Capt. W. F. Drannan, Chief of Scouts, As Pilot to Emigrant and Government Trains, Across the Plains of the Wild West of Fifty Years Ago

by William F. Drannan

We broke camp and pulled out. Everything worked smoothly until we had nearly reached Sand Creek, where we were to camp that night, when the two scouts that guarded the north side of the train discovered a large band of Indians coming in our direction. They reported their discovery to me at once. I put spurs to my horse and rode out where I could see the Indians myself. After I had gone about two miles or so I came in sight of them, and I saw that the men were right. The Indians were making directly to the spot where I thought the train was, and I realized that there was no time to lose in getting word to Jim.

As soon as I got near the road I signaled all the scouts to come to me, and in a few minutes, they were with me. I sent them all to the train to help Jim, except two which I kept with me. We three rode out to the spot where we could see the Indians. When we got in sight of them, they were within a mile of the train, and I knew that the time for action had come, and wheeling our horses we made for camp at a pace that would surprise the readers of today. I told Jim that the Indians were upon us, but there was no need to tell him this, as he had seen us coming and suspected the news we were bringing and had ordered the train corralled before we reached camp, and I do not think a train was ever got into shape to resist the savages quicker or with less excitement than that train was that day. And we were none too quick, for the Indians were in sight of us as soon as we were ready for them. At this spot our trail led down a little valley. Consequently, when the Indians hove in sight they were not more than a hundred yards from the corral.

I sang out, "What do you say, Jim? Let's form in line and give them a salute."

Jim shouted, "Every man form in a line and shoot, and be sure you hit your mark."

By this time there were as many as two hundred Indians in sight, and every gun seemed to go off at once. At that moment Jim cried, "Every man pull your pistol and shoot as loud as you can, and let us make a dash on them." And every man in the train did as Jim told them to, and it surely had a good effect on the savages, for they wheeled and fled as fast as their legs could carry them in the direction they had come. We found twenty-seven dead Indians all laying close together, and it did not take us long to take their scalps off. When we had finished this job, Jim made the remark that he had scalps enough now to protect the train all the way to California.

As it was yet about three miles to our camping ground, I told my scouts what to do, and then I told Jim that I meant to follow the Indians alone and see where they went to and not to expect me back until he saw me, for I intended to see those Indians go into camp before I left them, if it took me until midnight to do it, for if I did this I could tell whether they meant to give us any more trouble or not.

Jim told me where to look for the camp when I wanted to find it, and I left them, on a mission the danger of which I do not think one of my readers can understand, but which at that time I thought very little about.

I had followed the trail of the Indians but a short distance before I was convinced that there were a great many wounded in the band, for there was so much blood scattered all along the trail. I had followed the trail about five miles when I came to a high ridge, and on looking down on the other side I saw what looked to me like two or three hundred camp fires, and from the noise I heard I thought that many that I had thought to be wounded must be dead, for it was the same sound that I had often heard the squaws make over their dead. I decided by the appearance of the camp that I had discovered the main camping ground of the Indians. On deciding this in my mind, I hurried back as quickly as I could to tell Jim. When I reached camp, supper was just over. After I had looked after my horse, I went into the camp, and a lady met me and invited me to her tent, saying she had kept some supper warm for me and had been on the lookout for me to come back, and the reader may rest assured I was hungry enough to accept the invitation and to do ample justice to the good things the kind lady had saved for me.

While I was eating, Jim came to me and asked what I had discovered. I told him of the big Indian camp I had found at the foot of the ridge, which was probably five or six miles from where we were then in camp, and I told him of the noise the squaws had made too. He said, "Well, I will bet my old hat that we won't have any more trouble with them, for when they come back to get their dead warriors in the morning and find them without their scalps, they won't follow us any farther."

So feeling safe to do so, everyone except the guards turned in for the night. The night passed without anything happening to disturb us. Next morning I got up early and mounted my horse and went to the place where we'd had the fight to see if the dead Indians had been taken away. I found that they had all been taken away during the night. I got back to camp in time for breakfast. I told Jim that I had been to see about the Indians we had killed the day before, but I found no bodies there and supposed the squaws had taken them away in the night.