GENERAL MILES AND BUFFALO BILL VIEWING THE HOSTILES’ VILLAGE IN THE LAST INDIAN WAR.
During his life as an actor and his career as the head of the Wild West exhibition Buffalo Bill obeyed every call to the frontier whenever there was any trouble among the Indians, and at once resumed his duties as scout, guide, and Indian fighter, winning added laurels thereby and conclusively proving that through his life in cities his heart, brain, and hand had not lost their cunning or courage and the nobility of his nature had not suffered through contact with the world, nor had he been spoiled by applause and praise.
After the massacre of Custer’s band there was great activity in military movements in the Northwest, and as chief of scouts under Merritt, Crook, and other generals Buffalo Bill’s career was a most brilliant one. During the last Indian campaign Buffalo Bill’s valuable services were publicly recognized by Gen. Nelson A. Miles, one of our greatest Indian fighters, and who so quickly crushed the Indians in their late rising, when Sitting Bull lost his life.
Buffalo Bill is one of the few famous scouts who has justly won the renown which encircles his name. His exploits have been so numerous, involving a display of such extraordinary daring and magnificent nerve, that language can not exaggerate them. General Sheridan often asserted that Buffalo Bill had “slain as many Indians as any white man that ever lived.” It would be no credit to this daring scout if these Indians had fallen without justification; but since they were the victims of legitimate warfare and were slain in the performance of a sworn duty, Buffalo Bill may properly wear the laurels and deserve the plaudits of civilization—whose effective instrument he has been—for the friendship he has displayed for the red man in times of peace.
As the noted scout is revealing to the eyes of the whole world the scenes in which he has been a participant, there are few indeed who do not care to see the Wild West in miniature as he portrays it with the aid of his Indians and cowboys, and give him praise for his phenomenal success. Having produced the Wild West in all the large cities of America, Buffalo Bill decided, so to speak, to “carry the war into Africa,” and the result was that with his partner, Mr. Nate Salisbury, an actor of renown, he invaded first the English capital, then the other capitals of Europe, his enterprise everywhere winning the plaudits of royalty, the press, and the public.
AFTER THE BATTLE.