On the Border with Crook

by John Gregory Bourke

Steaks were cut from the slaughtered ponies and broiled in the ashes by the scouts; many of the officers and soldiers imitated their example. Prejudice to one side, the meat is sweet and nourishing, not inferior to much of the stringy beef that used to find its way to our markets.

Doctor Munn, Doctor Ridgeley, and Steward Bryan were kept fully occupied in tending to the patients under their charge, and were more than pleased when the wagon-train was reached, and “travois” and saddles could be exchanged for ambulances and wagons.

Our reception by our comrades back at the wagon-train—Coates, Ferris, and Mason—was most cordial and soldier-like. The most gratifying proof of their joy at our return was found in the good warm supper of coffee, bacon, and beans prepared for every one of our columns, commissioned and enlisted. The ice in the Powder proved very treacherous, as all “alkali” ice will; it was not half so thick as it had been found on the Tongue, where it had ranged from two to three feet. General Crook distributed the troops to the various military posts, and returned to his headquarters in Omaha. The conduct of certain officers was the subject of an investigation by a general court-martial, but it is not my purpose to overcrowd my pages with such matters, which can be readily looked up by readers interested in them. On our way down to Cheyenne, we encountered squads upon squads of adventurers, trudging on foot or riding in wagons to the Black Hills. At “Portuguese Phillip’s” ranche, sixty-eight of these travellers had sat down to supper in one day; while at Fagan’s, nearer Cheyenne, during the snow-storm of March 26th and 27th, two hundred and fifty had slept in the kitchens, stables, and out-houses.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE SUMMER CAMPAIGN OF 1876—THE SIOUX AND CHEYENNES GETTING UGLY—RAIDING THE SETTLEMENTS—ATTEMPT TO AMBUSCADE CROOK—KILLING THE MAIL-RIDER—THE STORY OF THE FETTERMAN MASSACRE—LAKE DE SMET—OUR FIRST THUNDER STORM—A SOLDIER’S BURIAL—THE SIOUX ATTACK OUR CAMP—TROUT-FISHING—BEAR-HUNTING—CALAMITY JANE—THE CROW AND SHOSHONE ALLIES JOIN THE COMMAND—THE WAR DANCE AND MEDICINE SONG.

The lack of coöperation by the troops in the Department of Dakota had been severely felt; such coöperation had been promised and confidently expected. It needed no profoundly technical military mind to see that with two or three strong columns in the field seeking out the hostiles, each column able to hold its own against the enemy, the chances of escape for the Sioux and Cheyennes would be materially lessened, and those of success for the operations of either column, or both, perceptibly increased. But, with the exception of a telegram from General Custer, then at Fort Lincoln, dated February 27th, making inquiry as to the time fixed for the departure of the column under Reynolds—which question was answered by wire the same day—nothing had been heard of any column from the Missouri River camps going out after the Indians whom the authorities wished to have driven into the reservations.

With the opening of spring the phases of the problem presented greater complexity. The recalcitrant Indians were satisfied of their ability not only to elude pursuit but to present a bold front to the troops, and to whip them on the field of their choice. They had whipped us—so at least it seemed to them—on the 17th of March; why could they not do the same on any other day—the 17th of May, or the 17th of August? Crook determined to wait for the new grass, without which it would be impossible to campaign far away from the line of supplies, and to let the ground become thoroughly dry from the early thaws, before he resumed the offensive. This would give to such columns as might be designated in the north as coöperating forces opportunity to get into the field; as it would also afford the restless young element on the several reservations chance to deliberate between the policy of peace and war, between remaining quiet at the agencies, or starting out on a career of depredation and bloodshed.

Each day came news, stoutly denied by the agents, that there were parties slipping away to recruit the forces of the hostiles; it was only prudent to know in advance exactly how many there would be in our front, and have them in our front instead of imperilling our rear by starting out with a leaven of discontent which might do grievous harm to the ranchos and settlements near the Union Pacific Railroad. That the main body of the Sioux and Cheyennes was “ugly” no longer admitted of doubt. Hostilities were not limited to grumbling and growling, to surly looks and ungracious acts, to mere threats against the agents or some isolated ranchos; they became active and venomous, especially along the lines of travel leading to the disputed territory—the “Black Hills.” Attacks upon trains were a daily—an hourly—occurrence. In one of these the son-in-law of “Red Cloud” was killed. To defend these travellers there was no better method than by carrying the war into Africa, and, by means of swift-moving columns, come upon the villages of the hostiles and destroy them, giving no time to the young men for amusements.

Three of the infantry companies from Fort Omaha and Fort Bridger were detailed to guard the road between Fort Laramie and Custer City; each company went into an entrenched camp with rifle-pits dug, and all preparations made for withstanding a siege until help should arrive. Trains could make their way from one to the other of these fortified camps with much less danger than before their establishment, while there were two companies of cavalry, under officers of great experience, to patrol from Buffalo Gap, at the entrance to the hills, and the North Platte. These officers were Captain Russell, who had seen much service in Arizona and New Mexico against the Apaches, and “Teddy” Egan, of the Second Cavalry, who had led the charge into the village of “Crazy Horse” on St. Patrick’s Day. Both of these officers and their troops did all that Crook expected of them, and that was a great deal. The same praise belongs to the little detachments of infantry, who rendered yeoman service. Egan was fortunate enough to come up just in the nick of time, as a train was surrounded and fired upon by six hundred warriors; he led the charge, and the Indians took to flight.

There were attacks all along the line: eastward in Nebraska, the Sioux became very bold, and raided the horse and cattle ranchos in the Loup Valley; they were pursued by Lieutenant Charles Heyl, Twenty-third Infantry, with a small detail of men mounted upon mules from the quartermaster’s corral, and compelled to stand and fight, dropping their plunder, having one of their number killed, but killing one of our best men—Corporal Dougherty. In Wyoming, they raided the Chug, and there killed one of the old settlers—Huntoon—and ran off thirty-two horses. Lieutenant Allison, Second Cavalry, took the trail, and would have run his prey down had it not been for a blinding snow-storm which suddenly arose and obliterated the tracks of the marauders; sufficient was learned, however, to satisfy Allison that the raiders were straight from the Red Cloud Agency. When the body of Huntoon was found, it had eleven wounds—three from arrows. The same or similar tales came in from all points of the compass—from the villages of the friendly Shoshones and Bannocks in the Wind River Mountains to the scattered homes on the Lodge Pole and the Frenchman.