[d] These persons were Mr. Bassett, his wife, and child. The Indians having plundered and burned Bassett’s house, took the inmates captive; but Mrs. Bassett, being weak and unable to travel, was stripped, and, together with her child (two days old), left on the prairie. Mr. Bassett is supposed to have been murdered.
[e] Mrs. Blinn and child, afterward murdered by the Indians during Custer’s attack on Black Kettle’s camp.
[f] These scouts were Marshall and Davis.
[g] These fourteen children were afterward frozen to death while in captivity.
[h] Two of these children were given up to Colonel Leavenworth; the remaining three were taken to Kansas.
[i] These children belonged to Mr. McIlroy.
[A] Committed by Kiowa Indians.
[B] Committed by Comanche Indians.
[C] Additional murders and outrages committed by Indians, not heretofore enumerated, reported by P. McCusker, U. S. Interpreter, and S. T. Walkley, Acting Indian Agent.
The mass of the troops being concentrated and employed along the branches of the Upper Arkansas under General Sully, thus leaving the valleys of the Republican, Solomon, and Smoky Hill rivers comparatively without troops, and the valleys of the Upper Republican being, as we have in previous chapters learned, a favorite resort and camping-ground for the hostile tribes of the upper plains, General Sheridan determined that, while devoting full attention to the Kiowas, Comanches, Apaches, Arapahoes, and Southern Cheyennes, to be found south of the Arkansas, he would also keep an eye out for the Sioux, Upper Cheyennes, and Arapahoes, and the “Dog Soldiers,” usually infesting the valleys of the Upper Republican and Solomon rivers. The “Dog Soldiers” were a band of warriors principally composed of Cheyennes, but made up of the turbulent and uncontrollable spirits of all the tribes. Neither they nor their leaders had ever consented to the ratification of any of the treaties to which their brothers of the other tribes had agreed. Never satisfied except when at war with the white man, they were by far the most troublesome, daring, and warlike band to be found on the Plains. Their warriors were all fine-looking braves of magnificent physique, and in appearance and demeanor more nearly conformed to the ideal warrior than those of any other tribe. How they came by their name, the “Dog Soldiers,” I never was able to learn satisfactorily. One explanation is, that they are principally members of the Cheyenne tribe, and were at first known as the Cheyenne soldiers. The name of the tribe “Cheyenne” was originally Chien, the French word for dog; hence the term “Dog Soldiers.”