppinger was fearfully disgusted at this ignorance of Courtly titles and could ill conceal his chagrin, but his attention was soon attracted to other quarters. The “youngsters” at the table were now “in for it” and partly to show contempt for Coppinger’s snobbishness and partly through pure love of mischief began to mock in a scarcely concealed way everything that Cop15. Bourke varied the spelling between “Jemmie” and “Jimmie.”

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pinger and Sir Wose said to each other. We had an exceedingly lively evening, and I think that neither Sir Wose nor Coppinger have yet forgotten it. (Sir Rose has since written a book, descriptive of his travels, entitled the Two Americas.) The Post Trader at Fort Hartsuff, formerly occupied the same position at the post of Beale’s Springs, Arizona,16 where I met him in 1871, 2, and 1873. Beale’s Springs will always hold a high rank in my estimation as one of the meanest places on God’s foot-stool. It was at that time garrisoned by a small company of the 12th Infantry, and under command of Captain Thomas Byrne. The Reservation and Agency of the Hualpai Indians were established at this point and troops were stationed there to protect the Agent, afford shelter to travellers and keep up a show of force. How inadequate this was may be seen from one fact. The Hualpais numbered not far from four hundred warriors, noted for their daring, celerity and physical endurance. Their country extended up to the Grand Cañon of the Colorado and included some of the lateral gashes which cut into the bosom of the earth fully as deeply as the principal chasm. In a whole year, the entire 8th Cavalry, under an energetic and skilful [sic] commander, Maj. Wm. Redwood Price, had pursued this little band from crag to crag and cañon to cañon, the Hualpais finally consenting to Peace not because they did not have the advantage of the troops in nearly every engagement, but because they were tired of war. It is related of this campaign, that mountain howitzers were brought into service to shell the Hualpais from one of their strongholds. One shell is known to have killed two and wounded three of the enemy but in this manner. Three years after the 8th Cavalry had left Arizona, a small hunting party of young Hualpai bucks found one of these shells in the mountains. They picked it up, examined it and satisfied themselves that it must be hollow; but how to get to the inside of the iron sphere was something beyond their power. At last, the idea occurred to them that they had better cook it in their fire; so they thrust it in the ashes and sat around in a circle awaiting developments which soon came in the shape of a 16. Camp Beale’s Springs was established in 1871 as a temporary camp to protect Hualpai Indians and avert conflicts between Indians and civilians. The relationship between soldiers and Indians was cordial. In 1874, however, the Indian Bureau ordered the Hualpais removed to the Colorado River Reservation, and Beale’s Springs was abandoned. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 14.

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tremendous explosion, knocking two of them to Kingdom Come and covering the others with ashes, sand and [beans?]. When I first went to Beale’s Springs with General Crook, (in November 1871) the Hualpais were in a half-satisfied sort of a condition, ready to break out into open war upon the smallest incentive. Captain Byrne had already won their respect for his honesty, their implicit confidence in his word—but they didn’t fear his power. Captain B. was determined that they should look up to him as the representative of the whole power of the Government. Calling all the chiefs and warriors to a grand council, he addressed them in words which I put down, as nearly as memory allows, as they flowed from his lips while giving his account of the affair to General Crook. “Charlie, sez vi, (Hualpai Charley, was the principal one of the disaffected Indians.) ar yez fur pace, Charlie, sez vi, or fur war-r, Charlie, sez vi.” “Oh, Cap’n, sez he to me, sez he, me dam gud Injun.” [“]That’s roight, Charlie, sez vi, thet’s roight, becase, Charlie, sez vi, av yez is fur war-r-r, sez vi, we’ll move out again yez, with moi whole command, sez vi, and in a month, Charlie, sez vi, there won’t be a dam Wallapoop left aloive”. Tommy Byrne was a fine old soldier, one who loved his profession and felt a great pride in his position;—his one failing was an overindulgence in alcohol which he strictly contended he took only as “medicine”, for the “neuralgy”. I think I can yet see the old man, narrating his interview to Genl. Crook, his face flush with excitement, making a fine contrast to his iron-gray locks and flowing, snowy beard. I have purposely rambled out of my path to jot down these reminiscences, suggested by my meeting with Mr. Moore,17 because I have always regretted very keenly that I did not more completely keep my journals, note and scrap books during the period of my service in Arizona and New Mexico.18 Captain Byrne played a by no means insignificant part in the task of reducing the Indians of that wild country to submission. He had acted well during the war, was wounded and had been a prisoner in Libby,19 for a great many months. Under his administration, 17. The post trader. 18. The New Mexico journals, and those from Arizona prior to November 20, 1872, are among those that are missing. 19. A notorious prisoner-of-war detention center in Richmond.

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the little post at Beale’s Springs was rapidly pushed to completion, if that can be styled complete which hasn’t a blade of grass, a stick of timber and but a small amount of drinkable water. All day long and all the year through[,] the fierce rays of the sun beat down upon that mass of black lava, sending the thermometer away up above par and making the half-roasted garrison sigh for a flight to the timber-crest mountain range of Cubat, fifteen miles to the Eastward. Here, old Tommy remained with his “Wallapoops”, doing all that mortal could do to preserve friendly relations with them and to prevent war. Nothing gave him greater satisfaction than to see his wards advancing in the habits of civilization; the most that any of them did was to assume some teamster’s cast off shirt or doff a rejected old slouch hat. Paper Collars were particularly affected by them, and the contrast between this emblem of a partial civilization and the brass ear-ring or bare legs of total savagery impressed itself upon the beholder in an instant. The squaws of this tribe were perfectly wild for castor oil, smacking their lips after every dose as if they had been partaking of honey. They didn’t use it for its medicinal qualities, but as a delicacy and almost drove the post surgeon wild by their importunate demands to be supplied with the drug. Tommy, in the course of time, came to be a terror to the grand army of scoundrels and dead-beats who surround an Indian Reservation, like vultures flocking to banquet upon a putrid carcass. Men caught selling whiskey to the Indians never asked him for any mercy; they knew well that they had none to receive. On one occasion, Tommy and a detachment of his men surprised an establishment all ready for business, in a secluded ravine. The party was not exactly on the Reservation, but their intentions were obvious and as the Hualpai chiefs themselves had lodged the complaint, Captain Byrne lost no time in considering legal technicalities, but summarily seized and destroyed every particle of property and turned the rascals adrift with a total loss on their investment. In fact, the whiskey was the property of a man named Hardy, who lived on the Colorado river near Fort Mojave20 and was a sort of a contractor, speculator, Congressional candidate, farmer 20. Fort Mojave was established in 1859 on the Colorado River opposite the present city of Needles, California. It was abandoned in 1890, and became an Indian school. The school was closed in 1935, and the post buildings were demolished seven years later. Frazer, Forts of the West, 11–12.

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and anything else you please. These men were either selling the vile stuff on his account or else having purchased it from him, felt that they had a right to claim his interposition to secure “redress” from Captain Byrne. Hardy rather prided himself upon his legal knowledge and thought he would have an interview with the military commandant and browbeat him into paying some damage to his clients. But he reckoned on false premises: old Tommy wasn’t to be bull-dozed by anybody. “But what right had you, Captain Byrne,[”] demanded Hardy, [“]to destroy that whiskey?[”] “Roight! Roight! ez it?[”], said the thoroughly exasperated Captain, [“]Captain! Damn yer sowl! Ain’t oi monarch ov all I survey?” Hardy beat an inglorious retreat, but after that, always used to say that Tommy Byrne was the “damnedest [sic] fool he ever saw.” I don’t wish to crowd the pages of this journal too much with anecdotes of my old friend, reserving a more complete description of him and his peculiarities until a more appropriate occasion. A goodly volume could be filled with anecdotes of himself and his Hualpai friends Charlie, Levy-Levy, Sherum, Corporal Ioz, and old head-men like Enya, cui, yu-say21 and Ahcoo-la-wahta. Communication with the Hualpais was ordinarily kept up through Johnny Quinn, the son of a laundress, who, not having any white play-mates, naturally took to associating with the young savages and used to run around with them, in a condition closely bordering on nudity. It was my lot once to have to remain at Beale’s Springs for four days in mid-summer. The heat was not great for that place, only 110°F, in the shade, but each lump of lava glowed with heat like the slag from an iron-furnace. We didn’t have a thing to do; too hot to drill, no shade to shelter us, no mail to give us occupation. Those who played poker, did so. I got a pack of cards and wore them out playing Solitaire. This kept me from thinking of myself. Being able to play the game fairly, I succeeded with it very often, altho’ I came near catching myself cheating several times. 21. Apparently a single name.

Chapter 12 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

“It Is of Such Stuff that Good Commonwealths Are Made”

J

uly 8th The members of our party were up about 4 o’clock. Capt. Munson invited us all to breakfast at his house, as he was to command the escort & would have to get breakfast ready anyhow, and the other good people of the garrison would only have to arise at that unearthly hour to prepare it for our benefit. Our preparations for the trip, thanks to Cap’t. Munson’s forethought and energy, were very complete: until late last night, he had been hard at work getting everything in shape and altho’ our party, all told, did not number more than twenty men, it was necessary, as we were to be absent for some days in an almost unknown country, to provide for every contingency. Fuel has to be carried for the whole distance. Grain for the animals, food for officers and men, tentage, bedding, ammunition and harness. We are to have two six mule army wagons, one light spring wagon, one ambulance, and the riding animals of the escort and guides. We have with us, Mr. Crowell, a deputy U.S. Surveyor, who has been employed in running township and section lines in this part of Nebraska for the past eight years and who understands its topography thoroughly. After the site of the new post to be constructed on the Niobrara has been determined, Mr. Crowell is to run the boundaries 225

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of a timber reservation for Ft. Hartsuff. Our other guide is Mr. “Happy Jack” Swearingen, a happy-go-lucky sort of a fellow who has been trapping and hunting on the Loup for a long time. Jack is always out at elbows, hard up and good humored. Latterly, he has yielded to the persuasions of his well-wishers and gone to “farming”; that is to say, he had made a dug-out for himself in the side of a hill and scratched over an Acre or two of ground; he seems to have gotten the idea into his head that people are envious of his prosperity and desirous of depriving him of his possessions. Jack has kept constant watch and every time some over-curious passer-by ventures too near his cave-like habitation, he turns loose on him with his shot-gun. His friends are acquainted with this little amiable eccentricity and generally manage to give his mansion a wide berth. But barring this slight defect, Jack is said to be a good man, honest and brave, and skilled in border-life. Our course lay North North West and North West up the North Loup, passing a number of ranches with crops of wheat, oats and barley, most of which looked well. We halted at one of these ranches, about 3 miles out, to get a few pounds of fresh butter, and six miles out stopped at another for same purpose, getting all that we needed. Made a short halt here to give our animals rest. Caught up with our heavy wagons at this point. They had left the Post some hours before we did. Here there is a fine spring, the road making a short détour to pass around it. Twelve miles from the Post is Pebble creek, a beautiful spring-brook of cold water, of short length and insignificant dimensions. Bottom, Pebbles and Sand. Banks, steep, clay. Approaches, verticle [sic] and twisted. Men had to use ropes to keep the heavy wagons from overturning. The country has made an appropriation for a bridge at this place, and it will soon be completed. Mr. Crowell tells me that there are a great number of fine springs in this vicinity and that the ravines opening into the main valley contain considerable pine & cedar timber. The road now takes into the hills, from the top of which a very picturesque view is obtainable of the Loup Valley. If the next four years make as great a change in this valley as the past four, it will be one of the most important in the state of Nebraska. We now left

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the North Loup and began to ascend the Calamus, an important affluent which comes in at the junction of the two forks of the North Loup. Some four miles up the Calamus, was a new dwelling, a rude structure of sods, with earthen floor and roof, with one door and one window and a break in the roof for the egress of smoke. This was the “home” of a young family from Southern Illinois. Everything spoke of a bitter struggle for existence, but the woman, altho’ dressed in a faded calico gown, shoeless and with unkempt hair, had a gentleness of [illegible] and courtesy of manner indicative of the refinement of true ladyhood. The father, a rough, horny-fisted fellow, made many apologies for the uncouth appearance of his home, said he had only been here a few months and had not yet raised his first crop, but hoped to have many improvements effected with time. Two lovely children, a girl and a boy, of three and two respectively, clung to their mother’s skirt, their own scanty raiment rivalling hers in dirt and tatters. But, with all their discomforts and privations, this young couple looked resolute, confident in the future and happy in each other and in their children. It is of such stuff that good commonwealths are made and, no doubt, in another quarter of a century, this family will be comfortable, prosperous and well-placed. The water from the wells in this part of Calamus Valley tastes strongly of peat, a deposit of which is struck some ten or twelve feet under the surface. Moved ten miles further to Gracie Creek, a clear, cold, swift-flowing brook, with gravel bottom. Approaches good, but grades rather steep. Scarcely any timber to be seen since striking the Calamus. Soil, near here, much thinner and apparently not so wellsuited for agricultural purposes, but thickly covered with grass. At one of the ranches near Gracie creek, we had a talk with the inmates; one, was a young widow, comely, graceful and well-formed, who said she had come out to this country with her uncle’s family, bringing her year old baby. They were all from near Muscatine, Iowa, where her husband was the owner of a small farm, but last year the horses attached to the carriage he was driving ran away, killing him, breaking the vehicle to pieces and damaging themselves irretrievably. Their crop was yet in the ground and, of course, much of it was lost for want of care. Creditors grew impatient and everything had to be sold to liquidate indebtedness: but with unabated pluck, she had come to Nebraska, looking only upon the brighter aspects

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of the future. A cattle ranch is nearly completed at Gracie creek. Herds of cattle were grazing nearby, but the owners were absent from home. While lunching here, learned from Captain Munson much about the notorious Doc Middleton, chief of the gang of horse-thieves infesting the country between the Niobrara and the North Platte. Middleton is reputed to be a man of very gentlemanly bearing, neatly dressed, the only one who in this section wears a white shirt. He is a fine horseman, an excellent shot, fearless and intrepid. By kindness to poor ranchmen and cattle-herders, he has made many friends in the country and his apprehension is almost impossible. They tell two stories of him which speak well for the discipline maintained in his command. Once while robbing a stage-coach, one of his gang betrayed great nervousness and trembled perceptibly while holding a cocked revolver at a passenger’s head. Middleton disgusted with the recruit’s timidity, took the weapon away from him, slapping his face and saying, “You d–d fool, the first thing you know, you’ll shoot somebody with that pistol.” At another time, he rode up to a ranch, accompanied by two of his followers, and asked the proprietor for a drink of water. While he was talking, one of his men quietly dismounted without waiting for orders. Middleton sternly asked him—“Who told you to get off that horse? Mount, at once, Sir”. Captain Munson also gave me an account of Genl. Crook’s conference with O-chée-o, head chief of the Indians in Eastern Oregon and Idaho, whom Genl. Crook whipped so badly in 1867.1 General Crook said emphatically to this Indian that he didn’t want to make peace, his business was to make war and he had all the men and materials he wanted to do it with. Before anything should be said, of Peace, O-chee-o must give up all ponies, horses and other property stolen from the whites. [“]Well,[”] said Ochee-o, [“]I want to make peace, I’m tired of war and want to be your friend. I’ll give back all that I’ve stolen, but now that we are good friends and I am giving back all that I’ve taken from you, don’t you think that you ought to give back all that you’ve stolen from me?[”] General Crook couldn’t see the matter in that light, but a peace 1. This campaign, including the fight of the caverns mentioned by Bourke a few paragraphs later, is covered in Robinson, General Crook, Chapter 7.

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was concluded which has never been broken to this day (thirteen years.) During that campaign a couple of miners were mysteriously murdered by Indians, but by what band could not be discovered. The newspapers of Oregon and Northern California began a howl about the inefficiency of military management &c. The customary yarop. The only thing known of the property in possession of the miners at the time they were murdered, was that they had a couple of yokes of oxen. General Crook found the trail of some oxen going to the village of a band of Pit River Indians and he shrewdly concluded, from the fact that these Indians did not own any cattle, that some of their young men must have been concerned in the murder and robbery. He sent Captain Munson with a small detail to their village to demand the surrender of the delinquents. The Indian agent and everybody nearby attempted to dissuade Munson from his task, but he had been ordered to perform the duty and he made the demand of the assembled chiefs. At first they evinced no willingness to do anything, but when Munson told them that if they didn’t give up the murderers without delay, General Crook would move against them with all his force, they remembered the fearful pounding they had received from him in 1857, and at once produced the three young men who had perpetrated the outrage.2 These were wrapped from head to foot in thongs of buckskin and surrendered to the soldiers, amid the wails of their female relatives. Munson took them to the nearest settlement and turned them over to the civil authorities to await trial for murder; but that night, a mob collected, broke open the jail and took out the Indians and hanged them. Munson also gave us a description of the “Caverns”, where Genl. Crook had such a fearful time with the hostile Indians in 1867–68. Munson paid them a visit a few months after the fight and found in their gloomy vaults a number of Indian skeletons, with flesh still partially adhering to their bones. These caves were large depressions and natural tunnels in an immense lava bed, strewn with Cyclopean blocks of Basalt. A hundred men intrenched there could safely defy a thousand invaders so long as provisions held out. 2. The 1857 campaign against the Pit River Indians is discussed in Strobridge, Regulars in the Redwoods; Schwartz, Rogue River Indian War; and Robinson, General Crook, Chapter 2.

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At one of these conferences an old duffer embraced Genl. Crook and wanted to be very friendly with him on the ground that he had “licked” him once when he was a Lieutenant, an imputation which the General indignantly denied. Five miles after passing Gracie creek, went into camp on the Calamus, in a broad, level prairie, glittering in the reflection of the sun’s rays from the thickly-growing spears of emerald green grass. Soil improving since leaving Gracie creek, and looking very well, altho’ thin. It overlies a stratum of fine sand. Calamus here forty feet Wide. two @ three feet Deep. Water clear and pure, tasting slightly of reeds. Bottom clayey and muddy, but not miry. Banks, three feet high. Approaches easily found. Banks can be broken away at any point. No timber in sight. Fuel brought along in our wagons. 28 miles Total Distance, (Odom[eter]) The weather to-day has been charming and recalls by contrast the memory of the fearful snow-storm which visited this peaceful valley in the latter part of April 1874, when Captain [John] Mix’s company of 2d Cavalry had such a narrow escape from being frozen to death. Cap’t. Munson was a volunteer with Mix’s Command on that trip and the account of their sufferings, as gathered from his own lips, will be found in my note-book, describing my trip to Cheyenne depôt, (Wyo.) in March ’78.3 As soon as our command reached camp this evening, teams were unhitched, horses unsaddled, all animals turned out to graze, while details of men were at once set to work erecting tents, putting up trestle-beds, with mosquito bars to keep away insects, building fires or carrying water. In another moment, our rough toilettes were completed and we were drinking a good, stiff toddy prepared under the experienced eye of Munson. Then the cook announced Dinner and each takes his camp-stool in hand and seats himself at the trestle table. We had the appetite of wolves, ate with voracity, all the while garrulously talking. The cook’s creations received due praise. He laid before us, Ham—fresh potatoes, peas and tomatoes, good Ranch Butter, bread and something he called Pie.—all washed down with strong coffee. 3. There is a gap in the manuscript volumes from July 29, 1877, to March 28, 1878, so this refers to a volume that apparently has been lost.

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Our repast ended, we sit in front of our tent and in the pleasant light of the declining sun look at the incoming herd of stock; the slow movement of the full-bodied mules and horses being hastened by the cracking of whips and the chirping of herders. Those of us who feel like smoking, smoke; those who don’t, don’t: but all talk:—of home, of old times, of scenes in the Great War passing so fleetly from the memory of our people; of campaigns against hostile Indians, of the probabilities of a war with Mexico.4 Other topics are opened. We talk of mines, Rail Roads, books, the drama, music, and science;—of everything in truth and some things fairly well. We have music too, sweet nocturnes and symphonies from sturdywinged mosquitoes, whose bites following fast upon their songs keep our hands moving in frantic activity. Fortunately, we have bed-netting with which we hope to be able to defy the attacks we may look for in the still watches of the night.* July 9th Our hopes were illusory; the mosquitoes forced their way through the meshes of the bars and play sad havoc with our feelings. Until day-break we tossed and rolled and cursed without a moment’s respite from the exquisite torture. I remember having read that the Buccaneers of the Gulf of Mexico, (under Lafitte.) often punished their unhappy captives by exposing them naked to the assaults of the myriads of these little pests in the low-land of the Mississipi Delta, but I never comprehended until last night the awful character of the torture. Early this morning, a small boy, giving his name as Abraham Lincoln Bolling, rode into camp on a sore-backed, fly-bitten horse: said he had ridden down from Long Pine creek (70 miles) yesterday; had been to Cook’s (Toevar’s) Ranch to get work; found the ranch in possession of three of the “pony-boys” (Middleton’s men)[.] This story had been told us yesterday by two men whom we met at one of the ranches near Gracie creek. Bourke’s note: Cached two sacks of grain at this point.

*

4. Relations between the United States and Mexico during the last half of the 1870s probably were at their lowest point since the Mexican War. Besides the cross-border raids mentioned in the introduction, problems included U.S. claims against Mexico, Mexico’s dire financial situation, the country’s reaction against foreign development of its resources, the initial instability of the Porfirio Díaz regime, and the U.S. refusal to recognize that regime. See Cosío Villegas, The United States Versus Porfirio Díaz.

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We gave this bold youngster a good breakfast; he was, physically, a fine brawny sun-burned boy of (14), ragged, good-natured and independent. His shirt was hanging in shreds from his shoulders and didn’t have a button upon it: the rest of his costume consisted of a pair of old Army pantaloons, rolled up about the ankles and held in place by a piece of rope girdling the waist. His horse was really a gray, but so bitten by mosquitoes & greenheaded flies that the oozing blood made him a roan. Our course continued as it was yesterday: between North West and North North West. Country almost level: valley of Calamus here about two miles from bluff to bluff. Bluffs very low: soil sandy. No trees. Seven miles out halted to rest animals. Day cloudy and sultry. Animals suffering greatly from bites of mosquitoes. The general aspect of this country is that of a boundless, grassy plain, cut up by low sand-hills and dotted with sloughs of rain water. Three miles farther out, crossed Bloody creek, a brook of good water, 6 feet Wide, one foot deep, slow current, bottom clayey and firm. Banks 5 @ 6 feet above surface of water. With spades and picks, a crossing was soon made for our heavy transportation. (Bloody creek is said to rise 6 miles to East of this point in a couple of fresh-water Lakes[)]. Two miles farther reached Skull creek identical in character with Bloody creek and with whose clay banks we had the same trouble excavating a road-way as with the other. Found a few strawberries at this Brook of good color and delicious flavor, but of small size. Our guides, Crowell and Happy Jack reported having seen tracks of five Elk. Country rather poorer to-day, many weeds intermingled with the grass. Calamus now makes a big bend to South and our course, (we had left road at Bloody Creek.) was directed so as [to] cut across. Many springs, all of good water, pouring into the Calamus. We saw a couple of white tailed deer, and shot a sage-hen this afternoon. Camped on Calamus Creek. Plenty of good grass and water slightly reedy in taste, Fuel from Wagons. Total Distance 25 miles. July 10th Warned by the misfortunes of the previous night, we made every effort last night to guard against mosquitoes and succeeded fairly. A heavy storm threatened as we turned in, but nothing came of it excepting a very few drops of rain. Camp aroused at 4 o’clock this morning and without the loss of

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much time, we had finished breakfast and taken up the line of march, ascending the Calamus. Mr. Crowell and Happy Jack, with two m[oun]t[e]d men pushed ahead to look up a site for to-night’s camp, because we are now making our way across an unknown country, not having had any road or trail to follow since leaving Bloody Creek. For (3) or (4) miles marched nearly due West, the Niobrara here averaging not over (10) @ 20 feet in width, very sinuous, banks low and swampy and covered with a kind of sedge grass. No trees or bushes. Hills about here mantled with a yellow-ripe bunch grass. Sand-cherries very plentiful. A young mink and a sand-hill crane shot and elk-track seen. Calamus is full of pools from seven to ten feet deep, containing fish (chub) of large size. Six miles out from last night’s camp, halted and sent a party of men over to the other side of river to bring back a deer killed by Mr. Crowell. Water more than waist-deep. Grass getting richer and thicker. The “valley”, so to speak, of the Calamus continues one mile wide from bluff to bluff, the course of the stream, in places, showing patches of tulé and sedge-grasses, but there is nothing in the way of timber or foliage. The grass seems to be pretty well tenanted by prairie-chickens. After marching seventeen miles, the command halted near the head of the Calamus, at a spring of warm, reedy-flavored water which gurgled under the shade of a clump of tulés. Captain Munson and self, with an orderly, moved ahead to see if we could discover the whereabouts of Crowell and Happy Jack who were to have met us at or near this point with information as to the location of water and grass farther on. We made a circuit of three miles without finding any trace of them. As we were jogging along, we suddenly ran right into a splendid buck, who presented a beautiful picture as he lay half-stretched on the green grass, his tawny flanks broad side to us and his wide-branching black antlers pointing to the sky.5 He discerned us just as soon as we did him and with one convulsive jump, like as if he was shot from out of a cannon, he bounded in the air, all four legs held close up under his body, and away he went, scarcely seeming to touch the ground. 5. It being July, the black color meant the antlers were newly grown and “in velvet,” i.e., covered with skin and downy hair. Later in the year, when the antlers are fully grown, the deer sheds the velvet by rubbing against trees and rocks, resulting in whitish antlers with a high polish. These are shed in spring, and the process repeats itself with new antlers.

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A little beyond this point, we scared up two or three more, one of which our orderly wounded. Captain Munson now asked me to return to Genl. Crook and say to him that he would go on a little farther to look up our guides and if he could not find them that our present position was the best one for our bivouac to-night. Munson reached Genl. Crook almost as soon as I did, having found Happy Jack, who told him that Crowell had found two small lakes or ponds some eight miles ahead. We remained at head of Calamus to lunch, making lemonade with the sedgy water, which tasted quite good. A stiff breeze blew up and heavy clouds threatened us with a storm, but beyond the rumbling of thunder and the refreshment of the cooling breeze, nothing came of it. Started out again at 2 P.M., going about North West which has been our line almost all day. Made a total distance of 23 or 24 miles. Bivouacked alongside of a couple of fresh-water pools, (overgrown with reeds,) supposed to find their way to the Calamus, during rainy season. Water tasted strongly of mud, grass, rushes and decomposing vegetable matter. Dug a well four feet deep, obtaining a colder and sweeter water, but one equally turbid with that flowing under the rushes. No Wood. Grass in plenty and of good quality. General Crook saw a number of large, white swans this P.M. Mr. Crowell says that they live in these ponds all the year round and raise their young. Sand-hill cranes, plover and prairie-chickens seen in considerable numbers to-day; also dragon-flies which are said to live upon the mosquitoes. A solitary cayote also made his appearance at a distance of three hundred yards. July 11th We had a slight change in the weather last night, the air growing cooler and enabling us to sleep, despite the mosquitoes which swarmed in the grass under our beds making a noise like a hive of angry fees. Heavy fog this morning. At breakfast, Mr. Crowell told us of the existence of extensive desposits of peat near the Niobrara and on State line north of mouth of Snake river. Were in the saddle before 5 o’clock. Three miles from camp passed a pond, partially covered with tule. Water good and sweet, but not very cold. Just beyond that, climbed over a range of low sand-mounds. Horses and mules nearly crazy from the bites of mosquitoes and sand-flies.

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Genl. Crook, Mr. Crowell and Happy Jack kept a mile or two in advance of command, looking for game: Mr. Crowell started up two deer. Descending from the top of this low sand-ridge, saw to our Right three miles away, a pond of water, probably a mile long; and a few moments after passed alongside another, of smaller size. All morning, we travelled by pools of insignificant dimensions, under whose covering of reeds and tule water, more or less stagnant, was discernible. We have been touching upon the East extremity of the Sand Hills of Nebraska and the soil has been cognetting between sand and clay. As much as possible, we have clung to the skirts of the sand-hills, because our wagons can advance faster than in the alluvial surroundings of the ponds and we also escape the bites of the insects which cling to the grass and tule. At 9 o’clock, the heavy clouds of fog rolled away, leaving in full splendor the rays of the sun. Being fanned by a cooling breeze, we enjoyed this delicious Sun-bath immensely. Genl. Crook came upon a doe and two fawns. The doe got away, but the fawns ran towards us, not being able to make out who and what we were. They were not harmed. Twelve and [a] half miles out from last night’s camp, struck one of the sources of Plum creek. No change in character of the country. It is a well-grassed plateau, without timber, but with numerous sloughs or ponds holding rainwater. One of the soldiers captured a little fawn this morning, and it has been carried in the wagons, the soldiers hoping to tame it. Total march to-day 22 miles. Camped alongside of a slough, full of rain-water, supposed to be a tributary of Evergreen creek. Dug a shallow well to secure a supply of water, untainted by reeds. Grass plenty. No Wood. Happy Jack, I learned to-day, adds a little to his yearly income, by trapping wolves for which the State pays a bounty of $2 per cap.6 There are a few thrifty families living in the Loup Valley, who eke out their incomes by raising litters of wolf-puppies and when of mature age, killing them and claiming the usual bounty. Heavy banks of clouds again filled the sky this evening, but no rain. 6. Meaning the bounty for a wolf scalp.

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After supper, Captain Munson asked me if when I was serving in Arizona, I had ever heard the story of the mysterious Fate of Doctor Tappan. I had served at old Camp Grant, the military Post near which the unfortunate young man had disappeared and I listened with intense interest to Captain Munson’s story, which he gave as it was current in Arizona in 1867. Tappan was medical officer for a detachment of recruits who, under a young and inexperienced officer, were marching up from Fort Yuma to join the garrison of (old) Camp Grant. They had reached the Cottonwood Springs within twelve miles of their destination without seeing a sign of an unfriendly Indian. A few hour’s marching would end their long and weary journey. All hearts lightened at the prospect. Discipline was relaxed, no sentinels were posted, nobody dreaming of the slightest danger. Suddenly, the air is rent by the blood-curdling war-cry of the fierce Apache, and the sharp crack of rifles and the whining of arrows. The Lieutenant and several of his men were killed at first fire; Doctor Tappan and others wounded, and all demoralized. The Apaches were too busy scalping and mutilating the dead, plundering and burning the train or securing horses and mules to pay much attention to the fugitives who ran like deer in what they took to be the straightest line to the Post. All of them reached Camp Grant except poor Tappan. A strong force was at once sent to the scene of the attack and while a part took up the trail of the savages, a strong body, accompanied by expert Mexican trailers, started for the place where Dr. Tappan was last seen by his comrades. They had no trouble in finding it and following his tracks, strongly marked by the nails in his boot-heels. They came to a little spring or tank of water under a flat rock where Tappan had evidently knelt and drank and then written in the blood from his wound a few incoherent expressions and his full name on the smooth face of the stone. From that point, it became impossible to trail him; he had seemingly become bewildered, as his foot prints wandered round and round, crossing themselves at several points. At length, even foot-prints ceased and all that is conjectured of his last end is fearful and heart-chilling. It is believed that the wounded man was seized and carried off by a huge Mountain Lion, the tracks of a monstrous animal of this class being found running alongside of Tappan’s trail,

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and shortly before it ended, the marks on the ground showed that the lion was bounding after Tappan at the measured rate of Twenty Two feet to the Jump!7 Munson also gave an account of the wonderful escape of Wentworth,—Little Buckshot,—who was in 187–, in company with two men of Captain [James] Egan’s Company of the 2d Cavalry, on a scout near the head of La Bonté creek, in Laramie Peak, Wyo. A war-party of Sioux jumped their camp at night and killed his two companions, but Wentworth himself escaped just as he sprang out of bed and ran like a frightened deer in the direction of Capt. Egan’s main camp. In doing this, he had to rush through a broad field of (nopal) cactus, and filled his feet and ankles so full of thorns that for months he was unable to leave his bed and, the inflammation became so great, the Doctors for a long time thought seriously of amputating both his feet.8 Mosquitoes this night make our sufferings worse than anything depicted by Milton or Dante. July 12th Kept up a North West course, country almost the same as that already described but hills of sand occurring with more frequency. These are nearly covered with dwarf sand-cherry bushes. Six or seven miles out from camp, discerned on top of hills in our front, (dividing the waters of Evergreen from those of Schlegel Creek) the first timber on march since leaving the Loup. Camp upon a number of cattle-trails. Genl. Crook bagged half a dozen fine fat prairie chickens. Cap’t. Stanton and I each secured a young one, barely hatched. These are only half the size of a newly-hatched domestic fowl, are of a bright canary color, dotted with brown, eyes and beak, blackish-brown. One of the escort caught one almost full-grown, all of which would seem to indicate that the prairie chicken lay all through summer. We released the ungrown chicks and took care, as far as possible, not to molest hens with nests. Locusts, in considerable numbers along trail this morning. After marching between sixteen and seventeen miles, reached 7. The official record states that Assistant Surgeon Benjamin Tappan, U.S. Volunteers, was “killed 22 Mar 1866 in action with Apache Inds near Cottonwood Springs Ariz.” Heitman, Historical Register, 1:944. 8. Bourke probably means opuntia, which resembles nopal. The spines of the nopal are so insignificant that they are hardly noticeable.

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Creighton’s Ranch, on Schlegel creek, four miles from its junction with Niobrara. This creek is 8 @ 10 feet wide, one foot deep, water clayey in taste, valley twelve miles long, about two hundred yards from bluff to bluff, fairly grassed, timber very scarce. (Scrub Pine, cedar and oak, with a little ash.) Creighton’s Ranch is a “log and chink” structure, consisting of two large rooms, each 20’ x 15’ and 12’ high in middle; these are separated by an open roofed space, wide enough to permit of the passage of a wagon. One of these rooms serves as dormitory, the other as kitchen and dining room. Back of the house, is the corral, 75’ square.

Ground Plan, Front View

Entering the kitchen and dining room, we took a careful survey of everything about us, the general aspect being far from inviting, altho’ there was no marked want of the necessaries of life. The effect produced was that of indifference to comfort—that cursed “making things do” which blights so many frontier homes and is in such marked contrast to the “Get up and git-ativeness[”] of people farther East. Everything was rough;—we expected that, but nothing was in “ship shape”. A little care would have made great changes in the appearance of this interior. A neat-looking cook, who was evidently superior to his comrades,

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occupied his proper place in front of a large stove, well supplied with cooking utensils. Other pots[,] pans and kettles were hanging against the walls or arranged on the floor. Boxes, bags, sacks and cans of flour, beans, bacon and baking powder, soap, sugar, syrup, tea, coffee and fruit were piled up against the wall and in proximity to the stove. In the middle of [the] room, a rough pine table, spread with tin plates, knives and forks; in the corner, the cook’s bed, of rudely hewn, cedar branches, covered with venerable army blankets and an old blue military overcoat which might have been with Washington at Valley Forge. The benches and stools, scattered about on the earthen floor were in strict keeping with the bed and table. Carbines, ammunition belts, sombreros, overalls, “chaparreros”,9 antelope horns &c hung from the logs and rafters. The foreman, cook, and cowboys, rough, good-hearted fellows, bade us welcome in a rough, slouchy, good-natured style. The word which comes most easily to pen or tongue in describing this place, is “rough”,—It is a rough life, this cow-herding and they are a rough lot of fellows who engage in it. Wallace, the foreman, a Texan, very hospitably asked us to remain for dinner but as our own was nearly ready, we declined. The cook, while we were there, was actively prosecuting the preparations for their mid-day meal; one of the principal dishes was stewed wild-currants. The bread or biscuit was rolled with a tin fruit can. There is not much room for the refined and aesthetic in the lives of these cattle-men; their existence is a daily struggle with sterner features which gradually banishes all that is tender and sentimental from their natures, leaving only the materialistic and practical. Of those lounging about in this room waiting the signal for dinner each was booted, pistoled, belted and spurred to the last degree. The skin of a full-grown Swan, measuring eight feet from tip to tip, lay at the door, revealling the unerring aim of somebody belonging to the ranch; and a little fawn, not more than a fortnight old[,] participated in the attention which otherwise would have been given exclusively to dogs, horses and cows. The “talk” carried on in an indolent, listless kind of way was all “cattle”, seasoned with profanity. “McCann’s boys hain’t done no duty since the ‘roundup’—They hain’t by Gawd”. “That bunch of cattle we seed over on Snake creek must ‘a b’longed to Sharp’s outfit—They must fur a fae’, by Gawd.” 9. Known in the West as “chaps.”

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[“]Cooke’s boys say they haint lost nary cattle at all—they h’aint, by Gawd”. and so on. While they are driving and guarding thousands, millions of pounds of fresh meat each year, these cattle-herders don’t get a taste of it once a week. They use a good deal of it “jerked”, and surmounting every cattle-ranch may be seen a couple of tall poles, between which is stretched a hemp or raw-hide rope, sustaining large strings of beef slowly “jerking” in the sun. Creighton’s ranch employs six men. This ranch, as well as all others in this vicinity, has suffered severe losses the present spring. Out of a grand total of Twenty-Six hundred, Creighton has only been able to “round-up” thirteen hundred. Cooke’s ranch has escaped with scarcely any loss worth mentioning. The cow-boys, I should take to be skilled judges of country, good riders, careful of their cattle and fair hunters, They have a vernacular of their own, calling horses “stock” and all horned animals “cattle”. A whip is a “quirt”. The words “outfit” and “round-up” are most constantly on duty. The[y] use profanity with liberality and are not slow to shoot upon provocation. We had a fine breeze this afternoon which cooled the air greatly and enticed us into making a tour of the ranch. The general air of thriftiness referred to as noticeable in the ranch itself pervaded all its surroundings. No idea of comfort seems to have entered the heads of anybody connected with the Establishment. There are no pigs and no chickens. Milk and eggs are almost unknown quantities. No wells are dug. The water for drinking purposes being drawn from the creek in which horses, cows and dogs wallow at will. A down East Yankee or an Ohio, Penn[sylvan]ia,or Michigan farmer going into the cattle business would speedily bring about a perfect transformation: but while Texas influences rule supreme, the slipshod, comfortless, put off-until-the-day-after-to-morrow principle will be the guide. One quarter of a mile above Creighton’s, is a fine spring, shaded by a heavy cluster of cottonwood, oak, ash and currant. Captain Stanton finds the distance from Fort Hartsuff to Creightons’s, by Odometer measurement, to be One hundred and Eleven miles, in an almost straight line. July 13th, 1879. Had but little trouble from mosquitoes last night; the strong wind proved too much for them.

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At day-break this morning, Genl. Crook formed us into two parties to examine the Niobrara valley and determine upon a suitable point for the location of a Post. The first of himself, Schuyler, Crowell and one soldier, to go down the Niobrara; the other, of Stanton, Munson, self, two soldiers, and Happy Jack, to ascend the stream at least as far as the mouth of Snake River. Our wagons to remain at Creighton’s and the different parties to re-unite by sun-down. Our party moved out about 5 o’clock, going nearly West, crossing Schlegel creek at the ranch, and then going across an elevated, level plateau, well covered with green grass, for seven miles where we got to what on some maps is called Precipice creek, on others Hell Cañon. (We followed the Gordon trail.) This Precipice creek is nothing more than a deep and sudden gash in the bosom of the plain and were it not for the tops of the pine trees which here and there protrude slightly above the edges, its existence would not even be suspected until you stood upon the brink. It is a wild sort of a ravine; not less than two hundred and fifty feet deep and scarcely one hundred and fifty wide. The walls are a glaring white, siliceous limestone banded by several strata of good building limestone. Wherever vegetation could take a foot-hold, pine trees have sprung up, while the bottom is filled with cottonwood, scrub-oak, quaking asp[en] and other undergrowth. No water could be seen, but from indications of old camps &c., there must be some at certain seasons. We passed around the head of this cañon, and after a brisk march of seven or eight miles more, reached Snake river, a few hundred yards above its junction with the Niobrara. The Niobrara, is a geological curiosity; it has cut a path for itself longitudinally through a ridge of limestone and may be described as flowing along a knife-edge. By examining Precipice creek and Snake river, we could see that the surface of this part of Nebraska is composed of a thin layer of rich soil, resting upon a compact bed of sand and this in its turn upon a formation of siliceous limestone. The approach to Snake river is decidedly steep, twisted and difficult. As a matter of necessity, it could with some little expenditure of time and labor be converted into an easy ramp, but better natural grades can no doubt be found. The cañon of Snake river is liberally supplied with pine and other timber, none of it particularly large

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or fine, but nearly all available for building purposes. The bottom contains a great number of grape-vines and other fruit-bearers. The river itself is sixty feet wide, 2½ feet deep, current of 3 @ 4 miles per hor., [sic] ford good with a few rock[s] in stream-bed. At the junction of the two rivers, is a large, level, flat, of not less than 600 A[cres]., which in [one] or two spots shows evidence of being subject to partial overflow. This flat bears pretty clumps of cottonwood of medium size and has a soil of mixed sand and alluvium, growing grass, sun-flowers, grape-vines, weeds, &c. and extending up the Niobrara for a considerable distance. We examined the valley of the Niobrara for a couple of miles and the cañon of the Snake for a thousand yards, finding several positions upon which posts might be planted, if compelled so to be. The objection to each of these sites was that the hills close to them had such a perfect “command” that a few Indians creeping into secluded nooks in the rocks could annoy the garrisons terribly. The expense and bother of levelling off the parades would also be considerable, but in every other respect,—supply of Wood, Water and Grass, Good soil, Building materials, Drainage, Healthfulness, Protection against Winds, nonLiability to overflow, Space for company Gardens, &c. much might be said in favor of either location. It would be essential to lay out a Reservation comprehending within its limits the junction of the two streams and running along each for a distance sufficient to keep away whiskey-venders, timber-cutters and other vermin. Met a couple of herders, employed by D. J. McCann, who has 2500. head grazing along the stream. Moved down Niobrara three or four miles, day very warm and bright, but not enervating. This river ranges in width from 350 down to 75 feet bottom sandy, in places “quick”, but generally fordable. Depth from 10 inches to three feet and half. Current 4 miles, broken frequently by sand-bars. Water soft, sweet and cool. Valley variable in breadth, but offering a number of nice spots for farming: bluffs, in some points, high and steep. Rested under the shady foliage of a grove of cottonwoods and lunched. Somehow our conversation from the death of the young Prince Imperial drifted to English History and we all thought how wonderful it would be if Fate should one day give American rulers to both France and England. The “legitimate” rulers of both those countries are now American citizens, the Bonaparte family of Baltimore and General E. O. C. Ord, U.S.A. Ord is the grandson

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of George IV by Mrs. Fitz-Herbert, a Roman Catholic lady of great beauty whom the licentious Prince endeavored to seduce; but his efforts resulted in such inglorious failure that to accomplish his purpose [he] married her. The marriage, duly solemnized and witnessed, resulted in the birth of one child, (perhaps more.) the father of General Ord. Both General Ord and Colonel Bonaparte were graduated at West Point and Commissioned in the Regular Army of the United States.10 Got back to Creighton’s Ranch, which is not, in truth, much of an oasis, but it served well for one, when we threw ourselves from our saddles, tired and hot, from our (12) hours’ ride of thirty-five miles in the blazing sun. Captain Munson immediately prepared a draught of cold lemonade for each of us; then we splashed our heads with a great plenty of water, and were ready to sit down to an appetizing dinner. General Crook’s party had reached camp a couple of hours before we did and had taken advantage of the interval to bathe in the little falls of Schlegel creek, just below the ranch. Stanton, Munson and I hoped to follow their example, but a heavy storm of wind springing up and a black pall of clouds mantling the sky, we did not judge it to be prudent to make the venture. General Crook had made a selection of a site, which Stanton and I hope to visit to-morrow morning. Lt. Schuyler caught two Kangaroo rats. The storm passed away without doing any damage beyond a heavy sprinkling. We were for an hour or so very apprehensive that a steely-gray and deep brown and black cloud angrily circling over 10. Ord’s father, James Ord, was born in London in 1786, but was never certain of his background. Officially, his parents were Ralph and Mary Ord, but General Ord’s biographer, Bernarr Cresap, makes a strong case that this was a ruse to hide royal parentage, specifically the Prince of Wales (later King George IV) and Maria Fitzherbert. By “legitimate,” Bourke meant that the reigning British sovereign, Queen Victoria, was not a lineal descendant of King George IV, but his niece, while Ord was his grandson. The marriage to Mrs. Fitzherbert, however, was morganatic, and was not recognized by the government. The Bonaparte mentioned is Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte (1830–93), grandson of Napoleon’s youngest brother, Jerome, and his first wife, Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore. An 1848 graduate of West Point, the grandson was posted to the Mounted Rifles (later redesignated 3rd Cavalry, Bourke’s regiment). He resigned in 1854, and later entered French service as one of the many family hangers-on that surrounded Napoleon III. After the fall of the Second Empire, he returned to the United States, where he married a granddaughter of Daniel Webster. His brother, Charles Joseph Bonaparte, served as secretary of the navy and attorney general under Theodore Roosevelt. Cresap, Appomattox Commander, 2; Heitman, Historical Register, 1:229; Stacton, The Bonapartes, 357–60.

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our heads would resolve into a cyclone and do us great harm as our camp was entirely unprotected. The people of the Ranch shared our apprehension, and gathered in their herd of ponies, of which they had nearly forty. These are all grass-fed and consequently not able to stand a very great amount of hard work; the herder very frequently riding down two in one day. Later in the night we had a very heavy wind and rain, lasting several hours. Wind blew strongly from South and was quite warm, but banished mosquitoes. July 14th Sun arose like a ball of cherry and gold. Captain Stanton, Mr. Crowell, Happy Jack, an orderly and myself, pushed out nearly due East, following down Schlegel creek, or rather parallel to it, until it bent North to join the Niobrara. Seven miles out, reached the springs alongside of which, General Crook intends establishing the new Post. In a little ravine, three large springs of good, cold water, combine, and if properly dug out and walled, will supply enough water for all the needs of a garrison of 500 persons. The Plateau is of great size, is perfectly smooth and thickly sodded, has an excellent drainage, is surrounded for half a circle by the Niobrara which here makes a large bend and can get all the watering needed for the springs just spoken of, (which with scarcely a doubt, can send water all over the parade,) and from the half-dozen others which gush out from under the plateau in little gulches filled with oak or cottonwood. This plateau is very accessible, has all the advantages demanded and cannot be “commanded” from any of the bluffs or ridges in proximity. Close to the Niobrara is a fine grove of oak trees, many of which have lately been blown down by a cyclone. We crossed the Niobrara, at this point, one hundred and eighty feet Wide, Two and one half feet deep, Good, firm ford, Banks easy. Went to Sharp’s Ranch, at mouth of Mini-Chaduze,11 or Rapid Creek, which is small, swift-flowing stream, well timbered with Pine, Oak, ash and Elm, but water tasting of decayed leaves. The dogs of the ranch made a great racket but the young fellow who acted as cook, soon silenced them and bade us welcome to the house. The MiniChaduza, he said, was 15 @ 20 feet Wide 6 inches to 2 feet Deep, Bottom, Rock, but now and then miry. Banks, steep. 11. Minnechaduze.

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This cow-boy appeared very sunny in his disposition, anxious to make the best of everything. He almost insisted upon our partaking of breakfast with him, but, old campaigners as we were, the sight of his repast was enough to kill what appetite we might have had. The bread was the color of a lemon, with the amount of soda he had used, and the dish he called corn-starch was far from inviting. He seemed to be so happy and good-natured that the reflection came upon me that, after all, our lives are only what we make them and that a cow-boy happy is better than Alexander sighing for new worlds to conquer. Having completed our examination of the country, we watered our horses, recrossed the Niobrara and pushed out directly South, climbing up a gently ascending grass-covered plateau for five miles, when we came to a low sand-ridge, plentifully studded with the “amole”, or soap-weed. Thence we descended into a plain of grass, where we were beset by sand-flies. As we were jogging along, we passed by, on our Right, a plum thicket, surrounded by tall green grass. Crowell remarked to me; “what a fine place for deer to hide in!” The words were only half out of his mouth, when up jumped two tall, finely-antlered bucks and darted over a sand-ridge before we could put our hands upon our weapons. We encountered a great number of crickets this morning. Towards noon, struck our ingoing trail and followed it to camp of July 12th, and there unbridled our horses to let them cool off and graze for a few moments. The rain of last night had filled up the well we had dug, giving us a depth of 3½ feet of good water, which we poured on our heads, faces and arms before starting. Another distance of eight or ten miles brought us to Genl. Crook’s camp, at head of Plum creek, the points of which have already been noted. 35 miles. Total Distance, (for Stanton & self) Afternoon decidedly sultry. We were pretty well tuckered out when we got to Camp, but with a generous ablution of hands, neck, chest and arms and placing wet h[an]dk[erchie]fs. upon our heads, we recovered from the effects of the heat, while for the fatigue occasioned by being (13½) hours in the saddle we had the recuperative effect of a short sigh and a toddy, which made us ready for our dinner of stewed prairie chicken

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and the usual accompaniments. The mosquitoes again swarmed around us, but hadn’t made much progress toward eating us up, when a fearful tempest broke out, a sonorous peal of thunder and a vivid blaze of lightning announced its arrival and for two hours or more, our little camp was the centre of a cascade of water dashing down from the sky. In the midst of it all, Captain Munson entered our tent, having been drowned out of his own bed, and took his seat on a camp stool between Schuyler and myself. He held in his hand a lighted candle which surrounded his straw-hat with a golden halo and attracted a great swarm of mosquitoes whose music, added to the other points of the picture, made Munson look like the wood-cut of a benevolent, old saint, in a cheap Roman Catholic Prayer Book. July 15th Morning Gloomy, damp and disagreeable. Mr. Crowell, with six men, four horses and one six-mule team, [was] sent down Plum creek to run the survey for a timber Reservation for Fort Hartsuff. From the careful and detailed description given of the country passed over to this time, it will be seen that the absence of timber will be a serious drawback to its settlement by small bands of immigrants; not so, with organized colonies, backed by a little capital. For them it offers many inducements. The soil is not bad, the grass is abundant and of fine quality and timber will grow when properly protected. The greatest drawback would be from prairie fires. Let a community of Mennonites or Trappist Monks get possession of one of these valleys and they could soon prove its value. Fire-breaks could be ploughed out in the best positions, cattle turned out to fatten on the rich grass, the sloughs drained and the water gathered in suitable channels, houses and stables built of sod, and trees planted. Cottonwood, Willow, osier, & plum, grow naturally in this region wherever screened from wind and fire. Cherries, Raspberries, currants and strawberries, could be raised for market. Whether by individual or co-operative enterprise, I am sure that this great expanse of territory will not long remain uninhabited. Had some trouble early this morning in crossing the bottoms, submerged by last night’s rain; in the afternoon, marching [was] all [that] could be desired. Camped on the Calamus. Distance 29 miles. July 16th. Last night, a violent storm of rain unexpectedly burst upon us, lasting for more than an hour, when its force, in some

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degree abated, leaving a continuous drizzle for the rest of the time until morn[in]g. We were all glad of it, since we prefer anything to mosquitoes. This morning, the ground is so saturated that we expect great difficulty in making head-way. Three of our mules were badly galled by their collars yesterday and for that reason we feared very little drawback, but at Bloody creek, we again struck the road and had good marching to camp, passing Skull and Bloody creek with scarcely any bother worth mentioning. At confluence of Skull and Calamus, our men caught a mess of chub. Genl. Crook shot a couple of prairie-chickens. Our little fawn is thriving nicely and is already tame, allowing itself to be petted by everybody. A storm raging to the West of our trail; only a few drops of rain fell upon us. Near Bloody creek, met an old man a Mr. Lewis, coming down from Cooke’s Ranch. He was a grizzled old customer, and had a gnarled, knitty look which gave us confidence in his ability to complete the ride he had started to make—90 miles—from Cooke’s Ranch to Fort Hartsuff, in one day. He had with him four ponies; by changing saddle from one to another, he kept them and himself fresh. According to his report, Cooke’s ranch has been exceptionally successful this winter and spring. Turning out last Fall (1340) head, they have up to date, rounded up over 1100 head with several bands in sight. They calculate now that they have escaped loss and may show a slight increase. Lewis had been sent out to hunt up one of their herders, a young fellow named Walker, who had wandered away from the ranch, over a week ago. Made our camp to-night at same place as we had camped upon in coming out. Found our cached corn all right. Distance travelled 34 miles Jly 17th Another drenching storm last night. Sky this morning, a cold and forbidding gray, ground wet and air humid. Marched 27 miles to Fort Hartsuff, reaching there at 11 A.M. During our absence, the wind-mill of the post had been blown down in a storm. Loss about ($800) Estimated. July 18th Left Fort Hartsuff in a heavy fog. Passed a sod school-house filled with happy-faced youngsters.

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Stopped for the night at Buckshots. Rained during the night. July 19th Moved to Grand Island. Genl. Crook and Lieut. Schuyler took West train for California and Fort Steele respectively.12 July 20th Captain Stanton and self returned to Omaha. Total distance travelled on trip, between 750 and 760 miles. 12. Actually, Crook was going to Fort Fred Steele, and Schuyler to California where, as the following chapter notes, he was inspecting the Murchie Mine, in which Crook and a consortium had invested.

Chapter 13 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Fort Craig to Camp Grant

T

he newspapers contained accounts of the mortuary services of the Young Prince Imperial, at the chapel of Saint Mary, Camden Place, Chiselhurst, England, July 18th. The pallbearers were the princes of the English Royal family. Almost on same date came the news from South Africa that Lord Chelmsford had with almost 5.000 men defeated the Zulus who had a force of 12.000. Sir Garnet Wolsely [sic] who had been sent out to relieve Chelmsford had not yet assumed command and consequently whatever credit was due for the affair belonged to Chelmsford.1 July 22d (?)2 General Wm. F. Barry, (Colonel 2d Artillery,) died. About same date, a party of Government detectives had a fight with the outlaw, Middleton, on the Niobrara, in which two of the detectives and Middleton were wounded. July 31st Doc Middleton captured by a party of detectives and soldiers from Fort Hartsuff, Neb. August 1st Lieut. W.S. Schuyler, A.D.C., returned from his trip to the Murchie Mine, Nevada County, California. This property belongs to General Crook and his friends and may be referred to more at length in these pages at a subsequent time. 1. This is the previously mentioned British victory at Ulundi, on July 4, 1879. 2. Bourke’s question mark. Barry died July 18, 1879. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:195.

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August 3d. The newspapers contain the notice of the death at Hudson, N.J. of general debility, on July 31st, of Major John V. DuBois (retired) late 3d U.S. Cavalry. Major DuBois was the Commanding Officer of the first expedition with which I was concerned as a commissioned officer,—the march of a Battalion of five companies of the 3d Cavalry from the valley of the Rio Grande in New Mexico to the valley of the Gila, in Arizona. The order for the transfer of our Regiment with the 8th Cavalry came in February 1870, the rendezvous appointed for the companies being Fort Cummings,3 and the date for the movement to commence March 1st.4 At that time, I was attached as 2d Lieutenant to Company “E” (Captain Alex Sutorius), our station being Fort Craig. Fort Craig was a four company post (occupied by two cos.) surrounded by an earthen rampart with ditch and five bastions: the other company (one of the 13th Infantry, commanded by Capt. F. W. Coleman, an able and companionable gentleman,)5 and the band and Hd.Qrs. of the 15th Infantry, occupied the adobe houses built during the war and still in fair condition. My own Qrs. were the worst in the lot and consisted of a single room, quite large, not less than (20) feet square, with earth floor and roof, the latter caving in but still held in place by an immense cottonwood stanchion bolstering up the principal “viga” or rafter. The apartment was not palatial in any sense. I had a small iron bedstead, a bottle-green glass mirror, a few pegs upon which to hang uniform and sabre, three pine shelves filled with books, a round pine table near which seated in one of my two chairs, I used to study by the flickering light of a brace of candles, a wash-bowl, at first of tin and later on, as I grew more opulent, of coarse stone-ware, and finally a heavy iron poker serving the double purpose of stirring up the fire, and of stirring up Espindiva,6 3. Fort Cummings was established in 1863, on the Mesilla-Tucson Road, fifty-three miles west of the Rio Grande. It guarded Cook’s Springs which, together with Apache Pass, was one of the most dangerous points on the southern trail to California. Initially the post was deactivated in 1873, but was reoccupied intermittently, depending on the degree of Apache depredations until it was finally abandoned in October 1886. The reservation was transferred to the Interior Department in 1891. Frazer, Forts of the West, 98. 4. In On the Border With Crook (2–3), Bourke makes almost no mention of Forts Craig or Cummings, or the Jornada del Muerto, summing up all the following material in a single paragraph. 5. Heitman (1:316) lists Coleman as being in the 15th Infantry. The only Frederick William Coleman in the 13th Infantry served as a second lieutenant in 1898. 6. Bourke probably means “Espíndola.”

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the Mexican boy, who, in the wilder freaks of my imagination, I sometimes looked upon as a “valet”. There wasn’t much to do; the post was a lonesome sort of a hole, maintained at the north end of the Jornada del Muerto7 for the protection of travelers against prowling Apaches. In the morning, reveillé, then stable-call, breakfast, guard-mounting, cavalry drill, reading, lunch, reading and generally an afternoon ride of eight or ten miles, then stable call again, parade, supper and a little more reading. The whole business was novel to me and for that reason, I did not have time to get weary of it. There was considerable traveling about the country to be done, keeping me busy in moving from post to post. The villages of Paraje, San Marcial and Contadera, none of them of any size or consequence, gave us an excuse for horse-back rides; the inhabitants were very poor and the houses, of adobe, ill-furnished, the peculiar feature being that the main room was well-supplied with settees and mattrasses [sic] upon which the men of the house could take their siesta in the afternoon, and the walls were covered with cheap looking glasses as a decoration. The men wore a costume of wide-brimmed sombrero, coarse white cotton shirt, loose pants or drawers of cotton, & moccasins in place of shoes, (altho’ the latter of American manufacture were coming into general use.) The women, always were attired in loosely flowing robe of calico or gauze and instead of hats or bonnets which were unknown in that part of the Rio Grande valley, at that time, folded a black shawl or “rebosa” around the head and shoulders in such a way as to completely conceal all the face except the left eye.

In figure these were, as a rule, tall, slight, straight and graceful, the erectness of figure and graceful undulation of movement being attributed to their constant practice of carrying heavy loads of water upon the head. In person, they were, so far as my observation extended, neat and 7. The Jornada del Muerto (literally “Journey of Death”) is a ninety-mile shortcut on the old Camino Real from El Paso to Santa Fe that claimed the lives of hundreds of travelers. It runs through waterless, unforgiving country east of the Rio Grande, with the lower end at Robledo, New Mexico, and the upper, at Socorro. A testimony to its remoteness is the fact that the first atomic bomb, the Trinity test, was exploded only fifteen miles east of the Jornada. Bourke elaborates about the road further on. See Brodie Crouch, Jornada del Muerto.

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clean, bathing frequently in the large “acequias” or irrigating canals which conducted the waters of the Rio Grande to the barley fields and vine-yards. Frequently, in my rides across the country, I came upon bevies of women—old matrons and pretty maidens, splashing in the limpid water, the approach of a stranger being the signal for a general scramble until they were all immersed up to their necks. They never seemed to mind it in the least and I may as well admit that I rather enjoyed these unexpected interviews. One brief paragraph will answer for all the villages on the Rio Grande: they were built in the form of a hollow square, the interior or “plaza” being the place of rendezvous for every public purpose, markets, religious processions, camping places for travellers—everything of that kind. The houses, all of one story and flat roofed, varied in size from one room to a dozen, according to the circumstances of their owners, were built of sun-dried bricks, with roofs, made of small rafters, covered first with a layer of osier twigs over which was packed a certain depth of “gaspe” or lime cement with a mixture of gypsum. This same composition formed the flooring, except in the houses of the very poor who contented themselves with their mother-earth. Where a family was pretentious, a carpet of rough woolen, woven in alternate black and white stripes, called “griega”,8 was spread out in the “best” rooms, but those in ordinary use went bare. So far as food was concerned, the New Mexicans were not badly off. Chickens and sheep[,] pigs and goats were plenty and cheap, beef was not scarce, vegetables grew luxuriantly and fruit of poor quality in considerable quantity: never have I seen such large onions and beets, the former the diameter of a soup-plate and of a very mild flavor without acrid pungency. Tomatoes were good, chile excellent, great strings of it drying against the walls and upon the roofs of all the houses; potatoes scarce, but beans of the black or frijole variety, extremely cheap, and so nutritious as to equal bread in their hunger-staying qualities. Grapes and peaches were the principal fruits and wine in some quantity was made in the valley. The wood used altogether for fuel was the mesquite, which exudes a gum equal to that from the acacia; this made so hot a fire that cotton-wood had to be added to temper its fierceness. Another curious piece of vegetation was the “amole” 8. Literally “Greek.”

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or soap-weed, whose roots gave a lather like soap and were much employed as a detergent for the scalp. The means of transportation to be found in the valley, aside from the Army wagons belonging to the various military posts, were the little “carretas’,9 drawn by one or two mules, the poor animals not much bigger than rats; prairie schooners—immense lumbering things requiring the united force of from (20) to (25) mules to pull them and their cargoes; or the old-fashioned wagon from the San Luis Valley, made in the rudest fashion, held together by raw-hide thongs, and running on wheels formed of solid sections of large pine trees.10 Neither the wooden axle, nor the wooden wheels ever had any grease put upon them and, as may be readily imagined, the blood-chilling creaking once heard was never to be forgotten. These contrivances were at that date much used in the Northern part of New Mexico, but they once in a while made their appearance near Fort Craig and when travelling could be heard for three or four miles. The Pueblo Indians and many of the Mexicans, didn’t have carts even, but hauled or packed their “plunder” from point to point on the backs of little donkeys or “burros” which I have seen carrying a load of fire-wood, eight or ten feet high. Some of these “burros” were not very much larger than the great jack-rabbits of the country, but they were very patient and docile, flapping their enormous ears in a philosophical way, as they trudged along the sandy roads. These preliminary pages are in no sense to be taken as a description of the valley of the Rio Grande, as I found it in 1869 and ’70; a more complete account will be found elsewhere in my note-books, the remarks here made being for the purpose of introducing some slight narration of our march into Arizona of which I have nowhere preserved an itinerary.11 On marching down from Fort Craig, we took the right or West bank of the river, to avoid the jornada del muerto, (“The day’s journey of the dead man”.) so called because a wanderer could just about reach the end of it before dying of exhaustion and thirst. This desert 9. Two wheeled carts still seen (generally as yard decorations) in the Southwest. The modern version has spoked wheels and iron tires, but the classic carreta used solid wooden wheels. 10. Also known as Chihuahua wagons. These were giant, cargo-carrying versions of the carreta sometimes with two solid wheels, and sometimes with four. 11. These apparently are among the missing notebooks.

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of ninety miles in length was formerly greatly dreaded there being no water upon it. Now there are two places, the “tanks” at the Aleman and Jack Martin’s artesian well, so situated that marches need not be longer than 30 miles without water. At the north end of the Jornada is the Peak of San Cristóbal, with an upper contour rudely resembling the face of a man asleep. When we left Fort Craig, Major Coleman very politely drew up his men and band at the gate and gave us a complimentary musical salute as we defiled past them. Before we reached Fort Cummings, we made camps at Palomitas, a little Mexican hamlet, and at Couppiugs[?], a fine source of water, both at the foot of the Eastern slope of the San Mateo Mountains. At Cummings we met Major Dubois who assigned me to duty upon his staff as Quartermaster of the Expedition. Dubois was a short, thickset man who gave very strong evidence of having seriously impaired a mind and physique originally of respectable power. He was fond of good living and prone to over-indulgence in stimulants; of no force of character and disposed to cavil at the actions of his superiors, but kind to his subordinates. I cannot recall a single instance where he lost control of himself even for a moment or where he failed to accord to a subaltern the complete respect and courtesy as punctiliously enacted for himself. In the routine of camp and garrison life, he was well posted, but not fertile in expedients. He received me with great cordiality, explained to me my duties and the time when we were to start &c. To see that everything in the way of transportation was all right, kept me fully occupied all that day and the next: the train didn’t number all told more than 31 or 32 six-mule wagons and to an experienced officer would have been a matter of but small concern: with a young officer the case assumed more importance and it really became a great strain upon my mind how to foresee all the requirements of our little battalion. There was food to be stowed away for men and officers and grain for the horses; each company loaded its own baggage so I was spared one great annoyance, but to prevent any detention from accidents to wagons or harness or mules, extra poles, jockey-sticks, hounds &c. were provided, “open links” and mule shoes packed in wagons, a few extra pieces of harness laid by, and in each jockey-box, a can of axle-grease, and other necessaries, secured. As our line of march would lie across a desert country scarcely inhabited, we supplied ourselves with a water-wagon holding several thousand gallons, and

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carried upon the wagons great piles of cord wood. Everything was at last in order and the word was given to move out the next day, February 28th [1870]. That afternoon and night, I had a little leisure to become acquainted with my associates and familiarized with my surroundings. Fort Cummings was a pretty little post, garrisoned by one company of the 15th Infantry, officered by Captain Hedburg and Lieuts. [Julian R.] Fitch and [Edmund] Ryan. They treated us with the greatest cordiality and did everything possible for our comfort. The post itself was neat as a pin and pleasant enough, not too far from civilization to be dreary and possessing a pleasant climate. It was situated alongside of Cooke’s Spring, and at the foot, of Cooke’s Peak, a towering land-mark of great prominence in this region. The Apache had in former years been very troublesome to immigrants, but since the establishment of this garrison had made their attacks upon trains at points farther West. A word at this point upon the organization and personnel of the Battalion; we had five Companies of the 3d Cavalry, officered as follows: Comdr. Major John V. Dubois, 3d Cavalry, Ass’t Surgeon [Charles] Styers. [sic] Medl. Off. A.A.Q.M. 2Lieut. John G. Bourke, (1). 2Lieut. W.W. Robinson (2). Adjutant. A. A. Surgeon Kitchen (3). Asst. Medl. Off. “B” 3d Cavalry Cap’t [Charles] Meinhold & Lieut [A. Sidney] Smith “E” 3d “ ” Alex. Sutorius. “F” 3d “ 1st Lieut. H. B. Cushing & 2Lt. Bourke. (A.A.Q.M.) “H” 3d “ Capt. G. Russell & Lt. L. L. O’Connor.12 “L” Cap’t. Frank Stanwood & 2 Lt. W. W. Robinson (Adjutant) Of Major Dubois, I have already spoken. Doctor [Charles] Styers was a gentlemanly and skilful [sic] medical officer. I did not see much of him during the trip, on account of my duties. He very kindly presented me with a suit of old Spanish armor consisting of breast and back-plate, helmet and gorget, found near the Western extremity of the “Llano Estacado” or “Staked Plains”. This armor was simple in style and construction and no doubt once covered the body of a Spanish or Mexican foot-soldier, who must have lost his life while on some expedition of discovery 12. Bourke was not consistent in spelling O’Connor’s name.

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or war, years and years ago. The helmet was a plain, round casque, with hole in top from which a plume perhaps descended; this helmet was provided with a fixed visor of sheet iron and a gorget or neck-piece of hammered iron scales upon a backing of linen[.] Back and breast-plate require no detailed description; they were merely concave plates of sheet-iron, shaped to fit the body and when in condition for service must have been held in position by buckles at the sides. The breast plate was ornamented around the edges by a line of brass buttons: I carried this old armor with me to Arizona, where the breast and back plate were stolen. The casque and gorget I afterwards gave to the wife of Judge Savage of Omaha, by whom it has been preserved with great care. The age of this armor I never could learn; it was of the style used by Infantry in the 17th and 18th century, but may have been of any period prior to our occupation of Texas and New Mexico: its preservation from rust, is attributable to the extremely dry climate of the Staked Plains where rain falls so seldom. Lieut. W. W. Robinson, a class-mate of mine at the Milt. Academy, was, and is, a high-toned, soldierly officer, gentlemanly in all his dealings and much liked by his associates. (He has since been transferred to the 7th Cavalry.) Doctor Kitchen remained with us for a few days, when he was relieved and returned to Santa Fé. Captain Meinhold was an elderly man of fine physique and great personal attractiveness. (He has since died.) Lieut. Smith, the subaltern of his company, some time after this became greatly distinguished under Lieut. Cushing, in a fight with hostile Apaches, in which forty six of the enemy were killed. (I visited the battlefield myself and saw the bodies.) In 1871, he resigned from the service. Lieut. H. B. Cushing was a reckless man, one of the most daring and most completely regardless of consequences I have ever met. He was one of the most gallant Indian fighters in the regular army and had made the Apaches of New Mexico and the Staked Plain [sic] feel his power. Moving out from Fort Stanton13 as a base, he had almost wiped out Cadette and Jesus La Paz on one or two oc13. Fort Stanton was established in 1855, on the Rio Bonito, to subdue the Mescalero Apaches. In 1862, federal troops evacuated and partially destroyed the post, as they retreated

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casions, killing numbers of the enemy, capturing nearly all their stock, besides retaking all that they had run off from ranchmen and cattle-herders. In one of these engagements, his 2Lieut. Frank Seaton, my class-mate, was shot through the wrist and body and soon after died. As I couldn’t get along with Captain Sutorius, the Regimental Commander transferred me to Cushing’s company which I joined at Fort Cummings. Cushing was of a slight figure, small, but well built, nervo-sanguine temperament, eyes, blue-gray and piercing, hair, light-brown, complexion florid. His bravery was beyond question; his judgement, as I had good reason afterwards to learn, was not always to be trusted. He would hazard everything on the turn of a card. Cushing occasionally drank rather more than was good for him, yet I cannot say that I ever saw him lose his self-control. He was a great gamester too, but with all his faults, an energetic, ambitious and daring soldier, one who never turned his back upon an enemy. (He was killed by Cocheis’ band of Apache Indians near the Ojo del Oso or Bear Springs in the Mesteñes or Whetsone Mountains, South East Arizona, May 5th, 1871.)14 Cushing belonged to a family which had made a fine record during the Civil War. One brother, William B. was a Paymaster in the Navy; a second; “Albemarle” Cushing, won his curious agnomen in his desperate attack upon the rebel ram Albemarle, which he blew up with a torpedo, recklessly risking his own life in the attempt which met with a brilliant success.15 A third brother, Alonzo, had but recently graduated from West Point, when he was assigned to the command of his Battery and took part in the momentous struggle, ahead of the Confederate invasion. Confederate troops occupied Fort Stanton prior to their withdrawal, after which it was taken over by a New Mexico unit of federal troops. The post was rebuilt in 1868, and abandoned in 1896. Beginning in 1899, it was operated by the U.S. Public Health Service as a hospital for seamen with tuberculosis. Additionally, in 1941, it became the nation’s first internment camp for Germans. In 1953, the State of New Mexico took over the tuberculosis sanatorium, operating it until 1966, when it became a hospital and training center for the mentally handicapped. It currently serves as a rehabilitation center. Frazer, Forts of the West, 103–4; http://www.fortstanton.com.. 14. Bourke describes a scouting expedition with Cushing in On the Border With Crook, 29–33. 15. Bourke is mistaken. William Barker Cushing was the only brother who entered the Navy, and was the officer who sank the Albemarle. He appears to have spent his entire naval career on the line, with no indication he ever served in the Pay Department. The Cushing brothers were Milton Buckingham, Jr.; Howard Buckingham, under whom Bourke served; Walter, who died as a child; Alonzo Hersford, mortally wounded at Gettysburg; William Barker; and another brother, name unknown. See Roske and van Doren, Lincoln’s Commando.

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at Gettysburg, Pennia[.] He was shot through both hips and his men were carrying him off the field, when the gallant youngster reflecting that his Battery was holding an important place in the line and that his absence would leave it without a commissioned officer, declined to be moved and insisted upon keeping in command, sitting upon a stretcher, resting against a pile of knapsacks. He received another wound, (slight,) in one hand and before the battle ended was shot through the brain and died upon the field. His remains were afterwards interred in the Cemetery at West Point, N.Y. When I first joined the company (“F”), it had in it[s] possession, not far from sixty to seventy Indian ponies and horses captured from the Apaches and two or three cows and one young bull, all of good mixed Durham blood which had been presented for the use of the enlisted men by the cattle-owners of New Mexico, whose herds had been recovered by this indefatigable little body of troops. Of Captain Sutorius I can’t say much: he was a negative, no-account man, a native of Switzerland, ignorant, opinionated, and considerably given to drink. Very many vacancies enlisted in the Regular Army at [the] outbreak of the Rebellion, caused by the resignation of disaffected officers who abandoned their colors to adhere to the fortunes of the seceding states. To fill these vacancies almost any old soldier was commissioned, without regard to merit, capacity or record. Sutorious was one of those thus advanced. He had been a bugler and, of his own choice, had acted as waiter for the officers mess at the post where he was stationed. He never rose with his good fortune, but remained always an ignorant, thick-headed waiter. (Dismissed [from] the service for drunkenness by sentence of General Court Martial—September, 1876.)16 Of a very different type, was Captain Gerald Russell; he too, was a “promotion from the ranks”, only in his case, advancement was the recognition of true merit and gallant service and not the coquettish favor of blind Fortune. Russell was born somewhere in the mountains of Kerry, Ireland and had never lost the sweet, lisping brogue of his native wilds. The son of poor parents, his early advantages had been almost imperceptible and Fate apparently had destined him for the position of a cobbler in his native village. A fit of disgust, ambition or something else, induced him to immigrate to the United States where he had scarcely landed before he enlisted in the regiment of 16. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:382–85, 388; 2:32.

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Mounted rifles, now known as the 3d Cavalry.17 Before the war, as a non-commissioned officer, he had attracted the attention of his superiors by his great gallantry and general good qualities. Receiving promotion with almost the firing of the first gun upon [Fort] Sumpter [sic], he applied himself assiduously to his new duties and became a hard student. By one of those strange freaks of character which so frequently lead the best men astray, Russell who so humbly admitted his ignorance, was not too proud to study faithfully, but he disdained any application to the rudimentary branches of knowledge and confined himself to advanced topics in science and history. The harvest produced was a curious and laughter-provoking jumble of philosophical and scientific theories, quaintly expressed in highsounding phraseology, pronounced in a brogue rich as cream, and a substratum of shrewd common-sense acquired in his long military experience on the plains which contrasted oddly with an almost child-like ignorance of the ways of the world. When I first met him, Russell was already a sufferer from hemiplangia, or paralysis of the left side, which gave to his gait and movement the funniest sort of a limp, accompanied by a simultaneous, spasmodic jerk of the left wrist and fingers. This paralysis, his friends told me, had been occasioned in the following manner: While the 3d Cavalry was at Little Rock, Ark., assembling preparatory to its march out to New Mexico, a remount of fine horses was received from Kentucky. These were soon distributed among the companies, but there remained one fine looking fiery animal which refused to acknowledge any control, men and officers alike were afraid to go near him, as fast as some bold rider jumped on his back, just so fast was there a demoralized cavalryman describing a fearfully eccentric [hurdle?] through the air. The general verdict was against the horse; every one said what a fine creature, every one admitted it was a pity he couldn’t be retained in the regiment, but at [the] same time conceded that it would be imprudent to keep such a fractious charger who might at almost any hour be the means of inflicting insuperable injury upon the trooper in charge of him. Capt. Russell patiently and quietly listened to these remarks in 17. The Regiment of Mounted Rifles was designated 3rd Cavalry during a general reorganization of the U.S. Army’s mounted units in 1861. See Herr and Wallace, Story of the U.S. Cavalry, 116.

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which as a good cavalryman he felt he could not concur; to him it seemed a disgrace that a regiment of cavalry should reject a finely formed steed for no other reason than that he was a trifle too highstrung. Sooner than see him sent back to dépôt, Jerry would ride him himself, and ride him right then and there. In obedience to his instructions, the horse was blind-folded and firmly bound until Russell should be properly braced in the stirrup. This was soon done, the rider was seated like a centaur upon the horse’s back, and at a given signal, the bandages covering eyes and limbs were removed and for a moment the horse stood perfectly quiet. Then he lazily turned his head and gazed in a dreamy, abstracted sort of manner at the insignificant creature who had the audacity to bestride him! Captain Russell mistook this behavior for docility and submission and pressed the horse’s flanks with his limbs. Away dashed the horse, flying down the street like a winged Pegasus, Russell sticking to him as if he were glued to the saddle; for a few seconds, it was an open question which should gain the victory, man or beast; but the horse solved the problem by jumping with full force into a newly-excavated cellar where he landed himself and rider in a shockingly mangled condition. Russell was dug out with a broken leg, and broken, mashed or bruised ribs, arm and collar-bone, and placed upon a shutter to be carried off to the Hospital. Just before fainting away with the intense pain, he raised his head slightly and with a smile of triumph and defiance remarked to those about him; “vi knew dam-m well-l vi cud rride um-m!” Captain Russell’s pet grievance—the one subject upon which he was wont to expatiate upon the slightest provocation—was the decadence and degeneracy of the Regular Army. “Its moi proivate opinyun, Bor-uk, (he would say to me.) it’s moi proivate opinyun, based upon exparyinze, for oive bin now nointeen yee-ers in the U-noi-tid Sta-ates Ormy, that de whole damn mil-lee-terry outfit is goin’ to Hell”. His lamentations generally were pointed by a reference to the constitutional worthlessness of his 1Lieutenant—Lawrence Lu-shus O’Conner, a handsome, round voiced [sic], round-limbed “broth of a bi” from the “ould dart”. Public opinion was decidedly adverse to O’Connor and credited him with being a coward; this I was never thoroughly satisfied could be the case. O’Conner was certainly worthless and being lazy and lethargic, several times failed to follow

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fresh Indian trails with proper energy; still, if brought face to face with an enemy, it is likely that he would have stood his ground and fought. He and his wife were great thorns in old Jerry’s side. Mrs. O’C. was a bright woman, well-educated and able to write a good letter, but with a very creamy brogue. Her shrewdness and tact saved her husband from many a pit-fall, and enabled him to defy the inquisition of Courts-Martial, but we lost them both by the operations of the Benzine Board, in Dec. 1870.18 In October 1869, O’Connor and his better half were on their return from District Hd.Qrs. at Santa Fé where they had been in attendance on O’Connor’s periodical trial for drunkenness or some offense of that kind, which came around regularly once a quarter. Near Albuquerque they came to La Bajada (“The Descent”.) a very severe grade having an overhanging vertical wall of some hundreds of feet on one side and a sheer precipice of five hundred on the other. The descent was so risky that stage-passengers always alighted and made their way down on foot, while the driver found abundant occupation in taking care of his team and slowly creeping down with a heavy brake on, wheels locked and shod and the conductor at head of the leaders. That was the only orthodox way of going down La Bajada in those days, but O’Connor had different ideas. He left Santa Fé close behind the conveyance which carried U.S. Marshall [sic] Pratt and his party. When Pratt reached La Bajada, of course he got out and walked down, letting his driver have as light a load as possible. He hadn’t perceived O’Connor so close behind him and in fact, up to that day had never had any personal acquaintance with him. What was his astonishment to hear behind him, (when he had about reached the bottom,) a fine round Irish voice explain, “Oh! she’ll git down all right, I dun’ no”, and to find himself, upon turning, face to face with O’Connor. “Shure! she’ll git down all right, I dun’ no” repeated O’Connor, and Pratt, looking up the break-neck grade, saw what had elicited this expression of confidence. O’Connor and his driver had both left their ambulance and descended on foot, 18. “Benzine Boards,” so-called because benzine was a popular cleaning fluid of the day, was the nickname given to the retiring and reduction boards, created under the Army Appropriation Bill of 1869. The bill required drastic reductions in military personnel to conform with the post-Civil War determination to cut military expenditures. These boards determined which officers would be discharged or retained, with a board in Washington making the decision among field officers, and departmental boards selecting junior officers. O’Connor was cut by a benzine board for the Department of Arizona. Robinson, General Crook, 105.

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while Mrs. O’C. was left to manage, as best she might, the four halfbred mules which pulled it. There was no brake, no lock, no shoe, and the mules, sawing on the feeble bits which held them, appeared ready to dash at any moment down the hill. Pratt, in fear and disgust, cried out, “Why! My God Almighty! Man! I wouldn’t drive down La Bajada myself!” “No,[”] replied O’Connor, [“]nur oi”. However, Mrs. O’Connor got down without injury and to cement acquaintance, O’Connor presented Pratt and his party to his wife and invited them all to take a drink glibly running over the names of the most expensive wines as if they were the ordinary features of his wine-list. “Come now, gintilmin, Come now, nom-i-nate yer pi-sins—Sherry, Hock or To’-kay?” Pratt thought he’d take a thimblefull of Sherry, another gentleman inclined to Hock, and a third concluded that To’-kay was “good enough for the likes of him”. “BUT La-rins-Lushus, Darlint![”] dextrously interposed Mrs. O’Connor, [“]don’t yiz know that the Sherry, the Hock and To’-kay is all gone-intirely?” [“]But we have some rale good fishkey in the black bottle”. [“]Well,[”] said O’Connor, [“]damn their furrin ingray-jints any how—shure fish-key’s the drink fur a gintelmin all-ways”; so the whole party “turned themselves loose” on the black bottle. I had a very funny experience with Russell at Fort Seldon19 [sic] on the Rio Grande in the fall of 1869. I had marched a detachment of recruits down the river and at Seldon had to turn over those assigned to Stanwood’s and Russell’s Companies. Stanwood, who was commanding the post, directed his First Sergeant to receive the recruits and see that they had all the equipments for which he should have to receipt; but Jerry Russell didn’t do business in any such style; he would receive his recruits in person. I drew them up in two ranks, upon order, called the roll and inspected, finding all right. Captain Russell, I thought, would order the detail to be marched to his Company quarters, but he first made 19. Fort Selden, which Bourke sometimes spelled “Seldon,” was established in 1865, east of the Rio Grande about twelve miles north of Doña Ana, to protect the road along the river, and settlers in the Mesilla Valley. The post was deactivated in 1877, when the railroad replaced the wagon road, but was regarrisoned in 1882 during the Geronimo War. It was abandoned in 1889, and transferred to the Interior Department three years later. Frazer, Forts of the West, 102–03.

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them a little speech, which I insert as nearly word for word as I can remember, altho’ I have told the story so often that I am pretty confident the oration is almost exact: “Young Min! I conghratulate yiz on bein assigned to moi thrupe, becoz previously to dis toime, I vinture to say that moi thrupe has had more villins, loyars, teaves, scoundhrils and I moight say, dam murdhrers dan enny udder in de Unitid States Ormy. I want yiz to pay sthrict attintion to jooty—and not become drunken vagabonds, wandhrin all over the face of Gods chreashun, spindin irvery cint av yer pay with low búm-mérs. [“]Avide all timptashuns, loikewoise all discipashuns, so that in toime yez kin become non-commissioned off-zurs; yez’ll foind yer captin a very laynent man and very much given to laynency, fur oi niver duz toi no man up bee der tumbs unless he duz bee late for a roll-call. Sorjint dis-amiss de detachment”. Russell was at that time a bachelor and was very fond of remarking confidentially to the younger officers that he was “tinking voine-by of going back to de States and seein’ wat dame Forchin’ll do for me in de way of a dam noice woife.” His company never would come up to his views of discipline, “I decleer to God’lmoity! (he would say.) the base ingratoichude of dem wearies of moine is perficly ‘stonishen! Dey hev evering dat mortil man kin want, ‘cludin, food, vew-el, good grub, vidgitibbles and good quarthers, and here to-day they hev just smashed a ban new skilli over my nice first Sarjint’s head i’ all becuz dey didn’t have enough toe-ma-tusses in dere God-dam supe!” O’Connor had been sent out from Selden to follow up a fresh Indian trail which gave promise of resulting in an active skirmish. Russell had given him the picked men of the Company, mounted on the best horses and well provided in every way with rations for seventeen days. The trail led straight towards the San Agostin pass in the Organ Mountains, in which a band of Apaches had been known to lurk for some time. O’Connor had as fine an opportunity as soul could wish for glory; but he wasn’t hunting for Glory: Quietly leaving the trail he struck into the towns of Mesilla and Las Cruces, 30 miles below Fort Selden on the river, where he intended to lie “perdue” until his rations were eaten up. He ignored the fact that a new paper had recently been established in one of these towns, the Las Cruces Borderer,

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which would be glad to have him figure as an “item”. In due course of time, the Borderer was delivered by mail at Fort Selden and the effect it produced on Cap’t. Russell was very mirth-provoking. After recapitulating to me all that he had done to give “dat damn outfit O’Con-nur-r” a chance to attain distinction and dwelling bitterly upon his sneaking into “Crú-cis”, Russell continued, and “din he wint to a ‘Boyle at Bull’s’ where (quoting from the paper in his hand and hissing the words as he read) Lootinint Law-rins Loo-shis O’Connurr of the tur-id Cavalry appeared to the bist advantg’.” I have alluded to Russell’s “scientific” acquirements; I have here interpolated an anecdote under this head, stating however that the date was long since the year of which I am now writing. It was in the last week of December, 1876. Russell and I were serving together with General Crook’s Expedition against hostile Sioux and Cheyennes in Wyoming and had both started out with the cavalry column under General Mackenzie and taken part in the attack upon Dull Knife’s village in the cañon of the Big Horn Mountains.20 After completely destroying the village of (200) lodges and scattering the Cheyennes, we started back to rejoin the main command under General Crook, with whom we marched up and down the Belle Fourche, looking for other Indians. Coming back over the Pumpkin Buttes, Christmas morning, 1876, the weather was something not soon to be forgotten; the mercury was frozen in the bulb and a howling wind froze everything solid. The leafless trees standing guard over the solidly frozen streamlets, the frozen tufts of grass and weeds, glistening under the weight of ice crystals & the forbidding, leaden sky would have been enough without the marrow chilling tempest, to remind us that winter was King in those desolate regions; but with the aid of the icy storm, our surrounding discouraged us greatly. Our eye-brows, eye-lashes, and moustaches were congealed and had it not been for the Esquimauxlike21 clothing of fur and buck-skin which we all wore, I am certain that numbers of us would have laid down, never to rise again. My companions were taciturn and solemn, but old Jerry Russell became rather voluble in his disquisitions upon “soy-inces”. Doctor Wood broke out with the exclamation: [“]well’—of all the beastly weather that God never made!—This beats all I ever knew”. 20. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 2, Chapters 9–11. 21. I.e. Eskimo-like.

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“Docthur![”] interrupted old Jerry, very quietly, [“]our ansisthurs were bether prephared for sich weather than oursilves”. “How was that?[”] queried the young sawbones. “Well, sor, dey hed hair ov’in haf a fut long”. “Oh, I don’t believe any such stuff as that, Captain,[”] remonstrated the Doctor. “Oh, yiz, indade, Docthur,[”] persisted Russell, [“]all histh’ry and soyinces and thrue philosophy goes to show that our ansisthurs hed very short tails and hed hair ov’in haf a fut long; an ruder, Docthur Wood, it’s moi proivit opin-yun det your grand-fodder or your great grand-fodder, enny way, must have bin in a mu-zée-um”. Wood was too nearly frozen to get angry, but he abruptly terminated his “scientific” discussion with old Russell. I will leave Russell for the present to make some slight reference to other members of our Battalion, being able to do this as I shall have occasion further on to tell a few stories of my old friend who, albeit certain eccentricities of character, and solecisms in language, was a brave old soldier, tender-hearted as a woman, and proud of his profession. Captain Frank Stanwood was, physically, a man far above the average: of good education and intellectual powers, he was amiable in manners and of a very witty mind and good humored disposition. His library, which he very kindly permitted me to examine on several occasions was large and well-selected, considering the embarrassments to be encountered in those days by Cavalry officers on the frontier who had the slightest taste for reading. (Stanwood was, without intending any harm, sometimes inclined to be a trifle irreverent in religious matters. I remember a visit he paid me at my quarters in Tucson, Arizona, in December, 1870, when I also had as my guest old Colonel Bobbie Pollock, Captain of the 26th Inft.22 Bobbie, a native of the Quaker City,23 had quitted home so young and had wandered about the world so much, (he had been in California with the first influx in 1849.) that he remembered but little of his Eastern training, excepting an hereditary prejudice against Yankees.24 Stanwood was a Boston boy and as such, old Bobbie had a prejudice 22. Heitman (1:796–97) lists Capt. Robert Pollock as serving in the 21st Infantry at the time. 23. Bourke is referring to Pollock by both his brevet (colonel) and active (captain) ranks. The Quaker City, of course, is Philadelphia. 24. By “Yankees,” Bourke means true Yankees, which is to say New Englanders, rather than as a generic for Northerners.

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against him, even in face of his long acquaintance with him and knowledge of his high tone of character and accomplishments. Stanwood understood all this and loved to do everything to excite the old man’s antagonism. We had all to sleep in one bed-room—the only habitable room in the house, and when it came time to go to bed, Pollock and I were talking; Stanwood interrupted by asking for silence as he was going to “say his prayers”. Then clasping his hands, he devoutly and audibly thanked “God that we have been born in Boston, because Thou knowest, Oh Lord! that having been born in Boston, it is not necessary that we should be born again”. Old Bobbie swallowed the whole thing as a genuine prayer, and the next morning when we were alone together commented savagely upon the ----------- conceit of “them ere ------------Boston Yankees -----------,” making the air blue with profanity.) (Stanwood died at his home in Boston, Dec. 20th 72.) The night before we left Fort Cummings, the officers stationed there came down to our camp to pay a last visit. The officers of the Battalion were invited to meet them in Colonel Dubois’ tent. A nice little lunch was spread in an adjoining tent, to which any one could repair at pleasure. There was much pleasant converse, story telling, a little singing and a great deal of drinking. Lieut. Robinson and I being the junior “subs”, and also the “staff” of the Battalion, were selected to make the toddies. Neither of us had been trained as a bartender and of course some little preliminary instruction was necessary to enable us to prepare toddies that would pass the inspection of gentlemen of such extended experience in that line as those whom we were serving. We made up in assiduity what we lacked in education; our first effort was pronounced a dead failure; our second was only a shade better. Our third extorted signs of approval. They came rather slowly or reluctantly from the lips of Captain Russell, [“]Wy dat’s a moighty foine toddie; oi tink it would be a good oidee to put a little more sugar in soak”. We complied with this suggestion and kept a few lumps of sugar soaking to make fresh tumblers of toddy, as fast as those in use should be emptied. The effects manifesting themselves after a while; the party became decidedly merry. Towards midnight the visitors withdrew, with many warm shakes of the hand and cordial expressions of good will for our good fortune on the journey. Weary and sleepy, I started to seek my couch, but I found that a second

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lieutenant’s duty didn’t cease with the departure of guests; in fact it only commenced. The plain English of the matter is that we had to act as valets for such of our elderly companions as had eaten too many ham-sandwiches, pickled oysters or articles of that kind on the bill of fare which, since the beginning of the world, have made giddy and light-headed gentlemen who have not, oh! no! by no means! been in the smallest degree affected by a dozen or more tumblers of strong punch. Stanwood had gone to bed, “straight as a string”; Dubois had crawled off, unaided, and without anything remarkable in his gait or demeanor except the persistency with which the guyropes of the tent wound themselves around his little, fat chubby legs. He bade us good night and blessed us all with a fervor that brought tears to our eyes and his own. Meinhold and Russell were sad wrecks, jolly and maudlin, limp and incapable of moving hand or foot: their eyes stuck out from their heads as void of expression as grapes with the skins off. A Temperance lecturer would pronounce them both “drunk”; in the language of the frontier, “they had it up their snoots” and were rather inclined to be “high”. Not to beat about the bush too much, they were Drunk. Lawrence Lucious O’Connor was drunk too, but he didn’t count, he always was drunk. We never took any notice of O’Connor except when he was sober. Cushing and Smith were able to help Robinson and myself quite a good deal; we grabbed Meinhold by the waist-band and he doubled together like a jack-knife or an old carpet-sack, but he offered no resistance as we laid him upon his bed and stripped off boots, collar and coat and covered him up with a pair of blankets. Jerry Russell was less tractable; we found him as we got back to the tent, seated in a camp-chair, scarcely able to move a joint but trying very hard to whistle to his dog Toper. Toper, more in scorn than in anger, flapped his tail in response to these manifestations of affection, as old Jerry spoke to him:”Tó-pur, yez dam baste! yer dhrung, Tó-pur, ye’r dhrunk, Tó-pur en oi know it.” This bright little dialogue, or monologue rather because I don’t remember that poor Toper spoke even so much as a bark, was varied by Russell’s every now and then sinking back in his chair twiddling his thumbs and trying to sing the refrain of his favorite song—“Too-ril, loo-ril, Wan-oyed Roil-lee!” “Too-ril, loo-ril, wan-oyed Roil-l-lee”. Robinson tapped him briskly on the shoulder: “come, come,

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Captain, it’s time to go to bed”. Russell was very obstinate: “no, no, Misther Robinson, no bid for mee dis noight”. “But, Captain,[”] I expostulated, [“]you must go to bed; it’s long after mid-night, we are to have reveille at 5, everybody’s in bed. We’ve just put Captain Meinhold to bed”. This was a lucky remark to make; Russell and Meinhold, altho’ firm friends, had between them that curious rivalry which has so often been remarked as existing between Teuton and Celt. Russell would have staid up all night sooner than have it said that he had been driven “from the field” before Meinhold; but the yielding of his adversary, rendered him more amenable to reason. “Is dat damn outfit of Meinhold gan to bid, Bor-ruk?”, he inquired. “Why, Yes, Captain, We had to put him to bed. Don’t you hear him snoring?” Somebody was snoring and whoever it was wasn’t playing at snoring, either, but doing his level best and getting along at a lively rate with no brake on. I thought, under the circumstances, it would do no harm to give credit for the whole performance to poor old Meinhold, especially as the sound had such a favorable effect upon Russell. He chuckled to himself and asked in a vague, drunken manner: “is dat damned outfit av a Meinhold gan to bid? Din oi kin retoire wid hon-ur-r-r”, and as he said this, he struck his breast dramatically as if he had repeated “The old Guard dies but never surrenders”. We took advantage of his mollified condition of mind and soon had the representative of old Erin’s Green Isle snoring a most frantic rivalry with his comrade from the Vaterland. My description of my comrades is accurate. Nothing has been set down in malice. To those personally unacquainted with the gentlemen of whom I have been writing, the eccentricities and oddities of character may perhaps be taken as the whole perimeter or at least the salient lines and angles; but such a judgment would be a gross injustice to them and to me: they were rather the incongruous and ridiculous element which are discernible in human nature everywhere and in no situation more so than on the remote frontier where people through a sense of isolation, seek a more intimate companionship with those who are thrown into their society and probably for the very same reason, feeling that there is no one to criticize,

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except close friends and intimate associates, are more careless about hiding little foibles and peculiarities from observation. I wish I could remember as vividly and in proper sequence the general features of the topography of the line of march. My memory is constituted in such a way that I retain for a long time the impressions made upon me by individuals, but in a sense of locality I am lacking in details but always capable of describing the character of a district with an approach to correctness; even if my account of the lesser meanderings of roads and streams be somewhat at fault. From Fort Cummings, New Mexico, to Fort Bowie, Arizona,25 and from the latter post to Camp Grant (since abandoned) by way of Tucson, the country differs but slightly in its main features and but little more in its vegetation and animal life. It is a vast alternation of plain and mountain, the ridges running from north to south and bearing the names of Cook’s Peak, Mimbres Mountains, Steen’s Peak, Chiricahua, Dragoon and Santa Catarina. None of these is much over 9500 or 10.000 feet in height, but in ruggedness they present as many obstacles to passage, except by the regular gaps, as if they were half as much higher. Pine and scrub oak, with some juniper and considerable “manzanita” grow upon the elevations or in the cañons; the plains, styled in the Spanish language “playas” or “beaches”, bear a thick covering of blue and white grama grass, with the unnutritious stock grass called “sacaton”, soap-weed, cactus in the varieties of ocatillo, nopal, saguaro and tuña [sic];26 sage-brush and grease-wood, and “palo verde” as you enter Arizona. In South West New Mexico, prairie-sage were not unusual. In Arizona, they are scarcely ever seen and only along the Eastern border. The Giant Cactus, (saguaro or pitahaya.) presents itself to view upon nearing Fort Bowie, and stands boldly against the horizon like a sentinel upon a rampart. Its usual height is not above 30 feet, but it is occasionally to be found nearer sixty. 25. Fort Bowie was established as a camp in 1862 in the Chiricahua Mountains to guard the eastern approaches of Apache Pass. The pass and springs located there were a key transit point for travelers and mail carriers on the road between Tucson and Mesilla, New Mexico, and a favorite ambush spot for the Indians. In 1868, it was relocated to a nearby hill overlooking the pass, and eleven years later permanently upgraded to a fort. Fort Bowie was abandoned in 1894, and now is a national historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 4; Utley, A Clash of Cultures. 26. The “tuna,” which Bourke spells “tuña,” is the fruit of the opuntia phaeacantha or prickly pear. Loughmiller, Texas Wildflowers, 33.

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Giant Cactus. (Arizona.) In no part of the United States does the Mescal or Century plant grow in the same luxuriant profusion as in Arizona. Its gorgeous velvety blossoms color the sides of the hills at all seasons and its roasted stalks and core, form the staple food of the Apache Indians. The Mescal, Saguaro, Tuña amd Mesquite are used in building. The Mexicans tap the saguaro for its juice, which is boiled with pulverized sugar to make a palatable candy; the topmost branches bear in the month of June a fruit, in taste similar to our raspberry, greatly sought after by the wild Indians and preserved as a marmalade by the Mexicans. The umbrella-like ribs of the decayed saguaro are spread from the rafters of houses to serve as the base of the earth or gypsum roof. Of the mescal, a highly intoxicating liquor is distilled, which has the taste and produces the effects of Scotch Whiskey; this and tiswin, a mild barley beer, flavored with cinnamon, are the staple intoxicants of Northern Mexico. The juice of the nopal or tuña has a clarifying power, of which I have spoken at other times: the sliced leaves or “plates”, immersed in muddy water will speedily cause a subsidence of any argillaceous matter held in suspension; its virtues as an anti-scorbutic have

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long been recognized by army officers of experience on the plains; stripped of its thorns it will sustain the lives of cattle in bad winters when hay and grass are not within reach and if the juice be mixed with sand and clay and a small addition of bullock’s blood, it may be poured out in frames which hardening will make durable pavements for the interior of houses.27 The beans of the two varieties of mesquite28 growing in Arizona are greatly prized by the Indians as food and are much relished by horses: the fruit of the manzanita29 and the acorns of scrub oak, with the seeds of sun-flowers, wild gourds and various species of grass complete the diet list of vegetables in general use among the aboriginal tribes of that region. Our line of travel lay nearly due West to Tucson, taking us through: 1st the town of Mimbres (“Osiers”.) A little plaza, built of stone, on the clear mountain stream of same name which rises in the San Mateo Mountains and flows nearly due South to Laguna Guzman in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. 2d. Hot Springs—Our battalion kept slightly to the left of these wonderful thermal springs which contain silica in solution and deposit a coating of it upon every twig or branch immersed in their waters. 3d Soldier’s Farewell, the last station in New Mexico. 4th Steen’s Peak. A tolerably high range with a good deal of pine towards the crest and in the ravines. 5th Fort (then Camp.) Bowie, the first point in Arizona, a military station of two Companies in the Apache pass of the Chiricahua mountains. The Apache Indians were then making this part of America a perfect Hell upon earth. No small party could travel from station to station in South East Arizona, unless by night and with each man’s hand constantly on his arms. Such settlers as braved the danger, ploughed their fields with rifles slung across their backs or strapped to the plough handle. In my journals and scrap-books of Arizona, a very complete account of this tribe and of General Crook’s campaign, which resulted in their complete subjection, can be found.30 27. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:174. 28. Prosopis glandulosa (honey mesquite), and prosopis pubscens or (tornillo). 29. Arctostaphylos. 30. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapters, 1–3.

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On our march over to Bowie, Captain Russell and I became staunch friends; the old man frequently in conversation, gave me the benefit of his philosophical views, frequently calling attention to the mutual affection exhibited by his horse Charlie and mare, Katie: “I decleer to God’l’moitee, Bor-ruk, the amount of afficshun existing betwane dim two dumb animals, Chollie and Két-tee is perficly ‘stonish’n”. One morning, our old friend made his appearance at reveillé with his lower lip swollen out of all shape from the bite of a venomous spider or wasp. All that we could get him to say on the subject was that “some damm-m baste of a bay stung it.” We regretfully parted with Captain Russell at Fort Bowie, of which garrison his company was ordered to form part. Captain Stanwood also separated from the Battalion at same point, en route for Camp Goodwin,31 on the Gila river, opposite the mouth of the San Carlos. The Post Commander of Fort Bowie was Captain Thomas Dunn, 21st Infy., a very good-hearted gentleman, but very odd in his behavior and a subject of considerable amusement to me in our after acquaintance. From Bowie to Tucson is 110 miles, due West. Twenty eight miles out, at Dragoon Springs, we met the Battalion of the 8th Cavalry, marching over to New Mexico to take our places. At San Pedro station on San Pedro river, 55 miles from Bowie, we saw the first Arizona station; a good enough house of adobe, with a corral of the same material. Like nearly all the stations of that day, it was kept in a most barbarous style. A story current in Arizona at that date, and popularly believed to be true, places the scene of the following experience at Duncan’s (San Pedro) ranch. The stage, as the buck-board was jocularly called, deposited its load of passengers one evening for supper. One of these passengers was an Englishman, sent out from London to look into some mining property in Arizona. In dress and manner and speech, he was the typical “Bow Bells”,32 Cockney, baggy plaid trousers, clothed gaiters, short sack-coat, little 31. Camp Goodwin was established in 1864 as a base of operations against Apaches, and abandoned by the military in 1871. At this time, the post buildings served as a subagency for the San Carlos Reservation. The military reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1884. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 27–28; Frazer, Forts of the West, 8–9. 32. The true Cockney is said to be a person born within the sound of the church bells of St. Mary-le-Bone, or the “Bow Bells,” London.

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hat with a blue veil, umbrella and goggles,—the Henglish tourist’s idea of a suitable costume for travelling in the wilds of America. As he dismounted, he observed at the side of the main door, a small cottonwood three legged stool supporting a tin basin and a lump of rosin soap, while from a peg in the adobe wall, hung a ragged, “slazy”, dirty strip of luck-a-back, facetiously intended for a towel. There was no help for it; the Englishman felt he was just a trifle dirtier than the towel;—that was the consolation. He splashed the basin full of water about his neck and head and into his ears and eyes, ridding himself of a fearful accumulation of sand and alkali dust and by closing his eyes tight, managed to get through with the towel without becoming sick. The poor fellow thought at the time that that was the dirtiest towel he had seen; before he had been in Arizona a week, he learned to look back upon it as one of the daintiest pieces of linen that ever a lady’s fair hand had embroidered. Inside the ranch was the bare mud floor, rough counter, three pine shelves for bottles, tumblers and other paraphernalia; walls of adobe with a small looking glass and three or four advertisements of liquor firms doing business in San Francisco, and two or three stools, the companions in misfortune of the one in front of the house. The sleepy bar-tender was in soiled shirt and with hair in ill-kept condition, because he had been too busy or sleepy for the past three months to give it any attention; but he hadn’t been too busy or too sleepy to put on his six-shooters, which, like everybody else about the ranch, he wore constantly. The supper was in strict keeping with the rest of the establishment; a bare pine table, china plates, tin cups, and knives and forks in various stages of decrepitude. There was tea, made from the native grasses of the Territory, biscuits, with an extravagant excess of soda, bacon, putrid and sour, sugar that would have delighted the soul of an entomologist, it was so full of ants and bugs & flies; stewed dried apples, each separate slice standing out sodden and distinct from its fellows, and the whole dish having a painfully strong suggestion of the Do-the-boys Hall, and as the crowning piece of the meal—sausage, in two ways—in globules and in casing. Mr. Duncan, the proprietor, had recently killed a pig, and in the exuberance of his good nature, was “going to set ‘em up for the boys”. The Englishman wasn’t making much of a meal, to speak of; he sipped the tea mechanically and

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pushed the cup away from him in ill-concealed disgust; the bacon, he didn’t pretend to even look at, but he thought he could find a small share of work for his teeth in trying to masticate the lumpy dried apples and soda biscuits. To do this, however, it was necessary to swallow a few flies; the first two or three made him sick. He became indignant; the meal was a transparent swindle, a glaring outrage, a trap for extorting a dollar from the unwary and unprotected. He had about made up his mind to forward an account of the affair to the British Minister at Washington, when the “garçon!” of the establishment leaned over his shoulder and hissed in his ear the question—“Gut sassige ur ball?[”] The Englishman didn’t like the looks of the waiter in the least; he was, as it were, the antipodes of anything to be seen in “Pell-Mell”, or in any fashionable restaurant on the “Stwand”. He was hirsute, red-eyed, sun-burned, coatless and shoeless; his rolled up sleeves and revolver on hip imparted a “Dick Dead-eye”33 tone to his make-up, which might have had a good effect on the stage, but in real life was the reverse of pleasant. He was a prospector “down on his luck”, who had taken to “slinging hash” as a temporary buttress against the assaults of famine. Once more he whispered—“Gut sassige or ball?[”] The Englishman asked for an explanation of the cabalistic formula. The reply was that “ball” sausage was plain sausage meat in globular masses, but “Gut” sausage was the same article in a bladder cuticle. The Englishman, desiring to avoid dirt as much as possible, intimated his preference for “ball”: thereupon the waiter roared through the aperture in the wall between dining-room and kitchen; “ball sassige for one”. The cook, an individual as hirsute, as dirty and as fully armed as the waiter, called back in an irritated tone; “---- your –soul to ----, didn’t I tell you the ball’s all gone”, and immediately the waiter returning to the Englishman howled in his ear; “---- it the ball’s all gone; take gut, you ---- take gut”. The Englishman wrote back to London that the mine he had been sent to examine was no doubt rich in ore, but that the great lack of wood and water and the great abundance of Apache Indians in Arizona were very discouraging obstacles to its development and for that reason only he felt compelled to decline the superintendency. 33. The devious villain of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera H.M.S. Pinafore.

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Three miles, down the San Pedro, north of the station, was the hamlet of Tres Alamos, to which we had to send for barley for our command. From this station to the “Cienaga” (Swamp) is 25 miles, South of which 20 or 25 miles is the Ojo del Oso where poor Cushing afterwards (May 5th 1871.) was killed in a fight with Apaches. To Tucson, the then capital of Arizona, is 25 miles more. I shall not make any prolonged reference to our march, the beautiful sunsets and sun-rises excelling those for which Italy is famed, the mirages, or the mournful aspect of the odd vegetation upon the mesas we covered. I shall pay due attention to all that portion of my service in the note-books which I propose filling seriative from the great quantity of material on hand, in the form of letters sent home, rough notes, itineraries and maps made while scouting in that part of Arizona. We remained in the quaint old Mexican Presidio of Tucson for two days and then resumed our march for (old) Camp Grant, 55 miles to the north, keeping on the Western skirts of the Santa Catarina Mountains, the whole way and camping one night at the picturesque Cañada del oso. Camp Grant, (since abandoned.) with its personnel including Col. [Isaac Rothermel] Dunkelberger, scenery, climate, fauna and flora, and topics of service there deserves and shall receive at my hands at some future date a more fitting recognition than a few brief paragraphs of notice in a journal opening under another heading. And so ends the rough sketch of the reminiscences conjured up as I heard of poor Dubois’ death; it has been commenced in haste, completed without skill, but I trust it ends appropriately by saying of my old Commander; Peace to his Ashes.

Chapter 14 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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eneral Miles, Colonel 5th Infantry, has for the past month, had a strongly equipped expedition of nearly one thousand men, all mounted, on the British Boundary north of Milk river, Montana, to drive back any hostile Sioux from Sitting Bull’s Camp who might make an invasion of our territory. Beyond attacking a small hunting party which, after a short skirmish with Miles’ advance guard under Lieut. W. P. Clark, 2d Cavalry, fell back with rapidity across the line, the Expedition has been so fruitless, of results that I have made no effort to keep track of its operations. It will remain on the boundary during the remainder of the summer to patrol and observe. August 12th [1879] Lieut. Genl. P. H. Sheridan, Brigadier General George Crook and Colonel Jeff. C. Davis, 23d Infantry, appointed a Board to meet in Chicago for the purpose of settling questions in dispute as to the positions and movements of troops at the Battle of Chickamauga, Ga., Sept. 18, 19th & 20th 1863.1 1. The Union disaster at Chickamauga, Georgia, on September 18–20, 1863, brought almost immediate recriminations, to such an extent that the Union major generals Thomas L. Crittenden, Alexander M. McCook, and James S. Negley demanded courts of inquiry. The courts, convened in Nashville in early 1864, determined that while Crittenden committed an error of judgment in withdrawing from the field, neither he nor McCook and Negley were

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August 14th Lieut. Schuyler and I took a trip this morning over the Omaha and North Nebraska Rail Road to its present terminus at Tekama. We had to have a comparatively early breakfast at 7 o’clock and then drove in an ambulance to the station, a mile or more beyond Florence. Florence, an old Mormon settlement, was at one period of its existence an aspirant for commercial importance, the belief among many of the “knowing ones”, in 1855–1864, being that there was the only proper point for the construction of the great bridge to span the Missouri river for the use of the transcontinental highway. Omaha carried off the prize and with the great trade brought to her doors by the Union Pacific Rail Road has waxed fat and kicked while her former rival has long since died of [inunition?]. It is hard to say when Florence died, but dead she is and dead as a door-nail. The Florence Bank, a brick building, of good size from those early days, is fast falling to pieces and the few inhabitants still remaining make such a living as they can by selling garden truck to the people of Omaha. The Florence station is a rattle-trap shanty of cottonwood clapboards, the platform in front being too shaky and rheumatic for anybody to stand upon. The station keeper’s wife and five youngsters gazed dreamily at us as we got out of the ambulance, no doubt we were the only passengers in a month. The train was half an hour late. We made such an improvement of the interval as we could by walking about the station and conversing with the family. There was no trouble to be feared form the lateness of the train; only one runs in the day, leaving Omaha in the morning and returning in the afternoon. In a few moments, the welcome whistle was heard; the train, mostly all baggage cars, came slowly up to the platform, stopped when we waved our hats and resumed progress as soon as we were seated. Half a dozen passengers occupied seats inside and the conductor, old Mr. Hermann,2 not only collected fares, but acted as baggage-master, express agent, distributed mail and was also, I have been told, Treasurer of the road. This line is not quite 50 miles long, pays no dividends on its stock, but pays all expenses. An extension of 16 miles has been ordered, to commence at once. censurable for their conduct during the battle. Nevertheless, the allegations and counterallegations continued for years afterwards. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol. 30, Part 1, 930ff. 2. Elsewhere, Bourke spells it “Harman.”

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I should describe the beautiful scenery, the finest in this part of the West, visible from the car-windows as we rode along, but as we had better opportunity for doing so in the afternoon, I shall not attempt it just now. Blair, 30 miles north of Omaha, on the Missouri river, is the point of junction of the Sioux City and Pacific with the Omaha and North Nebraska. Practically, it is also the place of union with the latter road and the Chicago and Northwestern which sends many of its cars through Blair, by the ferry at this point, to Fremont, Nebraska, 25 miles West of Blair and 47 miles West of Omaha. Tekama, 40½ miles out from Omaha, is a very thinning village of 1000 pop[ulation]. Homes are as a general thing neat and cosy cottages, surrounded by groves of young trees, planted in regular rows. Mr. Zanner, the jeweller of the town, very kindly invited Schuyler and myself to enter his store which contained a very fine stock of goods for so small a place. We became so interested in the conversation that time flew by rapidly and before we could get back to the dépôt, the train was pulling out. I ran as hard as I could for 25 or 30 yards, yelling all the while to attract the attention of our deaf old friend, Mr. Harman, whose multifarious duties, I suppose, so engrossed his care that he never thought of looking back at the dépôt. I never did know a belated passenger to overtake an outgoing train and I never knew one who wouldn’t half break his neck in a frantic endeavor to do so. We felt that we were in for it sure enough. There was no use growling. We had to make the best of a bad bargain. The “station agent” thought we might hire a buggy, drive to the banks of the river, cross on the ferry and catch the down-going train of the Sioux City and Pacific Road which runs close to the Missouri on the other side. That hope was crushed when we learned that the ferry-boat had lately sunk. We were now quite hungry and hunted up the best hotel in the town, the Astor house, which is the old building, erected by a detachment of regular troops a quarter of a century ago, to protect the first settlers from the Winnebago and Omaha Indians, who are now living peaceably and comfortably on their Reservations 26 miles North of Tekama. Our dinner was such a meal as might be expected in such a place. Plenty of it, but nothing remarkable in the way of cooking.

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The roast chicken and vegetables were relishable, bread fair, apple pie not bad and tea and coffee abominable. The idea of staying all night in that place was simply awful, if there was any possible chance of escaping. The bed-bugs, we knew from experience, would be not much smaller than good-sized lobsters and fully as voracious. We tried the several livery stables, but none had a team for hire that would suit our purpose: but at the very last moment, a young man appeared who said he had to go down to Omaha and would take us for $5.50, if we would like to ride in an open spring wagon. His horses were lively Colorado ponies, and as we had no baggage and the vehicle was light, there would be no trouble in rattling along the fine road between Tekama and Omaha Barracks, a trifle over 50 miles for wagons. The driver had to wait for half an hour to do some business, water his horses and make personal preparations: we sat on the hotel porch pending his return and unconsciously listened to the conversation of our neighbors. “He sole that ar bay mar” “How much did he git fur her?[”] “Hunner’n forty dollar”—and with the bay mare as a nucleus of discussion our granger friends were apparently ready for an all-night’s work. The spring wagon came up in due time and to my surprise was all that the driver had said for it. We took our seats, the lively little ponies struck out in a dashing way and Tekama was behind us. From Tekama nearly all the distance to Fort Omaha, the scenery was most alluring; between Blair and Fort Calhoun, our eyes looked upon as romantic vistas as can be found anywhere. The sky was just hazy enough to temper the sun’s heat and impart a delicious Indian-summery tone to the landscape which doubled its charms. Through breaks in dense groves of timber we caught glimpses of the broad-bosomed Missouri shining like silver, or of placid lakes and sloughs, fringed with saplings and embowered in the centre of grassy bluffs. Elms of unusual dimensions towered far above us, the boles in very many instances being as much as four or five feet in diameter and the dark, tapering branches intertwining to form vaulted arcades impenetrable to the sun. Oak and walnut and cottonwood trees of great size formed a jungle with the matted foliage of luxuriant grape-vines and creepers. The peculiar impression left by these sombre recesses was one of agree-

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able softness, not that of rugged wildness, and with our egress from each niche of foliage, the gently sloping hills of emerald looked like those which had received the careful attention of man. Near each pretty little village, and despite the features of newness or rawness here and there obtaining themselves all these villages are pretty, Herman, Blair, De Soto, Fort Calhoun,—the forest primeval was succeeded by broad acres of ripened wheat in which the brawny hands of farm laborers were gathering a grand harvest, or with still greater areas of corn which almost rivalled the trees of the forest in its height. The farms were all fenced in; some with barbed wire, many with wooden polings, but the greater number with hedges of hawthorn and osage orange. An exhibition of taste was apparent in the plans of the buildings (many of them of brick) and in the colors with which they were painted. Barns and cribs and stacks were full and plethoric with the wealth of the fields, and the lowing herds coming in with the shades of the night, showed good breeding and good treatment. The road was excellent. Our ponies pluckily held their own, never breaking their rapid trot except when pulled up by the driver, and before the sun had gone down behind the Western hills, we had passed the last little village, Fort Calhoun and were on the home stretch for Fort Omaha. At Blair, the driver had picked up one of his friends who wished to make a visit to the city. This passenger was rather “country-Jakey” in his looks, but talked well and had seen a good deal of the Western country. He told us of the manner in which “lard oil” is made in Lacross[e], Wisconsin. A drove of pigs is urged down an inclined plane, bounded by a strong, high fence, inclining on each side to as to make a Vshaped enclosure. The fat porkers, pushed on by their fellows in the rear, and seeing but one way to escape, crowd into this opening, but they enter the jaws of Death. A pair of ponderous, iron cylinders revolve against each other and seize the hogs by the snout: There is scarcely a faint squeak heard before poor piggy is crushed into a shapeless plate of fat, skin, bones and bristles. From this pulp, the oil is distilled. Close by Florence, we passed four vicious-looking tramps; dirty, ragged, vermin-eaten, sun-burned, and hairy—they passed by, going northward, or anywhere. Vice and want had made their indelible

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impressions upon their countenances and turned them into social outcasts, far worse than savage Indians. We reached Fort Omaha at 8 o’clock, delighted with our day’s journey and especially with the wagon-ride and narrowly escaping a wetting from the rain which began almost the moment we re-entered our quarters. August 18th The cable dispatches announce the death, in Hampshire, England, yesterday, of Mrs. Nellie Grant Sartoris. As Miss Nellie Grant she was when I knew her slightly at West-Point, a sweet, modest little girl, not much over or under sixteen, winning friends on every side. Her marriage to Algernon Sartoris, a booby-faced, chuckle-headed Englishman, with whom it is whispered she did not live happily, was one of those strange arrangements of chance for which there is no satisfactory explanation and upon which comment would be wasted.*3 August 18th Colonel C. J. Sprague, reported for duty as Chief Pay-Master, Major J. V. Furey, Dépôt Qr. Master, returned from leave of absence. Colonel Sprague and I have served together in the Departments of California and Arizona—1870, ’71. ’72. ’73. ’74. ’75—and have had much to talk over in the way of old-time scenes and reminiscences. At mess lunch to-day, the conversation brought in the name of poor Brown, who at one time in Arizona occupied the position of Inspector General on General Crook’s staff. (Brown was a great dandy, an incorrigible wag, a gallant soldier, and a man, in general terms of great capacity, altho’ lacking in moral balance. He committed suicide in New York, in 1876 or 1877.)4 Upon one occasion, a party of English “luds” had come out to the plains of Nebraska to “ ’unt the buffalo you know”, and Brown had been requested by officers high in authority to show them every attention. Having but recently joined his company from a long leave of absence, his mess arrangements were not in a very satisfactory condition, a good cook being the chief want. Brown thought he could mend this defect by detailing some of the men from his company, Across this entry, Bourke wrote in large, underscored words: This report proved to be a canard and was denied in the cable dispatches transmitted to the United States the next morning.

*

3. As Bourke noted, the story was unfounded. Nellie Grant Sartoris lived until 1922. He was correct, though, in stating the marriage was unhappy. McFeely, Grant, 402–4, 521. 4. 1875. See Appendix 1.

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the occupation of each soldier prior to enlistment, being spread upon the muster-rolls. He scanned these carefully and to his great delight came upon the name of one man with the terse statement alongside of “cook”. This was glorious; Brown called to his 1st Sergeant and told him to detail Barker to go with the hunting party. The Sergeant did as directed and Barker the first night out was assigned to the duties of cook. But Brown in running his eyes rapidly along the line of names had missed his direction and instead of selecting Barker, the “cook” by occupation, had picked out Barker who had been an “umbrella-maker”. Barker was a stolid sort of a fellow who always obeyed orders without comment. He would just as soon cook as not and set about his task with much alacrity but with little previous knowledge. The pièce de résistance of the dinner was a mammoth wild turkey, a bird of whose merits the Englishmen had heard much praise. This one was roasted to a healthy brown; rich gravy was trickling out from every break in the skin and a savory smell filled the tent. The carving-knife soon laid the bird open and disclosed the unpleasant fact that the gobbler had never been “drawn”. There he was filled to repletion with fat green grass-hoppers! The foreigners started in dumb astonishment. Brown was equal to the occasion. With his most seductive smile and most graceful bow he said to my-lud Arf-in-Arf—“My I help you to some of the Grass-hopper stuffing?[”] The Englishmen pronounced the whole ménu a gem and Brown himself ate of the grass-hoppers until he was sick. August 19th Lieut. M. C. Foot, Regimental Adjutant, 9th Infantry, Ass’t. Surgeon R. Barnett, Lieut. Schuyler, Aide de Camp and myself carried into effect a scheme, [we] had in contemplation for some time, to examine the industries of most interest and value, in Omaha and which are of chief importance in building it up. Captain Stanton, Engineer Officer of the Department, had been included in the original member[ship], but important business intervened at the last moment and deprived us of the pleasure of his company. We drove first in an ambulance to the Union Pacific Rail Road shops. Mr. Congdon, the Superintendent of the shops, volunteered to take us around and first conducted us to the moulding and foundry room where we examined with lively interest into all the details of making patterns and cores, ramming the sand in the moulds and

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reaming and shaving castings. In this large building are prepared all the wheels, axles, pipes and castings of whatsoever sort demanded in the transaction of the business of this giant corporation. Grimy workmen, huge-muscled, dusty and moist with perspiration, moved about their work quietly and without bustle. They had a well-fed and contented look, corroborating the statement of Mr. Congdon that the Company made it a rule to pick the best men and to hold on to them after they had been selected. The main business transacted in this Department is the moulding of iron wheels and axles and other adjuncts of the running gear; three locomotives have been turned out, but the Company now finds it more profitable to buy ready made. A cast iron wheel has a life of 60.000 to 100.000 miles, or at the maximum will revolve over the line of this road, back and forth (50) times; compressed paperwheels of the new patent, with steel tires (2 inches thick.) last for at least 500.000 miles, when the tire must be replaced. The axle is cast with a mathematical nicety of dimension; it exactly fits the wheel which is forced on under extreme pressure and becomes practically the same iron as the axle. Mr. Congdon suggested after we had looked at the various operations of patterning and moulding, that we proceed to other departments of the works and examine them before returning to the foundry to see the running of metal and casting. This arrangement brought us under the care of Mr. Stevens, the master car-builder, who continued the kind attentions begun by Mr. Congdon. Like him, he was an enthusiast in his work and showed the pleasure of a school boy when he observed how great was our interest in everything about us. In the car room, were new or remodeled cars for the Company Paymaster, for the U.S. Mail, for Express and for ordinary baggage purposes. Each one, it its way, was a beauty and received warm praise. The Paymaster car was an elaborate piece of work, finely upholstered and supplied with all the modern conveniences. The greatest care is bestowed upon the strength of all the work made in this shop; only the best of wood, iron, paint and glass can be used, economy assuring the rejection of materials in the smallest degree blemished. The timber; oak, Georgia pine, and Michigan walnut used in these cars is extremely valuable and of itself ought to make strong frames,

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but there are, besides, horizontal and vertical tie-beams and braces as in the staunchest ship. Painting cars is an operation far from being the simple one I had come to regard it: no less than eight coats are applied to each, the last one receives artistic ornamentation. The Pay-master’s care bore on each side panel a vignette, representing a hand-full of “greenbacks” very cleverly done. The Brass-foundry, electro-plating rooms and store-rooms, the last named filled from floor to ceiling with piles and bundles of all the articles needed in the multifarious transactions of a great Railroad, excited our admiration which reached its climax when we re-entered the foundry and saw the golden masses of fluid iron leap from the furnace into the kettles ready to receive it, which large cranes slowly swung around to the different moulds and almost that moment the iron took the form of an incandescent wheel. We could fancy ourselves in company with Polyphemous & his Cyclops [sic] in the grimy recesses of Mount Etna,5 as we stood watching the sturdy laborers working in a brilliant [comscation?] of molten slag or seized the fiery wheels and lowered them with care into the deep annealing pits along the walls. In the lumber yard, high piles of various woods were stored, awaiting demand for use; in another yard, long rows of extra wheels and axles were arranged and in one place half a dozen examples of American ingenuity in the way of automatic couplers for freight cars, all failures. The Miller coupler buffer and platform, Mr. Stevens said, has proved a great success for passenger cars, but for freight cars there has been nothing invented that will suit, altho’ nearly 2000 patents have been issued.6 In every shady corner, were buckets of ice-water for use of the employees. Our visit was in every feature an unqualified pleasure and surprise and none of our party will be likely soon to forget it. 5. In The Odyssey, Polyphemus is a cyclops (pl. cyclopes) who imprisons Odysseus and his men in his cave, for the purpose of eating them. Using a ruse, the Achaeans manage to blind him and escape back to their ship. 6. The Miller Hook Coupler and buffer system, patented by Ezra Miller in 1866, was a precursor to the Janney knuckle system used today. It was part of a combination passenger coach platform, coupler and buffer that absorbed impact when coupling, and more evenly distributed motion. This essentially eliminated telescoping of coaches in accidents, and the uncoupling lever on the platform substantially reduced the risk of death or injury to crews when coupling and uncoupling cars. Miller’s patent, which made him a fortune, was used by the major lines for passenger service until the 1880s, when it was replaced by the Janney system. http://www.midcontinent.org/collectn/woodpas/mlsw63/miller.html

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From the Union Pacific shops, we drove to the Omaha Nail works. Mr. Marshall, the superintendent, escorted us through the building, explaining all features of his business as well as he could with such a rattle and clashing of heavy machinery. The material used, preferentially, is old scrap-iron, broken bolts, rusty spokes and other truck purchased from Rail Road companies. Two iron plates are taken and between them is placed a “filling” of iron scraps, much in a way to remind me of the cheap pies which sutlers used to sell to soldiers during the war. This is heated and rolled, heated and rolled, again and again, until the expert eye determines that it has the right temper and consistency, by which time it has assumed the shape of unwieldy “planks” of a bluish color, which after cooling, are cut into suitable lengths, (carrying according to the size of the nails to be made,) and thrust into the iron jaws of a nail-clipping machine which snaps at the blue plate and spits out nails like an angry bull-dog crunching a bone. The next thing is to sort the product, to reject any unserviceable nails and pack the merchantable article in 100 pound kegs, which are immediately shipped on cars standing on a switch alongside the establishment. The skilled labor in these works was brought from Pittsburgh; the value of the machinery and stock $5.000. Capacity 200 kegs per diem, but an early increase [is] in contemplation. Our afternoon ended with a trip to the White Lead works. Mr. Locke, I think it was, who chaperoned our party at this place. The contrast between this and the nail factory was very striking; there, all was grime and dust; here the neatness and cleanliness of everything had a pleasing effect with the drawback that the air was full of poison and the men employed have to keep the face covered and to drink occasionally of sulphuric acid lemonade. All the lead needed is brought from the Omaha smelting work, the present cost being 3½ to 4¢ per lb. To be brief and to avoid technicalities, it may be said that the carbonate is obtained by subjecting a stream of the molten metal to the action of a jet of high steam; this reduces it to a state of powder which falling upon a hot iron floor and exposed to the atmosphere speedily oxidizes. This blue oxide is placed in great iron cylinders, revolving on horizontal axes and is sprinkled with water and vinegar and at same time receives

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the carbonic acid gas, under which treatment in a very short time it becomes the carbonate of lead, or “white lead” of commerce. Considerable manipulation is now needed and much skill in grinding and washing. The powdered “white lead” is shipped in considerable quantities to druggists in Philadelpha, who put it in tasty little boxes and sell it as the face-powder known as “Lily-White”. The last thing to be done is to grind the white lead in oil, only the cleanest and purest can be used, that from “Calcutta seed” being the whitest and best. The kegs to contain the “paint”, as it may now be termed, have to be varnished inside as well as out, to preserve the white lead free from all contamination. This establishment represents a paid up and invested capital of $60.000: is working now to its fullest limit and expects to ship, the present year, 1500 Tons of Paint, at a market price, wholesale, of $150 per Ton. The product of the Omaha White Lead works is justly regarded as the whitest and purest furnished the American trade. August 20th. Telephonic communication established between Fort Omaha and Omaha. August 30th. General James B. Hood [sic],7 formerly of the Confederate Army, died of yellow fever at New Orleans, La. During the war, Hood figured as one of the most gallant of the leaders opposed to the Union Armies, winning his way by desperate valor to the command of an Army. He first served under [James P.] Longstreet in the Army of Virginia and again at Chicamauga [sic], Ga., where Hood made the break through our centre which sent the grand old Army of the Cumberland reeling back in a demoralized mob to Chattanooga: in this battle, Hood lost a leg. In Sherman’s movement against Atlanta, Hood did yeoman service and at last was ordered to relieve Braxton Bragg in command of the Army, just as Sherman was about to enter Atlanta.8 Hood, with his army, escaped from our toils with some loss in men and nearly the total loss of his ammunition train which had to be blown up to prevent its falling into our hands. This train consisted of eleven locomotives and eighty-five cars laden with paper cartridges and powder in kegs. I remember well the fearful gash made in the earth’s surface by this explosion which filled the ground with bullets for a distance of over a quarter of a mile. I was in Atlanta 7. Bourke means John B. Hood. 8. In fact, Hood relieved Joseph E. Johnston in a move that infuriated the Confederate troops. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 753.

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almost with the first of our troops and in company with hundreds of comrades “off duty”, went to visit to [sic] scene of destruction and gather pieces of broken shells, bullets &c. After we took Atlanta, Hood waited for fresh supplies and when Sherman with 2/3 of our army commenced his march to the sea, (first blowing up Atlanta,) Hood rapidly threw himself against our rear and right, necessitating a rapid withdrawal and concentration on the part of George H. Thomas, who succeeded to the command of so much of the Army as did not accompany Sherman. Hood attacked us hotly at Spring Hill and Franklin, Tenn., but the determination and gallantry of D. S. Stanley saved us from destruction (J. M. Schofield received the credit for this, but it fairly belongs to Stanley.) At last, Hood and Thomas, met in a fair and square fight, at the foot of Brentwood Hills, near Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 1864, and the Confederate Army was hopelessly shattered.9 Thomas’ army pursued the fragments as far as the North East corner of the State of Mississipi, but owing to lack of supplies returned viâ the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers to Nashville, Tenn., early in 1865. Hood was a brave and noble soldier, a pure-minded gentleman, and a shrewd and capable Division commander, but not possessed of the ability necessary to conduct the affairs of a large Army. September 20th General Grant returned to the United States, landing at San Francisco, amid the thunder of guns, the roar of bands and the cheers of thousands of delighted citizens. One Dennis Kearney, a blatant demagogue, who had gained some notoriety as a leader of the (so-called.) Working-men’s party, threatened to have Grant burnt in effigy; this threat was the downfall of Kearney’s power. Grant’s tour around the world was one grand series of ovations from the crowned heads and prominent dignitaries of all the countries 9. Spring Hill and Franklin were fought November 29–30, 1864, respectively, in Hood’s attempt to retake Nashville. Hood’s Army of Tennessee forced Union troops to withdraw from Spring Hill, but Confederate oversight left the road open so that Schofield was able to regroup at Franklin. Hood assaulted the Union line at Franklin the following afternoon, beginning an eight-hour battle which, for the Confederates, was one of the most devastating slaughters of the entire war. Once again, the Union troops were forced back, and withdrew to Nashville, but Confederate dead were almost ten times the number of Union soldiers killed, and overall casualties were twice those of the Union. Hood’s failed effort to take Nashville on December 15–16 was the last major battle of the Western Theater. Foote, Civil War, 654ff.

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he visited and was a fitting prelude to the enthusiastic reception to be accorded by the people of his own country, which I hope may find its conclusion by his inauguration as our first Third Term President, in 1881. Sept. 22d. General Crook returned to Hd. Qrs. from a two months’ absence in Maryland.10 Sept. 27th News arrived by telegraph that the important mining town of Deadwood, in the Black Hills, Dakota, was almost entirely consumed by fire last night. Loss about $2.000.000.11 Sept. 28th General Crook left Omaha for Chicago, to attend the session of the Board of Officers convened to determine the positions of the troops at the battles of Stone River and Chicamauga [sic], in 1862 and 1863. 10. Crook maintained a home in Oakland, Maryland. 11. Bourke’s impressions of Deadwood are recorded in Robinson, Diaries, 2:132ff.

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Part 4 The White River Ute Uprising

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Background

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he White River Ute uprising had its roots in the usual wellmeaning, but totally unrealistic policies of federal government. As Bourke noted, the public seemed to understand the problem. “Very generally, the Indian Bureau was blamed and not a few expressed the hope that the Indian Agent might be killed, thinking that his inefficiency or rascality had brought about the revolt,” he wrote on the train from Omaha to Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, on his way to the scene.1 The public assessment of the agent, Nathan C. Meeker, also was correct. Meeker was, in the words of one who knew him, “strictly honest, but utterly impractical and visionary and without any ability to manage Indians or whites.”2 The problem was aggravated by the incursion of prospectors into the Ute country. One newspaper commented, “When the miners began filling the Middle and North Park last summer, the Ute heart suddenly became filled with badness.”3 1. Bourke, Diary, 31:252–53. 2. Ibid., 31:253. The official records of the White River Ute Uprising are found in RG 393, Special File, Military Division of the Missouri, White River Utes, 1879, and Troop Movements (Ute War), October-December 1879. The Meeker massacre and subsequent events are discussed in Sprague, Massacre: The Tragedy at White River. 3. Undated, unattributed clipping in Bourke, Diary, 31:248.

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There is little question that Meeker meant well. However, he was self-righteous, autocratic, and ignorant of the Indians under his charge. By September 1879, the situation had deteriorated to the point that he wrote the governor of Colorado asking for military protection. Although Colorado was in the Department of the Missouri, which was Brig. Gen. John Pope’s jurisdiction, the nearest post was Fort Fred Steele in the Department of the Platte. Consequently, the post commander, Bourke’s friend Major Thornburgh, was instructed to take a detachment to the agency, protect the personnel, enforce Meeker’s regulations, and arrest the leaders of the Indian resistance pending an investigation. As a general rule, Indian fights either were vicious, hit-and-run affairs, or outright disasters in which one side or the other was annihilated. Very rarely do we read of a detachment of soldiers, pinned down and surrounded, holding out until rescue. One instance is Maj. George Alexander (Sandy) Forsyth’s stand at Beecher’s Island on the Republican River in eastern Colorado in 1868. Another is the ordeal of Thornburgh’s expedition after it was caught on the Milk River in western Colorado by the White River Utes. Thornburgh, with three companies of cavalry and one of infantry, began the 175-mile trek on September 21. Five days later, he met with some of the chiefs, and reported that he did not anticipate any trouble. On September 29, however, the Utes ambushed him and his men just south of the Milk River. The command was pushed back to the river with heavy losses, including Thornburgh himself. The survivors managed to dig in, and send a courier to Fort Fred Steele for help. The Utes, meanwhile, attacked the agency, killed Meeker and nine others, and carried off the white women and children. In response, Crook ordered Wesley Merritt, at Fort D. A. Russell, to relieve the troops pinned down on the Milk River and occupy the agency.4 Bourke was sent to accompany him. Taking the train to Rawlins, Merritt started south, pausing only briefly to rest his troops on the Bear River, where Bourke caught up with him and was assigned to command the advance guard. He arrived on the 4. Fort D. A. Russell was established in 1867 to protect workers constructing the Union Pacific, and became an important supply base with a depot in Cheyenne. In 1930, the post was renamed Fort Francis E. Warren. It later was transferred to the Department of the Air Force, and now is Warren Air Force Base. Frazer, Forts of the West, 184–85.

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Milk River October 5, having made the 170-mile march in a little less than forty-eight hours.5 Most of the action is covered in Chapters 15 and 16 of this section. Chapter 17, which deals with more routine matters, is included because it contains follow-up material on the Ute crisis. 5. Robinson, General Crook, 228–29.

Chapter 15 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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eptember 30th Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., and his friend, Mr. Peyton, of New York, started on a hunt in the Rocky Mountains, north of the Union Pacific R.R. and West of Cheyenne. My own preparations were made at same time, and orders received, to proceed to join the command of Major T. T. Thornburgh, 4th Infantry, then marching to the Agency of the White River Utes, to assist the Agent, who reported that he was in need of military force to quell the turbulent and unruly Indians on his Reservation. October 1st. I was awakened this morning by Giney, our man, and Reynolds, the orderly, rushing in to my bed-room with the astounding information that Major Thornburgh had been killed, his command cut up and surrounded by the Utes and threatened with complete destruction. My first impulse was to treat the story as one of the canards which spring up in garrisons, no one knows from what source; but a second thought impelled me to hurry my dressing and get down to Dep’t. Hd. Qrs. without delay. In its worst form, I found the first vague rumor confirmed. The first dispatches reached General Williams about 3½ o’clock in the morning. Within 20 minutes, he was dressed and at the key-board of the telegraph office in communication with post commanders ordering troops to 294

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Rawlins with Majors Furey and Gilliss of the Q.M. Dep’t.,—having supplies packed and shipped, with General Merritt, at Fort Russell who was to command the relief column, and with Generals Sheridan and Crook at Chicago. To give a more exact idea of the nature of the news recd. as well as to save myself the trouble of writing unnecessarily, I append the official telegrams as they appeared in the public journals of Oct. 1st and 2d. ON THE WAR PATH. MAJ. THORNBURGH KILLED. His Command is Attacked near White River—Heavy Loss of Soldiers, Teamsters and Animals—Capt. Payne Wounded. The city of Cheyenne was thrown into a fever of excitement yesterday morning upon the receipt of the news that Maj. Thornburgh’s command, which left Rawlins early last week for the White River, Colorado, agency, had found the Indians when they were not looking for them and suffered severely in killed and wounded. Nothing definite was known of the engagement of the Utes and the troops until the receipt of the following dispatches: Omaha, Oct. 1:—At four o’clock this morning following dispatch was received here at the military headquarter by Gen. Williams, assistant adjutant general of the department of the Platte: MILK RIVER, COL., Sept. 29, 8:30 p.m., via Rawlins. To the assistant adjutant general of the department of the Platte, Omaha Barracks, Neb. The command, composed of three companies of cavalry, was met a mile south of Milk river by several hundred Ute Indians, who attacked and drove us to the wagon train, which had parted, with great loss. It becomes my painful duty to announce the death of Maj. Thornburgh, who fell in harness; the painful but not serious wounding of Lieut. [James V. S.] Paddock and Dr. [Robert D.] Grimes, and ten enlisted men and wagon master McKinstry, with the wounding of about twenty-five men and teamsters. I am now corralled

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THE WHITE RIVER UTE UPRISING near water, with three quarters of our animals killed, after a desperate fight since 12 o’clock m[eridian]. We hold our position at this hour. I shall strengthen it during the night and I believe that we can hold out until reinforcements reach us, if they are hurried through. Officers and men behaved with the greatest gallantry. I am also slightly wounded in two places. (Signed) [John Scott] PAYNE, commanding Other dispatches of a similar import were also received together with the following: MILK RIVER, COL, Oct. 1, Bisbee, Ft. Steele: The existence of the command depends solely on the haste with which reinforcements are gotten here as Payne has directed me, simply to hold my camp and not advance. (Signed) [Butler D.] PRICE. Gen. Williams at once hurried into town and ordered reinforcements by telegraph, from various points in this department. The entire number of troops that can be mustered is 500, principally infantry. They will be sent forward by rail at once, and then proceed by forced marches. They will be able to reach Rawlins by to-morrow noon. They can make forty miles a day until they reach Milk river. The distance to Milk river is 200 miles from here. The point where the troops are corralled is near the reservation in Colorado. Only a few days ago dispatches were received from Maj. Thornburgh to the effect that some of the chiefs came forward and avowed a desire to hold friendly relations. The troops must have been strung along the road when they were overtaken. The country in which the fight occurred is one of the most rugged and inaccessible mountain regions on the continent. A spot difficult for military operations and splendidly adapted for Indian stratagems and ambushes. Col. Merritt, a gallant, brave and active officer, is to be put in command of the troops. A desperate fight may yet take place in order to dislodge the Indians. Milk River, Col., Sept. 29—Maj. Thornburgh’s command was attacked in a bad cañon at noon to-day, one mile north from here on our march to the agency. The command re-

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treated in good order to the wagon train where we are now entrenching ourselves as fast as possible. 3:30 p.m.—Maj. Thornburgh was killed instantly, during the retreat. Capt. Payne was wounded in two places slightly. Lieut. Paddock and Capt. [Edward B.] Grimes were also painfully, but not dangerously, wounded. Ten enlisted men and wagon master McKinstry were killed, and at least twenty-five men and teamsters wounded. The command is now very well sheltered, but now and then heard the guns of the new hostiles who have just arrived. Our poor mules and horses are getting it all around. The red devils fired the grass around us to burn us out. Later. 9 p.m.—We still hold our positions, every man is busy digging trenches, and hauling out the dead animals for defense to-morrow, for we fully expect them back at daylight. White River, Col., Sept. 29—5 p.m—Our courier, “Joe Rankin” has volunteered to carry dispatches to Rawlins. Mr. Gordon, whose freight outfit of Indian supplies was near us when the fight commenced, has been burned by the fire, also the company wagons of Co., F., Fifth cavalry. Capt. Payne had his horse killed and Lieut. [Samuel Austin] Cherry’s was also shot during the retreat. Capt. Lindwood and Lieut. Cherry are unhurt though men were killed all around them. About three-fourths of our horses and mules have been killed and should reinforcements reach us in five days we can hold out very well with our supplies and ammunition. During the morning the following telegram was received at the office of Gov. Hoyt. RAWLINS, WYO., Oct. 1. To Governor J. W. Hoyt: A special messenger from Maj. Thornburgh’s command reports the major and thirteen soldiers killed and all officers wounded but one. The citizens from the surrounding country are coming into our town for protection. I feel that our town is not safe. If we can have plenty of arms and ammunition we can and will protect ourselves.

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THE WHITE RIVER UTE UPRISING If possible send us five hundred stand of arms on number three [train] to-day. JAMES FRANCE. An inspection of the armory by the person having charge of the keys of the same revealed the fact that but four guns were contained therein. There was plenty of ammunition, however, and the following telegram was sent to Mr. France. CHEYENNE, Oct. 1. To James France, Rawlins: No guns in territorial armory. Have 6,000 rounds of ammunition, 45 calibre. Shall they be sent? As no answer was received the ammunition was not sent. Meanwhile Gen. Merritt, commandant at Fort D. A. Russell, received orders from Gen. Williams, adj. gen. department of the Platte, to send every available man at his post to the field and for himself to go and take command of the expedition. Accordingly all the available men at the Fort were at once engaged in preparing for their departure to the front. Companies D, and F, commanded by Lieut. Paddock and Capt. Payne respectively, were in the fight. There were four companies of the Fifth cavalry, and the Fourth infantry to move. There were company A, Capt. J. A. Augur; B, Capt. R. H. Montgomery; J, Capt. S. C. Kellogg; M, Capt. _____ and company I, Fourth infantry, Capt. S. P. Ferris. After issuing orders, as stated above, Gen. Williams sent the following dispatch to Lieut. Gen. Sheridan, at Chicago: “I have ordered Gen. Merritt with five companies from Fort D. A. Russell, two companies from Fort McPherson, all that can be spared from Fort Sanders and four companies from Fort Douglass to rendezvous at once at Rawlins. This gives 530 men; orders two companies from Fort Robinson, one from Fort Laramie and one from Fort Fetterman to march at once to the railroad to meet the emergencies. Capt. Gilliss is ordered to confer with Gen. Merritt and forward transportation. Have you any orders? R. Williams, A.A. Genl. Dept. of Platte

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Such excellent time was managed that already that at 2 o’clock, railroad time, the train moved out, the troops cheering loudly. The train consisted of ten stock cars, one car for tents, etc., eight box cars for the men and a caboose for the officers. Two engines were attached and the train started off in good time. Rawlins was reached at a late hour last night. The expedition will start from that point this morning on forced marches of forty miles per day. As the scene of the late fight is two hundred miles from Rawlins, reinforcements may not arrive before Monday. In the meantime the Utes will have only too much opportunity to kill off the little garrison in the cañon of death, or starve them out. However, if the red devils learn that heavy reinforcements are coming they will likely scatter off in small bands and roam over North Park, their old hunting ground. In that case they would make it a little unhealthy for the prospectors there. But they may not go over so far as the extreme eastern rim of the park. It is the impression here that the fears of the people of Rawlins are not well grounded. The Utes are not likely to go northward, as they are civilized enough to know the advantage of keeping away from a railroad. And even if they chance to be scattered on the way to the White River, Gen. Merritt’s command will drive them ahead. So Wyoming settlers are safe. The history of the Ute troubles is brief. When the miners began filling the Middle and North Park last summer, the Ute heart suddenly became filled with badness. Colorow was especially indignant and threatened all sorts of vengeance. Winter coming on, he and his noble band of paupers feasted at the table of Father N. C. Meeker, at the White River agency. The going in of prospectors to the North Park again stirred up Colorow and he gathered some young men about him who killed what miners they could easily and warned others away. When the latter would not go, Colorow set fire to the timber with the intention of driving them out by fire and smoke. The discontent spread to others of the White River Utes and their hearts grew worse. Meanwhile Agent Meeker had

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THE WHITE RIVER UTE UPRISING been carrying out orders of the interior department by putting up new buildings, laying in stores, and fencing in and plowing fields. This latter act was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It resembled work for the Indians, so they kicked. Johnson, a sub-chief, became suddenly demonstrative two weeks ago and attacked Agent Meeker in his own house, kicking and cuffing the agent in a vigorious manner, ending by pushing him out of door. Several employes [sic] interfered and saved Mr. Meeker from further injury. These facts were officially reported to the interior department and the case turned over to the war department. The arrest of Johnson and other refractory chiefs was ordered, hence Maj. Thornburgh started for the White River with his expedition, the fate of which is detailed above. Thus we find an Indian war on hand at almost the beginning of winter. And with a tribe that has long been friendly with the whites and knows the power of the United States government. It is to be hoped that Ouray, the head chief of all the Utes, will exert sufficient influence to prevent the middle and southern Colorado Utes from becoming disaffected and sending reinforcements to their northern brethren. A BRIEF SKETCH. Maj. Thornburg, [sic] who was killed on Monday by the Utes, was a native of East Tennessee, being a brother of the Congressman J. M. Thornburg, who represented the Knoxville district in the forty-sixth congress, as a republican. The Army Record gives the following record of the major: “Cadet, July 1, 1863; second lieutenant Second artillery, June 17, ’68; first lieutenant, April 21, 1870; major and paymaster, April 26, 1875; transferred to the Fourth infantry May 23, 1878.[”] The major was transferred to the line in order to give his ambition the opportunity in the field against Indians. Last fall, it will be remembered, he commanded the expedition that followed up the renegade Cheyennes as they fled northward to the hills. He was the commandant of Fort Steele.

The forgoing gives in a nut shell the sad news as we heard it at Hd. Qrs. on the morning of Oct. 1st. The evening previous at the Autumn Exhibition, held under the auspices of Trinity Episcopal

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Church, I had been conversing with Miss Clark, the sister-in-law of the unfortunate Thornburgh and had promised, when I met him, to convey many kind messages from her family. Little did the poor lady imagine what a fearful awakening her slumbers should have this morning. For myself the news was sad and startling. Having been with Thornburgh at the Mily. Academy and afterwards served with him upon General Crook’s Staff, as well as accompanying him upon his Expedition in pursuit of the Cheyennes last autumn, I had become especially well acquainted with him and in return for many favors and much hospitality extended me, bore him very warm and kindly feelings. In various note-books, I have had occasion to speak of him so much at length, that it is useless here to repeat. His skill as a rider and hunter excited my enthusiastic admiration. Physically, altho’ a trifle too heavy to my eye, he was one of the best proportioned and most finely-formed men I have ever seen. After a consultation with General Williams for the purpose of learning as nearly as possible what measures had been taken for the prosecution of the campaign, I started out on the Express train of the Union Pacific R.R., for Rawlins, Wyo., (710 miles, West of Omaha.) the point of departure of supplies intended for White River Agency. On the train with me were Colonel R. D. Clark, Paymaster, the father-in-law of poor Thornburgh, who was on his way to Fort Steele to comfort his afflicted daughter. Another fellow-passenger was Colonel Guy V. Henry, whose soldierly impulses carried him to the front at the first intimation of hostilities. With him I conversed pleasantly, in part to revive former associations, but mainly to avoid as much as possible being thrown in contact with Col. Clarke1 whose dejection was remarkable. The only talk among the people on the train was about the “Thornburgh Massacre”. Very generally, the Indian Bureau was blamed and not a few expressed the hope that the Indian Agent might be killed, thinking that his inefficiency or rascality had brought about the revolt. A gentleman from Greeley, Colo.[,] remarked that he had an extended personal acquaintance with Agent Meeker and family; he regarded the Agent as strictly honest, but utterly impractical and visionary and without any ability to manage Indians or whites. 1. Bourke’s spelling was inconsistent.

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Oct. 2nd This morning, upon reaching North Platte, an extra section was added to our train, hauling the troops, horses and supplies sent out from Fort McPherson. The officers with the men were Captain P. D. Vroom and Lieut. [Allan] Jordan, 3d Cavalry, and Lieuts. [Charles Dyer] Parkhurst and [William Howard] Andrews, 5th Cavalry. At Cheyenne, Lieut. [William Prebel] Hall, R.Q.M., 5th Cavalry, and Tom Moore, Q.M.D., came on our train to go West. The only word that can describe the excitement along our line of travel and particularly in Cheyenne, is “intense”. Nothing else was talked about in any quarter. Hearing that General Merritt’s command had already left Rawlins, I telegraphed to Captain Bisbee, 4th Infantry, to hire me a buggy or some such conveyance with which to overtake it. Doctor [Bernard Gustave] Semig came aboard our train at [Fort Fred] Steele and went as far as Rawlins. Congressman Thornburgh from Tennessee, was with us from Cheyenne to Fort Steele, but I avoided a meeting for the same reasons which had governed my actions with Colonel Clarke. Rawlins, seen in the gloom of midnight, didn’t present a very favorable appearance; it would be unjust to attempt a description with the feeble opportunities I had, so I’ll leave that to a later day. Colonel Gilliss, Captain Bisbee, Mr. Payton, and my old friend, Wilbur Hergus, received me very kindly. A conveyance was in readiness, some little business such as sending telegrams and brief letters, was soon transacted and then in company with Mr. Wilbur Hergus and Lieutenant Charles Mason, 4th Infantry, our drive to overtake Merritt’s Command commenced @2 a.m. Oct 3d. No news whatever had been received from the front. Dame Rumor plied her vocation and wagged her tongue to a fearful extent. The scores of bummers and dead-beats, who in frontier villages loom into importance on occasions like this, had it all their own way and to their hearts’ content prophesied all manner of disaster for Merritt. According to them, the last man of Thornburgh’s command, but by that time have been killed and the Utes, only waiting to eat up Merritt, would devastate the whole country and incite the Shoshonees and Arapahoes to War. We knew these fellows too well to put much truth in what they said, but human nature is weak and it was impossible not to be in a slight

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degree unnerved by these horrible stories. The night air too was unusually bleak and chilling, freezing the marrow in our bones. It blew directly from the South from the snow-laden domes of Pike’s, and other peaks of the great divide. None of us evinced a desire to talk. With a single grunt to the driver to “go ahead”, each relapsed into a grim and stoical silence, scarcely broken through the night. I did not take enough notice of the country to do much in describing it. I saw that before some six or seven miles we went South West, keeping close to the Rail Road track, then we turned nearly due South, having the North star at our backs, and going up grade for a distance from Rawlins of 15 @ 20 miles. We there came upon broad stretches of sage-brush plains, hemmed in by high, almost bare mountains which, for some reason or another, brought to my mind the “paramos” on the summit of the Andes, in Ecuador, described in a volume I once read, by Hassaurek.2 My findings were somewhat enlivened by the information which Genl. Williams had telegraphed me that General Crook would return to Omaha to-day, and, as I apprehended, would at once leave for Rawlins. With him at the helm, I was sure that military affairs would go along smoothly. The first white streak of dawn found us in sight of Lambert’s Ranch, which had nothing specially deserving of mention about [it] except that close by the house was a small sulphur spring. Our team was quite jaded and in anticipation of trouble with the 12 miles of heavy sand which the driver told us had to be passed just beyond this point, we were glad to listen to the ranchman’s suggestion that we should take a fresh team from his stables. This was avoiding Scylla and a falling upon Charybdis.3 The “fresh” team, as it afterwards turned out, was much worse than our own and gave us no end of trouble by balking at the foot of every hill. While the new team was feeding and receiving a sort of grooming before being 2. Frederick (Friedrich) Hassaurek (1832–85), native of Vienna, immigrated to the United States, settling in Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as U.S. Minister to Ecuador from 1861 to 1865. His book, Four Years Among the Ecuadorians, was published in 1867. http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/haskill-hastie.html 3. This is Bourke’s second reference to these mythological beings, the first in his account of the battle of the Rosebud on June 18, 1876 (Robinson, Diaries, 1:329). These are two sea monsters dwelling on either side of what are presumed to be the Straits of Messina, between Italy and Sicily. Scylla had six heads with vicious teeth and would snatch sailors off their ships and devour them. Charybdis would suck the water down in a giant whirlpool. Ships trying to avoid the one invariably would fall afoul of the other.

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harnessed up, we went over to the house to examine the prospects for breakfast. Three or four rough-looking chaps were inside who told us that “the wimmin-folks hed ull skipped out fur town” (i.e. Rawlins.) Somebody had very evidently “skipped out”. The house was in fearful disorder: clothes and provisions tumbled in confusion about on the floor. We were invited to sit down on sacks of flour and bacon, which would have been comfortable enough except that our dozing was interrupted by the cook’s coming to cut meat or extract the material for making bread. This cook didn’t relish the idea of getting us breakfast. I thought then he was simply cross-grained; I am now assured that he felt diffident of his own powers. He growled out in a half apologetic tone; “Wa’all, Cap! I don’t make no purtenshuns to bein’ considered a dog-gone, fust-class French cook, no way”. I replied in a soothing manner that if there was anything on the face of the earth I heartily despised, it was a French cook with a paper collar & his hair parted in the middle: that all French cooks ought to be at once run out of the country and that good, plain, home-like American cookery, such as I was satisfied he could prepare, was plenty good enough for the likes of me—with much more to the same purport. The culinary artist was thoroughly mollified. He took equal measures of baking powder, water and flour, mixing the components into a mass which was too adhesive to be called gruel and not quite viscous enough to be regarded as dough. This was formed into huge blocks, placed in a pan and run into the oven of the stove where a fierce fire was now roaring. In three minutes the bread was “done”; that is the cook said it was and as he was a man who had grown up with the country and weighed probably, sixty pounds more than I, it was merely courtesy on my part to accept his opinion as final. The outside of each block was burned black as charcoal, while the interior was in a condition almost fluid. A pot of coffee had been warmed over, and a pan of bacon, or ham, fried in thick slabs, was also in readiness. We split the bread open, let out the raw material and scraped from the inner side of the burned crust a good percentage of the eatable food, washed it down with the coffee and tried our teeth on slices of the iron-clad ham and this done were ready for the trail again.

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Merritt, the ranchman said, must be not less than 20 miles ahead, but the good bright sun was shining upon the gladdened earth, dissipating the cold mists of night and warming our benumbed limbs, so we didn’t much care how many miles he was from us, we felt confident of being able to soon overtake him. Mr. Hergus spoke to me about Agent Danforth, the predecessor of the unfortunate Meeker. Danforth was a very weak specimen himself, but his wife, a strong-minded female, managed the Agency to suit her own fancy. Her name was upon the rolls, under various disguises, drawing salary as schoolmistress, Postmaster, clerk and Doctor, to aggregate of $3200 per annum. A few yards from Lamberts is a sulphur spring, rising from the side of a small slag mound. Two miles out, we came to a succession of springs, shaded by a thick willow copse. Up to this time, our road was quite good and no complaints could be justly made. From here on, we entered a sandy country and toilfully pushed on through dunes of impalbable [sic] fineness, covered thickly with grease-wood and sage-brush, with High mountains visible on each side. The best of animals would have experienced trouble in making an advance across the 12 miles of this sand we had to encounter; our annoyance was augmented by the discovery that our “fresh team” was absolutely worthless, balking at the foot of every little hill and playing out before attaining the summit. We took turns in assisting the driver to beat them; our whips were soon broken, and our only hope lay in the persuasive powers of a ramrod which was well laid on at brief intervals with excellent effect. At almost every mile, we met wagons loaded with the families and effects of refugees fleeing from danger; these all gave such alarming accounts of the condition of affairs at the front, that it was natural we should feel solicitous about overtaking Merritt without delay, and not a little alarmed by the indications of worthlessness our animals manifested. Nearing what we thought must be the valley of Snake river, we discerned a great column of dust, undoubtedly made by the movement of Merritt[’]s command. The whole country was so filled with smoke from the burning grass and timber ignited by the Indians in the mountains that we could not assure ourselves of the value of this dust-column as an indication of our proximity to the Command, until meeting a small party of settlers we learned that we

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were only seven miles from Snake river, which Merritt had reached shortly after noon and where he proposed remaining to rest for an hour. One of the party was obliging enough to lend me his horse and to take my place in the buggy. In less than 3/4 of an hour, the plucky little animal, I borrowed, had carried me across the sandy valley to the banks of Snake river. To my great disappointment, Merritt had already pushed ahead with his Cavalry, leaving the Infantry to follow as fast as possible in wagons. The last wagon of the Infantry command was almost ready to cross the stream, when my approach caused a delay. I found Capts. [Thomas Francis] Quinn, & [Samuel Peter] Ferris, and Lieuts. [Daniel] Robinson, [Edward Lyon] Bailey, [Carver] Howland and [Leonard Austin] Lovering, 4th Infantry, in a group about Colonel [Edwin V.] Sumner, 5th Cavy., the commanding officer of the Infantry column. The first named officers began to ply me with questions—where did you come from? How did you get here? and so on, when Sumner, with great consideration, interposed and said, “come, gentlemen, Lieut. Bourke is no doubt very hungry and we have no time to lose. Here, Bourke, pitch into this”, at same time handing me a plate upon which were a couple of cold potatoes, one or two slices of bacon and some pieces of hard bread. A soldier also handed me a cup of cold coffee. My hunger was so great that I made a most satisfactory meal and was ready to continue my journey through the night. When our buggy drove up, Mr. Hergus left us, he having business to detain him on Snake river and intending to move out in the morning to overtake us. Being very sleepy and almost exhausted, I didn’t observe very clearly what sort of a country we were crossing. I remember one or two places where Merritt’s wagons had to be let down ravines by hand. The dust was fearful, ranging from 3 to six inches on a level and once stirred up by the hoofs of animals or wheels of wagons, remaining in the air for hours. It was with much difficulty we could see the heads of the animals pulling our conveyance. The most remarkable thing to me was that not a single straggler had been left by Merritt and not more than three animals, that we could see, during the whole march down from Rawlins. We did learn at Lambert’s of one soldier who came out alone to overtake his comrades, saying that he had been drink-

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ing in Rawlins and did not know when the hour of march came; he succeeded in pushing ahead and rejoining his company. General Merritt had halted and bivouacked at Fortification creek, 90 miles South from Rawlins. I reached his Hd. Qrs. at 1.00 on the morning of the 4th and at once went to see him, but as he had fallen asleep, I contented myself with awakening Lieut. [Eben] Swift, his Adjutant and with trying to awaken Lieut. Schuyler. I was very glad to learn that Schuyler was along, in fact I felt certain that somehow or another he would manage to be with the Expedition. I was told by Swift that Schuyler had joined them at Cheyenne, having abandoned the hunt upon which he started. At Fortification creek, found Lieut. B. D. Price, 4th Infantry, all safe. Price had constructed a couple of very strong redoubts, connected by a trench, commanding every avenue of approach and within easy access of water. He had with him Thornburgh’s heavy wagons and his own Company, a skeleton organization of 27 men; also 7 men of the 9th Cavalry, (colored.) who reported to him that they had been sent with the wagons of Captain [Frederick Leighton] Dodge’s Company and that Captain Dodge with the remainder of his men, 38 in number, hearing of the disaster which had befallen Thornburgh and the danger menacing Payne had determined to march from his camp on Bear River and try to break his way in to Payne’s assistance. This was on Oct. 1st, since which date, neither Price nor anybody else had received the slightest news from the front. Price was very glad to see me, but our conversation was extremely brief, sleep being the greatest desideratum with us all. Captain Quinn, 4th Infantry, generously invited me to share his blankets and gave a drink of pretty good whiskey, as a “nightcap”. His tongue rattled away so much that, in spite of my drowsy protests, he broke in upon my slumbers with what he chose to call a history of his family—“They were one time, nice bi, a big family:—yes Sor, they wur Kings of R-r-rome! They used to be called the Tar-r-r-quin’s, but they’ve dropped the tar intirely—some of it sticks to their Fathe yet, but they go by the name of Quinn, now. Their was a young bellow named Brutus; shure he stabbed wan of mee ansisthurs—an all for the sake of a foine ger-rul ould Tar-quinn had run off wid—shure, boi the same token we’ve got lots of testimony in the family to show

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that she gave him plenty of incourridgemint”. Hardly had I got Quinn’s tongue quiet and fallen into a doze, when reveille sounded and camp was aroused to resume the march. Fortification creek is the first water flowing into the Colorado of the West and the first one on this march containing trout. (Snake river, 20 yds wide, 2 ft. deep, water cold, current moderately swift, ford good and of easy access.) Oct. 4th Broke camp shortly after day-light, the men being allowed only time to prepare a cup of coffee. Moved briskly Southward, along a fair road with a few small hills, 23 @ 25 miles to Bear River. The sand and drift of yesterday, alternating with some trachytes, or what looked to me to be trachyte, on this part of march. Morning very bright and pleasant, excepting that dust was so thick that we had apprehensions of being suffocated by it. To the East, the tops and flanks of the mountains were dim with smoke. The fires, as seen late last night, were beautiful. Bear River is about 25 miles South of Fortification Creek, has sweet, cool water, is 25 yards Wide, 2 ft deep and has a current of 4 miles an hour. Mountains on either side all day, soil very light and air heavy with dust and smoke. Hardly possible to see 20 ft. to the front. The settlers in the Bear River valley had nearly all collected at the ranch of Mr. Ale, which, situated in the center of a broad, flat, open valley, and surrounded by good earthworks, could bid defiance to any attempt of the Utes to capture it. The ranchmen told us that hostile Indians could be seen from the bluffs, almost any moment but that no attack had yet been made, nor did they fear any. Here I made the acquaintance of Mr. Joe Rankin, the messenger who had carried the dispatch announcing Thornburgh’s death and calling for help for Payne. He rode from Milk River to Rawlins, 70 miles, in 36 hours, one of the most remarkable rides on record. Halted at Bear River to rest animals and let the column close up. While there a party of ranchmen brought in a young boy in a wagon. The youngster had been attacked by sixteen Utes, but fortunately noticing their approach had time to jump into his wagon and pile up sacks of flour, bacon and corn as a barricade. He received one shot in the head, the bullet running around the skull, also two in the thigh.

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Just after making the passage of Bear River, General Merritt called to me and asked me to take command of the Advance Guard, consisting of fourteen men, soldiers and civilians. In our front were several bad cañons, one reported to be 10 miles long, with vertical sides of considerable altitude. Advancing along this cañon, we could see that the worst reports had not exaggerated its terrors. The sides were too steep to give us any hope of promptly dislodging a determined force concealed near the summit; there were numerous lateral ravines from which our column or our pack-trains could be fired upon with perfect impunity, while close to the road we followed were clusters of large boulders and clumps of bushes to give shelter to any party, large or small, desirous of holding us in check. I had the lateral ravines examined as we approached them and until daylight entirely disappeared, kept flankers out, and a small party in advance. After dark, the arrangement was somewhat altered. Our little party was strung along in single file with intervals of 15 @ 20 yds., and communication preserved as well as could be with the head of the main column. The civilians with me were extremely nervous and dissatisfied with the meagre force at my disposal, and finally told me it was rash and imprudent to venture farther without an increase of strength. I shared their fears and thought best to report their statements to General Merritt, who pushed Captain [Jacob Arnold] Augur to the front, with instructions to support us. We soon reached the “divide”, near which I am sure the Ute videttes were posted observing us. From a small grove of quaking asp[en], we heard a cayote howl, given in a very peculiar way, just as the Indians always signal to “fall back”. We searched carefully without discovering any signs, either of animals or men except a crackling in the bushes, which might have been, and very probably was, made by an Indian creeping away. I afterwards heard that when Major [John Breckinridge] Babcock’s Company approached this same spot, one of his men fell out to one side of the road to adjust his saddle; his carbine was attached to the pommel. Turning around preparatory to remounting, he was face to face with an Indian watching our forces. The latter noticing that his presence had been discovered, broke away through the bushes and escaped in the darkness. After crossing the summit of this range, we descended through

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another cañon, so extraordinarily dusty that we congratulated ourselves upon being in the advance. What the officers and men moving with the main column, must have suffered, cannot be imagined. We had the same high walls on either hand, the same facility for surprise, the same general resemblance to the topography of Arizona, which I had noticed previously on our journey. The night became intensely cold. By bad luck, my overcoat had been left behind in the wagons and I had no means of sending for it. Schuyler came up to keep me company for which act I felt more grateful than I cared to say. Twenty one or two miles brought us to Williams’ Fork, where orders overtook us to halt. Here we remained for an hour and five minutes before Augur’s Company overtook us. A kind-hearted soldier lent me an overcoat, he having two: Wrapped in this, I got over my chill and seated upon a log of wood was soon in a sweet doze. From this I was awakened by feeling something rub against my nose; it was a flask of excellent whiskey which Schuyler had brought along and to which I paid my respects without delay. We had to cross Williams’ Fork three times. In appearance and dimensions, it is very similar to Bear River, except that its valley is very narrow. Immediately, we entered another set of cañons, fully as bad as those from which we had just emerged. The gait became much more brisk from this time on, the idea being, if possible to reach the site of Thornburgh’s fight before sun-rise. We had still at least 25 miles to march and Time was flying from us with eagle wings. The first pale tinge of dawn was lighting the Eastern horizon, when we came to a little creek, by which were the ashes and ironwork of a burned wagon train and the bodies of (3) white men, one a half-brown, beardless boy, charred to a crisp, except in the face. Here, pursuant to orders already given, we waited for General Merritt to come to the front in person. He did not delay a moment. The column closed up compactly, a few skirmishers were thrown to the front and everyone made ready for instant attack, for we were now only a very few miles from the crossing of Milk River and the Indians, if we were to have a fight at all, must soon commence and attack from the hills in our front, flank or rear. My impression is that the Utes were not prepared for Merritt’s prolonged march from Fortification Creek. Our lone halt at Bear

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River must have given them the impression that we intended establishing camp there for the night. Under no other assumption, can I account for their failure to annoy us with attacks from such fine positions as we were compelled to face for forty miles. Rankin, the guide, said to General Merritt,—“It must be quite close now, General, we ought to see the fortifications from here.” “I think I see something in the haze, that looks like wagons”, said one of the officers, close at hand. We moved on a few yards farther and discerned in the gray dawn, the cluster of wagons and a low mound of earth thrown up as a trench. “Who comes there?” rang out from a sentinel. “Friends”—Halt—Who comes there? Tell us who you are”—“General Merritt’s command” and at same moment, Merritt’s [sic] ordered his bugler to sound a few of the Cavalry calls; the bugler led off with “Officer’s Call”. All doubt as to who we were was removed from the minds of the beleaguered garrison and our approach was welcomed with tumultuous cheering, waving of hats and hands. Officers and soldiers rushed out over the rampart and flung themselves upon Merritt and afterwards upon their rescuing comrades; their greeting was most affectionate, making it a pretty difficult matter for one to keep the tears back. The first person with whom I shook hands was Captain [Joseph] Lawson, 3d Cavalry, who had escaped without a scratch. His horse had been killed under him, with five wounds. Next, Captain Payne, 5th Cavy. , wounded in thigh and shoulder and badly shaken up by being thrown on his head when his horse was shot down. Then Lieut. Cherry, 5th Cavalry, who altho’ one of the subalterns of the command, had shown himself inferior to nobody in the hour of peril; next Captain Dodge, 9th Cavalry, whose company of gallant colored soldiers had charged in to Payne’s rescue on the morning of the 2d. With Dodge, was my class-mate 1Lt. M. B. Hughes, whom I had not the pleasure of seeing since the day we left the Academy: Hughes was the same quiet, genial, good-natured and witty fellow he was in our Cadet days when his company was sought by every poor devil who had an attack of the “blues”. Lieut. Wolf, 4th Infantry, a young officer who was out with Thornburgh, after the Cheyennes, was in the pit, unhurt. He reminded me that the morning one year

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ago, (Oct. 5th, 1878.) we started out with poor Thornburgh on his memorable gallop in pursuit of Little Wolf’s Band. Doctor Grimes, the surgeon of the command had a bullet in his shoulder, but otherwise, was well and in good spirits. Lieut. Paddock, I did not at first see, but in a few moments when I had entered the intrenchment, I found the poor boy, in a sort of rat-hole, suffering from a severe flesh-wound in the hip, but preserving his spirits in a wonderful way. One of the wounded men noticing me pass called out that he wished to speak and shake hands with me; I was surprised and pleased to find Schubert, of “E” Company, 3d Cavalry, who had been my orderly in 1869, during the time I served as subaltern in that Company. He had two severe flesh-wounds; one in the Right thigh, one in the left arm. The first question almost that he asked me was, did I remember the time we were last together in the sand-dunes near San Agostino Pass? (These are hills of comminerated selenite, which is soluble in the saliva and on this account, much wonder has been occasioned by the hills of “soluble sand”. They are situated in South East New Mexico, not over 40 miles East of the site of old Fort Selden.) To describe the appearance of Captain Payne’s camp, is something far beyond my ability. In some way or another, it recalled to my mind what I had read, during the war, of Forts “Hell” and “Damnation”, in front of Petersburgh [sic], Va., where the mine explosion occurred.4 The wagon-train had been hastily packed, and ramparts made with sacks of flour, bacon and grain, the bodies of dead horses, feed boxes filled with clay and every other available barrier which could be utilized until the trenches were completed. It resembled a series of coyote5 holes, dovetailing into one another. As a defensive point, it was utterly untenable for any length of time, being perfectly commanded by all the bluffs near by where the Utes had established pickets of sharp-shooters whose unerring 4. The “mine explosion” refers to the battle of the Crater, on July 30, 1864, in which several tons of gunpowder were exploded under Confederate defenses at Petersburg, blowing a massive hole and destroying a Confederate regiment and artillery battery. The Union assault force, which was supposed to take advantage of the confusion and smash through the Confederate lines, itself became confused, and was cut to pieces by the rapidly reorganized Confederates. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 758–60. 5. This is the first time Bourke spelled the word correctly.

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rifles made it fool-hardy for any of the garrison to expose head or limbs above the trenches. Payne’s Battalion had suffered a loss of 13 killed and over 40 wounded, not including in latter a considerable number of “scratches”; no one able to remain on the line troubled the Doctor for treatment, knowing that he being wounded could not do more than sufficient for the assistance of men seriously hurt. In this emergency, one of the enlisted men, Lebar, of “E” Company, 3d Cavalry, who had been a druggist in Philadelphia, rendered invaluable assistance under Dr. Grimes’ supervision. [For a full list of killed and wounded see pp. 327–28.] Every horse and mule, excepting four, had fallen a victim to the bullets of the enemy’s sharpshooters; Captain Dodge’s company had broken through the enemy’s lines without trouble, but soon after getting into the trenches, the enemy opened upon them a severe fire, killing nearly every animal they had. General Merritt’s first care was to occupy the adjacent bluffs with strong detachments of cavalry, the posting of the pickets being entrusted to Lieut. Schuyler. Ample opportunity was given, with full sense of security for moving in and about the works and examining carefully all that was necessary to be seen or heard. The garrison was formed to have an abundance of the necessary components of the rations; an odd feature of their investment being that whenever a soldier wished a piece of bacon he would cut it out from the revetment of the rampart. A corporal pointed out to me a man, a civilian, named Lowry, reported killed in first dispatches, who had a narrow escape from being buried alive. The corporal said that he and two or three others had pulled Lowry out to bury him and had thrown the first earth upon him when the supposed dead man raised up and called out; “my God! What’s the matter, boys!” Whether this story be true or false, it was told me with an air of sincerity carrying great weight. Lowry when I saw him had a great deal of earth upon his face which certainly looked as if it had been thrown here, as the Corporal asserted. The wounds from which Lowry was suffering were both in head; one bullet going through from side to side between the ears and the intersection of the jaws and the other bullet remaining in brain near base. Dr. Grimes said that his death was a question of only a very short time, a very few hours.

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It was gratifying to notice how cheerful the wounded men had become, and exhilaration due in some degree, I more than suspect to a stiff drink of fine whiskey which Lieut. Schuyler, playing the Good Samaritan, had administered to each one of them. There was no complaining, no grumbling; each officer and man spoke with warmth and good feeling of his comrades, living and dead, selecting no one for censure, none for special praise, unless it might be Captain Dodge and Lieut. Hughes, with their colored troops whom all lauded to the skies. Lieut. Cherry’s name was likewise mentioned in a way of which he should feel proud, but in all candor it may be said that Lawson, Paddock, and the other officers were most warmly commended. Outside of the intrenchment, 250 @ 300 carcasses of mules and horses were a ghastly and repulsive memento of the contest; the effluvia arising from them was sickening and had not Merritt arrived when he did, the putridity of decomposing flesh and entrails must have forced Payne to a desperate struggle for the possession of the heights overlooking his position, in which many more brave fellows would have been the sufferers. . . . The ambulances and wagons, in the little fort held by Payne’s troops, were pierced in scores of places by bullets and, several of them at least, so splashed with the blood of animals, which had been killed while tied to them; that they looked as if some awkward apprentice had commenced to paint them with red and had about completed a bungling job at the hour of our arrival. The body of Major Thornburgh was brought in to the trenches very soon after our arrival; it had lain about 500 @ 600 yards outside, the locality in full view of the command, but the danger too great to justify an attempt at recovery. The poor fellow had been scalped and also cut over the forehead with a tomahawk or other sharp instrument; one bullet pierced his brain going through an eye; another also transfixing the brain, had knocked away a couple of teeth from upper jaw. A wound through the heart[,] one transversely across the body, and several others through the thighs and lower legs, made up a list of those inflicted. Under the warm rays of the sun, the skin of his face had turned completely black, that of the body and limbs remaining clear and white except that the extravasation of blood had caused great broad lines of brown to appear.

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All clothing had been stolen from the corpse excepting the linen shirt, saturated with blood. The Indians knowing well who he was because they had visited his camp in friendly guise only two nights before the attack, had laid him out upon his back, one arm extended and pressed close to his side and the other, laid upon the breast, holding between finger and thumb the photograph of one of the Utes who had accepted his hospitality. This photograph had been presented to Captain Payne who placed it in his trunk. The Utes captured one of our wagons and, ransacking the trunk in which was the photograph, found it and placed it as above described. The Indian, whose picture it was, was called Medicine Jack!

Copy, made by Eaton, of Omaha, Neb. of the original photograph.

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Just outside of Payne’s intrenchments were the charred remains of several wagons which had been loaded with supplies for the Ute Agency. In making their attack upon the troops, the savages had fired the grass and to save the whole command from being roasted alive, Payne had destroyed these wagons, just in time to post a zone of desolation between the enemy and his men, altho’ in spite of all this, the fire kindled by the Utes made headway to our lines and ignited tarpaulins, grain sacks, bacon and saddles. In extinguishing the flames, a number of our men were badly wounded by hostile bullets. Colonel Sumner with the Infantry Battalion and wagon-train reached camp between 8 and 9 o’clock, reported great trouble in descending the cañon between Williams’ Fork and this place. Speaking for myself, I cannot claim to have seen much of the country marched over last night, as the mule I rode was so nicely gaited that I slept a great deal in the saddle. This morning, the packer to whom the mule belonged came to claim it. The man had become so exhausted by continuous marching and work that he had fallen down by the road-side completely exhausted. I gave him my seat in the wagon and used his fine mule to make yesterday’s extremely long march. I was very grateful for having been permitted to use it, altho, as a matter of course, sorry to have returned it so soon.

Chapter 16 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Camp Under Fire

T

he remains of Major Thornburgh and men [were] buried this morning, rather roughly, however, as at this time, the sharp rattle of musketry from our picket stations announced the approach of the enemy; positions were taken up without the loss of a moment, the long line of Infantry and dismounted cavalry commanding all the hills overlooking camp, producing a beautiful effect. Being dismounted, I accompanied Col. Sumner’s command, climbing up one of the steepest acclivities and posting myself with Ferris’ and Quinn’s men in a field of sage-brush. For a little while, the enemy was quite bold, coming up well within range and showing a disposition to make a determined fight. Fifteen of their warriors, mounted, had penetrated within less than 150 yards of where we were but as their presence was concealed by a couple of deep ravines they succeeded in escaping before we could fire a shot. The Infantry rifles proved to be too powerful for the Utes who fell back like snow before the sun. Seeing that the game was ended I asked Colonel Sumner’s permission to take a little nap under a protecting sage-bush and was speedily in the enjoyment of a delicious doze, from which I was awakened by hearing officers and men talking about a flag of truce the enemy had hoisted. There was no 317

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doubt about the matter at all: a large white flag, or signal was fluttering from the summit of a high hill to our Left, just within the extreme range of our heavy rifles. Slowly it descended the declivity and our firing ceased until its purport could be detected. The Utes had ceased their firing, leaving little ambiguity as to the nature of the message coming to our lines. Captain [Robert Hugh] Montgomery, 5th Cavy., rode out to meet the flag-bearer, shook hands and returned with him to our lines where the stranger was presented to Colonel Compton, 5th Cavy., in command of our forces on the Left flank, who led the way to General Merritt’s Hd. Qrs. The messenger proved to be a white man, giving the name of Joseph W. Brady, of Mattoon, Illinois, and claiming to have been, for the past three months, an employee of the Uncompahgre Ute (Los Pinos) Agency. He said that he had been sent out by Ouray, head chief of the Uncompahgres, in company with ten warriors, all under Sapavanero, one of the prominent chiefs of the Los Pinos Agency; that Ouray and the Uncompahgres were anxious to keep the White River Utes from hostilities, but owing to the distance the messengers had to come across the mountains, they had not been able to avert the attack made upon Thornburgh’s command, as they had only arrived in the hostile camp the night previous. Sapavanero had sent in the flag of truce, to learn what terms would be granted to the hostiles. General Merritt replied that he would endeavor to respect the rights and property of all Indians remaining at peace, but that he had no message of any kind for those now on the war-path. Brady spoke in such a straight-forward way that he dispelled all my prejudices and suspicions; he claimed to be an old friend of Lieut. T. E. Tine, Reg’l. Adjutant, 4th Infy. The hostile Utes admitted having killed Agent Meeker, but made no statement in regard to the fate of the women, children and agency employees. Sapavanero told Brady that he had learned that the Indian loss in the Thornburgh fight was thirty-seven; Brady had seen no wounded among them and was the opinion that the above numbers represented their killed. The hostiles also claimed that in the war with the whites they would have (700) warriors, a claim which Brady did not credit. According to him, the White River Utes only have 250 warriors, at the most; in the attack upon

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Thornburgh, they may possibly have had 300 @ 350 rifles since their complete success was so fully assured from the start that all their young boys and old men may have participated and perhaps a few of the Uintahs may have assisted. Mr. Brady was given a cup of coffee and then departed. The Utes withdrew from our front, but left a white flag flying on the hill from which Brady had descended. The stench from the dead bodies of horses and men was so overpowering that Genl. Merritt, to avoid sickness, moved the command back on Milk river, about a mile and a half to two miles, to a position inaccessible to any attack. Brought with us to this camp all the wagons belonging to Payne’s Command. Our wounded bore the transfer well, with the exception of Mr. Lowry who died almost the moment he was taken out of the wagon in which he was carried. Sky completely filled with smoke and dust. Word was sent around by Lieut. Swift, General Merritt’s Adjutant, that a mail should leave camp immediately after dark: this information kept every one busy writing letters and telegrams. To give a just idea of the excellent march made by General Merritt, I’ll make a rough transcript of my own itinerary, premising that my first ride covers Merritt’s first two; and that a better map will be pasted into this book further on, if one can be had. Itinerary Left Omaha, Neb. Oct 1st 1875 [sic],1 12.15 P.M. Reached Rawlins, Wyo., 710 miles West Oct. 3d, 12.30 A.M. Left Rawlins, Wyo., Oct 3d, 2 a.m. Reached Lambert’s Ranch 32 miles, 6.30 a.m Oct 3d. Breakf’d. and changed teams. Reached Snake River, 62 miles, 6 P.M. Oct 3d Reached Fortification Creek, 90 miles, Oct. 4, 1 A.M. Reported to General Merritt. March 4th to Bear River, Colo., 23 miles. Williams Fork, Colorado, 25 miles. Milk River, Colorado, 22 miles. Reaching Milk River, Oct. 5th at 5 a.m. 1. Obviously 1879.

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For this magnificent forced march, General Merritt and his command cannot be too highly commended. Merritt was ably assisted by his Adjutant Lieut. Swift., his Commissary and Quarter-master, Lt. [Hoel Smith] Bishop, his Ordnance Officer, Lieut. [William Bayard] Weir, and by Lieut. Schuyler who acted as his A.D.C. His battalion commanders, Compton and Sumner also should be remembered and while speaking of this wonderful forced march, it is an act of simple justice to allude to the faithfulness, intelligence and zeal of General Williams, Major Furey, Major Gilliss, Major Nash, Lt. G. B. Davis, Surgeon Summers and General Wilson, Chief Commissary, which made it possible. Sent notes & telegraphic dispatches to General Williams, mother &c. (Dispatch never reached General Williams was stolen from Rawlins Office.) Captain Quinn, 4th Infantry, whose guest I am, gave an account before we fell asleep of certain experiences he had in the Army when a boy. He was a drummer in the Florida war against Billy Bowlegs; band of Seminoles, (1855.)2 During that year, to over-awe the surely [sic] savages, a line of block-houses had been built, but by some oversight not occupied, in the Everglades. The construction of these buildings had greatly exasperated the Indians, without leading to an open rupture. Captain [George Lucas] Hartsuff, (afterwards General Hartsuff and now dead.)3 was sent into the Seminole country, with a petty detachment of 25 men, to examine into the condition of these block-houses; on the march, he fell in with a small band of Seminoles who surlily rejected civilities proferaed [sic] them. The block-houses were either burnt or dismantled. Disregarding these ominous indications of slumbering hostile feeling, Hartsuff continued on to the village of Billy Bowlegs where he hoped to be able to hold a conference. Not a soul was to be seen! The fires on the hearths of the huts were smouldering to ashes and not even the bark of a dog disturbed the 2. This refers to the Third Seminole War, from 1855 to 1858, which was provoked by white expansion into Seminole country in southern Florida. The Seminoles, led by Billy Bowlegs, engaged in a series of hit-and-run attacks that resulted in considerable bloodshed. Bowlegs finally surrendered and agreed to accept relocation to the Indian Territory, where he died sometime in early 1864. Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, 1:111–12. 3. Fort Hartsuff was named after General Hartsuff shortly after his death in 1874.

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chilling silence. Hartsuff entered one of the largest huts, apprehensive that he might have to defend himself against attack. This was not long delayed, from all sides, Billy Bowlegs’ braves rushed to the assault, making the situation so hopeless that Hartsuff gave to his solders the command to save themselves. Those who were still living, and able to obey the order, broke for a clump of forest close to the village. In this number was Hartsuff himself, badly wounded. Two of the men, after long wandering through the swamps and hummocks of the everglades, found their way to a frontier post; the alarm was soon flying across the country and couriers in hot haste assembled every available detachment to march to the rescue. Quinn was with the column thus organized. The march made was extremely rapid and fatiguing but almost entirely barren of result, the Seminoles having killed, as was at first thought, the very last man of Hartsuff’s command. The troops were about to relinquish the search, had made their very last march in fact, when, as tattoo was sounding, a shot broke upon the still night air, followed in a few moments by another equally distinct. The commanding Officer of the Expedition sent out a reconnaisance at once and to the surprise and joy of everybody, Hartsuff himself was discovered nearly dead from loss of blood and exhaustion. He was on the point of giving up life in despair when the welcome sound of the bugles announced the proximity of friends and to attract attention he discharged his rifle with the result mentioned. Another episode was scarcely less thrilling. A party of young drummer boys had been formed to go outside the post to fish; Quinn had been invited to go, but having no pole or line tried to borrow one from a Corporal in the Company. The corporal in a very disobliging way refused the favor asked and, angry words following, Quinn became impudent and was hustled off to the Guard-House. The four companions who started out together never returned. Next year when the Seminoles made peace, Billy Bowlegs was questioned concerning the fate of these drummer-boys; he replied that he didn’t know anything of the matter personally but that some of his young warriors had told him about having captured the year before a party of four young soldiers whom they burnt at the stake!

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Learned to-night, as we were turning in, that our losses to-day were only a couple of horses killed and one or two men wounded in Babcock’s Co., and one or two men slightly wounded on our Right. October 5th A Gentle rain fell last night, giving some hope that the terrible dust may be laid. On this march the dust has been a grievous infliction,—a perfect plague. Our clothing has been permeated by it and hands, lips, eyes, ears and noses peeled in an unsightly manner. The mules in the wagon and pack-trains have had to endure a martyrdom; many of the poor creatures have sore gums and lips from the sharp, cutting particles of sand blown in their faces. Before I was out of bed, Hughes came to see me and have a long chat. He has been in the Rocky mountains and parts of South East Colorado, all summer in the presence of much of the noblest scenery on this continent. He told me a very funny story about our old friend and class-mate, “Deitsch” Stedman, now R.Q.M., 9th Cavalry. Stedman was on a scout with a cavalry command, under General Merritt, I believe, and had a contract surgeon for a tent-mate. One evening, upon retiring to sleep, they placed their clothing on the ground between their beds. The camp was attacked at midnight and much confusion created. Companies sprang to their arms and fell into line, officers scurried to and fro, dressed, half-dressed and not dressed at all, bugles sounded, horses neighed and voices of men broke the stillness as they answered the roll-calls of companies. Stedman and the Doctor had been sleeping heavily and now, barely half-awake, darted out of bed and seized upon the same pair of pants. Stedman put his right leg into the left leg of the garment, the medical man thrusting his left leg into the right, and each intending to complete his toilet on the way, made a rush out of the tent to reach the line of troops. They struck against the tent-pole and for the first time the truth flashed upon them: “get out of my pants”, yelled Stedman; “get out of mine”, roared the Doctor and then they began pummelling each other and struggling about the tent pole. After tearing the pantaloons into shreds, they learned that the Indians had been driven back and the soldiers of the Command returned to their tents. Captain Lawson detailed this morning in charge of a company to properly inter the dead of Major Thornburgh’s Command. The

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bodies had been buried in the rifle pits, but were now exhumed and placed side by side in one grave. Called upon Lieut. Paddock after breakfast and was delighted to find him bright and cheerful. He had received only one bullet in the fight, but four others had pierced his clothing. A ranchman, from Bear River, rode into camp this morning and told Genl. Merritt that a large force of hostile Indians was on its way to attack him: every preparation was made to receive the visitors in becoming style, but they did not appear. Devoted a couple of hours this morning to reading Longfellow’s Poems, which by great good fortune, I had brought with me. The strong wind blew so much dust in my face that my literary labors were not especially agreeable, however valuable their results may prove to be in the future. Our camp is extremely dusty; it is excellently situated for defense, every hill within rifle-shot being guarded by a strong picket, concealed behind breast-works of stone; our position is so compact that companies are huddled close upon the heels of horses and mules at the picket lines, an unpleasant feature under the most favorable circumstances, but doubly so with such quantities of dust. We have an abundance of water from Milk River, a little grass, not much, for our horses, and enough wood, which the men returning from picket bring down on their shoulders, the march of companies bearing so many trees resemble the progress of Birnam Wood moving to Dunsinane.4 Courier sent in to-night, with dispatches to Bear River to which point the mail is running once more. Our pickets this evening discerned in the distance four mounted Utes moving from the direction of Bear River towards the White River Agency; doubtless, they were scouts who had been watching Bryant’s and Vroom’s column coming down from Rawlins to join us. Oct. 7th. A cloudless sky and balmy temperature. Strong breeze blowing all last night filling our blankets and buffalo robes with dust. After breakfast, the Infantry battalion changed camp to a hill several hundreds of yards beyond former site, escaping much wind and consequent annoyance by do doing. 4. In Macbeth, the main character is told he “shall never vanquish’d be until great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him.” Macbeth takes refuge in the castle on Dunsinane, but Malcolm’s troops cut down Birnam Wood and move forward, using the foliage to conceal their numbers and sealing Macbeth’s doom.

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At noon, General Merritt asked me to take a Sergeant and four mounted men and go out beyond our pickets a mile or two to examine and, if possible, determine the character of, a column of smoke or dust reported by the pickets as coming down the road. While the horses were being saddled and men putting on their arms, I accepted Major Babcock’s invitation to take dinner with him. The meal was rather thin, but there was no fault to be found with the hospitality. Lieut. Weir asked to be allowed to come along. General Merritt, greatly to my gratification, assented. Weir and I, being old friends at the Point, were good company for each other. We rode out beyond our lines and soon ran in upon a party of five men whose actions showed conclusively that they were Utes, watching the roads for hunting parties, couriers or stragglers. They retired behind a low range of hills and we took up positions in a thick chapparal on the crest of a “hog-back”, overlooking a wide stretch of country. With the aid of our field-glasses, we could see that the column of dust was made by a long line of men, Indians or whites, advancing steadily but rapidly towards us. From having seen the five Indians just spoken of, I was for a while apprehensive that we were looking upon a column of Utes. This apprehension was dispelled the moment we detected the white canvas of wagon-covers descending a long hill. Then we knew it must be Vroom. The Utes meantime had quietly disappeared behind the knolls on our left, and our little party moved out to greet Vroom or whomsoever it might be. Directly in advance of Vroom, we came upon four couriers who told us that they had been sent out from Georgetown, Col., with dispatches to Captain Dodge, 9th Cav., to take his company into the White River Agency, see what the trouble was and arrest the ill-disposed Indians. The couriers had caught up with Vroom on Bear River, and learning from him of the condition of affairs, had wisely concluded to slacken their speed and move along with the troops as far as Milk River. With Vroom were two companies of Cavalry; “L”, (his own.) and “H”, 5th. The subordinate officers were 2Lieut. Jordan, 3d Cavalry, and Lieuts. Parkhurst and Andrews, 5th Cavalry, Surgeon Calvin De Witt and eighty-six enlisted men. Lieut. W. P. Hall, R.Q.M., 5th Cavalry, accompanied the command.

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After exchanging salutations with our friends, the command resumed its march to Merritt’s camp. All day long a miserable, blustering wind has been blowing, carrying clouds of dust. Nobody is making any effort to keep clean, officers and men alike are dirty as a litter of pigs. Another courier sent in to Bear River to-night. Our camp-fires, placed in little gullies and ravines, fill a space of several hundreds of yards in Diameter and are the focus of attention to groups of soldiers, who, smoking their pipes, drinking coffee, or eating bacon and hard-tack, tell stories, or joke and laugh as the light of the flames or the darkness of night, alternately play over their bronzed and dusty faces. (Mr. Wilbur Hergus, who had ridden out with me from Rawlins, but had remained at Smoke River, Perkins’ Ranch, to transact business, came in with Vroom.) There was also a band of scouts, guides and trappers, none of any prominence, excepting “old Jim Baker”, who has trapped and prospected in the region, between the Rio Grande and the Columbia for nearly 40 years and who was, with Kit Carson, one of Frémont’s guides. Dash, a beautiful setter dog, the property of Lieut. [Charles Adam Hoke] McCauley, 3d Cavalry, which followed Merritt’s command down from Rawlins, is still in camp, almost worn out, but rapidly regaining strength under the kind care of officers and men. Dash has a hard time; the long, hurried march was enough for an ordinary canine experience, but to add to his cup of affliction, this poor animal has had his paws filled with cactus thorns and in an unfortunate interview with a porcupine his nose was filled with spines. General Merritt sent a couple of scouts over toward the Agency to-night, with instructions to go cautiously as far as they could, examine carefully the lay of the country and the position, if any of the Indians and then return, if possible, by morning. A wind storm howling through camp all night. October 8th. A beautiful sky and warm breeze. Nothing needed but a heavy rain to soak the sun-dried and fire-parched earth and lay the clouds of dust and smoke filling the air. Lieut. S. A. Cherry, Adjutant of Thornburgh’s command gave me the official list of the killed and wounded which is here inserted.

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Killed. Major TT Thornburgh, 4th Infantry 1st Sergeant John Dolan, Co. “F”, 5th Cavalry. Wagoner Amos D. Miller, Co. “F”, 5th " " " " " Private John Burns, " Saml. McKee, " " " " " Michl. Lynch, " “D” " " " Thos. Mooney " “D” " " " Charles Wright " “D” " " " Dominick Cuff " “E” " " Wagon-master McKinstry. Teamster McGuire. Guide Lowry. Wounded Cap’t. J. Scott Payne, 5th Cav. F[lesh]. W[ound]. Arm and side. 2Lieut. J.V.S. Paddock " " F.W. Thigh. A.A. Surgeon Robt. D. Grimes, F.W. Shoulder. Serg’t. John Merrill, Co. F, 5th Cavy. Trumpeter Fredk. Sutcliffe, " " " John McDonald, " " Private William Esser " " " James T. Gibbs " " " John Harney " " Private Emil Kussman, Co. “F” 5th Cav. " " " " " Eugene Patterson " Eugene Schickerdonz, " " " " " Gottlieb Stieger " " " " " Fredk. Bernhardt " “D” " " " Nicholas W. Herney " “D” " " " Thomas Lynch " " " " " Ernest Muller " " " " Serg’t. Allen Lupton " “E” 3d " " James Montgomery " " " " Corporal Charles Eichwurzel " " " " " Frank Hunter " " " " Farrier William Schubert " " " " Private James Budka " " " " " John Crowley " " " " " William Clark " " " "

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" Orlando Duren " " " " " John Donovan " " " " " Thomas Ferguson " " " " " Marcus Hansen " " " " " Edwin Lavelle " " " " " Thomas Lewis " " " " " William Mitchell Co. “E” 3d Cavalry " John Mahoney " " " " " Thomas McNamara " " " " " Joseph Patterson " " " " Teamster Nelson " Cain Train Blacksmith Rodney. Also, a civilian freighter, name unknown. I read a great deal of Longfellow’s Poems to-day and also some little of LeSagre’s Bachiller de Salamanca and El Diablo Conjuelo.5 Taylor, and his two companions, (the scouts whom Merritt sent out last night.) returned to-day, reporting that when near the Agency they discovered the Ute pickets and were fired upon by them. Lieuts. Weir and Cherry, with a small party of soldiers, went out to-day to make a rough sketch of the scene of action. Lieut. Weir’s work was especially good. A strong South breeze carried to our nostrils the sickening effluvia from the carcasses of dead horses. General Merritt, in conversation with Schuyler and myself to-day, said that while he should be glad to have us remain with the Command, he thought we could do more service to everybody by rejoining General Crook who might be in need of our assistance and to whom we could give invaluable information upon the subject of the topography of the country and the question of supplies. General Merritt concurred fully in our proposition to return to the Rail Road and rejoin Genl. Crook. Merritt was not sanguine of being able to do much under present circumstances; he will be hampered for supplies, and will need Indian scouts and a few pieces of artillery. 5. Bourke means Alain-René Lesage, who published French editions of these works by Spanish authors. Bachiller de Salamanca, o Aventuras de don Querubin de la Ronda and El Diablo Conjuelo were Cervantes-style satires, the former by Gil Blas de Santillane, and the latter by Luis Velez de Guevara.

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There are now several sutler’s wagons with the command, doing a lively business and surrounded at all hours by groups of officers, soldiers and civilians. It has at length been decided to send the body of poor Thornburgh to the Railroad, to do this a very long, deep and wide box has been made out of saddle chests, in which the remains can be buried. A very cold wind set in towards night followed by a severe storm of rain and snow. Oct. 9th Morning cold and gloomy. Two inches of snow on ground. Humme returned from Bear River, with mail for the Command. I was much disappointed at not receiving any letters or papers. Humme reported that he and his comrades had run in upon a party of eleven Utes, who were making coffee, some distance off the main road near Bear River. It is said that marauding bands of Utes have run off nearly all the horses from the ranches on Bear and Snake rivers. Major Bryant arrived with his command of four companies of the 14th Infantry, 165 rifles, guarding a supply train. He brought with him the following officers. “E” Co. Capt. Trotter, 2Lt. [Frank French] Eastman. “K” Co. " Carpenter, 2Lt. Austin [Samuel] McConihe, 1Lt. [Julius Edward] Quentin, “H” Co. " 2Lt. Mulhall. “I” Co. 1Lt. Taylor, 2Lt. Yeatman and Lieut. Leighton. Major Bryant gave us an item of news that the major portion of the 7th Infantry from the Department of Dakota, had arrived at Rawlins and that Colonel Guy V. Henry would also have at same point a battalion of the 3d Cavalry. Lieut. Yeatman, of Bryant’s Battalion, has just been married to the sister of Lt. Mulhall. The ceremony took place immediately upon receipt of the telegram ordering the Battalion into the field and a few moments after, Yeatman bade farewell to his bride and started for Rawlins and Milk River. Lunched with General Merritt who informed me that he intended issuing orders for the wounded to return to the Rail Road under escort of the dismounted Cavalry, Captain Dodge, 9th Cavy., in command. General Merritt, with main column would advance upon White River, but apprehended no trouble in so doing the strength of his Infantry being much too great for the Indians to make a successful resistance.

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Major Thornburgh’s body was exhumed and brought into camp this afternoon; also an estray pony picked up by a detachment of our packers. Lieut. Swift gave me an exact Roster of the officers of General Merritt’s column. Oct. 10th Slept very cold last night. Captain Quinn, being on picket, had to take half the bedding, making sleep uncomfortable for each of us. Morning dawned bright and cold. Merritt promptly moved out in the direction of White River, while Dodge, (with whose command Schuyler and I were to travel,) commenced his march toward Rawlins. With our detachment were Cap’t. Payne, (wounded.) Cap’t. Lawson, Dr. Grimes, (wounded.) Lieut. Paddock (wounded.) Lieuts. Hughes, Cherry and Wolf. General Merritt gave Schuyler and myself horses which were too lame for further field service, but good enough for steady marching. Mr. Wilbur Hergus equipped us with a box of canned stuff, bread, beer and other luxuries & had our baggage carried in one of his wagons, in which also he had seats reserved for our use in case of need. Bidding adieu to my kind-hearted mess-mates, Captain Quinn and Lieut. Bailey and Howland, I started out on the return march to Rawlins. Captain Dodge wishes, if possible, to get as far as Williams’ Fork to-night. The distance is not great, not over 30 miles, but with wounded men there are so many delays in moving out, & so many detentions on the road and we have such a number of extra wagons (all those of Thornburgh’s command.) to haul back, that we do not expect, unless we have good luck, to make camp before dark. Seven miles out we passed the burnt wagons which had contained commissary stores for the White River Agency. Scenery this morning, even where marred by the forest fires kindled by the savages, has been decidedly beautiful: the dawn is disappearing rapidly, except upon the highest peaks and our march has been pleasant from the absence of dust. Ten miles out, our advance saw Indians and skirmishers were thrown out to oppose them. The supposed Indians advanced to meet us and turned out to be a detachment of soldiers and guides sent ahead from Colonel Guy V. Henry’s command to inform General Merritt that Henry would camp to-night at Bear River with four companies of the 3d Cavalry and immediately behind him, Lieut.-Colonel

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[Charles Champion] Gilbert, 7th Infantry, with seven companies of his Regiment. We reached Williams’ Fork after sun-down and went into camp, taking every precaution against surprise, by picketing all the hills overlooking our position. Our wounded made the journey without injury. Close to this camp, alongside of road, a find coal measure crops out in the sand-stone. Williams’ Fork is a beautiful trout stream 60 ft. wide, one foot deep, flowing over pebbly bottom. The driver of Mr. Hergus’ wagon came to tell me that he would prepare supper. Our mess was composed of Lt. Schuyler, self, the driver and a wounded civilian, a nice young fellow, named Davis. The driver wasn’t prepossessing in appearance. In truth, like the rest of our command he was remarkably dirty and dusty; but it was charming to see how neat and tidy he could be with favorable opportunity. Our frying-pan was filled with water and then with a small piece of rosin soap, he began washing his dusty head and neck! Schuyler suddenly remembered a previous engagement he had with Lieut. Paddock’s mess and I betook myself to Lawson’s tent where I was cordially invited to take such a supper as they had there. When I returned to where the driver was, I unblushingly told him that I never ate meat for supper and wanted nothing but a cup of tea and a cracker. I tried to philosophize over the matter and think that a frying-pan was an excellent wash-basin, but I couldn’t succeed in my endeavors, the mere thought of the confounded business made me suffer from nausea. Late at night, couriers reached our camp from General Merritt who had advanced as far as the White River bottom where he camped, on account of darkness. No resistance had been made to his progress and no Indian signs had been seen, made since the snow-fall. The body of a Jew freighter Goldstein, had been found, alongside of the burnt remains of his wagon-train. In Coal Cañon, in the shaft of the mine, (worked for the Agency.) was found the body of an employee, shot through the head. Before death released him from pain, he had taken off his shirt and made a pillow of it upon which to rest his head. A Henry rifle lay by his side. Oct. 11th Very early in the morning, our command moved out, Cap’t. Dodge asked Lieut. Schuyler and self to keep with the advance-guard

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where we might prove of benefit in case of an attack. The morning air was decidedly keen particularly after entering cañon. At another time, we might have paused to admire the beautiful views visible from every point: on this march, the picturesque rocks might conceal a squad of enemy’s sharp-shooters, hence we were anxious to get into a country which if not so beautiful would be less dangerous for the command. Three miles out, we overtook the two couriers who had passed through our camp with dispatches from Merritt last night. They were greatly frightened and shook their heads dubiously when questioned. Knowing that the great percentage of the so-called “guides”, “scouts” and “frontiersmen” encountered out here are deplorable cowards, we didn’t attach too much importance to their warning of danger. They said they had come upon a fresh pony track, made last night in the cañon and a number of older tracks farther up the road. As our duty required, we notified Captain Dodge and then pushed on with our party to make an examination, the timid guides being very reluctant to accompany us. Sure enough, there was a fresh track and a pony track too, not three hours old. We followed it, looking carefully along the road for the others reported, without finding them. The one track seen wandered in a curious kind of a way from side to side of the road. I distrusted my abilities as a trailer, but could not help forming the conclusion that the animal whose tracks we were inspecting was an estray. My idea had scarcely been communicated to those about me, when an animal of some kind was discovered looking attentively at us from a little copse of willows a few hundred feet above us. Our brave pair of scouts called out to be careful, we must be near an ambuscade! and darted behind a big rock. One of our party, a Colored miner from Georgetown, (by the way one of the four who had come down from Bear River with Vroom’s Command and who had dispatches for Dodge to proceed to the White River Agency.) proceeded up the slope and found a poor Government pack-mule, which had strayed away from Merritt’s column and had nearly scratched and torn itself to pieces in its efforts to disembarrass itself of its pack and baggage. This occurrence raised a hearty laugh at the expense of the braggart guides, whose worthlessness and cowardice were so completely exposed.

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Yet while we have to meet a multitude of pretentious scoundrels who in the moment of danger unblushingly play the craven, the exceptions are notable for modest courage and true grit. For example we have with us Gordon, known as “Black Hills” Gordon, who is as full of resolution and intrepidity as any man I have ever encountered. He brought the first dispatches out from Payne to Dodge and would have gone through to Rawlins with Rankin, had he not turned aside to ascertain the fate of his young brother who was the young boy of whose charred remains mention is made. [on p. 310] We hurried back word to Captain Dodge that the Indian attack! had been deferred and that the column might resume its march. Four miles further on, we discovered the skirmishers of Henry’s advance guard and in a few moments rode up to where Henry himself was with the officers of his Battalion (“A”, [“]B”, [“]D” and “H”, 3d Cavalry, 151 carbines.) A cordial greeting was extended us and countless questions asked. With Col. Henry we had the pleasure of meeting Mr. John F. Finerty, of the Chicago Times, an old campaign friend and one of the most gallant fellows on earth and the following officers, Capts. Drew, [Henry Walton] Wessells, Lts. [Francis Hunter] Hardie, Dr. [Samuel Miller] Horton, Chase, Hunter and [James Ormond] Mackey, all of 3d Cavy. Mackey is a recent graduate (1879.) but all the others have had considerable experience in Indian warfare. It is a source of pleasure to me to observe the alacrity with which the young officers, graduated this year, have hurried to the front, several of them as Volunteers. Merritt’s column has six with it, and each one has done his duty well. Colonel Henry drew up his Battalion in two lines, one on each side of road, facing inward and when the ambulance containing Thornburgh’s remains moved by, gave the command “Advance Carbines”, as a mark of respect to his late comrade. Behind Colonel Henry’s Battalion, we came upon General Gilbert’s companies of the 7th Infantry and the officers named below: Captains [Daniel Alfred] Freeman, [Constant] Williams, [Thaddeus Sandford] Kirtland and [Walter] Clifford and Lts. [William Isaac] Reed, [Levi Frank] Burnett, [William] Quintin [sic], [Joshua West] Jacobs (R.Q.M.) Jackson (A.H.) [Charles Austin] Booth, [George Shaeffer] Young, [Lewis Douglas] Green[e], [Daniel Alfred] Frederick

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and [Daniel] Robinson, many of whom we had known in the Sioux campaign on the Yellowstone, in 1876. General Gilbert asked me to issue an order in General Crook’s name authorizing the transfer of a few of his weak mules with an equal number from Dodge’s train, not in so bad a condition. I consented to do this as he requested, provided the comfort of the wounded should in no manner be interfered with. The application later assumed the proportions of a general exchange, taking our best mules and giving in return animals which by careless management had become almost disabled. I declined lending any countenance to such an arrangement for the reason that it was of greatest importance to have our sick and wounded taken to the R.R., than to have reinforcements reach Merritt, and moreover, a good wagon-master who looks carefully after his train is entitled to encouragement and should not, without urgent course, be deprived of good animals to cover up the derelictions of inattentive officials. The couriers from Merritt were ordered to hurry on to Bear River. Henry, however, took their dispatches, which he forwarded by a detachment from his own Company. Bear River was reached in good season, camp being 800 @ 1000 yds. from Ale’s Ranch, the Post Office, which had been surrounded by a deep trench and was garrisoned by all the settlers, or nearly all in the valley, excepting the women and children, who had been sent to Rawlins for safety. We visited the ranch to see about mail. This was contained in a grain sack, kept in a room where lay the young man wounded so badly by the Indians [see p. 308] In another room, ten or a dozen ranchmen and herders were about to partake of the evening meal, with rough but genuine and unaffected hospitality, they insisted upon our joining them at table. The table-ware was rude and the food more substantial than delicate. Great chunks of boiled and fried beef, piles of bread, tins filled with molasses and sugar and large cups of coffee or tea standing by each plate made up the bill of fare. Every one was hungry and every one did full justice to the cook’s efforts. The topic of conversation was the immense amount of mail coming to the ranch, for the troops. “I swar”, remarked a weather-tanned old fellow, evidently the mail carrier, [“]thar must a bin sixty poun’ on the mule the last trip”. “I should say”, interrupted a listener who appeared to be a critic. “I should say, thar must a bin nigh on ter seventy”. Ordinarily, the

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mail matter coming down here, was not more than enough to fill a saddle-pocket, but in the present state of affairs, an extra mule was required to carry it. The settlers assembled at Ale’s had taken from a ranchman named Peak, living a couple of miles down the river, nearly (12.000) rounds of metallic cartridges which he had been openly selling to the Indians, letting them have as many as they wanted the very morning they attacked Thornburgh. According to what Mr. McCagne and Mr. Gordon told me, this subject of selling ammunition to the Indians is a crying evil, which should be extirpated. They said that to the best of their knowledge, the Utes must have purchased in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million metallic cartridges during the present year. Comment is superfluous. Lieut. Schuyler and I determined to leave Dodge at this point and return to Rawlins with all speed possible, to rejoin General Crook by whom we would certainly be needed. Our companions said Good Bye, we jumped into the farm-wagon Mr. Hergus had sent back, the driver gave his mule a deep cut of the lash and we were on the road. The moon was nearly dead but the bright light of the stars disclosed the trail very clearly. Fearing to meet hostile Indians at every step, we shuddered at forms which turned out to be bushes and savagely challenged horsemen who instead of replying with a rifle-shot or a sentence in Ute, talked as good English as we and halloed, “U.S. Mail”, or gave their names and, advancing to our wagon, talked over the situation in the front. From Bear River to Perkins Ranch, on Snake river, is 50 miles—a distance we had to accomplish, and did accomplish, before sun-rise. Towards dawn, our weary eye-lids drooped and nothing but the danger of losing our scalps or of falling out of the wagon and getting run over, kept us from dropping into a deep slumber. On the march down, we did sleep in our saddles, but then we had the whole column to look after us; now it was necessary to keep awake to look after ourselves. At Fortification creek, near Price’s old Camp, we halted for half an hour to give our mules a feed. At break of day, we reached Perkins ranch, ordered a change of mules and asked for breakfast, during the preparation of which we threw ourselves on the board floor, rolled up in buffalo robes and journeyed to the land of Nod. Mrs. Perkins must be a very kind-hearted soul, because when breakfast

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was ready, she came to call us, but seeing how utterly worn out we were, ordered it served up to the hired men and another one to be ready for us in two hours. So, through her goodness, we enjoyed a most refreshing nap of nearly 3 hours duration, after which we ate heartily of a very good breakfast. At Perkins, we learned of a great accumulation of mail, principally newspapers, for Merritt’s command; there was a barrel full of it. October 12th Left Perkins’ with the same farm-wagon, but a different team, which we had orders to exchange, if desired, upon meeting Perkins’ train on the road. This we did, 8 miles out and obtained four fresh mules, putting two in harness and leading the others at tail-gate of our conveyance. Looking back, saw a huge volume of smoke rising in our rear. A party of teamsters, whom we came upon at this moment, were very much excited by this smoke, saying that the Utes must have swept down upon Perkins’ ranch and destroyed it. We convinced them of the groundlessness of their apprehensions, by saying that we thought it must be the smoke from a fire we had noticed in the timber in a little cañon a couple of miles this side of Perkins’ and which fire must have been fanned by the wind into a large conflagration. (This proved to be a correct surmise.) Fifteen miles out, passed Government train laden with forage for Merritt’s troops. Twenty miles out, halted to water stock. Our driver told me that the Navajo Indians from New Mexico travel about a great deal in the Ute country, selling their fine blankets, which could be purchased at any time at Perkins’ Ranch. They ought to make good scouts if we should employ them for that purpose. Near muddy cabin, on Left side of road, saw a large coal seam, 3 ft. Wide. The driver remarked that the whole country was full of them, the best being on Snake River, a few miles above Perkins’ Ranch, where the seam averages eight feet in thickness. At Soldiers’ Well, turned one team loose and hitched up the other. Had a high wind from South all afternoon, blowing a thick dust along with us. At Willows, rested a few moments took a cup of tea and resumed ride. Schuyler and myself, tired out beyond description, now laid down to rest in the bottom of the wagon, the driver promising that we should lose no time in reaching Rawlins.

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As we had crossed over the worst of the road, the heavy sand to the South of this point, we were greatly relieved, by the announcement that our mules were still “fresh as daisies”, and if the lively clatter of hoofs was any corroboration, the driver’s judgment was correct. Fifteen miles rapid traveling brought us to a camp of soldiers by the road-side; the sentinel said it was one company, 3d Cavalry, and a train of supplies, under Colonel A. W. Evans. Everybody, but the Colonel was sound asleep, so we made no delay. At 2.55 a.m., October 13th, we rattled up in front of the Rail Road Hotel, Rawlins, and soon were shaking hands with General [Albert Gallatin?] Brackett, Colonel Gilliss, Mr. Moore and other friends. Mr. Stilson, of the New York Herald, started to interview us, during which, a tramp (as I afterwards learned,) stole all my personal baggage from the platform in front of the Hotel. This loss was most serious, especially as involving the notes of our trip with General Merritt. To anticipate a little, I will say that everything was recovered, the thief being a drunken tramp who had put on my over-coat, rolled himself up in my buffalo robe and taken my hand-satchel for a pillow. Pending this recovery, I determined to start at once for Omaha, to refit. The train came along at five minutes of four in the morning and reached Omaha, on time, the next day, October 14th at 3.30 P.M. On the way down, I met Captain [George Mason] Downey, 21st Infantry, with whom I spoke at length of numerous old acquaintances, and Brigadier General S.V. Benét, Ordnance Corps, (Chief of Ordnance, U.S. Army), and wife, who listened with intense interest to the story of the march to relieve the survivors of the Thornburgh Expedition. Received, while on train, telegram from General Brackett and Mr. Thomas Moore that my baggage had been recovered. At Cheyenne, met Mrs. Merritt and Mrs. Compton, Lt. Davis, 5th Cavalry, and Captain Johnson (3d Cavy.) and [Albert Emmett] Woodson and Hamilton, 5th Cavalry. Lieut C. A. H. McCauley on the Westward bound train at Valley, Mr. Donnelly, of the Omaha Herald interviewed me on the train, getting information for his journal of the condition and plans of Merritt’s Command. Lieut. Schuyler left our train at Cheyenne. October 14th Arrived in Omaha and drove to Dep’t. Hd. Qrs., at the Fort.

Chapter 17 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

From Field to Staff

I

n this chapter, we see the beginning of a turn in Bourke’s life. Up until now, he has been very circumspect in his personal relations. If there were any women in his life, he does not mention them. The entry for New Year’s Day 1880, however, states he spent the day with friends, including the Horbach family, who had a daughter, Mary, known to her friends as Mollie. Then, under February 21, he pastes a newspaper clipping that she had been involved in a carriage accident, but, while shaken, apparently was unhurt. These innocuous entries are the diary’s first extant references to the woman he eventually would marry.1 October 17th. Ordered back to Rawlins and started on train, but at Grand Island, just as I was about turning in to bed, (our train being 3½ hours late at that point.) received a telegram from Lt. Schuyler to stop over at some point on road to meet General Crook and himself. For this reason, remained at Cheyenne (October 18th.) returning to Omaha October 19th. The importance of the Ute war is my justification for occupying so much space in my note-books with an acc’t of it, even after my personal connection had ceased. 1. Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 146.

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The Interior Department sent out Genl. Charles Adams who, with the assistance of Ouray, head-chief of the Uncompahgres, penetrated to the camp of the hostiles, where he found Mrs. Meeker, Miss Meeker, and Mrs. Price and two children, whom he rescued and returned to Denver, Col. Meantime, troops and supplies had been accumulating under Generals [John Porter] Hatch and McKenzie at Fort Garland, Col.,2 but no forward movement allowed by their command or that of Genl. Merritt, which encamped at White River Agency, a most difficult place to supply in winter, on account of the almost absolute lack of transportation. Young Man Afraid of his Horses, offered General Crook the assistance of one hundred Sioux warriors to act as scouts against the Utes: an offer declined because of the cessation of active movement. October 20th. Lieut. W. B. Weir, Ordnance Corps, killed by Ute Indians, while hunting. Knowing Lieut. Weir as well as I did, in former days when we were cadets together (he being one class below me.) I could in perfect justice and truth speak most eulogistically of his extreme gentleness of nature, almost feminine in its type; of his devotion to study and high order of intelligence, of the unstained purity of his heart which has preserved in all his contact with the world a modesty and rectitude rarely found among men; of the great affection entertained for him by his comrades and those under him, but feeling that a humble-jumble of a collection, such as is my note-book, is no place for panegyric, I will make no elaborate mention of my dead friend’s virtues beyond what is contained in the enclosed slip, hurriedly penned for the Omaha (Daily) Herald, of October 24th 1879. THE SLAIN WEIR. Another Massacred Warrior at White River —The Ute Ambuscade. Personal History of the Deceased. The information received in Omaha to the hour of going to press in regard to Lieutenant W. B. Weir’s sad death at White River Agency is to the following effect: General Mer2. Fort Garland was established in 1858 near the mouth of Sangre de Cristo Pass, to replace the earlier post of Fort Massachusetts, and protect settlers in the San Luis Valley from Ute and Jicarilla Apache depredations. The post was located near a major Indian trail leading from the Rio Grande to the Arkansas River valleys. Fort Garland was abandoned in 1883, and is now a state historical monument. Frazer, Forts of the West, 36–37.

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THE WHITE RIVER UTE UPRISING ritt, learning of the discovery of fresh pony tracks on the summit of the ridge, near the old White River Agency, sent a detachment of cavalry under Lieut W. P. Hall, Fifth Cavalry, to make an examination and report. With this detachment Lieutenant Weir sought and obtained permission to go as a volunteer. Hall’s command was ambuscaded by the Utes and forced to fall back, having narrowly escaped destruction. Lieutenant Weir and Mr. Humme (a scout) had a few moments previous to the attack left Hall’s command for the purpose of shooting some antelope, being at a short distance from the column. In doing this no one imagined any danger would be incurred, as the rosy dispatches daily given to the world from Washington have created the impression that the hostile Utes were only waiting an opportunity to surrender and be taken back to their reservation. Hall’s men had heard firing in the direction of Weir’s position, but supposed it was that of the hunters exclusively. When pressed by the Utes, Hall had no power to do anything but return to camp. Gen. Merritt sent out five companies of the 5th cavalry, under Col. [Charles Elmer] Compton, to make a search for Weir and bring him back dead or alive. His body was found, shot through the brain. Humme’s remains were not discovered and it is probable that the Utes captured him alive. Lieut. Weirs remains will be at once sent to Rawlins for shipment to his friends. The reputation in the army of this young officer was most brilliant. He was regarded as one of the most promising in the ordnance corps—a fact attested by his assignment to the care of the supply depot at Cheyenne, one of the most important in the country. Not alone in intellectual powers, but in moral worth and sterling integrity, he stood preeminent. His friends will deplore in his death the loss to the service of one of the most talented and gentlemanly of all whose names have ever appeared on the official record. Lieut. Weir’s parents are still living. His father, Prof. Weir, a distinguished artist, was formerly for many years in charge of the department of drawing at the Military Academy, from which position he was honorably retired on account of failing health. He is at present residing in the city of New York. Lately a sister of

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Lieut. Weir, an amiable, beautiful and accomplished young lady, has been visiting him at Cheyenne Depot. To her, as to all his family and friends, the dread tiding of his premature fate will come with the crushing effect of the thunderbolt. No earthly consolation can mitigate the bitterness of this sorrow. The sympathy of friends will not be wanting, nor the solace of knowing that this noble son and brother has died on the field of duty, but these, however gratifying they may prove cannot reanimate the lifeless clay, which but little more than a week ago was the casket in which was enshrined one of the noblest and purest souls ever created. October 22nd 1879. The remains of Major T. T. Thornburgh were consigned to the grave to-day, with appropriate military and Masonic ceremonies. A Battalion of the 9th Infantry, Colonel [William Thomas] Gentry, Commanding, acted as escort, while the Masonic body turned out in strong force. General Crook and staff and nearly all the prominent citizens of Omaha swelled the procession, the largest ever seen in Omaha. The services at the grave were too long; their prolixity, in the bitter north wind blowing all that day, robbing them of much of their impressiveness: the military participation in these was limited to the usual volley firing and dirge. The previous night, the remains had laid in state in Masonic Hall, Omaha, which presented a beautiful and solemn sight, robed in the drapery of mourning. Octo. 31st 1879. Major-General Joseph Hooker, U.S.A., (retired,) died at Garden City, L[ong]. I[sland]., During the late war, for a long time a salient figure in the history of our country, of late, he had fallen into obscurity. As one of the commanders of the Army of the Potomac in its most troublous days, he will always be remembered by the veterans of the civil conflict. November 1st. Senator Zach Chandler, found dead in his bed at Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago. The night before, he had delivered an excellent political speech, replete with the soundest Republican doctrine. His death will prove a great loss to his party and to the country. The remains of Lieutenant Weir arrived in Omaha escorted by his brother, Charles G. Weir, Esq. of New York. (They were kept in Omaha over night under military guard.)

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General U. S. Grant reached Omaha in a special train over the Union Pacific R.R. At the dépôt, the distinguished soldier and citizen was received with the whistling of locomotives, ringing of bells, thunder of guns, and the shouts of assembled thousands. To these demonstrations of good-will, Grant modesty [sic] bowed his acknowledgments. General Crook escorted Mrs. Grant from the cars to the carriage in which Mrs. Crook awaited her, the two ladies driving to Fort Omaha, where General and Mrs. Grant were to remain over Sunday. General Grant himself, escorted by a large procession composed of regular and militia companies, fire and benevolent associations, and industrial organizations, General Crook’s staff, and everybody in this part of Nebraska who could beg, borrow or steal a horse to carry or haul him, moved through a dense throng of people to the High School, on Capitol Hill, outside of which a stand had been erected and the customary speeches of welcome and acknowledgment delivered. Governor Albinus Nance welcomed Grant to Nebraska, Mayor Chase to Omaha; the reply Grant made was terse, pointed, sensible and good-humored. After this succeeded the hand-shaking torture inflicted by American custom upon all great men and then a banquet at the Withnell House, covers being laid for sixty. At Fort Omaha, I had the pleasure of taking tea with Mrs. Grant, the only others present being the hostess, Mrs. Crook, her sister, Mrs. Reed and brother-in-law Mr. John Reed. I will here violate my rule not to make personal references to ladies in my note-books, by saying that Mrs. Grant, in our conversation impressed me as a very motherly, affectionate woman, devoted to her husband and children; of keen perception, tenacious purpose and unlimited ambition, but unspoiled by the world’s favors. Her descriptions of the countries and people she had met were shrewd and incisive, without being scholarly or profound. It is a great pity that her education was not more thorough before commensing her round-the-world tour. I don’t mean to say that she wasn’t just as well fitted for profiting by her advantages as the average of our women, but her opportunities were so extraordinarily fine that had she been afforded a couple of years’ leisure for reading before leaving this country, she would assuredly have returned one of the most intellectually expanded of our people.

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Her sketches of her receptions in Scotland, England, France, Italy (by the Pope.) India, China, Burmah, Japan and Siam were strong and graphic without being in the least affected. Nov. 2d. General Crook sent for me early in the morning. I arrived at his quarters while all were at breakfast, of which I was invited to partake. General Grant, contrary to the usual idea of him is full of talk at meals, very fond of badinage and poking fun in a quiet way at his wife who seems able to defend herself against all assaults. He said among other things, that he never had been a hunter and with the exception of a few ducks shot while he was on duty in Oregon, he had never been able to kill anything in his life. General Grant’s countenance is wonderfully strong; his head is well shaped, pertinacity being strongly shown; his nose is the weakest feature he has, altho’ of itself strong enough. His ears are the biggest I ever saw and if large ears be an indication of generous nature, as some say, he must be the most generous man in the world. After breakfast, Genl. Grant asked me to write a few telegrams for him. These were mostly replies to invitations, pouring in from all quarters, to accept the hospitalities of towns and cities on his route of travel East. A delegation from the 1st M.E. Church called at 10 o’clock, to escort General Grant and Genl. Crook to divine service. General Crook declined the invitation as he had just received orders to start for Chicago this afternoon. Colonel Fred. Grant and his wife, Mr. Honore, Col Sharp, Paymaster, Mr. Walker, (Secy. of the C.B. and Q.R.R.),3 arrived in special train from Chicago. Between 1 and 2 in the afternoon, Mrs. Grant received the children of the officers, much to the gratification of the little ones. In the evening, Mrs. Crook held a reception in honor of General and Mrs. Grant,—a very enjoyable affair, attended by all the officers and ladies of Fort Omaha and Dept. Hd. Qrs. and a number from the town. The music furnished by the 9th Infy. band was unusually fine. (General Crook left for Chicago in the afternoon.) Nov. 3d. Early in morning, General Grant left Fort Omaha and drove to the Withnell House in town, from which place he started for the Union Pacific R.R. dépôt, escorted by a Battalion of the 9th Infantry, Colonel Gentry commanding, a number of Army officers and citizens of prominence. 3. Chicago Burlington and Quincey Rail Road.

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A special train of five Pullman cars was in waiting and without unnecessary delay pulled over to Council Bluffs station, Iowa. The reception there accorded was very thin in contrast with that of which Grant had been the recipient on the West bank of the [Missouri] river. Governor Gere welcomed the distinguished guest to the state of Iowa, Grant replying in a few brief, sensible words. Mr. D. W. Hitchcock, of the C.B. and Q. R.R., one of the ablest R.R. men in the West, under whose supervision the special train had been prepared, had given his personal attention to the dining car, which was a perfect bower of rare and fragrant exotics. . . . Here Bourke jumps from the subject of Grant back to the Merritt expedition to the Milk River. Roster of Officers with General Merritt’s Command, Oct. 8th, 1879. ‡General Wesley Merritt, Colonel 5th Cavalry, Commanding. ‡2Lt. Eben Swift, Regl. Adj’t. 5th Cavy., Adjutant. 1Lt. W.P. Hall, R.Q.M. 5th Cavalry. joined with Vroom, Oct. 8th. ‡1Lt. H.S. Bishop, 5th Cav. Commissary ‡1Lt. W.B. Weir, Ord. Dept. Ord Officer. since killed. ‡1Lt. W.S. Schuyler 5th Cavalry and ‡1Lt. John G. Bourke, 3d Cavalry, Aides de Camp to General Crook, Volunteers. Asst. Surgeon C. DeWitt. “ ” W.L. Kimball Actg. Asst. “ Grimes.†§ ‡Lt.-Col. Compton, 5th Cavalry, Comdg. Cavalry Battalion. ‡“A” 5th Cav. Capt. Augur, 1Lt. Bishop, Commissary[)] and 2Lt. [William E.]Almy. ‡“B” 5th Cav. Capt. Montgomery and 2Lieut. [Augustus Canfield] Macomb. ‡“M”, 5th Cav. Captain Babcock, 2Lt. [Henry Joseph] Goldman. “ ” Capt. Kellogg and 2Lt. [Luther Scott] Wellborne. ‡“I” [sic] “L” 3d “ Cap’t. P.D. Vroom, 2Lt. Jordan. “H” 5th “ 1Lt. Parkhurst and 2Lt. Andrews. ‡Major E.V. Sumner, 5th Cavalry Commandg. Battalion 4th Infy. and Dismounted Cavalry. ‡”I” 4th Infy. Captain Ferris, 2Lt. Mason, C.W.

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‡”B” 4th “ ” Quinn, 1Lt. Baily, 2Lt. Howland ‡”F” 4th “ 1Lt. Robinson, 2Lt. Brown ‡”E” 4th “ 1Lt. B.D. Price, (2Lt. [James Alexander] Leyden.) ‡”G” 4th “ 1Lt. Webster (G.O.) and 2Lt. L.A. Lovering †”D” 9th Cavalry, Cap’t. F.S. Dodge and 1Lieutenant M.B. Hughes. †”E”, 3d Cavalry, Capt. Joseph Lawson. †”F”, 5th “ ” §J. Payne, 1Lt. Cherry. †”D” 5th “ §2Lt. Paddock and 2Lt. Goldman. [sic] Battalion, 14th Infantry, Major M. Bryant, 14th Infy., Commanding. [Roster already given on p. 329] Companies and officers present with Major Thornburgh marked thus: † Those accompany[ing] Merritt, ‡ marked thus; Those wounded, thus; § Manuscript volume 32, from the bottom half of page 360 through page 421, consists of newspaper clippings and copies of official correspondence on the Ute War. Bourke’s narrative resumes on November 25. November 25th Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., started for California, to remain absent for several months in general charge of the Murchie mine, a valuable property, owned by Generals Crook, Sheridan, and other Army officers. Lieut. Schuyler obtained two months’ leave of absence, as authority for his remaining away from Hd. Qrs.4 November 27th. Thanksgiving Day. A very delightful hop, attended by eighty or ninety persons, was given this evening by the officers and ladies of Fort Omaha and Dep’t. Hd. Qrs., as a farewell compliment to Mrs. Royall and Miss Royall (wife and daughter of Lt-Colonel Royall 3d Cavalry, Inspector General Department of the Platte,[)] who started East next day for a prolonged visit. November 30th General Jeff C. Davis, Colonel 23d Infantry, died at Palmer House, Chicago. One of the bravest and most efficient and energetic officers of the late war, a leading figure in the Army of the Cumberland and the 4. The Murchie Mine, purchased by a consortium headed by Crook, Sheridan, Gen. Delos Sacket, and Andrew Snider, proved to be Schuyler’s undoing as a member of Crook’s staff. Bourke and Charles King were minor investors. Although Schuyler’s initial impression of the mine was positive, it continually lost money, and proved a major embarrassment to Crook, who was the moving force behind the project. Always ready to blame someone else for any setbacks, Crook focused his wrath on Schuyler, forcing him to resign as aide-de-camp. Crook’s correspondence with Schuyler throughout the project is in the Walter Scribner Schuyler Papers in the Huntington Library. See also Robinson, General Crook, 248ff.

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last commander of the old 14th Corps. During the last years of his life, his mind had been embittered and enfeebled by disease and military disappointment, to such an extent that few of his more recent acquaintances could have recognized in him the lion-hearted soldier, who so dauntlessly faced the rebel brigades in the defeat of Chicamauga. General Grant’s triumphal tour across the continent still continues: cities vie with each other in doing him honor. Dec 1st. Cable dispatches report grave difficulties arising in Ireland on account of high rents, short crops and atrocious misgovernment. Agrarian insurrection may be looked for at any moment, as famine is threatened especially in Connaught and other portions of the Western counties. A consolidation effected of the Vanderbilt and Gould interests in railroads, the former disposing of his shares in Lake Shore and New York Central stock for a consideration of $25.000.000! The new combination controls a through line from Ogden, Utah to New York city, a distance of over 2500 miles.5 Dec. 9th Started, under orders from Genl. Crook, to Forts Douglass, Utah and Hall, Idaho. Having chronicled this same journey a number of times previously, I shall now confine my attention to such unusual features only as may present themselves.6 The newspapers for several weeks past have referred to the Commission appointed by President Hayes to treat with the Ute Indians for the surrender of the white prisoners held by them and also that of the Indians engaged in the massacre of Agent Meeker and employees. The members of the Commission, consisting of General Hatch, U.S.A., Charles Adams, Esq. of Colorado, and Ouray, Chief of the Uncompahgre Utes, succeeded in effecting (as elsewhere narrated) the surrender of the white women and children of the Meeker and Price families and at this date has the promise of the delivery for 5. Bourke is in error. The Vanderbilt interests retained control of both the New York Central and the Lake Shore and Southern Michigan Railway. In 1914, Lake Shore merged with New York Central, which remained under the Vanderbilts until 1954. Gould blocked Cornelius Vanderbilt’s attempted takeover of the Erie Railroad, but himself was ousted, after which he concentrated his interests on Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific. Some years later, however, Gould sold his American Telegraph Company to William Vanderbilt’s Western Union at a substantial profit. 6. See Chapter 2 of this volume.

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trial in Washington, of the young men most prominently concerned in the murder of Agent Meeker. Whether the savages will deliver the Indians named or not is an open question, but the fact remains that no effort has been made to have justice dealt out to those who so treacherously attacked Thornburgh and his Command, while en route to support the authority of the Interior Department upon one of its Reservations. Among our passengers between Omaha and Ogden was a considerable number of gentlemen interested in mining in Colorado, California, Nevada and the Black Hills of Dakota. Their outlook of the future was most rosy and their predictions full of enthusiasm. Deadwood, they said, will produce dividends for generations to come; Colorado, this year, has added $17.000.000 to the national fund of silver & gold and within 5 years will produce at the rate of $200.000.000 per annum. In Leadville, there are now on the dumps upwards of 50.000 Tons of ore, working over $60 to the Ton. On the way, we encountered heavy snow and high head winds which caused us a detention of 7 hours. East of Ogden, passed a train containing six cars of silkworm eggs, valued at $7.500.000, going from Japan to Italy. We got to Ogden at such a late hour at night that I cheerfully accepted the invitation of my friend, Mr. France, the Pullman conductor, to remain in my bed in the car until breakfast. This courtesy saved me the trouble of arising between 2 and 3 in the morning. December 12th Breakfast at the Beardlee House and started for Salt Lake. Shortly after reaching the Walker House, was called upon by General Smith, commanding Fort Douglass, Lieuts. McCammon and Patterson of his Regiment and Post, and His Excellency, Governor [George W.] Emery and Terr’t Marshal O’Shaughnessy, (U.S. Territorial Marshal.) Dined with Mrs. Carpenter, (wife of Major Carpenter, 14th Inf.[)], Mrs. Patterson, wife of Lieut. Patterson, and Miss North of Salt Lake. Mrs. Patterson, after dinner, showed me, in Miss North’s apartments, some very beautiful flower painting (on silk.) executed by herself and friends. Dec. 13th Lieut. Patterson drove me in a sleigh to the post. (Fort Douglass.) The ground was covered with snow, but the air was most

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pleasant, quite warm for winter. At Fort Douglass, had a long conversation with General Smith, with whom I lunched and in whose company I called upon all the ladies of the garrison. From what I can learn in Salt Lake, Utah is making giant strides, chiefly by the impulse given by the mining industry. The Ontario and other properties are paying enormous dividends, and the Honi silver mine of Frisco has an amount of ore “in sight” sufficient to dumbfound an Aladdin or a Monte-Cristo. Estimates run all the way from $16.000.000 to $67.000.000; the most careful one I have seen puts the figures at $27.000.000. The wealth within reach of its owners has been amply sufficient to warrant them in building an extension of the Utah Southern R.R. for 200 miles to carry their ores to market. December 14th Received a visit from Mr. Stenhouse, Pacific coast correspondent of the New York Herald, who is, like myself, interested in the Murchie Mine of Nevada County, Cal. He spoke with much confidence of the future of that mine and of many of those on the Comstock lode and in Bodie district California, all of which, or nearly all, he has visited.7 Paid a visit to the Hot Springs, near Salt Lake and enjoyed a refreshing bath in their waters. Started in the evening for Ogden, on my way to Fort Hall. This time the trip was made in absolute comfort. I shall never forget the first occasion of my going to Fort Hall in 1875, (when I also visited Fort Cameron, Utah)8 and the toilsome stage journey through a horrible winter storm. The mining development of the past two years in Montana and Idaho have spurred on the Union Pacific R.R. Co, to building the Utah and Northern Railway to the Montana boundary. The train is brand new, the most agreeable improvement being the reclining chair car, in which one can sleep almost as comfortably as in a Pullman. December 15th. Awakened at day-break, to find myself at Ross Fork, the agency of the Shoshonees and Bannocks. (This place and these Indians have already been described at length.)9 7. When he was preparing Crook’s autobiography for publication, Martin F. Schmitt discussed the Murchie Mine with Oliver Crook, the general’s nephew, who said, “General Crook was an easy mark, Colonel Schuyler a would-be mining operator, and both of them, with very high salaries, died broke.” Schmitt, Major General George Crook, 238 n14. 8. Fort Cameron was established on the Beaver River in 1872, to protect the mining district of southern Utah. Originally designated Camp Beaver, it was upgraded and renamed Fort Cameron in 1874. The post was abandoned in 1883, and the reservation transferred to the Interior Department two years later, because heavy settlement rendered it unnecessary. Frazer, Forts of the West, 164–65. 9. See Chapter 2 of this volume.

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Telegraphed to Captain Bainbridge for an ambulance, which came at 3 P.M. and took me across Mount Putnam to Fort Hall. There was a furious North West wind blowing, which strange to say, melted the snow! I learned it was the “Chinook” wind from the Pacific ocean, and that its effects are perceptible as far as Salt Lake. My short stay at Fort Hall was made most pleasant by Cap’t. and Mrs. Bainbridge, (14th Infy.) my kind host and hostess of former years, and by Lieuts. Kimball and [Bainbridge] Reynolds & Dr. and Mrs. Boyer. I should also remember Mr. Shilling, who did all he could for me, during my detention at his home at Ross’ Fork. December 16th. Drove to Blackfoot, 8 miles, the nearest station on the Railroad. Here a thriving town is springing up, the point of supply of Challis and Bonanza, the new mining “excitements”, the absorbing topic of conversation. The “hotel”, at Blackfoot is the same old dungeon in which I resided when the railroad terminus was at Franklin and Oneida. It has the same proprietor, Mr. Lewis, who has had the old rattle-trap moved up along the railroad in answer to the demands of travel. The barroom was jammed full of miners and prospectors—rough fellows in canvas, blanket or oilskin suits, but honest and good natured. The only talk was mines. “Struck it down to Challis”—“four foot ledge”—good pay-streak—[“]Can’t do much prospecting up ter Bur-nan-zur’n count the snow” and so forth. But enough could be gleaned from their remarks to impress the stranger with the great value of the new District—People don’t send in 60 stamp mills to this country as a joke. Such an act always means business. One of the miners told me that the Penobscot of Montana, formerly owned by Mr. Vestal, has now 40 stamps and turns out $50.000 @ $60.000 monthly. The “biggest” man in our party was a gambler from Challis, who had just had a fight and “gotten away” with his man. A scarcely healed scar in his neck showed where his adversary’s knife had “gone for” his jugular. This man’s slightest observation was listened to with the same deference as would be paid to anything coming from the lips of General Grant; to be invited to “take something” by this divinity was a honor no one, except myself, felt at liberty to decline, and to have him vouchsafe a little of his conversation to a man made the latter blush with conscious pride and embarrassment.

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The gambler was really, to all appearances a warm-hearted, generous and, perhaps, brave fellow, but adulation will spoil him. By and Bye, he’ll “get away” with some one else—then he’ll become too “damned permiskyus”, as the miners say and “something’ll drap”. He’ll hang in his boots, if he doesn’t take care. Dec. 17th. Reached Salt Lake. Heard of Genl. Crook’s narrow escape from freezing to death while out hunting on the Platte and determined to return to Omaha, where my services may now be needed. Dec. 18th At Evanston, Wyo., received a telegram from Genl. Williams saying that the reports about General Crook were greatly exaggerated and that General Crook wished me to return to Salt Lake until further orders. On account of the Westward bound train being late, did not get in to Ogden until after midnight and consequently failed to reach Salt Lake City before the morning of Dec. 19th. During my stay at Salt Lake, I employed my time in studying up data relating to the mining development of the whole Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific slope. For exercise, I walked each morning from the Walker House to the Hot Sulphur Springs, where I bathed and drank the waters, said by the man in charge of the establishment to be good for everything under the Sun. A walk back through the snow, 2 miles gave me an excellent appetite for the good breakfast provided in our Hotel and a repetition of same exercise in the afternoon made me eat like a wolf at dinner. On this journey, I have met many mining experts and people who are interested in mines. Mr. Land, of the Bodie District, Cal. has impressed me as thoroughly informed and perfectly reliable. According to him, development of the Bodie country will result as [sic] a matter of a few weeks’ time. Major D. W. Burke, 14th Infantry, called upon me: I returned the call upon himself and wife (at Continental [Hotel.]) They are interested in claims in the Frisco district, of which such fabulous stories are in circulation. December 24th Received telegram from General Williams that General Crook wished me to return to Omaha without delay. December 25th Xmas. Left Salt Lake city [sic] 7 A.M., the coldest morning ever recorded in that valley: -8°F. and -10°F. Between Salt Lake City and Ogden our car got on fire; flames soon extinguished.

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Between Ogden and Omaha we were 5 hours behind time, most of the way. Found a number of Arizona people in car—Mr. Hinton and Mr. Armes, both owning interests in mines near Tucson. With them I was soon in active conversation and listened with open ears to their stories of the advances made by the “Tombstone” [“]Huachuca” and “Dos Cabezas” districts, over every foot of which I had scouted in 1870-1-and 1872. The giant strides making [sic] by the Atchison and Southern Pacific R.R. lines will soon bring that hitherto neglected country of Arizona into deserved prominence. Our Xmas dinner was eaten at Evanston, Wyo., and a very creditable one it was to Kitchen Bros. the proprietors of the Hotel. Dec. 27th Returned to Omaha, Neb. 1880 New Year’s Day, 1880, passed pleasantly. Made a few calls upon lady friends in Omaha, in company with Lieuts. Fort and Miner, 9th Infantry and spent the evening at Genl. Crooks Quarters, Fort Omaha, having passed most of the day at the residence of Mr. Horbach, Omaha, with his wife & dau. & Mrs. & Miss Collins. January 5th 1880. The newspapers of the country generally published references to the letter issued by Mrs. Meeker, alleging that she and her daughter and Mrs. Price, while captives in the hands of the White River Utes, were subjected to unmentionable outrages; that a full statement of the villainies perpetrated had been given under oath to the Ute Commission and submitted to Secretary of the Interior Schurz, but by him withheld from the knowledge of the public. The effect of this announcement will be to damage the character of Schurz, if damage be possible. An unprincipled German adventurer, unmindful of God or man, caring for nothing but self, he has, by President Haye’s [sic] selection for the position he now occupies, been enabled to do a great deal toward making influence, if not respect, for himself. Keen, subtle and mendacious in character, quick to perceive the weak points of an adversary’s arguments, and perfectly brazen in the suggestion of plausible explanations to cover the shortcomings of his Department, he has, without being personally dishonest, done more to protect and strengthen the thieves of the Indian Ring than any champion who has ever assumed that task. His downfall is among the probabilities of the present winter. Mr. T. H. Tibbles, of Omaha, who started East last spring, to collect the sum of $4.000 to defray the expenses of contesting the

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eviction of the Poncas from their old Reservation on the Niobrara, Neb. (see previous notes. . . .)10 has fully succeeded in his task. The suit, begun at Lincoln, Neb., against the Ponca Indians, Standing Bear, et al. for remaining absent from their Reservation [in Oklahoma], was discontinued by orders from Washington. January 17th 1880. The Edison Electric light un fait accompli. “Scientific” men, of whom our unfortunate country is full, have indulged in grave doubts as to the success of Edison’s efforts in this direction. Edison has gone on experimenting and perfecting his schemes just the same as if there were no “scientific” men in existence. The value of his enterprise is established by the depreciated quotations of gas stocks and the enhancement of the shares of the company formed to introduce his new light into New York and other great cities on the Atlantic Coast. Mechanical obstacles, such as attend the manufacture of a cheap and perfect glass globe, will retard the introduction of this fine light for months, maybe a year, but its general employment in the illumination of all our cities, towns and prominent villages will mark a feature in the development of the present decade. February 5th. Rail-road consolidation [is] the order of the day. The combination of the Union Pacific, Kansas Pacific and Denver Pacific, (with lateral branches.) under one management, marks the successful issue of plans long since matured in the keen, brilliant intellect of that wonderful genius, Jay Gould—one of the most extraordinary men the world has ever produced. Commissioner Hayt, of the Indian Bureau, peremptorily removed for corrupt practices. In connection with Inspector Hammond, Indian Agent Hart, (San Carlos Agency, Arizona.) and others, Hayt had quietly seized upon a silver mine of immense prospective yield in Arizona. This matter getting into the public journals, an investigation was ordered. Hayt lied like Belzebub, and Hammond swore positively that a letter which he had sent Hayt, and which somehow fell into the hands of the investigating Committee, was a forgery. This testimony Hammond retracted the very next morning saying he had been guilty of perjury in making it. It required but a few moments’ cross-examination to develop Hayt’s 10. See Chapter 10 of this volume.

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villainy in the particular offense specified above as well as in many others. The mine had been purchased by a Mr. Edward Knapp (Hayt.) Hayt’s own son who suppressed his family name, at his father’s insistence, to avert attention and paid for by a Mr. Hogencamp, of Jersey City, Hayt’s own partner. At this late date in the administration of President Hayes, it will be hard to find any gentleman to succeed Mr. Hayt and it will be impossible to find a more thorough rascal. Mr. Barston,11 [sic] of the Board of Indian Commissioner, a whining, psalm-singing hypocrite—discovered in illicit connection with stove contracts for the Indian Bureau. The distress in Ireland augmenting. [Charles Stewart] Parnell, M.P., visits this country to excite American sympathy. Is received with great kindness: invited to the floor of the House of Representatives, from which he delivers a speech on the agrarian discontents of the peasantry of his country.12 James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald made the munificent donation of $100.000 for the relief of the famine-stricken Irish. This sum is greater than the whole amount as yet subscribed by the chuckle-headed, tallow-brained, beef-legged, flat-footed English aristocracy. February 4th The Pennsylvania Republican Convention to-day resolved to support General U.S. Grant as a candidate for President (3d Term.) The vote stood Grant 143: [James G.] Blaine 103. Blaine and [John] Sherman (the Secretary of the Treasury,) have been for some months past busy intriguing to secure their own advancement. The former is the favorite of the petty politicians of 11. Bourke means O. C. Barstow, member of the Board of Indian Commissioners, who, together with A. K. Smiley, and William Stickney, formed a committee appointed by the board to investigate the Hayt affair. The Board of Indian Commissioners itself was a quasipublic entity created by Congress and consisting of nine unpaid members, who served as advisors to the president and the Secretary of the Interior. It was part of an effort to clean up corruption in the Indian Bureau and improve public perception of Indian affairs. The legislation that created the board, however, was vague about its actual legal authority and this led to jurisdictional disputes between the board and the Interior Department. Priest, Uncle Sam’s Stepchildren, 28ff. 12. Charles Stewart Parnell, president of the Irish National Land League, and member of parliament, was the acknowledged leader of the Irish nationalist movement during this period. While visiting the United States, he and John Dillon collected over £26,000 in donations for the Irish Parliamentary Party. His career came to an end after he was named as co-respondent in a scandalous divorce case, and refused to heed his party’s advice to keep a low profile. Churchill, Great Democracies, 345ff.; http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/ people/parnell.htm

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the Republican party; the latter has some strength from his official patronage and hopes also to conciliate the votes of the Germans through the wire-pulling of Carl Schurz, Secy. of the Interior. He has made endeavors to gain consideration with the moneyed men of the country from the fact that resumption of the specie payments occurred during his incumbency of the chief position in the national finances. His record in this is sadly against him; as a Senator, and member of the Finance Committee, he is known to have bitterly opposed the Resumption Bill;13 his character for personal honesty is not altogether beyond suspicion and in every essential feature he is Grant’s inferior. During the hour of our country’s peril in the Great Civil War, neither Sherman nor Blaine had the manliness to take up arms in its defense. Grant’s services have not as yet been forgotten and may again be required to crush the treasonable designs of the Southern demagogues. While all is going on, General Grant is quietly minding his own business, travelling in Cuba, with Lieut-General Sheridan, and the recipient of most flattering ovations from the Spaniards. Reports have been sedulously circulated that Grant was anxious to obtain the Presidency of the contemplated Inter-Oceanic canal at Panama. Grant is too shrewd not to perceive that the commencement of such a costly enterprise is not to be thought of for the next ten years: then and not till then will the combined capital of England, France and Holland push it to completion to prevent the carrying trade of India, China, Japan, Australia and the Sandwich Islands14 from passing into our hands. While freight had to be transferred three or four times in its journey across the American continent and while high prices shut out all but the costliest goods from the advantage of quick transit, the Suez Canal absorbed the bulk of the traffic of the Eastern world. A great change is now approaching;—a change as great as that which in years gone by ruined the ports on the Mediterranean and gave wealth successively to Lisbon, Amsterdam and London. Before the end of the year 1885, we shall have not less than five through lines from Ocean to Ocean. 13. The Resumption Bill, passed in 1875, allowed the Treasury Department to acquire gold for the purpose of redeeming heavily discounted paper currency. This would have been of particular interest to the Midwest, which operated on a paper economy that often was discounted substantially below face value. 14. Hawaii.

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Competition and systematic administration of these long routes will so reduce charges and express [fees] that millions of pounds of silk and tea, now forced to take an alternate route, will find their way to San Francisco and Portland, (Oregon.) and thence, by rail to New York, Boston and Baltimore. The Pacific Ocean will see noble lines of steamers ploughing its waters, and its bed will receive electric cables connecting San Francisco, with Melbourne, Honolulu, Hakodadi [Japan], Hong Kong and Shang-hai. To offset this loss of her mercantile powers, England must either declare war against us or by lending aid to the construction of a ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama give employment to her own mercantile marine. The United States is no longer an infant, drawing nourishment from the mother countries: its development during the past three years is something beyond belief and at the same rate of increase, the next five years will make us the most powerful people on the face of the earth. All Europe is now tributary to us for flour, corn, pork, beef, sugar, (to some extent.) cotton[,] butter, cheese, dried fruits and other production, while we are buying less and less each year in exchange and, besides, the yield of our mines will from this [time] on be doubled, trebeled and quintupled. With the annexation of the Northern States of Mexico, soon to occur, the United States will have a greater area of gold and silver bearing domain open for prospecting, developing and producing than any other nation before known in the world’s history. Feby. 5th. H. C. [sic] Boynton, a journalist of Washington filed charges against General W. T. Sherman, Commanding U.S. Army, for slander and defamation of character. General Sherman’s memoirs had been severely criticized by Boynton who indicated a number of misstatements. Sherman commented upon this criticism in a manner at once acrimonious, splenetic and undignified. For self-protection, Boynton preferred charges and instituted also a libel suit in the civil suits. For my own part, I hope Boynton may meet with success, if for no other reason than to impress upon Sherman and others in Washington that a little military or civic distinction does not empower an American to play the Persian satrap over his fellow-citizens.15 15. When Sherman’s Memoirs originally were published in 1875, many former officers of the Army of the Cumberland felt their achievements during the Civil War had been denigrated

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February 5th [sic] 1880. Adolp[h] Borie, of Philad[elphi]a, Secretary of the Navy for a time under President Grant’s administration, died of general debility, aged 73. An honest, incorruptible man, a sincere patriot and a distinguished citizen. While he made but an unimportant figure as Secretary of the Navy, he detracts nothing from the dignity of a Cabinet office and if he could have been prevailed upon to retain the position, it was the opinion of the whole country that he would have done much for the improvement of our navy. [A]n extract form Chicago (Ills.) Tribune of Feby. 4th, giving a complete synopsis of the Hayt (Indian Ring) Scandal. Chicago (Ills.) Tribune Feby. 4th 1880 HAMMERING HAYT. The Board of Indian Commissioners in New York Discuss Hayt’s Case, And Draw-Up Their Report Substantiating Fisk’s Charge of Malfeasance. The Mine Operations—Hammond’s Connection Therewith—A Summary of the Document. Special Dispatch to The Chicago Tribune. NEW YORK, Feb. 3.—The Tribune will tomorrow publish the following: The Board of Indian Commissioners, A.C. Brayton, Chairman, Clinton B. Fisk, William Stickney, E. M. Kingley, William H. Lyon, David H. Jerome, E.H. Tuttle,

to boost Sherman’s own Army of the Tennessee. H. V. Boynton, a veteran of the Army of the Cumberland and now Washington correspondent of the anti-Sherman Cincinnati Gazette, attacked the Memoirs, culminating with the publication of his own volume dissecting Sherman’s book and accusing him of various failures during the war. Sherman, who was convinced that his enemies in the civilian arm of the War Department were behind Boynton, contended that the latter had received a $600 government stipend and provided with clerks to copy the official records cited in the attacks. In January 1880, he told a reporter that Boynton would “slander his own mother for a thousand dollars,” which prompted Boynton to threaten a libel suit. Ultimately, the matter died out, and Sherman made several quiet revisions to the 1886 edition of the Memoirs. Since Crook had served in the Army of the Cumberland, and there was no love lost between him and Sherman, he—and by extension Bourke—naturally would have sympathized with Boynton. See Lewis, Sherman, Fighting Prophet, 616–18.

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and A.K. Smiley, met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel to-day. The principal business before the Board was the consideration of the report of its Investigating Committee on the charges preferred against Mr. Hayt, ex-Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in connection with the Arizona mines scandal. The Committee is composed of Commissioner O.C. Barstow, A.K. Smiley, and William Stickney. Messrs. Smiley and Stickney unite in the report. Commissioner Barstow takes exception to some of the minor points, but will, it is understood, unite with his colleagues in the main. The report is a voluminous document, and corroborates in detail the charges that have been published in the Tribune against Commissioner Hayt and those connected with the San Carlos Indian Agency. IT IS SHOWN that the proceedings which had been begun against Henry J. Hart, the Agent at the San Carlos Agency, were suddenly discontinued, and that the affidavits against Hart were never forwarded to the Department of Justice until Gen. Fisk’s charges were made public. The evidence further shows that Commissioner Hayt was corresponding with Inspector Hammond, who had been sent out ostensibly to investigate the official conduct of Hayt with reference to the purchase of the silver mine, and that the Commissioner’s own son, Edward Knapp Hayt, was sent to San Carlos, under the name of Edward Knapp, to make the purchase. WHILE YOUNG HAYT was on the way Inspector Hammond telegraphed to know who was coming out, and received a reply from Commissioner Hayt that he would know the person when he saw him. The full text of the report will probably be made public Wednesday. Ex-Commissioner Hayt, accompanied by his counsel, Judge Bedloe, of New Jersey, was before the Board last evening. He was questioned very closely concerning his connection with the Arizona Mine and other matters at the San Carlos Agency, which have been investigated, especially the part alleged to have been taken by his son in the transactions.

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THE WHITE RIVER UTE UPRISING HE DECLINED TO ANSWER many of the questions, and asked the privilege of bringing witnesses to aid his side of the question. This, after discussion, was granted. Mr. Hayt’s counsel made the point that his client, having been removed from his position as Indian Commissioner, the jurisdiction of the Board has ceased. Gen. Fisk has received a letter from the Secretary of the Interior referring to the case of ex-Commissioner Hayt, of which the following is an abstract: “I find statements in the papers that I had said the matter investigated in consequence of your publications had nothing to do with the removal of Mr. Hayt. The statement is too absurd to need contradiction.” Another case before the Board was that of Maj. S. C. Bridgman, who in 1874 was appointed as Agent of the Stockbridge Indians at Green Bay, Wis. He claims that he was very badly treated by Commissioner Hayt. In order that Maj. Bridgman may have a chance to be heard, the Board of Indian Commissioners has asked Secretary Schurz to allow the case to be brought before the Commissioners.

February 5th 1880. Lieutenant C. H. Rockwell, 5th Cavalry, my class-mate was married to Miss Moulton, niece of General W. T. Sherman, at Glendale, near Cincinnati, Ohio. Rockwell is an exceptionally fine young man, bright, brave and good looking. I hope for him and his bride the most prosperous future. February 10th. General George Sykes, Colonel 22nd Infantry, died at Fort Brown, Texas.16 During the war of the Rebellion, General Sykes’ name occupied a position of prominence and distinction in the reports of every battle fought by the grand old Army of the Potomac. 16. Fort Brown was established in 1846, on the Rio Grande opposite the Mexican city of Matamoros, just prior to the outbreak of the Mexican War. The post was abandoned in February 1859, but reoccupied the following December, because of strife along the river. Upon the secession of Texas, federal troops evacuated the post. Confederates occupied it until 1863, when it was abandoned and burned as Union forces approached. A major reconstruction began in 1867. The post was deactivated in 1944, and in 1948 was transferred to the Brownsville Independent School District, which began a process of demolition in order to establish a college. It is now the campus of Texas Southmost College/University of Texas-Brownsville. Because of its location by Gateway International Bridge, such demolition that the school district and university did not undertake was carried on by the City of Brownsville and federal government, so that today, only a few of the old buildings remain. Robinson, Frontier Forts of Texas, 22–25. Heitman (1:942) lists Sykes as colonel of the 20th Infantry.

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He was considered one of the coolest, most careful, but at same time one of the most gallant officers that ever wore a shoulder-strap. Feb. 12th. The newspapers, this week, have reported, denied, and re-affirmed the princely donation by the Baroness BurdettCoatts of the sum of £500.000 or $2.500.000 of our money to the relief of the famine-stricken peasantry of Ireland. With great prudence and circumspection she has directed that but little of this immense amount of money be distributed as alms; thinking it better to use it in providing work for the needy and deserving and in purchasing seeds, implements, clothing and medicines for the helpless. [Queen] Victoria has given $2500, a beggarly pittance. The contributions from the United States are wonderfully large. The New York Herald Fund aggregates already a quarter of a million of dollars! and the additions to be expected from the collections made and making in the Catholic churches and by other channels, not to forget such contributions and ship-loads of provisions from Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Saint Louis and Chicago, will greatly alleviate the distress, if they do not drive it away altogether. The English government as yet has done nothing to relieve the discontent and suffering. The suggestion has been made to commence the construction of government works such as railroads, bridges, ditches[,] macadamized ways and necessary public buildings to afford employment to numbers of the destitute. February 21st News reached us by cable of the attempted assassination of the Czar of Russia, by the explosion of a quantity of dynamite secreted in the cellar under the guard-room of the Winter Palace. The plan of the conspirators seems to have been to explode the mine at the moment the Imperial party took their seats at the dining table. The plan was conceived with shrewdness and executed with daring; had it been successful it would have flung heavenward the mangled remains of a swarm of worthless scoundrels who have been preying like vultures upon the carcass of the country. As a measure of policy, assassination must at all times be condemned: if the attempt be unsuccessful, tyranny finds its excuse for rivetting [sic] its chains more firmly. Yet in old countries where society has crystallized into castes, where the poor are born to hopeless misery and the rich to a heritage of domination over helpless creatures whom they fail to recognize as of their own species, revolution, anarchy

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even, come with what dread associations they may are preferable to a perpetuation of wrong. The French Revolution was bad simply because it was blind and rash, not because it was unnecessary. SERIOUS ACCIDENT Miss Mollie Horbach Jumps from a Buggy and Fractures a Limb. Yesterday afternoon, Miss Mollie Horbach met with quite a serious accident. She was out riding in company with Mr. Luther Drake, and when near the military bridge, a runaway team came dashing towards them, and Miss Horbach jumped out of the buggy, and thus received a fracture of one of her lower limbs near the foot. She was assisted into a home near by, where she remained until the arrival of Drs. Mercer, Coffman and McClelland, who temporarily set the limb. She was then conveyed home in an army ambulance which had been procured by Major Burke, who happened by at the time of the accident. Miss Horbach was reported quite comfortable last evening, and was receiving every possible care. Her many friends will deeply regret to learn of the accident. Mr. Drake, who did everything in his power to avert the accident, is deeply grieved that anything of that kind could have happened, especially to any one who was under his charge. From: The Omaha (Neb.) Republican, Feb. 24th 1880. February 25th General Grant’s progress through Cuba and Mexico has been a continuation of the ovations tendered him upon his arrival in the country last Fall. Returning to the United States, it is expected that he will journey through Texas and the Southern states where he will surely be made the recipient of unaffected hospitality and undisguised honors. His reelection to the Presidency is to my mind, an assured fact. His principal competitors will dwindle into insignificance before the day comes for casting the suffrages of the electors. Blaine possesses some strength, chiefly among those Republicans honestly opposed to a third term and among the chronic office-seek-

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ers, disappointed during Grant’s incumbency. Sherman is ruined already, exposed as a crafty, unscrupulous, cold-blooded politician: Grant is emphatically, the choice of the people and as such will, if he desire, be elected in November.

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Part 5 Staff Duties and Nostalgia

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Background

T

o the nineteenth century army, the horse was every bit as important as the tank or armored vehicle to the army of the twenty-first century. In combat, the soldier’s life depended on the quality and stamina of the mount. Much of this section is taken with a remount detail to acquire new horses for the cavalry. “The business of inspecting horses for Government use is a very serious affair,” Bourke writes, adding, “Not more than one horse in three has been accepted.”1 Equally important was the care the soldier himself put into an animal. Bourke recalled that Capt. Jerry Russell would not allow recruits to take horses on pass “until he was satisfied they knew how to take care of them.”2 To purchase the horses, Bourke had been entrusted with a large amount of money, and this entailed risk. During this period, Army Regulations recognized two forms of embezzlement, viz., actual embezzlement, in which government funds were stolen, and constructive embezzlement, in which the person responsible for those funds was unable to account for them, for whatever reason.3 Either 1. Bourke, Diary, 34:546–47. 2. Bourke, Diary, 33:537. 3. Regulations of the Army of the United States, Article 76, paragraphs 1577, 1583.

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was punishable by dismissal and/or imprisonment. Bourke no doubt was aware that carelessness and inattention to government funds had been the downfall of more than one inexperienced young officer. “For my own safety,” he wrote, “I shall enter in this book, as a matter of record, the numbers purchased on different dates, and of different parties, with prices paid and distances travelled.”4 4. Bourke, Diary, 34:546.

Chapter 18 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Procuring Mules and Mounts

Thursday, March 4th, 1880. Recd. the subjoined orders:1 HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE PLATTE Fort Omaha, Nebraska, March, 5, 1880. SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 19. (Extract.) 1. A Board of Officers to consist of Lieutenant-Colonel William B. Royall, 3d Cavalry, Acting Assistant Inspector General, and First Lieutenant John G. Bourke, 3d Cavalry, A.D.C., will convene as soon as practicable, to purchase one hundred (100) mules. The Board, in performance of this duty, will proceed to St. Joseph and Kansas City, Missouri, or to such other places as may be necessary. Upon completion of this duty, the officers composing the Board will return to their station at these Headquarters. Mr. William Chambers, Quartermaster’s Agent, will accompany the Board to assist it in its proceedings. 1. The discrepancy in date undoubtedly is because Bourke was given the orders before they were published as official.

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BY COMMAND OF BRIGADIER-GENERAL CROOK: ROBERT WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant General. OFFICIAL: (Sign.) Robert Williams Assistant Adjutant General. Friday, March 5th. Breakfasted at 5 A.M. with Colonel Royall, and then in company with him and Mr. Chambers left Fort Omaha, at 6 o’clock to catch the early “dummy” for Council Bluffs, Iowa. There we took the local or morning train, over the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs R.R., for Saint Joseph, Missouri. Reached our destination at 12:30 p.m. The only good hotel in the place, the Pacific House, was undergoing renovation from which reason we were obliged to take our quarters at the Halpin House, a wretched little rookery, of squalid surroundings. Saint Joseph is usually a good horse and mule market, but at the time of our visit the demand for the mines of Leadville, Colorado, had completely exhausted the supply on hand, making it necessary for us to proceed to Kansas City. Saint Joseph is a fine town of some 35.000 to 40.000 inhabitants, the centre of an extended rail-road system and the seat of a thriving trade, especially in groceries. It has of late years been overshadowed commercially by Omaha, Neb., and Kansas City, Missouri, but in the fullest sense of the term is a “strong” town. During the few hours we remained there, I saw a number of noble buildings of brick and stone, a few of architectural pretensions, blocks of comfortable dwellings, well-paved and maintained streets and other marks of vitality and public spirit. Like all the cities along the Missouri river, Saint Joseph, in the dry season, is plagued with dust. A needed attention is now paid to drainage and with a good water-system, to come with time and growing wealth, Saint Joseph will be freed from both mud and dust; a considerable amount of cutting and filling has been done in places, nothing, however, to compare in kind or quantity with that required by the configuration of the site of Kansas City. In the afternoon [we] visited the office of the K-C., St. Jo. and C-B. R.R.,2 where we met the Superintendent, Mr. Barnard and the General Ticket Agent, Mr. Dawes, old acquaintances. Mr. Garth, who 2. Kansas City St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad, later absorbed into Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.

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had been a school mate of Col. Royall’s, called towards evening. His wife, a daughter of General Craig, is a sister of Lt. Louis Craig, 6th Cavalry, who was at West Point, the same time I was. After supper, Mr. Dawes and Mr. Posgate, the Post-master of Saint Joseph, invited us to go to the Theatre, to witness the play of Lady Challoner, with Miss Agnes Herndon in the title rôle. The acting, especially Miss Herndon’s, was exceptionally good and the play itself well constructed. Of the Theatre much can be written in a few words: it is one of the best I have seen for a long time and may be is the very best between Saint Louis or Chicago and San Francisco. The opera-house at Salt Lake City, Utah, is the only one, I can remember, to speak of in connection with it. Another substantial structure in Saint Joseph is the market-house, apparently well-supplied with all the necessaries and delicacies of the table. March 6th Took the local train from Saint Joseph for Kansas City. Following our train was a “railroad bicycle”, propelled by a sectionmaster who kept up with us with apparently great ease. I conversed with him from the rear platform of the hind car and learned that it could without any trouble make twenty-five miles an hour. Kansas City is a pushing, busy city, claiming a population of 65.000 inhabitants and having not less than 50.000. The point of departure of thirteen great Rail-roads, besides being situated on the great artery of American Commerce,—the Missouri River—it is a very hive of industry, with streets and alleys filled with a bustling crowd, resembling in a feeble manner, Broadway. It has already become the entrepôt of an immense business in corn, wheat, flour, pork and beef and is reaching out boldly for tribute from the whole Trans-Missouri Valley, from Texas north to the Union Pacific Rail Road. At this date, Kansas City is far in the lead of Omaha, but the latter city may yet prove a formidable competitor, and no matter how affairs may turn will always be a rival worthy of respect and deserving of fear. Kansas City required an almost fabulous amount of excavating and embanking to perfect its grades and drainage. Much has already been done and enough to bankrupt a great community still requires attention: There are houses 100 feet above the datum line of a street in contiguity with building sites the same depth below it. Property owners claim that this peculiar configura-

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tion of the land is a blessing in disguise because during the “hard times”3 labor was furnished the poor who now instead of being a drain upon the taxpayers for charity are a source of production and benefit to the community. The slag taken from these hills is sold to brick-makers who make it into a beautiful and excellent article, equal to the best to be found in Philadelphia, Pennia. The flat part of Kansas City, under the bluffs and immediately adjoining the river is reported to be the breeding place of every type of malarial disease; as the enforced abiding place of thousands of poor day-laborers, working upon the Rail-roads, it will in all probability, some coming hot summer be the seat of yellow-fever or other scourge sweeping up from the lowlands of Louisiana and Mississipi. There are two hotels—both quite good—the Coates and the Saint James. The former, at which I staid, on my former visit, is the more modern of the two houses and has every late convenience: the Saint James, however, being better situated for our purposes was chosen as our place of abode. We found it clean and comfortable and not too high in price. Immediately after dinner, which in all this country comes between 12 o’clock and 2 P.M., the most beastly hours for the purpose that can be imagined—we set out for the horse and mule yards of Stewart and Ward, where within a few hours we inspected, accepted, branded and sent to the R.R. dépôt, thirty-four very excellent mules. The process of branding gave great amusement to a crowd of youngsters and hoodlums, who perched themselves on the fences the more conveniently to see the prancing and jumping of the animals when the hot iron touched their shoulders. My associates, Colonel Royall and Mr. Chambers—had a knowledge of horses and mules that really astonished me, tho’ I have been serving with Cavalry and pack-trains for nearly fourteen years. They seemed to know by intuition the value of each animal as brought up, and in the same time I should have devoted to the inspection of one, they could have examined and purchased a dozen. Drove to the R.R. dépôt to look after the shipment of the mules bought this afternoon; was much disgusted to be informed that they 3. Probably the first years of the Panic of 1873, which had recently drawn to a close at the time of this writing.

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could not leave until early Monday morning, on account of there being no train on Sunday. Met Captain Wirt [Davis], 4th Cavalry and Lt. [Christin Cyrus] Hewitt, 19th Infantry; also Dr. Cockrill, A.A. Surgeon, U.S. Army and his brother, both sons of Senator Cockrill of Missouri4: Mr. Cockrill, the younger brother had been a cadet at the Milt. Academy, but failed to get through the course on account of neuralgia of the heart. Captain Price, formerly of the rebel army, a son of the late Governor Sterling Price called to see his cousin, Colonel Royall, who presented me to him,—a genial, good-natured gentleman, of the Southern type, entirely deficient in the rock-crushing nerve-force of the money-making people of the North. I also met a Mr. Cress, (a cousin of Dr. Cockrell’s, [sic]) who had been the Democratic candidate for Congress from this district in the late election; he also had been in the Rebel army, and was a very agreeable and well-informed gentleman. He questioned me closely about Arizona and expressed a determination to go there to live. According to him, immigration in Texas was making sad encroachments upon the grazing ranges and the cattle herds were generally but surely being withdrawn more towards the North and West; this movement will restrict Kansas City’s market and improve Omaha’s. Sunday, March 7th. A stupid day, passed quietly at our hotel. Monday, March 8th. At work from early in the morning, examining mules. Accepted forty seven from Mr. H. C. Crenshaw. March 9th. Accepted nineteen mules presented for inspection by Stewart and Ward: these made fifty three obtained from that firm and with the forty seven from H. C. Crenshaw completed our number one hundred. Met Lt. L. E. Selree, Signal Corps, U.S. Army. Took 10 P.M. train for Omaha, Neb., where we arrived at 7.45 a.m., Wednesday, March 10th. Under March 10, Bourke pasted a lengthy article by Charles King about the battle of Slim Buttes in 1876. The article is essentially the same as the account King published in his book, Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army Life in 1890. Bourke’s account of the fight appears in Volume 2, Chapter 5 of this series. 4. Senator Francis Cockrell.

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Bourke’s narrative resumes: March 12th 1880. Count de Lesseps with Mr. Nathan Appleton and party of engineers passed through Omaha en route to San Francisco on business connected with their grand scheme of an inter-oceanic ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. De Lesseps is the Engineer who superintended the construction of the great Suez Canal, a work for which he cannot, however, claim much on the score of originality as history shows that in very ancient times the Red Sea and Mediterranean were connected by just such a work, the lines of which are still traceable in places. [James Buchanan] Eads, the American Engineer, who built the great bridge across the Misssissipi river at Saint Louis, opposed the plan of a canal and suggests the idea of a ship-railroad, the largest vessels to be run into immense docks or tanks of iron and timber, drawn along a number of parallel rails by 20 or 25 powerful Engines! Sunday, March 14, 1880. Colonel Royall, Mr. Chambers and myself left Fort Omaha, Neb., at 2 P.M. for Lexington, Ky, there to buy cavalry horses, in accordance with orders received. At Council Bluffs, Iowa, were detained three hours to await arrival of Union Pacific train which was that much behind time. Enjoyed good night’s rest on the “sleeper”. Reached Kansas City, Mo. at day-break and there changed to the trains of the North Missouri R.R. for Saint Louis. (The line of this road runs along the Missouri river on North side and passes through a rich farming country, but one sadly behind the 19th century in all that properly pertains to civilization. The people at the stations and coming on the trains appeared well-fed, prosperous and good-natured, but generally illiterate and unsophisticated. The villages are harum-scarum in plan, the houses unpainted and without modern conveniences. Good horses and mules, “likely” niggers and small boys abound at all stations, each nigger and small boy attended by a “yaller dog”. The squalor and thriftlessness perceptible everywhere would be a disgrace to Tipperary. Missouri is a noble state for which kind nature has done much; ignorant, idle man—Nothing. The number of “Jedges”, “Kun-nels” and “Ma-jahs” is astonishing: empty titles always abound in the inverse ratio of a state’s advancement.[)] The Conductor and Brakeman were extremely cross; the conductor had lost a leg and, perhaps, poor man, suffered from rheumatic

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twinges; what was the matter with the brakeman I couldn’t tell altho I was much interested in finding out, as each time he opened the door of our car to yell “Brunswick”, Moberley, [Inspiration?] “Clark’s Switch” &c, his tone was that of a man suffering from some grievous wrong. The time passed drearily enough except for the “Kun-nels[,”] “Jedges” and “Ma-jahs” who cracked nuts between their jaws and talked “horse” and politics. We had just outside of Kansas City, a short but exciting race with the Express train running on the RockIsland road—our train came out slightly ahead. In this part of Missouri, the scenery is more than tame; it is positively distressing. Mr. Chambers staid over one train at Kansas City, and Col. Royall, at Centralia, to proceed on to Columbia, to visit his mother, now an extremely old lady.5 It was arranged that we should all re-unite at the Planters’ Hotel, Saint Louis, Mo. As Col. Royall was leaving train, his sister, Mrs. Henderson of Saint Louis, entered. He had barely time to present me when our cars started. Thanks to this incident, the remainder of the days journey was not so stupid. Mrs. Henderson was a very handsome and bright lady, but rather spicily rebellious in political feeling. Forty miles out from Saint Louis passed a “block-house” erected either as a defense against Indians in early days or against rebel raiders during the late war. At Saint Charles, Mo., crossed Missouri river on a fine iron bridge going up to replace the spans which gave way under a train loaded with passengers some time since, drowning thirteen persons. Saint Charles, 28 miles from Saint Louis, is a sleepy down of large size, once, no doubt, of considerable prominence. Reaching Saint Louis, I went to the Planter’s Hotel,—an old affair, but having excellent beds and a first-class table. In the evening saw the Pirates of Penzance—Gilbert and Sullivan’s new burletta,—extravagant but humorous in its outlines, with many fine scenic effects and some good music, rendered by a chorus of 50 fair voices and an orchestra of 30 pieces.6 5. Colonel Royall, at this time, was one month short of fifty-five, having been born on April 25, 1825. He had entered the army as a first lieutenant of Volunteers in the Mexican War, when Bourke was only a month old. Altshuler, Cavalry Yellow and Infantry Blue, 288–89. 6. A light opera with book by W.S. Gilbert and music by Sir Arthur Sullivan which, like so many Gilbert and Sullivan works, satirizes the British social order. The best known song from this opera is “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General,” which pokes fun not only at the social order, but at Gilbert and Sullivan’s own previous work, H.M.S. Pinafore.

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March 16th. Saw General J. E. Simpson, of the Vandalia [Rail Road] Line, who very courteously gave to my comrades and myself the courtesies of his road to Louisville and return. Visited the Union market, a busy place filled with all kinds of supplies for kitchen and table. Mr. Chambers, (who rejoined me at bkft.) went with me to call upon Major [William Burton] Hughes, Quartermaster, to make arrangements for the care while in transition through Saint Louis of the horses we hope to purchase in Kentucky. Met Col. Royall in the Union dépôt, with him were Dr. Mercer and Mr. Markel of Omaha. Took Vandalia line for Louisville, (330 miles) crossing the Mississipi, on the fine Iron bridge built by Capt. Eads; the bridge proper is only 2200 feet long, but with its approaches, including a tunnel under the heart of Saint Louis, it represents a total length of over 11.000 feet or more than two miles. March 17th Waked up at Jeffersonville, Indiana, just before we began to cross the iron bridge, spanning the Ohio river between this city and Louisville, Ky. Put up at the Galt House, a very excellent hotel, well-built, conveniently arranged, finely furnished, and excellently supplied. It is one of the best hotels I’ve ever seen and that is saying a great deal in its praise. It cost $1.250.000, is well located, judiciously managed and at most reasonable charges. Louisville has improved wonderfully since my first visit in Nov. 1862, when I was an enthusiastic young soldier lad, one of hundreds and thousands of Northern boys who marched with light hearts to Southern fields to defend the nation’s life and integrity. It makes me feel old sometimes when I look back even for a moment and see again those gay-hearted comrades turning their backs upon comfortable homes and loving friends only to die; oh! so many of them! on the remorseless fields of battle or in the equally pitiless prison pens of Andersonville and Macon! How many pined away in hospital, dying of slow fever or gangrened wounds—and how many others have lived these long, weary years,—objects of charity and compassion! Our camping ground in Louisville was out on the plain, as it then was, near the Louisville and Nashville R.R. Dépôt. The first night was so cold that a party of us concluded to sleep in the passenger cars in the dépôt; the kind-hearted Irishman in charge let us slip in and make ourselves comfortable beds from the cushions of the seats; the next day, with a little work, our tents were made more comfortable and much warmer. Day by day, we drilled

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and exercised in all kinds of evolutions, and when not engaged in military exercises, strolled in squads to view the sights of the city. Hundreds of blue coats could at any moment of a fine morning or afternoon be seen on the main street. We remained in Louisville about one month, marching thence, through Kentucky, South to Nashville, Tenn. arriving in that city just in time to move out and take part in the memorable seven days’ Battle of Stone River or Murfreesboro, (i.e. Dec. 26th 1862.–January 2d 1863.) This day is the anniversary of our attack upon the village of the Sioux chief, Crazy Horse, on Powder river, Montana, 1876, (for a full account of which see my notebooks of that date.)7 Colonel Royall took me to visit the family of his friend, Mrs. Peny, in whose society and that of her charming daughters, (one of them as pretty a girl as I ever saw.) we passed a very pleasant evening. I was glad to find the young ladies were cousins of an old friend of mine at the Mily. Academy—Cadet E. F. Davis, now Lieutenant, 1st Artillery; also of Captn. E. W. Ward, retired. General Elkins, Deputy Q.M. General called upon us at the Hotel. March 18th Visited Kentucky National Bank to make arrangements about cashing Treasury checks. The Bank President—Murray—wished to impose an exchange of [1/3?] %=$18.50 upon whole amount, an exception to which I declined to submit as I had no authority under law to “shave” Government money. I telegraphed a statement of the situation to Col. Ludington, Chief Qr. Master and asked instructions. Started for Lexington, Ky., by the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington, “Short Line”, Rail Road. Country poor and thinly settled, much as in Southern Indiana. The roads leading out from Louisville are superb twin-pikes, unexcelled in the whole country. Frankfort, the capital, as seen from the cars, is a pretty town in the banks of the Kentucky river. From Frankfort to Lexington the soil becomes much more rich and is better cultivated than it is near the Ohio river. At Lexington, put up at Saint Nicholas Hotel, the Phoenix having burned down since my last visit. In our car, was a rude, illiterate 7. Described in Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 13 of this series. In fact, it was a Cheyenne village. Crazy Horse was about fifty miles away. This was known to Bourke, but he never admitted the error despite official reports to the contrary. See ibid., 2:491–92.

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negro [sic]—a man, I am certain, unable to read or write, yet gifted with marvellous [sic] powers of memory about horses. He could, without hesitation, very glibly give the pedigree, points, peculiarities and record of every horse of note on the Kentucky Turf. This exceptionally strong memory I have had occasion to observe very often among Southern darkies, brought up on stock farms or near stables. March 19th Colonel Royall very kindly made an arrangement for me with the President and Cashier of the First National Bank of Lexington, under which I exchanged a check, of $5.000 on the Assist. Treasurer in Chicago, for its face value in cash. Strolled about the town; streets quite muddy; found the town quite sleepy in general appearance, but with some signs of commercial awakening. Lexington has now three good [rail] roads from the Ohio river; the “Short Line” from Louisville and from Cincinnati, the Kentucky Central and the Cincinnati Southern; the latter a giant thoroughfare, 334 miles long, reaching down to Chattanooga, Tenn. The completion of this great steel rail highway has just been signalized by a banquet in Cincinnati, the largest ever known in our country. 1800 guests were invited from all parts of the South and made to partake of the hospitality of a city which had staked nearly $28.000.000 of its capital in securing connection with the Central Southern States. An immense trade is carried on in Lexington in whiskey and blooded horses. The Government tax at 9 % per gal. will this year in this state alone amount to over $10.000.000! Most of this whiskey is made by members in good standing of the Presbyterian and Campbellite8 Churches. Lieut. Howell, 2d Artillery, called to see me: we had been associated as groomsmen at the wedding of Miss Lucy S. McFarland, and Lieut. Bergland, Engineer Corps, U.S.A., in Lexington, Ky., June 1878. (see Note Book of that date.)9 Lieut. Howell very courteously escorted me around Lexington, showed me the new Phoenix hotel, a fine building almost complete and took me this evening to call upon Miss Brand, one of Miss McFarland’s bridesmaids, a bright vivacious, sweet young lady, whose acquaintance I most gladly renewed. March 20th Read in the press dispatches of the suicide in San Francisco yesterday of Mrs. Belloc, wife of the Banker of that name. 8. Disciples of Christ. 9. Chapter 1 of this volume.

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As Miss Mary Seawell, daughter of old General Seawell, of the retired list of the U.S. Army, I had the pleasure of meeting this bright, beautiful and commanding young girl at the reception tendered General Crook in San Francisco, in April, 1875, and was fortunate enough to meet her again a number of times in the same and ensuing years. Physically, she was a queenly woman, one of whose fine appearance any gentleman might be proud. Her married life, turned out unhappily and terminated in the sad manner above stated in the cemetery where reposed the remains of her little baby. March 20th-----The newspapers to-day contain telegrams announcing the completion of the Southern Pacific R.R. to Tucson, Arizona. No event in the history of American railroad construction illustrates more strikingly the melting away of the frost of old time apathy and ignorance which kept this grand continent in the fetters of barbarism. Tucson, founded in 1542 by the Spaniards as a mission for the Indians of Arizona has preserved in a marked degree to the present hour all the tokens of its mixed Castilian [sic] and Papago origin. Proud of its claim to being considered the oldest town within the limits of the United States, it had apparently an equal pride in being regarded as the dirtiest.10 In all its streets and alleys, offal, dirt, straw and rubbish were allowed to lie in piles undisturbed save by the scratching of inquisitive hens or the rooting of drowsy pigs. Its swarthy caballeros proudly bestrode their half-starved “bronco” ponies hardly big enough to support the weight of the immense saddles covering them from loin to withers. In the light, fresh air of the morning, the solemn clank of the cathedral bells summoned to early mass groups of dusky maidens whose faces betrayed their Indian lineage, but in whose soft eyes lurked the witchery of Andalusia and Grenada [sic]. Jesus and José, Ramon and Miguel grew from happy, prattling babyhood to the full vigor of adolescence with scarce a care except 10. Bourke is in error, as frequently is the case when he approaches early Spanish history. The 1542 date would have been near the close of the Coronado expedition, long before any permanent European settlement in what is now the American Southwest . The earliest Spanish settlement in the Tucson area was the mission of San Xavier del Bac in 1699. A “visita” or sub-mission, San Agustín de Tuquisón, was established closer to the present site in 1757 (Bancroft’s earliest date is 1763). A presidio, or garrison fort, to protect San Agustín, was founded in 1775, marking the official birth date of the city. St. Augustine, Florida, founded in 1565, is considered the oldest Spanish city in the United States. Bancroft, Arizona and New Mexico, 381; Frazer, Forts of the West, 13; http://www.tucsonaz.gov/tucson_history.html

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such as must ever surround the games of early boyhood or later on attend the “mozo” who is becoming deft and skilful in use of lasso, spur and pistol. To play with marbles, tops and ball—to play all these languidly and as they were languidly laid by to take up with equal languor the cigarrito and the use of mescal—to lazily plow the fields or work in an automatic kind of a way at making adobes—these were the occupations of the male sex. Nothing was done energetically, unless we speak of riding the “bronco” ponies which was always at a furious gallop or the dancing with “dulcineas” at the frequent bailes which continued from the setting of the sun until the dawning of the same. With the girls, the same weary lassitude marked every action, altho’ the women as a class were more energetic than the men and never lacked an exquisite ease and grace of motion which would have made glad the heart of a sculptor. Anita, Francesquita, Guadalupe and Jesusita quietly baked their tortillas; prepared the “chile con tomatos” [sic], con huevos, y “con gallina”,11 or boiled the strong coffee which was to wash down the noon-day meal and then first gracefully rolling and lighting herself a cigarrito, one would gently touch the strings of harp, or guitar and sing, in a voice not altogether unmusical, strains of love and flowers, while the others busied their hands in deft lace and needle-work or wagged their jaws in gossip about their neighbors. Thus passed the day with these primeval people when I first knew them in 1869–70–71: nothing disturbed the monotonous routine of daily life but an occasional “carrera” (horse race.) or “pelea de gallos” (cock-fight), or perhaps Don Carlos Velasco was about to christen another olive-branch and would celebrate the event with an appropriate “spread” to which all the worthy “compadres” [“]comadres” and [“]toquilos” of the village would hasten to do full justice. The “Americanos” (may the Devil fly away with them!) had already planted their feet in the sacred dust of Tucson and were slowly but surely drawing to their own coffers every cent in the country. Mexican social life went on all the same, the presence of the AngloSaxon element making about as much difference in the life current of the place as would the casting of large stones by mischievous boys into the bed of a slow-moving brook. 11. Chile with tomato, with eggs, or with chicken.

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With the coming of the iron horse all will soon be changed; the dignified, grave and courteous bearing of the Castilian will give way to the paying, obtrusive and calculating manners of the Yankee and the Jew: soon from the signs above the doors of the “tendajones”12 will disappear the names of Velasco, Carrillo, Leon and Suastegui and flaring black and white will tell us that “Gottlieb and Co[”] deal in Cheap Clothing or that G. Washington Smith has just received another invoice of “Gent’s Nobby Eight Dollar Ulsters”. I know it’s heresy to say so, but I am just a trifle sorry to hear that Tucson is being so rapidly Americanized: I had much rather have it remain as it was, dirty, dusty, vermin-infested if you will, but for all, a link binding our breathing aggressive civilization to the years when men in their sober senses scoured this vast continent in search of fountains of youth and caskets of treasures or when benevolent, good-hearted people burned their fellow creatures at the stake for God’s sake. C. P. Huntington, President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Road arrived in Lexington to arrange for the early completion of his road to this point from Norfolk, Va.: this will have an important bearing upon the future of this part of Kentucky. Mr. Chambers ordered back, (by telegram from Genl. Williams,) to go to Kansas City, to assist Major Furey in purchasing mules for Dep’t. Platte. Paid a visit, in company with Colonel Royall, Lieut. Howell and Mr. Treacey13 to the breeding farm of Colonel Withers, looking while there at the number of especially fine colts, brood-mares and stallions. “Almost”, “Happy Medium” and other noble animals brought out for our inspection. “Almost” cost originally $15.000, but $30.000 has since reportedly been refused for him. Mr. Treacy, our gentlemanly cicerone, is the senior member of the firm of Treacy and Wilson, horse-dealers; he is a young Irishman who left his native district,—Rosecommon—25 years ago and by his fine mental endowments, keen, briar-like business aptitude and thorough integrity is winning with rapidity a competence and position of respect in this community. Visited the rooms of the Lexington Club, an organization numbering among its members some of the best young men of the town, thanks 12. Small stores or stalls. 13. Bourke’s spelling is not consistent. Sometimes he writes “Treacy” or “Tracy.”

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to Lt. Howell, they have been very attentive to Col. Royall and myself: among the frequenters of the rooms I find several gentlemen whom I had the pleasure of meeting during my former stay. One of those to whom I have been presented is Mr. James Burnam, of Richmond, Ky., who turns out to be a brother to my former classmate, A. P. Burnam, to whom I sent kind messages. Bourke’s entry for March 21 is a description of Lexington Cemetery that essentially duplicates that given in Chapter 1. March 22d. The horse market in Lexington has proved very dull: thus far we have succeeded in obtaining only four. In the evening, drove out with Mr. Tracy and Colonel Royall to the farm of Mr. Price McGrath. McGrath has something of a history; a former partner of John Morrissey’s, he devoted the prime of his life to gambling and horseracing, from which he derived a great fortune which in his old age he is applying to the raising of blooded stock. Whatever his past record may be McGrath is certainly a man of great natural endowments, warm-hearted, good disposition, generous and hospitable in the extreme. His mansion is furnished in the best style and contained a half dozen paintings of merit—the subject in each case being horses. The whiskey, for which McGrath’s house is celebrated, is worthy of an emperor’s table; in flavor, bouquet and strength superior to any wine I have ever drunk. The horses on this farm, I believe have been mentioned in my notebook of June 1878,14—the finest of them are the thoroughbred stallions,—Aristides and Tom Bowling,—noble creatures far above the level of the brute in intelligence, docility, and courage. The old trainer—Austin—a smart old colored man—looked after these splendid animals with more care than if they were children and kept a very sharp eye upon the little bits of negro boys, who were to take the different animals out for exercise. March 23d. Met Colonel Tarlton, formerly a Captain in the 3d Cavalry, retired on one year’s pay in Dec. 1870. Tarlton was regarded as a gallant soldier and excellent gentleman, but one who rendered himself valueless as an officer by over-indulgence in alcoholic stimulants. 14. See Chapter 1.

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The horse-market in Lexington is extremely dull and has proved a bitter disappointment to us. The season no doubt has had much to do with our failure as many farmers do not care to leave the work of planting and come 20 @ 30 miles to town on the chance of selling a good horse at the exceedingly low price we are allowed to give—$115. We have done our best to make our presence known; have had notices put in all the papers and telegrams sent as far north as Louisville and Cincinnati, but to no purpose. Lexington has been drained of its supply for the use of Eastern and Southern markets; and altho’ there must be many good Cavalry horses in the country within a radius of 50 miles, yet the reasons above given will explain our failure. In the evening, called with Lieut. Howell upon the Misses Kirkhead, with whom we also found Miss Howard and made them a long and, to us, a delightful visit. March 23. Reported in the newspapers this morning that Ex-President Grant, with Lieutenant-General Sheridan and party had perished at sea, in a violent gale, off Galveston, Texas. The rumor was generally discredited, still it occasioned decided uneasiness. In the evening, Lieut. Howell took Colonel Royall and myself to call upon Miss Brand and Miss Howard; in the house of the latter, met Miss Breckenridge and several others whose names I do not remember. Kentucky ladies, as a rule, are very refined, bright and ambitious, and far superior to the men of the state who are too much addicted to gambling, horse-racing, whiskey-drinking and idleness to amount to very much. March 24. Succeeded in buying two or three good horses at fair prices—an average of $115 each. We have some funny episodes in the dry monotony of horse buying. For instance, there is the old “nigger uncle”, who wants to sell his hide-bound, wind-broken and spavined plug to “the Gubment”, under the impression that Uncle Sam is buying carrion for the “Calvary”. Colonel Royall is always too dignified to pay any attention to such cases so the rejection of these plugs becomes my office and I throw as much dignity into the business as possible. Then we have the drunken young farmer who wants the Board to buy his horse, because “he knows he’s a good un, bee God”. But the remorseless Board deliberately inspects that frantic steed

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and finds him suffering from stiff joints, curbs, splints, blindness and venerable old age and declined to buy him, notwithstanding that the drunken owner keeps up his din about the brute and “knows him to be a good hoss, bee God and out ov’n Abdallah mar[e], bee God”. Then we have the drunken Irishman who is ready to “foight the mon that’ll offer liss than a hundher’n twenty foive dollars for his harse”—but he is gotten rid of by reference to the immutable decree of such an intangible power as the Natl. Government which cannot be foight and which doesn’t allow more than one hundred and fifteen for a horse, no matter how good. Finally, we have the old lady who wants to sell her horse because she is now “bodin” (boarding, I suppose.) and who rapidly sketches her biography for my benefit, while we were waiting for Colonel Royall to return from dinner. She “lives six miles from town on the Harrodsburg pike, has bin a widder nigh on ter twenty four year”, raised a family of children and “all ov ‘em done well” her “five darters is all married and livin’ comfortable,—Lizzie, Malinda, Sophonista, Susan and Bell—‘ceptin’ Bell whose husband was killed in the wa’, he was a Cone fed rit—a very brave man,—he was killed in the wa’”—and so forth and so forth until Colonel Royall came along and most inhumanely rejected the poor old lady’s horse because he wasn’t big enough. It is very tedious and unsatisfactory work so we have concluded to leave Kentucky, having purchased only thirteen horses, but all of these very fine animals. This afternoon was given up to branding them, pulling off their hind shoes, paying all vouchers due for feed, &c. making out bills of lading for the R.R. Companies and sending necessary telegrams. The welcome news of General Grant’s safety reached us about noon. He and his party have reached Galveston, Texas, and received there the same ovations tendered in all the other cities of the Union. In Mexico, as in Cuba, every courtesy and attention has been showered upon him; he has girdled the globe with his honors and crowned with the laurels of all the nations the noble monument of his fame “against which the surge of Time shall break into spray”. Mr. Treacey drove Col. Royall and myself to see his stock-farm. He has one hundred and forty Acres of blue-grass meadow with substantial improvements. His stable sheltered forty two colts and

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fillyes [sic], under training. None of these was over 3 years, and the great majority under 2 years of age. While the “exercise boys” brought them out, they showed in their prancing and cavorting an appreciation of the pleasure they were exciting. Next to a beautiful woman there is no work of God’s creation so well deserving of admiration as a beautiful horse. The two hours we passed here were two hours of unalloyed pleasure. Many of the animals were fabulously high in price, ranging up into the thousands, but they looked as if they were worth any money that might be asked. Colonel Royall recd. a very kind note from Lieut. Sam Swigert, 2d Cavalry, asking us to come over to his home near Frankfort, Key., (where he is now on leave of absence.) and pay him a visit. Colonel Royall bought of Mr. Treacey, a perfect beauty of a colt, 2 years old, deep bay with black points, gentle as a kitten but spirited as a lion. March 25th Shipped our horses to Louisville by the L-C and L. R.R.,15 en route to Omaha, drew my balance from bank and made ready to leave by the afternoon train. Our eight days’ stay in Lexington has been without profit to us in our official capacity, but not without benefit in other respects. We have met numbers of nice people: young ladies of beauty and refinement and young men of courteous manners and generous impulses. There are many agreeable homes, with all the surroundings that wealth and good breeding can bring. But Lexington is dying slowly of a commercial dry rot; the streets are quietly going to seed, the houses show frequent signs of decay, the young men are growing up without any future. Over a score of young gentlemen, so I was told have left Lexington and struck out for the silver mines in Leadville, Colorado, preferring to work there for their daily bread to remaining at home in idleness. In the south, all mechanical employment is relegated to the “nigger” and his compeer,—the “low white”: hence, the country is overrun with wretched doctors, wretched lawyers, wretched preachers and wretched politicians—representatives of the “good families”. The blacks flock to the towns like Lexington whose streets they throng, either as downright idlers or pursuing such apologies for labor as polishing boots, waiting on hotel tables or running errands. 15. Louisville Cincinnati & Lexington, later incorporated into the Louisville & Nashville.

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It disgusted me greatly to be accosted half a dozen times to the block with the question, “shine yer butes, Boss?”16 This Title, Boss, is a compromise between the word “Massa” which the negro dislikes as associated with the idea of slavery and the necessity of giving his patrons some respectful appellation to conciliate favor. “Is you all dun gwine off, ‘s’afternoon, shure ‘nuff, Boss?” asked the waiter of me at the hotel this morning, and the same “Boss” business has followed us the whole way down from Saint Joseph, Mo., through the line of country controlled by Southern influences. Such is the present condition of Lexington, in the near future a brighter vista is opening for this city and all the Southern country. The Cincinnati Southern and the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Roads will bring commercial prosperity to Lexington, situated as it is in the centre of several of the richest counties of the United States. At noon, I had the pleasure of meeting General Don Carlos Buell, who arrived in Lexington on a visit of inspection to the University. During the war of the Rebellion, General Buell for a long time commanded with distinguished ability and courage the grand old army of the Ohio, (afterwards known as the Army of the Cumberland.) He was most unjustly treated by the arbitrary, Secretary of War—[Edwin M.] Stanton—and deprived of command and position. He has always held in the hearts of the thinking soldiers who served under him a high place of honor and esteem. In appearance, Buell is refined, scholarly, modest but dignified, gentle and winning, but bold and soldierly. In our conversation, I told him who I was, that I was Genl. Crook’s Aide de Camp, and that during the war I had served as a private soldier in the regiment raised to act as his (Buell’s) body-guard. “Then[,”] said he smiling, [“]I am especially glad to meet you, for I feel as if I had a double claim upon you.17 I always like to meet army officers to talk over old times with them.” “If that be the case, General,[”] said I, [“]you’d better let me bring up Colonel Royall who has been in the army since the Mexican 16. Almost immediately after Emancipation, blacks began moving from the rural areas into cities and towns. It made no difference how small the town might be, the fact that it was a town represented freedom, i.e. the ability to move about on one’s own, without the constant supervision of the plantation overseer that, in their minds, was the sum total of rural life. Additionally, as more blacks moved into urban areas, they congregated into communities, giving individuals a sense of belonging. Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long, 310ff. 17. Possibly Buell said “double claim” because Crook also had served in the Army of the Cumberland.

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war”—and suiting the action to the word, I hunted up Colonel Royall with whom General Buell was soon in a very animated conversation about old times and common friends. Started back to Louisville; passed through Frankfort, [(]the state capitol [sic],) by day-light. The Capitol building is a very ordinary affair. The Kentucky river, at Frankfort, is crossed by a stout iron bridge. The river was well filled with rafts of valuable black walnut timber, floating down to the Railroad, to be taken to Europe for a market. March 26th. Reached Saint Louis, 7.30 a.m. Breakfasted at Union Dépôt and changed cars to the train of the Missouri Pacific R.R. for Kansas city. This road runs almost parallel to the Wabash Pacific (Saint Louis, Kansas City and Northern,) upon which we had come down, so we concluded to take it back, to study a new belt of country. We were glad to have done so; the journey is made in 2½ hours less time, a great consideration to a weary traveller and the day cars are the finest I have ever seen. They are upholstered luxuriously, provided with toilette stands, towels &c., had each a colored porter to attend to passengers and all without extra charge. This change had been brought about since the road passed into the hands of Jay Gould, the greatest Rail Road manager the world has yet seen. The ride to-day was very pleasant. Signs of returning spring were abundant on either hand;—The hills with verdure clad, the trees new-budding in the balmy air, the purple-blossoms of the fragrant peach—The murmuring brooks—The lazy cattle and sheep peacefully grazing in the light of the sun,—made a purest picture and gave a more agreeable impression of this part of Missouri than that we had received while travelling along the other road. At Jefferson City, the state capital, we had a glimpse of the Capitol building and of the Penitentiary where gangs of convicts were at work quarrying stone. At Gallagher, a large batch of convicts were employed in the coal mines, under guard of armed sentinels. The refuse and screenings of this mine are so loaded with Sulphur that when the dump-piles become wet with rain, they ignite and have so remained burning in some cases for years. The Grant “boom” for the Presidency is becoming stronger each day, while the hopes of his would-be competitors,—Blaine and Sherman—are vanishing into thin air.

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The Ex-Empress Eugenie—under the incognito of the Countess de Pierrefonds—started for Zululand to visit the spot where her boy fell under the assegais of savage blacks. Raining at intervals this afternoon—a prolonged rain is needed for the area of the country we have passed over on this trip; without it crops will suffer greatly. March 27th. Reached Fort Omaha early in the morning and found a hot breakfast waiting in the mess, having telephoned my coming from town. A most annoying dust storm, blowing all day—one of the very worst I have ever known, Arizona and Southern California not excepted. It was impossible to see ten feet in front of one, at times. March 30th. Had an excellent breakfast at Colonel Royall’s at 4’ o’clock in the morning. Met there General and Mrs. Crook, Colonel Stanton, Dr. Barnett, and Lieut. [Morris Cooper] Foote, Adjutant 9th Infantry. Started on a special train from Omaha, at 6 a.m., for Saint Joseph, Mo., to attend a town celebration there. . . . Our party consisted of General and Mrs. Crook, Mrs. [sic] French, (daughter of Chaplain French.) Lieut. Bourke, Aide de Camp, Cols. Royall, Ludington, Stanton & Burnham, Major Furey, Dr. Barnett, Lieuts Foote, [James] Regan and [William Edwin] Hoffman and Messers, Bennett, Chambers and Hull, the whole party under care of Mr. Barnard of the K-C., St. Jo. and C-B. R.R. We made very good time, the first forty-two miles in exactly an hour. We had a glimpse of the great Thompson farm which last year raised 1800 Acres of corn averaging 75 Bu[shels]. to the A[cre]. Thousand of wild geese, filled the field on each side, their white plumage resembling drifts of snow. Reached Saint Joseph, 141 miles from Omaha in four hours at the dépôt, were received by a Committee and driven in carriages to the (renovated) Pacific House and there changed our travelling clothes for full miliary uniforms to wear in the procession which was much like all other demonstrations of the kind, composed of open carriages containing distinguished guests, bands of music banding away, (2 of them belonging to the Regular Army—one to the 9th Infantry at Omaha, the other to the 19th at Fort Leavenworth.) societies in regalia—and industrial and manufacturing representations.

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After the procession, we adjourned to the hotel where I had an opportunity of meeting many agreeable people. From Fort Leavenworth had come some of my classmates, Phil. Reade, and Dan Taylor—also Pope J. W. and [Ernest Howard] Ruffner of ’68 and 67 respectively.—[William Jefferson] Volkmar of ‘68—General C.H. Smith, 19th Infantry, General [Thomas] Wilson and many others. Mr. Gale called upon me and introduced himself as the husband of Lieut Cushing’s sister. Lieut. Cushing, for a long time my Commanding Officer was killed by Apache Indians in Arizona, May 5th 1871. (see my note-books passim. . . .)18 Was presented to Mrs. Craig, wife of my old friend, Lieut. Louis Craig, 6th Cavalry, now in Arizona. Mrs. Craig made me feel good by saying she had often heard my Arizona friends speak of me in the most complimentary terms. She afterwards presented me to many of her friends, with whom I assisted in receiving the great tragedian, [John] McCullough. We drank his health, in champagne and found him affable, unassuming and well-informed. At 4 p.m. the invited guests to the number of 250, or thereabouts, entered the beautiful dining room of the Pacific House to partake of a banquet tendered by the Saint Joseph Board of Trade. I will pass over the banquet—one is very much like another. I must not omit to say that we had an abundance of the best champagne to which all did full justice. Speechmaking followed, as a matter of course, General Crook replying for the Army, and Lieut. Phil. Reade for Nebraska. Reade’s remarks were very funny and kept the audience in roars of laughter. Mr. Crittenden, of the Saint Louis Chamber of Commerce, made a remarkably good address, in the course of which he told those assembled that every ship yard on the Ohio River, from Pittsburgh to Mound City, was now busy building barges to carry Western cereals from the Missouri and Mississipi rivers to the Ocean. In the evening, proceeded to Tootle’s Opera House to witness to McCullough’s performance of Othello; he rendered the play with wonderful effect and received able support, especially from Iago (Mr. F. B. Waide.) and Desdemona, (Miss Forsythe, a beautiful young lady.) McCullough and Miss Forsythe were twice called before the curtain to receive the applause of the immense concourse of appreciative and intelligent spectators. 18. See pp. 256–57.

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After the theatre, we were invited to a Ball, but as I was already quite worn out, I staid only long enough to meet a few nice people and pay my respects to our good-natured hosts and then to bed. Here our party broke up; General Crook with most of the Omaha delegation returning to that point; the officers from Leavenworth, returning there, while Colonel Royall, Major Furey, Mr. Chambers and myself started, March, 3rd, for Kansas City. Here we put up, as usual, at the Saint James and bought April 1st of Steward and Ward, twenty-seven and of Ivel Thomas five horses; in the inspecting, branding and shipping of which we were kept at work all day. Heavy Rain at night. April 2d. At Pacific Hotel, St. Joseph. Rained a little in morning. Purchased a carload, seventeen horses, of E. F. Mitchell, and six of Mr. J. Couch. Shipped those purchased of Mitchell but left Couch’s at his stable, at his cost of keep, to await our return from Omaha. Telegraphed to horse-dealers in Centralia and Chilocothe to gather up horses to be ready for inspection by the 10th and 12th instant. Took afternoon train for Omaha, reaching Fort Omaha by 8.30 P.M. Had a severe but brief hail storm while en route and saw, as on down trip, immense flocks of wild white geese. Day cloudy, cool and damp.

Chapter 19 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Phil Reade and Old Jerry

A

pril 6th 1880. As I have spoken of my friend Lieut. Philip Reade, in my description of the banquet at Saint Joseph, I think proper to make at this point some further reference to him for the reason that he is not only one of the most original geniuses I’ve ever encountered, but also on acc’t. of the romantic tinge given his whole life by a certain circumstance to be noted. Reade was brought up in good circumstances—a great misfortune for him—as poverty would have stimulated his ambition and given his intellectual powers something to work for. At the Mily. Academy, he was a shrewd, bright fellow, quick as a flash to seize upon the subtle points of a mathematical demonstration, but unjust to himself in the total lack of application to study. He had a number of escapades while there—some of them exceedingly laughable. I remember that he climbed into the recitation room of the “immortals” (in math.) of our class and during the absence of instructors and janitors set about an examination of the instructor’s desk to find the list of “subjects” for the approaching “January” [examination]. Professor [Albert E.] Church1 happened 1. Bourke mentions Church’s death, speaking of him in high terms, in Robinson, Diaries, 2:384.

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along at the time and took a notion to go into this very room, the door of which Phil., very fortunately had locked and, while Profr. Church was waiting for the janitor, old Luke, to come up with the key, boldly slipped down by a rope from the window and reached ground in safety. He was unsuccessful in that venture, but undismayed, for we next heard of him doing one of the boldest things ever dreamed of at West Point, that breeding-place of courage. Reade bribed Captain Warner’s negro servant and one cold morning, just after Xmas, he entered Warner’s bed room at reveille dressed in the negro’s coat and blacked up like a minstrel. It was so dark and Warner was so sleepy that he never suspected anything wrong, and beyond swearing at the “d–d nigger” for his clumsiness, said nothing. Reade took out Warner’s boots to be blacked and returned for his clothes which he brushed with so much care that he found in the pocket of his pantaloons the memoranda of the topics each cadet in the “Immortals”, (the section presided over by Warner.) would be required to discuss or demonstrate at the Examinations. Need it be said that the Academic Board was amazed at the profound knowledge displayed by the young gentlemen whose recitation marks for the preceding six months had apparently shown them to be idlers or block-heads! Yet such was the case; the section did magnificently and for a long time, no one was the wiser; not until Phil. Reade had left the Academy did the secret leak out. Appointed to a lieutenancy in the Regular Army, Reade drifted out to the plains of Colorado and Kansas, and there in one of the young towns, Topeka, I think, became acquainted with a lovely and talented girl whose poverty was an obstacle to her ambition to cultivate a naturally sweet and powerful voice. My friend about this period of his life had been estranged for some trivial reason from the lady he loved and in a fit of pique, compassion or romance espoused the young girl I am now writing about and immediately after the wedding ceremony sent her to Italy to receive the musical training she needed and desired. In Europe she remained for four years becoming a vocalist of artistic finish, but just as she was about to leave for America to rejoin her husband, she died. Now comes the romantic part. Our newspapers published sensational stories alleging that Reade’s wife never had died; on the contrary, she had eloped with an Italian prince with whom she was living

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in Switzerland,—the corpse sent to America was a body obtained from the Paris Morgue, and many other thrilling features worked in to satisfy our taste for highly-seasoned literature. I don’t wish to dwell upon this theme, even supposing that any part of it were true. I shouldn’t have alluded to it at all, were it not necessary for the continuity of the story. His first wife being dead, Reade unexpectedly met up with the young lady who had engaged his affections as a Cadet; in less time than it takes to mention the fact, they were married, married and now living as happy and devoted a couple as can be found anywhere. While travelling in a Pullman car, on a Western road, Reade played an atrocious prank on a number of bald-headed old deacons who occupied adjoining berths. He waited until everybody had gotten up in the morning and then pulling on a pair of bright red striped women’s stockings (which he had in his valise.) he thrust one of his legs out from the curtains enclosing his bed. The car was soon in a foment: the ladies were shocked at such brazen-faced conduct by one of their own sex, (as they supposed), while the bald-headed deacons nearly twisted their necks off in trying to get a closer look at the liberal exhibition of anatomy. Phil. waited until he was certain he must be the cynosure of all eyes and then thrusting out his bright, red head and aquiline nose applied his extended palms to the tip of the latter and gyrated his long fingers in derision at the gentlemen. At another time, in Prescott, Arizona, he was invited by the officers of Fort Whipple2 to attend a social hop to be given at the garrison the very evening of his arrival. He sent a very elaborate reply to the Committee, regretting his inability to attend not having any suitable clothes—his baggage had been detained—nothing could give him more pleasure than to attend as he was extremely fond of dancing, but under the circumstances &c &c &c; in brief, he wrote such a note that the Committee had nothing else to do but insist upon his coming in anything he had. Phil. made his appearance in the midst 2. Fort Whipple was established December 23, 1863, in the Chino Valley, about twentyfive miles north of Prescott, and relocated to Prescott five months later. The first telegraph linking Arizona to the outside world was established between Whipple and San Diego in 1873. In 1879, Fort Whipple was consolidated with Prescott Barracks to become Whipple Barracks. It served as departmental headquarters until 1887, when Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles moved headquarters to Los Angeles. Deactivated in 1922, it is now used by the Veterans Administration as a hospital. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 63–67; Frazer, Forts of the West, 14–15.

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of the festivities, clad in a suit of pajamas; (a garment in one piece, much like a child’s night-gown and used by the laboring classes in China, parts of the East Indies and Mexico.) red stockings, pointed Turkish slippers and a wig, terminating in a long Chinese queue! The ladies were terribly perplexed and offended but Reade stood his ground, insisted upon it that he had let the Committee know he had no suitable clothes, that they had urged him to come in the best he had and there he was; and there he staid, too, until the end of the Hop. April 7th Col. Royall, Mr. Chambers and myself started for Kansas city, Mo., to continue purchase of Cavalry horses. Col. Ludington, Chief Q.M. of the Dept. turned over to me an additional $24.000 to buy two hundred more. Read in the papers this afternoon of the shipment from San Francisco, to Germany, of One Hundred Thousand Gallons of California Wine. The vineyards of Europe have suffered so terribly from the ravages of the phylloxera3 during the past five years that their accustomed production has been much reduced and American wine is now to be brought into use, for “filling” and “doctoring” purposes. This new and important demand will stimulate our wine-growers to new energy and beyond question American wine will within the next twenty years assume a high place in the list of our staple resources. California and Arizona should yield immensely in wine, raisins, figs and olives, besides mescal and wild hemp for cordage, and the deserts lying along the lower Colorado and Gila could most profitably be utilized as breeding places for that valuable and easily-raised bird—the ostrich. My old friend, Cap’t. Jerry Russell, 3d Cavy., was in Omaha, all day yesterday and to-day, much to my regret, as I missed the pleasure of meeting the eccentric and good-natured old fellow. My note-books contain liberal references to old Jerry4. . . . but as the gallant old veteran is now progressing towards the grave,5 I may be pardoned for again filling these pages with anecdotes which will 3. The grape phylloxera (daktulosphaira vitifoliae) is an insect that feeds on grape vine roots. Aside from primary damage caused by the insect itself, the root is susceptible to secondary infection from fungi. http://berrygrape.oregonstate.edu/fruitgrowing/grapes/phybiol. htm 4. See Chapter 13. 5. In fact, Russell outlived Bourke by almost nine years, dying on April 2, 1905. Altshuler, Cavalry Yellow and Infantry Blue, 291.

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at least serve to recall to my own mind some very pleasant, very unusual or very trying experiences. Jerry’s life, to quote his own words, had been unusually eventful. “Fursth, a bog-throttherr, thin a cob-bler, din an im-migrant, din a ‘wea-r-r-y’ (i.e. his designation for a private soldier.) din a Carpr-r-il, din a Sor-r-gint and now oi’m a commissioned off-sur and a Cap-tin fur loife, ‘s’long’s oi bee-have moisilf, and a gintlemin, bee act of Con-gress, bee Jay-sus Croist”. Russell, when I first met him at his station, Fort Selden, New Mexico, a post on the Rio Grande long since abandoned, had great trouble with his 1st Lt. O’Conner, as already described. The old man received me most kindly into his “mess”, which, by the way, was one of the poorest I’ve ever seen; a fact the good-hearted old fellow seemed to feel ashamed of as he explained apologetically that he was “now livin equinomikilly, thayin’ to lay boi a little mún-ee so’s to go East and see what Dame For-chin’ll do--o fur me in de way of a dam-m noise woife”. He was the soul of hospitality and never, except on one occasion, failed to invite visiting officers to take “pot-luck” with him. The occasion referred to was during the time he was stationed at Fort Bowie, Arizona, a small garrison occupying the place and making it necessary to detail officers from other posts every time a General Court Martial was ordered. A party of young officers—[William L.] Sherwood, since killed in the Modoc war (in 1873),6 [Valentine M. C.] Silva run out for cowardice in the Modoc war, in ’73, Jim Riley and [John Francis] Lewis, both since resigned, and, I think Paddy Miles, all of the 21st Infantry, were ordered up from Tucson to assist in administering the decree of the blind goddess upon “pay-day drunks”. Every house in the garrison was thrown open to them, excepting Russell’s, but the explanation received from him was sufficiently clear and satisfactory. His cook had deserted and poor 6. The Modoc War originated in an 1864 treaty by which the Modocs ceded their territory on the California-Oregon boundary, and agreed to move to the Klamath Reservation in Oregon. Clashes erupted between Modocs and Klamaths, and disgusted with federal indifference, a band of Modocs led by Captain Jack returned to their own lands in 1872. When troops were sent, the Modocs fortified the lava beds south of Tule Lake, California, where less than a hundred warriors held off over a thousand regular soldiers and Indian auxiliaries. In April 1873, Brig. Gen. Edward R. S. Canby, commander of the Department of Columbia, was assassinated during a meeting with the Modocs. Eventually, they were forced to surrender, and exiled to the Indian Territory. Captain Jack and three others were hanged for Canby’s murder, and two other Modocs were imprisoned at Fort Alcatraz, California. Utley, Encyclopedia of the American West, 295; Hoxie, Encyclopedia of North American Indians, 319.

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Jerry having himself to “browse around” from house to house for a living, could not possibly to anything for the “in-thir-tain-mint” of the new arrivals. They begged him “not to mention it” but old Jerry refused to be comforted and took the matter greatly to heart, brooding over it more and more with the libations of the afternoon. As night wore on, the potations of most of the officers as, I’m sorry to say, was then almost the rule in Arizona and New Mexico, became deeper and more frequent and Russell’s explanations of his inability to inthir-tain were growing monotonous with iteration. About 2 in the morning, the séance broke up, the young lieutenants being stowed away in one big room, with half-a-dozen hospital cots in it. They were just tucked in nicely under the blankets and getting ready to dream of promotion, sweethearts, Indian campaigns and other subjects when they were aroused by the noise of a chair crashing upon the floor and to their horror they saw in the pale light of the morn, a figure all clad in white, holding in one outstretched hand a package of some kind and the other, uplifted, a gleaming poniard! Their fears of assassination were promptly dispelled by old Jerry’s reasoning tones. “Oi’m sor-r-ry to thrubl-ble jiz, gintil-min, but de fact is oi cud’n’t slee-eep until oi’d dun somethin’ fur your intirtainmint. Moi Cuke—Lloyd—diserthid las’ Winsday, so oi cudn’t in-tir-tain yiz at all; but av Lloyd, moi cuke hedn’t diserthid, las’ Winsday, oi’d a bin moity glad to intir-tain yiz all in moi ‘miss’.7 [“]But oi’ve brought yiz all some refrishmint which oi want to share wid yiz, an’ oi’me moi’ty sorry oi can’t do more fur yiz becos’ moi cuke, Lloid, diserthed, las’ Winsday”— As he spoke, he thrust the hunting knife, he held uplifted, into the mysterious package which discovered itself to be a can of Irish potatoes, and breaking off the cover handed to each Lieutenant in turn a mouthful upon the end of a blade. In vain were protests and excuses: Russell would hear of no denial; he was obstinate in his resolve to do “somethin’ fur dare intertain-mint”, his cuke, Lloyd, had diserthid las’ Win’sday and he cud [“]foind nothin’ but purtaters” and in spite of all opposition, he forced his unfortunate young friends to consume the contents of the can. The next morning they were all sick:—not from the whiskey 7. I.e., mess.

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they had drunk, of course, but from the potatoes forced down their throats at their nocturnal “int-ter-tain-mint.” While I was at his mess, he gave a lot of us his opinion of the military service in a way which was at once mirth-provoking, drunken and oracular. “It’s moi proi-vit opin-yun, gintil-min, based upon ixpayroyince, becos’ oi’ve now bin goin’ an nointeen yée-urs in de U-noi-tid Steets Ormee, dat de whole Damd Milée-tery outfit’s goin’ to Hell”. In the management of his company, he was a stern disciplinarian, as he understood discipline—gentle to the well-behaved, but a perfect terror to the lazy and indifferent. I was talking with him one morning when a new recruit walked up to the Captain to complain that he hadn’t been granted a “mounted” pass. Russell explained good-naturedly that he never gave recruits the privilege of taking a horse away from the Company picket line until he was satisfied they knew how to take care of them. Hereupon, the soldier, in a very insolent way, tore up the “application” he had written and made some impudent remark. Russell never lost his temper, but quietly called to the 1st Sergeant Cox, who was standing within hearing. “Sór-júnt Cox, I want yiz to thay’n foind a noice twenty eight poun’ log fur dis young gintil-min’s back; Dat’ll do my man, dat’ll do”. (this last to the recruit.): and then turning to me he said, “Oi reckon that’ll put an ind to de young gintilmin’s hoi-lar-vi-tee”.8 A great tumult sprang up one day, in his company, about meal time:—some trouble or another about the cooking, which Jerry explained to a knot of his brother-officers in the following way: “we de-kleer to God’llmoighty, gintilmin, the base ingratichood av din wea-r-r-ies ov moine’s perficly ‘stonishin! Oi stuff thim full ov all dat morchil man can dee-soire and yet here dey go to wor-ruk a[nd] break a bran’ new skillet over moi noice fur-r-st sor-júnt’s head’ an’ all becos’ dey didn’t hev enough toe-mat-tus-ses in dare God-damn-n su-u-upe”. (soup.) Marching with him from the Rio Grande to the Rio Gila (Arizona.) in 1870. I noticed his whole company or nearly the whole, marching on foot, “packing” their saddles and kits on their shoulders, while a small detachment, mounted, drove the horses along in a herd in front. 8. The soldier would either have to walk a tour, probably of several hours, carrying the log on his shoulders, or stand for several hours holding up the log on his shoulders.

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Seeing my amazement, he asked me quietly—“Phat do yiz tink av dim ‘wea-r-r-ees’ av moin, over dare, Borruk”? Thinking to placate the old man, I answered that I thought they were a very fine lot of men and that he certainly had the very best company in the regiment. “Do yiz tink so, now, Bor-ruk?[”] said he—[“]well, sor-r-r, on de conthry, dare the damnedest lot ov villins, louses, búmmers, teeves an’ oi moight say dam’ schoundhrils’n murherers there are in dee Unoi-ted Steets Ormy”. Once in Arizona, our respective companies, Jerry’s K, commanded by himself and the one I was attached to, “F”, commanded by 1 Lt. H. B. Cushing, as brave a soldier as ever drew a breath, were engaged constantly in hard work with the wild Apache Indians. The traveller of to-day, who is whirled into Tucson in a sleeping car, drawn by a locomotive, will not readily believe that less than ten years ago, the Apaches made the Territory of Arizona a Hell; nor will he as he visits the wonderful mining district of Tombstone readily credit that within sight of where it now is, poor Cushing was killed by Cocheis’ band and Jerry Russell time and again whipped by them. But old Jerry’s pluck was indomitable; he kept after Cocheis so long as a horse in his troop could follow the trail, or until the Apaches would scatter like crows. In the Dragoon mountains, the trail one afternoon had become very “hot”, showing that our troops were gaining on the enemy. Russell halted his men long enough to let their jaded horses sip a few mouthfuls of water from the gurgling streamlet which flowed down through the cañon and engaged in conversation with Bob Whitney, his guide, as to the plan to be followed in the further pursuit when suddenly from all sides, from every pinnacle crag, bang! bang! bang! sounded the rifles of the Apaches, whose exultant war-whoop told poor Jerry only too plainly that he had been drawn into an ambuscade! He turned to speak to his guide, but at that very moment, poor Bob Whitney, reeled from his saddle, shot through the head, his brains splashed all over Jerry Russell’s face! By great shrewdness, Russell managed to hold the Indians at bay until dark and then sneaked out of the cañon, (fortunately he had not ventured in very far and his halting his company to water almost at its mouth caused some of the impatient young Indians to precipitate the attack.) leaving a number of animals, but getting away with his killed and wounded. He wrote me a long letter soon after descriptive of this fight which I

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remember very well contains the perfectly true but oddly expressed, idea—“Oi tell yiz wat it is, Boruk, it’s dam-m-m hor-r-d wor-ruk, dis snatchin’ de lor-rills from de br-r-row ov Fa-m-m-e.” The unfortunate guide, Bob Whitney, was one of the handsomest men I ever saw with a face darkened by exposure to Arizona’s sun, the brick color mantling his cheeks was well set off by an abundance of fine, glossy black hair and a pair of very expressive, hazel eyes: in stature, though not much over the medium height, he was so finely proportioned that he would be considered tall. He was a good horseman and very daring scout. He showed me a number of bullet wounds received in action with Indians and, what caused me most wonder! a half-dozen long scars on his right arm, caused by arrows. Whitney was with a party of whites surprised by Indians; the fleetness of his horse saved him, but one young Indian pursued desperately determined to gain his scalp. Whitney kept his sombrero whirling in the air behind his back, warning off the arrows the Indian threw at him. As the Indian was going at full speed, he couldn’t aim or pull so well as if moving more slowly, to which fact Whitney always attributed his escape, almost without a scratch, the three arrows which caught his arm ploughing up only enough of the flesh to leave deep scars. Russell gained great popularity with the people of Southern Arizona. When the 3d Cavalry was ordered away from the Territory (in Dec. 1871.) Russell had to march his company out, by way of Tucson. While there he was the recipient of a great deal of attention, which he accepted with becoming modesty. Among other courtesies, a number of gentlemen invited him into Charlie Brown’s Congress Hall Saloon, to drink to his health, in something which was labelled “Champagne”. Jerry’s reply was characteristic: “moi frinds, Oi tank yiz fur yur kindness. Oi don’t pur-tind to bee a foighter becos’ oi’ve no mo-nomée-nia for foightin’ Injuns, but at same toime oi can’t bear to see my frinds kilt and dare prop-per-tee goin to der-struc-shun widout doin’ somethin’ fur to pur-tect thim”. (Loud Applause) That night, a party of nine second lieutenants assembled in a house in Tucson, belonging to Lord & Williams, (one of the principal firms.) The purpose of these Lieutenants in thus meeting was vague and ill-defined; it was principally to growl at the dilatoriness of promo-

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tion and in a secondary way to drink a little toddy together before parting. Jerry Russell happened by and some one, I really can’t tell who, proposed that the meeting be properly organized with Cap’t. Russell as presiding officer. This motion was carried by acclamation and Jerry, with his “blushing honors thick upon him” was led to the only chair in the house, the rest of the party sitting upon the floor, à la Mexicaine, or upon the bundles of blankets in which they had slept during the preceding night. Then it was moved and adopted that each of the party, in proper turn, should sing a suitable song, tell an original joke or story or forfeit a bottle of wine. Jerry led off in a piping treble, his cracked and husky voice rendering Moore’s pretty song in a very feeling way: “Bee-lieve me av oll din indearing young-g char-rums: &c.[“]9 This, as in duty bound, we applauded heartily. Then Dave Lyle, (now of the Ordnance Corps but who at that time was connected with Lieut Wheeler’s Survey in Arizona.) gave what he said was a Chinnook song, in the language of that tribe. It sounded like a buzz-saw. Lieut. [William] Ross (an A.D.C. of Genl. Crook’s, since resigned.) gave us very sweetly “Annie Laurie in the Trenches”, by Bayard Taylor. When it came to my turn, as I couldn’t sing any more than a screechowl, I yelled at the top of my voice a Spanish madrigal which I had often heard howled by our Mexican packers, and so it went on, each one singing as best he could, until the name of W. W. Robinson, my classmate, (now of 7th Cavy.,) was called. Robinson, arose, said he couldn’t sing a note and sooner than sing wretchedly as some of the gentlemen who had preceded him, he would gladly forfeit a bottle of wine. (Tremendous applause.) The wine was obtained without much trouble, (notwithstanding it was now past midnight,) and drunk with becoming honors. Again the roll was called by our worthy chairman, who was about this time getting to be very drunk and very dignified, and again each in turn rendered his tribute in sentimental song, until Robinson was called upon. He declined more emphatically than before—said he had never sung a word in all his life and would produce another bottle 9. “Believe Me, Of All These Endearing Young Charms,” a staple of Irish repertory.

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of wine sooner than try. Noting that Robinson was married and that wine cost $5.00 a bottle in Tucson, I expostulated with him and said “sotto voce”, “Great Caesar’s ghost, Rob, sing something. Anything will do on this drunken crowd”—and thus encouraged, Robinson essayed that beautiful hymn “Rock of Ages”, with which he was progressing famously when Ross (W. J.) in a spirit of deviltry called the chair’s attention to the fact that Robinson was trying to impose upon us with a comic song. “Dat’s so, Mis-ther Robinson,[”] said Russell, very decidedly,—[“]dat’s so; yiz must sing us a sintimintil song, or none at all, at all.” “Why Captain,[”] replied the injured singer[, “]that’s the Rock of Ages,—one of the most beautiful”:—“Nivir moind, Misther Robinson[,”] replied the chair, this time with much sternness of manner—“nivir moind excusis; it may be a comic song or it may not be, but at laste the oi-jée is de-soididly objecitonable, so yiz’ll pay de bottil ov woine widout furder thrubble”. Which poor Robinson did with scarce-concealed disgust. Is it necessary to interpolate the remark that shortly after this, the meeting broke up and that we carried our Chairman home to bed? I next met Jerry at Fort Laramie, Wyo., in 1875, whence we were both to start out with Col. [Richard Irving] Dodge’s Expedition to explore the Black Hills;—Russell commanding his Co., and I, a member of Dodge’s staff as Engineer officer.10 Russell invited [Thomas] McMillan, (the correspondent of the Chicago Inter-Ocean, & a very bright, pleasant fellow.) to take dinner with him and myself. The ménu was not very deliberate; simply, vegetable soup, bread and coffee, but I’ll never forget the affair so long as I live. Jerry insisted on our partaking of a couple of toddies before sitting down to table and was in decidedly high feather. He said, “Gintilmen, dis Comp’ny has a Cap’n Roussil, a Lieutinint Roussil, a sor-jint Roussil, moi cuke’s name’s Roussil, moi sthriker’s name’s Roussil11 an’ oive a devilish good lookin recruit just jined de Compn’y—his name’s Roussil and oim tinkin’ ov making him a Corp-r-r-il, boin-boi—Née-po-tism, Borruck, mee boi, nee-po-tism”. 10. The expedition is covered in Robinson, Diaries, Volume 1, Chapter 9. 11. The striker was an enlisted man who moonlighted as a servant for an officer. Although the practice was outlawed in 1870, the law was observed more in the breach until specifically prohibited by Army Regulations in 1881. Even then, the position did not completely disappear. By working as a striker, an enlisted man could live in private quarters, eat better, avoid more onerous duties, and supplement his meager army pay. Knight, Life and Manners, 128.

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Of Russell’s deep studies in history and philosophy, I think, I’ve already spoken, but I must mention his colloquy with Captain Alfd. Taylor, of the 5th Cavalry, “since retired.” “Taylor—mee boi[”]—said Russell, [“]oi’m an evo-lu-tionist—oi’m an evolutionist—To Hell wid de Pope. To Hell wid de Pope”. This was when Jerry and Alfd. Taylor were both very drunk; when sober, Jerry was a dutiful son of the Church. After the campaign against the Sioux and Cheyennes (1876–1877.) Russell went East on a leave of absence, passing most of his time in New York City. One evening he visited the Opera House, where it happened that a great prima-donna, (who I really forget, but I think it was Nillson,) was singing her best songs. Pit, Galleries and Boxes were crowded with the wealth, beauty[,] intellect and power of the great metropolis: the blaze of light from hundreds of jets [of gas] was flashed back from crystal chandeliers and reflected again from costly jewels worn by lovely women. The scene was a grand one and to an officer fresh from the rough life of the frontier it should have been replete with interest and fascination. But poor old Jerry’s heart was back with his fellow-soldiers whom he had left on the banks of the Platte. His anxious gaze wandered from tier to tier, from gallery to gallery, and, to quote his language, “in all dat vast au-jince, oi found dat oi hedn’t a frind. Oi de-kleer to God’llmoighty, Bar-ruk, oi’d hev given foive dhollars for de soight av de face of wan ov des we-a-r-ries av ‘K’ thrupe”. Jerry at once wrote to his comrades that he was tired of life in the East and would start to rejoin, “de ridgemint boi de toime de burr-ds av Spring begin to pipe dare mer-r-ry lays”. So much for Jerry Russell. We visited this afternoon one of the brick-yards of which Kansas City has twenty-five working their full capacity, and passed a profitable half hour inspecting the process of tempering the clay in the pug-mills, moulding, “edging and hacking” the bricks and burning them in the kiln. Took lunch at Gaston’s saloon, which we found crowded with business men, clerks, travellers and others. Here one gets the juiciest roast beef and the best bread in the Western country. From the quantities of malt and spirituous liquors sold here it is not difficult to believe the report that Gaston is rapidly piling up a comfortable fortune.

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pril 8th 1880 and April 9th 1880. Hard at work buying horses. The dust in Kansas City, especially in and around the different horse yards is simply beyond description. There has been no rain of consequence for months, and soil is reduced to an impalpable powder which the strong shifting breezes lift in dense clouds to annoy and plague the unfortunate wretches whom business compels to remain out of doors. The business of inspecting horses for Government use is a very serious affair but with such experts as Colonel Royall and Mr. Chambers it is done through with the rapidity of clock-work. The horse is carefully examined to determine his age, condition of legs and hoofs [sic] and all joints,—his eyes are then looked into for any defects and if this preliminary inspection be passed, he is led off to one side and tied up to await the more rigid examination of trotting and running a couple of hundred yards to show his gaits and action and to bring out any obscure trouble of lungs or heart. Not more than one horse in three has been accepted. After acceptance, each horse is branded US on the near1 fore-shoulder, his description entered in the book kept for that purpose, and then 1. Left.

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vouchers are made out for signature by the seller, to whom a Treasury check is at once issued and the horses, in car-load lots, driven to the R.R. dépôt for shipment. For my own safety, I shall enter in this book, as a matter of record, the numbers purchased on different dates, and of different parties, with prices paid and distances travelled.2 Read in this morning’s Kansas City Herald that a glucose factory is to be established in Kansas City: I hope soon to hear that Omaha is similarly progressive. Glucose, or grape-sugar, is obtained from corn-starch in the following manner. It is well known as a chemical fact that maize contains starch in the ratio of 81 p.c,3 and that its extraction is a matter of mechanical simplicity, the ground corn being boiled with an alkaline powder, (wood ashes,) to neutralize any fermenting principle present, and then washed in cold water which carries off in suspension the amylaceous particles. This corn-starch is stined4 into water at a temperature of about 150°F, (tepid.) and then run into a “digester”, where it is boiled for 30 minutes in dilute Sulphuric acid, (i.e. one per ct. of the sulphuric acid of commerce.) The excess of acid is precipitated by powdered lime or chalk and the glucose in solution concentrated by boiling. One Bushel of corn yields nearly four Gals. of Glucose syrup, containing less than 70 c. and selling readily @ $1.40 wholesale. The demand must for years to come exceed the supply, as glucose is coming more and more into general use as a “table” syrup, besides being used to sweeten ale, wine, beer and whiskey, preserve canned fruits, and by confectioners and others. Nebraska last year yielded over 82.000.000 Bs. of wheat and corn, which will always be the mainstay of her prosperity; but how much greater should her advantages be if instead of sending these products to market in the raw state, she would turn them first into whiskey, beer, high wines, glucose[,] bacon[,] beef or blooded horses! Started by the local train, April 9th, for Saint Joseph. At the Union dépôt hotel, an exceptionally nice affair, with excellent rooms and good table, met at supper Mr. Barnard, the General manager of the 2. See pp. 410–11. 3. Parts per hundred. 4. Strained?

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K-C, St. Jo. & C-B R.R. with whom I engaged in a very interesting conversation. He told me that in his travels he had been much impressed with a feature of the English railway system. The cars run into “Union” dépôts, the upper stories of which are kept in good style as hotels for the exclusive use of passengers. Instead of getting out of a warm car into a chilling omnibus and riding all over creation to get to a hotel at midnight the weary traveller enters an “elevator”, ascends one story, registers in the hotel office and is assigned a room where he sleeps undisturbed by any noise, as the floors are “deadened”. In the morning, he is awakened at the proper hour, dresses, breakfasts and is taken down to the right train with scarcely any trouble. The plan is the only correct one and should be adopted by us without any delay.5 April 10th. Buying horses in Saint Joseph, Mo. At night, Colonel Royall and I went to see Conrad, the Corsair, in Tootle’s Opera House. Before the performance commenced, I found Mr. Rice, the manager, who was, I knew the brother of my friend, Lieut. W. F. Rice, R.Q.M., 23d Infantry, and upon making Col. Royall and myself known to him, he very courteously invited us to accept a Box, an attention we gratefully declined being already provided with seats. The play was very funny and the actors well up in their parts. I laughed until my sides ached. Miss Seale and Miss Jarbeau, the two leading ladies, were extremely beautiful; the one, a blonde; the other, a brunette—both possessed of good voices, superb forms, pretty faces, piquant, graceful manners and artistic ability of a high order. April 11th, (Sunday.) Hunted up Mr. and Mrs. Gayle, principally for the purpose of seeing the latter, the sister of the late Lieutenant Cushing, my friend and Company Commander, killed by Apache Indians, in Arizona, in 1871. Mrs. Gayle is a very handsome and refined lady, and comes of the best fighting blood in this country. One brother, “Albemarle” Cushing, blew up the rebel ram Albemarle—the most recklessly daring naval feat of the war of the Rebellion; another, Alonzo, was killed at Gettysburgh [sic], shortly 5. This still may been seen in Edinburgh, where train travelers arriving at Waverley Station may exit directly into the North British Hotel on Princes Street. In the United States, of course, the railroad hotel has been replaced by the airport hotel, and in the larger ones, trams take passengers directly from the terminal to the hotel.

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after his graduation from the Mily. Academy; the third, H. B., my friend, was a most distinguished Indian fighter and lost his life in a desperate encounter with Cocheis’ band of Apache Indians—and the last, has been for years, a Paymaster in the Navy, who has seen much hard service. Mrs. Gayle has the best of reasons for being proud of her four brothers. The Court-House of Saint Joseph is the best public building in this part of the country, not counting those erected by the general government. We arranged to take the night-train for Kansas City; this started at 12.45 a.m. Not wishing to sleep too profoundly, I dozed in one of the heavy library chairs in the Reading Room; the hotel clerk very accomodatingly placed a pillow under my head and promised to awaken me in time. My nap was rudely broken by the insolent behavior of a trio of Chicago “drummers” who had a very “good time” hallooing and coughing in my ears. Waked up;—one apologized, a second sneaked off and the third was saucy. Licked him and took the train for Kansas City. Colonel Royall stood by me during this affray and permitted no undue interference on the part of bystanders. All the berths taken on the “sleeper”; had to sit up until reached Kansas City, at 3.30 in the morning. Stopped at the Union Dépôt Hotel; every bed was full and we were glad to take anything in the shape of a couch we could get,—Colonel Royall sleeping on a mattress on the floor and I upon a sofa. April 12th 1880. Buying horses all day. Took evening train on Hannibal & St. Jo. R.R. for Liberty, Mo., 15 miles from Kansas City, Mo. Colonel Royall wouldn’t let either Mr. Chambers or myself eat any supper, because he desired us to become the guests of his old school-mate, Mr. Garth, who lived at Liberty and who had been notified by telegraph of our coming. It was our bad fortune, for one reason or another, not to reach Liberty until nearly 9 o’c. in the night, an hour much later than that at which the good people of this part of Missouri are in the habit of taking supper. Our kind hostess, Mrs. Garth, insisted on showing us to our bed-rooms at once, feeling that we might be tired and in need of rest. For my part, I was glad enough to get promptly to bed. In our crowded car on the way up, a murderous-hearted Mick occupied

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the seat directly behind me and smoked a villainous pipe the fumes of which nearly killed every one near him. However, for the sake of “devilling” Colonel Royall, I combined with Mr. Chambers in a growl about our want of food and concurred with him in the opinion that the Colonel should be fined the drinks. This punishment entailed a requisition upon the Colonel’s little flask of good whiskey, which was rapidly drained before his disappointed eyes. Had a refreshing sleep in clean, sweet beds. April 13th. Awakened very early in the morning and ate heartily of a good, old-fashioned breakfast; everything of the best & served in home-like style. After breakfast, walked about Liberty; a small town, once of great consequence in the border trade. It has a substantial Court-House, public school and a Baptist College. Our country is cursed with one-horse sectarian “colleges” of non-instruction. Liberty has considerable wealth; the streets are paved in places and provided with brick pavements. There are many brick and stone houses. It is the centre of a “blue-grass” region, raising herds of blooded horses and mules. Formerly, there were seventy dramshops; now, not one. Near this village were born the notorious outlaws—the James Brothers—whose depredations have caused so much terror in Western Missouri. We were told that one very snowy day, some four or five winters ago, six of their gang rode boldly into Liberty and up to the door of the principal Bank, which two of them guarded, mounted, from the outside, while the others entered presented revolvers at the heads of the Cashier and Teller, robbed the safe of $50.000 and returned. They also shot two persons—a man and a boy,—dead in cold blood—galloped slowly out of town & escaped! We bought five good horses this morning of Wymore and Garth. Had a very appetizing dinner, bade good bye to our charming hostesses, Mrs. Garth and her friend Mrs. Allen and started to return to Kansas City. Our train was late and the station was very quiet, the only signs of life being a dozen lazy niggers loading walnut logs on platform cars on a side-track and about as many more pushing, driving and kicking a drove of squealing hogs into a stock car on the main line. By and Bye, our train hove in sight, we jumped into the Caboose,

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(it was a freight.) and in the course of an hour were on the bridge at Kansas City. April 14th. Worked like beavers from early morn until 7 at night. Bought and branded 73 horses and shipped 70. Day frightfully dusty: Kansas City for sand & dust surpasses any town I ever saw. In going from Stewart & Wards Horse yards to Grant’s, I was taken out of my way by a very stupid or very unprincipled car driver; on my return trip with him to the Union dépôt, to take the proper car, I was prevented from swearing by the ludicrous spectacle of a “jaw-bone controversy” between the driver and a shrill-voiced lady in intensely respectable black bombazine, who had only recently arrived from the Green Isle. “Madam,[”] said he, [“]you must put five cents in the box for your return fare”. “Foive sints is it? Indade’n’oi vil not. Phat phor shud oi pay foive sints? Didn’t you teck me out av mee way, you sthupid thing? Bad lack to yiz, do yiz think oi’m made av foive sints?[”] and so on, so on until the poor driver was glad enough to beat a hasty retreat. The circus is on its way to Kansas City; the only genuine consolidated mammoth Colossal Combination of World’s Wonders, with trained elephants[,] magic mermaids, Performing Lions, Queens of the Arena, Bareback Equestrian vaulters and all the rest of the blood-curdling announcements to fire the schoolboy heart or make the rustic swain drop his plow-handle and ride over to ask his heart’s idol to take in the awe-inspiring attractions under his protecting care. In advance of the circus was the ordinary influx of “side-shows”.— the man with the “Mammoth Kansas Hog, 1512 pounds”—the slippery tongued individual with the “Magic Corn Salve,[”] the modest vender of the Infallible Rheumatic Liniment, the blushing, diffident proprietor of the Peruvian Tooth-Ache Drops and Diamond Dentifrice, with the invariable dirty-fanged small-boy stepping out from amid the crowd of by-standers to have his “pie-pulverizers”, cleaned and renovated; the stentorian-lunged advocate of the merits of the “Canadian Winter-green soap”—warranted to [“]make everything clean from a soiled pocket-handkerchief to a politician’s conscience”: the “step up and try your strength”—scales, the “Cheap Johns”, starting to sell four pairs of ladies Balmoral hoses for a quarter of a dollar and [“]if that don’t suit you, gentlemen, why

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speak out and let me know and I’ll throw in another four pair and this elegant case of ginuwine Sheffield Razors—don’t stand there, young gentlemen and tell me you can’t afford to get married—while such miraculous bargains are to be had for the money[”] &c. &c; and finally the “Variety Combinations” in front of which “suide” brass bands made night hideous by their assault upon big bass-drums and cymbals:—all this for the edification of a throng of country jakes, cow-boys, clod-hoppers, bog-trotters, train-men, “drummers” and cyprians patrolling the streets. April 15th. Bought ten horses from Ivel Thomas. Took early train for Omaha. Sky cloudy. Had a slight hail storm shortly after crossing the Missouri River. Young wheat looking beautiful in broad acres of verdure; while the bluffs were purple with the buds of the wild plum or green with the fast appearing leaflets of the cottonwood, ash and elm. The K-C, St. Jo. and C.B. R.R. is now nearly every foot “steel rail” and great gangs of laborers are hurrying on the completion of the last link; two hundred yards of rail are fastened together and laid at once. At Pacific Junction, great balls of fire were playing about the electric batteries in the Telegraph Office, an indication of a severe storm not far away. The newspapers contain accounts of the burial alive by King Theebaw [sic] of Burmah, of seven hundred of his unfortunate subjects whose sacrifice, he hoped, would appease the Deity by whom he had been visited with the scourge of Leprosy.6 Cadet [Johnson] Whittaker, (colored.) of West Point Mily. Academy, found in his room bound hand and foot with a cadet belt, his head slightly bruised, nose bleeding and ear slit. He reported having been assailed at dead of night by three disguised men, who attempted to kill or “mark him as they do hogs down South”, (i.e.=[“]slit his ears”.) There are not wanting those who believe that Whittaker inflicted this mutilation upon himself to excite sympathy and avert the danger of being found deficient at the coming Examinations and to corroborate this belief there are, it must be admitted, many curious links of circumstantial evidence too extended for insertion in this journal, at least at this time. 6. Thibaw reigned from 1878 to 1885, from Mandalay, Britain having annexed Lower Burma (Rangoon) in 1853, after the Second Burmese War. Following the Third Burmese War in 1885, Britain took over the remainder of the country. http://www.friesian.com/perigoku. htm#konbaung

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Edison, the giant of invention, has stumbled across a process; in part chemical, in part electrical, for the extraction of fine gold from the tailings of mines. There seems to be no reasonable doubt of the practical workings of his method which will add hundreds of millions of dollars to our national wealth. April 16th Dined with my friends, Judge and Mrs. Savage and Mr. Will. Morris. (their son.) In the evening, listened to the Judge’s lecture before the Nebraska Historical Society, upon the “Discovery of Nebraska”—an erudite, finely worded and finely delivered discussion which alluded in terms of panegyria to the labors of the French and Spanish Catholic missionaries in early days. According to the Judge, the Platte country was first settled by the French who under Laclede, in 1764, laid the foundation of the present city of Saint Louis; but it was “explored and described by the French and Spanish missionaries far earlier than the date just given.[”] Marquette, the gentle, noble and heroic Jesuit, the explorer and discoverer of so much of the vast region lying along the Upper Mississipi and between it and the Missouri was in this vicinity, about 1640 and made a topographical chart, (now in Montreal,) in which the position and course of the Upper Mississipi, Missouri, Illinois and Platte rivers are delineated with surprising accuracy. . . . After the lecture of Judge Savage, I dropped in to listen to the concluding portion of the programme of the Boston Mendellsohn [sic] Quintette Club and was delighted with the instrumental part as well as with the superb vocalization of Miss Abbie Carrington. April 18th 1880. Sunday. The worst dusty cyclone I ever have seen; sky clouded as in midst of a thunder storm; impossible to see twenty yards in advance through the opaque masses of sand and dust which have filled the air. April 19th Left Omaha, Neb., by the C.B. and Q.R.R., for Fairfield, Iowa, 247 miles. Reached Fairfield at 4.30 A.M. on April 20th, Bought seventeen fine horses @ $120 each of Steward and Ward, (of Kansas City, Mo.) Branded and shipped them; took breakfast and then started on train for Saint Joseph, Mo., 244 miles. Fairfield is a prosperous go-ahead little place of about 4000 pop. It is the point of intersection of the C.B.&Q. and the South West

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branch of the C, R-I and P7 R.R.s. and the centre of considerable local traffic. Two days before our arrival a great cyclone had swept through the down, demolishing many buildings and covering the CourtHouse square with sheets of tin roofing. This cyclone had crossed the country from South West Arkansas, through Missouri and part of Kansas, across Iowa and into Wisconsin, working great havoc especially in the neighborhood of Mansfield, Mo., which town it wiped out of existence, killing one hundred of its inhabitants and wounding as many more. Reached Saint Joseph, Mo., at 8.30 P.M. April 21st Bought twelve horses of E. F. Mitchell and four of M. J. Couch, all @ $120. Shipped them to Omaha and took afternoon train for Kansas City. Since leaving Omaha, the cars have been so crowded with passengers, the weather so unseasonably warm and the roads so dusty that travelling has been far from pleasant. April 22d 1880 (Kansas City, Mo.) Bought thirty seven horses branded & shipped them. The Saint James, the hotel at which we put up in Kansas City compared very poorly with the reworked Pacific House at Saint Joseph. By contrast, it appears dirty and untidy, the table poorly supplied and served and the bed rooms in very ordinary condition. April 23d 1880. Arose at 5 in the morning and took Hannibal & Saint Joseph R.R. for Chilicothe. Sky cloudy. Day very sultry. Country passed over very picturesque in green and purple. All farm houses and residences surrounded by groves of fruit trees—apple, pear, peach, plum and cherry—loaded with their wealth of purple and snowy blossoms. At Chilicothe, we were totally unsuccesssful in our search after horses, altho this place is considered to be a fine market in the proper season. It is situated at the intersection of the Hannibal and Wabash Railroads and will soon have a turned line built by the Burlington, to run from the Mississipi River to Kansas City. It boasts a population of 4.000, has a school-house which costs over $32.000 and is a prosperous place of trade. There is a pretty good sized tobacco factory which we obtained permission to visit and where we were shown all the processes to 7. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific.

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which the leaf is subjected from the moment it is delivered at the warehouse until it emerges neatly packed in boxes, the “plug” tobacco of commerce. Took the “down” train at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and at Cameron, 50 miles West of Chilicothe and 45 miles East of Kansas City took supper. Cameron is at the junction of the Kansas City and Saint Joe. branches of the Hannibal road and the South West branch built by the Rock-Island to run from Fairfield, Iowa, to Kansas City. Reached Kansas City, at 10 p.m., an hour or two before the beginning of a refreshing and long needed thunder storm. The cablegrams today inform us that [Benjamin Disraeli] Lord Beaconsfield has been forced to retire from office and that Queen Victoria has been obliged to call upon Hon. W. E. Gladstone to take the reigns of Government. Of the two men, Gladstone has always occupied the higher place in my opinion, altho’ I must concede that I am not especially well acquainted with the history of either. Disraeli, is assuredly a powerful mind, but withal much of a political mountebank, the mention of whose name and career somehow suggests to me those of Carl Schurz, the spindle-shanked Mephistopheles, at present presiding over our Department of the Interior. It is only in charlatanism and demagoguery that I wish to institute a comparison, in all else, Schurz is Disraeli’s inferior.8 April 24th. Bought twelve horses of Stewart and Ward—wore out the rest of the day as best we were able in all sorts of devices, waiting for the high train for Omaha. Walked about Kansas City, whose present wonderful growth is a source of congratulation, but at same time it is hard to see how the young city is going to maintain itself under the debt which must be incurred to properly grade, excavate and embank its streets and avenues. It is reported that Chicago parties with abundant capital, contemplate the erection of immense packing houses in Kansas city—to be the largest establishment of the kind in the world. Sunday, April 25th 1880. Arrived back in Ft. Omaha. Genl. Crook showed me a telegram received last evening from our friend, Colonel A. H. Nickerson, Adjutant Genl’l Dept., Washington, D.C., saying 8. Disraeli and Gladstone both were reformers who expanded the franchise and modernized the British parliamentary system. Disraeli, however, advocated an imperial policy of British interests and responsibilities, whereas Gladstone took a moralistic stand that was a precursor to that of the United States in the post-Woodrow Wilson era. Churchill, Great Democracies, 298–303.

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that the Secretary of War would give me the detail for the next four years of Assist. Professor of Spanish, if I would accept. Telegraphed acceptance. Sunday May 2d 1880. General John H. King (Colonel 9th Infy.), Colonel Royall, Mr. Chambers and self left Omaha for Kansas City, Mo., where we arrived May 2d 1880 and remained purchasing horses. May 3d 1880. Returned to Hd. Qrs. Dept. Platte, Ft. Omaha.

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Checks numbered 5000 & upward, were mine upon Ass’t Treasurer, Chicago, Ill.: those running from 37000 were by Col. Ludington on same depositor. The total amount received by me were. Cav. & Artillery horses. Regular Supplies. Transportation. 500 100 [$]18000+24000=42000 Against which I drew for Regular supplies 32.25. Transpn. 18.66 and Cav. & Arty horses as above, leaving me accountable May 5th for Reg. Supl. $467.75. Transpn $81.34. & Cav & Arty $385.

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May 10th Received copy of S[pecial]. O[rders]. 99. (A.G.O.) 1880 ordering me to proceed to the Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. for duty as instructor. May 14th 1880. Lt. W. S. Schuyler, 5th Cavy., A.D.C. to General Crook, returned to Hd. Qrs. from a long absence in California, where he has been for several months in charge of the Murchie Mine, a magnificent gold bearing property belonging to General Crook and other army officers who, unfortunately, are too poor to properly develop its riches.9 May 15th 1880. Transferred to Major J. V. Furey, A.Q.M., Omaha Dépôt, the balance of public money in my possession, viz: Regular Supplies $467.75. Cavy. & Arty horses $395.00. Transportation $81.34. Total $944.09. May 15th [sic] 1880. General Crook and Lt. Schuyler, A.D.C., started for the East on business connected with the Murchie Mine.10 May 17th. The excitement occasioned throughout the country by the reported outrage upon the colored cadet Whittaker, at West Point, which resulted in the convention of a Court of Inquiry to examine into all the facts, culminated to-day in the establishment of Whittaker being his own assailant. One of the documents submitted by Whittaker was a note, in a disguised hand, warning him to leave the Academy, “to save trouble”. This note was submitted to five experts, with 250 specimens of handwriting obtained from all the cadets, including Whittaker himself. This examination demonstrated that Whittaker himself had written the note and as the injuries of which he made so much ado are now found to have been too trivial for mention, the burden of proof in the whole business is thrown upon Whittaker & such sympathizers as may still adhere to him. May 22d Had the pleasure of witnessing Lawrence Barrett in Bulwer’s wonderful play—Richelieu. It was beyond question one 9. By now, Schuyler had realized that, while the Murchie might pay off, it was beyond the means of the investors, and was hoping they would decide to shut down the mine. When Crook and Sheridan determined operations should continue, Schuyler lobbied for a transfer, but was bluntly told that the two generals expected him to continue. Crook even hinted that his military career might be adversely affected if he gave up at this point. Robinson, General Crook, 249; Crook to Schuyler, April 18, 1880, and April 28, 1880, Schuyler Papers. 10. Crook had investigated the Maynard Process for extracting gold from ore, and the samples from the Murchie Mine assayed at $30.74 a ton. Based on this, the stockholders subscribed to another assessment, but by now, were at the limit of their resources. Some already were in debt on the project. Robinson, General Crook, 249.

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of the best pieces of acting and one of the most finely delineated characters I have seen.11 23d. Major A. H. Nickerson, Asst. Adjt. Genl. U.S.A., formerly A.D.C. to General Crook, arrived at Hd. Qrs. on a short visit, en route to Santa Fé, New Mexico. May 25th. Read in the telegrams the statement of the death at Columbus, Ohio, May 24th, of my old friend, Capt. Thomas L. Brent, retired list, formerly 3d Cavy. This officer represented in his descent two of the finest families of the country,—the Lees of Virginia and the Carrolls of Carrollton, Maryland. I served with him in the 3d Cavalry, in Arizona, in 1871 and together we went through many scenes that were exciting and pleasurable and some that were hazardous. Under General Crook, in his first campaign against the hostile Apache Indians, we scouted from Tucson, Arizona, to Camp Bowie and thence north viâ the Dos Cabezas, Sierra Burrita (or Mount Graham,) and head of Aravaipa and Gabilau cañons to the Rio Gila, and still north up the Rio San Carlos and over to the Sierra Blanca at the post of Camp Apache,12 where we replenished supplies and from Camp Apache nearly due West along the crest of the then unknown Mogollon mountains to the post of Camp Verde13 on the stream of the same name and from there into Fort Whipple near Prescott. The total distance marched was close to 660 miles and the time occupied—from July 11, 1871 to August 31st of the same year.14 11. Richelieu is a five-act play by Edward George, Earl Bulwer-Lytton (1803–73). The play was first staged to public acclaim in 1839. Although some of Bulwer’s phrases, such as “the pen is mightier than the sword” (from Richelieu), and “pursuit of the almighty dollar” are often repeated, his heavily embellished Victorian style is dated, and, except for the historical novel, The Last Days of Pompeii, his work is rarely read or performed today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_George_Bulwer-Lytton 12. Camp Apache was established in 1870 on the Mogollon Plateau to guard a proposed reservation in the White Mountains (later Fort Apache Reservation). Upgraded to a fort in 1879, it was pivotal during the Apache campaigns of the 1870s and 1880s. The post was abandoned and transferred to the Indian Service in 1922. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 12. 13. Camp Verde was established in 1865 on the Rio Verde to protect a nearby farming community. Initially called Camp Lincoln, it was renamed in 1868 to avoid confusion with other posts named in memory of Abraham Lincoln. With the arrival of additional troops for a permanent garrison in 1871, Camp Verde outgrew its site, and a year later was relocated to a larger area away from the river. The Rio Verde Reservation was established nearby, but was closed in 1875, when the Indians were reconcentrated at San Carlos. Verde was upgraded to fort in 1879, and abandoned in 1890. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 59–62; Frazer, Forts of the West, 14. 14. This expedition, which preceded the extant Bourke diaries, is discussed in On the Border With Crook, Chapter 8.

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One day in August while the command was marching through the pine forests on the summit of the Mogollon range and along the edge of the vertical wall of basalt which faced the Tonto Basin, Brent and I were riding with General Crook, the latter slightly in our front. Suddenly, a couple of stalwart Apaches who had been lying in ambush, jumped from behind a screen of low bushes, yelled a defiant war-whoop, fired two arrows at General Crook and recklessly hurled themselves over the cliff. Whether from the audacity of the attack, the imminent danger to which our chief was exposed, or the reckless disregard of life and limb evinced by the naked Indians as they went bounding like rubber balls from rock to rock down the almost vertical face of the precipice—or from all these causes combined, we were petrified with astonishment and didn’t promptly enough obey General Crook’s orders to dismount and fire upon the fleeing savages. They escaped, not however, without wounds as we could see that one of them was badly hurt in the left arm. The arrows had whistled by General Crook’s head and imbedded themselves so deeply in a tall pine tree that it was impossible to extract more than half the shafts. Shortly after this we were obliged to make a very long march, hoping to reach the Rio Verde. The country was unknown to us, our guides had never seen it before and our movements, consequently, became very uncertain. After travelling for 7 or 8 hours, the heat of the sun and the glare from the barren blocks of basalt besetting our line of march, (for we had now gotten out of the forest and were descending the open flanks, of the mountain,) became extremely annoying and the command suffered greatly from thirst. General Crook sent me with a detachment off to one flank to look for springs or creeks or water-holes. In a very few moments, I had crossed a low range of hills and found myself at the edge of a deep cañon, impossible to descend, and could see flowing at the bottom a most tantalizingly pretty streamlet; our poor mules and horses brayed and neighed piteously, but to no avail. Descent was impracticable without wings. The whole command marched alongside this aggravating little cañon for a distance, if I remember right, of fourteen miles and long after dark reached its mouth at the point where the streamlet emptied into what we took to be the Beaver creek fork of the Rio Verde. Everybody was tired out, but poor Brent so exhausted that he could

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only get off by falling from the saddle and immediately after was attacked with a copious haemorrhage of the lungs. He was a genial, companionable and scholarly gentleman and a soldier whose bravery, intelligence and ambition were far in excess of his physical powers. Bourke’s narrative skips back to the present. In company with Major Nickerson, A.A.G., Captain J. M. Lee, 9th Infantry, Mr. Jewitt, Indian trader at Spotted Tail agency, Mr. Matt. Patrick, of the Black Hills Stage line, Mr. Shelton, Cashier of the Union Pacific R.R., and Mr. L. M. Bennett, President of the Pullman Pacific Car Co., started for Cheyenne, Wyo. We had an extemely pleasant party and whiled away the hours in story and reminiscence. As a “raconteur”, Capt. Lee has no superior any where. He has travelled extensively throughout our country and has held important trusts among the wild tribes of the frontier. Possessed of keen powers of observation, a ready wit, good judgment, and a fine flow of language, he readily adapts himself to his company and rarely failed to have his audience convulsed with laughter. He told us in a ridiculously pathetic kind of style of his experience as an Indian agent in Nevada, pending the arrival of the regular appointee from whom he received a letter running something like this: “Dearly beloved friend. I start for the agency to-morrow, with my daughter, Flora, aged 21, and an 8-stop organ, one of Eestey’s best. Please pave the way. Yours in Christ and Christian love” &c &c. Nickerson gave us an intensely vivid and interesting recount of the ceremony of dedicating [sic] the Gettysburgh [sic] monument and of his participation in the fierce battle whose noble dead it commemorates. Nickerson had been shot through the lungs in the hottest part of the battle and after lingering for weeks between life and death in a field hospital, was carried in a litter through the streets of Gettysburgh to the R.R. station, to start for his home in Ohio.15 The day happened to be an unusually warm one even for August and Nickerson lay panting upon his couch which the weary bearers 15. Describing the wound in a letter to Rutherford Hayes in 1872, Crook wrote that Nickerson’s “recovery was regarded as almost a miracle. He has now a hole in his chest which you can nearly stick your fist in, and in consequence his health is delicate and at times he suffers terribly from this wound. Notwithstanding this, his ambition and zeal to do his duty has [sic] been so great, that he has been constantly on duty ever since the war.” Crook to Hayes, January 4, 1872, R.B. Hayes Papers, Crook Collection.

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deposited for a short moment in front of a homelike mansion of the best type. While they were resting themselves upon the steps, two ladies appeared at the lower windows of the house and inquired about the sufferer. Upon being informed that he was a Union Officer, seriously wounded, their womanly tenderness suggested the offer of refreshments. With their own hands they prepared cool wine sherbet and also a very appetizing little lunch to both of which the wounded soldier did full justice, and with grateful voice assured them he would never forget them. At the conclusion of the great civil war, the National Government decided upon the erection of an imposing monument to carry down to succeeding generations the memory of the gallant men who had laid down their lives upon that bloody field that our country and its institutions should not perish from the earth. When the hour came for the dedication, the little town of Gettysburgh was crammed to repletion with an immense multitude assembled from all quarters of the country. Famous generals, orators and statesmen;—men of letters, men of brains and men of money;—the President and Cabinet, the Governors of all the states represented in the battle, the Senate & House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, officers and soldiers and sailors from the Army and Navy—and last but not least, veterans who had stood shoulder to shoulder in the conflict which saw the most formidable army of the Confederacy dissolve like sand before the rush of waves.16 Nickerson had been appointed for the day an Aide de Camp upon the Staff of the Governor of Ohio. This position gave him ample facilities for seeing all that was worth seeing and noting all that deserved to be heard as well as serving for an excuse from all other demands upon his time. But Nickerson was determined to hunt up the ladies from whom he had received such noble courtesies: all he could remember was their name—Witheron, which, however, in a small town is a good deal—and with this as a basis, he searched for their home and was successful in finding it and making himself known to them. His treatment was as cordial and tender as might be expected from 16. Bourke’s time frame is off. The dedication was November 19, 1863, a little over four months after the battle.

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such noble women, who had long been of the opinion that he had died of his wounds. His description of [Edward] Everetts’ classic address and of President Lincoln’s soul-stirring oration was listened to with rapt attention by all our party.17 Again, Bourke returns to the present. Nebraska has had scarcely any rain for the past eight months, Omaha especially being plagued with dust which sweeps along in dense columns, obstructing travel, ruining clothing & furniture and adding greatly to the tendency to indulge in profanity. To-day, black masses of rain-clouds hang down from the sky promising a copious deluge of water just in time to save the crop of cereals from total destruction. Immigration is pouring into Nebraska, at a rate unprecedented in its history. Long lines of heavily laden wagons follow the wagon-road alongside the Union Pacific Track and population is increasing in every little town. Fremont, Columbus, Duncan, and Grand Island are now, or soon will be, points of departure for new Rail Roads, opening up new belts of country to pay tribute to the Burlington and Union Pacific Railroads. By telegraphing ahead to my friend, Mr. Wiltze at Grand Island and Mr Rumsey, at [illegible], our party secured an excellent supper at the former place and a warm, cozy breakfast at the latter one. May 25th After leaving Sidney, the Bluffs nearby were white with fast-falling snow. Two antelope ran out from a gulf and began a race with our locomotive, keeping up with us for more than a mile. Reached Cheyenne in another snow storm. Said Good Bye to Nickerson & Lee, and met Col. Gilliss and Col. Royall. Mr. Bennett and I took the down train for Omaha, reaching that point on the 27th and learned to our great pleasure that a most refreshing rainstorm had blessed the parched earth during our absence. June 1st. Genl. Crook and Lt. Schuyler returned from New York, having succeeded in making arrangements with Mr. Knapp for the introduction of the Clauser process in the mill of the Murchie Gold and Silver mining Compy. June 3d. Lieut. Schuyler started for California. 17. Edward Everett, the foremost orator of the day, was the keynote speaker, while Lincoln was invited as an after thought. Everett, however, confessed himself to be humbled by Lincoln’s words.

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June 4th Major Nickerson, who had returned from Santa Fé, N.M., May 31st, started back to Washington. June 7th. The Empress of Russia died a[t] Saint Petersburgh [sic], Russia.18 June 8th. The Republican Convention which had seen a stormy session in Chicago, since last Friday, adjourned after nominating a ticket composed of [James A.] Garfield of Ohio and [Chester A.] Arthur of New York. At the commencement of the session, the friends of that grand old soldier—General U.S. Grant, had strong hopes of his success as a candidate. For thirty-five ballots, the vote ran along about thus—Grant 306—Blaine 281, Sherman 91 and Washburne & Edmunds each 30, Windom 10. At the last moment the adherents of Blaine and Sherman united upon Garfield, drawing with them a sufficiency of votes from those held by Washburne, Edmunds & Windom to secure the nomination. The friends of Genl. Grant stood by him to the last. My sympathies from 1st to last have been with Genl. Grant. They are with him now! During the progress of the balloting, a vote was given for Lieut-General Sheridan, who was called to the floor and acknowledged the compliment amid vociferous cheering. The ticket selected is an essentially weak one and is in danger of overthrow from the Democwags.19 One incident of the convention was the development of the treachery of E. B. Washburne to his friend, Grant. Washburne was the recipient of 35 @ 40 votes, on each ballot and so long as the Grant, Blaine and Sherman factions were so tenacious to their leaders, he had some small hopes of being run in as a “dark horse”: had he given his votes to his friend, Grant’s preponderance would have been such that many adherents of the other aspirants would have given up the contest as hopeless and gone over to his side. During the month, President Hayes retired from active service—Generals [Edward D.] Townsend and [Benjamin] Alvord,—Adjutant and Paymaster General of the Army, respectively. This action was very wise and long needed, the subjects of executive action in each case having long passed beyond their career of usefulness. The appointments to the vacancies created were [Richard Coulter] Drum—Ad18. Maria Alexandrovna, who died the previous day, was the wife of Alexander II. 19. Obviously an amalgamation of Democrat and scallawag.

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jutant General and [Nathan Williams] Brown, Paymaster General, the former, a good appointment & both being made on score of seniority simply. Cap’t. [William Henry] Winters 1st Cavalry, died at his post,—Fort Lapwai, Oregon [sic],20 June 14th. I knew Winters very well in Arizona in 1870–1, and always found him a pleasant gentleman and an exceptionally gallant soldier. June 22d. Democratic National Convention met in Cincinnati, Ohio and after the usual preliminaries of assembling and coming to order, nominated, June 23d 1880, a ticket of Major General W. S. Hancock, of the Regular Army, and [William Hayden] English of Indiana, for Presdt. and Vice President. This ticket will be a formidable one and, beyond reasonable doubt, will carry success. 20. Bourke is mistaken about the location. Fort Lapwai is in Idaho, and was established in 1862 on the Lapwai River. It was established to keep Indians and whites separate for the protection of both, at a time when miners were crowding the boundaries of the Nez Percé reservation. The military reservation was transferred to the Interior Department in 1882, and the last troops were withdrawn two years later. Frazer, Forts of the West, 45.

Appendix 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Persons Mentioned in the Diary

Due to the large number of sources for the biographical sketches in this section, footnotes or endnotes would have been impractical. Consequently, I have placed the sources in parentheses at the end of each entry. In cases where the author has only one publication in the bibliography, I have used only the author’s last name. In case of multiple publications by the same author, I have placed the date of publication of the edition cited. Military When discussing the careers of cavalrymen, the designation of units overlapping the Civil War tends to be confusing. In mid1861, the Regular Army had six mounted regiments, viz. First and Second Dragoons, Mounted Riflemen, and First, Second, and Third Cavalry. On August 3, 1861, Congress reorganized these regiments, designating them all “cavalry,” and renumbering them as follows: First Dragoons to First Cavalry Second Dragoons to Second Cavalry Mounted Riflemen to Third Cavalry First Cavalry to Fourth Cavalry 420

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Second Cavalry to Fifth Cavalry Third Cavalry to Sixth Cavalry. After the war, additional Regular Army mounted units were authorized as needed. (Herr and Wallace, 116) ALMY, William Ellery (d. 1901) of the District of Columbia, entered West Point in 1875. Upon graduation, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Infantry, but transferred to the 5th Cavalry in September 1879. He served in the Volunteers during the Spanish-American War, and was a major in the Puerto Rico Regiment at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:161) ALVORD, Benjamin (1813–84), of Vermont, was an 1833 graduate of West Point, and was posted to the 4th Infantry. He served in the Seminole and Mexican Wars, and was chief paymaster of the Department of Oregon (later Department of the Columbia) from 1854 until 1862. He spent the Civil War as a brigadier general of Volunteers in command of the District of Oregon. After the war, he served in various paymaster positions until he became paymaster general of the Army in 1872. He held that position until his retirement as brigadier general in 1880. (Warner, 4–5) ANDREWS. Heitman does not list a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry by this name. ANDREWS, William Howard (d. 1880), joined the Volunteers as a captain in 1862, and was mustered out as a brevet major. He was named first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry in 1866, and assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp McDowell, Arizona, in December 1870, serving as post adjutant for the next ten months. He retired in disability as captain in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 10; Heitman, 1:167) AUGUR, Jacob Arnold, entered West Point in 1865, and was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry upon graduation. In 1871, he was promoted to first lieutenant, and in 1879, captain. After serving as major and lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry, he was promoted to colonel of the 10th Cavalry in 1902. (Heitman, 1:175) AUSTIN, Albert (d. 1886), of Connecticut, served as a noncommissioned officer in the Volunteers throughout the Civil War, promoted to first lieutenant shortly after the war’s end. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1874. (Heitman, 1:175)

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BABCOCK, John Breckinridge (1843–1909), a native of Louisiana nevertheless served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was breveted to major for gallantry. In 1867, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutenant the following year. He went to Arizona with the regiment in 1872. He was breveted to colonel for gallant service in action against Indians at Tonto Creek, on June 16, 1873, and at Four Peaks, Arizona, on January 16, 1874. He retired as a brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 14–15; Heitman, 1:178) BAILEY, Edward Lyon, of New Hampshire, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, being mustered out in 1864 with the rank of colonel. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 4th Infantry in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1876. He was a captain when he was dismissed from the service in 1893. (Heitman, 1:181) BAINBRIDGE, Augustus Hudson of New York, entered the army in 1858 as a private in general service, but was named battalion sergeant in the 14th Infantry. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1862, and first lieutenant in 1864. Two years later, he was promoted to captain, a rank he held for over twenty-six years, until promoted to major of the 10th Infantry. He retired as lieutenant colonel of the 4th Infantry in 1898. (Heitman, 1:182) BALDWIN, John Arthur (d. 1903), of Iowa, was appointed second lieutenant in 1872, and later posted to the 9th Infantry in the Department of the Platte. He served in Crook’s Bighorn and Yellowstone Expedition, and participated in the Battle of the Rosebud. From 1886 until 1899, he made several tours in Arizona, after which he was sent to the Philippines where he served in the Insurrection. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 16th Infantry in 1902, but by now, he was in failing health. (Altshuler, 1991, 19) BARNETT, Richards (d. 1889), of Mississippi, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1875. (Heitman, 1:192) BARRY, William Farquhar (d. 1879), of New York, entered West Point in 1834, and upon graduation became second lieutenant of the 4th Artillery. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed brigadier general of Volunteers, and earned a brevet to major general during the Atlanta Campaign, and to brigadier general of the Regular Army for the campaign leading to the surrender of the Confederate

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Army. In 1865, he was commissioned colonel of the 2nd Artillery. (Heitman, 1:195) BENÉT, Stephen Vincent (d. 1895), grandfather of the poet of the same name, entered West Point in 1845, and upon graduation was breveted as second lieutenant of Ordnance. He remained in the Ordnance Department for the rest of his career, and in 1874, was appointed brigadier general and chief of Ordnance. He retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:210) BERGLAND, Eric, native of Sweden, entered the army as a second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861. He finished the war as a first lieutenant, and entered West Point. Upon graduation, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Artillery, transferring to the Engineers in 1872. He rose through the grades, retiring as a major in 1896. (Heitman, 1:213) BISBEE, William Henry, of Rhode Island, enlisted in the 18th Infantry in 1861, and was promoted to second lieutenant the following year. He finished the war as a first lieutenant with a brevet as captain. He was promoted to the active rank of captain in 1866, and was assigned to the 4th Infantry in 1870. He retired in 1902 as a brigadier general. (Heitman, 1:220) BISHOP, Hoel Smith (1850–1925), graduated from West Point in 1873, and was posted to Fort Whipple as second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. In 1876, he participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Bannock War in Wyoming and Idaho in 1878. He retired as colonel in 1913. (Altshuler, 1991, 35) BOOTH, Charles Austin, of Vermont, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1878, and captain in 1891. As of 1903, he was major of the 17th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:231) BOWMAN, Alpheus Henry (1842–1926) of Virginia, grew up in Pennsylvania, where he attended Pennsylvania Military Academy. In December 1861, he was appointed captain of Volunteers, and after a shaky career was mustered out as a first lieutenant. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 27th Infantry, and promoted to first lieutenant the following year. In 1869, he transferred to the 9th Infantry. He was promoted to captain in 1881. He served in Arizona, and in various Eastern posts, and in the Philippines. He retired in 1903 as brigadier general. (Althshuler, 1991, 38–39)

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BOYER. Heitman does not list a Boyer. He may have been a contract surgeon. BRACKETT, General. Because of the service record, Bourke probably means Albert Gallatin Brackett (d. 1896), although Heitman does not list a brevet as general. Brackett joined the army as second lieutenant of a Volunteer Infantry unit in 1847, and was mustered out the following year. In 1855, he was appointed captain of the 2nd Cavalry, renumbered 5th in 1861. He served in the Volunteers from 1861 to 1864, while retaining the active rank of major of the 1st Cavalry. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Cavalry in 1868, and colonel of the 3rd Cavalry in 1879. He retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:237) BRADLEY, Luther Prentice (1822–1910), native of Connecticut, was appointed lieutenant colonel of a Volunteer regiment in 1861, rising to brigadier general by 1864. In 1866, he entered the Regular Army as lieutenant colonel of the 27th Infantry in 1866. He commanded Fort C.F. Smith, Montana, during the Red Cloud War. As lieutenant colonel of the 9th Infantry, he was in command of Camp Robinson, Nebraska, when Crazy Horse was killed there in 1877. Bradley was appointed colonel of the 3rd Infantry in 1879, and was commander of the Military District of New Mexico in 1881, during the Cibicue outbreak in Arizona. He took troops to reinforce Fort Apache, Arizona, and commanded a special military district created to deal with the crisis. When New Mexico was attached to the Department of Arizona during the Geronimo War, Bradley served under Crook in an effort to contain the raiding. He retired in 1886. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:157; Heitman, 1:239) BRENT, Thomas Lee, Jr. (ca. 1846–80), entered West Point in 1861, and upon graduation was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry. In 1871, he was captain of the 3rd Cavalry in Arizona, where he served under Crook during a skirmish above the Mogollon Rim. He retired in 1876. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:165; Heitman, 1:242) BRODRICK, Patrick Thomas (d. 1886), native of Ireland, was an 1868 graduate of West Point. He served in the 23rd Infantry under Crook in the Departments of the Columbia and Arizona. Chronically ill, he died in New York. (Altshuler, 1991, 44) BROWN, Nathan Williams (d. 1893), of New York, entered the army as a major paymaster in 1849. He was named deputy paymaster general in 1864, and assistant paymaster in 18966. He was

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appointed brigadier general and paymaster general in 1880, and retired in February 1882. (Heitman, 1:253) BROWN, Rufus Porter (d. 1892), of Ohio, entered West Point in 1862, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutneant in 1876, and was a captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:253) BROWN, William Henry (1840?–75), native of Maryland, was inspector general of the Department of Arizona under Crook. He enlisted in the army in 1861, and was made second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry later that year. He was breveted to major in 1865 for gallantry and meritorious service at Five Forks, Virginia. Crook recommended for brevets to brigadier general for service at the Battle of the Caves in 1872, and fights in the Superstition Mountains, Sierra Ancha, and Mazatzals in 1873. He committed suicide on June 4, 1875. According to Constance Wynn Altshuler, he may have been in love with Irene Rucker, who had married Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan the previous day. See also NANNI-CHADDI. (Altshuler, 1991, 46; O’Neal, 57–58; Heitman, 1:254; Bourke, Diary, 2b:73) BRYANT, Montgomery (1831–1901), native of Kansas, joined the army as second lieutenant of the 6th Infantry in 1857. He went west with the regiment in 1859, serving at Fort Mojave, Arizona, and Fort Yuma, California, until October 1861, when the 6th was transferred east. He served with distinction in the Civil War. He was promoted to major of the 14th Infantry in 1874. He retired as colonel of the 13th Infantry in 1894. (Altshuler, 1991, 47) BUBB, John Wilson, enlisted in the 12th Infantry in 1861, and was commissioned as lieutenant five years later. In 1869, he was assigned to the 4th Infantry as first lieutenant, serving as quartermaster from 1872 to 1875. During Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, he was acting commissary of subsistence, and played a significant part during the campaign. (Heitman, 1:257) BUELL, Don Carlos (1818–98), native of Ohio, entered West Point in 1837. He was assigned to the 3rd Infantry and sent to Florida where he participated in the Seminole Wars. After service in the Mexican War, he was assigned to staff duties, and was lieutenant colonel adjutant of the Department of the Pacific at the outbreak of the Civil War. He served in the Volunteers as major general, but his failure to pursue Gen. Braxton Bragg’s retreat from Perryville, Kentucky, led to investigation. He was mustered out of the Volunteers in

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1864, and resigned his regular commission. He settled in Kentucky where he operated an ironworks and coal mine. (Warner, 51–52) BURKE, Daniel Webster (1841–1911), native of Connecticut, enlisted in the 2nd Infantry in 1858, serving in Minnesota, Dakota, and Nebraska. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1862, serving with distinction in the Civil War. In 1876, he was captain of the 14th Infantry, serving in Crook’s campaigns. He commanded Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, at the Spotted Tail Agency, when Crazy Horse surrendered, and it was at his suggestion that Crazy Horse went to Camp Robinson, where he was killed. Burke, however, had no knowledge of any plans to confine Crazy Horse at Robinson. He retired in 1899 as brigadier general. See also CLARK, Walter Philo; CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:192–93) BURNAM, A. P. Heitman does not list a Burnam, nor an appropriate Burnham. BURNETT, Levi Frank, of New York, served as an enlisted Volunteer until 1864, when he was commissioned second lieutenant. He served with distinction during the Civil War, and in 1867, was commissioned second lieutenant in the 36th Infantry in 1867. He was transferred to the 7th Infantry in 1869, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1873. He was captain at the time of his retirement in 1894. (Heitman, 1:264) BURNHAM, Horace Blois (d. 1894), served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and finished as a brevet colonel. In 1867, he was commissioned major and judge advocate, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel judge advocate general in 1884. He retired four years later. (Heitman, 1:265) BURROWES, Thomas Bredin (d. 1885) was appointed first lieutenant of the 18th Infantry in 1861, dismissed and reinstated. He was promoted to captain in 1864. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was captain of the 9th Infantry. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:267) BURT, Andrew Sheridan (1839–1915), native of Ohio, enlisted as a Volunteer in 1861, but almost immediately was commissioned second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry. He was promoted to the active rank of captain in 1863, and breveted to major for gallant and meritorious service during the Atlanta Campaign. After the war he was posted to Fort Bridger, Utah, and Fort C.F. Smith, Montana. With the reduction of the army he was reassigned to the 9th Infantry.

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Burt participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. He retired as brigadier general in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 50–51; Heitman, 1:267) BYRNE, Thomas “Old Tommie” (c. 1827–81), native of Ireland, enlisted in the 2nd Infantry in Philadelphia in 1854. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1862, and was breveted for gallantry at Gettysburg. He was a captain at the time of his reassignment to the 12th Infantry in 1871. He died at Fort Mojave in 1881. (Altshuler, 1991, 51–52; Heitman, 1:272). CAMPBELL, Joseph Boyd (d. 1891), entered West Point in 1857, and upon graduation was commissioned lieutenant of the 4th Artillery. He served with distinction in the Civil War, finishing as brevet major. In 1867, he was promoted to captain of the 4th Artillery. He was a major at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:278) CAPRON, Thaddeus Hurlbut (d. 1890), enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned first lieutenant in 1863. After the Civil War, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1871. He retired in 1887. Capron left a diary and series of letters on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Heitman, 1:281) CARLTON, Caleb Henry (1836–1923), native of Ohio, was an 1859 graduate of West Point. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry, and by 1862 had risen to captain. During the Civil War he served as colonel of the Volunteers and earned two brevets. Returning to the Regular Army, he served at Forts Laramie and Fetterman from 1867 to 1869, when he was dropped under the Army Reduction Acts. A year later, he was appointed to the 10th Cavalry at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, and in 1876 was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry and posted to Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming. He served in Arizona from 1882 to 1885, and later was posted to Texas. He retired as brigadier general on June 30, 1897. Bourke often spelled his name as “Carleton.” (Althshuler, 1991, 58) CARPENTER, Gilbert Saltonstall, of Ohio, entered the army as second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, but subsequently served in the ranks of the 18th Infantry. In 1862, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and served with distinction in the Civil War. He was promoted to captain of the 45th Infantry in 1866, and posted to the 14th Infantry three years later. He retired as a brigadier general in 1899. (Heitman, 1:284)

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CARPENTER, William Lewis (1844–98), native of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Artillery in 1864. He was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to the 9th Infantry in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1873. He served on survey and scientific expeditions, including to the Bighorn Mountains, and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He later served in Arizona, where he was promoted to captain. (Altshuler, 1991, 58–59) CARRINGTON, Henry Beebe (1824–1912) of Connecticut, organized several regiments of state militia in time for the outbreak of the Civil War. In May 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the 18th Infantry, and the following year was appointed brigadier general of Volunteers. Despite efforts to obtain a combat assignment, he was retained throughout the war for administrative duties. He rejoined his regiment at the end of the war, and was assigned to garrison Fort Reno, and establish the posts of Fort Phil Kearny and C. F. Smith, to protect the Bozeman Trail to the Montana gold fields. Carrington’s lack of combat experience divided the officers of his headquarters, at Fort Phil Kearny, into factions, the anti-Carrington faction being headed by Capt. William J. Fetterman. The dispute culminated in the massacre of Fetterman and eighty men on December 21, 1866. The massacre effectively ended Carrington’s career, and he retired in 1870. In 1889, he negotiated an agreement by which the Flathead Indians moved from their lands in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana to a reservation. See also FETTERMAN, William Judd. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:231; Brown) CHASE, George Francis (1848–1925), 1871 graduate of West Point, was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry the following year. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and, as first lieutenant, served in Arizona. He retired as a brigadier general in 1912. (Altshuler, 1991, 67) CHASE, George Nathan, entered West Point in 1873, and upon graduation was posted to the 1st Infantry. A month later, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He was first lieutenant at the time of his retirement in 1891. (Heitman, 1:297) CHELMSFORD, Frederic Augustus Thesiger, second Baron, (1827–1905), commander of British forces in the Natal during the Zulu War. Following the disaster at Isandhlwana in 1879, Chelmsford was relieved, but before the arrival of his replacement, Sir Garnet

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Wolseley, he decisively defeated the Zulus at Ulundi. This victory, bolstered by proper credit in Wolseley’s dispatches, redeemed Chelmsford’s reputation, and he was named Grand Companion of the Bath upon his return to Great Britain. He was a full general and Grand Companion of the Royal Victorian Order at the time of his death. (Wikipedia) CHERRY, Samuel Austin, of Indiana, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry. He transferred to the 5th Cavalry on July 28, 1876. He was murdered by a soldier on May 11, 1881. (Heitman, 1:298) CHURCH, Albert E., of Connecticut, entered West Point in 1824, and upon graduation, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1836. Two years later, he was appointed professor of mathematics at West Point, a post he held until his death on March 30, 1878. Together with his immediate predecessor, Charles Davies, Church was instrumental in shaping the mathematics program at the academy. He was the author of seven textbooks. (Heitman, 1:301; http://www.dean.usma. edu/math/about/history/contrib.htm) CLARK, William Philo (1845–84), which Bourke often spelled “Clarke,” was a native of New York. He graduated from West Point in 1868, and was appointed second lieutenant, 2nd Cavalry, at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming. He served on General Crook’s staff in 1876 and 1877, figuring prominently in the Great Sioux War, particularly with events surrounding Crazy Horse’s death. Much of the acrimony between Clark and Crazy Horse that set the event into motion appears to have stemmed from Frank Grouard’s mistranslation of a remark by Crazy Horse. During the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1878–79, Clark managed to round up a large band without bloodshed. His book, Indian Sign Language, remains definitive. He also wrote an account of Crazy Horse’s death, which was edited by Robert A. Clark, and published in The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, in 1976. See also BURKE, Daniel Webster; GROUARD, Frank; CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:278; Robinson, 1995, 337–38) CLARKE, Robert Dunlap, which Bourke spelled “Clark” (d. 1891), of Pennsylvania, joined the army as Paymaster of Volunteers in 1863. In 1867, he was appointed major paymaster of the Regular Army. He was breveted to lieutenant colonel of Volunteers for

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faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War. He retired in 1882. (Heitman, 1:307) CLEMENTS, Bennett A., was assigned to departmental headquarters in Omaha. He joined the army as a first lieutenant and assistant surgeon in 1856, serving in Florida, Texas, and New Mexico. He was promoted to surgeon and major in 1863, and administered hospitals during and after the Civil War. Dr. Clements participated in General Crook’s Horse Meat March, and filed a report giving the medical effects of the ordeal. He also was one of the medical officers who, in 1884, certified that Ranald Mackenzie was insane and unfit for further duty. Clements’s report on the Horse Meat March is found in Greene, 1993, 97ff, and in Appendix 2 of the second volume of this series; and on Mackenzie in Robinson, 1993, 323–24. See MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell. CLIFFORD, Walter (d. 1883), of New York, enlisted in the 16th Infantry in 1860, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1863. He transferred to the 34th Infantry in 1866, and was promoted to captain a year later. In 1871, he was assigned to the 7th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:310) COCKRILL (should be Cockrell), Heitman’s does not list a surgeon under “Cockrill,” “Cockrell,” or “Cockerill.” He is the son of Senator Francis M. Cockrell. See COCKRELL, Francis Marion. COLEMAN, Frederick William (d. 1902), of New York, served as captain of the Volunteers from 1862 to 1864, and was commissioned in the 15th Infantry in 1866. He was promoted to captain in 1867, and resigned in 1874. (Heitman, 1:316) COMPTON, Charles Elmer (1836–1909) of New Jersey, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned captain later that year. He was mustered out in 1866 as lieutenant colonel of the 53rd U.S. Colored Infantry, and appointed major of the 40th Infantry. In 1870, he was transferred to 6th Cavalry, serving in Texas, Kansas, and Arizona. He was transferred to the 5th Cavalry in 1879, and sent to the Department of the Platte. He retired in 1899 as colonel, and in 1904 was advanced on the retired list to brigadier general. (Atlshuler, 1991, 74–75) CONNOR, Patrick Edward (1820–91) of Ireland, immigrated to New York with his parents in childhood. He enlisted in the army in 1839, serving in the Seminole War. Discharged, he went to Texas, where he was commissioned in the Volunteers

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during the Mexican War. In 1861, he was in California, where he was appointed colonel of Volunteers and named commander of the District of Utah. He established Fort Douglas, and policed the roads to California. Breveted to major general, in 1865 and 1866, he led an expedition against the Lakotas and Cheyennes in the Powder River Country, where he established old Fort Reno. This expedition was deemed a failure, and damaged Connor’s reputation. However, in his recent book, Circle of Fire, John D. McDermott makes a strong case that Connor would have succeeded, had he received adequate support from the government. He was mustered out at the end of the expedition and settled in Salt Lake City. (McDermott; Warner, 87–88) COPPINGER, John Joseph (1834–1909), native of Ireland, was a professional soldier. He was appointed captain of the 14th Infantry in 1861, and served with distinction during the Civil War. In 1866, he was assigned to the 23rd Infantry, serving in San Francisco and Alaska before arriving in Arizona in 1872. He commanded Camp Verde until 1874 when he was reassigned to the Department of the Platte. He was breveted to colonel for service against hostile Indians. He was confirmed as brigadier general in 1896, and commanded the Department of the Platte. He retired in 1898, after being appointed major general of Volunteers. (Altshuler, 1991, 78; Heitman, 1:327) CORBUSIER, William Henry (1844–1930), of New York, became associated with the army as a contract surgeon. In 1869, he went to Arizona where he served at various military posts, and at San Carlos Reservation. In 1876, he was appointed assistant surgeon in the army, serving in the Department of the Platte, and in Michigan, until 1884, when he returned to Arizona. In 1903, he was named chief surgeon of the Department of Mindinao in the Philippines, and the following year, chief surgeon of the Department of the Columbia. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1908, and in 1919, was advanced to colonel. (Altshuler, 1991, 79) COREY. Heitman does not list a surgeon named “Cory” or “Corey.” Probably a contract surgeon. CRAIG, Louis Aleck (1851–1904), native of Missouri, was an 1874 graduate of West Point. In 1875, he joined the 6th Cavalry at Camp McDowell, and spent much of the following decade in Arizona. He became senior instructor in cavalry tactics at West Point. He

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retired because of ill health as major of the 15th Cavalry in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 83) CRAWFORD, Emmet (1844–86), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Volunteer during the Civil War and was mustered out as first lieutenant. In 1866, he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 27th Infantry. With the consolidation of regiments, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp Verde in 1871, moving with the regiment to the Platte where he served in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Crawford was promoted to captain in 1879, and in 1882 was assigned to Camp Thomas, Arizona. Upon Crook’s return to Arizona, he assigned Crawford as commander of Indian Scouts and military superintendent at San Carlos. During the Geronimo Campaign, he was killed in a skirmish with Mexican militia. (Altshuler, 1991, 84–85; O’Neal, 95–96) CREEL, Herber [sic] Mansfield, of Missouri, entered West Point in 1873, and upon graduation was posted to the 8th Cavalry. Three months later, in September 1877, he was commissioned lieutenant of the 7th Cavalry. He resigned in 1882. (Heitman, 1:338) CUSHING, Howard Buckingham (1838–71), of Wisconsin, enlisted first in a Volunteer Artillery regiment in 1862, and the following year in the 4th Artillery. Immediately on transferring to the 4th, he was commissioned as second lieutenant. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1867, and was posted to the Southwest. He was killed in an Apache ambush in the Whetstone Mountains in 1871. (Atlshuler, 1991, 91) CUSHING, William Barker (1842–75) known as “Albemarle” Cushing for his near-suicidal exploit that sank the Confederate ironclad ram Albemarle, was the brother of Howard Buckingham Cushing. William Cushing entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., in 1857, but was dismissed in his final year for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained. With the outbreak of the Civil War, however, he was appointed acting master’s mate of the Volunteer Navy. As the war progressed, Cushing gained more responsibility, and became known for planning and executing daring raids on the Confederate coast. He emerged from the war as a national hero. His last major exploit was in 1873, when, as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Wyoming, he managed to halt the executions of surviving passengers and crew of the American ship

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Virginius, held in Cuba by Spanish authorities as blockade runners. (Roske and van Doren) DAVIS. Artillery lieutenant. Bourke apparently means Edward Davis, who served as second lieutenant in a Volunteer unit in 1862, and was breveted for gallantry at Chickamauga. He resigned to enter West Point in 1863, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. He served in the artillery until 1902 when, as a major, he was assigned to the Adjutant General’s Department. (Heitman, 1:357) DAVIS, George Breckenridge (1847–1914), is best known for supervising publication of the monumental War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. A native of Massachusetts, he entered the Volunteers as a sergeant in 1863, and was mustered out as first lieutenant. He entered West Point, and graduated in 1871, after which he was posted to Fort D.A. Russell as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1873, when he was assigned to the academy as assistant professor. Davis was promoted to first lieutenant in 1877, and rejoined his regiment in the Platte. In 1883, he returned to the academy as principal assistant professor of history, geography, and ethics, and assistant professor of law, and wrote Outlines of International Law. He was promoted to captain in 1888, and after service in the Indian Territory, was promoted to major and judge advocate. Later he served for twelve years as judge advocate general of the army. He was a major general at the time of his retirement in 1911. (Altshuler, 1991, 95) DAVIS, Jefferson Columbus (1828–78), of Indiana, was a U.S. Army officer in the Civil War and on the frontier, with no connection to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In fact, he was part of the Union garrison at Fort Sumter, S.C., when its bombardment began the Civil War. Davis joined the army in the Mexican War, and in 1848 was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 1st Artillery. During the Civil War he served as brigadier general of Volunteers. After the war, he was named colonel of the 23rd Infantry, and in 1867, received the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the United States. He remained in Alaska until 1869. During the Modoc uprising in California in 1873, Davis took command following the assassination of Brig. Gen. E. R. S. Canby, and successfully concluded the campaign. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:380)

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DAVIS, Wirt, (1839–1914), native of Virginia, enlisted in the 1st Cavalry in 1860 and was sergeant when the regiment was renumbered as 4th Cavalry a year later. In 1863, he was commissioned as second lieutenant, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1865. He earned three brevets during the Civil War, one for action against Indians in Texas in 1872, and a fifth for the Dull Knife Fight on November 25, 1876. He served in Arizona from 1884 to 1890, and in Cuba and the Philippines. He retired as colonel of the 3rd Cavalry in 1901, and was advanced to brigadier general (retired) three years later. (Altshuler, 1991, 98–99) DELANEY, Hayden (1845–90), native of Ohio, served as an enlisted man in the Volunteers during the Civil War. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1867, and was breveted for service against the Paiute Indians of Oregon in 1868. He was breveted a second time for action in Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s attack on the Cheyennes on November 25, 1876, during Crook’s Powder River Expedition in Wyoming. He was promoted to captain in 1889, but suffered from lung hemorrhages. He died during sick leave. (Altshuler, 1991, 100; Bourke, 1980, 390–92) DENNISON, James Alfred (d. 1900), entered the army as a private of Volunteers in 1861, finishing the Civil War with the same rank. He entered West Point in 1866, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Artillery. He transferred to the 8th Cavalry in 1871, and resigned the following year. (Heitman, 1:367) DE WITT, Calvin, of Pennsylvania, served as a captain in the Volutneers from 1861 to 1863. In 1867, he was appointed assistant surgeon, and promoted to surgeon major in 1885. In 1901, he became colonel and assistant surgeon general. (Heitman, 1: 371) DODD, George Allen (1852–1925) of Pennsylvania, was an 1876 graduate of West Point. He was posted to Wyoming as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and served in Nebraska and Dakota. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1880, and served in the Apache campaigns in Arizona in the 1880s. He later served in the SpanishAmerican War and Philippine Insurrection, and during Mexican border disturbances. He retired in 1916 as brigadier general. (Altshuler, 1991, 103–4) DODGE, Frederick Leighton (d. 1891), native of New Hampshire, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and was appointed first lieuten-

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ant in 1865. In 1867, he was named second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in the Department of the Columbia. He was transferred to Fort Whipple, Arizona, in 1872, and promoted to first lieutenant a year later. His regiment transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1874. In 1889, he suffered a mental breakdown, and retired two years later. A few months after his retirement, he committed suicide. (Altshuler, 1991, 105) DODGE, Richard Irving (1827–95), 1848 graduate of West Point, was a grand-nephew of Washington Irving who shared Irving’s literary bent. Like Bourke, Dodge was a prolific diarist and observer as well as a naturalist, publishing several books on western wildlife and on Indian culture. Perhaps his best known are The Black Hills: A Minute Description of the Routes, Scenery, Soil, Climate, Timber, Gold, Geology, Zoology, etc. (1876), and Our Wild Indians: Thirty Three Years’ Personal Experience Among the Red Men of the Great West (1882). He spent part of the period prior to the Civil War on the Texas Frontier. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who transferred to the Volunteers to attain advancement during the war, Dodge remained in the Regular service, although he was breveted to colonel for faithful and meritorious service in the organization of the Volunteer armies. Promoted to the active rank of major in 1864, he spent much of the postwar era on the frontier. He was named lieutenant colonel of the 23rd Infantry in 1873, and promoted to colonel and aide-de-camp to General Sherman in 1882. He retired in 1891. Wayne R. Kime has edited Dodge’s book, The Plains of North America and Their Inhabitants (1989), as well as four volumes comprising his service journals from 1875 to 1883. For all his work, it is remarkable that Dodge has received little mention in biographical encyclopedias. (Kime, 1997, 9; Heitman, 1:377) DOWNEY, George Mason (1841–1910), was commissioned first lieutenant of the 14th Infantry in 1861, and served with distinction in the Civil War. He was promoted to captain in 1865, and was posted to Fort Whipple, Arizona, the following year. He remained in Arizona, and with the reorganization of the postwar army in 1869, he was appointed to the 21st Infantry. He spent much of the remainder of his career in the Southwest or on the West Coast, and was retired for ill health in 1888. In 1904, he was advanced to major on the retired list. (Altshuler, 1991, 108; Heitman, 1:381) DREW, George Augustus (1832–1921), native of Michigan, was

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appointed a captain of the Volunteers in 1862, and promoted to major the following year. He was breveted for distinguished service in the Shenandoah and against Richmond. He was named second lieutenant of the 10th Infantry in 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1868. A year later, he was reassigned to the 3rd Cavalry. He was transferred to Camp Bowie in 1871, and to the Department of the Platte the same year. He served as acting assistant quartermaster for the Big Horn Expedition under Reynolds in 1876. He was promoted to captain in March 1879, and retired with that rank in 1896, but was advanced to major in 1904. (Heitman, 1:383; Altshuler, 1991, 108–09) DRUM, Richard Coulter, of Pennsylvania, entered the Volunteers in December 1846, and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Regular Army two months later. He served with distinction in the Mexican War and Civil War, finishing the latter with a brevet to brigadier general for service in the Adjutant General’s Department. In 1880, he was appointed brigadier general and adjutant general. He retired in 1889. (Heitman, 1:384) DU BOIS, John Van Deusen (ca. 1833–79) of New York, graduated from West Point in 1855, and served in Texas and New Mexico as second lieutenant in the Mounted Rifles. He briefly served as colonel of a Volunteer regiment in the Civil War. He returned to his regiment, renumbered 3rd Cavalry, in 1862, having been promoted to captain, and was inspector general of the Department of the Missouri from 1864 to 1866. Promoted to major in 1869, he commanded various posts in Arizona, and later served in Nebraska and Wyoming. He retired in 1876. (Altshuler, 1991, 109) DUNKELBERGER, Isaac Rothermel (ca. 1833–1904), of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons (subsequently renumbered 1st Cavalry) in 1861. He was severely wounded at Trevilian Station, Virginia, in 1864. He finished the war as a captain, with brevets to lieutenant colonel. In 1866, he was posted to Arizona. His wound continued to trouble him, and in 1870, a board recommended disability retirement. Before action could be taken, however, he was discharged as a supernumerary, denying him retirement. In 1901, Congress rectified the matter by placing him on the retired list. (Altshuler, 1991, 114) DUNN, Thomas Searle (ca. 1823–95) of Indiana, served in the Volunteers during the Mexican War. In 1861, he was commissioned

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as captain in the 12th Infantry, and served with distinction in the Civil War. In 1866, he was transferred to the 21st Infantry, and was posted to Arizona three years later. He also served in the Department of the Columbia, and commanded Fort Yuma, California. He retired as major of the 12th Infantry in 1878. (Altshuler, 1991, 114) EASTMAN, Frank French, of Illinois, entered West Point in 1875, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1890, and captain in 1894. As of 1902, he was a major in the Subsistence Department. (Heitman, 1:394) EATON, George Oscar (1848–1930), native of Maine, was an 1873 graduate of West Point. He joined the 5th Cavalry at Camp Verde, Arizona, and was recommended for a brevet for scouting expeditions. He may have been the model for the hero in Charles King’s novel, The Colonel’s Daughter. He served on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. Eaton resigned in 1883, and later moved to Montana, where he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention. (Altshuler, 1991, 116–17) EGAN, James (d. 1883) called Teddy by his friends, was a native of Ireland who enlisted in the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1856. He served with distinction in the Civil War, and was named second lieutenant of the new 2nd Cavalry in 1863. He was promoted to captain in 1868, and in 1872 was among the officers assigned to the Grand Duke Tsarevich Alexis’s tour of the Plains. Egan’s initiative during Reynolds’s Powder River fight prevented a confused, blundering situation from becoming potentially disastrous. He retired on disability in 1879, due to wounds and injuries received in the line of duty. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:454; Heitman, 1:399) ELKINS. Neither Heitman nor Warner lists an Elkins in the Quartermaster General’s Department. ELTING, Oscar (1831–1902) of New York, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. Mustered out as a corporal, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry in 1867, and joined the regiment in New Mexico. After serving there and in Arizona, he was detailed to recruiting duty, and rejoined his company in the Department of the Platte. Elting was promoted to captain in 1881, and the following year returned to Arizona. He also served in Texas and in Vermont prior to his retirement in 1895. (Altshuler, 1991, 121) EVANS, Andrew Wallace (1829–1906), native of Maryland, gradu-

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ated from West Point together with Crook in 1852. He served on the frontier until 1863, and was breveted for the battle of Valverde in 1862. He was named colonel of the 1st Maryland Cavalry in 1864, and was breveted for distinguished service in the Appomattox Campaign. In 1865, he was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry, and posted to the frontier. He went to Arizona in 1870, and served under Crook as departmental inspector general. Evans transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1876, and commanded a battalion during Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1883 as lieutenant colonel of the 7th Cavalry. (Altshuler, 1991, 123) FARRAR, Colonel. Heitman lists several Colonel Farrars whom Bourke could have known. FERRIS, Samuel Peter, of Connecticut, entered West Point in 1857, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 8th Infantry. He transferred to the Volunteers and served as colonel of the 28th Connecticut Infantry. In 1866, he was promoted to captain of the 30th Infantry, Regular Army, and transferred to the 4th Infantry in 1869. He died in 1882. (Heitman, 1:417–18) FETTERMAN, William Judd (ca. 1833–66), native of Connecticut, enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was breveted to lieutenant colonel for distinguished service. Commissioned as a captain in the 18th Infantry, he was posted to Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming. On December 21, 1866, he led his men against a band of Indians, following a decoy party into a trap. Fetterman and his entire eighty-man command died in the fight. (O’Neal, 113–15; Brown) FITCH, Julian R. of Ohio, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, received brevets to first lieutenant and captain. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 17th Infantry in 1866. He was first lieutenant at the time he was transferred to the 15th Infantry in 1869. He was cashiered together with Capt. Alfred Hedberg, 15th Infantry, in January 1873. Lieutenant Edmund T. Ryan, another officer of the 15th Infantry, mentioned by Bourke in connection with Fitch and Hedberg, was cashiered a month later. Interestingly enough, Bourke mentions these officers only in their capacity as cordial hosts to his company as it passed through Fort Cummings, New Mexico, deviating from his usual custom of noting subsequent dismissals or cashierings. See HEDBERG, Alfred; RYAN, Edmund T. (Heitman, 1:422) FITZGERALD, Michael John, native of Ireland, served as an

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enlisted man first in the Artillery then in the Ordnance from 1856 to 1861. He served as hospital steward until 1863, when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. By 1876, he was captain. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:423) FLAGLER, Daniel Webster (d. 1899), of New York, entered West Point in 1856, and upon graduation became second lieutenant of Ordnance. He served with distinction in the Civil War, earning brevets to lieutenant colonel. At the end of the war he resumed the active rank of captain, and was promoted to major in 1874, lieutenant colonel in 1881, and colonel in 1890. He was brigadier general and chief of Ordnance at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:424) FOOTE, Morris Cooper, native of New York, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to lieutenant the following year. In 1866, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, and in 1868, to first lieutenant. He was adjutant on the Dodge-Jenney Black Hills Expedition, and later served as regimental adjutant of the 9th from 1879 to 1883. He retired as brigadier general in 1903. (Heitman, 1:427) FORSYTH, George Alexander “Sandy” (1837–1915) is best remembered for holding out with fifty men during a six-day siege by some 750 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors at Beecher’s Island, Colorado, in 1868. A native of Illinois, he enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was appointed first lieutenant later that year. He served as an aide to Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, and was breveted to brigadier general. In 1866, he was appointed major of the 9th Cavalry. After serving intermittently as secretary and aide to General Sheridan between 1869 and 1881, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry. He served in Arizona from 1884 to 1887. A year later, he was suspended for three years on half pay for financial irregularities. He retired in 1890, and wrote two books, The Story of the Soldier and Thrilling Days of Army Life. (Altshuler, 1991, 133–34; Lamar, 381; Thrapp, 1991, 1:509–10) FORSYTH, James William “Tony,” of Ohio, entered West Point in 1851, and in 1856 was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. He had known Sheridan since West Point, and prior to the Civil War, they had served together in the Pacific Northwest. He served under Sheridan from 1864, distinguishing himself in the battles of Opequon, Fisher’s Hill, and Middletown. He finished the Civil War as a brevet brigadier general. Forsyth served as Sheridan’s

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aide-de-camp from 1869 to 1873, when he became the lieutenantgeneral’s military secretary. In 1878, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 1st Cavalry, and joined that regiment. In 1886, he became colonel of the 7th Cavalry, which he commanded in the slaughter at Wounded Knee in 1890. (Hutton, 153–54; Heitman, 1:430) FOSTER, Charles Warren, enlisted in the Engineers in 1846, and served for ten years. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he became captain of the Volunteers, attaining the brevet ranks of lieutenant colonel of Volunteers, and lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army. In 1865, he was appointed captain and acting quarter master, and in 1883, major quartermaster. He retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:431) FREEMAN, Henry Blanchard of Ohio, served as a private in the 10th Infantry from 1855 to 1856. He reentered in the 15th Infantry in July 1861, but was promoted to second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry in October. He finished the war as a first lieutenant, with brevets to captain and, in 1894, was awarded the medal of honor for gallantry as Stone’s River (Murfreesboro). In 1866, he was promoted to captain, and in 1870 was assigned to the 7th Infantry. He retired as a brigadier general in 1901. (Heitman, 1:435–36) FREDERICK, Daniel Alfred, of Georgia, entered West Point in 1873, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1877. Much of his subsequent career was in the 7th Infantry, although in the Spanish-American War he was a major of Volunteers. He was promoted to major of the 21st Infantry in January 1902, and assigned to the Adjutant General’s Department later that year. (Heitman, 1:435). FREMONT, John Charles (1813–90), known as “The Pathfinder,” native of Georgia, entered the army as a second lieutenant of Topographical Engineers in 1836, and assisted in Joseph Nicollet’s reconnaissance of Minnesota and Dakota. In 1841, he married Jessie Benton, daughter of Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, who used his influence to boost Fremont’s career. He gained fame as an explorer of the West, and an author. Although much of his writing often is credited to his wife, herself a noted author, Fremont’s biographer, Ferol Egan, points out stylistic differences to show that he largely was responsible for his own work. Fremont was a key player in the seizure of California during the Mexican War. In 1856, he was presidential candidate of the newly established Republican Party. His no-compromise stand against slavery contributed to his defeat,

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but the campaign established the Republicans as a viable party. Bad investments reduced him to poverty, which was alleviated in part by his service as governor of Arizona Territory in 1878–83. Shortly before his death, Congress raised him to major general with appropriate retirement pay. (Egan; Thrapp, 1991, 1:519–20) FRENCH, Lieutenant. Probably Frederick Halverson French, who was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1877, upon graduation from West Point, and retired as a first lieutenant in 1885. (Heitman, 1:436) FRENCH, Chaplain. Heitman lists two chaplains named French, neither of whom are appropriate to Bourke’s narrative. FUREY, John Vincent, of New York, enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in 1861. Taking a discharge in 1862, he reentered the Volunteers two years later as quartermaster captain. He was breveted to major of the Volunteers for meritorious service in the Quarter Master Department during the Civil War. Furey was appointed captain and assistant quartermaster of the Regular Army in 1867. Although Altshuler (Cavalry Yellow and Infantry Blue) does not list him among the officers who served in Arizona, he was Crook’s quartermaster both there and later in the Platte. He retired in 1903 as brigadier general. (Heitman, 1:441) GENTRY, William Thomas (d. 1885) of Ohio, entered West Point in 1852, and upon graduation was breveted as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He was commissioned first lieutenant of the 17th Infantry in May 1871, and in October was promoted to captain. He received brevets to major and lieutenant colonel during the Civil War. Gentry was assigned to the 19th Infantry in February 1870, and a month later promoted to major of the 9th Infantry. He was a lieutenant colonel at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:451) GILBERT, Charles Champion (1822–1903), of Ohio, was an 1846 graduate of West Point, and served in the 1st Infantry during the Mexican War. During the immediate antebellum period, he served in the Southwest, and also on the faculty at West Point. In 1862, he received a six-month appointment as brigadier general of Volunteers. After that he served as major of the 19th Infantry, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 7th Infantry in 1868. He commanded various posts in the West. Gilbert retired as colonel of the 17th Infantry in 1886. (Warner, 173–74; Heitman, 1:455) GILLISS. The only Gilliss listed by Heitman as quartermaster and

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appropriate to the era was James Gilliss of the District of Columbia. However, Gilliss was not promoted to major until 1881, and is not listed as having a brevet as major prior to that. As Bourke referred to “Majors Furey and Gilliss,” most likely he simply neglected to insert “Captain” in front of Gilliss’ name. Gilliss was colonel and assistant quartermaster general at the time of his death in 1898. (Heitman, 1:457) GOLDMAN, Henry Joseph, native of Germany, entered West Point in 1873, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He remained with the regiment and was captain as of 1903. (Heitman, 1:462) GORDON, George Alexander (1833–78), native of Virginia, was an 1854 graduate of West Point. After serving in the artillery, he transferred to the 2nd Dragoons in 1855, and took part in suppressing disturbances in Kansas. He was promoted to captain in 1861, shortly before the 2nd Dragoons were renumbered as 2nd Cavalry. During the Civil War he was breveted to lieutenant colonel. In 1867, he was promoted to major of the 4th Cavalry, but was dropped during the Army Reductions. Gordon was reappointed as major of the 5th Cavalry in 1873. He served in Arizona and in the Platte, before being assigned to headquarters of the Military Division of the Missouri in Chicago. (Altshuler, 1991, 141–42) GREENE, Lewis Douglas (which Bourke spelled “Green”) of New York, entered West Point in 1874, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1888, and served as regimental quartermaster from 1889 to 1893. He retired as a captain in 1898. (Heitman, 1:475) GREGORY, James Fingal (d. 1897), of New York, was engineer officer of General Sheridan’s staff at the time of Bourke’s writing. He entered West Point in 1861, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Artillery. In 1866, he transferred to the Engineers, with promotion to first lieutenant. He became captain in 1874, and served as lieutenant colonel/aide-de-camp to Sheridan from 1881 to 1885. He held the active rank of major in the Engineers at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1::477) GRIMES, Edward B. (d. 1883) entered the army as a captain and assistant quartermaster of Volunteers in 1862. He served with distinction in the Civil War, and was breveted to major. After the war, he was commissioned captain and assistant quartermaster of the Regular

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Army. He was a major at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:480) GRIMES, Robert D. Heitman does not list a surgeon named Grimes. Most likely he was a contract surgeon. HALL, William Prebel (1848–1927), native of Missouri, graduated from West Point in 1868, and joined the 19th Infantry in Arkansas. On March 31, 1869, he was dropped from the lists by army consolidations, and three months later assigned to the 5th Cavalry. After service in Kansas and Nebraska, he was assigned to Arizona, where he participated in Crook’s Grand Offensive. After a year of sick leave, he returned to duty in 1875, and rejoined his regiment at Fort Dodge, Kansas. Hall was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. In 1879, he and a three-man reconnoitering detail rescued an officer who was attacked by more than thirty Indians. Hall received the Medal of Honor for that action. He retired as brigadier general and adjutant general of the army in 1912. (Altshuler, 1991, 150–51) HAMILTON, John Morrison (1839–98), native of Ontario, enlisted as a Volunteer in New York in 1861. He attained the rank of first lieutenant with a brevet to captain during the Civil War. In 1867, he was commissioned as captain of the 39th Infantry in 1867. In 1870, he was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, and was posted to Camp McDowell, Arizona, in January 1872. He was breveted to major for gallantry in action against the Tonto Apaches in the foothills of the Tortilla Mountains on January 16, 1873. After the 5th was reassigned to the Department of the Platte in 1876, he participated in Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s roundup of Red Cloud’s band at Chadron Creek, Nebraska, and the attack on the Cheyenne camp during Crook’s Powder River Expedition. He was lieutenant colonel of the 9th Cavalry when he was killed in the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba in 1898. (Altshuler, 1991, 152–53; O’Neal, 130–31; Heitman, 1:493) HANCOCK, Winfield Scott (1824–86), 1880 Democratic nominee for president, was born in Pennsylvania, and entered West Point in 1840. Upon graduation, he was posted to the Indian Territory. He served in the Mexican War, Indian campaigns, and the expedition against the Mormons in Utah. Returning east from California upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed brigadier general of Volunteers, distinguishing himself at Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. At Gettysburg, he received a wound that troubled

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him for the rest of his life. In 1866, Hancock was appointed major general in the Regular Army, commanding the Department of the Missouri. He was commander of the Military Division of the Atlantic at the time of his death. (Warner, 202–4) HARDIE, Francis Hunter, entered West Point in 1872, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1876. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1881, and served as regimental quartermaster from 1884 to 1888. He was a major of the 14th Cavalry as of 1901. (Heitman, 1:499) HARTSUFF, Albert, entered the service as assistant surgeon in 1861, and was promoted to major and surgeon in 1876. He accompanied Crook’s 1876 expeditions, and assisted Dr. Clements on the Horse Meat March. He was breveted to captain and major for faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel in 1866, for meritorious and distinguished service during a cholera epidemic in New Orleans. He was colonel and assistant surgeon general at the time of his retirement in 1901. (Heitman, 1:507) HATCH, John Porter (1822–1901) of New York, was an 1845 graduate of West Point, and served in the Mounted Rifles during the Mexican War. He served throughout the West during the antebellum years, and in the Civil War was a brigadier general of Volunteers. At the close of the war his active rank was major of the 4th Cavalry. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 5th Cavalry in 1873, later transferred to the 4th Cavalry, and retired at the rank of colonel of the 2nd Cavalry in 1886. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:630) HAZEN, William Babcock (1830–87), an 1855 graduate of West Point, served with distinction against the Indians in California, Oregon, and Texas, and was seriously wounded in action with Comanches in 1859. This wound, aggravated by diabetes, ultimately caused his death almost thirty years later. He was breveted to major general for his service in the Civil War. In 1867, he was assigned to the Southern Military District in charge of the Indian tribes in Kansas and Oklahoma. As colonel of the 6th Infantry, he commanded Fort Buford, North Dakota, from 1872 to 1877. In 1880, he was promoted to brigadier general and chief of the Army Signal Corps. An outspoken critic and reformer of the army system, he made many enemies. (O’Neal, 142–44; Kroeker) HEDBERG, Alfred (which Bourke spelled “Hedburg”), of Sweden,

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entered the 15th Infantry as a private in 1862, and was commissioned second lieutenant the following year. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1864, and captain in 1865. Cashiered together with Lt. Julian R. Fitch, 15th Infantry, in 1873, he was reinstated thirteen years later by act of Congress. He was killed by Lt. James A. Maney, 15th Infantry, in 1893. Heitman offers no details, but Maney remained in the army as major of the 17th Infantry as of 1902. See FITCH, Julian R; RYAN, Edmund T. (Heitman, 1:519, 687) HENLEY, Austin (d. 1878), a native of Ireland, entered the army as a private in the 11th Infantry in 1864. At the time he left the regiment in 1867, he was quartermaster sergeant. He entered West Point the following year, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 6th Cavalry. He and Lt. John Anthony Rucker were drowned in a flash flood in Arizona in 1878. During the Red River War, in 1875, a detachment under Henley virtually annihilated a band of Cheyennes at Sappa Creek, Kansas, and some historians speculate that Cheyenne atrocities committed against settlers in Kansas during the Outbreak of 1878–79 were for revenge. See also RUCKER, John Anthony. (Heitman, 1:523; Monnett, 82–83, 92–95) HENRY, Guy Vernor (1839–99), the son of an army officer, was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas. Upon graduating from West Point in 1861, he was appointed to the 1st Artillery. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, earning brevets as colonel of the Regular Army and brigadier general of the Volunteers. He rejoined the 1st Artillery as captain, and in December 1870, transferred to the 3rd Cavalry which was posted at Camp McDowell, Arizona. In July 1871, Henry led an expedition from Camp Apache to McDowell, which established the efficiency of Indian scouts in Apache campaign. During the Battle of the Rosebud in 1876, he was severely wounded in the face, losing the sight in his left eye. He recovered and as major general of Volunteers, he commanded the Department of Puerto Rico following the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers in 1898, and assumed that rank in the Regular Army following his discharge from the Volunteers in June 1899. He died four months later. (Altshuler, 1991, 164–66; O’Neal, 145–46) HENTON, James “Old Jimmie” (1835–95). Although Bourke gives the impression that Henton was Irish, actually he was born in Liverpool. He enlisted in St. Louis in 1853, and was assigned to Benicia

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Barracks, California, where he was discharged as a first sergeant in 1858. He reenlisted in 1860 in the 14th Infantry, and was promoted to second lieutenant the following year, and to first lieutenant in 1862. He was breveted to captain for gallatry at Gettysburg, and with the end of the war that became his active rank. He was transferred to the 23rd Infantry in 1866. Henton commanded Camp Date Creek from September 1872 to January 1873. He was lieutenant colonel at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 167) HEWITT, Christian Cyrus, of West Virginia, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 19th Infantry. He remained with that regiment, retiring as major in 1901. (Heitman, 1:627) HOFFMAN, William Edwin, entered the service as first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1862, and was promoted to captain a year later. In 1867, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 31st Infantry, and in 1870, was assigned to the 4th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1889. (Heitman, 1991, 1:527) HORTON, Samuel Miller of Pennsylvania, joined the army as assistant surgeon in 1861, and in 1876 was promoted to surgeon major. He retired as a lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon general in 1894. (Heitman, 1:543) HOWARD, Oliver Otis (1830–1909), native of Maine, graduated from Bowdoin College and West Point, spent more than half his antebellum service at West Point. Known as “the praying general,” he was a devout Congregationalist, and at one point considered resigning from the army to enter the ministry. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he resigned his commission as first lieutenant in the regular army, and became a colonel of Volunteers, and was breveted to brigadier general in September 1861. He lost his right arm in the Battle of Seven Pines. He finished the war as major general of Volunteers, and brevet major general of the Regular Army with the active rank of brigadier general. He headed the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands from 1865 to 1872, after which he was a appointed special Indian commissioner. Among his accomplishments was negotiating an end to the Cochise War. He later served as commander of the Department of Columbia, where his high-handedness helped provoke the Nez Percé War. After a period as superintendent of West Point and commander of the Department of the Platte, he was promoted to major general in command of the

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Military Division of the Pacific, and subsequently the Military Division of the Atlantic. He retired in 1894. He also founded Howard University, serving as its first president. See also COCHISE; JOSEPH. (Warner, 237–38; Thrapp, 1991, 2:683–84) HOWELL, Rezin Gist (d. 1887), of Kentucky, entered West Point in 1860, and upon graduation, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Artillery. He was a captain at the time of his death. HOWLAND, Carver, of Rhode Island, entered West Point in 1872, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry upon graduation. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1886, and captain in 1894. He was a major at the time of his retirement in 1902. (Heitman, 1:548) HUGHES, Martin Briggs, of Pennsylvania, entered West Point in 1865, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1873. He subsequently was breveted to captain for gallant service against Indians in New Mexico in 1880, and in 1885, was promoted to the active rank. He was a lieutenant colonel of the 10th Cavalry as of 1901. (Heitman, 1:552) HUGHES, William Burton (d. 1896), of Tennessee entered West Point in 1852, and after a brief brevet with the 4th Infantry, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1856. He was promoted to first lieutenant of the 1st Infantry in 1861. In 1863, he was commissioned captain and acting quartermaster, major quartermaster in 1876, and lieutenant colonel deputy quartermaster general in 1889. He was colonel assistant quartermaster general at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:553) HUNTER, George King (1855–1940), native of Ohio, was an 1877 graduate of West Point. He was posted to the 3rd Cavalry in Texas in December 1877, and transferred to Wyoming the following month. Promoted to first lieutenant, he was sent to Fort Bowie, Arizona, in 1882, and participated in the Apache campaigns. He later served with distinction in the Spanish-American War and in the Philippine Insurrection. He retired in 1918 as colonel, but in 1930, was advanced on the retired list to brigadier general. (Altshuler, 1991, 173–74) JACKSON, Allen Hyre, of New York, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry, and

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rose to first lieutenant in 1871. He was breveted through the grades to major for service in the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel for gallantry in the Battle of Big Hole, Montana, against the Nez Percés in 1877. He retired in 1898 as major paymaster. (Heitman, 1:566) JACOBS, Joshua West, of Kentucky, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, mustered out in 1865 as major. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry. By 1869, when he was transferred to the 7th Infantry, he had been promoted to first lieutenant, and served as regimental quartermaster for the next thirteen years until 1882. As of 1900, he was lieutenant colonel and departmental quartermaster general. (Heitman, 1:569) JOHNSON, Colonel, Pay Department. The only Johnson listed by Heitman in the Pay Department is Chauncey P. E. Johnson, who served as a Volunteer in the Union Army and was mustered out in 1866. Bourke probably means William Hartshorne Johnston (d. 1896) of Ohio, who entered the army as paymaster of Volunteers in 1861, and finished the war as a brevet lieutenant colonel of both Volunteers and Regular Army. He was commissioned to the active rank of major paymaster in 1866, and retired in 1888 as lieutenant colonel deputy paymaster general. (Heitman, 1: 575, 579) JOHNSON, John Burgess (1847–96), native of Massachusetts, was named second lieutenant of the 6th U.S. Colored Infantry in 1863. In 1870, he joined the 3rd Cavalry as first lieutenant in Arizona, remaining there until his regiment was withdrawn in 1871. He participated in Crook’s expeditions of 1876. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 181) JORDAN, Allan (d. 1882) of South Carolina, was an 1879 graduate of West Point. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry, and posted to the Department of the Platte. In 1882, his company was transferred to Arizona, where he died during a winter hunting trip, apparently of exposure. (Altshuler, 1991, 183) KELLOGG, Sanford Cobb (1842–1904), native of New York, enlisted in that state’s National Guard in 1862. He became a captain of Volunteers, serving as aid to Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, his uncle by marriage. Commissioned as second lieutenant of the Eighteenth Infantry on February 23, 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant on May 15, he was dropped from the list by army consolidation in 1869. In 1870, he was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, and in 1871, was promoted to captain. He served as Sheridan’s aide from 1871 to 1873,

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when he was assigned to Arizona. He accompanied his regiment to the Department of the Platte in 1875. Ten years later, he was again appointed Sheridan’s aide. Kellogg was promoted to major of the 4th Cavalry in 1892, and the following year, appointed military attaché in Paris. He retired in 1898. (Altshuler, 1991, 188–89) KEYES, Edward Livingston (1843–1917), which Bourke sometimes spelled “Keys,” native of Massachusetts, joined the 5th Cavalry as a second lieutenant in 1872. During Crook’s 1872–73 campaign, he was recommended twice for brevets. He later served in the Department of the Platte during the Great Sioux War. He was courtmartialed and dismissed for drunkenness in 1877, studied medicine, and became a prominent surgeon. (Altshuler, 1991, 191) KIMBALL. Although Bourke gives the assistant surgeon as “W. L. Kimball,” the only surgeon named Kimball listed in Heitman for this time period is James P. Kimball, who was appointed assistant surgeon in 1867, and promoted to surgeon major in 1886. He retired on April 7, 1902, as colonel and assistant surgeon general, and died twelve days later. (Heitman, 1:598) KING, Charles (1844–1933), soldier and author, perhaps has the record for serving over a longer period of time than any soldier in the history of the United States military. He was in virtually every conflict in which the United States was involved, from the Civil War through the First World War. A native of New York, he grew up in Wisconsin. With the outbreak of the Civil War, then sixteen, King volunteered as an orderly to his father, Brig. Gen. Rufus King. He subsequently was appointed to West Point, and upon graduation in 1866, was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 1st Artillery. Upon promotion to first lieutenant in 1870, he transferred to the 5th Cavalry. King scouted against the Apaches in Arizona, distinguishing himself in the fights at Diamond Butte and Sunset Pass. He served during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. Upon promotion to captain in 1879, he was retired on disability from an old wound received in Arizona. He then became a popular novelist and playwright, and was known as “America’s Kipling” for his stores of army life. When the Spanish-American War broke out, King was appointed brigadier general of Volunteers, and commanded the District of Hawaii. He later served in the Philippines, and was adjutant general of the Wisconsin National Guard. At present, most of King’s writings have been forgotten. However, his 1890 book,

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Campaigning With Crook, remains a standard for the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Altshuler, 1991, 192–93; King, 1890; Russell, Campaigning With King) KING, John Haskell (d. 1888), of Michigan, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Infantry in 1837. He rose through the grades until, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, he was promoted to major of the 15th Infantry. After service with the Volunteers as brigadier general, he was mustered out and commissioned as colonel of the 9th Infantry. He was breveted to major general both of Volunteers and of the Regular Army for gallant and meritorious service during the war. He retired in 1882. (Heitman, 1:599) KIRTLAND, Thaddeus Sandford, of Connecticut, entered the army as a private in the 18th Infantry in October 1861, but was commissioned second lieutenant at the send of that month. In 1862, he was promoted to first lieutenant. He was promoted to captain and transferred to the 36th Infantry in 1866, and three years later transferred to the 7th Infantry. He retired as a major in 1891. (Heitman, 1:604) KITCHEN. The only surgeon named Kitchen listed in Heitman is Samuel Kitchen, who served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and was mustered out following the conclusion of the war. (Heitman, 1:605) LAWSON, Joseph (ca. 1821–81), native of Ireland, joined the Volunteers as a second lieutenant in 1862. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in February 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant five months later. He was posted to Camp Date Creek from 1870 to 1871, when the 3rd transferred to the Department of the Platte. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. During the Milk River fight in Colorado in 1879, command devolved on Lawson after Maj. Thomas T. Thornburgh was killed, and the senior captain, John Scott Payne, was wounded. Lawson is credited with averting a massacre. See THORNBURGH, Thomas Tipton, and PAYNE, John Scott. (Altshuler, 1991, 198) LAWTON, Henry Ware (1843–99), native of Ohio, enlisted as a sergeant in the Volunteers in 1861, finishing the Civil War as lieutenant colonel. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 41st Infantry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following year. Upon the consolidation of regiments, he was transferred to the 24th Infantry, as regimental quartermaster under Col. Ranald

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Mackenzie. When Mackenzie transferred to the 4th Cavalry in 1871, Lawton went with him. As RQM, he was responsible for the logistics behind Mackenzie’s many successful field expeditions against the Southern Plains Indians. Lawton was promoted to captain in 1881, and later was posted to Arizona, where he served in the Geronimo campaign. He later escorted Geronimo to Skeleton Canyon, where the chief surrendered to Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles. He subsequently was promoted to major and inspector general. During the SpanishAmerican War, he was appointed major general of Volunteers. He was killed in the Battle of San Mateo, during the Philippine Insurrection. Lawton, Oklahoma, site of Fort Sill, is named in his honor. See also MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell; MILES, Nelson Appleton. (Altshuler, 1991, 198–99) LEE, Jesse Matlock (1843–1926), native of Indiana, enlisted in the Volunteers in November 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant eleven months later. He finished the Civil War as a captain, and was appointed an infantry officer. By the mid-1870s, he was first lieutenant of the 9th Infantry at Camps Sheridan and Robinson, Nebraska. He reported that he was in the Powder River fight in March 1876, but this was purely a cavalry action with no infantry involved. Bourke does not mention him until a visit to Camp Robinson, after the expedition ended. In 1877, Lee convinced Crazy Horse to accompany him to Camp Robinson. Upon arrival, however, Crazy Horse was placed under arrest over Lee’s protests, and in the ensuing fight, the chief was mortally wounded. In 1879, Lee, now captain, was recorder for the board inquiring into the conduct of Maj. Marcus A. Reno during the battle of the Little Bighorn. He retired as a major general in 1907. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:832) LEIGHTON. No Leighton could be found in Heitman, and the only entry under “Layton” did not fit the rank for that time. LEMLY, Henry Rowan, of North Carolina, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He served with Crook on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in the 3rd Cavalry, and wrote an account, “The Fight on the Rosebud,” that later was included in the “Papers of the Order of the Indian Wars.” He was a captain of the 7th Artillery at the time of his retirement in 1899. (Heitman, 1:627) LEWIS, John Francis (1842–1915) of Ohio, served as a sergeant of Volunteers during the Civil War. In 1866, he was commissioned

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second lieutenant, and within a few months was promoted to first lieutenant. He served in Arizona from 1867 to 1871, when he was mustered out under the Army Reduction Acts. (Altshuler, 1991, 203) LEWIS, William Henry (d. 1878) entered West Point in 1845, and upon graduation was breveted to second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He attained the active rank, and in 1850, transferred to the 5th Infantry. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was promoted to captain, and in 1864, was commissioned major of the 18th Infantry. He served with the Union forces opposing the Confederate thrust into New Mexico, earning brevets to lieutenant colonel. He was appointed to active rank of lieutenant colonel of the 19th Infantry in 1873. He was mortally wounded September 27, 1878, in action against the Cheyennes on the Punished Woman’s Fork, and died the following day. (Heitman, 1:631) LEYDEN, James Alexander (d. 1897), of Tennessee, entered West Point in 1875, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:641) LONDON, Robert (ca. 1850–92), native of North Carolina, was assigned as a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry after graduating from West Point in 1873. He was posted to Camp Lowell, and later to Camp Apache, where he was recommended twice for brevets for distinguished service during scouting expeditions. He also served at San Carlos and Camp Apache. During the Great Sioux War, he participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Altshuler, 1991, 204–5) LORING. Heitman does not list a Lieutenant Loring whose service coincides with the period mentioned by Bourke. LOVELL, Robert Armstrong, was commissioned second lieutenant in the 14th Infantry in 1872. He was a first lieutenant at the time of his resignation in 1890. (Heitman, 1:644) LOVERING, Leonard Austin entered West Point in 1872, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He rose through the grades becoming a captain in 1893. During the Philippine Insurrection, he rose to lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. In 1901, he was promoted to major of the 29th Infantry, and two years later was assigned to the Inspector General’s Department. (Heitman, 1:644) LUDINGTON, Marshall Independence, of Pennsylvania, entered

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the army as captain and acting quartermaster of Volunteers in 1862, and finished the war as colonel and quartermaster. In 1867, he was appointed to the Regular rank of major quartermaster. He retired in 1903 as a major general. (Heitman, 1:646) LYLE, David Alexander, of Ohio, entered West Point in 1865. Upon graduation, he was commissioned second lieutenant of artillery, and in 1874, promoted to first lieutenant of the Ordnance Corps. As of 1903, he was a major. (Heitman, 1:648) McCAMMON, William Wallace (d. 1903), entered the army as a first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, and finished the war as a brevet major. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1873. He rose through the grades, retiring in 1902 as major of the 6th Infantry. In 1896, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Corinth, Miss., in 1862. (Heitman, 1:654) McCALEB, Thomas Sidney (1853–1934), 1875 graduate of West Point, was appointed to second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, serving in the Department of the Platte during the Great Sioux War. He later served in Arizona, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine Insurrection, and retired as major in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 208) McCAULEY, Charles Adam Hoke, entered West Point in 1866, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant in the 3rd Artillery. He transferred to the 7th Cavalry in 1878, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following year. He was promoted to captain and assistant quartermaster in 1881. As of 1903, he was colonel and assistant quartermaster general. (Heitman, 1:655) McCLURE, Daniel (d. 1900), of Indiana, entered West Point in 1845, and upon graduation was breveted second lieutenant of the Mounted Rifles. He resigned in 1850, but re-entered the service as major paymaster in 1858. He was breveted as lieutenant colonel and colonel for service in the Pay Department during the Civil War, and when the war ended was appointed colonel and assistant paymaster general. He retired in 1888. (Heitman, 1:657) McCONIHE, Samuel (d. 1897), served with distinction in the Civil War, and was breveted through the grades to brigadier general. He was commissioned as lieutenant in the 14th Infantry in 1866, and promoted to captain in 1875. (Heitman, 1:658) McCOOK, Alexander McDowell (1831–1903), one of fourteen members of the same family known as the “Fighting McCooks” of

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the Union Army, and the one who attained the highest rank. A native of Ohio, he graduated from West Point in 1852 and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he transferred to Volunteers, attaining the rank of major general. At the end of the war, he assumed the active rank of captain of the 3rd Infantry, rising through the grades until his retirement as major general in 1895. Meanwhile he served on the frontier, and as aide to General Sherman, when the latter was general-in-chief of the army. There appears to have been bad blood between General Crook and McCook, but whether it was Alexander, his cousin Edward McCook, or both, cannot be determined, as Crook tended to confuse the two. This animosity dated to the Civil War, where Crook felt others received the glory while his own efforts went unappreciated. (Warner, 294–95; Robinson, 2001, 321 n43) McFARLAND, William Campbell, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 16th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant ten years later, and captain in 1892. He retired in 1899. (Heitman, 1:665) McKINNEY, John Augustine (d. 1876), of Tennessee, entered West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Cavalry. He was killed in the Dull Knife Fight on November 25, 1876. Fort McKinney, Wyo., is named in his honor. (Heitman, 1:673) MACKAY, James Ormond (1857–1911), which Bourke spells “Mackey,” was a native of Nova Scotia and an 1879 graduate of West Point. He was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry in the Department of the Platte, and later transferred to Arizona. He was placed on medical retirement as a captain in 1900. (Altshuler, 1991, 218) MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell (1840–89), called “Bad Hand” or “Three Fingers” by the Indians because of an injury received to his right hand at Petersburg, was an 1862 graduate of West Point. He served with distinction in the Civil War, rising to the brevet ranks of brigadier general of the Regular Army and major general of Volunteers. In 1867, he was appointed colonel of the 41st Infantry, and in 1870, he was transferred to the 4th Cavalry. He developed the 4th into a mobile assault force, fighting the Southern Plains Indians with their own hit-and-run tactics. During the Red River War of 1874–75, he smashed a large Indian camp in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, destroying their lodges, food stores, and pony herds, a

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stratagem he would repeat under Crook in Wyoming. Nevertheless, he was mentally unbalanced, which would become increasingly evident during the Great Sioux War. Promoted to brigadier general in 1882, he was institutionalized for insanity in December 1883, and invalided out of the army the following year. See MANYPENNY, George W. (Pierce, and Robinson, 1993) MACOMB, Augustus Canfield, attended the Naval Academy from 1872 to 1876. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1878, and transferred to the 5th Cavalry in 1879. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1887, and to captain ten years later. (Heitman, 1:680) MARSTON, Doctor. Heitman does not list a surgeon named Marston. MARTIN, Captain, at Rock Island Arsenal. This specific Martin could not be identified among the various captains named Martin in the service at the time. MASON, Charles Winder, was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 13th Infantry in 1875, and transferred to the 4th Infantry later that year. (Heitman, 1:694) MASON, Julius Wilmot (1835–82), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry (subsequently renumbered as the 5th Cavalry), in April 1861. He earned two brevets in the Civil War, and emerged from the war with the active rank of captain. He was posted to Camp Hualpai in 1872, and was recommended for two additional brevets for the 1872–73 campaign. As commander of Camp Verde, and acting agent of the reservation, he made substantial improvements. Mason was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry in the Department of the Platte in July 1876, but remained with the 5th until the end of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He joined the 3rd at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, in October 1876. He returned to Arizona in 1882, as commander of Fort Huachuca, where he died on December 19 of that year. (Altshuler, 1991, 223–24) MATHEY, Edward Gustave, native of France, entered the army as sergeant of Volunteers in 1861. The following year, he was commissioned second lieutenant and was mustered out in 1865 as a major. In 1867, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 7th Cavalry, rising through the grades and retiring as major in 1896. (Heitman, 1:696)

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MAUCK, Clarence (d. 1881), was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Cavalry in March 1861, and remained with the regiment at first lieutenant when it was renumbered to 4th Cavalry. He was promoted to captain in 1863, and served with distinction in the Civil War, earning brevets to captain and major. He was major of the 9th Cavalry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:697) MEINHOLD, Charles (ca. 1827–77), native of Berlin, enlisted in the army 1851, possibly with previous military experience in Germany. He served in Texas and New Mexico until his discharge in 1862, after which he served as an officer of the 3rd Cavalry. During the Civil War, he distinguished himself in New Mexico, and during the Vicksburg campaign, and was promoted to captain in 1866. Sent to Arizona in 1871, he investigated the Wickenburg Stagecoach Massacre the following year, He also served in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. (Altshuler, 1991, 226) MERRITT, Wesley (1834–1910), native of New York, was an 1860 graduate of West Point. He served with distinction as a cavalry leader during the Civil War, rising to the rank of brevet major general of Volunteers. After the war, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 9th Cavalry, spending much of his time on the Texas frontier albeit in largely administrative functions. When Merritt’s promotion to colonel of the 5th Cavalry was announced, Lt. Col. Eugene A. Carr presumed that he would continue to exercise de facto command while Merritt, like his predecessor, Col. William H. Emory, remained on detached duty. When Merritt announced his determination to assume active command, Carr (who was yet unaware of the disaster that had befallen Custer) wrote his wife, “It seems curious that the government should find it necessary to spend huge amounts of money & some blood to teach Terry, Crook, Gibbon, Merritt & others how to fight these prairie Indians when there are Custer & myself who know how to do it and are ready & willing.” Upon assuming command, however, Merritt quickly made up for his lack of actual Indian fighting experience, distinguishing himself in the Great Sioux War, the Nez Percé War, and the White River Ute Uprising. During the Spanish-American War, he commanded U.S. troops in the Philippines. He retired in 1900 as a major general.(O’Neal, 166–67; Heitman, 1:706; quote from Carr to Mary Carr, July 3, 1876, Carr Papers) MILES, Nelson Appleton (1839–1925), native of Massachusetts,

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was a self-made soldier, and the last general-in-chief of the United States Army before the position was abolished. A store clerk, Miles joined the Volunteers as a first lieutenant, and finished the Civil War as major general. Transferring to the Regular Army in 1866, he was appointed colonel of the 40th Infantry, and with the consolidations of regiments, was transferred to the 5th Infantry in 1869. He distinguished himself in the Red River War on the Southern Plains in 1874–75. During the Great Sioux War, he drove Sitting Bull into Canada, and defeated Crazy Horse at Wolf Mountain in January 1877. Later that year, he accepted the surrender of Chief Joseph, effectively ending the Nez Percé War. Miles hated Crook, and was openly critical of him, and Crook reciprocated in kind. Appointed brigadier general in 1880, Miles relieved Crook in Arizona in 1886. He ended the Geronimo War, although he infuriated Crook by allowing loyal government Apache scouts to be sent into exile in Florida along with the hostiles. Promoted to major general in 1890, Miles became commander of the Military Division of the Missouri upon Crook’s death. In 1895, he was appointed general-in-chief, and served in the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1900, and retired three years later. Miles was married to Mary Hoyt Sherman, niece of Sen. John Sherman and Gen. W. T. Sherman. The marriage, however, may have worked against him to some degree, in part because the Sherman brothers wanted no accusations of favoritism, and in part because General Sherman detested him. See also, JOSEPH, SITTING BULL, CRAZY HORSE. (Altshuler, 1991, 229–31; Greene, 1990; Wooster; Robinson, 2001) MILES, “Paddy.” Heitman does not list a Miles named Patrick, or by any other name appropriate to Bourke’s narrative. MIX, John, of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1852, with its reorganization as the 2nd Cavalry in 1861, he was commissioned second lieutenant. He was major of the 9th Cavalry at the time of his death in 1881. (Heitman, 1:718) MONAHAN, Deane (1836–1920), native of Ireland, enlisted in the Mounted Rifles in 1856, and appointed second lieutenant in 1862, after his regiment was redesignated the 3rd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1865, and the following year assigned to Fort Union, New Mexico. In 1868, he was promoted to captain, and in 1870, participated in the Red River Expedition in Arizona.

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He remained there until 1871, when his regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Monahan retired in 1884, having been on sick leave for two years. (Altshuler, 1991, 234–35) MONTGOMERY, Robert Hugh (1838–1905), native of Philadelphia, enlisted in the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered to the 5th) in 1860, earning two brevets during the Civil War, and spending the last twenty months of the war as a prisoner. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1865, and to captain in 1870. He was posted to Arizona in 1872, and served with distinction during the 1872–73 campaign, earning a brevet as major for gallantry at Muchos Cañones on September 25, 1872, and during a scout through the Tonto Basin in November and December 1874. During the notorious Horse Meat March of 1876, his company lost fewer horses than any other in the 5th, largely because of his attention to training. He retired as major of the 10th Cavalry in 1891. (Altshuler, 1991, 235; Heitman, 1:720) MOORE, Alexander (1835–1910), native of Ireland, was appointed first lieutenant of Volunteers in October 1861, and was breveted to major for service during the Civil War. In 1867, he was commissioned captain of the 38th Infantry, and posted to New Mexico, where he served on scouting expeditions. In 1870, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry, joining it in Arizona in early 1871. Moore aroused Crook’s ire in 1871, when he moved his troops openly across a plain, spoiling the chance to surprise an Apache raiding party. His failure to act decisively during the Reynolds Fight on the Powder River in March 1876, led to his court-martial and suspension. He resigned in 1879 and became a wealthy rancher. (Altshuler, 1991, 235–36; Robinson, 2001, 110) MOSELEY, Edward Buckland, of Pennsylvania, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1874, and promoted to surgeon major in 1892. As of 1902, he was lieutenant colonel and departmental surgeon general (Heitman, 1:731) MULHALL, Stephen John, of New York, was a private soldier from 1862 to 1876, when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He retired as first lieutenant in 1891. (Heitman, 1:734) MUNN, Curtis Emerson, joined the Volunteers as a hospital steward in 1861, and in 1863 was appointed assistant surgeon. He was commissioned as assistant surgeon in 1868, and served in the Crook-Reynolds Big Horn Expedition. He was a surgeon major when

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he retired in 1900. He died in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 239–40) MUNSON, Samuel, enlisted as a sergeant in the Volunteers in 1861, but was shortly commissioned second lieutenant. Later that year he accepted a commission in the Regular Army as second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. In 1865, he was promoted to captain. He died in 1887. (Heitman, 1:736) NASH, William Hoit (d. 1902), of Ohio, was captain commissary of subsistence in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and in 1865 was commissioned to the same rank in the Regular Army. He received brevets to major in both the Volunteers and Regular Army for his wartime service. He was brigadier general and commissary general of subsistence at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:741) NICKERSON, Azor Howitt (1837–1910) served on General Crook’s staff from 1866 to 1878. A native of Ohio, he joined the Union Army as a second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861. He was breveted to major for gallantry at Antietam and Gettysburg, receiving a near-fatal chest wound in the latter battle. He entered the Regular Army in 1866. His wound left him in frail health and, although he tried to accompany Crook on his Indian campaigns, sometimes the surgeons would declare him unfit for field duty. He attempted to retire in 1882, but a scandal over a fraudulently obtained divorce from his second wife prompted the War Department to void his retirement. He resigned in 1883 to avoid court-martial. Nickerson later wrote an essay, “Major General George Crook and the Indians,” which, although never published in its entirety, has become an integral part of the Crook hagiography. (Crook to Rutherford B. Hayes, January 4, 1872, R. B. Hayes Papers, Crook Collection; Heitman, 1:747–48; Altshuler, 1991, 244–45) NORRIS, William Foster, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. He resigned as a first lieutenant in 1881. (Heitman, 1:751) O’CONNOR, Lawrence Lucius, which Bourke often spelled “O’Conner” (d. 1874), native of Ireland, was commissioned second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, and was mustered out as captain in 1865. In February of the following year, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutenant in November 1866. He was discharged in 1871, as part of the overall army reduction. (Altshuler, 1991, 252) O’REILLY, Luke, originally from Canada, entered the Volunteers

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as a second lieutenant in 1862, and earned a brevet as major by the end of the war. He was commissioned first lieutenant of the 39th Infantry in 1866, and was promoted to captain two years later. In 1871, he was assigned to the 19th Infantry. He was dismissed in 1879. (Heitman, 1:760) ORD, Edward Otho Cresap (1818–83), 1839 graduate of West Point, served in the Seminole Wars in Florida, and in California during the Mexican War. He then served in the Pacific Northwest off and on until 1861, when he was appointed brigadier general of Volunteers and ordered East. When the war ended, he was in command of the Army of the James and the Department of North Carolina. Ord was appointed brigadier general of the Regular Army in 1866 and commanded the Department of the Platte until relieved by Crook. He retired as a major general in 1881, and died of yellow fever in Havana two years later. He is believed to have been the grandson of King George IV through his morganatic wife, Maria Fitzherbert. (Cresap, 2; Warner, 349–50) PADDOCK, James V. Seaman, of Illinois, entered West Point in 1873, and upon graduation, was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1886, and retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:764) PALMER, George, of Wisconsin, entered West Point in 1872, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 24th Infantry. Soon, however, he was transferred to the 9th Infantry, where he remained through the grades until 1902, when he was promoted to major of the 21st Infantry. (Heitman, 1:767) PARKHURST, Charles Dyer (1849–1931), native of Massachusetts, graduated from West Point in 1872 and was posted to the 5th Cavalry at Camp Date Creek. He participated in the 1872–73 campaign, and was commended in departmental orders and recommended for a brevet. In 1875, he was transferred to Kansas, and a year later, participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He received a Silver Star for gallantry during the SpanishAmerican War. Parkhurst retired as colonel of the Coast Artillery. (Altshuler, 1991, 257–58) PATTERSON, George Thomas Tillman (d. 1894), of Ohio, served during the Civil War as a privae of Volunteers. He entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He was captain at the time of his

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death. (Heitman, 1:774) PAYNE, John Scott (1844–95), native of Virginia, was an 1866 graduate of West Point. He was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, where he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1867. After resigning, he practiced law and edited a newspaper. Payne re-entered the army as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, in 1873, but by act of Congress was given the first vacancy for lieutenant in that regiment, retroactive to 1867. He served in Arizona and in the Department of the Platte, where he was promoted to captain in 1875. He served on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Wind River Expedition against the Nez Percés. In 1879, he assumed command in the Milk River fight, after Major Thomas T. Thornburgh was killed. Badly wounded in the fight, Payne was commended for gallantry. He retired in 1886. See LAWSON, Joseph, and THORNBURGH, Thomas Tipton. (Altshuler, 1991, 259) PEASE, William Barrett, of Connecticut, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and in 1863 was appointed second lieutenant of the 8th U.S. Colored Infantry. He was commissioned as first lieutenant of the 11th Infantry in 1867, and later assigned to the 9th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1887. (Heitman, 1:779) PELOUZE, Louis Henry (d. 1878), of Pennsylvania, entered West Point in 1849, and upon graduation, was breveted as second lieutenant of the 4th Artillery. After receiving his commission, he rose through the grades, becoming captain of the 15th Infantry in 1861. He finished the Civil War as brevet brigadier general. At the time of his death, he was major and assistant adjutant general. Azor Nickerson was promoted to fill the vacancy created by his death. See also, NICKERSON, Azor Howitt. (Heitman, 1:781) POLLOCK, Robert (d. 1901), of Pennsylvania, whom Bourke called “Old Bobbie,” served in the Volunteers during the Mexican War and in the Civil War. He was mustered out in 1866 as a colonel. He was commissioned first lieutenant in the 32nd Infantry, and transferred to the 21st Infantry in 1869. He was promoted to captain in 1873, and retired ten years later. (Heitman, 1:796–97). POPE, James Worden, entered West Point in 1864, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry upon graduation. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879. In 1885, he became captain and acting quartermaster, rising to major quartermaster in

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1891. During the Spanish-American War, he served as chief quartermaster of Volunteers. In 1902, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel deputy quartermaster general. (Heitman, 1:798) PRATT, Edward Barton (1853–1923), native of Virginia, joined the 23rd Infantry as second lieutenant in 1872, and was posted to Arizona from 1873 until 1874, when his regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He served in Crook’s Powder River Expedition of 1876–77. Pratt retired as brigadier general in 1909. (Altshuler, 1991, 267) PRICE, Butler Dalaplaine, of Pennsylvania, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1866. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1873. He was colonel of the 16th Infantry as of 1902. (Heitman, 1:806) PRICE, George Frederick (1835–88), native of New York City, joined the 2nd California Cavalry as second lieutenant in 1861, and participated in several Indian campaigns over the next two years. The first reference to service in Arizona is on a reconnaissance between Salt Lake City and Fort Mojave in 1864. In 1866, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He was posted to Camp McDowell in 1872, and soon after was promoted to captain. He was nominated for brevets twice for service in Crook’s 1872–73 campaign, and was commended for moving Indians to the Rio Verde Reservation after Date Creek was closed. He also supervised construction of the military telegraph between San Diego and Tucson. Transferring to the Department of the Platte, he participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876, and was present at the Slim Buttes Fight. In 1882, he published his memoirs, Across the Continent with the Fifth U.S. Cavalry. (Altshuler, 1991, 268; O’Neal, 185–86; Heitman, 1:806) PRICE, Philip M. (d. 1894) of Pennsylvania, entered West Point in 1865, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Artillery. He transferred to the Engineers in 1872. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:806) PRICE, William Redwood (1838–81), of Ohio, distinguished himself during the Civil War, attaining the brevet rank of brigadier general ovf Volunteers. In 1866, he was commissioned major of the 8th Cavalry, and posted to Camp Mojave, Arizona, where he commanded the District of the Upper Colorado. He was breveted to colonel for

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gallantry in engagements with the Hualpais in December 1868. He was sent to New Mexico, where he commanded several posts, and in 1879, was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 6th Cavalry. Sent back to Arizona, he negotiated a piece with the Chemehuevis, but by 1881, was suffering too severely from diabetes for further duty. (Altshuler, 1991, 268–69; Heitman, 1:807) QUENTIN, Julius Edward (d. 1890), native of Germany, was captain of the Volunteers during the Civil War, and in 1866, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 45th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant the following year, and was transferred to the 14th Infantry in 1869. He retired as captain in 1888. (Heitman, 1:811) QUINTON, William, of Ireland, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the Signal Corps in 1863. In 1867, he was promoted to first lieutenant of the 33rd Infantry. He was assigned to the 7th Infantry in 1870, and stayed with the regiment until 1898, when he was promoted to major of the 14th Infantry. He retired in 1902 has a brigadier general. (Heitman, 1:811–12) QUINN, Thomas Francis, of Ireland, served in the 2nd Artillery from 1853 to 1858, when he transferred to the 4th Infantry. In 1863, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and was promoted to first lieutenant two years later. He was breveted to captain for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War. In 1876, he was promoted to captain, which rank he held at the time of his retirement in 1894. (Heitman, 1:811) RANDALL, George Morton “Jake” (1841–1918), native of Ohio, was one of the most competent officers to serve under Crook in Arizona. He commanded Camp Apache from 1872 to 1874, during which it was considered the best administered post in the entire department. He also had the most outstanding scouting record of any infantry captain in Arizona. Randall was breveted to colonel of the Regular Army for gallantry at Turret Mountain and Diamond Butte in 1873, and Pinal in 1874, and for distinguished service during the Indian campaigns in Arizona. He enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in July 1861, and and commissioned as 2nd lieutenant in October. By the end of the war he had been breveted to colonel of Volunteers. He was appointed brigadier general of the Regular Army in 1901 and retired four years later. (Heitman, 1:814; Alt-

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shuler, 1991, 272–73) RANDOLPH, Benjamin Harrison, entered West Point in 1866, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. He rose through the grades and was a major of the Artillery Corps as of 1903. (Heitman, 1:815) READE, Philip, of Massachusetts, entered West Point in 1864. Upon graduation, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Infantry, rising to captain by 1889. In the Spanish-American War, he rose to lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. As of 1903, he was lieutenant colonel of the 23rd Infantry. (Heitman, 1:819) REED, William Isaac, of Massachusetts, served as first lieutenant in the Volunteers from 1863 to 1865, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry in 1866. He was promoted to first lieutenant the same year, and assigned to the 7th Infantry in 1870. He retired as a captain in 1889. (Heitman, 1:821) REGAN, James, of New York, entered the army as a musician of the 2nd Infantry in 1858. He served throughout the Civil War as a musician and non-commissioned officer. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry in 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant the following year. As of 1903, he was lieutenant colonel of the 9th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:822) RENO, Marcus Albert (1834–89), an 1857 graduate of West Point, was commissioned brevet lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons (later renumbered 1st Cavalry), and given the active rank the following year. He served in the Pacific Northwest prior to the Civil War, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1861. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, earning brevet ranks of brigadier general of Volunteers, and colonel of the Regular Army. Given the active rank of captain, he served as acting assistant inspector general of the Department of the Columbia. He was promoted to major of the 7th Cavalry in 1868, and was reassigned to the Great Plains. He was posted to Fort Abraham Lincoln in 1875, and was the senior surviving officer of the regiment after the battle of the Little Bighorn. Because of the controversy surrounding the fight, he demanded a court of inquiry in 1879, which exonerated him. In 1877, he was suspended without pay for two years following court-martial for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, but was dismissed in 1880 under sentence of a second court-martial for conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. Over eighty years

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later, he was posthumously exonerated and restored to rank, when a review board found the evidence on his conviction did not support the charges. He is buried in Custer Battlefield National Cemetery. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1206–7) REYNOLDS, Bainbridge (1849–1901), eldest son of Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, was born at West Point, where he graduated in 1873. He was posted to the 3rd Cavalry, was breveted for action in the Battle of the Rosebud in 1876. He served in Arizona from 1882 to 1884. He resigned in 1891 to avoid court-martial. See also REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones.(Altshuler, 1991, 277–78) REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones (1822–99), native of Kentucky and an 1843 graduate of West Point, initially served on the Texas frontier. Resigning to enter private business in 1857, he rejoined the army at the outbreak of the Civil War. His distinguished service resulted in his being breveted to major general of Volunteers. In 1870, he was named colonel of the 3rd Cavalry and, with his brevet rank, commanded the Department of Texas. During that tenure, Col. Ranald Mackenzie hinted that Reynolds was involved in corruption with supply contracts for Fort McKavett, which Mackenzie commanded. Reynolds was transferred with his regiment to the Department of the Platte in 1872. Despite the verdict and sentence handed him by Crook’s court-martial following the Powder River fight, Reynolds was allowed to retire for disability in 1877. Many historians believe that Crook should have shared a heavy amount of the blame for the fiasco. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1210; Heitman, 1:825; Robinson, 1993, 52–53) RICE, William Fletcher (d. 1884), native of Massachusetts, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1863. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1866, and was first lieutenant when he arrived in Arizona in 1872. During the 1872–73 campaign he served as acting company commander, and was recommended for brevets. He commanded Indian scouts at San Carlos. In 1874, he was transferred with his regiment to the Department of the Platte. He was killed when he fell from a moving railroad train. (Altshuler, 1991, 278–79) RILEY, James, of Maryland, entered the army as a private in the Volunteers, serving from 1861 to 1863. In 1867, he was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 37th Infantry, but was dismissed the following year. In 1869, he re-entered the army as second lieutenant of the 32nd Infantry, which was amalgamated into the

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21st Infantry the same year. He served in Arizona from 1869 to 1871, when he was mustered out under the Army Reduction Acts. (Altshuler, 1991, 281) ROBINSON, Daniel, of Ireland, served in the ranks from 1849 to 1863, when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry. Dismissed in 1865, he again served in the ranks until 1866, when he was recommissioned as second lieutenant in the 7th. He was captain at the time of his retirement in 1889. (Heitman, 1:837) ROBINSON, William Wallace, Jr. (1846–1917), native of Ohio, graduated from West Point in 1869, and was posted to the 3rd Cavalry. He served in Arizona from 1870 to 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. After so many officers of the 7th Cavalry were killed at the Little Bighorn, he was transferred to the 7th and promoted to first lieutenant. He retired as a brigadier general in 1910. (Altshuler, 1991, 285). RODGERS, Calbraith Perry (d. 1878), of Maryland, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry in 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant a year later. He became captain in 1876, and was killed by lightning in 1878. (Heitman, 1:841) ROCKWELL, Charles Henry (1848–88), of Ohio, graduated from West Point in 1869, and was assigned to the 5th Cavalry. He served in Nebraska, Wyoming, and Arizona. In 1872, he was promoted to first lieutenant. When the 5th was transferred, he served at Fort Hays, Kansas, and Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming. In 1880, he married General Sherman’s niece, Cecilia Sherman Moulton. Rockwell was quartermaster and commander of an artillery detachment at West Point when he was promoted to captain in 1886. In 1887, he was at Camp Supply, Indian Territory, when he became ill. He took sick leave in April 1888, and died four months later. (Altshuler, 1991, 286) ROCKWELL, James, Jr., of New York. Bourke stated that Rockwell was in the West Point Class of 1868, but Heitman (1:841) indicates he entered in 1866, and upon graduation was named second lieutenant of the 1st Cavalry in 1870. He was promoted to first lieutenant of Ordnance in 1874, and captain in 1882. During the Spanish-American War, he was lieutenant colonel and chief Ordnance officer of Volunteers. In 1900, he was promoted to major of Ordnance in the Regular Army. ROSS, William J. (1846–1907), aide to General Crook from 1871

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to 1875, was a native of Scotland who grew up in Connecticut. He enlisted in a Volunteer regiment rising to the rank of major of Volunteers during the Civil War. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 32nd Infantry (later amalgamated into the 21st Infantry) in 1868, and sent to Arizona a year later. On September 8, 1872, at Camp Date Creek, he saved Crook’s life when he kicked a would-be assassin’s rifle out of the way. When Crook was transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1875, Ross resigned and settled in Arizona. (Altshuler, 1991, 288; Robinson, 2001, 126) ROYALL, William Bedford (1825–95), native of Virginia, was commissioned as first lieutenant of a Volunteer unit in 1846, after the outbreak of the Mexican War. After two years of service in the Southwest, including a major Indian fight in 1848, he left the Volunteers. In 1855, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry). He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the brevet rank of brigadier general. He served in Arizona as major of the 5th from 1872 to 1875, when the regiment was transferred out. In December 1875, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Cavalry, commanding Crook’s cavalry during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He later was breveted for gallantry at the Battle of the Rosebud. In 1881, he succeeded Ranald S. Mackenzie as colonel of the 4th Cavalry. He retired in 1887. (Heitman, 1:849; Altshuler, 1991, 288–89) RUCKER, John Anthony (d. 1878) son of Brig. Gen. Daniel Henry Rucker, and brother-in-law of Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, entered the army as a cadet in 1868, although he left West Point two years later. In 1872, he was commissioned at second lieutenant in the 6th Cavalry. He and Lt. Austin Henley, 6th Cavalry, drowned in a flash flood in Arizona in 1878. See HENLEY, Austin. (Heitman, 1:849) RUFFNER, Ernest Howard, entered West Point in 1863, and upon graduation received dual commissions as second and first lieutenant of the Engineers. He was a lieutenant colonel of Engineers as of 1903. (Heitman, 1:850) RUSSELL, Gerald “Old Jerry” (1832–1905), native of Ireland, enlisted in the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated as 3rd Cavalry) in 1851. In 1862, he was promoted to second lieutenant. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, and earned a brevet. He arrived in Arizona as captain in 1870, and participated in scouting expeditions until the 3rd was transferred to the Department of

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the Platte. During the Powder River Expedition, he participated in Mackenzie’s fight with the Cheyennes in November 1876. He served in Arizona a second time from 1882 until 1885. He retired as major in 1890, later upgraded to lieutenant colonel. See also, WHITNEY, Robert H. (Altshuler, 1991, 290–91) RYAN, Edmund T. of New York, entered the army as an enlisted man in 1856. He was promoted to second lieutenant in the 15th Infantry. He was cashiered in February 1873, in conjunction with Capt. Alfred Hedberg, and Lt. Julian R. Fitch, also of the 15th Infantry. See HEDBERG, Alfred; FITCH, Julian R. (Heitman, 1:855) SACKET (sometimes spelled Sackett), Delos Bennet, (1822–85), of New York, entered West Point in 1840, and upon graduation was breveted as second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons. He earned a brevet as first lieutenant at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma in May 1846, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons six weeks later. Shortly after the close of the Mexican War, in 1848, he was promoted to first lieutenant. Sacket served on the frontier, and while posted to Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, married Amanda Fields, daughter of a prominent Cherokee Indian merchant. He was major of the 1st Cavalry (later renumbered to 4th Cavalry) when the Civil War broke out. By the end of 1861, he had been promoted to colonel and inspector general. He distinguished himself during the war, earning brevets as brigadier general and major general. In 1881, he was appointed brigadier general and inspector general. In 1880, together with Crook, Bourke, Sheridan, soldier-author Charles King, and several others, Sacket formed a consortium in an ill-fated venture to develop a gold mine. When it failed, Schuyler, who was managing partner, carried the blame, and lost his position as Crook’s aide-de-camp. See SCHUYLER, Walter Scribner; KING, Charles. (Heitman, 1:856; Foreman, 365; Robinson, 2001, 248–49) SCHUYLER, Walter Scribner (1849–1932), native of New York, was an 1870 graduate of West Point. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1875 as a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, distinguishing himself in several actions during that period. After a year’s leave in Europe, he joined Crook as aide-de-camp in Wyoming as a first lieutenant in 1876. He resigned as aide-de-camp and returned to his regiment the end of 1881, after a falling out with Crook over his management of a mine in which Crook had invested heavily. He

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was breveted several grades for gallantry in action in Arizona and Wyoming. He retired in 1913 as a brigadier general. See SACKET, Delos Bennet. (Altshuler, 1991, 294–95; Heitman, 1:867; O’Neal, 193–94; Robinson, 2001, 249–50) SEATON, Frank. Neither Heitman nor Altshuler list a Frank Seaton, nor is it under “Seton.” SEMIG, Bernard Gustave (d. 1883), native of Hungary, served as a private in the Volunteers from 1861 to 1863, after which he became a hospital steward and medical cadet in the Regular Army. He was appointed assistant surgeon in 1874. (Heitman, 1:874) SHERWOOD, William L. (1847–73), of New York, was appointed second lieutenant of the 21st Infantry in 1867, and posted to Arizona. He served in various posts, and in 1871, was placed in command of Camp Crittenden. In 1872, he was promoted to first lieutenant and posted to the Department of the Columbia. During the Modoc War of 1873, he was killed by Indians approaching his camp under a flag of truce. (Altshuler, 1991, 301) SILVA, Valentine Mott Cuyler (ca. 1843–1918) of New York, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and a year later, enlisted in the Regular Army as a hospital steward. After the Civil War, he was commissioned lieutenant in the 12th Infantry, and with the reorganization of the army in 1866, was transferred to the 21st Infantry. He served in Arizona from 1869 to 1872, when his company was transferred to the Department of Columbia. Promoted to captain in 1872, he resigned two years later. (Altshuler, 1991, 301–2) SMEAD, Alexander Dallas Bache (b. 1848), of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1868, and posted first to New Mexico, and then to Arizona. In July 1872, he was promoted to first lieutenant, retroactive to May of the previous year. He also served in the Department of the Platte. He resigned in 1880, and practiced law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but re-entered the service during the Spanish-American War as a captain of the Signal Corps. (Altshuler, 1991, 304–5) SMITH, Alfred Theophilus, entered West Point in 1855, and upon graduation was breveted second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He received an active commission to the 8th Infantry in 1860, and served with distinction in the Civil War, attaining the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. His active rank in the Regular Army at the

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end of the war was captain of the 8th Infantry until 1883, when he was promoted to major of the 7th Infantry. He retired in 1899 as colonel of the 13th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:893) SMITH, A. Sidney, of Missouri, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was first lieutenant at the time of his resignation in 1864. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 37th Infantry in 1867, and transferred to the 3rd Cavalry the following year. He was posted to New Mexico and later to Arizona, where he surprised an Apache rancheria, killing thirty Indians. He resigned in 1871. (Altshuler, 1991, 305–06) SMITH, Charles Henry (d. 1902), of Maine, entered the army as a captain of Volunteers in 1861. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, earning brevets to major general of Volunteers and Regular Army, and in 1895 was awarded the Medal of Honor for gallantry at St. Mary’s Church, thirty-one years earlier. In 1866, he was appointed colonel of the 28th Infantry, and transferred to the 19th Infantry in 1869. He retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:895) SMITH, John Eugene (1816–97), native of Switzerland, was brought to the United States as a child. He was secretary to Governor Richard Yates of Illinois at the outbreak of the Civil War, and became a colonel of the Volunteers. He earned brevets to major general in both Volunteers and Regular Army, and in 1866 was appointed colonel of the Infantry. He served on the frontier as commander of the 14th Infantry until his retirement in 1881. (Warner, 459) SPENCER, James Herbert, of Massachusetts, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1863. He was mustered out as captain. In 1866, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry. In 1869, he transferred to the 4th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1885. Five years later, he was breveted for gallant service in action against Indians near Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, in 1869. (Heitman, 1:910) SPRAGUE, Charles Jeffries (d. 1893) of Maine, entered West Point in 1838. During the Mexican War, he was breveted to captain for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco. He served as captain and paymaster for Volunteers from 1861 to 1867, and was breveted to lieutenant colonel. after which he was appointed to the active rank of major paymaster. He retired in 1887. (Heitman, 1:912) STANLEY, David Sloane (1828–1902) of Ohio, was an 1852 graduate of West Point. He served on the frontier. With the outbreak

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of the Civil War, he turned down a Confederate commission, and accepted instead an appointment as brigadier general of Volunteers. He distinguished himself in the Mississippi and the Cumberland, finishing the war as a brevet major general of Volunteers. In 1866, he was commissioned colonel of the 22nd Infantry and returned to the frontier, leading expeditions to the Yellowstone in 1872–73. Upon Ranald Mackenzie’s retirement, Stanley was appointed brigadier general and commander of the Department of Texas, a position he held until his retirement in 1892. See also MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell. (Warner, 470–71; Thrapp, 1991, 3:1353–54) STANTON, Thaddeus Harlan (1835–1900), native of Indiana, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. On October 3, 1862, he was designated paymaster, a position he held for the rest of his career. He finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. Apparently Stanton moonlighted as a correspondent for the New York Tribune, and in that capacity accompanied Crook and Reynolds on the Big Horn Expedition in the convenience position of chief of scouts. With no previous combat experience, he distinguished himself in the Powder River fight, and later commanded the citizens and irregulars who joined Crook on the train during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. In 1890, Stanton was breveted to lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army for the Powder River fight, and in 1895, he was appointed paymaster general of the army with the rank of brigadier general. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1357; Heitman, 1:916) STANTON, William Sanford, of New York, entered West Point in 1861, and upon graduation was commissioned first lieutenant of the Engineers. He was promoted to captain in 1871. (Heitman, 1:916) STANWOOD, Frank (ca. 1842–1872), native of Maine, was commanding officer at Camp Grant at the time of the massacre of the Indians by Tucson citizens and their allies. He was on a scouting expedition with much of the garrison, however, and the fact that most of the troops were absent prompted the citizens to move against the Indians. Stanwood entered the army as a second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1861. He finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel, and was promoted to captain in 1866. He died of tuberculosis on December 20, 1872. Some works spell the name “Standwood,” but “Stanwood” is the form on the official record, and the form used by Bourke. (Altshuler, 1991, 315; Thrapp, 1988,

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85; Heitman, 1:916) STEDMAN, Clarence Augustus “Deitsch,” entered West Point in 1865, and after graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Cavalry. Promoted to first lieutenant in 1875, he served as regimental quartermaster in 1879–80, and adjutant from 1880 to 1883. As of 1902, he was lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:918) STYER, Charles (d. 1896), which Bourke spelled “Styers,” of Pennsylvania, served as assistant surgeon of Volunteers in 1862–63, but was dismissed. He was appointed assistant surgeon in 1867, and resigned in 1878. (Heitman, 1:935) SUMMERS, John Edward, of Virginia, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1847, and promoted to surgeon major in 1861. He was appointed lieutenant colonel surgeon in 1880, and retired in 1886 as colonel surgeon. (Heitman, 1:936) SUMNER, Edwin Vose, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry in 1861. During the Civil War, he served in the Volunteers and was mustered out with the brevet rank of brigadier general. He remained with the 5th Cavalry, and was promoted to major in 1869. He retired in 1899 as colonel of the 7th Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:936) SUMNER, Samuel Storrow (1842–1937), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1861. He earned several brevets during the Civil War, and emerged from the war as a captain. He was posted to Arizona from 1870 until 1876, when he joined the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1906 as a major general. (Altshuler, 1991, 324–25) SUTORIOUS, Alexander (ca. 1837–1905), native of Switzerland, enlisted in the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated 3rd Cavalry) in 1854. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1863, and was breveted for gallantry in the Civil War. He went to Arizona in 1870 as a captain, serving until 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He was court-martialed and dismissed for drunkenness during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Altshuler, 1991, 325) SWIFT, Eben, entered West Point in 1872, and upon graduation was briefly posted as second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He transferred to the 5th Cavalry in July 1876. He worked his way up the grades and

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was major of the 1st Cavalry as of 1903 (Heitman, 1:940) SWIGERT, Samuel Miller, of Kentucky, entered West Point in 1863, and upon graduation was appointed to second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1869. He retired in 1903 as colonel of the 5th Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:941) SYKES, George (d. 1880), of Maryland, entered West Point in 1838, and upon graduation, was breveted as second lieutenant of the 3rd Infantry. The following year, the rank was made active. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1846, and captain in 1855. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was major of the 14th Infantry. He served in the Volunteers, and was mustered out in 1866 as major general. He also held the brevet rank of major general in the Regular Army. He became colonel of the 20th Infantry in 1868. (Heitman, 1:941–42) TARLTON, Elisha Warfield (d. 1884) of Kentucky was appointed lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry in 1861, and captain in 1863. He was breveted to major in 1863 for gallant and meritorious service at Tuscumbia, Alabama. He was listed at a supernumerary on September 26, 1870, and honorably discharged at his own request a month later. (Heitman, 1:944–45) TAYLOR, Alfred Bronaugh (d. 1903), native of the District of Columbia, served briefly in the Volunteers before enlisting in the 5th Cavalry in 1862. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1863, and was breveted for service in the Appomattox Campaign. He arrived in Arizona at a captain in 1872, and was breveted for gallantry in action in the Salt River Caves fight of December 28, 1872. (Altshuler, 1991, 327; Heitman, 1:945) TAYLOR, Daniel Morgan, of the District of Columbia, entered West Point in 1865, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Artillery. He was promoted to first lieutenant of Ordinance in 1874, and as of 1903 was major. (Heitman, 1:946) TAYLOR, Frank, enlisted in the army in 1860, serving until 1863. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Infantry, and in 1869, was assigned to the 14th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and to captain in 1892. As of 1900, he was major of the 15th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:946) THOMAS, Major. Probably Henry Goddard Thomas (d. 1897), joined the army as a captain of Volunteers in 1861, and earned brevets up to brigadier general of the Regular Army and major

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general of Volunteers in the Civil War. In 1866, he was assigned to the 20th Infantry, and promoted to major ten years later. In 1878, he transferred to the Pay Department as major and pay master. He retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:955) THOMPSON, John Charles (d. 1889), of Maryland, entered West Point in 1862, and upon graduation was posted as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1868, and at the time of his death was a captain. (Heitman, 1:957) THORNBURGH, Thomas Tipton (d. 1879) of Tennessee, served in a Union Volunteer regiment from Tennessee from 1862 to 1863 when he was appointed to West Point. Upon graduation, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Artillery, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1870. Three years later, he was promoted to paymaster major. In 1878, he was appointed major of the 4th Infantry. He was killed in action at Milk River, Colorado, during the White River Ute Uprising on September 29, 1879. See COLOROW; PAYNE, John Scott; LAWSON, Joseph; and THORNBURGH, Jacob N. (Heitman, 1:959) TOWNSEND, Edward Davis (d. 1893), of Massachusetts, entered West Point in 1833, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Artillery. He rose through the grades, and in 1846, was breveted to captain and assistant adjutant general. He served in adjutancies for the remainder of his career, and in 1869, was appointed brigadier general and adjutant general. He retired in 1880. (Heitman, 1:967) TOWNSEND, Edwin Franklin, entered West Point in 1850, and upon graduation was breveted second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. He resigned in 1856, but re-entered the army as first lieutenant of the 14th Infantry in 1861. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, and was breveted to major for gallantry at Shiloh, and to lieutenant colonel for continued and faithful service in the Ordnance Department. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was colonel of the 11th Infantry. He retired in 1895 as colonel of the 12th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:967) TROTTER, Frederick Eugene (d. 1892) of New York, served with distinction in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and was breveted to brigadier general of Volunteers, and lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army. In 1866, he was commissioned captain of the 45th Infantry, and in 1869 was transferred to the 14th Infantry. He was major of the

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24th Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:971) VAN HORNE (which Bourke spells “Van Horn”), Thomas Budd (d. 1895), entered the army as chaplain of Volunteers in 1862. After the war, he held post chaplaincies until his retirement in 1885. (Heitman, 1:983) VAN VLIET, Frederick (1841–91), native of New York, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1861. He earned brevets to lieutenant colonel during the Civil War, and was promoted to the active rank of captain in 1866. He served in Arizona from 1870 to 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Van Vliet participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. As major of the 10th Cavalry, he served again in Arizona during the Geronimo Campaign. He died of injuries received in a wagon accident. (Altshuler, 1991, 341) VOLKMAR, William Jefferson (1847–1901), of Pennsylvania, served in the Volunteers in 1863, before being appointed to West Point. He graduated in 1868, and was posted to the 5th Cavalry at Fort Harker, Kansas, where he distinguished himself in an engagement with the Sioux. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1870, and two years later was sent to Arizona, where he commanded Camp Date Creek. He was detached for recruiting duty from December 1872 until 1876, when he was appointed aide to Maj. Gen. John Pope. Later he served as an aide to Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan. Volkmar retired at colonel in 1900. His son, whom he named after Walter Schuyler, served as an officer of the Artillery. (Altshuler, 1991, 344–45) VROOM, Peter Dumont (1842–1926), native of New Jersey, served as an officer of Volunteers, earning several brevets during the Civil War. In February 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following July. Promoted to captain in 1876, he participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, distinguishing himself at the Battle of the Rosebud. He served in Arizona from 1882 to 1885, when he was appointed major/inspector general. He retired as a brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 346) WALKER, George Brinton (d. 1902), of Indiana, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 6th Infantry. He was major of the 18th Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:995)

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WARD, Edward Wilkerson (d. 1897), a native of Kentucky, was appointed first lieutenant of the Kentucky Scouts in 1861, and was mustered out of the Union Army in 1865. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry in 1869, and was posted to the Department of the Platte. He served in Arizona from 1873 to 1875, commanding Indian Scouts at Camp Apache, and serving as post commander at San Carlos. He retired as captain due to ill health in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 352) WARRENS, Charles Henry (d. 1902), native of Prussia, entered the army as a first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, and finished the Civil War as a captain. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry in 1866, and soon transferred to the 27th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant the following year. He later served in the 9th and 14th Infantry Regiments. He retired as a captain in 1891. (Heitman, 1:1004) WEBSTER, George Ogilvie (d. 1899), of Connecticut, entered West Point in 1861, and upon graduation was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1875. He was a major at the time of his retirement, shortly before his death. (Heitman, 1:1013) WEIR, William Bayard (d. 1879), of New York, entered West Point in 1869, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Artillery. In 1874, he was promoted to first lieutenant of Ordnance. He was killed during the White River Ute uprising in Colorado. (Heitman, 1:1015; Bourke, Diary, 32:348–49) WELLBORN, Luther Scott, of Indiana, entered West Point in 1875, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry in 1879. He was a first lieutenant at the time of his retirement in 1891. (Heitman, 1:1015) WESSELLS, Henry Walton, Jr. (1846–1929), native of New York, attended the Naval Academy for two years before enlisting in the 7th Infantry in March 1865. The following August, he received dual commissions as second and first lieutenant retroactive to July 21. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1870, joining his company in Arizona in April 1871. Eight months later, the regiment transferred to the Department of the Platte, where Wessells was promoted to captain. He commanded Fort Robinson, Nebraska, during the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1879, and was wounded in the fighting. He was retired for disability as colonel in 1901. Karl Malden’s portrayal of

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Wessells as an alcoholic Prussian martinet with a heavy German accent, in the 1964 film Cheyenne Autumn is fictitious, as is the film itself. (Altshuler, 1991, 355–56) WHALEN, Captain. Heitman does not list a Captain Whalen. WHEATON, Charles (1835–1913), native of Rhode Island, was commissioned as second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, and finished the Civil War as colonel. He was appointed captain of the 33rd Infantry in 1867, and served on Reconstruction duty before going West. He was in Arizona from 1872 to 1873, and assigned to the Department of the Platte in 1874, where he took part in Crook’s Powder River Campaign. He was retired for deafness in 1889. (Altshuler, 1991, 360) WILLIAMS, Constant, of Pennsylvania, served as an enlisted man from 1861 to 1863, when he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant the following year, and to captain in 1873. He was breveted to major for gallantry at the battle of Big Hole, Montana, in 1877, where he was wounded twice. He was colonel of the 26th Infantry as of 1901. (Heitman, 1:1039–40) WILLIAMS, Robert (d. 1901), native of Virginia, entered West Point in 1847, and upon graduation was assigned to the 1st Dragoons (later 1st Cavalry). In 1861 he was breveted to captain and appointed assistant adjutant general, and served in the Adjutant General’s Department throughout the remainder of his career. In 1865, he was breveted to brigadier general for “diligent, faithful, and meritorious service in the Adjutant General’s Department during the war.” He was assistant adjutant general of the Department of the Platte during Crook’s administration. Williams retired in 1893 as brigadier general and adjutant general of the army. (Heitman, 1:1042) WILSON, Thomas (d. 1901), of the District of Columbia, entered West Point in 1849, and upon graduation was breveted second lieutenant of the 6th Infantry. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry in 1854. During the Civil War, he served in the Subsistence Department, attaining the brevet rank of brigadier general of Volunteers. After the war, he was captain commissary of subsistence, until his promotion to major in 1882. He was colonel assistant commissary general of subsistence at the time of his retirement in 1896. (Heitman, 1:1048) WINTERS, William Henry (1843–80), of Ohio, enlisted in the Volunteers in April 1861, and the following August was promoted

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to second lieutenant. He resigned in 1862, and in 1864, enlisted in the 1st Cavalry. Winters was commissioned to second lieutenant in 1865, and a year later was sent with his company to Arizona, where he was promoted to first lieutenant, and again to captain in 1873. He served in the Apache campaigns, and the Nez Percé and Bannock Wars. (Altshuler, 1991, 375) WOLF, Silas Augustus, of Pennsylvania, entered West Point in 1874, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He rose through the grades and as of 1901, was major of the 19th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:153) WOODSON, Albert Emmett (1841–1903) native of Kentucky, went to Washington Territory in 1859. Three years later, he enlisted in the territorial volunteers, serving as a hospital steward until 1863 when he was commissioned a second lieutenant. In 1867, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 36th Infantry in the Department of the Platte, and in 1870 was transferred to the 5th Cavalry. In Arizona, he participated in Crook’s Apache campaigns, distinguishing himself in fights in the Tonto Basin. As a captain, he was on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Slim Buttes fight. He later served in the Nez Percé War and in the Philippines. Woodson retired as brigadier general in 1903. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1593–94) WYATT, Walter Scott, of Ohio, served in the ranks of a Volunteer artillery regiment from 1864 to 1865. He was appointed to West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He transferred to the 9th Infantry in 1872, and in 1879, was promoted to first lieutenant. He resigned in 1887. (Heitman, 1:1064) YEATMAN, Richard Thompson, of Ohio, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He rose through the grades and as of 1900 was major of the 22nd Infantry. (Heitman, 1:1066) YOUNG, George Shaeffer, of West Virginia, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry in 1875, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1882. He was a major as of 1901. (Heitman, 1:1067) YOUNG, Robert Hunter, of Kentucky who, after distinguished service in the Volunteers during the Civil War, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 30th Infantry in 1867, and transferred to the 4th Infantry a year later. In 1890, he was breveted to first lieutenant for gallant service in action against Indians near Fort Fred Steele,

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Wyoming, in 1869. He retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:1067) Civilians ADAMS, Charles (ca. 1845–95), native of Pomerania originally named Karl Adam Schwanbeck, was an American soldier and diplomat. He enlisted in the Union Army shortly after arriving in the United States. After the war, he served on the frontier in the 3rd Cavalry, and in 1870, was appointed brigadier general of the Colorado militia. At the insistence of his wife, he Americanized his name to Charles Adams. In June 1872, he was appointed agent for the Utes at Los Piños, where he served for two years, becoming successful and popular, gaining Ouray’s friendship and support. In the White River Uprising of 1879, he secured the release of the women and children captives, and was one of three commissioners who investigated the outbreak. In 1880, he was appointed minister to Bolivia, where he arbitrated a boundary dispute between that country and Chile. See also MEEKER, Nathan Cook; OURAY. (Johnson and Malone, 1:39) ALLISON, William Boyd (1829–1908), senator from Iowa from 1873 until his death, was a member of the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs, among other powerful positions. A native of Ohio, he studied law, practicing in his hometown of Ashland until 1857, when he moved to Iowa. During the Civil War he served on the staff of Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood, helping raise state regiments. During that same period, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving until 1871. Although Allison was wealthy, he devoted his life primarily to public service, and was co-sponsor of the Bland-Allison Act that established a bimetal monetary system over the opposition of industrial and banking interests. (Wikipedia) ARTHUR, Chester Allen (1830–86), succeeded the assassinated James A. Garfield as president of the United States in 1881. A product of the New York political machine, Arthur nevertheless was personally honest. As quartermaster general of New York in the Civil War, he had arranged the rapid and efficient deployment of over 200,000 troops at substantial savings to the federal government. Initially a believer in patronage, Arthur changed his views upon becoming president, and secured passage of the Pendleton Act that reformed the civil service, calling for competitive examinations and prohibiting dismissal for political reasons. See also GARFIELD, James Abram. (Reeves) BAKER, James “Old Jim” (1818–98), native of Belleville, Il-

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linois, became a trapper for the American Fur Company in 1838. Thereafter, he was a mountain man and a guide before settling in Denver in 1859. He moved to Dixon, Wyoming, in 1873. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:57) BARRETT, Lawrence (1838–91), was one of the leading American actors of the nineteenth century. A native of Paterson, New Jersey, he began work as a call boy at the Metropolitan Theatre in Detroit at the age of fourteen, and made his first appearance as an actor within a year. He gained a reputation throughout the Midwest that allowed him to immediately secure leading roles when he moved to New York. After the Civil War, he became nationally renowned, and in 1886 began a partnership with Edwin Booth that continued until his death. See also McCULLOUGH, John. (Johnson and Malone, 1:646–48) BELKNAP, William Worth (1829–90), native of New York, was secretary of war during the Grant Administration. Belknap was the son of Brig. Gen. William Goldsmith Belknap, who distinguished himself in the Mexican War and on the Texas frontier. He served as a volunteer during the Civil War, rising to the rank of brigadier general. He was appointed secretary of war in 1869, but in 1876, a congressional committee on War Department expenditures found evidence that he had accepted a bribe in the appointment of a post trader at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. It was generally believed in the army that the corruption was not limited to Fort Sill. He was impeached, but the Senate did not get the majority needed to convict, largely because many of the senators were satisfied with Belknap’s resignation. He practiced law in Washington where he died. (Johnson and Malone, 2:147–48.) BLAINE, James Gillespie (1830–93), was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate from Maine, speaker of the House, secretary of state during part of the Garfield/Arthur administration and under Benjamin Harrison, and Republican presidential candidate in 1884. A native of Pennsylvania, Blaine moved to Augusta, Maine, in 1854, and edited newspapers before turning to politics. He was largely responsible for the Fourteenth Amendment, but opposed military governments in the Southern states, unless there was a plan for eventual end to military rule. He is considered to have been an effective and successful secretary of state. (Wikipedia) BORIE, Adolph Edward (1809–80) served briefly as secretary of

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the navy under U.S. Grant in 1869, before resigning to resume his business interests. The only significant aspect of his administration was his dislike of large numbers of warships being given Indian names, and he renamed them using terms from antiquity. After he resigned, his successor, George M. Robeson, ordered them reverted back to their original names. (Wikipedia) CHANDLER, Zachariah (1813–79), succeeded Columbus Delano as secretary of the interior in October 1875, and held the position until the end of the Grant administration in March 1877. He reorganized the Interior Department, restoring some if its integrity with large-scale dismissals for dishonesty and incompetence. Chandler was a Republican political boss in Michigan, serving as one of that state’s senators from 1857 to 1874, and again for a few months prior to his death in 1879. During the Civil War, he was a member of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. See DELANO, Columbus. (Johnson and Malone, 3:618) CLARK (or Clarke), Ben (1842–1914), frontiersman from Oklahoma. A native of St. Louis, first went west in 1855, and became post courier at Fort Bridger, Wyoming. He served in the Mormon War of 1857, a Kansas unit during the Civil War, and as scout and guide during several postwar campaigns, including Sheridan’s in 1868–69, the Red River War of 1874–75, Crook’s Big Horn Expedition of 1876, and the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1878. With William G. McDonald, Clark recorded the legends of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:274–75) COCKRELL, Francis Marion (1834–1915), was a former Confederate officer who later served five terms as senator from Missouri. Cockrell was elected to the Senate in 1875, and served until his retirement in 1905. During that time, he was chairman of the Claims Committee, Engrossed Bills Committee, and Appropriations Committee. Upon leaving the Senate, he was appointed to the Interstate Commerce Commission, and served until 1910, when he was appointed to a commission to fix the permanent boundary between the State of Texas and Territory of New Mexico. He was director of Ordnance for the War Department at the time of his death. (Wikipedia) COSGROVE, Thomas, native of Texas and former Confederate cavalryman, who, together with Robert Eckles and Nelson Yarnell, lived among the Shoshones and trained their warriors in conven-

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tional cavalry tactics. DANILSON (which Bourke spelled Danielson), William H., an army officer when appointed agent at Fort Hall in 1869, was required under the Army Appropriation Act of 1870 to chose between giving up his commission or giving up his post as agent. He chose to resign from the army and remain as agent. Danilson had entered the army as a private in the Volunteers in 1861, and by the end of the Civil War had been breveted to major. After mustering out of the Volunteers, he accepted a commission as first lieutenant of the 40th Infantry. Although the Shoshones and Bannocks at Fort Hall were prepared to give up their nomadic life and settle, Danilson was hamstrung throughout the 1870s by inadequate government appropriations. Eventually the Bannocks left in disgust, setting off a chain of events leading to the uprising of 1878. Nevertheless, Danilson managed to maintain the Indians’ confidence in his own integrity. (Heitman, 1:353. See also Madsen) DELANO, Columbus (1809–96), secretary of the interior during the Grant Administration, initially joined the administration in 1869 as commissioner of Internal Revenue. During his term, already established whiskey revenue frauds continued. The following year, he as appointed secretary of the interior, and again, a preexisting pattern of corruption in the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs was allowed to continue, ultimately becoming a national scandal. Under pressure from newspapers, he resigned in 1875. (Johnson and Malone, 5:217–18) De LESSEPS, Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte (1805–94), French diplomat and construction magnate best known for building the Suez Canal. A native of Versailles, he entered diplomatic service in 1825, and spent much of his career in North Africa, where he first envisioned a canal connecting the Mediterranean with the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. After his retirement, he successfully negotiated a concession for the Suez Canal, which was constructed from 1859 to 1869. In 1882, he began construction of a projected sea-level canal across Panama which failed in part because of the engineering impracticalities, corruption, and disease. (Wikipedia) DUNDY, Elmer Scipio (1830–96), native of Ohio, practiced law in Pennsylvania from 1853 until 1857 when he relocated to Nebraska. He was a member of the Territorial County from 1858 to 1863, and the following year was appointed U.S. Territorial Judge for Nebraska.

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In 1868, he was appointed to the newly created federal court for the District of Nebraska, a post he held until his death. See also STANDING BEAR; TIBBLES, Thomas Henry. (http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=664) EADS, James Buchanan (1820–87), was one of the foremost American engineers of the nineteenth century. A native of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, he became purser on a Mississippi steamer in 1838, and became aware of the economic potential of salvaging sunken boats. He patented a diving bell, and in 1842, began a successful salvage business. During the Civil War, he constructed the iron-clad gunboats that helped secure Union control of the Mississippi. In 1874, he completed what is considered his greatest achievement, the Eads Bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis, which many engineers considered impossible using the technology of the era. (Johnson and Malone, 5:587–89) ECKLES, Robert (Texas Bob). See COSGROVE, Thomas. EMERY, George W. (1830–1909), territorial governor of Utah from 1875 to 1880, was a native of Maine. After serving as a federal tax collector, he was appointed governor of Utah, where he initiated election reforms and expanded government service. Despite being a Gentile in a predominantly Mormon territory, he was a popular governor, and after his term ended, the legislature named a new county in his honor. (http://historytogo.utah.gov/people/governors/territorial/emery. html) FINERTY, John Frederick (1846–1908), a political refugee from Ireland, became a correspondent for the Chicago Times, and covered more Indian war campaigns than any other professional journalist. In 1876, he covered Crook’s expeditions, and his book, War-Path and Bivouac is one of the most complete accounts. He also covered the Ute campaign of 1879, visited Sitting Bull in exile in Canada, and covered the 1881 Apache uprising. He was a member of Congress from 1883 to 1885. (Finerty; Knight, 173–74; Lamar, 369) GARFIELD, James Abram (1831–81), president of the United States for six months in 1881, was nominated by a coalition of Grant’s enemies in the Republican Convention of 1880, mentioned by Bourke. A native of Ohio, Garfield was entirely self-made, having worked his way through Williams College, and working as a school master. In 1859, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he was

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noted for his eloquence and logic. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of Volunteers, studied tactics, and mastered command so well that, after the Union disaster at Chickamauga that ruined Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, Garfield was appointed major general. He served in both houses of Congress before his election to the presidency. He was the second president to be assassinated. See also ARTHUR, Chester Allen. (Warner, 166–67) GORDON, John Brown (1832–1904), former Confederate general, was senator from Georgia from 1873 to 1880, when he resigned to promote the Georgia-Pacific Railroad. He later served as governor of Georgia. (Wikipedia) GOULD, Jay (1836–92), originally named Jason, was an American railroad magnate and financier. A native of Roxbury, New York, he did odd jobs, and by the age of twenty-one had saved $5,000, which he used to obtain part interest in a tannery. Eventually he gained full control, and from there went into speculation in small railroads. In 1867, he achieved notoriety when, with two partners, he managed to wrest control of the Erie Railroad from Cornelius Vanderbilt. From that point, he began acquiring control of the major lines as they expanded across the country, as well as Western Union Telegraph. (Johnson and Malone, 7:454–55) GROUARD, Frank (1850?–1905) claimed that he was born in the Friendly Islands, the son of an American missionary and a Polynesian noblewoman. While this is the most generally accepted version, and most probably true, his numerous detractors disputed it, some insisting that he was mulatto, and others that he was Indian-white. Grouard was a braggart, and his own accounts cannot be considered completely reliable. Despite his assertions to the contrary, he also nursed an unexplained, but deep-seated hatred for the Oglala chief Crazy Horse, possibly resulting from several years spent in Oglala captivity. The animosity ultimately became a factor in Crazy Horse’s death. Despite his faults, Grouard was a great scout and an experienced frontiersman, and his services to the government were invaluable during the Great Sioux War. Bourke generally spelled the name “Gruard.” See also CLARK, Walter Philo; CRAZY HORSE. (DeBarthe; Robinson, 1995) HAYES, James Webb Cook (1856–1923), son of President Rutherford B. Hayes, and a sort of surrogate son to the childless George

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and Mary Crook, often accompanied Crook on hunting trips in the West, and stood with Mary at the general’s funeral. Webb Hayes attended Cornell University, but left in 1875 to serve as his father’s secretary when he was both governor of Ohio and president. In 1887, he and three associates founded National Carbon Company, later Union Carbide, of which he served many years as vice president. He served with distinction in the Spanish-American War, winning the Medal of Honor for valor in the Philippine Campaign. He also served in the Boxer Rebellion and the First World War. See also, HAYES, Rutherford Birchard. (Robinson, 2001; Wikipedia) HAYES, Lucy Ware Webb (1831–89), wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes, and mother of Webb Hayes, is the first wife of a president to be referred to as “First Lady.” She was considered the most popular president’s wife since Dolley Madison, almost sixty years earlier, and at her death, flags throughout the nation were lowered to half-staff. Mrs. Hayes attended Ohio Wesleyan University, and as the first wife of a president to have a college degree, devoted her education and energy to social causes. She was an active abolitionist and supporter of the Temperance Movement, and during her husband’s term, alcohol was not served at the White House. During the Civil War, on visits to General Hayes’ headquarters, she used her free time to nurse wounded soldiers in the hospitals. (Hoogeboom; Robinson, 2001; Wikipedia) HAYES, Rutherford Birchard (1822–1893), served under Crook as a brigadier general of Volunteers during the Civil War, and became Crook’s life-long friend, supporter, and admirer, even naming one of his sons after him. Declared president after a controversial and hotly contested election, Hayes held office from 1877 to 1881. He was determined not to be distracted by campaign considerations, and therefore did not seek a second term. Consequently, in many cases the full effect of his reforms was not apparent until after he left office. Nevertheless, he was one of the more capable presidents of the last three decades of the nineteenth century. See also, HAYES, James Webb Cook. (See Robinson, 2001; Hoogenboom) HAYT, Ezra, a New Jersey businessman with ties to the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church, was commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1877 to 1880. Hayt previously served on the Board of Indian Commissioners, and was appointed commissioner of Indian Affairs in an effort to clean up the scandal-ridden Indian

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service. As commissioner, he advocated several reforms, although not all were adopted by Congress. He was implicated, however, in a series of irregularities at the San Carlos, Arizona, agents and,in January 1880, Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz replaced him. See also SCHURZ, Carl. (Prucha, 191–92) HUNTINGTON, Collis Potter (1821–1900), railroad magnate and industrialist, was a native of Harwinton, Connecticut. He became a peddler and then a small merchant. With the discovery of gold in California, he went to Sacramento and, with Mark Hopkins, began selling supplies to miners. In 1860, Huntington, Hopkins, Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford became interested in a railroad across the Sierra Nevada to connect with a proposed transcontinental line. Their line, the Central Pacific, connected with Union Pacific in Utah in 1869. He eventually gained control of Southern Pacific and Chesapeake and Ohio Railroads, several steamship companies, and Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock. He nephew, Henry Edwards Huntington, acquired a substantial fortune of his own, part of which went to establish the world renowned Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. (Johnson and Malone, 9:408–12) IRWIN, James, appointed agent at Red Cloud in 1877, managed to keep the various factions in line by undermining the hostiles with the agency Indians, while at the same time making it more advantageous for the erstwhile hostiles to remain quietly on the reservation. (Hyde, 300) KEARNEY, Dennis (1847–1907), was born in Ireland and immigrated to San Francisco, where he became active in the Workingman’s Party. He led protests against unemployment and taxes that he considered unjust. In 1880, Thomas Nast parodied him in a cartoon that showed a skeleton demanding “Kearneyism” which Nast defined as expropriation of other people’s money and property. (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkearney.htm) KEY, David McKendree (1824–1900), was postmaster general under Hayes. Key served in a Confederate Volunteer regiment, finishing the war as lieutenant colonel. In 1870, he was a member of the convention that helped draft the new state constitution for Tennessee. On the death of former President and then-Senator Andrew Johnson, in 1875, Key was appointed to finish Johnson’s unexpired term, but was defeated in his bid for election in 1877. He

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accepted Hayes’s appointment as postmaster general, serving until 1880, when he resigned to accept an appointment as federal judge for the Eastern District of Tennessee. (Wikipedia) LINCHARD, Chicago Times correspondent. Neither Knight nor Dary mentions a correspondent named Linchard. McCULLOUGH, John (1832–85), American actor, who immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1847. Living in Philadelphia, he acted in a dramatic club, and made his first professional appearance in 1857. He acted in road shows and eventually ended up in San Francisco, where he went into partnership with Lawrence Barrett at the California Theatre until 1870. In 1873, he began a series of road tours that included frequent engagements in New York, and remained a highly respected and popular actor until he collapsed on stage in Chicago in 1884. See also BARRETT, Lawrence (Johnson and Malone, 12:9–10) McGILLYCUDDY, Valentine T. (1849–1939), contract surgeon with General Crook, and topographer for the Dodge-Jenney expedition, was a native of Michigan. He served as post surgeon at Camp Robinson, where he tended the mortally wounded Crazy Horse. He served as agent for the Oglalas from 1879 to 1886, when he was relieved in part because of disputes with Red Cloud. McGillycuddy also was first mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota, and served as president of the South Dakota School of Mines. Bourke occasionally spelled the name “MacGillicuddy.” See also CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:905; McGillycuddy) McGRATH, H. Price. Kentucky horse breeder, whose Aristides won the first Kentucky Derby in 1875. (kentuckyderby.com) MACMILLAN, Thomas, which Bourke spelled “McMillan,” a native of Scotland, reported for the Chicago Inter-Ocean. Although only twenty-five years old, his poor health cut short his participation in the campaigns of the summer of 1876. Like Reuben Davenport, he had accompanied the Dodge-Jenney Expedition. Dodge described him as “very gentlemanly, hard to stuff, & with excellent good sense” who won “the liking and respect of everyone.” (Knight, 171–72; Kime, 1996, 57) MANYPENNY, George W. third commissioner of Indian Affairs for the newly formed Department of the Interior, served in tha tpost from 1853 to 1856. He spent much of his subsequent career heading Indian investigation and treaty commissions. His

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significance in this instance is as head of a commission formed in 1876 to force the Indians to cede the Black Hills. Manypenny’s book, Our Indian Wards (1880) describes Indian-white relations in what is now the U.S., from the first contact in the sixteenth century up to the date of publication. He was unpopular with the military. Ranald Mackenzie, who considered his efforts to negotiate a settlement to the White River Ute crisis of 1879–80 disruptive and annoying, described Manypennny as a “chronic commissioner.” See MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell. (Prucha, 113–15, 212; Robinson, 1993, 269) MEEKER, Nathan Cook (1817–79), Indian agent killed in the White River Ute uprising, was a native of Euclid, Ohio. An agricultural writer for the New York Herald, he went west in 1869, initially to study Mormon farming methods, but settled instead in Colorado, where he hoped to establish an agricultural colony at what is now Greeley. He accepted the post of White River Ute agent in 1878. Meeker’s overbearing attitude and tactlessness led to his death. See also ADAMS, Charles. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:968–69) MERIVALE, Joseph, whose name Bourke spelled “Marrivale,” was a long-time resident of the Fort Laramie area, who had served the army as a guide on several occasions prior to the Dodge-Jenney Black Hills expedition of 1875. Nevertheless, during the expedition, Dodge determined that Merivale knew very little about the Black Hills, and instead used him as a courier and interpreter. (Kime, 1996, 12–13) MIDDLETON, David Charles “Doc” (1851–1913), horse thief and outlaw, was born in Mississippi, but drifted to Nebraska by way of Texas in 1876. In 1877, he killed a soldier in Sidney, and fled to Dakota Territory, where he organized a gang of horse thieves known as the Pony Boys. A vast number of horses were stolen and traded as far away as Texas, attracting the attention of the federal government. Middleton was arrested in 1879, and imprisoned until 1883. He became a saloon operator in Nebraska and Wyoming. Despite his checkered career, he was a pleasant, outgoing person who, as Bourke noted, had more friends than enemies. (Bourke, Diary, 29:86–87; Thrapp, 1991, 2:981) MILLS, Cuthbert, New York Times correspondent was one of only two persons on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition whom Bourke considered to be bona fide correspondents. The other was

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Barbour Lathrop of the San Francisco Bulletin. Knight (251) has very little information about him, not even his first name. Dary does not mention him at all. MOORE, Thomas (1832–96) was one of the preeminent mule packers of the West and, with General Crook, streamlined the military pack transportation system to a model of efficiency. A native of St. Louis, he began his western career by traveling to California in 1850. He joined Crook as civilian chief packer in 1871, and served in virtually every major Indian campaign until 1895. He also organized transportation for hunting and camping trips by Crook and other dignitaries. His sister was Carrie Nation, temperance activist famous for smashing saloons in the Midwest. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:1011–12) MORRISEY, John (1831–78) was born in Ireland and brought to the United States with his parents in 1833. He became a boxing champion in the 1850s, and later served as a Tammany-backed member of the New York State Assembly. In 1863, he moved to Saratoga Springs where he bought the race track. (Wikipedia) NANCE, Albinus (1848–1911), fourth governor of Nebraska, was a native of Lafayette, Illinois. At sixteen, he enlisted in a Volunteer regiment in the Union Army, and served with distinction in the Cumberland. When the war ended he studied law, and in 1871, moved to Nebraska, where he established a practice. He entered the state legislature in 1873, and five years later became governor, serving two terms until 1883. After leaving office, he went into banking. (http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/pbal/ pages/balc0028.htm) PADDOCK, Algernon Sidney (1830–97), senator from Nebraska, was a native of New York who moved to Omaha in 1857 and became involved in local politics. He campaigned for Abraham Lincoln in Nebraska and New York during the 1860 election, and the following year was appointed secretary for the Territory of Nebraska. He held the position until 1867, when Nebraska became a state. He served in the senate from 1875 until 1881, and again from 1887 until 1893. (Wikipedia) PATTERSON, John James (1830–1912), was a native of Pennsylvania who served during Reconstruction as senator from South Carolina. Patterson was a Union Army veteran who moved to Columbia, South Carolina, and became involved in railroad construction. He was elected to the Senate as a Republican, and was considered

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by many local citizens to be a carpetbagger. He served on the Committee on Territories from 1877 to 1879. By the time his term ended in 1879, Reconstruction was over, and the Democrats had regained control of the legislature, assuring that Patterson would not be reelected. He remained in Washington until 1886, when he returned to Pennsylvania. (Wikipedia) POURIER, Baptiste (1841–1932), called “Big Bat” to distinguish him from another scout, Baptiste “Little Bat” Garnier, was born in St. Charles, Missouri. The descendant of a long line of French fur traders and explorers, while still in his teens he accepted employment with trader John Richaud, who later became his father-in-law. Pourier became an interpreter and guide at Fort Laramie in 1869, serving in that capacity until 1880. (Gilbert) ROWLAND, William, was a white who had married into the Cheyennes and served as interpreter at Camp Robinson. He had charge of the Cheyenne Scouts on the Powder River Expedition. Bourke spelled the name “Roland.” (Grinnell, 1983, 360, 364) SAUNDERS, Alvin (1817–99), native of Kentucky, was territorial governor of Nebraska from 1861 until statehood in 1867, and senator from 1877 until 1883. He moved to Nebraska from Iowa, were he had been involved in politics, and was one of the commissioners appointed by Congress to organize the Union Pacific Railroad. During his term in the Senate, he was chairman of the Committee on Territories. (Wikipedia) SCHURZ, Carl (1829–1906), native of Germany, secretary of the interior under Hayes. He also was a diplomat, senator, and author, and was a power to be reckoned with in every presidential election from 1860 until 1904. Schurz had to flee Germany after the abortive revolt against the Prussian government in 1848. He arrived in the United States in 1852, and soon established himself as an orator, abolitionist, and political campaigner. He was appointed minister to Spain by Abraham Lincoln, but returned to the United States in 1862, to advocate abolition. He served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, finishing as major general. After the war, he served one term as senator from Missouri. He advocated black rights, preservation of the public domain, and reform of the spoils system. Because of the Ponca Affair, Schurz has been vilified, but his moderate approach to Indian rights was the most reasonable in view of the times. He expressed his views in an article, “Present Aspects of

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the Indian Problem,” in the North American Review in 1881. Tall, spindly-legged, with a bushy beard and prominent eyes, Schurz provided ample fodder for cartoonists such as Thomas Nast, as well as for some of Bourke’s more acid comments. See also, STANDING BEAR. (Warner, 426–28; Robinson, 2001, Chapter 14) SHERMAN, John (1823–1900), younger brother of General W. T. Sherman, was senator from Ohio and cabinet minister. Sherman practiced law before entering politics. He served in the House of Representatives from 1855 to 1861, and in the Senate from 1861 to 1877, when he resigned to become secretary of the treasury under Rutherford B. Hayes. In the 1880 Republican convention, he offered himself as a compromise presidential candidate between U.S. Grant and James G. Blaine, but James A. Garfield received the nomination instead. Sherman returned to the Senate in 1881, and remained until 1897 when he resigned to become secretary of state under William McKinley He was primarily responsible for the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sherman) SNIDER, Nathan, former post trader at Fort Ter-waw, Calif., hunting partner of General Crook, and president of the Murchie Mine project. (Robinson, 2001, 248) STENHOUSE, New York Herald Pacific Coast correspondent. Neither Knight nor Dary mentions a correspondent named Stenhouse. STRAHORN, Robert Edmund (1852–1944), who signed his dispatches “Alter Ego,” was a native of Pennsylvania. He obtained his first newspaper job when he was fourteen. In 1870, he went to Colorado, where he worked in Central City and Black Hawk before joining the Denver Rocky Mountain News. In addition to his regular job with the Denver paper, he also sold dispatches to the Chicago Tribune, Omaha Republican, Cheyenne Sun, and New York Times. Strahorn later settled in Spokane, Washington, and became a land developer and railroad executive, with extensive interests throughout the Pacific Northwest. (Knight, 169–71; Thrapp, 1991, 3:1376) STREET, William D., citizen who served as a courier for Mauck’s unit of the 4th Cavalry during the Cheyenne Outbreak. A native of Ohio, Street was brought to Kansas in 1861 at the age of ten. As an adult, he settled near the now-vanished town of Achilles, in northwestern Kansas, and became a leader in state affairs from that

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region. In 1869, he served with state troops during the mop-up of Sheridan’s Indian campaign. He pioneered irrigation that helped developed agriculture in western Kansas, served as speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, and regent of the State Agricultural College. Street also wrote two accounts of incidents in the Outbreak, “Cheyenne Indian Massacre on the Middle Fork of the Sappa,” published in Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society, for 1907–8, and an unpublished manuscript, “Incidents of the Dull Knife Raid, Notes of William D. Street,” preserved by the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka. (Monnett, 93; http://skyways.lib. ks.us/genweb/archives/1918ks/bios/streetwd.html) SUTRO, Adolph Heinrich (1830–98), Prussian-born mining engineer and businessman, designed a four-mile tunnel through Mount Davidson, Nevada, to provide drainage and ventilation for the silver mines of the Comstock Lode. He completed the shaft in 1878, and sold his interest a year later for a substantial profit. He moved to San Francisco, where be became the leading landowner, serving as mayor from 1894 to 1896. (Lamar, 1087) THORNBURGH, Jacob N. (1837–90), brother of Maj. Thomas T. Thornburgh, was a Republican member of Congress from Tennessee, from 1873 to 1879. See THORNBURGH, Thomas Tipton. (Wikipedia) TIBBLES, Thomas Henry (1838–1928), native of Ohio, joined John Brown’s Free Soilers in Kansas, and later served in various capacities on the Union side of the Civil War. When the war ended he worked for various newspapers in Omaha, and was instrumental in Standing Bear’s suit to obtain legal status. When the case was resolved, he became an advocate of Indians Rights, whose writings stirred public interest. See also STANDING BEAR; DUNDY, Elmer Scipio. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1428) VANDEVER, William (1817–93), native of Maryland, served as United States Indian inspector under the Grant administration from 1873 until 1877, prompting Bourke (who sometimes spelled it “Vandeveer”) to call him “the lying emissary of the Indian Ring.” Like many of Grant’s appointments, Vandever had served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was mustered out with the brevet rank of major general. He practiced law until his appointment as Indian inspector. He had served as a congressman from Iowa from 1858 to 1871, and, after moving to California, served as a

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congressman from that state from 1886 to 1891. He lived in Ventura, California, at the time of his death. (Warner, 523–24) WHITNEY, Robert H. “Bob” (1840–71), native of New York, went to Arizona where he established a reputation as a scout. He was killed by Chiricahua Apaches on October 24, 1871, when an expedition under Capt. Gerald Russell, 3rd Cavalry, was lured into an ambush in Chiricahua Pass. He was buried with honors two days later at Camp Bowie. See also RUSSELL, Gerald. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1561) WOLCOTT, Francis Edwin “Frank,” 1840–1910, Wyoming ranch manager, first moved West in March 1870, to become receiver of the U.S. Land Office in Cheyenne. Two years later, he was appointed U.S. marshal for Wyoming Territory, but was removed in 1875, because his offensive personality cost him public support. He then became manager of the VR Ranch, owned by a Scottish consortium, near Tolland, Wyoming. Wolcott headed the faction of large ranching interests that tried to drive off the small ranchers, and was instrumental in the Johnson County War of 1892, that proved disastrous for the large interests when the small ranchers stood their ground, fought back, and invoked the law. He left Wyoming in 1894, and died in Denver. (Thrapp, 3:1587) YARNELL, Nelson. See COSGROVE, Thomas. Indians AMERICAN HORSE (ca. 1840–1908), Oglala Sioux chief, sometimes confused with another Oglala chief named American Horse, who was mortally wounded at Slim Buttes in 1876. He participated in the Fetterman Massacre, but subsequently settled at the Red Cloud Agency and was not involved in the Great Sioux War. He was an associate of Red Cloud, toured with Buffalo Bill, and as a leader of the Oglalas, earned enemies by often siding with the government in controversies. He died at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:21–22) BLACK COAL, Arapaho chief, who, in 1874, led his people against the government and its Shoshone allies under their powerful chief Washakie. Nevertheless, he ultimately sided with the government during the Great Sioux War. Years later, in 1891, after the Arapahoes had been placed on the Shoshone Reservation at Wind River, Black Coal challenged Washakie’s authority, demanding—and receiving—equal status for the Arapahoes. See also WASHAKIE. (Hyde,

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1975, 297; Hoxie, 676) CAPTAIN JIM (Shoshone) one of the signatories of the Fort Bridger Treaty between the federal government and the Bannocks and Shoshones in 1873, and was part of a delegation that asked Idaho Gov. D. P. Thompson to represent their grievances to the government in 1876. He was also a member of the Lemhi, Shoshone, and Bannock delegation that went to Washington in 1880 to discuss white encroachment on their territory, resulting in an agreement to parcel out the lands of the Fort Hall Reservation in severalty, and sell the left-over tracts for settlement. See MAJOR GEORGE. (Madsen) CHARGING BEAR, Oglala warrior captured at Slim Buttes, together with Big Bat Pourier negotiated the surrender of American Horse, ending the battle. He later became a corporal of Indian Scouts. COCHISE (ca. 1824–1874) is one of the most famous American Indians, in part because of his efforts to maintain peace following the Cochise War, and in part because of Jeff Chandler’s portrayal of him in motion pictures in the 1950s. The war lasted almost twelve years before Brig. Gen. Oliver O. Howard was able to negotiate a peace. At Cochise’s direction, the government established a reservation centered on the Dragoon Mountains, which occupied much of the southeastern part of Arizona. It was abolished two years after his death and the Chiricahuas were concentrated at San Carlos. Cochise was the son-in-law and associate of Mangas Coloradas, who is considered perhaps the greatest of all Apache leaders. He inherited the mantle of supremacy following Mangas’s death in 1863. In the nineteenth century, there was no consistent spelling of Apache names, and Bourke uses “Cochies,” “Cochis,” and “Cocheis,” the latter of which was most common among whites. See also HOWARD, Oliver Otis. (Sweeney, 1991; Lamar, 228) COLOROW (ca. 1810–88), Ute, apparently was a Comanche captive reared by the Utes, and who ultimately became one of their chiefs. Initially, he coexisted with the whites, but came to resent their continuing incursions. Matters came to a head after Nathan Meeker, agent of the White River Utes, deposed Colorow as chief, one of the chain of events leading to the massacre of Meeker and other agency employees in 1878. Colorow was not involved in the massacre, having led the band of warriors who ambushed Maj. Thomas T. Thornburgh at Milk River. After hostilities ended, Colorow was

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relocated to the Uintah Agency in Utah. Eventually, he returned to Colorado, living on the Southern Ute Reservation. He was involved in the so-called “Colorow War” of 1887, which was essentially one single skirmish in which whites and Utes shot at each other until both sides ran out of ammunition and returned home. See also MEEKER, Nathan Cook; THORNBURGH, Thomas Tipton. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:302) CRAZY HORSE (ca. 1840–1877), Oglala war chief, drew attention not only for his mysticism and introverted personality, but also because of his red hair and pale, freckled complexion. In 1865, he was designated one of the four Oglala “shirt wearers” or leading political chiefs, but lost the position five years later following an altercation involving another man’s wife. He distinguished himself in the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, and subsequently during the Great Sioux War. Arrested on September 5, 1877, he was bayoneted during a scuffle at the guardhouse at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, and died about midnight. During the latter half of the twentieth century, he became a symbol of Indian political and social resistance. See also BURKE, Daniel Webster; CLARK, Walter Philo; GROUARD, Frank; LITTLE BIG MAN; McGILLYCUDDY, Valentine T. (Hoxie, 137–39; Utley, 1997, 109–10; Nickerson, 20; DeBarthe, 117) DULL KNIFE (c. 1810–83), was one of the four “old man” or senior chiefs of the Cheyennes. Dull Knife, the name by which he is best known, was his Lakota designation. Among his own people, he was known as Morning Star. He became known to the whites when he signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Following the destruction of his camp by Mackenzie, on November 25, 1876, he and his band wandered until the following spring, when they surrendered. They were transported to the Indian Territory where, after two years of suffering, his band joined Little Wolf’s in an outbreak. North of the Platte River, the two groups split and Dull Knife surrendered at Fort Robinson. In January 1879, Dull Knife’s band staged an uprising and escape. He eventually was allowed to lived at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. See also LITTLE WOLF; MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell; WESSELS, Henry. (Utley, 1997, 132–33) JOSEPH (1841–1904), Nez Percé, sometimes called the Xenophon of the Indians, was leader of the Nez Percés on their monumental but futile trek toward refuge in Canada. Joseph was born Heinmot Tooyalakekt, the second son of the Nez Percé chief

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Tu-ya-kas-kas and the baptized Nez Percé woman, Arenoth. When Heimnot Tooyalakekt was about two years old, his father likewise was baptized, and took the name Joseph. After the death of his father, in 1871, Heinmot Tooyalakekt, who by now also was known as Joseph, became the political chief of the Wallamotkin band of Nez Percés. In 1877, federal authorities ordered all Nez Percés on to a reservation to accommodate mining interests in their territory in eastern Oregon. This enraged some of the younger warriors, who killed several settlers. Fearing retaliation, Joseph, Looking Glass, and several other chiefs led their people on a four-month trek of over a thousand miles, across the continental divide toward Canada. Ultimately, they were forced to surrender to Col. Nelson Miles less than a hundred miles short of their goal. By now, Joseph and White Bird were the only surviving chiefs. Initially, the Nez Percés were interned at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and later sent to the Indian Territory, where many died of malaria. In 1879, Joseph traveled to Washington to present his case, and became a national celebrity. The result was the Nez Percés where allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest, but not to their old homeland. See also MILES, Nelson Appleton; HOWARD, Oliver Otis. (Hoxie, 309–11) LAME DEER (d. 1877), Minneconjou chief, whose band was one of the last major holdouts in the Great Sioux War. He was killed when fighting broke out between his people and Miles’s troops in his camp, on May 7, 1877. (Greene, 1991, Chapter 9) LITTLE BIG MAN, Oglala “shirt wearer” or senior chief of Crazy Horse’s band, initially was pegged—justifiably—as a trouble maker when he arrived at the Red Cloud Agency in 1872. His name had nothing to do with stature, but was to distinguish him from his father, also named Big Man. Little Big Man surrendered with Crazy Horse in 1877, pledging to General Crook that he would maintain the peace. During the scuffle in which Crazy Horse was killed at Camp Robinson, Little Big Man pinioned his arms. He always maintained the death was an accident. He settled at Pine Ridge where, in 1879, he became a policeman. See also CRAZY HORSE. (Hyde, 1975, 198, 243n 297–98) LITTLE WOLF (c. 1820–1904), Northern Cheyenne, was chief of the Bowstring Soldier warrior society. He apparently was present during the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, and the Custer fight in 1876. It is not known, however, whether he was involved in

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Mackenzie’s attack on Dull Knife’s Village on November 25, 1876. After the Cheyennes surrendered to Crook, he was among the group sent to the Indian Territory. In September 1878, he and Dull Knife led three hundred of their followers out of the Territory and north toward their homeland. The two bands split after crossing the North Platte River, and Little Wolf continued to Montana, while Dull Knife surrendered at Fort Robinson. Little Wolf ultimately surrendered to Miles, who enrolled him as a scout. He remained a respected figure until his death. See also DULL KNIFE; MILES, Nelson Appleton. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:862–63) LITTLE WOUND, Oglala chief, attempted to be accommodating, but government blundering drove his band to hostility in 1865. He signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Like Red Cloud and other chiefs, however, he understood the treaty was simply to restore peace and trade, and refused to abandon his hunting grounds to the government. Nevertheless, he settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and, together with Red Cloud, probably saved Agent J. J. Saville’s life from a kangaroo court organized by Little Big Man and Pretty Bear over a dispute about rations. In 1877, he combined with Red Cloud and other Oglala leaders to support General Crook against Crazy Horse. He eventually settled at Pine Ridge. See also CRAZY HORSE, LITTLE BIG MAN, RED CLOUD. (Hyde, 1975, 155, 164, 169, 209, 297) MAJOR GEORGE (Shoshone) was one of the chiefs who agreed in1880 to divide the Fort Hall Reservation lands in severalty. See also CAPTAIN JIM. (Madsen, 337) NANNI-CHADDI, Apache leader whose band was annihilated by troops under Capt. William Henry Brown on December 28, 1872. A year earlier, he had met with Vincent Colyer, and promised to obey the government. The destruction of his band demonstrated that soldiers could penetrate Apache country, and locate and destroy hostile groups, no matter how well secluded or defended. See also BROWN, William Henry. (Thrapp, 1988, 127–30) OURAY (1820–80), Ute, became chief in 1860. Over the following decade, he cultivated friendly relations with the government, and was an advisor to Christopher Carson. He made two trips to Washington, the second in 1872, when he managed to obtain some concessions from the government during the expropriation of Ute treaty lands. Unlike most Western Indian chiefs, who governed through

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prestige and consensus, Ouray was an autocrat who tolerated little opposition. During the uprising of 1879, he united the tribe against the White River band, forcing an end to hostilities. See also ADAMS, Charles; MEEKER, Nathan Cook. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:1094) RED CLOUD (1822–1909), Oglala, became a powerful war chief through his own accomplishments. He appears to have taken his first scalp at sixteen, in a raid against the Pawnees. He participated in the Grattan Massacre, and was a distinguished leader against Gen. Patrick Connor’s failed North Plains Expedition. During a treaty council at Fort Laramie in June 1866, Red Cloud and his followers walked out in protest of a proposal to surrender more hunting grounds to the government. This led to the Red Cloud War of 1866–68, which forced the government to abandon the Bozeman Trail and Forts Reno, Phil Kearny, and C. F. Smith. After signing the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, Red Cloud never again went to war, although during the Great Sioux War, his sympathies were with the hostiles. This led Crook to depose him as paramount chief of the Lakotas in favor of Spotted Tail in September 1876. Following the death of Spotted Tail in 1881, Red Cloud again emerged as paramount chief. More visionary than many of the other leaders, he saw that the survival of his people depended on adapting to government expectations. He died at Pine Ridge. See also YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES; SPOTTED TAIL. Red Cloud’s life is covered in Olson; Hyde, 1975; and Larson. ROMAN NOSE, Lakota leader from the Spotted Tail Agency, was among the hostiles at Slim Buttes. After the fight, he joined Crazy Horse, but eventually, he, Touch-the-Clouds, and other chiefs broke away, surrendered, and were allowed to live at the Spotted Tail Agency. Sometime after mid-1877, however, he left and joined Sitting Bull in Canada. Not to be confused with the great Cheyenne chief Roman Nose, who was killed in a fight with Forsyth’s troops at Beecher’s Island, in 1868. See also TOUCH-THE-CLOUDS. (Hyde, 1974, 266 n8, 287 n3) SHARP NOSE, Arapaho chief, led his tribe’s contingent serving under General Crook in the summer and fall of 1876. Besides being a noted warrior and leader, he was praised by soldiers as one of the most outstanding guides. He was especially valuable in guiding Mackenzie’s cavalry to the main Cheyenne camp on November 24–25. (Dunlay, 82)

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SHUNCACA LUTU (Sorrel Horse), Brulé medicine man mentioned frequently by Bourke in 1876–77, but there is little other information about him. SITTING BULL (1831?–90), Hunkpapa war chief and holy man, as a young man attained a superlative record as a warrior, and in 1857, was designated a war chief. His conflicts with whites appear to have begun when Montana-bound gold seekers came up the Missouri River. The government soon began building forts along the river, prompting Sitting Bull to lead his people in a five-year war. By this time, his interest had turned to spirituality, and he was known among all the Lakota tribes as a holy man. In his combined capacity of military and religious leader, he became the focal point of the Lakotas resisting the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and the subsequent settlement on reservations. His warriors fought troops on a survey expedition into the Yellowstone Valley in 1872 and 1873. Rather than surrender during the Great Sioux War, he led a remnant of his people into Canada, where they remained until 1881, when he turned himself in at Fort Buford, North Dakota. He toured briefly with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, but spent most of his time on the Standing Rock Reservation, adopting white methods he deemed useful and rejecting those he did not. As more of the Indian lands were taken, Sitting Bull became a leader of the Ghost Dance movement at Standing Rock. He was killed on December 15, 1890, in a fight that broke out when Indian Police tried to arrest him. (Utley, 1993; Hoxie, 593–95) SITTING BULL OF THE SOUTH (1841–76) was a name that whites gave to the Oglala leader Sitting Bull to distinguish him from the great Hunkpapa chief Sitting Bull. As a young man, Sitting Bull of the South became friends with a telegrapher, who taught him to read and write, and to use the telegraph. He was fluent in English. Following the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, he joined a hostile faction, and participated in several fights, including the Fetterman Massacre in Wyoming. Later he settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and accompanied two delegations to Washington. He was ambushed and killed by a group of Crows while on a truce mission to Crazy Horse. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1315) SPOTTED TAIL (ca. 1823–81) , was a Brulé “shirt wearer” or senior chief and war leader. Although he was involved in the Grattan Massacre of 1855, he surrendered the following month. He was

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detained at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Fort Kearny, Nebraska, for a year, during which he learned enough about the whites to realize their numbers and technology made them an irresistible force. From that point onward, he strove to maintain peace, and obtain education for his people, while preserving their ancient culture. He did, however, lead an assault against Julesburg, Colorado, in retaliation for the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, and government restrictions on Lakota travel along the Platte River. Soon after, he permanently ceased fighting whites, signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and took up residence on a reservation in Nebraska. In 1876, General Crook deposed Red Cloud as head chief of the Lakotas, and designated Spotted Tail in his place. Although Spotted Tail negotiated the surrender of hostile bands, he rejected the proposition that the Lakotas be relocated to Oklahoma. In 1880, a political struggle developed among the Brulés, with opposition centering around Spotted Tail’s cousin, Crow Dog. On August 5, 1881, an altercation developed between the two men, and Crow Dog shot Spotted Tail. After his death, the Brulés ceased to play a significant role in Lakota affairs. See also RED CLOUD. (Hoxie, 603–05; Hyde, 1987) STANDING BEAR (ca. 1829–1908), Ponca, was the plaintiff in a landmark suit that gave Indians certain legal standing in court, and placed them under the protection of federal law. Following the conclusion of this case, he and his supporters were allotted land on the Niobrara River. The case had galvanized Indian rights activists, and in 1879–80, Standing Bear went on a lecture tour of the East, accompanied by Thomas H. Tibbles, and Omaha Indians Susette La Flesche (whom Tibbles later married) and Francis La Flesche. Standing Bear has received revived attention in recent years; some of the literature on the case will be found in the bibliography. See also SCHURZ, Carl; TIBBLES, Thomas Henry; DUNDY, Elmer Scipio. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1352) STANDING ELK, Cheyenne, led the surrender of the Cheyennes at Camp Robinson in April 1876. Most of the band had been among those devastated in Mackenzie’s attack the preceding November. Having negotiated with government officials previously, he accepted the army’s proposal to relocate the Cheyennes to the Indian Territory. (Grinnell, 1983, 400) TECUMSEH (1768?–1813), Shawnee chief, native of Ohio, forced with his people into Indiana by white pressure. By the beginning of

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the nineteenth century, Tecumseh and his brother, the Shawnee Prophet, saw the need to unify the tribes against U.S. encroachment, and sought British assistance. With the outbreak of the War of 1812, he was appointed a brigadier general in the British Army. He led rear guard actions covering the British retreat from the Ohio Valley, although he accused them of abandoning his cause. He was killed in the Battle of the Thames in Ontario. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1406–7) TOUCH-THE-CLOUDS, Minneconjou, so-called because he was seven feet tall. He persuaded Crazy Horse to report to Camp Robinson for internment, leading to the scuffle that resulted in Crazy Horse’s death. In mid to late 1877, he left Spotted Tail’s camp to join Sitting Bull in Canada. See also ROMAN NOSE. (Hyde, 1974, 287 3n; Olson, 214) WASHAKIE (1804?–1900), powerful and autocratic chief of the Shoshones, spent most of his life maintaining peace with the federal government. His position was reenforced in 1863, when Col. Patrick Connor defeated and subdued Shoshone dissidents who had joined Bannocks in raiding against white emigrants. In 1868, he signed the Fort Bridger Treaty establishing a Shoshone reservation in what is now western Wyoming. In the 1870s, he led his people as scouts, first against the Arapahoes, and latter as part of Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He opposed some government policies, including the resettlement of Arapahoes on the Shoshone Reservation. Nevertheless, he cooperated, realizing that to oppose the government would bring disaster for his people. In 1878, at General Crook’s behest, the government upgraded Camp Brown, Wyoming, on the Shoshone Reservation, renaming it Fort Washakie, in his honor. See also BLACK COAL. (Hoxie, 675–76; Robinson, 2001, 221) WHITE THUNDER, subchief of the Brulé Orphan Band, was popular among the officers and families posted to the Spotted Tail Agency. He was among the group that escorted Crazy Horse to internment at Camp Robinson, where the latter chief was killed. (Hyde, 1974, 229, 285) YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES (ca. 1830–1900) was a hereditary Oglala chief through his father, Old Man Afraid of His Horses. He was an associate of Red Cloud, and participated in various fights along the Bozeman Trail and in the Fetterman Massacre during the Red Cloud War. He was a party to the Fort Laramie

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Treaty of 1868, and thereafter worked as a sort of mediator between Indians and whites. Although he opposed the sale of Sioux lands to the government, he eventually was designated president of the Pine Ridge Indian Council. He also adamantly opposed the Ghost Dance religion. See also RED CLOUD. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1614–15)

Appendix 2 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Manuscript Volume 24, Pages 54–83

Authorities. Personal notes of the Campaigns conducted by Brig. General George Crook, U.S. Army, against the Sioux Indians in Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Dakota—1876–1877. *** Telegram, Washington D.C. Aug. 2d 1877, from Commissioner Hayt, asking General Crook to select a delegation of 15 or 20 Indians from Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies and send them to Washington under charge of Agent Irwin, or some suitable army Officer. *** Camp Robinson, Neb., Aug. 16th 78 Telegram. General Williams I think there will be no trouble about postponing the [projected buffalo] hunt. Will try to have Crazy Horse go to Washington, but he refuses now. Can delegation be increased to 25? Would like to know soon. (Signed) Bradley Lt-Colonel ***

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August 20th Lieut. Clark wrote that there would be no hunt; that there was neither restlessness nor ill-feeling among the Indians by this decision. *** Telegram. Omaha, Aug. 31st, 1877 To Genl. Crook, Comdg Department On West.-bound train, Fremont, Neb. The following dispatch from Colonel Bradley just received. “Crazy Horse and Touch the Clouds tell Lieut. Clark this morning that they are going out with their bands: this means all of the hostiles of last year. Probably more troops must be brought here, if this movement is to be stopped. I think General Crook’s presence might have a good effect”. Please acknowledge receipt and give me your instructions. (Sig.) R. Williams, A.G. General. *** Telegram. Chicago, September 1st 1877. To General Crook, on West-Bound train, Sidney, Neb. I think your presence more necessary at Red Cloud agency than at Camp Brown and wish you to get off at Sidney and go there. Colonel Bradley thinks Crazy Horse and others will make trouble if the Sioux scouts leave. I will ask Bradley to detain them until you reach Red Cloud. Nez-Percés on Clark’s fork (note, i.e. of the Yellowstone—J.G.B.) (sig.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieut.-General. *** Extract from telegram of September 3d, from General Sheridan to General Crook. “I do not like the attitude of affairs at Red Cloud Agency and very much doubt the propriety of your going to Camp Brown. The surrender or capture of Joseph in that direction is but a small matter compared with what might happen to the frontier from a disturbance at Red Cloud.”1 *** 1. This telegram is undoubtedly in response to Crook’s telegram to Bradley immediately below.

MANUSCRIPT VOLUME 24, PAGES 54–83 Telegram.

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Grand Island, Neb., Sept. 1st 1877.

General Bradley Camp Robinson, Neb. Your dispatch received. I cannot come to Robinson. If Spotted Tail can, with his own people and the help of the troops now at Camp Sheridan, “round up” Touch the Clouds, you have sufficient force to do the same with Crazy Horse. If Spotted Tail has not sufficient force to do this, you might send some of your troops over to him and use those from Laramie for your command. The two movements should be made simultaneously, as nearly as possible. I don’t think that any disturbance will be made. If there is any danger of the Indians becoming alarmed by the arrival of troops from Laramie, you should so arrange matters that they shall arrive during the night and make the round up early the next morning. Use the greatest precaution in this matter. It would be better not to say anything to the Indians about it until the night previous when you can consult the head chiefs and let them select their own men for the work. Delay is very dangerous in this business. (Signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. *** Telegram. Camp Robinson, Neb., Sept. 4th 1877 General Crook, (Fort Laramie.) The Cavalry and Indians started out at 9.30 this morning, Crazy Horse’s village broke up last night and when the Command got out to the ground, there were but few lodges to be seen and those making for the Bluffs; some of them came in and others were captured. We have about half the village—(40) odd lodges, and the agency Indians are after the balance and are sure to capture some of them. Crazy Horse left the village this morning with his sick squaw for Spotted Tail and we have twenty picked Indians after them who promise to bring him in. All the friendly Indians behaved extremely well, Little Big Man among them. Will telegraph you to-morrow at Cheyenne. (Signed.) Bradley, Lieut.-Colonel.

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APPENDIX 2 *** Camp Robinson, Sep’t. 4th 1877.

Telegram. General Crook, (Fort Laramie.) Quite a number of lodges of crazy Horse’s band left here last night: the rest commenced moving early this morning before we started. As soon as we got within (3) or (4) miles, they promised to give up guns and move near the Agency, but most of them scattered like a frightened covey of quail, some going to camps here and quite a number to Spotted Tail. It is impossible to tell just now how many have left. Indians here acted well and were ready and would have fought, but they wanted the Northern Indians to commence. Crazy Horse started down the river with only his own lodge. I at once sent a party to bring him back and as soon as I learned further particulars, sent No Water with ten men to arrest him and bring him to my house. I promised No water $(200) if he accomplished his mission. I have great hopes that they will get him. Under all the circumstances, I believe it would be best to turn over the remnants of this band to the head men I spoke to you about and not try to take any ponies. We have been at work all day and can take no further action before morning. I have sent two couriers to [Agent Jesse] Lee, to keep matters quiet there and intercept any who have gone there, if possible. I urged the arrest of Crazy Horse strongly to Lee. (Signed.) Clark, 1 Lieut. 2d Cavalry. *** Telegram Camp Robinson, Neb., Sep’t. 5th 1877 General Crook, (Cheyenne.) (50) lodges—73 men—have been gathered up of Crazy Horse’s band and some others are being brought in. The new organization for this band will, I think, be perfected satisfactorily in a day or two. I believe not more than (20) lodges got away and went to Spotted Tail. (signed.) Clark 1 Lieut. 2d Cavalry. ***

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Telegram Camp Robinson, Neb., Sep’t. 5, 1877 Major Gilliss Cheyenne dépôt. General Crook will reach Cheyenne on Laramie stage to-day: please hand this to General Crook. Crazy Horse was captured last night at Spotted Tail (Agency.) Seven more lodges were brought in last night and the Indians are after the balance who went towards Spotted Tail. I think we shall get them all, Seventy Five of Lame Deer’s band surrendered yesterday. They state that (500) more under Fast Bull will be in in (4) or (5) days. (signed.) Bradley, Lieutenant-Colonel. *** Telegram. Camp Robinson, Neb., Sep’t. 5th 1877 General Crook, Cheyenne. Major Burke (Note he was the C. O. of Camp Sheridan, the Mily. post at Spotted Tail Agency.) sends word that he, with Touch the Clouds, Swift Bear, High Bear and Crazy Horse are coming in ambulance to-day. He2 will be put in guard-house on arrival. I think he should be started for Fort Laramie to-night and kept going as far as Omaha, (2) or (3) Sioux going with him so that they can assure people on return that he has not been killed. I hope you will telegraph Genl. Bradley. Everything quiet and working first-rate. (signed.) Clark, 1 Lt. 2d Cavalry *** Telegram. Cheyenne, Wyo., Sep’t. 5th 1877 Colonel Bradley, Comdg. Camp Robinson. Accept my thanks for the successful termination of your enterprise and convey the same to Lieut. Clark and others concerned. Send Crazy Horse with a couple of his own people with him, under a strong escort, viâ Laramie to Omaha. Make sure that he does not escape. Keep up your efforts until you get every Indian in[,] even if you have to follow them up to Powder River. (sig.) George Crook, Brig. General. 2. Crazy Horse.

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APPENDIX 2 *** Cheyenne, Wyo., Sep’t. 3d 1877

Telegram. Lieut. General Sheridan, Chicago. Your dispatch of this day received. Crazy Horse was at the bottom of the whole trouble at both Agencies and yesterday his band was dismembered by the soldiers and our Indians, mostly by the latter. The members of his band are being distributed among the other bands. Crazy Horse is now a prisoner and I have ordered Bradley to send him down here. I wish you would send him off where he would be out of harm’s way.3 You can rest assured that everything at the Agency is perfectly quiet and will remain so. The advance of Lame Deer’s party has already come in and the balance will be in in (4) or (5) days with the exception of (5) lodges that went to hunt up Sitting Bull. I have given the necessary orders about disarming them as they come in. This is the end of all trouble so far as all Sioux are concerned outside of Sitting Bull. (Here followed some remarks about the Nez-Percé Campaign.) The successful breaking up of Crazy Horse’s band has removed a heavy weight off my mind and I leave here feeling perfectly easy. (Signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. *** Telegram Chicago, Illinois, Sep’t 5th 1877. Captain Gillis, U.S.A. Cheyenne, Wyo., Send the following to General Crook. Your dispatch of this date received. I will send to you at Green River station, the latest news of the Nez-Percés. I wish you to send Crazy Horse under proper guard to these Hd.Qrs.4 (signed.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieut.-General. ***

3. Crook probably intended for Crazy Horse to go to Fort Marion, Florida, the usual place of exile for chiefs that the government considered incorrigible. 4. I.e., divisional headquarters in Chicago.

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Telegram. Camp Robinson, Neb., Sep’t. 5th, 1877 General Crook, Green River, Wyo. Crazy Horse reached here at 6 o’clock: his pistol and knife had not been taken from him and in getting these, he made a break, stabbing Little Big Man in arm and trying to do other damage, but we have him all right and I think there will be no further trouble. I had selected some Indians here and cannot speak too highly of their conduct, particularly of Little Big Man. Crazy Horse’s father and Touch the Clouds are now with him; the latter in the mêlée was cut in abdomen, but not seriously. The Indians I selected simply did better than I can express and deserve great credit and I hope may get it. (Signed.) Clark, 1 Lt. 2d Cavalry. *** Telegram. Camp Robinson, Neb., Sept 5th 77. General Crook, Green River, Wyo., In the mêlée, Crazy Horse got a prod in the abdomen, probably from a bayonet but probably [sic] from a knife when he attempted to stab Little Big Man: the latter I am trying to persuade all Indians. The Doctor reports he has no pulse in either arm and I think it will be impossible to move him to-night. His father will be allowed to move his lodge near the Guard-House and take charge of him should he be alive in the morning. (Signed.) Clark 1 Lieut. Commanding. *** Telegram. Camp Robinson, Neb., Sep’t . 5th 1877. General Crook, (Green River.) If you approve, will complete arrangements for payment of scouts, discharging Crazy Horse to date August 31st, and let the chiefs who are to take charge of this band designate men to replace those whose arms have been taken away. These chiefs are doing even better than I anticipated. (Signed.) Clark, 1 Lt. 2d Cavalry.

510

APPENDIX 2 *** Camp Robinson, Neb., Sep’t. 6th 1877

Telegram. General George Crook, En route to Camp Stambaugh, Wyo. Crazy Horse died at 11;40 P.M., last night. Some lodges have left and gone to Spotted Tail, the excitement last night being intense; but the Indians here claim that they will get them and will be responsible that none go North. Everything seems to be working well, though we have not heard from Spotted Tail. The death of this man will save trouble. (Signed.) Clark, 1 Lt. 2d Cavalry. *** Hd.Qrs. District of the Black Hills, Camp Robinson, Neb., Sep’t. 7 1877. Adjutant General Dep’t. of the Platte, Omaha, Neb. When General Crook arrived here on the 2d inst., he ordered me to surround and disarm Crazy Horse’s band the next morning, but I received information on the evening of the 2d that Lame Deer’s band was on the way & quite near. So General Crook directed the movement to be suspended, fearing that if the attack on Crazy Horse was made at that time, the northern Indians coming in might be alarmed and driven back. General Crook left here on the morning of the 4th and, under his instructions I sent out a strong force about 9 o’clock of that date to surround Crazy Horse’s village about six miles below this post. The column consisted of (8) companies of the 3rd Cavalry and about (400) friendly Indians. The Indian scouts were under Lieut. Clark; the other Indians under chiefs Red Cloud, Little Wound, American Horse, Young Man-Afraid-of-his-horses, Yellow Bar, Black Coal, Big Road, Jumping Shield and Sharp Nose. The Cavalry were under command of Colonel Mason, 3d Cavalry. When the command reached the site of the village, they found it had broke up in the night and most of it had disappeared. A part of the lodges returned to the Agency of their own accord, and joined the friendly bands, a large number were overtaken by the friendly Indians and brought back, and a few went to the

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Spotted Tail Agency. Crazy Horse escaped alone and went direct to Spotted Tail (Agency.) where he was arrested the same day by friendly Indians and was brought here under a guard of Indians on the 5th inst. My orders from General Crook were to capture this chief, confine him and send him under guard to Omaha. When he was put in the Guard-House, he suddenly drew a knife, struck at the guard and made for the door. Little Big Man, one of his own chiefs, grappled with him and was cut, in the arm by Crazy Horse during the struggle. The two chiefs were surrounded by the Guard and about this time, Crazy Horse received a severe wound in the lower part of the abdomen, either from a knife or bayonet, the surgeons are in doubt which.5 He was immediately removed and place in charge of the surgeons and died about midnight. His father and Touch the Clouds, chief of the Sans Arcs, remained with him till he died, and when his breath ceased the chief laid his hand on Crazy Horse’s breast and said, “It is good: he has looked for death, and it has come”. The body was delivered to his friends the morning after his death. Crazy Horse and his friends were assured that no harm was intended him and the Chiefs who were with him are satisfied that none was intended,—his death resulted from his own violence. There was a good deal of excitement among his people following his death, but it is quieting down. The leading men of his band, Big Road, Jumping Shield and Little Big Man are satisfied that his death is the result of his own folly, and they are on friendly terms with us. Crazy Horse’s band is being 5. One must wonder whether the surgeons were completely incompetent (unlikely), or whether they were covering for something. The Model 1873 bayonet in use at the time has a triangular blade with a maximum width of 13/16 inch at the base, and maximum depth of 13/32 inch apex to base (measurements from examples in my own collection). Although there are two varieties of the 1873 bayonet, one cold-pressed to .45 caliber from surplus earlier models, and the other specifically manufactured for the .45-caliber Springfield rifle, the specifications of the blade essentially were the same; either would have left a wound very distinguishable from the deep, flat blade of a knife. Bourke (Diaries, 24:48) tried to shrug it off by saying Crazy Horse had a “stiletto,” which would have left a wound similar—but not identical—to a bayonet. A stiletto, however, is a purely fighting blade designed to stab rather than cut. As such, it was preferred in Europe and by street gangs in the Eastern cities, whereas Indians generally opted for a knife with its more utilitarian cutting edge. There is no indication Crazy Horse carried a stiletto, and they generally were not found among Plains Indians, for whom knives were tools as much as weapons. Additionally, Crazy Horse’s wound punctured both kidneys which would have been consistent with the eighteen-inch blade of a bayonet.

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reorganized under Big Road, a moderate, prudent man, and I think most, if not all, the band can be kept quiet. Very Respectfully, Your obedt. Servant., (signed.) L. P. Bradley, Lt.-Col. 9th Infantry. *** Telegram. Camp Robinson, Sep’t. 9 1877. Lieut. J. G. Bourke, A.D.C. Camp Stambaugh, Courier from Spotted Tail (Agency.) with letter. No stampede of Lame Deer’s party. They will all be in there in a day or two and every thing going on well. Crazy Horse’s remains were taken over there for burial. The excitement caused by his death is subsiding. Indians have been making presents to his kin. Some few still making threats, but the majority consider his death a blessing to his people. Scouts in from north say all who did not come in to Camp Sheridan went north to join Sitting Bull. (signed.) Clark, 1 Lieut. 2d Cavalry. *** Telegram. Green River, Wyo., Sep’t. 12th 1877. Lieut. Clark, Camp Robinson, Have received your telegram and am glad to know that affairs are in satisfactory condition at the Agency. Please give my thanks to Little Big Man, Touch the Clouds and others who did well. I wish you would write me a full account of all that has taken place at Robinson since I was there, so as to reach me at Omaha. (signed.) George Crook, Brigadier general *** Camp Robinson, Neb., Aug. 18th 1877. Dear General I write you an outline of affairs here so that you may know that everything has been done that could possibly bring about the very desirable object of having Crazy Horse go on with the other head men.

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During the summer, I feared this result and thought I had worked matters so that it would certainly be avoided. I cultivated the friendship and confidence of all the northern Indians and Crazy Horse in particular and succeeded in getting on excellent “dog-eating”6 terms with them and him, but it is impossible to work him through reasoning or kindness. When the first telegram came, I read it in council and afterwards explained it kindly and fully to him and his head men, and afterwards to each of the latter at my house and their own lodges. He was not pressed for a decision, hoping that the influence of his head men might be sufficient. Frank [Grouard], since his return, has also done what he could. The other Indians at the agency have no influence whatever with him. The Agent has also done his best. Yesterday your telegram came, requesting him particularly to go; it was read in Council at the Agency to all. The agent gave him two beef cattle and I bought a lot of things of Commissary and gave them for a feast, to talk over the matter and decide. I explained to him that in addition to the other interests involved, you wished him to come on with the others and work with you in regard to their Agency and, if possible, prevent any undesirable change. That the President wanted him to come and you were anxious to have him go; that it was important and necessary for us all to work earnestly and honestly together in this matter &c. &c. Today, he came up, said he would not go himself, but brought up the men he had selected to go; wanted Spotted Tail, Little Wound, Red Cloud and the rest thrown away and only the men he had picked out, sent on; had already said where he wanted his Agency, and if they wanted to know anything more, these men could tell them &c. I kindly but firmly told him that the head men were going, and this was a matter he could only decide for himself and Band; that the men who went would not only be considered but would be the chiefs of the bands; he had been asked if he would work with the president and yourself in this matter and I wanted to know if he would do so. He replied by stating that “he had already stated he was not going”. Force is the only thing that will work out a good condition in 6. I.e., knew them well enough to sit together at a meal.

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this man’s mind; kindness he only attributes to weakness. His head men are all right, and dead against him in this matter. Extremely reticent, very brave and generous, he has had a large reputation and influence, but his power could be easily broken at the present time,—and I believe it necessary. I am very reluctantly forced to this conclusion, because I have claimed and felt all along that any Indian could be “worked” by other means, but absolute force is the only thing for him. There is no trouble with Little Big Man, Jumping Shield and Big road, the strongest men in this band, though Iron Hawk and Little Hawk each have a good deal of influence. He Dog, also a strong man, has joined Red Cloud. I regret very much that the delegation is so small,—there should be thirty at least. The Indians are particularly anxious to have more go and I heartily wish it might be increased. The Arapahoes feel that at least Black Coal, Sharp Nose and Friday ought to go. Spotted Tail wants Joe Merivale[,] and the Indians here Hunter, and Gruard feels as though he had been e’enmost promised: this would leave but just about one man to each band. The additional cost of transportation would not be great as a car could be chartered. The Indians would be pleased to have Dr. Irwin also go along. (I promised them I would ask for the increase.) Crazy Horse sent a delegation to Spotted Tail (Agency) secretly the other night, to try and induce the northern Indians there to come up and join him, but he got no comfort from them. I think everything will go along all right, at least until the Delegation returns, but am keeping a sharp watch, through some of the scouts I can fully trust, on both agencies, and they keep me pretty well posted. Spotted Tail said to me a few days since, (he came up to have a talk himself.) that nothing could be done with this band until their arms and ponies were taken away and he would lie to it, but he is a Brulé.7 Very Respectfully & Sincerely Yours, (sig.) W. P. Clark, 1 Lt. 2d Cavalry. ***

7. I.e., indicating there might be trouble if he attempted to disarm the Oglalas.

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Camp Sheridan, Neb., Aug. 8th 1877 My dear Clark. The Indians here are very anxious to have more go to Washington than seems to be the intention to let go. They would like that three should go from each band and I think that two at least should be allowed. Do you think that there is any prospect of having the number increased? There are five different and distinct bands here, viz; the Brulés, Loafers, Wazazies, Minneconjous and Sans Arcs. Taking two from each would make but ten from here. Please arrange to have that number go if you possibly can. They also want one interpreter. Everything remarkably quiet here. Very truly Yours, (sig.) Burke. (I.E. Major D. W. Burke, the C.O. of Camp Sheridan.) *** Billy Hunter’s Account. In the latter part of the summer, the Indians asked for and obtained permission to leave their Agency and go out on a buffalo hunt, and having no ammunition, an order was given allowing traders to sell to the Indians ammunition for hunting purposes. Shortly after this time, the delegation was forming to go to Washington and, in a council, it was agreed to that Crazy Horse and Little Big Man should be of the number (20:) to go. Crazy Horse appeared to be well satisfied before and at this time. After the Indians had started on the hunt, a portion of the head men came back to prepare for the trip to Washington. Crazy Horse did not like this arrangement. He wanted to go on with the hunt and would give no definite reply as to whether or not he was willing to go to Washington. On account of the dissatisfaction expressed by Crazy Horse, the order allowing traders to sell ammunition to Indians was revoked. At this time, the Paymaster came up to pay off the troops, (including the Indian scouts.) And, altho’ Crazy Horse was an enlisted scout, he refused to draw his pay. Seeing that Crazy Horse was very much dissatisfied, the Commanding Officer of the Post sent for him and Little Big Man to come and talk with him. They came, and the Commanding Officer told them that the Great Father at Washington had sent word to them that he wanted them to come and see him, Little Big Man immediately

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gave his consent to go, but Crazy Horse would give no satisfactory reply as to what he would do. About three days after this time, Crazy Horse came up and selected the men that he wanted to go to Washington, (selecting mostly Northern Indians) but refusing to go himself. At about the same time, or shortly after, scouts were enlisting to join the expedition against the Nez-Percés. Crazy Horse was asked if he would go, to which he would give no reply on that day, but the next day he came up to the Post, accompanied by a large number of his young men and talked very badly. He said he would not go out with the troops, but that he would move out slowly with his entire village and when overtaken would help to fight the Nez-Percés. This was merely an excuse which he thought would enable him to get away and go north, for at the same time he was doing all in his power to induce other Indians, (especially the enlisted scouts.) to accompany him. He did not succeed in getting away as notice was soon given that the scouts would not be required. After this, all, except the Northern Indians, wanted to move, in one large village, to Little White Chief creek. They held councils, at same time, discussing what should be said and done by the Delegation going to Washington. General Crook came up to Red Cloud (Agency.) about this time and was to hold a Council with the Indians; on the day appointed for the Council, General Crook, accompanied by two or three persons, started for the Indian Camp, but on the way was met by an Indian scout, Woman’s Dress who informed the General that if he went into the Council he would be killed as Crazy Horse said that if the Big White Chief, (i.e. General Crook.) did not talk to suit him, he (Crazy Horse[)] would stab him. On hearing this, the party returned to the Post. After this, and three days before Crazy Horse was killed, General Crook sent for all of the head men to come up to the post as he wanted to talk to them. They all came except Crazy Horse. The General then told them that they were being led astray by this chief. (Crazy Horse.) and that they must take him prisoner. The Indians proposed killing him and this proposition was agreed to by the others, but General Crook told them it must not be done as it would be murder, but insisted that he must be taken prisoner. On the next morning after the day of the Council (i.e., Sep’t. 4th,

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J.G.B.) A party of Indian soldiers started for Spotted Tail (Agency.) to which place Crazy Horse had moved some time before. They arrived at Spotted Tail (Agency.) and going to Crazy Horse’s lodge informed him that General Bradley had words for him from the Great Father at Washington and that he must come to (Camp.) Robinson to hear them. He came along peaceably and, accompanied by Lieut. Lee(?)* And some Indian soldiers, started in an ambulance for Camp Robinson. They arrived at Robinson about dark,** but instead of stopping at General Bradly’s [sic] Quarters, they stopped in front of the Post Guard House. Crazy Horse noticed this and remarked, after getting out of the ambulance, that “this is not General Bradley’s Quarters”. He was then told that he must go into the Guard-House and seeing himself surrounded by the Guard, he left the persons who were with him and ran into the Guard House alone, closely followed by Little Big Man and the Sentinel No 1, the sentinel remaining near the door-way. On entering the Guard room and seeing men in the cells, confined with chains on, he sprang back, saying “I won’t go in there. It is the place where prisoners are kept”. While moving back toward the door, he drew both his knifes and with one in each hand rushed towards the sentinel. Little Big Man seeing his intention of making his escape, sprang behind him and reaching around his body, held his hands, keeping the points of his knives down. In this position, dragging Little Big Man with him, Crazy Horse came up to the sentinel, who having his bayonet “fixed”, as soon as he came within reach, stabbed him. He died in a short time from the effects of this stab. The points of his own knives did not touch his body. *** The above was obtained for me by my friend, Lieutenant G. A. Dodd, 3d Cavalry. Bourke’s note: Billy Hunter is mistaken: Major Burke was the Officer who took Crazy Horse to Camp Robinson, Neb. . . . J.G.B.

*

Here Bourke inserted Sept. 5th, with the footnote: Billy Hunter, like all Indians and Halfbreeds, has a good memory for facts, but is not exact in dates. J.G.B.

**

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Manuscript Sources Bourke, John Gregory. Diaries. 124 vols. United States Military Academy Library, West Point, New York. Microfilm in possession of the editor. Carr, Eugene Asa. Papers. United States Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Crook, George. Collection. Microfilm edition. R. B. Hayes Papers. Rutherford B. Hayes Library, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, Ohio. ———. Letter Books. 2 vols. George Crook Collection. Microfilm edition. Rutherford B. Hayes Library, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, Ohio. Schuyler, Walter Scribner. Papers. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, Calif. Government Documents DeLand, Charles E. The Sioux Wars. Vol. 15. South Dakota Historical Collections. Pierre, S.D.: State Department of History, 1930. Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, From Its Organization, September 29, 1789, 518

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to March 2, 1903. 2 vols. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903. Howard, James H. The Ponca Tribe. Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 195. 1965. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. United States Department of the Interior. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior, 1876. Vol 1. :Washington: Government Printing Office, 1876. United States Department of War. Office of the Adjutant General. RG 393. Special File. Military Division of the Missouri. National Archives Microfilm Publication 1495. Washington: National Archives, n.d. —Roll 6. Little Wolf’s Cheyennes, March–June 1879 —Roll 7. White River Utes, 1879. —Troop Movements (Ute War), October–December 1879. ———. Regulations of the Army of the United States and General Orders in Force February 17, 1881. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1881. ———. War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 12, Part 2 Supplement. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1886. —. Series 1, Vol. 30, Part 1.Washington: Government Printing Office, 1890.

Books–Primary Bourke, John Gregory. On the Border With Crook. 1891. Reprint, Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1980. Catlin, George. Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians. 2 vols. 1844. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 1973. Clark, Robert A., ed. The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse: Three Eyewitness Views by the Indian, Chief He Dog, the Indian-White, William Garnett, the White Doctor, Valentine McGillycuddy. 1976. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Mills, Anson. My Story. 2nd ed. Washington: Press of Byron S. Adams, 1921. Price, Rose Lambart, Baronet. The Two Americas; An Account

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of Sport and Travel. With Notes on Men and Manners in North and South America. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1877. Robinson, Charles M., III, ed. The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke. 2 completed vols. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2003–2005. Schmitt, Martin F., ed. Major General George Crook: His Autobiography. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1946. Reprint, 1986. Smith, Thomas T, ed.. A Dose of Frontier Soldering: The Memoirs of Corporal E. A. Bode, Frontier Regular Infantry, 1877–1882. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972. Reprinted 1999. Summerhayes, Martha. Vanished Arizona: Recollections of the Army Life of a New England Woman. 2nd ed. 1911. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1979. Tibbles, Thomas Henry. Buckskin and Blanket Days: Memoirs of a Friend of the Indians. 1957. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1973. ———. Standing Bear and the Ponca Chiefs. Originally published as The Ponca Chiefs. 1880. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.

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Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1938. Brown, Dee. The Fetterman Massacre. Originally published as Fort Phil Kearny: An American Saga. 1962. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971. Buecker, Thomas R. Fort Robinson and the American West 1874– 1899. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1999. Carroll, John M., ed. The Court Martial of Frederick W. Benteen, Major, 9th Cavalry; or Did General Crook Railroad Benteen? N.p., n.d. (Bryan, Tex.: 1981). Churchill, Winston S. The Great Democracies. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples 4. New York: Dodd, Meade & Company, 1958. Cosío Villegas, Daniel. The United States Versus Porfirio Díaz. Trans. by Nettie Lee Benson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1963. Cresap, Bernarr, Appomattox Commander: The Story of General E.O.C. Ord. San Diego: A.S. Barnes and Company, Inc., 1981. Crouch, Brodie, Jornada del Muerto: A Pageant of the Desert. Spokane, Wash.: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1989. Dary, David. Red Blood and Black Ink: Journalism in the Old West. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. De Barthe, Joe. The Life and Adventures of Frank Grouard, Chief of Scouts, U.S.A. 1894. Reprint, Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1982. Egan, Ferol. Frémont: Explorer for a Restless Nation. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1985. Foote, Shelby. The Civil War, A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Random House, 1974. Frazer, Robert W. Forts of the West: Military Forts and Presidios and Posts Commonly Called Forts West of the Mississippi River to 1898. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. Reprinted 1972. Gilbert, Hila, with George Harris and Bernice Pourier Harris. “Big Bat” Pourier. Sheridan, Wyo.: The Mills Company, 1968. Greene, Jerome A. Nez Perce Summer, 1877: The U.S. Army and the Nee-me-poo Crisis. Helena: Montana Historical Society Press, 2000. ———. Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes,

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1867–1869. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004. ———. Yellowstone Command: Colonel Nelson A. Miles and the Great Sioux War 1876–1877. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Grinnell, George Bird. The Cheyenne Indians. 2 vols. 1923. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972. Gump, James. The Dust Rose Like Smoke: The Subjugation of the Zulu and the Sioux. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. Herr, John K, and Edward S. Wallace. The Story of the U.S. Cavalry: 1775–1942. 1953. Reprint, New York: Bonanza Books, 1984. Hoig, Stan. The Battle of the Washita: The Sheridan-Custer Indian Campaign of 1867–69. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1976. Hoogenboom, Ari. Rutherford B. Hayes, Warrior and President. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995. Hoxie, Frederick E., ed. Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. Hyde, George. Red Cloud’s Folk: A History of the Oglala Sioux Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1937. Reprinted 1987. Jackson, Helen Hunt. A Century of Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government’s Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes. 1885. Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. Johnson, Allen, and Dumas Malone, eds. Dictionary of American Biography. 20 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1928–38. King, Charles. Campaigning With Crook and Stories of Army Life. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890. Knight, Oliver. Following the Indian Wars: The Story of the Newspaper Correspondents Among the Indian Campaigners. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. Reprinted 1993. ———. Life and Manners in the Frontier Army. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1978. Reprinted 1993. Kroeker, Marvin E. Great Plains Command: William B. Hazen in the Frontier West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.

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Lamar, Howard R., ed. The New Encyclopedia of the American West. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. Lewis, Lloyd. Sherman, Fighting Prophet. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1932. Litwack, Leon F. Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980. Loughmiller, Campbell, and Lynn Loughmiller. Texas Wildflowers: A Field Guide. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984. McChristian, Douglas C. The U.S. Army in the West, 1870–1880: Uniforms, Weapons, and Equipment. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. McDermott, John D. Circle of Fire: The Indian War of 1865. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2003. McFeely, William S. Grant: A Biography. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1981. McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. The Oxford History of the United States 6. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Madsen, Brigham D. The Bannock of Idaho. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1958. Manuel, Dale. Coastal Castles of Louisiana and Mississippi. Del Valle, Tex.: The author, 1999. Marszalek, John F., Jr., Court-Martial: A Black Man in America. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972. Mathes, Valerie Sherer, and Richard Lowitt. The Standing Bear Controversy, Prelude to Indian Reform. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003. Miller, Rick. Sam Bass and Gang. Austin: State House Press, 1999. Monnett, John H. Tell Them We Are Going Home: The Odyssey of the Northern Cheyennes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. National Geographic, Editors of. This England. Washington: National Geographic Society, 1966. Norris, Frank. The Octopus: A Story of California. Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1901. Omer-Cooper, J.D. The Zulu Aftermath: A Nineteenth Century Revolution in Bantu Africa. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1969.

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Palmer, Alan. The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire. 1992. Reprint, New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 1994. Pierce, Michael D. The Most Promising Young Officer: A Life of Ranald Slidell Mackenzie. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. Peterson, Roger Tory. A Field Guide to the Birds: A Completely New Guide to All the Birds of Eastern and Central North America. 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980. Priest, Loring Benson. Uncle Sam’s Stepchildren: The Reformation of United States Indian Policy, 1865–1887. 1942. Reprint, New York: Octagon Books, 1972. Porter, Joseph. Paper Medicine Man: John Gregory Bourke and His American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. Reprinted 1989. Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. Abridged ed., Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. Reeves, Thomas C. Gentleman Boss: The Life and Times of Chester Alan Arthur. 1975. Reprint, Newton, Conn.: American Political Biography Press, 2002. Reiss, Eric L. The Compleat Talking Machine. New York: The Vestal Press, 1986. Robinson, Charles Moore, III. Bad Hand: A Biography of General Ranald S. Mackenzie. Austin: State House Press, 1993. ———. Frontier Forts of Texas. Houston: Gulf Publishing Company, 1986. ———. General Crook and the Western Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. ———. A Good Year to Die: The Story of the Great Sioux War. New York: Random House, 1995. Roske, Ralph J., and Charles van Doren. Lincoln’s Commando: The Biography of Commander William B. Cushing, U.S. Navy. 1957. Reprint, Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1995. Russell, Don. Campaigning With King: Charles King, Chronicler of the Old Army. Edited by Paul L. Hedren. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Schwartz, E. A. The Rogue River Indian War and Its Aftermath, 1850–1980. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. Schubert, Frank N. Outpost of the Sioux Wars: A History of Fort

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Robinson. Originally published as Buffalo Soldiers, Braves, and the Brass: The Story of Fort Robinson, Nebraska. 1993. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. Spellenberg, Richard. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers Western Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. Sprague, Marshall. Massacre: The Tragedy at White River. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1957. Stacton, David. The Bonapartes. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966. Strobridge, William F. Regulars in the Redwoods: The U.S. Army in Northern California, 1852–1861. Spokane, Wash.: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1994. Sweeney, Edwin R. Cochise, Chiricahua Apache Chief. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography. 3 vols. 1988. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Time-Life Books, Editors of. The Way of the Warrior. The American Indian. Alexandria, Va.: 1993. Utley, Robert M. A Clash of Cultures: Fort Bowie and the Chiricahua Apaches. Washington: National Park Service, 1977. ———, ed. Encyclopedia of the American West. New York: Wing Books, 1997. ———. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian, 1866–1891. 1973. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. ———. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1993. Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. Weaver, John R., II. A Legacy in Brick and Stone: American Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, 1816–1867. McLean, Va.: Redoubt Press, 2001. Wheeler, Keith, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. The Railroaders. The Old West. New York: Time-Life Books, 1973.

Articles–Primary Schurz, Carl. “Present Aspects of the Indian Problem.” North American Review 133, no. 296 (July 1881): 1–24.

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Websites http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/preface.htm Garrick Mallery http://americahurrah.com/SanFrancisco/Federmeyer.htm R. Lyman Potter/L.P. Federmeyer http://berrygrape.oregonstate.edu/fruitgrowing/grapes/phybiol.htm “Phylloxera: What Is It?” http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/people/parnell.htm Charles Stewart Parnell http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=664 Elmer Scipio Dundy http://www.fortstanton.com Fort Stanton, New Mexico. http://www.friesian.com/perigoku.htm#konbaung Kings of Burma. http://historytogo.utah.gov/people/governors/territorial/emery.html George W. Emery http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2004/derby_history/derby_connections/winners_at_a_glance.html Kentucky Derby http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1858 John Richard Green http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/aschbio.htm Roger Ascham http://www.midcontinent.org/collectn/woodpas/mlsw63/miller.html Miller Coupler and buffer system http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/haskill-hastie.html Frederick Hassaurek http://www.railway-technical.com/st-glos.html#E Steam Locomotive Glossary. http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/pbal/pages/ balc0028.htm. Albinus Nance http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1918ks/bios/streetwd.html William D. Street.

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http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkearney.htm Dennis Kearney http://www.tucsonaz.gov/tucson_history.html City of Tucson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Allison http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Blaine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_E._Borie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_George_Bulwer-Lytton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Augustus_Thesiger%2C_2nd_ Baron_Chelmsford http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Cockrell http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Lesseps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_Gordon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webb_Hayes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M._Key http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Morrissey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_S._Paddock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Patterson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Saunders http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sherman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Emmanuel_Viollet-le-Duc

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Index A Absaraka Indians (see Crow Indians) Absaraka, the Land of Massacre (book), 83, 83 n9 Ascham, Roger, 86, 86 n15 Adams, Charles, 339, 346, 479 Albemarle (Confederate ironclad), 257, 257 n15 Alcott, Louisa May, 81 Alexander II (Russia), 418 n18 Allegheny Arsenal, 173 n7 Allison, William B., 32, 55, 479 Almy, William E., 344, 421 Alvord, Benjamin, 418, 421 Amadis de Gallia (book), 86–87 n15 American Horse (Oglala), 271, 493, 510 American Indians, 168 n4 Annals of a Fortress (book), 81, 81 n6

Andersonville Prison Camp, 373 Andrews, William Howard, 302, 325, 344, 421 Antietam, Battle of, 32 Apache Indians (see also under individual groups, and Indian scouts), 7, 38, 97, 251, 256–58, 271, 274–75, 395–96, 402–03 Apache Wars, 413–14 Appleton, Nathan, 371 Appomattox, 174 Arapaho Indians, 57, 67, 69, 127, 129, 134, 136–38, 142, 302 Arikara (Ree) Indians, 62, 138 Arthur, Chester A., 5, 7, 418, 479 Assiniboine Indians, 138 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, 107, 207, 351 529

INDEX

530

Atlanta, Battle of, 286, 287 Augur, Jacob, 39, 40, 298, 309, 344, 421 Austin, Albert, 121, 148, 155, 329, 421 Ayers, James C., 173, 174

B Babcock, John Breckinridge, 309, 323, 325, 344, 422 Bachiller de Salamanca (book), 328, 328 n5 Bailey, Edward Lyon, 306, 330, 345, 422 Bainbridge, Augustus Hudson, 42–43, 47, 349, 422 Bainbridge, Mrs. Augustus Hudson, 348 Baker, James (Old Jim), 326, 479–80 Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 129, 129 n19 Bannock Indians (see also Bannock Uprising), 1, 35–37, 43, 45, 51, 57, 91 n17, 126, 216, 348; farming among, 44, 52 Bannock Uprising, 35–36, 35 n2, 43ff., 199 Barrett, Lawrence, 412, 480 Barnett, Richards, 282, 385, 422 Barry, William F., 249, 249 n2, 422–23 Barstow, O. C., 353, 353 n11, 357 Baxter, Lieutenant, 167–68 Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of (see Disraeli,

Benjamin) Beecher’s Island Fight, 292 Belknap, William Worth, 186–87 n10, 480 Bell, Alexander Graham, 19 n1–2 Bell, Chidchester, 19 n2 Benét, Stephen Vincent, 337, 423 Benét, Mrs. Stephen Vincent, 337 Bennett, James Gordon, 353 Bennett, L.M., 415, 417 Bergland, Eric, 15, 24–25, 27, 375, 423 Bernhardt, Frederick, 327 Big Road (Oglala), 66, 510, 511, 514 Bisbee, William Henry, 40, 74, 302, 423 Bishop, Hoel Smith, 321, 344, 423 Black Coal (Arapaho), 493, 510, 514 Blackfeet Indians (non-Lakota group), 138 Black Hills, 123–24, 137, 195; gold discovered in, 55, 55 n5; commission to purchase, 55–56, 55 n5, 68; mining in, 347 Black Hills Expedition, 398 Blaine, James G., 353–54, 360, 384, 418, 480 Board of Indian Commissioners, 353, 353 n11, 356, 358 Bode, Emil, 9 Bonaparte, Charles Joseph, 243 n10

INDEX Bonaparte, Elizabeth Patterson, 243 n10 Bonaparte, Jerome, 243 n10 Bonaparte, Jerome Napoleon, 243, 243 n10 Bonaparte, Letizia (Madame Mère), 206 n5 Booth, Charles Austin, 333, 423 Borie, Adolph, 356, 480–81 Bourke, John Gregory, 8–11, 15–16, 33, 36, 38 n11, 38 n13, 43, 98, 117, 148, 179–80; and diary, 1, 34 n16, 84 n12, 121, 143, 143 n36, 255, 385, 512; on Crazy Horse, 2, 3, 37 n7, 53ff., 65–66, 67–68 n3, 72, 77; on industrialization and development, 3–4, 16, 79, 80, 206, 218, 352; racial attitudes, 4–5, 375, 382, 383; and West Point, 5, 5n12, , 410, 412; early career, 5–6, 20–21; and Irish, 6, 205, 219–21, 258–60; on politicians, 7, 26, 31; on Mexico, 17–18, 88–89, 231, 231 n4, 355; on Confederates, 25–26; on railroads and their impact, 29–30, 188– 89, 192–93, 207, 212–13, 218, 277, 346, 351–52, 368, 375–76, 378, 383–84, 402, 417; on Mormonism, 36, 42, 95; on bureaucrats, 56, 56 n7; concerning George Crook, 63, 66, 117–18; on Cheyenne Indians, 114–15, 117; on Carl Schurz, 115,

531

351; on the Ponca Affair, 116, 179; on Webb Hayes, 118; on Indian policy, 126, 179, 291, 301; Victorianism of, 137 n26; and horse procurement, 191, 364–67, 369, 370–71, 379–82, 387, 391, 400–01, 404, 406–11; on farming and ranching, 205–06, 214–15, 227–28, 240, 280, 391, 401; on Southwestern settlements and people, 251–53, 376–78; visits Union Pacific shops and Omaha industries, 282– 86; and White River Ute Uprising, 291–92, 306, 344; personal life and marriage, 338; and Murchie Mine, 345 n4, 348; on General Sherman, 355 Bowlegs, Billy (Seminole), 321, 321 n2, 322 Bowman, Alpheus Henry, 39, 126, 128, 145, 148, 160, 423 Boynton, H.V., 355, 355–56 n15 Bozeman Trail, 83 n9 Brackett, Albert Gallatin, 337, 424 Bradley, Luther Prentice, 71, 74–75, 190, 424, 503–08, 517; report on death of Crazy Horse, 510–12 Brady, Joseph W., 318, 319 Bragg, Braxton, 286 Brayton, A.C., 356 Brent, Thomas Lee, Jr., 413, 415, 424

INDEX

532

Bridgeman, S.C., 358 Brodrick, Patrick Thomas, 153, 213, 424 Brown, Charlie, 396 Brown, Nathan Williams, 419, 424–25 Brown, Rufus Porter, 27, 171, 425 Brown, William Henry, 281, 282, 345, 425 Bryant, Montgomery, 42, 49, 324, 329, 345, 425 Bryant, Mrs. Montgomery, 49 Budka, James, 327 Buell, Don Carlos, 383, 384, 425–26 Buffalo Chips (Ponca), 180, 183, Buffalo Horn (Shoshone), 44, 45 Buffalo Track (Ponca), 180 Bulwer-Lytton, Edward George, Earl of, 412, 413 n11 Burdett-Coatts, Baroness, 359 Bureau of Ethnology, 143 n36 Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, 37, 107 Burmese Wars, 406 n6 Burke, Daniel Webster, 76, 350, 426, 507, 515, 517 fn Burke, Mrs. Daniel Webster, 350 Burnam, A. P., 379, 426 Burnam, James, 379 Burnett, Levi Frank, 333, 426 Burnham, Horace Blois, 128, 385, 426 Burns, John, 327

Burrowes (sometimes spelled Burroughs), Thomas Bredin, 123, 126, 127, 148, 151 fn, 426 Burt, Andrew Sheridan, 180, 186, 426–27 Butler, T. J., 175 Byrne, Thomas, 221, 222, 223, 224, 427

C Cadette (Apache), 257 Cain (teamster), 328 Camp Apache, Ariz., 413, 413 n12 Beale’s Springs, Ariz., 221–24, 221 n16 Bowie, Ariz. (see Fort Bowie) Brown, Wyo., 45, 45 n22, 48, 53, 71, 75, 85, 127, 504 Carlin, Wyo. (see Cheyenne Depot, Wyo.) Date Creek, Ariz., 74 n15 Douglas, Utah (see also Fort Douglas), 80, 80 n4, 83, 91, 91 n17, 126 Goodwin, Ariz., 272, 272 n31 Grant I, Ariz., 5, 5 n13, 236, 269, 275 Grant II. Ariz., 5 n13 Lincoln, Ariz., (see Verde) Mojave, Ariz. (see Fort Mojave) Rucker, Ariz. (see Camp Supply) Robinson, Neb. (see also

INDEX Fort Robinson), 58, 58 n10, 60–61, 67, 74–76, 124, 126, 152, 163–64, 167, 171–72, 505–10, 512, 517 Sheridan, Neb., 61, 61 n12, 75, 150, 168–72, 177–78, 512, 515 Stambaugh, Wyo., 74, 74 n17, 75, 502, 512 Supply, Ariz., 38, 38 n 13 Verde, Ariz., 413, 413 n13 Camp Apache Reservation, Ariz., 413 n13 Camp Verde Reservation, Ariz., 413 n14 Campaigning With Crook (book), 370. Campbell, Joseph Boyd, 50, 427 Canby, Edward R. S., 392 n6 Cantonment Reno, Wyo., (see Fort McKinney) Capron, Thaddeus Hurlbut, 218, 427 Captain Jim (Shoshone), 43ff., 494 Carlton, Caleb Henry, 152, 163–64, 166–72, 427 Carpenter, Gilbert Saltonstall, 51, 347, 427 Carpenter, Mrs. Gilbert Saltonstall, 347 Carpenter, William Lewis, 180, 329, 428 Carrington, Henry B., 83, 83–84 n9, 428 Carroll, John, 76 n19 Carson, Christopher (Kit), 326

533

Carey, Lieutenant (British Army), 196 n16 Cary, Annie Louise, 194 Catlin, George, 168 n4 Caverns fight, 229 Cetewayo (King of the Zulus), 196, 196 n17 Chambers, Mrs. Alexander, 39, 40, 80 Chambers, James, 146, 192 Chambers, William, 366, 367, 369, 371–73, 378, 385, 387, 391, 400, 403–04, 410 Chandler, Zachariah, 56, 341, 481 Charging Bear (Oglala), 61, 494 Charles I, 89, 89 n16 Chase, George Francis, 168, 333, 428 Chase, George Nathan, 41, 49, 428 Chelmsford, Frederic Augustus Thesiger, second Baron, 196, 249, 428–29 Cherry, Samuel Austin, 297, 311, 314, 326, 328, 330, 345, 429 Cheyenne Depot, Wyo., 126, 126 n14, 128, 230, 340, 341, 507 Cheyenne Indians (see also Cheyenne Outbreak), 3, 37 n7, 67, 69, 81, 117, 126, 144ff., 172, 174, 176, 178, 185, 199, 264, 300, 301, 311; and Dull Knife Fight, 57–59, 116, 121; break with Sioux, 59, 62; enlisted as

534

scouts, 59–60, 62; destitution among, 59–60, 123; wounded among, 59–60; surrender, 61, 121; transported to the Indian Territory, 70, 70 n8, 113, 121; general character, 114–15; childbirth among, 115, 130–31; confer with Crook, 121–25; name and sign for themselves, 128–29, 129 n17, 142; as horsemen, 129, 129 n19; language, 129–3; child rearing, 131, 133; recreation, 131–32; Sun Dance, 132–33; virtues, 133; courtship, marriage, and divorce, 133–36; cleanliness among, 133–34; menstrual customs, 134; warrior societies and battle, 136–39, 136 n24; use of stimulants, 136; religion and spiritualism, 137; government, 138; treatment of elderly, 138; commerce, 138–39; diplomacy 139; various cultural activities, 139; lodges, 139–40; buffalo hunting and ceremonies, 140–41; burial customs, 141–43, 141 n34; origin of name, 142, 142 n35; ledger book art, 211 Cheyenne Outbreak, 3, 113– 14, 113 n1, 121, 125–28, 144ff., 144 n1, 173, 176, 178 Cheyenne River Agency, Neb., 188 n11

INDEX Chicago, Burlington & Quincey Railroad, 343–44, 407, 408, 417 Chicago Inter-Ocean (newspaper), 398 Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, , 51, 189, 407, 409 Chicago Times (newspaper), 169, 333 Chicago Tribune (newspaper), 356, 357 Chickamauga, Battle of, 276, 276–77 n1, 286, 288, 346 Church, Albert E., 387, 388, 429 Clark, Ben, 121–25, 125 n10, 211, 481; on future of buffalo, 125; on Cheyennes, 128, 133, 135–36, 138, 141 n34, 142–43, 146, 151 fn Clark, S. H. H., 213 Clark, William, 327 Clark, William Philo, 66–67, 70–71, 74–75, 133, 185, 213, 276, 429, 504, 506–07, 509–10, 512, 515; report on condition at agencies, 512–14 Clarke, Robert Dunlap, 51, 301–02, 429–30 Clarkson, Robert Harper, 189 Clay, Henry (Kentucky senator), 26 Clay, Henry (grandson of Kentucky senator), 24, 25 Clements, Bennett A., 85, 430 Clifford, Hank, 169 Clifford, Walter, 333, 430

INDEX Cochise (Apache), 77, 257, 395, 403, 494 Cockrell, Francis, 370, 481 Cockrell, Surgeon, 370 Cocopah (Colorado River steamer), 21 Cocopah Indians, 21, 23 Collins, John, 118, 122 fn, 127 Coleman, Frederick William, 250, 254, 430 Colorado Central Railroad, 107 Colorow (Ute), 299, 4995 Comanche Indians, 129, 129 n19, 131 n22, 138 Compton, Charles Elmer, 318, 321, 340, 344, 430–31 Compton, Mrs. Charles Elmer, 337 Congdon (Union Pacific shop superintendent), 282–83 Connor, Patrick, 90–91, 91 n17, 430–31 Cooke, Philip St. George, 83 n10 Coppinger, John Joseph, 6, 20–21, 23, 219–21, 431 Corbusier, William Henry, 178, 431 Couch, M. J., 387, 408 The Count of Monte Cristo (book), 210 n3 Cox, Sergeant, 394 Craig, Louis Aleck, 368, 386, 430–31 Craig, Mrs. Louis Aleck, 386 Crater, Battle of, 312 n4 Crawford, Emmet, 178, 432 Crazy Bear (Ponca), 180 Crazy Horse (Oglala), 37, 37

535

n7, 54, 56, 59–60, 62, 69, 70, 70 n7, 73–75, 74 n15, 495; appraised, 2, 2 n2, 53, 65, 72, 77; death of, 53, 54, 76–78, 77 n20, 509, 510–12, 511 n5, 517; surrender of, 65–67, 73 n13; described, 67–68; undermined, 69, 70–71, 516; invited to Washington, 70, 503, 513–16; and Crook, 504–05; arrested, 506–08, 511 Crazy Horse Fight (see Powder River Fight) Crazy Mule (Cheyenne), 122, 135 Creel, Herber Mansfield, 122, 126, 148, 151, 171, 172, 432 Creighton’s Ranch, Neb., 238–41, 243–44 Crenshaw, H.C., 370 Cresap, Bernarr, 243 n10 Cries for War (Ponca), 180 Crittenden, Thomas L., 276– 77 n1 Croesus, 210, 210 n3 Crook, George, 1–2, 5, 5 n12, 16–17, 23, 28–29, 32–33, 40, 40 n16, 42, 53–54, 58–62, 68–73, 68 n4, 80, 102, 110, 117, 121, 125–27, 163, 172–75, 177, 189–91, 195, 211, 218, 222, 234–35, 237, 241, 243–45, 248–49, 248 n12, 264, 276, 281, 288, 301, 334–35, 338, 341, 346, 350, 352, 367, 376, 383, 385–87, 397, 409, 413, 503; confers with Bannocks and

INDEX

536

Shoshones, 35–37. 43ff.; on Indian Policy, 36, 36 n3, 197–201; and Indian scouts, 56, 59–60; and Little Bighorn, 56 n8; Indian fighting strategy, 62; and logistical problems, 62–63; Bourke’s appraisal of, 63, 66; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 63 n13; ill-feelings toward, 63 n14; assassination attempt on, 74, 74 n15; and the Poncas, 79 n1, 116, 178; appointed brigadier general, 97; and Cheyenne Outbreak, 113–14, 117, 152, 156, 158; personal life, 117; and Bourke, 117–18; and Hayes family, 117–18, 118 n4; confers with Cheyennes, 121–22, 124–25; confers with Poncas, 178, 180ff.; in Pacific Northwest, 228–30; and Murchie Mine, 248 n12, 249, 345, 345 n4, 348 n7, 412, 412 n9–10, 417; Apache campaigns, 271, 413–14; and White River Ute Uprising, 292, 295, 302, 328; and General Grant, 342–43; and General Sherman, 355–56 n15; and Crazy Horse, 504–12, 516 Crook, Mary Dailey (wife), 118, 189, 190, 342, 343, 385 Crook, Oliver (nephew), 348 n7 Crow Indians (see also Indian scouts), 62–63, 136, 138

Crowell (government surveyor), 225–26, 232–35, 241, 244–46 Crowley, John, 327 Cuff, Dominick, 327 Cumming, Alfred, 85 n14 Curtis, Charlie, 44 Cushing, Alonzo, 257–58, 257 n15, 402 Cushing, Howard Buckingham, 255–57, 257 n15, 267, 275, 386, 395, 402–03, 432 Cushing, Milton Buckingham, 255 n13 Cushing, Thomas B., 37 n9 Cushing, Walter, 257 n15 Cushing, William Barker, 257, 257 n15, 402, 432–33 Custer, George Armstrong, 56, 56n 8, 129, 130, 130 n20, 211

D The Dakota and Corbusier Winter Counts (book), 120 n5 Dallas, Andrew James, 163, 172 Danforth (Ute agent), 305 Danilson, William J., 42, 43, 47, 48, 52, 482 Davis (wounded civilian), 331 Davis, E. F., 374 Davis, George Breckenridge, 121–22, 126, 148–50, 152, 154–55, 162, 321, 337, 433 Davis, Jefferson C., 276, 345–46, 433 Davis, Wirt, 370, 434

INDEX Dear, Clay, 171, 172 De Foe, Daniel, 86 Delaney, Hayden, 80–81, 170, 434 de Lesseps, Ferdinand, 371, 482 Dennison, James Alfred, 24, 24 n11, 434 Denver, Colo., 79, 79 n2, 107, 108 Denver Pacific Railroad, 107 Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, 107 Devin, John D., 121, 147 Devin, Thomas C., 126 De Witt, Calvin, 41, 325, 344, 434 El Diablo Conjuelo (book), 328, 328n5 Díaz, Porfirio, 6, 6n16 Digger Indians, 216 Dillon, John, 353 n12 Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield, 38, 38 n10–11, 409, 409 n8 Dodd, George Allen, 178, 434, 517 Dodge, Frederick Leighton, 109, 163, 307, 311, 313–14, 325, 329–35, 345, 434–35 Dodge, Mrs. Frederick Leighton, 109 Dodge, Richard Irving, 8, 57, 398, 435 Dolan, John, 327 Donnelly (correspondent), 337 Donnelly, Bernard, 193–94 n12 Donovan, John, 328 Downey, George Mason, 337, 435

537

Drake, Luther, 360 Drew, George Augustus, 168, 333, 435–36 Drum, Richard Coulter, 418– 19, 436 Du Bois, John V., 250, 254–55, 267, 275, 436 Dull Knife (Cheyenne), 57–58, 264; and outbreak, 114, 146 n2, 169 n5, 172 n6, 495 Dull Knife Fight, 40 n16, 57–59, 211, 264 Dundy, Elmer, 116, 187–88, 482–83 Dunkelberger, Isaac Rothermel, 275, 436 Dunn, James A., 193, 193–94 n12 Dunn, Thomas, 272, 436–37 Duren, Orland, 328 The Dust Rose Like Smoke (book), 196 n17

E Eads, James Buchanan, 371, 373, 483 Eastman, Frank French, 329, 437 Eaton, George Oscar, 39, 80, 437 Eckles, Robert, 75, 483 Edison, Thomas Alva, 19, 19 n2, 352, 407 Egan, James, 56, 237, 437 Eichwurzel, Charles, 327 Elizabeth I, 86, 86 n15 Elkins, General, 374 Elting, Oscar, 169–70, 437 Emancipation, 383 n16

INDEX

538

Emery, George W., 347, 483 English, Willam Hayden, 7, 419 Erasmus of Rotterdam, 87 Erie Railroad, 346 n5 Esser, William, 327 Eugenie (Empress of the French), 196, 385 Evans, Andrew Wallace, 337, 437–38 Everett, Edward, 417, 417 n17

F Farrar, H. H., 190 Federmeyer, L. P., 82 n7 Ferguson, Thomas, 328 Ferris, Samuel Peter, 298, 306, 317, 344, 438 Fetterman Massacre, 83 n10 Fetterman, William Judd, 83–84 n10, 438 Finerty, John Frederick, 333, 483 Fisk, Clinton B., 356–57 Fitch, Julian R., 255, 438 Fitzgerald, Michael John, 126, 146, 438–39 Fitzherbert, Maria, 243, 243 n10 Flagler, Daniel Webster, 30, 439 Flipper, Henry Ossian, 4 Foote, Morris Cooper, 282, 385 Forsyth, George Alexander, 177, 190, 292, 439 Fort Abraham Lincoln, N.D., 126, 126 n16, 175, 195 n15 Alcatraz, Calif., 392 n6

Apache, Ariz. (see Camp Apache) Atkinson, Neb., 37 n9, Bowie, Ariz., 38 n13, 269, 269 n25, 270, 272, 392, 413 Brown, Texas, 22 n8, 358, 358 n16 C. F. Smith, Mt., 83 n9 Cameron, Utah, 348, 348 n8 Clark, Texas, 17 Craig, N.M. 5, 5 n13, 250, 250 n4, 253–54 Crook, Neb., 31 n15 Cummings, N.M., 250, 250 n3–4, 254–55, 257, 266, 269 Custer, Mont., 208, 208 n1 D. A. Russell, Wyo., 126 n14, 292, 292 n4, 295, 298 Douglas, Utah (upgraded from Camp Douglas), 195, 195 n13, 298, 346–48 Fetterman, Wyo., 40 n18, 51, 81, 84, 211, 298 Fred Steele, Wyo., 40, 40 n19, 98, 100–01, 103, 105, 107, 126–27, 152, 248 n12, 291–92, 296, 300–02 Garland, Colo., 339, 339 n2 Grant, Ariz., (see Camp Grant II) Hall, Idaho, 35, 35n1, 36–37. 52, 191, 195, 346, 348–49 Hartsuff, Neb., 212, 212 n5, 213, 218, 221, 226, 240, 246–47, 321 n3

INDEX Jackson, La., 217, 217 n10–11 Kearny, Neb., 17n1, 227n8 Keogh, Mt., 63 n15, 185, 185 n6, 195 Lapwai, Idaho, 419, 419 n20 Laramie, Wyo., 8, 37, 40 n17, 72, 72 n11, 74, 178, 216, 298, 398, 505–07 Leavenworth, Kans., 29, 29 n13, 192, 385–87 McKean, N.D. (see Fort Abraham Lincoln) McKinney, Wyo., 40, 40 n16, 69, 145 McPherson, Neb., 126–28, 126 n16, 298, 302 Marion, Fla., 508 n3 Massachusetts, Colo., 339 n1 Meade, S.D., 137 n27, 195 n15 Mojave, Ariz., 21 n5, 223, 223 n20 Niobrara, Neb., 1, 1 n1, 61, 61 n12, 206, 212. 212n6; site selection for, 242–44 Omaha, Neb., (see Omaha Barracks) Phil Kearny, Wyo., 83, 83 n8–9 Reno, Okla., 125, 125 n10–11, 142, 171, 211 Reno, Wyo., 83 n9, 125 n11 Ringgold, Tex., 22 n8 Robinson, Neb. (upgraded from Camp Robinson), 114, 177, 178, 212, 298 St. Philip, La., 217, 217 n10–11

539

Sanders, Wyo., 40, 40 no 17, 98, 298 Sedgewick, Colo., 117 n1 Selden, N.M., 262–64, 262 n29, 392 Sidney, Neb. (see Sidney Barracks) Stanton, N.M., 256, 256–57 n13 Sumter, S.C., 259 Walsh, Saskatchewan, 125, 125 n12 Washakie, Wyo., see Camp Brown Whipple, Ariz., 390, 390 n2, 413 Yuma, Calif., 21 n6, 22–23, 22 n9, 236 Fort, Lieutenant, 351 Fort Laramie Treaty (1868), 83 n9, 113 Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho, 35 Fort Phil Kearny Massacre (see Fetterman Massacre) Foster, Charles Warren, 41, 50, 440 Foster, D.P., 212 Four Years Among the Ecuadorians (book), 303 n2 France, James, 298 Franklin, Battle of, 287, 287 n9 Frederick, Daniel Alfred, 333, 440 Freeman, Daniel Alfred, 333 Frémont, John Charles, 110, 326, 440–41 French, Chaplain, 385, 442

INDEX

540

French, Frederick Halverson, 178, 441 Friday (Arapaho), 133, 514 Furey, John Vincent, 281, 295, 321, 378, 385, 387, 412, 441

G Garfield, James A., 7, 418, 483–84 Gentles, William, 76 n19 Gentry, William Thomas, 341, 343, 431 George IV, 243, 243 n10 Geronimo War, 262 n19 Gettysburg, Battle of, 258, 415–16, Gibbs, James T., 327 Gila (Colorado River steamer), 21 n5, 22 Gilbert, Charles Champion, 331, 333–34 Gilbert, W.S., 372, 372 n5 Gilliss, James, 80, 295, 298, 321, 337, 417, 441–42, 507–08 Gilliss, Mrs. James, 80 Gladstone, William E., 409, 409 n8 Goldman, Henry Joseph, 344–45, 442 Goldstein (freighter), 331 Gordon, “Black Hills,” 297, 333, 335 Gordon, George Alexander, 121, 121 fn, 126, 147, 147 fn, 173–74, 442 Gordon, John B., 32, 484 Gosiute Indians, 91 n17

Gould, Jay, 207, 212–13, 346, 346 n5, 352, 384, 484 Grant, Fred, 343 Grant, Mrs. Fred, 343 Grant, Julia Dent, 7, 342–43; described, 342; world tour, 343 Grant, Nellie (see Sartoris, Nellie Grant) Grant, Ulysses Simpson, 342–44, 346, 349, 356, 380; world tour, 7, 7 n17, 98, 287–88; third term prospects, 7, 7 n17, 288, 35354, 360–61, 384, 418; described, 343; Latin American tour, 360, 381 Great Sioux Reservation, 113 Great Sioux War, 2, 16–17, 54–55, 113, 125 n11, 399; losses and cost of, 55 n3 Green, Charley, 195 Green, John Richard, 147, 147 n3 Greene, Lewis Douglas, 333, 442 Gregory, James Fingal, 177, 442 Grimes, Edward B., 29, 297, 442 Grimes, Robert D., 295, 312– 13, 327, 330, 344, 443 Grinnell, George Bird, 129, 129 n17, 142 n35 Gros Ventre Indians, 62, 138 Grouard, Frank, 67–68, 74 n15, 484, 513–14 Gump, James, 196 n17

INDEX

541

H Hale, Edward Everett, 86 Hall, William P., 192, 302, 325, 340, 344, 443 Halliday, Mr., 28 Hamilton, John Morrison, 42–43, 337, 443 Hammond (Indian inspctor), 352, 356–57 Hancock, Winfield S., 7, 419, 443–44 Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (book), 120 n5 Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, 403, 408–09 Hansen, Marcus, 328 Hardie, Francis Hunter, 333, 444 Harney, John, 327 Hart, Henry J., 352, 357 Hart, Mrs. Verling K, 40 Hartsuff, George Lucas, 212 n5, 321–22 Hastings, James S., 56, 63 Hassaurek, Frederick, 303, 303 n2 Hatch, John Porter, 339, 346, 444 Hayes, James Webb Cook, 117–18, 118 n4, 112, 127, 484–85; and Crook, 118; described, 118–19 Hayes, Lucy Webb, 15, 15 n1, 485 Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 32, 117–18, 118 n4, 182 n3–4, 346, 351, 353, 415 n15, 485

Hayt, Edward Knapp, 357 Hayt, Ezra, 70, 190, 405–86, 503, investigated, 352–53, 353 n11, 356–58, Hazen, William Babcock, 186, 186–87 n10, 189, 195–96, 444 He Dog (Oglala), 66, 67, 514 Hearst, George, 82 n7 Hearst, William Randolph, 82 n7 Hedberg (which Bourke spelled “Hedburg”), Alfred, 255, 444–45 Henley, Austin, 38–39, 445 Henry VIII, 86–87 n15 Henry, Guy Vernor, 301, 329–30, 333–34, 445 Henton, James (Old Jemmie), 6, 213, 220, 445–46 Hergus, Wilbur, 302, 305, 326, 330, 331, 335 Herndon, Agnes, 368 Herney, Nicholas W., 327 Hewitt, Christian Cyrus, 370, 446 High Bear (Sans Arc), 61, 76, 507 High Wolf (Cheyenne), 135 Hilton, James, 86–87 n15 Hodge, Frederick F., 120 n5 Hoffman, William Edwin, 385, 446 Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 214, 214 n7 Hood, John Bell, 286, 286 n7–8, 287, 287 n9 Hooker, Joseph, 341 Hopi Indians, 136, 161

INDEX

542

Horbach family, 351 Horbach, Mary (Mollie), 338, 360 Horton, Samuel Miller, 333, 446 Howard, Oliver Otis, 36, 70, 446–47 Howell, Rezin G., 24, 375, 378–80, 447 Howland, Carver, 306, 330, 345, 447 Hoyt, J. W., 297 Hualpai Indians (see also Indian scouts), 221–23, 221 n16 Hughes, Martin Briggs, 311, 314, 323, 330, 345, 447 Hughes, William Burton, 373, 447 Humme (scout), 329, 340 Hunter, Billy, 2, 67, 133, 514; account of Crazy Horse, 515–17 Hunter, Frank, 327, 333 Hunter, George King, 168, 447 Huntington, Collis Potter, 378, 486

I Indian scouts, 61, 69 Apache, 62 Bannock, 57 Cheyenne, 58–60, 62, 67, 146 Crow, 62 Gros Ventre, 62 Pawnee, 57 Paiute, 62 Shoshone, 57, 62

Sioux, 62, 172, 339 Iron Hawk (Lakota), 514 Iron Shirt (Miniconjou), 73 n12 Irwin, James, 200, 486, 503, 514 Isandhlwana, Battle of (Natal), 8, 196; compared to Little Bighorn, 196 n17

J Jackson, Allen Hyre, 333, 447–48 Jacobs, Joshua West, 333, 448 James Gang, 404 Jerome, David H., 356 Jesus la Paz (Apache), 257 Jewitt (trader at Spotted Tail), 415 Jicarilla Apache Indians, 339 n2 Johnson (Ute), 300 Johnson, John Burgess, 124, 164, 168, 172, 337, 448 Johnson, William H., 28, 448 Johnston, Albert Sidney, 85, 85 n14, 95 Johnston, Joseph E., 286 n8 Jordan, Allan, 302, 325, 344, 448 Jornada del Muerto, 251, 251 n7, 253, 254 Joseph (Nez Percé), 3, 3 n 7, 70, 72, 75, 495–96, 504 Jumping Shield, 510–11, 514

K Kansas City, Mo., 3, 19, 191– 94, 366–67, 369, 370–72,

INDEX 378, 387, 400, 403, 405, 407, 408–109; as rail center, 368; industrial development in, 399, 401 Kansas City Herald (newspaper), 401 Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad, 19, 193, 367, 385, 402, 406 Kansas Pacific Railroad, 107, 207 Kearney, Dennis, 287, 486 Kearny, Stephen Watts, 83 n9 Keefe, Joseph, 40, 51, 128 Kellogg, Sanford Cobb, 298, 344, 448–49 Kentucky Central Railroad, 24 Ketchum, Ami, 186 n8 Key, David McKendree, 98, 486–87 Keyes, Edward Livingston, 20, 23 fn, 449 Kickapoo Indians, 17 The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse (book), 77 n20 Kimball, General, 43 Kimball, Lieutenant, 43, 349 Kimball, T. L., 213 Kimball, W. L., 344, 449 Kime, Wayne R., 8 King, Charles, 345 n4, 370, 449–50 King, John Haskell, 80, 180, 410, 450 King, Mrs. John Haskell, 80 Kingley, E. M., 356 Kiowa Indians, 134, 138 Kirtland, Thaddeus Sandford, 333, 450

543

Kitchen, Acting Assistant Surgeon, 255–56 Knapp, Charles, 417 Kussman, Emil, 327

L Lacey, Private, 158, 163 Laclede, Pierre, 407 Lakeshore & Southern Michigan Railroad, 346, 346 n5 Lakota (Western Sioux) Indians, 61 n12, 113 Lambertson, G.M., 187 Lame Deer (Miniconjou), 72–73, 73 n12, 496, 507–08, 510, 512 Lame Deer Fight, 72–73, 73 n13 The Last Days of Pompeii (novel), 413 n11 Lavelle, Edwin, 328 Lawson, Joseph, 311, 323, 330, 345, 450 Lawton, Henry Ware, 70, 450–51 Leach, M. F., 120–21, 121 n7 Lebar, enlisted soldier, 313 Lee, Jesse Matlock, 209, 415, 417, 451, 506, 517 Lee, Robert Edward, 174 Leighton, Lieutenant, 329 Lemhi Agency, Idaho, 191 Lemly, Henry Rowan, 168, 451 Lesage, Alain-René, 328, 328 n5 Lewis, John Francis, 392, 451–52 Lewis, Thomas, 328 Lewis, William H., 148, 148 n4, 452

INDEX

544

Leyden, James Alexander, 345, 452 Libby Prison, 222 Linchard (correspondent), 169, 487 Lincoln, Abraham, 417, 417 n17 Lindwood, Captain, 297 Lipan Indians, 17 Little Bighorn, Battle of, 56, 136, 211; compared to Isandhlwana, 196 n17 Little Big Man (Oglala), 56, 66–67, 67 n6, 69, 76, 76 n19, 496, 505, 509, 511–12, 514–15, 517 Little Chief (Cheyenne), 122, 125, 151 Little Duck (Ponca), 180 Little Hawk (Oglala), 66, 514 Little Wolf (Cheyenne), 58, 60, 67, 496–97; and outbreak, 114, 146 n2, 169 n5, 178, 185, 312; surrenders, 185 Little Women (book), 81 London, Robert, 42, 452 Long Runner (Ponca), 180 Longstreet, James P., 286 Looking Glass (Nez Percé) 3 n7 Loring, Frederick W., 41, 156, 163–64, 172 Lost Horizon (book), 86–87 n15 Louis Napoleon (Prince Imperial of France), 8, 106, 106 n16, 242, 249 Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington Railroad, 382

Louisville & Nashville Railroad, 373, 382 n15 Lovell, Robert Armstrong, 121, 126, 148, 155, 452 Lovering, Leonard Austin, 306, 345 Lowry (guide), 313, 327 Ludington, Marshall Independence, 180, 191, 195, 211, 385, 391, 452 Ludlow, Lietuenant, 41 Lupton, Allen, 327 Lyle, David, 397, 453 Lynch, Michael, 327 Lynch, Thomas, 327 Lyon, William H., 128, 356

M Macbeth (play), 324 n4 McCaleb, Thomas Sidney, 127, 453 McCammon, William, 88, 347, 453 McCammon, Mrs. William, 88 McCann, D. J., 242 McCauley, Charles Adam Hoke, 326, 337, 453 McClellan, George B., 185–86 n7 McClure, Daniel, 28, 453 McConihe, Samuel, 329, 453 McCook, Alexander M., 149, 276–77 n1, 453–54 McCullough, John, 386, 487 McDonald, John, 327 McDonough (steamer captain), 20, 21 McFarland, Lucy (Mrs. Erick Bergland), 15, 25, 27, 375

INDEX McFarland, William C., 24, 454 McFeely, William S., 7 McGillicuddy, Valentine T., 200, 487 McGrath, H. Price, 25, 379, 487 McGuire (teamster), 327 Mackay, James Ormond, 333, 454 McKee, Samuel, 327 Mackenzie, Ranald Slidell, 17, 57, 59–60, 88, 121, 211, 264, 339, 454–55 McKinney, John A., 40 n16, 58, 454 McKinstry (wagon master), 295, 297, 327 McLaglan, Victor, 7 MacMillan, Thomas C., 398, 487 McNamara, Thomas, 328 McPheeters, Miss, 27, Machiavelli, Niccolô di Bernardo dei, 89, 89 n16 Macomb, Augustus Canfield, 344, 455 Macon Prison Camp, 373 Mahoney, John, 328 Major George (Shoshone), 43, 48, 497 Mallery, Garrick, 119–20, 120 n5 “The Man Without a Country” (Story), 86 Manassas, Second Battle of, 185–86 n7 Maria Alexandrovna (Empress of Russia), 418, 418 n18 Marquette, Jacques, 407

545

Marston, Doctor, 126, 148, 162, 167, 169, 455 Martin, Captain., 30, 173, 455 Mason, Charles Winder, 302, 344, 455 Mason, Julius Wilmot, 72, 75, 211, 455, 510 Mason, Mrs. Julius Wilmot, 211 Mathey, Edward Gustave, 126, 148, 160, 169, 455 Mauck, Clarence, 149, 152, 153, 158–59, 163, 172–73, 455–56 Mears, Frederick, 267 Medicine Jack (Ute), 315 Meeker, Nathan C., 291, 292, 299–301, 305, 318, 346–47, 488 Meeker, Mrs. Nathan C, and family, 339, 346, 352 Meinhold, Charles, 255–56, 267–68, 456 Mellon, Jack, 21–223, 21 n5 Merivale, Jospeh, 488, 514 Merrick, Mr. and Mrs., 135 Merrill, Colonel, 175 Merrill, John, 327 Merrill, Lieutenant, 148 Merritt, Wesley, 75, 456; and White River Ute Uprising, 292, 295ff., 344–45 Merritt, Mrs. Wesley, 40, 337 Mexican War, 372 n5, 383–84 Middleton, David Charles (Doc), 228, 231, 249, 488 Miles, John D., 121 Miles, Nelson Appleton, 63, 72–73, 73 n12, 121, 185 n6,

INDEX

546

211, 276, 390 n2, 456–57; and Cheyenne Outbreak, 114 Miles, Paddy, 392, 457 Milk River Fight, 292–93, 295ff.; army casualties listed, 327–28 Miller, Amos D., 327 Mills, Anson, 166; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 63 n13 Mills, Cuthbert, 51, 488–89 Miner, Lieutenant, 351 Mini-Wa-Nichi (Lakota), 75 Miniconjou Lakota Indians, 61–62, 69 Mining, 87–88, 92–95, 97, 210, 211, 347–51, 382; impact on horse and mule market, 367 Missouri Pacific Railroad, 346 n5, 384 Mitchell, E. F., 387, 408 Mitchell, Luther, 186 n9 Mitchell, William, 328 Mix, John, 230, 457 Modoc War, 392, 392 n6 Mojave Indians, 23 Monahan, Deane, 171, 178, 457–58 Monahan, Mrs. Deane, 171 Montgomery, James 327, 344 Montgomery, Robert Hugh, 298, 318, 458 Montgomery, Mrs. Robert Hugh, 40 Mooney, Thomas, 327 Moore, Alexander, 37, 458 Moore, Thomas, 302, 337, 489 More, Thomas, Saint, 86–87 n15

Moqui Indians (see Hopi Indians) Morgan, Charles (Omaha), 180–81, 184–85 Mormons, 50, 82, 91 n17, 95, 195 n13; Bourke’s views on, 36, 42, 95 Morton, Charles, 209 Moseley, Edward Buckland, 168, 458 Mulhall, Stephen John, 50, 329, 458 Muller, Ernest, 327 Munn, Curtis Emerson, 126– 28, 144, 146, 458 Munson, Samuel, 218, 225, 228–30, 234, 236–37, 241, 243, 246, 459 Murchie Mine, 248 n12, 249, 345, 345 n4, 348 n7, 412, 412 n9–10, 417

N Nance, Albinus, 342, 489 Napoleon I, 205 n5, 243 n10 Napoleon III, 196 n16, 243 n10 Nash, William Hoyt, 321, 459 Nash, Mrs. William Hoit, 40 Native Races (book), 129 n19 Navajo Indians, 336 Neide, Horace, 40 Negley, James S., 276–77 n1 Nelson (teamster), 328 Newbern (Colorado River steamer), 20 New Orleans Campaign (Civil War), 217 n10 New York Central Railroad, 193, 346, 346 n5

INDEX

547

New York Herald (newspaper), 337, 348, 353, 359 Nez Percé Indians, 2–3, 70–71, 75, 125, 125 n12. 419 n20, 504, 508, 516 Nez Percé War, 3, 3 n7, 53, 70–72 Nickerson, Azor Howitt, 16–17, 51, 212, 409, 413, 415, 417–18, 459; promoted, 32–33, 40, 56; Civil War wound, 415–17, 415 n15 No Water (Lakota), 506 Norris, Frank, 207 Norris, Philatus, 42 Norris, William Foster, 126, 148, 153, 164, 218, 459 North Missouri Railroad, 371 North West Mounted Police (Canada), 125 n12

O O’Connor, Lawrence Lucius, 255, 260–64, 267, 392, 459 O’Connor, Mrs. Lawrence Lucius, 261–62 O’Reilly, Luke, 29, 459–60 Ocheo (Paiute), 229 The Octopus (book), 207 The Odyssey (epic), 284 n5 Oglala Lakota Indians, 114 Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, 20 Ojibwa Indians, 276 Olive, Isom Prentice “Print”, 186, 186 n9 Omaha, Neb., 3, 19, 29, 31, 37, 37 n9, 40, 51, 56, 75, 79, 80, 107–08, 118, 173, 175, 178,

186–87, 189–94, 206, 209, 211, 216, 248, 277–79, 291, 301–02, 337–39, 341–42, 347, 350–51, 367–68, 370–71, 382, 385, 387, 401, 406–08, 417, 507, 511–12; industries in, 282–86 Omaha Barracks, Neb., 31, 31 n15, 116, 127, 152, 178, 180, 190, 206, 208–09, 279, 280–81, 286, 295, 337, 342–43, 345, 367, 371, 385, 387, 409–10 Omaha Herald (newspaper), 116, 180, 187, 197, 337, 339 Omaha Indians, 179, 180, 184, 278 On the Border With Crook (book), 6, 17, 63 n13, 67–68 n3, 68 n6, 77 n20, 79, 250 n4 “One-Hoss Shay” (poem), 214; quoted 214 n8 Ord, Edward Otho Cresap, 242–43, 243 n10, 460 Ord, James, 243 n10 Othello (play), 386 Otis, Sergeant, 159 Ouray (Ute), 300, 318, 339, 346, 497–98

P Paddock, Algernon S., 32, 489 Paddock, James V.S., 295, 297–98, 312, 324, 327, 330, 345, 460 Paddock, Major (post trader at Camp Robinson), 171, 177 Paiute Indians, 43, 216

INDEX

548

Palmer, George, 40, 121, 126, 148, 160, 460 Parkhurst, Charles Dyer, 302, 325, 344, 460 Parnell, Charles Stewart, 353, 353 n12 Parsons, W.C., 190 Patrick, Matthew, 415 Patterson, Eugene, 327 Patterson, John J., 119, 347, 489–90 Patterson, Mrs. John J., 347 Patterson, Joseph, 328 Patrick (student on Black Hills Expedition), 164 Pawnee Indians, 57, 138, 216 Payne, John Scott, 295–98, 307–08, 311–18, 327, 330, 333, 345, 461 Pease, William Barrett, 126, 461 Pelouze, Louis Henry, 24, 32, 461 Petersburg, Siege of, 312, 312 n4 Picture Writing of the American Indians (book), 120 n5 Pine Ridge Agency, Neb., 188 n11 Pirates of Penzance (opera), 372 n6 Pit River Indians, 229 Pollock, Robert, 265–66, 461 Ponca Indians, 3, 79 n1, 178; transported to Indian Territory, 113, 115, 179, 180ff.; relations with government, 179; ancestral home, 179, 179 n1, 181–82, 181 n2; development, 179; confer

with Crook, 178, 180ff.; origins, 185, 185 n5; legal case, 187–89, 197, 352 Pope, James Worden, 386, 461–62 Pope, John, 124, 124 n9, 185, 185–86 n7, 292 Poppleton, A.J., 187–88 Porter, FitzJohn, 185, 185–86 n7 Posse Comitatus Act, 186, 186 n8, 200 Potter, R. Lyman, 82, 82 n7 Pourier, Baptiste (Big Bat), 74 n15, 490 Powder River Expedition, 40 n16, 264 Powder River Fight, 37, 37 n7, 56, 374, 374 n7 Powell, John Wesley, 143 n36 Pratt, Edward Barton, 329, 462 Pratt, U.S. Marshal, 261–62 Preston, Colonel, 25 Preston, General, 25 Price, Butler D., 296, 307, 345, 462 Price, Philip M., 24, 462 Price, Rose Lambart, baronet, 6, 213–14, 214 n7, 219–21 Price, Sterling, 370 Price, William Redwood, 221, 462–63 The Prince (book), 89, 89 n16 Punished Woman’s Fork fight, 148, 148 n4, 153 n8

Q Quentin, Julius Edward, 329, 463

INDEX

549

Quinton, William, 333, 463 Quinn, Thomas Francis, 306–08, 317, 321–22, 330, 345, 463

R Randall, George Morton, 61, 463 Randolph, Benjamin Harrison, 51, 464 Rankin, Joe, 297, 308, 333 Reade, Philip, 386–91, 464 Red Cloud (Oglala), 57, 66, 67, 69, 70, 72, 172, 188, 498, 510, 513–14 Red Cloud Agency, Neb., 53, 55–58, 61 n12, 62, 65–66, 68–69, 72, 75, 114, 124, 145, 150, 163, 503–04, 516 Red Hat (Cheyenne), 122, 135 Red Leaf (Oglala), 57 Reed, John, 342 Reed, Mrs. John (Mary Crook’s sister), 342 Reed, William Isaac, 333, 464 Regan, James, 385, 464 Resumption Bill, 353, 353 n13 Reynolds, Bainbridge, 349, 465 Rice, William Fletcher, 402, 465 Richelieu (play), 412, 413 n11 Ridge Bear (Cheyenne), 122–23 Riley, James 392, 465 Robinson Crusoe (book), 86 Robinson, Daniel, 306, 333, 345, 466 Robinson, William Wallace, Jr.,

39, 39 n15, 255–56, 266–68, 397–98, 466 Rock Island Arsenal, Ill., 16, 30–31, 173, 175 Rockwell, Charles Henry, 24, 358, 466 Rockwell, James, 30, 466 Rodgers, Calbraith Perry, 80 n5, 84–85, 466 Rodgers, Mrs. Calbraith Perry, 40, 80 Rodman, Burt, 175 Rodman, Ella, 173 Rodman gun, 173 n7 Rodman, Private, 102–03 Rodman, Thomas, 175 Rodman, Thomas Jefferson, 173, 173 n7 Rodman, Mrs. Thomas Jefferson, 175 Rodney (blacksmith), 328 Roland, Bill (Cheyenne-white), 122–23 Roman Nose (Sans Arc), 61, 498 Roosevelt, Theodore, 243 n10 Rosebud, Battle of, 8, 56, 211 Ross, William J., 397–98, 466–67 Ross Fork Agency, Idaho, 35, 42, 49, 51–52, 348–49 Royal Canadian Mounted Police (see North West Mounted Police) Royall, William Bedford, 145, 166, 180, 211, 345, 366–69, 371–75, 372 n5, 378–79, 380–85, 387, 391, 400, 402–04, 410, 417, 467

INDEX

550

Royall, Mrs. William Bedford, 345 Rucker, John Anthony, 38–39, 39 n13, 467 Ruffner, Ernest Howard, 386, 467 Russell Depot, Wyo. (see Cheyenne Depot, Wyo.) Russell, Gerald (Old Jerry), 6, 7, 255, 258–60, 262–68, 272, 364, 391–99, 467–68 Russo-Turkish Wars, 39 n11 Ryan, Edmund, 255, 468

S St. Joseph, Mo., 191–93, 366–68, 383, 385, 401, 403, 407–08 St. Louis, Mo., 3, 19, 27–29, 50, 125, 371–72, 407 St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railroad, 384 Sacket, Delos, 345 n4, 468 Safford, Anson P. K., 190 San Carlos Reservation, Ariz., 357, 413 n13 Sand Creek Fight (1878), 146, 146 n2 Sans Arc Lakota Indians, 61, 69 Santillane, Gil Blas de, 328 n5 Sapavanero (Ute), 318 Sartoris, Algernon, 281 Sartoris, Nellie Grant, 7, 281, 281 n3 Saunders, Alvin, 32, 490 Savage, Judge, 256, 407 Schickerdonz, Eugene, 327 Schmitt, Martin F., 348 n7

Schofield, John M., 287 The Schoolmaster (book), 86, 86 n15 Schubert, William, 312, 327 Schurz , Carl, 182 n4, 354, 358, 490–91; Bourke’s opinion of, 115, 351; contrasted to Disraeli, 409 Schuyler, Walter Scribner, 37, 43, 50, 80, 86, 89–92, 95, 110, 118, 122, 127, 173–74, 191, 195, 212, 218, 241, 243, 246, 248–49, 277–78, 282, 294, 307, 310, 313–14, 321, 330–31, 335–38, 344, 468–69; and Murchie Mine, 248 n12, 249, 345, 345 n4, 348 n7, 412, 412 n9, 417 Schwatka, Frederick, 291, 329 Seaton, Frank, 257, 469 Seawell, General, 376 Seawell, Mary, 376 Selree, L. E., 370 Semig, Bernard Gustave, 302, 469 Seminole Wars, 321, 321 n2, 322 Sharp, Colonel, 343 Sharp Nose (Arapaho), 67, 70, 72, 498, 510, 514 Shelby, P. P., 174 Sheridan, Irene Rucker, 39 n14, 190 Sheridan, Philip Henry, 17, 38 n13, 39, 39 n14, 54, 68, 71–72, 114 124, 158, 173, 177, 190, 276, 295, 298, 345, 345 n4, 380, 412 n9, 418, 504, 508

INDEX Sherman, John, 353–54, 361, 384, 418, 491 Sherman, William Tecumseh, 80, 149, 186–87 n10, 286– 87, 355, 355–56 n15, 358 Sherwood, William L., 392, 469 Shiloh, Battle of, 186, 186–87 n10 Short History of the English People (book), 147, 147 n3 Shoshone Indians, 37, 43, 45, 45 n22, 57, 91 n17, 138, 199, 216, 302, 348; farming among, 44–46, 52, Sidney Barracks, Neb., 117 n1, 121, 126–28, 135, 143–44, 146–47, 149, 152, 172, 177 Silva, Valentine M. C., 392, 469 Simpson, J. E., 373 Simpson, James Ferdinand, 171 Sign Language Among North American Indians (book), 120 n5 Sioux Indians (see also Lakota, under individual tribes, and Indian scouts), 36, 57, 65, 69, 81, 125, 125 n12, 136, 138–39, 145, 174, 188, 188 n11, 199, 200, 215–16, 237, 264, 339; and environment, 168 n4; compared to Zulus, 196 n17 Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa), 63 n15, 65–66, 65 n1, 71 n10, 125, 125 n12, 276, 499, 508, 512

551

Sitting Bull of the South (Oglala), 63–64, 63 n15, 73, 499 Slim Buttes, Battle of, 61, 370 Smead, Alexander D.B., 168, 469 Smiley, A. K., 353 n11, 357 Smith, A. Sidney, 255–56, 267, 470 Smith, Alfred, 88, 469–70 Smith, Charles Henry, 386, 470 Smith, John Eugene, 83, 88–90, 347–48, 470 Smith, Thomas T., 8 Snider, Nathan, 345 n4, 491 Southern Pacific Railroad, 207, 351, 376 Spencer, James Herbert, 98, 100, 102, 104, 126, 128, 145, 148, 470 Spotted Tail (Brulé), 69, 70, 72, 167, 499–500, 513–14, 517 Spotted Tail Agency, Neb., 53, 61–62, 61 n12, 69, 75, 78, 145, 163, 503, 505–07, 510, 514 Sprague, C.J., 281, 470 Spring Hill, Battle of, 287, 287 n9 Springer, Assistant Surgeon, 29 Stacton, David, 206 Standing Bear (Ponca), 115, 180, 500; legal case, 116, 352; described, 180–81; confers with Crook, 181 ff. Standing Elk (Cheyenne), 67 Standing Rock Agency, N.D., 188

INDEX

552

Stanley, David S., 186, 186– 87 n10, 189, 195, 287, 470–71 Stanton, Edwin M., 185–86 n7, 383 Stanton, Thaddeus Harlan, 42, 49, 83, 86–87, 91–92; 97, 385, 471 Stanton, Mrs. Thaddeus H., 85 Stanton, William Sanford, 54, 212, 218, 237, 240–41, 243–45, 248, 282, 471 Stanwood, Frank, 255, 262, 265–67, 272, 471 Stedman, Clarence Augustus, 323, 472 Stenhouse (correspondent), 348, 491 Stevens (Union Pacific car builder), 283, 284 Stickney, William, 353 n11, 356, 357 Stieger, Gottleib, 327 Stilson (correspondent), 337 Stockbridge Indians, 358 Stones River (Murfreesboro), Battle of, 186, 288, 374 Storrow, Captain, 174 Strahorn, Robert Edmund, 37, 39, 81, 491 Strahorn, Mrs. Robert Edmund, 37, 39, 81 Street, William D., 152, 158, 491–92 Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians (book), 143 n36 Styer, Charles, 255, 472 Sullivan, Arthur, 372, 372 n5

Summerhayes, John Wyer, 21 n5 Summerhayes, Martha, 21 n5 Summers, John Edward, 321, 472 Sumner, Edward V., 306, 316–17, 321, 344, 472 Sutcliffe, Frederick, 327 Sutorious, Alexander, 250, 255, 257–58, 472 Sutro, Adolph, 210, 492 Sutro Tunnel, 210 Swearingen, Happy Jack, 226, 232–35, 241, 244 Swift, Eben, 307, 319, 321, 330, 344, 472 Swift Bear (Lakota), 76, 507 Swigert, Samuel Miller, 382, 473 Sykes, George, 358–59, 473

T Tacitus, 176 Tainter, Charles Sumner, 19 n2 Tappan, Benjamin, 236–37, 237 n7 Tarlton, Elisha Warfield, 379, 473 Taylor, Alfred Bronaugh, 399, 473 Taylor, Daniel Morgan, 30, 329, 386, 473 Taylor, Nathaniel, 165 Taylor (scout), 328 Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich, 38 n11 Tecumseh (Shawnee), 77, 500–01

INDEX Terry, Alfred Howe, 54, 56 n8, 185 n6 Thayer, Herbert, 98 Thermopylae, 176 Thibaw (King of Burma), 406, 406 n6 Thomas, George H., 287 Thomas, Henry Goddard, 126, 473–74 Thomas, Ivel, 387, 406 Thompson, John Charles, 168, 474 Thorn, Steve, 22 Thornburgh, Thomas Tipton, 40, 98–100, 102–05, 121, 125–28, 474; and Cheyenne Outbreak, 144ff., 169, 171–75, 300–01, 311–12; and White River Ute Uprising, 292, 296, 302, 307, 318–19, 330, 337, 345, 347; death of, 294–95, 297, 300, 308, 314–15, 317, 323–24, 327, 329–30, 341 Thornburgh, Mrs. Thomas Tipton, 98, 301 Thornburgh, Jacob T., 98, 302, 492 Thrapp, Dan L., 125 n10 Tibbles, Thomas Henry, 116, 180, 197, 351–52, 492 Tilford, Major, 172 Tillman, Samuel, 24 Tin-Doy (Shoshone), 45 Tine, T. E., 318 Touch the Clouds (Miniconjou), 61, 76, 501, 504–05, 507, 509–10, 512

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Townsend, Edward Davis, 418, 474 Townsend, Edwin Franklin, 208, 474 Treacy (horse dealer), 25, 378–79, 381, 382 Trotter, Frank Eugene, 96, 329, 474 Tupan, Private, 102–03 Turkey Legs (Cheyenne), 60 Tuttle, E. H., 356 The Two Americas (book), 214 n7, 221

U Ulundi, Battle of (Natal), 196 n17, 249n1 Uncle Sam (Colorado River steamer), 21 n6 Uncompahgre Ute Agency, 318 Uncompahgre Ute Indians, 318, 339, 346 Union Pacific Railroad, 2, 40 n17, 51, 53, 74, 74 n16, 80, 102, 110, 120, 121 n7, 128, 147–51, 159, 163, 177–79, 195, 206–07, 212–13, 277, 294, 301, 342–43, 348, 352, 368, 415, 417; Omaha shops, 282, 283, 284, 285, United States Army, 7, 8, 16; and Congress, 31; clothing, weapons and equipment, 31 n14; 90; requirements for forts, 206, 242, 244; daily routine on post, 251; reduced by Congress, 261 n18; regulations on embezzlement, 364, 365; strikers

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in, 398 n11; reorganization of mounted units, 420–21; frontier expedition procedures, 173–74; public attitude toward, 196, 200–01, 278–79, 362n5; and federal Indian policy, 203, 281–82, 338; soldier’s life, 236–38 Utah Northern Railroad, 48, 348 Utah Southern Railroad, 348 Ute Indians (see also White River Ute Uprising), 3, 44, 91 n17, 109, 138; incursions on land of, 291, 299, 339–40; and White River Uprising, 302, 308, 310, 312, 315–18, 324–25, 328–29, 335 Utopia (book), 86, 87, 86–87 n15

V Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 346 n5 Vanderbilt, William, 346 n5 Vandever, William, 56, 63, 492–93 Van Horn, Thomas B., 88, 475 Van Vliet, Frederick, 177, 192, 212, 475 Verne, Jules, 86 Victor Emanuel II (Italy), 219, 219 n12 Victoria (Great Britain), 243 n10, 359, 409 Viollet-le-Duc, Eugène Emmanuel, 81–82, 81 n6 The Virginian (book), 40 n18 Volkmar, William Jefferson, 386, 475

Voorhees, Daniel W., 32 Vroom, Peter Dumont, 178, 302, 324–26, 332, 344, 475

W Wabash Pacific Railroad, 384, 408 Waide, F. B. (actor), 386 Walker, George Brinton, 24, 475 Ward, Edward Wilkerson, 374, 475–76 Warner, Captain, 389 Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. (ex-Fort D.A. Russell), 292 n4 Warrens, Charles Henry, 92, 476 Wars of Italian Unificiation, 219 n12 Washakie (Shoshone), 44–45, 45 n22, 48, 501 Washburne, E.B., 418 Washita, Battle of, 130 n20 Webster, George Ogilvie, 345, 476 Webster, John L., 187, 188 Weir, Charles G., 341 Weir, William Bayard, 39, 110, 127, 321, 325, 328, 344, 476; killed, 339–41 Wellborn, Luther Scott, 344, 476 Wentworth, Little Buckshot, 237 Wessells, Henry Walton, Jr., 114, 333, 476–77 Whalen, Captain, 195, 477 Wheaton, Charles, 213, 477

INDEX Wheeler Expedition, 41, 41 n20, 51, 397 Wheeler, George Montague, 41 n20 White Horse (Arapaho), 67 White River Agency, 339–40 White River Ute Indians, 318–19, 351 White River Ute Uprising, 3, 291ff., 338; roster of officers, 344–45; peace commission concerning, 346–47, 351 White Thunder (Cheyenne), 122, 501 Whitney, Robert H., 395–96, 493 Whittaker, Johnson, 4, 5, 5 n11. 406, 412 Williams, Constant, 333, 477 Williams, Robert, 33, 147, 149, 152 n7, 180, 294–96, 298, 301–02, 321, 350, 367, 378, 477, 503, 504 Wilson, Thomas, 321, 386, 477 Winnebago Indians, 278 Winters, William Henry, 419, 477–78 Wister, Owen, 40 n18 Withers (horse breeder), 25, 378 Wolcott, Francis, 81, 493 Wolf, Silas A., 148, 153, 311, 330, 478 Wolseley, Garnet, 249 Woman’s Dress (Lakota), 73, 74 n15, 516 Wood, Marshall William, 264, 265

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Woodson, Albert Emmett, 337, 478 Wright, Charles, 327 Wyatt, Walter Scott, 127, 148, 151 fn, 478

X Xenophon, 176

Y Yarrow, H.C., 143, 143 n36 Yavapai Indians, 74 n15 Yeatman, Richard Thompson, 42, 329, 478 Yellow Bear (Lakota), 510 Yellow fever, 97, 98, 286, 369 Yellow Horse (Ponca), 180 Yellowstone National Park, 42, 71 Young, Brigham, 85 n14 Young, George Shaeffer, 333, 478 Young Man Afraid of His Horses (Oglala), 339, 501– 02, 510 Young, Robert Hunter, 148, 150, 158, 478 Yuma Indians, 23

Z Zulu Wars, 8, 196, 249, 385; compared to Sioux Wars, 196 n17

The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke Volume 4

The Diaries of

J G ohn

regory

volume 4

B

ourke

July 3, 1880–May 22, 1881

Edited and Annotated by Charles M. Robinson III

University of North Texas Press Denton, Texas

©2009 Charles M. Robinson III All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Permissions: University of North Texas Press 1155 Union Circle #311336 Denton, TX 76203-5017 The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, z39.48.1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bourke, John Gregory, 1846–1896. The diaries of John Gregory Bourke / edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson III. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10 1-57441-263-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13 978-1-57441-263-5 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Bourke, John Gregory, 1846–1896—Diaries. 2. Soldiers—West (U.S.)—Diaries. 3. Indians of North America—Wars—1866–1895—Personal narratives. I. Robinson, Charles M., 1949– II. Title.

E83.866 .B75 2003 978’.02’092—dc21 2002152293 All illustrations are held by the United States Military Academy Library, West Point, NY. Cover photo of John Gregory Bourke is courtesy of the National Park Service, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

To Robert Wooster

There is one who may wish to kill these Indians and I think he is foolish and without sense and if there is any one among you who can cure him, I hope you will do so and talk him out of his foolishness, so that the Indians may live and get along better. —Ponca Chief Standing Bear, Bourke Diary, 38:1018 Received an invitation from Major Powell, of the Ethnological Bureau of the Smithsonian Institute, to pay him a visit with references to a better acquaintance. —John Gregory Bourke, Diary, 38:1051

Contents Acknowledgments ..................................................................... viii Introduction................................................................................... 1 Part 1: More Staff Duties Background.................................................................................. 13 1: The Ute Country and the Mining Districts............................... 15 2: Into the Uintahs....................................................................... 43 3: Carl Schurz and Yellowstone National Park............................. 64 4: Wilderness Trails...................................................................... 86 5: A Trip East.............................................................................. 104 6: More Memories of Arizona..................................................... 121 7. Fort Niobrara and the New Agencies...................................... 131 Part 2: The Ponca Question Continues Background................................................................................ 153 8: A Summons to Washington.................................................... 158 9: The Ponca Commission.......................................................... 172 10: The Indian Territory............................................................ 185 11: Agency Operations............................................................... 199 12: The Poncas Before Removal................................................. 218 13. The Dakota Poncas Speak.................................................... 234 14: The Commission Concludes................................................ 262 Part 3: The Bureau of Ethnology Background................................................................................ 287 15. A New Assignment................................................................ 290 16. Bannock and Shoshone Customs......................................... 313 17. Back to the Southwest.......................................................... 343 18. In and Around Santa Fe....................................................... 362 19. Navajo Country.................................................................... 376 20. Among the Zunis.................................................................. 397 21. “So That I Could Show the White Men”............................... 422 Appendix: Persons Mentioned in the Diary................................ 442 Bibliography............................................................................... 510 Index.......................................................................................... 516

Acknowledgments I wish to express my appreciation to the people whose on-going efforts have made this series possible, particularly Ron Chrisman, director, and Karen DeVinney, managing editor, University of North Texas Press, for whom this sometimes seems like an endless project. Special thanks go to Lee Whittlesey, historian of Yellowstone National Park, and author of Storytelling in Yellowstone, who offered invaluable assistance. Mr. Whittlesey not only sorted out the convoluted administration of Yellowstone in its early days, but also cross-referenced the landmarks mentioned in Bourke’s text, with their names and locations in the modern park. The chapters on the Yellowstone visit therefore are much more useful to the reader than they would have been without his efforts. Such is the assistance I have always received from representatives of the National Park Service. At the United States Military Academy Library, West Point, New York, Susan Lintelmann, manuscripts curator, and Herbert LaGoy, archives technician, Special Collections and Archives Division, provided supplemental information on Bourke and his service as a cadet at the Academy. As I have stated in previous volumes, Bourke often scribbled field notes, and then transcribed them to a formal journal. These transcribed journals, in some cases written much later, form the basis of the manuscript volumes in the West Point Library. Sometimes the original field notes are also included in the subvolumes, but in other cases they are not. One of the original volumes of field notes, concerning Bourke’s work among the Navajo, Zuni, and Hopi, is held in the Special Collections of the University of Arizona Library, Tucson. I was made aware of this by Louis A. Hieb of Seattle, who formerly headed Special Collections. Scott Cossel, currently with Special Collections, provided me with a copy. Thus I was able to compare the original with Bourke’s later transcription in West Point, and together they form the basis of Chapters 19–21 of this volume. I have discussed this further in the introduction to this volume. I greatly appreciate the help of both Mr. Hieb and Mr. Cossel. Here I should point out that upon learning of this volume in Arizona, I made

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inquiries with major libraries throughout the country to determine if there are others known outside the West Point collection, and so far have found none. Thanks to the administration of South Texas College, McAllen, Texas, Dr. Shirley A. Reed, president; Juan Mejía, vice president for instruction; Shirley Ingram, director of Human Resources; Dr. Margaretha Bischoff, dean, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences; and Dr. Christopher Nelson, chairman, Department of History and Philosophy, who have provided latitude and encouragement for this project. For this volume, which was disrupted by a serious illness, I want to thank all my friends and colleagues for their continued support and encouragement. On that subject, I wish to acknowledge the efforts of Dr. Todd A. Shenkenberg, Dr. Ramon Argüelles, Dr. Eduardo Flores, Dr. Eric Taylor, Dr. Stanley Sy, Dr. Ruben Lopez, and Dr. William Heins. Since the inception of this series, Robert Wooster has patiently gone over each volume, raising points, offering constructive criticism, and providing useful references on matters that were not clear, or that he felt should be developed more. For that reason, this volume is dedicated to him, with gratitude. Thanks also to Paul Hedren for his helpful comments on the manuscript for this volume, and his encouragement throughout all my projects.



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Introduction to Volume 4

V

olume 4 of this series covers John Gregory Bourke’s diaries and notebooks from July 3, 1880, through May 22, 1881,1 and from half-way through manuscript volume 34 to about one-third of manuscript volume 40. The material comes from 124 manuscript volumes and several subvolumes held in the United States Military Academy Library in West Point, New York. The diaries were donated to West Point in 1936 by Bourke’s daughter, Mrs. Sara Bourke James, as a “gift outright” and now are in the public domain.2 The Zuni material in West Point’s manuscript volume 40, which appears in Chapters 20 and 21 of this book, is duplicated in a Bourke manuscript held in the special collections of the University of Arizona Library in Tucson. The Arizona volume appears to be Bourke’s original notes and sketches, while the West Point volume is a later copy with supplemental notes and information. Bourke often copied and expanded his notes, although in most cases, both the original and the copy are held by West Point. In the Bourke series, this volume is significant in two respects. First, a large portion centers around the continuing controversy

1. Volume 3 ends on June 22, 1880, but Bourke made no further entries until July 3. 2. Alan C. Aimone, assistant librarian for Special Collections Division, United States Military Academy Library, to Charles M. Robinson III, March 29, 1995.



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concerning the forced relocation of the Ponca Indians from their ancient homeland along the Dakota-Nebraska line to a new reservation in the Indian Territory.3 Second, an equally large portion concerns Bourke’s ethnological work under official sanction from the army and the Bureau of Ethnology, work which would make a profound change in his life and his place in history. Aside from a summary of the entire Ponca affair in about two pages, virtually none of this material appears in Bourke’s classic On the Border With Crook.4 The diaries, however, are much more detailed, and contain two of the longest manuscript volumes encountered to date in this series. Volume 38, consisting largely of transcripts on the Ponca hearings, is 192 handwritten pages, and volume 39, where Bourke begins work with the Bureau of Ethnology, is 190 handwritten pages. In the published diaries, much of Volume 3 involves staff duties, which continue with this volume. When Volume 4 opens, Bourke has recently been ordered to report to West Point as an instructor. Eventually, however, he opts against it, and the War Department grants his request to revoke the order.5 This is the second time Bourke has been assigned to West Point. The first, in 1873, was blocked by Crook on the grounds that he was necessary for the general’s staff. Bourke was satisfied with Crook’s attitude, believing the staff position would do more for his career than serving as an instructor at the academy.6 He does not give his motive for rejecting the appointment in 1880, but presumably, he has become comfortable as the general’s aide. Bourke joined General Crook’s staff in 1872, but much of the time until 1877 was spent in the field, on campaigns in which Crook took personal charge. Beginning with Volume 3, however, and continuing in this volume, Bourke spends more time behind a desk, or on inspection and other duties. This gives him time to 3. As the vast plains region of the Louisiana Purchase was divided and redivided, the boundaries between newly created territories often were vague. This was the case with Dakota Territory (the part which is modern South Dakota) and Nebraska, and causes confusion as to where the Poncas traditionally lived. Their home was on both sides of the lower Niobrara River, in an area generally considered to be in Dakota. In 1874, however, the boundary was surveyed, and lands presumed to have been in Dakota proved to be on the Nebraska side of the line. Consequently, the Poncas are now considered to be a Nebraska tribe, although during much of the nineteenth century they were said to be from Dakota, a usage that continued even after the boundary was fixed. See Robinson, “Standing Bear vs. Crook,” 445. 4. Bourke, On the Border, 427–29. 5. Robinson, Diaries, 3:410, 412; Bourke, Diary, 34:571, 639. 6. Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 20–21.

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observe and reflect on the profound and rapid changes occurring as the West develops. Describing a day trip on an excursion train between Omaha and Oakland, Nebraska, in July 1881, he remarks, “Last year, I described this part of Nebraska at some length (in my note-book for August)7 and will only say now that the remark to be added is improvement everywhere.”8 He is particularly fascinated with technology, and could border on the clairvoyant when it came to industrial and technological developments. In much of his writing, he expresses admiration for the achievements of Thomas Edison who, among other things, invented a practical means of electric lighting. This, of course, replaced the open flame of gas lights, candles, or oil lamps. As Bourke rode with Crook on the train from Omaha to the Indian Territory, he made a casual observation that shows just how dangerous life could be in the era before electricity. “We took on at New Hamburgh, Iowa, the remains of two lovely young ladies, 17 and 18 years old, who had been burned to death while dressing for a party.”9 Bourke is less capable, however, in judging people. His staff duties bring him into contact with many prominent individuals. He is particularly unimpressed with the commander of the army, General W.T. Sherman, who, he wrote, “is largely made up of the demagogue and will not survive in history.”10 He also is harsh on President Rutherford B. Hayes, now finishing out his term. As noted in earlier volumes, Crook had strong ties with the Hayes family, dating back to the Civil War when the future president had served under Crook. The diary records a visit with the Hayes family in Washington, including Christmas dinner at the White House in 1880 where, in accordance with Lucy Hayes’s teetotaling dictates, alcohol was not served. “The absence of wine didn’t cause me any inconvenience,” Bourke remarked, “but I must say that I was sorry to think Mrs. Hayes’ views had induced her to proscribe its use at the White House, more especially on occasions of state where she had to entertain distinguished foreigners who have been accustomed to its use from boyhood.”11 7. This material is contained in Robinson, Diaries, Volume 3, Chapter 14. 8. Bourke, Diary, 34:593. 9. Ibid., 37:905. 10. Ibid., 36:746. 11. Ibid., 37:898.

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Assessing President Hayes, Bourke commented, “President Hayes made such an ado about reform in the administration of the Government that some people four years ago were deluded into believing that he was honest in his expressions, but a uniform duplicity and treachery have convinced the nation that something besides Apollinaris water at a State Dinner or an unctious outpouring of sanctimonious gab at all times, is needed to make a man holy.”12 Such has been the view of Hayes in our time as well. The fact, overlooked by Bourke and many others, was that Hayes was a pragmatic politician, tempering his own high ideals with what was politically possible. He strictly constructed the Constitution, staying well within its limits. And his determination to restrict himself to a single term meant that the impact of his reforms often was not felt until well after he left office.13 On the other hand, Bourke liked Lucy Hayes. Despite her prohibition of alcohol, he described her as “a lady, gracing her position with dignity and sweetness.”14 Christmas at the White House was not Bourke’s only entry on meals. Throughout the diaries, he comments on food found on his travels. In 1880, he admits, My notes have with such frequency dilated upon good meals in the course of our travels, that I may be accused of epicurism. Be it so. I regard well cooked food as one of the greatest blessings that can come to humanity and especially American humanity. I hope to live to see the day when American ladies shall proudly boast of their skill in domestic matters and when the serving up of a poor meal to travellers shall be a crime punishable with death.15 His travels are now taking him to Eastern cities as well as Western communities. In New York, he watches construction work on the Brooklyn Bridge and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, visits Macy’s which he does not believe compared to Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia, and is a guest at the Union and University Clubs. He acknowledges that these clubs are “fine affairs, well conducted and having some of the best men of the city,” but adds the cryptic statement, “there is 12. Ibid., 38:1055–56. 13. Hayes’s life and career are discussed in Hoogenboom, Rutherford B. Hayes, Warrior and President. 14. Bourke, Diary, 37:900. 15. Ibid., 34:616.

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something about Club Life that strikes me as demoralizing. I don’t believe in them, as at present managed and am afraid they do more harm than good.”16 As he often does, now that he is removed from the field, Bourke reminisces about what he perhaps now remembers as “the good old days” of frontier duty in Arizona. Of particular interest, considering his Roman Catholicism, is the story of how he got drafted by a group of ladies into helping assemble a series of tableaux to raise funds for a community—and most definitely Protestant—church in Prescott (the idea of the tableaux originating with the well-meaning, but doddery old chaplain at nearby Fort Whipple, where Bourke was posted).17 Early in the morning a very sweet lady approached me, went into ecstasies over my appearance, said I always looked so well, expressed herself as happy to think she wasn’t a young maiden any more because she didn’t know what she should do with such a handsome man living in the same town,— and much more to same effect. I wish I could say that I told her—“get thee behind me, Satan”, but I didn’t. I swallowed all this “taffy” and much more and believed it all.... Bourke hammered and nailed until his shoulders ached. But when he overheard the same lady delivering the same line to Dr. Calvin De Witt, the post surgeon, he decided enough was enough, and De Witt was suckered into finishing the job.18 Bourke may have been tolerant of Protestantism, but he had the vehement aversion to Mormonism common among non-Mormons of all persuasions during that era. He equated Mormonism with ignorance, and in 1875 had speculated (erroneously, of course) that the arrival of the railroad and the opening of Utah to outsiders ultimately would bring an end to the religion.19 Five years had not changed his opinions of the Latter-Day Saints. 16. Ibid., 36:760–61. 17. Fort Whipple was established December 23, 1863, in the Chino Valley, about twenty-five miles north of Prescott, and relocated to Prescott five months later. The first telegraph linking Arizona to the outside world was established between Whipple and San Diego in 1873. In 1879, Fort Whipple was consolidated with Prescott Barracks to become Whipple Barracks. It served as departmental headquarters until 1887, when Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles moved headquarters to Los Angeles. Deactivated in 1922, it is now used by the Veterans Administration as a hospital. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 63–67; Frazer, Forts of the West, 14–15. 18. Bourke, Diary, 36:798–99. 19. Robinson, Diaries, 1:152.

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In July 1880, he was on a train going north from Salt Lake City, the passengers of which seemed to be about evenly divided between General Crook’s party and Mormons. Two of the Mormons were girls, not bad looking and one of a decidedly fine figure. To listen to their garrulous chat with the brakeman, one would infer they were on their way to some of the missions or “stakes” the Mormon church is constantly establishing in this Territory. I refer to them because they appeared to be better than the average Mormon women and still ignorant enough.20 Other prejudices appear as the diaries progress and Bourke is thrown into contact with more diverse people. Racism previously manifested itself concerning blacks, particularly during a horsebuying trip to Kentucky.21 Now, we also see a streak of anti-Semitism. In Santa Fé, he comments that among those filling the narrow streets of the city during the day were “a motley crew of hook-nose Jews,” and, a short time later during a band concert in the square, he remarked, “here in the streets, cavorting on prancing plugs from the livery stable, are a dozen hook-nosed descendants of the babies that Herod unfortunately failed to kill–Will they ever pass away?...the answer ‘Never! The progeny of Moses is ineradicable!![’]”22 Inspection tours show the profound changes that have overtaken the Indians in only a few years of settlement on reservations. At the new Spotted Tail, or Rosebud, Agency, Bourke found a conference in progress, where the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad was trying to buy right of way across the reservation. Although the Great Sioux War had ended only three years earlier, and the Red Cloud War of 1866–68 was still of recent memory, the Indians had wasted little time in determining what was valuable to the whites. Spotted Tail and Red Cloud evinced as much astuteness as a couple of old Philadelphia lawyers and succeeded in obtaining from the Rail Road Company what I took to be extremely fine prices, viz: One hundred and ten dollars per mile, for the linear distance (185 miles,) from the Missouri across the Reservation, the width of the strip ceded to be two hundred feet; any ground required by the company in excess of this 20. Bourke, Diary, 34:607. 21. Robinson, Diaries, 3:375, 382–83. 22. Bourke, Diary, 39:1212, 1214–15.

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to be paid for at the rate of $4 per acre, excepting 1000 acres at the crossing of the Missouri, for which five dollars per Acre should be paid.23 The chiefs obviously realized bridge approaches were prime real estate and upped the ante. Visiting the Uintah Utes, Bourke made an observation that summed up the entire problem facing the government as it tried to formulate a fair policy toward Indians. This Agency is on a branch of the main Uintah Creek, near the junction of the latter with the Duchesne.—in the midst of a large meadow of several thousand Acres....The number of Indians on the Reservation is only 450, a gross waste of the public domain. There is an abundance of farm-land in this tract,—enough to give a good farm to every man or boy of the whole Ute nation and yet leave a large region open to settlement.24 Indeed, it was hard to explain to poverty-stricken Easterners, crammed into cold, dark tenements at perhaps 450 per city block in New York or Boston, why 450 Indians needed several thousand acres in Utah. And such often was the basis of land seizures.

Format of the Edited Diaries Editing a work like the Bourke diaries is not necessarily confined to transcription, but also to rendering the text into a readable form while preserving the author’s original flavor and intent. Purists, such as Wayne R. Kime, who achieved the monumental task of preparing the Richard Irving Dodge journals for publication, adhere strictly to the original text, including cross-outs and insertions. On the opposite side of the coin, Lt. Col. Thomas T. Smith, former assistant professor of military history at West Point, took Cpl. Emil Bode’s German syntax, fractured spelling, and erratic punctuation and rendered them more easily understood by the casual reader.25 With Bourke’s diaries, I have chosen the middle ground between these two positions, and have undertaken a basic format to preserve as much as possible the flavor of the manuscript, while making it intelligible to the reader and without being cumbersome. Orders and Clippings. By and large, clippings are simply correspondents’ versions of events that Bourke himself recounted in 23. Ibid., 36:807. 24. Ibid., 35:663–64. 25. See Smith, A Dose of Frontier Soldiering.

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detail. Because of the enormity of this material, and its availability elsewhere, it has been deleted in favor of Bourke’s own manuscript text. In some instances, this includes entire volumes that are nothing more than collections of clippings and copies of orders. Abbreviations, Spelling, and Grammar. Bourke used many abbreviations. The @ symbol often appears as a substitute for the word “or” and sometimes for “to” as in “15 @ 50 feet.” While I have tried to remain as faithful as possible to the original text, for the sake of clarity I have spelled out the more common abbreviations, such as cardinal directions, “left,” “right,” “miles,” and “road,” as well as those he used frequently, such as “good grass and water,” and “creek.” For those that are less common or obvious, I have inserted the missing letters in [brackets], except when the abbreviations are scattered, requiring several sets of brackets within one word; in such cases, I have spelled out the word in brackets. When a word is illegible, but the meaning can be inferred, I have placed the probable word with a question mark in [brackets?]. If the meaning cannot be inferred, I have written it as [illegible]. Otherwise, I have transcribed the text as is, with all its inconsistencies, such as “tipi,” “teepee,” and sometimes even “tépi,” all of which he used to designate the conical Indian lodge. Names of individuals suffered in the same fashion. All such instances have been noted in the biographical sketches in Appendix 1. Spelling differences are a combination of changes in form between Bourke’s era and ours, lack of standardization in words that were relatively new to English in the nineteenth century, and Bourke’s own peculiarities. American English had not yet completely broken with the mother tongue, and British forms, such as “-re” instead of “-er” (i.e., centre, meagre) were standard. Some words, like “Mississipi,” “accomodate,” and “cayote,” are so commonplace in the manuscripts that I have not bothered even to note them, except on those rare occasions that Bourke actually spelled them correctly. In infrequent or inconsistent cases, I have followed the word with [sic]. Interestingly enough, as the years progressed, Bourke tended to pay more attention to spelling out words, as well as to punctuation and capitalization. Consequently these become less of an issue than in earlier volumes. Punctuation and Capitalization. Bourke tended to use periods and commas outside quotation marks rather than within. I lean to-

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ward leaving Bourke’s punctuation intact except for cases where it renders the text absolutely confusing. Capitalization was erratic. For example, in giving times of day, he might use a.m./p.m., A.M./P.M., or am./pm. I have preserved his capitalization as much as possible. Paragraphing was also erratic, with new paragraphs sometimes indented, but often flush with the left margin. Emphasis. Bourke emphasized words by underlining them. Most of the time (but not always), he underlined names of people and places, dates, and geographical features of interest. Yet some of his emphasis seems little more than whimsy and, more than a century later, appears to have had no practical reason. In an effort to make it more readable, I have deleted the emphasis except where it enhances the impression he was trying to convey. Bourke occasionally annotated the entries after the fact, as new information came to hand. His notes are indicated by an asterisk (*) while mine are numbered. I have replaced Bourke’s brackets with parentheses, to avoid confusing his texts with mine. Personalities, etc. Often individuals are named with no explanation as to who they were. Bourke was, after all, writing for his own future reference and knew the people in question. I have attempted, in Appendix 1, to identify as many as possible, and in the case of army officers, have been relatively successful. After more than a century, however, it has not always been possible to identify Indians, enlisted soldiers, or civilians. The basic intent of the biographical sketches essentially is to explain who these people were, and why they went west. The criteria for the extent of the sketches is based on three factors: their importance in history, their importance to the narrative, and the availability of material on them. In many cases Bourke might make only a passing reference, such as, “I encountered Lieut. X,” this being the only reference to Lieutenant X in the entire narrative. Because of that, and because many such officers did not attain historical prominence, the sketch is minimal. Others, mentioned frequently, and/or historically important in their own right, receive more detailed treatment. Where Bourke uses the local name for plants, or names that might not be widely known, I have attempted to identify them and put the botanical name in the notes; I did not do so for commonly known plants. Bourke’s designations of the territories have been preserved,

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and when they do not reflect the modern name of the state, I have inserted the state in [brackets]. In my own commentaries, I have used the modern state names. Military Ranks. Bourke tended to use brevet ranks for officers who had attained them in the Union Army. Thus we see a reference to “General John H. King, Col. 9h Infantry,” the former being his brevet rank and the latter being his active rank at the time of writing. The biographical sketches of officers in Appendix 1 include both active and brevet ranks.

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his section covers staff duties along much the same lines as Volume 3, and in some instances is a follow-through on material covered in that volume. One particular instance is Fort Niobrara, Nebraska,1 the site for which Crook selected in 1879. Bourke covered that expedition in detail.2 In this volume, construction of the new post is underway, and Bourke is sent to inspect its progress. In this section, also, we see Interior Secretary Carl Schurz to a much greater degree than in Volume 3. In that volume, Schurz remains in the shadows, significant because of his hand in the Ponca Affair, which is also carried over from Volume 3. In Volume 4, however, Crook and Bourke accompany Schurz on a visit to Yellowstone National Park, where Bourke is able to observe him on a daily, and personal basis. Bourke had very little use for Schurz, his disdain apparently growing out of the Ponca Affair. At one point, he had gone so far as to call the secretary a “spindle-shanked Mephistopheles.”3 1. Fort Niobrara was established in 1880 on the Niobrara River, to protect cattlemen and settlers from whatever roaming bands of Indians might remain, and as an additional control over the Indians at the Spotted Tail Agency. It was abandoned in 1906 and is now a national wildlife refuge. Frazer, Forts of the West, 89. 2. See Robinson, Diaries, 3, Part 3. 3. Ibid., 3:409.



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The trip does nothing to change his basic opinion of the man, but Bourke does show a grudging admiration for Schurz’s intelligence. Although the Interior Department was created only in 1849, the secretary of the Interior was a much more powerful and prominent figure in the 1870s and 1880s than today. At that time, the United States was as committed to developing its interior as it was to foreign affairs, if not more so. The secretary of the Interior was responsible for facilitating that development. The army, although under the War Department, was a key factor in that development. It essentially was an internal police force, structured more toward suppressing Indian outbreaks and quelling domestic disturbances than involvement in foreign wars. The Interior Department often had the task of determining whether military intervention was necessary, a situation that did not endear it to the army command which, by training and temperament, viewed Indian fighting with disdain. While the Department of State negotiated with foreign powers as a matter of routine, the Interior Department was forced into a delicate balancing act of often conflicting national, regional, economic, social, and ethnic interests. Thus Schurz was a key member of the Hayes Cabinet and a power to be reckoned with.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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uly 3rd 1880. An unusually pleasant and congenial party of ladies and gentlemen, left Omaha and Fort Omaha1 this morning for a ride over the line of the Omaha & Northern Nebraska R.R., to its terminus at Oakland Neb., and back. It consisted of Mrs. J. A. Horbach and her daughter, Miss Mary2 and son Paul, Mrs Watson and son, Burt; Miss Jeannette C. Jewett—all of Omaha, and Mrs. W. B. Royall, Miss Agnes Royall and Dr. [Richards] Barnett, Lieut. M. C. Foote and the writer—all of Fort Omaha. The ladies were all lovely and refined and extremely gentle and companionable—the gentlemen, well acquainted with each other and with the ladies whom they had in charge. No finer day for our purpose could have been selected; a brief rain the preceding evening had laid the dust and tempered the heat, so as to enable us to enjoy the fine scenery along the line of the road and to indulge in pleasant converse. Last year, I described this part of Nebraska at some length (in my note-book for August) and will only say now 1. Fort Omaha was established as Omaha Barracks in 1868, on the right bank of the Missouri River within the present city limits of Omaha, Nebraska. It was upgraded to fort in 1878. The post was replaced by Fort Crook in 1895, but has been reactivated several times, and the government has retained the military reservation. Frazer, Forts of the West, 89. 2.╇ Bourke married Mary Horbach on July 25, 1883. Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 201.



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that the remark to be added is improvement everywhere. Within the past six months, the North Nebraska [Railroad] has been merged in the combination known as the Chicago, Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha R.R. and is building a connection to unite Omaha and Saint Paul, Minn. Aside from its value as an entering wedge in the great Upper Missouri bottom lands, it will be of importance as a link between the lumber regions of Wisconsin and the corn lands of Nebraska, bringing pine from the former to Omaha for distribution and taking back thousands of tons of corn to Duluth for cheap lake shipment during the season of navigation. As another reason, I may add that it will do much to smash the “Iowa pool” which has done so much to the detriment of Omaha, which by the present census shows a pop. of 30.625, (a gain of 14.000 since ’70.) and which will in 1890 show not less than 55.000. Our run to Oakland was made without much to note and in due time: it is a small place; remarkable more for having grown out of a cornfield since last September than for any other feature. We had seen so many mushroom Western towns that none of our party manifested any special astonishment and all yielded to a slight emotion of disappointment on account of not seeing the “war dance” which, it was expected would be given by one hundred warriors of the Omaha tribe, whose village is not very many miles from Oakland. They were to have come in by noon, but at the hour of our departure nearly 1 P.M., there had been no signs of their arrival. To compensate for this little disappointment, our hostesses spread for us in the car a very acceptable lunch which included among other delicacies, fresh red raspberries gathered from the bushes almost at the moment of our passing Fort Calhoun.3 At every station and especially at Blair, where was a “grand pic-nic and veteran’s reunion”, with three enthusiastic bands belting the stuffing out of bass-drum and wheezing cornets, and a “parade” of militia armed with slats or laths instead of rifles—our party attracted much attention, on account of the lovely ladies with us who must have looked angelic by contrast with the great throng of frecklefaced, elephant-footed, big-waisted and coarse voiced Bohemian, Scandinavian and German women who surrounded them. On our return trip, we were joined by a party of our friends who had been on a fishing excursion in a special car which allowed them 3. A town, rather than a military post.

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the privilege of going from point to point at will. Mr. Millard, Mr. Tongalin, Mr. Yates, Col. [Marshall I.] Ludington, Mr. Gil, Collins, Lt. [William] Hoffman and others made up that party and knowing them all very well, I am free to say that on their trip they broke as many of the ten commandments as they conveniently could. They hadn’t secured many fish—about 100—black bass—all told, but they had consumed much bait—kept in black bottles marked “Schlitz’s Milwaukee”. In our car, on our return trip was Miss Susette La Flèche, or “Bright Eyes”—a pretty Ponca Indian lady, daughter of the old chief, Josep[h] La Flèche, or “Iron Eyes”, and formerly referred to at length in my note-books treating of the Ponca Indians.4 July 5 1880. Below is inserted the criticism written by Mr. John F. Finerty of the Chicago Times upon Captain Charles King’s little book, descriptive of General Crook’s campaign against the hostile Sioux and Cheyennes in 1876-7. No one better than Finerty understood the merits of that severe campaign, as no officer or soldier participated with greater zeal, patience and gallantry in all its trials and dangers than he.5 KING’S “CAMPAIGNING WITH CROOK.” [“]Campaigning with Crook” is the title of a very interesting series of Indian war sketches, by Capt. Charles King, U.S.A., published by The Sentinel company, Milwaukee, Wis. Capt. King, who served with the 5th cavalry during the operations in Wyoming, Montana and Dakota, from June until November in the centennial year [1876], is very happy in his description of the marches, bivouacs, skirmishes, and vicissitudes generally of that famous campaign against the warlike aborigine of the northwest. 4.╇ Actually the La Flesche were Omaha, but became involved in the Ponca cause. Thrapp, Encyclopedia, 2:804–5. 5.╇ Finerty’s involvement in the campaign is discussed in detail in Robinson, Diaries, Vols. 1 and 2. This paperback book, whose full title is Campaigning with Crook: The Fifth Cavalry in the Sioux War of 1876, was the compilation a series of articles King originally wrote for the Sentinel, after he was retired on disability for wounds suffered during the Nez Percé War. An expanded version, together with some of King’s short stories, was published in 1890 by Harper Brothers of New York, as Campaigning with Crook and Stories of Army Life. The 1890 edition, together with Bourke’s classic On the Border With Crook, and Finerty’s War-Path and Bivouac, is largely responsible for Crook’s modern image as Spartan, taciturn, and modest. See Russell, Campaigning with King, 94–97, and Robinson, General Crook, 247.

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The 5th cavalry did not arrive in time to take part in the first action on Tongue river, June 9, which was simply an Indian reconnaissance, and a daring one, nor was that fine regiment present at the Rosebud fight, on June 17, eight days before Custer met his fate; but it battled the Cheyennes who attempted to join the hostiles, on War Bonnet creek, and sent them back discomfited to their agency, in July, 1876, and then marched northward to join Crook on Goose creek, where it arrived in August. The pictures of the “affairs” on the War Bonnets [sic] and at Slim buttes are spiritedly drawn. Capt. King’s recollection of his military experience on the cross march from Tongue river to the Little Missouri, and from Heart river to the Black Hills is wonderfully accurate, and brings back to every participator in that terrible promenade, when all of Crook’s command lived on horseflesh for a week, the full weight of his misery. Without tents, without a change of clothing, with but a single blanket, and during an eternal downpour of rain, that luckless body of troops suffered as few soldiers have suffered since Napoleon’s campaign in German mud, during the year 1813, from Lutzran to Leipsic [sic]. The fighting result of Gen. Crook’s experiment was not satisfactory to that energetic officer, but Capt. King claims that the hardships endured by his command in the fall of 1876 virtually terminated the great Sioux war, by starving the Indians out and compelling the surrender of Crazy Horse and the most formidable bands of the united tribes that won the victory on the Little Big Horn in midsummer. The author highly compliments Gen. Crook on the result. There is a fascination about Indian books that fairly carried the reader, especially the military reader, on the wild current of all that is left of the romantic in the war fare of the far west. In Capt. King’s stirring volume, the retired frontier soldier lives again amid the scenes of his early exploits. He hears the shrill yell of the circling savages as they dash among and around the slow-moving columns of infantry, or as they engage hand to hand the cavalry, who can not cope with the inimitable horsemanship of their foes. He hears the stern word of command, and the fierce crash of musketry,

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as the combat deepens. He stands beside the shallow graves of the slain, and listens around the bivouac-fire to the brief words of regret for the lost comrade. He sees again the wide, weary stretches of the virgin prairie, here and there intersected by a rushing river, on shore bands the cottonwood grows tall and green, and he discerns rising into the clouds in masses, grandly irregular, the matchless mountains of the Big Horn, whose passes are the indestructible gates of “the Indian Paradise.” For every person who has an interest in the history of the new “empire,” wrested from the despairing grasps of the gallant hostiles, by the fraud and force of our pioneers, Capt. King’s book cannot fail to be both amusing and interesting. It throws fresh light on an arduous Indian campaign that escaped the recognition it deserved both from the government and the people because of the climax of public excitement reached when Custer’s command was butchered, and also because of the Philadelphia exposition, and the presidential election, both of which were in progress at the very time when Gen. Crook was cutting a new path through the unexplored wilderness for the march of civilization. th July 5 1880. Genl. Crook, with General [George Alexander] “Sandy” Forsyth of Lieut-General Phil. Sheridan’s Staff, Lieut. Samuel Swigert, 2nd Cavalry, and the writer, left Omaha, on Union Pacific train for the West: General Forsyth going to the camp on White River, Colorado; Lieut. Swigert returning from leave to his post at Fort Ellis, Montana6; and General Crook and myself going to Fort Douglass, (Salt Lake,) Utah,7 preparatory to a trip into the country of the Uintah Utes. The day was one of Nature’s loveliest; a series of brisk showers early in the morning had refreshed the thirsty earth, cooled the air and brightened the dust-laden foliage. Birds sang gaily in the trees or darted about in the tall grass and fields of waving corn. Truly, I thought, Nebraska is the poor farmer’s Paradise; no timber to 6.╇ Fort Ellis was established in 1867 on the East Gallatin River, three miles west of Bozeman, to guard Bozeman, Bridger, and Flathead Passes. It was abandoned in 1886, and the military reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior. Frazer, Forts of the West, 80. 7.╇ Fort Douglas, or Douglass, was established as a camp in 1862 east of Salt Lake City, to protect the Overland Mail and telegraph, control the Indians of the region, and watch over the Mormons, whose loyalty was suspect. It was upgraded to a fort in 1878. Ibid., 166.

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encumber the ground and all that is needed for building purposes readily obtainable at low rates from the R.R.s now cutting the state in all directions. The present census will show that Nebraska is entitled to four members of congress; in 1890 she’ll be able to win ten; it is not a matter of imagination to think that the population now flowing in is of a very elevated type of honest, intelligent and hard-working farmers who will make themselves felt in building up the young Commonwealth. Our train spun along on the level track in such a luxuriously comfortable way that at times one was scarcely sensible of the motion; each day adds new improvements to the “plant” of this great road. New branch lines, side track, switches, iron and steel bridges, cut stone culverts and new steel rails, not to speak of cars kept in the neatest and newest condition. Superintendt. J. F. Clark was in his special car attached to our train, on his way to inspect the new branch building from Julesburgh to Denver, Colo. General Forsyth gave me a most thrilling account of his fight with hostile Indians in the Republican River, in Kansas, in 1868.8 At the commencement of active operations in that year, General Sheridan placed Forsyth in command of a band of picked frontiersmen with orders to scout the country lying West and North of Fort Wallace, Kansas,9 in which small bands of Cheyennes & Sioux had been depredating with great boldness. As the Indians had been careful in each case to obscure their trail as much as possible, Forsyth circled about for four days, hoping to find pony or horse tracks which might lead him towards some camp of the enemy. His idea proved to be sound. At the end of the fourth afternoon, his men came upon the tracks of two ponies which were followed until dusk when the late camping place of a small group of ten or twelve was discovered and not far beyond this the trail of a great village, as plain as a wagon 8.╇ This refers to Forsyth’s fight at Beecher’s Island, on the Republican River, just inside Colorado from Kansas. Forsyth and a fifty-man scouting party held off a band of at least six hundred Oglala and Cheyenne warriors for eight days, September 17–25, 1868, until a relief column arrived from Fort Wallace. Forsyth lost six killed and fifteen wounded during the siege. See Utley, Frontier Regulars, 147–48. 9.╇ Fort Wallace was established at Camp Pond Creek in 1865, at the confluence of Pond Creek and the south fork of the Smoky Hill River. It was upgraded as Fort Wallace, the following year. The post was established to control Indians and protect the Butterfield Overland stage line. Fort Wallace was abandoned in 1882, and the reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior two years later. Frazer, Forts of the West, 58–59.

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road. Forsyth knew that he was in for it. Success was impossible in the face of the odds he knew he must be prepared to encounter; his only hope was to be able to fall upon some of the stragglers from the main body and kill or capture them before their friends could come to their rescue. But in this purpose he was disappointed. Early one morning, a fierce attack was made upon his party before it had broken bivouac. Providentially, camp had been made the previous evening in the only locality for miles capable of affording adequate protection. The savages to the number of 970, all splendidly mounted and armed and superbly led, made a desperate charge, confident of their power to eat up at one bite Forsyth’s little band of 51, all told. His position was on a little island in a bend of the Republican where, altho’ the stream was narrow and shallow, the open sandy banks on both sides gave the Indians no protection while making this dash. Forsyth’s men kept as close as possible in the tall, green grass and behind such shelter as the cottonwood and willow saplings growing about them afforded. Forsyth speaks enthusiastically of the desperate valor of the Indians who moved in so close upon his lines that several of their dead fell within reach of the weapons in the hands of his men. Their leader—Roman Nose—was killed; also their head medicine man who had often vaunted his complete immunity from the bullets of the soldiers and whose loss was therefore all the more of a damper upon their enthusiasm. Still, they persisted in their purpose of wiping out the little party of intrepid scouts and made several other charges as brave and as ineffectual as the first. They then changed their tactics and made a regular investment, hoping to starve out the little garrison. (The dampness of the grass prevented them from trying their favorite trick of burning.) Forsyth’s situation now became desperate. Upon the distant hills, back of the line of feathered and painted warriors, and stimulating them by voice and gesture, he could discern groups of Sioux and Cheyenne women and children to a total of several thousands. He had already suffered a loss of 24 killed and wounded, had no food in his camp and could expect help from no quarter. Every man who for a moment lifted his head from cover became the focus of a dozen

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converging lines of fire. The sufferings of the wounded were intense. Nothing could be done to alleviate them except to supply water, of which an abundance flowed in the stream, surrounding camp. The only food to be found was a meagre allowance of scarcely-ripened wild plums plucked at the risk of life and limb from a few bushes growing on the island. Two or three of the wounded went crazy and all, wounded or unhurt, were in the lowest depths of despondency and would have yielded to despair had it not been for the shame and confidence inspired by their indomitable leader whose heroism in this crisis appears sublime. He had been thrice wounded; once, in scalp; once in Right groin; and once—a horrible wound—in lower part of Left leg, smashing flesh and bones in such a manner that four inches of the latter protruded. He pluckily kept at his post of duty, cheered his men in every way and showed by his conquest of agony that he was as indifferent to pain as to fear. After nine days’ beleaguerment, relief approached and the baffled savages withdrew, firing a parting volley of spite and hate. When the Doctor came to put Forsyth’s leg in the splint that had been made by stripping off the bark from a cottonwood sapling & filling in with cotton to fit the limb, it was discovered that besides the puffed, discolored and shattered flesh and bones, the wound was a living mass of maggots! The scalp wound he never gave any attention to and the bullet in the Right groin he himself cut out with a razor borrowed from one of the scouts who happened to have such a luxury with him. A number of our wounded die within a short time and Forsyth himself lingered for four months at Fort Wallace, Kansas, the Doctor uncertain at first about saving his life and the whole time about saving his leg. At a Council held with the Indians a few years after this date when they had been some months upon a Reservation, Forsyth learned, in addition to what is above given that the attacking party was composed of Northern Cheyennes and Ogalalla Sioux, numbering all told over three thousand, that they were assured of their ability to destroy him and his party, having known of their approach for five days before making attack; that the death of their chief and head medicine man had much disconcerted and dispirited them and this, coupled with their loss of more than seventy killed

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and wounded, had broken their spirit and kept them from doing more than [illegible] a constant watch upon him and detachment to prevent escape. “We got enough in the fight,[”] said the old chief who acted as spokesman, [“]how was it with you?” “I got enough”, said Forsyth. “How! How!” grunted the circle of warriors. Thus the tale ended. Forsyth spoke in terms of the warmest praise of Captain [William Lewis] Carpenter, 9th Cavalry, who commanded the troops who effected his rescue. July 6, 1880. At Cheyenne, we were met by Capt. Jas. Lord, A[ssistant].Q[uarter].M[aster], Major [Peter D.] Vroom, Lieuts. [James Ferdinand] Simpson, [Bainbridge] Reynolds and [John Martin] Porter, 3rd Cavalry, and [John Arthur] Baldwin, 9th Infantry, and my old friend, Tom Moore, Chief of Transportation, a tried and true associate in much of our hard campaigning in Arizona, Wyoming, and Montana. Also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Tom. Sturgis and his beautiful bride, lately Miss Nellie Weir, sister of my old friend, Lt. Wm. B. Weir, of the Ordnance Corps, whose sad death at the hands of the Utes in October of last year was appropriately alluded to in my note books of that date.10 At Fort Sanders,11 met Captains [John B.] Johnson and [John Charles] Thompson, 3rd Cavalry, Lt. [George Allen] Dodd, same reg’t., Lt. [John] Scott, R.Q.M., 4th Infy., Major [Albert Selah] Towar, Pay Dept. and Colonel [Caleb Henry] Carlton, 3rd Cavalry. Colonel Carlton, at Genl. Crook’s request, accompanied us as far at Laramie City, the general being anxious to learn from him about the condition of affairs in the North Park of Colorado, which Colonel Carlton has lately scouted. Major Towar took our train as far as Ft. Steele,12 going on a pay tour. Lt. Dodd followed us to Laramie City in a buggy getting there a few minutes after the train. Colonel Carlton kindly brought down a couple of bottles of cham10.╇ See Robinson, Diaries, 3:339–41. 11.╇ Fort Sanders was established three miles from Laramie in 1866, to protect emigrant routes, the Denver-Salt Lake stage route, and Union Pacific construction crews. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1882. Not to be confused with Fort Laramie, which is in extreme east-central Wyoming near the Nebraska line. Frazier, Forts of the West, 185. 12. Fort Fred Steele was established in 1868 at the crossing of the Union Pacific Railroad over the North Platte River, to protect the railroad and the Overland Trail. The post was abandoned in 1886 and transferred to the Interior Department. Ibid., 186.╇

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pagne in which General Forsyth, Lt. Swigert, Mr. France, (the Pullman Car Conductor,) and I drank his good health after leaving Laramie City. General Forsyth bade us good bye about midnight at Rawlins, Wyo. July 7th 1880. Entering the Wahsatch Mountains whose summits are still white with snow, we saw on each side of us great clusters of sweet wild roses. At Ogden, enjoying a rich treat of delicious strawberries: here we parted with Mr. [James M.] Haworth, Indian Inspector, a very pleasant gentleman who had been with us from Omaha and with Lt. Swigert. Col. J. M. Thornburgh [sic]13 met us at Ogden and accompanied us down to Salt Lake City, where at the depot awaiting Genl. Crook were Genl. J. E. Smith, 14th Infy. and his adjutant, Lieut. [William W.] McCammon. Put up at Continental Hotel, (formerly Townsend House.) July 8. Mr. Reynolds, of Indian Territory and his brother, with Col. Thornburgh, Genl. Crook and myself started early in the morning for the Hot Sulphur Springs where we had a most delightful bath and thence, with sharpened appetites back to the hotel where we enjoyed at breakfast the fine strawberries for which Salt Lake is deservedly famous. General Smith drove us about noon out to the post [Fort Douglas] where we inspected his lovely gardens filled with roses and other fine flowers and then took lunch with his wife and daughter,—Mrs. Bascom—two charming ladies. At this collation, the strawberries and raspberries were something fabulous as to size and irreproachable in color, firmness and flavor. I certainly saw some strawberries on that table that would reach more than one half across this page. The raspberries tho’ not so large were worthy of attention for fragrance, sweetness and freshness. We saw many mulberry trees— both white and black—in full bearing, doing finely. The fruit is very insipid and the tree is mentioned simply to base a prediction that one day Utah will raise its own silk. In the afternoon, Genl. Crook, Genl. Smith, Lt. McCammon, Mr. 13. Heitman’s does not list a J. M. Thornburgh, so this is most likely Jacob N. Thornburgh of Tennessee, brother to Thomas Tipton Thornburgh who was killed in the White River Ute Uprising of 1879. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 3, Part 4. ╇

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Thornburgh and myself took the Utah Western R.R. for Lake Point 22 miles out from town to have a bath in the Lake. The water, as is well known, is so dense that it is impossible to sink in it and people float upon its surface like so many corks. After leaving the water, head, neck, ears and eyebrows are coated with salt. July 9th 1880. Genl. Crook, Genl. J.E. Smith, Lieut. McCammon, Col. Thornburgh, (of Tenn.) Mr. Reynolds of N.Y. and brother of Indian Territory and Lieut. Bourke started for Springville, Utah. On our way to the dépôt of the Utah Southern R.R., were joined by Mr. Corcoran, Superintendent of the Pleasant Valley R.R., who had made every preparation for our trip. (The Utah Southern R.R. has already been described at some length in my note books of 1875, ’77 and ’78.)14 Springville, 54 miles from Salt Lake, is the present terminus of the Pleasant Valley R.R. which has been built up Spanish Fork to carry down wood, coal, coke and wool from the crest of the Wasatch range. In coal and wood, it already promises to do an immense business and may become in the near future the channel for carrying a large amount of gold ore and wool to the Salt Lake market. Our train was made up of a dozen or more flat cars and one small box, having seats running lengthwise, which were well filled with the members of our party and a few Mormons. Two of the Mormons were girls, not bad looking and one of a decidedly fine figure. To listen to their garrulous chat with the brakeman, one would infer they were on their way to some of the missions or “stakes” the Mormon church is constantly establishing in this Territory. I refer to them because they appeared to be better than the average Mormon women and still ignorant enough. The cañon of the Spanish Fork is commonplace and a great disappointment to any one whose hopes have been based on previous experience with that of the American Fork or other beautiful streams of the Wasatch range. The train runs in and out through unexpected bends and curves, the little engine panting and puffing, now up grade, now down; the brawling stream rushing along, at times in plain view and unsightly, at others hiding among clumps of willows, and rose-bushes and murmuring an invitation for us to share with it in the freshness of the shadows cast by the copses on overhanging rocks. The surrounding hills fail in color, form, height or asperity to im14.╇ See Robinson, Diaries, Vols. 1–3.

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press the beholder with a sense either of the beautiful or sublime. The valley appears to be well adapted for sheep-raising and Mr. Reynolds tells me that great flocks are at pasture nearer the summit of the range and that he and his partner own 50.000! The Rocks in proximity to the Railroad are mostly sandstone conglomerate. There is a great amount of drift near the mouth of cañon and considerable limestone near its head. The great source of value of this cañon will be as a sheep-pasturage and coal field. The general grade of this narrow gauge road is 115 feet to the mile; near summit there are two “switchbacks” with grades of 165 feet, to climb the flanks of the Range. These make a Z in moving up or down which the locomotive can be seen either above the last of the train or below it, as the case may be. Scenery at the summit is much nobler and air purer and cooler, but in no respect can Spanish compare with American Fork. Water now began flowing into Green River, instead of into Lake Utah. Our train now entered Pleasant Valley, a hill-bound depression covered with green grass upon which great herds of horses and cattle were grazing. Three miles farther, stopped at Thomas’ Saw mill where we found rough accomodations but a hospitable reception. The mill was busy in cutting out pine lumber, of which a good supply is accessible from the cañons near by; some of it will cut 3 feet in thickness and give 5 or 6 good sized saw logs. McCammon and De Graaf started out a little before dark to catch some trout and brought back a few, but too late to have them cooked for our supper. After dark, the Messers Reynolds, McCammon and myself took repeating rifles and revolvers and moved up the cañon, hoping before night had too far advanced to reach a lumber camp where a grizzly bear was reported as a nightly visitor. One mile and a half from Thomas’, the Rail Road ended at a coal mine belonging to Mr. Reynolds where we remained so long inspecting the output and the general management of the mine that darkness came on before we were aware of it. We hurried up the cañon, following a wood road which led us through a dense forest of graceful pine, spruce and aspen trees, past brawling waterfalls or along the swift rushing current of a crystal mountain stream, until we met a party of lumbermen who told us it was useless to think of going farther on account of darkness. We reluctantly retraced our steps for 3 miles to Thomas’ and quite tired turned in with our comrades to sleep upon the floor of

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a little room 15’ x 12’. We were nine in number and blankets being scarce we suffered much from the cold of the night and the hardness of the boards: however, being used to roughing it, we took matters coolly. July 10th 1880. (Saturday.) Before break of day, McCammon and De Graaf were up and off on a fishing trip, returning with trout enough to give us all a relish for our breakfast. We first made our hasty ablutions in the tin basin standing outside the door, wiping our faces upon a towel which had seen better days, and then to the dining room where the mongolian [sic] chef de cuisine received us with a Celestial grin and a very palatable meal. The keen mountain air whetted our appetites to a wonderful degree and caused the disappearance of ham, beef, potatoes, biscuits, coffee and all the other components of the meal Ah Sin had prepared for us. Immediately after, we mounted a bunch of cattle ponies and under the guidance of Mr. Palford started out to surmount the Wasatch Range and observe what we could of the Ute Country, on its Eastern slope. Our route took us through a fascinating region, part of the time pleasant little swales where the luxuriant grass was enamelled with rare flowers and again forcing our way through clumps of timber from which the startled deer sprang at our approach. Several fine seams of coal cropped out of the side of the ravine; one, that we halted alongside of for a few minutes being 5 feet in thickness and another in close proximity, which I did not look at, being 11 feet, according to what our guide told us. I cannot pretend to picture the beauty of the countless wild flowers growing at our feet in all the little dells and nooks beside our trail, the columbines, (white and purple) especially were the largest and finest any of us had ever seen. Breaking our way through the timber belt and emerging into an open stretch of barren mountain we saw that we had reached the snow line; below us and around us, glistening in the sun, were large patches of snow, our own rocky position being free from it on account of its exposure to the warm rays. Now followed a long climb which tested the endurance of our little ponies and gave me increased confidence in the wiry, gray little brute upon whose back I was seated. His saddle was old and too big for me, his bridle

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too little for him: it had done duty as a harness bridle, but in the present emergency was lengthened out with a halter strap to be long enough for riding. With ponies as with men, neither harness or clothes should be the standard of judgment. My Pegasus carried me safely, spiritedly and with patient good nature, to the crest of that steep mountain buttress and I take pleasure in commemorating his excellent qualities. From the summit of a very high perch of the Wasatch, we overlooked a scene which repaid us for all our trouble; it was a vast expanse, hundreds of miles in area, watered by the Green [River] and its tributaries and comprising much of that in which operations against the hostile Utes must be carried on this Fall and winter. It is not only very rough, but in the main a desert—one mass of mountains & cañons—and will interpose many obstacles in the settlement of this Indian question. This ride and climb of ten miles each way made us ravenous for dinner and then in a special car, provided by Mr. Corcoran, we steamed down to Fish Creek. (four miles.) and there spent the afternoon with good luck and bad, in catching, or trying to catch, trout. General Crook, Mr. De Graaf, Col. Thornburgh, & Lt. McCammon got nearly all that were caught: Mr. Corcoran got only one and I none. Not having any scales, the estimate of the weight was left to me and I agreed to put it at an average of 3½ pounds, which seemed to satisfy all concerned; in return for this compliment, our party agreed to consider that the bear which Mr. Reynolds and I did not shoot, weighed 2300 lbs standing and requested me to note both figures in my journal. Our little locomotive carried us back to Thomas’ by dark. Mr. Thomas informed us that supper had been laid out for us at the boarding house of the coal mines. In two or three minutes more, steam had brought us to the door of the boarding house, inside which we saw a table heaped up with a most excellent supper. I really forgot our host’s name—it was something like Blickendeifer—but I shall never forget his sunny countenance and quaint, good natured hospitality. Between 9 and 10 at night, we got back to Thomas’, took a drink and turned in upon our downy couches of pine boards. Exhaustion made us go to sleep almost the moment we laid our heads upon our pillows of coats and pantaloons; all except Col. Thornburgh who talked all night.

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July 11th. We were awake with the birds which sung merrily in the trees near the house. Our rotund Boniface declined to take any compensation for the trouble we had occasioned him and would only receive thanks in acknowledgment of his courtesy: these he had in plenty as well as assurances of our hopes of meeting him again under circumstances when we could play the host. Genl. Crook, Genl. Smith, Lt. McCammon, Col. Thornburgh and myself bade good bye to Mr. Thomas, and to Messers Reynolds, De Graaf and Corcoran who remained behind to attend to their coke furnace which has the promise of a large contract from the Horn Silver Mining Co. This Company is now paying $22.50 per ton for coke which Reynolds agrees to furnish at $14.00. Should his coal “coke” easily, he will make his fortune and that of his associates. This coal is rich in resin exuded from the knots and spores of ferns. Our down train consisted of 5 cars coal, 4 cars of lumber, 8 of wood and one passenger coach. Expensive rip-rapping has been required along this road to confine the winter floods of the Spanish Fork, which in early spring is a source of great danger to the track-beds. Noticed some Titanic blocks of conglomerate, towering above us like ancient ruins. The only passengers besides ourselves were half a dozen Mormons, men and women, returning from work at the Co-Op Sheep ranches along line of stream. At Springville, the kind forethought of Mr. Reynolds had secured dinner for us at the house of Mr. Parker, a leading Mormon. Our reception was in the highest degree hospitable and the meal spread out for us simply exquisite. Everything on the table had been raised around Springville, including the luscious strawberries which fruit attains in this Salt Lake country a size and flavor and richness unequalled any where else on earth that I know of. None of the ladies of the house sat down at the table with us. I can’t say whether or not the rules of the Mormon church encourage their women to mingle with strangers but I rather think not; at least, I have never yet eaten a meal with one of them. Reached the Continental Hotel, Salt Lake by 6.30 P.M. General Crook received a telegram announcing the sad news of the death in Omaha, Neb., last night, of his friend, G. H. Collins. July 12th. We, (the same party as yesterday,) left Salt Lake at 7 a.m.

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By the Utah Southern R.R. for Fort Cameron.15 The run to Juab, the terminus of the Utah Southern R.R. proper was made without incident and having been previously described, no reference is really needed. Approaching Juab, we remarked at points on a side track a number of cars, 15 or 20 all told, loaded with silver lead bars from the Horn Silver Mine. At Juab we dined and a really fine dinner we got. My notes have with such frequency dilated upon good meals in the course of our travels, that I may be accused of epicurism. Be it so. I regard well cooked food as one of the greatest blessings that can come to humanity and especially American humanity. I hope to live to see the day when American ladies shall proudly boast of their skills in domestic matters and when the serving up of a poor meal to travellers shall be a crime punishable with death. From Juab, we took the Utah Southern R.R. extension built to convey silver bullion from the Great Horn Silver Mine at Frisco. Its general course is South by West, keeping 30 @ 35 miles West of the old Beaver Stage road, which is unfortunate, as the latter, by hugging close to the flanks of the Wasatch, passes through a number of flourishing settlements, lying at foot of that range, while the iron rail strikes at once into a dreary desert of wind-rippled sand, covered with a sickly and scanty growth of sage-brush. The main stream is the Sevier river, a miserable brook at this season, but which yet meanders through a total length of 250 miles before losing itself in the marsh of mud that Geographers delight to call Sevier “Lake(!).” At Deseret station, a lonesome hole, took supper. Within sight of here, Lieut. Gunnison and party of surveyors were massacred by the Parawan Utes, about 1855. The atrocious deed was committed by a party of boys whose father had been foully murdered by white immigrants the year before.16 15.╇ Fort Cameron was established on the Beaver River, in 1872, to protect the mining districts of southern Utah. Initially designed “Post Near Beaver City,” it was upgraded to a fort in 1874. It was abandoned nine years later, however, because the heavy settlement and development of the region rendered it unnecessary. Frazer, Forts of the West, 164–65. 16.╇ John William Gunnison (1812–53), of the Topographical Engineers, originally went west as a member of an expedition under Capt. Howard Stansbury to survey the Salt Lake Valley in 1849. In 1853, Gunnison, now promoted to captain, headed his own expedition, which was attacked by a band of Indians in retaliation for the recent killing of one of their own. Gunnison and seven others were killed, and four escaped. Contemporary rumors that the massacre was instigated by the Mormons have been completely discredited. Gunnison had cordial relations with the Mormon establishment, and Bancroft (470) points out that one of the victims was a Mormon guide. Bancroft, History of Utah, 463–71.

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Near Black rock, carved upon the solid basalt are many curious Indian pictures, representations of cattle, horses, birds, &c. Mud Lake, below this, is a vast sheet of mud in the rainy season, but is now mostly an alkaline flat, charged with salt. A half dozen laborers were working here stretching the telegraph wire to connect Juab and Frisco; one of them complained to me that the mud of this Lake was so salty, it made the skin of his legs smart as if burned in a fire. In the seats in front of us were a half score of jolly miners returning from their 4th July holiday in Salt Lake. They had good voices and knew something about singing. Consequently, we were favored with good music, pathetic, humorous and religious. Their voices blended well and they sang as if they loved it. At 9.20 p.m. reached Milford. Here we met Paymaster [Charles Wesley] Wingard and Lt. [Frank] Taylor, 14th Infantry. Milford is assuming prominence as the centre of supply for the Star, Cave and other paying mining districts. Already, it has a smelter and quartz mill in operation and other improvements in construction or contemplation. By great effort, we succeeded in getting rooms for all our party. Genl. Crook and Genl. Smith with the Postmaster and the rest at the “Hotel”(!) Of our accomodation or lack of accomodation at this place, I’ll say but little; those who must at some time follow in our footsteps might be discouraged. McCammon and I shared one room–a little box, 8’ x 10’. He occupied the bed, I the floor. Each slept comfortably enough except for the cold which became severe–the evaporation on these desert flats being immense–and for the disturbance occasioned by the outgoing train which left at 3.40 in the morning. Let me say for our landlady that she was good-nature and jollity personified; her hotel is a poor specimen just at this date, but within twelve months I am sure she’ll have a new one of brick run up and in successful operation. July 13th. Took the transportation awaiting us from Fort Cameron and started for that post, 35 miles. Road very dusty and monotonous. Ten or a dozen miles out, struck Beaver River, at Minersville, and followed it up to Fort Cameron. Seven miles from the post, at the Mormon village of Pancake, Maj. Burke, (D. W.) Capt. [James] Kennington & Lt. [John] Murphy were waiting for us. We had a warm

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hand-shaking and a cold glass of iced beer—both very acceptable. All these officers served in the 1876–7 campaign and all are fine soldiers. Burke is a gallant soldier who bears three service wounds as his souvenirs of the War of the Rebellion. Murphy, I shall always particularly remember on account of the many pranks played upon him by waggish brother officers while he was Quartermaster at Fort Robinson in 1877. This was a most important and onerous position at the date in question, and no man could have discharged its duties with a more inflexible honesty and careful attention than Murphy bestowed upon them. He was too particular to suit his comrades who had fallen into the loose and indifferent ways engendered by a long campaign. Murphy made it a rule never to let any Q.M. property pass out of his possession without an order from superior authority and without a “mum-my-randum ray-sate” from the officer to whom he transferred it. The officer gave the memorandum receipts without demur, but a fearful outcry was always raised when the day of settlement arrived and the property had to be returned. There were so many ways of losing it;—the post was full of light-fingered Indians—recruits are nearly always careless—the work of constructing the post caused many tools to be lost or injured—there were all kinds of good reasons—that is good enough for anybody but John Murphy—He held the letter of the bond, the “mimmyr-andum ray-sate”.17 “No, no, Pay ther, Vroom, yiz got alivin shovils, ten sphades an’ foive picks; en’ yiz is shart foive shovils”. No coaxing or reasoning could prevail with John Murphy, but he had a hard customer to deal with in Major Vroom. Calling to his 1st Sergeant, he said to him, “Now Sergeant, it’s useless to tell me that those spades are lost for good. I know better. They have simply been mislaid and the men must find them and turn them in or I’ll have to charge them upon the pay-rolls of the company. Why, I’m almost sure I saw a bundle of spades lying outside the Q.M. warehouse as I was passing there just after retreat”. And so he had, only the spades were brand new spades that very hour unloaded from a freighter’s wagon. Well, to 17. Murphy appears to have shown very good judgment. As Lt. Col. Thomas T. Smith points out in his study of the military in Texas, which would have been little different from Nebraska during that era, quartermaster and commissary positions often were assigned to junior officers with little training or background for the position. There are more than a few instances of these officers finding themselves in trouble over shortages. Smith, U.S. Army & Texas Frontier Economy, 46–47.

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shorten a long story, the next morning, Vroom[’s] account was squared up, his 1st Sergeant having turned in all the tools called for on the “mimmy-randum ray-sate”, but John Murphy was prancing around invoking Heaven’s lightning to descend; upon Fort Robinson which he renounced as a “din of dam thaves who had stolen foive bran new shovil, be dad”. Fort Cameron has been much ornamented since my last visit, (in Dec. 1875).18 Neat, white, palings enclose the officers’ and men’s quarters, the parade is lined with thrifty cottonwoods19 and surrounded by a stream of cold, sweet water. The post has altogether a very finished look and to the traveller presents the features of an oasis in the desert, as it really is. The officers here stationed at date of writing are Colonel H. M. Douglass, (who kindly entertained Genl. Crook and myself.) Captains [David] Krause, Burke and Kennington, and Lts. Murphy, [Charles F.] Lloyd, [Millard Fillmore] Goodwin and Dr. Conden, all except the last named being of the 14th Infantry and those whose names are underscored having their families at the post, making a pleasant little social gathering. Mr. Valentine, post trader, was my companion in my first trip to this post and it is not likely that either of us will soon forget the roughness & discomforts of the journey. Genl. Smith, Lt. McCammon and I drove down to the town of Beaver, 2½ miles from the Fort and passed an hour or two looking about us. This little town is well laid out, has a goodly number of brick and stone houses and stores and with its avenues shaded with foliage and cooled by clear running streams on each side makes a decidedly agreeable impression upon the observer. The population is said to be in the neighborhood of 1500. Towards evening, we assembled at Maj. Burke’s to enjoy toddy lemonade and stories. To those who know Major Krause’s wonderful powers as a story-teller, I need say no more than that he was in his best vein, to satisfy them that we had a wonderfully good time. At the risk of mangling some of those which under his manipulation 18.╇ This is not covered in earlier published volumes, because there is a gap in the manuscript diaries between June 2, 1875, and February 17, 1876. 19.╇ Given the locale Bourke probably refers to the fact that cottonwoods make maximum use of the available water resources.

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made our sides ache, I’ll attempt an outline description. Old General Maurice Maloney, as all Army officers of sufficient age will remember, was a truly gallant, courteous old gentleman and a soldier of fine type, without much of an education or an extended knowledge of the world. He was at one time in command of all the U.S. forces at Atlanta, Ga., when Major General George Meade was to deliver a speech. There was an immense crowd and the speech was very effective. Meade told his audience that the war was ended and that all present should bend their energies to the reviving of good will between North and South. “You, soldiers,[”] said he, turning to the garrison, drawn up in line, [“]you, soldiers, have fought and bled that the stars and stripes might fly from that flag pole—There they must remain—They must never come down”. It was now Maloney’s turn. “Min,[”] said he, [“]yiz hev hur-r-d phat the Giniril hex sed about that flag—that it must nivir come down. Thots roight, min, it must nivir come down, excipt at raythrate or whin it r-r-rains”. Being at a social gathering, one evening, General Maloney was chosen umpire to impose the penalties in a game of forfeits. One of his decisions came near stampeding the assembly. Here it is. “Loo-tin-nint Far-r-gurson will promin-ade Mis Mic-Closkey about the room an’ kiss her at both inds. (Giggle.) At both inds av the room, oi mane”, he added, correcting himself with great dignity. (Renewed and prolonged giggles.) Next, Krause gave us an accounting of the 4th of July celebrations at Fort Fetterman, in 1874, when Lieut-Col. George Woodward was in command. (Since retired as Colonel 15th Infy. On account of wounds received in the late war.) Woodward was in every way a splendid fellow, but prone to the error of being too convivial on occasions of festivity. At the time in question, he was under the influence of patriotism and whiskey-punch and feeling very melancholy. He thus addressed his body servant, an Ethiopian gentleman,20 “Sam, you now belong to the dominant race. Once I belonged to the dominant race. When you become President, Sam, don’t forget your master, poor old George Woodward. Don’t dismiss him when you 20.╇ As in previous references, Bourke undoubtedly means black, “Ethiopian” being in common usage as a synonym in the nineteenth century.

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find he’s been drunk on duty, Sam”. And master and man mingled their tears together. Lastly, we listened to the story of Colonel Wilkins, who laid out the post of Ft. Cameron and was its first Commanding Officer. At one time, he was ordered off on recruiting service and his men determined to surprise him with a serenade. There wasn’t an astonishing amount of musical ability in the garrison, but a quartette was organized, the principal voice being that of a former English sailor, who knew but one song “Down with the Arethusy”, a melancholy lay having 937 verses, all alike. This was rendered with telling effect, much to the gratification of Col Wilkins, who was already a trifle “high”. At the conclusion of each verse, he would unbosom himself in about these terms. “My God! men, this is too much. You overwhelm me. We must all have another drink”, and would then give way to a copious flood of tears. Krause says the serenade lasted until the Colonel’s keg of whiskey ran dry. Lieut. Murphy took me after supper, to walk about the post: among other features, I observed a pretty little park or grove, left almost in the natural state, formed upon a small wooded island in Beaver creek, which stream after flowing around the island is conducted through a lakelet or basin, where the garrison in winter obtains its supply of ice. Fort Cameron, from its altitude, over 6000 feet, is subject to severe & late frosts; to this may be attributed the great scarcity of fruit in the vicinity, the present season. July 15th. Major D. W. Burke joined our party as we bade good bye to our generous hosts and left the Post. We had to start at 6 o’clock in the morning, in order to reach Milford by 11. This, however, was a great advantage and gave us a cool, bright drive, with very little dust, through the Mormon villages of Beaver, Pancake, and Minersville— all of them showing improvements of a permanent type indicating that the Mormons have settled in this country to remain. Milford has a quartz mill and smelting works, neither of which we had time or inclination to visit. Mr. John Sharp, Jr., of the Utah and Southern R.R., and Mr. Williams, of the Milford Smelting works, were waiting with a special engine and caboose to take us on to Frisco; we delayed only long enough to eat lunch and then started. Up grade all the way, 1650 feet in 14 @ 16 miles. Country a sandy desert hemmed in by barren mountains.

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Mr. J. M. Bourke, Mr. Campbell and other citizens of Frisco, met us at the train and took us in carriages through the town. It was a surprise to me, and to all of our party to see the stone and brick stores, saloons, hotels and residences, already up or going up on every side. As a matter of fact, the great bulk of the buildings in the town was of timber and of a primitive pattern, but when it is considered that Frisco is so new and that it is built in a sterile and arid land, only lately put in R.R. communication with the rest of the world, surprise will still be felt that there should be any such buildings at all. It is a disagreeably dusty own, laid out in a bed of volcanic ashes, hemmed in by a series of insignificant knobs whose flanks are covered thickly with a growth of scrub cedar. Lumber for building has to be hauled from the mills in the Wah-Wah mountains, 15 miles to the South East. Water is obtainable from wells, 15 @ 50 feet deep, but is not fit to drink. Drinking water sells for 4 c[ents]. per gallon. A profitable trade is transacted by selling it at these figures, both by parties who transport it from sweet springs lying a few miles out from down, and by the R.R. Co. which takes two tank cars of it daily all the way from Milford. Frisco, with its present population of 800, is dependant for its existence upon the great mines in its neighborhood, the greatest being the Horn Silver, discovered six years ago by a couple of half-starved prospectors, and, after changing proprietors a number of times, has this Spring been sold to a New York Company for $6.900.000!21 The steam hoisting works are not yet completed, will not be ready for use before another month. Access to the workings is had at present by the ordinary winze [sic], moved by horse power. Mr. Hill, the Supdt. and Mr. Crouch, the foreman of the mine, took us in charge and gave the necessary directions as to what we should do in going down the shaft. Two descended at a time standing on the rim of an ordinary vinegar band and holding onto a rope, 2½ inches in Diam. “Stand on your feet, gentlemen, don’t hang the rope. Are you ready?[”] “Yes, Sir”. There is a pause for one minute and a double clang of a bell to warn those below—and then Whizz-z—we are off. Down we go; the heavy timbers in the shaft rapidly running way, make our heads swim and tightly we clutch the frail rope our sole dependence for getting back to the receding blue spot 21.╇ In modern currency roughly $79,350,000.

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which we were wont to call the sky, but at which we now felt like clutching for safety. We are not going at such a very rapid rate after all, just close enough to keep us thinking what if that confounded rope should break! Well here we are. In a low chamber, not over 6½ feet high in the clear and about 15 feet square on the floor, braced by heavy pine timbers not less than 12 inches on a side, and lighted by a coal oil lamp placed in front of a reflector, in one corner. While we are making these observations, the other members of our party are descending and are receiving each one a lighted candle from Mr. Crouch. “Carry the butts forward, gentlemen, on account of the draft”. We follow our guide, not without fear at first, through levels, drifts, and past winzes and stofees—all full of ore. “This is low grade—30 oz. to the Ton”. “This is high-grade carbonate–2000 dollars”. [“]This is some other kind”—[“]This, Horn silver”. But money, money everywhere. Money on all sides. $38.000.000, “they say”—[“]in sight”. Aladdin becomes a pauper and Monte Cristo a beggar as our cicerone glibly speaks of millions with much the same concern as we have been in the habit of speaking in hundreds of dollars. How weary and tired one gets of being poor when brought into the presence of such affluence and to learn that it has been acquired in a moment and by accident! It’s the old, old story; two poor prospectors stumble on the ledge, starving to-day, to-morrow rolling in wealth and the theme of admiring tongues! I don’t know anything about mining, hence I cannot enter into a technical description of this great mine. For this I am glad. Nearly all the scientific descriptions of mines which I have read have been written by fools or scoundrels. In plain language, the Horn silver, in its present development, is an immense body of lead ore, carrying silver in varying percentages— from 30 dollars to 8.000 dollars’ worth to the Ton! This deposit lies between a decomposed trachyte on one side and a dolomite on the other. The distance between the “walls” being from 20 to 120 feet & in places the distance has not yet been ascertained. Its depth is only 365 feet and length of drifts, not much over the same number, but of course work is going on which adds to each dimension, daily. The “levels” and “drifts” are dry as a bone and the circulation of

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sweet, pure air, couldn’t be better. At one place, our guide showed us an outcropping of sulphide of antimony which he said would burn like a candle and sure enough, it did. Mr. Crouch having a mistaken idea of our gymnastic powers proposed that we should climb from the lower levels to Level No. 1. In a moment of mistaken enthusiasm, we assented. Up we went, rung after rung hand over hand and foot after foot. It’s an odd sight this long line of candles creeping slowly up the walls of the shaft. “We must be up now—ain’t we, Mr. Crouch” [“]Oh! No. We ain’t half up yet.” Most of our people are puffing—one or two swear and growl under their breath. Pride keeps the rest of us from saying anything. Colonel Thornburgh suddenly calls out; “By Jove, I think I’ll drop”. “Well, for Heaven’s sake don’t drop until we can get past you”. But Mr. Crouch points out that every 8 feet, there are “landings”, upon which to rest, if necessary. However, we are getting up, up, up, all this time and having had a breathing spell, make one more effort and our ascending work is over. Mr. Crouch hurries us in to a “stope”, on one side. “They are going to fire a blast”, said he. “Look-k-k Out-t-t-t.” is the gruff cry we heard, sounding in a muffled way, as if coming from under water— “Look-k-k, Out-t-t-t”. Bang-g-g! There is a dull, heavy thud and a feeble tremor of the ground near us. The blast has been fired and all is serene again. “Come a head”, says our guide and we resume our tramp like a line of pilgrims—on to Right, to left, in front, in rear. Mr. Crouch keeps on in his recitative. “Chorlide, very rich”. [“]This is [be]fore milling”. [“]Lead carbonate, very high grade.” [“]Here is some galena”. [“] That’s a streak of antimony” [“]That white stuff’s Baryta”, and so on. I had to study mineralogy once when a cadet and thought I knew it all, but I didn’t. It’s a good thing to visit a mine sometimes. A man finds out what a perfect ass he is. “What are those men doing, Mr. Crouch?[”] “Oh, here’s where the shaft caved in last week and came so near burying the whole shift”. Half a dozen men were taking out and replacing the giant timbers which had snapped like pipe-stems under the rush of earth which to our eyes looked as if it would at any moment cave in again and entomb everything and everybody. We cordially seconded the proposition to go out[;] we had seen enough. No one complained of the climbing down the shaft back to our former position; it was bad enough, but infinitely better than

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climbing up and then it was taking us farther and farther away from the cave. Here we are again at the main shaft! Tang! Tang! sounds the signal bell & the barrel is running down to meet us. Two by Two we jump on, the bell tangs, the barrel rapidly ascends and brings us back to the surface. We see in the town, the Stars and Stripes and the Green flag of Ireland flying in the breeze, the miners’ mark of honor to Genl. Crook; neither flag is extravagantly large, but they are the only ones in town. From the mine, we proceeded to the store of Campbell Cullen & Co, (formerly owners of the Horn Silver,) where we had the pleasure of meeting the proprietors and several other prominent gentlemen of the town, who drank General Crook’s health and bad him good bye, at the moment that Mr. Sharp came up to hurry us back to the train. All of us are delighted with the visit, but so, so tired, especially Colonel Thornburgh whose strength, never at any time great, has been completely overtaxed. At Milford, we take supper and then back to the cars, where we curl up on the seats and wrapped in the Navajo blankets Col. Thornburgh had bought at Beaver, secure such rest and comfort as we may, in the chilly night succeeding the torrid day. At the unearthly hour of 3.40 in the morning, our locomotive starts for Juab, crossing the lonely desert, which we don’t care to see so much of. We wake up in time for breakfast at Deseret, and then jog on, over sage-brush, grease-wood, artemisia, and barren sand to Juab. Two insignificant streams, with few and puny branches, traverse this desert in a purposeless sort of way, without beautifying or refreshing it and die at last in miserable sinks, or lakes, or ponds or holes–call them what you will. These are the Sevier and the Beaver, both rising in clear icy-cold lakelets in spurs of the Wasatch. The former is a little more than 250 miles long, and sinks within 50 miles of its own head. The course of the two may be roughly portrayed as follows:

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Tho’ desolate in vegetation and forbidding to the eye, this region is so rich in minerals of all kinds, Gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, sulphur, antimony, salt and coal that it compensates the dwellers in these desolate abodes for their enforced habitancy thereof. Juab being reached, we enjoyed a nice dinner—a clean table, with pleasant, bright-faced Mormon girls as waiters. A very short distance north of Juab, we crossed the “divide” into the valley of Utah and Salt Lakes and left the desert behind us. From this one, could be seen on either hand, smiling green fields and pastures, ditches flowing with water, trees bordering under weight of fruit, cattle grazing in the meadows and staunch houses of stone and adobe surrounded by every improvement. When we got to Salt Lake at 6.30 in the evening, Genl. Smith and Lt. McCammon left us, returning to Fort Douglass, while we—Genl. Crook, Col. Thornburgh and myself—put up for the night at the Continental [Hotel]. July 17th 1880. (Saturday.) “Half past five o’clock, No. 7, Sir”. (Thump, Thump, Thump on door.) No. 7 growls, grunts, rolls over and demands to know what this row is about. “Train, Sir, U.P. train, sir”. No 7 damns the U.P. train and all connected with it from Jay Gould down to the pea-nut boy, and then, in a fit of generosity, damns the porter, likewise. “Thank you, Sir”, says the porter and goes off to knock up No. 11, No. 10, No. 2 and No 5, whose combined growls and complaints make the corridor resound as with the roarings of half a dozen bulls. Everyone is cross at table, because it is a “Rail Road Breakfast” and what little is ready is poorly cooked and served by waiters who make no disguise of their gapes and yawns. The chief clerk gets a hauling over the coals, which may do him good and may not, but it relieves our feelings and enables us to start for the Dépôt with the consciousness of having performed an important duty. Our party is down almost to its original members.—Genl. Crook, Col. Thornburgh and self—and Thornburgh will go no further with us than Fort Bridger or Green River.22 At first we find the journey home 22.╇ Fort Bridger, in southwestern Wyoming, was established as a trading post by Jim Bridger and Luis Vasquez in 1842, and leased to the federal government in 1857. The title was disputed, and the government eventually took possession of the land, reimbursing Bridger for improvements. The post was permanently abandoned and transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1890. Frazer, Forts of the West, 178.

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somewhat quiet,—stupid, perhaps, would be the better word;—but gradually we scrape an acquaintance with the few passengers in the two Pullmans and find among them, Genl. J. G. McAllister, of the Ordnance Corps of the Army, a very genial and intelligent gentleman, with whose daughter and brother, (since dead.), Genl. Crook and I travelled from Salt Lake to Omaha in 1875: Mr. Allstrom, a miner, from Feather river, California, en route to Chicago to obtain machinery for hydraulic workings of his gold deposits—He had a pocket full of beautiful nuggets, one of them weighing nine ounces: and Mrs. Wallace, of Pennsylvania, returning with her pretty little daughter from a visit to friends in Oregon. I entered into a long conversation with this lady and was pleased to find her so bright and well-informed, especially in history. At Fort Sanders, on our way down, we met General Flint, Lts. [George K.] Hunter and Scott, Capt. [Thomas Francis] Quinn, Mr. Laine and others. July 19th. Reached Ft. Omaha. July 20th 1880. General Sherman, and daughter (Miss Rachel,) and Colonel [John Mosby] Bacon, arrived at Ft. Omaha and were received with the usual military salute. They remained at the post and in Omaha until the 22nd, leaving on that day for Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.23 July 22nd 1880. Secretary of the Interior [Carl] Schurz, and party, including his two daughters, arrived in Omaha on their way to California. In August, they will go to the Yellowstone Park, with General Crook. Following is General Crook’s report of our recent tour in Utah. Hd.Qrs. Dep’t. Platte, Fort Omaha, Neb., July 22nd 1880. Ass’t Adjt. General. Hd.Qrs. Mily. Div. Missouri. Chicago, Ills. Sir: I have the honor to report that I left Salt Lake, Utah on the 8th 23.╇ Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827, and is the oldest United States active military post west of the Mississippi. During the last half of the nineteenth century, it was headquarters for the Department of the Missouri, a subdivision of the vast Military Division of the Missouri which comprised much of the central two-thirds of the United States. During the 1850s and ’60s, it was the depot for supplies for all military posts of the Rocky Mountain region, and remained a primary frontier defense unit throughout most of the Indian Wars. Ibid., 56.

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inst. by the Utah Southern and the Pleasant Valley (narrow gauge) R.R., [(]recently built) for Pleasant Valley 108 miles South and East of Salt Lake. At that point our party took horses and travelled to and across the summit of the Wasatch mountains to a position overlooking what is called Castle Valley. This is not, properly speaking, a valley, but is rather an immense basin, cut up with numerous detached ridges, of greater or lesser dimensions, and presenting in its general features a resemblance to the Tonto Basin in Arizona. It will afford many hiding places and good shelter to renegade Indians and offer great obstacles to troops who may be detailed for their pursuit. Large herds of cattle are already in that country and along its borders and upon them the Indians could well subsist during the winter. From our position on the summit of the Wasatch, we could readily see the ranges lying along the Grande and Gunnison [rivers] and follow the course of Castle Valley down to the Colorado River. Our next point was Fort Cameron, reached by the Utah Southern R.R. and its extension to Milford, and thence 35 miles by wagon. The roads leading from this post into Castle Valley and the Ute country generally are so well defined that I did not think it necessary at this time to make a personal examination of them. Either from Cameron or Douglass by way of Pleasant Valley, troops and supplies can with facility be moved across the Wasatch in case the behavior of the Ute Indians should make such movement necessary. Very Respectfully Your Obdt. Servant, (Signed.) George Crook,

Chapter 2 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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uly 26th. Major C.S. Roberts 17th Infantry, reported to Genl. Crook for duty on his Staff as Aide de Camp. Applied to War Dep’t. for revocation of my detail to the Mily. Academy. July 28th. General Crook, Major Roberts, A.D.C., Miss Gertrude Belcher (a bright, pleasant young lady daughter of Major [John Hill] Belcher, U.S.A.) and the writer, left Omaha for the West. In the car with us were Mr. Burt Watson and Miss Yates, accompanying Miss Belcher as far as the incoming train from the West at Valley. Shortly after leaving the dépôt, General Crook received a telegram from Lieut-General Sheridan informing him that the Hd.Qrs. Dep’t Platte were to be removed back to the city of Omaha. This is simply a common sense move, based upon wise business consideration. The transfer to Fort Omaha in the first place was a piece of clap-trap and demagoguery to which, unfortunately, the General of the Army, Sherman, lent too ready an acquiescence. It was, besides being an unnecessary hardship and inconvenience to the officers immediately concerned and their families, a serious hindrance to public business in separating headquarters supply departments from the mercantile branches of the community, and an extravagant increase

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in expenditure in the way of buildings for offices and quarters. Then, too, by filling Ft. Omaha with members of the Staff, no room was left for companies which had been in the field for months and which accordingly, instead of securing pleasant stations, had to be assigned to remote, dreary and uncomfortable posts in Wyoming and Utah. Lieut. Geo. B. Davis, 5th Cavalry, came on board at Frémont, going to Sidney as a witness before a General Court-Martial. Davis is a remarkably bright and well-educated man and “a fellow of infinite jest.” During his last visit to Omaha, he and I made up our minds to take in the circus (Cole’s.) then exhibiting. While going through the menagerie, we stopped in front of the cage of the Royal Bengal Tiger,—a splendid creature, with broad stripes around his body and eyes glistening like fire in the dim-light of the tent. We admired his stately proportions and shuddered at the idea of running against him in his native jungle. [“]Just look at his teeth, Bill,[”] said I—[“] Yes,[”] replied Davis–[“]he’s a hard-looking customer and I’ll bet he’s eaten many a man in his time”. “Good Lord, man,[”] interrupted one of the circus attendants standing near by, “Good Lord, (in a very disgusted tone.) that ain’t no Bengal Tiger—that’s a zebra”. July 29th. Miss Belcher and Lt. Davis left us at Sidney where we were met by Major Belcher, Lts. [William E.] Almy, [John G.] Baxter and Andrews. The last named travelled on our train to Cheyenne, Wyo. At Cheyenne, General Crook recd. a telegram from Lt.-Genl. Sheridan, announcing that he, (Sheridan.) had been presented with a fine son—“weight ten pounds”. To this General Crook replied with warmest congratulations to Sheridan and warmest regards to mother and son and the hope that the boy might become as fine a soldier as his father. A number of the officers at Fort Russell1 met us at the train—Genl. [Albert Gallatin] Brackett, Lts. Reynolds and Simpson, [Augustus C.] Paul, Capt. [Emmett] Crawford, Lt. [Allen] Jordan, Mr. Tom Moore and others. Major Lord, A.Q.M., got on our train to ride out as far as the incoming train, at Hazen[?]. He was talking with Genl. Crook about Arizona; the name of Tom Ewing was mentioned and while 1.╇ Fort D. A. Russell was established in 1867 to protect workers constructing the Union Pacific, and became an important supply base with a depot in Cheyenne. In 1930, the post was renamed Fort Francis E. Warren. It later was transferred to the Department of the Air Force, and now is Warren Air Force Base. Frazer, Forts of the West, 184–85.

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talking about him, the Colorado (Denver.) train drew up alongside us at Colorado Junction and one of the first persons to enter our car was Tom Ewing. By this time we were becoming acquainted with the people about us. In our own car was Mr. Sherman, a mining expert, who had visited the Murchie mine, of which he gave a very encouraging account.2 Mr. Byram, one of the late owners of the Horn Silver Mine, Utah, just sold for $6.900.000. He had with him his family, a very pleasant party. Capt. [Gerhard] Luhn, 4th Inf. and family and Mis [sic] Bernard, wife of Capt. [Reuben F.] Bernard, 1st Cavalry, in the forward sleeper. A large party of officers were at Fort Sanders, who greeted us kindly during the few moments of our stay at that point. Tom Ewing, an inveterate story-teller[,] kept our party in a roar with his inimitable jokes and tales; we became so hilarious that the other passengers eagerly listened to the cause of our [illegible] amusement. I can’t venture to repeat many of his anecdotes, so much depends upon the inimitable grace and mimicry with which he delivered them: but I’ll try two or three, sorry however that as here written they are scarcely the shadow of the stories as he told them. Judge Charlie Meyers of Tucson, was, as I have elsewhere stated,3 a terror to evil-doers and an upright, conscientious administrator of Justice, altho he knew scarcely any law. Being afraid that some of his victims might attempt to belabor or even to assassinate him, Judge Meyers avoided going out of his house or opening the door at night. He had a hole cut in the front door and a small shutter placed there which he could open to find out the character of people coming as they sometimes did, to get drugs from his dispensary. One night a terrible knocking aroused the old man from his slumbers. He went to the door, raised the little shutter and demanded to know who was there. “Me-Jeoge”. “And who are you, mine frent”. “Jedge, I want to give myself up, I’ve just killed a man”. “Vat you kill him for?” [“]Wa’ll, Jedge-yer see-e he ca-a’lled me a liar en I—” “Vare did you keel him?[”] 2.╇ Crook, Sheridan, Bourke, and others had invested in the Murchie mine, and Crook’s aide, Lt. Walter S. Schuyler, was on extended leave to manage it. See Robinson, General Crook, 248–50, and Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 3, various entries. 3.╇ Meyers, whom Bourke referred to as a “Dutchman” (probably German) also operated a pharmacy in Tucson. Robinson, Diaries, 2:380–81.

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“Down in George Foster’s Quarts Rock Gambling Saloon”. (This was a notorious deadfall.) “Vary Goot, mine frent, dot’s all right,[”] said the Judge soothingly, [“]dot’s all right—Go back und keel anudder von”—and then he turned in to bed. On another occasion, His Honor had just sentenced a very hard customer to the chain gang, when the culprit expostulated—“Jedge, yer really ortent to give such a hard sentence to a feller wot knowed yer grandfather”. The Judge denied that the prisoner had ever known any of his relatives and insisted upon it that his grandfather had been dead many years. But the prisoner was obstinate in his assertion: “Jedge, I knowed him well—I was on the Isthmus of Panama with him[.]” [“]Vat vas mine grant-fadder doin’ dare,[”] queried the astonished Judge. “Wa’ll, Jedge, when I seed him, he was a hangin’ by his tail to a cocoanut tree a gatherin’ cocoanuts an’ by the same token, he throwed a cocoanut at me and came near smashing my skull in with it. He tried to send a message to yer, Jedge, but I couldn’t understand enough of his infernal jabbering lingo to make out what he meant”. (The Judge imposed an additional month in the “shane-gang” for contempt of Court.) Ewing had a particular friend in Silver City, Idaho, (in 1866.)—Ike Jennings—who took it into his head that he ought to get married and selected a great, big, bouncing Missouri girl as the partner of his future joys and sorrows. Jennings consulted Ewing about the details of the wedding, which he desired should be a high-toned affair, with nothing wanting. Silver City at that date was a wild mining town in the wildest part of Idaho territory; built on both sides of a steep, narrow gulch with houses offering their inmates the advantage of being able to look down their neighbor’s chimneys and see what they had for supper. From the door of Jennings’ house which was situated upon the crest of the steepest part of the hill, access was had to the street 120 vertical feet below, by a steep grade and by a series of steps almost as steep, both coated with ice as slippery as glass, from water carelessly thrown from the building. The concourse of invited guests had much difficulty in climbing up this slippery path, but once inside the house were made welcome to a pretty fair collation, provided by the liberality of Tom

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Ewing from whom Jennings had borrowed the money to defray all expenses. As Tom officiated as a sort of master of ceremonies, he had arranged his friend Jennings in a suit of black, decked out with a pair of yellow kid gloves in which his huge paws looked like a couple of canvas-covered hams. The ceremony was soon over and the twain made one. Drinking succeeded, poor whiskey, bad rum and a kind of chemical preparation styled champagne circulated freely and began to make their efforts perceptible. Ewing, afraid of his company, had gotten himself up for an emergency. Around his waist was strapped a six-shooter and along his back, under his coat, a pick-axe handle, the tip projecting slightly above his collar, to admit of being grasped at a moment’s warning. Dancing commenced to the music of two squeaky fiddles and by the fitful glare of tallow-candles stuck to the walls. Some of the boys were already beginning to get a little bit high. As fate would have it, Dick Tregaski’s “girl” gave him “the dead shake” and bestowed her fair hand for a dance which he had anticipated, upon a Southerner named Welker—a man of fine education—since a Professor in the University of California. This was too much for Tregaski: running up to Tom Ewing, he asked excitedly,—“Tom, hev yer enny weepins, bee Gawd? Thar’s my gal over thar a shassaying through the quadrille with that damn Secesh outfit—Welker—Lend me yer revolver”. To oblige his friend, Ewing lent his six-shooter, but at same time felt it incument upon him to prevent a row by every means in his power. Tregaski walking up to Welker, as he was “shassaying” with the fair lady, gave him a ferocious whack over the nose. A champagne bottle popping at same instant sounded like the report of a pistol. “Don’t shoot for God’s sake”, yelled Tom Ewing, throwing open the door of the house. Men and women impetuously “pile out” into the open air and striking the frozen grade never stop sliding until they strike the street, 40 yards below, “where they lay,[”] says Ewing, [“]15 feet deep.[”] “Yes, Boys,[”] said “Jedge” Tregaski, in speaking of the affair a month afterwards, [“]we had a hell of a good time at Ike Jennings’ wedding”. Bourke returns to the present. At Rock creek, saw Captain [James Herbert] Spencer and wife; also Lt. [George Nathan] Chase and wife all of 4th Infy. July 30th 1880. Capt. [William Henry] Bisbee met us at Carter sta-

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tion and drove us to Ft. Bridger, 11 miles distant. Fort Bridger, on Black’s Fork of Green River has recently been re-established in consequence of anticipated trouble with Ute Indians. (It has been already described in my note-books of June and August 1877.)4 The temperature was very low at Bridger. Fires were burning in the parlors we entered. Major Bisbee, our host, has a very charming wife and interesting family. His son, Eugene, now past 16 years, is one of the handsomest and manliest youngsters I’ve ever seen and is said to be a wonderfully good shot with a rifle, shooting birds on the wing. Capt. Luhn, Lieuts. Young,5 [Edgar Brooks] Robertson and [Silas A.] Wolfe and Dr. McElderry, and Mr. Carter called upon us. Judge Carter has a very pleasant home, furnished with a fine library, piano, cosey parlor, and other accompaniments of civilization. Fort Bridger has the peculiar feature of a stream flowing across the parade, spanned by three bridges. It is a delightful post in many respects, especially as a summer residence. The Uintah Mountains to the South are now and at all times covered with snow. All afternoon, busy in getting ready for our march to the South, fitting up pack-trains, buying provisions from Commissary, getting tents, horses and mules ready for the start. In the evening called upon Mr. J. J. Dickey, son & daughter, Mr. Mead, son and daughter and Miss Herman and upon Mrs. T. L. Kimball, son and daughters[,] Miss Emerson and Mrs. Aldridge. Professor Church of Lincoln (Neb.) University, Judge Carter and family and others. July 31st 1880. Genl. Crook, Major Bisbee, 4th Infy., Maj. Roberts, A.D.C., Lieut. Young, 4th Infy., Masters Eugene Bisbee, Will Carter & Tom Kimball and the writer, left Fort Bridger, Wyo., for the Uintah Ute Agency, Utah; besides those who purposed making the through trip, we had with us, for the first day’s march only, Judge Carter and his son in law Mr. Dick Hamilton. As the road for some distance would admit of rapid travelling, Major Bisbee had loaded the wagons with our heavy baggage and sent them off at 5 in the morning, the escort going along at same time, while the others remained behind at Bridger to enjoy breakfast in comfort with Mrs. Bisbee. 4.╇ There is a gap in Bourke’s notebooks between May 7 and June 30, 1877, and again, between July 29, 1877, and March 28, 1878. The notebooks for that period, which presumably contain that description, have not yet been located. 5.╇ May be either Lt. George S. Young or Lt. Robert H. Young.

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Our transportation consisted of one six-mule wagon, one four-horse light wagon, and the necessary horses and pack mules for ourselves and escort. We had a pleasant morning for our start, just clouds enough to bring into greater prominence the sapphire sky in which they floated. Our route lay nearly due South, keeping to the Left of the mesa known as Bridger’s Butte. Five miles out we struck Smith’s Fork, a beautiful trout stream, about 20 yards wide, well shaded by the foliage of willow and other trees. The country was generally level, but with an up-grade towards the Uintah Mountains which lay directly in front with mantles of pine and hoods of snow. The soil was gravelly with some small pebbles and the vegetation the ever-faithful sage brush which never seems to desert the fortunes of this great Trans-Missouri country. Judge Carter’s cattle roamed by hundreds over the plains to the Right and Left of us, provision for their winter pasturage being secured in an immense area of meadow-land fenced in for about 5 miles square. At Smith’s Fork, Maj. Bisbee killed a badger, making a very fine shot. Twenty miles out, came to the site of an old saw-mill. Our packer, Jesús Baldes, killed a black-tailed deer and Major Bisbee, a jack-rabbit. From Smith’s Fork to this place, we had followed up the fork until we had come to Willow creek, and then up that for a total distance of 15 miles. The banks of Willow creek were screened by rose-bushes and quaking aspen as well as by the tree from which it takes its name. Many beautiful flowers grew in clusters near us, the character of the landscape up to this time being that of a pretty meadow land. But, in approaching the site of the saw mill, we entered the foot-hills and the outskirts of heavy forests of pine. The road which had been very good was now in places obstructed by windfallen timber; to cut and remove this took time and caused delay. Twenty Six miles from Bridger, we found Carter’s Saw Mill, (now abandoned.) This is charmingly placed in a small open depression, shut in on all sides by balsam breathing pines. The creek flowing alongside is a tributary of Smith’s Fork full of good, cold water and having an abundance of trout. Here we bivouacked. General Crook struck out on a fishing tour; the rest of us remained in camp to see to the unharnessing and unsaddling of the animals and the preparations for the evening meal.

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Jesús Baldes shot another deer at night-fall, a splendid buck. Genl. Crook caught 39 and “the boys” 15 trout. Judge Carter explained to me his method of preserving venison; he cuts the meat into steaks upon which he then sprinkles fine salt and granulated white sugar. The meat keeps well for several days and the flavor is greatly improved. In a few moments, supper was over and we clustered around the roaring fire of logs whose genial warmth was gladly sought as the sun slowly sank behind the hills and the cold damp breezes of night played about us. The situation was very picturesque. Our tents pitched with military precision and the lance-like pines; the smoke from our fire curling lazily upward to lose itself in the interlacing branches. Conversation became general but our voices seemed to have lost half their power in the deep space through which the mountain breezes carried the sight of the forest. We talked about Dr. Tanner, who in New York City is now (Aug. 1st 1880.) essaying with some promise of success the task of fasting for forty days and nights, allowing himself no food or drink save water.6Then we told stories, and among others this one on myself by General Crook, I think. In Arizona, it was often necessary for me to travel between Prescott and Fort Mojave,7 on the Colorado river; the only means of making the journey was by government ambulance and as a matter of convenience to the Quartermaster, I several times took with me Schimpff, a German blacksmith, whose duty it was to shoe the horses and mules at the various little posts on the road. Schimpff never drank; that is speaking in the Arizona sense of the term; but he always carried a little whiskey along with him for medicinal purposes. He had somewhere secured a cast-off oil of vitriol “carboy”, (they hold 5 gallons.) which he had rigged up with a handle of wire fastened about the neck. 6.╇ Henry S. Tanner, a Minneapolis physician, fasted for forty days after Dr. William A. Hammond offered $1,000 for someone who would go one month without food and observed by members of the New York Neurological Society. He lived only on water from June 28 to August 7, 1880. His clothes were examined before he dressed, to ascertain that he had no concealed food, he was weighed daily, and his pulse and temperature regularly were checked. He subsequently gave lectures on fasting. http://www.famousamericans.net/henrystanner/ 7.╇ Fort Mojave was established in 1859 on the Colorado River opposite the present city of Needles, California. It was abandoned in 1890, and became an Indian school. The school was closed in 1935, and the post buildings were demolished seven years later. Frazer, Forts of the West, 11–12.

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This immense bottle (for such it had become, the straw coating having been stripped off.) was always filled up with Arizona “cut-throat” whiskey as a preliminary to setting out on one of our tours. Schimpff, somehow or another got the idea in his head that courtesy required that all the whiskey should be consumed on the journey; this idea I combatted with all the eloquence in my power, but to no effect. Schimpff good-naturedly and hospitably proffered a drink every ten or fifteen minutes, and when I refused to accept would devote his unaided energies to the problem of consumption. Often he would break in upon my short naps by a heavy bear-like thump in the side and the salutation: “come, come, Lieutenant. Wake up and take another pull at the Wial”. Schimpff was strong as a bull and would lift this enormous wial with one arm and pour down his throat enough poison to kill a regiment. It was just my luck to have to travel in company with this really harmless, good-hearted fellow on occasions when I was brought face to face with ladies of the army, who, of course with that perversity of judgment for which the sex is often noted, concluded without a moment’s hesitancy that a wicked, depraved Lieutenant was leading a poor blacksmith astray! Bourke returns to the present. I didn’t sleep very well during the night. I lay awake thinking, listening to the crackling embers and watching the golden sparks circling upward from our camp-fire through the overhanging arms of the pine trees standing sentinel over us until they seemed to blend with the stars studding the sky. (This camp is in Utah.) August 1st 1880. A Heavy white frost last night. Awakened at 4 and breakfasted at 4.30, upon trout, deer’s brains, rabbit and venison from yesterday’s work. Judge Carter and Dick Hamilton started back to Fort Bridger, as did our six-mule team. The ambulance and light wagon remained in this camp with a small guard, while the rest of our party made ready to push on with pack-mules and horses. We had a great deal of trouble in packing “green” mules, and much profanity was vented upon the air by our disgusted packers. It was a ridiculous sight-ob[s]tinate, “mulish” mules, with heads covered with gunny-sacks while packers were adjusting bundles and boxes. We didn’t get out of camp until nearly 8 o’clock, which was a very good thing after all since it enabled Smith, (the guide whom we had almost given up hopes of meeting.) to overtake us. Our line of travel lay almost directly South. One mile from camp entered a

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beautiful meadow, “Gilbert’s”—1½ mile in Diameter—then over a low ridge and into a series of moraines. It seemed as if Nature in a maniac frolic had piled up these long heaps of granite and sandstone boulders and then had thrown upon them burnt and broken pine and spruce trees by hundreds & thousands. Wild flowers in profusion grew everywhere and frequently trickling rills of limpid water splashed the feet of our horses. Deer and elk tracks numerous: three or four of the former darted out from their coverts as we drew near. The country was now full of lovely little parks—groves of verdure in caskets of pine and spruce foliage. A storm of rain and hail attacked us at noon, lasting for three hours; beyond giving us a thorough soaking, no damage was done. The beauties of this Uintah range are not, I think sufficiently well known. For a place so close to the Union Pacific Rail Road it is about as wild and savage as any equal area in America and from its ruggedness will long remain so. We marched along by grumbling mountain torrents, lashed into foam against rocks and boulders obstructing their way to the sea. The murmur from these waters was a musical and sleep-beguiling monotone, to which the fitful breezes playing through the upper branches of the tallest trees of the forest gave gentle responses. Our march was very short, as we had to camp wherever we could find good grass for our animals. A nice little mountain meadow was found at the foot of the pass, fifteen miles only from last night’s camp, and just at the snow and timber line. Snow lay all around us in huge patches and the ground was generally damp. The timber ends here in a line of spruce, through which protrudes Wilson’s Peak, a solid, gloomy, barren mass of sandstone, whose white summit is 1500 feet above our bivouac. We are getting well up in the world, our position being by barometer, 11.950 feet above sea level and Wilson Peak 13.500. We found plenty of good wood and water and a sufficiency of nutritious grass. Lt. Young and I climbed to the summit of a high ridge near camp, hoping to run across a Rocky Mtn. sheep, elk or bear. There were plenty of tracks, especially of sheep, but no game. We washed our faces in snow and thought of our friends in Omaha, sweltering with the heat. Eugene Bisbee caught 30 [trout], Tom Kimball 42, Major Bisbee 15 and others of our mess 20–25,—making a total of 100 trout—some of which we had for supper. In every direction from this camp can be seen small ponds and lakes of ice-

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cold water, the home of thousands of trout. Mosquitoes annoyed us greatly at sun-down. Up to this place, a good wagon-road can be built with some labor in removing burnt timber and in placing corduroy in miry, meadow bottoms. Monday, August 2nd. Last night was very cold, so cold that the mosquitoes withdrew and left us the field. We kept close under our blankets and buffalo robes and enjoyed a delightful sleep. Aroused at 4 o’clock and breakfasted before dawn. Broke camp at 6.30. Moved South, skirting alongside a thin fringe of spruce timber for half to three quarters of a mile and then along the rugged and barren sides of the mountain which frowned above us gloomy and forbidding. We were now above timber line and had about us nothing but blocks of sandstone of all sizes from a hen’s egg to a barn. Among them, in sheltered nooks, grew a little mountain grass or a few scraggy bushes while great banks and patches of snow filled the shaded crevices: from these beds of snow trickled little streams which soon fell in musical cascades over ledges of rock facing the narrow valley. Immediately after crossing the summit of the Pass and lying along the Southern exposure of the mountain, we came to a small but exquisitely lovely park,—as sweet a gem as artist ever fancied. Its walls were the grim buttresses of red sand-stone, forming the ribs of the range: along its edges grew dense masses of spruce, with here and there a few clumps to relieve the lawn-like appearance of the luxuriant grass. The main branch of Rock creek headed here and from both sides of the valley its cold, glassy tributaries could be seen flowing, by dozens. They ran in and out of the tall grass, scampered over the rocks as wanton cascades, bathed the feet of the pine and spruce or swelling with the pride of newly-formed strength crossed in imitation or in rivalry of the deeper diapason of the parent-streams tumbling over enormous boulders, hurrying on to join Green River. The scenery throughout the day may truly be styled grand, but why attempt to describe it? I may say in the commencement that altho’ we are supposed to be following Captain Jones’ trail,8 time and accident have so obliterated it that scarcely a vestige can be detected. 8.╇ Probably refers to Capt. Dan Jones, who led a party of Mormon immigrants into the region in 1849. Bancroft, History of Utah, 296–97 n27.

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We force our way over hills of loose rock, descend into little ravines filled with sparkling rimlets, gaze into the cañon, walled in with vertical blocks of sandstone, hundreds of feet in height, and watch with rapture the creamy water dashing itself to frenzy against the boulders which bar its path; break through acres of burnt or fallen pine trees, burst through jungles of willow, rose and pine, wade the foaming torrent in the splash of rainbow-tinted cascades, glistening in the sun or admire the many-hued flowers—red, scarlet, pink, violet, purple, blue, yellow or white—nestling under the shadow of precipices,—all these enjoyments were ours, but when it comes to attempt a written description, the pen seems to engage in what Mr. Mantilini9 would characterize as one “demunition horrid grind” of beetling crag, shady forest, foaming cascade and musical rimlet—It’s no use. Such scenery must be seen to be felt. In general resemblance, this cañon is much like that of Clear Creek, Colorado, but is far more lovely. In one place, we saw several Indian “pictures” rudely daubed on the blazed faces of pine-trees: one, a white man; another, an Indian, in war costume, in the attitude of prayer before an elk. Nearby a few surveyor’s marks;—“K-T” and “BB”. South of this locality, was a beaver “house”, built of pine logs, seven feet long and eight inches thick, roofed in with brush and chinked with mud. A driving storm of rain and hail annoyed us for an hour or more about 2 o’clock; our clothing was saturated and our spirits depressed, but with the re-appearance of the sun, everyone brightened up once more. After having been ten hours in the saddle, and, making about 25 miles, we camped in a fine meadow at a place where the cañon widened. Found pretty good grass, but not much of it. Wood and water, of course, abundant; the latter from Rock Creek, here 15 yards Wide, 2½ to 3 feet Deep and Current of from 12 @ 15 miles an hour. In the channel of the creek were rocks weighing as [sic] least ten to twenty tons each, and trees not less than 60 feet long and 3 feet at butt, carried down by the torrent, when the snows melted in early summer. We saw no game to-day, but our fishers caught many trout, Genl. Crook 56, and the “youngsters” (who, are wild with enthusiasm over the whole trip and especially the fishing[)], 44. Found a great many wild raspberries around this camp. 9.╇ A character in Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby.

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Aug. 4th [sic]10 Last night was quite warm, by contrast. This morning we have had no frost. In this lovely amphitheatre, protected from every adverse wind, there is every reason for supposing that farming would be successful. There is an inexhaustible supply of timber for every purpose, of water, (in the creeks and in springs.) of good grass and good soil. Took breakfast shortly after 4 o’clock and then pushed down the valley for 2 or 3 miles, when we turned nearly due East across steep hills, getting into a heavy rolling country, the hills bearing a good supply of pine and the valleys well mantled with grass. Moved along the trend of the foot-hills, passing through several pretty parks and then into a tract of country more arid and barren, but still having a little pine timber. In the parks, the pines are scattered in clumps, but are of great size, some of them not less than 6 feet in Diameter at ground. Ran across two or three bands of Indian cattle and one of Indian ponies. (A little limestone appearing to-day.) After getting out of the higher foot-hills, our trail wound among fields of the lovely marguinte,11 with lemon colored centres and petals of purple. At noon a heavy thunder-storm was raging in the mountains we had left. We were hoping for a little while to be able to avoid it—a hope which was soon dispelled as a brisk wind drove the opaque, lowering clouds down upon us and enveloped us in a damp mist. Such shelter as could be found in the clumps of willow fringing a little stream near which we happened to be, was eagerly sought and accepted. Then the thunder roared, the lightning plowed its snaky path of fire across the clouds and rain fell in torrents. I have spoken of the music—murmur of the cascades along our line of march;—sweet and low as Shakespeare says the voice of a lovely woman should be; but this thunder spoke in far different tones and yet grandly beautiful and impressive as well. For a while it sounded precisely like some obstinately contested field of battle: the echoes and reverberations from the different peaks sounding now near, now far—loud or subdued as if the struggle between armed hosts waxed or waned. After covering several minor tributaries, we reached a large stream 10.╇ Undoubtedly Bourke means August 3, because the preceding date is August 2, and the following date is also August 4. 11.╇ This common name cannot be located. From the description, location and terrain, it may be the leafy aster (aster foliaceus).

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which we thought must be the main Uintah—a noble body of water, 50 @ 60 feet Wide, two feet Deep and current of not less than 8 miles. Bottom is filled with large boulders, but is fordable at this season at any point. The approaches are easy. In places, the land lying along the stream (which we followed down,) seems to be arable. Reached the Uintah Ute Agency, at 6 o’clock in the evening, after a march of 30 miles. This Agency is on a branch of the main Uintah Creek, near the junction of the latter with the Duchesne.—in the midst of a large meadow of several thousand Acres. The buildings are in good condition and comprise a school-house, (used as a residence by the Agent’s family,) saw-mill, flour-mill and other appurtenances. Agent Critchlon is now in charge. At sun-down, a deputation of Ute Indians, some dozen in all, came over to talk with the “soger bid chief”—(Genl. Crook.). They were headed by a good-looking fellow, calling himself “Cap’n Jack”, but really named Wan-ro. (Indians never give their true names to strangers.) His comrades were healthy and comfortable looking— well-dressed and mounted on excellent ponies. I should remark also that all the cattle appeared in usually good condition. Genl. Crook spoke freely to them but declined any formal conference. After dark, Genl. Crook, Major Roberts, Major Bisbee, Will. Carter and myself called upon Agent Critchlon and family; he has with him his wife and two daughters, one a pretty little girl, and the other a very handsome, young lady. The number of Indians on the Reservation is only 450, a gross waste of the public domain. There is an abundance of farm-land in this tract,—enough to give a good farm to every man or boy of the whole Ute nation and yet leave a large region open to settlement. From this place sent a telegram to General [Robert] Williams, by way of Ashley Fork, Utah and Green River, Wyo.; it will be 5 days in getting to Omaha. August 4th 1880. Breakfasted at 4.30 a.m. Left at 6.40, returning by almost same trail as that which we travelled yesterday. Six miles out crossed a spring branch of Uintah Creek. Great masses of service berries were ripening along our path and it is fair to assume that there

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must be many bears in the Uintah Range as this berry is one of their favorite articles of food. Eight miles from Agency, crossed another creek, like its companion, flowing South to join the Uintah. This creek was heavily shaded by willows. The day became exceedingly warm, and we were very glad to halt and rest for a short time, when about 12 miles from the Agency, on the banks of the stream where the thunder-storm caught us yesterday. Bivouacked at same point as on 2nd–3rd. General Crook and “the boys” at once started to the creek to fish. These boys are, by the way, deserving of mention for their peculiarity of talking during the whole march. Few people are disposed to do much in the conversational line while marching in a hot sun, but these boys have adopted and pursued a different policy. They gabble the whole blessed day and have been kind enough to make me their victim. It don’t make much difference what sort of question they ask, so that it be a question. Here is a specimen of the persecution I underwent with the fortitude of one of the early Christian martyrs. “Major, what time it is? Three O’Clock! Wa’ll, I’ll jest bed your watch ain’t right.” [“]Is that a real good watch, Major? Whose is it?” [“]Jedge Carter’s! Oh! Do you think it is a good one, Major? What kind of watch would you buy if you was me, Major? Major, did you ever see a bar? Haint never seed no Polar Bar hev yer, Major? Do you know that officer who’s gone to the North Pole, Major?12 You do! Wa’ll you haint never bin to the North Pole, I’ll bet, Major” and much more of like import. These boys called us all Major, a title which seemed to them to suit us best. Bisbee came to me quietly and said “Bourke, if you don’t see any other way of putting an end to this chatter, I say let’s kill these boys. I’m perfectly willing to sacrifice my own offspring for the public good”. But after all they are fine young fellows. Brave, bright and goodnatured and the life of our little company with Genl. Crook this evening, they caught one hundred and twenty-five trout. Old Smith, our guide shows a pretty thorough familiarity with this range of mountains. He tells me that he has wandered over almost all the Pacific Slope, since 1852, tramping and prospecting over much of Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming & Utah. 12.╇ Referring to the expedition of Lt. Frederick Schwatka, which Bourke mentions later in the narrative.

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He is a gentlemanly, taciturn old fellow and in his old and timeworn costume of dark-blue flannel shirt, buckskin pantaloons, & hat handed down from the Revolution and with his bronzed face, snowy hair and long white beard tied up with string, presents the picture of a benevolent and tender-hearted but courageous and resolute old fellow upon whom unkind fortune has never smiled. He gave in a very quiet and modest way an account of a desperate encounter he once had with a grizzly bear in these mountains. Smith crawled in upon the grizzly, in a thick woods, hoping to get a shot at close range. The bear, however, had discovered him and was coming towards him at a full run before Smith could place his bullet. The shot killed the beast, but before dying he managed to seize the hunter in his fierce claws and give him such a terrible tearing and mangling that Smith was laid up for eleven months. Our bivouac is high up in the mountains and of course, we notice with great pleasure the difference in temperature between this point and the warm valley of the Agency. Everybody takes a dip in the sparkling, icy water of the stream and then to bed, lulled to repose by the solemn, deep music of the torrent. August 5th 1880. Awakened at 4 o’clock. Breakfasted at 4.30 and resumed line of march on the back trail. Our poor horses and mules do not seem to be much refreshed. The grass last night was not especially good and altho’ the distance we have travelled has not been great the route has been so difficult that they are badly used up, foot-sore, leg-weary, bruised and swollen. Marched for 7½ hours, making not more than 12 or 15 miles, through rapids, over rocky hills and through the almost impenetrable pine forest. The weather was all that could be wished for. We saw several beautiful cascades, which let the water down from the summit of a precipice at least 100 feet to the bottom of the cañon. Major Bisbee tells me that last evening while bathing, he saw a snake emerging from the creek with a fish in his mouth three inches long. Before he went down to the creek, I saw Bisbee take a couple of stiff drinks of whiskey. There is no special connection between these two items which are inserted at this time and in this order merely to keep my journal complete. Friday, August 6th 1880. Camp aroused at 3.30 a.m. Breakfast at 4 o’clock. We had hoped to get away by 4.30, but as a pair of our pack-mules had run off during the night, we had to devote a couple

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of hours to their pursuit, and even then, 6.30 a.m. as they could not be found, Lt. Young, Jesus Baldes and a couple of soldiers were left in camp, while the rest of us pushed out on the trail in the expectation of catching them. We found them about 3 miles out and sent word back to Young. Genl. Crook had started out in advance to hunt elk or bear. In getting across the “divide” above the timber and in the snow line, we ran into a stratum of musquitoes13 and green-headed flies which bit our poor horses fearfully and annoyed us almost beyond endurance. One of these flies, which I killed upon the back of my neck, must have [been] boring with a red-hot diamond drill. About 10½ hours marching, reached Carter’s Saw Mill where we had left our wagons; a few drops of rain fell upon us, but we escaped the drenching storm which appeared to be raging in the mountains behind us. Coming down the Pass, we obtained a fine view of Chinaman’s Lake, a little sheet of water, oblong in shape, quite deep, and about 3 miles by 1½ @ 2 miles in dimensions. Judge Carter told me a few days ago that this lake received its name from the one of his employees—a Chinese cook—[who] was drowned in it. We welcomed a large mail of letters and papers, to which devoted attention was paid until the call for supper. Major Bisbee had wounded a fat buck which nevertheless succeeded in escaping through the tangled meshes of fallen timber. But we had an abundance of venison from that killed by the teamsters during our absence. At meals, “our boys” act as if separated by half a mile of distance: “Gene, Ho! Gene!” Hullo, Tom. “Pass the beans, will yer”. [“]Ya’as, Shove down that there hard tack” (The young men are about seven feet apart.) (In justice, I should say that Will Carter is much more reserved and quiet than the other two.) Young Bisbee and Kimball have taken it upon themselves to give names to the whole country; thus we have Bisbee Falls, Kimball Falls, Bisbee-Kimball Falls, Rocky Gorge, Hell Gate (a very appropriate name for a vertical fissure through which the torrent pours over a great pile of opposing rocks.); and, best of all, Mannie Lake, bestowed by Mr. Tom. Kimball upon an exquisite little pool of snow-water, in honor of Miss Mannie Lake, the pretty young daughter of Judge Lake, of Omaha. This journal is rapidly getting into the condition of Mark Twain’s 13.╇ Bourke’s spelling is not consistent. He sometimes uses “mosquitoes.”

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famous diary. “Got up, washed and went to bed”, only substituting for the above the familiar “arose at 4. Breakfasted, moved out on trail. Lovely scenery, mountains, murmuring waterfalls, Rocky pathway, Dense pine forest”.14 Last night and this morning we had musquitoes again; not many, but enough to make us think we were at a New Jersey watering place paying $20 a week for the privilege of being bitten. Our bill of fare at this date so closely resembles the mënu of a cheap boarding house that it has ceased to be attractive. Our table-cloth is a large gunny-sack spread upon the ground; our china-ware of good, stout tin, as an Irishman would say, and our diet such changes upon hard tack, bacon, trout and venison as can be run by a cook in whom the inventive faculty appears to be entirely dormant. Genl. Crook takes his tin cup of coffee, soaks in a hand-full of hardtack, retires to a nook, sits down and gets through his meal in silence. He is remarkably abstemious, rarely drinks coffee or tea except when on a trip in the Mountains, can scarcely ever be prevailed upon to touch whiskey and then never more than a spoonful—in brief, is the most abstemious man I have ever been associated with. We have no books with us this time, but to him, The Great Book of Nature always lies open. He knows the rivers and the trend of mountains, as if by instinct, and can find his way through dark and tangled forests with the certainty of an aborigine. If there be any game near us, his keen eye detects its track, his stealthy foot follows it and his unerring rifle brings it down. If the stream upon which we camp be trout-bearing, his skill as a fisherman will lure the finny tribe where all others fail. We have had more trout than anything else on this journey and I boldly express my conviction that it is a very poor article of food. My opinion is partly due to having at one time during the campaign against the Sioux and Cheyenne in 1876–7, been obliged to live mainly upon trout for about six weeks and I may have had too much of a good thing.15 Eugene Bisbee gave a detailed account after supper of the killing by a grizzly bear, of “Long Dan” Miller, which he witnessed. They were both out with an expedition under Colonel Anson Mills, then 14.╇ Bourke is referring to Roughing It, Mark Twain’s 1872 memoir of his experiences in the far west, primarily the silver country of Nevada. Indeed, as Twain’s book progresses, there are many similarities in style to Bourke’s later writing. 15.╇ See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 18.

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Captain of the 3rd Cavalry, and had reached a point in the Big Horn Mountains where a grizzly bear was discovered and pursued into a thick willow underbrush, growing along the banks of a creek. The grizzly had been wounded and poor Miller with great foolhardiness entered the thicket only to be grasped in the death-hug of the monster. The bear was killed by the soldiers and officers who rushed up, but too late to save the poor fellow—Miller—who received wounds which erelong terminated fatally. I mention Miller because he had been my servant in Arizona, at a time when the detailing of soldiers for such work was admissible.16 In his youth, Miller had been apprenticed to a blacksmith, a trade for which his great physical strength suited him perfectly. He was such a great, long-limbed, strong, good-natured fellow that all the world recognized the fitness of his sobriquet—“Long Dan” Miller. He at all times manifested a great affection for me, much to my delight as the good fellow in my mind was almost a synonym for bravery and honor. I was then running my own mess, being the only officer present in our little camp on the Rillits, near Tucson: well do I remember Miller’s efforts as a cook and particularly the means he employed for making tender the tough Arizona beef-steaks. He would place them one at a time on a chopping block and beat them with a hammer, much as if they were horse-shoes and all the while the air would ring with his merry refrain of “Hi-Daddy, Ho-daddyHi-daddy, Dum”. Tom Kimball killed a fine buck and a large elk this evening. Old man Smith insisted that the elk was a cow, much to Kimball’s indignation; Kimball put 25 shots into the animal to be sure about killing it. The scene about this camp, at all times lovely, was especially so this evening. Surely no loom of the East could have woven a more gorgeous carpet than that upon which we reclined, of emerald grass, spangled with countless clusters of wild flowers, of every hue. It became so cold about nine o’clock that we retired to bed, Roberts and I to our tent, but Genl. Crook, Bisbee and the others to the log house belonging to the saw-mill. 16.╇ The striker was an enlisted man who moonlighted as a servant for an officer. Although the practice was outlawed in 1870, the law was observed more in the breach until specifically prohibited by Army Regulations in 1881. Even then, the position did not completely disappear. By working as a striker, an enlisted man could live in private quarters, eat better, avoid more onerous duties, and supplement his meager army pay. Knight, Life and Manners, 128.

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Aug. 7th 1880. A few drops, of rain fell in the morning. We moved towards Ft. Bridger about ten miles; there all our people commenced to fish, intending to catch a quantity for our friends in Omaha.17 Roberts and myself, after hauling in a couple apiece, pushed on to the Fort to open the mail which had accumulated there. Judge Carter and all the officers gave us a most hearty welcome; the old Judge insisted on opening a couple of bottles of champagne which had been in his cellar for more than ten years. Unfortunately, he made it into a mixed drink with some sort of bitters; the result was that my drink made me feel wretched. August 8th. Colonels Ludington & [Thaddeus Harlan] Stanton who had been absent fishing joined us at Bridger where in addition to the people already mentioned, we found Miss Maud Stanton & Governor Pounds of Wisconsin (M.C.) and wife.18 ++++ + +++++++ ++++++++. - + + + Genl. Crook’s Report. Hd.Qrs. Dep’t. Platt. In the Field; Fort Bridger, Wyo., Aug. 8th. 1880. Ass’t. Adj’t. General Hd.Qrs. Mily. Divn. of the Missouri, Chicago, Ills. Sir: We arrived at Ft. Bridger, Wyo., on the 30th ult., and the next morning left for Carter’s Saw-Mill at the foot of the Uintah Mountains, a point 27 miles South of this post and accessible by wagons. From that place we proceeded with horses and pack-mules to the Uintah Ute Agency, a distance estimated at a total of ninety one miles from Bridger. The trail was exceedingly bad; owing to the fallen timber and bush: In many places extremely rocky and in some few miry. An excellent grade for a road can be had, but, in my judgment, the cost of construction would be far in excess of the amount asked for. This route is beyond a doubt the most feasible of all those under consideration: it cannot be used more than four months in each year, a objection holding good with regard to all the 17.╇ Given the distance to Omaha, and the lack of reliable refrigeration, the fish probably was smoked. See Seymour, Forgotten Arts and Crafts, 227. 18.╇ Bourke undoubtedly means Thaddeus Coleman Pound (1833–1914), who was lieutenant governor of Wisconsin in 1870–72, and U.S. representative from Wisconsin from 1877 to 1883. He was the grandfather of poet Ezra Pound. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Thaddeus_C._Pound

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others for reaching the same country. I was agreeably surprised to find the Reservation to be such a fine region; the moment we crossed the mountain-range, the climate and character of the vegetation seemed to change. Before us stretched a broad valley similar in appearance to that of Salt Lake but much better watered. Several excellent streams coursed through it, filled at all seasons with pure cold water, containing but little alkali. From my own observation and from what the agent, Mr. Critchlon told me, I believe that there is an immense body of arable land there available for the use of the Indians, more in fact than would be needed for the whole Ute tribe. Everything in the way of cereals or vegetables grown about Salt Lake can be produced here in abundance. The climate and soil being almost identical. The only difference being that the greater altitude of the Uintah Reservation makes a slightly lower average temperature. Very Respectfully, Your Obedt. Servant (Sig.) George Crook, Brigadier General

Chapter 3 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Carl Schurz and Yellowstone National Park

Carl Schurz’s tour included Yellowstone National Park. Besides Crook and Bourke, the party included Webb C. Hayes, son of President Rutherford B. Hayes, whom Crook had first met as a child when the elder Hayes served under him in the Civil War. As he grew up, Webb became a surrogate son to the childless Crooks. The general was a frequent visitor at the Hayes home in Fremont, Ohio, followed Webb’s progress through school, and took him on hunting trips. When Crook died, Webb stood with Mary Crook during the funeral.1 Bourke was impressed with the president’s son, commenting that Webb possessed “all the attributes of good companionship, with all the best qualities of manhood. He is very bright, gentle, good-humored, able to stand much fatigue and is a pretty good hunter.”2 Years later, in On the Border With Crook, he remarked with some humor on the relationship between the general and the president’s son. 1.╇ The relationship between Crook and Webb Hayes is discussed in Robinson, General Crook. Their correspondence is preserved in the George Crook Collection in the Rutherford B. Hayes Library. 2.╇ Bourke, Diary, 35:712.

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For eight or nine years Mr. Webb C. Hayes . . . hunted with Crook, and probably knows more of his encounters with ursine monsters than any living man, not excepting Tom Moore. Mr. Hayes became a renowned bear-hunter himself, and is well known in all the mountains close to the Three Tetons. In addition to being an excellent shot, he is a graceful runner; I remember seeing him make a half-mile dash down the side of a mountain with a bear cub at his heels, and the concurrence of opinion of all in camp was that the physical culture of Cornell University was a great thing.3 The trip inspired some of Bourke’s most soaring prose. He had always admired the natural wonders of the West, and Yellowstone had a particularly humbling effect on him. Whereas, in that era, many in the industrialized East believed that human technology was on the verge of overcoming nature, and solving virtually any problem, Bourke wrote that amid the mountains, meadows, forests, and rivers of the national park, “man’s impotence reveals itself and his awe-inspired soul bows down in humble reverence before his Lord and Maker.”4 The region now known as Yellowstone National Park was surveyed by an expedition under Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden in 1871. Hayden’s enthusiastic written report, together with the works of expedition photographer William H. Jackson and painter Thomas Moran, led to the establishment of the park the following year. Yellowstone existed in a sort of limbo for decades following its establishment. There being no National Park Service at the time, the park was under the War Department, with the Army Engineers having direct responsibility. Despite this arrangement, initially it was placed under civilian superintendents. Congress, however, found this unsatisfactory, and beginning in 1886, army officers served as superintendents. The National Park Service was created in 1916, but the War Department and Engineers disputed its jurisdiction for two more years, so that it was 1918 when the park passed to civilian control.5 Even at this early stage of the park’s development, remote as it was, and with Indian outbreaks still a possibility, Superintendent 3.╇ Bourke, On the Border, 430–31. 4.╇ Bourke, Diary, 35:709. 5.╇ Lamar, New Encyclopedia, 1244–45; Lee Whittlesey, Yellowstone National Park, to Charles M. Robinson III, January 2, 2008.

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Philetus Norris foresaw what it would become, and was designing his program accordingly. Already, as Bourke observed, the park was attracting tourists: Near the grand geysers, a photographer, Mr. [Henry Bird] Calfee, his [sic] pitched his tent and supplies tourists with such views as they may desire. We encountered several small parties travelling like ourselves for pleasure, but none that we knew except that of Major [William Burton] Hughes (A.D.C. to Genl. Terry.) with his wife and sister-in-law.6 August 9th. Dr. Tanner, so the telegram to-day informed us, completed his 40 days’ fast, a wonderful achievement of fortitude and endurance, which may yet prove of value to the medical profession in the treatment of obscure intestinal troubles. The report, published a short time since, of the rout and destruction of Genl. [George] Burrough’s [sic] Brigade of the British Army, near Candahar [sic], in Afghanistan, has been confirmed.7 We paid our farewell calls this afternoon to all our friends at the post, among others to Judge Carter, from whom we were glad to escape. The judge is one of the pleasantest and most affable gentlemen I’ve ever met, but like everybody he has his failings. He is an amateur medical practitioner and bases his views of health upon a copious administration of some stuff called “Cook’s Balm of Life” which he believes to be an alleviative for every malady. This nostrum is composed, to infer from the taste, of equal parts of carbolic acid, camphor, borax, iodide of potassium, [semmiate?] of ammonia and such ingredients, and is extremely well adapted for relieving nausea, but is not the proper thing for a constant drink, much as Judge Carter may think so. He dosed us all with it five or six times to-day, Col. Ludington and myself being the worst sufferers: we didn’t like to 6.╇ Bourke, Diary, 35:707. 7.╇ This refers to the battle of Maiwand, fifty miles from Kandahar, on July 27, 1880, during the Second Afghan War. Some 25,000 Afghans under Ayub Khan outflanked and smashed Brig. Gen. George Burrows’ 2,566 British and Indian troops. The British lost 962 dead and 161 wounded, but were saved from total annihilation by Ayub Khan’s failure to follow up on the victory. Despite the setback for the British, the Afghans lost 5,500 dead and 1,500 wounded. Although Ayub Khan managed to bottle up the British garrison in Kandahar, the battle had no real effect on the outcome of the war. On September 1, a British force under Gen. Frederick Roberts relieved Kandahar with a decisive victory over the Afghans. The battle of Maiwand entered British literature with Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “That Day,” and in Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, in which the reader learns that Sherlock Holmes’ companion, Dr. John Watson, was discharged from the army on medical disability after being severely wounded at Maiwand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maiwand

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offend our old friend by refusing his medicine, but under our breath, we cursed the luck which had caused us to fall into his hands. Col. J. M. Thornburgh joined us, coming from Fort Washakie8 in the Wind River Mountains. August 10th. Govr. and Mrs. Pound, Genl. Crook, Maj. Roberts, A.D.C., Col. and Miss Stanton, Col. Ludington, Col. Thornburgh, and the writer, with Major Bisbee and Lt. Young, started for Carter Station, all except the last two, to take the Westward-bound train at that point for Ogden. On train, were Webb Hayes, son of the President, (who came to join our party.) and eight young midshipmen, just graduated from the Naval Academy and on their way to report for duty with the Asiatic squadron. They were all nice, bright young fellows of promise, and proved a pleasant acquisition to our society on the road. At Ogden we found Secy. Schurz and party, Genl. Smith, U.S. Army, Mr. Kimball of Salt Lake, and Major [William T.] Howell, U.S.A. Secretary Schurz’s party consisted of himself and two daughters, his private Secretary, Mr. Hanna, Mr. Gaulieur [sic: Gauliaur] of New York City and Mr. Mayer, (the Secy’s. nephew.) The Misses Schurz proceeded on to Washington, and Govr. and Mrs. Pound, Miss Stanton and General Smith to Salt Lake City. For the others, a special chair [coach] had been provided on the Utah and Northern R.R., under care of Mr. McConnell, of the Union Pacific freight department who did all possible for our comfort. This arrangement gave great umbrage to a big strapping fellow, calling himself Maguire who, much to my quiet enjoyment, wanted to whip the Secretary as a mark of esteem, I suppose. Mr. Maguire was very tipsy, but very plucky, nevertheless. As we were on the point of starting, a telegram reached me from Genl. Williams, saying that my detail to the Mily. Acady. had (upon my application.) been revoked. We supplied ourselves liberally with the large sweet apricots grown in this territory, which are sold at very reasonable prices. The train stopped at Logan, near midnight, when a fearful row was 8.╇ Fort Washakie was established as Camp Brown in 1871, and is referred to as Camp Brown in the first two volumes of this series. The post was located on the Wind River to protect the Shoshones. It was renamed Fort Washakie in 1878, in honor of the paramount Shoshone chief who allied himself with the government during the Great Sioux War. It was permanently abandoned in 1909, and turned over to the Interior Department as headquarters for the Shoshone Agency. Frazer, Forts of the West, 186–87.

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made by some-body, trying to get into our car. We were afterwards told that it was Sir John Rae Reid and some of his escort who wanted to go into the Yellowstone Park with us and ride in our sleeper. Sir John was disappointed in his hopes. August 11 1880. We arrived at Ross Fork early in the morning, where our car was switched off on a side-track until daylight. Agent [James] Wright provided us all with a good breakfast, after which Secretary Schurz held a conference with the Bannocks and Shoshonees whose agency is at this point and with a deputation of another branch of the same tribes and of the Sheep-Eaters* all of whom are located at the Lehmi Agency 165 miles North and West of this place. The object of the conference was to induce these last Indians to relinquish their Reservation at Lemhi and come down to live with the others near Fort Hall: in this, the conference was a dead failure. The Indians flatly refused to entertain any such proposition, altho’ the sum of $4000 per annum was offered as a bonus. Their language was, if not saucy, extremely independent. Tin-Doy, Pegui, Tucamesa and “Humpy Saw” were the speakers on the side of the Indians. Tin-Doy said “You (Schurz.) have given me ten agents—none of them has ever been fit for anything”. All the rest spoke in like strain bearing heavily upon Agent Wright (of Fort Hall.), but not upon Agent [E. A.] Stone, (of Lemhi.) both of whom were present. My own opinion coincided with that of the Indians; I imbibed a prejudice against Wright, but took quite a fancy to Stone. There was nothing especially note-worthy about this conference. The Indians were dressed in their usual, half-savage, half-civilized garb of their race living upon Reservations. All of them wore their hair long and loose, but pulled back in a “top-knot” at forehead, and under it at roots, a bright line of vermillion paint. Generally they had neck-laces of large, opaque, blue glass beads and each carried in his hat a brilliant scarlet tuft or plume of feathers.** One shone resplendent in an artillery officer’s dress coat of scarlet with gold buttons and shoulder-knots. These Indians, in their habits and mode of life, are a connecting link between the “fishers” of the Colum*Bourke’s marginal note: The Sheep-Eaters are a branch of the Sho-shonees and speak their language. They get their peculiar title from the fact of living mainly upon the Rocky Mountain Sheep which is to be found in numbers in the depths of the Rocky Mountains where these Indians abide. **Bourke’s marginal note: A great many of these Indians wore moustaches.

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bia and the “hunters” of the plains. Their general diet is salmon, salmon-trout,9 trout, Rocky Mountain Sheep, elk and deer, with an occasional moose, and each year a foray is made across the Rocky Mountains into the Sioux country east of the big Horn Range to hunt buffalo.* I had pointed out to me Bear-skin, a young Bannock warrior who sat very quiet during the whole proceedings. During the Bannock out-break, in this Department, in 1878, this Indian had a desperate hand to hand encounter with a Sergeant of the Army. I believe he killed the Sergeant and was himself very badly shot and left for dead: but here he was, all the same. Mr. Schilling, the trader at this Agency, an old friend, drove us over to his house for dinner where we had the pleasure of meeting three charming ladies—Mrs. Schilling, Mrs. White and Mrs. Butler, the last named very pretty and pleasing. Mrs. Schilling had gone to great trouble in making ice-cream for us, but I don’t believe she had any just cause of complaint about our lack of appreciation of her labors. I hunted around among these Indians to obtain a specimen of their handiwork. They don’t do much, and I was successful only in getting an odd-looking money-purse covered with beads; as it was the only thing in sight. I secured it without delay. We are among a very peculiar set of Indians—the Sheep-Eaters, above mentioned; then, the Flat-Heads, some of whom are intermarried among the Bannocks, who have had until lately, and still have, I think, the practice of compressing the heads of their newly-born children until in shape they resemble a sugar loaf. This is done by strapping the child to a stiff board and placing another smooth, heavy piece of plank upon its forehead. This is not pressed at all, at least not for the first month, its weight being sufficient, but after the first month a system of pressure is applied by buckskin thongs, running through holes and connecting the two boards, about as, with us, ladies tighten their corsets. The reason given for this singular practice, by some ethnologists, is that the Flat-Heads at one period in their history had been unusually successful in war and had taken many captives whose children they wished to distinguish from their own by a mark of servitude; but *In the margin, Bourke inserted, with no particular reference to anything: At Ross’s Fork Agency, there are four Indian carpenters. 9.╇ I.e., cutthroat trout (salmo clarki).

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the captives, becoming more numerous than the captors, usurped control and assumed as a tribal distinction that which at first had been invented as a badge of disgrace. The Flat-Heads themselves say they mark their babies in this way to enable the Great Spirit to recognize them when they go to the Happy Hunting Grounds. Roman Catholic missionaries have labored hard among the Black-Feet and Flat-Heads for many years, trying to break down their savage customs and meeting with encouraging success. The Flat-Heads have the best farms in Montana and a pretty little church in the Missoula Valley. They are very well-behaved and would make a much better Christian than the average were it not for the occasional out-croppings of the old blood-thirsty spirit which impels them annually to make raids into the Sioux country to kill and Scalp their hereditary enemies. Contiguous to the country of the Flat-Heads is that of the Blackfeet, Nez Percés and Coeur d’Alênes, of whom I may have opportunities to say something in the future. Between three and four in the afternoon, our car left Ross Fork, taking with us, (as far as Blackfoot station,) the three ladies who had dined with us. Blackfoot has improved wonderfully since my last visit, at Xmas (1879.)10 It has now all the airs and manners of a bustling little town, the impetus to its advancement being formed in the mining developments now going on in the Saw tooth and Salmon River mountains, in the Bonanza, Challis, Wood-River and Bay-Horse districts, 50 or 75 miles to the North West. The Snake River, a strong affluent of the Columbia, is crossed by an iron and wooden bridge, whose ends rest upon the vertical walls of a deep cañon of black basalt, a natural pier of the same material rising out of the middle of the river and serving as the support for the span. This point is a proud one for such a structure. Its discovery must have saved the Rail Road Company several hundreds of thousands of dollars. The river is wonderfully deep, how deep may never be known with accuracy. Soundings of 200 feet have been made, but such is the velocity of the current that the lead never yet has reached the bottom. This part of Idaho Territory is very flat and uninteresting, a scanty growth of sage-brush being the only vegeta10.╇ Bourke probably means the Christmas season, rather than Christmas Day. His entries for December 1879 show that he was at Blackfoot Station on December 16. On Christmas Day, he left Salt Lake City for Omaha. Robinson, Diaries, 3:350.

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tion. The soil is a decomposed volcanic rock and ash, which must be fearfully muddy in winter. We could see also that the Snake river makes great freshets at times to take the piles of drift-wood above the bridge, as any indication. Near Market Lake, (a broad, shallow expanse of mud, surrounded with mud.) we were shown two high hills to the North-East which are said to be the craters of extinct volcanoes. Pushed up the valley of the Snake, which is remarkable in this vicinity for the scarcity of timber upon its banks. It is easy to understand that the Utah and Northern R-R. must soon change from a narrow to a standard gauge. Its “haul” of freight is increasing daily and there are at this writing said to be over 300 car-loads at Ogden waiting to be transferred from the cars of the Pacific Rail Road to those of this. By assuming the standard track-width, the Utah line will avoid all the bother and delay of transshipments. A short distance above Market Lake is China point, named to commemorate six Mongolians who froze to death in the winter of 1875–6. They were travelling in a stage coach. The horses gave out and the driver started off with them to the relay station where fresh animals were to be found. A heavy snow-storm had set in for which reason the driver the driver [sic] urged the Chinamen to accompany him. This they declined doing, thinking they could keep themselves warm in the stage until his return. Later in the night a polar blast howled across the country keeping the driver from leaving the station and chilling the Chinamen so thoroughly that all but one determined to face the storm and plod through the snow to the shelter that stables afforded. But, as might be expected, they lost their way in the blinding snow drifts and their bodies were never found until the following Spring. The survivor, who clung to the stage, was badly frozen but did not lose his life. I believe that I was out in this very storm, riding in a stage from the (then) terminus of the R.R. at Franklin, Idaho, to Fort Hall. Some mention of the matter may be found in my journals of 1875–6.11 The serrated peaks of the Salmon River Mountains made a noble sight in the golden rays of the setting sun this evening. At 9.30 P.m., reached the end of our journey by rail—Beaver Cañon, 11.╇ This apparently is among the missing volumes, because there is a gap between June 22, 1875, and February 17, 1876.

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258 miles North of Ogden, 6200 feet above sea level. The air was very chilly. Had supper prepared for us [next lines crossed out and illegible] Major [Augustus H.] Bainbridge, 14th Infantry, in command of our escort, had pitched his camp at the water tank some distance from Beaver Cañon. Ludington and Thornburgh were with him, having preceded us in the regular train this morning, but we slept in the chair car all night. August 12th 1880. Breakfasted at 4.15 a.m. Left Beaver cañon at 5 o’clock and steamed down to Major Bainbridge’s camp. The heavy wagons had gone on several days in advance, but there were in waiting for us three ambulances and a light escort wagon in which we loaded ourselves and traps without delay and then took up the trail which General [Oliver O.] Howard followed in his ineffectual pursuit of Joseph and his Nez Percés in 1877.12 We moved East, going for a number of miles across a desert country with soil of broken lava and hills capped with columnar basalt. Crossed several small but good streams. Came to Camas Prairie, an extended area of excellent pasture, 5 or 6 miles in Diameter, surrounded by lofty mountains. It is not only covered with excellent grasses but bears a great quantity of the camas,13 a plant resembling the wild turnip, the bulb of which, after being roasted, is eaten by the Indians. The stem of the plant is white and is crowned with a number of seed pods, like those of a pea, each filled with small black seeds. Secy. Schurz and Genl. Crook shot a number of plump young prairie-chickens: Mr. Hayes and Mr. Gauliaur also made several good shots. The mountains around and about us were patched with snow; our line of march led us through lovely little parks, well grassed and fairly timbered, and covered with many pretty brooks flowing over beds of boulders and gravel. The water of all these, without exception, was pure, sweet and cold as ice.—they are all tributaries of the Snake. This country has once been the scene of powerful volcanic action, 12.╇ Although Yellowstone was in the Department of the Platte, the Nez Percé War originated in the Department of the Columbia, and the chase zig-zagged back and forth. Therefore it was more feasible for Howard, who commanded the Department of the Columbia, to coordinate the military action. See Beal, “I Will Fight No More Forever,” and Greene, Nez Perce Summer. 13.╇ Camassia quamash.

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but no craters are visible, this side of Market Lake. When we reached Shot-gun creek, a noble stream, we watered our mules and waited for an hour to let those so inclined try their hand at fishing. The current was full of fine salmon trout, gassy fellows,14 ranging from 2½ to 3 lbs. in Wt. Col Stanton and Col. Ludington each caught several weighing far above this, but they readily broke away from the small hooks and slender poles and lines with which they had been taken. I caught seven—all fighters and of good weight. Farther on from the Shot-gun, we passed a mammoth spring gushing in a solid stream out from the rock and rushing down to join the creek we had left. At 5 o’clock, reached our camp, a most picturesque location with tents pitched on the grassy banks of the North fork of the Snake river, here some 60 @ 70 yards wide, as clear as crystal, running with a very swift current over a bed whose pebbles danced in the sun’s rays at depths varying from 2 to 4 feet below the surface. In front of us, on the other side of the Fork, a beautiful copse of pine, and spruce;—in our rear, the main range of the grand old Rockies;—We are this evening very close to the divide separating the waters of the Columbia from those of the Missouri. A few drops of rain sprinkled us before sun-down. Tom Moore, our experienced master of transportation had everything in ship shape, ready for our coming. Our accomodations on this trip are decidedly regal. We have one wall tent for every two persons and a hospital tent for dining room. The outfit may as well be enumerated. Seven army wagons, i.e. 2 six mule, 2 four mule and 3 ambulances. Seventeen pack-mules—an escort of fourteen mounted Infantry from Major Bainbridge’s Company of the 14th Infy. Two Shoshonee Indian guides—Jack Hurley and Mike Fisher. One Hospital tent, seven Wall and fifteen common tents. Altogether, we had seventy-six animals. At supper Mr. Timothy Foley, our cook astonished us with the following Bill of Fare, which is published as a certificate of his energy and skill. Tomato Soup, Baked Salmon trout, mashed potatoes, Prairie chickens, young sagehens (stewed,) Pork and beans, hot biscuits, fresh butter, pickles, olives, peaches and pears, cheese, whiskey, 14.╇ Bourke probably means “gassy” in the colloquial sense, in that the fish seemed boastful or pretentious, an attitude familiar to any fisherman who sees them leaping about while ignoring his hook.

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claret and champagne. Tea and Coffee. (For the champagne we were indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Schurz.) August 13th, 1880. (Friday.) Breakfasted at 4 o’clock. Had some delay in starting on account of baggage. Did not get away from camp until 5.30 a.m. Crossed the North Fork of Snake river, hub deep on our wagons. Moved North North East leaving the grassy country and getting into pine timber with, however, an occasional bunch of good grass. Halted at the end of 6 miles to rest. Made another move of 6 miles in length, passing up along the North Fork through a country which was one unbroken succession of exquisite passages of scenery. A monstrous cinnamon bear, as big as an ox, emerged from the river, directly in our front and ran crashing through the dense undergrowth of the forest on our Right. We made an ineffectual pursuit through the broken and fallen timber. Crossed back to the Right bank of the river and halted in a fine meadow where we allowed our animals to graze for a few minutes. Day very cloudy and damp. Saw an old buffalo head on the trail, the first I’ve ever met with on the Pacific slope. The Buffalo gnats became very troublesome to our horses at this place. We now moved across the broad, grassy prairie of at least 7 & 8 miles in its greatest Diameter and towards the centre boggy and miry. Grass very thick and camas in patches. Grass hoppers plenty. The “Three Tetons” loomed up grandly to the South as noble an upheaval of mountains as can be found anywhere in our territory. Several herds of antelope on our Left. These our Shoshonee Indians pursued but without success. Two or three flocks of wild geese sailed over us lazily, flapping their wings and sounding a contemptuous honk-honk, secure in their elevation from the assaults of our rifles. We kept along the South and East shore of Henry’s Lake (which had by this time been reached), a picturesque expanse of water, 3 miles long by over a mile wide, walled in by snow-clad and timbercovered ranges. Passed a great swarm of locusts. (These are frequently used by the aboriginal tribes of this region as a delicious article of food.) 30 miles out from camp of last night we got to Sawtelle’s ranch at the head of the Lake and there learned to our great disgust that we had taken the wrong road and that to enter the Park, it would be

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necessary to retrace our steps to nearly the lower end of the Lake. There was no help for it. We had to turn around and make up our lost time by renewed vigor in marching. At Sawtelle’s met two men just out from the Park—the first people encountered since we left the Rail Road. Our course since day-light had been nearly due North. We now pushed almost due East, climbing over Tahgee [sic] Pass, named from a once celebrated Bannock chief, now dead.15 The ascent to the summit has a very easy grade, not much over 25 feet to the mile and for most of the way, the road passes through a beautiful arcade of pines growing so close together that the light of the sun is completely obscured. Bivouacked on Madison River. (Be it remembered that this river, with the Jefferson and Gallatin, form the Missouri.) The Madison at this point of 75 feet Wide, 11 feet Deep, Current of 7 or 8 miles, and flows in a pellucid mass over a bed of smoothly rounded pebbles. Since leaving Sawtelle’s, we have been on the U.S. Mail road from Virginia City, Montana and find every stream bridged, including the Madison which is spanned by a substantial frame structure. Our camping place was in a pretty little park with every essential for comfort. The scenery was exquisite, & the only drawback to complete enjoyment the buffalo gnats which swarmed about us in myriads. While crossing the divide in Tah-gre Pass, between the waters of the Missouri and the Columbia, I plucked a few sweet flowers as souvenirs for those at home. Distance to-day on line of travel 37 miles (This does not include distance travelled out of our course.) Sky in evening bright with a few clouds. As supper was announced, Mr. [Philetus] Norris, the Superintendent of the National Park and Mr. Harry Yount, the Government Forester, rode into camp. Saturday, August 14th 1880. Breakfasted at 4 a.m. Broke camp at 5 Travelled 10 miles East over a gentle hill, thickly timbered with small pines & Spruce, to the North, or main, Fork of the Madison, a stream of which it is only necessary to say that it is in every way as picturesque as its associates. On its bank is a little hut, tenanted by 15.╇ Shown on modern maps as Targhee Pass, although Bourke consistently misspells it in various ways. The route followed by Crook’s party is essentially along what is now US 20, entering the park by West Yellowstone, Montana.

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a couple of Gov’t. employees.16 From here on we began the ascent of a painfully steep mountain, separating the Yellowstone [River] from the waters of the Missouri.17 This mountain was one gloomy tangle of pines set as thickly as pins in a cushion: from its crest we obtained a glorious view of a vast domain to the West, including mountain ranges whose names I did not obtain and rivers and streams belonging to the Columbia drainage system. Moved over a rough plateau of lava—(augite) through an almost impenetrable forest of pines, growing so dense that none of them reached any great thickness. Were much bothered in this part of the day’s journey by buffalo gnats. Col. Stanton and I chased an enormous black bear, but he defied pursuit in the darkness of the pine jungle. Going down the flank of the mountain, we caught our first glimpse of the Geysers. The ascending steam made the scene essentially Tartarean. Stanton, who hasn’t said a prayer for a quarter of a century tried to mumble a Pater Noster, but he got it so badly mixed up with the Star Spangled Banner that I don’t think it did him much good. (Reached the Geysers about 1 P.M. Distance 28 miles.) Mr. Norris told us that we had reached the Lower Geyser Basin, in the valley of the Fire Hole or Hell-Hole river which is really the most important fork of the Madison. We pitched our tents close by the station, now building for the use of the company which proposes running a line of stages from Virginia City, Montana to this point, by the route we have travelled. I have only to remark that they will have a lively time in getting across the mountains.18 Mrs. McNulty, wife of ex-congressman McNulty, (of Illinois.) was in camp at this place and very considerately prepared for our refreshment a large tin full of tea. All of our party paid their respects to her in the course of the afternoon.19 16.╇ “This was the Riverside Station, a building originally erected as a mail station and later used as an office for the civilian assistant superintendents of the park.” Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008. 17. “His words ‘from here on we began the ascent’ make it clear that they were traveling on Philetus Norris’s new road—today’s ‘Old Fountain Pack Trail’—that connected Riverside Station with Lower Geyser Basin via Marshall’s Park.” Ibid. 18.╇ “‘Station’ no doubt refers to Marshall’s original use of this building as a mail station. This building, under construction in 1880, was George Marshall’s first hotel, located on the west side of Firehole River against a hillside in Lower Geyser Basin. He ran a hotel and stagecoach operation headquartered here beginning that summer for several years, until the Yellowstone Park Association bought him out in 1885.” Ibid. 19.╇ Bourke probably means the wife of Thompson Ware McNeely (1835–1921), who represented Illinois in Congress from 1869 to 1873. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Thompson_W._McNeely

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Saddled our horses and rode one mile to the “Mud Geyser”. Here are situated in a broad basin, once seemingly, the bed of a lake or crater, which is thickly crusted with a whitish deposit of siliceous material, in which, no doubt, considerable lime carbonate is to be found. From this flooring or ground-plan rise dozens of small, hemispherical and conical mounds, formed from matter ejected by the “geysers” thousands of which seethe and bubble in the middle. Looking into these geysers we find them to be of all depths and dimensions, some of very large size, say 20 feet in Diameter and the same in depth to the surface of the boiling mud within. These dimensions will serve for the cones likewise which are nothing more than feeble shells bearing about the same relation to the enclosed mass as does the skin of an orange to its pulp. The “slaked lime” or mud, for it was nothing else, spattered and hissed angrily in the caldrons, often throwing up a scalding mass ten or twelve feet high; near each caldron, the earth was cracked and gashed with fissures of all sizes which gave vent to the jets of superheated steam and probably prevented the pent up forces of nature from making more terrible explosions.20 Associated with the “mud geysers” and in close proximity are countless hot springs and geysers (hot water) of which the ascertained temperature is 273° F. or about 70°F. above the boiling point of water which, at this altitude, can’t be much, if any, over 200°F. We walked about with some trepidation; the crust was trembling under our feet and the noise of escaping steam and boiling water was plainly to be heard through the innumerable openings meeting us at every step. My account of this part of the day’s work amounts to the simple fact that we saw these geysers and springs; it, in no sense, gives the faintest idea of their exquisite beauty. Nearly all of them are of immense depth, with water of a peculiar blue-green tint, very much like that of the sapphire, and effervescing like champagne up through channels of solid rock. Over this basin hung a cloud, condensed from the steam emitted by the hundreds of apertures.21 Our horses became very nervous and acted as though they felt that they were in a dangerous position. The moment we drew near 20.╇ “Here they were probably in the Lower Geyser Basin’s Pocket Basin Mudpots, an area of large mud springs, some of which are thirty feet in diameter.” Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008. 21.╇ “Here they were probably walking around the Fountain Group of geysers and hot springs in Lower Geyser Basin.” Ibid.

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its brink, one of these geysers, (there are hundreds of them, with new discoveries every day; some of them cease to “spurt” and fresh ones break out.) commenced to play. The rumblings of the up-rushing volume of seething water was like the splash of waves upon the shores of the sea. We withdrew reverentially to a distance and watched the eruption. The height attained was from 30 to 35 feet.22 In a few moments, the tempest subsided and the angry waters rushed to a moan down again into the bowles [sic] of mother earth. Scratched upon the white surface of the incrustation surrounding this geyser, we noticed the names of some dozen or more of army friends. “Sam Swigert, 2nd Cavalry. Capt. [Camillo C. C.] Carr, 1st Cavalry, Lt. [Edward John] McClernand, 2nd Cavalry[”] and others:— some dating back to the time (1877.) when Howard passed through here with his column in pursuit of Joseph & his Nez Percés. As I was writing the above, another geyser, alongside of me, began its angry work, sending a shower of hot spray to my feet. I am making no attempt at a description of this Wonderland:— such a task would be beyond my feeble powers. I only write what we have seen and that very feebly. Anything beyond this on the part of anybody would be simply a mimicry of Nature’s powers here displaying themselves in the fullest grandeur. (Rossiter Raymond of New York and Ludlow and Jones of the Engineer Corps of the Regular Army, have each given very interesting descriptions of this region which beautiful though they be yet fall far short of doing justice to the noble subject treated:—this criticism of their works would, I am sure, be conceded by the gentlemen mentioned, to be a very just and impartial one.)23 Saw a few little flowers growing in this awe-inspiring basin; also saw the fresh foot-print of a bear and the crumbling bone of an elk. Mr. Mayer and Mr. Gaulieur [sic] broke through the crust of one of the Geysers the first named going down knee-deep, but without injury. Cols. Ludington and Stanton and I washed our handkerchiefs in one of the geysers; beyond scalding our hands, our efforts as laundresses did not bear much fruit. Getting back to camp, plucked a lot of luscious wild strawberries 22.╇ “This was probably Fountain Geyser or another one on that sinter platform.” Ibid. 23.╇ The survey by Rossiter Raymond was in 1871, and the military surveys by Capt. William A. Jones and Capt. William Ludlow of the Engineers, were in 1873 and 1875, respectively. Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 2, 2008.

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from the skirt of the forest nearby. As afternoon merged into evening, the sky was obscured by black and lowering clouds, but no rain fell. Darkness came upon us and still our wagons had not reached camp: we gladly accepted the invitation of Dick Moon, our chief packer, and went to his tent for supper,—pork and beans, stewed apples, coffee, hard-tack and molasses—regular packers’ fare. Long after night-fall, the welcome sound of rumbling wagon-wheels announced that Tom Moore had not failed to get our transportation across the rugged mountain we had to climb to-day: it was a work of genius to do so speedily and successfully as he had done it, and not a soul in our party but was unreservedly glad that Genl. Crook had had the foresight to bring out with him a man of Moore’s extended experience and great ability. Before we turned in to bed, Mrs. McNulty sent over to Genl. Crook to ask his assistance in hunting her husband who had started out hunting early in the morning and had not since returned. It was too dark to find anybody at that hour, so Genl. Crook returned answer that he would dispatch our two Shoshonee Indians the first thing in the morning to look for the missing man and that our party would remain where it was until Mr. McNulty should be found. Sunday, August 15th 1880. Mr. McNulty returned. He reported that he had suffered from a slight attack of paralysis in the leg, (to which he is at times subject.) which prevented his moving at all, altho’ he was in the main road and within sight of our camp. The valley is filled with fog from the geysers which undoubtedly exert an important influence upon the climate. Moved out from Lower Basin, up the Fire Hole River. Geysers everywhere. Hot springs steam escaping from countless fissures in the earth underneath which water bubbles and seethes like a huge caldron. In color, some of these waters are an indescribable and charming blue-green, flowing from basins of buff, red, grey and greenish rock. One hot spring which, so far as known, has made no eruption, is said to be the largest in the whole world.24 It has two basins one above the other; from the lower dashes a boiling torrent, of capacity to work the largest flour or quartz mill in this country. We passed so many geysers that I can’t remember even their names; but I don’t care: my journal is not a guide-book. There was the “Fan”, 24. “Excelsior Geyser at Midway Geyser Basin, three miles south of Lower Geyser Basin.” Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008.

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[“]Castle”, “The Giant”, [“]Giantess” [“]Lion’, [“]Lioness”, [“]Bee Hive”, and “Old Faithful”, so called from the fidelity of the recurrence of its eruption which takes place at regular intervals of 55 minutes. Many, if not all, of these geysers have a well-defined periodicity of agitation and as we become more thoroughly acquainted with them, the hours of commotion can be predicted with the same accuracy as in the case of “Old Faithful”.25 We reached the base of its mound, just as “Old Faithful” began to eject steam and spray. The sight was sublime. Spray and boiling water were cast of a height of 80 to 100 feet, a broad column sparkling in the sun and sprinkling the grounds to the foot of the mound. The eruption subsided in about two minutes when the waters receded with a gurgle into the cavernous depth of the fountain. A peculiarity of the eruptions of this geyser is that the water in rushing out from the throat of the channel brings with it a considerable number of small rounded pebbles which are scattered at the foot of the mound and can be collected the moment the “spurt” has terminated. Several explanations are offered to account for these “Faithful Beans” (They look for all the world like a lot of flinty-white beans.)26 The most plausible one is that the water rushed up through the orifice with such force that it breaks off pieces of rock, which are not always thrown out at the time of their separation from the sides of the geyser, but remain in the circling flood and by being abraded against the hard walls and against each other speedily assume a rounded contour. In the vicinity of all these Geysers, the ground sounds dismally hollow under the trail of our iron-shod horses. We have been travelling all day with pack-animals alone, the trail being too severe for our wheeled vehicles which we left behind at Fire Hole Station.27 Aside from the wonders near it which we came to see, Fire-Hole River itself would be a thing of beauty as viewed coursing down between its banks of hills, covered with forests of gnarly, storm-twisted pines. It is a series of pretty swirls and rapids with here and there a hot spring pouring from its very edge. Passing through the forest this morning, we came to a bright, sunny little glade wherein ripe strawberries blushed under the rich 25.╇ “All of these geysers are in the Upper Geyser Basin.” Ibid. 26.╇ “These are known to today’s geyser enthusiasts as ‘geyser eggs.’” Ibid. 27. “Firehole Mail Station, also known as Marshall’s Hotel.” Ibid.

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green grasses. Major Roberts and I tied our horses and ate most heartily of the banquet spread before us. Near the grand geysers, a photographer, Mr. Calfee, his [sic] pitched his tent and supplies tourists with such views as they may desire. We encountered several small parties travelling like ourselves for pleasure, but none that we knew except that of Major Hughes (A.D.C. to Genl. Terry.) with his wife and sister-in-law. Before I had finished the last line, “Castle”, to our rear, gave a magnificent exhibition of its powers as a geyser of the first class. It began with a very noisy discharge of steam, speedily changing into a dense, funnel-shaped column of white steam and spray, not less than 80 feet high. Grand! exclaimed everybody as the water subsided slowly; but this we soon saw was only the prêlude to the principal part of the eruption which cast up water and spray to an altitude of not less than 200 feet! This geyser remains in a state of agitation for hours at a time and becomes quiescent only by slow degrees. Its water pouring back into the orifice meets the volume of pent up steam with which it enters into desperate struggle for mastery, the noise resulting sounding almost as loud as the reports of fieldartillery. We consumed our lunch at the foot of “Bee-Hive” Geyser, at the moment when the rain-laden clouds, which had hung over us since yesterday afternoon, favored us with a generous sprinkle. Time pressed. Ten to Twelve miles of a steep mountain trail still intervened between us and the point at which we were to camp for the night. We followed up the Fire Hole River, narrowed between two walls of columnar basalt, along one of which our trail wound. While we climbed the tedious and rugged path, making our way over slippery blocks of basalt or through broken and burnt timber, which had fallen only to be succeeded by a more vigorous and jungle-like undergrowth, we looked down into the gorge, (which diminished from a width of sixty yards at top to one of ten or twelve at bottom, with a depth of 300 feet,)28 and saw the chaotic jumble of rocks and pine trees torn from their parent beds and forests to be hurled into the threat of the rushing torrent which laughed to scorn the resistance they offered.

28.╇ “This is the canyon on Firehole River known as Devil’s Gate or Narrow Gate.” Ibid.

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Here was a lovely cascade! here one still more lovely!29 Now the trail ran close to the edge of the cañon and half a dozen rival waterfalls thrust their charms before our view. The river is a foaming whirlpool, white as cream, contrasting pleasantly with the stately gray buttresses of basalt, at whose feet it madly roars, or with the deep velvety green of the pines and firs which, from every crevice and slope, giving a foot-hold, lean over as if to catch the reflection of their own loveliness in the eddies below. The trail by degrees becomes more and more damp; we are approaching the summit and the ground under our feet is sloppy from snow just melting; in the shadow of thickly woven branches, we see an occasional little bank of it slowly dissolving and flowing to the pretty lily ponds on the Left of us. The cañon is too deep and dark for us to see the river any longer, but we hear its roar as it lashes itself to fury against its foes, the rocks and trees. At last we are upon the summit. The forest is, if anything, more dense and the trail has become a quagmire. We move past an apparently insignificant pond, but look upon it with more respect when our guide tells us that its waters flow to two oceans; to the Pacific through the Snake and Columbia and to the Atlantic, through the Yellowstone, Missouri and the Gulf of Mexico.30 This kind of work is very tiresome to both man and beast, especially to the heavilyladen pack-mules which painfully pick their way through morass and fallen timber, the bell of the leader sounding meanwhile as sweet as an Angelus Chime. For one instant we halt: a thrill running through us. We are looking down upon Shoshonee Lake which from this particular point of view presents an exquisite picture. The ubiquitous tourist has not yet ruffled its serenity by asinine comparisons with some other lake, “in the Halps, you know”, and it lies like a lost jewel of price in a casket of pine and fir-mantled mountain. It is formed principally, by the engorgement of the Snake or Shoshonee river,31 flowing through it, and has the respectable dimensions of 15 miles x 8 miles. We bivouacked on the banks of the Shoshonee River, in a pretty, level meadow, not much more than a mile from the Lake, and at the edge of a thick forest. In this camp all was lovely except the 29.╇ Kepler Cascades. 30.╇ Isa Lake on the Continental Divide. Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008. 31. “The Lewis River, which flows south to Snake River.” Ibid.

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mosquitoes which in myriads came to annoy man and beast. “Smudges” were built as soon as possible and in their smoke we smiled defiance at the little pests. It was very ludicrous to watch our grizzled old pack-mules as with the air of veterans, they plodded up close to the fires and thrust heads and necks into the insect dispelling smoke. The scenery all day has been varied and sublime: I am no poet, but were I Caedmon my muse should find a grateful theme in singing the praises of God as he appears in his noble handiwork of beetling precipice and impenetrable forest, of grassy mead and trickling rill, gentle spring and maddened torrent. Here man’s impotence reveals itself and his awe-inspired soul bows down in humble reverence before his Lord and Maker. In cities, sophistry, cynicism, infidelity thrive; there rascality and intrigue too generally are successful and the despondent mind may well doubt the existence of an All-Wise and All-Good Master of the World. But in these grand mountain ranges, the human soul is brought face to face with its Creator, admires His Power, concedes His wisdom, and humbly hopes for His justice and mercy. “The heavens declare the Glory of God, the firmament showeth His handiwork.”32 Our march to-day has not been over 25 miles long, but it has been across such high ranges, (the main range of the Rockies) and then such rough country that everybody confesses to a sense of fatigue, especially Colonel Thornburgh who is much exhausted. But we have no casualties to report which is better fortune than I was afraid we should have to chronicle, considering all that we have been exposed to. Some of our horses have scalded their legs in the boiling streams which we had to cross, those ridden by Webb Hayes and myself being the worst hurt, but none of them badly. Mr. Schurz, Mr. Gaulieur [sic], Webb Hayes, Mr. Hanna and several others of our party walked down to the shores of Shoshonee Lake, but were soon driven back in disorder by the swarms of angry mosquitoes which attacked them. Genl. Crook shot a deer, but did not secure him, the fallen timber permitting the animal to escape. No better idea can be given of the immensity of our Western domain than by making mention here of the fact that this camp is in a county of Wyoming, whose county-seat Evanston, Wyo., can only be reached after 500 miles of travel! During the time I was writing up this part of my journal, the mosquitoes 32. Psalm 19:1.

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were just eating me up alive: my hands were black with them and blood trickled from wrists and temples. But I was determined to let nothing frustrate my efforts and “stuck it out” without a grunt. Our fires had burned down without my perceiving it and the enemy took prompt advantage of the change in the situation. Mr. Gaulieur [sic] very kindly brought me an Indian-rubber cup full of cold champagne which tasted like nectar and drowned the recollection of my sufferings. Mr. Gaulieur [sic], who has a wonderful facility in drawing, has devoted his time to making sketches, all of which are extremely good. He is not much of a rider, but is a very pleasant gentleman of extended travel and cultivated mind. Mr. Schurz, the Secretary of the Interior, is a very genial companion, puts on no airs whatever and exerts himself to make everything run along smoothly. He is a wonderfully fine linguist and speaks our language with classic precision.33 He is a very good shot and by his skill has done much for our table. He rides well, is very wiry and can stand almost any amount of fatigue. Mr. Mayer is Secy. Schurz’s nephew. He has just completed his term of service in the German Landwehr, and is a bright, amiable young man, an excellent shot with a rifle and a pretty fair rider. Mr. Hanna, Secy. Shurz’s private Secretary, is a skilled stenographer, possesses a very good education and has travelled much in our Western-country, especially since the incumbency of Mr. Schurz. Webb C. Hayes, son of his Excellency the President, possesses all the attributes of good companionship, with all the best qualities of manhood. He is very bright, gentle, good-humored, able to stand much fatigue and is a pretty good hunter. Ludington and Stanton are two of our best men. They both served with distinction during the War of the Rebellion and have since seen a great amount of hard work on the Frontier, where Stanton especially has become noted for gallantry and intelligence in Indian wars. They, with Col. Thornburgh, are maniacs on the subject of fishing. Col. Thornburgh, served during the Rebellion as regimental and Brigade commander, doing good service, and after its close represented his (Tennessee) District in Congress for a number of terms. His health breaking down, he was obliged to seek restoration in the bracing summer climate of the Rocky Mountains. His brother, Major 33.╇ Schurz immigrated from Germany.

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T. T. Thornburgh, 4th Infantry, was killed in action with hostile Ute Indians last year.34 Major Roberts, General Crook’s new Aide de Camp, is as yet unknown to me, but from the General’s description, I am certain he will prove to be a valuable friend. He bears a high reputation for courage and intelligence and in his intercourse with his comrades is gentle, genial and unaffected. Bainbridge is a thorough soldier, believes in keeping everything in ship-shape, and is as pleasant a companion as the most exacting could demand. Of General Crook, I have spoken elsewhere at length, and so also I have of Tom Moore. Mr. Norris, the Superintendent of the Park, who joined us last evening, we know pretty well already. He impresses me as a good-natured, egotistical enthusiast, warm-hearted and considerable ability. Of his pluck and grit I haven’t a doubt. Like Silas Wegg,35 he occasionally “drops into poetry” in retailing which he is sufficiently liberal. His garrulity is something wonderful. Upon the slightest pretext, he will burst into a conversational torrent, lasting as long as any of his audience have the nerve to remain near him. We have dubbed him “Old Faithful” from his resemblance to the Geyser. Sky cleared off at sun-set. 34.╇ See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 3, Part 4. 35.╇ A character in Dickens’ novel, Our Mutual Friend.

Chapter 4 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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A

ugust 16th 1880. Monday. Awakened at 3.30 a.m. to discover heavy frost on the ground. Breakfasted at 4 o’clock, the piêce de rësistance being steak, and liver from an antelope shot the day before yesterday by “Old Faithful”. Alunged [sic] at once into the “forest primeval” and began to re-ascend the Continental Divide. The trail was much better than that of yesterday altho’ it wound through miles of storm-wrecked timber which gave some trouble to our animals. The breeze playing with the branches above us was heavy with the fragrance of balsam; the rays of the sun scarcely touched the ground such was the thickness of the interlacing foliage. A ride of eight or ten miles took us across the crest of the Rocky mountains and out of the worst of the forest. Sloping down before us in a gentle grade was a beautiful grassy terrace spangled with wild flowers and enclosed by a matted forest of pine & fir, and there, grandest scene of my life, there lay at our feet, the unruffled bosom of Yellowstone Lake, miles in length and breadth, guarded by giant mountains upon whose wrinkled brows rested the snows of Eternity. The very air was still in the presence of so much solemnity and majesty: a few geysers lazily emitted puffs of steam and broke the

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otherwise absolute quietude of this vast seclusion.1 Soon the gently tinkling bells of our pack-train made merry music and roused us from our revery:—it was hateful to have to move away from such allurements. Here is the heart of our great country. To the South of us rise the waters of the Green River, flowing to the Colorado and so on to the Gulf of Cortés; to the East; those of the Big Horn, passing the spot where Custer and his men went down to bloody graves, here in front, the Yellowstone and behind us, the tributaries of the mighty Missouri and “deep-voiced Oregon”. Through these wilds, Joseph and his Nez Percés made the retreat which far outshone the achievements recorded by Xenophon and here too echoed the footsteps of [Pierre-Jean] De Smet and his noble colaborers seeking to win the souls of the red men to God. While we were at the part of the Lake, Webb Hayes caught a large salmon-trout and without moving from his own position or detaching the fish from the hook, swung it into a boiling spring and there cooked it.2 Secy. Schurz and Genl. Crook were witnesses of this. In five or six other places which we passed, the same thing could have been done, as numbers of hot geysers & boiling springs empty into the lake. Resumed our march along the West shore of the Lake, going North. At first, our surroundings were very pleasant and we amused ourselves in looking upon the salmon-trout darting about in the crystalline water. The lake is crammed with them, but so many are filled with worms that we did not care to eat any. Mr. Norris gave me his explanation of this singular phenomenon. He says that a species of the dragon-fly, which is very numerous about the Lake at certain seasons, deposits its larvae on the water and that the trout swallow the larvae either in the water itself or with the fly for which they are always greedy. After hatching out in the intestines of the fish, the larvae pass through an intermediate state of worm-hood, so to speak, and live upon the flesh of the trout until they are ready to assume the condition of dragon-flies when they bore their way out through its flesh. Nearly all the trout and salmon-trout in this Lake are thus affected; the wormy ones have a pale, sickly looking flesh even when 1.╇ “They were at West Thumb Geyser Basin, on Yellowstone Lake.” Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008. 2.╇ “This was the famous Fishing Cone hot spring, so named for that reason, at West Thumb.” Ibid.

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the worm itself cannot be discovered.3 Many lovely flowers, ferns, weed and mosses attracted our notice during our progress but we had no leisure to make collections. A narrow arm of the Lake barred our advance. We examined it carefully and seeing that the bottom was of gravel and “hard-pan”, pushed in and crossed in safety altho’ the water was more than belly-deep on our horses. Ludington and Thornburgh remained behind fishing. Almost at once after fording this water, the trail led into a rough country, where tangled webb [sic] of storm-wrecked saplings threw us into perplexity and bewilderment. We well-nigh despaired of being able to force a passage but by good luck and perseverance broke through all obstacles, receiving no injuries to anyone except myself who was violently thrown to the ground from the top of a large stump and a little bit shaken up. This little march took us to the trail formerly used by the Flat-Heads and Sheep-Eaters in their annual journeys into the Big Horn country to hunt buffalo. Here we lunched and then followed the trail for a further distance of 5 or 6 miles, through some lovely little grassy glades and parks where crystalline brooks of icy water trickled down to the Lake to a promontory jutting out into the water. This was the spot chosen for our bivouac and a most charming one it was. Our horses were turned loose in a broad savanna of juicy grass, while we spread our blankets under the shade of a grove of lofty pines and listened to the winds, murmuring their symphonies through the branches and the answering waves beating into spray upon the shingly beach. Longfellow’s lines came into my mind. “Mournfully answered the sea, “and mingled its roar with the dirges” Evangeline. Mr. Hanna spent the remainder of the afternoon in sailing about in a boat belonging to a backwoodsman whose log-hut was at the other end of our grove. A large deposit of brimstone crops out from the mountains on our Left and not more than 3 or 4 miles from us. The view from our camp is said by Mr. Schurz, and the other gentlemen with us who know, to be superior to anything in Switzerland, altho’ a general resemblance is noted between this Lake and 3.╇ Norris apparently obtained this information from Edward Campbell, zoologist with the Hayden survey of 1871. This was the best information available at the time, but subsequent studies suggest pelicans as the more likely source of the worms. Whittlesey, Storytelling in Yellowstone, 115.

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that of Lucerne. The size of Yellowstone Lake, I am told, is 30 miles x 20 miles but its coast line is much greater than would be inferred from these dimensions, owing to the great number of indentations or bays, five or six of them of the first magnitude. Its depth, I don’t know—it has been sounded in several places and bottom found at 300 feet, but up to this date nothing like a hydrographical survey has ever been attempted. However, its depth must be great, judging from the deep blue of the water in which every fleeting cloud is reflected perfectly. On the other shore of the Lake (Eastern.) rose in all its majesty the main chain of the Rockies, with a well-defined pass leading from the head of the East Fork of the Yellowstone River over to the cañons of the Gray Bull [sic] and Stinking Water, tributaries of the Big Horn. We all bathed in Yellowstone Lake this evening. The water was so cold that only the determination to say we had bathed there could have stimulated us to the end. Picked up a few pieces of agate, petrified wood, &c. as mementoes. The sun going down behind a wall of gray and crimson and golden clouds was repeated grandly in the bosom of the Lake; and scarcely had our pleasure at this sight begun to subside, before the moon, almost full, shone down upon us in her splendor and cast a broad, shimmering, silvery band of glory upon the trembling waters. The high ranges in the distance were obscured in a haze, but the promontories on each side and the timbered islets in the Lake stood out boldly in a picturesque contrast of light and shadow, glassy wavelet and sombre foliage. The noblest elevation in this thrilling picture was Mount Sheridan, a grand monument to a grand soldier. I must close the journal of the day by noting that Genl. Crook killed a wolverine and Mr. Mayer a hawk in a tree-top. (This was an extremely fine shot.) No other game was to be seen all day. We did observe elk, deer and moose tracks, but the general absence of all kinds of animal life was very noticeable. The possibility is that insects have driven them to the protecting cold of the mountain tops. Distance travelled to-day_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _40 miles. August 17th (Tuesday.) 1880. Camp aroused at 4.15 a.m. Breakfast at 4.30. Observed glorious sunrise, the most marked feature of which was Mount Sheridan first blushing under the fervent gaze of dawn and then slowly turning to silver, and gold.

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Moved out from camp by a very fine trail, leading over gently undulating hills beneath which the Yellowstone River débouched from the Lake and placidly wound along through meadows velvety with verdure. The scene was picturesque in the extreme; the river, of a rich green color, smooth as glass, hemmed in by hills whose soft contours and rich grassy colors, relieved by the brownish black of the pine groves, were in charming contrast with the rugged mountains and gloomy forests forming so much of the landscape for the past week. Great numbers of large salmon-trout darted in and about the channel along the bank or sluggishly swam with the current. The foot-prints of a tremendous grizzly bear were plainly and freshly stamped in the trail, greatly to the terror of our horses and mules. We next marched for a couple of miles through hills covered with white sage-brush and suddenly came upon a high mound of sulphur.4 Once more we entered a pleasant stretch of aromatic pine timber, from which we issued into a mournful-looking basin filled with mud springs.5 One of these, called “the mud volcano” is a small cone of indurated clay which Col. Ludington and I ascended, after tying our horses to a clump of scrub cedars at its base. The sight we obtained of the crater was horrible; it was a large bed of angry, boiling mud, flowing out from a cavernous recess in one side and splashing in impotent rage against the sides of its prison. The outlet for this crater is evidently one of the hot mud springs below it. Near this “volcano”, we met Lieut. [Samuel Warren] Miller, 5th Infantry, and a party of soldiers from Fort Keogh.6 Seven miles from last night’s camp, is a hill of pure sulphur at whose foot bubbles the “Devil’s Coffee Pot”, a seething, hissing caldron of molten sulphur and hot steam, around whose edges is a deposit of clean, pure, canary colored brimstone.7 All about here are racks and crevices in the narrow crust, through which puff the steam gas of the hellish furnace below. 4.╇ Probably the Ochre Springs area. 5.╇ The Mud Volcano area. 6.╇ Fort Keogh was established on the Tongue River by Col. Nelson A. Miles, Fifth Infantry, as a supply depot during the Great Sioux War. It was upgraded to a fort in 1878, and named in honor of Capt. Myles Keogh, Seventh Cavalry, who died at the Little Bighorn. The post was deactivated in 1900, and served as a remount depot until 1908. It subsequently was used as a livestock experiment station, and quartermaster’s depot. The reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1924. Frazer, Forts of the West, 82. 7.╇ “This is Sulphur Spring, also known as Crater Hills Geyser, in the Crater Hills area of Hayden Valley.” Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008.

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It rained for a few minutes as we were leaving this place, but not enough to be dignified with the name of a storm. Mr. Mayer made another extremely good rifle-shot, killing another hawk, perched on the top of a very lofty pine. Turning our backs upon this desolate geyser basin, we once again found ourselves in cool, shady and fragrant pine groves, with crystal brooks flowing over gravel beds; and hurrying down to view the beauties of the Cañon. The country was rapidly becoming mountainous; the river had contracted its width between high ridges and was lovely murmuring in its passage over rapids, preliminary to making its plunge down the first fall. This (fall.) is a lovely cataract of foam-capped, greenish water changing into an opaque milk-white as with a roar it bounds 165 feet down the vertical face of a ledge of basalt. It is truly worthy of examination by any traveller, however blasé he may be, but along-side of its companion, the Grand Fall it scarcely attracts notice. To make the Grand Fall, the river is compressed between two precipitous cliffs of brownish-gray basalt which reduce its width to less than 80 feet. The height of this Fall is not far from four hundred feet, the depth of the cañon at the foot of the Fall being exactly 1000 feet. To me, it is a much more impressive wonder than is Niagara and the combination of colors something bewildering. There is first the deep emerald green of the river, followed by the snowy cataract with its cloud of spray dashing high in air. Receding back from this narrow thread-like torrent are the walls of the cañon,—not vertical, but just deep enough to give all the attributes of majesty to the picture without destroying the opportunity for exhibiting all the contrasts and harmonies possible to be effected with the various shades of brown, gray, buff, yellow and red of the rocks and clay and the sombre hues of the pines and firs, with their brownish boles and branches here and there turning red with the early frosts. On the side opposite to our position, a bright green field of grass spread down from the timbered hills to the very edge of the precipice and there terminated in a fringe of a single row of pines, proving the occurrence of a great land-side at some not distant day. Mr. Norris says that such slides are occurring constantly and are brought about not only by the heavy frosts of winter, but by the thermal springs of which this region is so full. The cañon below the Falls is 1500

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feet deep [sic]8 and cannot be descended in more than one or two places. Mr. Norris tells me that there are so many hot springs jutting out into the river that for a considerable distance this enormous flow of water is much too hot to be bearable. Through this lower cañon the river covered with foam can be traced sullenly pursuing its way like a great green snake with scales of silver. From the Cañon of the Yellowstone, we took the pack-train to “the Devil’s Coffee Pot”9 and then struck across country to overtake our pack-train which had been sent over to Mary’s Lake, on the road to our wagon-camp, on Madison river. Saw the breastworks thrown up by the Nez-Percés, on their retreat. Passed a mountain of Sulphur on our Right; also crossed a creek of sour alum water and one of hot green sulphur water. Trail took us across a rolling country, covered with sage-brush and grass: soil, all decomposed lava and apparently very rich. We followed the open spaces, having heavy timber on either side of us. Pretty soon we entered the forest, fortunately clear of wide brush and burnt or fallen timber, but carpeted with grass and weeds with pretty wild flowers of all colors, and with moss-grown stumps and black boulders scattered here and there to give diversity to the landscape. Getting through this forest, placed us in a sterile geyser basin, where half a dozen hot springs steamed and fumed and several pools of a creamy-green slime, (sulphur undoubtedly.) lazily flowed down the line of drainage. Then came another experience with burnt timber, (the first for today.) and breaking through that, we reached the borders of Mary’s Lake, a small pond, not over a mile in circumference. Here we struck the road made by Howard’s column while chasing Joseph—and a beastly road it was. First, it descended a dusty, timber-choked dry arroyo for a matter of a mile or more and then down an extremely steep grade which brought us to our bivouac, alongside a marsh in the depths of the forest. This day we were in the saddle 12½ hours and travelled 40 miles, which, with our sight-seeing made a good day’s work. 8.╇ Actually, about eight hundred feet, although Norris was correct on geology and water temperature. Whittlesey, Storytelling in Yellowstone, 115. 9. Sulphur Spring at Crater Hills.

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I should mention two items which to the traveller in the Yellowstone may prove to be of great interest: the first is that the East Fork of the Yellowstone river before it empties into the Lake, cuts its way through solid walls of basalt not less than 2000 feet high, making a cañon which for wild and weird beauty must be without a superior in the world. I regret extremely that my only opportunity for examining this wonder of Nature was through Mr. Schurz’s field-glass, since the breadth of the Lake intervenes but at some not distant day, I hope to [be] fortunate enough to explore it fully.10 The second point is that at certain hours of clear, bright days, the spray crowning the Upper Fall of the Yellowstone is gorgeous in the added grandeur of a rainbow, arching from wall to wall of the cañon. Genl. Crook, Col. Ludington, Col. Stanton, Webb Hayes and myself, climbed down the side of the cañon to a coïgn of vantage afforded by a rock overhanging the chasm, perched upon which like a lot of crows we could contemplate to our full satisfaction the grand panorama extended before us. We had not the good fortune to witness the arc in its completeness, but there was enough iridescence in the spray to convince any one that were the hour more favorable chosen and the sun’s rays at proper angle the effect would have been inimitable and beyond description. Wednesday, August 18th 1880. Camp aroused at 4 a.m. A heavy fire was started to drive off the frost which had made the night air so chilly and penetrating. In the flickering light of the crackling embers the pine trees stood out in bold relief. From this camp to the point where our wagons awaited us was only twelve miles, a distance accomplished after a few hours’ marching through the same kind of country as already described, part of it open hills with sage-brush and grass and the remainder, pine timber. Trail quite good. For the last three miles we were on the Madison11 and in sight of small geysers and bubbling hot springs. Buffalo and Bear signs seen. Mr. Gaulieur [sic: Gauliaur] was lost,—the same accident happened 10. “It is not known what Bourke was talking about here. The ‘East Fork of the Yellowstone River’ is present Lamar River and it does not empty ‘into the lake’ nor does it have any such spectacular canyon on its length. Perhaps Bourke was confused and was somehow looking at a more northerly stretch of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone which is 23 miles long.” Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008. 11.╇ Firehole River.

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to Mr. Hanna and himself yesterday from taking the wrong trail and in each case a few hours’ additional riding was the penalty suffered. After arriving at Fire Hole river, the party divided, Secy. Schurz, Mr. Gaulieur, Mayer and Hanna, with Norris, Moore and [Harry] Yountt [sic] going North to the Crow Agency and the rest returning West. Schurz’s party took the pack-train with one ambulance and six soldiers as escort. Our cooks made especial exertions to prepare a farewell dinner worthy of their exalted reputation. Secretary Schurz seemed sorry to lose our company, and especially the stories told about the camp-fire. One of those told to-day and which I know to be true in the main I have not preserved in any other note-book. On the stage-road running from Green River, Wyoming to Fort Washakie on the summit of the Rocky Mountains, there is, or was, a relay station, called “Starvation Camp” or “Alkali”. It is the most lonesome and dreary hole imaginable, but can best be summed up in the pithy language of a sign-board, tacked upon its outer walls by some disgusted miners.

The cook at “Alkali station” was a woman, perhaps we had better call her so—but one of those ignorant, uncouth, brainless specimens of frontier girlhood often to be encountered in such a place and only there. Of beauty, either of mind or person, she hadn’t a trace, but for all that she had been married and under the gloomy surroundings of which I am writing became a mother. Her husband had long since abandoned her, so that when she most needed the ministrations of tender affection and sympathy, she was left dependent upon the

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generocity [sic] of rough men. This wasn’t so bad after all. There is something in the roughest of rough natures which makes man the protector of weak woman in distress at all times. Everything their slender means would permit was done by these uncouth, hornyhanded drivers, blacksmiths and hostlers for mother and babe, and in a few days both were doing fully as well as could be expected. They felt too the “pride of possession” in the new arrival and its mother. These were proud moments for hostlers and station employees when the drivers of incoming stages, throwing down their reins, would ask with intense interest before leaving the box—“I say, Sandy, how’s the kid?” and swelling with delight, “Doctor” Sandy would reply conservatively—“pooty well, con’sid’rin’” or “Tolbut, Tolbut, That thar cam-mile en catnip hain’t done no good”. In spite of Sandy’s doctoring, which, perhaps, was not a bit worse than the quackery of his high-toned brothers in our large towns, in spite of chamomile and catnip, in spite of poor food and squalid lodging, the poor woman and child grew strong and were soon able to enter into the usual routine of life at the station. (I use the word “life” with some misgivings. “Existence” or “death” would be better terms.) One thing alone was lacking to fill to the brim the cup of joy the little waif’s guardians were preparing to drain to the dregs. It was not that the little brat was “ugly enough to curdle milk”, as Paymaster Stanton emphatically expressed himself after first seeing it; it was ugly. “The sun-light had been caught in its silken tresses”, which is the poetical form of saying that the youngster was hopelessly redheaded—it was sock-eyed, big-mouthed and bandy-legged. Not one of its admirers was bold enough to declare it a beauty; even “Doctor” Sandy admitted with a sigh that “the kid warn’t much of a success no how”, but the little weazened, dried up, five pounds of deformity was good and gentle and gave no trouble whatever to anybody. Now some people may say that this story is very much similar, in general outline, to Bret Harte’s “Luck of Roaring Camp”.12 But it is a true story, nevertheless and as such I tell it. The great matter of solicitude of which I have spoken above was—what name should be given the youngster? The mother did not evince a very active interest in the matter and left it, as well as the supplying of a cradle, to the attendants about her. The cradle wasn’t hard to get; the black12.╇ In this story set in a mining camp, a prostitute dies in childbirth, and the rough miners as a community adopt and care for the baby, whom they name Johnny Luck.

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smith could “knock one up”, he said, but the quarrel over the name became fierce and obstinate. George Washington, Abe Lincoln, U.S. Grant, and Sammy Tilden13 were proposed, advocated and derided, according to individual preferences, and finally withdrawn. While the wrangle was going on, the blacksmith was “knocking up” a cradle by putting a candle-box upon rockers and then, influenced by a sudden inspiration, marked with a paint-brush upon the box the title which commen consent ratified without hesitation, as most original and appropriate. When the happy mother received the cradle, she read upon its sides the quaint but potent legend

General Crook’s party took the road down the Fire-Hole valley which, in many respects, was preferable to following the “Norris Slide”14 across the mountains, but involved the crossing of Gibbon’s Fork once and of Madison river five times, the latter, altho’ flowing over a gravel bed, being so swift and deep, (over the tops of the forward wheels,) that our ambulances were flooded and in great danger of overturning. At Gibbon’s Fork,15 the king-pin of one of the ambulances slipped out and much time was consumed in re-inserting it. The cañons of both the Gibbon and Madison are very narrow and picturesque, with lofty pinnacled walls of basalt, columnar and disintegrated, covered with pine. A smart rain-storm struck us as we were going into camp on the Madison. The day has been chilly and disagreeable, for which we are not sorry since the cold has broken the enthusiasm of the musquitoes and green-headed flies which have been eating us alive. Genl. Crook found a great cluster of whortleberry bushes laden with ripe, red fruit: of this everyone ate heartily. In the afternoon, the rain-fall was very heavy. We made a fire of young 13.╇ Samuel Tilden was the defeated Democratic candidate in the 1876 presidential election. 14.╇ “This undoubtedly refers to P. W. Norris’s new (1880) road that the party took on the way into the park, which is today”s ‘Old Fountain Pack Trial.’ It was rough, narrow, and difficult, with many washouts and much deadfall.” Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008. 15.╇ Now Madison Junction.

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pine trees, in whose fierce heat we regarded with complacency the peltings of the storm. This did not abate until 5 o’clock, when our wagons arrived, tents were pitched and all hands made comfortable for the night. Before we turned in, the clouds had disappeared and outlined against the moon-lit sky we saw the delicate tracery of the stately pines. Colonel Stanton caught in the Madison this afternoon, a female grayling depositing ova. The fish was about 6 inches long, slender body, silvery-gray in color, had small hexagonal scales, small “sucker” mouth, full eyes, and seven fins, five dorsal and two ventral.16 I expressed some of the ova; they were reddish, translucent and about as large as a pin-head. Distance to-day _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 27 miles. Thursday, August 19th 1880. Morning very foggy. Could just see the saw-tooth peaks of the mountains near us protruding through the clouds. Moved to Henry’s Lake and camped at its foot. Ludington, Stanton, Thornburgh, Roberts, Bisbee and myself gave more or less of the afternoon to fishing for salmon-trout. I caught three of the largest size and then returned to camp with Roberts whose sprained ankle is still too weak to allow him to use it much. The others remained out until they had caught forty-two fine fish and this showing should have been improved had their tackle been stronger. As it was the gassy fish with no trouble at all broke reels, snapped line and ran off with hooks and tips, and gave me the impression that they had a great deal more fun than the fishermen. While Roberts and I were lying down under the ambulances reading or dozing, two separate bands of antelope, both large, dashed through our camp and made their escape, in spite of our close shots. General Crook and Webb Hayes returned—very much exhausted and out of breath. According to their own account, when near summit of the mountain on the Right hand side of the Tah-gre Pass, they ran in upon a grizzly bear. Genl. Crook had a rifle borrowed from a soldier in the morning; with this in his hands, he crawled upon Bruin, who did not at first notice Genl. Crook’s approach as a large rock separated them. Genl. Crook took a careful aim, pulled the 16.╇ “This entry documents the existence of the native Grayling in the Madison River below Madison Junction, although today they are difficult to find.” Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008.

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trigger, the cartridge failed to explode and----------------“The scenery,[”] said the General, [“]was the grandest I ever saw in my life”. “But, General, tell us about the Bar. Did he run you into camp?[”] “The scenery,[”] continued the General, not heeding the interruption—[“]the scenery was the most beautiful man ever looked upon. Why, Sir, there are springs up there which are rivers, Sir, Rivers”. “But, General, how about the Bar?” “The scenery,[”] said the General, now grown very red in the face, [“]was grand—but I am too hungry to talk about it now. Let me have some lunch.” So to this day, the chronicle which is the only strictly veracious account of our trip to the Yellowstone, is without an authentic statement of what happened. Webb Hayes was fully as hungry as Genl. Crook and declined to tell anything of their adventure. All that we in camp ever knew was that they arrived speechless and breathless and seemed to be overjoyed at getting back among us once more. Stanton, Ludington & Roberts had a game of poker—rather a tame affair, I should imagine, as they gave it up in a very short time. Distance to-day _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 26 miles. Friday, August 20th 1880. Remained in camp all day. Did not rise until 6 a.m. Genl. Crook and Webb Hayes started on a hunt in the mountains; Ludington, Stanton and Thornburgh on a fishing trip. The former had no success—did not see a single fresh sign. The latter caught a fine string of fat salmon-trout of which we have a superabundance in camp, because all the men of the escort and teamsters have taken to the sport with much zest. Our supper this evening was excellent. I give the bill of fare in full, to preserve most forcibly and indelibly the remembrance of the comforts we enjoyed, thanks to the foresight and consideration for all our wants evinced by Major Bainbridge. Bean soup, salmon trout, Blue Grouse Pie, Ham, potatoes, Turnips, Tomatoes, Beans, Canned Peaches, Apple Pie, Coffee and Tea. Saturday, August 21st 1880. We had a very heavy frost last night. Indeed, on this trip, heavy frosts have been the rule and not the exception. Wet towels left upon the guy-ropes over night are frozen stiff in the morning. Breakfasted at 4.30 and then struck out for our former camp on

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Snake River, (the beautiful camp of Aug. 13th) where we found the sacks of corn we had cached and then went into camp. As the distance was only twenty miles, we finished it before nine A.M., by which hour most of our party had gone fishing, the object being to secure as many of the salmon-trout as possible for our friends in Omaha and other points along the line of the Union Pacific R.R. Early each morning, before sun-rise strange noises have been heard in the air above us: Genl. Crook thinks these have been made by flocks of birds,—pelicans, ducks, geese, swans or gulls,—all of them plenty in this country.17 Mr. Rank, of Red Creek, rode into camp and remained as our guest for the day. Col. Stanton caught........................................23 Salmon-trout “ Ludington 27 “ ” “ Thornburgh 20 “ ” 17 duck, 7 plover, 2 jack-snipe, 1 white pelican, Genl. Crook 40 Sal. Trout. Webb Hayes. 1 Squirrel 1 duck. The pouch of the pelican is extremely distensible [sic] and had a capacity, in the full-grown bird, of not less than 5 gallons. We suffered all this afternoon from the assaults of a swarm of greenheaded flies which drew blood with every bite; toward evening, these were succeeded by the “trout-fly” which covered the flaps of our tents. Before night, the clouds gathered, rain fell with violence and strong wind prevailed, blowing several of our tents to the ground. Mr. Timothy Foley, our esteemed chef de cuisine, announced with a lisp through his broken tooth, that he was going to surpass all previous efforts in his Grand Farewell Supper, of which this is the Bill of Fare. Tomato Soup. Grouse pie, Baked Salmon Trout, Roast duck, Roast Snipe, Pork and Beans, Roast Plover, Stewed Prairie chicken, Beans, Peas, Broiled mushrooms, Fried potatoes, Currant Jelly, Peaches, Apples, Apple Pie, Jelly Cake. And so we broke company. God Bless thee, Tim Foley, noble Italian exile, with the toothless 17.╇ The gull probably is the California gull, that breeds east as far as North Dakota. The pelican would be the white pelican, which ranges inland around lakes and marshes, as well as in coastal areas. See Peterson, Field Guide, 78, 86.

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gums and the “rheumatiz”. May Time deal gently with thee until the final summons of the dread Angel is the sincere wish of all who partook of the good cheer prepared by thy skilful [sic] hands. Distance to-day 20 miles August 22nd 1880. (Sunday.) Had a very cold night. Towels frozen stiff this morning. Ice in buckets and basin. The sun-rise was extremely lovely; the sky of cloudless sapphire in which the rays of light played hide and seek with the fleeting shadows of the pine belt in front of our line of tents. Breakfast at 6 a.m. Remained in camp all day. Genl. Crook, Cols. Ludington, Stanton, and Thornburgh and Webb Hayes started out on a hunting and fishing trip. Mr. Rank among other news, has brought the item that the Empire of China has declared her ports open and that a junk, manned and officered by Mongolians, is expected to arrive within a fortnight in the Harbor of the Golden Gate. This action, of the Chinese may revolutionize the destinies of the whole world. Monday, August 23rd 1880. General Crook, Cols. Ludington and Stanton, Webb Hayes and Lt. Bourke, bade good bye to Major Bainbridge and Col. Thornburgh and started for the Rail-Road at Beaver Cañon, 35 miles, where we arrived at 12.30 P.M. I had several dispatches to send to Genl. Williams, (adjt. Genl. of the Dep’t. at Fort Omaha,) Major Bisbee (Fort Bridger,) Maj. Howell, (A.Q.M. at Ogden.) & Major Lord, (A.Q.M., at Cheyenne.) This kept me busy until the arrival of the “up-train[”] at 1.45. We got in this and rode as far as Pleasant Valley station, Montana, where we were to meet the “down train”. We had to cross the Idaho-Montana boundary at a point 6890 [feet] above sea-level and had a fine opportunity to view Beaver Cañon,18 which is simply a rift in a ridge of Basalt, very rugged and majestic: a heaped up pile of volcanic rock, and tempest-tossed timber, having a brawling mountain stream rushing in its sinuous course down the middle; this stream, eddying into deep, dark pools, the chosen retreat of the salmon-trout or rippling, in foam-flecked cascades over Titanic blocks of trachyte under the shadow of high walls of pine-crest basalt, in columnar piles over each side. On the “Up train[”] was Mr. [James B.] Eads the great civil engineer, who built the Saint Louis Bridge and improved the navigation of the Mississippi, by a system of jetties. He was going to the Yellowstone Park, with a small party, viâ 18. Beaver Canyon is the location of today’s Spencer, Idaho.

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Virginia City, Montana. Returning, at Blackfoot, we took supper and met again the pleasant and pretty Mrs. Butler. Here we entered the Pullman car “Argo”— a new car—perfect in the smallest detail, slept well and Tuesday, August 24th, 1880. Reached Ogden at 9 a.m. Col. Stanton, Major Roberts and Webb Hayes started for Salt Lake. Genl. Crook, Colonel Ludington and myself took train for the East. We had an immense amount of mail, both letters and newspapers—to get through and were occupied in that duty all day. At Custer Station, Major Bisbee and Dr. [Henry] McElderry were waiting to see us. East of Custer, had a heavy storm. At Fort Steele, Major [Edwin M.] Coates, Lt. [James E. H.] Foster and Lt. [James Alexander] Leyden got on our train en route to Cheyenne, Lt. [Arthur Charles] Ducat joined us at [Fort] Sanders, at which point and at Cheyenne there were numbers of army officers to see Genl. Crook. Col. Ludington left us at Cheyenne to make an inspection of the Q.M. Dépôt.19 Near Pine Bluffs, on the Nebraska boundary, a heavy storm of thunder, rain and hail beset us, and continued, with intermission, far into the night, flooding the track and delaying our train over an hour. Thursday, August. 26th 1880. A lovely morning, sky without a cloud. Air fresh and invigorating. Fields waving with the deep green of corn in tassel and the roads fringed with sun-flowers of the brightest gold. We are back in the valley of the Platte, one of the loveliest in the world. Reached Omaha at 3.30 P.M. and at the dépôt had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. Royall and her daughter just starting upon a year’s tour in Europe, for which reason a number of friends had gathered to wish them a happy voyage. They will be sincerely missed from our little social circle at Fort Omaha, of which they have been such prominent features. General Crook’s Report of Trip. August 27th 1880 Hd.Qrs. Dep’t. Platte 19.╇ Cheyenne Depot was the official designation of a subpost of Fort D. A. Russell, at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Often referred to as “Camp Carlin” or “Russell Depot,” it was discontinued in 1890. Frazer, Forts of the West, 184–85.

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Commanding General’s Office, Fort Omaha, Neb., Aug. 27th 1800 Assistant Adjutant General. Hd.Qrs. Mily. Division of the Missouri, Chicago, Illinois. Sir: I have the honor to report that on the 10th int. I joined the Hon. Mr. Schurz, Secretary of the Interior, at Ogden, Utah and proceeded with him to Beaver Cañon, and Dry Creek, on the Utah and Northern R.R. and from that point by wheeled conveyance to the Madison Fork of the Missouri River, in the Yellowstone Park, there taking horses and pack-mules for further exploration. During our stay in the Park, we made as extended examination as our limited time and facilities would admit. Of its great natural beauties and wonders, I cannot attempt a description. Such a task has been undertaken by abler pens, but in no cases, coming under my notice have the descriptions done justice to the subject. Indeed, I do not hesitate to say that an accurate description is an impossibility. In a military light, under present circumstances, the Park is not deserving of much consideration. There is every indication that the climate in winter is exceptionally severe, for which reason, as well, perhaps, as a superstitious dread of the Geysers and other phenomena, the Indians rarely penetrate to its interior.20 Even were trouble to arise, the Utah and Northern R.R., now running its trains well into Southern Montana, would enable us to concentrate troops at exposed points before any great depredations could be committed. Very Respectfully, Your Obdt. Servant (Signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. September 3d, 1880. President and Mrs. Hayes and their two youngest sons, General Sherman and Miss Rachel Sherman, Secy. of War [Alexander] Ramsay and a party of twenty, all told, arrived in Omaha on a special train and were at once driven to the Fort where the prescribed military salutes were accorded, and then a reception was 20.╇ “This was a common misconception about Indians and Yellowstone in the nineteenth century. Most tribes were not afraid of the geysers, although many revered them as sacred.” Lee Whittlesey to Charles M. Robinson III, January 10, 2008.

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held at Genl. King’s quarters, attended by all the officers of Genl. Crook’s Hd.Qrs. and of Fort Omaha and their families. The party remained but a short time and then drove back through the mud to the special train in waiting to take them West. Presdt. Hayes impressed me as a man whom his enemies disparaged beneath his real merit and whom his friends extolled beyond it. He is certainly a man of capacity and ability and of good moral tone, altho’ not so strong a character as I had hoped to find. Mrs. Hayes is a woman of singular loveliness of disposition and has in her all the elements of a noble Christian womanhood. The sons are too young as yet to amount to much, but they will never, I am sure, equal to their brother, Webb.21 In coming from town, I had to escort Miss Rachel Sherman, a very sweet, good-natured young lady who lacks, however, much of the sprightliness of her sister, Miss Ella. (now Mrs. Thackary.) With the party, was Surgeon [David Lowe] Huntington, formerly on duty on the Rio Grande at the same time with myself. General Sherman was very garrulous. He disappointed those who expected to find greatness. He don’t [sic] deserve to be mentioned in the same breath with Grant, Sheridan, Thomas, or other prominent men of the Rebellion. The fact is that Sherman is largely made up of the demagogue and will not survive in history. He is vain to a degree, loquacious as a parrot—sometimes saying things well, but oftener ill—and is extremely fond of swilling whiskey. 21.╇ There were two other sons who died in infancy, one of whom was named George Crook Hayes, known to the family as “the little general.” Robinson, General Crook, 67, 82.

Chapter 5 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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ept. 5th 1880. Left Omaha, viâ “Burlington” road1 for Chicago and the East. At dépôt, met my friend, Mr. William Carter, son of Judge Carter of Fort Bridger, Wyo., and also met exSenator [John Milton] Thayer of Nebraska. In Chicago dined at the Palmer House and then took the Balt[imore]. and Ohio Express for Washington. Sept. 6th 1880. Major [Azor H.] Nickerson met me in the R.R. dépôt, upon my arrival. (9.20 P.M.) and took me to his neat little home on Rhode-Island Avenue (near 18th [Street]). During my stay at the Capital, Nickerson exerted himself in every way possible to make my visit pleasurable. I did not visit many public buildings, my time being too brief, but I saw many delightful people, some of whom I had previously known personally and others through communications. Nickerson’s office was in the War Department, (in the old Navy building.) There I met numbers of officers—Generals [Samuel?] Breck, [Emory] Upton, [William B.] Hazen, [Richard Coulter] Drum, [Orlando M.] Poe and Colonels [Samuel Nicoll?] Benjamin, [Henry Clarke] Corbin and others. Captain Lamberton, U.S. Navy., escorted me through the new Navy 1.╇ Chicago, Burlington & Quincey Railroad.

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Building, an imposing edifice, constructed without regard to cost; it forms one half of a grand pile of masonry of which the uncompleted portion is the wing intended for the use of the War Department.2 The features which most vividly impressed themselves upon my memory were an exhibition of all the classes of cordage—hemp, manilla, wire, tarred and untarred cables and hawsers in use in our Navy:—a very prettily arranged display; and the Library, upon which the efforts of architect and artist were lavished without stint and with wonderful success. The decorations of this chamber are superb. The walls are panelled with malachite and precious marbles and in the gallery railings are inserted circular plates of the Mexican onyx. The collection of volumes will embrace when complete a full series of works bearing upon the Naval Profession and in all departments which can be made tributary to its service;—History, Geography, Law, Surveying and Physical Science. Washington, at this season, is a lovely city—some judges go so far as to say that it is the loveliest in the whole world. I cannot venture upon a comparison, not being very familiar with large cities: I must content myself with the remark that it is well laid out, has broad streets, well-paved, interesting noble avenues in which may be seen statues of our prominent personages, military and civil; the public buildings are constructed upon a scale of magnificence and the mansions of the wealthier citizens betoken luxury, refinement and good taste. The society of Washington ranks high and is entitled to all the consideration due to intelligence and polished manners. It was my fortune to find in the Capitol many friends and acquaintances upon whom I called during my stay. I first hunted up Mrs. Burns, the widow of my old friend, Cap’t. James Burns, 5th Cavalry who died in July 1874, of hardship and exposure incident to Indian service under Genl. Crook. Then I called upon my venerable friend, Sister de Chantal, one of the nuns of the order of the Visitation, in the Convent on Connecticut Avenue. She has passed the ripe age of three score and ten, but still retains unimpaired the keen intellect, sweet nature and gentle manners which endeared her to me fifteen years ago. From the convent, a very commodious and costly building, I went to call upon Mrs. Lamberton, wife of Captain Lamberton, U.S. Navy, 2.╇ The former State, War, and Navy Building, now the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, on Seventeenth Street between New York and Pennsylvania Avenues, constructed from 1871 to 1888.

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and sister of my old class-mate (and tent-mate during my “yearling” year,) Clare[nce] Stedman, now R.Q.M., 9th Cavalry. She received me with all the warmth and cordiality I anticipated, talked over old times and old friends—and concurred with her mother in the opinion that the happiest days either of them had ever enjoyed were those spent at West Point. Mrs. Lamberton, while a young lady, had a very narrow escape from drowning. While boating with Bob Carter, my old class-mate, the little craft in which they were seated was upset by waves caused by the Mary Powell, the fastest steamer on the Hudson. Bob was as strong as a bull and as brave as a lion. He encouraged the young lady, told her he was a fine swimmer and said he could support her until assistance reached them. It was some twenty minutes before boats could get to them and by that time both were well nigh exhausted. Carter has since been retired on account of injuries received in the Battle of Gettysburgh, [sic] in which he took part before entering the Military Academy.3 Mrs. Stedman received me with as much tenderness as if I were her own son and at my departure kissed me affectionately, for which act I felt grateful beyond expression. In the afternoon, after lunching at the Riggs House, which has an excellent kitchen, Nickerson drove me about town; to the agricultural grounds, where are to be seen growing in full perfection a very fine collection of grasses and flowers, then around the grounds of the Smithsonian and those behind the White House, passing the Washington Monument and then back home. On the trip, we drove within close view of the bronze equestrian statues of [Winfield] Scott, [George] Thomas and [James] McPherson, all of them good, that of Thomas especially good: the grand old soldier looms up as solid, as grim and as indomitable as he ever was in life in the full tide of battle. For Genl. Thomas, my feelings have always been tender and affectionate, not merely because he was a great soldier and a great man, but more especially because he recommended me for the position of cadet at the Mily. Academy. In the evening we made a number of calls; upon the Carters, a pleasant Virginia family met some years ago in Salt Lake, Utah; 3.╇ Heitman (Historical Register, 1:288) lists only one officer named Robert Carter, during this period, that being Robert Goldthwaite Carter, who graduated one year behind Bourke in 1870 and was posted to the 4th Cavalry in Texas. If it is the same Carter, Bourke is mistaken about the action which prompted his retirement. Carter’s leg was shattered when a horse fell on him during a fight with Comanches on the upper Brazos River in 1871. It never properly healed and ultimately he was retired on disability in 1876. Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, 1:236.

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upon ex-Attorney General [George H.] Williams,4 wife, and dau., very charming people, especially Mrs. Williams, who is a brilliant woman; and lastly, upon the Fants who, through friendship for Nickerson, received me at once in their home-circle, for which I was delighted, as their daughters are very beautiful and charming girls. During the remainder of my stay in Washington, I made numerous other calls, one only of which I think worth mentioning. Miss Fant took me to visit Mrs. Johnson, a lady whose son, Lieut. Riley [sic], 7th Cavalry,5 I had known quite well the spring before he was killed with Custer. This lady’s life has been marked by several strange episodes. Her first husband was Commander Riley of the U.S. Navy, who went down with his ship and all on board, not a soul ever having been heard of. Her boy, who never saw his father, upon whose birthday he was born, exhibited from his earliest youth a passionate desire to enter the military service. His ambition was gratified only a few months before the date of the horrible massacre in which he fell. He wore on the day of his death a peculiar ring, containing a blood-stone seal engraved with some heraldic device—a griffin’s head, holding a key in its mouth, I think. As this ring had belonged to his father, it possessed an especial interest in the eyes of his mother. The Indians who destroyed Custer’s force robbed the bodies of our officers and soldiers of everything, clothing, jewelry, arms and ammunition. But when to the great number of 4500, they surrendered to General Crook at Fort Robinson, Neb.,6 in 1877, and told him that they were tired of fighting him and that they felt they could enjoy no peace and serenity until they submitted, General Crook saw his opportunity and insisted upon the restitution of all trinkets, &c., which might have an interest and value to the families of those who had fallen. He referred very pointedly to Lt. Riley’s ring, a description of which had just been received from Col. Sharp in Washington. One of the chiefs spoke up; “I am almost sure there’s just such 4. Attorney general under Grant, 1871–75. 5.╇ Bourke means Lt. William Van W. Reily. 6.╇ Fort Robinson was established in 1874 to control the Indians of the Red Cloud and Pine Ridge Agencies. It was upgraded from camp to fort in January 1878, although Bourke still occasionally referred to it as “Camp Robinson.” During the Second World War, it was used as a dog training center for the K-9 Corps. It was abandoned in 1948, and is now a Nebraska state park. Buecker, Fort Robinson and the American West; Schubert, Outpost of the Sioux Wars.

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a ring down in So and So’s band”, (mentioning one of the newlysurrendered chiefs.) “I’ll go see about it”. After the council was over, he went away and remained absent until dusk when he returned with the ring which Lt. Wm. P. Clark, 2nd Cavalry, forwarded to Mrs. Johnson. This lady received me most kindly. She is very beautiful, refined and bright. Before leaving Washington, I had the pleasure of dining with General and Mrs. [Jedediah H.] Baxter, a lovely lady: Their house is furnished with great taste and contains, among other attractions, an Australian magpie which talks with wonderful clearness. I also called upon Genl. [Stephen Vincent] Bénèt and his wife; I was disappointed in not seeing Mrs. Bénèt, a lady for whom I have very friendly feelings, based upon former acts of gentle kindness. September 11th. Said adieu to Nickerson and took the 2.30 P.M. express to Baltimore. The run of 40 miles, was made in just one hour. Put up at the Carrollton House, chiefly to see my old friend, Major [Frederick William] Coleman, who was for a time Commanding officer of the post, (Fort Craig, on the Rio Grande.)7 At which I served in 1869. Coleman was a very fine soldier and kept the post in good discipline; all, except the laundresses who, for some reason or another, gave him a world of bother.8 They were always quarrelling and Coleman had his hands full in trying to keep the peace. One day two very belligerent dames were brought before his high court of justice and at once began an exchange of abuse and billingsgate, the principal point of which was the culmination: “Din, fur phat and fur phoi, Mrs. O’Dougherty, did you call moi by Jamesie, a maygur?” “Troth, thin, oill hev you to undersstaned, Mrs. O’Shaughnessey, 7.╇ Fort Craig was established on the Rio Grande, to provide protection against Apaches and guard the road along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1885. Frazer, Forts of the West, 98. 8.╇ The institution of laundress was carried over from the British Army. Aside from doing the washing for the troops, they often functioned as midwives and nurses, as well as household maids for officers’ families. Women who joined the laundry service tended to be militant by nature, and had a reputation for being embroiled in fights, hence Bourke’s comment that they gave Major Coleman “a world of bother.” The problem was exacerbated because, unlike dependants, who were classified as “camp followers,” laundresses had official standing as military personnel. As such, they were subject to military law, thoroughly knew their rights, and did not hesitate to invoke them. See Stallard, Glittering Misery, Chapter 3.

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dat oi’m de saynior laundriss in dis ridgmint en oi want no wur-ruds wid you.” On another occasion, the worthy Major was showing the beauties of the post he then commanded (near Mobile, Ala.) to a party of ladies who had come out from the city. The Major was afraid that some of them might be slightly “secesh” and disposed to be critical: to make a good impression upon his fair visitors, he had caused the Post to be carefully policed and put in “apple pie” order. The ladies were delighted and praised all they saw. Coleman felt very proud, he was certain that no accident could occur to mar the success of the occasion; it’s a good motto which tells us never to halloa until we’re out of the woods. The party had seen everything in the post except the quarters occupied by the laundresses in front of which they soon found themselves. Everything was neat and trim and a source of gratification to the Commandant, who really began to feel for a moment that his laundresses were not such a hard lot after all and began to speak of them in terms of eulogy to his fair companions. He intimated that to be a laundress in his post, a woman had to possess all the virtues and gentle womanly qualities which are needed to gild the rough life of a garrison with the refinement of a home; but while he was talking, one of the gentle matrons who was to thus gild the rough existence of a soldier, came out upon her door-step and, with arms akimbo and tresses dishevelled, yelled to her nine year old daughter visible a quarter of a mile away; “Mary Ann, Mary Ann, where is your fa-aa-ather?[”] and soft and sweet, soothing and gentle as the dripping of a fountain, came back the answer from the little darling; “how the Hell do oi know where moi fah-ther is”. The Major received me enthusiastically, presented me to his beautiful wife and made me go to supper with them so that we might talk freely and easily over old times. The 11 P.M. express took me to Phila[delphia]. where I remained in the sleeper until morning and then started for home reaching there in time to breakfast with mother and sister. My extremely brief visit to the Quaker City was made delightful mainly from being in the society of my mother and sister, two as good, noble and bright-minded women as God ever made, and of my young brother, (now entering manhood.) a man bound to make his mark. He has refined, gentle manners, great common sense and shrewdness, has

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travelled a great deal for one so young and is possessed of decided physical power and dauntless courage. In Philadelphia, I did not go about a great deal, preferring to remain at home and enjoy a quiet time. Sister plays the piano with a skill far above the average and with unusual taste and good feeling. I saw nothing, except the new municipal buildings, on Penn Square, where the grave mistake has been committed of intercepting travel on the most important thoroughfares, when, with a little extra trouble, the arches of the main entrances of the edifice could have been heightened and widened to admit lines of street Railway. Wanamaker’s outfitting establishment surpasses anything of the kind in the United States. Baldwin’s Locomotive Works, I had hoped to visit but time forbade. Among those upon whom I called, was Colonel Richard Rush, a graduate of the Mily. academy, and an old officer of the army who had shown a great interest in me at a time when friends were not plenty. He is now advanced in years, and has lost all his former wealth. His two daughters are lovely, accomplished, gentle and refined ladies, for whom no fortune is too good. August 16th 1880.9 Took the Pennsylvania R.R’s limited express for New York, making the distance [of] ninety miles in one hour and thirty minutes. Put up at the Brevoort House, where I met Gel. and Mrs. [John Parker] Hawkins with whom I had served in the Department of the Platte. During my stay in the Metropolis every moment was occupied and yet there was so much to be seen that I could not persuade myself that I was seeing anything. On the night of my arrival, General Hawkins took me to the Metropolitan Music Hall, 42nd and Broadway, the great Concert Room of the city where we had the pleasure of listening to some very excellent music; thence we went to call upon Genl. [Francis] Darr whose son just graduated from the Mly. Academy, is about to start for his station in Arizona and was desirous to learn from me something about it. Early the next morning, I arose, took the bus for Fulton Ferry, saw the Suspension Bridge now building, inspected Fulton Market and took breakfast there; then by the Elevated Railroad (a grand enterprise,) rode to the new Cathedral, 51st and 5th Avenue and enjoyed a delightful half-hour in contemplating its stately proportions. 9.╇ Bourke obviously means September.

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Back by the Elevated road to Macey’s [sic: Macy’s] notion establishment on 6th Avenue: this, in my opinion, cannot compare with Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia. Lastly to Scribner’s book-store and then to make friendly calls upon my friends Mrs. Hawkins and Mrs. Wetmore, (the latter I had not seen since I graduated, 1869.) This evening, at the San Francisco Minstrels, a very funny and wellpatronized theatre. During the other days of my stay in New York, I was kept busy. I went to the Custom-House to find my friend Will Metcalf, to the Grand Hotel, to hunt up my class-mate [Henry Pratt] Perrine, to the Central Park in a delightful drive with Mr. and Mrs. Wetmore, which took me along 5th avenue with its astonishing exhibit of opulence in costly houses; I also dined with the Wetmore’s in their comfortable home and had the pleasure of meeting their son, who was at the Mily. Academy for part of my stay there. He took me with him to the Union and University Clubs, both fine affairs, well conducted and having some of the best men of the city on their lists, but there is something about Club Life that strikes me as demoralizing. I don’t believe in them, as at present managed and am afraid they do more harm than good. Saturday, September 18th. Received a telegram from my class-mate, Sam Tillman that he was on his way down from West Point to see me; punctual to appointment, he arrived at the Brevoort at 7 P.M., and arranged for our return together to the Academy. Sunday, Sep’t 19th Tillman breakfasted with me at the Brevoort and then I went to Mass at Saint Stephens, on 28th Street, where the music was of the highest order. We lunched together at Delmonico’s up-town saloon and then took the Hudson River R.R. train for West Point. My reception by the Bachelor’s mess was extremely cordial. Professor [Henry Lane] Kendrick, the President of the Mess, my venerable old instructor in chemistry, mineralogy and Geology, was very glad to see me, and so also were the many good fellows with whom I had been a cadet or with whom I had served on the frontier and from whom I had been parted for years. There was Perrine, whom I had failed to catch in N.Y., and whom I had not seen since the night of our Graduation Dinner at Delmonico’s in June 1869—Frank Michler, last seen at Fort Mojave, Arizona, in 1873, Ned Wood, George Anderson, Braden, McLeary (?), Dr. Alexander, Godfrey, Sears, [Eric] Bergland & others.

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The Point itself was unchanged. In beauty still unrivalled. The Point still was young—I alone had grown old. I called upon the Superintendent, Genl. [John M.] Schofield, who received me courteously, and then visited Professors [Patrice] De Jañon, [Edgar Wales] Bass, and Andrews—the first two being very glad to meet me, but the last showing a little pique at my declining to serve in his Department. I was also most cordially greeted by Professor [Charles William] Larned who met me on the side-walk. The Custer Statue is a fearful monstrosity and ought to be pulled down. Monday, Sep’t. 20th 1880. In company with Harry Perrine returned to N.Y. In the evening, went to Harrigan and Hart’s Theatre [Comigne?] to see The Mulligan’s Guard’s Picnic, over which I laughed for several hours. Tuesday, Sep’t. 21st By advice of Genl. Hawkins, took breakfast at Farrish’s chop-house, a unique sort of a place, said to have the finest mutton chops in the city. I found it equal to its high reputation and was much pleased with it, altho’ I think that the Brevoort sets the best cooking upon its table of any hotel in the U.S. Went in the afternoon to Savoy’s photograph gallery. Wednesday, September 22nd. Wetmore and I took the limited express train, he going to Washington, I to Philadelphia, where I remained with mother until Friday, September 24th, when I went to Washington and there staid with Nickerson until the 26th, seeing the Williams and Fants and of calling upon Mrs. Hawkins’ venerable mother, Mrs. [Henry Knox] Craig, the widow of our former chief of Ordnance, Genl. Craig. September 27th. Arrived in Chicago and put up at Palmer House. Tuesday, September 28th. Reached Omaha, by the Rock-Island Road. The public journals of this date are full of the narrative of Lieut. [Frederick] Schwatka’s Expeditions in the Polar Regions in search of relics of the ill-fated Expedition commanded by Sir John Franklin.10 10.╇ Schwatka took an extended leave, and from March 1878 to October 1880, searched for the remains of Sir John Franklin’s expedition of 1847–48. Previous expeditions had discovered the remains of some of Franklin’s men and one of the ships, but Schwatka located the wreckage of the second ship and more of the men, giving them a proper burial. The expedition completed 3,251 miles by sledge, one of the longest on record. Having emerged from the trek and returned home unscathed, he slipped on a icy sidewalk and broke his leg. Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, 3:1280.

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All doubt is now dispelled as to the fate of the survivors: they perished most miserably of hunger and cold and disease, the last of the band making a desperate effort to prolong existence by feeding upon their weaker brethren. The records which had been cached in a sheltered spot to ensure their preservation were scattered and destroyed by Esquimaux11 children. To determine these results Schwatka and his gallant men, had to make a sled-journey of hundreds of miles in length, commencing in an Arctic winter and occupying nearly a whole year. They penetrated to the North of 82° North Latitude and subsisted most of the time on reindeer and other polar game, brought down by their long-range rifles. Much credit must be given them for bold courage since they started out from their supply camp with only one month’s provisions! Schwatka, whom I first met as a Cadet, in 1867, belongs to my Regiment, the 3rd Cavalry, and has rendered much valuable service. He is very brave, very erratic, good-natured and hospitable, a hard drinker and very witty and intellectual. He created an immense sensation at West Point by reporting for duty, on a sweltering day in June, clad in a long linen duster and fur cap. After graduation, he took up the study of law and was admitted to the Bar, at Omaha. Schwatka celebrated his success by going on a “gigantic toot” with a couple of his new associates in legal honors. With one of these gentlemen, Schwatka was to breakfast the next morning and when he made his appearance at the table all the boarders were on hand to see what kind of man was this young officer, in whose praise so much had been said. Schwatka was very pale, very sore-headed, red-eyed and drunkenly dignified. His host, who was several drinks the more sober of the two, hoped against hope that all would come out right and that no one would notice his friend’s condition or his own. But the waitergirl did not seem to understand matters for she persistently pressed upon Schwatka’s attention various articles of food or drink; he as persistently declined taking anything whatever. A solemn silence reigned. People were beginning to feel uncomfortable, but they gave way to unrestrained hilarity when the future Arctic Explorer, blinking his eyes like an owl said, with the solemnity of a sphinx..... “I’ll take a pickle.” 11.╇ I.e., Eskimo or Inuit.

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When he was stationed out a Camp Sheridan, Neb., a lonesome post at the edge of the “Bad Lands”, Schwatka employed as his servant a man whose reputation was first-class, except for sobriety. The Lieutenant cautioned his new Friday in very severe terms and concluded by saying[,] “Now I drink a great deal too much myself and can’t find fault with you because you may want to do the same, but I tell you once and for all you must only get drunk when you see that I am sober”. A few weeks later, the servant was dragged from the wood-shed, hopelessly drunk. “What do you mean, Sir,[”] said Schwatka, [“]did I not tell you never to get drunk except when I was sober?[”] “Oh, Begorra, Loo-tinint, av oi waited until the Loo-tinint was sober, oi’d nivir have no chance at all, at all”. September 30th. General Crook and Webb Hayes left for a hunt in the Big Horn Mountains near Fort McKinney.12 At Cheyenne, they were to be joined by Major James Lord, A.Q.M., and by John Collins, Esq., and Mr. Al. Patrick, of Omaha. Oct. 22d 1880. “Mike Burns” arrived at Fort Omaha on his way to the Government school at Carlisle, Pennia, where he is to receive his education.13 Mike is an Apache Indian, captured by Company “G”, 5th Cavalry, in a fight with Apache Indians on the summit of the Massissal Mountains, East of Camp McDowell, Arizona, in December 1872.14 The little boy, as he then was, was adopted by the company and named “Mike” for good luck and Burns after the Captain of the Company, 12.╇ Fort McKinney was established on October 12, 1876, as the new Cantonment Reno to supply Crook’s Powder River Expedition. In 1877, it was designated Fort McKinney, in honor of Lt. John A. McKinney, 4th Cavalry, who was killed in the Dull Knife Fight of November 25, 1876 (see Volume 2 of this series). In 1878, the fort was relocated to the confluence of Clear Creek and the Powder River, just west of the present city of Buffalo, Wyoming, and the original site was designated McKinney Depot. The post was abandoned in 1894, and the following year the buildings were given to the state, which used it as the State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home. Frazer, Forts of the West, 182–83. 13.╇ Carlisle Indian Industrial School was opened in 1879 at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, as the first non-reservation government boarding school for Indians. The objective, as defined according to the standards of the era, was to break tribal ties and identity by educating the children to function in mainstream American life. Never popular among the Indians themselves, by the time of the First World War, the school faced rising costs, demand for schools closer to home, and preemption by wartime needs. It closed in 1918. Hoxie, Encyclopedia of North American Indians, 101–2. 14.╇ An account of this fight, and of Mike’s capture, appears in Robinson, Diaries, 1:45– 46. Camp McDowell was established in 1865, and designated a fort in 1870. Troops from McDowell with the assistance of Pima scouts, successfully campaigned against the Apaches. Fort McDowell was transferred to the Interior Department in 1890. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 37–38; Frazer, Forts of the West, 11.

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James Burns, a gallant soldier since dead. Mike was with the attacking party which carried the “Cave” on Salt River, Dec. 28th 1872. This cave was situated about half way down the vertical wall of the cañon of the Rio Salado, or Salt River, which foamed hundreds of feet below its entrance. In this fastness the desperate band of NanniChaddi had taken refuge, secure against all attack; but the approach to their den was betrayed to us by one of their own people—Naltajé, or Joe, under whose conduct we made a toilsome climb over the mountains for 15 o[r] 20 miles, descending the steep trail, leading to the mount of the cavern, just as the rosy hues of dawn were flushing the Eastern horizon. Our advance-guard, under Lieut. [William J.] Ross, A.D.C., crept in upon the unsuspecting warriors, killed six at the first volley and drove the rest, panic-stricken, behind the stone bulwark in front of the cavern. Once in their retreat, the Apaches speedily recovered their courage and hurled defiance at us. Three times they were called upon to surrender and three times they dared us to make assault upon their fortress. The contest lasted for some hours and was finally terminated by our rolling large blocks of stone from the crest of the precipice upon the Indians at its base and crushing them to a jelly. We killed 75 and captured 30. (The latter, women and children.) For a full account of this fight see my note-books of December 1872. Mike Burns, after some months, became proficient enough in our language to hold conversations with the soldiers. His narrative of the death of his own father was wonderfully terse and vivid. “Soger heap kill um. Cayote heap eat um”. As Mike played an important role in a little “tragedy” which occurred at Fort Whipple, Arizona, I venture to give an account of it. Surgeon E. I. Bailey, the medical Director of the Department of Arizona, had two pets of which he was extremely fond. They were two enormous Thomas Cats—green eyed, yellow haired hump-backed rush-tailed felines upon which the Doctor had bestowed the names of “Sunday” and “Daniel Webster”. Now these cats were extremely bellicose and ferocious and as they always fought in partnership, they soon had vanquished not only all other cats, but also the dogs for several miles. It was truly very funny to watch their performances and see with what perfect strategy they carried on their contests with the canine enemy. Some unsuspecting bull pup, proud of his untried

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strength, would start out for a little ramble to see the world. In the course of his stroll, he would naturally run across our two felines with which the “purp” would at once seek to form an acquaintance. We would hear a sniff, a snarl, a spit and a whine—and then see the wretched puppy flying across the parade with tail pressed tightly between his legs and his voice raised in a dismal ki-yi-yi. And then too how delighted old Bailey used to be! “Come out here, Bourkey, my boy,[”] he would call, [“]come out here quick; for God’s sake; I hope I may die in my tracks if Tom McGregor’s pup isn’t going to tackle Daniel Webster!” And as he spoke, the worthy medico’s fat, pendulous belly would shake like jelly while he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks. Daniel Webster, of course, always came out victorious, thanks, in part to the assistance of his faithful colleague, Sunday. Affairs were running along in this Arcadian simplicity for some weeks: nightly, from the ridge-pole of the Bailey wood-shed, these hump-backed Thomas cats caterwauled, their Veni-Vidi-Vici [sic] of battles and their defiance for those to come. But no assailants dared appear to take up the gage of battle. Their prowess had become too well known to the canine residents of Fort Whipple, who gave the Thomas cats a wide berth. Both Sunday and Daniel Webster began to look melancholy at the prospect that “grim visaged War had smoothed his wrinkled front” and that they should have nothing to do but “caper nimbly in my lady’s chamber”.15 But one day Lieut. [Walter Scribner] Schuyler came to Fort Whipple. He was going on leave to be absent a year. Before starting, he was desirous of providing for the comfort of his pet and, after some deliberation presented it to Dr. Bailey who received it with unfeigned delight. This pet was a young coon,—a demure, sober-sided young Quaker-like animal whose life seemed to be passed in a decorous round of paw-licking, face-washing and body-scratching. Sunday and Daniel Webster approached the new-comer and surveyed him with undisguised satisfaction. In their innocence they took him to be a new puppy which had unwittingly intruded upon their domain,—and then this pup was so “fresh”. He didn’t apparently know anything. There he sat upright on his haunches, his attention absorbed in a search after a particularly troublesome flea which had been giving him much annoyance. The cats drew closer 15.╇ From Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1.

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and vented a mee-yow of hostility, but still no sign of recognition from the coon. This was too much for feline endurance. Daniel Webster superciliously humped his back and brushed his tail across the coon’s face. Daniel, I should not omit to mention, was of Celtic extraction, and this movement was equivalent to asking the coon to tread on the tail of his coat. Out of regards for Sunday and Daniel Webster, and our friendship for their worthy master, we have purposely drawn a veil over the painful scene which followed. Three days after, Dr. Bailey, loudly bewailing the mysterious disappearance of his two favorites, and muttering the direst vengeance upon the scoundrel who had abducted them, paced the veranda of his cottage. Every reward promised had failed to reveal a trace of either Daniel Webster or Sunday and the Doctor was forced to make the best of his new acquisition which had been so inexplicably left when the other two were stolen. And surely! The dear little coon, so gentle and demure, would, in time console him for his loss! Hark! Was that the wind sighing through the trees or was it simply the ghost of former music? There it is again! The very caricature of a caterwaul, no back-bone to its volume, no haughtiness in its changes: not the defiant war-cry of an aggressive Thomas Cat, but the puny, faint mee-yow of a drowning kitten; and yet, in some manner, it recalls Daniel Webster to the Doctor’s memory. But if it truly be Daniel, he must have done some tall climbing to get up so high in that tree and in his new toilet of dragging tail and hair frozen stiff in terror, looks more like a yellow porcupine than a high-stepping warlike Grimalkin.16 A ladder is promptly placed against the tree and Mike Burns ascending soon brings down the half-starved changelings. The Doctor is anxious to see them and so is Mister Coon who has followed close at his heels. The cats, however, don’t want to see anybody just now and springing from Mike’s arms, one of them, Daniel Webster, erewhile the haughty, gives a terrified spit and mee-yow and disappears beyond the hills never to be seen again. Sunday lingered but a few days and then died of wounded pride and a broken heart, with no one to mourn at his grave but the Doctor and the coon which on this particular day surpassed himself and looked as pious as a country 16.╇ The name of the witches’ cat in Macbeth, also a fairy cat of the Highlands in Scottish legend.

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deacon. “I’ll tell yer what it is, fellers”, said Jim O’Neil, down at the corral, “that there coon just clawed the guts out of them two cats. He’s ole pisen in a fight, he is, you hear me”. Bourke returns to the present. October 28th. Thursday, Colonel Stanton, Mr. Chase, (his clerk.) Corporal Shiff, 9th Infantry and myself, left Omaha, viâ the Omaha and Saint Paul R.R. for Blair, Neb.—at which point we changed cars to the Sioux-City and Pacific R.R., going viâ Frémont to the Elkhorn Valley,—a fine stretch of good, rolling farm-land, well-watered and grassed, but without timber, except a small amount along streambed. This valley is filling up very fast with settlers. At Norfolk, there are four different lines of Rail Road; three of them branches of the Sioux City and Pacific and the fourth a feeder of the Union Pacific, leading out from a point near Columbus, Neb. Our car was deadly foul with impunity. In the seats near us were a woman and five or six little children, none of whom had touched soap or water for months. I had the pleasure of a long conversation with a gentleman named Dennis Sheedy,—a very intelligent cattle man, of extended travel. His herd now numbers over 17.000 head on the North Platte, near Sidney Bridge. Of these he expects to market 2600 this season. At Neligh, the R.R. terminus, 161 miles from Omaha, we had to put up for the night at the Waverly Hotel, where Stanton and I crowded into one little bed in a room not much larger than a chicken-coop. Our Boniface awakened us at the early hour of 4., as we had to leave on the stage at 5 in the morning of October 29th (1880. Friday.) The charges for our accomodations were certainly not great—only 25 cents apiece. Our rattle-trap stage rolled up the valley of the Elkhorn and 12 miles from Neligh stopped to let us get breakfast at a little station. The family living there seemed to be comfortably situated and the bill of fare gave us a good idea of the resources of the valley. The work of R.R. construction is being pushed by great energy, the track-layers being at this date a short distance beyond this station. A fearful storm of snow, wind and rain has lately swept down the course of the Elkhorn—we learn of the disappearance of a little boy who was herding cattle at the time of the tempest and whose body has not since been found. Our line of travel lay to the North North West up the valley of the Elkhorn, a very picturesque and fertile

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stretch of agricultural and farming land. The absence of timber in any great quantities has compelled the settlers in this as in all the other newly-opened portions of Nebraska—to build their houses of sod and to make roofs of hay. In one of the stable-enclosures, we saw two stately young elk which followed their mistress in a very tame and gentle manner. O’Neil City, the point to which the R.R. grade has been carried, is an Irish settlement, inhabited by a thrifty and well-behaved community of Celts. The houses are of sod, built in the middle of the prairie, and the town has a raw look, but also many indications of prosperity. At table, we were waited upon by an extremely pretty Irish girl who hearing us ask for milk, kindly milked a cow for our benefit. On the preceding [manuscript] page, I have alluded to the disappearance of a little boy, during the storm last-week. His body was found yesterday and the funeral ceremonies were celebrated during the hour that we happened to be in the town. At Emmet, Colonel Stanton found a beautiful Irish girl scrubbing the floor of the Post-Office. She began assorting the mail and Colonel Stanton thus had a good chance to look at her. The more he looked, the more enthusiastic he became and wishing us to enjoy the same pleasure he came out to the stage in which Chase and I had remained and urged [us] to go in and ask for a letter. It was so cold that Chase did not want to go to the trouble of unbundling and so he thought he would sit still and call for someone to come to the door, reasoning with his usual shrewdness that the young divinity would answer the summons. And this is the portrait of the lovely creature who glided to the door and inquired in gentle accents, “phot the hell duz yiz want?”

To-day has been very cloudy. A north wind blew all morning, but shortly after mid-day, subsided. Road as been very good, but our progress slow on acc’t. of our heavy load. Late at night of the 29th or rather very early on the morning of

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October 30th (1880.) Saturday, our stage stopped for an hour at a filthy hole called Bassett’s ranch, kept by an ex-sea captain whose pet was a pole-cat. The playful creature got after Col. Stanton and made him beat a hasty retreat back to the shelter of the ambulance. Chase and the Corporal tried to make themselves a cup of coffee, but gave up the attempt in despair. Cooke’s ranch, at the junction of Bone and Long Pine creeks, was our breakfast station. It is a well-appointed, neatly kept, home-looking little place presided over by two ladies who are experienced housekeepers. Here we found rich milk, good home-made butter, fresh bread, home-made preserves (called “jell” by one of the ladies.) fresh beef and venison,—all prepared in good style and served in an enticing manner, in great contrast to our general experience at cow-palaces. Copies of Harper’s Bazaar and other papers of recent date, attested a literary taste and the general air of refinement noticeable in the smallest details proved that the ladies of the house were not idlers. They gave us wild-plum wine, (which, by the way, made Chase and Stanton sick in the course of the afternoon) and also told us that their sand-cherry wine had all been drunk up by Colonel Royall who was here a week ago. From Cooke’s to Plum creek is 12 miles over a perfectly level prairie, matted with rich, juicy grasses. Through this prairie, Plum creek cuts its way making a picturesque little cañon studded with pine and cedar. The water of this stream is clear as glass. At this ranch, were three or four gentle and lovely little children. Chase and myself have begun to recover from a severe attack of dyspepsia from which both suffered all last night and all to-day until the present moment. It was indeed as might be expected, from drinking sour plum-juice and milk and eating freshly corned pork for our late supper. This hodge-podge of food, combined with the chilly night-air and our constrained position in the stage, brought on indigestion.

Chapter 6 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

More Memories of Arizona

W

e have all day been in the drainage of the Niobrara, to which Plum creek is tributary. A few miles beyond this is Evergreen creek, a pretty stream full of beaver. These streams head in the country near the sources of the Loup and Colemans through which I passed in July 1879, in company with Genl. Crook and others.1 Stanton has been recalling reminiscences of a trip we made together through Arizona, in 1872. Genl. Crook was then organizing an armed force of the Hualpai Indians to go out after the Apache-Mojaves and had started out from Prescott for the reservation of the former tribe at Beale’s Springs, leaving me to follow after with Col. Stanton.2 When we reached Camp Hualpai,3 or rather shortly after we had left there, we were assailed by a violent storm of wind and snow in the Juniper 1.╇ See Robinson, Diaries, 3, Chapter 12. 2.╇ This does not appear in Bourke’s previous notebooks, the earliest known at this time beginning on November 20, 1872. By that time, Crook had already enlisted the Hualpais. Likewise, Bourke does not refer his reader back to that volume, so we may presume it was among those lost prior to 1880. 3.╇ Camp Hualpai was established in 1869 at the toll gate on the road between Prescott and Fort Mojave, about forty miles northwest of Prescott. Troops from the post scouted against Yavapai Indians. The post was rendered unnecessary by Crook’s offensive of 1872– 73, and was abandoned in August 1873. Altshuler, Starting With Defiance, 32–33; Frazer, Forts of the West, 10.



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Mountains. Our tents were blown down and fires almost drowned out. We managed to cook something and to warm ourselves by the sputtering embers before starting out to overtake Genl. Crook and his party who we knew were without rations. We found them at Fort Rock, a miserable little station on the road near the Colorado river. We unloaded the pack-mules we had brought along and gave the welcome rations to our comrades. The people of the ranch, a couple of rough-fisted fellows, very good naturedly set about preparing some food for us, a task in which all of us helped either by suggestion or more active participation. Providentially, the number of cooks did not spoil the broth and the Irish stew, for such it was, proved to be most palatable. Our party with some recent accessions, now comprised the ranch-men, Genl. Crook, Lt. Ross, A.D.C.[,] Major [Julius W.] Mason, 5th Cavy., Lt. Frank Michler, Dr. [Washington] Matthews, and myself and a real, good jolly time we had. The ranchmen complained to Genl. Crook that the See-miches and Hualpai-Supais—two small bands, living in the Grand Cañon of the Colorado, had run off between sixty and seventy head of their stock. I remember this particularly because these tribes are almost unknown to the white man. From Fort Rock, our expedition pushed down to the South of the Cervat mountains to attack the Apache-Mojaves, but when we got to the Devil’s Well, they sent in word that they were coming to surrender. This Devil’s Well merits a few words of description. It is a deep cup-shaped basin in the bosom of lofty mountains, having at its base a spring of pure water which flows into the Bill Williams Fork of the Colorado, through the Santa Maria. Here we found ourselves in presence of two confronting civilizations; the Spanish, with its wealth of devotion and religious feeling prompting the dedication of each rivulet and mountain peak to some gentle saint; and the American, with its immense personality seeking to commemorate the discoverer in the Discovery. Who can tell what zealous friar or mail-clad soldier first named the Holy Mary? But there can be no such want of certainty as to who first saw the Bill Williams.4 And this, I said, is really an exemplification of strongly-developed national traits: the Santa Maria and the Bill Williams. 4.╇ William Sherly (Old Bill) Williams (1787–1849) explored much of Arizona in the late 1830s. The Bill Williams Fork of the Colorado River and Bill Williams Mountain, mentioned frequently in Volume 1 of this series, are named for him. Thrapp, Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography, 3:1572–73.

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While we were awaiting the arrival of the Apache-Mojaves our Hualpai and Chinahnevi allies made right hideous with their howling. Lauriano, the cook in our pack train, worked like a beaver, to prepare appetizing dishes and certainly did wonders, altho’ his combinations of beans, tomatoes, chile, cheese and bacon-grease might strike an American as a trifle peculiar. He had a rich, powerful voice and a correct musical ear and was not at all loathe to sing when called upon, as he frequently was, to do so. I can hear him yet starting up the pretty madrigal. ¿Caballero, por ventura, Conocia [sic] á mi marido?5 A dainty little bit of sentiment which goes on to recount the imaginary addresses to a returned soldier by a beautiful young widow, whose husband had never returned from the war with France. She wishes to learn, if by chance, this cavalier had ever met her husband and goes on to tell how noble, strong, handsome and brave he was. The cavalier replies that he certainly had known such a man, but that he was a traitor and coward and as such had suffered a wellmerited death; after saying which, of course, he sues for the widow’s hand. She scornfully repels his advances, indignantly refutes the aspersions cast upon her husband and expresses her determination to sell all her jewelry and trinkets and retire with her little daughter to a nunnery. Then the stranger discloses himself as her husband who has been seven years a prisoner in a French castle and the song concludes with an outburst of endearment from both husband and wife. It was very pretty in music and in sentiment and was the piece most frequently demanded by officers when sitting around the packers’ camp-fire. Colonel Mason and Lt. Michler were especially fond of it, the latter being able to sing it quite well. I at first thought of writing it down here, but as I cannot give the music for it and a translation of the words would be necessary any how, I have spared myself some trouble by giving merely a synopsis, as above. At the Devil’s Well, the first band of Apache-Mojaves, some one hundred and twenty five in number, made their submission under 5.╇ Cavalier, by chance, Have you known my husband?

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their old chiefs Ah-cu-la-huata and Eñacuiyusa (The Setting Sun and the Red Rabbit.) The whole tribe looked like a panorama of rag doll-babies, but the two chiefs vied with the glories of Solomon in their raiment of army officer’s cast off uniforms. I wonder what the dapper lieutenants who once sported those epaulettes, shoulder-straps and gold-bedizened coats would have felt to see them covering those two old sore-eyed, dirty-faced and furry-headed Indians! One of the young squaws with this band did not look to be more than 15 years old and yet she carried in her arms a little mite of a half-frozen baby which she told me by signs was only seven sleeps old. This she had carried across the mountains, keeping up with the rest of her family on the way in to surrender. The Apache-Mojaves soon affiliated with our Hualpais, the two tribes being connected by marriage, but it was easy to see that our younger Indian soldiers held themselves a little above their ununiformed relations. Corporal Joe, a bright boy, made it a point to come up every night to General Crook to get orders for the Hualpai soldiers just as he saw Colonel Mason do for the white soldiers. This particular band of Apache-Mojaves afterwards lived with the Hualpais at Beale’s Springs, where under the influence of my old friend, Tommy Byrne, they remained at peace with our people. Tommy had four of the boys “on duty” at his mess. The weather was so fearfully hot, they discarded all clothing except moccasins and breech-clout. I was very much amused the first time I took lunch at that mess to see there four naked boys file in and solemnly take station behind our seats, each one armed with a long green branch to drive away flies. Bourke returns to the present. At 10 o’clock at night, after a stage-ride of over forty hours, we reached Fort Niobrara, where we were met by Col. [John J.] Upham, Major [Robert Hugh] Montgomery, Lt. [Samuel Austin] Cherry, Dr. Marston, and Mr. Thacher, the post trader. I also met Dave Mears, one of our old Arizona packers, now a ranchman near this post and had a long and pleasant conversation with him. October 31st Sunday, A lovely Indian summer’s day. Colonel Upham sent his two Sioux Indian guides with a note to Agent Cook, at the

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Rosebud, (Spotted Tail) Agency, informing him of our intention to visit the Agency. During the day, all the officers at the Post, called upon Stanton, Chase and myself, at Colonel Upham’s quarters. Besides those already mentioned were Captains [John Scott] Payne, (5th Cavalry.), [William W.] Rogers (9th Infantry.) Davis and [James] Paddock (5th Cavy.)6 and Carpenter, (9th Infantry.) and Surgeon [Calvin] De Witt. They were all old friends and conversation was lively and spirited, aided by a demi-john of exceptionally fine punch which Col. Upham brought out for the occasion. Dr. De Witt recalled to my mind a very amusing incident of our former acquaintance in Prescott, Arizona. The ladies of the little town were desirous of building a church and felt that the Court-House was not the most suitable place for holding religious services. Arizona, the northern part of it especially, was at that period, very feebly served so far as ministers were concerned. The few who penetrated there were illiterate, uncouth, often unprincipled, itinerants, who after begging the biggest collection possible, decamped and were seen no more. I remember in one case the ladies raised about $300 for a “[dead] beat”, named Groves, I think, but as soon as he received the money he started for the Los Angeles Conference and never returned. The ladies were much dispirited but kept up a bold front, nevertheless, and insisted upon it that Mr. Groves was a “good man” and that any one thinking the contrary must be an atheist, a scoffer and an enemy of religion—But “Brother” Groves never came back all the same, so the ladies had the task of raising funds all over again. In this they were assisted by our worthy army Chaplain, Alexr. Gilmore, as good an old soul as ever lived, but perfectly worthless in any ecclesiastical sense of efficiency. I never heard “old” Gilmore preach but once, but that was enough to last during my life-time. The text was something about the trumpet of Zion. “Bee-low ye the ter-rumpet.” “Bee-low ye the ter-rumpet of Zion. 6.╇ James V. S. Paddock, in fact, was a second lieutenant, and the only officer named Paddock listed as serving in the 5th Cavalry at the time. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:764.

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“Sound it in the hi-i-igh per-laces “Sound ye the ter-rumpet of Sal-va-a“-tion” This text the worthy parson divided into four parts—Whoat [sic] was this ter-rumpet? Why should we bee-low the ter-rumpet? Why should we bee-low it in the hi-i-igh per-la-a-ces.—What was Zion and what was Sal-va-a-tion.-After handling his four “heads” in his usual able manner, the worthy parson got down to the “application” and the amen—the old women waked up with a start and the congregation began the massacre of that lovely hymn “Nearer My God to Thee”. When old Gilmore wasn’t butchering theology on Sundays, he passed much of his time in the village school, mangling the English Grammar. The children under his charge, with the keen intuition of their age, understood the value of the old man’s equation much better than their parents imagined they did;—I need not add that the school was a miniature Bedlam, the worst imp in the whole lot being Dick Dana, a bright, bold youngster, the son of Major [James Jackson] Dana of the army. Poor Dick was always under the ban—and always without cause. I know this to be so, because he told me himself: he said that “old Gilmore” was “down” on him, but that he would have revenge on him. Sure enough the boy had. It happened soon after my conversation with Dick that the Chaplain accused him, unjustly of course, of “lamming” one of his schoolmates over the head with a “spit-gob”. “Master Dick Dana will stand behind my chair for an hour’n wear a fool’s cap”. Such was the dread edict. There was no appeal. Every eye was turned upon Dick. Every boy and girl felt sure that he would resist the order, as he had so often previously done and gallop home on his pony which was hitched to one of the trees outside. But No! This noble boy evidently felt that it was his duty to observe the discipline of school even when it bore with unmerited severity upon himself. He walked quietly up to the Chaplain’s desk and took his place behind the Dominie as he had been directed. Gradually, the excitement subsided; the children resumed their studies and the worthy chaplain nodded in his hair, his brown wig half rubbed from his head.

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This was precisely the moment for which Dick had been waiting. A yell as fierce and loud as the war-cry of an Apache Indian filled the little school-room. The Chaplain awakened from his doze to see the children giggling and howling in mad delight and Master Dick dashing out of the room with his cherished wig in his hand. Dick jumped on his pony, clapped his heels to his ribs and darted into the plaza, holding the wig in [the] air and crying out—“I’ve got ole Gilmore’s scalp, here it is”. The children used to say afterwards; “we don’t have no more fun now since Dick Dana was expelled”, as I should say he was by the School Committee. This was the worthy chaplain who suggested to the ladies that, to raise funds for the contemplated church, they ought to arrange some tabloos. The idea spread like wildfire. Everybody seemed to have tabloo on the brain. The ladies said it would be just too sweetly lovely;—they would do all the work, the gentlemen would have no responsibility at all except to pay the bills. I am sorry to pollute these pages with any reference to the behavior of the tyrant man on this interesting occasion. The tyrant man, individually and collectively, expressed himself as of the opinion that the “hull thing” was a “Dam-m-m hen outfit” and further, that the “hen’s wuz a trying to run the town”. I blush to my ears when I make the admission that the term “hens” means the gentler sex, God’s last, best gift to man. Some of the more irreligious went so far as to say that Prescott had done well enough so far without “ho dam-m-m Gospel shop” and could get enough trouble without “hevin’ no preachers come “roun’.” But when “woman wills, she will, you may depend on’t”. The ladies were fearfully in earnest and the more miserable man scoffed the more determined they were to make the affair a success. A regular Crusade was inaugurated: every body was drawn into the arrangement. There was as much harmony as could be expected in a convention of ladies: and to tell the truth they did work in perfect concord until the time came to distribute parts in the “tabloos” and then we men were let into some fearful secrets. “What—have Mrs. So and So take the part of the Goddess of Liberty—her ankles are too thick!” [“]No, Miss Blank, won’t do either; she’s too round-shouldered and

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I’m sure her eyes ain’t straight either. What the gentlemen can see in that forward minx, I’m sure I can’t tell, but it must be something”. And so it went on:—heart burning and calumny—squabbling and rancor in the name of our Savior who bad us “Love one another”. I wish to anticipate a little and say that after a while the ladies buried the hatchet and smoked the pi—I mean drank the cup of peace and unanimously agreed that Lieut. Bourke’s account of their disagreement was all “made up”, that he ought to be ashamed of himself and what would his mother think of him if she knew he was going on in this dreadful way! &c. &c. &c. &c. At last the important day had come. The ladies who “had done all the work”, looked smiling and fresh as roses, while the men who “hadn’t done anything” seemed utterly fagged out. I was one of those wretches. Early in the morning a very sweet lady approached me, went into ecstasies over my appearance, said I always looked so well, expressed herself as happy to think she wasn’t a young maiden any more because she didn’t know what she should do with such a handsome man living in the same town,—and much more to same effect. I wish I could say that I told her—“get thee behind me, Satan”, but I didn’t. I swallowed all this “taffy” and much more and believed it all. A glance at the looking glass would have told me that Nature had endowed me too liberally in the matter of feet, hands, nose, mouth, ears and eye-brows, but I rejected the overtures of common sense and listened to the voice of the Siren. My business was to drive tacks, hang up curtains and pictures and under direction of one lady strain my back in moving heavy pieces of furniture which had to be moved back again to the original places whenever some other ladies of the management came along. My shoulders and spine were aching from my exertions and I had already knocked one thumbnail off with a tack-hammer, but what of that? Wasn’t I regarded by the ladies as one of the handsomest, brightest, bravest, noblest and most generous of men?—No. I wouldn’t give up—and anyway, I said, here comes De Witt, he’ll help me with this heavy baggage—Hullo, De Witt! But De Witt is talking with my lady and his face is beaming with smiles. I play the eavesdropper. Good Lord! She’s telling him word for word the very same stuff she told me. He is the handsomest, brightest, bravest, most generous of men,

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is he? De Witt! Great Heavens! De Witt isn’t a homely fellow by any means, but I now see through the woman’s wiles. I drop my tack-hammer, descend the step-ladder and have ever since been a blithe, uncompromising foe of Church fairs, festivals and Tabloos. For all that, the Tabloo appeared to be fully as great a success as if I had remained faithful to the end. De Witt performed my duties with as much ability as if he had not usurped the place of the only genuine, original, handsomest, best and bravest and brightest man in the vicinity. I did not always look upon the matter in this light. For a long time I cherished rancor towards De Witt but Time, the healer of all wounds, has poured balm upon my outraged pride and vanity and to-day I willingly concede that De Witt did nobly. His principal duty was to take care of the red light in the glare of which the Goddess of Liberty was to appear upon the stage, wrapped in the American flag and surrounded by representatives of American industry. It was a thrilling sight; the girls stopped chewing gum and the men stopped their talk of “Yes-sir-ree.—He’s struck her rich in Cerhat and Jedge Dawkins sez it’s jest the pertiest ledge he ever sed; richer’n the Tiger by a Doggoned sight and reminds him of the Comstock”.7 De Witt shared in the general excitement and blew so hard upon the red fire that it flared up and burnt off his eye-brows and moustache. In front of the stage the audience, delighted with everything, sat spell-bound, little dreaming of what was soon to disturb its placidity. Occupying one of the foremost seats was a very pretty girl, Miss Alice Dickinson, who like many other young ladies was in that state of mental perplexity that she couldn’t quite decide which of her suitors pleased her most. Two of them, more assiduous or more pleasing than the rest, gradually absorbed all her attention and looked upon each other as hated rivals. The young lady managed her cards with great dexterity, keeping her two slaves chained to the wheels of her chariot. She accepted an invitation from the one we shall designate as Mr. A., but before the evening of the Tabloos came around, he was suddenly called away to look after some mining interests in the Western part of the Territory and had barely time to leave word that he would be back in time or break his neck. The day arrived and as 7.╇ General chit-chat concerning silver strikes.

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Mr. A. had not yet returned, Miss Dickinson yielded to the pressing invitation of Mr. B. and under his escort attended the performance, occupying a seat in the full glare of the foot-lights and very close to my own. She had not been especially gracious to Mr. B. of late and thought that as Mr. A. was safely out of the way she could easily make amends for past coldness and be for this evening at least as agreeable as he could desire. But as Fate would have it, Mr. A. made the journey home with great speed, reached Prescott after dark on this very evening, hastily made his toilet and rushed to the dwelling of his adored one only to find that she had started for the Court-House in company with his rival. There was no help for it, he had to grin and bear it. He returned to the Court-House; found every seat filled and had to content himself with standing room near the door. Close by his elbow, the ladies had placed a small stand with refreshments which they disposed of at Shylock prices. It has always struck me as a great combination, the mingling of lunch and liturgy, Pumpkin Pie and Presbyterianism, Doughnuts and Dogma, but ladies insist upon making it and will make it, I suppose, to the end of Time. Mr. A. endeavored to soothe his lacerated feelings with a slab of pumpkin-custard and was slowly conquering grief, when, looking over the heads of those in front of him, he saw his adored cuddling up awfully close to his rival and evidently giving him some very sweet flattery to judge from the delightful countenance of the listener. Mr. A. was merely human: he could not stand everything. It took him but a second to make up his mind. He took careful aim at his rival’s head—Swish!! and the pumpkin pie sailed through the air and landed, not upon his rival’s head, as he had intended, but just back of Miss Dickinson’s ear. The confusion and uproar occasioned were, I need not say, very great. Mr. A. of course, escaped, altho’ Mr. B. promptly jerked out his six-shooter and ran up the aisle to catch him and shoot him. Much sympathy was felt for the poor young lady and she stood in want of every bit of it, as I don’t think I ever saw a lady in sadder plight than she was with all this pumpkin pulp filling up one ear and covering neck, collar and hair. She tried hard to rake it out with her fingers, but without success and had to remain through the remainder of the performance, happily only a few moments, with all the marks of the unfortunate affair upon her garments.

Chapter 7 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Fort Niobrara and the New Agencies

Bourke returns to the present. Lieut. Davis took me over to the new post which is rapidly approaching completion. The site is a most agreeable and healthy one, being a flat table-land well drained, ending in a bold bluff at the river, into which a dozen first class springs gush from the banks above. The quarters are of adobe, with brick corners to resist the encroachment of the sand-laden winds. The roofs are of shingles made at the post saw-mill. Each house is well provided with bath-rooms, dressing rooms & closets. The parade is a broad level piece of prairie, thickly covered with natural sod. For the water-supply, there is a windmill and a tank, holding 40.000 Gallons. In one of the little ravines alongside the post, is a very pretty waterfall and much beautiful scenery which Col. Upham intends preserving by enclosing the whole ravine as a park. Dined with Lt. Davis and his agreeable and handsome young wife. In the evening, read in the Révue de Deux Mondes an able exami-



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nation of the Irish Land questions1 and afterwards went to Mr. Thacher’s (the post trader’s) tent to drink a glass of champagne with him and the officers. November 1st 1880. Colonel Upham, Colonel Stanton, Lieut. [Augustus Canfield] Macomb, 3rd Cavy. and myself, took horses and began an inspection of post and surroundings. We crossed the Niobrara river close to the foot-bridge, and visited the Hotel erected by Mr. John Reed, on the site of Sharp’s Ranch, near the Minni-Chaduza. This is one of the few log-houses I have sever seen on the frontier with any pretensions to neatness of appearance. Mr. Reed has a dairy yielding a good supply of milk for which he finds a steady demand at good prices. In a little enclosure, a few rods from the door, are five tame black and white tail deer.* At the door itself are large logs of petrified cotton-wood, 5 @ 6 feet long and 10 @ 11 inches in diameter. After going through the new post, which I had carefully examined yesterday under guidance of Lt. Davis, we inspected the water-dam, the brick and adobe yards, the site for the hospital, corrals, stables, wood and hay-piles, and laundresses’s quarters, all of which, excepting the first, are to be down on the river-bank, under the hill, and thus out of sight of the garrison. Going home, we enjoyed a good glass of punch. Colonel Stanton and I took dinner with Captain and Mrs. Payne and then struck out along the lines of tents to pay our respects to the ladies.—Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Marston, Payne, De Witt, Rogers, Montgomery and Paddock,—all charming, intelligent and refined. Until their new quarters shall be completed, they must live in tents, but they have made themselves extremely comfortable and by their presence will add greatly to the attractions of the Post. Our old friend, Lt. Carpenter, 9th Infy. called upon us. He is in charge of the *Bourke’s note: There is a great deal of black and white tail deer and antelope in the vicinity of post; also of geese, ducks, chickens &c. 1.╇ By the time of Bourke’s writing, the Irish Land Question had haunted British governments for over forty years. It originated in the absolute power given to landlords, many of whom were ethnic English, and the expropriation of land that Irish peasants considered to be theirs. Rather than addressing the basic problem, the British response was a series of Coercion Acts, which deepened Irish resentment and led to a campaign of terror. In 1880, the nationalistic Irish Land League implemented a policy of boycotts (taking their name from a Captain Boycott who was one of the targets) that brought Ireland to a virtual standstill. The following year, the government responded with another Coercion Act that gave the viceroy in Dublin almost unlimited powers, but tempered it with a Land Act that conceded almost every demand by the Land League. For the next three years, Ireland remained relatively quiet. See Churchill, Great Democracies, Chapter 19.

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post saw-mill, some miles away; hence, he could not get down any sooner. Like all the others, he is enthusiastic about the post, especially on account of its magnificent water supply, obtained from the river itself and from the really excellent springs gushing out from the foot of the bluffs upon which the post stands. Timber is rather scarce, but the soil makes first-class adobes. Colonel Stanton paid off troops today. November 2nd. To-day is cloudy and in unpleasant contrast with the brightness of yesterday. We arose at 6—took an early breakfast and then under escort of Lt. Macomb, a corporal and two men, started for the Spotted Tail, (Rosebud,) Sioux Agency. Our two ambulances got along famously until we reached the banks of the Niobrara, not over half a mile from Col. Upham’s quarters, where, through the carelessness of our driver, and the greenness of his mules, which had until this morning been attached to a water-wagon, our tongue broke off at the king-bolt. This delayed us an hour: the work of repair was done by the Government method, one man replacing the tongue and sixteen doing “the heavy standing around”. We had our driver relieved by one who did not, as Chase remarked, “look so much like as if he had been blown in thro’ the window” and everything having been changed to the new ambulance, we crossed the Niobrara and took the road for Rosebud agency which followed up the Niobrara for some distance being between it and the Minni Chaduza, and crossing the latter eight miles out. (This stream is perfectly clear and cold, has a good current, is 15 @ 18 feet in width, 8 inches deep, bottom firm and approaches good. There is little or no timber on stream near crossing, but the bluffs have scrub pine and cedar.) The country passed through all day is level prairie land, well grassed. We rested and lunched at the head of Keya-Paha or Turtle river and soon after struck into the valley of a branch of the South Fork of White Earth river, probably Rosebud creek. Following along this, we soon reached the Indian village of Spotted Tail’s band which I will not go to the trouble of describing, having done so previously.2 There was noticeable increase in the number of log-houses built for the use of the Indians, that occupied by Spotted Tail himself being a very cosy and comfortable looking cottage. At the agency, we 2.╇ See Chapter 6.

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were very courteously received by Agent Cooke [sic], and also had the pleasure of meeting Dr. [Valentine] McGillicuddy [sic], the agent of the Red Cloud Bands, Dr. Falconer, Mr. Campbell, Col. Gardner, Judge Lawler, (of the Milwaukee and Saint Paul R.R.) and the Indian Chiefs Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, White Thunder, Young Man Afraid of his Horses, Big Road, He Dog, Red Dog, Three Bears, Blue Horse, Sword, and many others, who were holding a conference with Judge Lawler relative to the right of way for his Rail Road to the Black Hills. In the discussion, Spotted Tail and Red Cloud evinced as much astuteness as a couple of old Philadelphia lawyers and succeeded in obtaining from the Rail Road Company what I took to be extremely fine prices, viz: One hundred and ten dollars per mile, for the linear distance (185 miles,) from the Missouri across the Reservation, the width of the strip ceded to be two hundred feet; any ground required by the company in excess of this to be paid for at the rate of $4 per acre, excepting 1000 acres at the crossing of the Missouri, for which five dollars per Acre should be paid. Bouchet, Robideau and Louis Richaud, with other squaw-men and half-breeds were present—all of them well known to Col. Stanton and myself since 1875. Bouchet came to see me and complained that he had not received any remuneration for his services in going out with Spotted Tail in 1877, as bearer of messages from General Crook to Crazy Horse and other hostile chiefs who have since surrendered. Bouchet was at that time under a cloud for selling ammunition to the enemy and my impression is that he obtruded himself into this business of the embassy to earn, not wages, but a condonation of past-offenses.3 The treaty being signed by all the chiefs,4 Colonel Stanton, Mr. Chase, Lieut. Macomb and myself witnessed it and then all the white gentlemen present withdrew to Agent Cook’s quarters to “ratify” it. At supper, Colonel Gardner and I spoke of my first meeting with his family which happened in this wise. The war of the Rebellion was at its height and treason was on the top wave of anticipated success, when in the summer of 1862, I enlisted. I was a harum-scarum boy, ambitious, adventurous, hot-headed and patriotic. I was past fifteen and in my own conceit just the stuff of which Generals should be made. I soon had a carbine in my hands and was “going through the motions” at Carlisle, Penna. Early in the winter of 1862, our Regi3.╇ See Robinson, Diaries, 2:245, 256. 4.╇ I.e. the right-of-way contract with the railroad.

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ment (the 15th Penna. Cavalry.) was ordered to Louisville, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn., arriving at the latter place in time to participate in the seven days’ fight at Stone River5 under General W. S. Rosecrans. While passing through Ohio, we were received with an exuberance of welcome and hospitality which could not easily be understood by people who did not share in the operations of those years of anxiety and peril. Ohio was especially charitable and warm-hearted to soldiers passing through her limits: when our three trains reached Bellefontaine, a very large crowd had assembled at the dépôt and we were at once beset with invitations to partake of refreshments at different houses. My elbow was touched and, upon turning around, I was accosted by an unusually handsome, bright-eyed young lady of the dangerous age of “sweet sixteen”. She said that her father and mother would be glad to have me come to their house and bring half a dozen of my comrades with me for luncheon. I complied gladly with the invitation, as did my friends and a right royal lunch we had. The young lady gave me her name—Gardner—and said she would at all times be glad to hear from me. I did send her several notes expressing my thankfulness for her courtesies and received very pleasant replies; but my life at that period was so eventful and so busy that continued correspondence with anybody was an impossibility and soon the acquaintance on my side had faded away into the remembrance of favors received from a lovely girl. In speaking of this to General Crook, himself an Ohioan, he remarked when I gave the name of the young lady—“Gardner”—“why I know those Gardners very well, one of the boys was on my Staff during the war”. So, in this way, I was thrown against Col. Gardner, with whom this evening, as upon other occasions, I have had pleasant conversation regarding his lovely sister, since married and dead. As the evening wore on, we went over to the trader’s store, and watched the Indians playing billiards—in which they are marvelously skilful [sic]. We inquired for samples of Indian bead-work, but could not find a single article; the trader said they had ceased making them. Col. Upham sent one of his scouts, Thigh, to overtake us with a message saying that another ambulance and team would be sent out to meet us on the road to Red Cloud Agency to-morrow. November 3rd 1880. Awakened at 6 a.m. Did our share towards making disappear a fine, hot breakfast of coffee, buttered rolls 5. Murfreesboro.

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and fricasseed chicken. The lady in charge of the mess when asked for our bill said two dollars for the whole party. As Macomb had gone off with the Doctor (Falconer.), this made the pro-rata for Stanton, Chase and myself 66 c[ents]. each. For this we had received the best of food and bedding. The landlady’s pride seemed to be most touched by reference to the quilt covering the bed in which Stanton and I slept; it was a very loud specimen of the American flag pattern and, as in duty bound, we said it was the handsomest thing we had ever seen which made the old lady’s eyes sparkle with joy. We said Good Bye to all at the agency, especially to Col. Gardner and the large-hearted Judge Lawler—and started out after McGillicuddy for the Red Cloud Agency. Macomb wasn’t yet up so we could not bid him farewell in person. We had good ambulances, plenty of buffalo robes and warm clothing, tents, stove and a good escort, so we didn’t fear the weather. Col. Upham and Lt. Cherry had equipped us with an abundance of good food—and Cherry’s “old darkie Auntie” cook had seen to it that the list included a fat haunch of venison (from one of the two deer that Cherry had shot the day after our arrival.) and a cup of her own wild-grape jelly. From Spotted Tail to Red Cloud Agency the telegraph poles are in position, waiting only for the wire and insulators. The work has all been done by the Indians. This line when connected at the west end with the Black Hills system, & at the East with Omaha viâ Ft. Niobrara and with Milwaukee and Chicago by the Railroads now building will be a very important chain of communication for the Western country. The Milwaukee and Saint Paul, Northwestern, Sioux City and Pacific, and Union Pacific Railways, with their attendant telegraph lines, will within the next two years, have transformed this whole region and driven out or split up the Sioux nation and rendered it impotent to confront the Government. Six miles out from Agency stopped at a pleasant little ravine to load up with wood. Near the first crossing of the South Fork of White Earth river, met the ambulance, as promised by Colonel Upham, to whom Stanton sent back a note of thanks. Nooned on the South Fork. (It is 30 feet Wide, 12 inches Deep, current swift, Water good, cold and sweet, Bottom hard, approaches steep and difficult.) This valley is finely grassed, well wooded with oak in the ravines and pine on hill-crests. The scenery is decidedly

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beautiful. While we were preparing lunch, a couple of Indian boys came by with a herd of ponies going to water. All day the weather has been raw and blustering, but at noon, rain began to fall, a few drops at a time. We made a blazing fire and when McGillicuddy joined us, set about eating lunch. McGillicuddy had with him a servant-girl,—a young woman,—for whom we did all in our power. We did full justice to our meal and then resumed our journey. The afternoon remained, cold, dark and gloomy. Bivouacked at a point, on South Fork of White Earth river, 38 miles from agency. Burn oak timber [from trees?] half a mile below camp. Plenty of good water, Grass good but dried. The soil thus far is of rich quality and no doubt would raise good crops of wheat and potatoes. We passed the time in telling stories, two of those from Chase being unusually good. I cannot do them justice but sooner than run the risk of losing them entirely, I’ll make the effort to narrate them. In Iowa, some years ago, an Itinerant organ-grinder wearily plodded along a high-way carrying upon his back his organ and monkey. The poor monkey was sick and its master tired and cross and when Jock, in a fit of peevishness, pulled his master’s hair, he received instead of the accustomed gentle caress, a buffet alongside the head which stretched him out cold, and lifeless on the road. The Italian, after pouring out a perfect torrent of impotent profanity, threw his dead pet into a newly-excavated ditch, where it lay, its wizened face upturned to heaven, its little paws outspread as if to ask for mercy, and its tawdry cap tied about its whiskered face and its thread-bare velveteen jacket, garnished with little bells and tarnished gold lace, giving it an appearance at once grotesque and piteous. Two Irish laborers trudged along an hour or two after the Italian had passed. They had but lately arrived from the “ould dart”, and were in search of employment as harvest hands. Back in Ireland, they had known a wretched little atom of decrepitude, a dried up, weazened [sic] creature, named Patsy Brophy—one of those half-idiotic specimens of humanity whom the Celtic peasantry call “changelings”, because in their touching, simple and childlike faith, they believe that everything coming from God is, at its birth, beautiful and bright but that frequently the fairies, who maliciously oppose God’s purpose, carry off newly-born babies and replace them by creatures of their own designing.

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Our two laborers paused to rest for a few moments alongside this ditch into which one of them happened to glance. “Arrah! Moike! Moike[”] he explained in unfeigned horror, [“]did yiz ivir know Patsy Brophy, of Castlereagh, the widow Brophy’s bi?” “Trooth’n oi did”. “Och thin, glory be to God, God rist his sowl poor chraythure,6 shure there is lois cowld’n sthark did, insoide the ditch beyant!” Mike took a critical look at the dead monkey and his whiskered face. “Arrah Dinnis,[”] said he, [“]shure that’s not Patsy, at all, at all—shure Patsy didn’t hev half that har on ’im.” [“]Troth, Michael an’ it’s himself shure enough, God rest his sowl pore bi—shure it was the har-r-dship’n har-r-rd wur-ruk dhun the har out an ’im”. And dropping a silent tear over the untimely fate of poor Patsy, the two good-hearted Micks, resumed their journey. Once upon a time, there were two Irishmen working at unloading a ship in the harbor of New York. They had just eaten their luncheon and were smoking a quiet noonday pipe. “Barney,[”] said one, between the whiffs, [“]wanst, thar war a mon in the county Down in the North av Oireland over sivin fut hoi.[”] [“]It’s a loi, Moike, it’s a loi,[”] replied the other with emphasis, [“]it’s a loi, no morchil man war ivir sivin fut hoi; Jaysus Croist himsilf war’nt sivin fut hoi”. We made a good supper of venison, bacon, coffee, hard-tack and grape-jelly. The clouds soon lowered, rain fell mingled with snow and shortly afterwards a great storm of wind and rain and snow arose and prevailed all night, testing the strength of our tent poles and cords. November 14th 1880. Awakened at 4 a.m. for breakfast. Morning very dark, cold and windy. Clouds black and full of rain and snow. Snow-storm and violent North West wind all day. Passed a mailwagon on which we saw Mr. Clay Dear, the only white people seen since leaving Spotted Tail Agency. Shortly before noon, we caught up with a party of Indians hauling freight. Dr. McGillicuddy tells me that he employs three hundred of his Indians in hauling freight from the Missouri river; the distance is a little over 180 miles, the journey is made in 8 days, with wagons carrying 2500 lbs. for which the Government pay 2 c[ents]. per lb. 6.╇ Creature.

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We had a very disagreeable day for travelling, the driving wind filled the ambulance with snow and chilled us to the marrow. The sun made a feeble effort to break through the clouds about 3 in the afternoon, but his discomfiture was so complete that the day seemed to increase in gloom from the little rift of light with which we had been momentarily favored. We crossed several pretty streams, all confluents of the South Fork of the White Earth, and crossed the Fork itself a couple of times, but we had to make a dry-camp between 4 and 5 in the afternoon after travelling 40 miles. We had no wood except what we had brought along in our wagon, and no water; but there was a little good grass under the snow. We made coffee from melted snow. Anticipating a bitter cold night, we erected our tent to face that occupied by the escort and between the two placed the cook stove that both tents might receive the benefit of its warmth.7 Our anticipation proved to be correct: the night was intensely cold and we had to get up several times to “stoke” our little stove with pine-knots. At half-past three November 5th we arose, the soldiers first cooked breakfast for themselves and then for us. We had to use their dishes and while we were breakfasting by the light of blazing pine-knots they took down the tents, packed the wagon and ambulance and hitched up the mules. Our drive this day was only 23 miles to the Red Cloud Agency, which we made in good season, the day being bright and cloudless and the air crisp and bracing, but no wind. Six miles out from the Agency, we overtook several of the trains of freight, driven by the Indians, as already noted and also a party of them putting insulators on the telegraph poles and stretching the wire. A few hundred yards from the Agency one of our mules played out from colic induced by feeding him upon corn and by cold weather: however, we succeeded in getting him to the agency, where Dr. McGillicuddy had him cared for. Mrs. McGillicuddy received us most cordially. She is a very handsome lady and one endowed with great good sense and much nerve. During the time her husband served in the army, (his name occurs frequently in my note books for 1876–7–8)8 she once accompanied him on a scout in mid-winter to the Black Hills. She laughed heartily at our appearance and made us look at ourselves in a mirror; 7.╇ For an illustration of this arrangement, see Robinson, Diaries, 2:218. 8.╇ See Ibid., Vols. 1–3.

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we were all black as negroes from the soot of blazing pine-fuel, something we had not noticed in each other before as we were so thickly wrapped up. The only item of news—in itself so important that it naturally obscured all others—was the announcement of the election of General [James A.] Garfield to the Presidency by an overwhelming majority.9 From Red Cloud Agency to Camp Sheridan, a telegraph line is in operation across which Lieut [Charles H.] Watts, 5th Cavalry, sent us the above news and likewise a very polite invitation to accept his hospitality when we reached his post. Dr. McGillicuddy took me on a tour of inspection about the agency, much to my delight. We first visited the mess-house of the Indian “police” whom we found at dinner. The quantity of food consumed by each individual was something enormous: immense piles of boiled beef and pork, biscuits and hominy loaded down each plate, all of it cooked by an old Mexican with whom I started into a little conversation in Spanish and who told me that he was a native of Tierra Amarilla in New Mexico and that around the agency were many Mexicans from the Rio Grande. In the storehouse, the quantity of supplies accumulated for the subsistence of these 7500 Sioux is immense and carries one back to the War of the Rebellion. There was over 1000.000 lbs. of flour, 130.000 lbs. of tobacco, 200.000 lbs of coffee, 200.000 lbs. of sugar, 500.000 lbs. Bacon and other articles in proportion. These supplies are of good quality, but the hard-tack might be better. There is a great need of more extended storage-facilities; the flour is at present piled up in the open air and altho’ it is well dunnaged and panlined, it is not properly sheltered under such circumstances. We saw piles of wash-tubs, wash-boards, stoves, lamps and locks for issue to the Indians who have constructed 300 log houses during the past year. There are great bales of blankets &c. in the clothing ware-house. The stable is strongly built and well-planned. The saw-planing, shingling and lath machine is run by Indian labor, under white supervision. The Indian police is composed of 50 picked warriors, uniformed and armed with breach-loading, magazine guns, and commanded by Sword, an extremely neat and cleanly dressed 9.╇ Garfield held office only a few months before being assassinated.

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Indian, who reads and writes in his native language. His quarters are a model of cleanliness and good order. At the two traders’ stores, as at those of the other Agency, we were unable to find a single article of Indian manufacture; the reason given is that the Indians were too busy freighting and are making so much money that they have not the time to make bead-work. We were not a little flurried, when returning to McGillicuddy’s Office to come across an old Indian on horseback, who was mourning the recent death of his little child. He cried and howled like a wolf and finally cocked his gun. The custom among this people when deeply afflicted is to go kill somebody and as this old duffer announced his determination to kill a white man we were delighted to see some of the police rush up and disarm him before he could do any mischief. In the evening Mrs. McGillicuddy thoughtfully invited Miss Blanchard and Mr. Barit, (the Episcopalian minister stationed at the Agency.) to come over to her house and favor us with some music on the piano and with a little singing. Colonel Stanton excused himself at an early hour and went to bed; Chase and I did not follow until almost midnight. When we got to our sleeping room, we pulled the covering back from Stanton’s head and lo! I recognized poor Patsey Brophy of Castlereagh! But Chase said that it war’nt Patsey, “shure Patsey didn’t hev hof that har’ an ’im”. Stanton swore vengeance on us the first opportunity— an opportunity which never came, however. Saturday, November 6th 1880. Stanton was astir at a fearfully early hour this morning and insisted upon Chase and myself getting up. He is the worst man I ever saw for going to bed early and getting up in the middle of the night. This time we were prepared for him. Last night we begged Mrs. McGillicuddy on no account to pay attention to the Colonel, told her he was a raving lunatic and didn’t know when he wanted his breakfast. We wanted ours at her usual time, 8 o’clock, which would give us an early enough start for Camp Sheridan which is only nineteen miles from the Agency. The result of this conspiracy was that Chase and I had a splendid sleep, Mrs. McGillicuddy was not worried and at 8 o’clock, we sat down to as good a breakfast as any man would want to eat. The morning was cloudy, but no signs of an approaching storm; in the air above, flocks of ducks and geese were wending their way Southward, as they have been doing every day since we have been

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on this trip. Great number of these birds winter in this country. Our sick mule was bled last night and treated with all the care possible and altho’ it could be driven to-day, Dr. McGillicuddy thinks that we had better let it remain at the Agency and use in its place one of his “bronco” ponies. We had soon bidden farewell to the Doctor and his kind wife and were on our way to Fort [sic] Sheridan. The sky cleared off and under the inspiriting influences of a bright, cloudless day and cold, bracing weather we rolled along the road, happy and delighted. Of the scenery, I will not say much as it is of the same general type as that we have seen since leaving the R.R. The contour of the land is gently undulating, occasionally rising into ridges which bound the horizon. The plain, so far as eye can reach, is mantled with grass; the ridges are studded with clumps of pine and cedar—The ravines cut out by the numerous little water courses are filled with willow, cottonwood and wild-plum. None of these streams is of great size, but in each the water is pure and cold and sweet. By mid-day, we had reached the post, where Lts. Watts, and [Henry J.] Goldman, (5th Cavy), and Baxter, 9th Infantry, and Dr. [Henry Maclean] Cronkhite, were awaiting us. Lt. Watts and his pretty wife, the only lady at the Post, had prepared for us and, being old friends we were perfectly “at home” with them. Lieut. Watts and I had a long conversation about former service together in Arizona; of this my journal of the time gave a sufficiently accurate description.10 It is sufficient to say here that the country we then scouted in search of hostile Apaches is now filled with a thriving population and that at the head of Cave Creek, then an unknown country, is the Rowe Gold mine, a very valuable property. No conversation between Watts and myself would be complete without a reference to “Moses Henderson”. “Moses” was a wild Apache boy, one of those who had surrendered and been enlisted as soldiers to hunt down the persistently hostile. He was cross-eyed, hook-nosed, had a tuft of hair hanging over his forehead, a whining voice and a cringing manner;—altogether, was so like a Chatham Street Jew clothes dealer that the men in our companies, with their usual felicity in such cases, dubbed him “Moses” and as he certainly looked like Mr. Henderson, a Hebrew merchant of Prescott, Arizona, I thought 10.╇ See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 2.

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to have a little fun when the campaign [ended] by starting the story that he was Mr. Henderson’s little brother who had been recaptured from the Apaches who had carried him off when a child. It took weeks of patient effort to prepare my pupil. The success crowning my work repaid me ten-fold for the trouble undergone. When we reached Prescott, I had John Marion, the editor of the Miner, insert a notice in his paper to the effect that Mr. Abraham Henderson’s young brother had been recovered from the Indians and was then in Prescott. The joke deceived a great many people. “Moses” was taken to the front of Henderson’s store, where he played his part beautifully. He would seize each passer-by by the coat-collar and assure him that:—“dot gote luk like hit crowt on you—mine frent. Dem glose vash mate fur der Brince o’ Valtes. I got a brudder—his name is E-e-zli an’ he scholtes. Sara-a-h luk vot noice ha-a-a-ir dis youn-ng mane’s got”. He really had learned his piece to perfection and dumbfounded everyone who heard him. People would ask “Who are you? What’s your name?”, to which he would reply—“Moses Henderson”, to the great disgust of “old man” Henderson, who never relished a joke in his life and certainly not one of this kind. From Watts I learned that the telegraph poles are all cut and in position to complete the connection with Fort Robinson. He also made me acquainted with Judge Haston who gave me the following particulars of the recent murderous affair in a “deadfall” near Sheridan. Judge Haston was the officer who investigated the whole business and who apprehended the murderer, Page. Dr. Cronkhite was the physician summoned to care for the wounded men. Sol. Martin kept a “hog-ranch”, (a gin-mill.) about two miles from Camp Sheridan, (off the reservation.) On the night of the 20th of October, about 11 o’clock, a dance was going on, attended by teamsters, hay-cutters[,] cattle-boys and four soldiers from Sheridan—Corporals Green, Bridges and Fleming and Farrier Steel—all of Company “G”, 5th Cavalry. A number of people, no soldiers among them, were standing at the bar, when an altercation arose between the proprietor and a Mexican hay-cutter as to the way in which the latter should hold a bottle of whiskey. The Mexican becoming angry, lifted the bottle to throw it at Martin and at this moment, another of the party—a man named Collins,—started to draw his pistol,—it is supposed with the intent to shoot the Mexican with whom he was on bad terms. In drawing

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his revolver, the hammer caught in some manner in his own clothing and struck against the cartridge exploding it and killing Collins instantly. The body was removed and most of those present dispersed. Those remaining, played cards, talked and drank. In about an hour, another quarrel arose between a desperado named Page and a man named Joyce. Page was very drunk and flourished his revolver, saying: “if we are going to have any kind of a wake let’s have a regular Irish wake”. The upshot of this was that he shot Joyce through the Right lung. Joyce was taken to the Post Hospital at Fort Sheridan where he lingered until the 29th of October. At this moment, the soldiers who were all unarmed, started to return to Camp, but Corporal Green who was in the rear was discovered by Page who, in pure malice, fired and struck him in the thigh. The limb was amputated by Doctor Cronkhite who arrived on the ground very soon after, but the wounded man died before morning. Mr. Haston said—“I do not believe that the soldiers acted disorderly or were in any way responsible for the affair.[”] Doctor Cronkhite remarked—“Corporal Green was murdered in perfectly cold blood. The soldiers, from all I could learn, were perfectly quiet and well behaved. They were unarmed and did not have so much as a pen-knife with them”. Martin “skipped out”. Page was arrested and is now in jail at Sidney, awaiting trial. Such is what I believe to be a correct version of the affair which had been much distorted and magnified in the public print. They represented that there had been a general scrimmage and that one of the “ladies”, “Beaver-Tooth Nell” had had an eye kicked out, but I was happy to learn that no “lady” had been injured. There was no “row” worthy of the name—as a stage-driver told me afterwards—“things was just a trifle lively” and that was all. Sunday, November 7th 1880. Forty Five miles to Camp Robinson. Met Col. [Edwin Vose] Sumner, Majors [John M.] Hamilton & [Alfred] Morton[,] Captain [William Curtis] Forbush, Lts. [Charles D.] Parkhurst and [Christopher C.] Miner and Dr. [William Barton] Brewster. Staid with Morton and after dinner with himself and wife, received calls from all the officers named and from Mr. J. W. Paddock. Rained all night. Monday, November 8th 1880. Morning misty and wet. Colonel Sumner drove me around the post—showed me the dam, new wind-mill (both in construction,) the saw-mill & other improvements.

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Fort Robinson has been wonderfully changed for the better. The houses are very warm, being of adobe, plastered within & without and giving abundant accomodation to the families occupying them. An irrigating ditch has been let into the parade and, as that has in places a very decided incline, the water has been allowed to run over a series of wooden steps, thus keeping it from washing away the soil. Telegraphed to General Williams and Lt. Foot[e] of my arrival. Called upon the ladies this morning. A very charming set they are—all old acquaintances; Mrs. Morton, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Brewster and Mrs. Parkhurst. Lunched with Lt. and Mrs. Parkhurst and then went over to Forbush’s quarters to take a glass of champagne with him. He told me that he was soon going to Arizona, to sell the La Noria (Deep Well.) mine which belongs to [Stephen] O’Connor, of the 23d, and himself and for which a big price has been offered in cash. I intended making mention of a lot of Indian trinkets shown us at Sheridan, by the trader, Mr. Newman, whose property they are. Besides children’s trinkets—cradles, dolls and dresses, of exceptional beauty, he had a pipe, bowl, stem and mouth-pipe carved out of one solid piece of pipe clay. It was very curious and the only one of its peculiar make that any of us had ever seen. Col. Sumner had telegraphed up to Deadwood last night to learn if I could get a seat on to-night’s stage, but the answer came back “chock-full”. I had made up my mind to remain at the post for another day or two when the stage rolled in to station and two of the passengers concluded to remain over. This would give me a place down, but would keep Stanton & Chase for another day when the telegraph said that two seats would be vacant from Deadwood. I determined to start and in a few moments was wrapped up as warmly as possible and provided with a big package of luncheon from Mrs. Morton and a flask of good whiskey from Major Paddock. When I reached the station, the stage was all ready and the driver, as might be expected, cross as a bear. I couldn’t get a seat inside and had to do the best I could with a place on top with the driver. The North wind blew furiously and the snow fell in great flakes which, as we crept slowly up to the summit of the ridge separating the

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White Earth from the Niobrara, gathered in deep drifts to impede our progress. The driver was at first very surly but a couple of swigs of whiskey thawed him out and when he found that I had travelled quite a good deal in the Western country he was completely mollified—“So you’s with old Crook is you, Cap? Wa’ll, bee Gawd, I tho’t you was no damn tender-foot, Wall I swore I must hev drove you up in Montany some time. I’ve drove ole man Stanton a heap o’ times. You don’t mean to tell me that the ole man’s back at Robinson! Wa’ll I’ll bur dam”. To make up for his former surliness, this driver, really a goodhearted fellow, whipped up his mules and “spun” us through his three stations in very good time. After descending the ridge, we got out of the snow belt for a while but all the way to Sidney 125 miles, we had it in “belts” alternating with zones of bare prairie. The night remained bitter cold. The second driver suggested that I cuddle down in the boot under his feet—a suggestion I gladly adopted and thus escaped much cold and exhaustion. Indeed, I dozed a little in perfect security and awakened at Snake creek ranch where such as felt the need of it had a chance to get a cup of coffee at 4 in the morning. No one improved the opportunity, all being anxious to hurry through the journey. I gave this second driver a liberal allowance of whiskey which I knew would get out to the cracker of his whip and keep the team from lazying. With good luck and no dilatoriness, we could catch the U.P. train for Omaha and that was what each one hoped and prayed for. November 9 1880. We breakfasted at Red Willow—a ranch of which I’ll not say much, as I think I have described it before in some of my numerous trips over this Black-Hills & Sidney road. It is the usual type of a frontier stage-station; a log-house—one general room or “bar”, filled up with red-hot wood stove in the center around which are gathered a cluster of men in all kinds of rough garb. I can’t tell what they do, I only know that no matter what may be the hour of your arrival at the station, you’ll find them there and always occupied in the same task, viz; frescoing the floor with designs in tobacco-juice. Upon the walls, you can see almost the one set of advertisements; there is the card of the North-Western Rail Way—the only line to take when you want to go from Chicago to Omaha; then you see the card of the Burlington, the only line to take when making the same

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journey, but if you rub your eyes a little and peer through the mist of rum-laded breaths and tobacco smoke, you will learn that the Rock-island is the only line you should patronize. “Buy the DozierWeyl Crackers”—“Use Yerba Buena Bitters” and try “Sozodont,” fill up the walls pretty well in the matter of decorations. The bar occupies one side of the apartment: cut-throat whiskey, Sardines, canned peaches, plug tobacco and a sleepy-looking, dirty faced bartender complete that picture. The last corner is filled with buffalo overcoats and canvas “jumpers” lying on the floor and with a tin wash-basin and a wooden tripod, close to which are a piece of rosin soap, and a dirty rag doing duty as a towel and a comb, every tooth of which is broken or decrepit. These last are luxuries for the exclusive use of stage-passengers. We hurry through our breakfast which really is not so bad as we anticipated from former experience at this place, jump into our seats, the driver calls “all set”, cracks his whip and off we go. The morning is cold, dark and dispiriting; to offset this we know that the snow will “pack” the sand in the road and make travelling more easy; thank Heaven, we make the last fifty miles in season for the train which thundered in at the moment of our halting in front of the hotel. There wasn’t a moment to lose. Our “traps” were slapped into the baggage car and we took seats in the day car, there being no vacant berths in the sleeper. I had to sit up all night, a rather tedious piece of business. November 10 1880. Wednesday. On the train with me, were Mr. Loring Jnr.[,] Herbert Thayer and Mr. Ramsey, who invited me to remain in the Pullman car with them, which I gladly did. Entering Omaha, we passed the outgoing passenger train of twenty two cars, in two sections, each drawn by two locomotives. Every seat was filled, the cars being occupied by the Land Excursionists, drawn into this country by the R-R. companies to examine the open country which is so soon to be settled up. These excursionists arrived in Omaha for a whole week, at the rate of from 700 to 3.000 per diem. The following editorial, clipped from the Omaha (Neb,) Herald, of December 5 1880, expresses in a perfectly correct, altho’ not very

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specific way, the injustice of the claim made by Sect. Schurz for the credit of the present condition of affairs among the Indians of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail bands. Schurz’ Pretensions and the Army’s Performance. The report of the Hon. Secretary of the Interior just published, makes a very interesting exhibit of the present condition and progress of the Indian tribes on our northern frontier. It would seem as though that period had been reached when the results of good management and civilizing influences would have their proper and practical influence. The extension over the tribes now on reservations of the jurisdiction of the courts, would be doubtless a most beneficial thing, not less for the whites than for the Indians themselves. In considering the report of the Secretary, however, one is impressed with the idea that all the beneficent things accomplished for the Indians have been done solely by the Interior Department. There is no mention anywhere of the work performed by the army in this most difficult and perplexing task. The Secretary of the Interior does not even admit that there is any use of an army on the frontier. He apparently does not know that there are a vast number of military posts in the west maintained expressly for the preservation of peace with the Indians. He does not state that he has opposed the abandonment of posts in the Department of the Platte, because they are essential to the maintenance of security and good orders near the Indian agencies. His report makes no acknowledgement [sic] of the services rendered by the Army in endeavoring to uphold the authority and control of the Interior Department over the Indians, and without which assistance such control must have been an utter failure. He fails to mention that the Indian police force at Pine Ridge and Rosebud, was made a possible thing by the previous enlistment under General Crook of many of these Indians, an employment which the Interior Department, through its agents and inspectors, did its utmost to prevent. Nevertheless, Gen. CROOK succeeded in enlisting many of them to aid him against the more hostile tribes, and the faith

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he kept with them as to remuneration for their services, made the police force now maintained at the agencies, which is considered by the Secretary so valuable an auxiliary in their advancement, an easy thing to accomplish. The Secretary does not mention the violent opposition of the Interior Department, through Commissioner HOYT [sic],11 to the plan of having the Indians haul their own supplies from Rosebud Landing, which they are now doing successfully. An officer of the Army, who was acting as agent at the time for SPOTTED TAIL’s bands urged this course upon the commissioner, and finally it was adopted, though against the wishes of the Indian Bureau, which saw one of the fat things of the Indian service thus slip out of its hands.12 Indeed, the reforms which the Secretary shows to have been made, and for which all credit is taken by the Interior Department, are reforms, the ground-work of which was laid by the Army, and were accomplished, not so much by the Interior Department as in spite of it, and in the face of its active resistence. To the good judgment, the intelligent management, great knowledge of Indian character, and high sense of honor and justice towards the Indians, displayed by GENERAL CROOK, the country is far more indebted for the progress that has taken place among these Indians, than it is to the efforts of the Interior Department which now so serenely claims all the credit to itself. 11.╇ Ezra A. Hayt, who was forced to resign in 1880, by Interior Secretary Carl Schurz over allegations of rampant corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 12.╇ Specifically a freight contract, which could be used (at the very least) for patronage.

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Part 2 The Ponca Question Continues

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Background

I

n Volume 3 of this series, Bourke discussed the legal case in 1879, by which the Ponca chief Standing Bear won the right to return to the ancient homeland and live unmolested, a right that the presiding judge, Elmer Dundy, believed should be accorded to any law-abiding resident of the United States, Indian or non-Indian.1 Although Dundy’s ruling settled the immediate status of Standing Bear, public outcry against the government’s forced relocation policy continued over the next eighteen months. That, together with internal dissension within the tribe, prompted President Hayes to appoint a commission to hold hearings among the Poncas, both in the Indian Territory and in Dakota. The president, who was interested in full justice to all the Poncas, would use the findings to recommend a proper course of action to Congress.2 The commission consisted of Brig. Gen. George Crook, Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles, William Stickney, secretary of the Board of Indian 1.╇ The ruling actually declared that an Indian was a responsible individual with legal standing in court, and therefore had the right to bring suit. By establishing that, however, Judge Dundy effectively prevented the government from forcibly relocating Standing Bear to a reservation. The case is discussed in Robinson, General Crook, Chapter 14; Mathes and Lowitt, The Standing Bear Controversy; and Tibbles, Standing Bear and the Ponca Chiefs. 2.╇ Bourke, Diaries, 38:991–94.



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Commissioners, and Walter Allen of the Boston Indian Citizenship Committee.3 Assessing the members, Bourke did not bother to recap all he had written about Crook over the previous nine years, but did not hesitate to comment on the others. Miles was “brave, energetic, and ambitious; selfish, conceited and inordinately vain....anxious to thrust himself forward as the most experienced of the list, but I err greatly, if he has not been the least of value of any.” Stickney, Bourke believed, was “a well-meaning, psalm-singing Christian,—of that class whose religion has given them the heart-burn.” He was most impressed with Allen, who, despite a tendency to allow idealism to overrule practicality, was “a very intelligent, clear-headed, hard-working and valuable member of the Commission.”4 As Crook’s aide, Bourke took down the testimony, resulting in a transcript of the hearings that appears in manuscript volumes 37 and 38. Volume 38, which contained the bulk of the transcripts, obviously was prepared later, because Bourke notes what pieces of testimony were omitted from the commission’s report. It is followed in the West Point sequence by a pocket notebook designated as Volume 38a. This notebook appears to be a record Bourke made during the hearings, or immediately after in consultation with the stenographer, and later copied over to the larger volume. The two texts are virtually identical, so I have skipped Volume 38a as repetitious. Carl Schurz was not the author of the affair, having taken office just as the relocation was getting underway. Nevertheless, he defended the policy, believing that leaving them in their homeland created the potential of conflict with the Sioux, who had been moved from western Dakota and Nebraska to the Missouri River region adjacent to Ponca country. Although the Poncas were a Siouan people, there was long-standing animosity between them and the Sioux proper. Despite such historic grievances, there really was little to fear. Much 3.╇ The Board of Indian Commissioners was a quasi-public entity created by Congress and consisting of nine unpaid members, who served as advisors to the president and the secretary of the Interior. It was part of an effort to clean up corruption in the Indian Bureau and improve public perception of Indian affairs. The legislation that created the board, however, was vague about its actual legal authority and this led to jurisdictional disputes between the board and the Interior Department. Priest, Uncle Sam’s Stepchildren, 28ff. The Boston Indian Citizenship Committee was formed after Standing Bear made a successful lecture tour of the East in the wake of his court victory. The committee was one of several established throughout the nation—including the West—that demanded reform of the federal policy toward all Indians. Mathes and Lowitt, Standing Bear Controversy, 11. 4.╇ Bourke, Diary, 38:953–55.

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of the fight was gone from the Lakota Sioux after their defeat in the 1876–77 war, and they and the Poncas were prepared to reconcile their ancient quarrels. Therefore, the forced relocation had been as needless as it was traumatic.5 Although Schurz ultimately came to regret his decision, he became the perennial bureaucrat, jealous of his control over the Indian tribes, shuffling people around according to his own notions of their best interests, without regard to what they might feel. As often happens in such cases, he created a greater problem than any he might have believed he was solving, and thus he emerges as the villain of the scenario. Schurz operated under a dual handicap, not only in having created the problem, but also being a foreign-born citizen in high government position at a time when nativism ran rampant. Even the Indians were touchy about it. At one point, Standing Bear contemptuously referred to Schurz as “the Dutchman with the eyeglasses,” and a few moments later in the same monologue suggested (to the amusement of the other chiefs) that the secretary was “sick or foolish,” pointedly adding, “I mean the one who speaks German.” It was evident that the Poncas believed that Schurz essentially remained a foreigner, and as such had no business involving himself in their dealings with the government.6 This also became an issue in Congress, when Senator Henry Laurens Dawes, chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, questioned whether Schurz’s German background might be the source of the problem. Like so many immigrants who find themselves accused of being somehow less imbued with American values than the native-born, Schurz bristled. Responding sarcastically to what he called Dawes’s “new-born anguish about the red man,” he commented: There never was an Indian unjustly killed in this country until a German born American citizen became Secretary of the Interior. All has been peace, love and fraternity. The red man has for three centuries reposed within the gentle bosom of his white brother, and there was no man to make him afraid until this dangerous foreigner in an evid [i.e. evil] hour for the republic was clothed with authority to disturb that harmonious accord and disgrace the American name 5.╇ Prucha, Great Father, 180; Hoogenboom, Rutherford B. Hayes, 451–53. 6.╇ Hoogenboom, Rutherford B. Hayes, 453; Bourke, Diary, 38:984–85.

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with rapineage in Indian camps and the blood of slaughtered victims, and all this he did in his efforts to naturalize on American soil dark and cruel methods and to imperil a government of which this foreigner notoriously is and has always been a faithful and ardent worshipper and champion.7 In looking over the interviews with the Poncas in the Indian Territory, one might initially assume they were satisfied with their lot, as they showed no interest in returning to their homeland in Dakota or Nebraska.8 A close reading, however, shows that it was not that simple. In fact, they seem to have distrusted the government. They had been relocated once, and it had been traumatic, physically and emotionally. Now, they were settled and reestablishing themselves. Privately, they might have detested the Territory, but if they opted to move a second time, they had no confidence that this would be final. In fact, it might start an unending cycle of moves. As White Eagle, who did most of the talking on behalf of the chiefs, observed, “If the Great Father should want to make that [move to Dakota] for me, I should think he’d have me wandering around, and for that reason, I should be unwilling to go and should want to remain here [in the Territory].”9 On the subject of Standing Bear, the ever-observant Nelson Miles noticed a certain amount of resentment. They had accepted their lot, and settled in the Territory, whereas Standing Bear had fought the government on its own terms—the court system—and won. Although they denied any animosity, they were adamant that Standing Bear should return to the Territory, and should not receive any share of the Ponca subsidy unless he did. When the commissioners suggested that representatives should accompany them to Dakota for the proposed interview with Standing Bear, both White Eagle and Standing Buffalo begged off, pleading illness and exhaustion. No doubt some of this was true; the Poncas had had a difficult time acclimating to the Territory, and illness was rampant. Nevertheless, one cannot avoid a feeling that they also were using it as a convenient excuse to avoid dealing with Standing Bear.10 The commission moved on to Dakota Territory, where the members heard Standing Bear and others who had returned to the old 7.╇ Omaha Herald, February 11, 1881. Clipping pasted in Bourke, Diary, 38:1090. 8.╇ Bourke, Diary, 37:908ff. 9.╇ Ibid., 37:918. 10.╇ Ibid., 37:919–23.

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homeland. Testimony from whites involved with the mission and agency showed that, before relocation to the territory and after their return, the Poncas strove to adapt to the white lifestyle, earning their way, living in furnished homes, and even installing curtains over their shelves so their dishes would not get dusty. One of the most remarkable revelations was how quickly and totally the Dakota Poncas had embraced Christianity. The Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, an Episcopalian priest who conducted morning services for the Poncas and afternoon services for the whites, noted that Ponca attendance “shamed the whites.” Many attended both services, even though they did not necessarily understand the one in English.11 Some chiefs began their testimony by invoking God because, as one Ponca observed, “God alone is able to make anything or anyone and so it is entirely unfit that He should be forgotten if one is to speak.”12 Others sometimes referred to God or Christianity in their statements. Dorsey not only was a major figure in the hearings, but also in Bourke’s future. A gifted linguist, he was fluent in Ponca, Osage, and Omaha, and at the time of the hearings, he had a dual role, representing both the Episcopal Church and the Bureau of Ethnology. The bureau had been created in 1879 under direction of Maj. John Wesley Powell, who had placed Dorsey on the staff with instructions to gather material that would offer insight into Ponca “thought and expression.” Learning of Bourke’s ethnological and linguistic studies to date, Dorsey wrote Powell about his potential as an ethnologist, pointing out that his notebooks would be valuable to the bureau. Powell was interested, and suggested that he and Bourke meet in Washington to discuss his work. For his part, Bourke was always ready to exploit useful connections to advance himself.13 11.╇ Ibid., 38:973. 12.╇ Ibid, 38,986. This custom continues among many Indians, today. In 1995, I moderated a convocation of Lakotas in which the Rev. Webster Two Hawk, an Episcopalian priest, began by telling the audience, “I greet you in the name of the Great Spirit, and of His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Kiowa pow-wows also generally open with Christian prayer. 13.╇ Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 72–73.

Chapter 8 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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unday, December 12th 1880. In obedience to the telegraphic instructions from Washington, as follows: Washington, D.C., 12-10-80. The President desiring to see you in regard to the Ponca Indians, the Secy. of War directs you to report to this city when convenient for you to do so. (Sign.) R. C. Drum Adjutant General. General Crook, accompanied by his Aides, Captain Roberts and Lieut. Bourke, left Omaha, Neb., for Washington, D.C. At Council Bluffs, Iowa, we met Mr. S. S. Stevens, General Passenger Agent of the Chicago, Rock-Island and Pacific Rail Road, and Mr. Morris of the Wabash Line and Mr. Ezra Willard. On our train, were Dr. George L. Miller, Editor of the Omaha Herald, ex-Senator P. W. Hitchcock, Mr. N. Shelton, Cashier of the U.P.R.R., Mr. Frank Murphy of the State Bank—all of Omaha and all en route to New York to consult with the Union Pacific officials about the erection of grain elevators at Omaha. We also met Mr. Dows, a very bright, companionable old gentleman from the Pacific Coast; and 158

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finally, Captain [George Augustus] Drew and Lt. Ducat, of the 3rd Cavalry, both going on leave. The weather was wonderfully balmy, almost like a day in summer. Knowing nearly everybody in our car, we had a very pleasant trip as far as Chicago and obtained much valuable information from our companions. Mr. Dows, who turned out to be the brother of David Dows, of New York, one of the principal stock-holders and officers of the RockIsland road—, showed himself to be a man of wonderfully shrewd observation and philosophic mind. His views upon the necessity of simplifying our present overloaded curriculum of common-school education were expressed with an almost epigrammatic terseness and with a philosophical shrewdness which elevates his simple language to the plane of eloquence. Dr. Miller is a man of powerful mind, extended culture and undoubted ability. Mr. Murphy is a very shrewd, wary financier of unusual capacity. Senator Hitchcock has represented his state with a marked ability in the National Councils—so that, take them either in the aggregate or as individuals, my associates on the trip were men from whom I saw that I could learn much. Mr. Dows I found to be an extremely quaint, unassuming old gentleman, of perspicuous mental powers and one who under favorable circumstances would undoubtedly have developed into a caustic debater. I had with him a long conversation upon our common school system of education as at present conducted. He dwelt with much severity upon the fact that it has been allowed to diverge so radically from the principles contemplated in its establishment and that instead of giving to the children of all citizens the opportunity of acquiring a thorough comprehension of the rudiments—reading, writing and arithmetic, “ornamental” studies have been introduced to such an extent that the tuition received is reduced to a superficial varnish of diletanti-ism [sic]: he concurred heartily in the suggestion I advanced that the coming generation should be instructed in telegraphy and phonography, the channels of communication of the future. December 13th. Reached Chicago and remained several hours at Palmer House, General Crook in conference with General Sheridan.

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December 14th. Reached Washington, D.C. late at night and took quarters at Riggs’ House; went around to Nickerson’s house on Rhode Island Avenue (1457.) Waked him up and had a talk of several hours’ duration and then returned to my hotel to bed. December 14th. Accompanied General Crook and Major Roberts in formal calls upon the Adjutant-General (Drum.) General of the Army (Sherman.) and Secretary of War (Ramsay.) The Secretary had not yet reached his office, but Chief Clerk Crosby received us with marked courtesy. General Crook then went with General Sherman to call upon President Hayes at the White House. He remained there all day, lunching with the President and Mrs. Hayes and afterwards went with the former to look at the Washington Monument. Later on in the evening, the President gave a state dinner to General U.S. Grant to which General Crook was invited. In the afternoon, we received calls from Generals [Alexander James] Perry, Hazen, [George David] Ruggles, Miles, Baxter (M.D.) and Colonel Mills. In the evening, I made a call upon Mrs. Fant, and her daughters and afterwards spent a couple of hours with General and Mrs. Ruggles. December 15th. General [Ranald S.] Mackenzie called upon General Crook and myself. General Mackenzie’s name has appeared with such frequency in my note-books, especially those bearing upon the campaign carried out against hostile Sioux and Cheyennes by General Crook, in 1876 & 1877 that an extended reference to him or his services at this place would be unnecessary repetition.....1 December 16th. I called upon the family of Atty. General G. H. Williams & upon Sister de Chantal (at the Visitation Convent on Connecticut Avenue.) In the evening, I went with General Crook to pay a visit to Hon. Robert C. Schenck, ex-minister to England and formerly a member of Congress from Ohio who had given Genl. Crook his appointment as a Cadet at the U.S. Mily. Academy, West Point in 1848. The old gentleman, somewhat enfeebled physically by paralysis and advancing years, was to all indications, unusually bright mentally and entertained us for nearly an hour with anecdotes and reminiscences. His three daughters were with him; not handsome in the ordinary sense of the word, but polished, witty and intellectual to an unusual degree. From Schenck’s we went to Attorney Genl. Wil1.╇ See Robinson, Diaries, Vols. 2 and 3.

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liams, remaining for over an hour, partaking of cake and champagne and chatting animatedly with our host and his wife and daughter. Mr. Allen called to show Genl. Crook a telegram received from Mr. [Thomas H.] Tibbles in reference to the Poncas. Major Roberts left on a visit to his family in Connecticut. General Ruggles called late in the evening, and took me to his house to drink a jorum of hot punch and talk over old times and old friends in Omaha. Nickerson made us move our traps up from the Riggs’ House to his residence. December 17th. 1880. With General Crook in Secretary of War’s Office—met Senators [Alvin] Saunders, (Nebraska) Logan, (Ills.) Dawes and [George Frisbie] Hoar, (Mass.) and the Reverend Edward Everett Hale, author of “the Man without a Country” and other works. All these wished to confer upon the question of the complaints of the Ponca Indians. We also met Mrs. Nelson whom General Crook took over to the White House to see the President and to intercede for clemency for her husband Colonel James H. Nelson, Paymaster, U.S. Army, just tried by a General Court Martial at Governor’s Island, N.Y. Harbor for embezzlement of Government funds. Drink and gambling and fast living have been his ruin. While Genl. Crook was thus absent, I slipped off to call upon General Baxter, (Medl. Dep’t. U.S. Army.) Secy. Schurz and Mr. Hanna. The Secretary’s Office was pretty full of people when I entered but Mr. Schurz upon receiving my card waved them to one side and commenced a very animated colloquy with me about our trip in the Yellowstone Park last summer. Evidently he wanted some excuse to evade the importunities of the office-seekers for such I took them to be. I remained with him a few minutes and making my excuses left his office, going for a hurried call upon my old friends Mrs. Stedman and Mrs. Lamberton, but they were not at home. Rejoining Genl. Crook, we went together to visit the ladies of General Sherman’s family, whom we did not find; greater success attended our call upon General David D. Hunter, one of the veterans of the Retired List,—he is almost 80 years old, is perfectly white-haired and must soon, in the course of Nature, join the “great majority”. He pointed to General Crook and remarked laughingly; [“]he used to be one of my boys; he commanded a division under me in the Valley of Virginia and if I had only taken his advice, we should have captured Lynchburgh”. Senator [Allen Granberry] Thurman, General Hazen,

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Genl. Miles and Lieuts. [Walter Scott] Wyatt and Macomb were next called upon, the first named being the only one at home. He has been one of the most influential Senators the Democrats have had since the War, and is certainly a man of great experience in public affairs, profound learning, and spotless integrity: his manners are extremely gentle and unassuming. General Crook, Nickerson and myself dined with our old friends, the Ruggles. General Ruggles was in his best vein and kept us all in a roar with his witticisms. Mrs. Ruggles is a wonderfully beautiful lady and as refined, gentle and intelligent as she is lovely. December 18th 1881.2 Had the extreme pleasure of an interview with the Revd. Edward Everett Hale, who has apparently given much attention to the study of North American ethnology. He asked my opinion of the statement that Sir Francis Drake had seen wild horses on the West Coast of America during his voyage in 1597.3 I answered without hesitation that while I had never seen such a statement in print,* I could account for it by supposing that the explorer had seen a drove of wild animals, or else that he was taking a traveller’s license in trifling with the credulity of his fellow country-men. So far as I had read, the horse was not indigenous to America, but had been introduced by the Spaniards; history asserted that and Indian traditions to which I had listened, corroborated the assertion. While the horse did exist on this continent contemporaneously with the elephant as was shown by fossil remains, he was a quinqueungulate animal and not a solidungulate, as at present.4 The Spaniards brought horses to America, just as the wreck of the Armada introduced them to the Shetland and Orkney Islands.5 Our conversation next drifted upon the subject of Coronado’s expedition and I showed Mr. Hale how, on that Expedition, buffalo had been met and described under the Spanish name of Vacas (cows.) and some of our plains Indians seen and referred to [by Coronado’s ╇ *In the margin, Bourke wrote: Mr. Hale afterwards sent me a book containing this statement and asked me to contradict it, which I did, Feby. 26th 1881. [See page 299] 2.╇ Bourke means 1880, and repeats this mistake before the end of the year. 3.╇ Bourke apparently transposed the numbers. Drake cruised the West Coast in 1579. 4. Meaning an ancestral horse with five toes, rather than the single-hoofed animal known today. 5.╇ In fact, the Shetland and Orkney ponies are indigenous to those islands, their ancestors having existed there at least since the Bronze Age, and later being crossed with Celtic ponies introduced from Britain, and Scandinavian ponies brought by Norse settlers. http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland_pony

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men] as the Cayaguayi (Kiowas.) Mr. Hale took my address, gave me a most cordial invitation to correspond with him and then took his departure. He impressed me as one of the brightest of gentlemen I had ever met and most unassuming withal.6 I called upon the Hon. G. V. Fox, formerly Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the administrations of Lincoln & Johnson. By the latter he was sent with the Miantonomoh, the first monitor to cross the Ocean, to Saint Petersburgh, to convey to the Czar of Russia the congratulations of the American people upon his escape from assassination. Through the earnest, faithful and intelligent efforts of Mr. Fox, I obtained my position as a cadet at large at the Mily. Acady. and have always borne him in grateful remembrance as a friend who showed himself to be such at an hour when there were not many to contest his claim to the sole title.7 I had a delightful half-hour with him and afterwards went with General Crook to call upon General McKenzie, Revd. E. E. Hale, and Senators [John Alexander] Logan, [Samuel Jordan] Kirkwood, [William B.] Allison, Hoar and others. Mrs. Logan was at home, a bright, lovely woman of immense ambition. Senator Kirkwood and wife also received us;—they are both intelligent, unaffected good natured people of the “old school”. Allison, I had previously met as one of the Commissioners appointed by the Government to treat with the Sioux Indians in 1875 for a relinquishment of the Black Hills of Dakota: he is a man with a great future before him. Senator Hoar has bestowed great attention upon the “Ponca question”, and has mastered it in all its knotty and intricate details in a thorough and comprehensive manner. Our day was rounded up by our dining—General Crook, Nickerson and myself with ex-attorney General Williams, wife and daughter. Their mansion is an elegant affair, finely furnished and kept in first class shape. The dinner was a success in the smallest details and spoke volumes for Mrs. Williams’ knowledge of household administration. Before retiring to rest, received an invitation from General Sherman to take a family dinner on Sunday, the 29th inst. 6.╇ Bourke discusses Coronado at length, and mentions correspondence with Hale on the subject, in Chapter 20. 7.╇ Fox endorsed Bourke’s application to West Point, writing that he was a “lad of great intelligence, who early enlisted in our army, and by good conduct at all times, and particularly for courage in numerous battles, he won the esteem and commendation of his superiors.” Endorsement to Application of John. G. Bourke, May 6, 1865, Bourke File, U.S. Military Academy Library.

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Autograph letter from General W.T. Sherman.

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Sunday December 19 1881. Early in the morning, Genl. MacKenzie called to see me. Attended mass at Saint Matthews’ and enjoyed some really good music. At half past one dined with the Sherman’s; there were present besides General Crook and myself General and Mrs. Sherman, Miss Lizzie, Miss Rachel & Master Tecumseh Sherman and Miss Ewing;—and at the last moment, General H. D. Wallen, of the retired list, came in and was pressed to remain: the young ladies of the Sherman family are intelligent, refined and gracious: I had made the acquaintance of the two just mentioned and of Miss Ella, (now Mrs. [A. M.] Thackaray.) In former years, in the West and felt very much at home with them. In fact, there is something about the social life of the Sherman family which puts an invited guest so much at his ease that he cannot help thinking that he has been on terms of intimacy with them for years. Miss Ewing, daughter of Congressman [Thomas] Ewing, is still in teens—a very pretty brunette,—a contrast to her cousin Miss Rachel who is a very pronounced blonde. General Sherman was in good spirits and full of talk: I say he was “in good spirits”; perhaps I should qualify that remark or substitute another for it. He was in good spirits so far as his meeting with his guests was to be considered—but there was an underlying irritation in his manner which betrayed the effect that recent changes in the Army had had upon his temper. I allude to the retirement of [Brig. Gen. E. O. C.] Ord to make a vacancy which has been filled by the promotion of Miles, Genl. Sherman’s own nephew. I am certain that Sherman worked hard to secure Miles’ advancement but he labored under the impression that Presdt. Hayes would retire Major Genl. [Irvin] McDowell, but he being rich and influential has been retained in place, while Ord his junior in rank and in years, but his superior in record and ability and in all that constitutes a soldier has been shelved.8 8.╇ The scramble for promotion was a classic, if slightly exaggerated, example of Army politics of the time. Miles was the logical candidate, because both Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell and Brig. Gen. E. O. C. Ord were nearing the retirement age of sixty-two. Additionally, Ord, who was at least nominally a Democrat, had overstepped by sending a congratulatory letter to Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock upon his receiving the Democratic presidential nomination. He also had offended Republican policymakers by advocating a more aggressive policy involving Mexico. The victory of Republican James A. Garfield substantially dimmed his chances of staying in the Army, as Ord himself realized. Miles, on the other hand, might have benefitted either way. Although a Republican, he had come under Hancock’s patronage during the Civil War, and they had remained close. The stumbling block was Sherman because, despite the relationship (which was marital), he disliked Miles and in any case was touchy on questions of nepotism. Sherman’s own view, as expressed to lame-duck President Hayes, was that McDowell should be retired, and Ord retained. Nevertheless, Hayes retired

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Then, too, the Whittaker Court-Martial Case, or Court of Inquiry case, which has been used by the Republicans for making a great racket about the injuries, and wrongs of the colored race, has resulted in the removal of Genl. Schofield from the Superintendancy [sic] of the Military Academy and the substitution in the place of that truly good and sanctimonious hypocrite Oliver O. Howard.9 Speaking of the latter, Genl. Sherman said very emphatically:—“Howard is honest and I think he’s brave, but he hasn’t a bit of common sense. He’s weak; he’s so vain that anybody can flatter him into doing anything he wants him to. Howard got himself into a mess with the Freedman’s Bureau; I told him “—you have made been made [sic] a fool of—Remember a man may make one mistake, but he mustn’t make two”. I told him the other day—“Howard! remember what I said to you years ago, Now you are going to be made a fool of by the preachers and the humanitarians. You are going to be hurt. When they get through with you, they’ll throw you overboard. Don’t come to me for help. We sent you to the Columbia to get you out of Washington and save you from your Freedmen’s Bureau troubles, but we can’t do that any more: you’ll have to face the music this time”. Yes, gentlemen, I am very much afraid that we have seen the last of our Military Academy: Howard will ruin it in less than five years. Howard, I think, is as honest as that baby (pointing to his grand-daughter who had just come into the room.) as honest as that baby, but he’s such a fool, he’s such a fool”.10 Ord on December 6, 1880. Miles then was appointed to the vacancy as a peace offering to Hancock and the Democrats. McDowell, who expressed no particular political convictions, was left in place as commander of the Military Division of the Pacific. Ord had been a popular commander of the Department of Texas, and Congress approved a bill sponsored by Sen. S. B. Maxey of Texas, and supported by General Sherman, that allowed him to retire with rank and pay of a major general. See Cresap, Appomattox Commander, 330–32; Wooster, Nelson A. Miles, 129–30; Sherman to S. B. Maxey, December 21, 1880, Ord Family Papers. 9.╇ Johnson Whittaker had become West Point’s only black cadet following the graduation of Henry Flipper in 1878. He later contended he had received a threatening note, and on the night of April 5–6, 1880, he was bound, beaten, and slashed. After a court of inquiry decided the note was fabricated and the wounds self-inflicted, he demanded a court-martial which convicted him. President Chester A. Arthur set aside the conviction in 1882, but Whittaker, meanwhile, had been dismissed for failing his examinations. Schofield, who had been superintendent of the academy at the time of the incident, complained in his annual report that the average black’s background did not qualify him for West Point, regardless of whatever academic skills he might possess. See Marszalek, Court-Martial for an overview of the affair; and Foner, Blacks and the Military, 65, for reference to Schofield. 10.╇ Howard was honest, but a poor administrator who placed too much faith in subordinates. Despite repeated evidence of corruption, he refused to take any action. A court of inquiry in 1874 exonerated him of personal misconduct, but he remained under a cloud. Bourke no doubt reflected the view of Crook, who considered Howard pompous, self-righteous, and incompetent. Warner, Generals in Blue, 268; Robinson, General Crook, 119.

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Shortly afterwards, Sherman spoke of Genl. Ord—said they were class-mates at West Point, at which place, Ord was distinguished for his great laziness, his wonderful mathematical ability and his inattention to dress. “Ord is extremely poor and altho’ he belongs here in Washington, he hasn’t the money to carry himself and family away from Texas.11 I am very, very sorry that we couldn’t retire him as a Major-General.* As dessert was brought in, the General gave us a very laughable description of the dementia of Colonel [John] McNutt of the Ordnance Corps, now retired. McNutt had been distinguished as a man of great learning and intense application to study; as age came upon him, his brain gave way in one odd feature that he forgot his own identity and imagined that he was two people. He would walk, of a hot day, to some prominent hotel restaurant, take a table by a window and order a bottle of wine or seltzer water, with two glasses. Then he would commence in a very polite and gentle way, “I’m very glad to have met you, Colonel McNutt”—“The same to you, Sir”—“Colonel, let me drink to your health”. [“]Certainly Sir”. having said which he would lift one glass, tip it against the other, drain it very solemnly and then swallow the contents of the second one. December 20th. President Hayes instructions to the gentlemen, composing the Ponca Commission are here inserted, copied for convenience from to-day’s New York Herald. EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 18, 1880, I request the following gentlemen to proceed to the Indian Territory as soon as may be, and, after conference with the Ponca tribe of Indians to ascertain the facts in regard to their recent removal and present condition, so far as is necessary to determine the question [of] what justice and humanity require should be done by the government of the United States, and report their conclusions and recommendations in the premises:—Brigadier General George Crook, U.S.A.;

* Bourke’s marginal note: Ord was shortly afterwards retired, by Special Act of Congress, as a Major General.

11.╇ Ord was commander of the Department of Texas in San Antonio at the time.

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Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles, U.S.A.; William Stickney, Washington, D.C., and Walter Allen, Newton, Mass. It is the purpose of the foregoing request to authorize the commission to take whatever steps may in their judgment be necessary to enable them to accomplish the purpose set forth. General Crook is authorized to take with him two aidesde-camp to do clerical work. R. B. HAYES. Met Mr. John F. Finerty, the Washington correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, an old campaign friend, who has served a great deal against the Indians on the North West frontier. I have made such frequent mention of Finerty in my note-books that there is scarcely a volume of them in which his name does not occur.12 We had a long and interesting chat about old times, and acquaintances and future hopes and prospects. Finerty had distinguished himself greatly for cool courage in the action on the Rosebud, Montana, June 17th 1876, and by an odd coincidence, soon after parting from him to day, I received in my mail a letter from E. A. Snow, a gallant young bugler-boy, formerly of Co. “M” 3d Cavy. who had been near me in that very engagement and had been shockingly wounded in both arms.13 His note simply informed me that he had named his young son—John G. Bourke Snow—for which honor I feel extremely proud, as Snow is one of the bravest men I’ve ever known. All afternoon, I’ve been with Genl. Crook, assisting him in returning the innumerable calls made upon him by friends and acquaintances who have learned of his presence in the city. Washington life in “the season” impresses me as being extremely formal, but it has a delightful side to it, nevertheless. There are countless lovely and refined ladies to be met and altho’ the gentlemen with whom one comes in contact are above the average in mental cultivation and in the knowledge of the manner of polite society, yet there are not enough of them to escort the “swarms” of the fair sex flocking to the National Capital every winter. But not alone in its social features, is Washington noticeable; in its general plan & architecture, it is by far the most lovely of American cities and it offers to the visitor eager to learn much that is worthy 12.╇ In addition to the previously mentioned Vols. 1 and 2 of this series, see also Vol. 3. 13.╇ Snow was shot through both arms above the wrists and was retired on disability. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:326–27.

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of attention and study. The sessions of Congress and the Supreme Court, the Congressional Library, the Washington monument, the Corcoran Art Gallery, the Smithsonian Institute, the Army Medical Museum, the Signal Bureau, the Coast Survey and several other items present themselves for serious consideration and if no bad fortune interpose, I hope to be able to see them all. After dark, I was invited to drop in at Genl. Ruggles to take part in a birth-day party given by his little six-year-old daughter, Alma. The young lady was very gracious, saw to our wants in a style that was decidedly matronly and then favored us with a selection of her best songs, evincing a wonderful knowledge of music, inherited from her bright, and beautiful mother. From Ruggles’ to Williams’ where, as usual, I had a delightful call, and thence to call upon Genl. [Alexander McD.] McCook, who conversed with me for a long time about early days in Arizona and New Mexico, and showed me his collection of Indian blankets—Navajos, Zuñi, Saltillo, & Pueblo—the finest of the sort I’ve ever looked upon. Mrs. McCook, a very lovely woman, her young daughter, and her mother were present and joined with much interest in the conversation. Heavy snow all afternoon. December 21st. Snowing heavily. Called upon the Ruggles, Fants, and the family of Secretary of the Navy [Richard W.] Thompson, leaving at latter house a letter of introduction from Capt. [Jesse Matlock] Lee, 9th Infantry. Did not get to see the Secretary who has just resigned from the Cabinet to assume control of the Panama Canal Company and is now turning over to his successor in office.14 December 22nd. General Crook and myself put in a very hard afternoon’s work, returning calls;—we had to plod through snow lying 12 @ 14 inches deep on a level, something scarcely ever before heard of in Washington. We started with a carriage, but found it impossible to make rapid progress. The street cars slowly forced their way, so we concluded we could get through with our work with greater rapidity by following the paths broken through the snow by eager pedestrians or by colored servants. One of the ladies whom Genl. Crook had the pleasure of meeting for the first time 14.╇ Construction on a sea level canal across the Isthmus of Panama had begun on January 1, 1880, by a French consortium headed by Ferdinand de Lesseps, who earlier had successfully constructed the Suez Canal. Actual heavy work ran from 1881 to 1889, by which time disease had killed an estimated 22,000 workers. That, together with the hydrology and geology of Panama, defeated this initial effort. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal

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was Mrs. G. M. Johnson to whom I have already alluded. She was married when only sixteen to Lt. Riley, of the U.S. Navy, who was ordered off to sea two months after the wedding. The ship went down, not a soul returning to tell when or who or where it had been destroyed. A posthumous child was brought into the world upon its unfortunate father’s birthday. This boy grew to be a magnificent looking fellow—was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry, and was killed with Custer in the fight on the Little Big Horn, Montana, June 25th 1880 [sic].15 A ring worn by this boy fell into the hands of the savages from whom it was recovered upon their surrender to Genl. Crook at the Red Cloud Agency, Nebraska, in May 1877. It was to thank Genl. Crook for his intervention in this matter that Mrs. Johnson had asked me to bring him to see her; truly it seems that this world isn’t so large after all. I never thought when that griffin seal ring was first brought in by the Indians that Genl. Crook and I should be thrown in contact with the mother of the gallant young soldier who had worn it. After tea, I called with Nickerson upon the family of General [Samuel Augustus?] Duncan whose wife is the sister of Genl. Thomas Wilson, Chief Commissary of Subsistence of the Department of the Platte. The Duncans, as the Wilsons, are extremely pleasant refined and cultivated people. Later, I called upon the families of General Sherman and Secretary Schurz. The Secretary and his daughter have a deservedly high reputation as linguists, speaking and writing English, French and German with equal ease & elegance. At Schurz’s, we found Miss Lena Johnson, the bright and pretty young daughter of the lady upon whom we had called in the afternoon. Returning to the Riggs’ House, met Judge Woolworth and Frank Murphy of Omaha and Lt. C.A. Earnest of the 8th Infantry. I may say here that the Ponca Commission held a sort of informal meeting in the Patent Office this morning, at which were present General Crook, Mr. Stickney and Mr. Allen, Capt. Roberts and Lt. Bourke, A.D.C. (General Miles absent in New York city.) The letter of instructions from the President was read and the Commission determined before taking further action to await the arrival of a 15.╇ Bourke erroneously uses the current year. The Little Bighorn fight was in 1876.

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delegation of Ponca chiefs now en route from the Indian Ty. and also to give Genl. Miles an opportunity to join. Reverend Mr. Hale sent me a package of documents touching upon points in North-American ethnology.* *Bourke’s marginal note: Col. Nickerson and myself took tea with my old friends, Mrs. Lamberton, wife of Commander Lamberton, U.S. Navy, and her mother, Mrs. Stedman. We talked a great deal about our former acquaintance at the Mily. Academy in 1869—and in every way had a delightful evening with two noble ladies.

Chapter 9 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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ecember 24th 1880. Christmas Eve. The Ponca Commission met in Patent Office, in apartments of the Chief Clerk of the Indian Bureau. There were present. Brigadier General George Crook, U.S.A. Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles, U.S.A. Mr. William Stickney, Washington, D.C. Mr. Walter Allen, Newton, Mass. Capt. C. S. Roberts, 17th Infantry, A.D.C. and 1Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3rd Cavalry, A.D.C.,—to act as Secretaries of the Commission also the Honorable Secretary Carl Schurz, Mr. Haworth, Inspector of Indian Affairs. Agent Whiting, of the Ponca Indians. Mr. Smiley. Mr. Lockwood Chief Clerk of the Indian Bureau. Mr. Ryan acted as stenographer. Reverend J. Owens Dorsey, Interpreter. and the following Ponca chiefs and head men. White Eagle, Standing Buffalo, Black Crow, White Swan, The Chief, Hairy Bear, Big Soldier, Red Leaf, Child Chief, Buffalo Chief 172

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Antoine Leroy and Joseph Esau, half-breed interpreters. Secretary Schurz. When I talked with them day before yesterday about the sum of money, provided in the Bill laid before Congress two years ago, I made a mistake. I thought then that the valuation of the lands they now occupy, in money, had been much higher than it is, and that it would cost more to buy them. I thought then that it would take about $80.000 to buy them, but I find it will not take quite $50.000; about $40.000 and some hundreds. Bourke’s insertion (I have concluded it would not be necessary to copy down in extenso Secretary Schurz’s remarks to the chiefs for the reason that their purport will appear again in the transactions of the Commission itself and that “boiled down,[”] they amount to about this. The Poncas who had been transferred to the Indian Ty. and who had not joined Standing Bear’s party in their flight back to Dakota, sent a letter to Secretary Schurz asking permission to come to Washington and arrange about selling their old Reservation. A copy of this letter will be found further on page [190–92]. Having reached Washington, they agreed with the Honorable Secretary to take for their old lands, a new reservation in the Indian Territory, about 105.000 A[cres]., and to have laid before Congress a Bill, making an appropriation of $1450.000 for their use and benefit. Of this Sum about $50.000 was to be paid for the land they now hold in the Indian Ty., and the remainder was to be employed as follows. $8.000 of the Sioux claim included. $10.000 to be paid in cash to individuals share and share alike, $10.000 in cattle to heads of families and remaining $71.000 deposited in U.S. Treasury @ 5 p[er].c[ent].—the accruing interest to be divided among the individuals of the tribe yearly, share and share alike. The above to be in full, of all indemnities for outrages committed upon the Poncas by the Sioux, & of all claims for damages occasioned by their removal from Dakota Territory but not to include claims for annuities due under former treaties and still unpaid.[)] At 11.30 a.m., a recess was taken until 2.30 P.M. Meantime, at high noon, the Ponca Commission, per sê, held a meeting to deliberate upon what to say to the Ponca chiefs this afternoon and also agreed to assemble at the Coates House, Kansas City, Mo., on Monday, Jany. 3rd 1881. At 2 P.M., the Commission reassembled in the same place as in the morning, with the same persons, whites and Indians, present

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as were named in the proceedings written on page [172]. General Crook (to Revd. Mr. Dorsey.) Tell the Indians that some complaints having come from the Poncas, the President has appointed a Commission to inquire into the whole matter for his own information and I now wish you would read and interpret to them the letter authorizing the Commission to act. (General Crook hereupon presented the letter which Mr. Dorsey interpreted and explained, at same time pointing out the members of the Commission.) The Indians. How! How! How! General Crook. As nothing can be done towards settling their affairs until our Report is made, we wish to do it as quickly as possible. We don’t want to ask them many questions here, but we do want to examine them in Indian Territory, as soon as they can get there. I understood them to say the other day that they were forced to leave their lands: will they state who forced them to leave? White Eagle. (First shaking hands.) My friend. As you have asked me the question, I will tell you. It is as I told the Great Father, When I lived up there, the Dakotas made attacks upon me, killed some of my people and stole some of my ponies and I was thinking that I could get pay for that. A white man came there suddenly about Christmas to see us: we didn’t get any news he was coming. He came suddenly. He called us all to the Church and then there told us the purpose of his coming. This is the 5th winter since that time. “The Great Father at Washington says you are to move, said he, and for that reason, I’ve come. These Dakotas are causing you to suffer and for that reason they’ll put you out of patience very soon”. “My friend, you have caused us to hear this thing very suddenly,[”] I said. [“]When the Great Father has any plan on foot, he generally sends word to all the people, but you have come very suddenly”. “No, the Great Father says you have to go”, said he. “My friend, I want you to send a letter to the Great Father, and if he really says this, I desire him to send for us.” I said. “If it be so and I hear of it the right way, I’ll say his words are straight, the Great Father cannot be surpassed”. “I’ll send a letter to him”, said he; he struck the wire—he sent the message by telegraph,—and I reached the Great Father very soon. “Your Great Father says you are to come with ten of your chiefs”, said he, “you are to go and see the land and after passing through a part, you are to come to Washington”.

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We consented to that proposition and went. “You are to look at the Warm Land (Indian Territory) and if you see any land that is good there, you are to tell him about it,[”] said he, [“]and also about any bad land there—Tell him about both”—and so we went, there to the Warm Land. We went to the terminus of the Rail Road and passed through the land of the Osages and onto a land full of rocks; and, next morning, we came to the land of the Kaws—and leaving the Kansas Reservation, we came to Arkansas City. And so, having visited the lands of two or three Indian tribes, and seen this land full of rocks, and how low the trees were, I came to this town of the whites. We were sick twice and we saw how the people of that land were and we saw those stones and rocks and we thought these two tribes were not able to do much for themselves. And he said to us, the next morning: “we’ll go to the Shicaska river and see that”; and I said, “my friend, I’ve seen these lands and I’ve been sick on the journey. From this on, I’ll stop on this journey, seeing these lands and I will go and see the Great Father. Run to the Great Father. Take me with you to see the Great Father. These two tribes are poor and sick and their lands are poor, therefore, I’ve seen enough of them”. “No,[”] said he, [“]come go see the other lands in the Indian Territory”. “My friend,[”] said I, [“]take me, I beg, to see the Great Father. You said formerly we could tell him whatever we saw, good or bad, and I wish to tell him”. “No,[”] said he, [“]I don’t wish to take you to see him, if you take part of this land, [”] said he, “I’ll take you, if not. [”] “If you will not take me to the Great Father, take me home to my own country”. [“]No, [”] said he, [“]notwithstanding what you say, I’ll not take you to the Great Father. He did not say I should take you back to your own country”. “How in the world am I to act [”], said I: [“]you are unwilling to take me to the Great Father & you don’t want to take me back to my own country. You said formerly that the Great Father had called me; but now it is not so: you have not spoken the truth.— you have not spoken the straight word.” “No, [”] said he, [“]I’ll not take you to your house. Walk there if you want to”. “It makes my heart feel sad, [”] said I, [“]as I do not know this land”. We thought we should die and I felt that I should cry, but I remembered that I was a man. After saying this the white man being in a bad humor, went upstairs. After he had gone upstairs, our chiefs sat considering what to do. We said, “he does not speak of taking us to the Great

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Father, or of taking us to our own country”. [“]We don’t think the Great Father could have caused this”. We had one interpreter there with us and we said “as he will not take us back, we want him to give us a piece of paper to show the whites as we don’t know the land”.1 The Interpreter went upstairs to see the man and came back and said he: “he will not give you the paper; he does not wish to make it for you”. We went the Interpreter back again and said: “we want some money from that due from the Great Father, so we can make our way home”. When he came back, he said—“he does not wish to give you the money;[”] he said—“the Interpreter and the three others, halfbreeds—four in all—must stay—and the rest of you can go, on foot”. We sat talking with each other and said, “altho’ the Great Father has not caused this, yet if we stay here what man will give us food? Let us go towards our own homes”. He said to those who were part white and who could act as interpreters: “you must not go to your homes”. Two of these half-breeds,—Michel [Le Clair] and the Lone Chief—remained; another, Big Elk, said to the full bloods: “wherever you go, I’ll go and die”. We said, “he has behaved shamefully towards us and now at night let us go”—and so we went towards our home. This man, Standing Buffalo, said “beware! lest they say of us ‘These men have stolen off’. We did not know the land. We were without food. We were without moccasins. And we said, “Why should we die? What have we done?” We thought we should die. Passing on, I was sick on the way—very sick. At last we came to the land of the Otoes and lived on corn. For ten days, we staid with the Otoes and they gave us food. Passing on our homeward way, we reached the Omahas, and from that place we soon reached our home. When we got home, we found that he had anticipated us and was there in advance. When we reached home, we found that he had ordered the Poncas who were there, to get ready to move. Having called us, we went there to him: “move yes, [”] said he, [“] prepare to remove”. We were unwilling. Said I: “I’ve come back very weary. Every one of us is unwilling to move. This removal is difficult; much money will be lost,—fall to the ground, Stop your speaking, that is enough”, said I. “No, [”] said he. [“]The Great Father wants you to move at once and you must remove to the Indian Territory”. 1.╇ I.e., a pass.

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“If you wish to speak saucy to us and scold us, scold us”, said I. Some soldiers came there. “Only this day will I speak about it,[”] said he, [“]I will leave this matter in the hands of the leader of the soldiers,[”] said he, [“]surrender my charge to him”. I said “There are white people travelling around and some of them may come here and look at my body and say “why did they kill him?” And they will say “because he would not go”—“and I wish the Great Father to know it. I want no trouble with the soldiers. If the soldiers should shoot at me, I’d not take revenge, I’d not shoot back”. “My friend, stop saying that. I do not want it that way”, said he. They separated the half-breeds from the pure bloods and talked separately to them and suddenly they were carried away. The white man came with the rations and provisions intended for us, but we would not take and eat of them. They had taken away some of our people in advance and we sat without eating. We commenced plowing our land, thinking the affair was ended: so we commenced to dig up the land. I wanted to see some of the leading men of the whites, but I could not see any of them. On the other side of the Niobrara river, at the town of Niobrara, was a white man—one who was a lawyer. I went to see him. “Alas! my friend I want to find out, I want you to send a message to the Great Father, but I haven’t any money. If you will send to him quickly, I’ll give you this horse”. He sent the message, but none came back altho’ I’d given him the pony. Then I said to this lawyer, “my friend! I want you to go to the Great Father”. [“]I have no money,[”] said he, “My friend, I have thirty-two horses; I’ll give them to you”. “Well, bring them to me”, said the white man. Driving the horses before me, I took them to the white man. He sold the ponies and went to the Great Father and returned. This white man sent a letter to me; he said in the letter, “I’ve been to see the Great Father”. He sent the first letter, before he returned and he was on his way home when he sent a second letter saying—“my friend, I am sick and on my way home”. It came to pass: a person came there. A white man came back with a half-breed interpreter, back from the party of Poncas first removed: not the first white man, but another. He called us to come across the Niobrara river. It was a place not quite at the town of Niobrara, but a little North West of it, between the bank of the river and the town. He spoke gently and softly to us. “My friends, I’ve come back to you that we may go; that we may remove”. At that time we were very tired. Before we

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returned home, a young Ponca came to us and said—“The soldiers have come to the lodges”—We had not seen them. Buffalo and myself said to the young men:—“come to a decision; if you say we are to remove, we are to remove”. The Ponca women were afraid of the soldiers. The soldiers came to the borders of the village and forced us across the Niobrara to the other side, just as one would drive a herd of ponies and I said: “if I have to go, I’ll go to that land; let the soldiers go away. Our women are afraid of them”. And so I reached the Warm Land and so I’ve been there up to this time. And this is the end”. General Crook. Ask him if he was satisfied after he got down there? White Eagle. We found the land there was bad, and we were dying one after another and we said: “what man will take pity on us?[”] And our animals died. Oh! it was very hot. [“]This land is truly said [sic] and we’ll be apt to die here and we hope the Great Father will take us back again”.—That is what we said. There were one hundred of us died and then we who are here come to see the Great Father. In the winter we came here, (in September 1877). “My friend,[”] said we to the Great Father, [“]you have brought us up well, but you have treated us very meanly, and we wish you to send us back to our own land”. The three Great Fathers2 sat listening to this, (one of them is not here now.)3 “No—that is very difficult, you have come from a great distance”. “Not so, Great Father, it is very difficult for us. I did not cause this myself to dwell at so great a distance. Some of us have died already. We are walking Indians,[”] I said, [“]and walk to our homes. The land being very small where we are now, when we put out our horses, somebody comes and steals them away from us. I am speaking of troubles, but down here where I am living, it seems as if I had leaped into difficulties”. He said: “search around for other lands. Those all belong to the Indians there in Indian Territory”. He gave me a paper, authorizing me to search for other lands. There were three lands mentioned in the paper. I did not go. These men went. They came back, saying, “These lands are very good”. They 2.╇ I.e., the president, secretary of Interior, and commissioner of Indian Affairs. 3.╇ President Hayes.

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all came back saying—“we have found good lands, and will remove there”—but the Great Father didn’t send us there so we sat waiting. There was an Agent with us and he didn’t want us to go. He wished to keep us in the land of the Quapaws. “This land is very bad”, we said—“the Great Father has told us to hunt for land and we’ll go and not listen to anything the Agent may say”. About ten lodges remained, waiting for instructions to move:—the rest moved on and those who went to the new land, being without provisions nearly starved to death. The agent had the provisions with him, but gave them to those who remained with him. And we said: “we’ll send a message to the Great Father by telegraph; we’ll abandon this old agent & get a new one”. I arrived there; the land was very good, but in the summer, we were sick again. After the 4th July, we were as grass that is trodden down;—we and our stock. Then came the cold weather and how many died we did not know. Next year, there was not quite so much sickness. We have made a turn in our course; turned over a new leaf and we think now that God has pity on us and that we’ll have better times. A bad agent and sickness, and the wind blowing all these bad things upon us were very hard to bear, but we have now a good agent and are doing better. The Agent having spoken gently to me and having spoken to me about working, I wished to remain where we are and so I wrote the letter. For five winters, I’ve been looking for some one to help me and now the sickness is going away—and now we think we will dwell in the land, we are. I said to my Agent, write this business for me; the land we had, I’ll sell and I will dwell in this land. We wish you to write and say we desire a firm paper for our land—(a good title.) Secretary Schurz. Ask them what are their relations the Indians around them? White Eagle. All those nations are good: we consider them all our friends. General Crook. Ask them whether any threats or promises were made to induce them to change their minds. White Eagle. Nobody caused it. We who are Poncas, coming to a decision for ourselves, wish to work for ourselves. We haven’t done much work heretofore and now we wish to work and so we’ve come here to settle that question, so we can go to work there. We hoped that the Great Father would give us a school into which

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we could put our children and so we could end this matter about our lands. I made my affairs straight for myself and I told the agent to write and somebody came from the Great Father to see about it. General Crook. Ask if all the Poncas have agreed to this; are they all satisfied? White Eagle. I think that all the Poncas are willing. General Crook. Tell him that is all I have to ask him now. Mr. Stickney. How many children have you of school age? White Eagle. A great many. It is difficult to give you the exact number: we here have two or three apiece, able to talk. General Crook. Tell him we’ll ask them all those questions when we see them at their own homes. Mr. Allen. Ask him if he thinks they could have a better title to their lands than they had to their lands in Dakota. White Eagle. We think the paper you’ll give us to this land will give us a better title than we have had. Secretary Schurz. Ask him if he don’t think it would be better to have lands in severalty, so that white men may say this is my farm and over there is Standing Buffalo’s farm:—just as white men do with their own farms? White Eagle. Yes. Secretary Schurz. We have submitted a Bill to Congress to enable us to give them such a title;—each to his own farm—so that each one of them may have a title to his farm as a white man has to his farm—That is what you desire? General Miles. I would suggest that they be informed that the Bill has not become a law. Mr. Allen. Do they understand that the President wishes this Commission to investigate the condition of all the Poncas, those in Dakota Territory and those in Indian Territory, and to report to him and that he will do nothing until the Commission comes back? White Eagle. We know it all. Secretary Schurz. I drew up that paper:—one copy if they will sign it, to be kept here and given to the President; the other copy to be given to them and taken back to their people to show to them. Do they want it read again? The Ponca Commission here started to leave the room, first bidding adieu to Secretary Schurz and the other gentlemen present.

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This being Christmas Eve, all Washington has been out of doors I have been grievously disappointed that our work with the Indians has kept me so busy and so secluded that it has not been possible to promenade along Pennsylvanian Avenue, with its stream of population—brilliantly dressed ladies, elegant equipages—handsome gentlemen.—toy and confectionery stores jammed with eager, struggling purchasers.—but this has been denied me, greatly to my regret. At 6 P.M., General Crook, Major Roberts, A.D.C. and I dined with President and Mrs. Hayes at the Executive Mansion; there were present on this occasion:

Mrs. Hayes led in, leaning on the arm of General Crook, there came his Excellency leading Mrs. Woodworth, then Major Roberts, A.D.C. with Miss Cooke, Webb Hayes and myself, and lastly Mr. Andrews with Master Scott Hayes. The table was tastefully adorned with flowers from the White House Conservatory, the centre-piece being a dazzling combination of calla lilies, bigonias [sic], roses and other fine flowers in the shape of a huge basket. Mrs. Hayes told us that this was one of the most beautiful baskets she had ever seen in the White House and gave as a reason that she had granted permission to the gardener to take it home to his family after it had done service at dinner; consequently, the florist had taxed the resources of the conservatory to the utmost to produce something especially beautiful for the gladdening of the hearts of his own little ones. The service, as might be expected, was all that could be desired and the meal elegant, but unpretentious. At first, the conversation lagged and was confined to President and Mrs. Hayes and General Crook. For my part, I did not feel like opening up a conversation with his Excellency until he should first address me, but this he soon did, in reference to his recent trip across the country and especially through

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Arizona Territory, with which he soon discovered that I was perfectly familiar. He mentioned having met numbers of people I formerly had the pleasure of knowing in Tucson;—Lord and Williams, Foyle, Levin and others and spoke of them all in terms of kindly good feeling. The ice once broken, we all talked very freely. Mrs. Hayes noticing that I greatly admired the flowers on the table, said: “Mr. Bourke, when you get back from Indian Territory you must come up and I’ll take you in and have you meet our gardener and when he sees you love flowers, he’ll make you a present of his best bouquet”. Miss Fanny Hayes here entered having been absent at a Xmas eve entertainment. She is a pretty, intelligent and sweet young girl of 13. She took great delight in showing us her Xmas presents and in distributing the candy brought back from the “party”. President Hayes told a good story on his wife which she bore with commendable patience. He said to her one day: “my dear, I don’t think it right to say to any of our friends that he resembles some other person—either of the parties is sure to be offended”. “Not so, my dear,[”] replied Mrs. Hayes—[“]not so, at all. I have often been compared to Mrs. Andrews, and I’m sure I never get angry about it”—“Ah, my love, that may be so,[”] said his Excellency, [“]but consider how bad poor Mrs. Andrews must feel about it”. The only beverage on the table was Apollinaris water;—the absence of wine didn’t cause me any inconvenience, but I must say that I was sorry to think Mrs. Hayes’ views had induced her to proscribe its use at the White House, more especially on occasions of state where she had to entertain distinguished foreigners who have been accustomed to its use from boyhood. The quantities of fruits, flowers and confectionary were something unusual, all obtainable varieties being represented. After coffee, Mrs. Hayes took us all over the house—I fell to the lot of Webb Hayes—a really good fellow—who has been out with us a number of times on our Western trips. I was shown through all the bed-rooms, the cabinet room, where the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Parlors, Reception rooms, Library, (a fine apartment,) and had pointed out the portraits of the different Presidents, several of those by Healey in his younger days being of remarkable merit.4 Mrs. [John] Tyler’s full length portrait adorned the wall of the 2nd story landing. The Carpets of the White House, 4.╇ George Peter Alexander Healy (1808–94) painted many notable people of the era, including King Louis Philippe of France, and every president from John Quincy Adams to U.S. Grant.

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on the lower floor especially, are worn threadbare and are in a disgraceful condition, while much of the furniture is cheap, and some of it rickety and broken. In the general receptions held here during “the season”, not only do large throngs of people move through the building, but Mrs. Hayes assured me, acts of Vandalism are perpetuated, in the cutting away of pieces of tapestry and upholstery to be kept as souvenirs, which speedily make new curtains and furniture look extremely shabby. We were next led all through the Conservatory, noticeable for its fine growth of palms and ferns, well lit up by an abundant supply of gas. Then Mr. Andrews, who is an artist of high repute, took me to look at some of his paintings, all of great artistic value. The one which pleased me most was a full length standing portrait of Martha Washington, almost life size, showing well the facial expression, pose and drapery. Not far from it was one of Washington himself done by a Spanish American artist from a photograph and presented to President Hayes for the Executive Mansion. Having finished our tour of inspection, we entered one of the small parlors, where we chatted with the ladies and listened to Mrs. Woodworth’s music and singing in which Mrs. Hayes and others of the party joined: only simple ballads were essayed,—“Coming through the Rye” &c.—but just the songs one loves to hear of a pleasant evening, seated by a crackling fire-side. While this was going on, Vice President [William A.] Wheeler came in and joined in the conversation; he impressed me as a very amiable man, but not of great depth. President Hayes in some respect, I did not like. His manners are courtly, his appearance and dress both good and he does all he can to make himself pleasant to his visitors. I cannot, in any manner, apply the word “great” to him; his information, no doubt, is extensive and his countenance stamps him as a gentleman of education and refinement. But, with all that, there is something about it which occasions the idea that he would be the last man in the world to advocate the unpopular side of a question or sacrifice his future upon a matter of principles. Few men would, I am afraid, but it is of these few and these only that our Presidents should be. Mrs. Hayes is a lady, gracing her position with dignity and sweetness: Webb Hayes is an excellent young man of rare good sense, not at all puffed up by his father’s eminence and possessed of the qualities which make and retain friends.

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At 9.30, we took our departure and finding Nickerson’s coupé at the door, drove to the Metropolitan Club to find him, but without success. Then to ex-Attorney General Williams’, with similar bad fortune and lastly to General Ruggles’ where we had the good luck to find the General and his wife and niece, and after a brief conversation, we said farewell and started for home and bed. I wish to tell something that when I heard it struck me as being highly absurd. The Library room of the White House was Jefferson’s favorite apartment for study and rest. Through it runs the Standard Meridian, from which Jefferson wished that all geodesic measurements in our country should be computed. My impression is that this meridian cuts through the Washington Monument, tho’ that don’t make much difference now as the United States Government’s computations of longitude are all based upon the Greenwich time: but there is in this Library a model of the monument which suggested to the President the following story. The engineers in charge of its construction feared that the foundation was not sufficiently broad, to remedy which defect Captain [George Whitefield] Davis 14th Infantry proposed that the grounds about the foundation should be excavated in sections 30 ft. in depth by two in width, into which a filling of gravel and beton should be poured. The plan was adopted with complete success, but to ascertain whether or not the superstructure had settled a delicate pendulum was suspended from the top of the building by a fine wire and its actual oscillation, due to any vibration of the masonry was to be registered by its bob, (which had been secured with molasses,) upon a sheet of letter paper spread underneath. The Engineer officers left the monument at dusk and returned early the next morning; to their great dismay, they discovered that the monument must have been shaken tremendously by the tremendous gale that had [illegible] during the night; at least, the paper was covered in all directions with fine lines traced by the molasses-covered point of the bob. While they were still wondering, one of the workmen heard a fluttering overhead and in a few minutes had captured an owl; this explained the mystery. The owl’s wings were saturated with molasses and undoubtedly the bird had flown into the shaft during the storm and stumbling against the wire of the pendulum had enjoyed itself for an hour or more in rocking to and fro.

Chapter 10 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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hristmas 1880. I have been much disappointed in not being able to pay a brief visit to mother and sister, a pleasure which our present official trip to the Indian Territory will cause me to defer until the middle of next month. Left Washington at 8 a.m., the snow-fringed branches of the trees looking like exquisite patterns of thread lace, as we drove through the streets to the Dépôt. At Altoona, Pennia, broke part of the running gear of our Pullman and had to change to a chair car to Pittsburgh. The yard-master, an underling of overbearing demeanor, made himself very offensive to the occupants of our car. Major Roberts “tackled” him and the situation became ludicrous, but the “bully” had to “take water”. December 26th. Snowing heavily in Indiana and Illinois; left Chicago in the fine hotel car of the Chicago and North-Western Railway, reached Omaha, Neb., on morning of December 27th, (a very cold day,) and at once drove out to Hd.Qrs. In the mail accumulated during my absence, I found a letter from E. A. Snow, formerly a trumpeter in Captain Mills’ company, 3rd Cavalry. In my note-books of the campaign against the Sioux and Cheyennes, in an account of the engagement on the Rosebud, Montana Ty., June 17th 1876, will be found a short reference to a

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perilous predicament in which Snow and myself were caught and from which we were extricated by a wonderful piece of good luck. We were surrounded by a band of Cheyenne warriors from whom we escaped by a hair’s breadth, I unhurt, but poor Snow fearfully wounded in both arms.1 His letter, which gratified me immensely, announced that his wife had named her youngest boy, (born last Fall,) John G. Bourke Snow, after myself, a compliment with which I am delighted, coming as it does from so gallant a soldier.2 I also received a letter from Mike Burns, the Apache Indian boy, of whom I have said so much in preceding pages. Mike is at present a pupil in the Indian Training School, at Carlisle, Pennia., and since his letter indicates not alone his progress but also the type of his mind, I insert it entire, on this page.3 January 1st 1881. In company with my friend, Lt. M. C. Foote, Reg[imenta]l. Adjutant, 9th Infantry, paid a number of New Year’s Calls in Omaha. All or nearly all were very pleasant, but those at Richardson’s, Thrall’s, Ramsey’s, Lake’s, Wilson’s, Furey’s, Tverzalius’ and Watsons especially so. At the last, we met Mrs. Watson, Mrs. Ezra and Mrs. Jas. Millard, Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Ringwalt, Mrs. O’Brien and Mrs. Horbach, a very charming set of ladies with all of whom I have the good fortune to be well acquainted. Major Roberts and wife left for St. Louis. January 3rd 1881. General Crook and Lt. Bourke, A.D.C., left Department Hd.Qrs., Fort Omaha, at 7 a.m. and caught the 8 o’clock “dummy”, connecting with the early morning train for Kansas City, Mo. The morning was very bright and cold, the temperature being certainly as low as -10° Fahr., the cars were crowded, passengers standing up in the aisle nearly all the way to Saint Joseph, Mo. At that point, we were met by Colonel A. C. Davis, General Passenger Agent of the road, an old friend of Genl. Crook’s. Between Saint Joseph and Kansas City, Mo., we were overtaken by the express train of the Missouri Pacific R.R., and engaged in a lively race, coming out neck and neck. Three squalling babies roared in concert for nearly an hour, much to the disgust of the gentlemen 1.╇ See Robinson, Diaries, 1:326–27. 2.╇ This is the second reference to this baby, the first appearing in Chapter 8. This one offers slightly more detail. 3.╇ The letter apparently was not securely fastened as it is not part of the diary.

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in our car. We took on at New Hamburgh, Iowa, the remains of two lovely young ladies, 17 and 18 years old, who had been burned to death while dressing for a party. At Kansas City, at Union Dépôt Hotel, found the other members of the Commission, and with them Revd. Alfred Riggs, who had joined as a Sioux interpreter, and Major Roberts, A.D.C., who had come on by way of St. Louis, Mo. Mr. Haworth, Indian Inspector, joined the party soon after. Captain Eli Huggins, 2nd Cavalry, reported to General Crook, for special duty with the Commission, under instructions from the Hon. the Secretary of War. Took the sleeper on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé R.R. to Newton, Kansas, and there took the “branch” for Arkansas City, on the river of the same name. To express an opinion from the fine character of its rolling stock and the great patronage it received, this Railroad must be doing a profitable business and must have a grand country to support it. Newton is a rapidly growing town with numbers of brick buildings, already completed or in course of construction. We did not reach Arkansas City, until noon of January 4th 1881., (a bright, clear & cold day.) This town, on the Southern border of Kansas, 280 m. from Kansas City and 492 m. from Omaha, is one of the terminals of the Topeka and Santa Fé. It is a small town on the North bank of the Arkansas, and is prominent at this writing, chiefly from having been and being the rendezvous of the Oklahoma “boomers” or would be settlers on the public lands in the Indian Territory ceded back to the General Gov’t by the Cherokees in a treaty made with them in 1866. To prevent their entry, detachments of regular troops have been placed in position, those at this point under command of Lt. [Abram E.] Wood, 4th Cavalry, whom we met. Taking with them Agent Whiting [sic],4 Inspector Haworth, Standing Buffalo & Joe Esau, the Commission proceeded, in such conveyances as could be found at Arkansas City, to the Ponca Agency, the road being above the average, its most perilous feature the crazy bridge spanning the Arkansas river. After getting over this rickety structure, we crossed the line and were in the Indian Nation. There was not much to observe, but we were told that one of the principal productions of this country is peaches, of large size and delicious flavor. The Ponca Agency is on a peninsula enclosed between the 4.╇ William H. Whiteman.

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Salt Fork and the main Arkansas, 35 m. from the terminus of the Rail Road. We reached there after dark, tired and benumbed with cold. A kind reception, a bright fire and bountiful supper made us forget the petty discomforts of the drive; the table at which we were seated was crowded, but each managed to get an abundance of good food, without putting the good ladies of Agent Whiting’s household to too much trouble. He had with him a grown son, a young daughter, his wife and a young lady, a teacher in the Agency school. They asked us to look at the photographs of some mammoth cat-fish taken in the Salt Fork: the average w’t. was one hundred and forty lbs. and some of them were over six feet long. (1800) lbs. of this fish were caught in one spot in the Salt Fork in less than two hours. The Indians are very fond of spearing them as they offer rare sport and supply good food. January 5th 1881. Commission held an informal meeting this A.M. A lovely morning, bright and clear sky, no wind. Took a stroll around the Agency which presents a most creditable appearance. I had pointed out to me on the West, the lands occupied by Joseph’s band of Nez-Percés on the South East, those of the Osages, on the East, those of the “Kaws” and on the North East, those of the Quapaws, (the last tribe was once known as the Arkansaws.) I visited the new brick school-house, rising rapidly from its foundation, then the brick-kiln, and a number of fine springs which yield all the water needed at the Agency. The water of the Salt Fork is not drinkable but the banks were seamed with ravines, each with its spring of sweet, cold water. Capt. [Eli Lundy] Huggins arrived at 1 P.M. He had been detained at Arkansas City, for want of transportation. At 2 P.M., the Commission assembled in the Agency School-room (old.) in presence of a large delegation of Poncas, including many squaws and pappooses, whose chattering, crying and gubbling [sic] made a din unusual in such conventions. Something like order having been attained, I was able to ascertain the names of the Chiefs and head men present. Black Crow, White Swan, Standing Buffalo, The Chief, White Eagle, Hairy Bear, Child Chief, Red Leaf, Big Buffalo and Big Bull. Rev. Mr. Dorsey, Rev. Mr. Riggs and Antoine Leroy, Interpreter. All persons connected with the Interior Department, not members of the tribe, were excluded from the conference.

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Rev. Mr. Riggs speaks. My friends, You have known me a long time. When you have been in trouble, you have come to me and I have helped you. I have always remembered you ever since you were taken away from the country in which I live. And you have always said to me and said to others that I have never told you anything that was false. I have come to-day with the same purpose—to help you and to tell you the truth. For many years, you have been very much troubled and have not known the way in which you should go. You have appealed to your friends to help you and to show you a good way in which you could travel. You have been divided into two bands; part of you have remained here and a part of you at your old homes. They have been anxious to know of your welfare & you also of theirs; altho separated, you have been one people. You have been waiting for something to be made clear to you here in this country: they have been watching and waiting for the same thing:—a permanent home. You have been waiting here and have now just told your Great Father that you would accept this as your home. Standing Bear has been planting & has built him some houses &, with the help of his friends, is living quite comfortably. I am glad to learn that you have been free from sickness recently and to see that you have been working & gathering more comfortable homes for yourself here. The President and all your friends among the whites have been very much distressed at your trouble and at the deaths you have suffered. Your friends among the Sioux have been very much grieved to hear of your distress and have sympathized with you. The President has heard that you are very much dissatisfied with your lands here and then again he has heard that you wish to stay here. And so he has sent to inquire about this; to find out what is the trouble and what is your real mind about it and for that purpose he has sent these men to ask you; he has sent them down to see how you are and to judge in reference to this matter: to hear from your own lips;—and to hear not only from the lips of the big men but from the lips of all. He has sent me here as your friend to tell you that these men are to be trusted. You know me & have trusted me and I know these men and you can trust in them. They wish it to be understood that they come from the President to see you and hear your story which they will report back to him. The President wishes you to understand that nothing

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is finished and he waits until he hears the report of these four men before anything is to be done. They have come to see you and talk with you and then they will go to see Standing Bear and talk with him and his people. I wish you now to open your minds to these friends and tell them all you have in your hearts; keep nothing from them. They understand the story of your coming here and all you have suffered. They do not need to learn about that, but they wish to know how you are to-day and your wishes for the future. They do not ask you to make long talks about this, but to, each one, give his own mind in a few words. This is all I have to say. (The pappooses here begin to squeal dismally and were all “tired out.”) “Another thing which I forgot; you are not to be afraid to say anything in your mind, for nothing you say here will ever be used against you”. Reverend Mr. Dorsey now began as interpreter; he spoke in Ponca. Mr. Riggs spoke in Sioux, which was understood by some of the Poncas and translated to their comrades. I have already mentioned that the Ponca is a dialect of the Sioux. The Indians asked to have Antoine Leroy also present as Interpreter. Revd. Mr. Riggs, at the suggestion of the Commission told the Indians that as Esau was an employee of the Government, they would probably express their mind more freely in his absence, but if they wanted him, the Commission would send for him. The Indians said: “you need not send for him”. General Crook. We want to find out in the first place what their chiefs did in Washington; when their chiefs were on in [sic] Washington, they signed this paper. (Here Mr. Dorsey read and translated: We the Undersigned, Chiefs of the Ponca tribe of Indians, present in Washington, D.C., hereby declare that we desire to remain on the lands now occupied by the Poncas in Indian Territory, the same being a tract of 101.894 A[cres] and to establish our permanent homes thereon. We desire further to relinquish all our right & interest in all the lands, formerly owned and occupied by the Ponca tribe in the state of Nebraska and the territory of Dakota. In compensation for such lands, as well as for the various articles of property we left behind and lost at the time of our removal to the Indian Territory, in the year 1877, & for the depredations committed

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upon us by the Sioux Indians for which indemnity was promised us, we ask the Congress of the U.S. to appropriate the sum of $140.000; the sum of $50.000 or so much thereof as may be necessary, to be expended by the Secretary of the Interior for the purchase of the title to the lands at present occupied by the Poncas in the Indian Territory, such title to be invested in the Poncas in fee simple: $10.000 to be distributed among the Ponca tribe in cash, in equal shares per capita and $10.000 to be expended for the purchase of stock cattle and draught animals by the Secy. of the Interior,—the said stock cattle and draught animals to be distributed among the several families of the Ponca tribe, in equal shares per cap. This sum of $140.000, so expended and [illegible] as aforesaid, is to be a full satisfaction of all our claims for the lands formerly owned & occupied by us in Nebraska and Dakota, as well as for the goods & property lost by us in consequence of our removal to the Indian Territory, and for the depredations committed upon us by the Sioux, provided that this is not to be construed as abrogating the annuity granted to the Poncas by former treaties. We declare this to be an expression of our free will & desire as well as that of our people, at present residing on the Ponca Reservation in the Indian Territory and we ask that this declaration and request be submitted to the Congress of the U.S. for its favorable consideration and action. Done at Washington, this 22nd day of December, A.D. 1880. White X Eagle Standing X Buffalo Black X Crow The X Chief White X Swan Hairy X Bear Big X Soldier Child X Chief Buffalo X Chief Red X Leaf Authentication. I hereby certify that the foregoing agreement was duly interpreted and explained to the Ponca chiefs by me, before signing the same and that they fully understood the contents thereof. (signed.) J. Owen Dorsey, Interpreter. We also certify that we were present & heard the foregoing agreement read and interpreted to the Ponca chiefs and that they fully understood the same. (signed.) Joseph X Esau

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( ( ( ( (

Ponca Question Continues “ “ “ “ “

) Antoine X Leroy ) Joseph T. Bender ) E. M. Marvel ) J. M. Haworth ) C. Schurz.

True copy from original notes. John G. Bourke, A.D.C General Crook continuing. Now if this expresses the wish of all who are here, they are to say so, and if not, not. Answer. We all hear & understand it. (The chiefs and others then consulted.) General Crook. Those who agree to it, are to hold up their hands,— men, women and children. (a general showing of hands.) General Crook. If there are any who don’t agree to it, let them hold up their hands. (Not a single hand held up.) General Crook. Tell them we understood that a short time ago, they were very much opposed to staying in this country: if this is so, we want to know what brought about this change of mind. White Eagle. Formerly, this was a business that was difficult for me. I will tell about my changing my mind. I came to the Indian land; when we were at the Quapaw land, we wanted to go back to our own land,—all of us, so we went to the Great Father. I told him, “I want to go home;—so do all my young men and all my people.” “Not so,[”] said the Great Father, [“]It is difficult for you to go back; it is impossible. Seek a land for yourself[”] and he gave me a paper. General Miles. Does he mean the President himself? White Eagle. I mean them all three.5 When they went to seek the new land, I had the chills; so I didn’t go. When the Chiefs came back, they told about this land & so we moved from the Quapaw land. I went again, in another year, to the Congress, to the Great House up on the Hill,—last winter and after what I told, when I was there, I knew for myself that I had failed in that when I got there. I knew that I had failed to get permission to go back to my own land. There were three Great Fathers, who questioned me at that time, and when 5.╇ I.e. President, secretary of the Interior and commissioner of Indian Affairs.

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I went on this time, I saw two of them, the 3rd wasn’t there. I said: “my friends, whatever way it may be, make it straight for me”. They said: “yes, it is not straight; it is just like when a man takes a wife and then tries to draw himself back: it is impossible”. Up to that time he said that—last spring—I thought I had failed. And I myself asked him: —“friend! How is it? Tell me straight—tell me exactly how it is and when I get home, I’ll tell the young men”. But he said: “no! it is not straight. Begone!” (He was the principal Examiner) And the man who had been helping us—Mr. Tibbles—said: “it is impossible to help you! I can’t help you further”. Bright Eyes6 was there & her brother. And when I came home, thinking I had failed, I commenced cultivating the land, and I told them to cultivate the land—last spring. I went to see the Cheyennes, and Mr. Tibbles came to the Cimarron, a little this side of the Cheyenne Agency [at Darlington], and when I came home, I met him. The interpreter said to me—“I have come for you, in order that you may go back to Dakota”. “Yes[”]—I said to the interpreter—Fontenelle—[“]whatever it is, friend, tell it to me”, and the Interpreter said to me: “by night, a few lodges at a time, not more than five—you are to go”. “My friend![”] I said, [“] this is very difficult. What things our young men use when they go travelling, there are none of those here and no ponies. How do you think I can go?[”] The Interpreter said: “there are persons who have provisions for the journey”. “And if I should go,[”] I said, [“]what would be the consequence?” He said, “Altho’ you should go and there should be some trouble, it would not hurt you”. He said also: “In some places, they may tie you”—and at that time, I was afraid of being arrested and confined just like Standing Bear. “That’s what they’ll do for you”, he said: and I was afraid of that danger. Fearing this danger, I did not want to go back. That is all. Therefore, I sent a letter to the Great Father saying I would keep still and so he called me and I went there. Mr. Allen. I would like to ask White Eagle some questions about what he said. I understand that when they were at the Old Land, they did not want to come to this land at all, is that right? White Eagle. Formerly, that was so. 6.╇ Susette La Flesche, an Omaha woman who married Thomas H. Tibbles.

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Mr. Allen. And when they were on the Quapaw land, they also wanted to go back? White Eagle. Yes. We did not want to go but, because we had failed in this business, we want now to remain here & cultivate the ground, so as not to be moving about. Mr. Allen. And after they came to this land they still wanted to go to their old home? White Eagle. The three men told me I could not go back and the chief Questioner told me I could not go back,—that it was very difficult—“You have come from a great distance”—and I said that which I did, after having failed: so I remained here. Mr. Allen. When Mr. Tibbles came here, if they could have gone back to Dakota without danger, would they have been glad to go? White Eagle. No. When I came back from Washington in the spring, I thought the thing was finished and I went to farming and made stables and cultivated a field of about Ten Acres. Mr. Allen. Ask him if he thinks this land is better land than his old land? White Eagle. I think this land is a better land: that it is improving; whatever we plant, will come up. Mr. Allen. Ask him if he was on his old land with all the people and they had houses and ponies and all the things they had before, would they be willing to come to this land? White Eagle. I was dwelling up there, just as we are now, but the Great Father caused us to come here and as he caused us to come, we are here. Mr. Allen. If the Great Father wanted to send you back there and give you all you had there before, would you want to go or stay? White Eagle. If the Great Father should want to make that for me, I should think he’d have me wandering around and for that reason, I should be unwilling to go and should want to remain here. Mr. Allen. If the Great Father should give you as strong a paper for that land, as you said you wanted for this land, would you be willing to go back there and remain permanently? White Eagle. I would stay here; the matter is finished, and so I’ll sit here. Mr. Allen (to Mr. Dorsey). Ask him if the houses they have here are as good as those they had in their old home? White Eagle. We think that these houses here are a little good: Those

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houses up there were bad; they had dirt roofs. These are better than the others. Mr. Allen. Do they raise as large crops as they did up there? White Eagle. In that land, there were insects that destroyed the crops; in this land, there are no insects, (grass-hoppers.) and no birds to hurt the crops, (black-birds and crows.) Mr. Allen. Would they like to have Standing Bear and the Poncas with him come back here to live with them? White Eagle. I want them: they are my own people and I have been hoping they’d come. Mr. Allen. He said in his letter to the Secretary that he wanted to stay here, because the young men were restless; now what made the young men restless? White Eagle. The young men were not behaving themselves and so I called them together and had a talk with them and so they came to a decision. Some of the young men wanted to go to Dakota. Have the others all heard what was said and do they agree? Answer. Yes. General Crook. Ask him if that Dakota land was owned by these People here alone and did Standing Bear and his people have no where in it? White Eagle. That land up there;—part of it was theirs and part was ours; but they are very few, so we want them to come down to this land, part of which is ours, and part theirs. General Crook. In case those Indians up there want to remain and the Government sees fit to let them remain there, what do these propose to do about it? White Eagle. We want them to come down, and if they do not, we think the Great Father will arrange the business for them (i.e., provide for them.) General Crook. Ask them if they expect to get all the money appropriated, or only their share of it and a part of it go to those people up there? Standing Buffalo. If he comes here, we want him and his party to take part of the money. Mr. Stickney. But if he stays there? Standing Buffalo. If he don’t come back, we don’t want him to take any of it. Mr. Allen. Notwithstanding they (Standing Bear and his party) may

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wish to stay there, do you think it right to sign away all of that land? White Eagle. We did not think about Standing Bear. We were hoping that he could come back; he is but one chief up there; we are many chiefs and many people down here and we hoped he’d come back here and so we wrote the letter. Mr. Stickney. Does he think that Standing Bear would be willing to come down here if he understood the situation? White Eagle. I spoke to my young men and told them I hoped that if Standing Bear came back, they would make his heart feel good. I think that if he understood perfectly the condition of affairs, he would come here. Could he explain the situation to him if he was to go to Standing Bear with us—he and some other chiefs? White Eagle. When I came back, I was anxious to get some one to explain how things were to Standing Bear: I’d like to go see him myself. Mr. Stickney. Would he not like to have some chiefs go with him? White Eagle. I was thinking in my own mind that I should like to send a letter to Standing Bear and then when I had heard from him I should like to go up to see him. Mr. Stickney. Tell him we are going up now;—why not go with us? White Eagle. I am very tired and you seem in a great hurry. I can’t go now. General Crook. Tell him Congress adjourns very soon and that it is important for us to have this Report made out, so they can act upon it. Mr. Stickney. Tell him also the present President goes out of office very soon and another one comes in;—and this one knows all about the business. General Crook. Tell them they needn’t come back with us. We want to go to Washington as soon as possible and they can come straight home. Standing Buffalo. We shouldn’t have any pay for our expenses. General Crook & Mr. Stickney. Tell them that’s all right, the Government will pay their expenses. General Miles. Ask them if they are on friendly terms with Standing Bear and those Indians up there? Standing Buffalo. He’s my people; he’s my nation.

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General Crook. It’s very important that they should get a strong paper for their land & they can’t get it until we send in the Report. Standing Buffalo. I am sick. White Eagle can attend to this business. White Eagle. I am very tired. General Crook. If they don’t get this thing fixed now, it may not be fixed for a year,—and may never be fixed. White Eagle. Will you take letters for me;—will that do? General Crook. No, that won’t do at all. They’ll go in the cars all the way. This Rail Road has been finished to Niobrara since they left there;—do they know that? In case he don’t wish to go, let him send some of the others. White Eagle. We’ll discuss the matter to-night. Mr. Stickney. Will they let us know to-night? We may leave in the morning. (White Eagle hereupon consulted with his people.) General Crook. (to the Interpreter.) Tell them that we are so pressed for time that if they don’t settle this matter now, we’ll have to go on without them. We want them to settle it before we leave to-night. Mr. Stickney. If they don’t, we shall be obliged to go without them and do the best we can. (Standing Buffalo here spoke to his people.) Standing Buffalo, to the Commissioners. Hairy Bear will be one to go. How if one of the young men should go? General Crook. We want them to send somebody in whom those in Dakota have confidence. (Cheyenne here said he’d go.) General Miles. I want to ask a few questions here. I want to inquire what’s the condition of the tribe at present as regards health. White Eagle. Counting this winter, makes the 3rd season we have been sick. General Miles. Has there been much sickness in the tribe since they came to this Territory? White Eagle. For two seasons there was sickness. General Miles. To what extent? How many died? White Eagle. I cannot write. I do not know; they just died. General Miles. Can he ascertain by asking through the camp? White Eagle. For these who are here, I can ascertain by questioning them.

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General Miles. No, I want to know for the whole tribe. The Great Father sent us down here to find out the condition of the tribe;— that, among other things: and I must know for my own information. I’ll give him all the time he wants to find out; and he can tell me here or send to me. White Eagle. I will try, Sir. General Miles. Do they find this country as healthy as that they left up there? Have they, during the past three years, been as healthy as they were during [the time] they came down? White Eagle. From the time the sickness stopped, I have been walking here and find it very good. I put this country before the other:—think it healthier. General Miles. Ask them if there is any sickness now? White Eagle. No, Sir, I think not. On motion of General Miles, the Commission adjourned until to-morrow, January 6th 1881 at 8 a.m., and the Indians were so informed.

Chapter 11 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Agency Operations

J

anuary 6th 1881. 9 a.m. The Commission met. Present all the members. The proceedings of yesterday were read and approved. Agent Whiting was sent for, and questioned by the Commission. He spoke in the highest terms of the general honesty of the Poncas; said he never had found any fault with any of them on that respect, except with one half-blood and two half-witted persons. Poncas generally well-behaved and orderly, there is a police-force organized of fourteen men. The Reservation is divided into eleven districts, each one inspected daily by the police-officer in charge. The salaries given are;—one Captain @ $8 per menseum [sic], 3 Sergeants @ $5 each per mo., and ten privates @ $5 each per mo. This force is for the Poncas. Among the Nez-Percés, at Oakland, there is a similar organization of native policemen, six in number @ $5 per mo. Three policemen have been discharged for drunkenness; White Eagle was one of those dismissed for drinking and gambling, against which stringent regulations have been passed. The Regulations in vogue are the Regulations of the Indian Bureau. Has been in charge of Ponca Agency since last April; this is his first appointment. Has lived in the station, only since he came here from Illinois last Spring. Has not had much experience with

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Indians. There are Five hundred & Twenty One Poncas here now; they are counted every three months. Last count took place, January 1st. They then numbered 519 or 520. The count was made during his absence in Washington. Count is always made by the Police force and the Issue clerk: there is no one to go around among them. Tickets are issued upon reports of policemen, but absolute reliance is not placed upon their representations. The lands appropriation for the Poncas was $50.000. Does not know what appropriations for Poncas haven been in previous years, but may be able to ascertain from documents. Mr. [Arthur J.] Carrier and Mr. [E. A.] Howard were agents with the Poncas in Dakota. Mr. Howard came to Quapaw with them. They have had one or two Agents since Mr. Howard was relieved. The appropriation of $53.000 does not include that for educational purposes: the school-building appropriation of $10.000 is additional. Does not remember any other appropriation. So far as he knows, the total sum appropriated for the Poncas this year is $63.000. First knew of the communication going to Washington from the Poncas somewhere in June or July—maybe sooner than that (Letter is inserted on following page.) The letter was sent in October, but they had been talking about sending it for some time. They asked Mr. Whiting to write for them. “I told them the Clerk was there to write anything they might desire.[”] The letter was sent in October and an answer returned in November. Copies of both letters on file in Agency Records....Told them they ought to counsel among themselves and reach a conclusion for themselves. Knows from what they say that they have had several councils in the matter, but knows of no one who has counseled them. (The letters were all given to Lieut. Bourke next day, and altho’ not strictly necessary to make record of proceedings clear are appended to make copies in this note-book, full and exact.) We, the undersigned, chiefs and headmen of the Ponca tribe of Indians, realize the importance of settling all our business with the government. Our young men are unsettled and hard to control while they think we have a right to our land in Dakota, and our tribe will not be finally settled until we have a title to our present reservation and we have relinquished all right to our Dakota land. And we earnestly request that the chiefs of the Ponca tribe of Indians be permitted to visit Washington the coming winter, for the purpose of signing

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away our right to all land in Dakota and to obtain a title to our present reservation; and we also wish to settle our Sioux troubles at the same time. We make the above request, as we desire to have the young men of our tribe become settled and commence to work on their respective claims. We also desire to make this visit in order to convince the government that it is our intention of remaining where we are, and requesting the aid of the government on obtaining teams, wagons, harness, tools, &c., with which to work our land. Yours respectfully, WHITE X EAGLE. STANDING X BUFFALO. BLACK X CROW. LITTLE X PICKER. FRANK X LA FLESCHE. RUSH IN X THE BATTLE. BIG X SOLDIER. BIG X BULL. CHILD X CHIEF. SHORT X MAN. THE X CHIEF. RED X LEAF. FOUR X BEARS. BUFFALO X RIB. YELLOW X BIRD. PETER X PREMEAUX. WHITE X BUFFALO BULL. BIG X GOOSE. WHITE X FEATHER WALKING X SKY. We, the undersigned, certify on honor that we were present and witnessed the signatures of the above by each of the individuals named, and that the above was written at the solicitation of the Ponca chiefs. JOSEPH ESAW [sic], Interpreter. A.R. SATTERTHWAITE. PONCA AGENCY, I.T., October 25, 1880. Examination of Agent Whiting continued. The amount of money the Poncas were to receive for their lands in Dakota, the amount to be paid them individually have not been arranged at the Agency, but have been set out in the Bill presented to Congress. Thinks the Bill was submitted a year or a year and a half ago. Has not paid as much attention to days and dates as he ought to, as he has had so much to do outside. Questioned by Mr. Stickney. We issue Beef every Saturday, sometimes Bacon; we issue Sugar, Coffee, Salt, Mackerel, flour, hard-tack—to each one of the family— to each individual 21 lbs. gross of Beef—a week—to each person—

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issued on hoof. If we took in Beef cattle at 900 lbs—the Indians get the benefit of the increase. Bacon, 10 oz. to the Ration. Now, we weigh cattle and give them dressed Beef: we give each one 11 lbs. Dressed Beef per diem, Flour, 3½ lbs. per wk., per capita. Every other week, 3 lbs Hard Bread. Hominy, 3 oz. per week, alternating with Beans, 3 oz. per week. Rice, for sick only, (dispensed by the Doctor.) Sugar, 9 oz. per wk. per cap., Coffee, 4½ oz. per wk., per cap. Soda & Salt, quant[ities] suff[icient]. We issue ration tickets, dated & numbered and signed by Agent, giving number of persons in family revised every 3 mos.—presented to Issue clerk and by him checked & entered on Record. By this, we have a record of all the people on the Reservation; the Police report all absentees. In issuing groceries and provisions, we have one policeman at door, 3 for flour, one for Beans. One employee acts as Issue clerk & takes their receipts; the Interpreter & Head Clerk are present. The Head Clerk examines; finally, I approve & forward them to Washington. The Poncas take their supplies home in wagons; nearly all have wagons and are accomodating to each other. They are much more interested in farming than I expected to find them. We have now all the farming implements we need; we have sixty-two new and fortyseven old plows: we need a few more harrows. Agricultural instruments are loans, not issued to the Indians. We have 107 families. The Poncas are aware that the issue of rations is not a permanent thing and for that reason are anxious to get to farming. I have no doubt but that they will send all their children to school. They need more spades, forks, post-augers, hammers &c., for making fences & stabling. We lend out Agency tools when needed. Questioned by Mr. Allen. I came in April: they were here one season before but had not broken any ground as they had no implements. They had no ponies: a great many of them had small gardens: Seven or eight of them had as much as 5 Acres apiece, others had smaller patches. Much of the corn was used green and to fatten hogs. They are beginning to eat hog-meat; they have no prejudice against it. They raise potatoes, beans, peas, melons, pumpkins and radishes,—are very fond of them. There are seventy-nine houses,—built before my arrival; built by contract. Indians got $12 for each house for furnishing logs and then the interior was finished by Contract.

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I came here after the Indians had been to Washington last spring; I then thought the Indians were going to stay yet there was some difference of opinions. I think they had bad feeling against their old Agent. They received me very kindly. I pulled my coat off and got hold of a plow and asked them if they didn’t want to do the same and put the seeds in the ground. I received no special instructions about these Indians and knew nothing about their difficulties. I was not an applicant for this particular Agency, but I was for an Agency in this part of the country. I had no knowledge of these Indians and received no particular instructions about them. I did read Mr. Tibbles’ letter in the paper, but knew nothing about these Poncas. I have seen very little discontent among them: there was a little last June after Mr. Tibbles came, but only a little. Five families left just after I came here and as I wanted to protect myself and had given bonds for Govt. property, I wanted to know if they should be permitted to take it away, so I wrote to the Department. I considered that anything I had issued to them, and for which they had receipted to me, was in their possession & I need give myself no concern about that; but property not issued, I was anxious about. The Department answered that I would use my influence with them to keep them from taking any Govt. property away and I communicated this answer to them. I didn’t offer to send any policemen after those who left and I informed all the Poncas that they must judge for themselves and that I would not meddle with anyone who wanted to go. I have at no time told them that they could not take away their own property: I would not consider I had a right to do so. If the Dakota Poncas had come here, I should have used my best influence to provide houses for them. Questioned by Mr. Stickney. Several gentlemen have been here during the past year to hold religious services; but, knowing that the Episcopalians have had charge of them, I did not wish to do anything. We have had Sunday School until after an accident occurred to the teachers. I think some of the Indians are professing Christianity;—some of them are Roman Catholics and some Episcopalians;—but I know nothing positive about this. Questioned by Mr. Allen I should not have prevented the Poncas from taking away their own property had they wanted to go: I should not without orders to do so:

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I considered that they had the right to take their wagons if they so desired. I don’t know what orders my predecessors may have had. Mr. Allen. If the Indians were at Liberty to go to Dakota, why were they going on to Washington to ask for this permission? Agent Whiting. I don’t know anything about that: that was before my appointment; I don’t know of any change of policy towards these Indians. Questioned by Genl. Miles I don’t know of any Indians being arrested for trying to go back to Dakota. Big Snake was arrested at Cheyenne Agency. Mr. Tibbles was arrested for violation of the President’s Proclamation of last winter to keep people out of this section of the country without proper authority. The purport of the Proclamation I can’t give. I can get you a copy of it. I arrested Mr. Tibbles upon orders from the Department to arrest him & send him out. I telegraphed to the Department because Mr. Tibbles was here against Law and against the Regulations of the Department, relating to the Indian Territory. They relate both to people settling in Indian Territory and to persons visiting here. I understand that no person, can come to visit in this Territory without making his business known to the agent and that the Agent has the right to object to his visit if he please[s]. Questn by Genl. Miles. If one of the Indians should write to a lawyer in Kansas City or Topeka, stating he wished to consult with him about business relative to his rights & property,—do you hold that this lawyer could see this Indian & consult with him without first getting a permit from you[?] Agent Whiting. I don’t understand that he has a right to come here without a permit from some authority. I think that the law is explicit upon this point. He would have no right to communicate with any Indian without permission. There is no restriction upon the rights of the Indians to write to whom they please. I let the Indians go up to Arkansas City when they please: the police only must obtain permission; or all Indians when they go to visit other tribes. The Commission hereupon adjourned from Agent Whiting’s House to the old school-building to meet the Ponca chiefs and head-men. General Crook (to Mr. Dorsey) Ask the Indians if they have agreed upon the persons who are to go with us to Dakota? Standing Buffalo. We have come to a decision and wish to send Hairy

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Bear and Cheyenne with you. If you want an interpreter to go with them, if you’ll leave some one to bring them back, we’d like one to go. We’d like Peter Primand to go with them. General Miles. Ask White Eagle if he is prepared to answer my question of yesterday as to the number of deaths in the Tribe since coming to Indian Territory? White Eagle. I don’t know the number of children; I know the number of adults. fifty in the land of the Quapaws;—30 men & 20 women, that is the whole number of adults who died, there and here too: but I don’t know the number of children. General Miles. Can he find out in the course of the next two or three days and send word to us? White Eagle. When I know it, of course I will tell you. Last night, I counted over the chiefs, women & men that had died and that is the number; but the children I couldn’t remember. General Miles. Ask him to try & find out in the next 2 or 3 days & send it to me. Standing Buffalo. I think that altogether; in the land of the Quapaws and here—we have lost One hundred and Thirty. White Eagle. I’ll send it to you. General Miles. He stated yesterday that he regarded this as a better country than Dakota; ask him if he knows anything about the relative productiveness of this section of the country as compared with that of the country he left? White Eagle. I told yesterday about any affair in that land and about how I planted my crops and very often I failed, and when my corn came up and I would see it, the grass-hoppers would destroy it, and I thought it was very hard: therefore, in each season, I did not have much corn, and the Sioux caused me to suffer. Therefore, it was hard for me. General Miles. Has he ever heard of grass-hoppers in Kansas or Indian Territory? White Eagle. I have not heard of them. Whatever the whites planted, I saw it come up. I planted, the summer before last, a small piece of land—in melons and vegetables which came up finely and I caused this man to take a team-load of my melons & vegetables and sell them to the whites. General Miles. He stated yesterday that the last three seasons his people were healthy: I want to know whether he is aware whether

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last year was an unusually dry season or an ordinary season? White Eagle. When we came to this country, we were sick because we were not accustomed to the warm weather; but now we are used to it, and are better and think we’ll like it. General Miles. Does he know of any other cause? White Eagle. No. I don’t think there was; the rain had nothing to do with it. General Miles. Of the ones who went on to Washington, and signed the paper read yesterday, how many are chiefs? The first name is White Eagle; is he chief of the whole tribe or only of a certain number of lodges? White Eagle. You should not ask me; you can ask any one else. General Miles. Is Black Crow a chief? If so, of how many lodges. White Eagle. You have principal men among the whites who are over the people and so with us. Black Crow is one of those among us. He is a chief over his clan or gens or band and at same time a chief in the tribe. General Miles. Over how many lodges? White Eagle. I haven’t counted them. General Miles. Is White Swan a chief? White Eagle. He is a chief and also a chief in one part of the tribe. General Miles. Of how many lodges? White Eagle. I haven’t counted them but the agency clerk knows. General Miles. Is Big Soldier a chief? White Eagle. Big Soldier and The Chief are together chiefs in one Band. General Miles. Is Buffalo Chief a chief? White Eagle. Yes. General Miles. Is Standing Buffalo? White Eagle. Yes. General Miles. Can he tell of how many lodges they are chiefs? White Eagle. I have [not] remember[ed] exactly; some have over ten and some have twenty lodges. General Miles. I want to know about changing their minds; staying here instead of going back to Dakota? White Eagle. Mr. Tibbles was working for us and as he failed, we changed our minds. General Miles. I understood them to say that no threats had been made to induce them to change their minds. Now I want to know what ef-

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fect the promises and assurances made to him & his people have had upon him and his people in bringing about this change of mind? White Eagle. We were dwelling in the land and were doing nothing and were foolish as it were; so we assembled together, and sent a letter to the Great Father asking him to send for us. We did this of our own accord. Nobody caused it. General Miles. At that time did they regard the Treaty giving them their land in Dakota as null & void? White Eagle. The whites caused our title to that land to be destroyed and because I wanted to get more money, I desired to sell. General Miles. I want to know if he thinks he can get any stronger title to this land than he had to that land in Dakota? White Eagle. Because I did not have a good title to that country up there, I was brought here and because I did not wish to have a similar title to this land,—one easily broken, I sent to the Great Father. I wanted for all these people a good title for this land and so, when I went to the Great Father, I asked for it. General Miles. Did the men who signed this paper and who held up their hands yesterday imagine they were getting a better title to this land than they had to the Dakota land? All answer. Yes. General Miles. These questions I consider as very important and in their replies they can be as deliberate as they please, because we must base our judgment upon what we learn here so that we can inform the Great Father. That’s what he sent us on here for. Now, I want to know if they regard it as a certainty that in case they consent to remain here, they’ll receive as much land as before and $90.000 besides? Standing Buffalo. Yes. We regard it as very certain. General Miles. (upon suggestion of Mr. Stickney.) Don’t they remember that the Secretary told them that when this affair came before him, he would recommend it to the favorable action of Congress, but that he himself had nothing to do with making the appropriation? Answer. We so understood it. General Miles. In case Congress fails to appropriate $90.000 but allows them to remain here without the $90.000 what effect will that have upon the tribe? Standing Buffalo. Even if they did not desire to give us that money, we should wish to remain here & work for ourselves.

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Mr. Stickney. Does he speak for all? Answer. We speak with one heart. General Miles. If no money is appropriated, but the privilege granted of remaining here or going back to their old homes, how many would remain here & how many go back to Dakota;—supposing it to be left optional with them and they to be perfectly free to do as they please? Standing Buffalo. We think that if he went back to Niobrara, we’d receive no tools, & no rations and so we’d prefer to remain here. General Miles. But supposing they received the same treatment in every way,—houses, tools, rations,—everything at Niobrara as here, what then would they do? I want to get at the bottom of their hearts in this thing. Standing Buffalo. Even if the Great Father should give us all those things up there, we’d fear wandering around and would prefer to remain here. General Miles. Ask White Eagle. White Eagle. I think the same. General Miles. Ask him if he is sure that all his people think the same about this as he does. White Eagle. Even if the Great Father should be willing, it is a very abominable thing for us to be going wandering around* doing nothing and so we want to stay here. General Miles. Is he sure that all his camp think the same way? White Eagle. We have talked with a good many of them and they all talk the same way. Mr. Stickney. Does he know anybody of a different opinion? White Eagle. All are of one opinion. General Miles. If there is any man in this room who would go back to Dakota if assured the Great Father would grant the same privileges as now give here,—and they should not be disturbed,—let him speak out, if he would want to spend the remainder of his days there, with a firm title to his land and the conditions the same? Answer from Peter Primand, chief of police. If the Great Father was to say to me:—Go! You can go back that place; even if he was to give me Twenty Thousand Dollars, I wouldn’t go. Standing Yellow. What these chiefs say, they say for us and we agree to. *

Above “wandering around” Bourke inserted “going about.”

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Bear’s Ear. We young men sent the chiefs to Washington, and they have come back with good news: I have put a big stove down here: I will sit upon it I will prefer to sit here (meaning, Mr. Dorsey said, he thinks his title is now permanent.) General Miles. What do they understand they will receive if they remain here? White Eagle. If I stay in this land, I think I will receive something. General Miles. Do they believe that Standing Bear’s rights will be respected in that Dakota land and that the Great Father takes the same interest in the Poncas as he does in these here? White Eagle. I think the Great Father would treat us somewhat alike. General Miles. Does he think the Great Father would give them any of that money, if they remained there? White Eagle. In consequence of my selling the land, I think that he would come down here and then the Great Father would do good things for all of us together? [sic] General Miles. Does he think that he has a right to sell all of that Dakota land, or only a portion of it, and Standing Bear sell the rest or live on it as he chooses? White Eagle. I think that the Great Father will do in this matter as he thinks best; let Standing Bear’s people remain there or come down here; he can give them a piece of the land up there. General Miles. Well then, if the Great Father let those remain there and let them keep some of the land and gives them some of that money, will these Indians here be satisfied? Standing Buffalo. About the land, if Standing Bear did not choose to come down here, he could keep some of the land and stay there, but as to the money, since we have sold the land, why should we give him part of it? General Miles. Do you understand that the Treaty includes the selling of all the land? Standing Buffalo. We thought when we went to Washington, we had finished this business. General Miles. Do they know that this business is still unfinished? Standing Buffalo. We know that, but it is finished so far as we are concerned. General Miles, In case the Great Father shall desire to give those up there a paper as strong as this restoring all that land to them and

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shall decide to send the $90.000 to those up there, I want to know how many of these here would wish to go back there, or whether they would wish to remain here without the $90.000? Standing Buffalo. Even if he didn’t give us the money, we’d all be willing to stay here:—but why should he not give us the money? General Miles. I am not answering questions; I am asking questions, just to find out their minds and exactly how they feel. These important and serious questions are to find out just how they feel, so that we can recommend to the Great Father what is best for their own good so if they have anything to say on this subject, hold nothing back. It is a serious matter for them and now is a good time to say all they have to say: or, if there is any in the tribe of a different opinion or different desires, we want to know it and they should tell us and not hold anything back. Standing Buffalo. We understand every word. General Miles. Is Michel here? Standing Buffalo. His eyes are bad; he’s not here. General Miles. Is he a chief? Standing Buffalo. Yes. General Miles. Of how many lodges? White Eagle. He and White Swan are together over one Band. His eyes are bad & he couldn’t come, but he sent his young men here. General Miles. Why didn’t Michel sign the paper sent to Washington. Standing Buffalo. He went traveling among the whites and said to us; “whatever you do, that is good”. General Miles. Is Buffalo sure that Michel thinks as he does about this business? Standing Buffalo. I myself had heard Michel say that dwelling in this land was very good and furthermore, Michel wished to send word to one of his younger brothers,—David [Le Clair]—in Dakota, to come down here, as his brother feared poverty. David lived on the Santee Reservation; Mr. Riggs knows where. Revd. Mr. Riggs. On the Santee Reserve. White Eagle. (rising and shaking hands.) My friends, I will speak about something: the Great Spirit has given you some mysterious things; some things we cannot comprehend: and He has left us. He has conferred benefits upon the whites He has not given to us. The Great Spirit has taught us that when we

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put our hands to the pen, that is something to stand and we must tell the truth in this matter. I have put my hand to the pen and I wish the matter to stand; and when we put our hands to the pen, we regard the matter as something precious, something sacred and I prize it. I was thinking it will be for my good and so I sold the land and put my hand to the pen, in presence of the Great Father in Washington; and these words I’ve said: “I thought these things would be good, if I dwelt in the land[”] and so I consulted with the Great Father about the matter and paid attention to what he said. When I reached Washington, I went to see the superior Great Father, the President himself,—and he said to me: “you think for yourselves,— come to a decision; whatever you think is for your good, that do for yourselves” and he said: “I will send four of your friends to you, (this Commission,) and whatever things you think will be for your good, do you tell them” and as I’ve been thinking this land is for my good, I tell you my friends, I would like you to tell the President. I will speak to you about another matter, my friends, You white people, my friends, I have not done any bad deeds towards you and from the former days to the present I have not thought in my heart to do any evil to you. When I’ve seen you in former days, even tho’ you should have hit me, I regarded you, took care of you and did nothing against you. I have been hoping from time to time, with reference to these officers of the white soldiers, that I would see one of them at some time. I have been thinking that I would tell him something; whether there may be one or two of you officers, I want to tell you something. Among you white people, your words being good, that only we follow. Some of the young men of the soldiers of the Great Father, came formerly to this place where we Poncas are and they killed one of our chiefs. And I did not scold those young men at that time, because I was thinking that at some time or another, we might get some indemnity for the death of this chief. If any person does anything to me, I do not take revenge, but I wish to get the indemnity,—the pay for damages. If a man didn’t behave himself and he were treated in that way, I wouldn’t say anything about it, wouldn’t ask for any indemnity. I refer to the brother of Standing Bear—Big Snake. Now the wife of this man, his widow and his children are here in this camp and on their account, I ask for the indemnity. One word I’ve forgot. In my own heart, I think that I have finished this matter, about dwelling in the land, and I wish

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you to tell the Great Father. General Crook. Tell him we’ll report his speech about the death of Big Snake to the Great Father; it is a matter we haven’t anything to do with. General Miles. I desire to put upon Record in the Proceedings of this Commission, in reply to White Eagle, the fact that some of us are officers; that I have listened to his statement regarding the killing of Big Snake, that I regret that it was done, but I believe that it is but justice to the soldiers to say that, as far as I understand the case, they did not come here of their own accord or at their own option. Accepted by the Commission as the expression of General Miles’ personal opinion and translated to the Indians by Mr. Dorsey. Big Bull arose & said he gave his assent to all that the chiefs had said, at this meeting; he wanted to stay here and have a farm of 160 A[cres]. for himself. The Indians had all heard very plainly what the chiefs had said and agreed to it all. The Commission hereupon adjourned. Three members of the Commission afterwards saw Michel, and questioned him in regard to his knowledge of what had transpired at the Council and his approval or disapproval thereof. He said that he had heard of it all from his children and approved of it all, and wished to remain in the Indian Ty. Dep’t. of the Interior Office of Indian Affairs Washington, Nov. 9th 1880. White Eagle, Standing Buffalo, and other Chiefs and Headmen of the Ponca tribe. Ponca Agency, Indn. Ty. Gentlemen. I have received your letters of Oc’t. 28th forwarded by your Agent, in which you say that your young men are unsettled and hard to control, while they think you have a right to your land in Dakota; that your tribe will not be finally settled until you have a title to your present Reservation and you have relinquished all right to your Dakota land, and you ask that the chiefs of your tribe be permitted to visit Washington the coming Winter for the purpose of signing away your right to all lands in Dakota and to obtain a title to your present Reservation; and also to settle your Sioux troubles at the same time as well as to convince the Government that it is your

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intention to remain where you are and to request aid in obtaining teams, wagons, harness, tools &c., with which to work your land. In reply, I have to state that your desire to become permanently settled and to have your matters satisfactorily adjusted, is fully appreciated by this Office and the Hon. Secretary of the Interior. We have been trying for a good while to get a law passed like that of which a copy is enclosed from which, when the Interpreter reads it to you, you will see that we are asking Congress to give you $140.000 to pay you for your land in Dakota and for what losses you have suffered from removal &c. We think when you understand what we are seeking to accomplish for you by this law, you will be satisfied that you have not been forgotten, but your best interests are being considered and attended to as fast as we can. Your Reservation in Dakota contains about 90.000 A[cres]: the value of this at $1.25 per Acre, (the price at which most of the Government lands are sold.) would be $120.000. The Reservation you now occupy contains 101.894 A[cres]. Or nearly 6000 A[cres]. more than that formerly occupied by you in Dakota. For this we propose to pay the Cherokees, [(]from whom it was obtained in trust for the location of friendly Indians.) not more than $80.000. When the Bill was first prepared, the price to be paid the Cherokees had not been fixed but it has since been fixed at $0.47 49/100 at per Acre which would make the amount to be paid to the Cherokees out of the appropriation asked for less than $50.000, leaving a surplus of more than $90.000, the interest on which at 4 p[er]. c[ent]. per annum, amounting to more than $3600, is to be expended for your benefit every year. We think you will agree with us that the provisions of this Bill, if it should become law, will fully compensate the Poncas for the losses they have sustained and provide a good sum to help you in your efforts to become selfsustaining. We shall endeavor, when Congress meets in December, to have this law passed and other laws which have been introduced to give Indians, as good a title to their land as white men have and if it should then be deemed best for some of the Ponca Chiefs to visit Washington, permission to do so will be granted. Very Respectfully, (signed.) E. M. Marble, Acting Commissioner. United States Indian Service

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Ponca Agency, June 24th, 1880. Hon. R. E. Trowbridge, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Washington, D.C. Sir: I have to inform you that on the 1st inst., during my absence to Arkansas City, Mr. Tibbles, of Omaha, accompanied by an Omaha Indian, as Interpreter, came to this Reservation in the night and sought by promises and bribery to induce the Poncas to give up their present home and leave, a few at a time, and return to their old home in Dakota. Mr. Tibbles told them that they would receive aid on the journey and upon their arrival they would be fed by the Government and Annuity goods issued them, the same as here; he told the Indians that they had a right to take new wagons, cows &c. that have been issued to them by the Government and urged them to return at once as it would help him in the law-suit he was about to commence against the U.S. Government in their favor. I am creditably (?) informed that Mr. Tibbles went into the Ponca camp disguised as an Indian Squaw with a blanket around his shoulders and that he swore the Indians to secrecy, warning them to never disclose the fact that he (Tibbles) visited this Agency. Most of the Ponca chiefs were absent on a visit to the Cheyenne Agency, when Mr. Tibbles arrived. He took his interpreter and went out on the trail, meeting the Poncas several miles from his agency, where he had a Council with them in which he urged upon them to run off and return to their old homes, assuring the Indians that they would be clothed and fed the same as here. I made every effort in my power, on my return, to arrest Mr. Tibbles, but he eluded me and escaped to the State. The Poncas, for the last few weeks, have been doing well and I fear this visit of Mr. Tibbles may unsettle them again. Poison Hunter and his wife are the only Indians whom he has induced to leave as yet. I arrested Mr. Tibbles’ interpreter and had a long talk with him, in which he acknowledged that the course pursued by Mr. Tibbles was not an honorable one, [and] I went away feeling very different than when he came. Please instruct me as to the proper course to pursue should Mr. Tibbles or any of his party visit this Agency again on a similar errand.

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Very Respectfully Your Obedt. Servant (signed.) W. Whiting, U.S. Indian Agent. After the Commission had adjourned, I employed moments of a bright, fine winter morning, in looking around the Agency: one of the first persons was a handsome Indian chief, still under middle age, whom I was told was Joseph, chief of the Nez-Percé. His reservation is only a few miles from Ponca and he had come over to see Genl. Miles, with whom he was soon closeted in a conference the purport of which I did not learn; but it was intimated by those who ought to know that his object was to secure a return to his former home in Washington, Terry., he claiming that when he concluded his surrender with Genl. Miles in 1877, the principal stipulation was that his people the Nez-Percés should be allowed to return and remain unmolested on their old lands. I purchased some Nez-Percé and Ponca trinkets; a dog-baby, knife-case, bow and arrows &c. At the saw-mill were some excellent oak & black-walnut logs, of great value. The acorns of this valley are phenomenal in size and much relished by hogs which fatten readily upon them. The Indian nut—the pecan—grows here in quantities, but among the Indians prevails the very reprehensible practice of cutting down the tree to gather the fruit. It takes the trees 100 years to come to maturity, hence this destruction works great loss to what might become an interest of considerable value. Having shaken hands with our kind host and hostess, and the inmates of their hospitable house, we entered our conveyances and after a sharp drive of five hours in the face of a very cold North wind, covered the 35 m. between the Agency and Arkansas City, where we arrived, benumbed and fatigued. At the hotel, we met Major [George Morton “Jake”] Randall, Ass’t. Surgeon [John Monroe] Bannister, and Lt. Wood, U.S. Army. As I become more and more acquainted with the personnel of the Commission and its attachés, some reference may not be inappropriate. Of Genl. Crook, I have already in my journal, in various places, given a very full outline. Of Genl. Miles, I find it hard to express myself clearly without doing him an injustice; he is a man of considerable natural capacity

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and some merit: He is ignorant; almost illiterate, owing to lack of early education, but he reads a great deal and is doing all he can to remove or conceal his deficiencies. He is brave, energetic, and ambitious; selfish, conceited and inordinately vain. During the past seven years, through the influence of the Shermans and Camerons, with which families he is connected by marriage, he had been given considerable opportunities for doing hard work against the Indians on the North West border, that he had hard work to do and has done it well, no one can deny, but the methods employed by his relatives and by himself for parading his services before the country are not entitled to much eulogy. As a member of this Commission, he has been anxious to thrust himself forward as the most experienced of the list, but I err greatly, if he has not been the least of value of any. Personally, he has been very courteous to me and upon that score, I have nothing in the way of fault to find. Mr. Stickney is a well-meaning, psalm-singing Christian,—of that class whose religion has given them the heart-burn. He has travelled a great deal in foreign countries, especially in the Holy Land, of which he gave me a very bright description, last evening. Mr. Allen, the correspondent of the Boston Advertiser is a gentleman of great mental cultivation, a little bit too inclined to the humanitarian side of the Indian question and perhaps too much disposed to detect dishonesty in Mr. Schurz’s every act, but for all that a very intelligent, clear-headed, hard-working and valuable member of the Commission. Cap’t. Huggins, the son of a former missionary among the Sioux, was brought up in the tribe and speaks the language fluently: he has seen much service, especially in the Territory of Alaska.1 The Reverend Mr. Riggs and the Revd. Mr. Dorsey are both very excellent and intelligent gentlemen. The former has been for 12 yrs. a Congregational Missionary among the Santee Sioux, of which language he has compiled a very valuable grammar and Dictionary. Mr. Dorsey, now connected with the Bureau of Ethnology in the Smithsonian Institute, formerly represented the Episcopalian 1.╇ Huggins was with the initial contingent of U.S. troops sent to Alaska in 1868, following its purchase from Russia. He served there for more than two years, primarily on Kodiak Island. He later wrote a series of thirteen articles entitled “Men and Things in Alaska” for the Citizen, a weekly newspaper published in Minneapolis and St. Paul. See Foreman, “General Eli Lundy Huggins.”

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church among the Poncas, and speaks the language of that tribe with great ease. He entertained us last night for several hours in accounts of their tales and myths which he has learned while living with them. Maj. Roberts, I have already described. January 7th 1881. Mr. Allen, Mr. Haworth, Mr. Stickney and Genl. Miles came in from the Agency with the Indians & interpreters who are to accompany us. Day has been very cloudy. At 4 in the afternoon, left for Kansas City, Mo., viâ Newton. On the train met my class-mate, 1Lt. Chs. Morton, 3d Cavalry, returning from Santa Fé, New Mexico to Saint Louis, Mo: also met Lt. [James] Allen, 3d Cavy. and Hon. Mr. [Miguel Antonio] Otero, delegate from New Mexico.2 Our cars were filled with a large force of laborers on their way to the Rio Grande to work on the extensions of the Southern Pacific Transcontinental Railway system. At Kansas City, Mo., met the Hon. J. Sterling Morton, of Nebraska and Mr. William Chambers Q[uarter]. M[aster]. D[epartment]., Omaha, Neb. 2. Bourke means former delegate. Miguel Antonio Otero served two terms as delegate in the 1850s, but was defeated by Tranquilino Luna in a bid for election in 1880. See Lamar, New Encyclopedia, 836.

Chapter 12 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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anuary 8th 1881. Reached Fort Omaha, Nebr., Mr. Stickney going to Genl. Crook’s Qrs., Mr. Allen to Major Roberts’ and Captain Huggins to mine; the other members are to meet us at Council Bluffs. This night was fearfully cold—on our way to the Fort, the thermometer indicated -25°Fahr., but fortunately there was no wind. In the papers to-day appeared a telegram to Presdt. Hayes, purporting to have come from the Ponca Commission, announcing that at the convention held in Indian Territory, the Poncas had “enthusiastically and unanimously approved agreement made with the delegation lately in Washington”. This telegram it appears emanated from Mr. Stickney who endeavored to palliate his lack of discretion by saying that he had sent it to the President as a “personal” message. At 9 P.M., this day the thermometer indicated -28°Fahr. January 9th 1881 Remained at HdQrs. during morning, attending to official business &c. Day very cold. Left in the afternoon for Council Bluffs, Iowa, where we staid overnight at the U.P.R.R. dépôt, meeting the others of our party, Indians and all. This night was so cold that mercury froze in the Bulb. January 10th, 1881. Left Council Bluffs, Iowa for Running Water, 218

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Dakota, going by way of Chicago and North-Western R.R., to Missouri Valley Junction, thence by Sioux City & Pacific to Sioux City, Iowa, and from that point following along branches of the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul R.R. As I was seated alongside of Revd. Mr. Riggs and Revd. Mr. Dorsey, our conversation naturally drifted to Indian matters and especially to Indian therapeutics. I gave them an account of the sickness and cure of Chimahuevi-Sal, one of the prominent chiefs of the Apache-Yuma tribe in Arizona, living at Camp Date Creek1 in that Territory. This Indian, a handsome specimen of physical strength and beauty, was “taken down” with a violent attack of inflammation of the lungs, complicated with every variety of pulmonary and bronchial trouble, fever and indigestion. There were two or three Army Doctors at the post who jumped at the chance of experimenting with the case. They certainly displayed no niggardliness in the amount of medicines they gave their patient: commencing with a syrup of squills and parejovis[?], they put him through the whole Dispensatory, now giving him a dose of ipecae, now a little Tolns Cod liver oil in larger quantities to furnish heat inwardly and Croton Oil to furnish it on the outside. Then they gave him warm baths and applied mustard poultices to his feet. But no effect was perceptible—the sick man kept getting worse and worse, his cheeks were hollow, his voice tremulous and his eyes shone with the gleam of approaching dissolution. More than that, most wonderful thing of all, the poor Indian had no appetite. After swallowing half a bottle full of cod-liver oil, three or four teaspoonsfull of ipecae, taking four (5) [sic] grains quinine pills, having a pint of Croton oil rubbed on his chest and experiencing the stimulating effects of a mustard foot bath, Chimahuevi’s system “failed to respond”, as the medical men termed it, and he refused to notice the food set before him. There was but one thing for our gentlemanly Sawbones to do and they did it; they declared Chimahuevi’s time had come; that he hadn’t many more hours to live and that he should settle up all his mundane affairs and turn his thoughts to the joys awaiting him on the Shining Shore. But Chimahuevi-Sal didn’t seem to enter very enthusiastically into the Shining Shore business; to be candid, he most decidedly “bucked” 1.╇ Camp Date Creek, originally designated Camp McPherson, was established sixty miles southwest of Prescott to guard the reservation for the Yavapais, Mojaves, and affiliated groups. It was abandoned after the reservations and military posts were consolidated. Atlshuler, Starting with Defiance, 25–26.

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against the idea of joining the Angel Band. This world was plenty good enough for the likes of him and he purposed remained [sic] in it to the very utmost limit of possibility. So he summoned the “head medicine man” of his nation. It must be understood that among the Indians of Arizona, a medicine man can “pitch in” and slay with perfect immunity from responsibility until he has planted seven of his victims under the daisies, or rather under the crocuses, because they don’t have daisies in that part of the country. His loss of popularity in the tribe is then intimated to him by a Committee who take him and roast him to death; that is if they can catch him. As a general thing, medicine men who have buried six patients prefer to retire from active practice and leave the field to younger men; this is a rule which might be observed with advantage in our boasted higher civilizations, but for some reason, our medicine men are not limited as to the number of their victims and consequently never know exactly when to retire from the front ranks of professional life, as their Apache-Mojave brethren do.2 As may be supposed, our American practitioners were fearfully discomfited by Chimahuevi’s action in sending for the Apache-Mojave Doctor and became very much exasperated at such Lieutenants as ventured to ask in a solemn kind of way if the Indian had been “called in for consultation with them”. Such a query whenever made, and it was truly astonishing how many lieutenants were making it about that time, was always sure to produce an explosive torrent of expletives against all the dash-dash-dash-dashed Indians in America and all the dash-dash-dashed idiot Lieutenants in the U.S. Army. The anger of our Medical Staff was somewhat assuaged but not wholly appeased by our rather lame explanations that we were merely in quest of enlightenment upon a point of professional etiquette and that had we even so much as dreamed that our gentlemanly, talented and experienced friends of the Medical Corps had been superseded by a savage Indian we should, from motives of delicacy, have carefully refrained from making any allusion to the subject. Somehow or another, our apologies only made the “paleface medicine men” all madder and evoked another storm of objurgation upon the dashdash-dash-dashed Idiot Lieutenants which we felt, in our hearts, was intended to have a very personal application. 2.╇ Bourke discussed the native practices in “The Medicine-Men of the Apache,” first published in 1892, and reprinted in 1993 as “Apache Medicine-Men.”

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To be brief, Chimahuevi Sal sent for his Indian medicine man, told him that the pale faced pill-carpenters had failed most ignominiously in their efforts to restore him to health and concluded by promising the Apache-Mojave doctor his all important friendship in case he succeeded in “pulling him through” his troubles. The medicine man accepted the contract and at once began to make his diagnosis: in this he was a great deal more expeditious than the white Doctors had been. They had come to no sort of a definite conclusion: from their remarks, one might judge that Chimahuevi Sal was suffering from a trifle of everything—mumps, bronchitis, cerebro-spinal meningitis and Bright’s disease, without any absolute certainty as to which was most serious in its indications. In the earnestness of his conclusions, as in the promptness with which he arrived at them, the medicine man again showed his power. He had only to thump the sick man on the chest once or twice to be able to announce in a very precise and dogmatic way that a spirit had seized upon Chimahuevi, and had to be dispossessed before the sick chief could get on his “pins” again. Everything was soon ready for the exorcism—The medicine man appeared, naked to the waist and daubed from head to foot with paint and powder; his long black hair, in which a few feathers hung, dangled loose to his waist: in each hand he held a gourd filled with shot which rattled in a fearfully dismal accompaniment as he thumped himself in the ribs with his elbows and howled a blood-curdling lay. Half the young bucks of the tribe had been sworn in as deputies and seated themselves in a circle around the dying man, upon whose naked breast, the half-healed blisters proclaimed the abortive efforts of the pale-faced Doctors. Within the extended circle a few old wrinkled hags were working over a little fire of juniper branches, in an iron camp kettle borrowed from the Quartermaster’s Department. In this kettle they had made a fearful mess, by boiling water with tobacco, coffee-grounds and bug-worms, which latter they would crack open to let the green “jism” run out. Then singing (!) commenced, the boss medicine man leading off in a howl that would have made a coyote ashamed of himself, and followed by all the bucks and squaws whose din showed they were engaged in a work of love. I don’t know how long this performance was continued; I had to leave the post, the coming of the day it commenced, but for the whole time that I was within ear-shot, the dismal noise of the

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thump, thump, thump of the drum and iron kettles, the rattling of gourds and the howls of the singers were maintained without the slightest sign of intermission. The recovering of Chimahuevi Sal was accomplished speedily; the Demon which possessed him could endure all the tortures our Doctors had inflicted upon him, but when it came to listening to the music (!) of the Apache-Mojaves, it found it hadn’t the necessary fortitude, as it retreated in a very hurried and undignified manner. Chimahuevi Sal celebrated his restoration by going on the war-path. It took our troops nearly three months to drive him and his little band back to the Reservation, such was the rugged and inaccessible character of the mountains in which he took refuge: Captain A. H. Nickerson, 23rd Infantry, (at that time A.D.C., upon Genl. Crook’s Staff and now a major in the Adjutant General’s Department, at Washington) and Captain James Burns, 3rd Cavalry, since dead, were entrusted with this duty and performed it well and notwithstanding the great trouble Chimahuevi-Sal gave, I never heard either of them say an unkind word about him; maybe the sufferings he had undergone at the hands of our “medicine men”, may have seemed to them to have justified any measure of retaliation. Yet our Doctors always maintained a bold front on this point and stoutly averred that it was their treatment which had saved Chimahuevi Sal’s life: that the Croton blister had drawn all the inflamation from his lungs and that the only thing needed after that was rest, which, perhaps, the tortured “invalid” found in the howls and yells and drumming of the Apache conjurors. I thought I noticed, after this occasion, that whenever any of the Lieutenants who had scoffed at the failure of our Doctors and extolled the greater skill of the Indian “professors”,—whenever any of these Lieutenants had an attack of indisposition,—no matter what its nature,— dyspepsia, malaria or jaundice, our medical men put him through a course of sprouts and drenched him with all the vile compounds in the laboratory—just to get even, I suppose. We arrived at Sioux City, Iowa, at dinner time; this town, on the East Bank of the Missouri river, 100 miles North of Omaha, has grown to be a Rail Road center of considerable importance touched by main or branch lines of the Sioux City and Pacific, Illinois Central, Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul, Omaha and St. Paul, Southern Dakota, Saint Paul & Sioux City and other lines. Thermometer here this morning indicated -26° Fahr. We took the Milwaukee and Saint

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Paul road to Canton Junction, Dakota. This is a growing young place, the point of intersection of two branches of the Milwaukee & Saint Paul R.R. It has a brick bank, several churches, a number of nice dwellings and a couple of hotels. We saw a number of men hauling ice to a store-house. This ice was beautiful, it was 26 inches thick, clear as glass and compact as iron. At 8 P.M., the Ponca Commission met in room 20, Naylor House, all the members present. The proceedings of the last meeting were read and approved, after which the Revd. Mr. J. Owen Dorsey was examined. Questioned by Mr. Allen. Q. Did you live among the Poncas at one time? A. I did at one time, from May 1871 until August 1873. Q. In what capacity? A. As missionary, under the Indn. Commisn. of the P[rotestant]. E[piscopal]. church, which comn. has its HdQrs in Bible House, N.Y. Q. Where were the Poncas then? A. They were living on the old Reservation in two villages, about eight miles apart; one on the Niobrara near the Island where Standing Bear now is and the other at the Agency, where the mission was established. Q. Please make a statement as to the condition of Indians at that time; as to their civilization, their disposition both towards their white friends & Indian neighbors and what progress they had made in agriculture and education. A. At that time, they were on friendly terms with the Santees and Yanktons. They told me that previous to 1868, they were the allies of the Brulé Sioux with whom they intermarried. Those were their near Indian neighbors. When I was with them, they were on friendly terms with the Omahas, but they told me that, previous to 1868, they had joined the Brulé Sioux in war against the Omahas and Pawnees. A nephew of Spotted Tail was in the Ponca camp when I was there,— adopted into that tribe; his name was Flying Eagle. He has since died; I have seen him. This very man down-stairs—Cheyenne—who has been selected by them as one of their delegates to accompany us from the Indian Territory to the old Ponca Agency,—is a DakotaYankton Sioux, adopted into the Ponca tribe and living with them many years. I found them on friendly terms with the whites; many

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of them were anxious to go out during harvest time and work for the whites, living on Niobrara and in that vicinity, but, as I was informed by the Agent, there was a Regulation prohibiting that. At the same time they were drawing no regular rations and they could not take up claims on the Reservation, because they feared the attacks of the Brulé Sioux, as the two villages of Poncas had to keep together. I have mentioned that, previous to 1868, they were on friendly terms with the Brulés, but subsequent to that time, I understand from the Poncas, ill-feelings were engendered on account of the treaty ceding to the Sioux the lands of the Poncas;—the Sioux began to commit depredations upon the Poncas. There was not a regular state of War,—only occasional raids. From the time the snow disappeared until the snow came again, they were in constant fear of the inroads of the Brulés. Several times while I was there, the Brulés attacked the Poncas. On one occasion, they came in daylight and the fight lasted about four hours. I understood there were sixtyseven mounted Brulés & Ogallalas in the party. In 1870, the Poncas promised their friend.—Mr. William Welsh, a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners—that they would not take revenge upon the Sioux, but they would ask the Department to grant them damages out of any funds belonging to the Sioux.3 I know that the chiefs endeavoured to keep that promise: the leading men of the tribe certainly exerted all their influence in that direction and they succeeded except perhaps in one instance. Some of the young men stole off from the lower village, (the island,) and in a few days they returned with a number of ponies. This was just after some of the Sioux had been down and taken ponies from some of the Poncas. I should have said there was another fight between the Sioux and Poncas in open daylight, which occurred after this stealing of ponies. This state of hostility continued during my stay. As to their desire for farming;—in 1871, they planted; the Sioux came down and pulled up the corn, saying they would not allow the Poncas to live like white people. The Poncas replanted; a part of the crop was injured by hail. In 1872, each head of a family had his piece of land laid off under cultivation and the crops were in fine condition, when the grass-hoppers came. I cannot say how large 3.╇ William Welsh was the uncle of Herbert Welsh who, together with Henry Pancoast, founded the Indian Rights Association in Philadelphia in 1882. Hoxie, Encyclopedia, 171; Mathes, Helen Hunt Jackson, 6.

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the crops were, nor how large the farms were: the pieces of land were given to the heads of families by the Agent and some of these farms were fenced in. The crops were looking very well indeed, but one day the grass-hoppers destroyed about half. About two weeks after that, there came a whirl-wind and hail-storm which destroyed nearly all the crops that remained. I understand that the men of the Niobrara or lower village, led by White Eagle himself, went out to the wheat-field and with hatchets or knives tried to cut the wheat in their fields by the handfull gathering it in their blankets. In 1872, those who lived at the Agency village, planted near the Missouri; at the time of the June rise, the river carried away all of their crops. It cut in beyond their fields, coming in nearly ¾ of a mile behind them. I should have said that in 1870 they planted, and the sun burned up their crops;—there was a drought and they were on the verge of starvation when Mr. Welsh visited them in the Fall and purchased some food which kept them until the spring of 1871, when I first saw them. They were very industrious and desirous of supporting themselves and their families. I cannot say how much land they had, under cultivation. I know of two chiefs who broke ten A[cres]. apiece for the Agent, for wages, besides what they broke for themselves. They have come to me repeatedly, begging for work, I employed them, I made work for them. I would have them pile wood in one place and then have them pile it in another. I was instructed to pay them out of mission funds, sometimes in clothing, sometimes in cash: this was to encourage industry among them. There was a saw and grist-mill there; some were employed there and some in blacksmith shop; some in carpenter shop and some as herders. They traded with the people outside at Niobrara, but of this, I speak only from hearsay. They lived in log-houses made by themselves, not at Government Expense; they were 18’ x 32’, one story high, roofed with earth. There must have been in the neighborhood of two hundred at one time. The row at the Agency formed an obtuse angle and must have been over a mile long. At first they had dirt-floors;—then plank. I know of one Indian who paid another $30 for the logs for his home. There were 747 Poncas, all told when I went there. I have a list of their houses at home, but not here. Q. by General Crook. How many Poncas were there when you

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left? Ans. About Seven hundred & Twenty Five. The first years were healthy, 1871, 1872. But the Summer of 1873, was unhealthy, owing to rank vegetation, stagnant water from the “June rise” and cut-ins by the Missouri river. The disease was of a malarial type. I myself was sick for over a month: I had to go to Yankton for nineteen days; about 15 @ 20 died. Q. by General Crook. Did they not increase any between 1871– 1873? A. I cannot say. I don’t think they did. The births about equalled the deaths. Q. by Mr. Allen. Did they show any disposition to improve their houses, as they were able? Ans. Yes. The first thing they desired was bedsteads; they didn’t wish to sleep on the ground. Next they asked for chairs and tables; the Agency carpenter was instructed to make them for them. I believe they were given to them. Then they said they wished floors to their houses because when they were eating, some one might come in and dust would arise & get in their food. Then they wished closets to hold their dishes and a number of them had curtains put before the shelves to keep the dust off their dishes. Each family had one stove and most of them had two:—one Heating and one Cooking. As hope grew in abundance there, the ladies of the Mission taught them how to make yeast: Then they were taught to make bread. There were more applicants than the ladies could teach and the wife of my interpreter and several other Ponca women, having learned themselves, became teachers, and assisted the ladies. They brought us specimens of the bread they had made—very good bread,—of which they were proud. The women had learned to do their washing on Monday, instead of on Saturday. A number of the men wore citizen’s4 clothing. As to their desire for education, previous to 1871, they had had two teachers; one, a white man, who was under the influence of liquor part of the time. I heard this from the Indians, and he would often direct Samuel Gayton, one of the Indian boys who knew a little English,— to instruct the smaller scholars,—teach them their alphabet. The next teacher was a Half-Breed—David Le Chair—whose knowledge of English is by no means perfect. The 3d teacher was a Mr. James 4.╇ I.e., white.

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Lawrence, subsequently their Agent. He recd. $75 per mo. & was, I think, the only good teacher they had had up to that time. He taught from June 1871 until March 1872—about nine months. I commenced my work in assisting him; when he caused the school to become a mission School, under the P[rotestant].E[piscopal]. Board. I taught myself part of the time and at other times the School was conducted by two lady missionaries. At one time, there were four ladies on duty there. Q. by General Crook. About how much progress had the Indians made up to the time you left there? A. A number of children were in the 2nd Reader; and a number of the Adults were so far advanced, they acted as interpreters for the ladies. They learned all this in the school, commencing at the alphabet. One man could speak English before I went there. I had a school for adults in the afternoon; the men were very eager to learn. I had over forty under me; one old man over 60, came to learn to read & I had to refuse him. There were about 50 children in the school from both villages. They did not live at school: Those from the lower village lived with their relatives in the upper village and we took all the children we could into our family: at one time, we had six. We had a church; at first we held services in the school-house: we occupied by permission of Government, a dwelling as Mission House; two rooms were used as a school and on Sunday for religious services. Afterwards, we built a church. The Indians helped by hauling lumber. The Indians were faithful in attendance upon service and shamed the whites. The morning service was held especially for them and they came in great-numbers. I spoke in English. The afternoon service was designed for the whites and timed to suit their convenience; on an average, not more than one employee was in attendance; sometimes two, but the Indians attended almost as much in the afternoon when they didn’t understand well, the services being in English—as in the morning, when the services were entirely for the Indians. Seventeen adults were confirmed and fourteen children. None [of the children?] confirmed. We had no Sunday School. Their general character for sobriety and for honesty was good. I could trust my property and my life among them. The young men were up to the average of Indians in similar circumstances, in morality. After I left, there was an intermission of some months and then Dr. Gray, a candidate for holy orders, succeeded me and remained for

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some time. I have no previous knowledge of the removal of these Poncas. I have been a correspondent with them. I was employed, under the orders of Major [John Wesley] Powell, now of the Ethnological Bureau of the Smithsonian Institute,—who asked me to get as many Indian letters as possible, to write to as many Indians as I could and to preserve the originals for his Office for linguistic purposes;—just to show their mode of thought and expression. I wrote letters at request of members of the Omaha tribe to their relations among the Poncas in Indian Terry. This was in the latter part of 1878 and up to February 1879, perhaps, a little later. I wrote no letters to the Poncas after April 3rd 1879, because I received on that day a letter from Agent [Jacob] Vore of the Omahas, enclosing one from the Indian Bureau, signed by E. J. Brooks, Acting Commissioner, of which I’ll give the substance. Mr. Brooks referred to a letter from Agent Whitman [sic] of the Poncas, in Indian Ty. in which letter Mr. Whitman stated that there was much dissatisfaction among the Poncas and a strong desire to return to their old home in Dakota; that this dissident faction was caused, in his opinion, by sundry letters received by the Poncas purporting to come from sundry Omaha Indians; that these letters contained expressions which were calculated to cause this dissatisfaction and that the letters were written by me (Dorsey.). I cannot say whether Mr. Whitman made the request or whether it was made by Mr. Brooks himself, but anyhow, a request was made in that letter to me, not to allow myself to be used in that way by the Omahas in the future and I was asked to eliminate from all letters I wrote from the Omahas to the Poncas such objectionable expressions. I replied to Agent Vore’s letter, saying that when I wrote for the Omahas to the Poncas, it was in accordance with instructions from Major Powell in Washington and I sent a copy to Commissioner Hayt saying I had the originals of the Indian letters on file and that they should be published in the future. To avoid a recurrence of such a thing, I determined to write no more letters from the Omahas to the Poncas. Q. by Mr. Stickney. Which of the tribes are in closest affinity with the Poncas? A. The Omahas; they speak the same language. Q. by General Crook. What are their affiliations with the Santees? A. They are intermarried a good deal with them, but they speak an entirely different language.

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Q. by General Miles. So far as you know, were the letters sent from the Omahas to the Poncas of a nature to create dissatisfaction? A. I was not aware at the time of sending these letters that they contained anything of a nature to create trouble, or I should not have sent them; and I remember distinctly having declined to send one letter because I thought it might make trouble. Q. by Mr. Allen. Have the Indian letters yet been published by Major Powell? A. No, Sir. I have the originals in the office in Washington. Q. How many bands or divisions of the Poncas are there. A. According to their own organization, there are, organized as follows: Typewritten and signed report pasted in the diary, manuscript volume 38, pages 976 and facing 977. ORGANIZATION OF THE PONKA CLANS OR GENTES. The Ponkas now have but nine clans, one, the Ne-shta, being extinct. Of the first clan, HI’-SA-DA, The Chief is the head. He was in Washington in December. Big Soldier is the head of the next. He was in Washington. The next but one to him, Cries for war [sic], is with Standing Bear. White Eagle is the present head of the third clan, DHI-GHIDA. Next to him is Smoke-maker (with Standing Bear), whose father was head of the clan before Eagle’s father.5 The 6th. chief of this clan (on my list in 1879) is Big Buffalo, now in I.T. Of the NO-KA-PA-SHNA clan Black Crow is head. Hairy Bear is head of the MA-KA″ clan. Raises others, and Over the land, are two under chiefs of this clan who are in IT. Hey Chief is about the only chief of the WASHA-BE- CLAN in the I.T. Three others, two being heads of sub-clans, are with Standing Bear. They are Bird head (head of sub-clan, and keeper of a sacred pipe); Black Elk (head of sub-clan), and Buffalo Chips 5.╇ Smoke Maker and nine others had left the Territory in 1878, and taken refuge at the Yankton Agency in Dakota Territory. The government took no action in that case. Mathes and Lowitt, Standing Bear Controversy, 47.

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(keeper of a sacred pipe). The NE-SHTA clan has become extinct. Standing Buffalo is head of the Dark Osage clan. Standing Bear is head of the Gray Osage clan; while Red Leaf, who represented this clan in Washington, is next to Standing Bear. When I met the delegation in Washington, the chiefs told me that of the last clan, the NU-GHE, Stands-at-the-end and his son were alive. According to my list, obtained in 1879-80, Stands-atthe-end is a chief of this clan. It was not represented at Washington when the paper was signed. When I was with the Commission at the present Ponka Agency, I was met by a claimant to the headship or chieftaincy of this gens. He expected that the others had brought him a chief’s medal from Washington. He made the claim in behalf of himself and Stands dark-in-the-distance. His own name is I-shta-ba-su’do (Buffalo calf) Sheds off the hair next the eyes. Children of white fathers by Ponka mothers have no status in the organization by clans or gentes. The sacred laws handed down from the ancestors of the Ponkas, have no application to them. Of what is now called “the half-breed band” Michel Gorre (Hard Walker) and Frank LaFleche (White Swan) are counted chiefs. Buffalo chief (Macdonald) belongs to this band and may be a chief in it, but not in the tribe. Michel used to be “the business chief.” What clan Buffalo chief represented at Washington, I am unable to say. Perhaps he and White Swan signed for the half-breeds. SUMMARY: Clans I. HI’-SA-DA. The Chief, head; at Washington. II. WA-SA’-BE-HI-TA’-ZHI. Big Soldier, head; at Washington. III. DNI-GHI-DA. White Eagle[,] head; at Washington. IV. NI’-KA-PA’-SHNA. Black Crow, head; at Washington. V. MA-KA″. Hairy Bear, head; ditto. VI. WA-SHA’-BE. Boy Chief, at Washington; three chiefs with

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Standing Bear. VII. NE’-SHTA. Extinct. VIII. DARK OSAGES. Standing Buffalo, head; at Washington IX. GRAY OSAGES. Standing Bear, head; NOT at Washington. (Red Leaf there). X. NU-GHE. NOT represented at Washington. Uhañ’-gena’zhi”, a chief; two claimants, Stands-dark-in-the-distance, and Sheds-hair-next-the-eyes. Half-breeds at Washington: White Swan, and Buffalo Chief. Respectfully submitted by (Rev.) J. Owen Dorsey. Ledgesville, W.Va. Jan 22, 1881 Received from Mr. Dorsey by mail in Washington, D.C., in Jany. 1881. Bourke’s transcript of the hearing continues. Q. by General Miles. Referring to their progress in agriculture during the time you were with them, 1871–1873, please state what portion of the tribe were supporting themselves, wholly or in part, by cultivating the ground? A. All of them, so far as I could ascertain. They received no regular rations & all seemed anxious to work. Q. Do you know what number of families had small farms or gardens? A. I do not know; I can’t recall the number, but I remember that one summer, from the Mission House, we issued packages of seeds to 50 families, besides what the Agent distributed. Every thing planted that year came up splendidly; the land was extremely rich and well adapted for cultivation. Q. Please state for how many years had the Poncas been cultivating the ground? A. I don’t know anything prior to 1870, I never knew anything about the Poncas, prior to 1870, when Mr. Welsh came back. Q. by Mr. Allen. What do you think of the productiveness of the Ponca Reservation in Dakota? A. I don’t know for all of it; there were three portions of it very good; the valley of the Niobrara, the valley of Ponca Creek and the Missouri river bottom, near the Agency village: these were the best parts of

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it,—fine soil,—everything came up,—well adapted for agriculture. Q. Were they receiving annuities or rations at that time? A. Only a small amount of annuities; I can’t tell how much. Rations, only in great exigencies. I have known Poncas to die of starvation in the time when the crops were not yet harvested. They had cattle and ponies and hogs and fowl and agricultural implements to some extent. Whenever they wanted implements they would borrow them from the Agency; I have often written notes for them to the Agent, asking for the loan of a plow for them. At eleven p.m., the Commission adjourned after having first read over and Approved the Proceedings of this Meeting. January 11th 1881. At one o’clock in the morning, took the train for Marion Junction, Dakota, which we reached in two hours. The cars were crowded, every seat being taken. At the Junction, took the train for Running Water, Dakota: this part of the journey had no redeeming features; we were packed in like sardines, the weather fearfully cold with the mercury down somewhere in the neighborhood of 40° below zero. The car not well warmed, the air foul and in every sense the ride was most inconvenient and disagreeable. From the terminus of the R.R., we crossed in sleighs to the West Bank of the Missouri River, to the little town of Niobrara, Neb.,* at the mouth of the little stream of the same name, where we found accomodations, so to style them, at the Hubbard House, a small affair, but the best in town. We ate a pretty good breakfast and then some of our older members retired for a nap, not having had much rest for several nights. Mr. Fox, who said he was one of the lawyers of the town, drove up in a sleigh and very kindly took Roberts, Allen and myself for a drive. We passed along several of the streets, enough to show us the town was a thriving little borough with a pop. of 500. It has grown up from nothing in the past two years: on every street, is a miserable “hotel”, and there is also a Brewery, at which we stopped to drink a glass of beer, cold as charity and not very good. The Thermometer at the Brewery indicated -14° F. Snow lay to a great depth, in places 12 @ 14 in. on a level and in drifts of at least 5 ft., Mr. Fox said that this was the severest winter known for years. Crossing the Niobrara river to a large island, we reached the village of the Poncas,—consisting both of tépis and log-houses. *Bourke’s footnote: 270 miles from Omaha, Neb.

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The Chief—Standing Bear and his brother, Yellow Horse, David, and the old chief Smoke Maker and several others came up to shake hands, but our stay was too brief to let us say or see much. The Poncas have ponies, wagons, cattle, hogs, hay and wood piles and other indications of thrift and increasing comfort. A supply of blankets had just reached them from friends in Omaha, Neb., which they were engaged in distributing among their women & children. This year, they have cultivated over 100 A[cres]. of corn, which is stored in granaries and have been, with the exception of some little assistance from sympathizing friends in Boston, and Omaha, independent of outside help.

Chapter 13 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

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owards noon, Standing Bear and others came over to our Hotel; there they met Cheyenne, Hairy Bear and Peter Primand. When Standing Bear met the two old men, they kissed each other warmly but when it came to Primand’s turn, the young man did not venture upon a kiss, but simply pressed his cheek against the old man’s cheek in a very respectful manner. At 2 P.M., the Ponca Commission assembled in the Academy of Music. There were Present Brigadier General Crook, U.S. Army. Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles, U.S. Army. Mr. William Stickney, Washington, D.C. Mr. Walter Allen, Newton, Mass. Major C. S. Roberts, A.D.C., Lt. John G. Bourke, A.D.C. And Capt. E. L. Huggins. Revd. Mr. Dorsey and David Le Clair, as interpreters. The following Chiefs present: Standing Bear, Little Ice, Bird Head, Smoke-maker, Cries for War, Broken Jaw, Black Elk, Buffalo Chips, Missouri Timber and a full delegation of Standing Bear’s band. A number of civilians present. 234

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General Crook. Mr. Dorsey, explain to them that we come here by order of the President, to find out their situation. We have just been down to Indian Territory and seen that part of the Band and now we have come here to see them & learn from themselves their condition and to satisfy ourselves as far we can what is for their best interests; and we want them to answer all questions as put to them unreservedly and they can rest assured that we are their friends and that they can speak freely. (Revd. Mr. Dorsey read & translated to them the President’s letter of instructions to the Commission, which can be seen on [167–68]. State to them that we have heard the story of their removal so often that we don’t care to hear it again but want them to give us the story from the time they left Indian Territory up to the present time. We want their story in as few words as possible, so as to save time. Standing Bear (dressed in civilian garb.) I do not think that we have made this day but I think that God has caused it, and my heart is glad to see you all here. Why should I tell you a different word? I have told to God my troubles and why should I deceive Him? I have told my troubles to Him. Whatever God does is good, I think; even if a thing happens which may not suit us or which may be unfortunate, still God causes it, I think. If a man gets by accident or puts himself into a bad place, or gets frightened, he remembers God and asks Him to help him. You have seen that land, my friends: God made us there, my friends, and He made you too, but I have been very weak. You have driven me from the East to this place and I have been here two thousands years or more. (David—The oldest man here cannot recollect when our people came here.) I don’t know how it came about that I encountered misfortune. My friends, they spoke of carrying me away. I was unwilling. “My friends, if you took me away from this land, it would be very hard for me. I wish to die in this land. I wish to be a very old man here”. As I was unwilling they fastened me and made a person of me and carried me to the Fort—(Fort Randall.)1 When I came back, the soldiers came with their guns and bayonets. The aimed their guns at us and our people and our children were crying. This was a very 1.╇ Standing Bear refers to his arrest and detention at Fort Randall in 1876, where he was held for ten days. See Robinson, General Crook, 233; Mathes and Lowitt, Standing Bear Controversy, 29–30; Greene, Fort Randall, 120–22.

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different thing that was done to me. I had hoped the Great Father had not done this thing to me, forcing me to leave this land. They took me and carried me without stopping: they travelled all day until night came, and they carried me down to Baxter Springs. (David. Where there are rocks and lead mines which have been dug out.) I reached that place & while I was there I think that fully 150 of my people died. The land was truly bad and so I came back again. One of the employees of the President—a commissioner—came to see me: I said to him: “I am going back to my own land. I have never given it to you. I have never sold it to you. You have not paid me for it. I am going back to my own land. The Lawyers, Ministers and those who are with them, those who control the land and God Himself, if He desire[s] it;—all will help me”. I came back and there was some talk of this affair; they took pity on me, just as you here take pity on me, and there was a suit brought about it in the Courts and the affair was settled and I came back successful. Some of my people have gone to my Great Father in Washington,—are they there now? (General Crook. No. They’ve gone back.) My friend, I haven’t got much brain, but you whites have a great deal of brain. The Indians do not know much but the Great Father has caused you to come to look into our affairs. I refer to this land, not knowing about it; the Indians are ignorant about it. When they went from Indian Territory to sell this land, they didn’t know about it and the Great Father should have told them correctly. Which of the Great Fathers was it? He should have released me, let me alone. Which of the Great Fathers was it? (Was it the Dutchman with the eye-glasses?) (The sentence in...brackets was suppressed in the report submitted by the Commission.) What I am going to tell you here, will take me until dark. Since I have got from the Territory up to this time, I have not wished to give even a part of it to the Great Father. Tho’ he were to give me a million dollars, I would not give him the land. Even if the Great Father should wish to buy a part of the land from me, the Indians up the river would be hear of it [sic] and would be unwilling. (meaning the Santees, Minneconjoux and other tribes of the Sioux.) My friends, I have been in our lands:—to Omaha, Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington—all these cities & I have been to the Dakotas and they (the Sioux) have given me my land back (David. explained that last summer the Poncas went up to Spotted Tail Agency and had a grand

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council with the Dakotas and that Spotted Tail had told his people they must not retain this land, but must give it back to the Poncas who wanted to live upon it.) I wish to take back my people from Indian Ty. I wish them to live[.] I haven’t heard what you’ve done with regard to them. If the Secretary is sick or foolish, I hope you’ll act as physician and heal him. (Great laughter among the Indians.) I mean the one who speaks German. If one man cheats another, tries to make sport of him or to kill him, and the other party finds out his danger, he don’t have anything more to do with him; he lets him go to one side. I refer to the land. When they went to the Great Father to sell the land, which land did they mean? They live in Indian Ty.: did they want to sell that land, or to sell this where I live and which is mine? One thing I forgot: the land in which you dwell, my friends, is your own: who would come from another quarter to take it away from you? Your land is your own & so are your things, and you wouldn’t like anybody to come and try to take them away from you. If men want to trade they say “how much do you want for that piece of property? What price do you put upon it?[”] But nothing of that kind was said. They came and took me away without saying a word. Whenever I went travelling, this man went with me and he has all the words of those people & he will tell them to you. Missouri Timber (speaking in Dakota through Mr. Riggs.) When a man first addresses any one, he should first make mention of God. God alone is able to make anything or anyone and so it is entirely unfit that He should be forgotten if one is to speak. My friends I am an Indian, but as the Great Father has given you a commission to travel about, so I have been commissioned by the Indian chiefs to travel about and now my friends, you will hear what they said to me. Last summer when they had a great gathering and all the Indian tribes were collected together, I was there. There are here now representatives from two parts of the Ponca people: It was the wish of this Great Council that this Ponca people should be troubled no longer. That Council was held for the sake of favoring anything that was good; for the sake of all things sent to us from the President. Eleven tribes there ratified to the Poncas their possession of this land and gave them a writing in assurance of the same which Smoke-Maker has with him to-day. The land occupied by these tribes is all one land and belongs to all

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the Indian people and not to any one tribe of them. (Revd. Mr. Riggs explained that he meant what is called the Great Sioux Reserve.) Therefore they appointed these men, the Poncas, the guardians of the extremity of this land and gave a paper to be presented to all white men in witness of this. General Crook. Tell him to be certain to bring that paper here tomorrow morning. We want to see it and get a copy of it. Standing Bear (Revd. Mr. Dorsey Interpreter.) If a man forgets something in telling a story he wants to speak again, so you can understand fully and have his story straight. You are here on some business:—to do some work—to make our affairs straight for us and I am very glad to see you on that account. My friends, now I’ve no troubles at all. I work for my living and I get food. Why should I have 2 or 3 hearts? It is not so: I prize this land very much. The Great Father doesn’t regard me.2 I am working for myself. I am an Indian and am working for myself. My friends. You are here as Doctors and you walk about in that business & so I tell you. Why should I tell you 2 or 3 stories? Smoke-Maker. My friends, When I see these four persons, it makes me very glad: because my friends wish to hear the story exactly as it is, it makes me very glad. I had a number of possessions on this land and they made me suffer very much by removing me and depriving me of them. My friend says he wants to hear all about this and I believe he does; he speaks the truth. My friend here (General Crook.) knows all the story; how we were taken to the Territory and how we came back and how I lost my children down there and I came back and took refuge in this land. The ministers and other people helping me I have come back to my land; I am, as it were, born again and so I live there; and they, my Christian friends, having helped me, I have received farming implements and I raised a large crop; and I have logs, chickens and stock. My Christian friends truly desired me to live, I thought. They sent me some provisions at first until I could raise some for myself and I have been doing very well here since. I heard something about selling a piece of land and I thought those Poncas in Indian Ty., must have sad hearts and that they waned to sell that land; but this land, I have here and I prize it very highly. I went to see Spotted Tail and the other Sioux up the river; they took pity on me and received me very kindly and gave 2.╇ By this, he meant he received no government support.

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me some food. And they gave me a paper, saying they gave me back my land and they wished me to dwell at the end, meaning that they took us in and considered us as Sioux and made us the end band of their tribe. They gave me ponies so I could work my land and so I depend upon both sides; upon them, the Sioux and upon you who have come here. Yes, I depend upon both of you; upon you and upon them and when I went up there they gave me one hundred ponies. I am very glad to see you, my friends, to-day. General Crook. Tell them I saw them last spring when they were in great trouble, but altho’ I sympathized with them, I wasn’t then in a position to help them. I am glad to see them getting along so well. Now we come in a different capacity and one in which we come to help them; we want them to assist us in this matter. We can’t do anything ourselves, but we can recommend to the President. We know their story and know more about the ways of the whites than they do and we want to recommend that which will be best for their interests in all time to come. We have seen the rest of their tribe in Indian Territory and we want to make such a recommendation as will secure justice to those down there and to these also. Altho’ those people down there signed a paper to sign away this land, that itself does not settle the matter (Here a bench broke down and tumbled a dozen chiefs to the floor; great laughter among the Indians.) Do these Indians know what was in the paper the others signed? Answer. We do not know it at all. General Crook to Mr. Dorsey, Read it to them. (Revd. Mr. Dorsey read & translated the “Washington Agreement” to the Poncas.) General Crook. Tell them that the Chiefs signed this paper and when we went to Indian Ty. we saw the Poncas there and explained this paper to them and they all agreed to it, as they understood it. Now tell them I wish to state to them a few points which will enter into our calculations in making our Report to the President: in the 1st place, the Poncas in Indian Ty. are a great deal more numerous than those here & consequently own a greater portion of the land there than these do. Now those Poncas down there in Indian Ty. were very decided in their expressions to us that they wanted to remain down there. Now if those Indians don’t change their minds and want to remain down there and these don’t want to go down there, there is going to be some trouble about dividing this land and if both the

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agencies are kept up, it will necessitate two Agents & other officers which of course will increase the expense which must come out of their funds. Now what we want to do is recommend to the President such measures as will do justice to all the Poncas, those down in Indian Ty. and those here. General Miles. Please state to them, Mr. Dorsey, that if those Indians down there gave as a reason for changing their mind that they despaired of ever being able to get back there. Being under the impression that they must remain there, they desired to do the best they could: they were under the impression that they would get a stronger title to the land down there than they had to the land here, hence the chiefs signed the paper giving up their interest in the land here and the Indians down there endorsed their action under this same impression. Some of them told us that they should prefer to remain in that land whether they got any money or not and they also told us that that was the general opinion of the Poncas there. In our recommendation, we shall have to respect the interests of the Poncas in Indian Ty., as well as of these here and what we wish to ascertain is whether or not an arrangement can be made which shall be satisfactory to both parties. Nothing, up to the present time, is definitely settled. We believe it is within the power and the intention of the Government to do full and exact justice to all the Poncas, and for that reason, before taking any definite action, we should be glad to hear any suggestions or wishes they may have as to the settlement of this matter, because we desire to recommend such a settlement as shall be for the best interests of all. Mr. Allen. My friends, I am glad to see you: I have heard about the Poncas for a long time and many of the white people have heard about them and their troubles. Many white people have felt an interest in them and when they thought all the Poncas wanted to come back to their own land, these white people wanted they should. They knew some of the Poncas had left Indian Ty. and come back to their own land. They heard that the Poncas wanted to come back to their own land and they were trying to help them to do it. While they were working to do this they heard that the Poncas in Indian Ty. had sent a letter to the Secretary of the Interior. In the letter they said that they wished to remain where they were & wanted to sell their old land. They asked the Secretary of the Interior to let them come to Washington to make an agreement for the sale

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of their land and to settle all their affairs. The white people heard that the Poncas who were on the old Land wanted to stay on the old Land. The white people who were interested in the Poncas’ affairs told the President what they thought about them. The President is a very busy man with a great many things to attend to and had not the time to give so much attention to the Poncas’ trouble as some other people had: and when these white people told the President that they thought the Poncas had not been treated justly, he said he wanted to have them treated justly. They told the President that the Poncas on the Old Land had not sent any letter asking to sell their land but that those Poncas owned a share of the Old Land as well as the Poncas of Indian Ty. and that before the old lands were sold, what the Poncas on the Old Lands thought about it, ought to be known. The white men also said that they did not know what had made the Poncas in Indian Ty. change their minds about staying there. The President said he wanted the business to be made straight for all the Poncas. He said: “I will send some men down to the Poncas in Indian Ty. and to the Poncas in Dakota, to find out what the truth is in the matter”, and he said, “the old lands shall not be sold until these men come back to tell me what ought to be done”. So when the Poncas from Indian Ty. went to Washington, the President would not let them sell the lands. All that he would let them do and all that they did was to sign a paper, which said how they would be willing to sell the land. This paper, which was read to them, is not a bargain selling the land, but it is only a paper, telling what kind of a bargain the Poncas in Indian Ty. are willing to make. Now nothing more will be done about this business until this Commission gets back to Washington and tells the President what it thinks. If after the talk with all the Poncas, it seems best for them all to live in Indn. Ty., we shall say so; but if it seems best that all the Poncas shall come back to their old lands, we shall say that to the President. If it seems best that some Poncas shall stay in Ind. Ty. and some stay here, we shall tell the President that. So you see we shall not be able to make up our minds what to tell the President until we shall have learned the whole truth of the matter. We have been down to the Indn. Ty. We talked with the Poncas down there. They said that the Gov’t. wanted them to stay down there and some of them said they liked the land and the climate down there bet-

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ter than they used to and they had made up their minds that they would remain down there rather than make any further trial to get back here. Some of them said that the land down there was better than this land. One of them said that if the President would give him $20.000, he wouldn’t come back here. Now we have come up here to find out what you think of this matter and we want you to know just what the members of your band in Indian Ty. think about it, and so we have brought some of your friends along with us, that they and you may talk together about this matter. Perhaps you will persuade them that they had better come back here. Perhaps, they will persuade you that it is better for you to go down there. Perhaps you’ll not be able to agree, but you will see that if it is possible to agree, it will be better for all the Poncas to live together. Now, we are not going to you [sic] any more, now, but leave you to talk with your friends who come from the Indian Ty. who can explain the paper they have signed themselves and then we will all meet again at 8 o’clock to-night and then we want you should tell what you think of the matter after talking with your friends. The Commission hereupon adjourned. All day long we have been greatly annoyed by the obtrusive attentions of a lot of old “duffers”, claiming to be old friends of General Crook and General Miles: every one of them has a nose like a squashed tomato and a breath which ought to pay whiskey license and Internal Revenue Tax: I shall speak of these fellows again a little farther on. 8.00 o’clock P.M. The Commission met in the Academy of Music. Present Generals Crook and Miles and Mr. Allen. Major Roberts, Lieut. Bourke & Captain Huggins. Mr. Stickney, Absent. Sick. Revd. Mr. Dorsey and Riggs as interpreters. Same Indians present as at last meeting. Hairy Bear, having received permission from the Commission to speak to his people, said. (David Le Clair translating his remarks into English.) [Speaking to the Dakota Poncas, rather than to the commission] My friends, when I first saw you, you made my heart cry, you hugged me and kissed me. To-day, I want to say a few words to you. When our Indians down in Indian Ty. assembled in Council, they made this

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arrangement about their lands. My friends, I always think I wished I had a little more memory than I have to-day. My friends, to-day, they told you about the lands they have given to the Great Father. They have said so: it would be wrong to deny it. We have done it. My friends, it’s so long since we were together, we became tired of it and so our tribe got together and said they would sell their lands. No one caused it. They did it themselves. Then we got the letter from the Great Father, ordering us to come down to see him. My friends, I have said in the Council in the Ty. when they first mentioned about the lands: “That land is not our own: part of it belongs to our friends up there; we should find out what they have to say about it”—But they wouldn’t mind me. Now to-day we find ourselves together and you object to selling and that’s the thing I was afraid of when they first began to talk of selling. Now, friends, the chiefs are somewhat afraid of you. I thought I would come up and hear your own words. I have heard your words to-day. I said to them this, my friends, at the Council: “The Whites, (Mr. Tibbles and party,) are working for us both ways. I am afraid they have got tired of us so we had better make an arrangement for ourselves”. My friends, we got down to our Great Father. We asked him and he told us this: “has Standing Bear agreed upon this which you have said down in Indian Ty,” and, friends, Eagle said this to the Great Father. “Yes, Standing Bear is up there; he is entitled to a portion of the land and I want to do the fair thing by him”. Friends, when I started White Eagle told me this, “tell our friend Standing Bear up there that I am going to turn around and give our young people to him”. My friends, I don’t want to trouble you in this matter at all, but they told me to tell you what they have said to me. And also he meant for you (David.) that your brother down there wanted you to go down there. Myself, my friends, I feel bad between the two parties:—some of us here and some there. My friends, when the old chiefs were going to appoint us to be chiefs of the tribe, they told us one word which I believe was true; they told us this: “if we grew up without helping ourselves like we are now, we should be like a party of wolves, going around over the prairie and I believe we are so now. My friends, we heard of you that you have been all through the States, among the whites, working to try to get us back here: but we thought it was very true what we said down there that it was a very long time waiting and so we, concluded to

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settle the matter, one way or another. Friends, the Great Father, has told us this; to go back: that he would appoint four Commissioners to go down there to get our true Statement and then come up here to see you and learn what you had to say and get your statement fair & straight from you & what they have told you is all true. Mr. Allen. Mr. Dorsey ask if any others want to speak? Hairy Bear explained a remark in the message sent by White Eagle to Standing Bear as meaning that if Standing Bear came down to Indian Ty., White Eagle would yield the head position in the tribe to him. Cheyenne. My friends,—all you chiefs—I see you, my relations. Whether it makes my heart sad or good, I see you. All you chiefs, I think that I have arrived at the age of fifty years. When a person arrives at that age, he generally has some sense and I think I have come that far. I reached one land—Indian Terry. The Great Father made a mistake in carrying me there. You saw me—Standing Bear— you came to the land that I reached; you saw me there. I do not think that you fully understand that land, but I wish to understand it. I was there for five seasons and I wish to know all about the land, climate, and what could be cultivated there and I will tell what I know about my own affairs. For two seasons, I know that my men, women and children died,— I know it—I saw it with my own eyes. The 3d season, I wished to know how things are (were) and from that time on there was not any sickness. I saw none. I did not see any die. When they carried us away to the land, I said: “where you die, I will die”. I wanted to find out about the land; so I had some men break the soil for me and I planted corn, potatoes, watermelons and they rotted in the ground for I had more than I could gather. Today, these four persons have come to straighten out our affairs, and I hope, ye Chiefs, that we shall finish our own business. These persons who have come to finish your affairs, wish to hear your statement, they wish to hear it all and to hear it correctly and so do I. I wish to hear you exactly what you think. The Chiefs did not command me to come, but I have come for I want to talk with you to see you and shake hands with you. I think that God is above and He rules all things and He has caused this to be a good day, so we might talk about these matters, and I hope that they will carry back a straight account to the Great Father.

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General Crook. Do any others want to speak? Smoke-Maker. I have heard the words. The land that we live is this. You are nothing but little boys. I am a little older than you.3 When we were there,—up in Dakota,—I always talked to you; you didn’t mind me and now to-day, you find yourself in a different part of the country. Friends, you ought to remember in the old times, when we were together up there in our old land; we used to work them up with the shoulder-blade of a buffalo. Since then, we’ve seen the white men; we’ve taken their tools and we have learned to work with them. But you have made a different arrangement for yourselves and have gone to that Death Country. My friends, just the same as a man driving a drove of cattle into a corral to be slaughtered, just that way they did to me, but I wouldn’t stay there, so I jumped over the fence and came home. (Applause, checked by the Commission.) Friends, I always think about the Great Spirit. Also, I looked down to the ground. And I always thought I would learn to raise something and I did so; nobody taught me, that which I raised was my own crop. (Turning to Peter Primand, the policeman.) Friend, you who are sitting there have the police mark on your breast. I want to hear from you a full statement about the man they killed down there. (Turning to the white people.) My friends—Here they are in front of me; they are in front of me. I don’t decide to give up my land. Here I was born. I am going to hold on to it. Standing Bear. (to the Commission.) I want to speak good words to you. I haven’t anything more to say. I don’t want to say anything to them. (Turning to the Indians who had come up from Indian Ty.[)] The words I have said to-day, I adhere to. I have no other words to say to them, (meaning the Indian Ty. Poncas.) Peter Primand. I have nothing to say: we have talked enough. Standing Bear. I implore you, my friends, my relations, all of you. I have had some experience with Agents. I don’t want one of them, but I do want a man who will instruct my children,—a teacher. My friends, there have been a great many things that I’ve lost, things due to me and things coming to me from the Great Father. And I want you to hear this, so that I can learn if there is any prospect of 3.╇ Smoke-Maker was not sure of his actual age. He later said that he was over sixty, but added that he was a boy when Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri River. As that was in the summer of 1804, he would have been at least eighty. Bourke, Diaries, 38:1003.

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Ponca Question Continues

getting back what I’ve lost. The Santees who are over at Flamdreau, they have adopted the white man’s clothes & customs, and yet they have an Agent to oversee them. Even if we should be in two places, yet I want to dwell in this, my own, land and receive here my portion of the rations and annuities. Black Elk. My friends, I am not going to talk about a different subject. If I have something in common with another person and I have my own part, I am a little bit afraid on account of the other man. My friends, Where these people spoke about selling this land, they did not send me any work about it & therefore I am unwilling. The Indians up the country, I am afraid of—the Sioux—if I part with this land;—they have something to say about it. For four years, the Great Father has been owing us some money and it is about time he settled that indebtedness. In this land of my ancestors—out of that I make something to support myself and if the Great Father pays me what he owes me, I can buy tools for myself, and then we want to be paid for what was taken away from us when we were taken to Indian Territory, or which we had to leave behind. We ought to be paid for all that. Those Poncas down in Indian Ty. have been receiving some money; we ought to receive some too. General Miles. I want to ask Standi