[The following verses on the life and death of poor old Buffalo Chips are founded entirely on facts. His death occurred on September 8, 1876, at Slim Buttes. He was within three feet of me when he fell, uttering the words credited to him below.—Capt. Jack Crawford, Poet Scout.]
The evenin’ sun war settin’, droppin’ slowly in the west,
An’ the soldiers, tired an’ tuckered, in the camp would find that rest
Which the settin’ sun would bring ’em, for they’d marched since break o’ day,
Not a bite to eat ’cept horses as war killed upon the way.
For ye see our beans an’ crackers an’ our pork were outen sight,
An’ the boys expected rashuns when they struck our camp that night;
For a little hand had started for to bring some cattle on,
An’ they struck an Indian village, which they captured just at dawn.
Wall, I were with that party when we captured them ar’ Sioux,
An’ we quickly sent a courier to tell old Crook the news.
Old Crook! I should say gen’l, cos he war with the boys,
Shared his only hard-tack, our sorrows, and our joys;
An’ thar is one thing sartin—he never put on style;
He’d greet the scout or soldier with a social kinder smile.
An’ that’s the kind o’ soldier as the prairy likes to get,
An’ every man would trump Death’s ace for Crook or Miles, you bet.
But I’m kinder off the racket, cos these gener’ls get enough
O’ praise ’ithout my chippin’, so I’ll let up on that puff;
Fer I want to tell a story ’bout a mate of mine as fell,
Cos I loved the honest fellar, and he did his dooty well.
Buffalo Chips we call’d him, but his other name war White;
I’ll tell ye how he got that name, an’ reckon I am right.
You see a lot of big-bugs an’ officers came out
One time to hunt the buffaler an’ fish fer speckled trout.
Wall, little Phil, ye’ve heerd on him, a dainty little cuss
As rode his charger twenty miles to stop a little muss;
Well, Phil he said ter Johnathin, whose other name war White,
“You go an’ find them buffaler, an’ see you get ’em right.”
So White he went an’ found ’em, an’ he found ’em sech a band
As he sed would set ’em crazy, an’ little Phil looked bland;
But when the outfit halted, one bull was all war there.
Then Phil he call him “Buffalo Chips,” an’ swore a little swear.
Wall, White he kinder liked it, cos the gener’l called him Chips,
An’ he us’ter wear two shooters in a belt above his hips.
Then he said, “Now, look ye, gener’l, since ye’ve called me that ar’ name,
Jist around them little sandhills is yer dog-gone pesky game!”
But when the hunt war over, an’ the table spread for lunch,
The gener’l called for glasses, an’ wanted his in punch;
An’ when the punch was punished, the gener’l smacked his lips,
While squar’ upon the table sot a dish o’ buffalo chips.
The gener’l looked confounded, an’ he also looked for White,
But Johnathin he reckon’d it war better he should lite.
So he skinned across the prairy, cos ye see he didn’t mind
A chippin’ any longer while the gener’l saw the blind;
Fer the gener’l would a raised him, if he’d jist held up his hand,
But he thought he wouldn’t see him, cos he didn’t hev the sand;
An’ he rode as fast—aye, faster—than the gener’l did that day,
Like lightin’ down from Winchester some twenty miles away.
Wall, White he had no cabin, an’ no home to call his own,
So Buffaler Bill he took him an’ shared with him his home.
An’ how he loved Bill Cody! By gosh! it war a sight
Ter see him watch his shadder an’ foller him at night;
Cos Bill war kinder hated by a cussed gang o’ thieves,
As carried pistols in thar belts, an’ bowies in thar sleeves.
An’ Chips he never left him, for fear he’d get a pill;
Nor would he think it mighty hard to die for Buffalo Bill.
We us’ter mess together, that ar’ Chips an’ Bill an’ me,
An’ ye oughter watch his movements; it would do ye good ter see
How he us’ter cook them wittles, an’ gather lots o’ greens,
To mix up with the juicy pork an’ them unruly beans.
An’ one cold chilly mornin’ he bought a lot o’ corn,
An’ a little flask o’ likker, as cost fifty cents a horn.
Tho’ forty yards war nowhar, it was finished soon, ye bet;
But, friends, I promised some one, and I’m strong teetotal yet.