[3]. Although the general for whom this fort was named spelled his name Kearny, the name of the fort is written as above in all official documents I have examined.
[4]. The country is roughly comprehended by the boundary lines between which Mountain Standard, or 105th meridian, Time, prevails.
[5]. Among his literary works he is best known for his “Washington, the Soldier,” and his “Battles of the American Revolution,” which is the standard work of the kind. In a personal interview he told me he read some portion of the Bible in the original Greek and Hebrew every day for years. Not many army officers can say that, and very few civilians, either.
[6]. Killed at Slim Buttes
[7]. Just when the alarms were most frequent a messenger came to the headquarters, announcing that a train en route from Fort Laramie, with special messengers from that post, was corralled by Indians, and demanded immediate help. An entire company of infantry in wagons, with a mountain howitzer and several rounds of grape-shot, was hastened to their relief. It proved to be a train with mail from the Laramie Commission announcing the consummation of a “satisfactory treaty of peace with all the Indians of the Northwest,” and assuring the District Commander of the fact. The messenger was brought in in safety, and peace lasted until his message was delivered. So much was gained—that the messenger did not lose his scalp en route.
[8]. General W. B. Hazen, upon inspection of this post’s stockade, pronounced it “the best he had ever seen, except one built by the Hudson Bay Company, in British America.”
CHAPTER TWO
The Tragedy of Fort Phil Kearney
I. How the Fighting Began
To summarize the first six months of fighting, from the first of August to the close of the year, the Indians killed one hundred and fifty-four persons, including soldiers and citizens, wounded twenty more, and captured nearly seven hundred animals—cattle, mules, and horses. There were fifty-one demonstrations in force in front of the fort, and they attacked every train that passed over the trail.
As the fort was still far from completion, the logging operations were continued until mid-winter. On every day the weather permitted, a heavily guarded train of wood-cutters was sent down to Piney Island, or to the heavier timber beyond, where a blockhouse protected the choppers. This train was frequently attacked. Eternal vigilance was the price of life. Scarcely a day passed without the lookout on Pilot Hill signalling Indians approaching, or the lookout on Sullivant Hills reporting that the wood train was corralled and attacked. On such occasions a strong detachment would be mounted and sent out to drive away the Indians and bring in the wood train—an operation which was invariably successful, although sometimes attended with loss.