The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke. Volume 2: July 29, 1876-April 7, 1878

The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke Volume 2

Always good for a joke, Bourke hams it up as “Your Old Scout” in this studio photograph in Albany, New York, complete with false beard and “frontier” garb. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

The Diaries of ohn regory ourke

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July 29, 1876–April 7, 1878

Edited and Annotated by Charles M. Robinson III

University of North Texas Press Denton, Texas

©2005 Charles M. Robinson III All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Permissions: University of North Texas Press P.O. Box 311336 Denton, TX 76203-1336 The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, z39.48.1984. Binding materials have been chosen for durability. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bourke, John Gregory, 1846–1896. The diaries of John Gregory Bourke / edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson III. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-10 1-57441-196-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13 978-1-57441-196-6 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Bourke, John Gregory, 1846–1896—Diaries. 2. Soldiers—West (U.S.)—Diaries. 3. Indians of North America—Wars—1866–1895—Personal narratives. I. Robinson, Charles M., 1949– II. Title.

E83.866 .B75 2003 978’.02’092—dc21

2002152293 All illustrations are held by the United States Military Academy Library, West Point, NY. Cover photo of John Gregory Bourke is courtesy of the National Park Service, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

To William H. Leckie and Shirley A. Leckie, in gratitude and admiration

If the Government will only keep its promises and treat these red men with justice, we shall have no more Indian wars. —John Gregory Bourke, Diary, 20:1994 An Indian campaign is fruitless labor for the privates under any circumstances, defeat meaning death, and victory bringing no honor. . . . —Undated clipping, apparently from Chicago Times. Bourke, Diary, 20:1904

Contents Acknowledgments ...................................................................... viii Introduction .................................................................................. 1 Part 1: The Great Sioux War Background ................................................................................. 13 1. Camp Life ................................................................................ 21 2. Linking With Terry .................................................................. 44 3. On the Yellowstone.................................................................. 67 4. The Ordeal Begins ................................................................... 86 5. Fighting and Starving ............................................................ 105 6. The Campaign Ends .............................................................. 121 7. The Powder River Expedition ............................................... 149 8. Forging Indian Alliances........................................................ 164 9. The Dull Knife Fight .............................................................. 179 10. Grouard and Bourke on Indians.......................................... 201 11. Belle Fourche to Fort Fetterman ......................................... 221 12. The Hostile Bands Surrender .............................................. 240 13. The Indians Speak ............................................................... 265 14. Crazy Horse ......................................................................... 294 Part 2: Staff Officer Background .............................................................................. 305 15. A Hunting Trip..................................................................... 311 16. The Little Bighorn Battlefield .............................................. 330 17. Downriver By Steamer ........................................................ 344 18. Of Indians, Missionaries, and Irishmen .............................. 355 19. Memories of Old Tucson...................................................... 372 Appendix 1: Persons Mentioned in the Diary............................ 387 Appendix 2: Perspectives on the Horse Meat March ................. 464 Appendix 3: Conflicting Policies ............................................... 482 Appendix 4: Crook’s Animal Losses .......................................... 487 Appendix 5: Lieutenant W. Philo Clark’s Recapitulation of the Great Sioux War ......................................................... 489 Bibliography .............................................................................. 499 Index ......................................................................................... 507

Acknowledgments As I stated in Volume 1 of this series, transcribing a set of nineteenth-century diaries is a lonely task. However, certain people and institutions contributed to the completion of the project, and in some cases were responsible to the extent of making it possible. Lieutenant Colonel Thomas T. Smith, U.S.A., a notable historian as well as a soldier, and Frances Vick, retired director of the University of North Texas Press, endorsed the significance of this project when it was still in the early stages of an idea, and promoted it with UNT Press’ academic advisors. Thanks also go to two very special people at UNT Press, who suffer through the project itself, and my occasional foul temper as it progresses: Ronald Chrisman, the current director, and Karen DeVinney, managing editor. Friends who have followed this project and encouraged it from its inception are Paul Hedren, Robert M. Utley, and Jerome A. Greene. I wish to acknowledge the following individuals, publishers, and holding institutions for permission to publish extracts of material under their ownership or custody: Peter S. Mellon, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and John Mellon, Chico, California, heirs of Col. Walter Scribner Schuyler, for permission to publish his letter of November 1, 1876, in Appendix 2 of this volume. The letter is preserved as WS87 in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, an institution that has been of great help to me in this and other projects over the years. The University of Nebraska Press for permission to quote from John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks, Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, reprint published by the University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1988. The Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois, for permission to quote from the Powder River Expedition Journals of Lt. Col. Richard Irving Dodge, as published in Wayne R. Kime, ed. The Powder River Expedition Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. The United States Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, holding institution for the Eugene A. Carr Papers. VIII

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The United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, for photos by Stanley J. Morrow, and of Indian personalities which were pasted in the diaries. Last, but not least, at South Texas College, McAllen, Texas, I have received support, encouragement (and a great deal of tolerance) from Dr. Shirley A. Reed, president; Juan Mejía, vice president for instruction; Dr. Margaretha Bischoff, dean, Liberal Arts and Social Sciences; and Dr. William Carter, chairman, Department of History and Philosophy.

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Introduction to Volume 2

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his second volume of the John Gregory Bourke1 Diaries includes the period from July 29, 1876, through April 7, 1878, during which he served as Brig. Gen. George Crook’s aide-decamp. It is comprised of manuscripts designated Volumes 7 through 22 at the United States Military Library at West Point, which holds the collection. Altogether, the Bourke Diaries at West Point, with one additional volume in the library of the University of Arizona for March 26 through June 21, 1881, consist of 124 manuscript volumes and several subvolumes, beginning on November 20, 1872. The first volume in this series covers the period of November 20, 1872, through July 28, 1876. It begins with Lt. Col. (Bvt. Maj. Gen.) George Crook’s “Grand Offensive” against the Apaches in Arizona. Then, with Crook promoted to the active grade of brigadier general and given command of the Department of the Platte, it continues into the Great Sioux War of 1876–77. That volume ends and this one begins during Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Although there were other volumes as far back as 1869, Bourke himself noted that they were “mislaid, destroyed or stolen.” 1. “Bourke” is merely a Gallicized version of the old Irish name “Burke”or “Burk.” The “o” is not pronounced.

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The first section of this published volume, covering the six-week period of July 29 to September 8, 1876, was among those lost, and was reconstructed by Bourke from memory in two separate notebooks, now designated as Volumes 7 and 8 at West Point. Besides the reconstructed volumes, Bourke did not always have time to make continuous daily entries. He mentioned this in discussing preparations for the Powder River Expedition in November 1876. “There was such a pressure of work at General Crook’s Head-Quarters in the Field, about the beginning of November that I found it compulsory to abandon the diary form of narrative and confine myself to mentioning from time to time whatever of special moment might occur.”2 The reconstructed section, contained in Chapters 1 through 4, offers an interesting contrast to those portions of the diaries written as events unfolded. When he recalled those weeks, Bourke had had several years to think about the events and polish his writing skills. Consequently, the reader will find that this portion of the diaries more closely resembles his later published work than the narrative journal entries. Bourke’s classical education, received as the Romantic period of nineteenth century literature drew to a close, is apparent, as are his own romantic inclinations and his vivid imagination. In one entry of the reconstructed volumes, he writes about swimming in a stream in the Bighorn Mountains, and fantasizes that he is the hunter Actaeon, about to have his fatal encounter with the goddess Diana.3 Such musings become suspect when one considers that the volume immediately preceding this, part of the original work written in the field, contains numerous references to hostile Indians lurking about.4 Bourke himself acknowledged that the reconstructed portion was substantially different from the lost original. By now, he had come to realize that he was writing for posterity as much as for himself, and that others might one day read his journals. He notes, “A singular fact will be remarked by those who may have the curiosity, the patience and the courtesy to persist in the perusal up to this time.” Specifically, the volume numbers and pages do not match, because 2. Bourke, Diary, 14:1352. 3. Ibid, 7:721–22. In mythology, Actaeon became separated from his party and happened on Diana, chaste goddess of the hunt, bathing by a pond. She saw him watching her and, enraged, drenched him with a bowl of water. He was changed into a stag and torn apart by his own hounds. 4. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 20.

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the original journal consisted of only one manuscript volume, while the reconstruction fills two volumes. What occasions this discrepancy? The answer is that the restored. . . volume contains much more matter than the original and in this way. While writing the original, I had but one book and saw that each day became more and more filled with notes I began to apprehend that soon I should have no place for the daily record. I was therefore compelled to exclude much which is comprehended in the present [reconstructed] note-book. For example, the correspondence written by General Terry to General Crook has never been copied until the present moment: and the printed Roster of the command was not, of course, available at the date of our departure from Goose creek. I have endeavored to give a graphic, truthful and unprejudiced account of what took place, lavishing no praise and indulging in no censure where either could be avoided. For the failure of the military movement in the summer of 1876, I blame no one but the American Congress which had so hamstrung the poor sore-backed animal called the Regular Army that when its services were suddenly demanded, it could with great difficulty move one foot before the other. My journal is open to the charge of being too diffusive. I accept the imputation as it is a partial admission that if I wrote much, I must have seen much. Of the two Generals, Terry and Crook, no words of praise from me would add to their deservedly exalted reputation; of the subordinates, with few exceptions, I have said in the body of the journal all that was necessary. They bore great privations with fortitude and with the knowledge and experience that the hardest and most glorious campaigns are the soonest forgotten.5 One of the most outstanding aspects of this section of the work is the number of contemporary photographs that Bourke pasted in 5. Bourke, Diary, 8:894–96. This essay appears at the end of manuscript volume 8, but has been placed here as more relevant and, as much as possible, to avoid disrupting the flow of the narrative between volumes 8 and 9.

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manuscript volumes 13 and 18. Those in volume 13 are Stanley J. Morrow’s photographic chronicle of the Horse Meat March, and his landscapes of the region. Volume 18 contains a collection of portraits of the leading Indian personalities mentioned in the text. The Morrow photos offer a graphic account of what the soldiers endured during the march. Morrow, who maintained a studio in Yankton, on the Missouri River in what is now South Dakota, had taken his equipment to the Black Hills in early 1876 to photograph the gold rush. He was in Deadwood when Crook’s plea for help arrived, and joined the wagon train that carried provisions for the starving army. Meeting it on the trail between Whitewood Creek and Deadwood on September 14, he saw dirty, ragged soldiers, the wounded on their litters, and Indian prisoners from the fight at Slim Buttes. He shot thirty-one photos for a formal series of stereo cards, entitled “Views of General Crook’s Expedition and the Black Hills.” Although many of the incidents were restaged for the camera, they nevertheless form an accurate picture of the horrific march. Bourke acquired copies of the photos, as well as general views and landscapes by Morrow, that were not included in the series. All were pasted in the diary.6 Because of space limitations, and many similar views of the same scenes, I have selected only the most representative for inclusion here. The serious student of Morrow’s work can consult With Crook in the Black Hills: Stanley J. Morrow’s 1876 Photographic Legacy, by Paul L. Hedren. Likewise, of the many Indian portraits, I have selected only those of the principal characters mentioned in Bourke’s account. Fascinating as Morrow’s photographs are, and interesting as the Indian portraits might be, the most haunting photograph appears alone in the account of Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s fight with the Cheyennes on November 25, 1876. It is a type of pocket-sized portrait common during the era, called a carte-de-visit, that many people, including ordinary soldiers, had made and printed in bulk to hand out as a sort of calling card. This particular photograph was recovered in the Cheyenne village among trophies of the Custer disaster at the Little Bighorn. Undoubtedly it was taken from the pocket of a dead soldier at the Little Bighorn and most likely shows that soldier. This volume ends with a nostalgic recollection of Tucson, unrelated to anything else current at the time. Bourke was returning to 6. Hedren, With Crook, 10–11.

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Omaha from Fort Hall, Idaho, where Crook had been investigating rumors of discontent among the Bannock Indians. En route, Bourke learned of the death of Col. (Bvt. Maj. Gen.) Thomas C. Devin, Third Cavalry,7 who had commanded the Subdistrict of Southern Arizona when he first reported for duty there in 1870. This started him reminiscing about early days in Tucson and, with nothing to do during the long train ride from Ogden, Utah, to Omaha, he wrote a mini-memoir. He concluded by saying: This is a long digression to make but the mention of General Devin’s death has brought back to my mind my first meeting with him in Tucson and from that, the divergence has been easy and I find myself insensibly recalling to mind my very long and varied experience in that country, our associates, the scenery and peculiarities, as well as the sterner features of scouting against the hostile Apaches, who in 1869, 1870 and 1871 were complete masters of the Territory, but in 1873, and 1874, thanks to General Crook and his soldiers were the most completely subdued Indians in America.8

Bourke and the Indians Bourke made extensive notes of Indian life and customs, as well as giving strong opinions about certain Indian personalities, and, of course, the soldier’s view of a fight. His studies of Indian ethnology led to the Apaches calling him naltsus-bichidin, or “Paper Medicine Man,” because of his copious notes.9 Some might wonder about the Indian attitude toward his curiosity about their life and customs. From my own experience with Plains Indians and, to some degree, Fort Sill Apaches,10 I can say that Indians have no particular problem with outsiders wanting to learn something about their ways of life. Indeed, many whites of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were provided a great deal of information by Indian hosts or clients. Among the 7. Devin is best known for service with the 8th Cavalry, but was promoted to colonel of the 3rd to replace Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, suspended by court-martial. Devin died nine months later. Altshuler, Cavalry Yellow and Infantry Blue, 102–3. 8. Bourke, Diary, 22:58. 9. Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 181. 10. Descendants of the Arizona Apaches who were sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as prisoners of war after being interned in Florida and Alabama. The term “Fort Sill Apaches” is used to distinguish them from Plains Apaches who, in Oklahoma, are designated as “Apaches.”

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notables are historian Francis Parkman, Jr., school teacher Thomas Battey, ethnologists James Mooney, Frederick W. Hodge, and Frank Cushman, naturalist George Bird Grinnell, and reservation physician Thomas B. Marquis. These people viewed the Indians as ordinary human beings practicing a culture which had aspects worth learning and preserving. Indians do balk, however, at the type of anthropologist (“anthro,” to use Vine Deloria’s term) who attempts to study them as human curiosities—a sort of anthropological tourism. By and large, and especially as he grew older, Bourke seems to have fit in with the former category, as one who appreciated their humanity, their beliefs, and their thoughts. In 1890, he summed up his position by writing: My personal inclinations led me to associate as much as possible with our savage scouts, whose modes of life, language and religious thought were always of an indescribable interest. Nearly all the talk I had with anybody was with them and the result was the enrichment of note-books with references to aboriginal customs in war and peace which probably could not have been obtained under circumstances of greater advantage. The American Indian is by nature so secretive and reticent that unless one by long personal association learns how to watch and extract information, much of what may be called his inner life, would be inevitably lost.11 Even so, the Bourke diaries essentially are written by and for a soldier. Too, in order to obtain the balance that he himself most likely would have desired, I have endeavored whenever appropriate to include some Indian references to the matters discussed.

Format for the Edited Diary The best description of the Bourke diaries as a whole was written by William Gardner Bell, in John Gregory Bourke, A Soldier-Scientist on the Frontier.

11. Bourke, “Mackenzie’s Last Fight,” 10. In using the phrase, “what might be called his inner life,” Bourke probably was referring to Indian introspection, rather than denigrating Indian thought.

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Although the material is not in the form of a pure diary with daily entries, many of the notes—especially those related to military operations—are dated. The text is interlarded with ethnological observations and data. In addition to the narrative, the notebooks contain scrapbook material—orders, clippings, programs, postcards, menus—and Bourke’s pen and ink sketches, watercolors, and maps of the areas with which he came in contact.12 Editing such a work is not necessarily confined to transcription, but also to rendering a text into a readable form while preserving the author’s original flavor and intent. Purists, such as Wayne R. Kime, who achieved the monumental task of preparing the Richard Irving Dodge journals for publication, adhere strictly to the original text, including cross-outs and insertions. On the opposite side of the coin, Lt. Col. Thomas T. Smith, former assistant professor of military history at West Point, took Cpl. Emil Bode’s German syntax, fractured spelling, and erratic punctuation and rendered them more easily understood by the casual reader.13 With Bourke’s diaries, I have chosen the middle ground between these two positions, and have undertaken a basic format to preserve as much as possible the flavor of the manuscript, while making it intelligible to the reader and without being cumbersome. Orders and Clippings. The scrapbook nature mentioned by Bell becomes particularly evident beginning with the notebook designated by West Point as Volume 10; except for eleven pages of Bourke’s own handwritten text, this volume consists entirely of copies of orders (printed and handwritten), along with General Crook’s printed annual report for 1875, and various newspaper clippings, sometimes attributed to newspaper and date, and sometimes not. By and large, these clippings are simply correspondents’ versions of events that Bourke himself recounted in detail. Because of the enormity of this material, and its availability elsewhere, it has been deleted in favor of Bourke’s own manuscript text. In some instances, this includes entire volumes that are nothing more than collections of clippings and copies of orders. 12. Bell, John Gregory Bourke, 27 n.2. 13. See Smith, A Dose of Frontier Soldiering.

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Occasionally, however, the clippings elaborate on events that Bourke mentioned only in passing. These are included either in the body of the text or in the appendices, as most appropriate. Additionally, Bourke occasionally considered a correspondent’s account as true and accurate as anything he himself might write, and used the clipping instead. In all such cases, I have included the clippings in their proper places in the diary. As in Volume 1 of this series, I have deleted the Indian vocabularies collected by Bourke, as having limited appeal outside of the field of linguistics, and because of space considerations. Abbreviations, Spelling, and Grammar. Bourke used many abbreviations. The @ symbol often appears as a substitute for the word “or.” While I have tried to remain as faithful as possible to the original text, for the sake of clarity I have spelled out the more common abbreviations, such as cardinal directions, “left,” “right,” “miles,” and “road,” as well as those he used frequently, such as “good grass and water,” “creek,” and “mountains.” For those that are less common or obvious, I have inserted the missing letters in [brackets], except when the abbreviations are scattered, requiring several sets of brackets within one word; in such cases, I have spelled out the word in brackets. When a word is illegible, but the meaning can be inferred, I have placed the probable word with a question mark in [brackets?]. If the meaning cannot be inferred, I have written it as [illegible]. Except for the works of Mark Twain, an “American” form of spelling and punctuation had not yet fully developed in Bourke’s era. Consequently, he used many British forms, which are retained. Otherwise, I have transcribed the text as is, with all its inconsistencies, such as “tipi,” “teepee,” and sometimes even “tépi,” all of which he used to designate the conical Indian lodge. Names of individuals suffered in the same fashion. Among others, Capt. Emil Adam usually was rendered “Adams,” and Lieutenant Adolphus von Leuttwitz generally appeared as “Leuttewitz.” All such instances have been noted in the biographical sketches in Appendix 1. Arcane References. As noted earlier, Bourke’s primary education was grounded in the classics. His upper level education was at West Point, essentially an engineering school, with emphasis on geology and mathematics, with some heavy doses of French thrown in for good measure. From there, he went to the Southwest, where English and Spanish words, even now, are often used interchangeably.

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Consequently, there is a plethora of information on measurements and geology, often accompanied by technical words. He also made occasional references to classical subjects, and used French or Spanish words. Wherever possible, I have tried to provide an explanation of terminology and classical references, and a translation of foreign terms. Punctuation and Capitalization. Punctuation in the diary was rudimentary. Bourke often used a dash (—) in lieu of punctuation. In most cases, I have substituted the punctuation marks, unless the dash appears more appropriate. In cases where Bourke did use punctuation, it was erratic, although he tended to use periods and commas outside quotation marks rather than within. I lean toward leaving Bourke’s punctuation intact except for cases where it renders the text absolutely confusing. Capitalization was erratic. For example, in giving times of day, he might use a.m./p.m., A.M./P.M., or am./pm. I have preserved his capitalization as much as possible. Emphasis. Bourke emphasized words by underlining them. Most of the time (but not always), he underlined names of people and places, dates, and geographical features of interest. Yet some of his emphases seem little more than whimsy and, more than a century later, appear to have had no practical reason. In an effort to make it more readable, I have deleted the emphasis except where it enhances the impression he was trying to convey. Bourke occasionally annotated the entries after the fact, as new information came to hand. His notes are indicated by an asterisk (*) while mine are numbered. I have replaced Bourke’s brackets with parentheses, to avoid confusing his texts with mine. Personalities, etc. Often individuals are named with no explanation as to who they were. Bourke was, after all, writing for his own future reference and knew the people in question. I have attempted, in Appendix 1, to identify as many as possible, and in the case of army officers, have been relatively successful. After more than a century, however, it has not always been possible to identify Indians, enlisted soldiers, or civilians. The basic intention of the biographical sketches essentially is to explain who these people were, and why they went West. The criteria for the extent of the sketches is based on three factors: their importance in history, their importance to the narrative, and the availability of material on them. In many cases Bourke might

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make only a passing reference, such as, “I encountered Lieut. X,” this being the only reference to Lieutenant X in the entire narrative. Because of that, and because many such officers did not attain historical prominence, the sketch is minimal. Others, mentioned frequently, and/or historically important in their own right, receive more detailed treatment. Where Bourke uses the local name for plants, or names that might not be widely known, I have attempted to identify them and put the botanical name in the notes; I did not do so for commonly known plants. Bourke’s designations of the territories have been preserved, and when they do not reflect the modern name of the state, I have inserted the state in [brackets]. In my own commentaries, I have used the modern state names. Military Ranks. One of the more confusing aspects of the text is Bourke’s inconsistencies in rank. For example, Ranald S. Mackenzie is sometimes referred to as “General Mackenzie,” and other times as “Colonel Mackenzie.” The same applies to Thaddeus Stanton, Andrew Sheridan Burt, George Morton Randall, and many other officers. The reason is the system of brevet ranks used by the army during the nineteenth century. The brevet was bestowed to honor gallant and/or meritorious service, and generally was higher than the officer’s active rank. During the Civil War, when many officers of the Regular Army transferred to the Volunteer Service, one individual might have as many as three ranks simultaneously, viz., active rank in the Regular Army, brevet rank in the Regular Army, and brevet rank in the Volunteers. When the Union Army was demobilized after the war, these officers reverted to their most recent active rank in the Regular Army. Nevertheless, the brevet remained on the officer’s record, and as a courtesy he ordinarily would be addressed by the brevet. Again, using Mackenzie as one of the many examples, the expedition roster would carry him by his active rank as colonel, but outside of official documents and lists, Bourke often referred to him by his brevet as general. The biographical sketches of officers in Appendix 1 include both active and brevet ranks.

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Part 1 The Great Sioux War (Continued from Vol. 1)

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Background

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n this volume, Bourke’s account of the Great Sioux War opens with Crook camped at Goose Creek in extreme northern Wyoming, in the final stages of preparation for resuming his Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. The expedition was organized the previous May, but went into hiatus after Crook’s defeat at the Rosebud, in Montana, on June 17. Consequently, he withdrew to Goose Creek, to resupply and wait for Shoshone and Crow Indian scouts. He and his officers spent several weeks hunting and fishing, with his men pulling minimal duty, and often occupying their time with various recreational activities. Bourke himself admitted that it was “nothing but a picnic without exploit and without advantage.”1 In the meantime, five companies of the 7th Cavalry, under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, were annihilated at the Little Bighorn, and the remaining companies badly mauled, by the same Indians who had driven back Crook at the Rosebud. From time to time, Bourke refers to the so-called “Crazy Horse Fight.” This occurred the previous March 17, when Bourke participated a fight on the Powder River, under the immediate command of Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, 3rd Cavalry. The fight was a fiasco. After 1. Bourke, Diary, 4:379.

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capturing and partially destroying an Indian village, Reynolds allowed himself to be pushed back by a counterattack, leaving his dead and wounded to fall into Indian hands. To make matters worse, the village was not hostile but, in fact, belonged to a band of Cheyennes, en route to check in with the military under a government edict. Bourke and Crook, however, preferred to believe it was a hostile Oglala village headed by Crazy Horse. Despite all evidence to the contrary, including a report prepared on Crook’s own orders immediately following the Indians’ surrender in 1877 (see Appendix 5) neither Bourke nor Crook ever admitted the mistake. As long as they lived, they both insisted Reynolds had attacked Crazy Horse. There is no question that Reynolds completely mismanaged the fight. Aside from hitting the wrong camp and losing his dead and wounded to the enemy, he had allowed his horses to become exhausted, and did not scout the terrain. Two company commanders likewise did not live up to expectations. Captain Alexander Moore found that the terrain did not allow him to fulfill his assignment, and held his men back, allowing other companies to carry the brunt of the fighting. Captain Henry E. Noyes, on the other hand, was overly concerned about carrying out his assignment of securing the pony herd, when common sense dictated supporting the companies that were actively engaged. Upon returning to Fort D. A. Russell at Cheyenne, Wyoming, Crook ordered all three court-martialed. The trial of Captain Noyes was held almost immediately, because charges against him, primarily involving poor judgment, were the most easily dispatched. He received an administrative reprimand, returned to duty, and appears frequently in the first half of this volume. The charges and specifications against Reynolds and Moore were far more severe, and their careers were on the line. After several postponements that severely damaged morale in the 3rd Cavalry, they ultimately were tried and convicted in January 1877. Reynolds was suspended from rank and command for one year, and Moore was suspended from command and ordered confined to the limits of his post for six months.2 While Crook hunted and fished at Goose Creek, two columns from Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry’s Department of Dakota linked on the Yellowstone. One, the Montana column, under Col. John Gib2. Robinson, General Crook, 171–72, 209–10.

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bon, had marched east from western Montana, while the Dakota column, under General Terry himself and including Custer’s illfated command, had moved west into Montana from Fort Abraham Lincoln,3 in what is now North Dakota. Prior to the Rosebud fight and the Little Bighorn, the divisional commander, Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, hoped to catch the Indians between the three converging columns and batter them into submission.4 News of the Custer disaster cast a pall over Crook and his men, and Bourke’s narrative reflects the edginess. Finally, the Indian scouts arrived and, unable to justify any further delay, Crook again headed north to link up with Terry. Bourke’s narrative in this volume begins as the expedition prepares to move out, and includes the infamous “Horse Meat March.” This period also shows the beginning of a change in Bourke’s attitude toward Indians. At the beginning of 1876, he was a firm advocate of Manifest Destiny and the extermination of the Indian way of life as the only alternative to extermination of the Indians themselves. In February of that year, he wrote, “We are now on the eve of the bitterest Indian war the Government has ever been called upon to wage: a war with a tribe that has waxed fat and insolent on Gov’t bounty, and has been armed and equipped with the most improved weapons by the connivance or carelessness of the Indian Agents.”5 Only fourteen months later, in April 1877, his view of these same Indians had completely altered. Having come to know them, he found much that was admirable in their culture, while he saw public policy as the source of much of the trouble. “These Indians in their family relations,” he observed: appear to much better advantage than when we study them as enemies; they are extremely kind to their aged[,] poor and infirm, and, at all dances, and all festive occasions. . . blankets, calico and other articles are laid upon the ground as free gifts for the poor. 3. Fort Abraham Lincoln was located at the confluence of the Heart and Missouri Rivers across from present-day Bismarck, North Dakota. It was established as Fort McKean on June 14, 1872, but on November 19 of the same year was redesignated as Fort Abraham Lincoln. The post was abandoned in 1891, and the structures were dismantled by area residents in search of building materials. The partially reconstructed post is now a North Dakota state park. Frazer, Forts of the West, 111–12. 4. Robinson, Good Year to Die, 37ff.; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 21ff. 5.Bourke, Diary, 3:1–2.

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Though they have prostitutes among them as other nations, yet the general average of chastity of their women is equal to that of the more civilized. Their ideas of friendship, hospitality and generosity are peculiar, but very marked and strictly adhered to. If the government will only observe one half its promises, the Indians will comply faithfully with their agreements, I am certain; the great danger of the future is not from the red man’s want of faith, so much as from the indifference of our government to the plainest requirements of honor. Our own faith is worse than Punic; yet, we always prattle about Indian treachery.6 If Bourke was cognizant of the Indian situation, his blind spot was his loyalty to Crook, and hastened to defend him even when he was indefensible. One of his most absurd comments concerned complaints by the officers: I cannot conceal from myself the fact that we have with us not a few officers who would gladly abandon the campaign upon the most frivolous pretext and who are now beginning to grumble because they haven’t sponge cake. The fairweather Christians loom up as grand soldiers in a ball-room; where with plenty of gilding and embroidery they find no trouble in passing themselves off among giddy young women as bolder than Hercules, braver than Ajax.7 While this type of officer certainly does exist in any army, it was a sorry description of these officers, particularly when one considers this description was written in hindsight. Within a few weeks of the time recollected, everyone in the command was on the verge of starvation, and as Bourke himself noted in On the Border with Crook, within fifteen years, more than half the officers on that march were either dead or invalided out of the army.8 The reader might want to contrast the description of “fair-weather Christians” with the accounts by other officers on the march contained in Appendix 2 of this volume. 6. Ibid., 20:1938. 7. Ibid., 7:764. 8. Bourke, On the Border, 360.

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During one particularly miserable night, Bourke himself questioned how much he really enjoyed the army. I tried to make myself believe it was a grand thing to have my garments saturated with water, my feet cold and wet, my miserable straw-hat torn by the breezes, no tent, no blankets, no supper to speak of; this, I said to myself, is heroism and I am a first class hero; but it wouldn’t work. Like Banquo’s ghost,9 the thought would not down that a good hot stove, with plenty of champagne and oysters would be good enough for the likes of me and it was then I made up my mind, if I ever married an heiress, to live for the remainder of my days in a brown-stone front and retire from the hero-business for ever.10 The march was frustrating, because of not only hunger and misery, but also uncertainty. Crook had an annoying tendency to confide in newspaper correspondents rather than his own officers. On September 5, even as Bourke and other officers wondered about his plans, he discussed them with John F. Finerty of the Chicago Times. [Crook] paused for a moment, and, pulling his peculiar beard, said very slowly: “We are five full marches from Fort Abraham Lincoln [on the Missouri River]. We are seven, at least, from the Black Hills. By going to the Missouri we lose two weeks’ time. By marching on the Hills we gain so much. I march on the Black Hills to-morrow. Between going to and coming back from Fort Abraham Lincoln we should lose more than half our horses.” “How much rations have you left?” “Only two days’ and a half [at] half-rations, but we must make them last for seven, at least. It must be done. The Indians have gone to the Hills and to the Agencies. The miners must be protected and we must punish the Sioux on our way to the south or leave this campaign entirely unfinished. . . . 9. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title character is haunted by the recurring apparition of Banquo, his former comrade, whom he had murdered. 10. Bourke, Diary, 7:792–93.

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“I know it looks hard . . . . but we’ve got to do it, and it shall be done. . . . Nobody knows much about this region but it looks fair. We’ll kill some game, too, perhaps, to make up for short rations. Half-rations will be issued after to-night. All will be glad of the movement after the march has been made. If necessary,” he added, “we can eat our horses.”11 Not everyone went on half-rations, however. The packers who handled the mule train were issued the full allowance, because, Bourke explained, “The poor fellows have to work so much harder than officers or soldiers that they must have a full allowance of food, or our transportation fails.”12 The soldiers did not necessarily share that sentiment. Toward the end of the march, some of the 5th Cavalry’s Irish soldiers expressed their resentment by composing a new stanza to a popular song of the period. Wid ‘bunkies shtarvin’ by our side, no rations was the rule; Shure ‘twas ate your boots and saddles you brutes, but feed the packer and the mule. But you know full well that in four fights no soldier lad was slow, And it wasn’t the packer that won ye a star in the Regular Army, O.13 A turning point of the march was the capture of an Indian village at Slim Buttes on September 8. Reading Bourke’s description of the village, one is struck by the fact that, by 1876, white culture was so all-pervasive that canvass, rather than buffalo hide, appeared to be the standard tipi cover. Likewise, many of their cooking and other utensils were of manufactured metal. There appear to have been very few hand-made indigenous implements, or, if there were, Bourke did not mention them. On the other hand, there were aspects of Indian culture from which the whites, if they had bothered, could have learned. One of these was Indian medical treatment. An American Indian could 11. Finerty, War-Path and Bivouac, 275–76. 12. Bourke, Diary, 8:877. 13. Quoted in King, Campaigning With Crook, 159.

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recover from virtually any type of injury or battle wound except to the heart, brain, or spine; the active participation of the Indian auxiliaries in the Battle of the Rosebud provided several wounded warriors so that army surgeons could observe their treatment first hand. Bourke noted one case in particular, where a warrior had received a gunshot wound that smashed the femur. In conventional white medical wisdom of the day, amputation would have been almost a foregone conclusion. The Indians, however, splinted the leg, and treated the wound by simply pouring fresh water on it. In just over a month, he was walking with the aid of a cane, prompting Bourke to remark, “The recuperative powers of the Indians is a source of astonishment to us all.”14 Bourke’s observations also tend to dispel modern notions of American Indians. One tends to lose track of the hatreds that existed long before the arrival of the Europeans, and that Shoshones and Lakotas were just as capable of mutual destruction as Frenchmen and Germans. These ancient animosities become evident with Bourke’s repeated references to the Shoshone custom of desecrating Lakota funeral scaffolds and plundering the corpses to get the grave goods, particularly the weapons of a warrior. Even after the fighting ended, Crook used these animosities to keep both friend and foe in line. Discussing his manipulation of the two leading Lakota chiefs, Bourke wrote, “Red Cloud and Spotted Tail are especially afraid of the ascendancy General Crook has gained over the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. These Indians have been for so many years associated so intimately with the Sioux that they have become practically the one people and know every thought and idea of the Sioux, and also every one of their hiding places.”15 Another comment stands in stark contrast to the modern notion of the American Indian as the ultra environmentalist: “The country was all burned over, the general estimate being that not less than 10.000 sq. miles of grass had been destroyed by the hostile Indians.”16 One might surmise that these were prairie fires, and undoubtedly they did rage out of control, a common enough occurrence in that part of the country. The fact remains, however, that Indians did fire the grass, as is verified by their own sources. Many 14. Hardorff, Hokahey!, 13; Rickey, Forty Miles a Day, 328; Bourke, Diary, 7:726–27. 15. Bourke, Diary, 19:1885–86. 16. Ibid., 7:753.

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years later the young Oglala Black Elk recalled, “Our people set fire to the grass behind us as we went, and the smoke back there was as wide as the day and the light of the fire was as wide as the night. This was to make the soldiers’ horses starve.”17 If the Horse Meat March did anything, it kept constant pressure on the Indians, forcing them to stay on the move, not allowing them to lay in a supply of meat for the winter, or to recuperate from the summer’s fighting. “Wherever we went, the soldiers came to kill us, and it was all our own country,” Black Elk said. Warriors wounded at the Rosebud or Little Bighorn, who normally would have recovered if given the chance to rest, began to die.18 Eventually, the Indians were driven almost in a circle, back over the same area they had burned earlier, an area they named the “Black Road.” Like Crook’s men, they also suffered from the early onset of winter, and their own ponies began to starve. “They died because the snow froze hard and they could not find the grass that was left in the valleys and there was not enough cottonwood to feed them,” Black Elk remembered. As the animals died, the Indians were forced to eat them, just as the hungry soldiers were doing only a few miles to their rear. Discouraged, many warriors untied the war knots in their ponies’ tails, and rode to the military posts or agencies to surrender.19 With Mackenzie’s destruction of a principal Cheyenne village on November 25, 1876, in which Bourke participated, and the campaigns of Col. Nelson Miles, 5th Infantry, in Montana, the defeat of the Indians was only a matter of time. 17. Neihardt, Black Elk, 133. 18. Ibid., 134; Marquis, Wooden Leg, 278–79. 19. Neihardt, Black Elk, 134.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Camp Life

[28 July 1876]1 I begin in this note-book an attempt to reproduce the contents of the 5th Volume of the Journal of the Sioux campaign, which 5th Vol. was lost or stolen sometime in the year 1877–1878. That volume comprehended the period between July 28th 1876 and the morning of Sept. 8th of the same year or the dates covering the reinforcement of General Crook’s column by the 5th Cavalry under Colonel Merritt, the advance down the valley of the Rosebud until we joined General Terry, our abandonment of the great Indian trail, which we had followed to Powder River, our stay on the Yellowstone to replenish supplies, our resumption of the pursuit and parting from General Terry, and the incidents of the ensuing painful and trying march through the grassy wastes of Dakotah: it covered the pages of my journal from 704 to 863 inclusive. This loss would have been a much more serious one, had I not occupied the position of Adjutant General of the Expedition and as such had access to the official records which have not alone supplied much of what was in the original volume, but served as aids 1. Date ascribed by librarians at West Point. This was the date from which Bourke was attempting to reconstruct his account.

21

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to memory in bringing back a great amt. that could not otherwise be remembered. Having carefully sifted through the mass of telegrams, orders, correspondence of all kinds, and read once more the extracts from the newspapers, (which will be found in the 6th, and succeeding volumes.) I compared the results with the route of our march as traced on the map and also with the journal kept on that march by 2 Lt. E. B. Robertson, 9th Infantry, which was very clear and concise. My conversations with General Crook and Lieut. [Walter Scribner] Schuyler also helped me greatly; so much indeed that I am confident this volume contains every fact of any importance mentioned in the lost book, unless it may be the newspaper extracts which referred mainly to our Rosebud fight and the terrible disaster which befell General Custer. Even these are duplicated in those which have been saved. Newspaper correspondents, however much they may vary in style or in their manner of considering plans and contemplating results, must discuss the same topics and describe the same facts. A patient examination of these pages will show that not a single fact worthy of record has been omitted, unless it might be matter of a nature so confidential that its insertion into its proper place would have been dangerous:—wherever printed letters could be obtained they have been used freely, as much to save my own labor as for their individual excellence, or some quality, good or bad, commending them to attention. The correspondents attached to our expedition were, with one exception, Davenport of the New York Herald, truthful men and anxious to present the exact condition of affairs to the public.2 General Crook’s column remained in camp at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains, in the grassy foot-hill country, between the Tongue River and Goose creek from June 20th 1876, until August 5th of same year; being unable to resume the offensive from want of reinforcements. The Snake Indians with their principal chief, old Wash-a-kie, a fine looking man, whose face is almost the fac-simile of Henry Ward Beecher’s, had rejoined us during the month of July, (see pp 581–83)[.]3 2. In fact, Davenport’s frank account of the Rosebud fight, which cast Crook in less than glowing terms, infuriated both Crook and his adherents. He was ostracized by Crook’s inner circle of officers, as well as by his colleagues, who were eager to preserve their “insider” status with the irascible general. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:382 n.4, 383–84, and Appendix 16. 3. This appears in Robinson, Diaries, 1:364–65.

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In his consultations with General Crook, this solid headed old Indian had always insisted that our force was not strong enough to fight the combined power of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull; “you are fighting the whole Sioux nation” he said, and must have more troops. “They have at least three to your one.” He considered that the Sioux not only had an overwhelming force, but since the Custer Massacre would be emboldened by success to such a degree of audacity and recklessness that they would not hesitate to attack our column and if victorious, as they might be, there would be no other troops in the country to oppose them. Better, he thought, wait until all our troops came up and leave nothing to blind chance. By waiting for a little while, the Sioux would begin to be pressed for subsistence, would very possibly quarrel among themselves over the division of the spoils taken from Custer and no inconsiderable portion of them would become weary of remaining in the field and would drift back, lodge by lodge, to the Agencies. If the cavalry under Merritt would join us without delay, we should have a very excellent opportunity to strike the enemy a good, hard blow,—one not easily forgotten. Merritt, with at first (8) and afterwards ten companies, of the 5th Cavalry, was under orders to join us, but a delay was occasioned by the divergence of his column after a lot of Sioux and Cheyenne, some hundreds in number, who had left Red Clouds Agency to join the hostiles. I have never been able to see the wisdom of this course; the Indians were turned back, it is true, with the loss of one warrior killed, but they never staid at the Agency; every one of them was in our front within three weeks.4 Merritt could have been of incalculable benefit to Genl. Crook and to himself by pushing forward and joining us and attacking the main body of our enemies; but by delaying, the Sioux were allowed time to mature their plans and elude our pursuit. The telegraphic correspondence upon this subject is so clear that I prefer to insert it in substance. The assistance of the Ute Indians had been invoked by General Crook; the tribe wished to send one hundred warriors to our column, but Agent Danforth (since relieved for speculation,) refused to let them leave the Reservation. Capt. Nickerson, A.D.C., to whom the business of their enlistment had been confided, was obliged to telegraph to General 4. Bourke refers to Merritt’s fight at Warbonnet Creek on July 17, 1876.

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Sheridan who obtained peremptory orders from Washington and the Utes, accordingly started from their Reservation, (White River, Colorado,) under Lt. [James Herbert] Spencer, 4th Infantry, but the Agent’s malevolence wrought such embarrassment and delay that the little column never overtook us but after pushing forward as rapidly as possible to Powder River was obliged to return. The weather during this time, July 22–28th, was charming summer.—at meridian, the sun’s rays were generally too fervid for comfort, and conduced to torpidity. Those of us who had books read them; many played cards, or chess, nearly everybody smoked, told stories or dozed. Fishing and bathing drew crowds to the chilly waters of Goose Creek or the other affluents of Tongue river upon which we happened to be camped. The exercises of drill, mounted and dismounted, the duties of guard and picket and herd demanded a great deal of attention and whenever a courier arrived with dispatches, a throng surrounded the Hd.Qrs. eager for the latest news. Camp was moved nearly every day: This gave our horses fresh grass, our men were exercised in taking down and putting up tents, saddling and unsaddling horses and in all the smaller duties of the campaign. It is a sad fact to note that the great mass of our command is of inexperienced recruits: very many of our officers are learning their first ideas of war in this expedition. As each new camp is established, sinks are dug,5 picket lines put down for the horses to be tied to, and in most cases bowers erected sheltering the tents. The soldiers are quite expert in this and take a pride in making the streets of their companies look neat and prim. The camps of our pack trains are models of order: the long lines of aparejos6 covering two sides of a square and the piles of boxes and blankets look as if they had been placed in position by compass and rule. As night approaches the bell of each train is sounded, the expectant head [mule], obedient to the warning, trots into the camp and after receiving its daily allowance of grain, is tied up to prevent a stampede by prowling Indians. 5. Latrine pits. 6. The aparejo is a packing rig of ancient and obscure origin, still used in the Middle East, Spain, and Mexico. It was brought to the Western Hemisphere by the early Spaniards. Essentially it consists of two leather pads stuffed with straw and stiffened at the front and rear edges by hardwood sticks. They hang down the sides of the mule, joined at the top by a leather gusset. The pads spread the load evenly over the mule’s back and sides to avoid stress or soreness. See Hicks, “Aparajo.”

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The meteorological rule has been that each afternoon the wind rises to a gale, blowing into great black clouds the smoke from the vast stretch of country fired by our crafty enemy,—then the sky has become obscured and about the time we are ready for supper, pattering rain drops fall upon the parched earth, the prelude for severe storms which beat down upon us for an hour or less and then dissipating expose once more the light of the stars. Now and then, a tent is “ballooned” by the wind: for barely one minute, canvass and rope and pin withstand the power of the blast sweeping down the cañon and then with a crackle and snap and swish some unfortunate’s habitation is dashed to the ground and books, papers and clothing are scattered in every direction: One evening, the wind blew down our dining tent, (fortunately we had finished supper,) and picked up our (empty) dining table and carried it along, just touching the ground, for (30) or forty feet, until it reached the edge of the bank of Goose creek, down which it tumbled, much to the disgust of our cooks, Phillips and Boswell, and the orderlies who had to work hard to get it up again. (I have spoken of the drilling of the troops: I must not forget that our Shoshonees were fully as attentive to drill as our own men: daily, under Washakie and Tom Cosgrove, they formed in their camp and moved out in column of twos & going through all the evolutions of a company of cavalry, in a manner to excite our envy and admiration.7 The concluding feature of each drill was a grand harum-scarum charge across the country back to their tipis. Several times, I accompanied them in their marches about camp, riding either with Washakie or Tom Cosgrove who would explain to me anything which attracted my interested. I did this, at request of Washakie who was afraid that some of our recruits might take alarm at the appearance of his company in full war-paint and wished some officer from General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. to accompany them that they might not be fired into. Truly, his fears were not altogether groundless. As they moved out in column of twos, riding their frisky war-ponies, which had been plentifully bedaubed with mud and paint for the occasion, and their own persons hideous in all the accessories of paint, war-bonnets, jingling bells and gleaming lances, these young 7. Tom Cosgrove, who served in a Texas cavalry unit during the Civil War, had instructed the Shoshones in the Confederate drill. See Appendix 1.

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Shoshonee warriors chanting the battle-song were well calculated to chill the blood or blench the cheek of Corporal Muldoon who so lately had been tramping the bogs of his beloved Ballynafad or Private Sweitzerkase whose mouth yet watered for the beer of Bavaria.8 My comparison may sound rather far-fetched, but these painted Indians appeared to me as expert in the art of war, as fearless horsemen and as much to be dreaded by their foes as the chivalry of Andalusia or the mail-clad knights who followed Ferdinand and Isabella across the vega to besiege Granada.9 Scarcely an evening passed that these allies did not indulge in horse-racing, their one amusement besides gambling, fishing, drilling and hunting. The greater the crowd assembled, the greater the pleasure they took in showing their [illegible] skill in riding and managing their fleet, little ponies. The course laid off usually was about 400 yards. The signal given, with whip and heel each Indian plied his maddened beast. It was evident that the ponies were quite as much worked up in the matter as their riders. With one simultaneous bound the half dozen or more contestants dart like arrows from a bow: a cloud of dust rises and screens them from our view. It is useless to try and pierce this veil; it is unnecessary, because within a very few seconds, the quaking earth throbs responsive to many-footed blows and quick as lightning’s flash the mass of streaming, panting and frenzied steeds dash past us and the race is over. Over as far as the horses are concerned, but only commenced in the matter of talk and dispute: the various points of controversy are soon settled amicably and the naked riders turn their horse’s heads homeward.) This is not always the end of the day’s entertainment. The Shoshonee, like all American Indians, is self-complacent in the estimate he puts upon his individual abilities. I speak mildly of the Shoshonees, because they are our allies in the campaign. This self-complacency tried my patience sorely whenever the Shoshonees got it into their 8. Bourke is not referring to specific soldiers, but rather to the large number of foreigners, particularly Irish and Germans, who served in the post-Civil War army. (He is also playing with words. “Private Sweitzerkase”—correctly spelled Schweitzerkasse—translates as “Private Swiss Cheese.) Rickey, Forty Miles a Day, 17–18. 9. This refers to the final conflict of Spain’s eight-hundred-year Moorish wars, from 1481 to 1492. It was waged by Ferdinand of Aragón and his wife, Isabella of Castile, against Granada, the last Muslim kingdom on the Iberian peninsula, and ended with the fall of the city of Granada on January 2, 1492. The kingdom of Granada encompassed most of Andalusia in southern Spain. The Vega is the broad Andalusian plain that extends out from the city of Granada. See Stewart, The Alhambra.

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heads that the camp needed the stimulating effects of a serenade. I do not pretend to be a musical critic, so I’ll say not a word about the vocal ability of our aboriginal friends, but I do think and say boldly that they will give more singing for less money than any people on God’s footstool. One bright night, we were awakened by the special energy of the chorus; I asked the interpreter for an explanation; he answered that the Indians were singing to the moon. While we were talking, I heard the deep, earnest tones of a voice in prayer,—it was Major Randall praying for rain. The thought struck me that if the chanting of the Shoshonees was efficacious enough to turn such a sinner as Jake Randall to prayer it was highly commendable and from that on, in face of bitter prejudice and cynical criticism, I constituted myself the champion of the Shoshonee songsters. Our packers have been, with the Indians and many of the soldiers, very earnest and successful hunters: by them the flanks of the Big Horn Mountains have been very carefully examined and much game scared up and secured. Mountain sheep, antelope, deer and elk figure with frequency in the messes, while bear is not as common and as for trout, it is the most ordinary item in the diet-list of the whole camp. Fishing doesn’t seem to exhaust the teeming multitudes of these crystal mountain streams; where too many men and horses have had access to the banks the coy fish have secluded themselves under projecting rocks or in the roots of trees growing near the water, but a tramp of one or two miles away from camp will always be rewarded by finding delightful little nooks in the cañons where bait will be seized almost the instant the hook touches the surface. My duties have kept me so closely confined to my tent and desk that I have not had the time to enjoy myself in fishing or hunting; a few minutes for a plunge in the swiftly flowing, sparkling current has been all the time that I could with propriety take away from the attention I felt it to be my duty to pay to official business. However, July 29th, I determined to stroll up the cañon of Goose creek, (North Fork,) and remain there long enough for a good bath and then catch one or two nice fish. Before I had gone three miles, I found that the rough little bridle-path was leading me into most romantic scenery. The grim walls of the cañon began to crowd very slowly upon the banks of the stream; in places, there was no bank at all and the swirling, brawling current rushed along the rocky wall, while our ponies carefully picked their way over a trail narrow,

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sharp and dangerous as the knife-edge across which believers were to make their way into Mahomet’s Paradise.10 It was not long before our little party had gained a mossy glade, hidden in the granite ramparts of the cañon, and here we found a few blades of grass for our animals to nibble at and shade from the too warm rays of the sun. The moss-covered banks terminated in a flat stone table, reaching well out into the current and shaded by overhanging boulders and widely-branching trees. The dark green pool in front rushed past us swiftly and almost noiselessly, but just below us, not more than five or six yards away, a few sharp-toothed fragments of granite barred the progress of the water which fairly grew white with rage as it hissed and moved on its downward course. We disrobed and entered the bath, greatly to the astonishment of a school of trout of all sizes which circled about us & darted in and out among the rocks trying to determine who and what we were. I am fully persuaded that we were the first white men who had ever entered at that place. Our bath was delightful; everything combined to make it so. Shade, cleanliness, convenience of access, purity and coolness of the water and such perfect seclusion that Diana herself might have chosen it for her ablutions. Splash! Splash! a sound below us! The illusion was very strong and for a moment I was willing to admit the idea that the classical huntress might have made her way to these wilds: the fancy made me uncomfortable. I had no wish to play the part of Actaeon and be changed into a stag. But my apprehensions didn’t last long. I peeped cautiously and saw that it was not Diana, but an army teamster washing a pair of unquestionably muddy pantaloons. Having finished our swimming, we took up positions on projecting rocks and cast our bait upon the stream. We were not long in finding out the politics of the Big Horn trout; they were protectionists every one. We tried them with all sorts of manufactured flies, of gaudy color or sombre hue—it made no difference. After suspiciously nosing them, they would give a flap of the tail, a sidestroke of their fins and then having gained the distance of ten feet would, most provokingly, stay there and watch us from under the shelter of slippery rocks. Foreign luxuries evidently had no charm 10. Bourke is confusing Islam with Zoroastrianism. The Zoroastrians of ancient Iran believed that the righteous could successfully negotiate a razor-edged bridge to paradise.

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for them. We tried them with home-made grasshoppers, caught on the banks of the native stream. The effect was magical: in a second, they darted out from all sorts of unexpected places,—from the edge of the rapids below us, from under gloomy blocks of granite, from amid the gnarly roots of great amphibious trees. My comrades had come for an afternoon’s fishing and began, without more ado, to haul in the struggling, quivering little beauties. My own purpose was simply to catch one or two good-sized ones and then, without further delay, return to camp. A soldier, named if I remember correct, O’Shaughnessy, of the 14th Infantry, was standing near by with a large mess newly caught. He handed me his willow branch rod, most temptingly baited with grass hoppers, at same time telling me there was a fine big trout—“a regular buster” in “the hole beyant”. He had been unable to conn him out from his retreat but thought that if anything could tempt him, my bait would. I cautiously let down my line, taking care to keep myself in the deepest shadow. I hadn’t long to remain in suspense. In an instant the trout spoken of came at full speed from his hiding place, running for my bait. He was a noble fellow; full-sized, heavy and gorgeous in his dress of silver and gold and black and red. He gave one glance at the grasshoppers and satisfied himself that they were the genuine article. One quick, nervous bound brought his nose to the hook and the bait into his mouth and then away he went! I gave him all the line he wanted, fearing I should lose him. His course took him close to the bank and as [he] neared the edge of the stream, with a quick, firm jerk I laid him sprawling on the earth. He flopped and squirmed so forcibly that I saw it was not so much my own skill that was to be thanked as his own stupidity: not experiencing my resistance from the line, he never suspected that he was a prisoner and made no fight. I was just as well pleased that he had not proved troublesome. I might not have been successful in landing him. He was of very good size, nearly 3 pounds and a perfect beauty. Going home, we overtook and passed several parties of fishermen well loaded down with booty. None of them had in his collection so fine a specimen as mine. That evening, he figured prominently on our dinner-table, roasted and stuffed in Phillips’ most artistic style.11 All over our camp, salted, smoked and fresh trout are to be seen. 11. Philips was the cook for the staff mess.

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Not having had any fresh beef since June 15th, they are invaluable for keeping away scurvy. The Shoshonees catch more of them and eat them more freely than our soldiers do. Coming near their lodges, which, being on campaign, they make of osier12 twigs planted in the earth and intertwined basket-wise[.]

This frame-work completed, blankets and robes are thrown over it and others spread along the ground. The whole arrangement is neat, comfortable and healthy. Much interest has been taken by our doctors in a case of gun-shot wound among these Indians. The young warrior was shot at the Rosebud fight; the bullet entering the thigh and smashing the bone. His comrades made splints from osier twigs, applied them to the limb to keep it in position and treated the wound with cold water alone. Our medical officers seeing the patient improve so rapidly made no change in the treatment, but called every day to render assistance in case it might be required. By the end of July, the wounded man was wonderfully advanced, able to walk around his lodge for short distances. Another Shoshonee, a young buck, not over fifteen years of age, was shot in the same fight, through the fleshy part of both thighs. In nine days, he was crawling around with the aid of a stick and by July 20th, was mounted once more on his pony. The recuperative powers of these Indians are a source of astonishment to us all. One of the Shoshonees who was with us at the Rosebud fight, accompanied the Crows on their return toward their reservation. They rejoined us with Washakie’s party and tell the story that the Crows on their homeward march ran close in upon a big Sioux village near the head of the Little Big Horn river. The Sioux didn’t discover them, but the Crows weren’t going to take any chances. They knew that, almost to a certainty, some of the hunters from the Sioux village would run across their train and their pursuit would be commenced at once. Flight was their only safety. One of the Crows had a frightful wound in the thigh:—I think the 12. A type of willow that can be woven, often used for baskets.

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bone was protruding. His comrades wouldn’t abandon him, but they had no good means of carrying him. The sole resource was to strap him down tightly on his pony, which was to be led by one of the party and beaten by another following close behind. These simple preparations were speedily completed. At the signal, the whole party plunged forward, keeping up a gallop and following the thread of streams, wherever it was possible, to avoid making any trail or sign. The wounded man shrieked and howled, but to no purpose. The detachment never halted until, late at night, they found themselves under the shelter of the Big Horn Mountains. Washakie, with the Shoshonees, has been very energetic in reconnoitering the country adjacent to our camp. They have found the remains of one large village of the hostile Indians near the head of the Little Big Horn. Their account agrees with that of General Terry in his official report regarding the number of lodges. They found the body of a young Cheyenne, supposed to be White-Antelope, killed in the fight with Sibley; from the decorations, they knew it to be the corpse of a sub-chief and from the position of the grave with respect to Sibley’s reconnaissance, knew it to be the remains of the young leader, shot by Frank Grouard.* The hostiles are still busy in their desire of burning the country around us: The district over which all grass has been fired must extend for scores of miles in the direction of the Yellowstone, and to the West and East, as far as the Big Horn and Powder respectively. The interpretation of this action is that in case of our resuming the offensive, they hope to put in the way the impediment of not finding grazing for our mules and horses. The following Endorsement is taken from the Official records of the Expedition, based upon Lieut. Sibley’s report of his reconnaissance.13 Hd.Qrs. Dept. Platte, In the Field Camp on Goose creek, Wyo. July 23rd, 1876 Respectfully forwarded to the Ass’t. Adj’t. Gen’l., Mly. Div. of the Missouri. The coolness and judgment displayed by Lieut. Sibley and Frank Gruard, the guide, in the conduct of this reconnaissance, made in the face of the whole force of the enemy, are deserving Insert by Bourke: Judging from the bones found around the campfire, the hostiles had been eating their ponies and dogs. *

13. Crook’s own report is in Robinson, Diaries, 1:374–75; Bourke’s account in ibid., 1:359–60.

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of my warmest acknowledgments. Lieut. Sibley, altho’ one of the youngest officers in this Department, has shown a gallantry that is an honor to himself and the service. I also take this occasion to express my grateful appreciation to the guides, Frank Gruard and Baptiste P[o]urier, to Messers Bechtel (called Traynor in my telegram,) and John F. Finerty, (citizen volunteers,) and to the small detachment of picked men from the Second Cavalry for their cheerful endurance of the hardships and perils such peculiarly dangerous duty of necessity involves. (Signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. Sent thro’ HdQrs. Dept. Platte Omaha. July 30th 1876. Nearly all day we had sharp showers of rain, with heavy blows of wind. Louis Richaud, with a detachment of halfbreeds and a few Indians [was] sent over the Big Horn Mtns. to examine the country along the waters of the Big Horn river. The record of the Gen’l. C’t. Martial, which tried Captain Alex. Sutorious, 3rd Cavalry, was forwarded to-day with the following remarks: “The proceedings findings and sentence in the forgoing case of Captain Alex. Sutorious, 3rd Cavalry, are approved and in conformity with the 106th Art. of War, are respectfully forwarded for the action of his Excellency the President of the United States.14 It is proper to say in relation to this officer that the offense herein tried is by no means the first of the same character of which he has been guilty. Since my assuming of the command of the Department of the Platte he has been charged with offenses of the same and even more grievous type, was place in arrest early last spring, (leaving his Company without an officer at a time when it was taking the field for the “Crazy Horse” campaign.) And should have been brought to trial then, had not his solemn protestations of repentance & assurances of reform, induced Colonel Reynolds to ask for a suspension of proceedings. Since starting on this trip, he has been reported to me by Colonel Royall and other officers as indulging, at times, to excess in the use of ardent spirits and was cautioned by his Regimental 14. The 106th Article of War states, “In time of peace no sentence of a Court Martial directing the dismissal of an officer shall be carried into execution until it should have been confirmed by the President.”

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Commander, (Colonel Royall.) to whom he reiterated his pledges of amendment. I hope for this reason that no mistaken notions of clemency may be allowed to prevail. (sig.) George Crook Brig. General”15 July 31st. Instructions were sent to company Commanders to have all flour sacks saved and turned in at Hd. Qrs. for use in making flags to be worn in the heads of our Shoshonee guides.16 August 1st. A sharp rain toward evening—cool wind from the mountains. Telegram received from General Sheridan dated Chicago, July 26th, announcing that the Indian Bureau had turned over control of the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Indians to the military—officers to act as Agents,—Agencies on the Missouri also turned over. “As soon as we take possession, a list of all Indians in [at the agencies] will be made and no Indian or their families now out or who may hereafter go out, will be permitted to return without unconditional personal surrender, as well as the surrender of all ponies, guns and property. I have ordered Col. [Ranald S.] Mackenzie, with six companies of the 4th Cavalry to Red Cloud, as well as [George Alexander] Gordon’s Battalion of the 5th.” High Winds. Tents blown down. Aug. 2nd night quite cold. August 2nd. Louis Richaud and party returned. Reported lakes on summit of Big Horn Mountains frozen and that they had encountered a heavy fall of snow on 1st of August. They found on the Big Horn river the remains of a large Indian village. The Indians had gone in there to cut lodge poles. (July 30th) After moving camp about one and a half mile down stream (South Fork of Tongue river) to obtain better grazing, we were nearly burnt out by a prairie fire ignited in the camp of the Shoshonees. One of them dropped a match in the dry grass near his lodge and, in a second, a rattle and crackle told the camp of its danger. All hands, Indian and white, nearby, rushed up with blankets, blouses, switchers and branches of trees to beat back the flames. This was a most dangerous task: as one after another of the surging flames enveloped the Shoshonee lodges in their fiery embrace, the explo15. The Sutorious court-martial is discussed in Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 20. 16. During the Rosebud fight, soldiers had difficulty distinguishing Indian auxiliaries from hostiles.

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sion of cartridges and the whistling of bullets drove our men back to places of safety. In the tall and dry grass, the flames held high revel; the whole Infantry command was turned out and bravely set to work and, aided by a favorable change in the wind, secured our whole camp from destruction. While thus engaged, they discovered a body of Indians moving down the mountain slope. They immediately reached for their guns and prepared to resist attack:—a couple of white men advanced from the Indian column and called out to the soldiers that these were Utes and Shoshones on their way from Camp Brown, Wyo.,17 to join General Crook’s command. The soldiers conducted them, thirty-five in all to our camp, where their friends gave them a warm reception, including a dance and serenade. August 2nd. We witnessed to-day, what by a stretch of courtesy was called a game of base-ball, between the officers of the Infantry and Cavalry. Quite a number managed to hit the ball and one or two catches were made. The playing was much in the same style and of about same comparative excellence as the amateur theatrical exhibitions so frequent in garrisons, while those who came to scoff, remain to pray—that they may never have to come again. Charity covers such a multitude of sins in base-ball as in everything else that I cannot let pass this opportunity for showing how extremely charitable I am; I’ll say no more about the game for the championship of the expedition, except that the shades of night had closed around the contestants before the Infantry had made a run, so the umpires decided in favor of the Cavalry, who had made two or three. Couriers arrived to-day bringing dispatches from Chicago and Omaha, dated July 28th and 29th. General [Robert] Williams, Adjutant General Dep’t of the Platte, telegraphed “Indians at Spotted Tail reported restless and threatening, those at Red Cloud quiet.” Major Gordon, with two companies of 5th Cavalry, ordered to Spotted Tail. (On July 28th) General Sheridan telegraphed under date July 28th “Have your dispatch of 23rd. Col. Merritt will reach you on 1st or 2nd. He had made no delay after receipt of your order to join you. If you do not feel strong enough to attack, and defeat the Indians, 17. Camp Brown was established in 1871 on the Wind River to protect the Shoshones. In 1878, it was renamed Fort Washakie, in honor of the paramount Shoshone chief. It was permanently abandoned in 1909, and turned over to the Interior Department to use as headquarters for the Shoshone Agency. Frazer, Forts of the West, 186–87.

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it is best for you to form a junction with General Terry at once. I have sent to you and Gen’l. Terry every available man that can be spared in the Division and if it has not made the column strong enough, Terry and you should unite your forces. The conduct of yourself and command in the engagement of the 17th ultimo,18 and your actions afterward have been approved all the way through by myself and General Sherman and he directs me to inform you that you need not mind the newspapers.[”]19 Colonel [Edwin Franklin] Townsend, 9th Infantry, commanding at Fort Laramie,20 sent under same date, a synopsis of current news; I do not describe his dispatch as its contents have been anticipated. General Williams, (same date.) Sent the following which he had received from Division Hd. Qrs. “The Commanding Officer at Cheyenne Agency, Dakota Territory, states that eight Indians have just returned from the hostile camp, who reported that the whole force of Indians opposed to Generals Terry and Crook are moving South. It is also reported that large numbers are leaving for that and other Agencies. These Indians left hostile camp on 19th instant”. Notification also came from General Sheridan that the resignation of Captain Robert P. Wilson, 5th Cavalry, had been accepted by the President to take effect on July 29th 1876. Word was sent to General Merritt to remain in his camp (on Goose Creek) until General Crook’s arrival with the main command tomorrow. I rode over to General Merritt’s camp [(]about 8 miles.) and paid my respects to him, and also had the pleasure of meeting Colonel [Thaddeus Harlan] Stanton and very many friends. General Merritt is a very young man, of fine face and strong and large physique. His hair and eyes are dark and the tint of his complexion ruddy. In his speech he has a scarcely perceptible impediment. His manners are very soldierly, but cordial. 18. The Rosebud fight on June 17, 1876. 19. Sheridan is referring to critical dispatches and editorials, particularly those appearing in the New York Herald. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:477ff. 20. Fort Laramie was established as an American Fur Company post in 1834. In 1849, it was purchased by the federal government and garrisoned as a military post until 1890, when it was abandoned. Much of the post has been preserved or restored, and it is now a national historic site. Fort Laramie, which is about ninety miles northeast of Cheyenne, near the Nebraska line, should not be confused with the city of Laramie, about forty miles due west of Cheyenne. The military post at the city of Laramie was Fort Sanders. Frazer, Forts of the West, 181–82.

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August 3rd. Our column moved North East, eighteen miles to the junction of Middle & South Goose creeks. This march, small as it was, was hard upon our men and horses, the day being hot and dry and the trail dusty. I went with Big Bat [Pourier], one of our Scouts by a short cut: in crossing a small tributary, we saw in one place where the heat of the prairie fires had been so intense that not only did it destroy the cottonwood trees fringing the banks, but also completely dried up the current. I am certain of the truth of this statement, because when we reached the banks, some of the trees were still smouldering, and the path of the conflagration was still uncomfortably near. Before reaching this path, the stream was a good-sized brook from 8 to ten feet in width flowing with a moderate current of (3) or (4) miles, and a depth of half a foot. Almost at once it ceased flowing; the stream bed has all the appearance of baked clay, little heaps of ashes choked the current and no indication was lacking to prove that the drying of the streamlet was directly due to the heat of the conflagration: we waited there a few minutes looking into the matter and before we remounted, the water had commenced to trickle down once more; I have inserted a correct roster of the command as it was after General Merritt’s column joined us, at 5 P.M. of the 3rd, altho’ the wagon-train did not all get in to camp until 8 o’clock. Roster of command, the following written in hand by Bourke: Major Arthur, Paymaster, and Captain Sutorius, 5th Cavalry, left behind in Maj. Furey’s camp. Brigadier General George Crook, Comdg. 1st Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3d Cavl. A.D.C., A.A.Gen. 1” Lieut. W.S. Schuyler, 5h Cavalry, A.D.C. O=Officers, M=Men, H=Horses The following is a printed roster, pasted in the diary, with marginal notes by Bourke: TROOPS COMPOSING THE BIG HORN EXPEDITION POSTS OFFICERS TROOPS. th Colonel Wesley Merritt, 5 Cavalry. Lieut. Col. E.A. Carr, 5th Cavalry. Lieut. Col. W.B. Royall, 3d Cavalry. Major A.W. Evans, 3d Cavalry. Major Alexander Chambers, 4th Inf., Maj. John V. [sic] Upham, 5th Cavalry.

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Captain Thomas B. Dewees 1st Lieut. Martin E. O’Brien. 2d Lieut. Daniel C. Pearson.

A, 2d Cavalry.

Captain James T. Peale. 1st Lieut. William C. Rawolle. 2d Lieut. Daniel C. Pearson21

B, 2d Cavalry.

Captain David S. Gordon, 1st Lieut. Samuel M. Swigert, D, 2d Cavalry. 2d Lieut. Henry D. Huntington, Captain Elijah R. Wells. 1st Lieut. Randolph Norwood. E, 2d Cavalry. 2d Lieut. Frederick W. Sibley. Captain Henry E. Noyes. 1st Lieut. Christopher T. Hall. I, 2d Cavalry. 2d Lieut. Frederick W. Kingsbury. Captain William Hawley. 1st Lieut. Joseph Lawson. 2d Lieut. Charles Morton,

A, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Charles Meinhold. 1st Lieut. John P. Walker. 2d Lieut. James F. Simpson.

B, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Frederick Van Vliet, 1st Lieut. George E. Ford. 2d Lieut. James Allen.

C, 3d Cavalry

Captain Guy V. Henry. 1st Lieut. John C. Thompson 2d Lieut. John C. Gresham.

D, 3d Cavalry.

*

Bourke’s footnote: Wounded at Rosebud and sent back.

*

21. This, apparently, is a misprint.

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Captain Alexander Sutorius. 1st Lieut. A.H. von Leuttwitz. 2d Lieut. Henry R. Lemly.

*

E, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Alexander Moore. 1st Lieut. A.D. Bache Smead. F, 3d Cavalry. 2d Lieut. Bainbridge Reynolds. Captain Deane Monahan. G, 3d Cavalry 1st Lieut. Emmet Crawford. 2d Lieut. Edgar Z. Steever, jr. Captain William H. Andrews 1st Lieut. Albert D. King. 2d Lieut. James E.H. Foster.

G, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Peter D. Vroom, jr. 1st Lieut. John G. Bourke. 2d Lieut. George F. Chase,

L, 3d Cavalry.

Captain Anson Mills, 1st Lieut. Augustus C. Paul. Lieut. Frederick Schwatka.

M, 3d Cavalry.

Column below is Bourke’s notes: Captain Robert P. Wilson.** O. M. H. 1st Lieut. Jacob A. Augur. A, 5th Cavalry. 2. 52. 59. 2d Lieut. George O. Eaton.

B, 5th Cavalry.

2. 57. 63.

Captain R. H. Montgomery. 1st Lieut. William J. Volkmar. 2d Lieut. Walter S. Schuyler.

C, 5th Cavalry.

1. 59. 59.

Captain Emil Adam. 1st Lieut. J.B. Babcock. 2d Lieut. E.L. Keyes.

Bourke’s footnote: Left in arrest, with wagon train on Goose Cr[eek]. Bourke’s footnote: Resigned, in presence of the Enemy, July 29

*

**

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Captain Samuel S. Sumner. 1st Lieut. C.P. Rogers [sic]. 2d Lieut. George B. Davis.

2. 60. 71.

D, 5th Cavalry.

2. 59. 63.

Captain George F. Price. E, 5th Cavalry. 1st Lieut. P.P. Barnard. 2d Lieut. Charles D. Parkhurst. Captain J. Scott Payne. F, 5th Cavalry 1st Lieut. Alfred B. Bache. 2d Lieut. William P. Hall.

G, 5th Cavalry.

2. 54. 59.

Captain Edward M. Hayes. 1st Lieut. Earl D. Thomas. 2d Lieut. Hoel S. Bishop.

I, 5th Cavalry.

2. 50. 55.

Captain Sanford C. Kellogg. 1st Lieut. B. Reilly, Jr. 2d Lieut. Robert London.

K, 5th Cavalry.

2. 50. 56.

Captain Julius Mason. 1st Lieut. Charles King. 2d Lieut. Frank Michler.

M, 5th Cavalry.

1. 51. 56.

Captain Edward H. Leib. 1st Lieut. A.W. Greeley.[sic] 2d Lieut. Charles H. Watts. Captain Avery B. Cain. 1st Lieut. Henry Seton. 2d Lieut. Charles W. Foster.

D, 4th Infantry.

Captain Gerhard L. Luhn. 1st Lieut. David I. Ezekiel. 2d Lieut. H.E. Robinson.

F, 4th Infantry.

Captain William H. Powell. 1st Lieut. Horace Neide. 2d Lieut. A.B. Crittenden.

G, 4th Infantry.

2. 60. 72

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Captain Samuel Munson. 1st Lieut. Thaddeus H. Capron. C, 9th Infantry. 2d Lieut. Hayden Delany [sic]. Captain Thomas B. Burrowes. 1st Lieut. William L. Carpenter. G, 9th Infantry. 2d Lieut. Walter S. Wyatt. Captain Andrew S. Burt. 1st Lieut. William E. Hofman [sic]. H, 9th Infantry. 2d Lieut. Edgar B. Robertson. Captain James Kennington. 1st Lieut. John Murphy. 2d Lieut. Charles F. Lloyd. SIDNEY BARRACKS, NEB.22

B, 14th Infantry.

Captain Otis W. Pollock, Com’dg. 1st Lieut. Charles Hay, A.A.Q.M. And A.C.S. C, 23d Infantry. 2d Lieut. J. Rozier Clagett Captain George M. Randall. 1st Lieut. Frederick L. Dodge, Post Adjutant. I, 23d Infantry. 2d Lieut. Edward B. Pratt. Asst. Surgeon Charles K. Winne.

CAMP STAMBAUGH, Captain Edward J. Spaulding, ComW.T. manding. C, 2d Cavalry. st 1 Lieut. Thomas J. Gregg. 2d Lieut. John H. Coale, A.A.Q.M., A.C.S. and Post Adjutant.

22. Sidney Barracks, at the present down of Sidney, Nebraska, was established in 1867 as an outpost of Fort Sedgwick, Colorado. It became a separate post in 1879, and was redesignated Fort Sidney. It was abandoned and transferred to the Interior Department in 1894. Frazer, Forts of the West, 90.

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Post Chaplain David White. Act. Asst. Surg. R.W. Odell. FORT FRED. STEELE, W.T.

Captain John Miller. A, 4th Infantry st 1 Lieut. Joseph Keeffe, A.A.Q.M. and A.C.S. 2d Lieut. Sattleree C. Plummer. Major Eugene M. Baker, 2d Cav. 2d Lieut. John J. O’Brien, 4th Infantry, Post Adjutant. Act. Asst. Surgeon Thomas P. Pease.

Bourke’s narrative continues: William Cody, alias “Buffalo Bill”, was in command of the seven[?] scouts attached to Merritt’s column. Cody is a gentlemanly man, of pleasing address and quiet bearing. He is a good shot, fine rider and a fair scout. In the last mentioned capacity he plays a very insignificant part in association with our Indians: this is not said to his disparagement, at all, because they know almost every foot of this vast country, to which he is a stranger. Cody has good pluck and is a hard worker. The most objectionable feature about him is his long hair—he wears it flowing down his shoulders in a very theatrical sort of way: to sum him up, he is one of the best frontiersmen we have. I give his good points as well as bad. It is worthy of remark that nine out of the ten companies were commanded by their captains; the 10th captain, Wilson, had resigned in presence of the enemy, July 29th, 1876. Merritt also brought with him seventy-six men and 67 seven horses as reinforcements for the Cavalry and Infantry companies serving with the Expedition. The wagon-masters, teamsters, &c with Merritt were not counted, as they were left behind under Major Furey. I have placed opposite each company the number of Officers, men and horses, which will give very closely our effective strength at time of leaving Goose Creek. A number of newspaper correspondents followed along with Merritt’s column. Ever since the Custer Massacre, public interest has been very greatly excited about Indian and Military matters on the frontier; all the principal journals of the country are represented

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directly or indirectly with this command or General Terry’s. I met Mr. [Cuthbert] Mills, of the New York Times, a very quiet but at the same time genial young man with an old head.23 He impressed me as a man of travel and culture, inclined to examine carefully into causes and reasons and anxious to give just narrations. Mr. [Barbour] Lathrop, of the San Francisco Bulletin was garrulous and opinionated, but very good-hearted, decidedly bright and had “knocked around” a great deal, to use his own expression. The New York Graphic was responsible for the presence of a poor, half-witted young fellow, who, to me seemed a trifle daft. He couldn’t draw or write, had no money, nothing to eat, except what some good-natured subaltern or some pack-master would invite him to share in a mess of beans. I never could account for this man’s presence, never believed the Graphic sent him; but there he was, the butt of all the cock and bull stories of the camp.24 After leaving Goose Creek, I have seen men come half a mile to re-tail [sic] for his credulous ears some horrible story about Indians—he would swallow it all. He was never seen to laugh but once and that was a provocation sufficient to make a corpse shake itself out of its shroud. One of our half-breed scouts was riding along with him; the scout having two ponies, was riding one and pulling the other along; getting lazy or tired, he attached the halter of his led pony to the tail of the animal he was riding. This plan worked admirably for a few minutes and the scout was “getting in his work” in a series of Indian atrocities too blood-curdling for the pages of the New York Ledger.25 The led horse started at some Indian clothing on the road, jumped and pulled the tail of the front one, nearly pulled it out by the roots. The front horse wasn’t going to stand any such nonsense as that: he squealed and kicked and plunged in rage, sending his rider over his head like a rocket and then, still attached to the other, something after the style of a Siamese twin, charged through the column of scouts, scattering them in every direction. This paroxysm of hilarity was soon over, and the correspondent, I really can’t recall his name, subsided into his usual condition of deep-settled melancholy. He made his bed near mine almost every 23. Bourke apparently means mature beyond his years. 24. Knight can offer no insight as to who this supposed correspondent might have been. He does indicate that, except for three drawings of camp life by Charles Holtes, the Graphic’s coverage of the campaign was second-hand. Knight, Following the Indian Wars, 251–52. 25. A tabloid of the period.

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night and thus I could see without much trouble what treatment he was receiving: as soon as the usual routine duties of getting into camp were over, he became the focus of converging volleys of stories, each one a worse lie than those which had preceded it. Once in a great while, he would murmur a mild dissent from some especially horrible yarn, but his objections were drowned in an innundation of “Oh! that’s nothin’; that ain’t a circumstance to what I’ve seen ‘em do”, and as he had never been West of New York before, he was a helpless victim. He left us the day we reached the Yellowstone and I never blamed him. I don’t think he ever slept a wink during the whole time he remained with the column. Lieut. Robertson, 9th Infantry, found this afternoon a curious bowl, hollowed out of soapstone. It was lying half-buried in the ground, no sign of trail or human habitancy near it. There was but one explanation to account for its presence:—it must have been dropped by Indians; maybe it had been captured or bought by Sioux or Cheyennes from the Mandans who are the only people near here who would be likely to make such things.

Chapter 2 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Linking with Terry

August 4th. Very high winds prevailing all day. Prairie fires burning for miles; sky black with fog and smoke. The timber in the foot-hills of the Big Horn range is also burning and after dark the hills are crowned with a wreath of golden flame. The organization of the Command, as at present constituted, was announced in General Orders, No. 5 1. Colonel Wesley Merritt, 5th Cavalry, is assigned as chief of all the Cavalry serving with this Expedition. 2. Surgeon B.A. Clements having reported at this Hd. Qrs. in obedience to Par[agraph]. 2, G[eneral]. O[rders]. No. 98, Dept. Platte, is announced as Medical Director of the Expedition, relieving Assistant Surgeon Albert Hartsuff. 3. Captain John V. Furey, A.Q.M., will, in addition to his present duties, exercise the functions of Ordnance Officer of the Expedition. 4. Major T.H. Stanton, Paymaster, will assume command of the irregular forces, comprised of citizens, volunteers and such others as may be assigned to duty under him by the Expedition Commander.” and by Special Field Orders, No. 22, 2 Lt. C.A. Rockefellar [sic] 9th Inf. & 2 Lt. S.C. Plummer, 4th Infany. were assigned to duty with the 44

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Infantry and Cavalry columns respectively. By same orders, the unassigned recruits brought along by General Merritt were distributed among the companies. General Crook telegraphed to General Sheridan, “Three Crow Indians came through from General Terry on the 19th and at that time all trails were leading up the Little Big Horn to the Big Horn Mountains, not even a pony track going back. On the 25th or 26th, all hostile Indians left the foot of the Big Horn Mountains and moved back in the direction of the Rosebud Mountains, so that it is now impracticable to communicate with General Terry by courier. I am fearful they will scatter as there is not sufficient grass in that country to support them in such large numbers. General Merritt joined me with his command last evening. To-morrow morning, we will cut loose from the wagon train with about two thousand fighting men, including friendly Indians and a small party of citizen volunteers,—move down Tongue river in the direction we suppose the hostiles have gone, carrying with us fifteen days’ rations. If we meet the Indians in too strong force, I will swing around and unite with General Terry. Nothing has been heard from the Utes yet; but shall leave instructions if they reach here, within a reasonable time to follow on after us. Your management of the Agencies will be a great benefit to us here.” The work of organizing and arranging the Command kept everybody busy. Horses had to be shod, saddles to be repaired or exchanged, ammunition issued, provisions to be packed and all extra clothing and supplies—which were not to go on the pack-mules were to be stored with the wagon train. The allowance of baggage was cut down to the minimum. Every officer and soldier was to have the clothes on his back and no more; one overcoat, one blanket, (to be carried by the cavalry over the saddle blanket,) and one india rubber tent,—this was the amount carried by General Crook, the members of his staff and all the officers, soldiers and packers.1 Rations were carried along for fifteen 1. The normal packing order for the Model 1874 McClellan saddle was to strap down the overcoat and poncho in front of the pommel, and the blanket and India rubber ground cloth behind the cantle. By “tent,” Bourke probably meant the ground cloth because, a few sentences later, he notes that no tents were allowed except one to serve as a hospital for the Medical Department. Although he does not mention the infantry, photographs of the time show that infantrymen in the field tended to carry their blankets rolled up, and worn over one shoulder, diagonally across the chest and back, and tied just below the waist on

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days; half of bacon, sugar, coffee, & salt and full of hard bread, none of vinegar, soup, pepper &c.2 Of ammunition, we had two hundred and fifty rounds to the man; one hundred to be carried by the cavalrymen on their persons or in the saddlebags, the rest to be packed on the pack-mules, of which we had Three hundred and ninety nine.3 The pack-trains were in five divisions, each led by a bell-animal, as previously described.4 No tents were allowed, excepting one for surgical operations upon the wounded from any engagement. Travois poles are hauled along to enable us to drag our wounded men with us, should it become necessary. Our mess now numbers eleven and is beyond dispute the most remarkable military mess our Army has ever seen. I challenge comparison with it from anything that has ever been among our officers outside Libby or Andersonville prisons.5 General Crook has not allowed us either knife, fork, spoon or plate. Each member carried strapped to the pommel of his saddle a tin cup from which at balmy morn or dewy eve, as poets would say, he may quaff the decoction called coffee. Our utensils comprise one frying pan, one carving knife, one carving-fork, one large coffee pot, one large tin plate; one large and two small tin spoons, and the necessary bags for carrying sugar, coffee, bacon and hard-bread. I forgot to say we also had one sheet-iron mess-pan. Phillips, the cook, who is to go with us, is something of an expert in his profession and boasts of being able to do much with little. He will have the finest opportunity his heart could desire for proving his boasts. I shall speak more fully of our mess hereafter. General Crook has determined to make his column as mobile, if possible, as a column of Indians, and he knows that example is more potent than a score of General orders. By commencing with his own head-quarters, he will compel subordinate commanders to imitate his severity. August 5th. The command broke camp at day-break, the Infantry takthe opposite side. Personal items were rolled up in the blanket. This was done in lieu of the regulation packs that were impractical on the frontier. The infantry situation is discussed in McChristian, U.S. Army in the West, 191, 222–23. 2. Bourke means each man was given only half-rations of bacon, sugar, and coffee to last fifteen days, and full rations of hard bread or hard tack. In reality this meant they only had enough food for a full meal for seven and a half days. 3. Again, Bourke does not mention infantry, who also would have carried a hundred cartridges per man in their belts and haversacks, and the rest on the mules. 4. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:212–13. 5. Confederate prisoner-of-war facilities where food shortages led to starvation.

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ing up the line of march at 5 A.M., the Cavalry, one hour later.* This arrangement gives the foot-soldiers a good start, saves them from much of the dust to be expected in rear of a long column of mounted men and helps them along the road as Infantry move so much more freely in the cool, Fresh air of morning. The horses and mules graze better just after dawn, so the hour’s additional time is a great benefit to them. Our march was for twenty two miles, going in a northerly course down Prairie Dog creek to its junction with Tongue river and down the latter fine stream for a distance from the confluence of four miles. The grass was generally consumed along trail, but we found a fair camp with a small amount of good grass, plenty of wood and an abundance of cold, pure water. Captain [Avery Billings] Cain, 4th Infantry, this morning manifested symptoms of mental alienation and upon recommendation of Ass’t. Surgeon [Julius] Patzki, was ordered to be sent back to the wagon train. He escaped from his escort and rejoined the column about noon. His hallucination is that he is surrounded by enemies who are seeking to damage his reputation or destroy his life, by exposing him to the attacks of Indians &c. Our supper to-night was not a very gorgeous affair. We determined, however, to make the best of it. Not having any plates, each one of us had to take a cracker to hold his pieces of bacon which the cook had cut very small and thin: The knives hanging from our belts did us yeoman service. There was much envy exhibited at my good fortune in finding in a deserted Indian village, an extremely large tin cup and spoon; criticism ceased upon my presenting these acquisitions to the mess. We didn’t have any guests to dine with us. Not a single member has attempted to evade the stringent orders about personal baggage. Mr. [Joseph] Wasson of the Alta California and New York Tribune, who is messing with us, Lieut. Schuyler and myself, have with us notebooks, pencils and a very small quantity of paper for orders, correspondence and other necessary business. We move each day with Stanton’s scouts and camp alongside of them by night. This means that we shall have the clothing stolen from off our backs. Everything comes alike to them; halters, lariats, saddle-bags, canteens, mess furniture or blankets—anything portable, is spirited out of sight and never returned. We shall have to sit upon our saddles Bourke’s marginal note: (Along Prairie dog creek, was a village of the little Prairie Dogs, which was not less than six miles long.) *

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from the moment they are taken from our horses. The “Montana Volunteers,” as they style themselves, were known as the “Montana thieves,” among officers and soldiers. Among them was a Shoshonee or Ute Indian—“Ute John,” who spoke “Melican” pretty well. By preference he always rode with the white scouts, his apparent influence with whom and with the Expedition Commander gave him considerable power among his aboriginal comrades. “John” had lived for five or six years in the Salt Lake Valley, “dlivin team for Momon”6—and, according to his own story, had been baptized in the Mormon church. This may have been true, as the Mormons have made great efforts to proselytize the savages in the vicinity of their settlements. “John” was not a bad fellow, behaved himself well and became a favorite with the soldiers. He used to excite a great deal of amusement at Hd.Qrs, by his deportment toward General Crook, whose reticence and self-seclusion no one else dared to violate. “John” didn’t care for dignity: a Brigadier General was of no more consequence in his eyes than any other white man. His presence seemed to give the General a considerable share of amusement. “Hullo, Clook,[”] he would way, [“]how you gettin on? Heh? Where you tink dem Clazy Hoss ‘n Sittin’ Bull, is now, Clook?” “John” was not very talkative with any of the mess. He never made attempt to “unbosom” himself to anyone but the Commanding General. Thursday, August 6th. Moved North, down Tongue river for a total distance of nineteen miles. Our Infantry had a very hard time, as the river had to be forded thirteen different times. When they reached camp, very many of the men were footsore, from wading through the icy-cold water and then marching along a sandy trail. General Crook ordered a battalion of Cavy. to remain with the Infantry column to carry rifles and knapsacks over, or to give such men as wished it a ride on the back of the saddles, each horse carrying two men. A large percentage of the foot-soldiers actuated by false pride, refused any such assistance and waded across the current, at some points nearly waist-deep. The weather remained pleasant, but warm from the wind blowing across distance prairie fires—in every direction, we are confronted by a black expanse of desolation. Grazing is very scarce. Wood and water we find, thus far, in sufficiency. Louis 6. I.e., driving team for Mormon.

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Richaud, with a body of scouts sent over to the Rosebud, to examine for trails. Captain Cain acting very wildly, muttering to himself and flourishing his pistol. He is now under surveillance. His latest idea is that General Cook is “down” on him and can only be conciliated by a present of canned fruits. He sent the General this evening with his compliments a can of tomatoes, which he has brought in his coat-pocket from our camp on Goose Creek. August 7th. Moved nearly due West, twenty-three miles, crossing the divide called the Rosebud mountains and descending to that stream. The first part of the march was very hot and toilsome, going up a steep mountain slope and having a suffocating wind blow in our faces from the burning timber on the crests of the range. Near the summit, on the East side, at the head of a pretty rivulet, we found a bright little spring, with some fresh, green grass. Here the Hd.Qrs. and guides and Indians halted for an hour to allow the command to “close up.” On approaching the Rosebud, General Crook and his Hd.Qrs, had again left the main column far in the rear; we had with us the scouts and the Shoshonee Indians, enough to keep off a large force of the enemy, but not enough to withstand such an assault as could have been made by the multitude of savages whose trail we discovered on the banks of that stream. The trail was as well beaten and as fully defined as any wagon road; the manure of the ponies was so dry that our Indians concluded that the hostiles must have left this vicinity about ten or twelve days ago; but no little difference of opinion existed on this head. The weather has been so warm and dry that the age of a trail is more difficult to determine than when the temperature is mild. While the major portion of our scouts and guides passed down the river and along the slopes of the foot-hills scrutinizing the country, the Hd.Qrs., moved to the West bank of the stream and halted in a little clump of box-elder. The Rosebud at this ford was not over 15 ft. in width and the banks sloped so gently that the depth did not seem to be over one or two feet. This deceitful appearance beguiled Colonel Stanton and myself into entering the water, which, to our astonishment, proved to be more than girth-deep on our horses. Our feet and legs were thoroughly saturated, so we had nothing else to do but pull off our boots, empty out the water and then wring and dry our stockings. We had just put them on again and were beginning to feel a little more comfortable in the warm, bright sun when

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along came Doctor Hartsuff, and halted his spirited horse on the opposite bank: “is that a good bottom[,]” he asked; “excellent”, we answered. His horse all this while was sensible that that ford was no proper place for making a passage and was impatiently champing his bit and turning around to go back. Hartsuff, irritated, gave him the spur and the noble animal made one plunge and landed himself and rider in four and a half feet of water. After scrambling to our side, the Doctor dismounted and unsaddled. No one spoke a word of sympathy; there are times when grief becomes too great for words. Hartsuff saw that the present occasion was one of those. He never opened his lips. The silence was painful. One by one, Stanton, Randall, Schuyler, Wasson—withdrew behind the bushes where they remained for quite a while doubled up with emotion. By sun-down, our scouts had returned, and reported their examination of the trail. They found the site of the Indian village just below our bivouac: it covered an immense area of three to four miles and consisted of several thousands of lodges and multitudes of ponies. The same difference of opinion, as alluded to above, still obtained as to the age of the trail: some considered it as at least two weeks old, but the majority of our Indians and our most reliable guides fixed its age at eight days. This was the village which had annihilated Custer at Big Horn and attacked Crook at almost this same point only two months ago. The cañon into which I rode with [Capt. Anson] Mills’ column on the afternoon of June 17th is not over seven miles from here: our guides examined it carefully and found that a trap had been set, from which we had been extricated only by the arrival of Captain Nickerson with General Crook’s orders to discontinue pursuit in that cañon. The Indians had endeavored to lead us on until we should have become too deeply involved to return: Then they would have closed in on us and slaughtered our battalion to the last man. Across the cañon at its narrowest, deepest and most precipitous part, they had constructed an abattis of fallen timber, to prevent our escape toward the North. There was only one point in their scheme that proved defective; they didn’t know Crook. With a man like Custer, such a plan would have worked to a charm. In less than a fortnight[,] June 25th 1876[,] they wiped out Custer with a larger command than Mills had* and under Bourke’s note: That is the command which was slaughtered with Custer [i.e. five companies]. Custer’s whole command [the entire regiment] was very little inferior to Crook’s force of troops at the Rosebud. *

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conditions not one tenth as favorable for their purpose. General Crook is so cautious and so versed in Indian stratagems that he would take no risks, would make no division of his command and would fight the Indians on ground of his own choosing or not at all.7 The news brought back by our scouts and Indians of the great numbers of the foe and the frustration of their scheme at the Rosebud fight has done a great deal to diffuse a feeling of trust and confidence in Crook as a General who will not waste the life of a single soldier to secure for himself one additional line of clap-trap eulogy in sensational journals. I cannot conceal from myself the fact that we have with us not a few officers who would gladly abandon the campaign upon the most frivolous pretext and who are now beginning to grumble because they haven’t sponge cake. The fair-weather Christians loom up as grand soldiers in a ball-room; where with plenty of gilding and embroidery they find no trouble in passing themselves off among giddy young women as bolder than Hercules, braver than Ajax. Every army has a certain ratio of worthlessness in its ranks: our military organization is particularly blessed or cursed in the number of barnacles who draw pay and clog promotion. Frequently, these fellows are representatives of what, for some inscrutable reason, are known as the “good” families of the country. My personal idea of a young man of “good” family, to tolerate such an expression in a country pretending to be a Republic, is one, who will feel that he has not played his part well in battle unless severe wounds attest his prowess. I am behind the times: The view entertained generally is that a young “blood” emphasizes his claims to imitating the snobbery of dress and the drawls of the English swell: To[o] proud to work, too lazy to steal, with no genius for politics, no valor for war, the young American gentleman of to-day drifts along in the social tide of an inane vacuous idiot, without one compensatory feature of character.8 7. Bourke appears to have been writing to defend Crook against accusations, which arose almost immediately, that the battle of the Rosebud was a blunder, which, indeed, it was. The fight occurred almost spontaneously, on a chance encounter between Crook’s Indian auxiliaries and a hunting party from the hostile camp. The “abattis” found almost two months later—if indeed there was one—might easily have been a jam of tree trunks and brush swept into the canyon by high water. As for “ground of his own choosing,” Crook was playing cards with officers at the time the fight broke out, and was taken completely by surprise. See Mangum, Battle of the Rosebud; Vaughn, With Crook at the Rosebud; and Robinson, Good Year to Die, Chapter 13. 8. Here Bourke is describing the traditional aristocracy carried over from colonial times which, having been rendered irrelevant by the Jeffersonians and Jacksonians, spent its time with social and literary endeavors. The national economy and decisions of importance were controlled by individualists, often self-made, such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. This era is discussed by Michael Knox Beran, The Last Patrician, Chapter 2.

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Our camp to-night, as every other night, was in form of a circle, pack-trains and horses inside. We obtained little or no grazing for our horses. The valley of the Rosebud, of which last June I wrote in terms of such enthusiasm, is picked clean as a bone. Every foot of ground bears the mark of a pony hoof. Frank Gruard thinks that the hostiles have had not less than 10,000 and maybe as many as 20,000 ponies in this valley: without expressing an opinion as to numbers, I will say that they must have had thousands of people and thousands of animals to make such havoc with the rich vegetation of this fertile valley. August 8th. We moved down the Rosebud for four miles to a large patch of grass which had escaped the flames. We passed for the whole distance, nearly through the site of the Sioux village; this we could see had been arranged in the form of seven lodge circles and the content of the total space covered was not a foot less than four square miles: The village had extended on both sides of the creek and had apparently not remained long in one spot, moving frequently, perhaps to obtain good grazing or for better security. (We remained in this camp all day, bearing with as much stolidity as possible the intense heat. Along the Rosebud, are frequent passages of weird, picturesque scenes; the banded stratification of the enclosing bluffs with the harmonious blending of colors is a very attractive feature[.)] Mr. Scott, a young gentleman, who has travelled with the 5th Cavalry, from Kansas to see the country, and who claimed to be a graduate of Oriel College, Oxford, dined with us this afternoon. For a cockney, he was a pleasant gentleman; he had a good deal of mannerism and affectation about him, which was rapidly disappearing under the attrition of hard campaigning. We got to like him very well after the ice of first acquaintance had been broken. We told him we would waive the usual formal tender of thanks for a good dinner, and he replied with great frankness, that he hadn’t the slightest intention of expressing any such opinion as, on the contrary, he regarded his meal with us was by all odds the worst he had ever eaten. Frank Gruard was with Schuyler and myself all afternoon, talking about the manners and customs of the American savages. His conversation is unfailing in its interest. He told us about the secret societies among the Sioux—The “Brave Night-Hearts, The Owlfeathers and the Wolves and Foxes.[”] These control the tribe, fight

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its battles, manage its hunts, arrange its treaties and determine its policy. Initiation into some one of them is essential for the advancement of the young warrior. Their deliberations are in secret, the council lodges being, usually, pitched at the extremities of the village and guarded by one of the old men who performs the functions of crier. These societies represent the germ of the idea of ancient chivalry, which took its vice from the adoption and refinement by the Catholic church of almost identical ideas among the Germanic tribes. There is among the Sioux a method of swearing witnesses, which shows they have some idea of an oath. When scouts return from an examination of the enemy’s camp, they are brought into the presence of the council and made to tell their story, holding in each hand a piece of dried buffalo manure. According to Frank, there is among the Sioux of Sitting Bull’s band, a very bold-faced imposter—a medicine man—whose doctrines show the tinge of more or less complete association with the Roman Catholic missionaries. He says he was not born on this earth, but was born in the sky, having the Great Spirit for a father. He slid down on a rain-bow and was going back after a while. He wanted to stay with the Sioux to make cartridges for them. By taking a cartridge and swallowing it, as he pretended, he would by the processes of digestion turn it into a box-full.9 The Sioux didn’t swallow all this, but after he had produced box after box, each holding its cool thousand of bright metallic cartridges (which the astute rascal had purchased from the Milk river half-breeds and concealed in the places whence he afterwards had the squaws extract them,) all scoffing was silenced and the imposter’s influence waxed apace. Our Shoshonee allies have enjoyed their day’s work; the valley of the Rosebud is the cemetery of the Sioux roaming in this vicinity. Scarcely a hill-side, or bend in the stream but shows a rude grave, or to speak with strictness, a corpse wrapped up in robes and blankets and fastened to the branches of trees. As the trappings of the dead among the wild tribes always include arms, either bows or rifles, the Shoshonees are nearly every time rewarded with some spoil of value. Two or three good rifles were obtained by them this morn9. This claim was not restricted to the medicine men of the Northern Plains. In Oklahoma in early 1874, the Comanche medicine man Isa-tai claimed he could vomit cartridges. Isa-tai was one of the architects of the Red River War of 1874–75, which broke the power of the Southern Plains tribes. See Haley, The Buffalo War.

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ing and afternoon and half a dozen bows: a soldier of Capt. Mills’ company has in his hands, a fine nickle plated revolver and half a hundred metallic cartridges given him by a Shoshonee. Our scouts find that the Sioux must have remained here, and close by, for some days, as they are now agreed that the trail is fresher than it was yesterday; some good judges assert that it is not over four days old. The hostiles have left back a rear-guard of thirty or forty warriors, the tracks of whose ponies are distinctly discernible and much fresher than the main trail. General Crook wished to make a night march, availing himself of the moonlight and trusting to the night to conceal the dust of the column. We started at 8 o’clock and marched until 1 A.M. of the 9th, making between (15) and (18) m. and bivouacking close to the bank of the stream and about 50 ft. above the water. Just as we lay down, “Captain Jack” Crawford, the “poet-scout”, as he loved to have his friends call him, rode into camp, attended by a small retinue of comrades. He brought no news of importance. “Captain Jack” is to represent the Omaha Bee, during the campaign and aspires to the position of poet-laureate of the Expedition: specimens of his assaults upon rhyme, reason and good grammar may be found [elsewhere]. In the original [lost] vol., I had inserted a number of his effusions which he had with much kindness presented to me. Their loss is still a source of keen regret, but the citations preserved are sufficient to disclose the fact that the poet-scout had pressed into his services for a Pegasus, a spavined, string-halted and hidebound plug which wouldn’t climb much farther up the steep sides of Parneseus before cloud-compelling Jove, or some other of the offended deities, would hurl him and his rider to destruction. Jack was a brave man and a genial, good-natured liar, whose stories were welcomed at every fire-side. He made friends readily and preserved his popularity throughout the trip. August 9th. Marched fifteen miles down stream, following the trail. Cold wind, Day foggy and wet: marching difficult on account of the mud. After marching between 15 and 20 m. halted and went into camp, horses and footmen much jaded. Passed a great number of Indian corpses slung in branches of trees; these were all unrolled and robbed by the Shoshonees. I came upon a party of them standing under a tree whose limbs held one of these mortuary packages, quite old in appearance. Our Indians were afraid to touch this; said

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it would be “bad medicine”—“There was something alive inside the roll.” Ute John, more bold than the rest, knocked down the bundle which consisted of the bones of a skeleton, an old bow, a handful of arrows and sixteen little grey mice, which huddled together in a heap when the strong light was let suddenly fall upon them. The hills boarding the Rosebud, along line of our march, vertical bluffs presenting beautiful alternations of color in their stratification. There are bands of red, pink, cream color, black and purple, the different tints blending by easy graduations to make a general effect pleasing to the eye. We see quantities of lignite,—which will be of incalculable advantage to the white settlers when they shall flock in to this region. The sky cleared off at night and our clothing soon dried by the crackling fires bed from the great piles of dry wood lying near us. August 10th. A small party of our Ute and Shoshonee guides left us this morning. The Command continued down the Rosebud for fourteen miles, when the trail turned due East passing over the hills toward the Tongue river. Some of our Indian guides galloped back with the information that the Indians had been descried on the ridge to the North and East of us, a short distance away: others came charging back from our front saying there was a big column of people coming up the valley, thought it must be soldiers as they had a long line of canvas-covered wagons with them, but there were also a number of Indians in their front. This was so plainly General Terry’s column that General Crook ordered our Cavalry to unsaddle and await the arrival of our Infantry who did not tarry long in putting in an appearance. Our Indian scouts were pushed out to determine positively the character of the people coming up the stream. Before starting, they arrayed themselves in all the barbaric splendor of which they were capable. War-bonnets streamed to the ground, lances and rifles gleamed in the sun, ponies and riders daubed with mud pranced out to meet our friends as we felt assured the approaching column must be. As our Indians raised their yells and chants, the Indians at the head of the other column took fright and ran in upon the solid masses of horsemen following the main trail. These immediately deployed into line of skirmishers, behind which we saw or thought we could see a piece of artillery. Buffalo Bill, who was riding at the head of our scouts, waved his hat and putting spurs to his horse galloped up to the side of Major [Marcus A.] Reno, 7th

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Cavalry, who was in command of the advance of Terry’s troops as these now proved to be. When the news passed along from man to man, cheers arose from the two columns; as fast as the cheers of Terry’s advance guard reached the ears of our men, they responded with heart and soul. General Crook sent Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C. to inform General Terry where he was in camp and to welcome him and his officers to such hospitalities as we could extend. This mission was soon executed and Schuyler returned to the knot of trees, by which General Crook was seated, leading a band of officers at whose head rode General Terry. The meeting between the two commanders and the subalterns of the two columns was extremely cordial: many old friends met who had not seen each other for years, some had served together during the [Civil] war and very many of the younger Captains and Lieutenants had been associated as cadets at the Mily. Academy. Our mess was in no condition to entertain guests: on this occasion, we made strenuous efforts to receive our brother officers with cordiality. Messengers were sent down to the pack-train to borrow every knife, fork, spoon, plate, cup and coffee pot that could be spared. Tom Moore, our chief packer, responded nobly. Within fifteen minutes, we had gathered together between (20) and thirty of each article, except coffee pots of which we had two large ones and an extra frying and mess pan. Phillips, our culinary artist, had also the assistance of a French cook from the pack-train who had picked up his ideas of his profession during an apprenticeship served among the Pi-Utes and Nez-Percés. Two of the Hd.Qrs. orderlies volunteered to grind coffee, fry bacon and lay out the ménu on the strip of canvas which, stretched along the ground, served as table-cloth. Our napkins had not yet come back from the wash. General Terry and his staff, as well as the other officers who had accompanied him to our bivouac, helped themselves with good appetites to our luncheon. We let no one go away without food: what we offered was the best we had and we gave it with warm feeling. General Terry’s manners are most charming and affable; he has the general air of a scholar as well as soldier. His figure is tall and commanding; his face, gentle yet decided; eyes, blue-gray and kindly: complexion, bronzed by wind and rain and sun to the color of an old sheep-skin covered Bible. He won his way to our hearts by his

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unaffectedness and affability. He is the antithesis of Crook in his manner. Crook is simple and unaffected also, but he is reticent and taciturn to the extreme of sadness, brusque to the verge of severity.* Of the two men, Terry would be the more pleasing companion, Crook the stauncher friend. In Terry’s face I sometimes thought I detected faint traces of indecision, vacillation and weakness; but in Crook’s countenance there is not the slightest trace of anything but stubbornness, stolidity, rugged resolution and bull-dog tenacity. Of the two men, Terry alone has any pretensions to scholarship and his pretensions are so great that the whole Army feels proud of him; but Nature has been bountiful to Crook and as he stood under a tree, talking with Terry, his keen blue eye lighting up with interest in his story, I thought that within that clearly outlined skull, beneath that brow and behind those clear-glancing blue-grey eyes, there was concealed more military sagacity, more quickness of comprehension, celerity to meet unexpected contingencies—in short more future possibility, than in any one of our living Generals, excepting Grant, of whose good qualities he constantly reminded me or Sheridan, whose early friend and companion he was at West Point and in Arizona.10 Our united commands bivouacked on the Rosebud for the remainder of that day: our Shoshonees and Utes affiliated readily with the Rees and Crows, Terry had with him and from one camp to another, streams of soldiers were passing momentarily either to visit or for pleasure. Such supplies as our command needed were issued from Terry’s wagon train which had a large quantity. After a long consultation with General Crook, General Terry determined to send back to the Yellowstone all his wagons, supernumerary horses and such sick and disabled men as might be designated. He also determined to send back General [Nelson A.] Miles, with his regiment, the 5th Infantry which was to patrol the Yellowstone in a steamboat and prevent any crossing the hostile bands might attempt. He also offered to place on his steamboats any disabled men of Genl. Crook’s command. Captain Cain, 4th Infantry, whose insanity was now unmistakable and violent was ordered to Omaha. Crowds of officers kept coming to Hd.Qrs. all afternoon; those of Terry’s Bourke originally wrote “ferocity,” then crossed it out and put “severity.”

*

10. Bourke erred slightly. Crook and Sheridan became friends at West Point, but their early service together was in California, not Arizona. See Robinson, General Crook, Chapter 1.

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column meeting those of our own. I can’t pretend to give the names of all the old comrades I had the pleasures of once more meeting, of the old acquaintances renewed or new ones made. There were not less than one hundred & fifty officers at our Hd.Qrs. during the time between the meeting of the columns & nightfall. At sunset General Crook, Lt. Bourke, Lt. Schuyler and Colonel Stanton dined with General Terry, who had with him at his table his Aides, Capts. [Edward W.] Smith and Eugene Beauharnais Gibbs, Lieut. Maguire, Engineer Officer, Lt. Walker, A.C.S., Nowlan, A.Q.M., Lieut. Thompson, Acting Aide and Lt. Michaelis, Ordnance Off. Our meal was an excellent one and to our unaccustomed palates a marvellous [sic] production. We had meats and vegetables, washed down with good liquors. These luxuries were of course due to the fact of a wagon-train being with the command, but this, General Terry, is now going to send back and even as we sit at table, men are busy in sight of us rolling and packing into wagons every article which cannot with ease be carried on pack-mules. Captain Munson, 9th Infantry, was badly hurt this evening. He had bought a box of hard-bread for the use of his company. Not having any other way of getting it to his camp, he tried to carry it on the pommel of the saddle of the mule he was riding.11 It’s bulk was so great that he could not manage the mule which taking fright at some object in the darkness of the evening, pitched Munson to the ground, breaking his arm at the elbow joint. The Doctors wished to send him to the Yellowstone with General Terry’s wagon-train, but Munson determined to stick it out and remain with the Command. August 11th. General Miles with the 5th Infantry, Terry’s wagontrain and all the sick and disabled of the two columns, including Captain Cain, 4th Infantry, and Lieut. A.B. Bache, 5th Cavalry, moved down to the Yellowstone. The remainder of General Terry’s and all of General Crook’s column took up the Indian trail and followed it to Tongue river, fourteen miles. The country between the two streams at this point was pleasantly undulating and not nearly so difficult for marching as where we crossed it on the 5th. The country was all burned over, the general estimate being that not less than 10.000 sq. miles of grass had been destroyed by the hostile Indians; one hundred miles from the Big Horn range on the South to a point near 11. The McClellan saddle has a steep pommel, rounded at the top, and no saddle horn, so that balancing a large box would be virtually impossible without using both hands.

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the Yellowstone river on the North and for an equal distance from the Big Horn river to the West to perhaps the Little Missouri on the East. Within this vast expanse, we shall have to search with care for good grass: before the Sioux set fire to it, no finer pastoral region could be found in the whole world. The weather remained uncomfortably warm. General Terry told me yesterday that in his camp on the 7th, the thermometer marked 110° F, and on the 8th, 117° F. I may be mistaken as to the exact dates, as I quote from memory, but on both these days, the temperature in our camps, without tentage or shelter of any kind, was simply stifling. As the two columns strung out on the trail, I could not help instituting comparisons as to the relative merits and efficiency. Terry’s men, well clad and well fed, looked to the untrained eye much more soldierly than the men under Crook’s command, who certainly lacked the trimness to be seen on parade. But it only needed a second glance to answer a critic that these dust-begrimed, weather-beaten, sun-browned men in faded blue were veterans who, man for man, would whip any army of the civilized world. There was in their step an elasticity, in their whole manner a self-reliance one looked for in vain in Terry’s column, as a whole. Many of the fragments which went to make up that column were excellent soldiers, but the column itself was unwieldy, lacked cohesion and was spiritless to the point of demoralization. The massacre of Custer had fallen as a wet blanket upon the hopes and ambition of his associates and the time passed refitting upon the Yellowstone had been a period of idleness, productive of apathy and discontent. Crook’s men in their camps on Goose creek and Tongue river had been kept constantly up to the mark of military discipline and efficiency. They had become inured to the privations of campaigning, habituated to all the details of marching, camping and posting pickets and herding stock in presence of an active enemy, and from constant skirmishing had taught themselves not to despise the enemy and at same time not to fear him. As we marched along the trail, the sentiments in which our men held Terry’s column were not slow in manifesting themselves. It became from the first moment of the march to-day, a point of honor with our battalions to have no stragglers. Terry’s command straggled badly; this may be accounted for partly from the difference in their respective transportation. Crook’s pack-train was a marvel of system; it maintained a discipline much

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severer that had been attained by any company in either column. Under the indefatigable supervision of Tom Moore, who has had an experience of more than a quarter of a century with pack-trains, our mules moved with a precision to which the worn out comparison of “clock work” is justly adapted. They had been continuously in service and in training since December 1875: during every day of the interval they had in all kinds of weather, made long marches, carrying heavy burdens. Consequently they were hardened to the toughness and elasticity of wrought iron and whale-bone. Terry’s pack-train was a burlesque, formed of mules freshly taken from harness and superintended by soldiers who approached their new duties with ill-concealed indifference or reluctance, it was an embarrassment to the General for whose assistance it had been improvised. To see a long string of mules, each led by one soldier and beaten by another, attendants rivalling animals in dumbness, would have induced a smile had it not been the motive power of a military column in pursuit of hostile savages. On this first day’s march, and a very short and comparatively easy march it was, Terry’s pack-train dropped, lost or damaged more stores than Crook’s command had spoiled from same causes since the campaign commenced. When we struck Tongue river, the Indian trail became obscure, part of it went up the Tongue river, part down stream and part East toward Powder. We camped on the river, while our scouts and Indians made a careful inspection of the trail, to determine in what direction the main body of the hostiles had gone. The scouts did not return until late in the afternoon,—too late to make an onward movement.* Colonel Royall’s men found the bodies of two mining prospectors, in the bushes near the bank of the stream. We surmised them to have been prospectors or trappers who had been surprised and killed by the Indians. Close by General Crook’s Hd.Qrs., I came across the fragment of a soldier’s blouse, fresh in color and buttons still bright. As everything of that kind is considered as coming from the Custer massacre, this poor rag was placed in the category of relics from the same field of carnage.—There is nothing to contravene such an assumption, altho’ it may have been obtained by an Indian at one of the Agencies or Posts. At the top of the page, Bourke inserted: Passed a large protrusion of flat-faced sandstone, or more strictly speaking, a denudation. The Indians had regarded this as a [“]great medicine” lodge and in all the crannies and cracks had deposited various propitiary offerings, and upon the face of the rock itself had graven figures and symbols of fanciful and grotesque outline.

*

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Terry’s pack-train got into camp, with many of the mules tired and men fatigued; our pack-train came right upon the heels of the cavalry and crowding the Infantry, and, every mule was fresh as a daisy. It is evident to the dullest comprehension that Terry’s command is not strapped down as close as Crook’s. We have only one tent in a force of nearly twenty three hundred men; the other column has a considerable amount of shelter tentage and many superfluities are carried along for officers’ use. This evening, General [John] Gibbon, in command of Terry’s Infantry, was in our camp examining into our system of pack-train organization. The intense interest he displayed was convincing proof of the superiority of our arrangements. General Terry is not to be blamed for the inferiority of his transportation; that is a matter for which the Quartermaster’s Department in Washington is responsible; as long as [Montgomery] Meigs is Q.M. General, innovation will be looked upon as treason and heresy. Terry personally is a thorough soldier and so are many of his subordinates, especially Gibbon, but the great bulk of his command has not recovered from the effects of the Custer Massacre and will not, until a larger infusion of new material be added to it. The 7th Cavalry constituted the main element of Terry’s strength; when this whole Regiment was shattered, the only thing to be done was to send the 4th Cavalry and one or two regiments of Infantry to his support; so as not to counterbalance the despondency of the soldiers of the 7th; but, as matters have been arranged, it has turned out that the new accessions have been so few in number, so joined in such a fragmentary way that the demoralization, which is the only correct term to employ, of the 7th has had full chance to infect the newcomers.12 August 12th. Remained in camp until noon; resumed march at 12 o’clock, going North down Tongue river for fifteen miles, following the main trail of the Sioux. This looked for all the world like a wagonroad and at one sharp turn in the stream, where the Indians, having all come back on to one trail, had cut across, a projecting hill of marl and sandy clay, the lodge poles had cut into the soft soil to such an extent that we could almost believe we were on a road, freshly graded by laborers using pick, spade and shovel. For an hour or two we followed a very old, but still plainly marked trail which had been 12. In fact, the 4th Cavalry was sent to Camp Robinson, Nebraska, in Crook’s department.

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made by a part of General Conner’s [sic] Command in 1864.13 Rained all day—camp, wet and disagreeable. One of our mess caught a fine, large cat-fish, which we consumed at supper. After dark, I heard somebody inquiring for “Lieutenant Bourke”. I answered myself, and was asked by the visitor, a rough, burly, shaggybearded officer, “not Johnnie Bourke.” I asserted my claims to that title and felt my hand warmly grasped and shaken by that of Lieut. [Samuel Todd] Hamilton, 2d. Cavalry, who had been a comrade with me during the war. We talked over the past and once more were recruits in camp near Carlisle Barracks,14 then we made the journey by rail to Louisville, Ky., and marched with our regiment across Kentucky to Nashville, Tenn., and on down to the bloody battle-field of Stones River.15 Of course, we fought that conflict over again and for seven days and nights, held [Braxton] Bragg’s army at bay. I can’t say how much more of the war we would have gone over, but by that time, it was long after midnight and we agreed to give the rebels a rest. It made me feel old, as well as sad, to encounter one of my old comrades: my chequered life during the past fourteen years passed rapidly in review before my mind. I reflected how thankful I ought to be that I had the position I held with General Crook and I tried to make myself believe it was a grand thing to have my garments saturated with water, my feet cold and wet, my miserable straw-hat torn by the breezes, no tent, no blankets, no supper to speak of; this, I said to myself, is heroism and I am a first class hero; but it wouldn’t work. Like Banquo’s ghost, the thought would not down that a good hot stove, with plenty of champagne and oysters would be good enough for the likes of me and it was then I made up my mind, if I ever married an heiress, to live for the remainder of my 13. This refers to a three-pronged offensive against the Plains Indians. Brig. Gen. James H. Ford operated south of the Arkansas River, while Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully campaigned along the upper Missouri, and Brig. Gen. Patrick Connor moved into the Powder River country. Old Fort Reno, frequently mentioned by Bourke, was built by Connor’s troops. See McDermott, Circle of Fire. 14. Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, founded by the British in 1757, is the oldest active U.S. military post. After the establishment of the federal government, it served as the mustering point for troops sent to put down the Whiskey Rebellion. In 1863, the post was captured and partially destroyed by Confederates during the Gettysburg Campaign. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was the site of a school for Indian children; Olympic champion Jim Thorpe was an alumnus. Carlisle Barracks now houses the United States Army War College, and the U.S. Army Military History Institute. 15. Also known as Murfreesboro. Bourke later applied for, and received, the Medal of Honor for gallantry during this battle. It was a blanket award, authorized for all members of his unit, the 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, who performed creditably during the battle. Bell, John Gregory Bourke, 3.

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days in a brown-stone front and retire from the hero-business for ever. Schuyler and I slept or rather laid all that night in a puddle of rain and mud, the dripping water striking our faces and making us most uncomfortable. Poor fellow. He snored like a mule, but the snoring kept away the wolves and coyotes, so I didn’t complain of it much. August 13th. Down Tongue river for twenty-six miles, through the “Badlands”. Day very pleasant, in bright contrast to yesterday. Strange sight for us, we passed along a district in which the grass had nearly all escaped the flames. No straggling in Crook’s column; considerable of it in Terry’s. One of his men,—an orderly at his own Hd.Qrs.—has been missing all to-day and yesterday. He was not accustomed to riding a horse, but until the two columns joined had been allowed to ride in an ambulance. He probably became very tired from the unaccustomed exertion of horseback riding, dismounted to rest and let his horse get away from him. General Terry has become very anxious for his recovery and safety. He sent out a party of Ree Indians yesterday to hunt him up, but they returned last night, unsuccessful. Some of our Shoshonees started back this morning on same errand. They reached camp at dusk having found him some miles back on the trail. August 14th. Followed trail for seven miles down Tongue river, to within (5) or ten miles of Tongue river Butte on the Yellowstone. Here the trail turned East going up Four Horn creek, as Frank Gruard called it. We pushed up this creek for eight miles, passing the site of an Indian village, lately abandoned. Here a little Indian puppy was found by an Infantry soldier and brought along for the amusement of his comrades. Had plenty of wood and a sufficiency of fine grass. Water too alkaline to be pleasant. At mouth of this creek, we saw some remarkably fine grass; thick, curly, succulent and sweet. Our Indians said it was called “two days” grass because if a tired and hungry pony got a good belly-full of it, he would be able to keep up for two days longer. It looked to me to be a variety of Gramma. August 15th. Twenty two miles to Powder river: latter part of march in “bad lands”, and in a miserable country, with no vegetation except cactus. We were marching over a vast bed of coal-ashes; the seams of lignite had burned out, and the superior strata of marl and clay and sandstone had caved in, making sudden and deep gaps and crannies or leaving high tumuli, over and amid’st which

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we cautiously picked our way, cavalrymen dismounted and leading their horses. Our pack-mules skipped like goats along the dangerous places, but Terry’s command had no such good luck and it is not an unfair estimate to say that at least one third of his men and officers were working hard to keep their train closed up, while with us, not 5 p[er]. c[ent]. were so employed. On this march, which was quite severe, we didn’t lose a single box of hard-tack or a bundle of any kind. The Shoshonee Indians evince great impatience with the other command and say, without any qualification, that we could do more against the Indians without the aid of the “Yellowstone soldiers” than with it. In this dismal region, the rattle-snake found a congenial abiding place. The head of the column scared a great many of them, basking in the sun. The young Shoshonees had great fun lancing them to death. Surrounding some monstrous fellow and keeping their agile ponies far enough away to avoid the reptile’s spring, they would thrust at him with their sharp-pointed lances, until he was a writhing mass of ribbon, and at same time they would, at each lunge, exclaim, “Gott Dammee you! Gott Dammee You,” which was all the English they seemed to have mastered. General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. camped to-night in a fine grove of cottonwood and oak. The intense heat of the day was succeeded by a fierce thunder-storm. All night long, the pelting rain poured down to the accompaniment of growling thunder and lightning that dazzled the sight. August 16th. Marched Twenty miles down Powder river, trail running in “bad lands” most of the way. Heavy thunderstorm in latter part of afternoon. Wood sufficient; grass also. Water rather superabundant. This was one of the camps, which General Custer had made on his march to the Little Big Horn. August 17th. Twenty-five miles down the Powder to its confluence with the Yellowstone, leaving the main train of the hostiles near last night’s camp. Our rations and supplies of all kinds are exhausted and have to be renewed from the steamboats which have carried Terry’s base. The Powder river contrasts very unfavorably with the Tongue; the latter is about 125 to 150 ft. wide, depth two to four feet, current swift, water cold, clear and sweet and except in the “bad lands” near its mouth, not perceptibly alkaline. The bottom everywhere is gravel, “hard-pan” or rock. The banks are accessible in

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nearly all places. Powder River is the opposite in every feature. Water turbid and milky, current slow—bottom muddy and frequently miry. Water alkaline and not always palatable. Fords are rarely good and occasionally are dangerous. Mizpah Creek, near whose mouth we first struck the Powder, is a worthy daughter of the parent stream. Its water is the color and consistence of cream and scarcely to be swallowed. It received its name from Captain [William] Raynolds of the Corps of Engineers who was in charge of the Surveys in this part of the Western territories in 1859 and 1860. The story related is that he here lost a valuable seal ring, graven with the legend “Mizpah”. A long and painful search was at last rewarded by finding the lost treasure on the bank of this stream to which he very properly gave the name of the legend. This word “Mizpah”, means, I believe, “May the Lord be our helper when distance shall divide thee and me”.—and if there ever was a place on the surface of the globe where Divine Providence should be appealed to for help, it is right here in this miserable valley of the Powder and its tributaries. The Yellowstone is a noble body of water; its width is not great, not over (250) yards, but its depth is considerable, its bed constant and channel undeviating. The current flows so quietly that an unsuspecting person would have no idea of its velocity; steamboats can scarcely stem the current and bathers venturing far from the banks are swept off their feet. The depth is never less than five feet in the channel, during time of high water. The banks are thickly grassed and covered with cottonwood and other timber in heavy copses. The least picturesque part of the valley is at the mouth of the Powder; of other portions, especially those near the confluences of the Rosebud and Big Horn, steamboatmen and the officers and soldiers of Terry’s command speak in rapturous terms. Just as soon as we reached the mouth of the Powder, we crossed to the Left (West) bank, and went into camp; Terry’s column remaining on the Right bank. While Lieut. [John Wilson] Bubb, our Commissary and Quartermaster, started in to get our supplies replenished, others of our Hd.Qrs. found plenty of occupation in providing for the comfort of our animals, which this afternoon received a full meal of oats, the first grain for nearly a month. When Bubb came back from Terry’s Hd.Qrs., he brought the disagreeable news that the amount of supplies on hand was far below what we had anticipated. It was understood when we left the

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Rosebud that General Miles was to march down to the mouth of that stream and from the supply-camp bring on the steamer a sufficiency for all our needs. But with the exception of a few boxes of hard-bread and a few components of the ration, in all not enough to last one hundred men for ten days—he had brought nothing. The supplies were still at the mouth of the Rosebud, over (100) miles by water. It would take a steamer at least two days to go up and five or six to come down. Bubb also said that there were rations and forage at Glendive creek and Buffalo Rapids and at some other points where they had been deposited by craft too heavily laden. It was uncertain where they might be looked for. This information is very dispiriting. We had hoped to replenish our commissariat, supply our men and horses with new shoes where needed, get some forage for our animals and start back on the trail after a delay of not more than forty-eight hours on the Yellowstone. Now, we can look forward to a long stern chase and, perhaps, shall never see a hostile Indian. Swarms of men and horses lined the banks of the river at dusk; the horses enjoyed the cool bathing every bit as much as the men did. The bottom of the river bed is thickly strewn with agates; they are to be picked up at every step of our promenades. Everybody has taken one or two, intending to have these cut as souvenirs of the Expedition.

Chapter 3 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

On the Yellowstone

We remained on the Yellowstone from the 17th to the 24th of August, a description of one day answering for all the others. There was not much work to be done: cavalry commanders looked to their horses; Infantry officers picked out the men who began to show signs of exhaustion. General Crook’s command moved once up the Yellowstone to get better water and more grass and be more in proximity to fuel. The steamer Far West lay moored to the bank near our second camp. This craft is the one which first ploughed the waters of the Big Horn. General Terry embarked upon her with the survivors of the Custer Massacre. Captain Grant Marsh, her commander, was the first navigator of the Upper Missouri and the first one to run a steamboat up the Yellowstone. He made his first voyage in company with General Sandy Forsyth, of General Sheridan’s staff, in the summer of 1875 upon the steamer Josephine. They advanced as far as Pompey’s Pillar,1 and a few miles beyond, or something over a hun1. Bourke is referring to a Smithsonian expedition which, obviously, had a military escort. Pompey’s Pillar itself is a 120-foot sandstone pillar that rises above the plain on the Yellowstone. It was named by William Clark in honor of Baptiste Charbonneau, Sacagawea’s son, whom Clark called Pompey or Pomp. Clark carved his name on the pillar, and Marsh carved the Josephine’s name in 1875. In 1876, some 450 of Gibbon’s men added their names. It is now a national historic landmark. See Baumler, “Lewis and Clark National Historic Landmarks in Montana,” 69.

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dred miles above the mouth of the Big Horn. Very few, if any, of our Shoshonees and Utes have ever seen a steamboat; the Far West is a source of wonder and delight to them. Whenever permitted, they go on board and run over her from stem to stern, from upper deck to hold. But no remark escapes their lips; they preserve an immobile countenance and not even a grunt indicates their emotions. On the 18th, Our Indian guides told Genl. Crook, by Washakie, their chief, that it was useless to continue the campaign longer under the turn affairs had taken: the hostiles would be away, long before our supplies should arrive: why not let Terry’s command remain on the river until supplies came; while Crook, with everything available in the shape of food and forage pushed out on the line of pursuit. Terry’s column could not march as swiftly as ours—it would be nothing but a dead weight:—then why continue with it longer? Washakie was wiser than he knew. This was the course that should have been pursued, but General Crook being junior to Terry could not dictate the plan of operations and it was natural that Terry should wish the two columns to remain together to share in the glory of any engagement we might force the enemy to give us.2 Lieut. Bubb has had a number of boxes of hard-bread opened and found the contents to be more or less damaged by the heavy rains encountered on our march. He has done the best he could to save a portion, by cutting off from each cracker the mildewed part and spreading the good pieces on canvas to thoroughly dry under the rays of a scorching sun.3 Hard bread is one of the bulkiest and most perishable parts of the ration; this suggests to me that, sooner or later, our imbecile, dead and alive, military administration must institute a series of experiments to determine some combination of food, to supplant hard bread on marches. In Arizona, flour was used in preference; this cannot be done along the valley of the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone where the thunder storms of summer are so sudden, so penetrating and so destructive. The type of food 2. Although Terry and Crook both were brigadier generals, Terry had seniority, having been appointed in 1865, more than eight years prior to Crook. Additionally, once Crook left Goose Creek and crossed into Montana, he was in Terry’s department, and therefore subject to the latter’s jurisdiction. 3. Hard tack, also called hard bread, or crackers, very much resembles the modern saltine or soda cracker. The dough is made simply by mixing salted flour with water, rolling it out on a sheet, piercing air holes with a fork, pressing grooves into it so that it can be broken into individual crackers, and baking. It is hard and essentially tasteless unless broken and dipped into coffee.

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which presents itself to my mind as the one best suited for military purposes, is the Pemmican or Toro of the Assiniboines and Northern Sioux. We might make a combination of dessicated pea or rice flour, or, if found superior, dextrinated wheat, with Leibig’s Extract of Beef and a little vegetable and fruit, as tomato, chile and plum or cherry. This, thoroughly incorporated, with the addition of marrow if deemed advisable, and digested at a good heat and then, under hydraulic pressure, run into moulds of not over one pound each, wrapped up separately like chocolate, could be readily carried, either by companies or individuals, would withstand the weather better than hard bread or flour, could be made into a palatable broth in about as little time as would be required for boiling water, or in case of necessity, could be eaten cold. Some such mixture would possess all the strengthening properties of meat, the “filling” and fattening powers of corn or flour, be a carnimative from the presence of chile and an anti-scorbutic from that of the fruits. It would not answer for a steady diet, neither, for that matter, does the ration of hardtack and bacon, which the poor soldier now must use, altho’ one tastes as palatable as saw dust and the other be rancid. Heavy rain this night. On the 19th August, the Far West was sent up to the mouth of the Rosebud to bring down rations and forage. Captain [Andrew Sheridan] Burt, 9th Inf., was a passenger. His mission was to induce the Crows, who were encamped on the Yellowstone, near that point, to send a force of their tribe with the Expedition to act as scouts. General Crook is satisfied that if our Indian guides adhere to their intention to leave us, we must obtain the help of the Crows in the same capacity or our future operations shall be a failure. Ute John came over to our Hd.Qrs. this morning and told his friend, “Shennel Cluke” that the Shoshonees were all going home, much dissatisfied, but he, John, was going to stick to General Crook: wherever he went, John was going, also. General Terry to General Crook, August 17th Dear General. The steamer left here (Yellowstone,) last night, or rather yesterday afternoon and was expected back before this. I hope that she will be here this evening. A part of the rations which I ordered are

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here: I presume that the rest are aboard the boat. I have there now 60.000 lbs. of grain. I will direct Captain Nowlan to issue to your Quartermaster whenever you send for it. Yrs. Truly, (Signed.) A.H. Terry, B.G. P.S. Miles has a company on the river some (30) or 40 miles below this point, but there is no news from it: the company went down night before last and took with (it) both scouts and Indians. I am sure that if anything is discovered, the intelligence will be sent up here. (sig.) A.H.T. No date. August 18th (I think)* Dear General. The Far West has just arrived. I have just given orders to take her stores off, and then I propose to send her down to Wolf Rapids to make an examination and determine the question whether she can get back again if she goes below them. If she can, I shall send her down as far as Glendive creek to ascertain whether the Indians have crossed. Starting early to-morrow morning she can be back by to-morrow night. I should like if you would send her some of the people, in whose judgment you have the most confidence, to look out for trails coming down to the bank and going up on the other side. My Rees have come in; they say that they have been as far as the next creek, (I suppose O’Fallon’s) and that all the trails tend directly East, as if making for the Little Missouri, and that they have burned the entire country behind them. They say that they went out (20) miles, but this is, of course, an over-estimate. Yrs. Sincerely, (sig.) A.H. Terry, B.G. Daily, “Mackinaw” boats came down the Yellowstone, gliding swiftly upon the bosom of the river. These boats are rough affairs, managed chiefly by the rudder and driven along solely by the pressure of the current. Altho’ of all sizes, the favorite dimensions are those which admit of the transportation of from twenty to thirty tons of freight. The arrival of each one is announced by the songs and yells of its occupants, who as they pass over camp indulge in a running fire of *Bourke’s remark.

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witticisms with our soldiers, bathing and washing along the bank. The bronzed fellows in the boats seem to be glad their journey is over, while their companions on the land crowd down to learn the latest news, which means to us now, via the Union Pacific R.R. to Ogden, Utah, thence through the Territory of Idaho to Helena, Montana, and from the terminus of the telegraph lines by stage to Fort Ellis,4 Montana, on the head-waters of the Missouri, which is only twenty-six miles from the Yellowstone. The boatmen are not always soldiers; thrifty speculators have seen their interest in such a voyage and have braved the dangers of current and Indians to reach the harvest of coffee-pots at $1.50 and $2.50 each and canned fruits and fresh vegetables, eggs and beer at fabulous prices. The moment one of these “bum-boats” ties up to the bank, a horde of hungry soldiers and packers perches on her little deck, where she has a deck, or crushes into her hold, where, as is generally the case, there is no covering; each man yelling and screaming his wants. Men on horseback wade into the stream and swimmers hang on to the sides of the craft; the only perfectly self-possessed person is the “commodore” as the owner of the boat is called by a strange perversion of courtesy. He demands his own prices and, much to his disappointment, gets them at once: consequently, coffee-pots which in the morning go off “like hot cakes”, at $1.50 each, are found by evening to have been “by mistake”, undermarked, and the “Commodore” is reluctantly forced to ask the fine price $2[.]50. The soldiers get angry at this and there is some talk of drowning the scoundrel, but the whole matter is arranged by putting the price of the coffee-pots back at $1.50 and as that is a clear profit of not less than $1.00 each, I have no sympathy to waste upon the “Commodore” whom the soldiers, with a keen sense of the fitness of things, are now addressing as “old pirate”. There is another kind of vehicle used in these water—the “bull boat” of the Mandan Indians. Not having had a chance to make a close inspection of one, I prefer to adhere to the descriptions given me by people familiar with them. They are made with a framework of cottonwood and willow branches, but into proper form and held together by thongs of leather and small twigs. This framework is 4. Fort Ellis was established in 1867 on the East Gallatin River, three miles west of Bozeman, to guard Bozeman, Bridger and Flathead Passes. It was abandoned in 1886, and the military reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior. Frazer, Forts of the West, 80.

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covered with buffalo robes or canvas and the strange vessel has the appearance of a saucer. It is managed with a paddle, but to those not expert in its use, it affords more frequently a means of drowning than of being carried across the Missouri or Yellowstone. The old squaws handle them with great skill. After placing their goods and chattels, which means, of course, one or two little pappooses, in the bottom of the boat, they slide themselves into it, seize the paddle with both hands and paddle towards the boat.5 In this, apparently, hazardous way they cross in perfect safety the broad Missouri at the time of the most angry floods. Colonel Stanton and I rode over on the 19th August to Terry’s Hd.Qrs., where we were very kindly received. After remaining there a few minutes we rode to the Sutler’s tent, at mouth of Powder. This was packed full of officers, soldiers, packers, guides, steamboatmen and Indians. How any more people could have been crowded in except by hydraulic pressure, I don’t know. I hung on to Stanton’s coat-tails, trusting in his size and weight to break a way through the crowd for both of us. This he accomplished with some trouble and a free use of his favorite expression, “Christ! Maria!” We met a multitude of officers from our own and Terry’s columns. There wasn’t much chance for intellectual conversation; one moment, a soldier stepped on one of our feet, the next, some two hundred pound packer favored the other one in the same manner. We didn’t stay there long: it took us about fifteen minutes to fight our way out. Then we went over to see Lieut. W.P. Clark, 2d Cavalry. He had come down the Yellowstone in a Mackinaw boat, loaded with provisions. His escort consisted of but seventeen men and a Gatling gun. Clark showed he had not forgotten all he had been taught at West Point: as our columns had not yet come down, he set his men to work building a lunette. It was rather a parody upon the lunette of the text-books and would have made old Dinny Mahan6 gnash his teeth with rage had he lived long enough to see it. But it was good enough as a shelter and when Clark saw the dust from our immense column coming down the valley he thought it was Crazy Horse’s and Sitting Bull’s bands coming to eat him up, but he felt confident of being able with his Gatling gun to keep us off, until the arrival of reinforcements. He wasn’t especially 5. I.e., inwards against the side of the boat. 6. Dennis Hart Mahan (d. 1871), professor at the United States Military Academy, who set the standard for tactical instruction at the academy.

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sorry to see that it was white troops and not Indians approaching him. We had lunch with Clark—Col. Stanton, General [Eugene A.] Carr, (Lieut-Col. 5th Cavalry,) who was there when we arrived, and myself. The tent was very small, so we had to crowd closely about the box which served as table. We had friend bacon, bread, a can of peaches and a bottle of the Sutler’s best whiskey: the last named tasted good, because it has such a fine label. Without the label, I am quite assured, we’d have called it “rot-gut” or “hell-fire”. General Carr had left his horses under the charge of his orderly, one of the most faithful men in the Army, so he said. As our stay had been greatly prolonged, we bade farewell to our host and his guest and were soon loping back in the direction of our Hd.Qrs. tree. We saw in the middle of the road, wandering around uncared for, a finelooking horse, saddled and bridled, which we knew at a glance to be the property of some officer: near by, under a bush, on a soft pile of Yellowstone sand, lay the model orderly, regardless of the sun’s rays, of General Carr’s wrath or anything else. Five or ten feet from him, on the ground, lay a half-emptied bottle of whiskey and under the next bush a drunken comrade who had not wholly succumbed to the insidious advances of the brain-poison. His voice was still for war. Raising himself half up from the ground, he called out to us, and to the world in general, to come on with “yur Crazy’s Harss’es and Settin’ Bullses be Jaysus,” but as we didn’t happen to have any such articles with us, his defiant challenges passed unheeded. We more than suspected that the second inebriate was the high-toned “striker” whose praises Lieut. Clark has been vaunting so loudly in response to General Carr’s eulogies upon his orderly. We made no delay in reaching home, except to halt and unbridle our horses for a few moments at a great pile of oats which lay alongside the road. Who put it there, I don’t know: it was a great piece of neglect on the part of somebody in the Q.M. Department. Soldiers from General Crook’s column had come in large squads and helped himself to bags of this forage for the use of their horses. It is hard to determine how much there had been in the pile originally. I should not be surprised were I to be told there had been two or three tons. A disagreeable storm of hot sand blew into our faces the whole way back. It had commenced while we were dining with Clark and had filled dishes and food with sharp little particles to scratch the tongue and throat.

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Only a slight sprinkling of rain this afternoon. The air remained sultry, and oppressive; black folds of clouds enveloped the little butte called by the name of our Division Commander,—Phil. Sheridan—and dust whirled about us and against us until close on to sun-set. Our Shoshonee scouts were favored this evening with a complimentary dance from the Rees, who are attached to General Terry’s command. This “pony” dance, as it is styled, is Pyrrhic in character, if it have any character at all. The performers are almost naked and, with their ponies, are bedaubed and painted until they faintly resemble a Washington belle. They advance in a regular line which they will not break for any purpose, going over every obstruction, even trampling down the rude shelters of cottonwood branches erected by the Utes and Shoshonees for their protection from the elements. As soon as they had come within a few feet of the camp fires of the Shoshonees, the latter, with the Utes, joined the Rees in their chant and also jumped upon their ponies which staggered for sometime around camp under their double and even treble load, until, Thank Heaven! the affair ended. In spite of my having what might be considered a “dead-head” view of the dance, I didn’t enjoy it at all and wasn’t sorry when the Rees said they’d have to go back to their own camp. After Schuyler and I had turned in for the night, Tom Moore, our master of transportation, came and waked us up to go join him in a mess of boiled beans. We didn’t need any second invitation and as we were sleeping with all our clothes on, we were spared the necessity of an elaborate toilette. Around the camp-fire of our packers, we met Dr. Hartsuff, Colonel Stanton, and Lt. Bubb of our mess and also Mr. Wasson. The beans were excellent; packers understand how to boil them; then we had plenty of hard tack and coffee, with some sugar. It had been so long since we had eaten any beans that our gratification was extreme. Each one bred a small-sized famine in front of him. It was agreed, without dispute, that our supper with our friends, the packers, was better than anything to be obtained in New York or Paris; but, at the same time; some of us thought, if the peril of our beloved country ever became so grave that nothing could save her but to send us to either of those cities, we should make the journey and accept the station without a growl. August 20th. Early in the morning, our Utes and Shoshonees left,—

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Washakie coming up to shake hands with General Crook. True to his promise, Ute John, remained with us. The departure of our brave Indian allies had a decidedly dispiriting effect upon officers and men, which was not diminished by the spreading through camp of a rumor that the Crows had refused to come to the river to join us. General Terry came up to our Hd.Qrs. tree to call upon General Crook. General Terry appeared well on horse-back, and in his elegant, neatly fitting uniform was especially handsome: General Crook was hunted for high up and low down; no one could find him. At last, Butler, Major Randall’s orderly, was sent down to the bank of the Yellowstone to see whether or not General Crook was bathing. He found the General, sitting on the smooth pebbly shore, watching his clothes drying in the sun. After finishing his bath, he had set to and washed his clothing himself, not wishing to trouble any of the soldiers or servants with that duty. His example all through this campaign, as indeed all through his life, has been that of a wonderfully modest and patient self-denial and to all he appears as the most stoical and Spartan like of American generals. As a small matter of accuracy merely and not of any special importance, I may say that his clothes look as if he had washed them himself and also as if he had a hand in their fabrication. Crook’s example has been followed to a very great extent by his officers and men who are imbued with the idea that, only by depriving themselves of every semblance of luxury and of many comforts can they hope to make our transportation effective: whereas, in Terry’s column, there is much luxury, much inertness and some indifference as to results. Among the officers whom I saw this morning, there is current the report that they shall have to return to the Missouri next month, leaving here by September 15th. There was no sorrow expressed and I am afraid that but little was felt at this turn of affairs, even if it should leave the savages masters of the situation. These officers should not be censured for being dispirited; the Custer Massacre was a fearful shock—one which they cannot hope to avenge this season, as the transportation with their column is so poorly organized that it would be vain for them to expect to catch up with the enemy except in places where it may suit the Indians to have them do so. Terry to Crook, Aug. 18. 1876

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Dear General. Since I saw you, I have found that our supplies of subsistence are larger than I supposed. The whole force here is rationed to include the 1st of September, except that your commissary still needs two hundred boxes of hard-bread. Of these, I can furnish one hundred boxes and still have a little bread, a little coffee and a little sugar left. The difference between this amount and the fifteen days rations of which you spoke is so slight that I think that it ought not to detain us. But perhaps your animals are in such a state that a further supply of forage and a longer rest would be desirable for them. If such be your wish, I am entirely willing to wait until the forage can be obtained. Very Truly Yrs. (signed.) A.H. Terry. General Crook, U.S.A. (Over.) P.S. Col. Chambers mentioned to me to-day that his men need shoes very badly. If the steamer goes to the Rosebud, I can give him the shoes which he needs. (signed.) A.H.T. My understanding of the views entertained by the two Generals was this: General Terry wished the two columns to remain together and start out at once in pursuit of the Indians and in default of rations[,] to live upon our horses.7 General Crook did not concur in this plan. We had lost so much time in coming to the Yellowstone, that a day or two longer would make no great difference, provided the steamer should bring down from the Rosebud a sufficiency of supplies to last us on the march, forage for our animals, shoes for our Infantry and above all, a contingent of Indian scouts to act as guides and trailers. With a detachment of Crows, we could push on with more rapidity and with greater certainty of overtaking the hostiles than by starting now without them, especially as Terry’s part of the command, with its wretched transportation, couldn’t average fifteen miles a day. Schuyler and Randall worked hard all afternoon making a flag for our Hd.Qrs. The different battalion Hd.Qrs. in Terry’s column are distinguished by their standards, so that orderlies and messengers 7. I.e. eat the horses when food ran out.

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have very little trouble in finding them. The idea is an excellent one. The flag from our Hd.Qrs. was serviceable in texture, altho’ rather primitive in general make-up. It was a guidon, of two horizontal bands, white above, red beneath, with a blue star in center: in dimensions, but slightly larger than the regulation company guidon. The white was from a crush towel contributed by Colonel Stanton, the red came from a flannel undershirt belonging to Schuyler, and an old blue blouse which Randall was about to throw away furnished the material for the star. Tom Moore had a travois pole shaved down for a staff, the ferule of which, (and the tip also,) was made of a metallic cartridge. The standard was flung to the breeze shortly after midday. We had just finished supper, when we were exposed to as miserable a storm as ever drowned out the spirit and enthusiasm of any set of mortals. It didn’t come on us suddenly, but with slowness and deliberation almost premeditated. For more than an hour the fleecy clouds skirmished in the sky, wheeling and circling lazily until reinforced by multitudes from the West and then moving boldly forward and hanging over us in dense, black, sullen masses. We saw that we had a long siege before us and bestirred ourselves to make such preparations as we could. Willow twigs and grass were cut in quantities, and when these could no longer be found, sage-brush and grease-wood were brought in. Wood was stacked up for our fire, so that at the earliest possible moment after the storm should have broken, we might be able to rekindle it and have some chance of warming ourselves and drying our clothing. With the twigs and sage-brush, we built up a bed in a well-drained location, placed our saddles and bridles at our heads and our carbines and cartridges by our sides to keep them dry. As a last protection, a couple of lariats were tied together, one end of the rope fastened to a picket-pin in the ground, the other to the limb of an old cottonwood by which our Hd.Qrs. had been established. Over this we placed a piece of old canvass and a couple of blankets from the pack-train and—we had done our best. After that, all that remained was to grin and bear it. The storm-king had waited patiently for the completion of our preparations and now with a loud, ear-piercing crash of thunder and a hissing flash of white lightning gave the signal to the elements to begin the attack. We cowered helplessly under the shock, sensible that human strength

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was insignificant in contrast with the power of the blast that roared and yelled and shrieked about us. For hours the rain beat down, either as heavy drops which stung by their momentum, as little pellets which drizzled through the canvass and blankets, chilling our blood as they soaked into our clothing, or alternating with hail which in great, globular masses* crackled against our miserable shelter, whitened the ground and cooled the air. The reverberation of the thunder was incessant; one shock had barely commenced to echo around the sky when peal after peal, each stronger, louder and more terrifying than its predecessors, blotted from our minds the sound and flashes which had awakened our first astonishment and made us forget in new frights our old alarms. The lightning darted from zenith to horizon, appeared in all quarters, play around all objects. In its glare, the smallest bushes, stones and shrubs stood out as plainly as under the noon-sun of a bright summer’s day: when it subsided, our spirits were oppressed with the weight of darkness. No stringing together of words can make up a description of what we saw, suffered and feared during that awful tempest. The stoutest hearts—the oldest soldiers quailed. The last growl of thunder and last flash of lightning came between 2 and 3 in the morning, and then we turned out from our wretched, water-soaked couches and gathering around the spot where our fire had been, tried, but the smoke of sodden chips and twigs failed to warm our benumbed limbs and saturated clothing. Not until the dawn of day did we feel the circulation quicken and, our spirits revive: a comparison of opinion developed a coincidence of sentiment. Everybody agreed that while this was not perhaps the worst storm ever known, the circumstances of our complete exposure to its force had made it one of the severest any of the command had ever experienced: Many of us will carry not only the remembrance but the effects of this tempest for the rest of our lives.8 This prolonged bad weather will certainly be a source of injury to both men and animals. The command preserves its equanimity very remarkably. There is a great deal of growling and grumbling, as might be expected, but it is more good-nature[d] than serious. Colonel Evans, of the 3d Cavalry, who is a confirmed misanthrope, womanAbove “masses,” Bourke wrote, “crystals.”

*

8. In On the Border With Crook (358–59), Bourke’s description of the storm was taken almost verbatim from this passage.

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hater, cynic, and pessimist, has all through the campaign taken a most gloomy and unwholesome view of prospects and circumstances. Nothing seems to please him. To borrow an expression employed by Colonel Royall, he “is always even-tempered, always the same, always cross as a bear.” Since the really bad weather set in, Colonel Evans has, to the surprise of all his acquaintances, assumed a new rôle—that of Mark Tapley;9 let others complain as much as they will, Colonel Evans’ face lights up with a heavenly smile as he glances at the lowering sky and makes the prediction that the coming storm will be one of the worst he has ever known or ventures to prophesy that the lightning will strike some one sure next time. Colonel Royall, in command of the 2d and 3d Cavalry, is worse than an ordinary thunderstorm and more dreaded by the subalterns. He is not severe in manner—his manner is pleasant enough—but he is very exact in his ideas of discipline, yet being just and discriminating, his censures fall upon the shirking and worthless and are a source of merriment to those who try to do their duty. One of the worst specimens under him is Captain N–, a noted growler,—and hair-splitter, one always eager to question the validity of an order or to seize upon some ambiguity of expression to place upon it an interpretation which will frustrate its objectives. He has never loyally obeyed an order in his life.10 One day, while we were changing camp on Goose creek, Colonel Royal [sic] personally gave to Captain N., an order couched in these words—“Captain, when we halt, I wish you to put you to put [sic] your company into camp at once, on this side of the river.” Shortly afterwards, the bugle sounded, the column halted and the companies began to go into camp; that is all, except that of N, who, seeing a more pleasant camping place for himself, on the other side of the stream, crossed, dismounted and was about comfortably settled, when Col. Royall rode up in great rage and demanded an explanation. N– tried to shield himself under a quibble,—didn’t understand the order. The Colonel repeated the order and also said, “you were told to go into camp on this side of the river”, (that is the side where 9. A simple, cheerful character in Charles Dickens’s novel Martin Chuzzlewit. 10. The only captain listed in the cavalry roster with a name beginning with “N” is Henry E. Noyes. If, in fact, Bourke meant Noyes, his attitude would be understandable; after the Reynolds fight on the Powder River the preceding March, Noyes had been court-martialed and reprimanded for adhering too closely to orders when circumstances dictated otherwise. See Robinson, General Crook, 171–72.

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the other companies were.) “But Colonel Royall;[”] replied Capt. N.–“this is no river, this is a creek.” “Well By G–, sir,[”] roared the now thoroughly aroused Colonel, [“]I make it a river, it’s a river by my order, Sir”, and the discomfited Captain had to remount and move over to the other side, where he had to run the gauntlet of jokes from his comrades as soon as they learned the story. General Merritt, in command of General Crook’s cavalry column, has in use a system of signals for communicating between pickets and the main guard and sparing horses and men the labor of running to and from camp with orders and messages. It works very well in good weather, but in stormy days or nights, it will be a failure. The system might be improved upon by the substitution for the flags, of bugles or whistles—and by a preconcerted arrangement, almost any information could be transmitted from the position of the videttes to that of the main guard, or back, with very slight danger of misunderstanding. August 21st. Steamer “Carroll” arrived from below. Another storm, but not of same duration or intensity as that of 20th. We have had severe thundershowers every day for more than a week, but have not paid much attention to them unless they assumed the proportions of hurricanes. Lt. W.P. Clark, 2d Cavalry, assigned to duty on staff of General Crook, having been ordered to report to him by General Terry. August 22nd 1875 General Terry to General Crook. August 22nd 1876. Dear General. I have just received a dispatch from the Far West. She should have been here this morning by 10 o’clock, but, unfortunately, she has gone on the rocks at Buffalo rapids and has been obliged to partially unload. The Captain is confident that she can be here to-morrow morning. Yrs. Sincerely, (signed.) A.H. Terry. While we were reading this dispatch, the whistle of the Far West was heard and before very long the steamer’s pipes were discerned a short distance up stream (N.B. Buffalo rapids are about half way between Powder and Rosebud.) Major Burt returned on the Far West, unsuccessful in his mission. The Crow Indians declined to

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join the expedition, thinking their homes would be endangered by their absence. The Far West brought down the remains of Terry’s dépôt camp at mouth of Rosebud; to our great disappointment there was no considerable amount of supplies; there was quite a number of rocking chairs and such useless truck going to show that the accumulation of impedimenta had been permitted to a dangerous extent. There were, by good fortune, shoes for most of our barefooted soldiers: this was a great blessing. The officers in charge of the supply departments have not particularly distinguished themselves in forwarding stores to the troops on the Yellowstone. This is more true of the Subsistence than of the Q.M. Department.11 As a simple fact to substantiate any criticism, I will note that all the tobacco obtainable was eleven pounds. I know this because that number of orderlies at our Hd.Qrs., used tobacco and I, accordingly, put in a requisition for the allowance of one pound each. Shortly after it was handed to me by the Commissary Sergeant, Lieut. Bubb came up greatly excited and said there was no tobacco at all, that he wanted to keep the eleven pounds for emergencies, &c., but it was then too late: it had been distributed among the men of the detachment. Writing of orderlies, reminds me that the organization of General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. is in this respect, very defective. There is an allowance of only one orderly to each officer. After a long march, there is practically no body to carry dispatches to different parts of the command. Theoretically, each officer is to look after his own horse: this could be done, under pressure, by Company Officers, but, by staff officers, it is not practicable, unless the interests of the Government suffer. Thus, the Medical officers must look after their sick—they cannot neglect them in order to change the picketpins of their horses. Aides have communications to write and copy and transmit. All this takes time. The poor animal, meanwhile, is standing saddled and bridled, looking wistfully at his more fortunate comrades on their way to pasture. The orderlies, not being under close surveillance, either as a body shirk their duties, or else some of the more domineering have unchecked opportunities for forcing their work upon timid, or good-natured associates. The only proper way is for General Crook to have a company of Cavalry detailed under competent and efficient officers:—this is beyond a doubt, the 11. The Subsistence Department was responsible for rationing the men, while the Quartermaster Department had charge of providing clothing, equipment, animals, and their forage.

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method to be employed in any future movements we may have to make. Drizzling showers all day. In General Terry’s column, which I visited to-day, there has been prevalent an insane idea that the hostile Indians, under Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, have crossed the Yellowstone near the mouth of Porcupine creek, and then moved over the divide and down the stream called Dry Fork, to the Missouri. It is hoped, and asserted, that by crossing the Yellowstone, at this point, and moving directly to the Missouri at the place indicated, we can cut the Indians off—off from what? God only knows. It is useless to try and combat such notions; they are of the same general type as panics; like them, their origin is obscure, their arguments illusory but specious, their spread rapid, their results unsatisfactory and frequently disastrous, and after their ridiculous character has been demonstrated, not a single soul can be found in the Command to admit to having ever believed in them. In the present case, an alarming number of the officers of Terry’s command give support to this absurd opinion, alleging that the locality in question is and always has been a favorite crossing of the Indians. On the other hand, not a single officer of our column but has thrown discredit and even ridicule on the subject. Why should the Indians go across the Missouri? They are not retreating. The balance of success remains in their hands. After annihilating the best of Terry’s command, it seems odd, to say the least, that they should flee from the discomfited remainder. Crook, with his strong force of native auxiliaries is a source of dread to them, perhaps, but our removal to the Yellowstone is as well known to them as to ourselves. They are apprised [sic] of all our movement and if pressed, are more likely to scatter toward the Agencies than to keep in a compact body and go north of the Missouri. If the trail had turned north, we might have reason for assuming that they had some intention of crossing the Big Muddy, but it persistently keeps East, and if anything has a Southern tendency. There is only one thing certain about an Indian trail, as I remarked to a party of Terry’s officers, and that is that you are at one end of it and they are at the other. Lieut. W.P. Clark, 2d Cavy., reported to General Crook for duty to-day. August 23d. A mean, miserable day. Heavy showers or a dense London fog from morning until night. Trees dripping, grass sloppy

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and ground muddy and sticky. Camp very busy making ready for a forward move. Officers and soldiers moving with alacrity in their work, glad to get away from the Yellowstone, and take up the pursuit once more. Terry’s column is so heavy that it will only drag us down and so poorly equipped in the matter of guides and pack-animals that it can do no good by going far from the river. The proper thing to be done was to take every available mounted man from each column and make one compact, homogenous body of Cavalry; do the same with the effective force of Infantry; the remainder of the combined strength should have been kept on the river and could have been worked to great advantage in guarding stores on steamboats, patrolling the river occasionally, or best of all in constant drill and exercise.* One General to guard the river and superintend things generally; the other to take the field and keep it, until the last fragment of organized hostility had been trilurated[?] into fragments. I was often reminded of an expression to be found in Kent’s Commentaries. “Unity increases the efficiency, by increasing the responsibility of the Executive.”12 This remark is as true of a military Executive as of any other. We have two Brigadiers: consequently, we have two rival organizations, not rivals in the nobler sense of the word, but in all the signification of acrimonious and splenetic jealousy. The two commanders agree well together and are both noble-minded men; human nature crops out among the subalterns to a fearful extent. Terry’s two most prominent Cavalry officers are Reno and [Maj. James S.] Brisbin. Reno saved, more by good luck than good management, the remnant of the 7th Cavalry at the Custer Massacre. He saw enough at that fight to scare him for the rest of his life. He will never make a bold movement for ten years to come. Brisbin is one of the political dead-beats who have crowded into the Army since the War. Without record, without talent, education or common honesty of purpose, he is a low, vulgar-minded, ill-bred In the top margin, Bourke inserted: General Crook became tired of waiting for supplies which never came and resolved to strike out with his own column, leaving Terry to follow when he got ready.

*

12. Bourke refers to James Kent’s four-volume Commentaries on American Law. Consisting of a series of lectures and first published in 1826, it is a basic work on the subject, and went into multiple editions throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century. The most recent edition was published online in html format by the Constitution Society, from 1998 through 2002. http://www.constitution.org/jk/jk_000.htm

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ignoramus, possessing but the one merit that under his guidance his Battalion will never be surprised by the Indians, because Jim will smell them for twenty miles [away] and avoid danger. He had never heard a shot fired in a fair fight. Crook’s Cavalry leaders are Merritt, Carr, Royall & Evans—all old Indian fighters, excepting Merritt who won his spurs in the war of the Rebellion. Under them the good, ambitious, energetic young officers of Terry’s column would have an avenue to distinction. General Gibbon, who commands General Terry’s Infantry Battalions, is an exceptionally fine soldier, one who, as a Corps commander, during the war of the Rebellion, covered himself with undying honor. He would make an excellent commander of the new column, and with such an assistant as Lieut-Colonel Alex. Chambers, of Crook’s command, no delay would be had in putting everything in proper shape. The steamer Carroll, which arrived yesterday, brought a vague rumor that General Sheridan intended keeping the main-body of Terry’s command, under that officer, on the Yellowstone, while Crook, with his forces, continued the campaign. It is hard to determine the truth of such reports; the impression I have of the situation is as given above; by weeding out the two columns, make one powerful organization, under one head, and let those who are not fitted for active field-work, build a camp, to guard stores during the winter. We heard that Congress has passed the appropriation for building two posts in the Yellowstone country; wherever they may be, they, with Fort Ellis, Montana, the now rapidly-growing settlements in the Black Hills, and some position near the Big Horn Mountains ought to hold this entire country, with the additional safe guard of having the Sioux and Cheyennes placed under military jurisdiction. Our sick and disabled have been placed on steamboat and ordered to Omaha, under charge of Captain T.B. Burrowes, 9th Infantry, himself an invalid suffering from hypertrophy of the heart, due to a gun-shot wound in the Left lung, received during the War of the Rebellion. Captain Cain, 4th Infantry, insane, and Lt. Geo. O. Eaton, 5th Cavalry, suffering badly from chills and fever also accidentally shot in the finger of the Right hand are of the party. 1 Lt. A.B. Bache, 5th Cavalry, who was sent away from the column, on the Rosebud, August 10th and 11th, on account of inflammatory rheumatism, ob-

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stinately refused to remain away, but has rejoined and says he will stick with the column if he has to be hauled on a travois. The number of enlisted men sent down was twenty-one, one of them Eshleman, Private of Company D, 9th Infantry, violently insane. This night we had a frightful tempest of thunder, lightning, wind and cold rain. Lieut. Clark carried in his belt, a hunting knife as heavy as a hatchet: two or three blows from it will cut down a stout sapling. For several hours in the afternoon, we worked with it in turns, chopping and slashing young cottonwood and willow trees and making with them and branches of sage-brush, a pretty fair piece of wattle-work to screen us from the impending storm. Its fury was so great however that no great good resulted from our precautions which represented about so much labor thrown away. The whole camp was drowned out and towards midnight, men and horses were wandering from place to place in the dense darkness, chilled and scared almost out of their senses. I have exhausted all the language at my command in attempting to portray the future of the tempests to which we have already been subjected: of this, I shall say not one word except that it was grander and more terrible than any which had gone before it. For its scenic effects, it would have been a fine study upon canvas; but a man, lying in three or four inches of rain water with the pitiless clouds pouring down a perfect Niagara of Water upon him and his half-dead comrades is not much of an admirer of the fine arts.

Chapter 4 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Ordeal Begins

August 24th. We awakened, or rather arose, (because we had not slept a wink during the storm which lasted all night.) and after considerable trouble got our fires going once more and coffee boiling. A good cup of this helped greatly to cheer us for our task of marching which began almost immediately after. It was impossible to cross the Powder river, which was greatly flooded by the torrent of water which had filled it during the night: our line of march lay up the Left or West bank for about ten miles, men and animals floundering helplessly along in the deep, sticky mud, bearing as best they might the drenching rain which saturated their clothing and blankets and added much to their weight. Our poor horses and mules conduct themselves as if they never had a friend in the world. A fine black and white New Foundland dog has joined our Hd.Qrs. The orderlies call him Jack: where he came from, no one can say. It won’t do to inquire too closely: soldiers will steal dogs—they can’t help it and are not to be blamed as they must have a pet of some kind.* Received the following dispatches, during march and in camp. Immediately after this sentence, Bourke wrote, then crossed out, the following: August 24th. Moved about twelve miles upon Right (or East) bank of Powder to near the Indian trail, Halted up. . . . *

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Dear General. I was directed to send Lieut. [Charles Brewster] Schofield of my staff to find you and say that General Terry is looking for you. He came here on steamboat to find you, but you had gone. He left here for General Reno’s camp, 7th Cavalry, a few minutes since. As Mr. Schofield’s horse is on herd, I sent the scout Taylor to say Genl. T. wishes to see you. Please meet him or send definite word where he can find you. Yrs. Respectfully, (signed.) J.S. Brisbin, Major 2nd Cavy., Chief Cavalry. Dear General. I came up on the boat to see you, but found that you had gone. The boat brought up your additional rations, but of course will not land them. I can send your supplies, forage and subsistence to the mouth of the Powder if you wish it; but if you could send your packtrain to the landing it would be better for the boat is very busy. I propose to start in the morning. My cavalry will move up on your trail, until it can find a crossing, the Infantry on the East side. Please inform me to what point you will send your train. I enclose notes from the C.O. at Glendive creek. What do you think of them? I do not attach any great importance to them. At any rate, I see nothing in them to change our plans. Please preserve these notes. Yrs. Truly, (signed.) A.H.T. B.G. Aug. 24th 1876. The notes from the Commanding Officer the of camp at Glendive creek informed General Terry that the Indians in strong force had attacked his post, but had been driven off. August 24th Evening(?) Dear General Your note crossed over from me to you. I sent Lieut. Schofield out to find you, supposing that you were within four or five miles and intending to go out and meet you, if you were near. My note has fully explained all that I wished to say. I still intend to leave at six in the morning and I hope that your march will not be so long as to prevent my overtaking you.

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Yrs. Sincerely, A.H. Terry, B.G. on outside was written: “Sanger to open and read dispatches.”1 August 25th. Crossed Powder river and moved up on its Right or East bank for twelve miles or more to near the point where we had left the Indian trail on our downward march to the Yellowstone. Terry to Crook. Aug. 25th. Dear General. There is one thing which I forgot to say and that is that it appears to me that the band which has gone to the north, if any have gone there, is the heart and soul of the Indian mutiny.2 It is the nucleus around which the whole body of disaffected Indians gathers. If it were destroyed, this thing would be over, and it is for that reason that I so strongly feel that even if a larger trail is found leading to the South, we should make a united effort to settle these particular people. I will send you further news as soon as I get it. Yrs. Sincerely. (signed.) A.H. Terry, B.G. It is a masterful exposition of the comprehensive manner in which he acted throughout the campaign. From this moment the separation between the military policies of the two Commanders was broad and distinct. Terry committed himself to the error of supposing that some considerable body of the hostiles had crossed the Yellowstone and to the illusory strategy of endeavoring to head them off. Crook maintained that there was no indication whatever of any such passage having been contemplated or attempted; that even admitting such a division had been made, one branch of the Indian column would move in towards the Agencies to replenish its supplies and 1. May refer to Capt. Louis H. Sanger, 17th Infantry. 2. Terry is borrowing a page from the British. The actual Indian Mutiny, which occurred some twenty years earlier, began with a rebellion of native troops in India against their British officers. As such, it was a bona fide mutiny. The 1876–77 uprising of American Plains Indians, however, was among tribes not attached to the military, and chiefs who, to a great extent, had never signed any treaties establishing allegiance to the United States. The most significant incident among American Indians that legally could be termed a mutiny occurred at Cibicu, Arizona, in 1881, when U.S. Army Apache scouts turned on their officers. Two Apache sergeants and a corporal subsequently were hanged under sentence of court-martial. See Robinson, General Crook, 254.

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in so doing would threaten the exposed settlements in the Department of the Platte; that it was more advisable to follow this band of hostiles and so impede their progress than it was to follow the other band to the desolate and unsettled region contiguous to the Missouri river and run the risk of not catching any of its people, while the others meantime would be robbing and murdering with impunity in the Black Hills. It is proper to anticipate events a little in this chronicle and say that General Terry was mistaken from the very basis of his theory; that no considerable bands of hostiles crossed the Yellowstone;3 that General Terry’s marches after his separation from Crook were absolutely barren of results, but that, on the contrary, Crook’s movements were fully justified by events and that the Indian prisoners taken at Slim Buttes gave an account of the plans and purposes of their people entirely corroborative of General Crook’s predictions. General Terry rode into camp this evening accompanied by Buffalo Bill. The two Generals had a long and earnest conference, the upshot of which was that Crook was to stick to the trail and follow it wheresoever it might lead him. Terry decided to return to the mouth of Powder river with his command, place it on steamboats and move slowly down the Yellowstone, looking for the trails of any large bodies of hostiles on their way north. He would move down as far as the mouth of Glendive creek and there await word from Crook, which should decide whether he was to follow us or prosecute his scheme of moving to the Dry Fork of the Missouri. I should mention that there has been a great diminution of the number of correspondents with General Crook’s column. Many of them prefer the inglorious ease of life on a steamboat, to marching across the country, in good weather and bad, with meagre supplies and scarcely any clothing. Nobody blames them much. I myself think they were very level-headed. In this manner, we lost Mr.—, the half crazy correspondent of the New York Graphic and Mr. Lathrop of the San Francisco Bulletin. Mr. Lathrop in getting aboard the boat, missed his footing and fell, kewplash! in the Yellowstone. He didn’t seem to enjoy the occurrence half as much as the spectators did. General Terry, with great kindness, left five Ree scouts with General 3. In fact, Sitting Bull’s band did cross the Yellowstone, where it encountered Miles in October of that year.

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Crook; these scouts belong in this country, know it very well and will have no trouble and delay in carrying dispatches from one column to the other. Had a slight shower this afternoon. August 26th. Morning cold and foggy. Made to-day a march of twenty six miles, following Indian trail nearly due East to a point on O’Fallon’s creek, where we bivouacked finding pretty good water, & a sufficiency of fuel from the scrub pines and cedar in vicinity and from the sage brush growing about camp. Our animals had fortunately fair grazing. The whole expanse of country within sight has been burned off by the hostile Indians; this will oblige us either to lengthen or shorten our marches, dependent upon where and when each day we may discover pasturage for our animals. The scenery on this march was picturesque, the trail running along through Bad Lands. There are countless coal measures in this vicinity, offering an inexhaustible supply of fuel for the settlements of the future. In some places, these measures have been ignited and are still burning. Dispatch received this day from General Terry. Aug. 25th Dear General. I have had a reply to my dispatch to Whistler.4 Rice was not attacked, but the steamer Yellowstone was.5 I shall return, cross over, march far enough north to determine, if possible, whether the Indians have made for Dry Fork, and if they have not or if I believe that there is still a considerable body of them on the river, I shall turn to the Right. I shall cover the country West of Glendive creek and be at the creek in five days; unless I go north. I shall send a steamer to Buford6 with orders to take on supplies and come up to Glendive and await orders. She will supply you. Yrs. Sincerely, (signed.) A.H. Terry, B.G. 4. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Nelson Garland Whistler, 5th Infantry, at Glendive. 5. This is not clear. Terry probably means Lt. Edmund Rice, 5th Infantry, at Glendive, because an attack had been reported there. However, there also was a Fort Rice, Dakota Territory, although it was on the fringes of the war zone. 6. Fort Buford was established in 1866 on the Missouri River, just below the confluence with the Yellowstone, in what now is North Dakota. It was just downriver from the former American Fur Company post of Fort Union, and materials from the latter were used in its construction. Fort Buford protected the emigrant road from Minnesota to Montana, as well as navigation on the Missouri River. The post was abandoned in 1895, and the reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior. Frazer, Forts of the West, 110–11.

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August 27th. Sunday. Still on trail, which had about same appearance as on Rosebud; rain had freshened it up a little. Marched fifteen to eighteen miles, ground muddy, day cloudy, and slight showers falling. Ten miles out passed water-holes. Left O’Fallon’s creek at midday: camped at water-holes on head of some tributary of Cabin creek. Water alkaline, but cold. Fine blue gramma grass for our stock. Fuel scarce. August 28th. Marched twenty miles; about two hour’s march from last night’s camp, crossed a small creek and for rest of day had water in holes along line of travel. Country rolling and apparently finely adapted for grazing. We have reason to believe that we are approaching the boundary of the “burnt district”. If the wet weather continue, the hostiles cannot destroy any more grass. Found tolerably good pasturage for our animals, but had no wood and only a very small quantity of sage-brush for making coffee. A furious hail and rain storm attacked us: the trite expression that the rain fell in torrents loses its force when applied to this deluge: our camp was turned into a pond and over its whole area spread a glassy sheet of cold-water, shoe-top deep. In this dire misery, one of our soldiers raised a hearty laugh among his comrades by exclaiming—“Well, bi’s, if yez wants a toddy, if some of yiz’ll furnish the whiskey, oi can get the wather.” While we were grumbling and complaining of the rain, it ceased suddenly and then we received the pelting of a shower of hail-stones of an average size of plums and many of them as large as eggs. This bombardment lasted about an hour and we waited anxiously for the moment when our mules and horses should stampede. But they were so scared that they huddled closely together and bore it with dumb submission: it was well for us they did not stampede, because in such an unfortunate event, we never could have caught them again and would have been left, like ship-wrecked mariners, in an unknown sea of prairie and bad-lands. The lightning’s flashes playing around us were more than usually threatening. One bolt struck the ground close to the beat a sentinel was walking and set the grass in flames, but the sheets of rain and hail extinguished the fire before it had spread very far. August 29th. Marched eight miles to summit of ridge—travel bad, on

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account of mud. Clothing and blankets heavy with water. Halted and camped to let our scouts examine the trail which suddenly became much fresher from new additions. Indians had, to judge from appearances, converged near here. Had no wood for fires, only a scanty supply of sage-brush to make coffee. Water scarce. A spring was found at the foot of a hill near one of the Cavalry Battalions and from this the greater part of the Command obtained what was needed. Our scouts were pushed out with orders to thoroughly reconnoitre country in our front and come back with the least possible delay. August 30th. We remained in camp. The scouts did not return until near evening. The continued bad weather is having a detrimental effect upon our men; a number of them reported sick, with various forms of neuralgia, rheumatism, malarial fevers and diarrhea. Lieut. [Henry D.] Huntington, 2d Cavalry, has been very low; for two or three days past, he and Lieut. Bache, 5th Cavalry, have been hauled in travois. The rigorous orders governing camp, have been slightly relaxed on this account and bands of hunters from the different Battalions are now allowed to go out hunting for antelope, jack-rabbits, or anything in the shape of fresh meat for the sick. August 31st. Last night was so cold that Lieut Schuyler and I, who for warmth’s sake have been obliged to sleep together, very nearly froze to death. Our bed was on the ridge where Hd.Qrs. remained; the rest of the command having taken position in the ravines and hollows, escaped the full force of the piercing wind which began to blow shortly after mid-night and did not abate until sun-rise. Schuyler and myself were so stiff that we could barely arise from our blankets. The compensating feature was the truly magnificent scenery. Mr. [John F.] Finerty and I climbed to the summit of one of the buttes near camp last night and were rewarded for our labor by the vision of a panorama grander than any that artist has ever been bold enough to put upon canvas. In the Western sky, the effulgence of the setting sun was most dazzling. Scarlet and gold, pink and yellow—in beautiful contrast or graceful harmony were scattered with reckless prodigality from the horizon to near the zenith where the neutral tints of gray and pale blue made the dividing line between the gorgeousness of the Western heavens and the more placid charms of the East where millions of stars were twinkling in a faultlessly pure back-ground. The broken contour of the ground, seamed and furrowed with ravines and gulches of great depth, or

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riding into plateaux and ridges of considerable elevation presented the resemblance of an angry sea whose waves had been suddenly stilled at the climax of a storm. The pinkish colored hillocks were covered thickly with juicy, green grasses, but the total absence of foliage of any kind was a remarkable and painful feature. As a great pasturage the country in which we have been traveling since leaving the Powder, offers numbers of inducements; my companion and I gave full rein to our fancy as we anticipated the changes ten years would effect in this region, now the home of the savage and the beast. With the Northern Pacific R.R. completed, there is nothing to contravene the idea that civilization can make as rapid strides here as it has along the line of the Union Pacific. Moved to-day ten miles to Beaver creek, passing through a most charming country. The natural beauties of this part of our march are not greater than, perhaps, are not equal to, what we should have encountered on the Rosebud and Tongue, but there the brutal hands of the Indians had disfigured the face of the landscape by destroying the grass, while here their incendiary projects had not been carried out either because they had become tired in their work of destruction or because the dampness of the grass rendered their efforts abortive. A soldier was bitten in the thumb by a rattlesnake: Dr. Patzki, with promptness, cauterized the wound, then administered ammonia and finished up with a couple of stiff drinks of whiskey from the slender allowance of hospital supplies. Made camp on Beaver creek, with wood, water and grass in plenty and all of good quality. The reason of our short march was that the trail began to split, showing that the hostiles knew we were in pursuit and were employing every artifice to bewilder us. Louis Richaud and Frank Gruard both think they mean to draw us over to the broken country, near the Sentinel Buttes, where they can scatter like quail and reunite in our rear, or on our flank, at pleasure. Our scouts went out examining the trail with the utmost care: indications are becoming plain that we are close to a considerable band of the enemy, perhaps a strong rearguard, watching our progress. This night extremely cold. September 1st. Remained in camp. Frank Gruard returned, having found a fresh trail and bringing with him four ponies found abandoned. In the afternoon, marched ten miles down Beaver creek. September 2d. Twenty miles down Beaver creek, following a fresh trail. Trail of a war party found going due East. The Ree Indians,

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whom General Terry had left with us, thought that this was the trail of a band of warriors who had been detailed to watch steamboats or to attack some of the weakly-garrisoned supply camps on the Yellowstone. Good grass all day in the creek bottom which we followed. Rained. September 3d. Marched twenty miles to Andrews’ creek, near Sentinel Buttes. Excellent grazing all day. A party of our scouts had a skirmish with a detachment of the rear-guard of the hostiles and shot one of their ponies. Rained slightly. Day cold and raw. Night very chilly. September 4th. Twenty miles to the Little Missouri River. This is called by the Indians the “Thick-timber” creek, a name which it abundantly deserves, in comparison with the other streams flowing within one hundred miles on either side of it. We emerged from the narrow defile of Andrews’ creek into a broad, park-like valley, walled in by precipitous banks of marl, clay and sandstone, ranging from one to three hundred feet high. Adown [sic] the central line of this park grew a very thick grove of cottonwood, willow and box-elder trees marking the course of the Little Missouri, which is at this point some thirty yards wide and two or three feet deep, carrying a good volume of cold and sweet water, rather muddy in appearance. The bottom is clay and in places miry and the banks are only tolerably good approaches for fording. A very small amount of work is required to cut them down to proper shape and there is such a quantity of timber and brush at hand that bridges and corduroy causeways can be made almost without delay to the column. The fertility of the soil in this valley is attested by the luxuriance of the grass, the thickness of timber, the dense growth of grape-vines, wild plums and “bull” berries already ripening under the warm sun and constant rains of the past summer. General Terry and General Custer had camped here in the month of May: the corn upon which their animals had been feeding, had been scattered and tramped into the ground from which it had sprouted beautifully, giving this valley the appearance of an ill-kept corn-field. Many of the stalks were ten and twelve feet high, and all bore from two to four large ears, still in the milk. The scouts and advance-guard of the Cavalry, pushed into this unexpected treasure-trove, cutting and slashing the

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stalks and bearing them in to camp, in large arm-fulls. Our horses and mules had a glorious meal that night, while our men found the materials for good, soft beds in the thick-tufted grass or the luxuriant willow-copses. The half-ripened plums and bull-berries were boiled thoroughly and eaten as an anti-scorbutic, proving palatable enough without sugar. We have also made trial, altho’ not as yet in a sufficiently extended way, of the virtues of the common opuntia, or “nopal” or plate cactus which covers the plains in the central portion of the American continent. The spines are burnt off, the thick skin peeled and the inner meaty pulp fried. It is claimed as an infallible remedy for scurvy. The taste is not pleasant, being too slimy and mucilaginous.7 Our camp to-night was a very agreeable one: we rested well on good beds, of grass and cottonwood boughs. It had rained a little during the day, but after sun-set, the stars shone brightly. We discussed at supper the expediency of constructing a rail-road up this valley. As it debouches into the Missouri at Fort Berthold,8 up to and beyond which point, the navigation of the Upper Missouri is excellent, a wooden tramway, it occurs to me, might be built very cheaply from Berthold up to the location of to-night’s camp, a distance of seventy-five to eighty miles. This tramway would answer all purposes of transportation, not of course equal to a Railroad, but answering to the needs of new and moneyless communities, and, unlike a Rail Road, would not load down the energies and dampen the enthusiasm of farmers by the burden of bonds. The trail of the party which, under General [David S.] Stanley, came through this country in 1873 to locate the line of the Northern Pacific R.R. strikes the valley of the Little Missouri at this point. Our march to-day was through a very rough country. Captain Munson, 9th Infantry, came to see me to-night. He said there was much solicitude among officers and men to know what General Crook’s purposes were for the future. I have already stated 7. In the American Southwest, nopal pads are diced as the main ingredient of a soup. 8. Fort Berthold, North Dakota, was a trading post on the Missouri River below the mouth of the Little Missouri. It was established in the late 1850s as Fort Atkinson, and renamed Fort Berthold in 1862, when it was purchased by the American Fur Company. U.S. troops formed a garrison there in 1864, and remained until 1867 when Fort Stevenson was established slightly downriver. From 1868 until 1874, Fort Berthold was headquarters for the Arikara (Ree), Gros Ventre (Hidatsa), and Mandan Indians. During this entire period, the American Fur Company continued to operate it as a trading post. It was abandoned in 1874. Frazer, Forts of the West, 109–10.

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that we had been grievously disappointed in not finding on the Yellowstone the amount of supplies expected and in having to fritter away a whole week’s time in waiting until this steamer brought up forage and that steamer brought down shoes. The administration of the supply corps on the Yellowstone was unsatisfactory: everybody gave orders and as a consequence no one obeyed. When we left the river, Lieut. Bubb, our Quartermaster and Commissary had on his pack-mules supplies of hard-bread, coffee, sugar and bacon for fifteen days, besides the ration for the day, carried in the haversacks. We should now have three days and a half of supplies, but from this we must deduct loss by effects of rain and travel. By turning back to Glendive creek, General Crook might rely upon a replenishment of his stores but could he expect beyond a doubt that everything would be in ship-shape order so that his pack-train could load up and move out at once? The least to be looked for would be a delay of five days and meantime what would become of the hot trail we were pressing? I felt almost certain in my own mind that General Crook would not go back to Glendive creek, but whether or not he would strike for Fort Abraham Lincoln I couldn’t pretend to say. I shared to a considerable degree in Captain Munson’s apprehensions; as it was certainly a gloomy prospect to have an expedition of (2000) twenty-hundred men* left without rations, in the midst of a desert, unknown to the maps and hundreds of miles from any habitation of civilized people. The conviction is forcing itself upon our minds that we cannot avoid the alternative of starvation or killing and eating our mules and horses. Sept 5th. Made a hard march of 26 to thirty miles, to head of Heart river, going for first ten or twelve miles up valley of Davis creek, following trail of Custer’s column, which from the dozen or more bridges they had to construct, must have had a difficult time of it on their outward march from Fort Lincoln.9 In the morning, our Originally Bourke wrote “(2500) twenty-five hundred men” but changed the 5 into a zero and crossed out the written “five.”

*

9. In fact, this was the Dakota Column, commanded by Terry, with Custer as chief of cavalry. It was part of a three-pronged movement devised by General Sheridan for the previous spring, the others being Gibbon’s Montana Column moving east, and Crook’s Wyoming Column moving north. The idea was to catch the Indians in between. The plan broke down from the very beginning and culminated in Crook’s defeat at the Rosebud, and the disaster at the Little Bighorn. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:196–97.

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route lay in bad lands, leaving Rosebud Buttes on our Right and the Camel’s Hump (!) On our Left: In the afternoon, a cold, drizzling rain commenced and continued with low-lying fog to conceal the ground in our front. Colonel Stanton and Major Randall, with our scouts in the advance, ran in upon the rear-guard of the hostiles about 4 o’clock and exchanged shots, pressing them into the bluffs. Our main body closed up and pushed forward without losing any time, but the enemy got away in the dense fog. This encounter satisfied every fair minded soldier that General Crook had adopted the proper course in hanging to the trail, instead of leaving it and going back to Glendive to hunt for rations. The command was put on half-rations to-night, which will make our supplies hold out for five days; the computation we make is that we can, with good luck, communicate with Camp Robinson,10 on the northern boundary of Nebraska, in eleven days, and the settlements, lately opened on Deadwood creek, in the northern corner of the Black Hills, in seven days: but there is a very emphatic expression of doubt as to the existence of supplies in the new mining towns sufficient for our large force and under the most cheerful aspect of the case, we must from this [point] on expect horse meat as a portion of our bill of fare. Lieut. Bubb told me to-night that he had but seven pounds of beans in the pack-train, and these he was going to conceal for the use of the hospital. Dr. Hartsuff also has for same use, two cans of jelly, and a pound of corn-starch, carried in his saddle-bags, and the other medical officers have each a little something in the way of a half-pound of tea or other luxury for which our wounded, if we have any, may be in need. The packers are somewhat better off for food than the rest of the expedition, simply, because they have had more sense and been less wasteful in the beginning of the trip. The poor fellows have to work so much harder than officers or soldiers that they must have a full allowance of food, or our transportation fails. General Crook wrote dispatches to General Sheridan. . . . The Adjutant General’s department had shrunk down to one leadpencil and a scratch-book, 6x3, of which only 20 or 30 pages were 10. Camp Robinson was established in 1874 to control the Indians of the Red Cloud and Pine Ridge Agencies. It was redesignated as Fort Robinson in January 1878. During the Second World War, it was used as a dog training center for the K-9 Corps. It was abandoned in 1948 and now is a Nebraska state park. Buecker, Fort Robinson and the American West; Schubert, Outpost of the Sioux Wars.

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left. The Ree Indians were to have left us after dark,* on their way to Fort Abe Lincoln, Dakota, which they say they can reach on the morning of September 8th, in which case General Sheridan should have the dispatch by telegraph, by 10 o’clock in the morning and get word by the evening of the 8th to the Commanding Officer of Fort [sic] Robinson. Camp to-night was not bad, we had plenty of good water from Heart River, a small but clear stream: a sufficiency of fuel from the tenuous fringe of timber on its banks and an abundance of rich, juicy grass for our animals. There is a feeling of uncertainty— almost of awe—settling down upon us. We have great confidence in Crook, but cannot shake off the presentiment of dread as to the possible consequences of our bold plunge, without rations, across an utterly unknown zone of such great width, as that lying between us and the Black Hills. Frank Gruard says he knows nothing of the country this side of the Little Missouri river. Rained hard all night. The continuous series of storms, to which we have been subjected ever since we struck Powder river with Terry’s column, is having a most dispiriting influence upon us all: it is now more than a month since we have had a change of clothing. We have been reduced to one suit in all kinds of weather, tropical heat and bitter cold, fervid sun and soaking rain, and except one or two days on the Yellowstone without an opportunity to wash anything. Our rations have been so meagre and so entirely without fruit or vegetables, the marching so continual and as yet so void of result that very many of our people are broken down in spirit. Our hope is to overtake the main body of the hostiles in a day or two and get a fight which shall partially compensate for our privations and sufferings. We have passed through many villages of prairie-dogs, during the past two or three days: our noble Newfoundland, Jack, doesn’t know what to make of them. His great desire has been to catch one of the impudent little rascals, who confront us on all sides, sitting up on their haunches at the mouths of their holes and squeaking defiance at the column as it slowly passes. Jack will, from time to time, select one of the boldest for his victim and make a furious charge to seize him. The little fellow is too quick for him; gives one shrill shriek as he drops with the rapidity of lightning below the surface, while big, lumbering Jack, who has thrust his head well into the hole, finds the soft soil Insert on top margin: General Crook retained them until next morning.

*

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yield unexpectedly to his impulse and over he goes, kicking in the air, making a complete somersault. Jack has done this so many times that we can only account for it by supposing that Jack has been so long without fresh meat that he has become crazy for a good meal and hopes to get one by seizing a prairie dog. Rabbits frequently run through camp at night, driven out of their coverts by their fear of the horses’ hoofs. The soldiers derive great amusement every time one is started and as poor pussy darts from shelter to shelter, doubles and twists, bound boldly through a line of her enemies or cowers trembling under some petty bush, the soldiers armed with lariats, nosegays and halters advance from all sides and keep up pursuit until the poor little jackrabbit is finally run to death. There is enough shouting, yelling and screeching to account for the slaughter of a thousand buffaloes. We have learned to judge of the results of the chase in the inverse ratio of the noise. When an especially deafening outcry is made, the verdict is at once given that an unusually pygmy rabbit has been run to cover and that the men who had least to do with the capture had most to do with the tumult. Rained all night. September 6th. The Ree scouts left us at what should have been daybreak, if it had not been for the cold, chilling mist and rain. They bore with them the telegraphic messages for Lieut.-General Sheridan, intended to be transmitted from Bismarck, Dak. The rain drizzled mercilessly in our faces and the half-dozen dead cottonwoods on the bank of the stream at the crossing loomed up like spectres in the sombre mist, as our horsemen forded the current and turned their faces to the South. There was not much conversation that day, not much to interest or to amuse. We crossed a little plain strewn with pieces of riband or banded agate, some of them very beautiful. The general contour of the country was rolling prairie, dotted with buttes whose forms and positions could with difficulty be discerned through the gloom. Cactus and grass covered the ground, not a bush or tree of any kind being in sight. Early in the morning we crossed one or two insignificant rivulets trickling down to join Heart river. At noon, crossed the North Fork of the Cannon Ball river, which is like all the streams between the Head of Heart river and the Belle Fourche, timberless, muddy and rather sluggish. The Indian trail breaking very badly but all the side trails tending Southward. Our

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scouts well to the front, but not too far out, to prevent their being hired into by our advance in the mist. At dark 30 @ 35 miles reached a couple of large pools of alkaline water and went into camp. There was not a single stick of wood, not one as big as my finger. We resorted to the device of boiling coffee by fires fed with such dried grass as could be culled in the crevices and cracks of the soil. Little trenchings were dug with our knives, a cup filled with water and bearing the allowance of ground coffee placed over it, the fire started and then turn about we fed it with little wisps of dry grass twisted so as to make them as much like fuel as possible. There was no one in our mess enthusiastic enough to assert that the experiment had been a success; the water was so alkaline neither horses nor men cared to touch it and in boiling it threw up to its surface a scum of saline and sedimentary matter which made the coffee look decided repulsive. Rained all night. Command wet, cross, hungry and disgusted. September 7th. Marched thirty-five miles due South to the North Fork of Grand River. Raining all day. Marching severe on Infantry and horses. Viscous mud sticking to the feet and making advances almost impossible. Good grass plenty. Patches of wild onions in one or two places. Water in holes along road, but for that matter there was more than enough coming down from above. In camp, not a particle of wood. General Crook found a half dozen little rosebushes along creek, none of them half an inch thick or more than three feet in height: he placed a sentinel over them to guard them for the benefit of the hospital. They will do better than dry grass for making coffee. Lieut. Bubb has saved three or four cracker-boxes and is distributing the fragments to the different Battalions. It is wonderful how far a small handfull of fuel may be made to go with care and good judgment. A cracker-box lid, with the assistance of a few bundles of twisted grass, is made to boil what little coffee is still in the possession of a whole Company. Last night, it was discovered that there had been such a great melting of our bacon by carrying it in the hot sun, even when fully protected by coverings of stout canvas, that we had barely one day’s full ration of it left. This fact was imparted to the command, and the quarter ration which issued yesterday and to-day, is used most parsimoniously. Horse-meat appeared at our mess this evening. Each and Every officer of the

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Department Staff has his ration issued to him the same as a private soldier. At night, upon arriving in camp, Lieut. Bubb counts out the six hard-tack forming half-ration for each person, but gives the little piece of bacon, in bulk to our cook. The coffee served out to us is diluted to one-fourth its proper strength and we have just enough of it to warm our lips. While there is plenty of grass for our animals they too begin to show signs of fatigue from having to carry exhausted and hungry men who cannot ride as easily or gracefully as those with full stomachs. Those that play out first are to be butchered and eaten. Quite a detachment of stragglers, foot-sore, lame and weary, leading tired horses, reached camp to-night over an hour after the others had got in. I entered into a conversation with one, a Corporal in Company “E”, 3d Cavalry, who assured me that not one particle of food had entered his mouth to-day, and yesterday his only meal was made of two crackers and a tin cup full of cold water. I knew the man was telling me the truth; his pallid, peaked faced, glassy eyes and quivering voice appealed strongly to my sympathies, but I could do nothing for him; his rations were just the same as mine, in extent and quality, and I could no more cook mine without fire than he could. [“]From this point, 1 Lieut. John W. Bubb, 4th Infy., A.A.Q.M., and A.C.S., was ordered forward to Deadwood City and such other points in the Black Hills as may be necessary and purchase such supplies as may be needed for the use of this command, paying for the same at the lowest market rates. You are also authorized to purchase two ounces of quinine for the use of the sick.” Bubb took with him Tom Moore and fifty picked mules from the pack-train. The escort consisting of One hundred and fifty selected men from the 3d Cavalry, mounted on our strongest horses, was under the command of Captain Anson Mills, 3d Cavalry, who had with him Lieuts. [Emmett] Crawford, [George Francis] Chase, [Frederick] Schwatka, and [Adolphus H.] Von Leuttewitz with Dr. Stevens as medical officer. Mr. R.E. Strahorn, of the Rocky Mountain (Denver, Col.) News and Mr. R.B. Davenport of the New York Herald, thought it would be best to accompany this advance party. This detachment started late in the afternoon, leaving our main column before we had reached camp. To-night’s experience was almost a facsimile of last night’s: not a fragment of fuel, plenty of water, plenty of grass and a superabundance of cold, penetrating rain.

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September 8th. Made a comparatively short march of twenty-four miles to South Fork of Grand River. Trail very muddy and travel difficult. Country getting to be more rough. We were now drawing near to what is put down on the map as the Slim Buttes. Bivouacked in a narrow little ravine, which afforded us a good deal of shelter from the wind. We had plenty of wood, too, the first of any kind that had been seen for from between (80) to ninety miles. It was so wet with rain that the most we could do with it was to make a smoke. With that we endeavored to dry our clothes and books, but after patient trail gave the effort up in disgust: Rained almost without intermission all day. Three or four antelope killed by our guides, and divided around among the troops, the sick being served first. Plums and cherries, half and three quarters ripe, and bull-berries almost entirely so, have become plentiful. We marched alongside a small copse of plum bushes shortly before reaching camp. Officers and men dismounted and made a fierce scramble for the delicious fruit. General Crook celebrated his [forty-eighth] birth-day this evening. He drew out from the breast-pocket of his coat, a pint flask of whiskey which he had concealed there the day before we left the Yellowstone, and passing it around to the members of his mess and the other officers present—Colonel Evans and Colonel Chambers, called upon them to drink his health. There were (13) or fourteen in the group and the flask held a little short of sixteen ounces, making just a taste for each one. Then those of us who had a piece of cracker in their pockets ate them;—those who had none, went without. Take it for all in all, it was decidedly the “thinnest” birthday celebration I have ever attended. The day was so particularly lugubrious, that we turned in to sleep at an early hour. Rained all night. A dispatch was received from General Terry on the 7th, which I here quote. Hd.Qrs. Dep’t. of Dakota, Camp opposite Glendive creek, M.T., September 4th, 1876 Dear General. We crossed the Yellowstone at the mouth of Bad Route creek and made a short march Northward on the 27th ult. There we marched to the divide separating the head-waters of the streams flowing into the Missouri, from those of the streams flowing into the Yellowstone.

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A portion of my cavalry were then pushed over the divide for fifteen or twenty miles and the great trail, of which Frank [Grouard?] told me, was discovered, but there was no evidence that it had been used since early in the summer. Then, turning sharply to the East, we crossed the head-waters of several streams and examined the country as far East as the second creek beyond the one which empties into the Yellowstone on its left bank, a mile below Glendive. Still, we discovered no trail. I then sent the 7th Cavalry and the Indian scouts down the river bank; they have reconnoitered the country as far as [Fort] Buford, but have found nothing. I am much perplexed what to do. I have received orders to put up a cantonment at the mouth of Tongue river11 and supplies are being sent forward for fifteen hundred men, but the River has almost entirely given out and it is doubtful whether steamers can now ascend beyond this point. In fact, it seems certain that the great mass of supplies for the new post must be hauled by wagon from Buford. There is a considerable amount of freight already unloaded here and I must devote nearly all my transportation to getting it farther on. Under these circumstances, it is doubtful whether I can do anything more except to guard this river and, in case you push the Sioux, prevent their crossing it. You speak of going to Buford for rations. I very much fear that you will find none there. According to my promise, I ordered supplies here for you. They are now on the [steamer] Silver Lake, which is aground about twenty miles below here and to get them to Buford has been stripped. It is true that other supplies may have come there, but before going in with the expectation of finding them, I would send in and enquire whether they are there. I shall send a steamer which is now here down to relieve the Silver Lake and should you turn this way, the stores would probably be here by the time of your arrival. Yours sincerely, Alfred H. Terry, Brigadier General. General Crook, U.S.A. P.S. Keep the scouts of course. 11. Initially designated Cantonment on Tongue River, and upgraded in 1878 as Fort Keogh. Frazer, Forts of the West, 82.

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The missing portion of the journal of the Sioux campaign of 1876, has now been restored and from September 8th inclusive, the thread of the narration can be taken up and followed in the succeeding volumes. . . . EDITOR’S NOTE: There follows an explanatory essay which has been placed in the introduction to this published volume. The narrative of the campaign then recommences with the following, which was written as events unfolded:

Chapter 5 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Fighting and Starving

Friday Sept. 8th (Continued.) The smooth grassy contour of the district to the rear of us was gradually giving way to the encroachments of some rugged spurs of the little range laid down on the maps as the Slim Buttes. The sturdy little Indian fig thrust itself forward obtrusively, hand in hand with the feeble branchlets of the wild sage. This latter vegetation, once so unwelcome, was now regarded with more friendly eyes: it would furnish fuel and fuel in some shape has become a sine quâ non. It will be borne in mind that since leaving the Head of Heart River to this point, a distance of between eighty and ninety miles, our poor column had trudged along half-starved, half clad and not half-shod.* Plodding through exhausting mud and under merciless rain clouds by day, sleeping under merciless rainclouds and wrapped in wet blankets coated thickly with viscous mud by night. The joy of the soldier, the one solace in all his troubles he has a right to expect under almost every circumstance—the cheering blaze of the camp-fire—was denied him. Exhausted by a fatiguing march through mud and rain, without sufficient or proper food, the soldiers arrived in camp at sun-down, to find only a rivulet Bourke’s marginal note: Horse meat had now become our staple food: as one of our mess pithily remarked, “The steaks we munch have a horse or a mule shoe at one end of them.” *

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of doubtful water to quench their thirst and then went supperless to bed. It is pleasing to note at this point that in all the hardships and in all the privations of the humblest soldiers, General Crook and his mess fully shared. With the same allowances of food and the same allowances of bedding the officers of the General’s Staff made the weary campaign of the Summer of 1876: Criticism was silenced in the presence of a General who could reduce himself to the level of the most lowly and even tho’ dissatisfaction and grumbling found their vent as they always do from the men who wear uniforms without being soldiers, the thinking and observing in the command reflected that their sufferings were fully shared by their leader and honored him accordingly.1 This night as we made down our couches in the rain and mud, we little thought of anything but the provisions we hoped Mills’ Command would be able to secure in Deadwood and hurry out to us. For this bent of thought we should not be too severely censured: by this time, the rations at HdQrs. had run down to barely enough bacon to fry the horse-steaks needed for another meal. Of salt and sugar we had none whatever and of coffee so little, that our cook had great reason to felicitate himself upon the turbid water found in the streams we camped by as it partially concealed the weakness of the beverage served up to us. Hard bread, too, had come to an end and this evening we had served up to each one his last apportionment of six little biscuits and Deadwood still five days away! The remains of the antelope last killed were hoarded with care, not so much, however, that bestowed upon our other stores; because we had horse meat in plenty, and this was now issued regularly by the Commissary. In taste and appearance, no difference of great extent could be discovered between it and beef or old antelope. Hunger gave it a goodly flavor and our men ate it greedily. Saturday, Sept. 9th. My pen writes freely the routine chronicle of wet, foggy and cheerless morning. We awakened early and delayed but a few moments were resuming the march which would at least restore the circulation to our benumbed limbs. Our men are much more cheerful to-day, having had the exhilarating influences of good 1. Bourke either ignored, or had no idea of what many of the men—and officers—actually thought. In other accounts, Crook appears to have been roundly despised. He was called “Rosebud George” as a reminder of his near disaster at the battle of the Rosebud in June. Some questioned his sanity, and others thought he should have been court-martialed. See Robinson, General Crook, 194–95, 252.

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warm fires and good, invigorating coffee last night and this morning. Five miles out from bivouac, crossed the South fork of the Grand River, a meandering, lazy branch of muddy water, similar in volume, dimensions and general characteristics to those described within the past few days. A half dozen stunted willow and cottonwood trees, intensified the monotony and loneliness of its otherwise perfectly barren banks. Directly in front of the point where we crossed, a confluent came in from the South, and this we ascended, getting into rugged hills with a thin finger of cedar and juniper in the ravines near the summits. Here we met a courier riding back from Capt. Mills with the information he had captured a village of over twenty-five lodges, with all the plunder contained, and some two hundred horses. Most of the Indians had escaped and Mills was fearful they might return with reinforcements and sweep down upon him before General Crook could arrive with the main body. (On our side, Lieutenant Von Leuttewitz, 3d Cavalry, and five men, had been wounded and one man killed; the Indian loss was reported at six killed. A small party of hostiles had taken refuge in a ravine near the village and were hemmed in by our soldiers. It was also believed they were anxious to surrender.) General Crook immediately directed Surgeon Clements to designate the necessary medical attendanse [sic] to push to the front and sent word to General Merritt, the Chief of Cavalry, to hurry forward with his command. The Infantry Battalions, upon learning the enemy had been encountered in front, became very eager to participate in the expected engagement and pressed on through the drizzling mist, determined not to be passed by the mounted troops. So well did they succeed that in the long stretch of ten miles intervening, they marched fully as quickly as the Cavalry and came in right behind them to the scene of action. This we found to be a narrow ravine, well hidden by its own steep banks and the adjacent high hills, with a flowing stream of pretty good water and plenty of grass and fuel within convenient reach. (Mills had discovered the village the evening previous, but had not sent back word, as he should have done, to General Crook. Hence, when he attacked at day-break, he found himself unable to surround the village, the majority of whose occupants made their escape by cutting their way through the canvas of their tipis, and just barely

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strong enough to maintain himself against reinforcements, they would certainly return with, until the arrival of General Crook for whom he was now only too glad to send. Mills’ conduct in this feature cannot be commended, but he is entitled to praise for the plucky manner in which he attacked and carried in the darkness of morning, a village of unknown strength and resources.[)] The village comprehended thirty seven lodges, not counting four that did not yet have canvass stretched over them. Several of the lodges were of unusual dimensions; one, probably that occupied by the guard Frank [Grouard] calls the “Brave Night Hearts”, containing thirty saddles, and equipments. Great quantities of furs, almost exclusively untanned buffalo, antelope and deer skins wrapped in bundles, and several tons of meat, dried after the Indian manner, formed the principal part of the spoil, though mention must not be overlooked of the almost innumerable tin-dishes, blankets, cooking utensils, boxes of caps, ammunition, saddles, horse equipments, and other supplies that will prove a more serious loss to the Savages than gain to us. The herd of ponies of more than four hundred was stampeded early in the attack: not quite two hundred fell into our hands, many of them were fine looking little animals of good form and full of life. A cavalry guidon of silk, nearly new and torn from the staff, an overcoat once the property of an Army officer, a non-commissioned officer’s blouse, (Cavalry) saddles of the McClellan model, covered with black leather, after the latest pattern of the Ordnance Bureau, a glove marked with the name of the late Captain [Myles] Keogh, a letter addressed to a private soldier of the 7th Cavy., horses branded U.S. and 7C (one of them was branded D/7C)2 were the links of circumstantial evidence upon which we rested the conclusion that the inmates of these tipis had assisted in the butchery of Custer and his gallant comrades, on the Little Big Horn in June last. The first thing done by our Commanding General was to have a detail made to secure all the plunder, and arrange it in large piles for future disposition. The condition of our wounded was also examined into and everything possible done for its amelioration. Captain Mills had already pitched a lodge in a cool, shady spot, near the stream and sheltered from the annoyance of random shots still fired by the scattered Indians from the distant hills. The next task was to 2. I.e. Company D, 7th Cavalry.

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dislodge those holding the little gulch, fifty or sixty yards outside the line of lodges. Mills had reported the number as two only; the disclosure of the real state of affairs astonished him as much as it did us. Frank Gruard and Big Bat were ordered to crawl as close to the ravine as they could do, consistently with safety and open up a conversation with those imprisoned there. The colloquy was not satisfactory. The Indians declined to accede to any terms and seemed determined to fight it out to the last. Accordingly a small band of volunteers was picked out and placed under Lt. W.P. Clarke, 2nd Cavalry, with instructions to clean out the ravine. A very heavy firing attracted a crowd of idlers who swarmed up the hill in such numbers that Clarke’s movements were seriously embarrassed. It was easy for the imprisoned Indians to pick off a man for every shot: in such a thing the only wonder was that each bullet didn’t claim a billet of three or four killed and wounded. The ravine was so narrow, not over ten feet, and so deep, from fifteen to twenty, with a growth of box-elder trees inside that veiled them from our aim, and soft, loamy banks the Indians dug into, and thus speedily sheltered themselves against the great majority of our volley shots. The advantages of position rested with the Sioux entirely. “Buffalo Chips” (White) a sort of guide and scout following the command, a poor, harmless, good-natured liar who played the role of “Sancho Panza” to Buffalo Bill’s “Don Quixote”, was the first on our side to die, shot through the heart. His dying exclamation of “Oh Lord! Oh Lord! They’ve got me now, boys”! was blood-curdling. He fell from his position, thirty feet to the bottom of the ravine. About [the] same instant, one of our soldiers, Kennedy, a private of Company “C,” 5th Cavalry, was shot in the leg, the deadly missile carrying away the whole calf; and another, whose name I did not learn, was shot through the ankle-joint. The line of soldiers was ere this upon the crest of the ravine which through the interlacing branches of the trees within seemed to be alive with Indians, but mostly women and children. I don’t know how it happened but Captain Munson, and myself found ourselves in the ravine on one side, while similarly, Big Bat, and another guide, Carey, occupied the other. Alongside, was a pile, the term is the only accurate one I know of, of squaws, and little pappooses, covered with dirt and blood and screaming in a perfect agony of terror. The oaths and yells of the singing soldiers, pressing in behind us made the scene

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truly infernal. Just in front, three or four dead bodies lay stretched, weltering in their own gore. As is usually the case, what would seem from the description to have been a most perilous position, really enjoyed a greater exemption from danger than any other within rifle shot. The elbows of the narrow gulch prevented the Indians from molesting us or even noticing us, at least as long as so many others were in places so much more conspicuous. So, when in response to Bat’s encouraging call of Washté-hélo, (“All right” or “Very Good.”) the women and children came up to us, it did not take much time to get them out, following down the bends of the ravine, to a place of safety and in communication with General Crook, who came over to them and spoke pleasantly. The squaws divined at once who he was and clung to his hand and clothing, their little ones meantime clutching their skirts and yelling piteously. When somewhat calmed and reassured, the women said their village belonged to the Spotted Tail Agency and was commanded by two chiefs, Roman Nose and American Horse, or Iron Shield, the latter still in the ravine. General Crook bade one of them go back and say he would treat kindly all who surrendered; the squaw complied and went back to the edge of the ravine, there holding a parley, as the result bringing back a young warrior* of about twenty years. To him, General Crook repeated the assurances already given the squaw, and this time the young man went back, accompanied by Big Bat, whose presence, unarmed, convinced American Horse that General Crook’s promises were not written in sand. The interest felt about this moment was almost painful in its intensity, for the first time, almost in the history of American Indian warfare, hostile Savages were about to lay down their arms on the open field. American Horse, supported on one side by Big Bat: on the other, by one of his warriors, approached the little nucleus of officers, clustered about General Crook. The reception accorded the captives was gentle and the wounded ones made the recipients of necessary attentions. Out of this little nook, twenty-eight Sioux, little and great, dead and alive, were taken. The corpses were suffered to lie where they fell, a lesson in significance not lost upon their comrades. A little girl, not over five years old, attracted my attention by her Bourke’s footnote: Named Charging Bear, afterwards a corporal in General Crook’s Company of Indian scouts. *

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beauty and grace. I had her brought to HdQrs. In spite of her vociferous screams which quieted down very soon after she saw our dinner set out upon the piece of buffalo robe made to do service as a table. In other ways too, our mess had benefited [sic] by the capture. We had secured more than a score of tin cups and a great many articles of table-furniture: knives, forks, spoons, plates, dishes &c. Our cook, Phillips, had possessed himself of a considerable amount of dried buffalo meat** and one or two parfleche parnniers[?] of fresh and dried buffalo berries, wild cherries, plums and other fruit, a small trifle of salt and a little flour. Our meal was marked by a comparative sumptuousness and a good humor, somewhat in contrast with the forebodings crowding upon our minds only a day or two ago. In such an atmosphere our little Indian child, speedily recovered her composure and ate as heartily as the rest of us. Buffalo meat is not only as nutritious or palatable as Beef, and I now speak advisedly, having tried them both, dried as well as fresh. Buffalo tongues, dried, are esteemed as a delicacy, so is the ordinary dried flesh of the animal, pounded up with dried cherries, “bull-berries”, or plums. This mixture is called “Toro”. It is very pleasant eating, by far the most agreeable food of the aborigines I have tasted. As we were discussing the events of the day, congratulating ourselves upon the good luck of capturing a village with so much food, criticizing the culinary arts of the Sioux and condoling with the misfortunes of Lt. Von Leuttewitz, who had had his knee-cap knocked off by a bullet and whose leg had been amputated early in the morning, Mr. Wasson produced a couple of certificates of good character given Indians of this village, early last Spring. One was to Stabber, signed by Howard, the Agent at Spotted Tail Agency: the other to Charging Crow, with the name appended of one Bonchet, an infamous scoundrel since detected trading ammunition to the hostiles. Soldiers like we had almost completely forgotten our recent discomforts in the light of actual excitement; the food we had captured was not the best in the world, but much superior to none at all and then it was the Spolia Optima of a Sioux encampment and as such relished most keenly. To fully analyze and discuss the situation was not at this moment granted us: for the sharp cracking of rifles and carbines rouse to a new danger in the onslaught Crazy Horse, Above this Bourke inserted: pony meat, buffalo tongues.

**

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with a large band, was making upon our line of pickets. The Sioux thinking that Mills was alone and not believing General Crook was within striking distance, advanced very determinedly to avenge their disaster and disgrace of the morning. In expectancy of this event, our horses and mules had been picketed very close to camp and at the first rattle of musketry, were driven into camp, saddled, bridled and kept under the cover of the ridge, in an open space in the creek bottom. The Sioux came very close to our skirmishers who received them with a fierce roll of carbines and rifles; for a few moments, the enemy wavered. Their doubts were colored by the charge of our Infantry Battalions, which commanded by Captains Burt and Burke, lost no time in taking the ridge on our Left and front where the enemy made their strongest demonstration. From the summit of the little rounded knoll where General Crook’s HdQrs. were established, the view of the field was unobstructed and very inspiriting. The skirmish itself was not of much consequence, but it is rarely so free a view of a scene of action is obtainable. The Indians withdrew under cover of approaching darkness, taking with them their dead and wounded; our losses were very slight, five or six wounded, none seriously. Ten or a dozen broken down cavalry horses, too weak and sore to get into camp before the skirmish began, were congregated in a small herd [insert illegible] within full sight of our men and of the Indians; the latter, imagining they were some we could not get inside our lines, made a gallant dash to effect their capture. They were allowed to approach so close that it was as easy for them to continue on towards the herd as it would be to retreat; then when they were committed to the rash act, our skirmishers opened on them a very dangerous fire. The disgust and consternation of the Indians when they arrived in the midst of our broken down plugs were very amusing to our soldiers, who hooted and yelled in derision, as they resumed with increased vigor the fusillade the more thoroughly scared Indians sought to avoid by scattering and scampering in every direction. Lieut. Von Leuttewitz’s leg was amputated above the knee this evening. Patient bore the operation extremely well, so the Surgeons said.3 3. Bourke, who was reconstructing this part of the narrative from memory a couple of years later, seemed to have forgotten that only a few pages earlier, he recorded the amputation as being early in the morning. Considering that the battle of Slim Buttes started in the morning and lasted the better part of the day, and that the surgeons consulted before amputating, evening is more likely correct.

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Lieut. A.B. Bache, 5th Cavalry, suffering from a severe attack of rheumatism in the ankles and wrists, insisted upon being hoisted into the saddle and there remained until the termination of the skirmish.** We tried to sleep at night but failed very signally. The Indian ponies fretted and neighed until daylight and the curs left behind in their lodges barked unintermittably [sic] in reply to the howling of wolves and coyotes outside. Men were detailed under commissioned officers to gather up all the property taken from the Indians: the ponies, some of them very fine ones, were divided among the soldiers of Mills’ battalion; the buffalo robes and other furs, after what officers and men needed had been separated, were consumed by fire, and the same fate was reserved for the accumulations of fruit and meat these people had laid by for the winter. Twenty eight mules were packed with meat and fully as great a quantity was destroyed in one way or another. Of berries, not as much use was made as should have been, in my opinion; they were exactly what the men needed, but the Company Commanders somehow didn’t seem to realize their value. Instead of gathering them up and issuing them to the different battalions, they were suffered to be tramped underfoot, except where some of the soldiers felt inclined to help themselves. The destruction was complete; the smallest articles were burned or broken with as sedulous care as the largest. Ammunition and caps were exploded, guns broken, robes cut to pieces and then burned[,] and lodge-poles hacked to pieces before being committed to the flames.*** The lesson of neglect taught us at Crazy Horse had not been forgotten: this time our work was done thoroughly.4 As our forces numbered all total nearly twenty hundred men, and as the dried meat taken was abundant rations for all for three days, some idea can be gathered of the quantity of stores these Indians had accumulated. Sunday Sept. 10th. The cold, drizzling rain of yesterday continued well through the night, which remained damp and chilly. Toward In the margin Bourke inserted: Lt. Bache died in Nov. 1876 of disease contracted in this Campaign. *** Bourke’s footnote: This little village seemed to be greatly encumbered with baggage—probably was guarding supplies for a greater number than its own members. **

4. Bourke is referring to an attack the preceding March, on a village purportedly belonging to Crazy Horse, but which in fact was a Cheyenne village under Two Moons. The destruction, although not so thorough, was enough to leave the Cheyennes destitute, and prompted them to join the hostiles. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1.

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morning a heavy mist descended upon the earth, but the clouds showed signs of dissipating. Private Kennedy of “C” Co. 5th Cavalry, and the captive chief, American Horse, died of their wounds about midnight, and were buried at sun-rise. Our pickets had a little skirmish at early dawn: a party of Indians crept up under cover of the fog and commenced firing, but retired after developing the strength of our outposts. (The little stream flowing by this village, is a confluent either of Grand River or Owl Creek, the former the more probable. It is not delineated upon any chart I have seen and is scarcely deserving of mention, unless as the scene of a conflict with the red schools, or on account of the grotesque shapes assumed by the buttes of marl and argillaceous sandstone close by. One in particular had in every detail the form of a half ruined Medieval castle, buttresses, bastions, and crenelated walls all well defined.) The morning, our breakfast consisted of stewed meat, very tough and leathery, stewed cherries and a beverage, jocularly styled “coffee.” Before marching, General Crook set at liberty a number of squaws and children, retaining such as preferred to accompany us back to the Agencies. Strong lines of skirmishers, protected our front, flanks and rear, a precaution that rendered abortive an attempt of the Sioux to make an impression upon our rear as we were leaving camp. We had only one soldier wounded slightly, whereas five of the Sioux were tumbled from their saddles. Our wounded did very comfortably to-day, resting on “travaux”, constructed from the tipi poles and buffalo robes of the Indian village. Our progress to-day was dilatory, owing to the pressure of circumstances. We made some eighteen or twenty miles across a rough trail, bivouacking on a branch of what I should call the North fork of Owl Creek (at the foot of marl and clay butte, surrounding our position like an amphitheater. The grass growing hereabouts was fair in character, water poor[,] of fuel, sufficient, of cedar and juniper, clinging to the skirts of the Butte.) Raining nearly all day. A dispatch was written to Lieutenant General Sheridan from this point, as follows: “Marched from the Head of Heart River, passing a great many bands of Indians, going down all the different streams we crossed between Heart River and this point, apparently working their way in towards the different Agencies.

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“Although some of the trails seemed fresh, our horses were not in condition to pursue them. “From the North fork of Grand River, I sent Captain Mills, of the 3d Cavalry, with one hundred and fifty men, mounted on our strongest horses, in advance to Deadwood to procure supplies of provisions. On the evening of the 8th, he discovered near the Slim Buttes a village of thirty odd lodges and lay by there that night and attacked them by surprise the next morning, capturing the village, some prisoners and a number of ponies and killing some of the Indians. Among the Indians was the chief American Horse, who died from his wounds after surrendering to us. Our casualties were slight, but among them was Lieutenant Von Leuttewitz, of the 3d Cavalry, wounded seriously in knee and leg since amputated. “In the village were found, besides great quantities of dried meat and ammunition, an Army guidon, portions of officers’ and non-commissioned officers’ uniforms and other indications that the Indians of this village had participated in the Custer Massacre. “Our main column got up about noon that day and was shortly after attacked by a considerable body of Indians, who, the prisoners said, belonged to the villages of Crazy Horse, who was camped somewhere between their own village and the Little Missouri River. This attack was undoubtedly made under the supposition that Captain Mills’ command had received no reinforcements. “The prisoners further stated that most of the hostile Indians were now going into the Agencies, with the exception of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, and their immediate followers. Crazy Horse intended to remain near the Head-waters of the Little Missouri and about one half of Sitting Bull’s band, numbering from sixty to One Hundred lodges had gone North of the Yellowstone River, while the remainder of that band, with some Sans Arcs, Minneconjous and Uncpapas, had gone in the vicinity of Antelope Buttes there to fatten their ponies and to trade with the Rees and others. “I place great reliance in these reports from other corroboratory evidence which I have. “The Indians with Sitting Bull will amount probably to three hundred or four hundred lodges and, in my opinion, can very easily be struck by General Terry’s column, provided it go in light marching order and keep under cover.

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“Our prisoners in their conversation also fully confirmed in every particular my opinions as already telegraphed to you. “We had a very severe march from Heart River: for eighty consecutive miles, we did not have a particle of wood; nothing but a little dry grass which was insufficient even to cook coffee for the mess. During the greater portion of the time, we were drenched by cold rains which made travelling very heavy. “A great many of the animals gave out and had to be abandoned: the others are now in such weak condition that the greater number of them will not be able to resume the campaign until after a reasonable rest. I should like to have about five hundred horses, preferably the half-breed horses raised on the Laramie Plains or in the vicinity of Denver and already acclimated to this country. “I intend to carry out the program mentioned in my last dispatch, via Fort Lincoln and shall remain in the vicinity of Deadwood, until the arrival of my wagon-train. [“](signed.) George Crook. [“]Brigadier General.[”] Learned to-day that one of the Indians, (a squaw) killed yesterday, had a partially healed wound in the thighs, (a souvenir of the Custer Massacre?) Monday, Sept. 11th. Captain Mills, 3d Cavalry, Lieut. Bubb, A.C.S., Frank Gruard, Thomas Moore, and fifty men, mounted on picked Indian ponies, under Lieutenants Schwatka, and Chase, 3d Cavalry, were dispatched once more to Deadwood to secure some foods for the command which more slowly followed the trail they pursued, going over a low line of buttes and then along an undulating prairie, with some grass and great quantities of cactus, that, with the tenacious mud made by the unceasing rain, clogged the progress of Infantry and Cavalry very much. Twenty five miles of arduous marching brought us to the steep banks of a little stream, flowing East, we were inclined at first to identify as the Belle Fourche. This mistake was a natural one, in the darkness and gloom of the day and the absence of any definite landmarks to enable us to determine position. The stream we at last concluded must be Owl Creek, and this conclusion proved correct. It is a sluggish little current of muddy water, not over ten feet wide and barely six inches in depth. A tenuous fringe of little cottonwood trees supplied fuel and a copse of wild plum bushes, passed on a small affluent just before we made bivouac, gave our

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men a pleasant treat of delicious, ripe fruit. Here we passed a fairly pleasant night, as in fact, nothing that could happen except a snowstorm, could worry us now. Wounded and sick doing extremely well, and circumstances regarded. Captain Andrews’ Company (“I”, 3d Cavalry.) Was detailed this morning to act as escort and guard to the travaux5 and mule-litters. Nearing this stream, General Crook discovered fresh trails running in several directions, mainly to the East, down stream. Tuesday, September 12th. Major Upham, 3d Cavalry started out with one hundred and fifty men to reconnoitre the trails noticed as we were coming into camp last night. Our own line of march was resumed, going nearly South, following Mills’ trail. This day’s march will always occupy a niche in my memory as the severest and most discouraging ever made. When we started, it was with the understanding, derived from careful scouting of our maps, that the Belle Fourche was barely twenty miles from us. Our animals made a way for themselves through extended areas of closely growing cactus, no grass to speak of being seen for the first six miles, when a broad belt of bright green, coarse grass was crossed and after that the alternations of grass and cactus patches was very marked in its regularity. Three or four water courses, very narrow and holding water only on account of the prevailing rain, which still hung to us, were crossed early in the morning, before the road had become too heavy for travel. Once or twice the rain-clouds lifted—not more than enough to make visible to us the Bear Butte—a long way off to the South—but that little was enough to satisfy us our course was correctly taken. Had men and animals been strong and hearty, the march now described would not have presented any obstacle: to troops, exhausted as ours were by a long, long campaign, more than half-starved, with clothing in tatters, shoes in patches, no rations but what had been captured from the Indians, a long march of 35 to 45 miles through cactus and mud, the latter so tenacious that every step made brought away from the ground a pound of it and our horses and mules were black to their houghs6 with the accretions of the journey, with blouses and blankets, saturated with an unceasing fall of rain; to a command, under these disadvantages, a march of this length is 5. The plural of travois, no longer used. 6. Hocks.

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nothing more or less than martyrdom. The Infantry columns which had been aroused at three A.M., did not reach Willow creek—our bivouac, until 10.15 at night. Men and horses fell out of ranks, at first singly, then in couples, in squads, and at last in platoons. The wounded had a bitter experience, the travaux and litters they were carried upon, were tumbled and jolted about by the slipping down of the mules, which carried them. Their scarcely less unfortunate comrades, still with sound limbs, moved wearily alongside of them scarcely able to put one foot before the other. In the darkness of night now closing densely about them, all semblance of formation was lost: each man had as much as he could do to maintain his own footing and keep the right direction. The pitiless, cold, soaking rain poured down, quenching every particle of spirit and enthusiasm: still, it was urgently essential to keep moving on hoping to strike the Belle Fourche, or some tributary where timber could be found and fires made to keep the men partially comforted during the night. By great good fortune, we hit the head of Willow Creek, thus escaping an additional six miles of journey.* Here we made ourselves as little miserable as we could: all ideas of ever making ourselves comfortable had long since vanished from our minds. From the box-elder, willow, ash and plum bushes growing at hand, large fires were soon made and burning brightly: but what use were they since we had nothing to cook. At Hd.Qrs, besides pony meat, we had the heart and liver of an antelope shot early in the morning, which I obtained from the bleeding carcass and had carried in a nosebag until we got into camp. There, we cut the liver into thin slices and roasted these upon twigs bent over the ashes, getting a “bonnie bouche”, not soon to be forgotten. Many of the men, especially of those who were at the rear of the column and made camp last, ate their pony meat raw. All through the night or at least until long after midnight, our butchers were kept at work slaughtering captured ponies, their flesh furnishing the best beef, as most of them were young, fat and tender. By the trail of the afternoon, there grew a very great number of wild onions or garlic: indeed, the little bulbs covered a tract of many Acres, and In the margins, Bourke wrote the following: On this march, men, frantic with suffering, cursed the God who made them. When Horses, exhausted, refused to go farther, their riders, in many instances, dragged them along by the bridle, until the poor animal fell down when he would be shot and a steak, cut from his meagre flank, devoured raw before he had given his last gasp. *

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the rains having washed away the covering of earth, there was no trouble in gathering any desired amount of them. My saddle pouches soon held all they could contain; a pleasant gift for our culinary artist, who at once set about preparing a râgoût of onions, pony meat and marrow extracted from the shin-bone of a Beef, found lying out on the trail, killed by the Indians a few days since and not yet decomposed. This would not be ready before breakfast, so there was no use waiting for it and, accordingly, we made down our couches of willow branches, and sage brush, covered with a strip of buffalo robe seized in American Horse’s village, and wrapped in wet overcoat and covered with wetter blanket lay down to dream of the soldier’s elysium where Glory alone should reign and Privation and Hunger be no more forever. Wednesday, Sept. 13th. Rained all last night. Mills had not yet been heard from: a courier sent out to obtain news of him, returned with the inspiriting announcement that Mills’ mission had been successful and that a wagon train laden with supplies was already on its way to us. This news diffused contentment and good feeling throughout all our Battalions: to obtain a better camping place and also to get so much nearer the approaching supplies, General Crook determined to cross to the Belle Fourche, five or six miles distant. We had some little trouble crossing Willow Creek, whose banks are steep, clay walls and whose bed in places is decidedly mirey. 1 Lieut. Charles King, 5th Cavalry, under orders from Genl. Merritt, soon had a party of men at work, making a causeway across the narrowest point, where the width did not exceed twenty five feet and where a ledge of rock protruding above the bed, gave a secure foot-hold to the laborers. We had this morning the first really palatable breakfast, since the day we parted from the Yellowstone River, (August 24th). The ragoût was a great success and the pony steak better than usual. Shortly after midday, having made a two hours’ march of five or six miles, we looked for the first time upon the waters of the Bell[e] Fourche, having first cursed, two miles out, a feeble tributary, lined with timber. The Belle Fourche seemed to deserve its appelation [sic];7 it was not less than one hundred feet wide, three deep and a good flow of water, four miles or something like that. The bottom is clay and sandstone drift and even if the water was muddy, it was sweet and 7. Belle Fourche translates as “Beautiful Fork.”

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pleasant after our late tribulations. Wells dug in the banks afforded even better quality for drinking or cooking. The dark, threatening clouds still hung sullenly over us and showers throughout the day were frequent; but what of that? All eyes were strained towards the Crook City, and Deadwood Road, looking for the first dust of the wagons that were carrying us our food for the morrow. Soon a murmur ripped through camp; in a second of time it had swelled into a yell and broken away in a wild cheer. Down the hillside we saw fifty head of beef cattle coming as fast as men could drive them, while not a mile in the rear, canvass wagon sheets gleaming in a cloud of dust betokened the replenishment of our Commissariat. As if in unison with the general character of the occasion, the Sun consented to unveil himself and for a good long hour shone down upon us through the scattering clouds, the first fair look we had of his face for ten dreary days.

Chapter 6 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Campaign Ends

Sept. 14th. The busy hum of lively conversation could now be heard around every camp-fire and from every knot of soldiers: the change was most agreeable from the glum and early moroseness of a few days previous. The inspirating [sic] influences of abundant food and bright, clean skies, were never more patent than now; the greatest enjoyment after our recent approximation to starvation was to sit about the fire and eat and chat: we had more than enough of all the components of ration to last the Command for four or five days and unlimited supplies were available in Deadwood. A wagon loaded with bread, beans, coffee and sugar was sent out to meet Major Upham’s command which left us yesterday very poorly provided. Major Upham’s detachment however returned to camp before the supplies were brought them. They saw no Indians, the trail they took up, proving to be a very old one. One of the men of the 5th Cavalry, straggling from this (Upham’s) command early this morning was shot and killed by a small party of Sioux lurking in advance. Several buggies, the first we had seen for months, drove into camp this evening. Among the gentlemen, was our old friend Wilbur Hughs. We gave the visitors a cordial greeting and as much shelter for the night as was possible. They supped with us on what fare we had, 121

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supplemented by an addition of fresh bread, butter, sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs brought down from Deadwood City. After sundown, a courier from General Sheridan brought General Crook a letter dated as follows, Chicago, August 1st 1876 A few of the Indians who were out with the hostiles in the battles of the 17th and 25th ultimo, (June?), have arrived at the agencies on the Missouri River and at Red Cloud. They report many of the Indians on their way back to the Agencies. Captain Mix, Comdg. at Camp Brown, sends me the following this morning: “Indian scouts sent out from here report hostile Indians moving South East, trailed them from about head of Crazy Woman’s to the head of Little Powder river; numbers unknown but believed to be large. I think they are making for the Agencies. “J Mix Captain.” The last of the six companies of the Fourth Cavalry will not arrive at [Fort] Laramie under ten days. Bill has passed Senate, increasing companies of Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Cavalry to one hundred men each. (Signed.) P.H. Sheridan, Lt. General Chicago, Ills., August 17th, 1876 The Bill for increasing the Regiments of Cavalry in the field passed Congress and I have designated Fort D. A. Russel1 [sic] as the rendezvous for equipping and mounting the recruits for the 2d, 3d, and 5th Regiments of Cavalry. Colonel [Ranald S.] Mackenzie is now at Red Cloud and in a few days will have six companies of the 4th Cavalry, two companies of the 5th and one of the 3d, four companies of artillery and five companies of Infantry there under his command. I have ordered the whole of the Eleventh Infantry from Texas to Cheyenne2 and Standing Rock Agencies. I will give orders to General Terry to-day to establish a cantonment for the winter at 1. Fort D. A. Russell was established in 1867 to protect workers constructing the Union Pacific. Because the fort became an important supply base, an adjacent subpost was established, officially designated Cheyenne Depot, but often referred to as Camp Carlin or Russell Depot. Cheyenne Depot was discontinued in 1890. In 1930, Fort D.A. Russell was renamed Fort Francis E. Warren. It later was transferred to the Department of the Air Force, and is now Warren Air Force Base. Frazer, Forts of the West, 184–85. 2. Cheyenne River Agency in what is now South Dakota.

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Tongue River and will send supplies there for fifteen hundred men, Cavalry and Infantry. I think also of establishing a cantonment for the winter at Goose Creek or some other point on your line for a force of about ten hundred men. I will send to you one hundred of the best Pawnee scouts, under Major [Frank] North, regularly enlisted, as Congress increased the number [of authorized scouts] to ten hundred. We must hold the country you and Terry have been operating in, this winter, or else every Indian at the Agencies will go out as soon as we commence dismounting and disarming them. Let me know at once what you think of the lo[d]g[e]ment at Goose Creek or vicinity, the men would have to hut themselves. General Terry’s men will also have to hut themselves. We cannot build the Yellowstone posts until Spring, as the low stage of water in the Yellowstone would not permit the transportation of material to the ground. One post will be at mouth of Tongue River, the other at mouth of Little Big Horn.3 (Signed.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieut. General. Chicago, August 23d, 1876 As the permanent occupation of the Big Horn and Yellowstone country has been resolved upon, and the thorough subjugation of the hostile Indians is an absolute necessity, it is deemed best to hold for the winter a point on the Yellowstone River, at or near the mouth of Tongue River, and also some point on the line of your summer operations, either at Goose Creek, Phil Kearney,4 Reno,5 or some place adjacent to those points where timber for hutting purposes is abundant. The latter is especially desirable as it covers the Powder river country and is shortest from the base of supplies. You will, therefore, after your return to Goose Creek from your present Expedition, detail five companies of the 5th Cavalry and such 3. Later designated Fort Keogh and Fort Custer, respectively. 4. Fort Phil Kearny (which everyone consistently misspelled as “Kearney”) was established in 1866 near the confluence of Big and Little Piney Creeks in northern Wyoming, to protect the Bozeman Trail. On December 21, 1866, a detachment from the post under Capt. William J. Fetterman was massacred nearby, in what was the worst U.S. military defeat by Indians up to that time. The post was abandoned in 1868 under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty, and the buildings subsequently were burned by the Indians. It is now a Wyoming state historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 183. 5. Fort Reno was established by Brig. Gen. Patrick Connor in 1865, and abandoned under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Its site is just east of the present town of Kaycee, Wyoming. Frazer, Forts of the West, 183–84.

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Companies of Infantry as will make a garrison sufficiently strong to hold the place. Your Chief Quartermaster notifies me of his ability to furnish all the supplies at any point you may select, with perhaps the exception of full forage of hay. You will also send from your Command six companies of either the 3d, 5th, or 2d Cavalry to report to Colonel Miles at Tongue River to form part of the garrison there. After making arrangements for hutting you will return with the balance of your Command to Fort Fetterman,6 from whence it will be distributed. The detail of Cavalry for Tongue River from your Command, arise from the necessity of using the 7th [Cavalry] in dismounting and disarming Indians at the Missouri River Agencies. Your chief Quartermaster has been directed to ship to Fort Fetterman tools needed for hutting purposes and to increase the contract with the Contractors so that; with the Gov’t. train, abundant supplies can be forwarded. I would like to meet you at Fetterman when you can conveniently come in, if you will notify me, giving me time to get there. I fully realize the inconvenience,—to some extent, hardship,—which will come to those Officers and men who may be obligated to stay out, but if we should give up the Powder River, Big Horn and Yellowstone country, all or most of the Indians would escape there, when we commence to dismount, disarm and punish the Agency Indians who have been out, and are now coming in. (Signed.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieut.-General Chicago, Illinois, August 23d, 1876. I sent you to-day instructions about the establishment of a cantonment for the winter at Goose Creek, Phil Kearney, or Reno, or some point adjacent thereto. I much prefer Reno, but you should know best. The misfortune which came to Custer virtually destroyed all hope of making the campaign successful by getting a fight out of the Indians. Since that time, I have been bending everything to the only 6. Fort Fetterman was established in 1867. It was abandoned in 1882, and turned over to the Interior Department two years later. The post buildings became a tough cow town that served as the model for the town of Drybone in Owen Wister’s The Virginian. It is now a Wyoming state historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 180–81.

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plan which will be ultimately successful, namely, to get military control over the Indians at the Agencies and the permanent occupation of the Yellowstone country,—by this I mean all the country West of the Black Hills. Good progress has been made, but the permanent occupation by building the posts on the Yellowstone could not be effected this summer on account of the lateness of the action by Congress, and the next best thing to do was the establishment of the cantonments for the winter. Colonel Miles will have at his cantonment the 5th Infantry and six companies of the 22d and the five companies of Cavalry from your command. The 7th Cavalry had to go in as the Indians at the Missouri River Agencies will not permit the dismounting and unconditional surrender without sufficient force to compel them. I ordered 11th Infantry from Texas and will soon have at Standing Rock nine companies and at Cheyenne Agency nine companies. Colonel Mackenzie has at Red Cloud nine companies of Cavalry and nine Companies of Infantry and Artillery and as soon as it gets a little nearer winter the work of disarming and dismounting will commence. (Signed.) P. H. Sheridan Lieutenant-General. Chicago, Illinois, September 8th, 1876 I have just this moment received your dispatch of September 5th.7 As it has been resolved upon to hold the Yellowstone and Powder River country, directions had been sent on August 17th to you to form a cantonment at old Fort Reno or Goose Creek for one thousand men for the winter and to General Terry to form a cantonment for fifteen hundred men at Tongue River. These directions I now presume have not reached you but it will be necessary to carry them out. We cannot abandon the Powder River country or lest the Indians will again go back there instead of surrender at the agencies as they are now commencing to do. I have therefore only ordered 50.000 lbs of grain and ten days’ supply for your command to be sent to Custer City, which amounts may be doubled if the Quartermaster Department take them out and I think it would be well to bring most of your command into Laramie 7. See pp. 127–28.

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where we can readjust, sending out to the cantonment at Reno, fresh companies and letting the tired ones with you take their places. I have now on the way to Fetterman all the supplies for the cantonment, and will make arrangements to bring in Furey’s train to Fetterman. I want you to come in to Laramie as quickly as possible after you get to Custer City; I will meet you there for consultation. The Cavalry Companies have been increased to one hundred men and most of the men are recruits and many of the horses purchased. The garrisons at all the agencies have been made very strong and everything is doing as well as could be expected. I do not consider Custer City a good point to operate from for the winter. You may if you think best leave a few troops there until I see you. (Signed.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieutenant-General. Chicago, September 11th, 1876. Twenty days’ supply and one hundred thousand pounds of grain have been sent to you at Custer City. I will be at Laramie on the 17th instant and would like to meet you there. If you think Custer City should be held to operate from, leave your Command or such portion of it as you think best there until you see me at Fort Laramie. Furey’s train has been ordered to Fetterman. I had no escort nearer than the Red Cloud agency to send with it to Deadwood; besides, I doubt if the mules are able to take train that far, as grain was asked for to bring them in to Fetterman. From Fetterman it can be ordered to any point you wish. I will change my views to meet yours on any plan you may have, but would like to see you personally at Laramie, on the 17th, or as soon thereafter as possible. Do not be in the least discouraged by newspaper reports. You have done as well as could be expected and I will faithfully support and supply you.8 8. In retrospect, Sheridan was less enthusiastic. The following February, after Crook complained that transportation on his Powder River Expedition of November 1876–January 1877 was hampered by “the want of proper transportation on account of the meagre appropriation [of animals and forage] allowed me for this purpose,” Sheridan exploded. In a letter to General-in-Chief W.T. Sherman, Sheridan contended the transportation problems on the Powder River Expedition were the direct result of the wastage of men and animals during the terrible march of August and September. The provisioning and transportation, he said, were rendered impossible by his march around the Black Hills which not only consumed the time necessary to provide for the winter but broke down his command. The fact of the case is, the operations of Gens. Terry and Crook will not bear criticism, and my only thought has been to let them sleep. I approved what was done, for the sake of the troops, but in doing so, I was not approving much. . . .

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(Signed.) P. H. Sheridan, Lieut.-General. September 15th. Another beautiful day. A lovely situation on the Left bank of Whitewood creek, four miles from bivouac of yesterday was chosen as camping ground. We found all the grass we needed, and a fine stream of cold, clear water in great pools, hemmed in by heavy belts of all kinds of timber. Wild plums grew plentifully and made a most palatable dessert for the men. Wild cherries, grapes and bull-berries were also visible on every side. Balmy breezes blew down from the Black Hills, fanning the tired and dispirited soldiery, whose animation was rapidly reviving with rest, romantic scenery, good weather, fresh rations and the prospect of an early arrival of our wagon train with clean clothing. Here we remained all day. Nothing of moment transpiring unless the arrival and departure of couriers from and to Lieutenant General Sheridan. The dispatches from General have been inserted in preceding pages in connection with those brought yesterday. The telegram of September 5th, alluded to by the Lieutenant General, was not written in its proper place, on account of the notebook I then had being too crowded with other matter. Telegram Hd.Qrs. B[ig]. H[orn]. and Y[ellowstone] Exped. Camp at head of Heart River, Dakota Try. September 5th, 1876. Lieutenant General Sheridan Chicago, Illinois. On 26th August, left Powder River on the trail of the Indians that we had followed down from the Rosebud; General Terry going north of the Yellowstone to intercept the trial of any Indians taking that direction. My column followed the trail down Beaver Creek to a point opposite Sentinel Buttes, where the Indians scattered and the deluging rains to which we have been exposed during the past week have so obliterated the trail as to make it very difficult and laborious to work up the case, but, undoubtedly, a very large majority of the trails led over Crook to AAG, MilDivMo, January 8, 1877, RG 393, Special File, MilDivMo, Sioux Wars (hereafter cited as “Special File–Sioux”); Sheridan to Sherman, February 9, 1877, Sheridan Papers. See also Appendix 4.

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towards the Little Missouri, going in the direction of the Black Hills, the separation taking place apparently about twelve days ago. I have every reason to believe that all the Indians left the Big Horn, Tongue and Powder River country in the village the trail of which we followed. The village was very compact and arranged in regular order of seven circles of lodges, covering an area of at least two thousand Acres. With the exception of a few lodges that had stolen off toward the Agencies, there was no change in the size or arrangements of the village until it disintegrated. All indications show that the hostile Indians were much straitened for food and that they are now traveling in small bands, scouring the country for small game. I feel satisfied that if they can be prevented from getting ammunition or supplies from the Agencies, a large majority of them will surrender soon. I have with me only about two days’ provision, but I shall, push out for the Black Hills to try to reach there in advance of the hostiles or as soon as they do, scouting the country on the march as thoroughly as the circumstances will admit. We have travelled over four hundred miles since leaving our wagontrain; our animals are now much jaded and many of them have given out, while our men begin to manifest symptoms of scorbutic affections. As things look now, Custer City will probably be the base to operate from. I would like to have two hundred thousand pounds of grain sent there at once, together with twenty day’s full rations of vegetables for the men. I would also like to have two companies of Cavalry sent across from Red Cloud Agency via Pumpkin Buttes, by forced marches, to escort my wagon train from the Dry fork of Powder River, by the Miners’ road to Deadwood City in the Black Hills, so as to get it there with all possible dispatch. I make these requests of you as I have not heard anything reliable from the outside world since your telegram of July 26th and do not know what changes may have transpired to modify the disposition of troops in my Department. (signed.) George Crook. Brigadier General.

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September 15th (Continued.) All day long, wagons and vehicles of all sorts, heavily loaded with provisions, rolled in from Crook City, and Deadwood: some, for issue to the command, others brought along for purposes of speculation. Evidences of sympathy and kindly appreciation were not lacking; all our visitors seemed anxious to manifest their pleasure at meeting us there and in ways more potent than words sought to assure us that pleasure was sincere. We were the recipients of all kinds of compliments, none the more grateful than the fresh vegetables, raised in the Black Hills, of which we had a plentiful share. These comprehended potatoes, onions, cabbage and some others: good butter and eggs once more figured on our Bill of Fare, after an absence of five mos. When Phillips called “supper!” this evening and the mess squatted around the canvass that fairly groaned as the catch phrase goes, with delicious hot coffee, warm bread, fresh eggs, fried and stewed meat, pickles, preserves and vegetables, we could hardly repress our hilarity. Then, too, we had a box of champagne, of the vintage known as the “Chateau de Busthead,” not the best wine I ever drank, but given so quietly and with so much heart, to the General and his mess, that we and our friends, who were duly summoned and obeyed the call with wonderful alacrity, enjoyed it more than if it had been Widow Clicquot’s purest.9 Schuyler had an old grudge to pay off against [Lt. William Curtis] Forbush, and called on me for help. I assisted all I could with moderate success. We kept filling Forbush’s tincup with champagne and then, while engaging him in earnest conversation, kept backing him up against the roaring fire, the company had, assembled around. As this was our last night in camp, we could not ascertain and this chronicle shall never know how Forbush’s head felt the next morning, when he arose, if he did arise and the truth began to dawn upon him. Probably when he came to himself and had breakfasted, we were twenty miles away. Hand shaking with old comrades whom we were to leave on the morrow, took up more than half an hour and then to bed—but not to rest. I remember distinctly lying down alongside of Schuyler, but in the middle of the night, awakened to find myself walking about in the woods near where they had made down our blankets. There is no theory to explain away this sommabulistic [sic] aberration; it was the Champagne and I had only 9. The house known as Veuve (Widow) Clicquot is one of the better French shippers of champagne.

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the feeble solace left that Forbush must be ever so much worse off than I, and with this inadequate reflection once more betook myself to my blanket and slept soundly until breakfast. Saturday September 16th Among the visitors to our camp yesterday of whom some special notice should be taken was a deputation from the Common Council of Deadwood City, soliciting the honor of a visit to their young town from General Crook and the officers of his staff. As General Crook was obliged to set out without further delay to meet General Sheridan, who was awaiting him at Fort Laramie he could very readily accept the invitation so kindly presented and at same time make a hurried call upon the inhabitants of the thriving hamlet of Crook City, which had requested the same recognition. Accompanied by Lieutenants Bourke and Schuyler, A.D.C’s, Lieut. W.P. Clarke, 2d Cavy., Major Randall, Colonel Stanton, Colonel Chambers, Major Powell, Major Burt, Surgeon Hartsuff, Lieutenant Sibley, (in charge of escort.) And Messers. Finerty and Wasson of the public press, General Crook started at half past six or seven in the morning and was soon in the depths of the romantic scenery of Whitewood creek; the road skirted rounded knolls of rich green pasturage, where the light of the sun brought out some beautiful contrasts of color and harmony. The crests of the loftier ranges were black with the shadows of impenetrable forests of the various coniferae, while the lower levels were monopolized by groves of willow and live oak and dense copses of the wild plum and rose. Where the trail crossed the crystalline waters of the Whitewood, the scenery presented in varying phases all the enticements and allurements of rustic beauty the poets have ever sung. Arches of the stately hemlock, festooned with the cluster of the ever-graceful vine, with pendulous bunches of the black and purple wild grapes striking almost against our cheeks, shaded our path from the brilliant sun light, while across our horses’ feet the limpid current rippled on its way to scenes of new beauty. The rare ripe fruit of the plum and the now disregarded berries, we had lately so eagerly sought, abounded on each side. Gradually, we left behind all foliage except the juniper and hemlock, with now and then a poplar or birch tree and the cottonwood and willow constant in their affection for the garrulous brook. A very pleasant ride of miles had passed amid such picturesque surroundings that the flight of time and space had scarcely been

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perceived when a cheer from the sturdy lungs of a large crowd of miners, assembled in front of the principal hotel aroused us from our reveries to acknowledge the hearty salutations of the people of Crook City who now thronged about us. After warmly greeting our party, our kind hosts delayed but a few moments before seating us at a table upon which lay spread a very comfortable looking dinner, to which we did complete justice. The vegetables served up were all grown in the hills the present season and from their quality, plenty and variety were good evidence of the adaptability of the country to agriculture and of the determination of the miners to maintain their foothold. Our stay was so limited, no great opportunity was possible for inquiring into the prospects of Crook City, it is very pleasantly situated in a small valley, guarded by high timber clad ridges and close to the waters of the Whitewood, where the enclosing gravel banks, rising to the dignity of hills, yield it is said from two to seventy five cents [of gold] to the pan! Preparations for the introduction of hydraulic works with the incoming of Spring have already been made and if the expectations of the miners are only one tenth realized, Crook City will rapidly assume importance as a great mining center. For the rest, we saw the usual “displatamembra” of a new mining community—saloons, hotels, restaurants, gambling hells [sic], stores, warehouses, magazines of all sorts of products, breweries and bakeries, the latter supplying an exceptionally good article of bread. It was now time to start: handshaking was resumed. Our horses were brought up, and we mounted amid the renewed cheering of the miners for General Crook, and the firing of anvils10 and cannon and screeching of steam whistles from saw mills, we took our departure. From Crook City to Deadwood is nine or ten miles, the road on either hand, bounded the sluice-boxes and deep ditches, excavated to develop or work the rich gravel lying along the whole gulch. (Outside of the metalliferous resources of these mountains, one cannot help being struck by the vast amount of wealth stored up in the forests of pine, oak, elm, box elder, willow, plume, Spruce, hemlock, Fir, Whitewood and Birch, crowding down from the mountain crests or making a jungle down by the water’s edge, which must 10. A sort of firecracker effect achieved by placing a small amount of black powder on a blacksmith’s anvil and igniting it.

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in the course of the coming few years be called upon to supply the wants of the great sheep and cattle interests of the treeless plains farther to the north.) Four miles out from Deadwood, a small party of mounted gentlemen awaited us. They were the Mayor, and members of the City Council delegated to welcome General Crook and escort him to the city. A few moments after we had met them, a sharp elbow of the mountain road was passed and we saw in a pretty little sheltered valley under a prominent peak the village of Montana City, nearly all whose inhabitants, some 300 or 400 in number, had gone on up to the larger community where the preparations for a reception were on a grander scale. Our hearts felt very light that morning; there we were in the centre of the hills which only last year on the occasion of my first visit with Colonel Dodge’s Exploring Party,11 had been the haunt of the timid fawn or the surely [sic] bear. Since that visit people had gathered from every section of our country and builded cities by magic and in these a welcome was in readiness for General Crook that paled into insignificance by brightest anticipations. Not in the splendour or magnificence of the details, because these necessarily failed in some of their minor points; but, in the heartiness and spontaneous embraces of the demonstration which under that point of view was the most remarkable I ever saw. Deadwood lines with a double fringe of block houses the long narrow gulch at the confluence of the little mountain rivulet of the same name with Whitewood creek. The main street, not less than twenty yards wide, comes packed with a force of men, numbering into the thousands. The windows of the upper and lower stories of the numerous eating houses, saloons, hotels, wash-houses &c, were occupied as a “aigus de vantage”12 by women of good, bad and indifferent reputation. The noise was tremendous as the head of our little cavalcade crossed the bridge leading into town; vociferous cheering, re-echoed back from the astonished hills, drowned the sound of the salute that was fired from blacksmith’s anvils, while high above all else rose the ear-piercing screams of the steam whistles belonging to the planing mills down the gulch. The closely pressing throng comported itself 11. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapters 8–9. 12. I.e., vantage point.

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remarkably well and, after the first ebullition of enthusiasm, maintained a respectful silence until the General had been conducted to the front of the Hotel where apartments had been secured for him, when the applause was resumed to the accompaniment of clapping hands and “tiger” after “tiger”. The enthusiasm of the occasion had infected all classes; I overheard the conversation of two Irishmen in the throng: it was amusing enough in itself, besides indicating the general tone of thought in Deadwood. “Auch! thin, which wan is Crukes?”, said one. “That’s him on the gray harse”, said the other. “Is that him? Is that Crukes?[”] replied the first. “Oh Wirra, Wirra, thin, oive seen Crukes, Thank God oive seen Crukes.” Even the almond-eyed Celestial, Sin Lee, had absorbed in some measure the contagion of the hour and from the door of his “Centennial Wash House”, gazed with a complacency unusual to him upon the doings of the Western barbarians. A respite from the public attention was granted General Crook, who with his Staff officers, was assigned to pleasant rooms in the Grand Central Hotel, a structure of two-stories, built of wood, necessarily in the plainest manner, but furnished far better than would have been imagined. The lower floor was given up to the purposes of Office, Dining Room, Sallon [sic], and Kitchens; the upper floor in the front was occupied by the parlor, a nicely appointed apartment; and in the rear by fifteen or twenty bed rooms, running along both sides of a central hall and having the odd feature that the partition walls did not reach quite to the roof, but were cut short at a height of ten feet, leaving a space above that permitted every word or act said or done in the other rooms to be overheard by the occupants of our own. The escort and packers were divided off between the I.X.L. and Centennial hotels, while our horses and mules found good accomodations awaiting them in Clarke’s Livery Stable. Meantime a crowd had accumulated in front of our caravenseria and, aivlens [?] voileur,13 General Crook had to address them a few remarks. After that our whole party enjoyed the luxury of a warm bath and a change of underclothing, supplied by the liberality of General Dawson, who generously advanced what money we needed to replenish our tattered wardrobes. When Lieut. Schuyler and myself had performed 13. The first French word is only semi-legible, but in the second, Bourke probably means voilure, which is to say they apparently were under a canopy or awning in front of the hotel.

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our toilette, an old Englishman who worked about the bathing establishment came up to me and said he wanted to blacken our boots. I incurred the old man’s displeasure by telling him I hadn’t a cent of money, because he replied with some asperity that he wasn’t a boot black, but wanted to do this “because he liked us”. He further stated that when at home, “hin Hengland, Sir, Hi makes my living writing istories of Habbeys and Castles.” He had read in the papers of our cruel privations and the terrible times that had delayed us and his sympathetic nature found vent in the only means left to display itself. But, in my own case at least, his benevolence was productive of ludicrous results; my tattered clothing and ragged straw hat, formed such a contrast to my clean and highly polished, but worn out, boots through which my toes protruded, that all eyes were fixed upon me as I walked the street back to our hotel. (Supper was served up in a very excellent style and discussed with much zest; then came the proceedings of the evening, worthy of a separate chapter for the commemoration.[)] The swelling hum of voices drew those within the Grand Central to the balcony whence could be viewed a perfect sea of up-turned faces waiting for the appearance of the orator of the evening. The twinkling stars gemming the sky above looked down upon the swaying pine forests whose recesses for the first time listened to the voices of an American convention. The preliminaries of introduction completed, General Crook began his remarks by saying he had not come to make a formal speech, but as he presumed many of his auditory felt an interest in knowing what the military were able to do for their protection, he would be glad to respond to any interrogations they might see fit to address to him. This drew out a running fire of questions, more or less pertinent to the subject of the occupancy of the Hills and the safeguards government might extend over the miners at work there. To all these General Crook made suitable responses. Following our commander, several officers, myself among the number, delivered a few sentences of thanks for the hospitalities extended ourselves and comrades since reaching the Black Hills. The crowd was getting greater and greater: bonfires of barrels and bacon boxes blazed fiercely in the streets, lighting up the swarthy countenances of the thousands standing almost breathless before the balcony. The general desire seemed to be to have a more extended talk with General Crook, but as this would interfere with the program

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laid down by the Committee of Arrangements, the General firmly declared acceding to the demands for his reappearance and started quietly for the point agreed upon. While leaving the hotel door, he was accosted by a refined-looking but rather unsophisticated young fellow who said: “General, I am from the Sunny South and wish to shake hands with a northern general: I want to clasp hands over the bloody chasm”. The General joined heartily in the laugh this sally evoked and entered into a brief conversation with the young gentleman who gave his name as Vogt, from Nashville, Tenn. His manners were very polished and his general bearing excellent. He evidently made a very favorable impression upon all the Northern soldiers near him. The Theatre in Deadwood didn’t remind me very much of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia; whether from lack of size or lack of beauty, or both is not proper to say. It was crowded this evening to its very fullest capacity and I don’t see how another human being would have been pressed into that audience and lived. The stage was reserved for General Crook, the Mayor of Deadwood, Council of the City and others. The exercises of this evening embraced besides the usual elocutionary efforts characteristic of such gatherings, the presentation of a petition to General Crook from (713) of the residents of Deadwood, asking for military protection against the hostile Indians, and also a copy of resolutions passed by the City Council at its last meeting, tendering to the General the freedom of the city. General Crook’s merits as an orator are not great; he makes no pretentions [sic] to abilities in that way and seems carefully to avoid appeals to the prejudices of his hearers. But he has one quality that the most skilful [sic] advocate might envy; he loses no time in attracting the attention of his audience and making them feel he is telling the truth, exactly as he understands it. Add to this an ennunciation[sic] slow but clear and well-modulated and a delivery and address that even a long military training has not robbed entirely of grace, and General Crook is before you. That he swayed to his will the vast multitude of bronzed-faced and horny-handed miners and adventurers that made up so large a part of the population of this gulch, could be seen with half an eye and that he used that influence fairly, unselfishly and to the best purpose must be conceded. They looked upon him as their own representative General, the soldier to whom they must cling for protection and safety in times of danger. Major Burt, 9th Infantry, suc-

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ceeded the General in a little speech, provocative of much merriment among the people. The vomitory of the little temple of the muses, (this I think is the high-toned way of putting it) soon emptied the building of its inmates, but after an interval of less than ten minutes nearly the same faces were back in their old seats looking upon a representation by “Miller’s Grand Combination Troupe, with the following array of Stars!!!!”. The troupe did possess some very superior negro minstrel talent, intermingled with much that was of little value. One feature, unpleasant to my taste, was the introduction of scantily clad “female artists”! alongside of the masculine performances. The performance, strange to say, was devoid of vulgarity, and but little inferior to the same style of theatrical representations in our smaller cities. There were many little allusions to General Crook, thrown in by way of “gags” to please the audience: some of these were witty and pointed. In fact, the performance, as a whole, was a great success. “Night had drawn her sable curtain round”; ten o’clock had come and passed and we, campaigners accustomed to going to roost with the birds, began to think of retiring to rest. The faintest intimation of our desires in this direction drew down a storm of dissent and disapproval from the gentlemen escorting us. “Bed! Why the town hadn’t commenced to wake up yet.” So the motion was defeated, while we were conducted in triumph from place to pace “to see the town”. I was very much fatigued at the time and did not enjoy fully the round of visits made by us: in looking back over this part of our journey, I feel glad we did make them, since we learned much that will always conjure up pleasant and instructive reminiscences. We passed from store to store, filled with all articles desirable in a mining district and numbers not usually to be looked for in towns so young, for be it remembered the first division of town lots in Deadwood was only made about May 15th 1876 and all that we saw before us had to be hauled in mule-teams from the Rail Road Two Hundred and Fifty miles away! Clothing, heavy and light, hardware, tinware, mess pans, camp-kettles, blankets, saddlery, harness, rifles, cartridges, wagon-grease and blasting powder, india rubber boots and garden seeds,—dried fruit, canned fruits and fresh, sardines and yeast powders filled the shelves in great profusion. [T]he medium of exchange was gold-dust: each counter displayed a pair of small, delicately balanced scales and every miner carried in a buckskin pouch the quantity of golden grain required for use each day. Greenbacks were not to be seen in circulation and

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already commanded a premium of 5 p[er]. c[ent]. on account of their superior portability. We heard no complaints of hard times; the happy faces and joyous, careless ways of the inhabitants spoke very plainly of Deadwood’s Exemption from want. The Gold “diggings” extended in all sorts of places and directions, sometimes stretching right under a house, the rule being that auriferous land cannot be held as real estate. In this way the office of the (Deadwood) Black Hills Pioneer was threatened, to the great dismay of its able young proprietor, Mr. Merrick. To all mining regions of later days, the Mongolian and the public strumpet are equally certain to go. Deadwood was full of both classes. The former were the laundrymen and cooks in the hotels; the latter held high carnival and acquired money rapidly from the free-handed miners. Gambling Hells flourished: all games could be found. Three card monte, Keno, Poker, Roulette and Faro; but Faro was the favorite. The tables of these games of chance were grounded with players, winning or losing with equal indifference and equal stolidity. Every now and then, a tap upon the little bell by the dealer’s side brought in refreshments of a liquid form for the crowd[.] Close by these were “hurdy-gurdys”, where the music from asthmatic pianos timed the dancing of painted, padded and leering Aspasias, too hideous to hope for profit in any village less remote from civilization.14 We saw and encountered all classes of society, representatives of its good grades and bad. We were prepared for any developments of reckless misrule and defiance of order: but our expectations failed to be realized. We admitted tacitly that we were in a little community where Order had cast the first rays of its light into the darkness of Chaos and where if Vice, in its most hideous forms did exist, it was only by tolerance and not by encouragement. Adventurers of the species to be encountered in all regions where it is supposed wealth can be attained without labor: Gamblers, chevaliers d’industrie, prostitutes, callow youngsters ignorant of the world and its ways, experienced miners who had labored in other fields, men broken down in every pursuit; keen eyed, sharp-nosed Indians, eager to trade—flocked in the streets and filled the stores of Deadwood. As is usual in such cases, the distribution of wealth was not made in the ratio of individual intelligence but in some instances at least Dame Fortune had indiscriminately bestowed her favors blindfolded. Mr. McAleer, a principal owner in one of the richest claims—is an illiterate Irishman without any education save 14. Bourke copied this sentence verbatim in On the Border With Crook (386).

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the little acquired by attrition with the world. He is possessed of much shrewd, common sense and acumen, and is apparently able to manage the fortune so suddenly heaped upon him. There was not at the time of our visit the over indulgence in alcoholic stimulants frequent in prosperous mining camps; certainly the bar-rooms had no cause to complain of want of patronage, but there was no drunkenness to be noted. The store-keepers, too, grumbled very much that the class of people hurrying to the hills was spending a very small percentage of the sums gained and in very question of expenditure acted with a thriftiness and forethought very unlike prodigality ordinarily ascribed to gold hunters. In proof of this, I found that the prices of all grades and descriptions of goods, were nearly identical with those prevailing in Cheyenne. Wonderful stories of the wealth of the Hills were told us; one party, owning a claim of great riches, had hired a six-mule team and an armed escort of more than a score of mounted men, to carry down to the Rail Road the summer’s yield, the weight of which was concealed most jealously from the world, but was estimated all the way from 1600 to 2500 pounds! this was certainly most extraordinary—more than a ton of solid gold for a few month’s washing for three or four men! but only on the same place with other stories narrated. I observed one thing; in speaking of the “clean-up” of any claim, the Deadwooders always said so many “pounds”, in other “diggings”, the word “ounces” is used. The difference in terms is significant. Deadwood boasts of a number of hotels—all good. The one that received us, especially so. In remembrance of our kind treatment while with Mr. Wagner, I have preserved his card in my journal.

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There are two journals in the Hills; one at Crook City, the other at Deadwood—both well conducted and well patronized. Their circulation is about four hundred copies each. . . . No churches have yet been erected in the Hills: a fortunate circumstance that may serve as an inducement to many living in states afflicted with a superabundance to emigrate to the gold regions. One preacher alone made his appearance; the Indians killed him too soon to allow any judgment to be formed of his merits or ability. Taking the generality of ecclesiastics, it is difficult to say that Deadwood has been much of a loser. Sunday, September 17th, We were agreeably surprised to learn that a shower of rain before sunrise had dampened the ground and laid the dust on the road we should have to travel over. Breakfast was waiting for us when we descended to the dining room, where a small knot of prominent gentlemen of the town had gathered to bid adieu to their guest. Mayor [E. B.] Farnham, Councilmen Kurtz and Philbrook, and General Dawson, the Committee of Reception, escorted our party to their horses, when a repetition of the scenes of yesterday was enacted. Cheers and yells rent the air, hands clapped, handkerchiefs waved and a loud salute pealed from anvils and engines along the main street. Deadwood was already a thing of the past; the pleasant reminiscences of our stay among its people would always be present with us and in time efface the remembrance of the privations suffered before reaching there. The murky sky shielded us from disagreeable heat, enabling us to make the pleasant journey through the hills from Deadwood to the head of one of the forks of Rapid Creek in very good time and without inconvenience. The distance, as we made it by taking “cut offs” and trails over the mountains, was twenty-eight miles, more or less, the character of country being rugged and heavily timbered. Much of the scenery is beautiful, without anything of majesty; The Hills, as far as could be observed from the road, fittingly claimed that designation and only at rare intervals rose to the dignity of mountains. Streams of pellucid water, flowing into Deadwood, Bear Lodge[,] Elk[,] Box Elder and Rapid creeks crossed our trail at short distances. Feeding these, were countless springs, one or two of which were of goodly proportions. Crowding down from the crests were gloomy forests of spruce, juniper, cedar, fir, hemlock & birch, while the whitewood and willow, and very rarely an elm

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claimed the damper soil near the stream bed. Of the streams, a few words of description will answer for all; they do not average more than a foot in depth and vary from ten to twenty feet in breadth. At this period of the year, the current was torpid, not over three or four miles an hour, but the water remained pure, sweet and icy. Approaching the banks, in nearly every case, there were indications that in wet weather anyhow, there would be great quagmires to cross over. The road travelled had much “corduroying” upon it, and heavy excavations and grading. It was an excellent mountain path, very creditable to the skill and enterprise of its constructors. On the steeper hill-sides, the large pine trees still showed, cut deep into their rough bark, the creases of the ropes used in letting down the wagons of the pioneer prospectors of Deadwood. Grass is not very plenty in this part of the hills; sunlight enough doesn’t get through the interwoven branches of the trees. Deadwood, Bear Lodge, Elk and Box Elder creeks plentifully water the North East corner of the Hills; on the last named stream, twenty two miles from Deadwood, we came upon the camp of three companies of the 4th Artillery, under Captain Frank Guest Smith, escorting a wagon train loaded with supplies for the Expedition. Captain Smith very courteously insisted upon our remaining to lunch with himself and subordinates, Captain [Harry Cooke] Cushing and Lieutenants [James Mills] Jones, [Myron Winslow] Howe, [Sydney Wentworth] Taylor and [George Lucius] Anderson and Doctor [Curtis Ethelbert] Price. When we came to the spot chosen for our night’s bivouac, the necessary adjuncts of good wood, water and grass were discovered in practically unlimited quantities; the scenery too was very enticing, but not to be fully appreciated under cloudy skies. Monday, September 18. Cold and white the frost lay over the ground when we stretched our limbs this morning at the call for breakfast: ten miles of quick marching warmed our chilled blood and brought us to Castleton, a settlement on Castle Creek. Here the inhabitants were working with untiring energy to get ready for the first approach of winter. A long line of loop-holed palisading marked the site of the block-houses, while the buzzing of a saw led us to look over toward the saw mills where great piles of lumber were accumulating for the houses yet to be constructed. The prospects on this stream are excellent, but it remains for next Spring’s thaw to determine the exact importance of the location. Along the streams in the vicinity of

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this town, were numerous picturesque scenes—arcades and arbors of interlaced trees and dark gorges filled with timber where the sun never penetrated. Hills City, a deserted village of more than one hundred comfortable huts, arranged in neat rectangular avenues, twenty miles from last camp, was passed towards noon, its solitary occupant gazing stolidly upon our procession filing by. A want of sufficient water-power or the superior attractions of Deadwood had depopulated this town since early in the summer. South of this point, and on to Custer City, sixteen miles, is the Park country,—gentle hills, enclosing valleys smiling in the beauty of luxuriant herbage and sparkling springs, set in little copses. During my former trip in the summer of 1875, I took such copious notes of the Black Hills country that it would be simply waste of time to devote much attention to the subject here. Custer City is a nest of horse thieves, broken down gamblers and scoundrels of every type, with their families. All told there may be as many as three hundred souls in the town which itself is composed of more than four hundred houses. What there is of this town is the remains of the establishment better people vacated in leaving for the more northerly districts. There are however, three saw mills and one planing mill still in position, and these give something more of an air of activity to the place than a closer observation will show it deserves. There are three or four hotels and fully as many restaurants, all of great pretensions but none of consequence. The “General Crook”, the “Custer”, the “United States”, the “Centennial,” and I think another, supplied hirsute hash and bedbugs, as big as snapping turtles, to the weary wayfarer. Of the inhabitants,—they were, judging from their looks and conduct, mostly bankrupt framers driven from their homes by grasshoppers and other misfortunes. Travellers were regarded merely as so many more bones to pick clean of meat; a score of greedy venders of grain and hay and hotel runners, crowded close to General Crook’s bridle, extolling their own merits and damning their rivals as liars and thieves. The exhibition was most disgusting and annoying, coming so soon after and in such violent contrast to the impression made by Deadwood and Crook City. In the evening the male inhabitants who had the money were drunk; those who had no money went to bed at sunset. Captain [James] Egan of the 2n Cavalry, and Lieutenant [James N.] Allison, of the 2n Cavalry, with their Company “K”, were here with

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a wagon train, like the one Captain Smith’s command was escorting, loaded down with supplies intended for the Expedition. We had a quiet chat with them and then lay down to rest. Tuesday, Sept. 19th We were indebted to Captain Egan for a remount from his fresh horses. The change was a luxurious one, tho’ we regretfully bad farewell to the jaded plugs that had served us so faithfully through months of toil and danger. Little is left to be told. South of us lay Camp Robinson, the military station at the Red Cloud Indian Agency, and the seventy-five or one hundred miles between was to be spanned in the next twenty-four hours. (For thirty five miles, our course kept us in the hills, in the balmy odors of the pine forests. Beautiful scenery surrounded us on every side, but we could not tarry to admire the charms of Nature when each minute of daylight was needed to light our march, if we would escape the pathless mountains and strike the road at the South Cheyenne, before dark.[)] The forests sheltered much wild game; we constantly came upon black tailed deer escaping to the bosky fastnesses and later in the day stumbled upon a shapely fawn drinking from the mirror like surface of a silvery fountain. Hardly had we seen him, ere he had bounded away in the rocks on the flank of the cañon. A successful shot brought down a fat young doe and dinner was soon ready; that is, slices of liver, heart and tenderloin were broiling in the ashes and cups of toddy prepared to wash them down. Below the valley where we partook of lunch, there rose a little stream of cold, but sweetish water. The bottom of rock was extremely treacherous. The weight of our horses caused them to break through and run great risk of breaking bones or drowning in the current. The formation was a Sulphuret of Lime, hard enough on its exterior surface to cut the horse’s feet and soft inside like putty. A deposit of pale lemon colored Sulphur(?) was visible cropping out below the line of bluffs on the Left hand. The distant hills to the West were golden with the last rays of the Sun, as we crossed the South Cheyenne and entered the road to Camp Robinson. Seven miles farther South, at the rise of a little creek, a halt of ten minutes was made and then a long tramp of twenty five miles terminated at midnight alongside of a hole full of muddy water, that gave our horses a little refreshment while we slept for three hours. The air was too keen to allow us to expose ourselves longer. We were now in the “Mauvaises Terres”, par excellence,—the

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former habitat of curious animals of exaggerated proportions, whose fossilized bones lie here in quantities so great that this belt of territory is likely to be a reservoir for the World’s great museums to draw from for years to come.15 But darkness hid the land from us and all we could do was to follow the dim gray streak experience had taught us to recognize as the way on road. By nine o’clock on the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 20th, our perspiring quadrupeds strolled quickly into Red Cloud Agency, almost at the same moment that the Committee designated by the President to submit to the Sioux Indians the proposition to transfer their tribe to the Indian Territory, had commenced its daily session. The members came over to pay their respects to General Crook; their names I cannot recall; I remember the faces of Bishop [Henry] Whipple of the Episcopal Church, of Judge [George W.] Moneypenny [sic] and Judge [A. S.] Gaylord, the Solicitor and Counsellor of the Department of the Interior.16 Hanging behind, like a whipped hound, General [William] Vandever slunk along. His reception was so chilling, he soon made off with himself.17 General Crook, Colonel Chambers, Major Burt and Major Powell left for Fort Laramie in an ambulance; the others of our party halted at Red Cloud to rest and then proceed on to Laramie by easy marches. Mr. Dear, post trader at Red Cloud, spread out for us a very bountiful lunch. Not long after that, officers from the garrison came over to see us. [Wentz Curtis] Miller, of the 4th Cavalry, an old friend and classmate of mine, and [Henry] Lawton of his Regiment, took charge of Schuyler and self and entertained us most hospitable at their Qrs. in the Post, during our stay. 15. Bourke is referring to the Badlands of South Dakota, which, in fact, became the object of paleontological expeditions within a few years of his writing. Even now, signs in Badlands National Park prohibit visitors from disturbing any fossil remains they may encounter. 16. The commission consisted of George W. Manypenny (which Bourke spelled “Moneypenny”), former commissioner of Indian Affairs; former Dakota Territorial Governor Newton Edmunds; Bishop Henry Whipple of the Episcopal Church; former Indian Agents Jared W. Daniels and Albert G. Boone; Assistant Attorney General A. S. Gaylord; and Henry C. Bulis. Their instructions from Congress were to force the Indians to relinquish all claim to the unceded lands of Wyoming and Montana, and all of the Great Sioux Reservation west of the 103rd meridian including the Black Hills. In exchange, the government would provide additional funds in the annual Sioux appropriation, as well as school, housing, and subsidies for those who abandoned the nomadic life for agriculture. Rations would be withheld until the Indians complied. Prucha, Great Father, 212; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 261–62; Robinson, Good Year to Die, 261. 17. Bourke despised Vandever, whom he considered to be a pawn of the Indian Ring, a group of Eastern contractors who enriched themselves at the expense of the Indians, and which he believed responsible for much of the trouble. See entry under Appendix 1. The “Moneypenny” referred to is George W. Manypenny.

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Thursday, Sept. 21st. Remained at Red Cloud. Randall and Sibley arrived with our pack-train. Friday, Sept. 22, Moved out for Fort Laramie. Marched eighteen miles to head of the White Earth River. Saturday Sept. 23rd. Thirty six miles to Rawhide River and Sunday, September 24th Twenty One miles to Fort Laramie. We came across the North Platte Iron bridge at same hour, Major J. V. Furey and his wagon train was descending the hills from the West. We were rejoiced to encounter Nickerson, looking hearty and bright after his absence of three months, and the officers of the post, all old friends. This march terminated the Summer campaign of 1876, with the exception of arranging and writing the necessary Reports. . . . Of the merits, defects if any, aims and accomplishments, it is not proper to make any review or to enter into detailed criticism until after the reports shall have been seen that a correct analysis of what had to be done, what odds had to be subdued and with what weapons, may be laid before us. September 28th. Major Furey, Lieutenant Schuyler and myself took our passage in the Cheyenne Stage for Omaha. A brisk drive of fourteen hours brought us ninety three miles to Cheyenne, where we remained until 3 P.M. of the next day. Twenty six hours’ journey on the U.P.R.R.,18 laid us at Omaha. The kind attentions shown us during our stay among them by all the officers connected with the Hd.Qrs [of the Department of the Platte], and their families was highly pleasing: our friends, among the citizens, were not less zealous in their courtesies. Wednesday, October 4th. Started back for Fort Laramie, arriving there the evening of the 6th. Oct. 10th. General Crook and party returned from their hunt to Laramie Peak. The success met with was unprecedented. Sixty-two head of venison, four elk, four mountain sheep and one Cinnamon Bear. They also had great good luck fishing in the North Platte River last week, Sixty odd pike, weighing one hundred and one pounds were caught with hooks in a few hours. Oct. 14th. Left Fort Laramie. Oct. 16th. Arrived at Red Cloud Agency. 18. Union Pacific Rail Road.

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[The continuing narrative is disrupted at this point. The following is Bourke’s summary of events between October 16 and 24] My intention to write a critique upon the summer’s campaign was frustrated by the amount of correspondence and other work of that kind, incident to my position as Aide de Camp, I found devolving upon me during our stay at Red Cloud Agency. To commence a winter’s operations, leaving thousand of insolent, ill-disposed Indians in our rear to harass the settlements along the Platte and threaten our communications was something not to be thought of: the attitude of the chief Red Cloud, had long been unequivocally that of a sympathizer, if not a participant with the Minneconjous and other Northern Bands. Fancying himself able to cope with the feeble forces of troops at the disposal of our Government, his contempt for the administration of affairs at his Agency, culminated in his withdrawing there from with his people to a point near the head of Chadron Creek, some twenty-five miles from the Agency. At that distance, as he well knew, a surveillance of his retinue became far [too] difficult and his communication with the hostiles a very easy matter. The action of Red Cloud’s, precipitated the effort to dismount and disarm the people of his band and that [other band] commanded by his associate, the notorious Red Leafe [sic], the leader in the now famous Fetterman, or Phil Kearney Massacre. General Merritt was ordered to push on with his command from the place of its encampment, near Custer City, in the Black Hills, to the Red Cloud Agency and surround it from the North, while Mackenzie was to do the same service on the Southern side. The 24th of October was the date affixed. Merritt made his disposition of troops accordingly, but Mackenzie’s command instead of moving out on the 24th, had to leave on the night of the 22d, to prevent an apprehended exodus of the bands near the Agency, who seemed to take alarm at something. Mackenzie marched forty miles, surrounded the villages of Red Cloud and Red Leaf and at first peep of dawn, without firing a shot, captured all the inhabitants, over five hundred in number, including eighty-seven warriors; took more than seven hundred ponies and fifty rifles. These Indians had been trading arms and ammunition with Sitting Bull’s band, which will explain why so few guns were captured in their lodges. Red Cloud, Red Leaf and the other bucks were at once incarcerated in the calaboose at Red Cloud Agency,

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while their families, arms and ponies were taken in under guard of a battalion of the 4th Cavalry. October 24th. General Crook’s sense of the service performed by Mackenzie’s command expressed itself in the following telegram to, Lieutenant General Sheridan Chicago, Illinois. Red Cloud’s and Red Leaf’s bands were successfully surrounded last night, disarmed and their ponies taken from them this morning. I have had difficulty in this matter for the reason that since the hostiles commenced scattering, these Indians have also scattered, locating their camps farther from the Agency, evidently communicating with and receiving the hostiles who came in. I am glad to report complete success and that it was accomplished without firing a shot. Thanks are due Colonel Mackenzie, under whose personal supervision the movement was conducted, and to Major [George Alexander] Gordon, 5th Cavalry and Captain [Clarence] Mauck, 4th Cavalry, who commanded the Battalions. I had a satisfactory council with Spotted Tail and am satisfied that he is the only important leader, who has had the nerve to be our friend and have therefore put him in charge as head-chief of all. The line of the hostile and peaceably disposed [Indians] is now plainly drawn and we shall have our enemies in the front only, in the future. Colonel Merritt made his scout; developing several trails running into the Agency, and is now near here. I could not wait for his command to get into position, as the Indians were about to leave. Colonel Merritt’s command will be here to-morrow, when I shall organize the new Expedition19 and leave with it at once. I feel that this is the first gleam of day-light we have had in this business. (signed.) George Crook. Brigadier General. Same afternoon, General Crook assembled the principal chiefs of the Ogallala Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes and gave them the first plain talking to they had ever received. He said our Government had been feeding them at great cost and without exacting any return. It was at least to be expected that they 19. The Powder River Expedition.

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should be loyal and friendly, but on the contrary, many of our best citizens, whose taxes had been paid to support the Sioux, had been murdered by Indians who had been trailed on to this agency. The belief of the settlers was these marauders came from Red Cloud [Agency], but whether this belief was true or false, [Chief] Red Cloud had shown by his insolent conduct last Spring that at least his sympathies were with the hostiles. Spotted Tail’s behavior was in pleasing contrast: he had been the friend of the white man. As a punishment, Red Cloud and Red Leaf had had their arms and ponies seized: as a reward, Spotted Tail should be the head-chief over all the Sioux and be obeyed by them as long as he remained true to the whites. There were enough troops here now (53 companies.) to clean out the whole Sioux nation and they knew well it would be done very soon if they didn’t behave. But he did not wish to do harm to any Indian. Indeed he desired to be friendly to them. They must learn to live and work like the whites; give up war and the chase and assume the care of stock. To all who wished to renounce their nomadic propensities, full assistance and encouragement were promised: to the hostiles, war only. This is a succint [sic] condensation, but elaborate enough to give an idea of the general tone of the General’s remarks. The Sioux listened attentively, from time to time ejaculating Ugh! Ugh! and How! How! as some sentence struck their fancy. Spotted Tail spoke a few phrases: he hoped now the Sioux would behave peaceably and keep their ears straight so they could listen to what was told them. For his part; he would do all he could to preserve good order and discipline among them. His eyes glistened with pleasure when General Crook handed him his commission, gorgeously illuminated with red ink and bound with red ribbon. Below is a copy. Army of the United States To whom it may Concern. Know ye, that: By authority from his Excellency, the President of the United States, through the Honorable, the Secretary of War, the General of the Army and the Lieutenant-General Commanding [the Military Division of the Missouri], and for the purpose of Enforcing and Preserving Order among the Sioux Indians, I have appointing and Commissioned

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Sintiega Leska, or Spotted Tail Head Chief of all the bands of the Sioux nation. Reposing Special trust and confidence in his Valor, Friendship and ability to discharge the duties pertaining to said position. And I do hereby charge all Officers and Soldiers of the Army of the United States, serving in the Department of the Platte, to respect and regard the said Sintiega Leska, or Spotted Tail, in the position of head-chief of the Sioux Nation, according to this Commission. Given at Head Quarters, Department of the Platte in the field, Camp Robinson, Nebraska, October 24th 1876. On this same day, General Merritt’s command marched into Red Cloud and was immediately assigned to duty and posts. . . . October 26th. General Crook and staff left for Fort Laramie, where they arrived the next day.

Chapter 7 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Powder River Expedition

The Powder River Expedition of the winter of 1875–76 was Crook’s last field operation during the Great Sioux War, and is remembered for Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s destruction of the main Cheyenne winter camp on November 25, 1876. Known as the Dull Knife Fight, because of one of the principal Cheyenne chiefs present, it effectively broke Cheyenne military power.1 Bourke, who accompanied Mackenzie’s cavalry column as a volunteer observer, used it as the basis for his article “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes, A Winter Campaign in Wyoming and Montana,” which appeared in the Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States. A very lengthy article, it has since been reprinted several times in book form. Bourke was not the only officer to keep a journal during this campaign. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, 23rd Infantry, who commanded the infantry battalions, kept a daily record, which has been published as The Powder River Expedition Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. It would be difficult to find 1. Dull Knife was the name given to this chief by the Lakotas, and by which he is best known. Consequently it is used here, even though among his own people he was called Morning Star. Probably the most complete history of the Powder River Expedition is Jerome A. Greene’s Morning Star Dawn.

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two accounts more dissimilar than those of Bourke and Dodge. A professional soldier of long experience, Dodge was slightly older than Crook, and neither awed nor impressed by the general or his record. Crook, he decided, wanted to convey the image of a man who utterly contemns [sic] anything like luxury or even comfort—yet he has the most luxurious surroundings, considering the necessity for short allowance that I have ever seen taken to the field by a Genl Officer—There is no doubt of his courage, energy [or] will—but I am loath to say I begin to believe he is a humbug—who hopes to make a reputation by assuming qualities foreign to him. . . . He is the very worst mannered man I have ever seen in his position. Though his ill manners seem to be the result rather of ignorance than of deliberate will—I believe him to be warm hearted—but his estimate of a man will I think be discovered to be founded not on what a man can or will do for the Service, but what he can or will do for Crook.2 Dodge remembered Reuben Davenport, the New York Herald correspondent who was ostracized by Crook and staff for his critical dispatches on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. “I don’t blame Davenport of the Herald one bit,” he remarked. “He stated what he saw and is cordially hated for it. I cant [sic] state what I see except in this private journal.”3 Although often critical of Crook, Dodge also realized the general did have good qualities, and could be genial when he wanted to be. Rather than an outright indictment, his journals serve to balance Bourke’s more or less unabashed hero worship. The great value of Dodge’s writing lies in the insights into the various people involved in the campaign. His observations of Mackenzie’s progressive mental deterioration are particularly noteworthy. Although the Dull Knife Fight was successful by any standard, Mackenzie felt otherwise. After the funeral of the soldiers killed in the fight, Dodge, Major E. F. Townsend, 9th Infantry, and Capt. Joseph B. Campbell, 4th Artillery, went to see him. Dodge recorded: We found him very downcast—bitterly reproaching himself for what he called his failure. He talked more like a Crazy man, than the sane Comdr of a splendid body of Cavalry. 2. Kime, Powder River Expedition Journals, 64–65. 3. Ibid., 66.

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He said to an officer that if he had courage enough he would blow his brains out. Townsend & Campbell went out soon, & Mac opened his heart to me. He is excessively sensitive—He said he had often done better with a third of the force at his comd here—that he believed he degenerated as a soldier as he got older—that he was a fool, & ought to have captured every Indian—that he regarded the whole thing as an utter failure. . . . He was so worked up that he could hardly talk, & had often to stop and collect himself. Dodge eventually calmed Mackenzie down, but worried enough about the matter to report it to General Crook. By the next day, however, Mackenzie had recovered his composure.4 If Mackenzie won the only fight of this campaign, Crook’s greatest personal accomplishment was getting the various mutually antagonistic tribes to put aside their ancient hatreds and serve together as scouts. In all of his councils with the Indians, he had one recurring theme: the Indian way of life was dying, and in order to survive, they would have to learn to adapt to the white lifestyle. Perhaps this explains the inclusion of Pawnee scouts who, being from the Southern Plains, were totally unfamiliar with the region, yet could serve as an example of more or less successful assimilation. Even in the councils, however, old grievances sometimes surfaced in the form of veiled allegations, as when one Shoshone chief accused the Sioux of past duplicity and told them to “Talk straight this time.”5 In spite of it all, Crook managed to instill a sense of unity and cooperation. The Indians served loyally and carried out their orders and duties, even when those orders and duties went against long-standing custom. [November 2, 1876] With this volume commences the chronicle of the 3d movement against the Sioux and Cheyennes in the Department of Dakota and the Platte.6 There was such a pressure of work at General Crook’s Head-Quarters in the Field, about the beginning of November that I found it compulsory to abandon the diary from 4. Kime, Powder River Expedition Journals, 98, 100. 5. Bourke, Diary, 14:1398. 6. The first two movements were the Big Horn Expedition of the previous March, covered in Volume 1 of this series, and the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, covered in Volume 1 and the first six chapters of this volume. Terry’s operations in Dakota were in conjunction with the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition.

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a narration and confine myself to mentioning from time to time whatever of special moment might occur. Fort Laramie after our return thither displayed a bustling activity; with troops moving in and troops moving out, officers running hither, thither and yon, changing quarters, drawing supplies or other duties. The sale of Indian ponies taken away from the bands of Red Cloud and Red Leaf, took place on the 2d of November, 1876, four hundred and five being sold, at an average of a little over five dollars. Nearly three hundred and fifty were retained by General Crook for the use of scouts, guides and friendly Indians. I purchased a very beautiful span of dark bays, perfectly matched and well-gaited, but not yet broken to harness, paying about forty dollars for the selection. November 3d. Hd.Qrs. Of the 9th Infantry Band and Company “H”, same Regiment left Fort Laramie for their new station at Sidney Barracks, Nebraska: the officers taken away from the Fort Laramie Garrison were Major Burt and Lieut. [Edgar Brooks] Robertson, Major [Alfred] Morton, R.Q.M., and Lieut. Leonard Hay, Regimental Adjutant, 9th Infantry. November 4th. Captain A. H. Nickerson, Aide de Camp to General Crook left for Hd.Qrs. at Omaha, after a long siege of six or seven weeks’ unintermitted work. During the whole time of his stay at Field Hd.Qrs., pen and ink never flagged; the amount of correspondence entailed upon the members of the Staff of a General like Crook, entrenched with important undertakings, is something not generally understood by people unfamiliar with the workings of the military establishment. In this place it is fair to say that General Crook’s whole Staff have stood up to the onerous work of the past summer without a complaint, and have been an assistance by none acknowledged more readily than by the General himself. This day, General Crook issued from Hd.Qrs. Powder River Expedition, Fort Laramie, Wyoming November 4th, 1876 General Orders No. 1. The following organization of the Powder River Expedition is announced: Colonel R. S. Mackenzie, 4th Cavalry, will command the Cavalry

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Battalion consisting of Company “K”, 2d Cavalry, Companies “H” and “K”, 3d Cavalry, Companies “B[”], “D[”], [“]E”, [“]F[”], “I”, and “M”, 4th Cavalry, and Companies “H” and “L”, 5th Cavalry. Lieutenant-Colonel R. I. Dodge, 23d Infantry will command the Battalions of Artillery and Infantry, composed of Companies “C”, [“]F:” [“]H”, and “K”, 4th Artillery, Companies “A”, [“]B”, [“]D”, “F”, [“]I” and “K”, 9th Infantry, Companies “D” and “G”, 14th Infantry, and Companies “C”, [“]G”, and “I”, 23d Infantry. First Lieutenant John G. Bourke, 3d Cavy., Aide de Camp, Acting Assist. Adj’t. General. First Lieutenant W. S. Schuyler, 5th Cavalry, Aide de Camp. Captain John V. Furey, A.Q.M., Chief Qr. Master and Acting Ordnance Officer. First Lieutenant C. H. Rockwell, 5th Cavalry, Chief Commissary of Subsistence. Assistant Surgeon J. R. Gibson, Chief Medical Officer. Captain G.M. Randall, 23d Infantry, Chief of Scouts. First Lieutenant W. P. Clarke, 2d Cavalry, Special Duty. Official. (sig.) W. S. Schuyler (signed.) George Crook. Aide de Camp Brigadier General General Mackenzie arrived with twenty odd Companies of Cavalry, Artillery and Infantry and nearly one hundred and sixty Indian scouts, from Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies (names of these Indians will be written on next page.) Major Townsend, 9th Infantry, ordered to duty with the Expedition. 1 Lieutenant W. P. Clarke, 2d Cavalry, assigned to command of the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe scouts from Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies and 2d Lieutenant Hayden Delaney, 9th Infantry to assist him, (commanding Company “A”, of these scouts.). . . . Roster of Powder River Expedition, November 5th, 1876 Brigadier General George Crook Comdg. l Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3d Cavalry, A.D.C. A.A.G. 1 Lieut. W. S. Schuyler, 5th Cavalry, A.D.C. Captain John V. Furey, A.Q.M.: C.Q.M. and Ordnance Officer. Absent Capt. G. M. Randall, 23d Inf. Chf. Scouts, 1 Lieut. C. H. Rockwell, 5th Cavalry, Chf. Comy. Asst. Surgeon J. R. Gibson, Chief Medl. Officer. First Lieut. W. P. Clarke, 2d Cavalry, Comd. Indian scouts.

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Second Lieutenant Hayden Delaney, 9th Infy. on duty with Indian scouts. Colonel R. S. Mackenzie, 4th Cav. Comdg. Cavy. Lieut.-Col. R. I. Dodge, 23d Infy. Comdg. Arty. & Infantry Battalions. Maj. G. A. Gordon, 5th Cavalry Comdg. Maj. E. F. Townsend, 9th Infy. th Battalions. Capt. C. V. Mauck, 4 Cavy. Capt. J. B. Campbell, 4th Artillery Mr. J. Roche, Staff of N.Y. Herald, Correspondent. Roll Call of the Friendly Indian scouts, enlisted at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, for duty with General Crook’s Powder River Expedition, 1876. Name Band Tribe 1st Serg’t. Three Bears Cut-off or Kioxsi Sioux Sergeant Pretty-voiced Bull “ ” Yellow Shirt “ ” Corporal Singing Bear “ ” Lone Feather. “ ” Private Tall Wild Cat “ ” “ Bad Boy “ ” “ Bull “ ” “ Big Horse “ ” “ Black Mouse Loafer “ “ Broken Leg. Ogallalla “ “ Charging Bear 1. “ ” “ Charging Bear 2. “ ” “ Crow “ ” “ Charles Richaud (Half Breed.) “ “ Eagle 1 Loafer “ “ Eagle 2 Ogallalla “ “ Feather on the Head. Cut-Off “ “ “ Fast Thunder. Brulé “ Fast Horse. Ogallalla “ “ Good Man. Ogallalla “ “ Grey Eyes. Loafer “ “ James Twist (Half Breed.) “ “ Kills First Loafer “ “ Keeps a Battle Ogallalla “

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“ Killed in the Winter Cut-Off “ “ Lone Dog Loafer “ “ Owl Bull Cut-Off “ “ Little Warrior “ ” “ Leading Warrior Ogallalla “ “ Little Bull. Loafer “ “ No Neck “ ” “ Poor Elk Ogallalla “ “ “ Rocky Bear Brulé “ Red Bear Loafer “ “ Red Willow Cut-Off “ “ Six Feathers “ ” “ Sitting Bear “ ” “ Scraper Ogallalla “ “ Swift Charger Loafer “ “ Shut a Door Ogallalla “ “ “ Slow Bear Brulé “ Sorrel Horse Ogallalla “ “ Swimmer “ ” “ Tobacco Cut Off “ “ Knife “ ” “ Thunder Shield Ogallalla “ “ Horse Comes Last Cut Off “ “ White Face Loafer “ “ Walking Bull. Ogallalla “ “ Waiting “ ” “ White Elk “ ” “ Yellow Bear Cut Off. “ “ Bad Moccasin Loafer. “ “ Bear Eagle “ ” “ Yankton “ ” “ Fox Belly Cut Off. “ “ Running Over Sans Arcs. “ Brulé “ “ Red Leaf7 The above will show vividly the Sioux mode of designation; it differs in no respect from that of the other tribes, of whom I shall name only the principal chiefs or prominent warriors: 7. Apparently a different Red Leaf from the one rounded up by Mackenzie. The latter Red Leaf was Oglala.

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Arapahoes. Sharp Nose. Washington, Six Feathers. White Horse. Yellow Bear Cheyennes [None listed] Pawnees [None listed] Shoshones [None listed] November 5th, 1876. General Crook and Staff left for Fort Fetterman at noon. Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., and self, being detained on public business at Fort Laramie, did not get away until nearly two o’clock, when we trotted out along the “lower” or “river” road, the General and others taking the “upper” or “hill” road. It was understood that camp should be made at Bull’s Bend, thirty miles from Fort Laramie, but the General finding it growing late and a black snow storm coming up, determined to bivouac at the Warm Springs, only half way out. Of this, of course, Schuyler and I were ignorant, and we kept up our gait along the dusty road, where the wind had so obliterated the different trails that we could not perceive that General Crook’s party had not come in to the lower road at the junction. We discovered our mistake, when we came to the North Platte at Bull’s Bend, but it was then nearly ten at night, our animals were weary and we had to make the best of the situation. An effort to go to sleep, wrapped in our saddle blankets did not meet with any success; the cold became so great we had to arise and sit or stand around the fire; already kindled of dry cottonwood logs. We had no supper and there was no prospect of breakfast, but we didn’t mind hunger: we had become accustomed to that. Cold was what we dreaded. We anxiously watched the Great Bear circling the frozen sky and gibbous moon climbing up to the Zenith and descending the Western Quadrant. Morning’s cold gray light at last flickered above the hill tops and then came fluttering the violet, yellow and scarlet bands of the glorious banner of the Sun. Our ponies had been quietly feed[in]g upon the rich meadow grass, surrounding camp and were now within reach; we quickly saddled up and rode down to Twin Springs there

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to await the coming of General Crook. He rode up with his escort very soon after that and gave us some lunch prepared through his thoughtfulness. Not knowing what had become of us, the General in his anxiety for our safety had caused signal fires to be built and signal guns to be discharged, while the Pawnee scouts kept up their singing until a late hour to guide us back to camp. Our march to-day was thirty miles to Elkhorn creek, and the next day, November 7th, thirty more to Fort Fetterman. November 8th. General Crook held a council with our Indian scouts to hear what they had to say and to give them some advice in return. The following remarks are from my own report of the proceedings, written down as each one delivered his words to the interpreter: Three Bears said: “Before leaving Red Cloud Agency, I told the agent I wanted him to give our people their regular allowance of rations while we were gone on this scout. I am talking now for all our families left back at Red Cloud Agency. I want the beeves turned out the same as they ever were. [“]I have three things to say and that’s all. When that delegation gets back from the Indian Territory I want it to wait for me and not go to Washington until we can start together.8 I don’t want them to start before that time. As soon as we get through with this business out here we can work together and that’s the reason I want them to wait for me. Sometimes, I may want to ask for something and whenever I do, I want the General (Crook.) to agree to it. When we travel together, we ought to work together as one. [“]A great many of our men back at the Agency have guns but no ammunition. I want to have a note sent to both those stores at the Agency to have them sell ammunition for a couple of days, because the hostile Indians will come down there and raise trouble with our people while we are away. [“]I want you to write right away, because if my young people don’t cry for grub while I am away, I’ll like you all the better when I come back. [“]Those things I can’t get I want you to tell me now. The Pawnees have a great herd of horses here; we want half to drive along.”9 8. Three Bears is referring to a delegation, grudgingly headed by Spotted Tail, to visit the Indian Territory where the government wished to resettle the Lakota Sioux tribes. Robinson, General Crook, 201–2; Hyde, Spotted Tail’s Folk, 258; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 261. 9. Three Bears probably meant half of the horses confiscated from Red Cloud and Red Leaf and held for the scouts, rather than appropriation of horses belonging to the Pawnees.

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General Crook. “All right. There’ll be a fair division made.” Three Bears. “I want you to put in your letter we got one half of those horses back. [“]When you send us out on a scout, we want to work our own way.[”] General Crook. That’s it exactly. Three Bears. If a man wants to live in this world, he has got to do right and keep his ears straight. Then he gets along without trouble. We are going to listen to you after this and do what you tell us: If we get any money for our country, (i.e. the Black Hills,) we don’t want it taken away from us. I want the Great Father to hear me when I call for oxen, wagons and sheep and when they are given to me, I don’t want the agent to keep them from me; I can keep them myself. I was glad you gave me those things to-day. We want to get boots and shoes for our women every time we draw Annuity goods. We want to draw those guns to-day. General Crook. There are better guns coming to-morrow and perhaps pistols too: you can have your guns now if you want them, but you had better wait till to-morrow for the better kind. Fast Thunder speaks: All the bucks you see here are from Red Cloud Agency: from Spotted Tail, there are seven of us. I want a letter sent there too: I want my words to go to Spotted Tail Agency. A great many Indians went out with that delegation (i.e. to Indian Territory.) We want the delegation to wait for us when they return. The Great Father sent us out here to do this business and told me to do it or die. I am going to do it. When we come back, we want to pick out an Agency, and when the other Indians come back we want to work together and tell the Great Father what we want. I have a Band at my Agency and there is no one to look out for them when I am away: when you send a letter down, I want you to tell the agent to treat my Band right and give them their rations right. I want you to give the Spotted Tail Indians permission to trade for ammunition for one day; the Northern Indians make trouble for them while we are gone. Some of these young men have no horses. We want, when you divide those horses, to get fast horses, so we can do whatever you tell us to do and catch whatever you send us after. After the Sioux had withdrawn, a deputation of Arapahoes, headed by their chief, Sharp Nose, stalked into the room and squatted

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against the walls. Like the Sioux they drew their coarse black and blue blankets closely about their shoulders and puffed slowly and laboriously at their clay pipes. The face-painting of these aborigines was not on an extended scale; a small dab of yellow ochre, or an occasional streak of green or black, on the cheeks and chin, with the inevitable cinnabar streak down the middle of the head. The language of the Arapahoes is a series of guttural sounds, jerked out spasmodically, in a way I can compare to nothing so much as the language of a ventriloquist, suffering with catarrh in the head. The palm of eminence, oratorically and elevationally, belongs to Sharp Nose; standing erect in the middle of the floor, with his red blanket draped gracefully about his loins and falling to his feet in broad folds, he impressed his listeners much more than did Three Bears and Fast Thunder who delivered themselves of their speeches, while sitting down. Waving his hand to the crouching circle of his people and then pointing to General Crook, Sharp Nose said: “These are Arapahoes; they are all my people. They are all your friends. Where you go they follow. When you told us you wanted us to help fight the Northern Indians, we said all right, we’ll go. When you told the Sioux, they said let’s talk about it. We didn’t want to talk about it—We said at once, we’d go. The Sioux said, “better wait till Spring when the grass is green”. The winters are very cold in this country and the rivers turn into ice. But we didn’t want to wait for Spring. We said[,] “we’ll go now.” We have come out to fight the Northern Sioux and we shall remain with you until you have got through with them. We are your friends, you must be our friends. As you say, two sticks together are harder to break than two sticks separate. We are your friends. We want to be like white men. We want plenty of ammunition to fight with and good fast horses to ride on. We want to scout in our own way, sending five men to one side of the river and five or six to the other; when they see any game they can kill it and bring it back to camp, because our people are different from yours and want plenty of fresh meat: if they see Sioux, they will come back and tell you. This country where this post stands is our country: we have never received any pay for this post and don’t want any. We are your friends and intend to be your friends always.” General Crook made a few remarks: he referred to the rapid extinction of the buffalo and other game, formerly the principal means

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of subsistence of the Indians. Meanwhile the waves of white immigration were surging in upon the Indian country. Peace, the white men wanted: War, they were prepared for. Many of the Indians now present had been to Washington. They must have seen how much more powerful than they [the Indians, that] the white men were. This was because they worked hard and had good laws. When a man did wrong among the whites, they sent their soldiers out to hunt him up and punish him. The Indians had no law, neither did they labor. Offenders too generally escaped proper punishment.10 All this must be changed. Discipline would have to be instituted and enforced: Laws observed. Those Indians who showed themselves most friendly to the whites, would be supported in the authority conferred upon them, after getting back to the Reserves. Instead of being dependant upon Government Bounty for subsistence, they must get for themselves cattle and sheep and betake themselves to the occupations of husbandry. Then, when they wanted to go to Washington, they wouldn’t have to ask the Great Father to take them, but could sell a few oxen or sheep, and go where they pleased. By and Bye, they would become wealthy, powerful and happy. November 9th. General Mackenzie’s command reached Fort Fetterman and November 10th the last of the Infantry, under Col. Dodge. The present expedition impresses me as the best equipped and best officered of any with which I have ever served; the experience of the past summer has opened the eyes of the National Legislature to the urgency of the situation and consequently appropriation for supplies have been conceded on a scale of unusual liberality. The Cavalry companies are stronger than they have been since the [Civil] War, and the personnel of all recruits of a superior standard. Mounted Companies are now allowed one hundred men each, dismounted, fifty each. The clothing of the present expedition includes several very necessary articles, not furnished heretofore. Seal-skin caps, gloves, fur leggings and felt boots. Three blankets are allowed each soldiers [sic], besides tentage and overcoats. The Guard at night is also to be provided with Guard tents; the sick and wounded with Hospital 10. Crook here takes the popular white attitude of holding the Indians to white standards of useful citizenship based on wage-labor and common law. The various Indian studies listed in the bibliography describe their own highly developed concept of productivity, the divisions of labor according to age and gender, and enforcement of order within the tribe and its various bands. See also Appendix 3.

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tents, mattresses and other conveniences. The detail of a cavalry company at Hd.Qrs., supplies a Provost Guard, Body Guard to the Comdg. Gen’l in time of action, Sentinels at Hd.Qrs., well-disciplined Orderlies, Attendance for the “travaux” and mule-litters carrying sick or wounded, and ready-mounted couriers to carry dispatches from point to point in Camp. Immediately after arriving in bivouac, Hd.Qrs. tents can be pitched without awaiting the coming of a special detail. These little advantages conduce much to our comfort and no doubt will make the approaching season of operations the most pleasant of all in which we have participated. The labor of our troops will be simplified by the work of our Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Indian scouts; more familiarized with our soldiers and officers and, assured of our overwhelming strength, willing to aid us to the utmost. Their rivals, the Pawnees, Shoshonees[,] Arapahoes and Crows (if the latter join us in time,) will goad them on to the performance of more than could reasonably be expected of them if acting singly. Knowing that Sitting Bull’s people have nearly all surrendered, they will so much the more readily act against Crazy Horse’s band.11 Lieutenant Rockwell, 5th Cavalry, Chief Commissary, has laid his plans and made his estimates with a keen eye for our comfort and his own efficiency. His Corps of assistance, numbers a citizen clerk, a Commissary Sergeant, an Acting ditto, four or five assistants, to help with issues, and two or three very expert butchers, and some herders. His field outfit comprises almost all that a Commissary can require, especially a trestle table and several sets of scales. In the list of stores to be brought along are canned soups, pressed tongue and corned beef and other luxuries, while stoves and cooking utensils are liberally allowed.12 Even the weather—so much to be dreaded at this season—is [illegible] mild. A change is pending as I write (Nov. 10th) but we are so well fitted out that cold weather will be 11. On October 21, 1876, Colonel Nelson Miles, 5th Infantry, battered Sitting Bull’s band in a fight at Cedar Creek in Montana, and continued pursuit the following day. Most of Sitting Bull’s disillusioned followers surrendered, leaving the chief with only about four hundred people. Miles to AAG, DptDak, October 27, 1876, and Miles to Terry, October 28, 1876, Special File—Sioux; Greene, Yellowstone Command, Chapter 5. 12. Rockwell’s well-stocked commissary stores also attracted the attention of the Indian scouts. In “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes” (7), Bourke recalled: The Indians saw plainly that a man who had absolute control over such immense quantities of bacon and sugar and coffee must rank very close up to the Great Father himself, as they made the friendliest overtures, offering to exchange not names alone, but clothes as well. Rockwell accepted the agnomen of “Six Feathers,” but drew the line at the clothing business.

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rather welcome than otherwise, as it makes the chances of success so much greater. We begin to fear that Crazy Horse may surrender without a blow; a fight is desirable to atone and compensate for our trials, hardships and dangers for more than eight months. The strength of the command is as follows. General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. Officers 8 Enlisted men. — 13 Medical Staff. Comd. 3[,] 3 Enlisted 2. 8 Company “K” 2d Cavalry Off. 2 ” “ “ Men. 41+2 att[ached].14 Cavalry Battalions Fourth Cavalry Officers 17. “ ” Men 485. Fifth Cavalry (“H” & “M”) Officers 6. 28 “ ” Men 150. +970 Third Cavalry (“H” & “L”) Officers 5. “ ” Men 135 Artillery & Infantry Battaln. Fourth Artillery Officers 9. “ ” Men 147. Ninth Infantry Officers. 11. 33 “ ” Men 294. +646 Twenty Third Infantry Off. 8. “ ” “ Men. 111. Fourteenth Infantry Officers 5 “ ” Men 85 Indian Auxiliaries Sioux Arapahoes 155 2015 Cheyennes Shoshonees 105 (91 Warriors) Utes. Bannocks (included with Shoshonees.) (15.) Pawnees 100 13. Bourke does not specify the purpose of the second group of three. 14. This company was attached to headquarters. 15. Based on the distinction for the Shoshones listed immediately afterwards, Bourke apparently means the Sioux, Arapahos, and Cheyennes brought 155 warriors and 20 noncombatants.

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[Here Bourke wrote “Crows” and “Gros Ventres” but crossed them out] Nez Percés 1. Civilian Employees Pack train (400 mules.) 65. * 219 Wagon train (124+10+34+7 amb[ulances]) Scouts and Guides [illegible] 4. Total [number not given] *

Bourke wrote “Wagons” above “124+10+34.”

Chapter 8 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Forging Indian Alliances

November 10th and 11th. Officers and soldiers busily engaged in the duties preliminary to our contemplated operations, receiving and issuing clothing, camp and Garrison equipage. Ordnance, Forage, ammunition, fur boots, and Quartermaster’s stores: drilling new recruits, and other incidentals of a campaign. The telegraph line brought news of the closeness of the Presidential election and the fierce excitement generated by the contest, which had become narrowed down to the decision to be given by Louisiana, North and South Carolina, and Florida. The friends of Hayes and Wheeler claimed all those states, the adherents of Tilden and Hendricks stoutly opposed this assertion so that nothing exact and definite could be obtained until the official count should be rendered. In Florida the rival political factions threatened bloodshed: to repress disturbances likely to arise, General Augur had been sent there with ten companies of Infantry and a Battery of artillery. Such news is more grave than would be an intimation of hostilities with foreign nations; internecine wars are always the most frightful and most costly, excepting always those having an impassion of religious fanaticism. Severe as our coming experiences may be, they will be more welcome than a campaign in the sunny lands of the South 164

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against our own misguided people.1 The first snow of the season fell, November 11th, after sun-down. From the official description of Fort Fetterman may be found that “the Post” is situated in Lat. 42°. 49' 8". Long. 105°. 27' 3": at junction of “La Piêle” (Rush) creek and North Platte river. (Established July 19th 1867.) 80 miles to the nearest stations, (Rock Springs and Medicine Bow.) On the U.P.R.R. The short road being blocked by snow during winter months, travel then follows the longer road to Cheyenne, 135 miles direct or 160 miles viâ Fort Laramie. [“]Buildings. Quarters for (300) men: officers’ Quarters; Qrs. for Ordnance and Commissary Sergeants; Hospital, with accomodations for (15) patients; guard-house: store-houses, two; stables, for fifty animals; corral, with capacity for fifty-six mule teams; offices, theatre building, root-house, ice-house, magazine, granary, bake-house; work-shops, saw mills, laundress’ quarters, employee’s quarters, &c. The buildings are principally constructed of adobe and are in fair condition.” Water is supplied from North Platte River, by steam engine. The quarters since our last visit in May, have been put in excellent shape, repaired, cleaned and painted. The veranda posts have been treated to a preparation, composed of one part of white lead to two of hydraulic lime, mixed with oil and laid on with a brush. It looks well, is preservative and economical. The walls of the Barracks and Quarters have been washed with a solution of lime, tempered with glue and colored with indigo to a violet or purple hue. The trim, exact arrangement of the parade ground, enclosed within the lines of officers’ cottages and mens’ quarters,—sentinels pacing with monotonous cadence their weary posts of duty,—a battery of cannon, covered but not concealed by paulins,—the evening parade of the companies with their well dressed alignments of disciplined stolidity; here and there, standing the accoutred horses of officers 1. The 1876 election consisted of the Republican ticket of Rutherford B. Hayes and William A. Wheeler, and the Democratic ticket of Samuel Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks. Initially Hayes believed he had lost but, as Bourke noted, the results in the Carolinas, Louisiana, and Florida were disputed. Charges and countercharges ensued, and the government began to prepare for a possible renewed outbreak of civil war. Four months into the crisis, Louisiana and South Carolina broke the deadlock by throwing their electoral support to Hayes in time for his inauguration on the then-Constitutionally mandated date of March 4 (Hayes, a strict Sabbatarian, actually took the oath the preceding evening because March 4 was Sunday). There was, however, a tacit understanding with the South that this signaled the end of Congressional Reconstruction, which Hayes believed was a failure in any case. See Hoogenboom, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chapter 17.

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and orderlies, or heavily laden wagons rumbling along the road-way; were a scene of more animation than should have been looked for on the treeless, ice-locked channel of the North Platte. Far away to the distant horizon, the white-mantled terraces, extended in ridge upon ridge until they touched the hems of the leaden robes of cloud the sky had just doffed. Flocculent masses of vapor, like Golden Fleeces in an ethereal Pactolus; brilliant carmine and bronze patches straggling across the dome, catching the last reflections of the sun going down behind the Western ridges; amber-tinted zones, interspersed with steely-blue stripes resting upon the receding strata of snow clouds—were negligently mingled in a combination of rare beauty; in whose contemplation the weariness of official routine connected with the organization of a campaign was almost forgotten. The sharp boom of the evening gun signalled the descent of the Sun; slowly the golden tints of the clouds changed to bronze, to carmine, to a dull red; this latter turned into a pale amber blending imperceptibly into the darkness of night, relieved by myriads of sparking stars. The atmosphere in its purity gave free passage to every beam of light, or reflected the slightest sounds. Only the crunching of feet trampling in the crisp, crystalline snow, or the barking of some shadow-scared hound, relieved the stillness: night reigned supreme. November 11th. Lt. Col. Dodge issued his orders to Battalion Commanders to make “a thorough inspection of their respective commands and see that the following instructions as to allowances are in all cases complied with. [“]Tents will be allowed as follows: [“]To each Company: [“]One Wall tent for Officers. One common tent to each four men of Companies. One common tent for each 1st Sergeant and Company property. The proper allowance of shelter tents for both officers and men will be taken with each company. [“]One Sibley stove and pipe for each wall tent. [“]One Sibley stove and pipe for each 1st Sergeant. [“]One “ ” “ ” “ ” Eight enlisted men. [“]Each enlisted man will be allowed three Blankets, a change of underclothing, one extra pair of shoes[,] three pairs of stocking, overcoat, fur-cap, gloves, and Arctic snow excluders. It is left optional with the men whether they take the fur articles or not.

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[“]All personal baggage other or in excess of that mentioned in this order will be boxed up, properly marked and left in care of the Post Quartermaster at Fort Fetterman. [“]Battalion Commanders will, as soon as possible make to these HdQrs. a report of the amount of transportation required to each company, including two hundred rounds of ammunition to each man and ten days rations.” November 13th Thermometer last night indicated a temperature of thirteen degrees F. below 0°. Major [Caleb Henry] Carleton, 3d Cavalry and Lieut. [Bernard] Reilly, 5th Cavalry and about fifty recruits, mounted for “K” Compy., 2d Cavy., arrived last night and this morning: also ten six-mule teams from the Department of the Missouri. General Crook had another council with the Indians this morning; there was no unusual speech made, the only one in fact deserving preservation being that of Fast Thunder who said: “Last Spring a year ago,* I was in Washington. When I was there, the Great Father told me if any white man’s horses were stolen, I should go and get them and return them. When the Great Father told me that I knew it was right, because the white man wants his horses to work it. I did help to give back some that were stolen. The Indians that stay at the agency have never done any harm to the white man and I think it very wrong to take away their horses.2 I wish you to tell the Great Father not to take away any more of the hoses from these Indians. The reason I am going out to fight the Northern hostiles is that the country up there was given us by the Great Father and I want to get it back. [“]The Great Father and the Indians at the agency work together and the young men are going to help you. You know who to pick out. You have good sense and good eyes, and you have selected men who will help you when you get out there. I want you to tell the Great Father to give us back the country where we were living at the agency.3 The young men want this. We are your friends now Bourke’s marginal note: 1875 (spring)

*

2. Sheridan, who distrusted all Indians and had little confidence in them as scouts, had ordered agency Indians disarmed and dismounted. Crook, however, only partially complied, contending that confiscating weapons and horses of loyal warriors would constitute a breach of faith. Sheridan forwarded Crook’s explanation to army headquarters with an endorsement disapproving it. Crook to AAG MilDivMo, October 30, 1876, with endorsement by Sheridan, Special File—Sioux. 3. This apparently refers to the government’s seizure of the Black Hills and other portions of the reservation the previous August.

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and we don’t want you to take our homes away any more. We are going to work with you. We don’t know how to work yet. We want to have our horses, so we can trade them for cows and sell the cows to get money to buy other things. Now you say you do not want us to fight; but to find the Northern villages and Indians, but they do not know this and will make hard work for us. We want to know if we capture the horses at the village, if we can keep all we capture. [“]We are going out to capture the Northern Indians. We want to take them to our Agency, and have them work for us. After we capture them, they won’t have any horses and they won’t have any guns, and they will learn after a while that we will do what is right by them. Everything you say is good and whatever you have told us has been right and you have always done what you said you would do. When we have gone North heretofore, many of our women married the Northern Indians and when we capture those Indians, we will find in their villages a good many of our relatives. That is the reason we want to take them to the Agency with us. This is all for me.” November 14th. The old, familiar road to [Fort] Reno stretched out in a long snaky line running over the low bluffs before us, as the Command began picking its way through the floating ice across the North Platte: our day’s march was without aught worthy of narration. The Infantry Battalion bivouacked eleven miles out on Sage Creek, the Cavalry being obliged to march four miles farther to find other pools of brackish water in the same stream bed. Our fuel and baled hay had to be hauled in wagons from Fort Fetterman, there being no grass or fuel near this night’s place of bivouac. After sun-down, temperature became very cold and so continued during the night. November 15th. Our camp to-night was on the South Cheyenne, with a slight but chilly rain to welcome us as we approached. The sky all day had been gloomy and a cool breeze blew upon us from the North West. In this camp, were found plenty of wood and water, but scarcely any grass. In previous parts of this journal, the characteristic features of this country have been outlined at such length, no further reference is needed.4 November 16th. Day Cloudy and Windy. Ground nearly free from snow. Moved to North Fork of Wind River (branch of South Cheyenne.) twenty one miles. Saw our Sioux auxiliaries this morning shooting an antelope from their horses on the run and then chas4. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 11.

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ing the wounded animal until it fell exhausted; before it had time to die the Indians had surrounded it and divided the carcass into a dozen pieces. November 17th. Reveille was ushered in hand in hand with a bitter, cold snow-storm and a North West wind blowing right into our teeth. This episode was extremely unpleasant, but short-lived and by the hour we made bivouac on the Dry Fork of the Powder River, a comparatively clear sky spread over us. A detachment of our Arapahoe Indians started out at dusk to try and apprehend a small scouting party of six or eight Indians seen on our Right. They had no great difficulty in striking the trail, following it and surrounding the party of supposed Indians, but to their surprise discovered them to be white men: (Horse thieves perhaps.) Three Shoshonees together with Tom Cosgrove and Texas Bob. (Eckles.) rode in from Cantonment Reno,5 where the rest of their comrades, aggregating one hundred strong, were assembled. The Chief Warriors were two of Washakie’s sons, the old chief himself remaining back with his people near Camp Brown, Wyo. They supplied Genl. Crook with much information concerning the trails of the Sioux, now almost all running up towards the sources of the Crazy Woman, Clear and Tongue Rivers. November 18th Saturday. To Cantonment Reno is fifteen miles down the Dry Fork to its confluence with the main Powder. This distance we crossed in about four hours, reaching the Post early in the morning. There were four companies of Infantry commanded by Captain [Edwin] Pollock, 9th Infantry, viz. Pollock’s [company] of the 9th, [Charles John] Von Hermann’s and [Thomas Francis] Quinn’s of the 4th and Nickerson’s ([Greenleaf Austin] Goodale’s) of the 23d.6 Major Stanton, Paymaster, who caught up with the column on the 16th, commenced work at once after getting to the Cantonment. Cantonment Reno has been re-established, to serve, in conjunction with Deadwood City, in the Black Hills, and the Cantonment at the 5. Cantonment Reno was established on October 12, 1876, three miles south of old Fort Reno, to serve as a depot for the Powder River Expedition. It was upgraded to fort on August 30, 1877, and renamed Fort McKinney, in honor of Lt. John A. McKinney, 4th Cavalry, who was killed in the Dull Knife fight on November 26, 1876. In 1878, it was relocated to Clear Creek west of the present town of Buffalo, Wyoming. The original post, renamed McKinney Depot, functioned until 1879. Fort McKinney was abandoned in 1894, and given to the State of Wyoming. Frazer, Forts of the West, 182–83. 6. Nickerson nominally was company commander but, being on detached duty with General Crook’s staff, command devolved on Goodale as senior lieutenant.

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mouth of Tongue River, as bases of supplies for expeditions keeping the Field during Winter. It is laid out on the Left or West bank of the Powder River, One Hundred and Fifty miles above its junction with Yellowstone. The Qrs. are “dug outs”, excavated in grounds, palisaded with cottonwood logs and roofed in with dirt. The pressure of official business prevented my taking more than a glimpse at the improvements executed or in contemplation: enough to give a very pleasing idea of the energy and efficiency of Captain Pollock’s administration, but not enough to justify an attempt at detailed description, which task is reserved until our return. Six Arapahoes and Eight Sioux, with rations for four days, left this evening to scout [a]long and across the Big Horn Mtns. November 19th. Sunday. A grand council was held this morning in front of General Crook’s Head-Quarters, eight tribes being represented viz: Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Pawnees, Shoshonees, Utes, Bannocks and Nez Percés. General Crook opened the conference by saying: “We have come together as friends and must work together. The Buffalo, you must all know is rapidly becoming extinct, hence it is necessary for you to live like the whites, who as you know are getting stronger every day while the Indians are decreasing in numbers. [“]For this reason, you must adopt the white men’s habits, customs and laws; in order to gain their protection. The soldiers here are only a portion of those we have. When these get tired, fresh men and horses will take their places, as you must have seen was done at Red Cloud. We don’t want to kill the Indians: we only want to make them behave themselves. We want to find the village and make the Indians give up their ponies & guns, so that in [the] future they will have to behave themselves. Do not kill the women and children, because if the bucks get away, and we have the women and children, we can make them bring in the bucks and make them give up arms and ponies. I want you now to be all friends together, just like soldiers are. You must remain friends and stick to this thing right through until it is ended. In a little while, we shall know exactly who are our friends and who our enemies. When you are sent out as scouts, try to see without being seen. Don’t let the enemy know we are in the country. Those of you who do their duty shall be rewarded, those who do not shall

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be punished. If you capture stock, you can keep it, but do not let the enemy get away just in order to capture horses. If you do that you’ll be punished. [“]What we get in a big fight, I’ll divide so there may be no fighting or quarrelling about it. [“]I expect to leave here in the morning. After you start out, you must be careful of your ammunition and not waste it as we only bring along enough to last us for the trip. Now we have met here as friends. We must give up all old grudges, shake hands and be good friends together. That’s all I’ve got to say: I want you all to act together. If you have anything to say, I’ll listen to it now.[”] Sharp Nose. (Chief of the Arapahoes) said. “I have waited a long time to meet all these people and make peace. We have been living a long time with the white man and follow the white man’s road and do what he says. I hope these people will do the same. We have all met here to-day to make peace and I hope we’ll remain at peace. And I hope General Crook will take pity on us and help us.[”] General Crook. They see when they behave themselves, we treat them as well as we do our own people. They can’t ask anything better than that. Sharp Nose. All these people travel with General Crook and fight with him. He’ll listen to them if they ask him any questions. General Crook. I am glad to listen to any of those who want to do right, but the hostiles, of course, we must treat in another way. Sharp Nose, (lifting his eyes to Heaven.) I hold my hand up to the Great Spirit and swear that I’ll stick to General Crook as long as I’m with him. When this war is over and I get home, I want to live like a white man and have implements to work with. We have made peace with these people here to-day and we’d like to have a letter sent home to let our people know about it. The Pawnee chief “Li-Here-is-vo-la-shar” or “Leading Chief”, next addressed the meeting. Like most of the others, he wore the military uniform, but his face and head were grotesquely daubed with paint. Eyelids and Ears painted vermillion, which also daubed the median line of head and chin, forehead and cheek-bones, dark brown, and while lower part of face, yellow.* Bourke’s note: Hair, in two pig-tails, one on each side, wrapped in yellow tapes.

*

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He glanced up towards Heaven, before commencing his speech. “I am talking to friends. This is our head-chief. (General Crook.) talking to us and asking us to be brothers. I hope the Great Spirit will smile on us. Brothers. We are all Indians and have all the same kind of skin. We, Pawnees, have lived with the white men a long time and know how strong they are. We are afraid of them, because they are so strong. Brothers. I don’t think there is one of you can come out here to-day and say you have ever heard of the Pawnees killing a white man. [“]Brothers. We are all of the same color and we are all Indians. To-day, this Big Chief has called us together to have a Council and I am glad of it and glad to meet you all. Father (turning to General Crook,) I suppose you know the Pawnees are civilized. We plough, farm and work the ground like white people. Father, it is what the Arapahoes said. We have all gone on this Expedition to help you and hope it may be a successful one. [“]Father, I’m glad you have said you would listen to what we had to say. If we have any wrongs, we’ll come to you to tell about them. I suppose you have heard it is a good many years since we (Pawnees) have been to war, we have given that up long ago. When I was at home, I did what our Agent wanted us to do: farmed and worked the land. When they said at Washington, they wanted us for this trip, we threw everything aside but when we go back, we’ll take to farming again. Father, it is good what you have said to us. I hope these people understand it too and that we shall all be good friends. [“]This is all I have to say[.] I am glad you have told us what you did about the captured stock. The horses taken will help us to work our land.” General Crook. [to interpreter] Tell him to let the other Indians know how well the Pawnees get along living like white men. Leading Chief. Brothers, since we have learned how to farm, we have always had enough to eat. We raise good crops and want to see you do the same. The Buffalo is rapidly running out and if you don’t learn to farm, you’ll soon come to want. Brothers, What I have told you to-day is the truth. The reason we have plenty at home is we know how to farm. Since we stopped hunting buffalo and took to farming, we have always had plenty. I hope the same for you, that you may have plenty from your farms.

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Tup-see-paw (Rag Picker.) the Shoshonee chief, here spoke:7 My friends. You see me here to-day. I want to make peace. Here we are only two of us: the Pawnees and my people. We are farming now. That is what the agents told us to do and we did it. I went to the Great Father at Washington and listened to him. He told me to farm and I did so. He asked me if I wanted houses for my people and I said yes: and he Built them for me. Because I listen to the white man, I don’t get into trouble with them. Here is my friend, (turning to Tom Cosgrove.) his friend was killed and that’s the reason he is after the hostiles and I am with him. Cosgrove. Tell them General Crook says we must all be friends and I forget all about that now. I have no hard feelings with these Sioux here. I have smoked with them and we must make friends now. Tut-see-paw. We are going with General Crook now. We are his children now. We are all friends now. We will hunt the bad Sioux together. We will find them and fight them together like brothers. We are glad to hear that General Crook will divide the captured ponies among us. When we were friends long ago, you (the Sioux) were always the first to break peace. Now here is the Earth and there is the Sky. Talk straight this time. That’s the way I do. I have only one heart and only one tongue. Do as I do. Always talk straight and always tell the Truth. That’s all I’ve got to say. Three Bears (Sioux Chief.) I want you all to listen. I have only a few words to say, but they will go a great, long way. (i.e.—mean a great deal.) I am glad these people are going to shake hands with me today. That’s what I want. I am only a young man. The others who have spoken are all old men. When I have a friend, when I shake hands with him I don’t do it for nothing. When I want to have a friend, I give him horses and shake hands with him. This is the first man who shook hands with me. I’ll give him (Leading Chief, of the Pawnees.) a horse. It’s a poor one, but I’ll give it any how. It’s the best I’ve got. Keep the Battle (Sioux.) speaking to Tupe-see-paw (the Bannock chief.) and O-at-ta, the Shoshonee chief (the meaning of whose name is too filthy to be translated):8 7. Bourke was not consistent, either with the spelling of this chief’s name or his tribe. On this page of the manuscript (14:1397) he calls him a Shoshone, and two pages later (14:1399) a Bannock. The erratic spelling probably is due to the strange sound of these names to a person accustomed to European languages. The confusion over tribes might arise from the fact that the Shoshones and Bannocks were allied and generally scouted together when called into service by the army. Based on his deference to Tom Cosgrove, he probably was Shoshone. 8. The Indian notion of obscenity was totally different from that of the whites, and

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[“]I have only two horses. I’ll give them to you. I’ve only a few words to tell you. With this people, (the Shoshonees.) our fathers made a treaty at Fort Laramie a long time ago. This is the way we did it before. There are old men here who may remember about it. The last time we had a smoke and gave horses. That’s the reason I’ve done the same thing now. (I give you these horses because that’s the way our fathers used to do and we must make peace today and be friends.[)] General Crook is the Head Man and has the influence over all these people. What he tells them to do, they must do, they must all do. I am glad to see the Shoshonees to-day and have a talk with them. We’ll send you word in the Spring when all our people can come and make a treaty with all your people. I am very glad to smoke and eat with you as I did yesterday when I went to your camp. Some of these old men know about farms. My father was a farmer and told me about it. I listened to him.9 I have been farming two years now. I want to get rich by it. The Shoshonees told me today that the Great Father builds them houses, but he don’t do that for me. Yet I’ll be the first man to go to your Reservation to make a peace. That’s all[.]” U-sanky-su-Cola, a Pawnee chief of the Skeedy10 band, was about to speak, but merely said a few words expressive of his gratification at meeting all these people as friends, when the vast assembly broke up. The greater portion of the Indians appeared in their new uniforms, yet a few sported magnificent war bonnets of feather work and other warlike regalia. The rest of the day was filled in with drilling, parading and charging on horse-back, exchanging visits, smoking the pipe of peace and friendly singing, or grunting. All these have been delineated in other pages, excepting the Pony Dance, which is a rhytmic [sic] movement on horse-back to the accompaniment of a melancholy chorus. In the expedition, every officer and man was worked to the consequently, many names were avoided or deliberately mistranslated to avoid offending Victorian sensibilities. A classic case is the Penateka Comanche chief, whose name was rendered in English as “Buffalo Hump,” but in fact meant “Erection That Won’t Go Down,” a reference to his priapism. See Haley, Buffalo War, 232. 9. Far from being an ancient tradition, the Plains Indian buffalo economy was shortlived; only a generation or two earlier, many of the so-called “Buffalo Indians” were at least semi-agricultural. The difficulty in bringing down a buffalo weighing a ton or more, on foot with bow and arrow, meant that the animal was supplemental. The introduction of horses and firearms gave the Indians an edge, without which the buffalo economy would have been difficult, if not impossible. Robinson, Buffalo Hunters, 6. 10. Skidi.

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utmost, getting ready for a forward movement to-morrow, but the orders therefor were countermanded after dark. A small party of citizens approached camp from old Fort Kearney and reported Indian signs plenty in that direction. Mail came in from Fort Fetterman without news of moment. Rain storm commenced between 7 and 8 P.M. changing first to hail and then to snow, which mantled the ground as we arose in on the morning of November 20th. When it was discovered that a poor unfortunate soldier who had wandered off drunk last evening had become so affected by cold, exhaustion and intemperance that he died within a few moments after being brought to the Hospital. A citizen was caught selling whiskey to soldiers: his cart and stock in trade were confiscated and barrels destroyed. Some of our Indians were drunk yesterday; They undoubtedly obtained their liquor from this scoundrel. Thirty-four miners, came in from the Big Horn Mountains this morning, in a destitute condition; rations were issued them from the Cantonment Commissary. Rained and snowed a little during the day. In the afternoon, took place the funeral obsequies of the soldier who died this morning. We patiently awaited the return of the scouts from the Mountain. General Crook sent the following telegram to the Lieutenant-General. “Indications are that there has been a considerable body of the hostiles concentrating on the West side of the Big Horn Mountains during the past month; scouts are expected back to-day or to-morrow with definite information and as soon as that arrives we shall move with all possible dispatch. [“]I find everything very satisfactory here and expect that the whole work of the cantonment will be finished within ten days. Captain Pollock, 9th Infantry, the Commanding Officer, is entitled to much credit for his energetic administration in bringing the Post to this state of forwardness in such short time and with the facilities at his disposal. [“](signed.) Crook. [“]Brigadier General.” Tuesday, November 21st, Colonel Stanton, Paymaster, and Lieut. Reilly, 5th Cavalry, & Capt. [John D.] Devin, 9th Infantry, started back to Fort Fetterman. Our scouts returned, having gone as far

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West as Clear Creek, fifty miles from here. Just after getting into their bivouac on Clear Creek, a young Cheyenne joined them, asking where they were going.11 The reply was they were a war party on their way to fight the Snakes. This lulled his suspicions and he commenced talking freely. Our allies had taken the precaution to leave all the military trappings at home, so they readily deluded the young hostile who gave them all the news of the day, where the different villages were and how many in each. By the time he had finished half a dozen revolvers were cocked and pointed and he [was] told to surrender his gun. This he did without a word, but showed much amazement when the strangers told him they were white soldiers. Some of the captors proposed to kill him. This motion was overruled by the majority who had not forgotten General Crook’s injunctions not to kill in cold blood. So they decided to bring him back to our camp and let the Big Chief decide what should be done with him. Our Sioux and Arapahoe allies are now compromised and must remain our friends to the end. A singular manner of making a queue, or “pig-tail”, came under my notice this morning. The Indian, an Arapahoe, had gathered all the back-hair, on the crown of the head and plaited it in a long braid, without disturbing the rest of the coiffure. Then some red pigment was worked into the skin to make the line of division more distinct. The chiefs of our Indian allies differ much in character and disposition. Sharp Nose, the Arapahoe, is tall, straight, large frame, piercing eyes, Roman nose, firm jaws and chin and with a face inspiring confidence in his ability and determination. His manners are dignified and commanding, coming nearer to the Fennimore Cooper style of Indian than any I have seen since my visit to Cocheis, the head chief of the Apache Indians, in the Dragoon Mountains, in Arizona, in February, 1873.12 Li-here-is-vo-la-shar, the Pawnee, has a good face, prominent cheek bone, aquiline nose, large mouth, and frank, open eyes, not so piercing as one usually notices among the aborigines. His general 11. The young warrior’s name was Beaver Dam, member of a small party camped on the upper Powder River. Grinnell, Fighting Cheyennes, 362. 12. This visit is detailed in Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 2 and Appendix 12.

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expression is that of a far-seeing, judicious law-giver, one who takes note of all he sees and whose advice may be relied on. Still, he is no lamb, as the stern lines of the countenance plainly show. If aroused, he would be a bad enemy. Tupe-see-paw, and O-ah-ta, of the Shoshonees, are crafty old rascals, without much sentiment or romantic imaginativeness lighting up their features. Three Bears, of the Sioux, is young in years, but mature in thought. Of his character I cannot say much yet, but think he is a man whose friendship can be relied on. He does not make any pretensions as a speaker, and cuts but a poor figure as a declaimer, when Sharp Nose, is in the same Council. His power as a commander will depend more upon the success to be won from stealthy movements and crafty combinations, than from any lion-like attack, such as I think Sharp Nose might make if occasion demanded.13 The Cheyenne boy was taken to the tent of the General Commanding and subjected to a cross-examination yielding the results shadowed out in this telegram to Lieutenant-General Sheridan: “Scouts returned to-day and reported that the Cheyennes have crossed over to the other side of the Big Horn Mountains, and that Crazy Horse and his band are encamped on the Rosebud near where we had the fight with them last summer. We start out after his band to-morrow morning. [“](signed.) Crook. [“]Brigadier General.[”] Mr. Roche, the new correspondent of the New York Herald, and by the way a far more presentable, scholarly and genial gentleman than his predecessor, Mr. Davenport, hurriedly prepared his dispatches, the oiled-silk packet was closed and tied, and handed to the courier, who with a final, hearty “good night, gentlemen”, gave rein and spur to his steed and was soon out of sight to battle his way through the snow to Fort Fetterman, ninety miles. Before closing the flap of the tent and making all comfortable for the night, we looked out and saw the fleecy snow covering hill and valley as far as eye could see: this was exactly what we wanted to enable such a large command to creep upon the enemy undetected. 13. Bourke quoted this description of the five Indian leaders almost verbatim in 1891, in “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes,” 14.

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Wednesday, November 22d. Twenty-three miles to Crazy Woman’s fork of Powder River. Here our wagon-train was parked under command of Major Furey, ten days’ rations packed upon mules and one hundred rounds of ammunition issued per man.14 To-morrow, our line of direction will turn North West, and Crazy Horse’s village will be the objective point. The Sioux scouts in advance killed three buffalo bulls and carried the meat and robes to camp. This camp is noteworthy in being the first since leaving Fort Fetterman, 115 miles, with plenty of fuel and grass and pure water: an objection to the situation on account of comfort is its openness, which is a point in favor of its defensibility, however. Strength of Command leaving Crazy Woman’s Fork. Infantry 450 men. 33 Officers Cavalry. 729 men 28 “ Indian scouts 350. Two Medical officers. 14. In “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes” (9), Bourke wrote: [F]or the last time the combined and pent-up ill-humor had burst with cyclonic wrath upon the devoted head of Major Furey, our efficient and amiable, that is usually amiable, quartermaster. He had been hauled over the coals by the general commanding, growled at by the battalion commanders, sneered at by the captains and damned by the lieutenants until patience had ceased to be a virtue and poor Furey assured me (during a lull in the storm of objurgation about midnight, while I was mixing him a little paregoric and hot water, or something like that,—my notes are a trifle blurred at this point and I can’t clearly make out what it was,) that if he ever lived through the campaign he intended to resign from the Service and set up business as a pirate, anything, rather than be a quartermaster another day. However, he seems to have reconsidered this determination, for his name is still borne on the Register.

Chapter 9 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Dull Knife Fight

(Thanksgiving Day.) November 30th. As completely as the pressure of business and the crowd of events will admit, I shall now attempt to record the history of the work just accomplished. A page or so back, I transcribed a telegram from General Crook to Lt. Genl. Sheridan, conveying his determination to move down after Crazy Horse’s band on the Rosebud. For this movement, every preparation had been made, but a trifling circumstance was the cause of a material modification of the programme fraught with important consequences. Early on the morning of the 23d, Sitting Bear, a Cheyenne Indian dispatched from Red Cloud Agency by General Mackenzie to lay General Crook’s ultimatum before the hostiles, waved a white flag from the crest of a hill near our pickets and was soon admitted to the presence of the Commanding General. He asserted that the little village of five lodges, to which belong the young captive brought in on the 21st had discovered our advance and taking the alarm started off to warn Crazy Horse of our presence. General Crook at once made up his mind to send an expedition into the mountains to seek and if possible find and destroy the main village of the Cheyennes reported to be in the Big Horn Mountains. 179

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A party of advance scouts left camp without waiting a moment and galloped up the stream we camped on to discover, if they could, some signs of the foe. General Mackenzie, with all the Cavalry, except Egan’s Company of the 2d, and with all of our friendly Indian scouts, under command of Lieutenants Clarke, Delaney and Schuyler and Tom Cosgrove and Major North, left the wagon train the afternoon of the 23d of November, going ten miles, South, 23° 46 up the Right fork of the Crazy Woman’s Fork, before making camp. With the columns were Lieutenants Bourke, 3d Cav, Schuyler, 5th Cavalry, [James Nicholas] Allison, 2d Cavalry, and [James Mills] Jones (4th Artillery.) as volunteers. Lieutenant Bourke was assigned to Staff duty, Lieutenant Schuyler to take charge of Shoshonee scouts, and Lieutenants Allison and Jones to duty with Companies. The valley of the Crazy Woman’s, at least close to our trail, was well grassed and like all the terrace lands at base of Big Horn Range well adapted for pasturing cattle. We made bivouac not more than twelve miles from the main range, in a point well hidden, and with sufficient fuel, plenty of cold clear water and abundant grazing. Next day we kept up same general course, approaching the Big Horn Mountains diagonally. Upon leaving camp, a detachment of soldiers had to be kept hard at work for nearly an hour picking and shovelling to construct a causeway over the little stream for our column to march over. In the wintery season, the banks of these creeks acted upon by the stem frost offer grave obstacles to cavalry, especially with smooth-shod animals. Then came an interesting chase after my pony, which had taken it into his head to have a little gallop with a companion in the crisp and exhilarating morning air. Butler, the orderly, had a lively time catching him and, if practice makes perfect, improved greatly in profanity before Dick would allow himself to be saddled. Ten miles of marching had been made, when our scouts ran in upon us, as we had reached the end of a projecting spur of the Big Horn. Under such circumstances all kinds of rumors spontaneously germinate: everybody has his own story and while anxious to impart it to all about him is equally anxious to hear and adopt their rumors. But after boiling down all these reports and fanciful tales, the residum amounts to this; the main village of the hostile Cheyennes had been located and its position was not very distant from where we had halted. They could not say how many

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lodges were aggregated together nor how many ponies were in the Cheyenne herd: “heap ponies” is an expression too indefinite to serve as a basis for any strategic conclusions to be founded upon. The earnest manner of our auxiliaries carried with it so much weight that General Mackenzie ordered the column to remain where it was, under cover of a projecting ledge of rocks, without building fires lest the curling smoke betray us. A few moments before dark, our companies defiled around a salient spur of the range, crawling first through a narrow ravine, not over a mile in length, deep enough to prevent our being seen for any distance, then over a series of dwarfed knolls of the red ferriginous clays so abundant at the foot of this slope of the Big Horn Mtns. Upon getting to the summit of the last of these little ridges the surface, covered as it was for acres with little boulders of flinty limestone, was difficult for our horses to march over, a long, level hill-top, thickly tufted with grass was an agreeable interlude, for two or three miles, until the banks of the little confluent of the North Powder, called the Willow Creek, were reached. This pleasant little water-course, is twenty feet or more in width and nearly two in depth, with a brisk current. We watered our horses in the stream, then tightened girths and again forward! To avoid prolixity, let me say in one word, our uniform course of South South West was maintained for the next six or eight miles, the North Star guiding our march, for it was now dark. For a few hours the moon lighting our pathway enabled a good view of the country to be had and we were very fortunate in this dispensation as the view for this part of the march at least, was quite picturesque. We were in a pass, in the Big Horn Mountains, high walls of earth and rocks on both sides, with trees thickly congregated together near the crest, while our trail ran along a perfectly smooth causeway of velvety grass. This place has been aptly named by the Sioux, “the race-course”. The principal branch of the North Fork of the Powder river, apparently the one styled on our charts, “Bates Creek”, next brawled at our feet. The trail turned North West, up the creek: the moon had set and only the feeble but grateful glimmer of the stars illuminated the trail, winding in among the recesses of the mountains. Our progress became slow, painfully slow, the pathway was naturally difficult, and hereabouts so cut into by little ravines and “cut banks” with frozen sides as to be practically impassable. At one point, the

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whole column was delayed on hour and two at another. Generally Mackenzie’s natural impatience was aggravated by the solicitude of our Indian guides, who kept coming back every few moments to urge the column forward, saying in a low tone to the interpreters that the hostile village was at hand. True enough, we soon heard in a vague but awe-inspiring sort of indistinctness the thump! thump! thump! of war drums, and the jingling of their rattles sounding the message of a war-dance.1 Only a mile of distance intervened, but the light had broken in the East. The hostile drums ceased beating, a sign that the Cheyenne village had finished its dance and retired to rest. Now or never! Sharp Nose, the Arapahoe chief, came running up to General Mackenzie and asked if the whites were ready. The response was in the affirmative, then it seemed as if I could hear a sigh of relief from suspense go up from the dense throng of soldiery, as the command “gallop” was given, “and with the thundering roar of a waterfall, the column dashed through the embouchure of the cañon into the [illegible] space where the village was situate[d].” At our head, rode the Sioux, Arapahoe and Cheyenne auxiliaries under Lieut. Delaney, and abreast of them, the Shoshonees under Lt. Schuyler and Tom Cosgrove, and the Pawnees, under Major North, Lieut. W. P. Clark, commanding all the friendly Indians. The noise we made coming down the cañon had aroused the scarce-asleep enemy, who hurriedly tumbled out of their beds, and escaped from one end of their village as our surging squadrons dashed in at the other. In the exultation of the moment, our Pawnees and Shoshonees yelled out their war-chant to the droning accompaniment of reed-instruments that emitted the sound of a steamboat-whistle in a fog. The screeching and jubilant singing of our allies, the yells of the incoming battalions, the sharp words of command as the ap1. George Bird Grinnell and Cheyenne historian John Stands In Timber interviewed Cheyenne warriors who survived the fight, and received similar accounts. The survivors recalled that the Cheyennes were aware of the approach of the soldiers, and a heated argument ensued among the chiefs. Some wanted to strike camp and join a large Lakota band (presumably Crazy Horse’s) not far off. However, Last Bull, chief of the Fox Soldier warrior society, ordered the Fox soldiers to surround the camp to keep anyone from leaving, in effect, seizing control. As an extra precaution they cut the cinches of those who already had saddled up. Then the Fox Society built a large bonfire, and forced the families to attend an all-night dance (which is what the soldiers heard in the distance). Why Last Bull was so determined to stay and make a stand, the outcome of which would be disastrous for the Cheyennes, and why the other chiefs permitted it, remains a mystery. Grinnell, Fighting Cheyennes, Chapter 27; Stands In Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 214–16.

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parently inextricable entanglement of men and animals, deployed rapidly into line of battle met with no response from the foe, but the sharp crack of their rifles and the “sipping” of bullets about our ears. “Through the gray mist of morning, phantom forms were gliding, more or less rapidly; there were the herds of the enemy, those the enemy itself.2 My horse balked at a prostrate object—it was the dead body of an almost naked Cheyenne youth, shot as he was running out to save their herds.” About his neck was wound his lariat, ready to be used to catch the first pony he expected to come to. “A great number of horses had fallen into our hands, a number so great its loss would have crippled the Cheyennes, who seemed bent on retaining their ponies cost what it might. General Mackenzie, to frustrate this attempt, ordered Lieutenant John A. McKinney, to charge his Company, “M”, of the 4th Cavalry, into the place to which the Cheyenne appeared to be moving.3 The gallant youngster never hesitated a moment, but swept over the little plain at our feet, until he found his advance checked by a small gulch with perpendicular banks. He then wheeled by fours to the Right and had proceeded in the new direction a few yards, when a murderous fire was poured into his column by a small band of hostile sharpshooters, concealed almost under the horse’s feet. Poor McKinney fell, struck with six bullets, his horse shot under him, six of his command wounded and a number of horses shot.” Anxious to save his men, the young lieutenant called to them, “Get out of this, you are ambuscaded”. Many of the company, largely comprised of recruits, turned to flee. General Mackenzie, seeing the disorder, ordered in Captain [John M.] Hamilton’s Company of the 5th Cavalry to push the enemy. This charge, made under direction of Captain Hamilton and Major Gordon, the Battalion Commander had a very happy effect. The Cheyennes scattered to the rocks and little washes, seaming the mountain sides, hoping from behind the shelter they afforded to pick our men off leisurely. But Captain [Wirt] Davis of the 4th Cavalry, with his own Co. and a few of Hamilton’s men, charged them on foot and had a bitter encounter, of the nature of a hand to hand conflict. Scarcely one of the Cheyennes escaped alive from 2. Bourke probably meant “then the enemy itself.” 3. On a printed roster pasted in the diary (14:1358) Bourke noted that McKinney, who was not normally assigned to Company “M,” commanded it in the absence of its senior officers, Capt. William O’Connell, listed as “Absent within the Department [of the Platte],” and First Lt. L.O. Parker, listed as “On detached service without the Department.”

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that particular ravine, eight bodies falling into our hands, and the soldiers claiming to have killed ten more. Morning had fairly dawned, and I had soon the first good opportunity to study the nature of our surroundings. The village nestled closely to the threat of the stream, which at this point flowed nearly due East and West, its banks thickly fringed with willow and cottonwood. Through these, the smoke curled upwards from the tépis, arranged in an elliptical form, covering a space whose transverse axis was not short of one mile. On either hand, stood out sturdy battlements of red sandstone, while the valley itself was dotted over with hillocks of red clay capped with sandstone, each of which became the battle ground. Natural “covered-ways”,4 the ravines might be regarded that led in and around these. The Cheyennes, perfectly familiar with every foot of ground felt they had our men at a disadvantage and began to resume coverage. They stubbornly held to the lower end of the village and foot by foot were crawling up among the thickets and behind the tépis. But a long, re-echoing growl from the hill on our Left told the now baffled foe that Schuyler with the Shoshonees had gained the key-point of the field and commenced to rain down upon them showers of molten lead. Improving upon this, General Mackenzie ordered Company “L”, 5th Cavy. under Captain [Alfred B.] Taylor and Lieut. [Homer W.] Wheeler, to charge lengthways through the village while at the same moment [Capt. W.C.] Hemphill’s Company of the 4th, and Hamilton’s of the 5th, seized two commanding knolls on the Right of our line, [Capt. Henry] Wessells and [Capt. Gerald] Russell straightened out on the Left between Taylor and Hamilton and the friendly Pawnees, darted in under cover of Taylor’s charge and held the village. The second Battalion was mostly massed in Reserve behind some bluffs in the rear of [the] position held by Gordon’s (First.) Battalion. I shall endeavor to explain these movements and the general lay of the village by a diagram to be inserted at the end of this description; but, for the present, let it suffice to say, the enemy from this on gave up all hope of recovering their village or of even doing anything more than annoy us with the fire of their heavy rifles. 4. In conventional masonry fortifications, the defenses included “covert ways” or “covered ways.” These were protected walkways that served as an outer line of defense, provided communication with the main fort, and were assembly points for sorties against an attacker. This was the standard design of U.S. coastal defense forts of the period. Weaver, A Legacy in Brick and Stone, 210.

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Encumbered with their troops of squaws and children, they knew they must remain in our immediate front until retreat would be possible under the mantle of darkness, not fearing that we could dislodge them from the eyries in the sides of the precipices and upon the apices of the rocky bluffs where they had found shelter. General Mackenzie then took the determination to save his ammunition and most stringent orders were given to stop all firing except at close range. The engagement assumed the nature of a rifle-duel, neither contestant caring to waste a shot. The rifle practice of the enemy was especially fine and the number of close-calls on our side was most remarkable. In the centre of our line lay a grassy plateau, small in extent, but completely swept by the fire of the Cheyenne marksmen who understood perfectly that the immobile and silent ranks under cover were the companies of soldiers and that those who had to essay the passage of the “dangerous space”, as we soon learned to term it, were either officers high in rank, or orderlies carrying important dispatches. It would be too tedious to enumerate all the narrow escapes. It would be easier to say that everybody had one or more. General Mackenzie was constantly and, to my mind, often recklessly, exposed. Those officers who served on his staff that morning will long remember the whistling of the bullets flying about their heads as they carried the General’s orders from point to point.5 The extent of our success was not yet fully understood by us, but it soon began to dawn upon our minds that the expedition had completely cleaned out, the worst set of red-skinned rascals in America. The ponies secured by our friendly Indians footed up a few over six hundred,* in themselves no inconsiderable amount of plunder, but of slight consequence compared with the utter destruction of a village of Two hundred lodges, in the inclemency of a Wyoming winter and not less than ten days’ march from the band of Crazy H[orse]6 the only one capable of afBourke’s marginal note: 706.

*

5. Reckless valor was not the exclusive domain of the soldiers and scouts. John Stands In Timber recorded an account of an unidentified old man who emerged from cover, sat down on a high, open spot, lit his pipe and began to smoke. A Cheyenne named Spotted Black Bird joined him long enough for four puffs before returning to cover. Then a man named Long Jaw came out with a red cloth over his shoulder, and jumped up and down to draw fire. When Long Jaw returned, uninjured, to cover, his cloth was riddled with bullet holes. Stands In Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 104. 6. The next several pages are damaged by tears. Generally, words can be determined, but those that cannot are designated as [missing], and those which can be more or less inferred are enclosed in [brackets].

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fording relief. Dense volumes of smoke belching out the Eastern end of the village and spreading from tépi to tépi proved to the truculent Cheyennes that the sharp edge of the [missing] of punishment was at last falling [upon] them. Their vast stores of buffalo [meat] were remorselessly committed to the yawning flames—thousands of pounds were thus consumed, but even approximately how much, it is impossible to [say]. Fine robes and skins, mostly untanned, fell into our hands and were either packed away by Indian allies or else were sacrificed with the meat on the altar of our vengeance. Undoubtedly the most vexatious transient loss the enemy experienced was in the stores of ammunition, fixed and loose, we captured in their lodges. The supply they had saved so carefully from every disaster was exploding with loud reverberations [missing/unintelligible] as the flames [consumed] each separate tépi. Nor was the number of guns taken inconsiderable. We captured many, some of extra fine makes and finish. The lodges were all burned this afternoon (25th), but the thorough destruction of the hostile homestead was reserved until the next morning.7 Our own losses were ascertained by now: one officer and five men killed and twenty-six wounded. Of the enemy’s dead, we only knew that some thirty bodies had fallen into our hands, the scalps in the hands of our auxiliaries were no longer a criterion of the number of slain lying within our lines, because only a comparatively few were taken; the Pawnees had about twelve, the Shoshonees three or four, the other allies none.8 In the village were, among other gory trophies of the same kind; the scalp-lock of a little white girl, not over ten years old, another belonging to a Shoshonee maiden of the same tender [age]. With great glee, our Pawnees and Shoshonees pounced upon the abandoned war-drums of the enemy, and for hours kept up an unintermitted 7. As their lodges were burning, the Cheyennes brought out their Sacred Arrows, men and women appearing on the rocks to open the bundle and lay the arrows on the ground facing the soldiers. Then the Arrow Priest sang a song, and the others cried out and stamped their feet on the ground, repeating the ceremony four times. This, apparently, was to promote some sort of misfortune for the Cheyennes serving as military scouts during the fight. Stands In Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 217. 8. After studying various accounts on both sides, Jerome A. Greene believes a reasonable estimate of immediate Cheyenne losses to be about forty killed and perhaps eighty wounded. He points out, however, that this figure does not include deaths and injuries from exposure over subsequent days that can be directly attributed to Mackenzie’s destruction of their camp, possessions, and equipment. Likewise, many of the wounded carried away from the field subsequently died of exposure and the inability to receive treatment from their destitute comrades. Greene, Morning Star Dawn, 140.

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charivari, deriding the misfortunes of their enemy and exalting their own prowess. The tide of battle had turned completely in our favor; the pack-train left behind last night when our forward movement commenced, here trolled into camp with plenty of rations and Thirty thousand extra metallic cartridges, enough to whip off any force of the enemy that might assail us. To guard against any casualty of that nature, Gen. Mackenzie asked me early in the day to write to General Crook asking him to send down some Infantry with their long guns, to dislodge the enemy from the rocks. (As we afterwards learned, the message reached General Crook at 11 A.M., on the 26th, and the fifteen Companies of foot-troops with rations and ammunition on pack-train marched twenty-five miles over the frozen trail before midnight, same date.) Dull Knife, one of the two principal chiefs of the hostiles had a “talk”, at long range, with Roland,9 our interpreter. He said his three sons had been killed in the fight. For himself, he was willing to surrender and make peace, but the others were resolute in their derision of our overtures. Dull Knife called out to our Sioux and Cheyenne soldiers—“go home, you have no business here. We can whip the white soldiers alone, but can’t fight you too”. The other Cheyennes called out they were going over to a big Sioux village they asserted to be nearby and get its assistance and then come back and clean us out. “You have killed and hurt a heap of our people, they said, you may as well stay now and kill the rest of us”. The chiefs present were Dull Knife, Little Wolf, Roman Nose, Gray Head and Old Bear. Forty of their lodges had been in every fight with the whites this year. The next day, (November 26th.) our wounded were comfortably placed in mule litters, the best kind of transportation for wounded men, and our dead, wrapped in canvass and packed on mules, with the exception of Private Baird, buried where he fell on the field.10 Only one of our men was scalped. Private Sullivan who went into the charge through the village with Taylor’s company. A strong body of 9. William Rowland. 10. In his diary, Pvt. William Earl Smith, 4th Cavalry, noted he was kept awake the night of November 25–26, in part by his own frozen leg, and in part by the moans of the wounded from the hospital tent. He also wrote that Mackenzie, who was emotionally unstable in the best of times, seemed to have gone into a severe depression and spent all night pacing. The next morning over coffee, Smith wrote, Mackenzie “talked to me a good deal about the fite a[nd] seemed to feel bad about the boys that had been hirt and ciled [i.e. killed].” Smith, Sagebrush Soldier, 88, 91.

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men, under direction of Capt. Davis, 4th Cavalry, was kept at work all morning, burning and destroying every piece of property they could find among the ruined lodges. This work was performed most artistically. First, fires were made of the broken lodge-poles, then bags of marrow, fat and tallow were piled above and upon these the fuel the squaws had piled in front of their lodges for daily use. The heat from these fires was something remarkable and soon took the temper from axes, hatches, pans, picks, and shovel. Tin cups were split with axes, and in like manner plates, coffee-pots, kettles and other culinary implements. Untanned buffalo robes, skins, and blankets, not needed for use of Indians or troops, were heaped up in the flames and burnt to a crisp. Quantities of strychnine used to poison wolves; bullet moulds, metallic cartridge shells (empty.) knives, spoons, axes—all the Lares and Penates of the American Bedouin, shared the same fate. The complicity of these Indians in the Custer massacre was established by evidence of the character following: Pillow case, made of silk guidon. (7th Cavalry.) Guard Roster of Company “G”, 7th Cavalry. Memorandum Books of First Sergeants of 7th Cavalry. One of these had in it an entry made the very day of the fight, “Left Rosebud, June 25th:[”]—This had been subsequently used by a Cheyenne warrior to contain the picture-history of his own prowess. Here he was murdering a poor teamster, here again, a wretched miner. At one point, he was running away from Reno’s barricade on the hill, (represented by a round line of fire, with saddled horses lying down inside,) amid a hurricane of bullets; in this encounter, the Cheyenne represented himself wounded once and his pony four times. Cavalry Horses, branded U.S. Saddles, Canteens, nosebags, curry combs and Brushes, Rosters of Companies, Shovels and axes,—all the above marked with the letter of the Company, in the 7th Cavalry, that they had belonged to: A book with the names of the three best-shots at each target practice of Captain [sic] Donald McIntosh’s Company, 7th Cavalry.11 One officer’s Overcoat. 11. Lieutenant Donald McIntosh was the brother of Archie McIntosh, who had scouted for Crook in Arizona. He was killed in the Reno fight which opened the series of disjoined actions collectively known as the battle of the Little Bighorn. Likewise, the target score book must have been taken from soldiers of McIntosh’s company killed in the Reno fight. See Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1.

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Two Officer’s Blouses, An Officer’s India rubber water-proof Cape. A Buckskin jacket, lined with taffeta, supposed from its make and appearance, to have been worn on the fatal day by Captain Tom Custer. A gold pencil case. A silver watch. Pocket-books with currency and coin. (Sharp Nose, the Arapahoe chief, found in one of these, $47.00 in small Bills.) The hat of 1st Sergeant William Allen, Company “I”, 3d Cavalry, killed in Rosebud fight. Letters received from relatives at home and letters written and ready to be mailed. One to a young lady in the East had a stamp on it and everything ready for mailing. Photographs, as for example, this one pasted on this page.

Carte de Visite recovered in the Cheyenne camp during Mackenzie’s fight, and pasted in diary 14:1431 (U.S. Military Academy Library)

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A full cartridge-belt with a silver plate marked “Little Wolf”, (given to this chief when he was visiting Washington a few years since.) This was taken from an Indian to whom probably Little Wolf had given it. The scalps of two young girls, neither over twelve years old, one an American, the other a Shoshonee.* The hand of a Shoshonee squaw. The scalp of the Shoshonee warrior killed on our side at the Rosebud, June 17th, Recognized by his friends. No enemy was in sight this morning: our Indian scouts pushed out and found the Cheyennes in a cañon six miles from us, but no hostile demonstrations were exchanged. Another dead Cheyenne was found in the rocks and great pools of blood to denote where the enemy’s wounded had lain. Four more dead ponies were come upon, killed by our fire and the skeletons of six butchered by the starving Cheyennes for food. As our column moved out, it began to snow heavily. Two or three Cheyennes came into their ruined camp, almost as soon as our men had left, and sat down and wailed at the spectacle of their [devastated] home.12 They were not molested [missing] on the same creek, (10) or twelve [miles] from the scene of action. Day [missing]. November [27th] Marches [missing] miles (9 or 10.) We [went] north, nearly [missing] income trail, bivouacking on Willow Creek; as we came within sight of General Crook’s column of foot-soldiers returning to our supply camp. A party of our Pawnees and Shoshonees came back this morning, having lost five horses stolen from the retreating village. They had “rounded up” a herd of one hundred ponies and were making off with them when the whole village came upon them and had it not been for a furious snow storm, their tenacity would have been atoned for by their death. They reported the enemy badly cut up, almost naked, without blankets, shoes or ammunition and hauling many wounded in the direction of the head of the Crazy Woman’s Fork.13 In the top margin, Bourke wrote: A buckskin bag containing the Right hands of twelve Shoshonee babies. *

12. This page has been torn and repaired with tape which has stained and obliterated some of the writing. Once again those words that cannot be determined are designated [missing] and those that can be inferred are enclosed in [brackets]. 13. Caught in bed by Mackenzie’s attack, the Cheyennes fled their camp with almost nothing. Utterly destitute, they wandered about looking for another camp where they could find food and shelter. One group of young warriors went ahead and built a fire. When the others arrived, they warmed themselves, while the young men forged ahead and built another

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The ground was very slippery this morning, and where cut into deep ravines almost impassable for [“travaux” in some] place, the mules had to be [missing] banks and allowed to slide [missing] by guy ropes held by the [missing], and each of the travaux [missing] in a like manner. [Missing] we came to [Willow] Creek, which we crossed before going into camp on the other side, the ends of the travaux poles were secured in the bight of a rope and its extremity held by men on horseback, siding alongside the travaux. The beneficial effect of travaux travelling upon the health of the wounded men is due, it seems to me, to the absence of jolting and the fact that in every position the sick man’s head is higher than the rest of his body. November 28th. One of our worst cases of wounds—Private McFarland—died this morning. Command moved about ten miles to head of Right fork of the Crazy Woman’s Fork and (Snowing) November 29th, ten miles more into our Supply Camp. The trail we took was in fact almost identical with our outgoing line of march, so I have not given any of the topographical features. A rough sketch of the country is commenced. . . . Also a sketch of the scene of action of November 25th, 1876.

fire. Thus they moved from fire to fire in an effort to keep from freezing to death. A war party, absent at the time of the attack, encountered them on the trail. One member of that party, Wooden Leg, described the scene: They had but little food. Many of them had no blankets nor robes. They had no lodges. Only here and there was one wearing moccasins. The others had their feet wrapped in loose pieces of skin or of cloth. Women, children and old people were straggling along over the snow-covered trail down the valley. . . . Many of our men, women and children had been killed. Others had died of wounds or had starved and frozen to death on the journey through the mountain snow to Tongue river. Over the next two weeks many more starved, froze to death or died of wounds before they finally found refuge with Crazy Horse’s Oglalas on Beaver Creek in Montana. Marquis, Wooden Leg, 286–87; Stands in Timber and Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, 217–18.

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General Crook sent the following telegrams to Lieut-General Sheridan, rough copies of which I appended below and tell better than any language of mine his sense of the work performed by Mackenzie’s Command. Camp on Crazy Woman’s Fork, W.T. Nov. 26th, 1876 Lt. General P.H. Sheridan, Chicago, Illinois. On our arrival here, on the 23rd instant, an Indian, [(]whom Mackenzie had sent to the hostile country before leaving Red Cloud.) came into our camp and gave information which determined me to carry out my original plan, (operating against the Cheyennes first[)]. Consequently, on the 24th I sent Genl. Mackenzie with his Cavalry and Indian scouts over the Big Horn Mountains. This morning (I received.) a dispatch from General Mackenzie saying he attacked the Cheyennes village, of over one hundred lodges, on the West Fork of the Powder River yesterday morning, capturing their village and greater portion of their herd. The loss on both sides he thought considerable, but was not ascertained when courier left. Lieut. McKinney, 4th Cavalry, was killed. The Indians had taken refuge in the adjacent Bad Lands and he wanted me to bring up the Infantry with their long range guns to help dislodge them. It has been snowing all morning with a prospect of a big snow. Expect to have trouble in getting over to Mackenzie. The Indian who came into us here says that while in Crazy Horse’s camp runners came in from Sitting Bull’s village with the information that he had made peace with the whites to the effect that they were to be allowed to hunt buffalo until Spring when they were to have an Agency on the Belle Fourche, in the Black Hills. That part of this, (Sitting Bull’s.) village was talking of moving up to join Crazy Horse, who has camped on the Rosebud near the point where General Terry and I met last summer. (signed.) Crook. Brigadier General. (2nd) Crazy Woman, November 28th 1876 Lt. General P.H. Sheridan, Chicago, Illinois. Before reaching General Mackenzie, I learned of the Indians’

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retreat and that he was returning with his Command, and countermanded the foot troops to this place. I send General Mackenzie’s report of his operations against the Cheyennes. I can’t commend too highly his brilliant achievements and the gallantry of the troops of his Command. This will be a terrible blow to the hostiles, as the Cheyennes were not only their bravest warriors, but have been the head and front of most all the raids and deviltry committed in this country. (signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General November 30th. Thanksgiving Day. General Mackenzie issued from his Hd.Qrs., the following General Field Orders No. 4. The funeral of the following enlisted men14 of this Command, killed in action with hostile Indians on the 25th instant, on the North Fork of Powder River, Wyo., will take place at 12 o’clock. M[eridian]., this day, viz: Corporal Patrick F. Ryan, Company “D”, 4th Cavalry Private John Sullivan, Company “B”, 4th Cavalry “ Alan Keller “ “E” “ ” “ “ John Menges “ “H” 5th “ “ Alex. McFarland “ “L” 5th All officers and enlisted men will be present and mounted. Each Company designated will furnish one Corporal and eight privates, except Company “D”, which will furnish one Corporal and twelve privates as firing parties and will be also mounted. By order of Colonel R. S. Mackenzie (Signed.) Joseph H. Dorst, 2 Lieutenant & Assistant Adjutant. 4th Cav. In compliance with the above, not only the officers of Mackenzie’s own command but also those from the Battalions of Artillery and Infantry attended the mortuary services of our late, gallant comrades. The graves were excavated on the summit of a low terrace, and arranged side by side. The funeral procession, numbering six hundred men and headed by General Crook, Colonel Mackenzie, Col. 14. Lieutenant McKinney’s body was returned to his family. It was not explained why Private Baird was buried on the field, instead of being brought back to camp. Robinson, Bad Hand, 223.

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Dodge, Col. Gordon, Col. Townsend and Staffs moved slowly to the place of sepulture and there halted until the close of the obsequies. The usual funeral salute was fired, and then the bugles sang “taps”, and our heroes were left to sleep their last sleep undisturbed. December 1st. A sergeant, (Patterson,) of Captain Hemphill’s Company, 4th Cavalry, was killed by having his horse fall upon him and burst some of the interior arteries. A body of our Arapahoe scouts started this evening to go back on the trail leading to the hostile village, or to the place where this once had been: their purpose to pick up abandoned ponies and discover what information they could. Seven of our Sioux, headed by Louis Chaugrau, were dispatched to Red Cloud Agency, to learn whether any of the Cheyennes had come in, and also to secure a new contingent of auxiliaries from among the Sioux there. December 2nd. Command moved back to Reno. December 3d. Command moved to the head of the Dry Fork of Powder River. Lieut. [Orlando L.] Wieting, 23d Infantry, came in after us, with the remains of poor McKinney, that Captain Pollock, 9th Infantry, Commanding at Reno, had had securely boxed up, ready for shipment to his brother in Memphis, Tenn. Our Shoshonees bad us good by this morning. They have been greatly distressed by what we found in the hostile village. They fear the rejoicing of the Cheyennes and the sounding of war drums we heard was on account of some recent victory over the Shoshonees. That they had the best of reasons for such suspicions we were all satisfied, but kept our views, of course, to ourselves. The tépi of one of the Cheyennes had in it a little buckskin bag, holding ten or twelve little Indian children’s hands!! cut off at the wrists and still very fresh. There were besides two or three female scalps, the scalp of the Shoshnee Indian we had lost at the Rosebud and one of a white man. (Mem. One of our packers gave me to-day, the scalp of a little white girl, not more than ten years old, whose bright golden silky ringlets, once the pride of a doting mother’s heart, had to all appearances, for a long time adorned the wigwam of the blood thirsty Indians.) The Shoshonee drew up in line of battle, as if on parade, and then Cosgrove told us they wanted to give General Crook, Capt. Pollock, Lt. Schuyler and myself a few testimonials of regard before setting out to rejoin their own people. These were all articles taken from the hostiles and very curious in workmanship. To General Crook,

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they gave a stone pipe: to Captain Pollock a “medicine shirt”, as it is called, of buckskin, painted black and fringed with scalp-locks, and yellow horse-hair plumes, taken presumably from the helmets of soldiers of the ill-fated 7th Cavalry.15 On the ground before Schuyler and self they laid a bow, and quiver full of vicious looking arrows of unusual size, a saddle cover of buckskin, embroidered in bead work, a bed-cover or something of that sort, adorned in much the same way, a pair of heavily ornamented moccasins, and a war-shield of grotesque workmanship, circular in form and protected in front by a thick coating of eagle and other feathers, difficult for a bullet to penetrate. The “totem” of the owner was conspicuously displayed on the outer side, under the overhanging plumage; the “field was one half asure, lower half red (ochre.).[“] Underneath is a crude representation, the plumage supposed to be blown to one side.

At all the dotted places feathers were attached The cover or case of this buckler was of plain, white buckskin, ornamented in center of a prairie chicken’s head. In reciprocation of these courtesies, we had nothing but an old Indian pony of mine, which however was sent to Washakie as an indication of good will. Our Arapahoe detachments came into camp by night, with a considerable number of ponies, gathered in on the trail of the retreating Cheyennes: A wagon-train loaded with forage, reached our bivouac, Lieutenant [Leonard Austin] Lovering, 4th Infantry, in charge. Monday, Dec. 4th. The blustering wind, low temperature and clouded sky, foretelling a storm, General Crook, by advice of the Indian chiefs, decided to remain here during the day, to avoid the risk of being caught out on the open plains, with inadequate protection. The aspect of the campaign at present is such that it [is] more than 15. This seems farfetched. It is highly unlikely that a cavalryman would have carried the socket and plume of his dress helmet in his field gear. A more reasonable explanation is that it might have been stolen from the barracks at one of the forts.

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doubtful if we see another hostile Indian on the trip. Crazy Horse’s band will be on the alert, like a herd of wild deer, ready to run at the first intimation of danger; our Indians insist they have already taken the alarm and started for the country about the headwaters of the Little Missouri and the Belle Fourche, just north of us. Our next movement will be down the Little Powder or Little Missouri or Belle Fourche, to some position where we can lie “perdu”, and wait until our Indian sleuth-hounds come upon the trail of the retreating enemy: This done, a very rapid march may give another opportunity of doing them damage. To make the column as mobile as possible, the General this morning sent off to Fetterman under command of Major Gordon, 5th Cavalry, all sick and wounded men and disabled animals, making a total reduction from our strength of nearly 250 men. Captain Taylor and Lieut. [Edward W.] Ward, 5 Cavy., Lt. Wieting, 23d Infantry, with Lieut. McKinney’s body, and A[cting]. A[ssistant] Surgeon W. T. Owsley, also accompanied the detachment. Colonel Gordon’s ultimate destination is Omaha, Lieut. Wieting’s, Cheyenne, and Taylor and Ward, Red Cloud Agency. Colonel Gordon’s wit has often served to re-animate the despondent minds and stimulate the weary bodies of his comrades; his stories are exceptionally good and told with a grace almost artistic in its attention to details. His conversation is very animated and usually droll and pungent. One of his anecdotes, narrated with great powers of mimicry, represents the interview of a malingering recruit with the late Surgeon [Benjamin F.] Harney, a thorough scholar in his profession, but noted for eccentricity. The recruit commenced his rambling, long-winded complaint of troubles, serious, complicated and vague. The Doctor’s face beamed with a tender sympathy. It was impossible for the man not to feel he was in the hands of a kind-hearted old gentleman, interested in alleviating his troubles. The Doctor now feels his pulse and examines his tongue: was his appetite good? so, so: and his digestion? Poor, of course. Pains in the back? Oh. Yes. Doctor and in the head too. The medical inquisition ended here—but the poor wretch who fondly imagined he was to be excused from all work and duty, felt the blood freeze in his veins as the Doctor called out in thunder tones to his Assistant: “Stevens, Poison this son of a b----!!” The recruit, believing from the sudden change in the Doctor’s voice and manner, that he meant what he said, jumped through the open window and ran for his life. He was

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never seen again in that part of the country, and the service found its ranks minus one poor specimen of a soldier. As a soldier, Colonel Gordon ranks deservedly high and displayed a high order of courage and ability in our late engagement. His temperament is in striking contrast to that of Genl. Mackenzie, who is brave indeed to recklessness, but too impetuous and also too variable in his moods. Yet Mackenzie’s services have been so brilliant, no recognition short of a General’s star can, in my opinion, requite them.16 A courier from Fort Fetterman brought information of the obstruction of the Medicine Bow road by snow. Colonel Carleton was obliged to employ Cavalry horses as draught animals, there being no mules at his post. Not to be able to keep our animals supplied with grain means that the campaign must end now, or very soon. Our animals already have become gaunt and worn out, and derive little nutriment from the frost-bitten gras, hidden quite frequently under a coating of snow. The cold north wind is roaring in our ears and a bitter storm impending. Winter has, beyond doubt, commenced in earnest and with an aspect more fierce and threatening than usual, even in this favorite abode of storm and tempest. Our policy must be outlined by the state of the weather; if continuedly unfavorable, no option will be left, but to resume station at Fetterman and other points until a moderation in climate may give a season for renewal of operations. Our wounded who left this morning, are objects of solicitude; yet, they have done extraordinarily well, in despite of cold and danger and privation. One patient, that I heard of the other day, was being dragged in a travaux [sic] over the snow; his wound, a fracture of the thigh, required in the attending surgeon’s estimation, gentleness of treatment and careful driving. [I]t was with much annoyance that he saw the mule trotting along very briskly; the driver with great nonchalance talking to the wounded man meanwhile. The Doctor’s annoyance was exceeded by astonishment when told the sick man had requested this rapid gait. “Yes, Doctor,[”] said he, [“]if I only had a few bells this would be as good as a sleigh ride.” Another, a Shoshonee scout, An-zi, perforated through the body by a Henry rifle bullet, rode all the next day and part of the second, on horseback, 16. The reference to Mackenzie as “general” was in deference to his Union Army brevet rank. His active rank in the Regular Army at this time was colonel.

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and had to be almost constrained to remain in the Hospital. Dr. [M. W.] Wood gave him a good stiff drink of brandy to stimulate him. That settled the business. Every time the medical man approached, Anzi would accost him with “Ho John, heap medicine”, meaning he wanted another drink which was always given him. The Doctors regard his case with wonder: according to the books, he ought to be dead, but persisted in living and improving each day. . . . A courier from Cantonment Reno, reached General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. this evening, with news to corroborate our impression that the Cheyenne village we destroyed had lately been committing raids upon the Shoshonees. December 5th (Tuesday.) Remained in Camp. Blustering storm of cold wind continued. Dispatch received from the Lieutenant General announcing the arrival at the Cheyenne Agency of the advance of the Indians who surrendered to General Miles on the Missouri early last month: also the following: Chicago, Illinois, Dec. 3d, 1876 To General George Crook. (To be forwarded by Commanding Officer, Fetterman,) It gives me great pleasure to transmit to you the following dispatch from the General of the Army, to which I add my own congratulations. (signed.) P.H. Sheridan, Lieutenant General. Washington D.C., December 2d 1876. Your dispatch of the 1st inst., embracing the reports of General Crook and Mackenzie is received. Please convey to Generals Crook and Mackenzie my congratulations and assure them that we appreciate highly the services of our brave officers and men who are now fighting savages in the most inhospitable regions of our Continent. I hope their efforts this winter will result in perfect success and that our troops will hereafter be spared the necessity of these hard winter campaigns. (signed.) W.T. Sherman, General. Mem. Couriers left for Fort Fetterman, this night.

Chapter 10 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Grouard and Bourke on Indians

December 9.1 In Camp on the Belle Fourche. Our progress to this point has been tedious and exhausting. Our departure from Supply Camp, at Dry Fork did not take place until 10 A.M., of the 6th , between which hour and two in the afternoon, our column got as far as a series of large water holes in the bed of a dry course tributary to the Powder. Sufficient fuel for cooking purposes had been carried along in wagons, to guard against any lack of wood at camp, but we found more than enough both of it and clear, cold water and as much grass as could reasonably be expected at this season. Our line of travel was very indirect, it being impracticable to get wagons or even mules over the country in a straight line. In every direction, ravines and arroyos, with almost vertical sides, cut up the surface of the earth and enclosed us in a network of difficulties. Our bivouac was South South East from the most easterly of the four Pumpkin Buttes. The country on the South East side of the Pumpkin Buttes is almost a barren tract, productive of nothing but a thin crop of grass and a heavy one of cactus. Late last night, Lieutenant Lovering, 4th 1. Bourke apparently means December 6.

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Infantry, with his supply train passed through our last Camp going back to Fort Fetterman. December 7th. The hazy, cold weather of yesterday gave way to a chilling storm of snow that beat down upon the column all day as we slowly trudged along between the two most Eastern of the Pumpkin Buttes, following the Miner’s Road to the Black Hills, for twenty miles, until after reaching head of the Belle Fourche, when we made bivouac, and awaited the arrival of our wagon-train, which rolled in after night-fall. For fuel, we were again obliged to place our main reliance upon the stock loaded into our wagons, which with sage-brush and grease-wood gave all that was absolutely necessary.* Went to bed almost immediately after supper, which was not served up until a late hour. Mr. Roche shot a porcupine this afternoon and roasted it in the ashes. The meat is fat and has a greasy, rancid taste, something like pork. The cattle-herd that had stampeded last night was recovered this morning more than twenty miles off to the West. The water at this camp was full of lively animalculae, sporting about in the clear and almost frozen liquid: no bad taste was perceptible. Frank Grouard gave us to-day, a list of the four Cardinal virtues of the Sioux Indians. 1. To hunt food for their own people. 2. To beware of the troubles women occasion in the tribes. 3. To help a wounded comrade: i.e. when retreating from the enemy, if one Indian has his horse killed or is himself wounded, his comrades must lend him their own horses to enable him to escape. 4. To be charitable to the poor: give food and horses to those in the village that need them. Sitting Bull is a very uxorious man and has had twenty-nine wives. Crazy Horse has had but one wife and one child. Sitting Bull’s intercourse with the whites has been quite limited, Crazy Horse’s very extensive. In fact, the youth of the latter was mostly passed at one of the Missouri River Agencies. The different tribes of the Sioux Nation bear names with the following significance. Wappeton People who live in Swamps. Sisseton “ ” “ ” Woods. Bourke’s marginal note: The site of this camp is known to the Sioux as the “Place where the Buffalo Calf killed the young warrior.”

*

GROUARD AND BOURKE ON INDIANS Yankton Yanktonnais Ki-ox-si Unca-pápas. Minneconjous. Ogallalla Ee-tazih-uit-chò. (Sans arcs.) O-ee-no-pah Wa-zá-shé (Brulés.) Sha-sa-pà See-chang-ò (Brulés.) Hohè “Strangers”.

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Village at the End of Nation. Village next [to] the Yanktons. Cut-Offs. Dried beef eaters. Planters by the Water. Smut in the face. (Blackened faces.) No Bows. Two Kettles. Wash your face. Blackfeet. Burnt thighs. Assinoibines. [sic]*

Wah-tópàh “Paddlers” Santee Those who live in thickets. Dec. 8th. Snow in a feeble kind of way, trickled down all the morning. The wind roaring from the north chilled our bones; the heavy leaden clouds, obscuring the entire sky, had a most dispiriting effect upon us. Through a series of bad lands, and for nearly twenty miles, we worked our way down the Bell[e] Fourche, every few yards surmounting grave obstacles in the shape of “cut-bank” ravines and steep grades. Our pioneer corps was worked to the utmost and, in despite of its efforts, numbers of the wagons failed to reach camp until nearly midnight. Passed a mile or two before getting to this camp, White Willow Creek, coming in from South East, apparently well timbered. When we made bivouac, had plenty of water, plenty of wood, and considerable grass, altho this was well hidden under a heavy covering of snow. In front of camp, a thick stratum of good lignite protruded above surface. We crossed the Belle Fourche several times without inconvenience: yet, in places, it is dangerously miry. In one ford, I saw two Indian ponies mired deeply and nearly dead from cold and exhaustion. They were extricated only by most strenuous labor, pulling them out by main strength. The latter part of this march, the contour of the country was that of an elevated plateau, cut into by arroyos, and dotted on Right and Left by prominences of small size, Bourke’s note: A Chippeway word meaning “Stone-Boilers”, i.e. people who boil their food by throwing hot stones into the vessels of water containing it. *

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excepting one to the West, which our guides said was the head of the Little Powder River. Our work in getting down this far has had its compensation in the really luxurious living that awaited us, within an hour after our wagons had reached bivouac. During my experience on the frontier, never have so much comfort and so much efficiency been combined in the same Expedition. The only drawback is the almost impossibility of getting enough grain for our animals, in the season of cold and snow, when grass is withered and scarce and the physical system needs more than the usual ration of grain to enable the poor quadruped to withstand the tax upon his strength. General Crook has made every arrangement to meet the requirements of our transportation, and has ordered 600.000 lbs. of corn forward to Ft. Fetterman and thence to Cantonment Reno. Unfortunately the short road from Medicine Bow, on the U.P.R.R., to Fetterman is now blocked with snow and teams have to take the road from Cheyenne, fifty miles longer. To supply the wants of such a command as this takes nearly 30.000 pound per diem. An accumulation of 500.000 pounds was made at Fetterman and nearly as much at Reno, before the present movement began, and 300.000 pounds more ordered forward as soon as we had left Fetterman; and a fortnight or so later, another 300.000. The failure of this to arrive promptly is due to causes beyond human control. We have no resource but to economize as much as possible which has been done by cutting down the ration one half and sending the weaker animals two hundred and forty in number to the rear; yet, it seems as if the bones of many of our horses and mules were fated to pave the trail we pursue. Yesterday, one mule and two cavalry horses were abandoned.2 Tomorrow, Dec. 10th fifty of our wagons return to Supply Camp on the Dry Fork, to bring back all the grain that 2. Dodge, who apparently was unaware of the logistical problems, blamed Crook, commenting that the general well knows that this part of the expedition must be a failure, if for no other reason, because we cannot transport our supplies. His train is in wretched condition yet he does nothing to get or keep it in order. . . . Mules are the very first element of success in such an expedn as this—yet he seems to care nothing whatever about his mules—The Cavy horses & Indian ponies are giving out every day, & by the time we reach the mouth of the Little Powder, it will be a miracle if more than half of us, do not walk back. General Sherman, who as head of the army ultimately was responsible for all logistics, shared Dodge’s view. When Crook later complained in his report of the expedition about “the want of proper transportation on account of meagre appropriation allowed me for this purpose,” Sherman countered, “General Crook was certainly empowered to provide for his command as liberally as any General that ever took the Field at any time. If his men were

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Colonel Carleton was to have sent out from Fort Fetterman, since our departure. (Same Day.) (Dec. 9th) Made four miles, in about five hours, half that time at least being employed in cutting roadways for our wagon trains. Many deer, antelope, elk and rabbits, killed yesterday and to-day,—a total of not less than seventy-five: shot by Indians, principally. General Crook shot a black-tailed deer this morning, and two of the Hd.Qrs. orderlies shot one each yesterday of antelope, affording the different messes plenty of fresh meat. Our present-camp, has plenty of wood and water from the Belle Fourche, and grass in the little foot-hills, distant a mile from the stream. It is a broad, open flat, easily guarded and makes a pretty fair camping place. The Day has been cold and hazy, but no snow. A few words, descriptive of the government of the Sioux villages &c.: one full of interest and instruction. They may be considered accurate, based as they are, upon Frank Gruard’s testimony. The government of the Sioux bands is essentially patriarchal. It is vested in a Council of twelve “old men”, of experience and capacity who select a subordinate council of twelve “soldier chiefs”, to assist in all deliberations affecting the general welfare. To make this selection, the “old men”, or “Senators” as we may call them, take their seats in the “soldier’s lodges”, and send out twelve bundles of stick, six bundles painted black, six red. The six black bundles are deposited in the tépis of the six warriors “who have counted ‘coup’, without quarrelling over it”, and the six red ones in the tépis of the same number of warriors who have been severely wounded in battle and recovered. This summons is mandatory: if the warriors selected, decline it, they must forfeit their best horse: if they accept the position, their squaws prepare a feast of meat or whatever else they have and send it to the “Soldiers’ Lodge”, for consumption. These young “soldier chiefs”, acting in unison with the “Senators”, attend to all affairs of the common weal, moving camp, hunting buffalo &c.* Bourke’s marginal note: During periods of trouble, say when the band is in proximity to a hostile village, the twelve old men and the soldier chief[s], habitually reside in the “soldier’s lodge”.—and sleep there. During their sessions, the public crier sits at [the] door of council and proclaims from time to time their orders to the people. *

not properly provided with everything it was his own fault.” Kime, Powder River Expedition Journals, 114; Crook to AAG, MilDivMo, January 8, 1877, Special File—Sioux; Sherman to Sheridan, February 8, 1877, ibid.

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In marching, the twelve “old men”, take the head of the column, the “soldier chiefs” guard the flanks and the rear. It is not etiquette for a squaw to give the name of any of her relatives, neither her father, mother, father in law, mother in law, brother, sister, husband or even cousin, but she may mention her children. Almost the same strictness applies to the men, who may give the names of father, mother, brother and children, but not of sister. A man never speaks to his mother in law, and only rarely to his father in law. Being in a lodge, other than his own, or at a gathering away from his own fire-side, if the mother in law’s name be mentioned, the son-in law, will generally draw his blanket over his head and take his departure: Women in child-birth are attended only by old squaws, who perform the necessary abscission. The young mother does not lie in bed at all, but resumes without delay her ordinary avocations. She must however live in a lodge by herself for twelve days. Her child for the first two or three days is suckled by other women. So, during the time of menstrual purgation, women inhabit for four days a lodge by themselves performing no indoor labor. They do not cook, nor even bring drinking water. In brief, it is looked upon as “bad medicine” to have anything to do with them. The musical instruments of the plains Indians, consist of the reed instrument already described, drums which look very much like a tambourine, and gourds, filled with shot or small stones, and exactly like the instrument employed by the Apaches of Arizona for [the] same purpose. The Apache, moreover makes a miniature four stringed fiddle of the stalk of the mescal or century plant: of such an instrument, no counterpart has come under my observation among the plains Indians, who are also unable to make pottery, wicker-ware, or woolen goods, while the Navajoes, Moquis3 and Zunis of Arizona, manufacture fine blankets and woolen garments, and also decorated pottery, and the while Apaches, of the same territory, fabricate a basket, so closely woven, that water cannot percolate through the fibres. The plains Indians make saddles and pack saddles; of great strength, and ornament the skins they tan with great care and not seldom with much beauty. It is a reflection upon the efficiency of our Ordnance Department, to learn that these wild nomads, on both sides of the Rocky Mountains, antedated Eastern manufacturers in 3. Hopis.

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reloading the once-used metallic cartridge of the breech-loading arms of precision. When I was first graduated from the Academy in 1869, the Apaches of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Sonora, used to break an aperture into the metallic cartridges and by inserting caps were enabled to reload them many times. I saw some of these crude but serviceable projectiles, or fixed ammunition in the mountains of Sonora, Mexico, in 1870: and at the Cheyenne village destroyed by General Mackenzie last month, the same thing: Equally efficacious with the reloading shell of Eastern manufacture, if not as artistic in mode of preparation. December 10th. A blue sky with scarcely a cloud. A train of fifty wagons started in this morning, to bring accumulated supplies from the Dry Fork of Powder River, Captain [William Henry] Jordan’s Company of the 9th Infantry, acted as escort. Orders were sent to 1 Lt. G. W. Taylor, 4th Artillery, to report at Cantonment Reno, for medical treatment. A party of miners came in from Deadwood City in the Black Hills. They reported having had five or six horses run off by hostile Indians, whose trails were very numerous on the North West corner of the hills. . . . Three Bears, chief of the Sioux (Ogallalla.) favored me with a visit this morning, after breakfast. Our conversation, of course, was limited, but I learned from him that he had two squaws and four children, all sons—one big enough to ride a horse. They would be “heap glad”, to see him back at Red Cloud. The chieftain’s heart and stomach were rejoiced by a collation of biscuits, jelly and tea: he asked for the latter. In speaking of corn, he called it “wàká-màze”, in which word can be detected the root of the name we have been taught to call it, i.e. “maize”. From this camp, Inyan-Kara Peak is East and Harren’s Peak, almost due north. December 11th. In the darkness of last night, we were aroused by two miners who knocked against Genl. Crook’s tent until they had awakened him to listen to their story. They said they were members of the same party that had followed the command from Cantonment Reno, but had remained at our second camp on the Belle Fourche, five miles above where we were then. About two o’clock last night they were surrounded almost by an unknown body of Indians, but judging from the size of the two volleys poured into them, the

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hostiles were undoubtedly in large numbers. With one exception, however, the miners succeeded in effecting their escape, losing their animals and effects. This story had on its face an air of improbability: near the place spoken of is a thick vein of coal our blacksmiths have been using to heat the shoes of the public animals, and until about the very hour mentioned, Major Furey had wagons busily employed last-night carrying loads of coal to camp. Still the report was made so seriously that General Crook had no option in the matter and had to order an investigation. The Pawnee scouts were ordered back to the scene of the trouble and there found that a party of five Cheyennes on foot had attacked the unguarded camp of these eleven doughty miners, for such was their full number, killed one of them with his own axe and scattered the others in every direction, capturing all the horses, blankets, guns, ammunition and provisions left behind in their flight. The hostiles were undoubtedly part of the village, destroyed by Mackenzie and had taken up our trail in the hopes of finding just the kind of good luck that befell them. Their destitution may be inferred from their leaving on their trail a mocassin, made of green buffalo skin. The Pawnees followed the trail for eight or ten miles, until it became obliterated by the Cheyennes, dividing in all directions. We have been annoyed beyond endurance of late, by loose animals wandering about Hd.Qrs., and stumbling over the guy ropes of the tents: this was bad enough, in itself, but there was one cold-blooded scoundrel of a wall-eyed horse that had calmly surveyed the situation and had viewed with scorn the impotent conclusions attained by the vulgar herd about him: for him, no mere disruption of a tent cord would suffice; nothing short of the destruction of the tent itself,—pulling it down over the ears of its inmates—could satisfy the ambitious longings of his noble soul. He determined to win renown or perish. So he stalked forward at a pleasant little trot and landed himself in one corner of our tent, tearing the concern almost to pieces, while Schuyler and self were unsuspectingly making our morning ablutions at the other. I cannot describe what followed. The Recording Angel had his hands full for the next five minutes. Observed a dark flat-topped blue peak in the Black Hills this morning: my Prismatic Compass placed it at 240° (i.e. North 60° East.) Also observed thickly-timbered tributary joining the Belle Fourche

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at this camp and coming in from about North, 30° West. Mail arrived in the afternoon: the contents were not of great importance. Major Pollock reported from Cantonment Reno that two miners had reached his post; wounded, and reported they had been “jumped” by a small party of hostile Indians in the Big Horn Mtns. near old Fort Kearney. These poor creatures like the one killed last night, incurred this danger thoughtlessly and without taking a single precaution for their own protection. Our experience is full of such incidents, so full indeed that at first they don’t impress us as painfully as they are certain to do when we come to reflect upon them and the woe the misfortunes of these poor devils will certainly bring to some unhappy family. Colonel Dodge told us yesterday that one of the Pawnees had approached him with something in his handkerchief, telling him it was “heap good”. An examination showed the “bovine bouche” to be the granulated liver of an elk, chased for so long a time before being killed, that it had lost the semblance of itself and had turned into big clots of blood. Over this had been sprinkled the gall of the animal and of this bloody, greenish looking mixture, the fastidious Colonel was invited to partake. He felt compelled to decline. Ralph looked at him with an air of compassion and then swallowed the mess himself leaving nothing but the dirty handkerchief.4 December 12th (Tuesday.) General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. and the Artillery Battalion, moved five or six miles down the Belle Fourche, to an open flat with plenty of pretty good grass. The valley of the stream is getting wider and more level and the summits of the bluffs begin to show plenty of pine timber. Dinner had just been concluded, when a strong North East wind arose and a cold storm of mingled rain and snow set in: This was over by the time we turned in for the night. December 13th, Wednesday, The General Court Martial for the trial of 2 Lt. H. G. Otis, 4th Cavalry, convened. The Charges preferred against this officer were of no great import, some little infringement of discipline and nothing more.5 Games of whist, euchre and poker 4. Dodge does not mention this incident in his diary. Ralph is apparently the name by which Bourke referred to the Pawnee. 5. Actually the trial convened on December 14, as Bourke notes in the next paragraph. Otis was brought up by Mackenzie on charges of neglect of duty and disrespect to his commanding officer. It seems largely based on a misunderstanding between an inexperienced young officer and an autocratic commander. Dodge, who served as president of the court-

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are springing up among the officers of the Command: they have this much to recommend them that they while away the time and serve to unite officers in friendly bonds of companionship. Dec. 14th. I was in error in saying that the Genl. Court Martial for Lieutenant Otis’ trial assembled yesterday; such was the intention, but a variety of causes combined to defer the convention until this morning. Captain [Harry Cooke] Cushing, 4th Artillery, showed us to-day, a series of sketches, illustrative of the campaign: a portrait of Three Bears, chief of our Sioux Indian scouts and one of General Crook, entitled “General Crook holding a council of War”, representing our Commanding Officer, standing alone on a rock, his hands deep in his pockets and his hat pulled down over his eyes; thinking out his plans and combinations—are very superior to the average of sketches intended, as these are, for publication in the pictorial press. If they print well, I shall try to secure the complete series and paste them in in some appropriate section of this journal. Frank Gruard gave a new conversation this morning, about the Sioux, of course: He says it is their custom after any engagement where a warrior may have distinguished himself, to allow him to choose a new name. (Our Pawnees all took new names yesterday, suggestive of their participation in the destruction of the Cheyenne village last month.) This system corresponds somewhat to the “agnomen”6 of the Romans. There is no such thing among any of these tribes as a “family name”, but in each band a person’s genealogy is well known, owing to the intermarriage common among the members. Marriage between near relatives is not countenanced: the marriage of sisters in law is valid, but not compulsory. It is not permitted in case the surviving brother is “not as good a man”, i.e. has not the same standing in the tribe as the deceased or when in any way it would be to the widow’s disparagement. As the Sioux are not monogamists, it happens sometimes that one man will marry a whole family of sisters and this is apt to be the rule when the girls are orphans. martial board, agreed with Bourke that the offense was trivial, commenting in his diary, “The offence amounts to but little & Mack had much better have given the boy a good scolding or a weeks arrest.” Otis was found not guilty of neglect, but guilty of disrespect and ordered to forfeit twenty-five dollars from the following month’s pay. Kime, Powder River Journals, 124–25, 127 n.143. 6. A name awarded to denote some great achievement, as in the case of Scipio Africanus, which proclaimed that Scipio had defeated the Carthaginians in Africa. The modern equivalent would be the British system of titled military, such as Mountbatten of Burma, Alexander of Tunis, Montgomery of Alamein, etc.

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Funerals are conducted after the general fashion of all rude communities. It has already been noted that the Sioux bury their dead in trees or upon scaffolds, alongside of streams. These simple preparations are made under the superintendence of some of the surviving friends or relatives, who also arrange the body in robes and coverings, sometimes ornamented richly with beads and quills. The gun of the deceased, if a warrior, is buried with him, tho’ the infractions of this convention are becoming more and more frequent, in these times when the demand for arms and ammunition to fight the whites and the difficulty of getting them are becoming so great. The wives and children, and sometimes others of the family, cut their hair short, in sign of grief, and then gather about the mortuary scaffold to indulge in extravagant lamentations. Professional “Keeners”, as among the Greeks and Celts, are to be encountered among the Sioux: they sound the panegyric of the dead, having their office requested by gifts of horses and food. The names of dead people are not mentioned until a long time after their [deaths?]. Superstition and credulity, are deeply rooted among this ignorant race; their range of knowledge is very circumscribed and beyond this horizon they attribute to supernatural agencies every unusual occurrence, or object whose origin is not self-evident. Their religious ideas are mainly a belief in the power or ubiquity of “little men”, or imps, to be placated by votive offerings, or “medicine” of some kind. Imposters, calling themselves “medicine men”, flourish: one is now in Crazy Horse’s band, styling himself the “Son of the Great Spirit”: he avers that he was born in the Sun and came down to earth, riding on a star. The Sioux consider the sun the abode of the Great Spirit, if not the Great Spirit Himself: on the other hand, the moon is looked upon in much the same light as Christian people look upon the Devil. I find it hard to reconcile this statement with the fact that the Sioux designate the moon as the “Sun of the Night”, ayímpi-wî. Eclipses are the occasions of great mental disquietude to the Dacotahs: they have no theory to account for them and believe they presage dessolution [sic] of the world. Scruples about partaking of different kinds of food are common: some individuals have ideas that the flesh of the Black-tailed deer is “bad medicine” for them; others nourish the same belief, concerning other animals: even the buffalo, strange as the assertion may seem,

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is not eaten by one or two of those whom Frank met. Amulets, made of buckskin, pouches of small size, covered with beads of one color on one side and another on the other, and filled with powdered sweet herbs, are in vogue, principally among the young squaws, tho’ the greatest warriors are not insensible to the efficacious mediation of a fossil tooth, a snake’s rattle or some potent stone. Crazy Horse wears a charm, made of a piece of white rock; those worn by the women are fastened in general to the back of the head. The Sioux cosmogony is vague and chaotic: they don’t appear to have reached any satisfactory conclusion yet as to whether they or the white man were first created. Speaking of white men, it is indicative of their feelings towards our race to know they call us Wâsíchi.* In the proper place,7 I omitted saying that the Indian “soldiers” must wear a streak of black paint somewhere on the face. If this distinguishing mark is not conspicuously visible, the other Indians will punish the delinquent by breaking his gun, shooting some of his ponies or other chastisement suited to the gravity of the case. (Fine Day.) December 15th. Wagons arrived from Fort Fetterman, laden with sutler’s supplies: a small mail, very old in date, also came (Reading in Tyler’s Early History of Mankind came across the astounding statement that the Arapahoe language is so feeble in inflective power or poor in elements that its people cannot hold a conversation in the dark, but must adjourn to the nearest fire to fully express their ideas by the “sign language”. This statement, made upon the authority of Captain Burton,8 is very incorrect; the Arapahoes living as they do in close affiliation with the Sioux and Cheyennes and having a language so apocopated and guttural, that few living strangers have ever mastered its simplest forms, feel the necessity of adaptFor some reason Bourke scratched out the remainder of the sentence, “a compound word meaning bad man.” The term Wâsíchi, used as Bourke says to denote a white man, generally translates as some sort of nuisance. *

7. Bourke refers to page 15:1459 in the manuscript. It is on page 205 in this volume. 8. Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832–1917) is generally considered to be the father of anthropology. The work mentioned by Bourke, Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization (1865), was the first systematic ethnological view of the world. This, and his two-volume Primitive Culture (1871) stimulated development of anthropology as a science. The “Captain Burton” referred to is Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821–90), British soldier, explorer, anthropologist, and linguist. The comparisons between his career and Bourke’s are discussed in Volume 1 of this series (9n23). http://www. britannia.com/bios/tylor.html

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ing themselves to the pressure of circumstances and have become proficient in the use of the “sign language”, which unconsciously, they use very often while in conference with their own people. Their language, for all that may be said to the contrary, is copious, and, deprived of the guttural and nasal modulation of their words these people are noted for, is not without beauty and softness. Sharp Nose and Washington, the two principal men of the tribe with us, often and often talk together in daylight and dark, apparently upon a wide range of topics: They make use of the sign language, at the same time, but one can see with half an eye this is from habit and not exigency.)

Signatures of Three Bears and Eagle Feather Three Bears and Eagle Feather, were in my tent this afternoon and saw me writing in my journal. Three Bears motioned for a pencil and paper and after a moment or two presented me with his own autograph and Eagle Feather did the same. . . . Cold wind storm this evening, some few drops of rain and snow. December 16th. Major Jordan sent a notification to General Crook that his train would reach our camp to-morrow with (128.000) pounds of grain, additional supplies and the newspaper mail. After night[fall]—tempest of cold and wind and snow. December 17th. Morning cold but clear. Temperature became quite warm during day. Wagon-train reached camp early in afternoon. For the rest of the day, found enough to do in perusing the files of newspapers received, most of them barren of incident and nearly a month, or more, old. December 18th. A very genial day—like summer. Still in our 4th camp on the Bell[e] Fourche, where we are to remain, until the return of the scouts sent to Red Cloud Agency. Fortunately what might otherwise have been a very monotonous existence, has been made very pleasant for me by the amount of

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clerical labor my position as Adjutant General of the Expedition entails: though sometimes pushed for leisure, yet on the whole, the days have passed most pleasantly. Mâtò-chámani or Three Bears, makes his regular morning visit and is most usually regaled with a few dough-nuts, or some little collation of that kind. It is a strange ethnological fact the amount of begging to be expected from any of these tribes: my experience has been so slender and my reading upon the subject so slight any opinion I may give is entitled to very meagre consideration: at a venture I will say the North American Bedouin is as much of a beggar as his cousin of the Arabian Desert but differs from him in being without a particle of gratitude. A more charitable view of the case would be that these nomads, well disciplined in studying human nature have attained cynical conclusions not yet fully admitted among ourselves; they make professions of friendship only to mask the advances of Treachery: and if distrustful of strangers, whom they invariably regard as enemies, judge them simply by a standard, correct enough as far as it goes:—their self-knowledge of themselves. To an Indian, as I said, all strangers are enemies; to a white man, friends. With one, war is the normal relation with the exterior world, with the other, amity. The act, most solemn because most unusual in the history of a civilized nation is its Declaration of War against a neighbor: we have diplomatic notes and remonstrances exchanged without number until the Ultimatum and even then, the intercessory offices of contiguous Powers are often solicited, before resorting to the arbitrament of the Sword. But with the American Indian, the reverse obtains: he don’t deem any solemnity necessary in his declaration of War because he never has had any to declare. The war he is now waging with the adjacent tribes was fiercely going on when he was a boy playing at his mothers knee. His father was either a great warrior who had slain and mutilated and tortured many enemies, or a great sage skilled in the councils which deliberated over their wars, or he was a great “medicine man” and potent in charms and incantations which should turn back the enemy’s arrow in its fight or leave the enemy himself in the hands of his people. If he wasn’t one of those three, he was nobody and the son would never have reason to recall his lineage with pride. Thus it is that the American Indian is truly a wild beast. The Sioux fights the Pawnee because he is a Pawnee and the Shoshonee be-

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cause he is a Shoshonee. So when Peace is determined upon, its ratification is a matter of some solemnity, and speeches and calumet smoking such as have been adverted to at length in preceding pages take place: each side tried to outdo the other in lying and it seems as if both succeed. But an Indian has a very mildly defined conception of truth: he doesn’t indulge in it himself and don’t expect it in others. The territory they roam over is so great, that it prevents their amalgamation into homogenous bodies from two very different reasons. One is that by being diffused in small bands over such vast expanses, they lose that identity of thought which alone can preserve the unity of language. The other, that Danger can only rarely threaten all their communities at once, so those bands more immediately concerned have to bear the brunt of foreign contests unaided. To improve the condition of the Indians as tribes is simply an impossibility; they must first be crushed by the overwhelming forces of the Government, whose civilizing influences can then hope to find a free, perhaps a fruitful, field of labor among the new generations, treated as individuals but never as communities. The drudgery of agricultural life and the mechanic arts is never alluring to nations who find an easier, because more congenial, mode of sustention in the devices of the chase. But the Law of Nature has made all hunters Ishmaelites and they must for self-preservation exterminate all interlopers into their hunting grounds. I say exterminate because experience has taught them that the average yield of their hunting grounds is only adequate for the sustenance of their own people: and captives if taken in too great numbers would only increase the pangs of hunger these hunting tribes must all feel at periods recurring with an ill-defined but certain regularity. Consequently, as they will have to choose sometime or another between killing their prisoners and seeing their own children starve, they take time by the forelock by killing them when they first fall into their hands. We enlightened people who prate so much about our goodness and elevation would do just the same thing, under the same circumstances. We have but little more morality than the savage, mean as he is; but we have a great deal more bread and butter. To consider with any degree of intelligence the question of meliorating the condition of these Indians, we should first consider how far they would be capable of civilizing themselves without our help,

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to the end that the complement of improvement we would have to furnish to bring them up to our own plane, could be determined. It has been outlined that a nation of hunters by a fixed natural law is obliged to be at war with all its neighbors; to adduce authorities or advance additional arguments would occupy too much of the space of my journal and demand an amount of time I cannot spare. Now it is not only possible but probable that a nation of hunters, settling in a country, fairly watered, with fertile stream-beds, and a climate possessing the advantage of equability, should with the lapse of time become pastoral and finally agronomical in their mode of life: discovering the art of tanning skins, of twisting rope, making pottery and baskets and spinning and weaving cloth and blankets. That such changes have taken place, the history of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Mexico, Yucatan and Peru conclusively prove. Never have such advancements been made by tribes dwelling in the land of frost and desolation: civilization must be transplanted from more congenial climes. The Dacotah and Cheyenne can never be expected to become much better of themselves in a tract where the North Wind holds dominion for eight months of the year, and the only hope of their improvement must be founded upon what our Government may force upon them. To treat with the innumerable petty bands living in but not occupying the great stretch of country between the Missouri and the Columbia, and running down from British America to the Rio Grande is a proceeding as undignified as it is useless. Our statutebooks are loaded down with acts making most liberal appropriations for carrying into effect the stipulations of treaties, which were only made to be broken: our vacillating policy of trying to bribe Indians into Peace with largesse of bright-colored calico and cheap looking glasses, and of coercing them into submission by detachments of troops so weak the smallest war-party of the enemy can defy it, has produced exactly the results the feeblest intellect might have foreseen. Our government has lost the confidence of its own people and obtained in exchange nothing but the contempt of the savages. There is one rule of policy to be adopted and one only, with these people. Justice backed by Power. Insist upon the disruption of the tribal relation and recognize instead the family ties. Give lands in severalty, not alienable for at least fifty

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years;9 introduce the ruder mechanic arts, compel attention to the laws of hygiene, and impart to the children, noleus-voleus, a small amount of instruction in the elementary principles of education, rewarding those who progress and punishing the negligent. Issue to able-bodied men and women, who but what they give an equivalent for in daily labor. To apply these principles rigidly would cost more at the outset than the American people would be willing to allow. As a measure of economy not much can be said of them, for that period at least. It would only be after the first few classes of children had left school, after the first few villages had been constructed of bush or board-slabs, or adobe, laid out in rectangular streets and cleanly kept, or perhaps after the first crop of farm-produce had been sold for ready cash and the astonished Indian learned practically that labor had its recompense and is not merely the menial drudgery of the squaw—that the value of the method proposed would commence to disclose itself in the diminution of taxes for the maintenance of armies to war upon the Indians and of Indians to war upon the armies, and in that assurance of Peace and Prosperity now so sadly needed on our Western Border. December 19th. Major Pollock, Commanding at Reno, has sent several couriers to us within the past week: one reached us yesterday, the second rode in this evening, late. The news brought out is not of much general interest. The destruction of the Brooklyn Theatre, by fire, with the death of three hundred and fifty spectators is the principal event, almost too horrible to narrate. In Army circles, the death of General [James Allen] Hardie, Inspector General and of 1 Lieutenant [A. B.] Bache, 5th Cavalry, are announced. Poor Bache was a most gallant soldier. During our summer campaign, he became used up with rheumatism and was ordered to proceed to Chicago for medical treatment. He stubbornly refused to accept the indulgence and persistently remained with the Expedn. He was dragged in a travaux [sic] until the afternoon of the action at Slim Buttes, when he had himself lifted into the saddle and kept his place 9. Bourke anticipates by almost eleven years the General Allotment Act of 1887, also known as the Dawes Act, that partitioned Indian lands into individual holdings. Heads of families received title to 160 acres, and all other individuals over the age of eighteen, 80 acres. This represented an attempt, as suggested by Bourke, to “civilize” the Indian by breaking up the system of tribal lands (thereby diluting tribal authority), and making him or her a landowner. Once the allotment was completed, the balance of tribal lands—more than ninety million acres in all—was opened to settlement. Hoxie, Encyclopedia of North American Indians, 154.

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until the enemy were routed, when he was again placed in his sick bed, which he never left. His death occurred at Fort Dodge, Kansas. December 20th. A snow of nearly two inches in depth lay on the ground this morning when we were routed out of our tents at four o’clock by the cook’s call for breakfast. General Crook’s Hd.Qrs., and the foot-soldiers marched six or seven miles down the Belle Fourche, nearly North East, changing our camp because grass had been eaten off the hills by our large herd of animals. On the way, passed two small affluents from the Left. They were very short, rising in the low, pine topped knolls to the Left, a couple of miles from the main stream. Tho’ neither had any flowing water, both were thinly timbered with cottonwood. Day continued cloudy and cold. It is now a settled fact that the 23d Infantry is to leave the Dept. of the Platte and go to that of the Missouri. (Its officers, with no exceptions of consequence, are old friends whose acquaintance I first had the pleasure of making in the campaigns against the Apaches in 1872–73.) General Sheridan has notified General Crook that the expenditures on account of transportation in this Department have exceeded a monthly average of $60.000, while the allowance from the appropriation is only $28.000! Those few words mean that this campaign must terminate speedily. The transportation now in the Department is not one half as great as it should be and what disastrous results a further curtailment may have I dare not at present writing venture to say. Our expert orderlies soon made us comfortable in our new bivouac, cutting out with powerful blows of the pickaxe the stony clods of hard frozen ground, before making down our beds. After the solid chunks of frozen earth are removed, willows are cut and strewn over the ground, and a carpeting of gunny-sacks is laid down: Then a fire is lit in the Sibley stove, our office table and materials for writing brought in and the work of the day really commences. We are so very comfortable on this campaign that the whole movement has seemed like a picnic. The manner of warming two soldiers’ tents with one Sibley stove is depicted. . . .

Manner of heating two tents with one stove.

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My ears have suffered all evening from the agony occasioned by a Pawnee concert. One or two nights ago, the Sioux entertained the Pawnees with singing and dancing and presented them with eight or nine ponies. This outburst of nocturnal melody is in reciprocation of the distinguished courtesy of the Sioux. The Pawnees made presents of horses and have been doing their best to excel the music of the Sioux. It is well for [Richard] Wagner’s peace of mind he cannot hear this rivalry of his Music of the Future: there is this much said for the Sioux—They are very generous in the extent of the programme and never end a musical entertainment before daybreak next morning. If any officers at Hd.Qrs. had ben consulted, it is among the possibilities that a curtailment of the soirée would have been firmly but delicately urged: this night’s performance is more than usually pungent. The Pawnee Camp is very near our tents, so near that not a thump of their drum is lost. However, as we are not to start in the morning, we can better afford to have our slumbers disturbed a little. Information has been received from Major Randall during the two or three days past that he has reached Cantonment Reno, with seventy-six Crow Indians, who were enlisted on the Mussel Shell River in Montana, so far to the North of us that it took them thirty one days to cross the intervening distance although each one of them had two good ponies. At the mouth of Prairie Dog Creek, on Tongue River, they struck the trail of the retreating Cheyennes whose village was destroyed by General Mackenzie on the 25th of November. This they examined carefully, following it nine or ten miles, in the direction of the Rosebud. In their opinion it had been made by not more than 500 ponies. The hostiles had no lodges and must have suffered from the coldest night: The Crows examined one of their camps where they counted one hundred fires, or rather the ashes of that many and saw where the Cheyennes had brushed the snow off the ground as well as they could and then prepared couches of grass and willows to sleep upon. They had abandoned many of their animals, all poor and broken down. The Crows selected nineteen of the best and brought them along. One of the horses seen on the trail had belonged to the 7th Cavalry, and was so branded. The Crows also say that they have sent out one or two war parties the past Fall, and that one of these encountered the same band of

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Cheyennes in the Big Horn Mtns., at the head of Tongue River, and ran off forty of their horses. Had we only enough forage for our animals, we might strike across country and hit those fellows another blow, on the Rosebud; but what can we do, without either rations for men or forage for animals? General Crook has vainly essayed all that ingenuity could suggest to overcome this obstacle, but with utter failure as the only recompense for his exertions. We must now turn back and leave until Spring the completion of the task commenced under auspices so bright. Until an accumulation of not less than 2.000.000 pounds of grain shall be in store at Reno, or Fetterman or Laramie, whichever may be our base, any advance the Expedition may make will result in failure,—perhaps in disaster. If our Nation is ever to learn wisdom, which is doubtful, it will only be after millions of dollars have been wasted in abortive attempts to accomplish economically what could have been done with such an expenditure as reason and foresight would have suggested in the first place. General Sheridan, General Crook, and others high in military position, have urged for a long time the necessity of establishing the Yellowstone Posts, but the appropriation failed to pass Congress until the season had so nearly terminated that the posts have not served as nuclei of operations, as was hoped, but merely as cantonment for troops who had barely enough provisions for their own maintenance. . . .

Chapter 11 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Belle Fourche to Fort Fetterman

December 21st. Another snow storm last night: two inches on a level. General Crook summoned the Indians to a council, at which all the principal chiefs of the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahoe bands made their appearance. After dwelling upon the fact that our lack of forage for the animals prevented our continuing in the field much longer and the non-return of our messengers from Red Cloud Agency deprived him of any clue as to the whereabouts of the retreating Cheyennes, so that there was no use trying to do any more scouting for the present, the Commanding General went on to say: “I understand they have been turning in their (the Indians’) horses and guns at the Agency. I don’t know by what authority. It was not by my order, but I don’t know whether it was by orders from Washington or not. [“]You are very lucky in having been out here with us, because if you had been at the Agency, you would have had to turn in your ponies; now, you have plenty. [“]I want some of you to go on ahead pretty fast, as I want to send a letter through before the rest get in. Most of you have friends or 221

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relatives out with Crazy Horse and the Northern Cheyennes and I want you when you get back, each one to try and get in your own friends. When they come in, they will have to give up their ponies, horses and guns, but the ponies will be given to the men who help bring them (the hostile Indians) in to the Agency. [“]You had better advise your friends to come in, because this thing is going to last until they do. You see we have with us Shoshonees and Pawnees and we’ll have more in the Spring. [“]They will have easy terms if they come in now, but when Spring comes, we are going to turn all those Indians in after them and kill them like dogs wherever we find them. [“]I want you to set about this as soon as you get back. Send out some of your people to impress this on the minds of the hostiles so they will come in at once. We have already spent a great deal of money in sending out many soldiers:—the more money we spend the madder we get. By and Bye, we won’t let the hostiles come in at all. We are all very much pleased at the way you have acted on the scout. General Mackenzie says you were very brave in the fight and he is very much pleased with you. [“]When I first talked with you, I told you if you became soldiers you would be the principal men of the tribe. If you get the horses of the hostiles, of course you will be the rich men. I want you to work hard. I have to go down to the river and Railroad. After a while, I’ll come back to see you again. I don’t know just yet, but it is probable General Mackenzie will go back to Red Cloud[.] [“]Of course, you know you must do what he tells you. You can take your guns and keep them at the Agency as long as you are soldiers. If you want to wear your Indian clothes at the Agency and save your soldiers clothes, you can do it; then, you won’t have to buy new ones when you go out again. I want you to remember what I have told you and work hard to get in your friends. This is what I wanted to talk about. We separate in the morning, unless you want to march home with us”. Three Bears, Sharp Nose and Fast Thunder now interrogated the General very closely regarding the reported surrender of horses at Red Cloud Agency, but the General could give no satisfactory answers as he was as much in the dark as they. All the Indians promised to set to work at once to bring in the remaining hostiles and expressed gratification at their service under General Crook

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and General Mackenzie. Sharp Nose said they had never told him anything that wasn’t so. The conference ended in the usual way, handshaking and how-howing. Sharp Nose and Old Eagle were invited to my tent and remained with me until a late hour, giving the material for the vocabulary of their language. . . . Old Eagle speaks a little Cheyenne, enough for ordinary intercourse, thereby giving a double channel of communication between us: The Cheyenne language spoken by Roland, the interpreter and the “sign language”, in which both Roland and Lieutenant Clarke are proficient. . . . My search after knowledge as represented in the Cheyenne and Arapahoe dialects became so much of a task to Old Eagle and Sharp Nose that nature began to claim support and relaxation. Supper, they thought would be a decidedly good thing. Unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in my project of wresting from them the secrets of their mother tongue, that I quite forgot to offer them any collation. Old Eagle Played a good joke upon me in retaliation and as a gentle hint that refreshments would be acceptable. “To eat”, he said, naming a word, is so and so, but thus and thus, repeating a sentence in his own language, [“]means to eat something to-night, something to eat right now.” I saw the point and ordered a collation prepared at once for my guests who disposed of it in short order. The Day has been very cold, snow falling since morning. A courier left with dispatches for Lieutenant General Sheridan. These will be pasted in on the next page, more to serve as specimens of General Crook’s chirography than from any intrinsic value attached to them. To be relieved from the suspense and uncertainty of future movements was a positive benefit to all the command which had sometime before concluded that further continuance in [the] campaign was useless with our impoverished horses and animals and with the suspicion staring us in the face that Crazy Horse and other hostiles must have already taken the alarm and scattered through Montana, Wyoming and Dakota like a flock of frightened partridges.

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THE GREAT SIOUX WAR Crook’s handwritten dispatch to Sheridan pasted in Bourke’s Diary.

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December 22d. Bitter cold wind and cutting snow. Our Arapahoes, Sioux and Cheyennes bad us good bye and started back for Red Cloud Agency. Command moved up the Belle Fourche thirteen miles: many men had their noses, hands, ears and toes frozen, but no severe cases were reported. Our animals have done better than could have been expected on their meagre diet. This may be accounted for by the perfect freedom allowed them, none being tied up at picket lines but all permitted to wander about on herd, nibbling what grass they could find and taking shelter under the lee of bluffs whenever the wind became too cold. Cottonwood trees have been cut down in great numbers and the bark fed out to the stock in lieu of long forage; it is bitter, but not unpalatable and much used by the Indians for their ponies in winter. Lieutenant [C. M.] Callahan, 4th Cavalry, a fine soldier, has perfected an ingenious idea for keeping his horses’ feet warm. He in cases[sic] them in a sock or mocassin of buffalo hide, closely buckled about the pasterns and falling down over the crown of the hoof. Theoretically, this protection ought to work well: practice may suggest some modifications, however. The sharp, cold air of these winter mornings has had the effect of intensifying the profane language of our packers and teamsters whose language is quite often as amusing from its originality as it is shocking in its blasphemy and irreverence. Whack! goes the whip and ---- comes a stream of objurgation from the irate mule-driver: the mule’s long ears catch the stream of unsanctified music floating through the air which warns him “business” is meant. So he commences to tug in dead earnest in the traces with the encouragement of another crack or two from the “black-snake” and another string of expletives, succeeds with the help of his comrades in pulling the wagon through the mud hole or snow drift in which it has mired. This is an outline description of their behavior under ordinary circumstances. In the presence of graver difficulties they become appalled and not even the encomiums of mule-drivers can induce them to move one foot before another. Suppose the wagon at the foot of a steep acclivity, the ground encrusted with ice or frozen snow. The leaders look upwards and see the case is hopeless. They consult with each other. Mules are the greatest animals in the world for consulting together and when the driver of a team sees his animals

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turning their heads towards each other and about to commence a conference, he at once abandons the struggle in despair altho’ he usually cracks his whip a half dozen times and explodes in a volley of objurgation by way of a dignified retreat. His next step is to send for the pioneer party which loses no time in breaking into the sandy ground, frozen hard as flint by the inclement winds. After a footing has been picked out and dug out for the mules, long ropes are attached to the wagon tongue and strong hands take hold and pull, while hands equally strong seize upon axle and wagon body and push with might and main. The mules may still refuse to stir a foot: the genuine Army mule loves to be coaxed and if the driver be not a fraud now is the time to discover that his wages have not been paid him in vain. [“]Whoop! Whoop-La! Gee! Gee! You puss mules—you Billy!—Damn you, Billy! Gee! You salivated son of a whore’s ghost! By the Cast iron Jesus! Billy! Dick! You Kate! You bitch you!” The men whoop and yell and cheer, and push and pull. All at once the mules make a simultaneous effort and jerk the wagon up the grade on the run. Then the teamster licks his mules just for luck, the wagon-master damns the teamster, the Quartermaster damns the wagon-master, and the pioneer party damn the Quartermaster. But the team has surmounted its last difficulty before reaching camp for the night and the voices of the mules are now upraised in a song of gladness. Much objection has been made to this chanting as practiced by mules, but the objections strike me as frivolous and untenable. The mule’s song may be just a particle monotonous and the nasal pitch he commonly employs somewhat harsh for cultivated ears: but the question of pitch is a question of taste and the mule’s taste may be better than our own; (or, if worse, this is the land of liberty and the mule is free to enjoy himself as he pleases. The charge of monotony is true, but it applies with equal force to the song of the lark we all pretend to admire. We may admit the mule’s want of taste and skill in the rendition of his scanty repertoire, but we cannot deny him a full meed of praise for the earnestness with which he throws his whole soul into his work and pours forth his voice in song.[)] Our pack-train has frequently received my favorable notice in these pages. I can only add to what has already been said that in winter as in summer and spring, our packers, under the able supervision of Tom Moore, have attended with an assiduity almost [amounting

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to] devotion to the wants of the animals under their care. Some of these packers are droll fellows: all of them are far more intelligent that the average of frontiersmen or than their rough garments and unshaved faces would allow an observer to imagine. Seated around the camp fire by night, I have often listened unobserved to the conversation of the packers and never failed to be impressed that their judgments, if not invariably accurate, were invariably founded upon close and careful observation. Last night, one of them came up to my tent, much under the influence of liquor, and began narrating his ups and downs, or rather his unchanging downs, in the world. He had been a private soldier in the same company of the 4th Infantry, before the war that General Crook had commanded as a 2d lieutenant. And, he continued, here we meet to-day again: “he’s a Brigadier General—I’m nobody. I never [sic] was nobody. The highest I ever got to be in the world was a lance-corporal’s bunky”. This night brought another intoxicated visitor: a soldier of the 4th Cavalry, who examined the inside of my office tent with a critical eye and caused me to look up from my writing with the remark that he thought he’d sleep there—he liked the place—it was good enough for him &c. My objection to the proposed arrangement displeased him greatly and aroused his stubbornness. I called for the Sergeant of the Guard, whereupon Hospital Steward Bryan ran up and giving the inebriate a shake asked him “do you know who you are talking to?[”] (I was in citizen’s dress and the poor drunkard did not recognize me as an officer). To whom thus Ajax: Arrah! thin do oi know who oim tarking to? Hospital Steward wid yur pin in jur mouth so foine! Shure an oi hed a pin in moi mouth lang befoor oi saw you or the loikes of you &c to the end of the chapter which was the guard tent. To give an idea of the paucity of transportation in the Department of the Platte, one instance only need be given. At Fort Fetterman, Colonel Carleton has been obliged to dismount Co. “I”, 3d Cavalry, and use the horses as draught animals; the Quartermaster of that post had only one mule and yet that is considered the centre of operations for the whole Department! For one reason I am glad to have made the campaigns of which these notes are the souvenir. Many points of interest have attracted investigation and the results have always been in the nature of improvement.

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Among other items for future use, is the question of supplying companies with mess-kits, at least culinary utensils. Heavy Block tin is the only material at all suitable for campaigning. The dishes and kettles should be cubical in form, made to fit inside the other and each covered and baled. One pack-mule could carry enough for two companies. Tent pins should be of iron only. Tents should be leathered at corners and strapped, not tied with strings, strengthened with transverse canvass bands, arranged with canvass pockets, and, if for officers, canvass to cover the floors or ground and keep out damp. The inefficiency of the Cavalry Carbine .45, has been demonstrated and it is to be hoped that a weapon with a heavier barrel, & stronger ejective power may soon be provided. Soldiers preparing for campaign should be exercised daily at target practice.1 In the matter of hard bread any how, the ration is too bulky, but for remarks on this subject see preceding pages. Lariats should have swivels at one end. Cinches should be made of long hair and not less than five inches broad. Our own office need for field service: a desk and table, office chairs, candlesticks and lanterns, Carpet and wash-basin. There is about the winter scenery of this part of Wyoming, a bleak and barren dreariness whose monotony at times almost overwhelms the traveller who recognizes its magnitude. Mile succeeds mile as the column of troops advances, but no change occurs in the perspective of snow-mantled hillocks, gashed with ravines and tufted on their summits with a scanty line of timber. [T]he leaden pall of the cloudy sky is an effective setting for the cheerless landscape which in spite of its gloom has still a weird fascination over the sight which never tires of looking at it. The winding lines of the stream-beds are defined by the skeleton limbs of trees, whence every bird has flown. Even crows and such 1.Although the army adopted a policy of small arms practice on a target range in 1872, it was virtually non-existent because a parsimonious government begrudged the money spent on metallic cartridges. Officers who requisitioned ammunition for practice often were told they would have to pay for it themselves. Consequently soldiers rarely fired their weapons, and many went into battle totally unfamiliar with them. Extractor failure on the Model 1873, caliber .45-55 Springfield carbine was another common complaint, and some have cited it as a cause for the disaster at the Little Bighorn. Custer’s command, however, was not the only regiment to experience the problem, and it did not affect the outcome of the war. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day, 99–103; Robinson, Good Year to Die, 215.

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carrion birds are only seen at rare intervals. Last night, a flock of wild geese flew over us going Southward, their “honk-honking” awakening us long before the day star had arisen. December 23d. Two degrees above zero when we started. Wagons made merry music as their ponderous wheels crunched a way through the snow. Five hundred yards out from Camp ravine blocked the line. Pioneers set to work with a will, but the glassy ground yielded very slowly to the attack of pick, axe and spade. It was at least two hours before the first wagon crossed. Day intensely cold. In the hazy sky, “sun-dogs” warned of approaching bad weather. Moved twelve or thirteen miles up Belle Fourche and then had to make camp [so] that our tired mules might join us and have harness taken off before night. No fuel here but sage-brush and the wood carried along from last camp. Good, cold water obtained by breaking through solid, glassy ice, a foot thick. Animals looking gaunt and feeble. Country traversed to-day, black and open to every wind. Small hills bound the horizon on every side. At 4 P.M., thermometer indicated -5° F.: beards and moustaches frozen stiff. A savory stew for dinner was made out of four rabbits Genl. Crook killed[.] At night-fall, a very cold wind arose. December 24th. Xmas Eve. Last night was so cold that none of us slept for any length of time with comfort. To keep our heads under the blankets and buffalo robes was to endanger suffocation, while to thrust them outside in the cold air of the tent put us in imminent peril of freezing ears and noses. Doctor Gibson’s thermometer failed to register at 8 P.M: its minimum graduation is only twelve degrees below Zero, so how much below that the temperature was none of us could imagine. Colonel Dodge had a thermometer also: it would indicate as low as 20° below Zero, F., but we derived as little information from it as from the other. The coldest hour was between 2 and 3 in the morning when the packers were aroused by the beating of a stick upon a tent. They had to go, poor fellows, out into the bitter cold air to hunt up and drive in their wretched animals, which huddled on the lee-side of our tents to get what little warmth this position offered. Three of the poor brutes were discovered dead—frozen—one just in front of the tent of Major Campbell, 4th Artillery. Still another was so badly frozen about the feet, he had to be abandoned. One died in harness on the road to-day.

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We marched ten miles on the back trail, making site of bivouac of December 7th. The cold could not have been less than 30°.F. below Zero; the breath congealed on beard and moustache and fastened them to overcoat and fur collar. Eye-lashes froze to the eye-lids. A number of cases of frost-bite, but, Thank God, none of them severe. One of our soldiers, who shot his elbow joint away by accidental discharge of his carbine, on the 18th, is doing nicely. This camp was extremely cheerless. No fuel but grease-wood and the stream frozen solid. Major Randall joined us about 6 P.m., at head of a body of seventy handsome looking Crow warriors, the majority very young, but all made of good material. Their trip had been severe beyond example. For nine days, they had to subsist on raw buffalo-entrails. Crossing the Big Horn Mts., they encountered five feet of depth of snow on a level. The rest of their story has already been told. Major Randall said that the Bannocks wanted to send two hundred of their warriors to help General Crook in the Spring. December 25th. Xmas, Merry Xmas, made to bow under the chapéronage of old Father Winter. The cold was so bitter this morning that the mercury could not be coaxed out of the bulb, but sullenly lay there congealed. Considerable suffering from cold and numerous instances of frost-bite, but excepting one poor fellow who will have to lose his toes, none of any significance. Last night, General Crook invited General Mackenzie, Colonel Dodge, Colonel Townsend and the officers of his own staff to assist him in disposing of a hot whiskey punch prepared by Captains Eagan [sic] and Furey. After that to bed. This days’ march of 18 miles to a point near Pumpkin Butte Springs or Gruard’s Springs was full of discomfort. The keen air seemed full of sparkling crystals of ice; our beards and moustaches froze into solid masses of ice and hands and feet ached as if they had been beaten with clubs. Eyebrows and Eyelashes white with frost. Horses and mules shivered while they stood in column, their flanks white with crystals of perspiration, congealed on their bodies and nostrils full of icicles. Many dropped out of the harness on this march; the worst of the campaign was over by the time we reached this bivouac and the temperature had then moderated to 5° Below Zero, F., altho’ in the sun, it was almost as pleasant as a bright winter’s afternoon in Pennsylvania.

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Mr. Fox, interpreter for Major Randall’s party of Crows, told me that the chief’s name was Spotted Horse and the route taken was from the Judith Basin to Fort Ellis, Montana, thence (26) miles to the Yellowstone river, down that to Clark’s Fork, up the Fork tow[ar]d. the Big Rosebud to their heads, then over to head of Gray Bull or else the Stinking Water, I forget which, then down to the Big Horn River, across it and the Big Horn Mountains to the head of Tongue River which they followed to the wagon road and then along that to Cantonment Reno. They saw in the valley of the Big Horn river the remains of the great village reported there by Louis Richaud, August 2d. Randall brought us telegrams from Fort Fetterman, viâ Reno, stating that since November 28th. (634.000) pounds had been shipped to Fetterman for use of Expeditn. Also that the General Court Martial for trial of Captain E. H. Leib, 2d Cavalry, was to assemble at North Platte, Dec. 20th.2 This, the merriest day of all the year, ended for us very quietly, at Pumpkin Buttes, Wyo. We were very grateful to have good beds, tents and stoves and plenty to eat. The road was so glassy that none of the supply teams reached Camp before midnight. On the South side of the Buttes, the depth of snow was perceptibly increased over what we had floundered through on North side. December 26th. Weather somewhat milder. Snowed during day. Marched fourteen miles, breaking a new road to the Wind River fork of the South Cheyenne. This road courses along a gently rolling surface, going about South, or a trifle East of South from the most Eastern of the four Pumpkin Buttes, for seven miles when it struck the Fetterman and Reno road, thence 8 miles East, by South to the Wind River fork, which it touched four miles below last camp on the stream. Here we had plenty of wood and grass, but water noisome in smell, probably from Sulpha. Hydrogen. Found here train of supplies for our own use, and in camp, Lieuts. [James Evans Heron] Foster, 3 Cavy., [G. W.] Taylor, 4th Arty. and [Charles Winder] Mason, 4th Infantry: they brought also a large newspaper and letter mail for the Command. The Crow Indians left us this morning. Louis Richaud and Louis Chaugrau came into camp last night from Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, with dispatches 2. See Appendix 1–Military.

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for General Crook. They had had with them two hundred and forty additional Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe scouts who turned back upon meeting with those whom General Crook sent back on the 22d. The mail received was generally very old and almost valueless: it contained a summons for General Crook, self and many others with the Expedition to appear as witnesses before the Court, organized for the trial of General Reynolds and Captain Moore, 3d Cavalry, to convene at Cheyenne, Wyoming, January 5th, 1877. We have had another snow flurry to-day: they are peculiar to this region and very uncomfortable, not especially from the amount of snow falling, but from the violent gust of wind, the unfailing accompaniment, which blinds and annoys while it benumbs the unfortunate caught out in one. The flurry may last one hour, or it may last one day; but it always departs as suddenly as it came, generally leaving a serene sky. A second mail came in late at night. The distribution of letters is an important piece of business at Hd.Qrs., however for which volunteers eagerly present themselves, influenced by some delusion that if they don’t hunt out their own letters, nobody else will. The deciphering of the addresses upon these packages is very often a perplexing piece of work, sometimes a very amusing task. At last the throng of the expectant faces melts away from in front of the tent, the last inquiry has been answered—there are no letters “for McCloskey of I Company”, and with great pleasure we turn in to bed, happy to know that our mules and horses, their stomachs well filled with corn, will not sound in the stillness of the midnight air their appeal to a powerless Q[uarter]. M[aster]. to aid them. December 27th. Snowing all day. Moved to South Cheyenne River. Wood, Water and Grass. Day cold. Distance 21 miles. December 28th. General Crook started along in an ambulance for Fort Fetterman. Command moved to Sage Creek. Found water black and greenish like writing ink, and putrid with Sulphuretted Hydrogen. Wood—none, except what we hauled. Grass sufficient with the double ration of oats our horses were now receiving. Weather very cold. Day dusky and hazy. Perspiration frozen on animals bodies. Nothing of consequence to note. Distance 20 miles. December 29th. Command moved into Fort Fetterman eleven miles. At our camp of last night, thermometer must have indicated at least 35° below Zero F.: at Fort Fetterman, where it was much warmer,

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to my feelings at least, than at Sage Creek -26° F. was reached. The morning seemed extremely trying. Our broken down mule teams made a good fast trip along the road, the mules knowing as well as the drivers that rest, warmth and plenty of food were certainties for the future. The drivers flapped their hands, stamped their feet and rubbed their ears, almost frozen stiff under the wrappings of cloth and fur. I suppose they were no colder than we were, but they looked frozen, with their hoary eye-lashes, and glacier moustaches. We had made an early start to get in betimes. The panorama we saw from the rising sun repaid us for all our trouble. We were heading a little South of East, so we enjoyed the full benefit of every scintillation of light until the sun in full majesty beamed upon us. The gray sky turned at the Eastern horizon to a dull purple, then came a deep red horizontal band, edged on the lower side with a coppery fringe, which at [the] same instant a sensation of light thrilled across the whole Eastern horizon. (This must have been some electrical impulse communicated to the atmosphere by the warmth of the sun’s rays.) It was not light itself but the harbinger of light. The air remained calm and the temperature seemed to be sinking but at same time to become more inspiriting. Within the next few moments, an exquisite combination of the colors red, gray, blue, purple and gold, filled the space where the Sun was soon to arise, then a single ray of gold shot upwards and gaining strength each moment soon was a brush of golden thread emanating from a globular nucleus we erroneously took to be the sun itself behind a cloud: on the South side, a small, iridescent arc or “sun dog”, bordered the gorgeous picture. Countless cloudlets, clothed in gold and bronze and scarlet were compressed into the upper angle almost to the Zenith:—a few moments more and the true sun, darted his beams from under the clouds so much more dazzling than his false rivals their splendor dissipated instantaneously, leaving to him the field from which the dark masses of snow-clouds were fleeing. We turned a small bluff: off to the Left, across the North Platte, on a squatty projection of land, a long straggling line of buildings, a dozen or more columns of smoke and in the centre, a flag-staff, were discerned and greeted with a cheer. They were not much in themselves, but they constituted Fort Fetterman, the advance post of civilization. Our ponies waited for no spur, but voluntarily struck

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out at a brisk pace and within twenty minutes we were seated by cheery, hospitable firesides, answering the greetings of warm-hearted friends. Colonel Carleton, 3d Cavalry, the post Commander took charge of General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler and self and treated us most courteously. From Fort Fetterman, General Crook sent a telegram to Lieut. General Sheridan and at this post General MacKenzie [sic] presented a report thanking certain officers, myself included, for good conduct during the action of November 25th, 1876. December 30th. Snow Storm. General Mackenzie, with the Cavalry, left Fort Fetterman, on account of the scarcity of forage and pushed on towards Fort Laramie. December 31st. General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler and self took ambulance and started for Cheyenne. Passed Mackenzie’s command near Elkhorn creek (30 miles)[.] Camped on Horse creek (39 m.) with our pack-train which we found there, in company with a detachment of Cavalry, repairing telegraph line between Forts Laramie and Fetterman. 1877 New Years: January 1st. Passed New Years’ Day in making the trip from the Horseshoe creek thirty-five miles to F. M. Phillips’ ranch at junction of Laramie and Chug rivers.3 Morning tempestuous. High wind, drifting snow across road. At Cottonwood Ck. half-way passed train, parked, loaded with grain for Fetterman. Weather moderated towards noon. [We] Were kindly received by Mr. Phillips. Passed the afternoon in pleasant converse and in reading late papers. (35 miles.) January 2d. Thirty miles, by the “Cut-off” to Portuguese Phillips: road for the first ten miles, until we crossed Chug, heavy with drifted snow. Day very bright and fair. Soon after entered Cheyenne and Laramie road. Passed many trains loaded with stores, principally military supplies. January 3d. Kept awake nearly all last night by howling wind which rocked the house upon its foundations. Arose long before dawn, partook of a good breakfast and started on road for Cheyenne. Our party now comprised General MacKenzie [sic] and Lieutenant [Augustus Cleveland] Tyler, 4th Cavy. Much drifted snow blown about by a fierce North West wind. An extra team was waiting for 3. This is a different Phillips from John “Portuguese” Phillips, whose ranch was the next stop on the road.

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us at Lodge Pole Creek. This didn’t let the snow melt under its feet before it had run us in to Cheyenne, and a march for the day of fifty-two miles. Put up at Inter-Ocean Hotel. The town was full of officers, one hundred being drawn from various localities, by the Reynolds and Moore Court Martial. I was examined as a witness for the prosecution, January 8th. . . . The attempts I made at various times to obtain from our Indians an account of themselves failed as such attempts generally do from your mutual ignorance of each other’s wants and ideas and the distrust they have for all strangers. I finished, while on this last campaign, the perusal of Tyler’s history of civilization and obtained from that many ideas of value which I tried to work up and put in practice. The first notion I explored to my own satisfaction was that, so current among anthropologists, that savages make no distinction between the terms “stranger” and “enemy”: on the contrary, the Pawnees, Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Utes and Shoshonees, all have a separate name for “stranger”, and of course must dissociate the idea. Again, Tyler quotes Captain Burton as saying the Arapahoe language is so meagre that conversations in it cannot be carried on in the dark. These tribes are very superstitious compared with the white races, but differ among themselves in the grade of their mental degradation, the Cheyennes being, to my mind, the boldest thinkers, as they are the boldest warriors. The Pawnees are very superstitious, the Crows most of all I have seen. Some of the plains Indians will not touch the wolf or bear, but the Cheyennes eat them and the tortoise also. Certain people living underground occasion earthquakes, according to the Cheyennes, while the Sioux account for thunder by saying that tribes of spirits are engaging in conflict and that their horses are charging. Albino Buffaloes are regarded with the same veneration the Siamese pay to the white elephant: their robes are trimmed with great care and preserved with scrupulous jealousy. Execrations are not frequent among these Indians and no tribe that I know of uses the name of the Great Spirit as an oath. . . . While all these tribes seem to have had at one time a repugnance to any association between fathers and mothers in law and the husband and wives of their children, which repugnance still betrays itself,

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yet the doctrine of the white men are spreading among them to a greater extent each year that they are brought into closer contact. An Indian will not enter his mother in law’s lodge, nor speak to her unnecessarily; but even this barrier is falling away and among some has already disappeared. The Sioux Indian will not put a knife in the fire: this would entail bad luck. . . . The Cheyennes once lived along the Belle Fourche where buffalo were very plenty. Bear Butte, on the North East Corner of the Black Hills is the great medicine house of this people and the Sioux believe that up there the Cheyennes are invincible and can make anything they please out of buffalo manure. Bear Lodge Butte, on the North West side of the Black Hills is also held in awe by all the plains tribes. The Sioux say it is the petrified kidney of a great bear and the center of the whole world. On foggy days, the Great Spirit stands on top of the Butte and throws out wild game in all directions for food for his Indian children. No Indian has ever set foot on the summit, but there must be a secret path somewhere, because they insist that a buffalo head can be seen on a flat rock at or near the top. The Sioux believe the spirits of their dead are constantly in the air, near them, and they also aver that good Indians after death pass another life in the “happy hunting grounds”. Inyan-Kara Peace they call “I hancia-paja (Sp[elling]?) Ghost hills” that is to say “The Hill where the Ghosts live” The Belle Fourche, they style “Bear Lodge creek[.]” The main Cheyenne [river], “pretty creek,” The Platte, the Shell river, and the Yellowstone, the Elkhorn. In the “sign language”, the representation for a rainbow is first, the sign for clouds in the sky, then for rain falling, then for stopped or passed away. The delineator next waves his hands in a semi-circle above his head to convey the idea of a bow, and then points to its principal colors, Red, yellow, and Blue. On the opposite page, is a map of the Big Horn country, sketched by a Sioux Indian chief, with the names of the streams written in, under his dictation, by Tom Cosgrove.

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Chapter 12 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Hostile Bands Surrender

Bourke made no entries from January 3 until February 7, 1877. December 28 through January 3 takes up the first twelve pages of manuscript volume 16. The remainder of that volume, together with all of volumes 17 and 18, consists of pasted-in clippings and orders. He begins volume 19 on February 7, with a recapitulation of the intervening events. Even portions of Volume 19, however, show signs of having been written later. In one instance he writes, “February 12th. Left Camp Robinson and, making the dreary trip of seventy-five miles, reached Fort Laramie, April 13th.”1 He obviously means February 13, which was reasonable for a group of experienced cavalrymen on a seventy-five-mile trek. The passage was written in April, and he mistakenly used the current month. [February 7, 1877] The journal of the operations carried on by General Crook against the hostile Indians in the Department of the Platte, would be incomplete were no mention made of the embassy undertaken by Spotted Tail, head chief of the Brulé Sioux and the detachment of his people who went with him to Crazy Horse’s (Ta-shumca-uitcû) village and 1. Bourke, Diary 19:1835.

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the important results flowing therefrom which may be regarded as the concluding acts of the war. It should be premised that during the time of our stay in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in attendance upon the General Court Martial which tried Colonel J. J. Reynolds and Captain Alex. Moore, 3d Cavalry . . . Major J. W. Mason, 3d Cavalry, commanding at Camp Robinson, had sent a small deputation to visit the hostile camp, there to state the ultimatum of our Government, so that the Indians disposed to do so, might avail themselves of it. Altho’ no immediate good results flowed from this message, enough was ascertained to assure the Military authorities that the back-bone of the opposition had lost its former strength and that, if vigorously pushed in the spring, the enemy would gladly enough surrender. General Crook, for this reason, determined to visit Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies, find out what he could with reference to the hostiles and make his dispositions accordingly. He started from Cheyenne and reached Camp Robinson, viâ Fort Laramie, January 26th being, as usual, the recipient of the courteous and refined hospitality for which the officers of that post are noted. At the same time, I left Omaha, (whither I had been sent on public business,) January 28th and proceeded by the Union Pacific Rail Road to Sidney, Neb., 413 miles West; there taking breakfast on the 29th and commencing a ride of one hundred and Twenty Five miles by stage to Camp Robinson, (due North.) Of this ride not much can be said; it is only remarkable because the line had recently been started from Sidney to catch some of the travel for the Black Hills, the magnet of attraction to thousands of needy and destitute people in the East. The only passenger besides myself was an adventurer from Colorado on his way to Deadwood to seek his fortune. We had plenty of buffalo robes and blankets and managed to pass the night comfortably enough. The road was even and, except in one or two places, of easy grade; with plenty of water distributed at convenient distances. (15) miles out from Sidney, we found the water holes; 30 miles, Greenwood creek; 42 miles, Cottonwood creek, which we followed down for 3 miles to its junction with the North Platte river, crossing the latter over a new wooden bridge erected by the people of Sidney,

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(at a cost of $20.000.) Then came a spring, then Snake creek, then the Niobrara river, then White Clay creek, following down which for twelve miles brought us to the White Earth river and into Red Cloud Agency. Coming down White Clay cañon, the grade was so steep and slippery from ice that our stage was only prevented from overturning, by the passengers holding on to one end by log-chain the other extremity being fasted to the top of the coach. We had to walk alongside and do some good pulling to keep the lumbering old vehicle from toppling over: by good luck, we met coming up the cañon a wagon train whose teamsters very kindly joined us and helped nobly. Our stay at Camp Robinson was quite brief. We were entertained most kindly by Mr. Dear, Major D. W. Burke, Dr. Munn and others. Colonel Stanton paid off the troops and Indian scouts, greatly to the astonishment of the latter, as yet unaccustomed to sums of money of the magnitude of (50), [(]60,) and seventy dollars. The purchases made from the traders were oft-times ridiculous, no impediment was placed in their way, it being considered best at first to let them waste a little and then General Crook found occasion to tell the head men that money was not made to be thrown away; but to be saved and judiciously invested. The harpies and vultures, attracted by such occasions, began flocking to the Agency; gamblers, whores and horse-thieves. Major Burke: post commander, had his hands full to arrest and confine all unauthorized people found within the Reservation limits. The guardhouse was packed and not till ready to escort them to the boundary of the Agency would the Commanding Officer allow a single one of these bummers and dead-beats to leave the calaboose. The newspapers of this date were blazoned over with the wonderful achievements of General Miles’ command on Tongue river; to reason from the accounts we read, it was vain to hope for any further chance of distinction. Miles had evidently whipped the last of the Indian bands into fragments: or at least, so his telegraphic dispatches asserted. Still, we hoped for the best.2 February 7th 1877. General Crook, with Lieuts. Bourke, Schuyler, Clark, Colonel Stanton and Mr. Chase, Major Randall, and Mr. Strahorn, started for Camp Sheridan, (45) miles East of Red Cloud. (The 2. Miles had defeated and scattered Crazy Horse’s band on January 8, 1877. See Greene, Yellowstone Command, Chapter 7.

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country between these two posts presents no distinctive features not already chronicled in my previous descriptions of this Northern region. Half a dozen streams, tributaries of the White Earth river are passed before reaching that on which Camp Sheridan is situated,—Beaver creek, itself a confluent. On the Right of the road, ten miles out from Red Cloud, is Dancer’s Hill or Crow Buttes, famed in the annals of the Sioux, as the place where their ancestors once surrounded a party of Absaroka, or Crow, Indians, who, in their despair of being able to escape by flight, ensconced themselves on the comparatively level and wooded summit of this vertical sided bluff. The Sioux were afraid to attack them in this position, but made a cordon around the buttes and quietly awaited the starvation of their victims. It happened that in one place the precipice was not so high as at every other point and, by the same chance, the vigilance of the beleaguring [sic] force at that particular spot was almost entirely relaxed. The Crows cut their buffalo robes into long stripes, made lariats, attached these to the scrub pine trees and climbed down, hand over hand; every one escaped in safety and, by day-dawn, they were twenty miles away.) The post of Camp Sheridan is the station of the military detachment overlooking the Brulé (or Spotted Tail’s band of) Sioux, who to the number of five thousand, live in this neighborhood. Originally intended for five companies, the post is now garrisoned by one only.—Company [“]M”, 3d Cavalry,—Captain Anson Mills Commanding. The perimeter of the ground-plan is strangely like a coffin,—a resemblance frequently noticed; One mile from the post is the Agency, where the Episcopalians have a church and a children’s school; I visited the latter and was much interested in observing the deportment of the Indians assembled. I counted fifty-five [students], altho’ sister Sopley and “Mother” Lee, the good ladies in charge told me the range of daily attendance was much higher and that, occasionally, as many as one hundred were present. The little ones were rather more cleanly than Indian children usually are, the inducements to daily lavation of the hands and faces being bright new slates and clean spelling books. Some there were

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so wedded to their aboriginal dirt that they accepted with nonchalance the dog-eared volumes and cracked slates doled out to them; to tell the truth, few if any, manifested much interest and none any enthusiasm. The free life of a savage was more to their fancy and to chase the birds; hunt prairie-dogs and splash about in the muddy roads more to their taste than any amount of learning. The exercises were conducted exclusively in the Sioux language, Santee dialect. Sister Sopley very kindly presented me with a primer, containing the “Lord’s Prayer”, “Rock of Ages”, [“]Nearer My God! to thee!” and other pious passages in the aboriginal dialect. Criticism is robbed of half its severity when directed against the well-meant even if badly-regulated efforts of those who are trying to accomplish the elevation of the savage and illiterate. Such elevation, however, could more assuredly be brought about by teaching the children our language which they are all anxious to learn and in which our ideas can be much better conveyed than through the medium of any Indian tongue, which from the paucity of its vocabulary and infeasibility of its grammatical construction is not suited as the receptacle for the advanced ideas of modern civilization. The Spotted Tail Agency, like its neighbor, the Red Cloud, is under the care of army officers:—greatly to the pleasure of the Indians, whose stomachs appreciate the difference even if their heads cannot comprehend the reason for it. Lieut. C. A. Johnson, 14th Inf., was in charge of the Red Cloud Agency and Lieut. [Horace] Neide, 4th Infantry, of the other, but replaced at this time by 1 Lieut. Jesse M. Lee, 9th Infantry. February 8th, 9th, and 10th were passed in making the arrangements for the departure of Spotted Tail, who took with him two hundred of his warriors and started out on the 13th to hunt Crazy Horse and the other Northern Indians. Spotted Tail was specially told that no stipulations would be approved that did not involve the surrender of arms, ponies and ammunition. The ponies taken from the hostiles should be distributed among such of the Indian soldiers as should distinguish themselves most in work against the hostiles. Spotted Tail promised to be back within one moon or one moon and a half and also to send notification to General Crook either by way of Deadwood, Dakota, Cantonment Reno, Wyo., or Camp Sheridan, Neb.

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February 11th. General Crook and party left Camp Sheridan with most grateful feelings toward Colonel Mills and lady, Lieut. [Frederick] Schwatka, Lt. Neide, and Dr. Koerper, for courtesies received. February 12th. Left Camp Robinson and, making the dreary trip of seventy-five miles, reached Fort Laramie, April 13th [sic]. [T]his post was now under the command of Colonel [Andrew Wallace] Evans, 3d Cavalry, with Hd.Qrs., Staff and Band of that Regiment and Companies, “A” [“]D” [“]E” [“]F” and “G”, 3d Cavalry, and “C,” 9th Inf’t., with the following officers; Lts. [George Augustus] Drew, [John Burgess] Johnson, [Charles] Morton, [George Francis] Chase, [John Charles] Thompson, [Francis Hunter] Hardie, [Henry Rowan] Lemley, [Alexander D.B.] Smead and [Bainbridge] Reynolds, and Captains [Alexander] Moore, (in arrest.) [Joseph] Lawson and [Deane] Monahan, all of 3d Cavalry, and Captain [Samuel] Munson & Lieut. [Thaddeus Hurlbut] Capron, 9th Infantry. Surgeon Alb[er]t. Hartsuff, (Medical Director in the early months of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition,) and Dr. Gray3 were the Medical Staff. Colonel T. H. Stanton, Paymaster, was now ordered to proceed to the Crow Agency, Montana, and pay off the Crow Indian scouts, who had come down from there, (the Judith Basin,) in the winter. Lieut. Clark had to remain at Red Cloud Agency to superintend the enlistment of Indian scouts and other very important business, while Major Randall started for Cantonment Reno, Wyo., there to await Spotted Tail’s messengers should they come that way. Mr. Strahorn went with him. Old Joe Merivale and Boucher went in company with Spotted Tail to write any communications he might wish to send back. These two individuals, one a native of New Mexico, the other a Frenchman, have lived among the Brulé Sioux for the past (25) or (30) years, are married into the tribe & to all intents and purposes identified in interests with the red men. They are for the needs of the present trip, trustworthy enough, but outside of this, Boucher certainly is in bad odor with the white frontiersman. 3. Probably a contract physician. The only medical officer named Gray listed in the service at that time was Charles Carroll Gray, who was a surgeon major with ten years’ seniority over Surg. Maj. Hartsuff. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:471.

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The garrisons of Fort Laramie and Camp Robinson took the benefit of the open winter and devoted many hours daily to drill and other instruction. Both posts were reviewed during our stay by General Tony Forsyth, A.D.C. on the Staff of Lieutenant General Sheridan. I found him an amiable, bright officer, well up in his profession, and a thorough man of the world, besides. He has travelled over Japan, China, India, North Africa, Europe and almost every foot of our country. As a dinner talker, he is the equal of any I ever met. Every morning, the troops of these two garrisons have been put through the school of the Company, dismounted, Manual of Arms, Skirmish drill, and in the afternoon Mounted Drill, besides the occasional sabre exercise and target practice. This severe training is having a very marked effect upon the physique of the recruits. Colonel Evans is also busily at work damming the Laramie River to divert its course which now threatens the safety of the post. The findings and sentence of the General Court Martial in the cases of Colonel J. J. Reynolds, 3d Cavalry and Captain Alex. Moore, 3d Cavalry were now published. The former was sentenced to suspension for twelve [months], the latter for six months, both sentences remitted by the President. Colonel Buchanan, Judge Advocate, Dep’t. of the Platte, arrived at Fort Laramie with Court Martial proceedings for General Crook’s revision. He staid with our mess one day and then returned to Omaha. The citizens of Deadwood, Dakota, petitioned for aid against hostile Indians who have made numerous attacks. Captain P. D. Vroom, with Companies “B”, [“]C” and “L”, 3d Cavalry, was stationed in the Black Hills during the latter part of February, all of March and the beginning of April. The Black Hills, serving, as all new communities do, as a resort for crowds of the vilest and most unprincipled outlaws, became from the proximity to the Indian Agencies, a den of horse-thieves who depredated upon the peaceably disposed Indians without intermission. General Crook made every effort to break up these gangs, pursuing them with white and Indian troops and recapturing much plunder and, in one or two cases in Lieut. Lemly’s scout, apprehending some of the robbers who as soon as turned over to the civil authorities were immediately released upon technicalities. Lieut. Lemly’s labors were especially arduous and suitably commemorated in General Orders issued by General Crook. . . .

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But to eradicate horse-thieves there is but one remedy; the Indian reservations should be put under martial Law, in default of which, the good people of the Territories when sufficiently strong will most certainly institute Lynch Law courts. Lieut. [J. F.] Cummings, 3d Cavalry, behaved with great gallantry during his presence near Deadwood and in like manner the behavior of Sergeant [C. A.] Bessey, C. “A,” 3d Cavalry, was a most gallant affair.4 Lieut. Hayden Delaney, 9th Infantry, who has been attached to General Crook’s Hd.Qrs. in the field during the winter, serving under Major Randall and Lieut. Clark in charge of Indian scouts and who has rendered excellent service in every capacity (as well as upon the summer campaign.) left for the Eastern states and Europe during the month of February. His arduous labors during the past eight months entitled him to every consideration. The daily outline of our lives at Fort Laramie was rather monotonous. We arose and dressed about 7; breakfasted, listened to the music of the Band at Guard Mounting, then visited the Hd.Qrs. stables to see that the horses were properly groomed. The stables were in the sheds on the inside of the old sod redoubt that constituted Fort Laramie when it was a post of the American Fur Co, 30 years ago. It abuts upon the current of the Laramie river, is not commanded by any of the adjacent bluffs and from its shape and construction, (being a square redoubt with covered lunettes, pierced for small field-pieces at the extremities of the North West and South East diagonal,) impregnable to the assaults of Indians armed, as in those days, with bows and arrows and lances. It was very compactly built of sod, with walls ten @ twelve feet high and was still, (in January–April 1877) in very good preservation. Dick, the little pony, who has carried me through the campaign since May last, is doing very nicely and shows good grooming and kind treatment. He is a very pretty little bay, half-bred, of affectionate disposition. 4. On February 23, 1877, Cummings, with Company C, 3rd Cavalry, and a party of citizen volunteers, charged and captured a hostile village of ten lodges on Crow Creek, about fifty miles north of Deadwood. The detachment recovered six hundred sheep, seven head of cattle, and seventeen ponies and horses, most of which had been stolen from area citizens. Bessey and three privates were repairing a telegraph line between Forts Laramie and Fetterman, on January 13, when three herders nearby were attacked by a large party of Indians. The soldiers managed to rescue the herders and fight their way out, although Bessey and two privates were wounded. All four soldiers were commended in General Orders. Headquarters Department of the Platte, General Orders no. 8, March 14, 1877, General Orders No. 9, March 16, 1877, copies pasted in Bourke, Diary, 19:1842–43.

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Returning from the stable, the opening hours of the morning were devoted to whatever business was contained in the mail of the preceding evening: after that we read until lunch time, 12–1 o’clock, then resumed our books, which were not relinquished until dark, except during the moments that the music of the afternoon openair concert tempted us to promenade the broad veranda encircling the house. In the evening, the mail was delivered and read; after dinner, which was served at retreat, if we did not pay any visits or receive callers, the allurements of our books engaged us again until the hour for bed-time, 11 o’clock, approached. Thus the time passed, stupidly enough, but not without improvement. The libraries of Co. “E”, 3d Cavalry, Co. “C”, 9th Infantry, and that belonging to the Post, were kindly placed at my disposition by their respective guardians. During the two months of our stay, many volumes, already read some of them, were eagerly perused and studied. Macaulay’s History of England, His Essays, Draper’s conflict between Science and Religion, Prescott’s Charles V., Ferdinand and Isabella, Conquest of Peru; Burke’s Sublime and Beautiful, Thackeray’s Newcomes, Vathek, A voyage around my chamber, Anatomy of Melancholy, (in part only.) Tyler’s Early history of Mankind, and half a dozen besides, were gone over,—a heterogeneous mass, but each good of its kind. Living on the frontier, an Army officer’s changes of literary treasures are so slight that he must cheerfully embrace whatever opportunities come within his reach without waiting for a selection.5 Dr. Hartsuff, Captains Lawson, Monahan and Munson and Lieut. Lemly did much to make our stay pleasant and to them I feel especially under obligations, altho’ there were others, not situated to entertain, who did their best to be courteous to the stranger within their gates. The uniformly mild weather of the present winter, since January 15th, is the theme of general comment. Many of the days have been as balmy as summer and the average temperature of the season since the date mentioned has been but little colder than that of Northern Arizona. 5. This condition is not restricted solely to nineteenth-century army officers. As a seventeen-year-old sailor on a slow tramp freighter with a polyglot crew, and with nothing to look at for weeks except the Atlantic Ocean, I read things I otherwise never would never considered, including Lord Jim, Dr. Zhivago, the Castilian “Colección Búfalo” of Western pulp fiction, and every issue of the Norske Handels- og Sjøfarts Tidening. I had learned quickly and from necessity to read several languages.

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Several times, on mild afternoons, Lieut. Schuyler and myself, went riding, taking the best road out from the post. Three miles out there was a nest of ranches, Cooneys and Écoffey’s and Wrights, tenanted by as hardened and depraved a set of wretches as could be found on the face of the globe. Each of these establishments was equipped with a rum-mill of the worst kind and each contained from three to a half dozen Cyprians, virgins whose lamps were always burning brightly in expectancy of the coming bridegroom, and who lured to destruction the soldiers of the garrison. In all my experience, I have never seen a lower, more beastly set of people of both sexes. Colonel Evans has been hard at work in the construction of a dam across the Laramie river, for the purpose mentioned some pages back. He hopes that the diversion of the main channel may be effected with the means at his disposal. He has a number of old, worn-out wagons, which will be run into and across the stream, making an angle with the line of direction of the current; their wheels will be secured together with iron logchains. These wagons filled with stone and old iron will serve as the foundation of the dam. March 2d. President Hayes’ election announced by the Electoral Commission. This gratified us exceedingly. Hayes is a man with a fine record as a soldier and Governor [of Ohio]. Without especial claim to extraordinary intellectual capacity, he is also without any of the inconvenient eccentricity of character so often associated with genius. His policy will no doubt be moderate and conciliatory in non-essentials, but firm and unshakable in all that touches the ground-work of our Constitution. His tone of character is pure and conscientious. Of his predecessor, General Grant, in justice it must be said that the failings of his administration were due principally to the force of circumstances. He was certainly too anxious to place Government positions to the swarm of needy adventurers who called him relative, but this, his chief defect, can be forgotten in the remembrance of the glory he conferred upon our banners while our Army looked to him as leader. During the month of March. (1877.) great wonder was excited in the scientific world by the practical demonstration of the capability of electricity to transmit musical sounds. This has been known to

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a few scientific men for a year or two back, but it has remained for this year to see that musical transmission is a possibility. In Chicago a concert has been given, the music being played in Milwaukee and telegraphed over the wires, a distance of more than eighty miles. Electricity has yet to be employed to send photographs, so that thieves and malefactors shall have no chance to escape from town to town. March 7th. General Crook started for Cheyenne to meet General Sheridan and make arrangements for any movements that may be rendered necessary for the coming summer; he returned March 11th, bringing with him General Mackenzie, and Lt. Lawton, 4th Cavy. April 3d. General Crook, Lt. Schuyler, Lieut. Thompson, 3d Cavalry, and the Messers Collins started for Laramie Peak to hunt elk and deer. That evening, we had an old-fashioned thunder-storm, changing by night to a cold rain and, before morning, to a driving snow. April 4th. A courier arrived from Lieut. Lee, at Spotted Tail Agency, bringing letters from that officer, Colonel Mills, 3d Cavy., General Mackenzie and Lt. Clark, saying that Spotted Tail had been successful in his mission and was now on the Belle Fourche, returning with (1600) Indians, four hundred of them warriors. Same day, a telegram came from Captain Vroom in Deadwood saying Merivale had reached Crook City and reported substantially the same as we had learned from the Indian runners at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies. The Cheyennes, with whom we had the fight in November, also began to weaken. Nearly Four hundred (to be exact, three hundred and eighty six,) had already surrendered at Red Cloud, in February and March. This band was under Little Wolf, one of their best fighting chiefs, who stated that the rest of his people would be in just as soon as they could reach Red Cloud Agency. They had suffered terribly in their fight with our Cavalry, under General Mackenzie, in November last and were obliged to surrender or starve. They had first joined Crazy Horse, who was on Tongue river, only a couple of marches from where the troops were, (i.e., the new cantonment.) but Crazy Horse wouldn’t do anything more for them. The Cheyennes were very mad with Crazy Horse and didn’t like the way in which he had

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acted towards them. They would surrender at Red Cloud, which was their old home. Little Wolf said that his part of the band had the best ponies and was not encumbered with wounded, and for that reason had got in a good long time ahead of the others who would have to travel slowly—but, he persisted, “They also will be along; they are coming”. Those of us who were in the fight with MacKenzie and knew the severity of the blow he had dealt the Cheyennes in the total destruction of their fine village, felt that Little Wolf was speaking the truth and that he was, as he said, the advance guard of his whole tribe; but there were a few doubting Thomases who did not repose much confidence in his story. General Crook quietly maintained that Little Wolf was correct and that we might at any moment, expect the arrival of the others. Those who were with Little Wolf were in a miserable plight and told a sad story of want and destitution, after losing their village. They claimed that the Northern Sioux, (under Crazy Horse,[)] had not behaved toward them with compassion. They expressed a desire to be enlisted as soldiers that they might go out to fight Crazy Horse’s people. About the same time, (Feby. 20th.) some two hundred Sioux also surrendered at the two agencies. While this was going on, Lt. Clark was busily employed enlisting a force of Indian soldiers at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail. He picked out most excellent material, the only difficulty being in making a choice where so many aspirants thrust themselves forward. He secured Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Little Wolf, Young Man Afraid of his Horses and others of renown. Old Red Cloud asked to be enlisted as a soldier and was accepted. This enlistment of Indians to fight Indians is the great secret of General Crook’s success in the management of the wild tribes; its efficacy is recognized by no people more readily than the Indians them-selves who look up to General Crook as their master. Sioux6 Spotted Tail Red Cloud Poor Elk Big Bellied sorrel horse.* Three Bears* Feather on head* Indians whose names are marked thus * were with us in our campaign from October 1876 until January 1877[.] *

6. The reader will note that some common names are repeated. There are, for example, two American Horses, one Sioux and one Cheyenne, and that Brave Bear was shared between Sioux and Arapaho.

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Horse comes last* Running Bear* High Bear American Horse Blue Horse Bear robe Red shirt* Charging Bear* Young Man Afraid of his horses Pretty place.* Trunk Brings the Pipe Hand Owns Gray Horse Kills a hundred* Little Wolf Sitting Bear* Roan Bear Big Wolf American Horse.

THE GREAT SIOUX WAR Weasel Bear Red Kettle Jack ass.* Kills first.* Horn Eagle* White Face* Hunts the Enemy Painted Horse.* Torn Belly. Brave Bear Broken leg* Yellow Bear Arapahoe Red Dog Cheyennes Living Bear Black Bear* Wild Hog. Plenty Camps

Arapahoes. Black Coal Sharp Nose* Washington* White Horse* Six Feathers.* Friday. Horse White Breast Wolf moccasin* Big Man* Shaved Head* Standing Feather. Medicine man. Walks in the Water. Red Beaver Setting Bear Half Shirt Sage Black Shirt Water man Lone Bear Scraper Ree Broken Horn Little Chief Brave Bear The Sioux have not been arranged by bands. April 5th. General Crook telegraphed to Major Vroom to return to Red Cloud with his command. Vroom had been robbed of eighteen mules by the people in the Black Hills whom he had been sent to

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protect. Word was also telegraphed to Randall and Stanton to join us at the agency, and a report of the news received forwarded to the Lieutenant-General. April 6th. Major [Julius Wilmot] Mason, 3d Cavalry, arrived. April 8th and 9th. Heavy rain and snow. April 10th. General Crook, Colonel Mason, 3d Cavy., Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C. and Lieut. Bourke, A.D.C., started from Fort Laramie in a murky atmosphere and drove across the uninteresting country, already described, between that post and the Niobrara. Our wagons didn’t reach camp until 11 P.M. We passed a rather uncomfortable time until they came in[.] April 11th. Drove to Camp Robinson. At the distance of six miles from the camp, we passed through the two hundred lodges forming the camp of the Arapahoe chief, Sharp Nose, who called to us to stop and come in to his lodge; General Crook was not able to comply. There must have been something like a thousand mongrel curs in the village and of these a large representation started out to meet us. Jack, our dog, usually bold and defiant, trotted along under the ambulance with his tail tightly pressed between his legs and an air of subdued and even dejected piety visible on his countenance. The Indian hounds barked for him to come out and fight, but Jack was obliged to decline. Some two or three hundred dogs and children ran along in the road with us for a hundred yards, the children hoping to get a ride and the dogs hoping to get a fight, but neither were gratified. Lieut. Clark was asked to go to a dog feast to-night. He was privileged to bring a friend and asked me to go with him. I couldn’t get away in time, altho’ I should have been very glad to attend, as “choked pup” is one of the few aboriginal delicacies I have never eaten and I wish very much to be able to say what it tastes like. April 12th. General Crook, General Mackenzie, Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C. and Lieut. Bourke, A.D.C., drove to Spotted Tail Agency, forty five miles. On the way, Paul, the driver of General Mackenzie[’]s ambulance, became very communicative and gave us the benefit of his experience in the West. His views of the Bad Lands would no doubt have amused Professor [O. C.] Marsh. “Lieutenant, it’s the dog-gonedest country I ever sed; regular boneyard. W’all, I got lots of things out thar;—thighs and jawbones! There’s no’ count; the ground is chock-full of them. But petrified

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terrapin and snappin’ tortle, why tem’s wallerble. But I wunst got a bone full of crystallized mar-rer; looks like white glass. Guess I’ll send it to a museum”! While at Red Cloud, (Camp Robinson,) General Crook had a talk with old Turkey Legs and other chiefs of the Cheyennes, who all said that they wanted to go out and fight the Northern Sioux. Turkey Legs, who is paralyzed and unable to do much physical labor is evidently a man of acute mental powers and a strong, but concise talker. “These,[”] he said, waving his trembling hand around the semi-circle of grim-faced warriors who stood by him, “these are the Cheyennes. You, who have fought us, (pointing to General Crook and General Mackenzie,) know what we are. We claim for our people that they are the best fighters on the plains”. He then went on to say that eighty lodges of his tribe, numbering nearly a thousand people, were on their way in to Red Cloud Agency, to surrender, being tired of war. Each lodge averaged two families. They had lost everything they had in their fight in the Big Horn mountains with General Mackenzie, but they didn’t bear MacKenzie or Crook any ill will. They wanted to be our friends now,—and to go out with us to fight Crazy Horse. If General Crook would take the Cheyennes out against Crazy Horse, every warrior would go with him. There must be some fire in all this smoke. The Cheyennes adhere to this idea with great tenacity, and from every source comes the information that the Cheyenne’s “hearts are bad” against Crazy Horse and that they are going to have revenge on him. They are holding themselves aloof from the Sioux at the Agency; a circumstance which adds weight to their language in Council. The Sioux have been manifesting an ill-concealed anxiety to have their relatives come in from the north and submit. They seem more afraid of this alliance between Crook and the Cheyennes than they do of the soldiers themselves. The ring of Lieut. Van W. Reilly,7 7th Cavalry, killed in the fight with Custer, has been recovered and was shown me by Lieut. Clark. It is a heavy, plain circlet of gold with bloodstone deal, engraved with a griffin’s head & sword. 7. Bourke means William Van W. Reily, who transferred from the 10th Cavalry to the 7th on January 26, 1876, just one day short of five months prior to his death at the Little Bighorn. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:823.

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While at Red Cloud Agency, I narrowly missed seeing Rain in the Face, the Sans Arc who is reported to have struck the dying Custer in the face with his riding whip and who forms the subject of a lack-a-daiscal poem by Longfellow.8 Shunca-ca Luta (Sorrel Horse.) came to see me at Spotted Tail Agency. He told General Mackenzie that he is one half Brulé, one half Ogallalla. He professes to be a big medicine man and performs a good many tricks which make the other Indians afraid of him: one is to take a small piece of tobacco which he inserts in his side and extracts from his throat. He claims to be able to cut a lock of hair from a squaw’s head and by dancing and singing around it, to make the squaw die inside of three days. None of the squaws will let him try the experiment9. April 13th. Colonel Stanton, Paymaster, Colonel Buchanan, Judge Advocate, Mr. Chace [sic], Mr. Ford, correspondent of the Chicago Times, Lt. Clark and Lt. [Joseph] Dorst arrived at Camp Sheridan. The Indians had a game of “shinny”, in which the young girls participated. On gala days, the young maidens and braves engage in this amusement to the number of hundreds, each arrayed in the best of the Indian raiment. A curious specimen of bead-work came under my notice yesterday: the beads were not sewed to the cloth, but strung on strings and each string attached to its neighbors, making a complete coating entirely distinct from the cloth, to which it was only fastened at the edges. The amount of labor required to complete this must have been very great. Have to-day had time to look over Sir Rose Price’s book, the Two Americas. He speaks in high terms of the American Army officers. Sir Rose is a very pleasant-mannered gentleman of extensive travel and considerable culture. Part of the trip of which he speaks was 8. “The Revenge of Rain in the Face.” 9. Bourke considered the medicine man to be a major impediment to Indian progress. In Apache Medicine-Men (144–45) he wrote: It will only be after we have thoroughly routed the medicine-man from their intrenchments and made them an object of ridicule that we can hope to bend and train the mind of our Indian wards in the direction of civilization. . . . [T]he reduction of the medicine-men will effect more for the savages than the giving of land in severalty or instruction in the schools at Carlisle and Hampton. . . . He believed Indian children at Carlisle and Hampton should be taught science and technology, as well as ventriloquism and parlor tricks so that “when they return to their own people, each will despise the fraud of the medicine-man and be a focus of growing antagonism to their pretensions.”

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made in company with Lieut. Clark and myself and some of the anecdotes retailed on that journey reappear in his volume.10 Spotted Tail, (who had come into Camp Sheridan a few days ago in advance in order to meet General Crook,) went out this morning with White Thunder and one or two other chiefs to the camp of the Northern Indians and returned in the evening. Spotted Tail is looking better than when I last saw him. His face has a kindly expression and in conversation he is vivacious and witty to a degree. In stature, Spotted Tail impresses me as being but little over medium height, frame slender but well knit in bony tissue, and carrying a good deal of flesh. I have often thought that Spotted Tail could with great facility be dressed up so as to look like a French abbé. White Thunder, the second in importance, is a fine-looking Indian; countenance good-humored but resolute, eyes bright, animated and mild-tempered; in all respects, a very handsome man. A comparison suggests itself between White Thunder and Sharp Nose, chief of the Arapahoes; of the two, White Thunder is the more handsome, Sharp Nose the more intelligent. April 14th. Spotted Tail and Mr. Boucher left the Agency early this morning and rode down to the mouth of Beaver creek, six miles, where the incoming Minneconjou had camped over night. By ten o’clock, a large party of Minneconjou braves, numbering about two hundred and twenty-five, galloped into the Agency, charging “as foragers”, yelling and firing guns. It looked for a moment like Rosebud over again. Then, within another hour, the head men and councilors of the village, escorted by Spotted Tail and Boucher, rode up in three lines, twenty-five abreast. As they crossed the line of the parade ground, (Camp Sheridan.) a song was started, all joining in. 10. This is Bourke’s first mention of Sir Rose Price in the diary. Price’s sojourn in the Department of the Platte was from September through November 1875, one of those periods of gap in the existing volumes of the diaries. Therefore it must be assumed that if Bourke did record the visit, it is in one of the lost volumes. Price expressed his high esteem of U.S. Army officers by writing: Of all the good fellows in the world I really believe the U.S.A. officers are about the best. It is simply impossible to do them justice in describing their kindness and hospitality to any one bringing letters of introduction who may visit their posts. No trouble is too great if they can only give you a “good time,” and no inconvenience you can possibly put them to is considered of the slightest moment if they can add to your comfort and enjoyment. They are all highly educated, the course at West Point being one of the most thorough a man can receive. . . . Price’s overall enthusiasm extended to the American people in general, and was unusual for British gentry of the time, most of whom tended to view Americans with a certain disdain. Price, Two Americas, 353.

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The band halted in front of Colonel Mills’ qrs., where General Crook, General Mackenzie and other officers were assembled. Spotted Tail said, turning to the first Indian on his Left.—This is Lone Horn’s son—The young man whose head touches the clouds. The young man, shaking General Crook’s hand, said “Cola! (friend.) my heart is good; let our hearts be one. I give you this gun as a sign that I submit to you”, at same time laying his gun down upon the ground. Roman Nose laid down two long clean sticks and said[,] “My friend, these are two ponies which I will give to you”. The others of the old men were introduced as they came up, each shaking hands and all expressing kind feelings. The village, with its great herds of ponies, packs of dogs and crowds of women, children and superannuated men; filed along, covering over a mile of distance, with an irregular breadth of 150 yards to half a mile. Indians travel so loosely and are not “closed up” like military columns. It was hard to tell how many were in this band, but I should say that all told they numbered not less than (1200) to 1300 souls, and fully 1800 ponies. When the whole party reached the agency enclosure, one mile beyond the post, and began to climb the hill-side of the place where their camp was to be pitched, the procession looked for all the world like a swarm of black ants. In company with Mr. Ford, I took a walk over to the Agency, passing in our promenade a party of young bucks who were enjoying themselves in a certain game, played by throwing arrows through the air toward a certain point. The Minneconjous, during the afternoon, turned over to Spotted Tail, their arms, which he sent to the post in a wagon. In company with Colonel Mills, I visited the saw-mill, post bakery and corral, seeing much to admire in each. General Crook was very indignant with Spotted Tail for endeavoring to save the Minneconjous and Sans Arcs from turning in their arms. Only thirty eight were given up and various flimsy excuses urged for the rendition of this small number. General Crook quietly told Spotted Tail he must turn over all the arms or our Indian soldiers would take them from the tépis. It was fully 11 o’clock in the morning of the 15th before the Indians were ready for the council. General Crook, Lt. Schuyler, A.D.C.

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and Lt. Bourke, A.D.C., of his staff, General MacKenzie, Lt. Dorst, Colonel Mills and other officers of the post, formed one semi-circle, while Spotted Tail and the other chiefs of the Brulé, Loafer, Sans Arcs and Minneconjous made the other. Thirty four guns, or twigs to represent them, were laid on the ground. They were all Government carbines, evidently from the Custer Massacre. I should say here that the twigs were in each case redeemed by the carbines they represented. After smoke had been puffed, General Crook told the interpreter to say to the Indians that he was ready to listen to whatever they had to tell him. Thereupon, Roman Nose, “My friend, I want to say a few words. I want to live at peace with the whites. I want to live like Spotted Tail’s people, but there are some of my band who haven’t come in yet”. General Crook. I let Spotted Tail go out to see you, because he was head man here and an Indian who would tell the truth, and whom you would believe (How!).11 The buffalo are getting scarce and cannot last but a short time. A few years ago, the country was filled with them, but now the whites are crowding in and settlements are springing up every where. For that, I am glad you have come in for your own good. It may be more pleasant to live out in the buffalo country, but the Great Father will not allow it and has ordered his soldiers to make war on you until you all come in. For this, I let Spotted Tail go out to see you, not wanting to have you all killed. In a fight, you may kill many soldiers, but other soldiers will keep coming on until you are all killed. I am glad you have listened to reason and come in; by doing so, you have saved your lives. I hope that the others still out will come in, as our soldiers have orders to stay out and make war upon them until they are all killed or come in. I told Spotted Tail that when you all came in and were peaceable, if you wanted sometime to go out and hunt buffalo, I would send soldiers out with you, to look after you and take care of you. I am glad you have come in now while you can get such good terms; after a while, we will not give such good terms. If you have any friends up north whom you wish to have come in and live at peace, you had better send out now and tell them they 11. The Indians interjected this into Crook’s remarks.

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must come in at once. The Great Father has ordered three big posts to be built; one at the mouth of Tongue river, one at the mouth of Little Big Horn, and one at Cantonment Reno:12 he is determined to make war upon you, until you all come in and live at peace. I hope you’ll listen to reason and have good sense from this one. You can talk to these Indians here and find out how we treat them, and see whether it would be better to stay out or live at the Reservation. (How! How!) I am very glad to see you and glad to see you have come in with the good feeling you seem to have. (How! How!) Altho’ you’ve been up north fighting against us, now that you have come in to live at peace, you’ll be treated well and like the other Indians here., (How! How! How! How!) Old John. Here handed General Crook a stick, saying, “My friend, this represents a horse—give it to any of these Indians you please. General Crook. I’ll give it to Roman nose as a sign of my friendship for him. (Laughter.) Roman Nose thanked the General by passing his hand lightly down his face and then shaking his hand. Spotted Tail[:] My friend (to General Crook.) I am going to get up in front of you and talk to you. I ought not to talk with you now because I am your friend, but I’ll do it. General Crook. That’s right. I want to hear you. Spotted Tail To-day, I will tell you all my business: how I have thought for my children and tried to get along; how I have always listened to the Great Father. I’ll tell you all. As you told me, my friend, you wanted me to help you and the Great Father, I have always done it. So you, to-day must help me and the Great Father must also. As the people sit before us here, I see the very ones I went after. You told me I should take care of them and counsel them. My heart is good; all these people here,—their hearts are good. The Day’s Heart is good; the winds don’t blow and everything is good and solemn. Now I think this way; after I get all these people in, I want them to have a place of their own like mine. The bad white men are coming in and taking all the country. But in this way, we can save more country, by giving these people (i.e. Minneconjous.) a place for themselves where they can live and raise their children. 12. Forts Keogh, Custer, and McKinney, respectively.

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The reason I say I want the Great Father to help me is, the white men are going in to our country. I want the Great Father to do something for us now. This country belongs to the Indians; of course, if I give the country away, I cant pay for it for my children. I want the Great Father to decide about the matter soon for the sake of my people. Now, the country is mine. From this on, I want my children to be taught to live like the whites and get tools to work with like the whites. You (General Crook.) are one of the Great Father’s men,—sent here to do his business. You have power and always do business straight, so I want you to attend to this business for me. Now, my friend, you see the country yourself. I cannot plant and work with my hand. I want tools and if I had them, I could go to work and live well. You all know that men who sit still, never make anything, but those who stop travelling about and go to work, make a good living. Now, my friend, I want you to help me; use your best judgment and tell your views to the Great Father and get those things from the Great Father. The Commissioners here last-summer, told me they would feed me as long as I couldn’t support myself. Since the soldiers took charge of the Agency, you can see for yourself we are fat and I want that to continue. I told you when we went to see those Indians, to take good care of our people here. Now, we have a new Great Father;13 I want you to tell him when he sends a new Agent to send one with plenty of money to take good care of my people. When we get a new Agent, we want one belonging to the Catholic church to teach my children. I want you to send word to my Great Father not to ask me to move to the Indian country14 any more. I want to live here where I am. Yesterday, the white men living near here took some stock from these Minneconjous. This is not the right way. They should make a claim and prove it before taking stock. That’s the right way. These Indian soldiers here are yours; they belong to you. What we buy in the store, the prices are big. When you pay off the soldiers, the prices are big, and the store-keeper gets all the money; we want you to fix that. When a man does business, he 13. President Hayes. 14. I.e. the Indian Territory.

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puts a price on his goods whatever it is, so every [one] can know it. These store-keepers ought [to] be made to do the same. I thought those miners and men who stole horses were rascals, but these store-keepers (alluding to the Indian traders,) steal more than they. I have got the price for a beef-hide; it is $2. You know a white man don’t take such a price for a beef-hide, but we have to. General Crook. You asked me a lot of these things before you went away and I have not forgotten them. I am glad you have been successful on this trip as it will assist me in doing what you want. While the Indians were out, if I had asked for anything they would have said in Washington[,] “The Indians are all bad, they don’t deserve anything”. But if the Indians come in, of course they’ll do anything in reason. I don’t know what promises were made before I came here, but you can judge for yourself whether I am honest in my efforts for your good or not. I have but one way of doing business; I don’t talk one way and act another. I will remember what you ask and will do the best I can. I have it all down on paper, but can’t say how much I can do; it will depend on whether all Indians come in or not. It is necessary that all should come in, because if even a few stay out, people East will say that the Indians are all bad. After a little while when these Minneconjous see how things are working, they can send word back to their friends to let them know. (How! How!) After lunch, Colonel Burnham and I, started in the post ambulance, taking with us Bugler Kreger (a young soldier who speaks Sioux with some fluency,) to act as interpreter. We visited the lodge of Waka-ózka or White Thunder, and were presented to his young wife. He has no family. The unexceptionable neatness of the lodge was very gratifying, but not more so than the politeness of our treatment. White Thunder deported himself fully as well as the generality of white men would have done under the same circumstances. When we told him we were also going to call upon Spotted Tail, he very graciously said that he would show us the way as we might have trouble in finding the lodge. Spotted Tail received us with urbanity, as a virtue common to all Indians, I have ever seen. Their treatment of visitors is fully equal, in essentials, to that of white men, even if they don’t know as much, of the minor points of etiquette. Spotted Tail is very dignified, but also very kind. His manner is that of an Indian, White Thunder acts like a

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white man. From Spotted Tails lodge, White Thunder suggested that we drive to the Minneconjou camp where the dancers were getting ready for the entertainment to be given to General Crook. So, we drove to the place where the lodges of the lately-surrendered hostiles were pitched and saw enough to satisfy us for having complied with the invitation. The village was arranged in the form of a circle and the parade in the center, (of 200 to 250 yds. Diameter.) was one dense, black mass of humanity. Not alone in the village, but streaming far out over the hillocks beyond, were the crowds of Brulés and Loafers, with the crowds, equally great almost, of Minneconjoux and Sans Arcs. The number present was not less than 3000, little and big, and may have run up as high as 4.000. In the center was a company of dancers not far either way from one hundred, accoutred in every conceivable mode of fantastic and grotesque invention. Some were naked except for the breech-clout and had their faces and bodies painted in all colors and in all patterns, green, blue, yellow, striped, black and red; piebald, specked and spotted. They only agreed in one point. Their head-dresses of father-work had a faint approach of uniformity. Every costume was trimmed with sleigh-bells; one Indian wore a dress covered with them, down his legs in two or three lines, down and around his arms, about his neck, ankles, and waist and slung across his shoulders. Another dancer was a boy, Red Nose’s son, not ten years old. The masters of ceremonies were mounted on ponies, painted as oddly as themselves, usually with imprints of the human hand in yellow on the flanks. The performers wore, as already stated, a sort of uniform head-gear; the masters of ceremonies all appeared in their magnificent war-bonnets trailing to the ground. White Thunder staid with us until the procession was ready to move. It was a strangely grand sight and as gorgeous and gaudy a combination of colors as I ever saw put together. The object of the preliminary grouping I could not make out. I supposed it had some symbolical meaning, as, while the dancers congregated closely together, old women of the Brulé band covered the ground with pieces of calico, blankets, and other textures, which were immediately taken up and distributed among the destitute Northern Dacotahs. Driving as fast as possible back to the post and,

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picking up on the way our friend Shuncaca Lutu, (Sorrel Horse.), we reached Hd.Qrs. in time to witness the arrival of the immense procession which had stripped the village of every soul except the smallest children and oldest women. A large circle was formed for the dancers who without delay began their exercises. A stranger, ignorant, as I, of the language and ideas of the Sioux could not presume to give more than an outline of this dance. The following description is necessarily meager but it is faithful in representing only what I saw and jotted down, in lead-pencil, at the time. The general plan, if such a term is appropriate, consisted in the masters of ceremonies riding around on the inside of the circle and calling out in a loud tone of voice what the nature of the coming act was to be. Then one of the performers would start around the circle and give in pantomime a very graphic history of the achievements he, or some of his friends, had performed, a chorus of voices meantime chanting the verbal account of the same. This being concluded, the main body of performers thronged to the center and united in a grand chorus, and war dance, the drums all the while keeping up a fearful racket. Each warrior had his turn and thus we were favored with an almost photographic picture of their attacks upon their enemies, their daring feats and capturing stock, in striking “coup” and in escaping death, after having been severely wounded. Three of the performers simulated the actions of a desperate Indian, wounded and at bay, surrounded by enemies; the pantomime was perfect. Colonel Mills had Lieut. Clark, Lt. Schuyler, Colonel Burnham, Spotted Tail and myself at dinner. In the evening, White Thunder called and after expressing his regret to learn that we were going away, presented me with a very elegant tobacco-bag and a nicely-worked pair of moccasins. Monday, April 16th. Our party returned to Camp Robinson. Our stay at Camp Sheridan had been a delightful one, thanks to Colonel and Miss Mills, Lieut. And Mrs. Lee, Dr. Koerper, Lt. Schwatka and others. Within sight of Camp Robinson, a large party of young Indians, of both sexes, were actively running about, in the game of “shinny”. There were not less than two hundred in the party. The game itself differs in nowise from the American sport which may have been derived from the aborigines.

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Telegrams to-day contain the fearful announcement of the burning of the Southern Hotel, Saint Louis, with the loss of fifty lives. General Crook telegraphed to Lt-General Sheridan, giving an outline of occurrences at Camp Sheridan. Runners from the Indian camp state that Crazy Horse’s whole band is on its way in to Red Cloud Agency, there to surrender. According to their statement, the village should now be at the crossing of the Belle Fourche.

Chapter 13 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Indians Speak

Tuesday, April 17th. Heavy shower in the morning before reveille. Day gloomy and chill. Major Randall and Mr. Strahorn arrived from Cantonment Reno. Companies “B” and “L”, 3d Cavalry, returned from the Black Hills, Lieuts. Simpson and Cummings in command. Parties from Crazy horse’s [sic] village have been coming in all day yesterday and this morning; their stories agree in the main points. All say that Crazy horse’s people are anxious to make peace, Crazy horse himself yielding to the pressure. The attitude of the Cheyennes of which Crazy horse [sic] and the other hostile Indians have been duly informed by runners, is having a powerful effect, and the bands which have been within striking distance (i.e. 250 @ 300 miles) of the Agencies for some time past are now moving in as fast as possible. General Crook, in a conversation with Red Cloud a week ago, told that chieftain that he was going to recommence active work at once and keep it up all summer and winter; that he had delayed his movements simply to give those who were tired of war an opportunity to surrender, but that those who had been dilatory in coming in should now have their “bellies full”. 265

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We expect to take with us every man of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, besides a large contingent of Shoshonees, Bannocks, Pawnees, and Utes. Red Cloud and Spotted Tail are especially afraid of the ascendancy General Crook has gained over the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. These Indians have been for so many years associated so intimately with the Sioux that they have become practically the one people and know every thought and idea of the Sioux, and also every one of their hiding places. Red Cloud asked General Crook to give him a chance to go out and see Crazy horse, who is his relative; General Crook replied that he could go if he wanted to, but not as his representative. To tell Crazy Horse that preparations for the campaign were to be hastened and not delayed and every day his surrender was deferred was one day closer to the moment when the troops and their Cheyenne allies were to sally out and attack and kill his warriors wherever found. Red Cloud assured the General that he should have Crazy Horse and his people at Red Cloud Agency within ten days, but it is now April 17th, and Red Cloud has been gone about a week and nothing definite from him. This evening Lieut. Clark had an interview with six of the warriors from Crazy Horse’s camp. One of them told a curious story of Crazy Horse’s interview with Colonel Miles at mouth of Tongue river. Miles sent back to the hostile camp a Cheyenne squaw he had captured last Fall and with her a half-breed interpreter. The hostiles, after some parley, sent a small number of their people to visit Miles, who had five tents put up for their reception and their ponies herded by white soldiers. In a speech he told them they should come in and live at that place and trade; that they should give up their old guns and ponies so he could tell the Great Father that he had taken their arms and ponies from them but their good arms and good horses they could keep. He also told them that if they came in to Red Cloud Agency, the people here would take the last thing they had. This like other Indian stories, must be taken cum grano salis.1 The arms surrendered by the Minneconjous and Sans Arcs comprehend every pattern of breech and muzzle-loader. Springfield carbines which they captured in abundance at the Custer massacre, Sharp’s, Henry’s and Winchester repeaters. They have also a few Sharp’s 1. With a grain of salt.

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sporting rifles and a number of the old fashioned, small-bore, heavy muzzle-loading rifle, effective at long range. Couriers were sent out in the afternoon to carry dispatches for General Sheridan to the end of the telegraph line which is now not more than (20) or twenty-five miles from the post. The poles are already in position for the remainder of the line & the wire will be strung between this Camp and Hat creek, on the Cheyenne and Black Hills’ Line before the end of a week. Wednesday, April 18th. Not much to note. Rained all day, From new arrivals, Lieut.Clark attained a confirmation of the Miles’ story, (see preceding page.) which I am now somewhat inclined to credit.2 Mr. Robinson Crusoe, presented himself to Genl. Crook this morning in the orthodox buckskin rig of the Western dead-beat, who is working to secure a soft Government berth at good salary. He said that times were hard and he wanted to go out as a scout. “Thar war a piece about one in the paper—you must’a seed it”, he modestly remarked. The General disclaimed any acquaintance with the biographical notice alluded to and further, was pained to be obliged to decline the services of this eminent “bilk”, who “had bin seventeen years West of the Missouri.” The idea is wide-spread and there must be some money in it, too—that, by simply donning a suit of dirty buckskin and staying away from home for a number of years that an American butcher boy becomes a noble frontiersman and capable of acting as guide and of fighting Indians. The slim basis of such an assumption was detected by Hand one of the two or three Indians present in the room when Mr. Robinson Crusoe made his bow. Hand asked what that man wanted. Billy Hunter, the interpreter replied that he wanted to act as guide for the troops. “Why[”] said Hand, [“]if he should go outside of this post alone he’d get lost.” Billy then told Hand that these men, (like Robinson Crusoe[)] thought the Indians were afraid of them. Hand never replied a word, but a cynical smile overspread his face making him look like a statue of Sarcasm. . . . Major Randall and Mr. Strahorn tell a good story of a miner,—one of a party at whose fire they camped one cold night last week. 2. These meetings did, in fact, occur. See Greene, Yellowstone Command, 192–95.

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Two or three of his comrades were grumbling against Crook’s management of affairs in the Department, and this old cuss heard them through to the end without interruption. Then he said slowly; “fellers, I know Crook. I knowed him in Oregon. He fit them [th]ar Injuns in Oregon and licked them. He fit ‘em in Arizona in licked em again, and he’ll lick these Sioux afore he gits through. Thot [th]ar hook nose and ‘sot’ jaw aint stuck on his face for nothing; they means iz, they does, you hear me”. Thursday, April 19th. Colonel Burnham and Mr. Ford left for Fort Laramie. Mr. Hibberd, manager of the telegraph line started for the terminal station to hurry forward the work of construction. Last night, the Cheyennes, who are coming in to surrender, camped at Hat creek, 45 miles from here. During the morning, Horny Horse a surrendered Indian, gave the following account of the Custer Massacre. “Some lodges came out from Standing Rock Agency and told us the troops were coming. The troops charged on the camp before we knew they were there. The lodges were strung out as far as from here to the Red Cloud Agency slaughterhouse (about 2½ miles.) I was in the council house with a lot of the old men; when we heard shots fired from up the river. The troops first charged from up the river. We came out of the Council House and ran to our lodges. All the young bucks got on their horses and charged the troops. All the old bucks and squaws went the other way. We ran the troops back. Then there was another part of troops on the other side of the river. One half of the Indians pursued the first body of troops, (i.e., Reno’s); the other half went after the other body, (i.e. Custer’s.) I didn’t see exactly all the fight, but by now, all of one party, (i.e. Custer’s.) were killed and the others driven back into a bad place. We took no prisoners. I didn’t go out to see the bodies, because there were two young bucks of my band killed in the fight and we had to look after them. We made the other party of soldiers, (i.e. Reno’s.) cross the creek and run back to where they had their pack train. [“]The reason we didn’t kill all of this (Reno’s) party was because while we were fighting his party we heard that more soldiers were coming up the river, so we had to pack up, and leave. [“]We left some good young men killed in that fight. We had a great many killed in the fight and some others died of their wounds. [“]I know there were between (50) and (60) killed in the fight. After

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the fight, we went to Wolf Mtns., near the head of Goose creek. Then, We [sic] followed Rosebud down, and then went over to Bluestone Creek. We had the fight on the Rosebud first and seven days after [the Rosebud] this fight. When we got down to Bluestone, the band broke up, the Ogallallas starting for the Agency. [“]The lodges captured at Slim buttes were trying to run into the Agency. [“]We had no chief in the fight. Every one of us had to go in and do the best he could.” He also went on to say that both Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull were present at the Rosebud and probably at the Custer fight also, but he didn’t know positively. In the fight with General Miles last winter, there was one Sioux killed and one Cheyenne: also one died next day of wounds. Did not know of any soldiers being killed. Heard afterwards by the half-breeds bringing flag of truce that three had been killed. Captain P.D. Vroom, and A[cting]. A[ssistant]. Surgn. McGillicuddy, with Company “L”, 3d Cavy., arrived from the Black Hills. This has been an exceptionally serene and lovely day: nothing has been left to be desired in temperature or clearness. Under the mild radiance of the sun the young grass is making rapid headway. April 20th. A miserably dusty day; one couldn’t get ten yards without getting covered with dust. General “Sandy” Forsyth of General Sheridan’s Staff arrived on the stage during the night. (This is the gallant officer who had such a desperate fight with an overwhelmingly large body of hostile Cheyennes, on the Republican river, in Kansas in 1868. He was badly wounded in the left leg.) He has come to obtain General Crook’s views as to the policy of moving the Sioux to a new reservation on the Missouri River. General Crook objects to the Missouri as a location and has been urging a tract bounded by the Yellowstone, Tongue and Big Horn rivers, accessible by way of the Yellowstone and possessing all the qualifications for a first-class reserve. The Chicago Times received this morning contains a strange letter from General Miles, virtually claiming as “his” Indians all those who have surrendered at the Agencies of late. I insert it to let it tell its own story;

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THE GREAT SIOUX WAR Promissory Notes. Of a Cessation of Hostilities on the Part of the Hungry Savages. Gen. Miles Relates How the Tribes Came In and Accepted the Government “Conditions.” Breaking Up of the Camp on Powder River—Sitting Bull in British America. The following was received at Gen. Sheridan’s headquarters yesterday. HEADQUARTERS YELLOWSTONE COMMAND, Cantonment at Tongue River, Montana Territory, March 24, 1877.—Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Dakota, St. Paul, Minn.—Sir: Referring to my letter of the 23d ult. regarding the coming of certain Indians pursuant to communication with them that I had established, I have the honor to state that the Indians who left on the 23d ult. with my interpreter found the hostile tribes on the Little Horn on the 4th inst., and so far disposed to accept the terms that I had sent out, namely, placing themselves under entire subjection to the government, and either coming in here or going to the agencies at the south, that it was cried through the camps that the war was over, and that no more hostile expeditions would be allowed against the white man. The camp moved toward this place immediately, and my interpreter traveled with it two days, crossing from the Little Horn to Tongue river, and down Tongue river to Otter creek, and during this time a runner from a party under Spotted Tail agency arrived, conveying news of their approach, and bringing ammunition. My interpreter saw one bag of it. From Otter creek one hundred and sixty Indians, chiefly warriors, came here on the 16th inst., led by sixteen chiefs and head warriors, of whom a part had been in before, all of whom desired to learn for themselves under what conditions they could come in, and whether the conditions were modified in accordance with the very liberal terms alleged to have been offered through Spotted Tail or by him. Among other things they stated that he promised them the opportunity of obtaining abundant ammunition at

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the agencies, which is doubtless an unauthorized promise. The names of the chiefs and head soldiers who came are as follows: Of the Cheyennes, White Bull or the Ice, Two Moons, Little Chief, Old Wolf, Magpie Eagle, Little Creek, Spotted Wolf, Sitting Night, and Chief Bear; of the Sioux (Ogallalas), Wahato, Little Hawk (uncle of Crazy Horse), Red Horse, Rock or Four Crows, Horse Road, Hard-To-Kill, and The Hump. I told them plainly, as I had done before, the terms (as hereinbefore given), that I would not permit their going backward and forward between the hostile camps and this post armed; but while the government had no desire to impoverish them, they must cheerfully surrender such ponies and arms as I might require. As they were impressed from Spotted Tail’s answer that the military authorities directed him to say that the troops would be taken away from here, I informed them emphatically that the troops would be retained here. White Bull, or the I[c]e, acting and [sic] head warrior of the Cheyennes, the Hump, head soldier of the Ogallalas, his brother, Horse Road, a Sioux chief, and Little Chief, Crazy Mule, and Magpie Eagle, Old Wolf, Little Creek, chiefs of the Cheyennes, and Fast Whirl, a[l]so a Cheyenne, remained at this place as proof of their good faith, and as a guarantee that the people will come in here, and remain, or go to their agencies. The remainder of the Indians left yesterday, intending to participate in the general council with Spotted Tail to be held on the Little Powder river, whither they stated their tribes would move from the Otter creek. The result of the council will probably determine their final action. I have impressed upon them that while I would receive their surrender, in accordance with my original demands, and communications heretofore reported, yet if they would go into their agencies, it would be quite as satisfactory. Many of these Indians state that they have never lived at the agencies, and never before shaken hands with the white man. I learn that there is a half-breed named Tom living at or near the Spotted Tail agency, who trades ammunition to the Indians, and had been with it into their camp shortly before the engagement at Wolf mountain of Jan. 8. Also, that there is a Spaniard, name unknown,

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who has a ranche [sic] near the Black Hills, ungaged [sic] in the same business, and that the Indians go to his place at night to procure the ammunition. There are indications that the camp on Powder River is breaking up. A considerable body, estimated, variously at fifty to one hundred and fifty lodges, crossed the Yellowstone and went up Cedar creek Feb. 26 or 27. A part of Sitting Bull’s band, as heretofore reported, has taken refuge in the British possessions, and I would request that most prompt and decided measures be taken to retain them, or to prevent their refitting for further hostilities against the people of the United States. Whatever may be the result of facts herein related to the conferences with the Indians neither have delayed or will delay active operations which are at this time impracticable, much less from swollen streams and from deep mud than from lack of forage. I have kept the animals on short allowance of forage for several weeks and shall have none whatever a week hence. The Indians by coming here as they do[,] show that they have confidence in me, and, I am, of course, to place some confidence in them in order to bring about if possible what we most desire. I remain, etc., NELSON A. MILES, Colonel, 5th Infantry., Transmitted by Alfred H. Terry, St. Paul, April 11. The new reservation to be laid out for the Sioux, Northern Arapahoes and Northern Cheyennes will be included within the following lines; Beginning at the intersection of the 104° West Long. And 46° North Lat., thence West along said parallel to the Little Big Horn River, following down said stream to its confluence with the Big Horn and down the latter to its mouth; then following the channel of the Yellowstone to the mouth of Powder river and from that point due East to the 104° West Long. and thence South to the initial point. The new reservation can be cheaply supplied by way of the Yellowstone and contains within its limits much cultivable land in the valleys of Big Horn, Powder, Tongue, Rosebud and Little Horn rivers, with all the grazing and timber area that can be needed for any purpose. The absence of mineral lands will keep away prospectors, while the new posts will fully watch & protect the Indians.

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It is a great buffalo range, as has already been noted, (See February, March[,] April, May, June, July and August 1876.)3 Saturday April 21st. Punctual to arrangements, the Cheyennes rode into the Agency this morning. General Crook, with General Forsyth, General Mackenzie and other officers, awaited the column, which preserved much better order than did the Sioux at Camp Sheridan, last week. The warriors rode in compact order, halting when in front of General Crook. Roland, the interpreter, presented “Standing Elk”, who said: “I want to give you, (General Crook.) my gun. I want to shake hands and give you my gun. All my young men here want to give you their guns. We want to give up our guns to-day. We want to shake hands and bury the hatchet.” He surrendered a Henry rifle; the next gave a Sharp’s rifle, the next a Spencer rifle and the next an old-fashioned Yager rifle.4 The destitution of these Cheyennes is very apparent. They had no lodges, nothing but tépi poles, covered with old rags and pieces of hide. Their clothing is in accord with their general poverty. The description given of the party surrendering at Spotted Tail Agency will answer very well for this. The difference is to be found in the greater suffering endured by the Cheyennes this winter. Mackenzie, it will be remembered, destroyed all their lodges on the 25th of November 1876 (See. . . that date.) and with their lodges they lost everything, blankets, clothing, supplies, and only saved a few clothes in which they had been sleeping, and the fire-arms they were able to snatch up in their hurried flight. Since then they have been living on pony meat and have undergone many privations. Those who came in this morning number five hundred & twentyfour. Their property is of no value. They are almost entirely without blankets and with only a very scant supply of robes. They have many widows and many people with frozen feet: both these are melancholy souvenirs of their fight with Mackenzie. 3. See Robinson, Diaries, Volume 1. 4. Yager (from the German jaeger) was a name commonly applied to the U.S. Model 1842 “Mississippi” rifle, and to a lesser degree to the Pennsylvania (so-called “Kentucky”) long rifle. In this case, Bourke probably meant the Model 1842.

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Their apologies for lodges are made of old remnants of canvas, old hides and robes, and even pieces of gunny sacks—just such things as they could pick up in the old camps of General Crook’s Expedition. I saw not one perfect lodge. The squaws are also compelled to carry water in skin bags, as they have not a single utensil of any description. They surrendered six hundred ponies and sixty eight guns and thirty four pistols of the following models; Remington Breechloadg. Carbine 1 Springfield B.L. carbines dft. Calibers 14 Muzzle Loading riles. 31 Sharp’s Sporting Rifle. 2 “ Carbines 10 Spencer “ 6 “ Rifle 1 Remington Revolvers 7 Colt’s “ Cal. .45 7 Schofield’s Smith & Wesson , Revolver 1 Colt’s Revolver, Old pattern. 17 Pistol Belt Holsters 19 Bows and Arrows. 14. April 22d. A disagreeable day; ground slushy with rain and snow. The Cheyenne chiefs and head men called upon General Crook today. I give the names of those I remember. Little Wolf, who wore his hair hanging loose and was dressed in a red shirt and black pantaloons.The face of this chief is very resolute. He did not speak during the interview. Dull Knife, the principal talker, dressed in green blanket. Standing Elk a fine-looking Indian, with hair divided in center by a vermillion stripe and hanging down over shoulders. Vest trimmed with brass-headed tacks, neck-lace and breast-plate of porcelain pipe-stems. Pile of Bones Broken Jaw, so called from having been shot in the jaws by the Pawnees. Many Bears, Blacksmith, Big Wolf, a man of gigantic frame; who can lift a six mule wagon off the ground, on its hind wheels. Fire-Crow, who has a very deep black moustache. White Rabbit, Walks Over, Crow on the Neck, He Wolf, Sits in the Night and others.

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In their speeches which were very short, Dull Knife and Standing Elk stated that after losing their village, in their fight with Mackenzie last November, they started north, hoping to get assistance from Crazy Horse, but he did not receive them hospitably. They then sent to General Crook to know if he would allow them to surrender and live with their people at the Red Cloud Agency. When his reply came that they could surrender, but must give up all arms and ponies, the weather was so bad and their ponies so thin and broken down that they couldn’t travel very fast, and were a long time in getting in. Besides they had a number of wounded from the Mackenzie fight. (These wounded people, General Crook has treated with all possible attention.) It is worthy of remark that one of these Indians ate so much upon coming in that he died of a surfeit. The telegraph line has been completed to Camp Robinson to-day and the first Press Dispatches were received this evening.

Neck-lace of porcelain pipe-stems worn by Standing Elk[,] Chief of Cheyennes. April 23d. We had another Omaha dance, with forty-six performers. One of the pantomimists fell from his horse very cleverly and went through his part of the programme amid great applause. He represented himself as “having been killed and come to life again”, (i.e. as having been knocked senseless.) The dresses were very much of the same style as those used among the Brulés. Billy Hunter says that the Omaha dancers have a company on the same principles as operatic organizations among ourselves. Presents are bestowed very bountifully upon the poor, the end of each act being the signal for placing upon the ground blankets and calico for the aged and infirm.5 Note: Their head-dresses are made of the hair from the neck of the elk, colored red and yellow and ornamented with a single eagle-feather. 5. I have observed the same custom among modern Kiowas, who distribute baskets of groceries after a pow-wow.

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A few were trimmed with beaver and other fur. The “beard” of the wild turkey is also used extensively. I saw some very pretty necklaces; one of bears’ claws, scraped and polished; one of crow skins and a number of mussel shells. An electrical machine from the Hospital afforded great amusement and as much surprise to the crowds of Indian boys who had gathered around us. We placed one pole in a bucketful of water and threw in a handful of nickel 5 cent pieces,6 telling the youngsters that if they would take hold of the other pole, they should have every penny they could snatch from the bucket. This was about as good a contract as the average Indian boy’s heart could wish. Their bright-eyes grew brighter and smiles of expectancy played upon their dusky countenances. A grip of the pole, a plunge into the water and a howl of pain, drowned in the yells and cries of the delighted spectators, were pleasing signs that our efforts to entertain were bearing good fruit. In the crowd there was a young squaw beautifully arrayed in a chemise of white antelope skin covered to the waist with bead-work and heavily-ornamented in like manner around the bottom and up the sides and seams. I have seen many elegant costumes of the same sort, but this was by all odds the most elaborate that had ever yet come under my notice.

Squaw’s dress 6. Bourke specified a nickel five-cent piece because the United States also produced a silver half-dime coin until 1873. Its circulation overlapped the nickel coin which was introduced in 1866.

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Couriers from Crazy Horse’s camp came in last night and confirmed the story that he is moving as fast as he can towards this Agency. He appears to be travelling eight or ten miles a day. Doctor Munn has under his care a Cheyenne wounded in our fight with the Cheyennes on November 25th. His injuries are most serious. His knee-pan has been fractured and the joint is anchylosed, so that the heel of the right foot is drawn up closely against the right flank. Another one has five severe flesh-wounds all from same fight. Little Wolf bears two scars received that afternoon; one in arm, one in left breast, both insignificant. The Indians here tell us that twenty one lodges more of Cheyennes are coming in to this Agency: the Cheyennes evince unusual docility and friendliness toward us, a fact not very pleasing to the Sioux. War has finally commenced between Russia and Turkey; what the end can be, no one can predict. It will be a bad day for England when Russia shall seize upon Constantinople. April 24th. Major Randall started for Camp Sheridan, (Spotted Tail Agency.) this morning. A number of Cheyennes dropped in to see the wonderful electric Battery and to try their luck at getting a silver half dollar from the bottom of a bucket full of water. We have become so reckless from success that we are not afraid to risk any amount. It was very amusing to watch these Indians; every one of them went through some “medicine” before trying the power of our Battery. Some pick up chips and sticks, some pluck little weeds and green grass, others little stones and very many limit their “medicine” to puffing from their pipes or half-articulating gibberish we, of course, don’t understand. When we saw them doing this, we felt that they were going to do their level best. It was to be a fight between the “medicine” of the Cheyennes and our electric Battery. We looked carefully at our magnet and coil, much in the same manner as a careful General should scrutinize the arrangement of his line of battle before a fight commences, and finding that everything was in perfect order awaited the contest with serenity and composure. The current was so strong that few of the Indians could keep their hands in the bucket more than a second. Big Wolf, a gigantic Cheyenne, whose strength I have already remarked, displayed great powers of endurance and bore the shock of the Battery until his hand was

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turned completely back upon itself. We gave him the money as a tribute to his pluck. April 25th. A big medicine man of the Cheyennes made a very bold effort to get the half dollar out of the bucket this morning. His first trials were ludicrous failures, but by pure “grit”, he succeeded finally in getting it. He had to get [it] or lose his influence among his people[.] He went through an unusual amount of medicine before essaying his final attempt which was watched with breathless interest by the room-full of Cheyennes. Lieut. Dost, 4th Cavalry, made a bet of $5 that no Indian could repeat the performance. Dorst, I grieve to relate, lost his money, but not until a score of crippled and maimed attested the potency of our Battery. The young children stand in great awe of the machine and that we are a band of wonderful medicine men is one of the facts they pin their faith to. The Cheyennes to-day said that fourteen of their number froze to death, the night after the Mackenzie fight. These Cheyennes seem to be the most docile of any of the Plains tribes to-day; one year ago, they were the fiercest and most insolent. With justice and honesty in our dealings with them, we need have no fear of their going on the war-path again. April 26th. A small number of Cheyennes, the advance guard of thirteen lodges of their people, were at Hd.Qrs. early in the morning: after giving up their guns, they told the interpreters that the remainder of the Northern Cheyennes, (i.e. some forty-seven lodges.) would probably come into this Reservation instead of presenting themselves at the cantonment at mouth of Tongue River. The surrender of Indians has become so ordinary an occurrence, within the past fortnight, that I chronicle it as a matter of course and not as of special significance. Lately, the public journals, especially those of the Democratic side, have taken up the cudgels against the Army and are advocating its reduction to 5.000 men. I surely hope this plan may succeed; the people of the country would soon be rudely awakened to a realizing sense of their own stupidity and foolishness. April 27th. Half a dozen of the Indian soldiers, who had gone out with Red Cloud[’s] party to meet Crazy Horse, returned late last

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night and, after breakfast this morning, have been interviewed. They brought with them, Yellow Bear, one of Crazy Horse’s warriors, who gave up a Henry rifle. Crazy Horse’s band proper consists of two hundred and forty six families and is now at mouth of Beaver Dam creek, a tributary of the South Cheyenne, (75) to (80) miles north of here. They will reach this place in eight nights. Mr. Thomas Moore, of the Qr. Master’s Department came in on today’s coach from Sidney, Neb. He is to attend to matters connected with the transportation of the Department and is also to instruct the Indians how to construct ovens and make bread. April 28th. General Crook, General Forsyth, and Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., started this morning for Omaha, Chicago and Washington, on public business. A very severe storm of snow burst upon us between 9 and 10 o’clock, A.M., whitening the ground in a few moments. April 29th 1877. A bright and clear day. We had a “squaw dance” in the afternoon; forty to fifty squaws, as nearly as I could count, danced to the accompaniment of rattles and drums. Their dresses were very elegant, with few exceptions. The measure was rather slow, altho’ it varied at intervals. One old gal acted as mistress of ceremonies; after the dance had proceeded for an hour or so, she came forward and told General Mackenzie they would like to have some of “the nice young men”, standing on the porch, join them. The compliment was so delicately given and we felt it to be so fully deserved that we blushed our sweetest acknowledgments. I mean we tried to; most of us blushed about as easily as a cast-iron cigarsign could have done. We begged to be excused from joining the gay circle, on the ground that we did not dance, the round dances, but the old hag wasn’t to be put off in that way. She seized upon Major Mauck, 4th Cavalry and with the assistance of a half-dozen ablebodied squaws, tried to carry him off bodily. Poor Mauck struggled hard for freedom and what, with begging, twisting, pleading, kicking and squirming, managed to make his escape from their clutches. To conciliate the squaws, we made up a purse and presented it to the dancers who greeted the gift with loud applause. Two Indians came in from Crazy Horse’s camp this evening, having left it between the South Cheyenne and Old Woman’s Fork. Sorrel Horse, (Shuncaca Lutu,) a Brulé Sioux, whose name has

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occurred with frequency in these pages, dined with us yesterday and to-day. He claimed to be a great medicine man and supports his pretensions by sundry feats of sleight of hand. One that he performed in my presence was to shuffle a pack of cards, have one picked out by someone in the company, and noted and replaced in the pack, without letting him see it. After much elaborate mouthing and mysterious mumbling, the pack, previously shuffled with care, was opened and the identical card held up to view. This trick has been repeated a number of times and, of itself, is nothing wonderful, but what did strike me with astonishment was his calling out the name of the card selected. Thus, when I took out the eight of diamonds, he held up eight fingers and pointed to the color red; when General Mackenzie took the Queen of Clubs, Sorrel Horse said “Squaw” and pointed to the color black. He has given us his personal history and truly his career has not been without adventure. He claimed to have traveled from the Missouri in the Far North to the Arkansas and Republican in the South and from the Yellowstone to the Missouri, East and West; most of the time in predatory excursions against the Crows, Pawnees, Omahas, Rees and Utes, with a slight sprinkling of white men thrown in, I suppose. His physical endurance is extremely great; he will leave Spotted Tail Agency, where he belongs, at 2 in the morning and by noon of the same day reach this place, a distance of forty-three measured miles. These Indians in their family relations appear to much better advantage than when we study them as enemies; they are extremely kind to their aged poor and infirm, and, at all dances, and all festive occasions, as the “squaw dance” of to-day, blankets, calico and other articles are laid upon the ground as free for the poor. Though they have prostitutes among them as other nations, yet the general average of chastity of their women is equal to that of the more civilized. Their ideas of friendship, hospitality and generosity are peculiar, but very marked and strictly adhered to. If our Government will only observe one half its promises, the Indian will comply faithfully with their agreements, I am certain; the great danger of the future is not from the red man’s want of faith so much as from the indifference of our Government to the plainest requirements of honor.

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Our own faith is worse than Punic; yet, we always prattle, about Indian treachery. Washington, or Old Crow has been suffering from ophthalmia for three or four days. Dr. Munn has taken him in hand and given him a wash that is already doing much to alleviate his trouble. The Indians place great reliance in our “medicine” men who possess considerable influence over them. The electric Battery from the Hospital is still a source of attraction to dozens who crowd into our quarters every morning to test its powers. The old “stagers” cannot be prevailed upon to touch it, but they will sit for hours waiting for some “greeny” to come along in the hope that he may be prevailed upon to take hold of the poles and receive a heavy charge of the fluid. April 30th. A beautiful morning. This being Muster Day, the troops were paraded at 8 in the morning and inspected. Another Indian came in from Crazy Horse’s camp this morning, but brought no news. I rode over to the Agency and paid a visit to the wife of Lieut. Johnson, 14th Infantry, Acting Indian Agent, and to Mrs. Yates, wife of the Indian trader; these are pleasant ladies, whose companionship must be a comfort to their husbands in their isolation from anything like civilization. Rumors are current that a new Commission is soon to start out from Washington to treat with the Indians; also that these two Agencies, (i.e. the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail,) shall surely be moved to the Missouri River. It is to be hoped that neither of these measures may prevail. Commissioners are notoriously a bad way of doing business with Indians; and if the Reservations are to be moved, the Missouri is, under present circumstances, the last place to which to move them. While these Indians were on the war-path, these Agencies were magazines of supply; as a military measure, it would then have been wise to transfer them to the Missouri, because then those drawing rations from our Gov’t. would have so much more distance to travel, (225 miles,) in going to and returning from the hostile camp and so much more difficulty in keeping the enemy supplied with ammunition and arms. Now that these Indians have been allowed to surrender at this place and with the understanding that they were to live here, our

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Government has no right to violate the compact. The Indians are worried about the matter and, altho’ they don’t say much, it needs no prophet’s eye to foresee that the removal, if insisted upon, will produce trouble. General Crook’s idea of locating them on the Yellowstone river, near the mouth of Tongue river, commends itself for many reasons already set forth in full. This afternoon, seventy-five or eighty Cheyennes marched from the agency into the Post, singing and beating time with rattles and drums. The interpreters said they had come to give us a “spoon” dance. The performers stood up in a large circle, open on the side nearest the porch of our Quarters, where General Mackenzie and nearly all the ladies and officers of the garrison took their position. There were very decided differences between this dance and the “Omaha”. In this, there was but little painting and not much fancy dressing, possibly on account of the great poverty of the tribe. The great majority of the performers wore red leggings or red blankets or both. At the opposite end of the diameter from us, five old men, provided with switches, sat around a drum supported on a tripod. While the whole band chanted their song, this party of old men, aided by another with a rattle, kept time. Presently two Cheyennes, mounted on ponies, rode into the circle and drawing near the drummers, told them something in a low voice. We couldn’t learn what it was, but the interpreters said they were speaking of their past deeds of prowess. Whenever the taking of a scalp was mentioned a loud stroke was beaten upon the drum and a loud war-whoop sounded. After a little singing, the great circle, with the exception of the drummers, would break into two groups and yell and dance like fury. In their dancing, they went through no very complicated evolutions, but marked time in a shuffling gait, while joining hands and circling to the left or right. There was quite a number of boys in the circle. One of them, not more than fourteen years old, had perfectly gray hair, and all his family are said to have the same peculiarity. Down at the trader’s store, we saw a young Sioux girl, not over (15) years old, very pretty and modest. We tried, unsuccessfully, to

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persuade her to tell her name. Each of our party exerted his skill in blandishments, without avail, until a present of a small package of the sutler’s best candy opened her mouth and she told us her name was the Tall Pine Tree. She bore our quizzing and raillery with great good humor and behaved in a very dignified and modest manner at [the] same time. Sorrel Horse took dinner with us again to-day and indeed is so prompt and punctual that we have not had to send messengers after him when the meal was ready. He told us by signs how great a warrior he was; how he had gone through the terrible ordeal of the Sun Dance, fasting two nights, without a drop of water or a wink of sleep. The skin of his shoulders and arms was then slit; thongs of raw hide passed through, buffalo heads tied to the ends and he himself fastened by the wrists to a tree and there he swung until the weight of the buffalo heads pulled the ropes through the tortured flesh. This evening, he went into a tra[n]ce; his face became of the color of ashes, perspiration rolled down his cheeks and deep sighs escaped him. After he had partially recovered, he stuck the hot bowl of a pipe into his mouth and breathing into it, forced a great, long pencil of smoke through the stem: then he commenced to suck the smoke into his stomach and, I fancy, swallowed some of the tobacco. Pretty soon, we heard sounds, like voices, coming from his stomach, and learned from that that Sorrel Horse, besides his other tricks, was a smart ventriloquist. When he came to, he told me it was the Great Spirit who had been talking inside of him; I can imagine the terror of the squaws and children, when Sorrel Horse attempts any of his tricks in their presence. May 1st. Gentle and refreshing showers have been falling all morning. Lieut. Carpenter, 9th Infantry, told me last night that the Cheyennes have a tradition that their tribe came originally from the far north, where the snow and ice and cold prevailed all through the year. This would appear to identify their descent from the same ethnic stem as the Esquimaux,7 or at least as the Timich tribes of the great Athapascan family in British America. Philologists have shown that the Apaches of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas are derivatives from 7. Eskimos or, as they are now called, Inuit.

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this source, so it does not [seem] absurd to attribute the same distant origin to the Cheyennes.8 I have been struck with the resemblance in many of the commonly used words of the Apache language to those of the Dog-rib band of Timich, but I must candidly admit there is not the slightest that I can detect between either of those and the Cheyenne; still, a divergence of idioms is the smallest objection that can be urged against the above theory of descent. Indian languages decompose so rapidly that I doubt if a Cheyenne, who died say in 1800, could make himself understood in his own tribe to-day if he were to come back to life. It may not be amiss to note that the beaded hood of buffalo fur worn by the Cheyennes in winter is patterned closely after the representation of the Exquimaux hoods to be seen in pictures in the narrative of Polar Explorations. This Exodus must have occurred several centuries ago, as the Cheyennes have lived on their present “range” for at least one hundred years. Lewis and Clark met them and the Canadian Jesuit missionaries came in contact with them about the time of the Revolution. Their custom of taking the fingers and hands of their slain enemies as trophies, is peculiar to themselves, and beyond doubt gave rise to their name in the “sign language”—the cut-wrists, just the same as an analogous practice, now discontinued, among the Dacotah has caused them to be known as the cut-throats. Mr. Strahorn and myself mounted our horses and rode in the afternoon to the Agency and into the Cheyenne village. Rations were in course of distribution to a large circle of squaws, children and old men, who waited patiently and decorously while the men in charge of the distribution dealt out coffee, sugar and flour from the piles of those articles spread out on blankets in the centre of the village. The quality of the supplies was good and the improvement already made in the appearance of the surrendered Cheyennes very noticeable; fifty or sixty lodges have been given them and a few wall tents have been given, all that can be spared from the small amount of canvas on hand. Blankets have been issued, sufficient to clothe the whole band, comfortably. 8. The Athapaskan-Eyak family of languages is part of the Na-Dene phylum, and includes such languages as Chipewyan and other northern languages, as well as Navajo, Western Apache, Chiricahua-Mescalero Apache, Jicarilla, Lipan, and Kiowa Apache. Cheyenne, however, is part of the Algonquian family of the Macro-Algonquian phylum, which also includes such geographically diverse languages as Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi, Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo, Shawnee, and Arapaho-Atsina-Nawathinehena. Lamar, New Encyclopedia, 523.

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As we crossed the White Earth creek, which flows around the village, we passed a group of youngsters playing “shimmy”, and splashing in the water. They spoke to us very politely, and at this point I must pay tribute to the general courtesy of the savages to any strangers inside their villages. Once [you] get inside a lodge or even within the enclosure of the tépis and not an unkind word will be spoken to you. Continuing our ride, we ascended the skirt of the range of high hills north of the Agency and dismounting when our horses could climb no farther, made the steepest part of the ascent on foot. The view from one of the high points in the ridge was very pretty and decidedly expansive. To the North, South, East and West, we gazed over a broad and seemingly flat plain, not much less than twenty miles in any direction. When we came back to our own quarters, we found Fire Crow, a soldier of the Cheyennes, waiting to see General Mackenzie, with a young warrior from Crazy Horse’s band, who said the village of that chieftain would be here in three sleeps more[:] that is on the 3d or 4th of the month. While we were talking Major Randall and Spotted Tail came in from the Agency of the latter, who wants to see the arrival of the northern Indians. Spotted Tail told me in conversation that he couldn’t remember when the Sioux first got horses, but he had often heard the “old men” say that in times gone by the Sioux used dogs, as many of the Assinaboines [sic], [(]who are Sioux,) do to this day. He had always understood that their first horses came from the South.9 Fire Crow, (a Cheyenne,) here interposed and said the Cheyenne claimed to have been the first Northern Indians to use horses and told the following legend: “A Young Cheyenne maiden wandered away from home, and could not be found. Her friends followed her trail, going South, until they came to the shore of a large lake, into which the foot-path led. While the Indians were bewailing the supposed sad fate of their lost relative, she suddenly returned, bringing with her a fine young black stallion, the first the Indians had ever seen. She told her friends she was married to a white man, living nearby and that she would go 9. I.e., introduced by the Spaniards.

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back to obtain a mare, which she did. From this pair have sprung all the horses the Cheyennes, Sioux and Arapahoes now have.” Friday, one of the head-men of the Arapahoes, told me this morning that the “old men” had told him their people “long ago” used to have dogs to haul their lodges across the country, but they afterwards obtained horses from the South. The Cheyenne belong to this country, but the Arapahoes are the same as the Gros Ventres and Blackfeet. (Friday meant the lower Gros Ventres, or Big Bellies; the Upper Gros Ventres are Crows.) “The Gros Ventres speak our language but the Blackfeet do not. Still, relations are kept up with them and we have among us many half-breeds—Blackfeet and Gros Ventres. The young man who just left my side is a Blackfeet. (Note. I have learned from other sources that the Blackfeet are of the Chippeway stock. If Friday’s story be true and I am more than half-inclined to believe it is, then the Arapahoes are a Chippeway off-shot [sic] also: certainly, they don’t belong to the same family as the Sioux, Cheyennes, Crows, Utes or Pawnees.) “The Arapahoes, of late years, have roamed as far South as the Arkansas, but their real country is farther north towards the Yellowstone, where the Crows now run. Some years ago, I went to the other side of Milk river, to the Blackfeet country and visited my friends among the Gros Ventres. I speak English well, because I once lived for seven years among the whites and was at school for two years in Saint Louis.” (Milk River is a large tributary of the Missouri. It rises on the boundary line between our country and British America.) [(]Friday is a smart old rascal, with an air of faded gentility about him that cloaks his real character until you get acquainted with him. He bears a bad reputation as a panderer to the vicious tastes of the whites.) Major Randall has succeeded in recovering forty-nine breechloaders, mostly all of govt. pattern, from the Northern Sioux of the Spotted Tail Agency. High Bear, one of the Sans Arcs told him, Randall. “I want to be a soldier now and work for the Great Father. When you had white soldiers alone I wasn’t afraid because I don’t care anything for them. I used to sleep good when you had white soldiers, but now

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you have my own people fighting against me. I don’t know what to do. My squaws are too frightened to sleep at night and my children can’t go to sleep. We don’t know when your Indian scouts may lead you into one of our villages and destroy it just as the Cheyennes had their village taken this winter, (Referring to Mackenzie’s fight in November.) We feel so suspicious now that when a strange Sioux comes into our village, we think he is one of your soldiers and set young men to watch him and follow him back. I can’t fight you in this way. I want to make peace and stay at peace.” Randall enlisted forty picked Indians, twenty Brulés, and ten each from the Sans Arcs and Minneconjous. The Indians at Spotted Tail Agency told Major Randall they lost (118) or one hundred & twenty killed and wounded in General Crook’s fight with them on Rosebud. (June 17th 1876): fourteen were killed outright, on the field, eight died of their wounds that night and four died next morning; and there were besides these eighty-six wounded badly. Mr. Thomas Moore has been hard at work all day teaching the Indians how to make bread from the flour issued to them. All they do with it now is to sell it to the traders for beads and other gew-gaws. Thirty Northern Sioux surrendered at Spotted Tail Agency on the th 29 [of April] three bucks and twenty-seven women & children. They gave up one rifle, one revolver and one bow and quiver. Sioux Jim’s son who speaks the Cheyenne language fluently, came in here late last night. He left the camp of the forty lodges of Cheyennes still out, at the mouth of the Crazy Woman’s Fork of the South Cheyenne [River]. He says he does not think those Cheyennes will go in at mouth of Tongue River; they talk of surrendering at this Agency. It is believed here that their friends in the party which came in under Dull Knife have sent them word they should join them. It is more than likely they will soon be here. Rained heavily towards evening and continued during most of night. May 2d. Morning gloomy and Damp. Spotted Tail took breakfast with us this morning, as he did dinner yesterday. He understands English pretty well, altho’ he does not speak it. Having heard him say at the Council last month that he wanted Roman Catholic priests to take charge of his people, I thought he might know something of the late

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Father de Smet, who was a missionary among the Dacotahs for many years. I asked him the question and he answered promptly “Tô”(Yes.) and added that he, Father de Smet was Wash-té, (good.) It is a great pity that the wish of the Brulé and Ogallalla Sioux cannot be gratified and ecclesiastics of the religion they prefer sent among them. The Catholic missionaries are so zealous, untiring and disinterested that their success would be rapid and solid. Six lodges of Indians have surrendered at the Agency; one yesterday and five to-day. May 3d 1877. Bright, pleasant day with a few dissolving clouds in the Sky. Lieut. Lawton, 4th Cavalry, Mr. Strahorn and myself took a ride to the Arapahoe camp which was moving down the White Earth river to a position nearer the Agency. As we passed the cavalcade, we saw little shavers some of them certainly not over 5 years old & all very young, prancing about on ponies, while the women led or drove the pack-animals. Friday told me many items of interest about his nation. The Arapahoes do not claim any territory north of the Missouri; but from this side of it clear down to the head-waters of the Arkansas has been their “range” for years. They have uniformly been at peace with the surrounding tribes, but used to make war on the Pawnees. The Black-feet do not speak the Arapahoe language but are kin to them as are the Gros Ventres, who however of late years have associated more with the Crows than with their own people. Friday says that, in his youth, the tribe didn’t have very many ponies, but used dogs to haul their lodges, which were then very small in size. The “old people” told him that “long ago” they had great big dogs, almost as big as young colts. They first obtained ponies from the Comanches, who used to steal them from the Mexicans and catch them wild on the plains to the South, (Texas.) A pony was worth in those day one blanket; a flint-lock musket was worth ten buffalo robes. The Gros Ventres, Blackfeet and Arapahoes used to go down to Bent’s Fort (“Billy Bent’s,[”] Friday called it) on the Arkansas where they would meet the Cheyennes, Comanches, Kiowas, Lipans and Apaches for trade.10 10. There were two trading posts known as Bent’s Fort, both constructed by William Bent. The first, known as “Bent’s Old Fort,” was built of adobe in 1833–34. It was located on the north bank of the Arkansas River, about twelve miles upstream from the mouth of the Purgatoire. In 1849, a cholera epidemic devastated the Southern Cheyennes, who were its

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(Note. The Apaches and Lipans are the same people with the Navajoes: circumstances have caused their separation into distinct tribes. “Lipan” or “Lipunni” in Apaches means “buckskin”, in which the Lipans dressed more generally than did the Apaches proper.) The Comanches used bows and arrows principally and these were supplied them by the Cheyennes and Arapahoes who obtained them at Fort Laramie and “Bisnettes”11 on the North Platte, from the Dacotahs who were regarded very justly as the most skilled in their manufacture. This statement recalls to my mind Longfellow’s line in Hiawatha about “the land of the Dacotahs, the land of arrow-makers”. Once on the Cimarron river, (in what is now South East Colorado,) a great quarrel arose among the Blackfeet, Arapahoes and Gros Ventres and several influential men were killed on each side. The bands hurriedly separated and Friday, then a very small boy, became very much frightened and ran off to the mountains, losing the trail of his people. He was found on a Friday by a party of white men who sent him to Saint Louis, Mo., to be educated. Since that time the Gros Ventres and Blackfeet have not roamed much South of the Yellowstone. Previously, the confederated bands ranged in on the West to Green River (Wyoming & Colorado.) & Bear river, (North West Wyoming.) and Eastward into the Pawnee country on the Loup Fork of the Platte and on the South to the Smoky Hill Fork, (in Kansas). These tribes, the Arapahoes especially, are much reduced in numbers; the worst blow the Arapahoes ever received was the Cholera which swept through them, a very blast of Death, many years ago, probably forty, when Friday was a very small boy: (The cholera, if I remember aright what I have read swept up the Missouri valley about 1837.)12 primary customers, and Bent, having removed his trade goods and stores, abandoned the fort and blew it up. In 1853, Bent established a second post, “Bent’s New Fort,” thirty miles downstream. It was never profitable, although it was, at times, garrisoned by soldiers. The War Department refused to purchase it, however, insisting that Bent did not have title to the land. In 1867, the post was abandoned. Robertson, Competitive Struggle, 67–71. 11. This refers to a small log cabin trading post on the North Platte built in 1843 or 1844 by Joseph Bissonette (hence “Bisnett’s” or “Bisnettes”), a few miles downstream from the mouth of the Laramie River. Robertson, Competitive Struggle, 73. 12. Bourke probably has confused cholera with the 1837 smallpox epidemic, which made its way up the Missouri River by steamer, and devastated the Upper Missouri tribes. Among the hardest hit were the powerful Mandans, who were reduced to virtual extinction. Cholera was introduced into the Western Hemisphere in 1832, but its effects on the Plains tribes was

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When Friday came back to his people from Saint Louis, he wanted to be a big warrior; his first achievement was in a fight with the Pawnees when he shot a Pawnee’s pony from under him in the thickest of the fight. For this he changed his name[,] Black Coal Ashes[,] and took his father’s names—White Crow—while his own cousin, out of compliment to him assumed Friday’s cast-off name. In a fight with a party of Shoshonees, he again behaved with great gallantry and this time took a second name which had been borne by his late lamented paternal progenitor—Thunder—and was again honored by having a step-son assume his own former agnomen of White Crow. Finally, being one of the prominent warriors in a detachment which destroyed a village of seven lodges of Utes, on Bear river, near where it debouches from the Wah-satch Mountains, he took the designation, “The man who sits in the corner and keeps his mouth shut”. He says that he and a Ute warrior became engaged at close quarters; the Ute leveled his gun at Friday’s breast, but the cap snapped and in a second Friday had shot him through the body and snatched the loaded gun out of his dying hand. According to this authority, if two warriors rush at the same enemy and one fire [sic] the shot which fells him to the ground and the second Indian rush up and hit the fallen antagonist before life be extinct, he has counted “coup” and is looked upon as equal in valor to him who really killed. When villages are taken, all stock is run off, the lodges burned and everything contained in them destroyed, unless time allow of the transportation of the goods back to the raiders’ country. Women and girls are taken prisoners as are all males under seven or eight years of age. Grown boys and old men are killed or scalped. It is customary to leave some token of the raiders, ordinarily a moccasin. The orthodox method is to stick a twig or stake in the ground, and attach it to a piece of clean bark, upon which are traced in characters of red, (the war color.) the number of scalps carried off spotty until it was carried west by California gold seekers in 1849. Hoxie, Encyclopedia of North American Indians, 164–65; Lamar, New Encylopedia, 307–8.

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by the victors, the number of captives and ponies as well as their own (the raiders’) losses in killed and wounded. Formerly, the plains’ tribes made themselves knives by splitting the shoulder or hump bones of the buffalo for handles and for blades, using shells, slate or other suitable stones. When sheet iron kettles were first brought among them, they used carefully to save such as were “burnt out” by the campfire and now make blades of them. A generation ago, when they began to receive iron and steel knives from the traders, the plainest kind of them cost a buffalo robe. In those days, buffalo were hunted on foot. They were “rounded up” and driven into stockades or narrow ravines selected for the purpose and so chosen after the herd began to stampede, and the Indians could close in upon it, frightened animals would have to jump down a precipice not less than (30) or forty feet deep. In doing this, many of the buffalo would break their limbs, and all that was left for the Indians was to run up and slaughter them like sheep. In naming children, the parents call in the oldest men and women of the band, to secure a “lucky” appelative for the infant, thinking that people who have had so much experience in the world ought to know what designation is most likely to start the youngster fairly on its travels. It is “bad medicine” to put a knife or any sharp instrument in the fire: Friday couldn’t tell exactly why, but their “old people” wouldn’t allow it. The Sioux and Cheyennes he looked down upon as superstitious for compelling their women to live in seclusion during the time of their menstrual purgation. The Arapahoes, he said do not do it. I told him I had heard that among the Kiowas there was sometimes practiced the rite of circumcision; he said he didn’t believe it. He knew something of the Kiowas and should have heard of the custom did it exist. The Kiowas, he didn’t think amounted to much: he had less opinion of them than of almost any other tribe. He had traded at an old trading post, Fort Giblert, at the mouth of the Yellowstone; at Fort Sarpy,13 on the Yellowstone, above the 13. The former post could not be located under “Giblert,” “Gilbert,” or “Guilbert.” Fort Sarpy was established in 1850, by representatives of Pierre Chouteau, Jr., & Company. Because of mismanagement, the fort operated at a loss, and in 1855, the company ordered it abandoned and burned. A few years later, Chouteau established a second Fort Sarpy, which subsequently was abandoned. Robertson, Competitive Struggle, 219–20.

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mouth of the Powder river, at another post, name not known, on Powder river itself, at Bisnett’s, on Deer Creek, near its junction with the North Platte, at Chouteau’s, now called Fort Laramie, at “Billy Bent’s”, on the Arkansas, and also with a party who used to come in on the Cache a la Poudre; he had also traded on this, (the White Earth) river. I satisfied myself by a rigid cross-examination that the above story was strictly true. Having been at, or in the immediate vicinity of all those places named, I put to him such questions relative to appearance of the adjacent country &c., as would at once have exposed any falsehood; but he answered every one of them in a way to prove that his statement was absolutely true. Anybody who thinks that Friday hasn’t been a great traveler, has only to take a map of our Western territories and calculate the amount of ground this old man has traveled over on horseback. He says he was present at the Peace made in 1851, at the mouth of Horse creek, on the North Platte, to secure the immigrants from molestation on the new road, then just opened, up the Sweetwater Valley, towards California.14 Nearly, if not quite all, the tribes on the Plains sent deputies to the conference. Friday says there were Crows, Shoshonees, Utes, Kiowas, Pawnees, Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Blackfeet, GrosVentres and others, either in bands or as individual spectators. The “war-record” books we find, he says are not necessarily the military history of one person: pretty nearly every boy has one which he keeps as a memento of his own prowess, but it is extremely common for intimate friends to insert in each other’s books, evidence of mutual esteem, by drawing scenes from their past lives, (to serve about the same purpose as the interchange of photographs and autographs does with us.) The Kiowas came from the same country as the Crows now inhabit; old people remember when a considerable force of Kiowas lived with the Crows; but now all the Kiowas have gone down to the Comanche 14. This refers to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, negotiated with the Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahos, Crows, Assiniboins, Gros Ventres, Mandans, and Arikaras. The Indians agreed to cease intertribal war, and to recognize the right of the federal government to establish roads and military posts in their territory. They also agreed to allow lawful passage of citizens through their lands, and to make restitution for any depredations committed against those citizens. The initial government obligation was an annual annuity of $50,000 for fifty years, later reduced to ten years with a possible five-year extension. Prucha, Great Father, 117.

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country15 with the exception of a small party who have remained among the Absarakas16 (Crows.) but have ceased to converse in their own (Kiowa.) language. When the Plains Indians used dogs, travelling was more difficult than now, especially in an arid country or in warm weather. The squaws had to carry bags, made of the paunches of buffalo; full of water which was sprinkled on the dogs’ faces or given them to drink every little while. Charging Bear, one of our Sioux soldiers, (the same man whose life was spared by General Crook, at the Slim Buttes skirmish, Sept. 9th, 1876.) came in from Crazy Horse’s camp this afternoon. He says that Crazy Horse’s band ate too much when the rations arrived from this post, (Red Cloud sent in word a few days ago that the whole band was out of supplies, stuck in the mud; and some supplies of beef on the hoof and hard bread were sent out to them.) that nearly all the children sickened, and the march could not be resumed the next day. The village will move to-day to a branch of Hat Creek, nineteen miles from this post, and to-morrow night will reach the head of Hat creek itself, only eleven miles out; coming in to the Post, Saturday or Sunday. 15. I.e., Oklahoma and northwest Texas. 16. Literally, “Bird People.”

Chapter 14 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Crazy Horse

May 4th. 1877. Spotted Tail is still with us. He has been installed as an honorary member of our mess. He conducts himself quietly and with perfect propriety at the table, calling for the different dishes in his own language, but understanding most of what we say to him in English: when he said—“Ahúyapé” we have learned that he means “bread”; Wosanría, Butter; Chahumpiská=White sugar; Wáka-máza, corn; Tollo, Beef; Pazuta-sapa, Coffee; Wit-ka, eggs; Minnie-quia, Salt; Wassúnâ, Butter; Bellô, potatoes; and so on, and we have even got so proficient that we tackle boldly such words as, Ya-ma-nu-mi-ni-Pawpi=pepper; and Muncatchámuncapa=mushrooms. Spotted Tail has one action at table, I can hardly call admirable; whenever a piece of meat which he doesn’t like, is put upon his plate, he puts it back on the main dish and waits quietly to be served with another. Major T. T. Thornburgh, Paymaster and his clerk, Mr. Clark, arrived last night May 3d. As the morning was very pleasant, I thought I should improve it by riding over to the camp of Sharp Nose and Friday, the Arapahoe chiefs, to interview an old squaw of that tribe who is reputed to be between one hundred and one hundred and twenty years old. 294

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I was unable to see the old woman on account of a fierce gust of wind and rain which compelled me and my orderly (Orr, 3d Cavalry) to take refuge in the tépi of Sharp Nose, where I found that chieftain with White Horse, Six Feathers, Washington and others of his tribe, and Standing Elk, one of the principal war-chiefs of the Cheyennes. My reception was very kind and, as best we could, we conversed by signs. Six Feathers’ squaw was there engaged in making coffee. A wretched cur stretched at full length by the fire in the middle of the lodge, and a small boy reclined against the dog. The small boy and the big dog are two of the principal features of every Indian village: the boy is far ahead of his white contemporary in healthy vigor and manly type of beauty. Looking at the matter as a boy would, I don’t know of an existence with more happiness to the square inch than that of the Indian boy from eight to twelve years old. With no one to reproach him because his face or hands are dirty, to scowl at him because his small allowance of clothing has run to tatters, and no confoundedly long-winded lessons in Geography or the Constitution of the United States, his life is one long, uninterrupted gleam of sun-shine. Then again he is not bothered with Sundays and Sunday schools. Nobody asks him what the text was; no oleaginous-faced old hypocrite propounds to him conundrums on the catechism. The Indian youngster,—brat, if you want to call him such,—knows every bird’s nest for miles around, every good place for bathing, every nice pile of sand or earth to roll in. With a pony to ride, and a rifle or bow for shooting, he sees little in the schools of civilization in excite his envy. It has often seemed to me that we are going ahead too fast with our boys & that while we are teaching them much stuff and nonsense from books, the great secrets and beauties of nature, through which they might learn to look up to nature’s God, have been withheld. Our cities are filling up with tallow-faced children; tallow faced children will grow up to be tallow-faced congressmen; tallow-faced congressmen make tallow-faced Laws and these a tallow-faced country. We have too many stump-tailed monuments to George Washington and other corpses and not enough money spent providing means of healthy recreation and amusement for our children in the big cities. The storm without raged most fiercely and should have blown down any Government tent, but the lodge braced by twenty-two

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poles withstood the assault bravely. The rain beat down through the smoke-hole wetting the middle of the floor and almost putting the fire out but did not much inconvenience us [as] we were seated on rugs of skins placed around the lodge. The couches were very comfortable and made as follows; a bed of twigs and small willow-branches had first been laid, then covered with buffalo robes and blankets. At head and foot, were guards, made of plaited osier, covered with buffalo hides and on the side nearest the canvass was a piece of cotton sheeting covered with rude drawings of horses and mounted men.

ARAPAHOE BED At sun-down, a courier came in from Red Cloud, saying that he with Crazy Horse and band would camp on a creek (about 15 or 16 miles from the post[)] and should reach here on Sunday. The forty-three lodges of Cheyennes and four of Sioux, previously spoken of had gone on down to the mouth of Tongue river, intended to surrender there. Red Cloud had with him a courier, (Indian.) from General Miles, who had been directed, so he said, to tell the Indians not to surrender at the Agencies but to surrender to General Miles, because if they came to surrender themselves to General Crook he would treat them badly.1 Rained and blew all night with a great vehemence; weather extremely disagreeable. May 5th. I have in my possession a little sack ornamented with beads which I bought from a squaw yesterday. It is for a little Arapahoe child to wear and is quite neat and tasty in appearance. 1. To some extent, Miles was correct, although no blame can be attached to Crook. The government was determined to transport the Cheyennes to the Indian Territory, and Crook, the West Pointer, felt compelled to oblige regardless of his personal opposition to the plan. Miles, on the other hand, circumvented the policy by enlisting those Cheyennes who surrendered to him, and allowed them to remain unmolested on the Tongue River. Robinson, General Crook, 214, 226.

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ARAPAHOE CHILD’S DRESS. Had frequent showers of rain and hail during the day. May 6th. Not long after Meridian, Crazy Horse’s band approached the Agency, descending the hills in the following order: First, Lieutenant Clark, with the agency Indians, that is Red Cloud and his Indian soldiers, then the soldiers of Crazy Horse’s band having at their head Crazy Horse himself, together with Little Hawk, Little Big Man, Old Hawk, He Dog, and Bad Road. Closing up all were the women and children, with the lodges, ponies, and other plunder. Lieutenant Clark, had gone out early in the morning to receive the party; he met them some seven or eight miles from the Agency. Crazy Horse received him in silence but not ungraciously. The pipe of peace was smoked, after which Crazy Horse shook hands with him. He did this, sitting on the ground and with his left hand, saying that he sat down to signify that the Peace now made was to last forever and with his Left hand because his heart was on that side. The principal men were then introduced, each one shaking hands. As a token of good-will, Lieutenant Clark was presented with a war-bonnet, a war-shirt trimmed with scalps, a buffalo robe and a pony. As the procession filed on to the place chosen for the site of its camp, its animation and bustle were very marked, altho’ there was none of the charging on horseback and firing of guns and pistols, noticeable upon the corresponding occasion at Spotted Tail Agency. (last month) The tépis were soon erected;—one hundred and forty six in number, nearly all of them small and badly worn, a sure indication that the close pursuit of last summer and fall had prevented this band from securing its wonted comforts. The number and weight of the robes to be seen was very meager—scarcely any in fact worth mentioning.

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The herds of ponies were very large; the total number could not have been less than Two thousand two hundred. Crazy Horse first laid down on the ground seventy-six arms; Lieut. Clark told him very firmly that that wouldn’t do; there must be more and we should have every one. Clark began the search of the tépis, taking with him a wagon and a small detachment of men, with Frank Gruard and Billy Hunter as interpreters. One hundred and seventeen arms of all kinds were found, not including those turned in by men who have come in ahead of their families during the past few days. (This does not include anything but fire arms.) Every kind of gun was found; the greatest in number were the Government carbine and Winchester rifle. Crazy Horse himself gave up three of the latter and Little Hawk two. There was no disorder, no bad feeling, which was remarkable enough considering that many of this band had never been on a Reserve before. While the counting and disarming were going on, our Cheyenne soldiers, apprehending that Crazy Horse might be disposed to be unruly and perhaps, hoping he might do something which would give them an excuse for attacking him, had quietly saddled up, mounted, and crept under cover of the knolls to the summit of a little eminence commanding Crazy Horse’s village and from that concealed position quietly but interestedly watched the progress of affairs ready to rush down to Clark’s help, should their assistance be needed. This behavior of the Cheyennes impressed me very deeply; it was, to my mind, more confirmatory of their declaration that they hated Crazy Horse than any amount of Council-talk and pipe smoking could be. Ever since their surrender, the Cheyennes have deported themselves with great civility and have tried by every means in their power to gain our good-will. Some of their chiefs and head-men are extremely handsome and martial in their general type. They have isolated themselves from the Sioux, with whom they associated scarcely at all, seeming to find more congeniality in the society of the Arapahoes. Every morning they come in great numbers to Hd.Qrs. and have put themselves on easy terms with us all. Lieut. Clark, is especially a favorite and from his familiarity with the sign language, is able to converse with them by the hour. Standing Elk laughingly told

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Clark “you have stolen my pipe”, pointing to a very elaborately ornamented pipe, taken from their (Cheyenne’s) village, during Mackenzie’s fight with them on the 25th of November last. “I am not mad about it,[”] he continued, [“]you can keep it, but I’ll come to see you very often and you must let me have plenty of tobacco to smoke in it.” Clark told him there would be no trouble about that; he should always be glad to see him and he could have all the tobacco he desired. These Cheyennes are to-day in a better frame of mind towards us than any Indians on the Plains, and to insure their continued goodwill, nothing is needed on the part of our Government and its agents but honesty and fair dealing. While the surrender of arms was going on, I improved the occasion by strolling around the village, picking up any items of interest that might be floating about. There was nothing to see which has not already been described in my accounts of the other Indian villages. Crazy Horse behaved with stolidity, like a man who saw he had to give in to fate, but would do so as doggedly as possible. I went over to see him, going in company with Frank Gruard, who had been Crazy Horse’s captive for three or four years. Frank is the only one whom Crazy Horse seems at all glad to see; to the rest of the world he is sullen and gloomy. His face is quiet, rather morose, dogged, tenacious, and resolute. His expression is rather melancholic. When we approached, a couple of squaws were busy making coffee and preparing supper. Crazy Horse remained seated on the ground, but when Frank called his name, Ta-shunca-uit-cô, he looked up and gave me a hearty grasp of the hand. He looks quite young, not over thirty years old, is lithe and sinewy and has a wound in his face. (scar.)2 The other Indians give him a high reputation for courage and generosity; [and] say that he never allows one of his warriors to ride ahead of him when advancing towards the enemy and that he has gained multitudes of friends for his generosity to the poor; he never keeps anything for himself. He is, always taciturn and rarely jokes or smiles. Opposite in character is Ta-Tonqui-ô-tácâ, Sitting Bull, 2. According to the winter count of the Bad Face Band of Oglalas, Crazy Horse was born in the Winter the Oglalas Took One Hundred Horses from the Snakes, which would have been 1840. Consequently, he was about 36 or 37 when he surrendered. The scar on his face was from a near-fatal gunshot wound inflicted by the enraged husband of a woman with whom he had eloped. Hoxie, Encyclopedia, 137–39.

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who is said to be a great talker and very fond of his joke. Of the two, Crazy Horse is the greater and more influential. It is asserted that during the Custer fight, Crazy Horse killed with his war-club, one of our soldiers who was riding an unmanageable horse. Little Hawk, the second in importance is about the same size as Crazy Horse, but is more kindly in expression and more fluent in speech. He wears the silver medal his father received nearly sixty years ago, (1817.) from President Monroe, to commemorate a Council and Treaty made on the North Platte. Little Big Man is the chief who did so much to break up the Black Hills’ Commission at this place, (Camp Robinson,) in 1875, going so far as to threaten the lives of the Commissioners. Had it not been for the coolness and good judgment of Capt. Egan, 2nd Cavalry, and Lieut. Crawford, 3d Cavalry, there would have been a fearful scene of bloodshed. Little Big Man is a crafty looking savage, with considerable ability and force marked in his features. He looks like a hard customer, but may not justify my prejudices against him. Iron Shield, the messenger sent in by Genl. Miles, was with the party. I saw him and spoke to him, but had no good chance to interview him. This surrender terminates the Indian war, so far as Genl. Crook’s forces are concerned. If the Government will only keep its promises and treat these red men with justice, we shall have no more Indian wars. I have not kept an exact account of the numbers surrendering, but it is not far, either way, in the aggregate, from forty-five hundred. Perhaps fully as many have come in at Standing Rocking [sic] and Cheyenne Agencies, or sneaked in at the Yankton and Santee Agencies on the Missouri. Of these I only speak speculatively. Fully one thousand are still with Sitting Bull, nearly three hundred and fifty have surrendered to General Miles and a party, reported to be with Lame Deer and Tall Bull, numbers, according to Indian accounts, not far from sixty lodges. May 7th, 1877. Major Randall left for Spotted Tail Agency, with Major Thornburgh, Paymaster. At luncheon, our mess entertained three of old Dull Knife’s daughters. The eldest was a young widow; her husband had been killed in the fight with General Mackenzie, November 25th. As a mark of mourning, her arms had been badly slashed with knives in three or

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four places. The other two daughters were respectively sixteen and eleven years old; both bright and pretty, the youngest especially so. Spotted Tail and his brother and Sorrel Horse were also present. Received orders, this afternoon to proceed to Omaha and report at Hd.Qrs. I separated with no little regret from the companions with whom I had been associated at Camp Robinson. That post has for me the great number of very pleasant reminiscences and not the least pleasant are the Indians. May 8th. Reached Sidney, Neb. and May 9th arrived at Omaha.

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When Crook’s starving soldiers arrived near Bear Butte, they were met by a column of wagons bringing much needed provisions for the hungry troops. Among those along for the ride was photographer Stanley J. Morrow, who took these photographs which Bourke pasted into the diary. Morrow followed Crook to the agencies, photographing the scenery en route, events at the agencies, and notable Indians. A representative assortment is given here, all courtesy of the Special Collections Division, United States Military Academy Library, West Point, New York.. The complete Morrow photographs for 1876 will be found in With Crook in the Black Hills: Stanley J. Morrow’s 1876 Photographic Legacy by Paul L. Hedren.

A group of prisoners captured at Slim Buttes includes Charging Bear (standing left), who later became an army scout and was mentioned frequently by Bourke. Although most Indians captured in the Slim Buttes fight were released after interrogation, this group opted to remain and accompany the troops to one of the Indian agencies. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

Members of the 3rd Cavalry sit on front of a tepi that was used as a shelter for the wounded at Slim Buttes. It is decorated with a 7th Cavalry guidon captured by the Indians at the Little Bighorn, and recaptured at Slim Buttes. The group includes (seated, l-r) Lt. Col. William B. Royall, Capt. William H. Andrews, Capt. Anson Mills, Lt. Joseph Lawson, (standing, l-r) Frank Grouard, Pvt. William J. McClinton, who captured the guidon, and Lt. Frederick Schwatka. The guidon is preserved at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Historic Site, and the tepi at the Smithsonian Institution. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

Chief Packer Tom Moore (left) and another packer cinch a mule in this photograph, which shows the aparejo method that evenly distributed the weight to avoid overly stressing the animal. Crook first hired Moore during his Arizona campaigns, and later brought him to the Department of the Platte. Moore’s skill and his ability to manage a train of tough, independent muleskinners was largely responsible for Crook’s mobility, which was remarkable for that era. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

Crook’s troopers, whose carbines show them to be dismounted cavalrymen, gather in front of a stockade on French Creek near Custer. At least 40 percent of the horses had to be replaced after the march to the Black Hills. The stockade was constructed in 1874 by miners who had invaded the Black Hills in violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

Crook (seated left on tree root) sits with his headquarters staff and enlisted orderlies. The headquarters flag had been made in camp the month before, as described by Bourke, “two horizontal bands, white above, red beneath, with a blue star in center: in dimensions, but slightly larger than the regulation company guidon. The white was from a crush towel contributed by Colonel Stanton, the red came from a flannel undershirt belonging to Schuyler, and an old blue blouse which Randall was about to throw away furnished the material for the star. Tom Moore had a travois pole shaved down for a staff, the ferule of which, (and the tip also,) was made of a metallic cartridge.” Stanton stands immediately to the left of the pole, holding a Springfield rifle. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

The normally baby-faced Col. Wesley Merritt (front, white scarf) appears haggard and care-worn in this photo with officers of the 5th Cavalry following the Horse Meat March. Immediately to the left facing Merritt is Maj. Julius Mason, who distinguished himself under Crook, first in Arizona and later in the Platte. Immediately above Mason, with his legs spread, is Lt. Charles King, a prolific author and career soldier, whose military career spanned six decades beginning with the Civil War, and ending following the First World War. Three officers are missing, including Lt. Col. Eugene A. Carr, who resented Merritt’s assuming active command of the 5th. (Photo By Stanley J. Morrow, U.S. Military Academy Library)

American Horse. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

Sharp Nose. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

Young Man Afraid of His Horses. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

Rocky Bear and his wife. (U.S. Military Academy Library)

A soldier shoots an abandoned horse, a scene repeated many times during Crook’s Horse Meat March, as worn-out animals were dispatched and butchered for food.

Infantrymen cut up a horse in this restaged scene. In reality the horses were turned over to the commissary department for slaughter. Note the long Springfield rifles used by infantrymen, and the prairie style cartridge belts which the soldiers preferred over the standard issue leather belt and McKeever cartridge box.

Soldiers fight over horse meat in a scene that author Paul Hedren speculates Morrow and the troops staged “for laughs.” None of the contemporary accounts mention fighting over meat, and considering the overall disdain for horsemeat, and the infantry disdain for horses in general, it is unlikely scenes like this would have occurred except in a case of near total starvation. The soldier on the far right has the model 1874 canteen (or “water bottle”) made of metal, with a metal-reinforced cork stopper, cloth cover and leather strap.

At the end of their grueling march, troops camp in wickyups in the mud near Bear Butte, just outside of the present-day city of Sturgis, S.D.

Two men reenact how the wounded were transported after the Slim Buttes fight. The mule-drawn travois was Crook’s preferred method of moving the wounded foillowing a fight.

Crook appoints an unwilling Spotted Tail as head chief of the Sioux on October 24, 1876, in front of the Spotted Tail Agency headquarters. Spotted Tail replaced Red Cloud whom Crook deposed after he moved away from the agency in a show of sympathy with hostile factions.

Red Cloud.

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✦

Part 2 Staff Officer

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Background

O

n May 7, 1877, Miles attacked and destroyed a hostile camp of about three hundred people under the Minneconjou chief Lame Deer. This camp had been spared much of the chasing and fighting of the previous six months, and its wealth was intact. It contained robes, about thirty tons of dried meat, along with firearms, powder, and ammunition. The troops captured the camp herd of about 450 horses, some of which were branded for the 7th Cavalry. They also recovered souvenirs of the Custer fight, and of various raids. This was the last major action. Although scouting expeditions would clash with small parties of Indians throughout the summer and fall of 1877, for all practical purposes the Great Sioux War was over.1 Bourke, meanwhile, was at departmental headquarters in Omaha, where he handled the regular duties of a staff officer. Because General Crook did not exercise field command during the remainder of his tenure in the Department of the Platte, this would be Bourke’s home until 1882. Nevertheless, various errands for Crook and the army, such as courts-martial, inspection tours, and other assign1. The Lame Deer Fight is discussed in Greene, Yellowstone Command, Chapter 9, and Robinson, A Good Year to Die, Chapter 31.

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ments took him throughout the country, and he spent so much time on trains that railroad executives consulted him on ways to expand and improve service.2 Although he continued to keep his diary, there is a gap between Manuscript Volume 20, which ends with Bourke’s arrival in Omaha on May 9, 1877, and Volume 21, which begins on July 1, 1877, at Camp Brown, Wyoming, where General Sheridan was hosting a hunting and fishing trip. Apparently Bourke did record the interim period, because Volume 21 appears to be the continuation of an on-going narrative. Thus it may be assumed that the interim was contained in the lost notebooks. The Western hunting and fishing trip was one means by which Sheridan gained support for the army. He had begun the practice earlier in the decade, upon assuming command of the Military Division of the Missouri. The guest list invariably included business leaders and press lords from New York or Chicago, whose prestige and connections might influence government policy in favor of the army. Metropolitan newspaper readers eagerly consumed accounts of American millionaires and European aristocrats in wild country, with big game and Indians. This trip was no different.3 As in the hunting trips during the summer of 1876, discussed in Volume 1 of this series, one is struck by the amount of waste. In one instance, Bourke killed a buffalo bull, and wrote, “[T]he huge fellow was cut up: we would take only the tongue, heart and a little of the hump, rump, loin and rib steaks, scarcely a tenth of the meat.” Yet waste was not confined with the whites alone. In the very next paragraph he noted that three of the Indian guides between them had killed sixteen buffalo which, given the size of the animals, would have yielded roughly eight hundred to a thousand pounds of meat each. Although Bourke acknowledged their ponies were “heavily laden with meat and fat,” it is hard to imagine that three Indians would save at least 12,800 pounds of meat.4 A week later, he wrote, “Indians to-day killed three elk, bringing in the hind quarters only. A great waste. On this march we have left on the ground four times as much meat as we took for consumption.”5 Modern folklore notwithstanding, this indifference to wildlife was, in fact, universal. 2. Porter, Paper Medicine Man, 64. 3. Robinson, Buffalo Hunters, 38–39. 4. Bourke, Diary, 21:23–24. 5. Ibid., 21:46.

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The hunting trip completed, the party visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield less than thirteen months after Custer’s disaster. Bones of the soldiers, hastily buried immediately after the fight and later washed out by erosion or dug up by scavengers, were strewn about. Confronted with this sight, and freshly emerged from that same war, Bourke can be forgiven for referring to it as a “slaughter-ground,” and the Indians as “red fiends,” mentioning only in passing that they were defending their homes and families against an attack by Custer’s troops.6 A more detached and realistic view was offered by a survivor of the battle, Sgt. Charles Windolph, a member of Capt. Frederick Benteen’s company, who won the Medal of Honor for his part. Recalling the fight more than seventy years later, the aged Windolph commented, “People call it ‘The Custer Massacre.’ It wasn’t any massacre; it was a straight, hard fight, and the five troops who were with Custer simply got cut to ribbons and every last white man destroyed.”7 This section also includes a detailed description of a trip down the Bighorn, Yellowstone, and Missouri Rivers by steamboat. Often forgotten in the glitter of the Mississippi’s great floating palaces, these tough little mountain steamers were a unique design, built specifically for the narrow, shoaling, snag-ridden western rivers. They were designed for utility rather than looks. The hull-planking might be sturdy enough, but the flimsy bulkheads, decking, and upperworks were made of lightweight pine or poplar. The powerful, wasteful, dangerous engines were built to force the boats upriver against the fast currents and over the shoals. Designers worked on the idea that the western forests would provide all the wood needed, and exploding boilers and blown cylinder heads were taken for granted. Their purpose was simple and straightforward—to take passengers and tons of cargo upriver in water that might be less than two feet deep.8 The steamers were a symbol of the inexorable push of white civilization. Even as troops were mopping up scattered bands of hostile Indians, Bourke described an almost continuing parade of steamers moving up and down the river. As his own steamer neared Miles’ camp by the Tongue River, he observed that a mowing ma6. Ibid., 21:69–70. 7. Hunt, I Fought With Custer, 2. 8. O’Neil, Rivermen, 92.

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chine had already been at work cutting the grass on the plain back from the river.9 As the boat passed Glendive Creek, he wrote, “Hay Camps from this point are becoming frequent: how the unfortunate hay cutters managed to withstand the mosquitoes was a problem for which I could find no solution.”10 Less than a year earlier, no hay cutter would have dared venture into the area without military escort because of the Indians. Ironically, a crisis arose involving not Indians, but restive railroad workers. By the summer of 1877, the nation was about to enter the fourth year of the economic depression known as the Panic of 1873. In response to financial difficulties, railroads cut wages and increased workloads. In July 1877, the Baltimore and Ohio cut wages by ten percent for the third time, and disgruntled workers in West Virginia walked off the job. The walk-out spread to rail centers in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. Fighting erupted between the workers on one side, and strike breakers, police, and militia on the other. On July 24, it was obvious that all main lines into Chicago would be closed by nightfall. Sheridan’s adjutant, Col. Richard C. Drum, took command of the immediate situation. The War Department sent troops into the city, and Sheridan, who arrived in Bismarck from his hunting trip on July 27, received orders to return to Chicago immediately. By the time he arrived, however, the situation was under control. Although city police had clashed with five thousand rioters on July 26, the only confrontation with troops ended quietly when a single shot in the air from an infantry detachment had been enough to break up a mob. The soldiers remained in the city until August 20, by which time the strike had ended and order was restored.11 Bourke and Crook did not remain in Chicago for the strike, but continued to Crook’s headquarters in Omaha. Bourke was never too busy to keep track of the latest technical developments. His mentality, evenly divided between soldier and scientist, showed a keen appreciation, not only for new achievements, but also for their future possibilities. Discussing a trip from Omaha to Fort Hall, Idaho,12 with General Crook and Schuyler, he made a near-clairvoyant observation: 9. Bourke, Diary, 21:83. 10. Ibid., 21:87. 11. Hutton, Phil Sheridan, 175–77. 12. This was the second military post named Fort Hall, and the third Fort Hall in the vicinity. The first was a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, originally constructed in 1834, on

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On our way out from Omaha, we had very little to do except to discuss the latest wonderful achievement in science—the phonograph—which by bottling up the human voice—has added another leaflet to the wreath crowning the brow of man. It will be not many years before sermons and operas,—the speeches of great orators and the songs of eminent vocalists—shall be boxed or bottled up and sent across the country, to be repeated in small towns for the delectation of provincial audiences.13 One almost suspects that if Bourke could be brought forward in time to the twenty-first century, he would not be in the least surprised by compact discs and DVDs. Bourke, by now, was in his thirties. He had spent half his life in the army. He was confident, and his youthful illusions and prejudices had gone by the wayside. His slowly developing outrage at the government Indian policy was reaching fruition. After discussing the recent Nez Percé War with Col. John Gibbon, who was severely wounded during one of the battles, he wrote: That war, in [Gibbon’s] opinion, as in that of all army officers, was an unjustifiable outrage upon the red men, due to our aggressive and untruthful behavior towards those poor people; and yet it will be repeated with every tribe until the whole race shall become extinct.14 Just as his opinions on the Indian policy had developed, so did Bourke’s sense of humor begin to manifest itself. It is a dry, understated wit, covering anything from Western accommodations to small children. After riding in a railroad coach full of Mormons bound for their annual conclave, he wrote: Every man brought a wife, and every wife had a baby. Every baby had a cold or a colic, and every twinge of either the Snake River. In 1849, a military post was established three miles upriver from the Hudson’s Bay post, but was abandoned a year later. The military post was reestablished in 1870, east of the Hudson’s Bay post, between the Snake and Portneuf Rivers, to control the Shoshones and Bannocks on a nearby reservation. Fort Hall was closed in 1883, and transferred to the Interior Department for use by the Indian Service. Frazer, Forts of the West, 44–45. 13. Bourke, Diary, 22:1. 14. Ibid., 22:12.

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complaint evoked a yell. It was a horrible experience of nearly eight hour’s duration—one I don’t care to have to go through again. I am trying to perfect a project for the erection of a monument to the memory of that great and good man, the late lamented King Herod.15 Food—good or bad—also got his attention. “At Hampton [Utah],” he wrote, “we met the down-train and waited for dinner—a good, honest, God-fearing meal,—one that could look you squarely in the eyes and ask for 50 cents.”16 On the other hand, one rundown Western hostelry served a steak so tough and rubbery that it “was an infringement upon the Goodyear patent.”17 He also used humor to vent his ire against early graffiti artists. After day-break, came to a palisade basaltic rock, defaced by inscriptions. “S.T.–1860-X”—Plantation Bitters, “Read the Western World” and the like. This defacement is an outrage upon good taste and should be punished with death, or something near it.18 Increasingly, Bourke was a man ahead of his time. 15. Ibid., 22:37. 16. Ibid., 22:9. 17. Ibid., 22:21. 18. Ibid., 22:28.

Chapter 15 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

A Hunting Trip

[July 1, 1877]1 Our party assembled at Camp Brown, Wyo., a pleasant little post on the Little Wind River, one of the head-waters of the Big Horn River. To reach there, Lieut. Schuyler and self started in advance of the main party and came, via U.P.R.R. to Green River Station, 900 miles or so West of Omaha, Neb., thence by stage and ambulance (150) miles north to Brown. (A description of this portion of the trip has been given in another diary.)2 At Camp Brown, we were received most hospitably by Captain [John] Mix, 2d Cavalry, Lieut. [Henry Clayton] Lapointe, of same Regiment, and Doctor Grimes, the Post Surgeon. We found Lieuts. Rockwell and Wheeler already in camp with the escort, Company “L”, 5th Cavalry, which had marched across country, up the Sweetwater Valley, from Fort Fetterman. By June 29th, the entire excursion had assembled, comprising the following members: Lieutenant General P. H. Sheridan Brigadier General George Crook ------ D. B. Sackett 1. West Point’s designation, but more likely June 30. 2. Apparently in a missing notebook.

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------ “Tony” Forsyth ------ Sandy Forsyth. Mr. Welch, of Chicago, Supt. Pullman Car Co. Mr. Ferrar of “ , Editor “Evening Journal” Asst. Surgeon J. H. Patzki. Lieut. W. L. Carpenter, 9th Infantry Lieut. John G. Bourke, 3d Cavl., A.D.C. “ W. S. Schuyler, 5th Cavl., A.D.C. Lieuts. Rockwell and Wheeler, 5th Cavalry and [Thomas Jackson] Gregg, 2d Cavalry, in charge of escort, Mr. Moore and Mr. Delaney, in charge of pack-train. Frank Gruard and Baptiste Pourier, with following named Indian guides, Red Shirt, Jackass, Big Bellied Sorrel Horse, Charging Bear, Sword, No Neck, Lone Bear, Little Bull. Tom Cosgrove came with us from Camp Brown for a distance of twenty-five miles, after which until reaching the crest of the Big Horn Mountains, we had a guide from Lauder City, Wyo., whose name I did not learn. Our transportation consisted of One Hundred and Forty Seven mules, well provided: our Escort numbered (97) men and we had for the use of the officers present twelve wall tents well furnished with flies for carpets and shades and to wrap up bedding. Nearly all of us had fishing tackle, rifles and other incidentals for a hunting and piscatorial campaign. Pending the arrival of Generals Sheridan and Crook and the other members of the party, we had the pleasure of bathing in the refreshing waters of the warm sulphur springs about two miles from the Post. This is a wonderful gift of nature, one to which reference has been made in another one of my notebooks. This spring covers an area of not less than one-sixth Acre and has a depth of six feet on an average: its water is impregnated with Sulphur and Magnesia, besides other minerals and has a temperature of 100° F, or a little greater. Its healing properties in all cases of gunshot wounds, old ulcers, sores, skin diseases and syphilitic or scrofulous complaints are much extolled. Upon first entering, the warmth is rather too great for comfort. An after-effect of delightful languor is induced and the bather sports in the water until warned by those best acquainted with its effects that it is occasionally apt to occasion nausea when people remain in over half an hour. As a detersive this water can

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scarcely be equalled anywhere: no soap need be used. Looking down into the water our limbs had the appearance of being carved out of ivory, but when we withdrew them to the upper air, they looked like the claws of boiled lobsters. We were much pleased with the convenient bath-house, built over the pond and separated into large sized compartments for the use of ladies and gentlemen. A wounded soldier was in charge, at the time of our visit and evidently was very faithful in his attention to his duties. July 1st A telegraphic notification arrived of the retirement of Colonel J. J. Reynolds, 3d Cavalry, which occasioned, in its proper place, the promotion of 1 Lieut. Gregg, 2d Cavalry, to be Captain in same Regiment. We made a good start from Camp Brown, getting away about half past eight in the morning. For an hour or more, after leaving the Post, had to bear the brunt of a brisk little storm of hail and rain, the concluding spasm of one which had endured throughout the greater part of the night. Our course lay a little North of East, down the broad level valley of the Little Wind River, a stream of cold, clear water, (30) to (40) yards wide, of an average depth of two feet, running over a gravelly bottom and having a current of five miles an hour. There is some mud in the bed of the stream and the water in places is turbid, this being the season for the annual rise. We saw very little to record: the weather was most charming after the storm had abated, the air being fresh and rare enough to make us congratulate ourselves we were not in the sultry valley of the Missouri. The soil along the line of march was excellent, but very thin, and bore a good crop of grass. After this country shall have been settled, this country, from half a mile to a mile wide, ought, with the aid of fertilizers, to be made to produce fine crops of barley, oats and potatoes. The shortness of the season may prove a great disadvantage, but should not prevent the cultivation of the products named. Wild oats, finely headed, were seen during the day. Three or four large herds of cattle were grazing in the valley: of these, many belong to Wash-akie and other prominent men of the Shoshonee Indians who, so Tom Cosgrove tells me, own over a thousand head. This year, they were very anxious to commence farming, but the Indian Bureau had only 5000 pounds of oats to distribute among the whole tribe. We moved down the valley (13) or (14) miles, camping finally near a small copse of trees, one of the few seen on the way.

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The members of our party have begun to get acquainted with each other and seem to be much more congenial than is generally found to be the case. The Lieutenant General is just the man to command such a party, owing to his good sense, unfailing good humor and great consideration for the comfort of those about him. His Aides and the civilian gentlemen accompanying him are jolly good fellows and determined upon having a pleasant time. Sheridan looks like a man who can stand any amount of hardship, but doesn’t appear quite so wiry as Crook: the one [Sheridan] may be regarded as the type of Irish, the other of American, strength. Lieutenant Carpenter, 9th Infantry, was with us on the campaign of last summer and his special mania is entomology, altho’ no branch of natural History is neglected. He is a man who has attained an exceptional degree of knowledge in many branches of science and by reason of his peculiar habits of isolation in the woods and mountains, searching for specimens, has been dubbed by irreverent young officers, “Grizzly Bill.” Retired to rest at 10 o’clock and had as much as we could do to keep warm during the night. I slept under a buffalo robe and comforter, but did not feel at all too warm. July 2d. Had reveille at 4 A.M.: breakfast half an hour later. Expect to have some good fishing trout or cat-fish, to-day or to-morrow. Yesterday afternoon, General Sheridan caught one trout and General Crook, five. The water is still too swift and deep to admit of catching many but it will undoubtedly subside a good deal during the coming week. Our camp presents a very pretty appearance, laid out with military regularity on the Emerald green grass, close to the riverbank: we have an abundance of tentage and many conveniences I have never seen before on a trip of such intended length. Took up the line of march at 6 in the morning, still following down the Little Wind River, which widened gradually although no tributaries came in. Six miles from bivouac of last night, it was sixty yards in average width. Grazing along line of route rapidly deteriorated and at length was supplanted entirely by sage-brush and grease-wood. There is a very unusual scarcity of game in this part of the country. Since our departure from Camp Brown, we have failed to rouse up a single deer or game animal of any description. To-day, we have turned much more to the North than during yesterday: we have

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the Wind River mountains almost directly at our backs. In these mountains, I confess to a feeling of disappointment. They are by no means as majestic as the Big Horn, Wahsatch or Uintah ranges, even though they occupy a place of much greater importance in the geography of the Country. Have seen but little timber to-day and that principally cottonwood and willow: the valley of the Little Wind river is put poorly supplied. After marching twelve miles, we came to the confluence of the Little and Big Wind Rivers, which latter had been in sight on our Left for some time. In the salient angle of the junction of the two streams was a fine meadow of grass with plenty of fire-wood on either hand: here we should have camped, but General Sheridan, fearing a sudden rise in the river, very wisely crossed to the other side, and made bivouac in a site not nearly as good as the one mentioned, but still having many advantages. We had a sufficiency of good grass and an abundance of fire-wood and clear, cold water. The Big Wind River, below the junction of its tributary, is almost one hundred yards wide, a yard deep and very strong current, but has a fine gravelly bed. The ground at this bivouac was full of small holes made by the “seventeen year” locusts, which are now swarming out in great numbers. I examined several: they were one inch long, one quarter inch broad at shoulders, have a head shaped something like that of the common house-fly, back of body black with light yellow markings, belly, yellow with black blotches: legs six in number and eyes dark red. The eyes protrude from the head. They had just concluded shedding their outercoats, which we could see in little heaps under every small clump of grass or sage-brush. The chirping noise made by this insect is produced by the mouth, but it also, when disturbed makes a whirring sound by rubbing its four wings together. Lieut. Carpenter pointed out a “tern”, a sort of white gull, on bank of a little sand-bar in the stream this morning. The weather this morning was bright and pleasant, but in the afternoon heavy clouds rolled together in the sky and the temperature became quite high. The mosquitoes too bothered us fearfully. We commenced fishing, as soon as we had unsaddled our horses: the fish did not bite very well, but enough were caught to show how many kinds the stream contained. White Fish, and trout were brought in. Lieut Rockwell from one hole took half a

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dozen white fish, which our sable cook made no delay in turning into a toothsome dish for dinner. Read to-day, the Honorable Knatchbull-Hutchessen’s [sic] Lecture on the Life of Cromwell: an excellent tract whose principal defect is its brevity.3 July 3d. The pleasant tinkling of the bells in the pack-train abruptly terminated our sweet slumbers at early dawn this morning. To jump out of a seductive bed and into the chilly air, to dash over our necks, arms and shoulders, the frigid water of the Big Wind River, and then to rasp and scrape our faces with rough towels until the skin was flayed off took but a minute. A quarter of an hour was allowed for breakfast, but we lingered twice that long over our good coffee, fresh fish, hot rolls, new potatoes and sweet butter. By six o’clock, we were pushing down the broad valley of the Big Wind River: for seven miles we found this not much under one and a half to one and three quarters miles broad and pretty fairly covered with emerald grass. The lay of the land is such that canals could be dug without great labor and superfluity of water obtainable from the current of the stream. A heavy growth of cottonwood fringes the banks, some of the trees reaching to as great a diameter as four feet. We rested in a shady copse awaiting the closing up of our pack-train which had met with trouble in crossing an abrupt and very steep little mound that jutted out almost to the river bank. One or two of the mules slipped and fell injuring their loads a great deal. Lieutenant Schuyler had his baggage spoiled to a small extent: the venerable patriarch who was weighed down with the enormous cook-stove, belonging to General Sheridan’s mess, knew his business too well to slip and fall at such a juncture: he stood still for a moment in the trail, looking half in pity, half in contempt, at his weaker brethren who were rolling amid pickles, coffee, crackers and clothing to the bottom of the hill. The valley of the Big Wind River now began to change its appearance: the soil became much more sandy, the vegetation was reduced to sage-brush and grease-wood, bluffs of “drift” and sandstone closed in on the trail and at last pools of alkali water covered 3. This refers to a book by Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, first Baron Brabourne (1829– 1893), best known as a writer of children’s stories, some of which are considered precursors to J.R.R. Tolkien. Brabourne also served as commissioner of the treasury in the Palmerston and Russell governments in 1862–65. http://www.wikisearch.net/en/wikipedia/l/li/list_of_commissioners_of_the_treasury.html

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with a rank growth of dark green tule grass, disfigured the ground. For one stretch of three miles, the soil was a hard baked mud, bearing scarcely anything in the shape of a plant and throwing back in our eyes the fervid rays of the sun which had now climbed to the Zenith. For a short space each day the heat is very uncomfortable, especially so to us travelling on horse-back. But no sooner are we in camp and ready to rest than cool zephyrs spring up and the heat is slowly tempered down to the chilliness of night. The thermometer yesterday morning indicated only (47°F.) After unsaddling this morning, I strolled down to the banks of the river, hoping to have some luck, in catching fish; but there was no shady, cool spot to be found, on our side, altho’ pools there were in plenty ten and twelve feet deep. I picked up specimens of chalcedony and quartz crystals, which many do to polish after I get back to Omaha. Tents were in position upon my return to camp, so I thought about as good a thing as I could do would be to stretch myself at full length on my buffalo robes and woo the drowsy god. How long I slept I cannot say, but soon I fell to dreaming and somehow or another became conscious or semi-conscious of something in which my interests were involved and Rockwell, my old class-mate, was making himself unpleasantly officious therein. By and bye, it seemed as if he was seeking to thrust a quarrel upon me. I fancied I heard my name called in a very disrespectful and exasperating way, which left me no recourse but hostility to put an end to the confounded noise and Din-DinDin-n-a-a-a-r, now if there is any one word in the English language provocative to disgust and hatred it is this call to refection, coming from the lips of a man who professes to be your friend and who bawls the offensive yell in your ears, always just at the moment when sleep is sweetest and all your cares are forgotten. But camp rules are the laws of the Medes and Persians: there is no use trying to evade them and no benefit to be gained by grumbling, so I made the best of the situation and sat down with my comrades to the midday meal. July 4th. Kept on down Big Wind River; marched about three miles, trail turning nearly East from the almost North course which we pursued for three miles yesterday afternoon. Left the river on our Left hand and crossed a long level stretch of “bad lands”, drift and alkali. Eight miles out came to Bad Water creek, which is not over twenty-five feet wide, 12 or 15 inches deep, clayey banks, firm bot-

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tom and swift current. The water is yellowish and muddy and not very pleasant to the taste, altho’ this is the most favorable season for Fishing it. Its narrow valley is completely choked up with cottonwood trees, numbers of them of very good size and much sagebrush larger than any I have seen for a long time. Grapevines and rose-bushes flourish, the pretty little bud of the wild rose, one of the loveliest of flowers to my fancy, flourishes all over the Big Horn Country, during the month of June and July, adding much to the beauty of the landscape, in the moist valleys. Four miles beyond, passed a tributary of the Bad Water, and three or four miles further still, turned into the valley of a second affluent, which we ascended a short distance until we made Camp, in the shade of some small cottonwood. Our move to-day was through an extremely poor piece of country, nearly all of it drift and hills of tertiary formation; vegetation was almost entirely wanting and our animals suffered extremely, and the march was the hardest thus far made. I saw to-day granite, hornblende, quartz, and slate in the broken stones in the drift hills. Lieut. Schuyler brought in from the top of one of the mounds within sight of camp, selenite, and sandstone. Lieut. General Sheridan very kindly invited all the officers to visit his tent and take a glass of champagne in honor of the [independence] day: a pleasant hour was passed in conversation and story-telling and then—to bed. July 5th. A sterile country, a perfect desert of small hills of drift and red sandstone, with some red clay containing, I think, Sulphate of Lime, had to be crossed on our Easterly march of fourteen miles along the Southern slope of the Owl creek Mountains, before we struck Bridger’s creek, a pretty good-sized branch of the Bad Water. It is not over twenty feet in width, fifteen inches deep, has a good current and gravelly bottom. Clay and marl banks, and its water is sweet but not clear. There are only occasional trees on the banks of this stream near where we crossed it, but in a ravine, a mile or two to the East, there seemed to be a considerable quantity. Here we saw the old Bridger road, which before the war was the great highway between Montana.4 4. This sentence, as it stands, does not appear to make sense. Initially Bourke wrote “between Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger,” but crossed out “Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger,” and wrote “Montana” in the space above. Given the line of march on this trip, he could have meant either between Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and Montana, or between Fort Bridger, Utah, and Montana.

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General Sandy Forsyth and I had a chase after an antelope, but without success. Besides Bridger’s creek, we passed this morning, one or two smaller tributaries of the Bad Water, but so small as hardly deserve mention. We now began to turn to the North and climb up a wide and easy graded ravine, in which grass was growing in patches, alternating with sage-brush. Four miles of marching brought us to the summit of a broad rolling table land of some extent, upon which, to our great delight, countless buffaloes were grazing. Our Indian guides, under Frank Gruard, advanced rapidly upon the nearest herd, while a small detachment of soldiers and packers, among whom was included myself, followed at a convenient distance and at a more moderate place. The plan of action was for the Indians to rush up, attack the herd, wound as many as possible, and scatter it, while the white men in the rear, should close up in the rear and kill all stragglers and wounded animals. The buffaloes as we approached evinced no fear but looked at us curiously from out [of] their big lady eyes. Suddenly, one of them gave a snort and, with heads bent low and tails in air, the whole band was on a lope out of the way of our horses. They seemed to be going at a very slow gait, but we pressed our horses to the utmost to catch up with them. While we were in pursuit, a fine young buck antelope ran out of a ravine on our Right hand and followed our horses like a dog. All of us were so interested in shooting larger game that the young venison was completely disregarded. Soon our Indians were upon the herd and the cracking of their rifles sounded like the opening of a skirmish. The buffaloes began to scatter and our men rushed out to slaughter them by ones and twos. The ride was a very exciting one up hill and down dale, jumping buffalo wallows and sage brush, dodging rocks and other obstructions, running close upon to the frightened wild cattle or dashing ahead and trying to turn them from their course. It was indeed the severest steeplechasing I ever heard of and no less hard on horses than men. Once I had a fine opportunity to shoot two fine young buffalo, but after I had closed with them, to my great vexation my carbine missed and before I could check my pony, extract the cartridge and insert another, my prey had escaped over the hills. A little while after, I discovered an old fellow cut off from the herd, leisurely rambling along in a pleasant little grassy ravine, through which a feeble

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stream of bright cold water was flowing. As soon as he saw me, he made a desperate effort to run up the side of the hill and would assuredly have succeeded in giving me the slip had it not been that I had a better grade from where I was. By briskly spurring my pony I gained the summit of the acclivity, time enough to dismount, cock my piece and fall on one knee, before the buffalo lumbered by at point-blank range. I drew bead, took a dead sight, aiming from the rear at a point near the middle of the body, and a span behind the foreshoulder, and fired. A dull thump told me my shot had struck: the lordly bull shook for a moment, staggered to the Right and fell on his side: in a second of time, he rose again, made a struggle to run, made about thirty yards, fell on his knees and rolled over and over, stiffening out with his feet in the air. I had been prepared for him and as he rose after the first shot, sent another into him near the right flank and, I believe, breaking the thigh bone of that leg. A half dozen more bullets were put into him to make sure and then with the help of my orderly, Private Glennan, and some other soldiers, the huge fellow was cut up: we would take only the tongue, heart and a little of the hump, rump, loin and rib steaks, scarcely a tenth of the meat. Big Bellied Sorrel Horse, Sword and Charging Bear came along, their ponies heavily laden with meat and fat. They said they had killed sixteen buffaloes. Charging Bear gave me some raw liver, which tastes something like a raw oyster: it is the great delicacy of all the buffalo in the view of the Indians. Private Gatchell, 2d Cavalry, killed an elk and an antelope and, I suppose the number of buffaloes killed by the little detachment under me would not have been less than ten. We slowly made our way to camp, situated on a little creek without wood and with only a small quantity of grass, (the buffalo having eaten or trampled out all the grass.) This little brook, only two or three feet wide in places, flowed to the East side of the Owl Creek Mountains. Here I must record a very unusual circumstance. The hills surrounding this camp were covered with herds of buffalo: it was estimated that thousands were in sight, from the top of the bluff where our pickets were stationed. Within half an hour, an alarm was raised that a herd was charging straight for camp. A few of our Indian guides had got in [the] rear of them and commence running them straight towards us. On they came, two hundred or three hundred strong.

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Our men began firing at them from the line of tents and already had knocked over five or six, when our horses, frightened by the firing and the sight of such unexpected visitors to their pasture, stampeded. General Sheridan ordered the firing to cease and had “stable call” sounded, while the bells of the pack train were rung loudly. Our finely disciplined pack-mules obeyed the call, not one running away, but more than half of the Cavalry horses were so scared that they never stopped for ten miles and this too with hobbles and side-lines on their feet. Lieutenant Wheeler, 5th Cavalry, took some of the Escort and mounted them bare-back upon such of the horses as were still with us. After a long chase, he was successful in turning the herd and bringing it back after sun-set. A pleasant shower intervened towards sun-down, cooling the air delightfully and refreshing the grass. As we were sitting down to supper, a second alarm was raised that the buffalo were coming down the hill into camp. This time it was a small herd, but a very wild one, which dashed right into our lines. As they neared the tents, all of them defected to the Right, excepting two; of these, one dashed at full speed across the muddy bottom of the little creek running through camp, fell with a slam! and mired in the mud of the bank on the opposite side and then stumbled over the cords of the packers’ cook tent. The other had like to break through the tent in which Doctor Patzki, Lieut. Schuyler and myself abided, but changed his mind at the last moment. The bodies of four huge beasts lay within a hundred yards of our fire, and if anybody wanted a nice piece of steak, a liver, heart or tongue, all to be done was to cut off the amount desired. The skeletons of two white men, probably prospectors killed by Indians, were discovered by our people near this bivouac. Mention has been made of the coolness of the nights in this country: the days are as warm as could be wished. General Sackett, who keeps the thermometer, says that yesterday at 11 o’clock, it registered just at 100° F. July 6th. The main body moved Eastward down No Wood creek, eighteen miles, to a beautiful amphitheatre, finely grassed and watered and having some wood. Early in the morning, General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler, Mr. Delaney and Private Peter Butler found us: they went hunting from the Com-

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mand yesterday and became separated so great a distance that they had to camp out by themselves overnight. Their day’s trip brought them in among a vast herd of buffalo, running up into the thousands, many antelope and one band of elk not less than fifty. This band of elk they ran into a little pocket of the mountains and could have killed every one of them had they been incline[d]. The buffaloes near their place of bivouac were just as tame as those about our camp: two of them came up between their horses and their camp and there remained all night. I followed General Crook through the mountains to-day and had the pleasure of seeing some very picturesque landscape. We passed over all kinds of ground—rocky and rough, greatly rolling, grass, sage-brush and a little without any vegetation at all. There was quite as great diversity in the character of the water. The little branchlets were mostly of good, sweet water, but not very cold. There was one fine spring of water about as cold as ice of which we drank profusely. We did not come upon much game, but could see in the distance numbers of buffalo. On the rolling plains beneath us and almost out of sight, we discerned a bull running away from one of our mounted Indians. Upon level ground, the Indian’s pony steadily gained upon the bovine, but the reverse occurred when the buffalo had steep and rocky country to travel over. Then, he left the little horse a long distance behind and should have escaped had not a long, level plain intervened where the pony had no trouble in overtaking or the Indian in dispatching him. The stratification of the rocks along this valley is in several places extremely contorted: in the cañon, in front of which we found camp, the strata are arranged thus:

The formation is sandstone principally. We made a long detour through the country and finally came upon No Wood creek at the place where we had expected to run across the command, but none of our people could be seen. We then pushed up the stream, a very pretty body of water, 20 feet wide, 2 deep and current extremely swift, not less than six or seven miles an hour. Many good sites for camps were passed: good grass was very plenti-

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ful, but wood in great scarcity. A small party of miners and prospectors was bivouacked in a little grassy glade: seeing our Indians in front, they made ready for a fight, but fortunately did not fire before seeing who the Indians were. Gypsum in great quantity was present in the soil as we advanced up the valley: The formation was entirely of red sandstone and red clay containing a large percentage of gypsum; yet, strange to say, the stream is full of trout. A very strange sight was presented when we suddenly saw our camp from the crest of a little hill overlooking it. The white tents were pitched in a field of larkspurs of vivid blue: the effect of this contrast, taken with the bright green of the grass and the dazzling light of the sun made a most agreeable picture. Back of camp was the dark and rugged cañon of the stream, while the creek itself winding through its low, grassy valley, enclosed a number of spaces extremely well adapted for the wants of a camping party. Many trout were caught this afternoon: we have trout and buffalo, elk or antelope, at every meal now and may consider ourselves in the heart of the hunting grounds. The annoyance suffered from mosquitoes almost counter-balances the advantages of this camp; by making “smudges”,5 we managed to drive them out of our tents, but were pleased when a wind storm arising swept them down the valley. July 7th. Kept down No Wood creek, flowing North of East, for six miles. Halted, watered and grazed. Grass along line of march very fine: some of it is girth-high and already in the seed; our horses and mules eat it like oats. Saw this morning an “inscription rock”, (i.e. Medicine Rock.) covered with figures of horses, elk, mountain sheep &c. Whenever the Sioux, Arapahoes or Cheyennes made a raid into this country they would scratch some of these emblems upon the rock to propitiate good luck. Our Indian guides say that the name of the rocky cliff over-hanging our camp of last night is the Bull’s Nest, so called because a buffalo bull once made his way to the top and lived there a whole year. Crossed No Wood creek and kept on nearly North by a little East for sixteen miles more: moved through red clay hills and sandstone bluffs for nearly all of this distance. Grass excellent all the way and scrub pine and juniper growing on the Northern Exposures. All the little streams in this vicinity are full of trout of good size. 5. Some sort of smudge pot, which would give off heavy smoke.

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Came upon a band of crickets on this march, also saw a deep and dark cave in a sandstone bluff, overhanging a confluent of No Wood creek. A fine view of the Big Horn range was had in the afternoon, but from this side it doesn’t appear to as great advantage as from the other, neither does the main range of the Rocky Mtns. Look of much account, although it, like the Big Horn, is covered with perennial snow. Our march is barely relieved from being stupid. The days are too warm and at night there are too many insects flying about to admit comfort, but by the time we reach the crest of the Big Horn and find ourselves getting an abundance of game and fish—, this monotony will most certainly be relieved. July 8th. Went six miles North by two or three degrees West down No Wood creek valley, very narrow and winding. Country composed of drift hills of no great height, covered with sage-brush and grass. Day pleasant and bright, but rather warm. A short march of two or three miles from the last mentioned point took us across the hills North to a beautiful broad valley down which rushed a torrent of icy-cold snow water, fresh from the Big Horn Mountains. This valley is a most beautiful one, not much less than a mile in width; it is abundantly watered by this affluent of No Wood creek which is not under thirty yards wide, three feet in depth and a current of eight miles an hour. Clumps of cottonwood are scattered along the banks, while a perfect luxuriance of rich grass filled the valley, up to the summits of the red clay buttes that hemmed it in. Distance to-day ten miles. From this position until we shall have crossed the range and get well down the valley of the Little Big Horn River, we anticipate some trouble from swollen streams. Fortunately, our Sioux guides are thoroughly familiar with every foot of the route, and will save us a great deal of labor in hunting fords across the torrents. July 9th. March a total distance to-day of fourteen or fifteen miles, through a series of small red clay and sandstone hills jutting out from the Big Horn Range, by this time close upon our Right. Country covered with sage-brush, interspersed with grass. Two or three small streams of good water crossed but very little, if any, timber close to trail. A small band of buffalo galloped across the head of the column early in the morning. The Indian guides killed four. Passed an al-

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kali pond, one thousand yards long, one hundred yards wide. Saw a small flock of ducks rise from it as we approached. Came down to the banks of an important tributary of No Wood creek, whose current fairly hissed and roared as it rushed along with the velocity of not less than ten miles an hour. It is one of the most charming of all the water courses in this part of Wyoming or Montana. The members of our party were enchanted by the spectacle of creamy water dashing over the heavy blocks of granite in the center of the course, and the cool refreshing shade of the foliage that screened these charms from the too fervid rays of the sun. It was not possible to ford this torrent without exposing men and animals to unnecessary danger. It was about one hundred and twenty five feet wide, three in depth and with a tremendous velocity. Two of our Indians crossed, but, in returning, one was knocked from his pony by the impetuous waters. General Sheridan determined to go into camp on this side and if, by morning, the volume be not diminished, bridges can be built by felling trees and covering them with dirt. Sleep this night broken by the roaring of the swollen creek. July 10th. A detachment of men under General Sandy Forsyth and Lieutenant Carpenter have been detailed to construct a bridge across the torrent of this creek, which General Sheridan has named Sackett’s Fork of No Wood Creek. Lieut. Rockwell found a good crossing but rather too far down to be available. Captain Gregg with his Company of the 2d. Cavalry, and the guide who came with us from Camp Brown, in place of Tom Cosgrove, left our party and started back about noon, taking with them letters to be mailed from Camp Brown. Went down to see the work of bridge construction and enjoyed a quiet half hour in gazing upon the picturesque scenery of a foaming torrent, dashing over granite boulders and between two masses of heavy foliage lining both banks. The bridge was completed but not used, as General Sheridan becoming impatient, crossed the command at a ford three miles below the site of our camp. The water was up to and over the saddle girths and the ford full of large boulders, but no danger or trouble was experienced in making the passage. Our course after this turned up the stream (Painted Rock Ford of No Wood Creek, it is called by the guides.) going between it and a tributary a mile to the north of it, and after marching along a low plain covered with sage-brush and grass for six miles, we came

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to a very pretty little stream fed by springs of icy-cold water: from there we began to climb the first foot-hills or bench of the Big Horn, travelling almost due East. Within twelve miles we had attained the summit and made camp in a grove of spruce or pine. Water was obtained from three or four springs and grass in sufficiency carpeted the ground under our feet. Overlooking us to the East was the main range of the Big Horn Mountains, crested with the snow: to the West, the Wind River range, also snow-clad, while to the South lay the Owl Creek range, scarcely discernible through the clouds. Below us could be viewed the panorama of the Big Horn valley, cut up with the timber fringed tributaries of its main artery. A rain storm of an hour’s length came upon us this afternoon while upon the march. Total distance to-day eighteen miles. July 11th. Moved North East over mountains thickly covered with spruce and pine: grass rather coarse but abundant: water plentiful, running in rivulets or standing in pools and springs. In occasional places, the ground was dangerously miry: saw our first snow along trail to-day, lying in big patches, also many varieties of beautiful flowers—forget me nots, cowslips, larkspurs and lady-slippers. After moving about five miles, descended into a cosy little park, where a couple of buffalo bulls had taken up their quarters and were enjoying a delightful existence. Their repose was rudely interrupted by the reverberation of the sound of General Crook’s rifle, but fortunately for themselves they were not hit and scampered slouchily away through the woods. The difference in temperature between to-day’s march and those preceding it has been favorably commented upon by everybody. Frank Gruard carried with him a pet in the shape of an atrociously ugly little Indian dog which rides contentedly behind him on the saddle all day long. This little Indian pug was found in the Indian village captured by General Crook’s forces at Slim Buttes, Dakota, in September 1876, and has since been a member of Department Hd.Qrs. in the field. A turn to the Right and a short march of one mile brought us to the banks of a lake, (since called by General Sheridan Lake Stager,) one mile long, six hundred yards wide, perfectly clear, blue water, nestling in among the bluffs of granite, covered with spruce timber. Here we made camp having everything we needed except good grass,

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that growing around us being coarse and innutritious. The scenery at this place is remarkably picturesque and made us believe that the long, hot journey hither from Camp Brown was fully repaid by the landscape spread before us. I shall not allow myself to dilate upon this subject, fearing I might exhaust the limits of my note-book were I to expatiate upon every beautiful vista we may expect to behold while in this Mountains. General Sackett has determined our elevation by the aneroid barometer to be between 9.000 and 10.000 feet. Lieutenants Carpenter and Schuyler left us to-day to attempt the ascent of Cloud Peak. About 5 in the afternoon, we were visited by a cold rain. July 12th. Remained in Camp. Day bright and clear. Mail brought in from Camp Brown, containing news of a general engagement on banks of the Danube between Russians and Turks in which the former suffered the more severely, but succeeded in lodging sixty thousand of their own men on the Turkish side of the stream: The chequered existence of the Supreme Pontiff, Pious IX had ended and the poor old man soon finds in the grave the rest the world denied him. (Note: This report proved unfounded.)6 I went this morning across the small granite ridge directly in front, (East.) of my tent and strolled along for two miles until I had reached a beautiful little lake, one of a chain dotting the vicinity, where I made preparations to catch some trout. The coy little brutes paid no attention to my baiting which floated on the surface of the water until I became tired of waiting and looking upon the finny beauties darting about from point to point or jumping into the air, so I did the next best thing—took a bath from off the summit of a smooth, flat rock in the shadow of a clump of pine trees. The bottom of the lake was as hard as iron and composed of rock covered with fine sand. After resuming my garments, I meandered from lake to lake, vividly impressed at each pace with the charm of scenery, scarcely any of which has, up to the present, ever been bared to the glance of the white man. At one spot, I was so delighted that I remained in mute admiration, feasting my eyes upon the picture: there was a combination of lake and mountain and forest scenery not often met with. The crystal sheet of water sparkled in the sun, except where clumps of graceful and slender pines threw their shadows adown 6. Pope Pius IX actually died seven months later, on February 7, 1878.

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[sic] the banks and viewed their own well-proportioned forms in the fluid beneath. Little bluffs of granite broke the elliptical contour of the lake and gave shadowy shelter to the shoals of trout which took refuge there: but, as a general thing, a fine sandy beach shelved gently to the waters edge. Granite hills, pine-covered, shut in these waters from observation: down the flanks of these hills sped pretty streams, fed by drifts of snow, slowly dissolving. Groups of soldiers paced the banks, intent upon gaining a mess of trout. The most successful, as it was the oddest, way to effect this was by discharging firearms. The percussion of the bullets upon the water stunned the little fish and caused them to float helpless upon the surface. Returning to camp, rather tired from my journey, I followed over rough crags until I came to the little stream flowing to the immediate North of our tents, not more than one hundred yards back of us. It breaks its way through a rocky gorge, one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventh-five feet deep, forming a picture too beautiful for any canvass. The creamy current boomed over the boulders that in vain essayed to withstand its progress: pine and spruce trees stood sentinel over this narrow crevice where the sun’s light rarely made its way. From the top of one of the highest promontories, I threw a large lump of granite that went rolling, tumbling and bounding from projection to projection until it landed in the hollow of a little spring, almost at the torrent’s edge. The landscape was too beautiful for my powers of description and kept me a delighted prisoner for nearly an hour. July 13th. Had a rain shower last night, grass was wet at reveille. Thermometer indicated 43°F, at breakfast: we found the heat of a large pine knot fire very agreeable. Moved in a northerly direction, going toward head of Shell Creek passing through a windfall of dead timber and seeing to the West, at foot of range, a dense column of smoke from some burning forest. Day very bright and pleasant. This march was not remarkable for any especial feature: The configuration of the country and the scenery remained much the same as they were yesterday and the day before. For the charms of mountain scenery our practical-minded mules don’t seem to care much: to them such things mean slipping down steep and rocky paths, stumbling across foaming rapids or breaking through fallen timber. We had a rough trail for three or four miles

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and then came into a belt of country composed of high hills, well covered with grass and easy of ascent. Doctor Patzki has amused himself in collecting specimens of the flora of this mountain range: he has obtained many varieties, rare and beautiful. Distance to-day ten to eleven miles. Camp made on head of Shell Creek. Our horses have been severely annoyed by black flies and mosquitoes on this trip. Indians to-day killed three elk, bringing in the hind quarters only. A great waste. On this march we have left on the ground four times as much meat as we took for consumption. This part of the mountains is full of prospectors’ trails: several parties of miners are traveling behind us for protection.

Chapter 16 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The Little Bighorn Battlefield

July 14th. Broke camp, taking trail alongside of Mountain overlooking Shell Creek. Had considerable difficulty in forcing a trail through trees and bushes and over rocks and especially across ground made miry by the great number of springs bubbling to the surface. After one and [a] half miles march, found Shell creek at a point where it had split into several channels: the largest some thirty feet wide, three deep and with a current whose velocity could not have been less than twelve miles an hour. When we had accomplished this feat, we heard the booming and roaring of a great affluent a short distance ahead and knew that our day’s labor had but just commenced. This “affluent”, as we at first termed it, turned out to be the main stream. It was nearly twenty five yards broad, two and three feet deep and of an exceeding velocity, its waters being churned to foam as they fretted along among the rocks which projected like teeth from the bottom. On this account these crossings have had enough of the element of danger to make them interesting, but up to this time no disaster has occurred. (General Sandy Forsyth was nearly drowned in No Wood creek, but I forgot to refer to the incident in its proper place.) 330

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Shell creek runs through a wild, belt of rugged mountains, whose flanks are covered with granite boulders of very great size, heavy bodies of pine timber chock up the gorges through which tributary streams force a passage. Great quantities of brush and fallen trees disfigure the valley. While on the trail this morning crossed a dyke of indurated mud extending down the hill side for fifty to seventyfive yards: could not discover its origin. A black bear ran across our trail, making for the water. Frank Gruard shot him through the hind quarter, breaking his back, causing him to fall across a log into the current. General Sheridan fired and hit him back of the fore-shoulder. I fired two shots, going over a little each time but my third shot took him in the head at the intersection of the jaws. We stripped off the skin and paws, but took none of the meat, which smelt too strongly of the wild onions upon which the animal had been feeding. The valley or “cañon” of Shell creek is remarkably striking: his must be truly an impassive nature that could view it from the crest of the hills environing it, without feeling emotions of admiration and delight. The sides of the mountains are clothed with heavy forests, most of them with trees graceful and verdant, but in many places acres of bare and burnt trunks testify to the course of forest fires or show where the lightning had struck. At some points, ragged rocks projected as precipices above the timber at their feet: at others, the contour became more gentle and was carpeted with grass and sweet wild flowers. Regardless of the charms and fascinations of its mountain home, the cold river poured down over the rocks eager to reach the ocean and view its wonders. Having passed across the ridge bounding this valley, we continued on to the North-East, entering a broad inviting park, of undulating greensward, gemmed with wild flowers, while clumps and forests of pine contrasted in their olive green foliage with the lighter hue of the grass about them. The walls of this cosy retreat were heavy buttresses of granite, on which broad patches of snow still lingered. At the head of the park as we came into it, was a spring, or rather dozen[s] of springs, of icy-cold water which sought an outlet through the babbling rivulet which traversed the valley. In this park we pitched our tents, glad to remain, altho’ our march had not been more than five or six miles. This valley is enclosed by two parallel ridges of the Big Horn Range, that to the Eastward being the higher of the two and rather

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more distant. I ascended the Western ridge having an easy climb up a gentle grade, the compensation for this work lay in an extended panoramic view of the Big Horn Valley, which stretched out beneath us like a vast topographical chart. The river itself, with its tributaries and the ridges in which they have their Sources was very distinctly traceable for a great distance, the sky in the West and North being clear as crystal, but in the East dark clouds were accumulating about the higher peaks of the mountains. Lieutenant Wheeler, my companion in the ascent, thought we had better descend as soon as we could, an opinion in accord with my own, as I was afraid we might get caught in some sudden rain squall and be drenched before we could get back to camp. We reached our tents before the storm broke and saw the heavy, gray clouds pushing themselves down into our valley. A cold, chilling fog obscured the sky and hung close to the earth. As we gathered around our blazing fires, the rain gently pattered down, but without becoming unpleasant. We did what we could to kill time by roasting a couple of elk marrow bones and eating the contents which we considered delicious. This made us reflect that there are numerous palatable dishes our poor people in the Eastern states could have for a song if they only knew something of the comparative values of the different parts of the carcasses of animals, killed for their use. The heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, lights, lips, marrow-bones, testicles, shin-bones and entrails, not to mention the blood, are all capable of being made into toothsome dishes fully as wholesome as the ragged rumpsteaks and leathery corned pieces so many poor families are forced to put up with. Frank Gruard tells me that five or six years ago a village of Cheyenne Indians was encamped at this place, or a little above it, when a Crow Indian crept in among them to run off horses. Being discovered, he slowly made his way towards the Cheyenne lodges. This act disconcerted the Cheyennes who imagined he might be a visitor from some other of their villages and sent a small party of their braves to follow him and ascertain his identity. He allowed them to approach within arm’s length when he suddenly turned, drew a self-cocking Colt’s Revolver, fired three shots and killed or wounded five of his assailants. He then started to run, but before going far, turned and shot still another Cheyenne through the bowels and then jumped

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into a little clump of bushes, where his dead body was discovered next morning, pierced by one of the innumerable bullets fired at him in his flight. All of the wounded Cheyennes died.1 Our Indian Scouts killed twenty-seven elk to-day. July 15th. Our eyes this morning rested upon hill and dale sheeted in snow, half an inch deep, fallen during the night. Remained in camp all day, snow melting away before noon. General Crook sent a dispatch across the Mountains to the Commanding Officer of the Battalion of the 5th Cavalry, in the Field, to move without delay to Tongue River and there await our arrival. Doctor Patzki and myself dined with Lieut.-General Sheridan and the officers and gentlemen comprising his mess. Lieutenants Carpenter and Schuyler returned from their attempt to ascend Cloud Peak, in which they were unsuccessful. They found the peak and a congeries of granite precipices, cut up with yawning chasms, inaccessible to the foot of man. In one place they had to crawl along a “knife edge” of granite, with a depth on either hand of nearly a thousand feet. On their way back, they slid down an incline of snow of uncertain thickness, but full of fissures, bedded with steely, black ice. In one of the lakes near our camp of the 13th instant, trout were hauled out almost as fast as hooks could be thrown in. Mountain Sheep were seen in numbers, five being shot from the interior of their little bivouac. Alto’ we haven’t done much hunting since starting, there has never been any dearth of fresh meat among officers and men: the game killed, generally elk, buffalo or deer, has been so large that it would have been a waste of life to pursue more than we actually required from day to day. July 16th. Morning very cool, as they all are at this altitude. General Sackett told me that, yesterday, the thermometer indicated only 37°F at 5 o’clock, and at 12 m[eridian]. in the sun 67°F. At reveille this morning it stood at 36°F. Marching for half an hour to the East brought us to the head-waters of Tongue River, (Flowing North,) 1. Bourke apparently uses Colt’s as a generic for revolver. Samuel Colt was opposed to self-cocking (i.e. double-action) arms, and the company did not introduce a double-action revolver until the Model 1877 Lightning, the year this entry was made, and fifteen years after Colt’s death. It is also hard to imagine three shots killing five Indians. The only possible way would have been for a bullet to go clear through one warrior with enough force to kill the warrior behind him. While this might have been possible, it is highly unlikely, given the low muzzle velocity of handguns of the era. See Wilson, Colt: An American Legend, 199.

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and not over four for five miles from the position where Lieut. Sibley and Frank Gruard had their encounter with the Cheyennes on the 7th of July, 1876.2 This march was the most pleasant, in my opinion, of all those made since leaving Brown. We not only had a gently rolling country to travel through, but the weather was delightfully cool and refreshing. Sparkling rivulets traced a path for themselves through the flower-decked green sward that stretched like a meadow for miles on every side. The traces of a former encampment of Sioux were very plentiful. We then began to descend a small narrow cañon, where we floundered through mud, worked across little branches or wound through the heavy forest of pines until we attained the banks of the stream about (25) or (50) yards above its junction with the main Tongue river which we saw boiling down from the high mountains to the South-East. Near this place was a small party of prospectors who said they had come into the mountains from Deadwood City in the Black Hills. In front of us to the North could be discovered the broad valley of Tongue River winding down to the Yellowstone. A total march of eighteen or twenty miles took us to a very lovely spot, secluded among lofty but well rounded hills covered with grass and flowers from summit to base. A small stream flowed through it, a confluent of Tongue River, which we left a few hundreds of yards to the East. Here in the life-giving odors of the balsamic forest, we erected our canvass and made ready to pass the rest of the day and night. Before the animals were sent out to graze, three Sioux Indians rode in from the Cavalry Battalion, commanded by Colonel [Verling Kersey] Hart, who sent me by them an official letter, announcing his arrival at Tongue River. After lunch, Mr. Delaney and I crossed the hills back of camp and climbed down the side of the cañon to Tongue River, a noble mountain stream whirling over its rocky bed with much noise and great rapidity. We tried for trout, but had no luck, The stream being probably too cold or, at this place, too elevated for the abode of fish. The climb back to camp was arduous and wore us out completely: the only good the excursion did was to let us see a very beautiful glimpse of mountain landscape but of that we might have had fully as much from the mountain top without breaking our necks to look at it from the river bank. The opposite side of the cañon was shrouded 2. See Robinson, Diaries, 1:359–60.

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in pine forest; through this, in two or three localities, we knew by the sound that brooks of good size were flowing, but nothing of them was open to the eye. The grass at this camp was exceptionally good and much relished by horses and mules which do not thrive well upon the sour and scarcely matured grasses growing in the pine wood generally. Clay, our Ethiopian chef de cuisine,3 laid himself out to-day and spread before us a very tempting supper of young elk steaks and boiled ham, with corn bread, jelly, green peas, tomatoes and potatoes, the whole washed down with a couple of bottles of Denver Beer and one of claret, carried along surreptitiously by Lieutenant Wheeler, and now produced from some hidden recess. It was not in the dinner itself that we found the enticement, but in the cool, mountain air, fragrant with the resinous balm of the pine cones, in the limpid, sweet and icy water, in the charming scenery, in the bright, cheery blaze of our camp fire and in our own companionship. This last is an important fact: we have had no snarling, no growling: each one has been determined to get along without bad feeling and this mutual desire has been blessed with perfect success. General Sheridan and General Crook are men who evince great consideration for those under and around them. July 17th. A day very pleasant in spite of a cloudy sky: made ten miles, or a little less, descending the mountain range and getting to the valley of Tongue River, about three miles to the South of Colonel Hart’s Camp. Our march was rather severe, owing to the steepness of the ridge which scarcely permitted us to keep our feet and gave our packmules no little trouble with their heavy burdens. Near the crest of the hill awaiting us, we met Colonel Hart, Colonel Thornburgh, Assistant Surgeon [Robert Wilson] Shufeldt and Mr. Snyder, post trader at Cantonment Reno. They gave us cordial greeting and rode in our Company to the lovely bivouac General Sheridan had selected in the park-like valley of the Tongue, fifty or sixty yards from the silvery water whose gentle murmur soon had soothed us into our daily nap. Later in the day, I paid a visit to Colonel Hart’s camp, meeting there besides the gentlemen above mentioned, Colonel [Sanford Cobb] Kellogg, Captain [Calbraith Perry] Rodgers and Lieutenant 3. By this, Bourke means a black man, rather than a native of Ethiopia.

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[Edwin Proctor] Andrus of the 5th Cavalry and Lieutenant [Francis Hunter] Hardie of the 3d. Cavalry. On the way thither (four miles) passed a half dozen camps of miners who have gathered here to prospect the Mountains: They will never find gold fields richer than those waving in green grass at their feet. Saw Mr. Taylor and our old mess-cook, Phillips, on the road: both had been with us on the campaign last winter. Colonel Hart was ordered to leave his wagon train and one company of cavalry at this point and be ready to move with the others, rations for ten days, on the 19th instant: conjecture has laid down our line of march to go from this place across the narrow divide into the waters of the Little Big Horn, there to the Custer Battle ground, to Post No 2, at the mouth of the stream,4 then take steamer down the Big Horn and Yellowstone rivers to the Post at mouth of Tongue River5 and on to Fort Buford, at mouth of the Yellowstone and Bismarck on the Missouri river, at termination of the Northern Pacific Rail Road: thence to Saint Paul, Minn[.] and Omaha, Neb. July 18th. Remained in camp. Major Thornburgh paid off our escort. Day serene but perceptibly warmer than during our stay in the mountains. July 19th. Moved North, crossing Sun Dance creek in about three miles, crossing a low divide to the waters of Box Elder creek, an affluent of the Little Big Horn river. Maj. Hart with three companies of his Battalion accompanied us. Major Thornburgh and Lieut. Hardie started on their return to Fort Laramie, taking with them the mail written last evening. Lieut. Rockwell and I called upon Major Hart and his officers after sun-down yesterday. Our reception was most agreeable. We were offered wine, which, of course, we accepted. Going home, we fell in the creek which seemed somewhat larger than when we first crossed it. Encountered our first swarm of grasshoppers this morning. This has been one of the most agreeable days I ever knew, weather balmy as an Italian spring, air cool without being chill. Everywhere, our column filed through the most nutritious grasses. I can see no 4. Established only two weeks earlier on July 4, 1877, this post was named Fort Custer the following November 8. It was located on a bluff above the confluence of the Bighorn and Little Bighorn Rivers. Nothing now remains of the post, which was abandoned on April 17, 1898. Frazer, Forts of the West, 79–80. 5. Fort Keogh.

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reason to alter my enthusiastic account of this region, given in my journal of the campaign against the Sioux last year. It ought, inside of two years to be filled with a population of herders and graziers superintending hundreds of thousands of fat cattle. Mowing machines can be used here and thousands of tons of hay of the most superior quality, gathered every year. Wild barley covers the broad valley for miles. We camped on the Little Big Horn set in a broad valley, looking like some meadow, with an abundance of water from the fine stream, here one hundred feet wide, two and half deep, current of five miles. Wood rather scarce on the side of the stream upon which we camped, but plentiful upon the other bank. A spring of water, eleven feet in diameter and five feet in depth breaks out from the ground thirty yards in rear of our tent. Distance to-day 18 m. July 20th. Very cool in the morning. Sky cloudless. Moved down valley of Little Big Horn, nearly due north, trail keeping in the bluffs to avoid the windings of the stream. Country excellently grassed and well watered: no timber except along banks of water-courses. Thirteen miles out, crossed a large tributary coming from the West. I did not mention in proper place that, after marching eight miles, we forded the Little Big Horn and moved down along its West bank. At the ford, river was one hundred and fifty feet wide and eighteen inches deep: bottom of gravel and sandstone shingle. The bottom of the ford across the tributary was also very good and the cross-section of that stream forty feet by eighteen inches, current five miles. This camp was distinguishable for beauty of situation and abundance of wood, water and most excellent grass. Frank Gruard says that the stream we camped on is the Rotten Grass creek and that the Sioux call the Little Big Horn the Greasy Grass. No trout have been caught in this water but a number of fat cat-fish have been taken: the water is quite muddy, but not turbid and the current is very strong. Schuyler and I bathed in the stream about five o’clock and pronounced it the most luxurious bath of the trip: the water so soft and warm that it contrasted favorably with the colder currents farther up in the mountains. Distance marched to-day Fourteen miles.

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The moon was nearly full this night and brought in soft relief the extended camp of our Battalion and the placidly picturesque, and cultivated looking valley surrounding it. A detachment of our Indian scouts was sent out to-night to explore the country as far West as the Big Horn River. Half a dozen of our Arapahoes organized an opera troupe and serenaded us till some hours after midnight: the muttered curses of their unwilling audience evinced an understanding, if not an appreciation of their vocalization. July 21st. Sky perfectly spotless: weather charming in softness and Italian warmth. Marched North and North East, threading the course of the Little Big Horn, an admirable stream, full of abrupt bends, enclosing grassy savannahs, studded with clumps of timber. The absence of undergrowth gave the appearance of the well-kept grounds of some of mansion, an illusion maintained by the clean-cut banks of the placid river. A soft shell tortoise lazily floated down stream, plying his flippers and indolently lifting his head from the water, but too shrewd to look above the surface while passing the point where a squad of our soldiers waited his coming ready to shoot him for supper. We crossed over two or three little branches this morning but saw none of much importance. After marching twelve to fourteen miles, we entered a broad valley, of meadow land, running back at least a mile from the river which wound in and out on its Right hand: signs of former Indian habitancy were here to be seen in a manner that could not be mistaken. Pots, pans, kettles, tépi-poles, cups and dishes of several varieties lay strewn upon the ground, scarcely concealed by the grass. On the far side of the stream, ran a low chain of bluffs of clay and sandstone, the latter only in small quantity: on our side, the stream was fringed with goodly sized cottonwoods and one clump of these was pointed out by our guides as the position assumed by Major [Marcus Albert] Reno when he first attacked the village. A little further on was the point where Custer vainly essayed to cross the stream to charge the village near its center. On the site of the village, we erected camp and then forded the stream to examine the spot where Custer’s Command was butchered. A short half mile back from the stream we came upon the ground passed over by Custer: it was almost level, or gently inclining, and

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extremely well suited for making rapid movements. A cross by the side of the trail drew our eyes and we read: (see cross) One hundred paces farther, a similar rude monument was marked

while right next to it one commemorated the spot where Colonel Myles Keogh died, with his whole company “I” 7th U.S. Cavalry. It looked to me as if Keogh must have attempted to make a stand on foot to enable Custer to get away, because he and his company died in one compact mass whereas from here on, the graves are scattered in irregular clumps and at intervals about like those in a slaughter of buffaloes.6 From the place where Keogh fell was one hundred or maybe one hundred and fifty yards to a little knoll which abruptly terminated at the divide or bluff, followed by Custer when pursued. This knoll served as the “holy ground” where our poor men died like sheep in the shambles. A great number of skeletons of horses, killed perhaps by our own people to serve as bulwarks against the enemy, strewed the ground at this point. On the summit of this knoll is the skeleton of Custer’s horse and here Custer’s own spirit took its flight. Lower down are scattered the graves of other officers and soldiers: at the head of each, a stout sapling, cleft at the extremity to hold a fragment of paper with the names of the fallen. On this knoll, the butchery practically ended: a frightened herd of thirty or forty poor wretches, still surviving, strong to gain the banks of the river. They were killed like wolves. As we made our way along the ravine, we stumbled upon four skulls in one collection, a lone one in another place, another under a little bush and still another, picked up by my orderly, Private Glennan, 3d. Cavl. 6. Archaeological work, cross referenced with Indian accounts, indicates Custer first attempted to cross the river, as Bourke stated. For whatever reason, he withdrew, then posted Keogh’s wing on the bluffs while he continued on with Capt. George W. Yates. Establishing his headquarters on what is now known as Last Stand Hill, he sent Yates farther on, to try and come in at the rear of the village. That part of the village, however, was too strong, so Yates positioned himself approximately where the national cemetery is now located. Keogh’s line collapsed first, then Yates’s. Remnants of the command then reassembled around headquarters on Last Stand Hill. See Fox, Archaeology, 139ff.; Hardorff, Lakota Recollections, various entries; and Robinson, A Good Year to Die, Chapter 18.

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These corpses had been buried exactly where they fell by General Terry’s and Gibbon’s Commands over a year ago, but had been washed out by rain or dug up by wolves: it was hard to go ten yards in any direction without stepping on portions of the human anatomy and skeletons of horses, singly or mingled together. Colonel [Michael] Sheridan, of Lieutenant General Sheridan’s staff,7 was out here a fortnight ago to take up the bodies of the officers and also to re-bury the remains of any of the soldiers that might from any cause have been exhumed. The extent of the field was a great obstacle to the accomplishment of this task which indeed may never be done, unless the skeletons of the animals are likewise buried. Pieces of clothing, soldiers’ hats, cavalry coats, boots with the leather legs cut off, but the human feet and bones still sticking in them, strewed the hill.8 Well down the ravine of which I write was the grave of Captain Tom. Custer and below that still another, surmounted by a sapling, in whose paper I read the name scrawled in a rude hand, (on the leaf of a pocket diary, (bearing the printed day, “May 26th[”]) “BOSTON CUSTAR”.9 Sticking out from the ground in the ravine was the body of a man still clad in the rough garb of a scout: boots and bullet-ridden hat still by him: there was nothing to give the slightest idea as to who he might have been—and this was the Custer battle-ground or slaughter-ground!!!10 Evidently, Custer’s men broke at the point where Lieutenant [John Jordan] Crittenden was killed, stampeded on the knoll where brave Keogh turned to make his stand, and, what few remained alive, ran like frightened deer for the river from the little bluff where Custer died. 7. Michael Vincent Sheridan was the lieutenant general’s younger brother. 8. Bourke’s emphasis. 9. Five members of the Custer family died at the Little Bighorn, including Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer; his younger brother, Capt. Thomas Ward Custer, and brother-in-law, Lt. James Calhoun, company commanders; his youngest brother, Boston Custer, who was employed as a scout; and their nephew, Arthur Harry (Autie) Reed, who accompanied the expedition as a guest. Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 108–9. 10. The scout almost certainly was Michel Boyer (also known as Mitch Bouyer), whose remains were recovered in excavations in 1984, and whose identity was confirmed in 1987. He has been reburied in the Custer Battlefield National Cemetery. Gray, Custer’s Last Campaign, 397–99.

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It is unjust to criticize the poor fellows who fell under the bullets and arrows of the surging thousands of red fiends who thronged around them like blood thirsty wolves. But, laying aside the question as to whether or not the whole 7th Cavalry could have routed this immense village, it would have been better to make the onslaught by charging across the open plain near the locality of Reno’s first attack. Under the impetus of sudden terror, the savages might have abandoned their village which might have been set on fire to their great loss and discomfiture, even had they rallied and pressed our united force as strongly as they did Reno’s single Battalion11 until Terry came to his rescue. The report of the massacre as made by General Terry, I find to be very correct, but the newspaper accounts of that date are the veriest bosh, where they are not wilful lies. I will close this little sketch by saying I don’t believe fifty Indians were killed in any way during this action.12 General Sheridan sent a courier to the Commanding Officer of the Military Post, at the mount of the river, (i.e. Little Big Horn.) and also detailed sixty men from our Command to reinter the bones and skeletons lying on the hills. This work was carried out under the superintendence of Colonel Kellogg and Lieut. Wheeler and finished before dark. Seventeen skeletons were found ten of which had never been buried. Our Indian scouts say that in this fight, Crazy Horse killed the first one of Reno’s men who entered the village: he split the man’s head with a war club. They pointed out the skeleton of a soldier, one of Custer’s Battalion, who, thanks to the fleetness of his horse made his escape[.] [T]hey pressed after him for over a mile, but then concluded to let him go that some one might be left alive to tell the tale. The soldier must have been crazed with fright, as he was seen to pull out his revolver and blow out his brains. Had he continued his race for a little over another mile he might have reached Reno’s column. 11. Actually, Reno commanded two battalions from his position: his own, and Capt. Frederick W. Benteen’s. 12. Examining Indian accounts given over the ensuing years, Richard G. Hardorff determined that according to the most consistent estimates, seven Cheyenne combatants, twenty-four Lakotas, and eight members of other tribes were killed in the fight. This does not include non-combatants (i.e. women and children) who may have died in Reno’s initial assault, nor does it include those who died of wounds during the grueling retreat ahead of Crook’s troops in the late summer of 1876. Hardorff, Hokahey!, Appendices B–D.

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A courier came in from the Commanding Officer of the post at the mouth of the Little Big Horn, bringing information of two steamers being in the stream (Big Horn,) three miles or so below the post, and two others ten miles, on one of which were Generals Sherman and Terry. The presence of great numbers of adventurous prospectors in this region has already been spoken of: nearing the post, we came upon men engaged in cutting logs for the construction of its buildings and some men met to-day have brought their families into the valley with them. Eight wagons came in from Tongue River to-day. Traces of a recent terrible hail-storm in this part of the valley confront us on all sides. (This hail-storm killed five hundred ponies belonging to the Crow Indians, so we were afterwards informed.) Grass is cut out, bushes broken down, graves washed out and many other marks of its severity were visible in the river bottom and upon the hill-sides. Big Bat, who came in here with Colonel Kellogg last month, says that then the grass was green and luxuriant all about here. July 22d. Another pleasant balmy morning. Marched fourteen miles; our line of direction was North and North West, keeping on the Left side of the Little Big Horn and through a gently rolling plateau, covered with grama grass. Not much timber to be seen. Along the banks of the river itself and of its tributaries may be found quantities of cottonwood and occasionally box-elder, ash, oak (seen yesterday.) wild plum and wild cherry. Approaching the post which we could clearly make out eight miles off, we saw wagons, tents and every other sign of military occupation. Reached the post early in the morning: temperature very high, (107°F in the shade so Colonel [George Pearson] Buell told me, and later in the day, it climbed up to 108°F.) Four companies of the 11th Infantry are stationed here, under command of Colonel Buell who is making great advances toward the construction of buildings and quarters. After a pleasant conversation with Colonel and Mrs. Buell, we moved down to the pretty flat on the Little Big Horn and there under the shade of very graceful cottonwoods, went into camp. The heat was so extreme, nothing was done during the day but loll about on our beds with just as little covering as decency demanded.

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Lieutenants [Harry] Tiffany, [George] Ruhlen, Doherty,13 and Doctors [Louis Stanislaus] Tesson and Burgin14 called to visit us during the afternoon. After departure, we made up a party and went to the river to bathe. I was astonished to find a depth of six, seven and eight feet in spots. We sported in the water, riding on the logs which were floating down for the use of the post. Although we didn’t look as beautiful as a troop of mermaids, we had fully as enjoyable a time as they could have had in the warm and invigorating water. About six o’clock, the steamers Western, Big Horn and Silver City, succeeded in steaming up to the post: they had been in sight of it all day, but unable to cross a sandbar, running across the stream. By General Sheridan’s orders, they discharged some of their cargo on the banks and then had but little difficulty in ascending. In the evening, we called upon the ladies of the garrison, Mrs. Buell, Mrs. [Joseph] Conrad, Mrs. McTiel15 and Mrs. Swahn.16 Of the post itself not a great deal can be said. It is still in embryo and not yet taken shape. A couple of hundreds of workmen are employed as carpenters, builders, blacksmiths &c. A great many steamers have been chartered to deliver freight and an air of bustle and activity prevails all over the ground. Its situation is at the confluence of the Big and Little Horn, and should be one of comfort, salubrity and strategical value. 13. Heitman’s does not list a lieutenant named Doherty for this period. Bourke probably meant Lt. John Jefferson Doughtery, 11th Infantry. Heitman, Historical Register, 1:380. 14. Not listed in Heitman’s. Probably a contract surgeon. 15. No McTiel is listed in Heitman’s. 16. No listings match this name under Swain, Swaine, Swahn, or Swahn.

Chapter 17 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Downriver By Steamer

July 23d. We embarked on the steamer Silver City, a new boat, which had just completed its maiden trip. Before casting loose, the officers of the post, those of our Battalion, Mr. Moore and Mr. Mears, Frank Gruard and Baptist[e] Pourier and our Indian guides, came aboard to shake hands and say good bye: then the gangway planks were run aboard, the hawsers undone and, with the customary amount of backing and filling, bell-ringing and puffing of smoke and steam, we swung into the narrow channel. While running down the river, noticed its general dimensions and characteristics. At the post, it is perhaps, one hundred yards wide and has a depth in the main line of its current, of at least six feet. The force of the water is very great, not less than six miles an hour which for so narrow and crooked a stream, one too having such a number of small islands to divide its waters, makes navigation very tedious and difficult. Several times, the steamer butted against the points of land running out into the channel and each time our Captain swung the boat around and let her drift down with the current, until a good, wide reach was found where she could be turned. 344

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A great abundance of timber, mostly, as it looked to one, cottonwood with a little ash, is to be found in this valley: on each hand runs a line of low bluffs of clay and marl and concretionary sandstone, curtailing the view very much, but not enough to prevent my forming the opinion that there is plenty of good grazing close to the river. Mosquitoes bothered us very much and must be extremely tormenting to persons travelling along the river bottom. Three miles down, passed the General Sherman, (which had blown out a cylinder head last night and was now tied up to the bank of the stream[)]; and eight miles down, the Rankin, both bound upstream. Ten miles from the post, we boarded the Rosebud, Captain Grant Marsh, who last year commanded the Far West and acquired great distinction, not alone as being the pioneer of navigation on the Big Horn, but for the promptness with which he brought Reno’s wounded from the Custer battle-field down the Big Horn, Yellowstone and Missouri rivers to Bismarck, Dakota. I had the pleasure of first meeting him last Fall at the mouth of the Powder River. On the Rosebud, we met Generals Sherman and Terry, Colonels [John Mosby] Bacon and [Orlando Metcalfe] Poe of General Sherman’s staff, General B. C. Card, Chief Qr. Master and Captain [Edward Worthington] Smith, A.D.C., of General Terry’s staff, Mr. Tom Sherman, son of the General, Major [Charles Gratiot] Bartlett and a number of officers of the 11th and 6th Infantry (whose names I cannot recall.) with two companies of the 11th Infantry, en route to the new post. We were very kindly treated and offered the luxury of iced water and iced lager-beer. (at post no 2 there was no ice and the water, especially about the middle of the day, was rather disagreeably warm.) General Sherman was on his way to the Yellowstone Post and General Terry to inspect Post No. 2: their boat had met with some little trouble in working up stream, having left Bismarck, Dakota, on the 9th of July. One of the boats passed yesterday, the Rankin, was sixty days in delivering passengers from Bismarck to Post No 2. I may remark here parenthetically that it is in contemplation to call post No 2 Camp Custer and the post at the mouth of Tongue River, Camp Keogh. After leaving General Sherman and party we got into a world of difficulty: between snubbing against points, rasping over gravel banks, sticking on sand-bars and running through

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narrow sloughs, our advance was no advance at all and practically terminated by our sticking on a reef about sun-down. There we staid until about three o’clock in the morning. During the afternoon, the sun’s rays had been extremely torrid, but as evening approached a heavy mantle of clouds screened the earth and a refreshing breeze arose which lasted through the night. July 24th. Did not awake until the sounding of the breakfast bell. Our meals on this boat have not been worthy of much praise: the difficulty in obtaining supplies and the uncertain length of the trip are alleged as excuses for this shortcoming, but the passengers all believe the principal reason is the uncontrollable avarice of the owners of the boat whoever they may be who wish to gouge as much money of her as they can each trip. Shortly after breakfast passed steamer Florence Mayers, bound upstream, and a few moments after, we swung into the Yellowstone River. A beautiful stream winding amidst scores of timbered islands and faced by bluffs of brownish-yellow sandstone from which it probably gets its name. We have now plenty of room for sailing and can count upon rapid travelling. The Captain of our boat this morning told me that the average depth of the Big Horn channel was only four feet: that the channel is, in general, so narrow the boat could not turn around and that the swiftness of the current, seven to eight miles, makes voyaging laborious. He thought it would be better for the Government to establish a Depot on the Yellowstone at the mouth of the Big Horn and freight by wagon thence to the Post. Fort Pease at Mouth of Big Horn is on the North Bank of the Yellowstone and is now laid out as a Ranch which seems to be well planted in grains and vegetables.1 Nearby could be seen the Camp of a Company of Cavalry. We have on board with us a half-breed Yankton Sioux named Johnny Brougier who told me he had been educated at the Christian Brother’s College in Saint Louis: he has [been] for many years a guide and Interpreter for the Government and translated for the Red Cloud Commission in 1875. Rumor credits 1. Fort Pease was not a military post, but a stockaded trading post established in 1875. In February 1876, the post was beseiged by a band of Indians. A relief column from Fort Ellis, Montana, under command of Maj. James S. Brisbin, reached Fort Pease on March 4, evacuating the nineteen survivors, eight of whom were wounded. Although no Indians were encountered, Brisbin found traces of war lodges of some sixty Sioux who had moved on southward. Robinson, A Good Year to Die, 53–54.

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him with being a hard case and Rumor I guess is right for once. It is said he has been much with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse of whom he told me something of interest. Sitting Bull according to him is a good hearted, well disposed man, fond of his jokes and inclined to be hospitable[.] Crazy Horse as I know to be the case, he says, is morose, taciturn and unamiable. Another passenger is “Snoleky”[?] who was one of Genl Crooks scouts during the Campaign of 1876; he is now a scout for Colonel Miles. We had some amusements during the day in firing at Wild Geese and Buffalo, the buffalo is an expert swimmer: two of them swam the Yellowstone directly under our noses. We have been exceptionally well pleased with our voyage so far on the river. [I]t is not less than two hundred and seventy five yards in average breadth, with a velocity of seven miles an hour and a mean depth in channel of six feet. Between the Big Horn post and Yellowstone River there are dozens of pretty little Islands covered with a heavy growth of Cottonwood, and but little underbrush. The presence of these trees would indicate the permanency of the Channel. Broad level “vegas”2 of grass lined the banks soon after we had passed the Big Horn, in one of these could been seen where a mowing machine had lately been at work. Bluffs of Sandstone and shale seamed with coal, strata, pressed upon the right bank, but the coal was not of much value. No stream of importance was seen until Tongue River was reached shortly after dark. Outside of the Main Garrison we saw the Camp of a Battalion of Mounted Infantry, which we learned had been Equipped with Indian ponies and accoutrements, taken by Colonel Miles in an Engagement with Lame Deer’s Band. Lying at the bank, discharging cargo, was the Steamer Tidal Wave: at the post were Colonel Miles and family and a dozen or more of the Officers of his Regiment, the 5th Infantry. I had old acquaintances among them—Captain [Charles Stewart] Heitzelman, A.Q.M. Lieut Woodruff, T. M. of “71” and Pope J. W. of “68”3 the latter drove me about the Post, explaining the plan of its construction and giving many details. Returning to Genl. Miles’ quarters we were 2. One of several Spanish words to describe a prairie or a plain. 3. Bourke means that Thomas Mayhew Woodruff was West Point Class of 1871, and James Worden Pope was Class of 1868.

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served with Champagne and remained in conversation for several hours, taking our leave about 10 O’clock. Our Steamer dropped down the River a couple of miles to a wood yard, where we tied up for the night. It rained a little at Sundown just enough to cool the atmosphere. Saw while at the Post the first Mountain Lamb I ever had been near. [I]t was not over a month old and looked almost exactly like the domestic Lamb. Our party were delighted by the presence of a thousand pounds of Ice, which will be a great luxury if the weather become Sultry again. July 25th Long before Sun-rise, our steamer got up Steam and was nearly at the Wolf Rapids before we had finished breakfast. Passing the mouth of Powder River we saw the site of the Encampment where we lay about this time last summer without any raiment but that which we carried on our backs, without blankets, except those which we carried on the backs of our horses and with an insufficiency of food while we were Exposed to the pitiless Elements. The Yellowstone continued much the same river as descended in the notes of yesterday: it has gradually widened from the accretions of tributaries, whose points of junction we have not always been able to see, on account of the Islands which fill up the Channel: Near Powder River, there is a scarcity of timber, but ten or fifteen miles further down there is again to be found an abundance. Bad Lands obtrude themselves below the mouth of the Powder and extend along the banks for thirty miles, Seams of Coal Eighteen to twenty inches thick crop out at the water’s Edge and could be traced all day. Entering Wolf Rapids we met the Steamer Far West coming out; on the right bank was the bivouac of a detachment of Engineers at work removing the obstructions; not far below Wolf Rapids the Steamer General Meade lay tied up to the bank and a short distance down stream we came upon the Peninch upward bound with sails outspread to catch the help of a favorable wind. Just above Glendive Creek met the little Steamer Tiger, while not over half a mile below was the Arkansas: this latter was Ferrying a Battalion of the 2” Cavalry across the River: among the officers I met Schofield and Hamilton of the 2” both old friends. Lieut. [Frank] Baldwin 5th Infantry came aboard to go as far down as Fort Buford. Six Miles below Glendive Creek, met the John C. Fletcher. Glendive Creek was re[oc]cupied as a post during the season of active opera-

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tions and has only lately been abandoned. Its comfortable mud and Log Huts afford shelter to hay cutters and wood choppers and its well filled Ice house is laid under contribution by passing Steamers. About 75 Miles from Fort Buford met the Alex Kendall. Hay Camps from this point are becoming frequent: how the unfortunate hay cutters managed to withstand the Mosquitoes was a problem for which I could find no solution. Our roustabouts, as deck hands are called on the River Steamers, suffered untold agonies in get[t]ing wood aboard from one of the yards where we stopped for a moment. The little pests become a great plague and fairly drove our negroes wild: to carry any load at all they had to put it on one shoulder only thus leaving a hand free to shake a green bough to drive off the clusters that hummed about their Ears. In the midst of the heaviest swarm, one of our deck passengers landed, to stay. He was frequently too drunk to care for the Mosquitoes but patriotism animated his breast. General Sheridan came to the forward part of the hurricane deck at the moment this fellow had landed and was greeted with a drunken Cheer and a “God Bliss you Giniral Sheridan”. Twenty Miles from Fort Buford met steamer Key West. Here a cool breeze sprang up and soon cleared our boat of mosquitoes but we had another visitation from them at the post. The Savannah was working in to the Yellowstone, as we emerged from it, to get into the Missouri. Buford is on the Missouri, two miles below the confluence of the Yellowstone; it is an important post and strongly garrisoned. Our arrival was at such at late hour, nearly 11 P.M., that we could not visit the Post, much to our regret, but we were glad to meet a party of the Officers, representing Companies of the 6” and 11 Infantry. Moored to the landing were the Fanehon[,] Victory and Ashland their cabins brightly lighted. torches [sic] of pine knots blazing from bow and stern and large fires sparkling on the shore, the effect of this on the water was weird and picturesque, enhanced by the figures of men heavily laden with boxes and bags passing in and out through the gloom. All these Officers, soldiers and roustabouts wore hats of mosquito netting to baffle their tiny enemies. We learned to our cost what the Yellowstone and Upper Missouri Mosquitoes can do when aroused: none of us slept during the night, but rolled and tossed and cursed as they slowly ate big chunks from our faces, arms and legs.

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July 26th Untied and started down stream: at twenty minutes to four in the morning, found the Missouri to be not less than 1.000 yards wide and having a channel of (6) feet in the shallows parts. The current will average 6 miles, but there are no surge and no shoals to baffle the navigator. It has low banks fringed with small cottonwood Trees, which disappear entirely 100 miles below Buford and from there on to Fort Berthold4 timber is not as plenty as it is on the yellowstone [sic]. In the afternoon, had a small shower of Rain. One hundred miles from Berthold’s saw a Company of Cavalry encamped Left Bank of the River. In a land slide running into the stream were the bones of a number of buffaloes which had been driven in there at some time by the Indians. Coal strata occur all along the Right Bank of the Missouri and will prove a valuable object, in the settlement of this valley. Passed the mouth of the Little Missouri not much more than 25 yards in width and giving little promise of the lovely valley we saw along its banks last year. Five miles below the Little Missouri passed the steamer General Custer bound up. Instead of laying to during the night our Captain determined to wait only until the rising of the moon and then wend his way down toward Bismarck. Consequently upon awakening in the morning, we learned we were many miles below Forts Berthold and Stevenson5 and almost at the end of our journey by water. By this we missed seeing the Mandan Indians, an interesting race, who live near Fort Berthold, with them are associated the Rees and Gros Ventres. These people 4. Fort Berthold was established as a trading post called Fort Atkinson in the 1850s, and was purchased by the American Fur Company and renamed Fort Berthold in 1862. It was occupied by troops under Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully in 1862. The troops were removed and assigned to Fort Stevenson in 1867. The following year, it became headquarters for the Arikara, Gros Ventre and Mandan Indian Agency, and remained so until 1874. All the while, it continued to be used as a trading post. The site is now covered by the Garrison Reservoir in North Dakota. Frazer, Forts of the West, 109–10. 5. Fort Stevenson was established in 1867 on the left bank of the Missouri River above the mouth of the Knife River, as a permanent post for the garrison at the trading post of Fort Berthold. Interestingly enough, the site and name had been selected three years earlier, but establishment probably was delayed by the Civil War. Fort Stevenson was part of a line of posts guarding the proposed emigrant route from Minnesota to Montana, protecting navigation along the Missouri River, protecting the Indians of the Fort Berthold Agency, and helping control the Sioux. The conclusion of the Indian Wars rendered the post unnecessary. It was abandoned in 1883 and turned over to the Fort Berthold Agency. It served as an Indian school until 1894, and was transferred to the Interior Department the following year. It is now under the Garrison Reservoir. Frazer, Forts of the West, 114–15.

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cultivate a kind of corn called Ree Corn which is rather peculiar. It grows to the height of 2½ feet and bears only two or three Ears to each stalk, the ears bigger than ones finger, but ripening early in the season and of very excellent flavor. July 27th Reached Bismarck, Dakota, on the Left bank of the Missouri, the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Saw at the levee, Steamers Josephine, Dagan and Kate Kinney. Among other things, this town is renowned for mosquitoes, the size of jack-snipes. Bismarck is the main supply depôt of the Department of Dakota: four miles below the town and on the opposite bank of the “Big Muddy”, can be seen the important military post of Fort Abraham Lincoln. These two circumstances accounted for the presence in town of a great number of military officers. Lieut[.] [Charles St. John] Chubb, Lieut[.] [Andrew Humes] Nave, 7th Cavalry (an old friend whom I had not seen since I left West Point, in 1869.) Lieut. Walker, whom I met on the Yellowstone last year, and Mr. Ned Miller, Chief Clerk of Captain [James Grafton Carleton] Lee, the depôt Qr. Master, a valued friend of years agone in Arizona. We dined at the Sheridan House, a new hotel, just thrown open that morning. This hotel reflects a great deal of credit upon such a small community as Bismarck. While we were eating, an old gentleman entered the dining room and saluting General Sheridan said, “you must excuse us for our failure, General, but we have tried to give you a salute and now we find we have just enough powder to fire off our cannon three times.” Sheridan laughed very heartily at the mishap and told the representative of the population of Bismarck that he was just as much obliged as if they had fired one hundred rounds. (Last night there was an extremely heavy frost which made the upper deck of our steamer so slippery that it was dangerous to walk there. From Knife River, which puts into the Missouri about Berthold, we used coal taken from one of the seams cropping out of the Missouri. It cost, delivered on board, $2.50 per ton, and made steam very readily.) Telegrams received by General Sheridan at Bismarck announced the general strike of the laboring classes on all the Railroads East of Omaha and Leavenworth: bands of armed men had seized upon the Pennsylvania Rail Road, the Pittsburg[h], Fort Wayne and Chicago,

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the Erie, the N.Y. Central, the Baltimore and Ohio, the Burlington route and many others, while in the coal regions of Pennsylvania, perfect lawlessness prevailed. This condition of affairs is traceable to many causes: after all great wars, especially civil wars, destitution is largely increased, but to this natural element of trouble, we must add in the present case, the abnormal extravagance of the American people. Dry Goods clerks try to live in the style of European bankers and our day laborers as merchants only should. There has been no community of interest between the capitalist and the workman: the former has looked only to the sums he might grind out or steal from the laborer to-day, while the latter, indoctrinated in the foolish idea of the Commune demands wages beyond reason. The necessity for General Sheridan’s presence in Chicago was such that a special train was placed at his disposal. Not over 15 minutes were consumed in getting our baggage on the Director’s car and then away we rushed across the tame looking interminable grassy prairies, noting very many pools, lakes and swamps as we drew near to Fort Seward.6 This is a pleasant looking little one company post maintained for the protection of the R.R. and the farmers who have commenced to settle the country. The Sisseton Sioux, once quite formidable are at present peacefully inclined and give no trouble: more than a score of them were at Fort Seward, upon our arrival. All of those we saw were engaged as freighters, a capacity in which they render effective service. A very pleasant mannered lady had supper ready for us at Seward and treated our party with every kindness. During the night, our progress was extremely rapid, averaging thirty-five miles, including all stoppages and in several places dashing along at the rate of fifty miles: this for a track-bed like that of the Northern Pacific was velocity indeed. Long before day, we were aroused from our slumbers to find we had crossed the Red River of the North and were scurrying through heavy forests of Pine, birch and tamarack, with boughs still dripping with the gentle rain of last night, and that we were drawing close 6. Fort Seward was a short-lived post established in 1872, abandoned in 1877, and transferred to the Interior Department in 1880. It was established to protect the Northern Pacific Railroad where it crossed the James River, just above the present city of Jamestown, North Dakota. Frazer, Forts of the West, 114.

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to the village of Brainerd, in the state of Minnesota, on the Upper Mississippi river. The river at our place of crossing is not notably broad, but is of good size and considerable volume. At Brainerd, we made a comfortless breakfast, before resuming our onward pace in the cold, gray mist of the morning. From Brainerd to Saint Paul, there was not much of value to speak of, except the pretty lakelets near the track and the increasing evidences of the thrift and industry as the Iron horse brought us more and more to the Eastward. Saw-mills were plentiful, all busy taking out and cutting up for the market the valuable timber yielded by the extensive forests of this great North West. At Saint Paul, we remained just long enough to transfer ourselves and baggage to the Director’s car of the [Chicago and] North Western Rail Road and to shake hands with General [George David] Ruggles, Colonel Lee, Major [William Burton] Hughes of General Terry’s staff, and others who had assembled to welcome our party. Our speed was extremely great; debarring me from writing with any amount of intelligence. Supper, or rather a late dinner, was served at Hudson, Wisconsin, a little town charmingly placed on the Sainte Croix river, the dividing line between Minnesota and Wisconsin. At Black River Falls, a supper was in readiness, one of the nicest and cleanest I ever set down to: in this opinion, every one of our party concurred without hesitancy. Fresh butter, sweet cream, raspberries, trout, chicken, and good bread and coffee were the principal components and everything was cooked with such skill and served so daintily that our rustic supper partook of the character of a grand banquet. At Madison, Wisconsin, at dead of night, some ambitious admirers of General Sheridan thought to give him a serenade. They meant well, but the performance was an awful fizzle, viewed in an aesthetic light. At half past six in the morning, of July 29th we alighted at the Grande Pacific Hotel, in Chicago, Ills., and were at once conducted to commodious baths which were doubly enjoyable on account of the heat and our own dusty condition. Major Burt and others called upon General Crook, and told of the dispositions of the various companies of regulars, scattered throughout the city, and which had been drawn from the Department of the Platte. General Sheridan and the others of our party drove to their own homes and all that remained to us, except the pleasant remembrance of their society, was the

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duty of returning to HdQrs., at Omaha, which place we reached next morning by ten o’clock. This very pleasant excursion, included the following magnificent distances: Omaha to Green River, Wyoming. miles by the U.P. Rail Road 840 Green River to Camp Stambaugh,7 (By stage.) 40. Camp Stambaugh to Camp Brown. (By ambulance.) 50. Camp Brown to Post No 2, by marches. 276 Down Big Horn and Yellowstone Rivers, (by steamboat.) to Ft. Buford. 460 Down Missouri River, to Bismarck, Dakota. (by steamboat.) 400. Bismarck, Dakota, to Saint Paul, Minn, (by N.P. Rail Road.) 300. Saint Paul, Minn. viâ Madison, Wisconsin, (to Chicago Ills, by C. and N.W.R.R.) 409. Chicago, Ill’s, to Omaha, Neb., (by C. and N.W.R.R.) 500. Total [figure not given] I should refer to the superstitious story, accepted by many of the employees at Post no 2., who placed implicit faith in it. They say that one soldier, who escaped from the dreadful Custer Massacre, still wanders about that desolate field, a raving maniac, seeking for his dead comrades. At the sight of human being or sound of human foot, he flees in abject terror to the hills and no horse so fleet as to overtake him. Many pretend to have seen him, but the whole story is too silly almost for mention. 7. Camp Stambaugh was established about eight miles north of the Sweetwater River in Wyoming, to protect miners from the Shoshone Indians, whose reservation was adjacent to the mining district. It was abandoned in 1878, and transferred to the Interior Department in 1881. Frazer, Forts of the West, 185–86.

Chapter 18 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Of Indians, Missionaries, and Irishmen

The extant diary skips almost exactly eight months from July 29, 1877, to March 28, 1878. In this instance, we may assume that Bourke did not bother to record mundane, day-to-day activities, because in his entry for March 28, he mentions a demonstration of a telephone, the preceding December, as though it were fresh news. Nevertheless, two major events occurred during this period. On September 5, 1877, Lt. W. P. Clark attempted to confine Crazy Horse in the guardhouse at Camp Robinson, and in the ensuing scuffle, the chief was bayoneted. He died about midnight. Bourke writes a retrospective account of events leading to the death of Crazy Horse in Manuscript Volume 24, which will be included in Volume 3 of this series. On September 9, only four days after Crazy Horse’s death, a band of Northern Cheyennes under Little Wolf and Dull Knife, suffering from their removal to the Indian Territory, broke out of the reservation and started home. Bourke mentions the outbreak in Manuscript Volume 27, but much of it is copies of official correspondence, the originals of which are on file in Record Group 393, Special File, Military Division of the Missouri. By early 1878, 355

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the Bannocks and Shoshones of the Snake River area in Idaho were stirring. March 28th [1878] General Crook, Lieut. Schuyler, A.D.C., and Lieut. Bourke, A.D.C. (the writer.) left Omaha, Neb., for Fort Hall, Idaho, to inquire into the spirit and intentions of the Shoshonee and Bannock Indians, belonging to that agency, concerning whose purposes much alarm has been excited of late by the reports that many, if not all, of the younger men of both tribes were about to commence hostilities. On our way out from Omaha, we had very little to do except to discuss the latest wonderful achievement in science—the phonograph—which by bottling up the human voice—has added another leaflet to the wreath crowning the brow of man. It will be not many years before sermons and operas,—the speeches of great orators and the songs of eminent vocalists—shall be boxed or bottled up and sent across the country, to be repeated in small towns for the delectation of provincial audiences. The companion invention of the phonograph—the telephone,— equally wonderful and equally simple—is something with which we were all well acquainted, from the exhibition of its powers and explanation of its principles given in General Crook’s home last December, by Mr. J. J. Dickey, the Superintendent of the Union Pacific Rail Road Telegraph Line. On the occasion in question the telegraph line between Omaha and Omaha Barracks, four miles distant, was brought into requisition, and conversation maintained between the officers and ladies assembled in General Crook’s house, on the one side and General King’s, (Colonel 9th Infantry,) at the other. Music was passed over the wire, the sound of the Cavalry Bugle ringing out most clearly. It was wonderful to see the great flocks of wild geese near North Bend, Nebraska: of these there appeared to be two separate kinds; one called by General Crook, the “Wilson Whites”, which in hundreds and tens of hundreds feed upon the budding grass, and the other, the “Canada Blacks”, flying in the air.1 At Fremont, we had lunch, at Grand Island supper; the latter excellent, the former poor enough. During the afternoon and evening, I entertained myself with Baring-Gould’s Myths of the Middle Ages—a 1. Snow geese and Canada geese respectively.

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work of great value and interest.2 Coming nearer to Sidney, we were much disturbed by the knowledge of a snow storm prevailing in the Rocky Mountains, which may blockade us before getting to Ogden. Colonels Gordon and Sumner, 5th Cavalry, and Lieut. Paddock, same regiment, were awaiting us at Sidney; in their society we passed pleasantly the half-hour the train stayd [sic] at that station. Before going to bed, Mr. Harlon, an old acquaintance, whom we used to know very well at Camp Apache, Arizona, came into our car for a little chat. Strange to relate, at the U.P. depôt where Mr. Harlon met us, there were also Captain Randall and Lieut Rice, of the 25th Infantry who had come up from their present station at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to pay a little visit to their old friends in Omaha. The last time we had all been together was at Camp Apache, in North East Arizona, in Oct. 1874; Rice was then Quartermaster of the Post; Randall its Commanding Officer, and Harlon the post trader. General Crook and myself were on our way to the village of the Moqui Indians, of which strange nation a very full account may be found in my journal of that trip.3 Both Randall and Rice, as well as Schuyler, gained a deservedly high reputation for service against the hostile Apache Indians; after their surrender, Randall was placed in command of the agency at Camp Apache, which he conducted with so much firmness, wisdom and good sense that the worst Indians became the best friends of our people. Last winter, 1876–77, it was reported that Major Randall was cut off in the Big Horn Mountains, Montana, while trying to lead a detachment of friendly Crow Indians to General Crook’s command on the Belle Fourche in the Southwest corner of the Black Hills: this report penetrated Arizona and even to Camp Apache. There the Indians manifested every symptom of inconsolable grief for the loss of their “Nan-tan-shune” (“Good Captain,”), frequently taking out his photograph to examine and asking all sorts of questions of Mr. Harlon, who at last had the pleasure of telling them the report was false and that Randall might yet come back to them. 2. Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924), vicar at Lew Trenchard, Devonshire, is best remembered as the hymnist who wrote “Onward Christian Soldiers.” However, he also was a scholar and folklorist, who wrote many comprehensive and standard works, ranging from his mammoth, sixteen-volume Lives of the Saints to a study of the werewolf legend. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages was published in 1867. http://www.commonplacebook. com/fiction/myths/bio/ 3. Robinson, Diaries, Vol. 1, Chapter 5 and Appendix 14.

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March 29th The bleak, snow-covered plains of Eastern Wyoming looked chilly and drear as we sped along swiftly toward Cheyenne, and to the uninitiated gave little indication of the wealth they hold. Yet year by year the world is beginning to recognize the importance of this great grazing region upon which already hundreds of thousands of fat-cattle roam, intended for the food of England and the European countries. At Cheyenne, Captains Rogers, Kellogg, and Hamilton, and Lts. King, Swift and Reilly of the 5th Cavalry, and Weir of the Ordnance Corps, awaited us[.] Miss Chambers, sister of Mrs. Rodgers, was with the party, also Mr.[,] Mrs, and Miss Tillinghast, of Troy, N.Y., cousins of Capt. Kellogg. These last were making a continental tour and were glad to have our company as far as Ogden. We found them intelligent and cultivated people, but like many Americans ignorant of their own country. This afternoon, while crossing the Rocky Mountains, we encountered a severe hail-storm. At Laramie City, Dana Thayer came aboard and accompanied us as far West as Rock Creek, his present home. A half-faded English actress was one of our party in the Pullman car; to her, she had attracted two callow, semi-idiotic youths, who needed the devoted attentions of the “fool-killer.” It was disgusting to hear these idiots talk about “Yurrup”,4 where perhaps they hadn’t any more sense to profit by their travel than they now manifested. March 30th General Crook received a telegram from Genl. Williams telling him that he was detailed as a member of the General Court Martial, convened for the trail of Colonel and Bvt. Major General A. V. Kautz, 8th Infy., lately in command of the Department of Arizona. The court is not to assemble before May 1st.5 Eight miles East of Carter, there has been established since our last trip, a new station, for the shipment of cattle belonging to Judge Carter, of Fort Bridger. He is the owner of nearly 10.000 head of all kinds and is each year able to sell from $40.000 to $60.000 worth for shipment to the East. This little statement will serve to give an idea of the immense increase in the monetary interests of the Western 4. Europe. 5. Kautz succeeded Crook as commander of the Department of Arizona in 1875. His administration was mired in controversy, and increasing Apache depredations brought calls for his removal. Eventually the squabble extended to the army command, and Kautz wrote and circulated a denunciation of the judge advocate general of the army. He was court martialed for “Conduct to the prejudice of good order, etc.,” and convicted of the specification within the charge, but found not guilty of the charge itself; the court attached “no criminality” to the action. Altshuler, Cavalry Yellow and Infantry Blue, 184–87.

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territories within the past ten years: the coming lustrum6 will witness a still grander improvement, if I am not greatly mistaken. I mention Hilliard station to get an opportunity to speak of its great rows of charcoal furnaces and the long flume, running back into the Wahsatch Mountains, from which immense cuttings of timber are shipped and floated each season to this little village, to be made into charcoal or cut for rail-road ties and fencing. Evanston, Wyoming, is another little town, equally noted for its activity: here there is a large quantity of charcoal burned and also much coal excavated from the mines close at hand. Lieut. Hasson, 14th Infantry, Quartermaster at Ogden, boarded our train at Evanston and rode with us to Ogden, where we arrived in time for supper. The Beardsley House is a well-managed hotel, setting a good table, and having clean rooms and beds: beyond that the accomodations [sic] do not amount to much. Lt. Schuyler and I walked up into the town and were agreeably surprised by the neatlooking streets, with board walks, rows of trees on each side shading cosy little cottages: the general tone of the place was one of good order and cleanliness. The population is said to amount to 8.000, but I cannot persuade myself that it is quite so much. Before going to bed, we amused ourselves watching the antics of a couple of brown bear cubs, playing in their cage in front of the hotel: they were very ugly, sharp-snouted, piggish looking brutes, and had been caught six months previously in the Wahstach range, where a party of hunters found them hiding in the branches of a lofty tree. March 31st. This day has been balmy as a summer’s morning. Slept last night with wide open windows and under a single blanket: yet the peaks of the Wahstach, under which the town is built, are sheeted in perennial snow. Taking the Utah Northern R.R. we jogged long the valley of Bear River, which is from 5 to 10 miles wide, and a bottom of rich, black soil, studded with farm-houses and farms finely-cultivated; most of the fences are of stone and very many of the cottages of rubble. At Hampton, we met the down-train and waited for dinner—a good, honest, God-fearing meal,—one that could look you squarely in the eyes and ask for 50 cents. I enjoyed it greatly; it was rough enough, 6. An obsolete word for a five-year period.

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but the woman in charge of the house had taken such pains to please that the dinner tasted as if it was some of the best Delmonico could prepare. At this point, met Colonel Delancy [sic] Floyd-Jones, 3d Infantry, going to leave of absence to the East: his regiment is now at Helena, Montana, hutted for the winter. A Montana miner, one of the down train’s passengers, who sat next to me at dinner spoke of the recent wonderfully rich strikes in gold digging in that Territory. Five stamps at Silverton, near Helena, has been grinding out $1000 per diem and a ten stamp $4.000—The cost of reduction &c is about $30 per ton. Could see but little change in the country since my former visit in 1875.7 Cache valley is fairly sprinkled with little towns. At Logan, saw great piles of ties and rails for the extension of the road, now building. Franklin, Idaho, is noted principally for being one of the few Mormon communities in that territory and also because it is at present writing, the only one having R.R. communication with the outside world, being 1000 yards north of the Utah line. The Mormons here have only one wife, as the Idaho code is very stringent against polygamy; but the surplus wives are kept in Utah just across the line, at least so says Dame Rumor. After supper, met General Gibbon, (7th Infantry.) and daughter, on their way from Montana to Washington. The General was during the war of the Rebellion one of our most distinguished soldiers and was also severely wounded in the Big Hole fight with Joseph and the Nez Percés. Miss Fanny, the young lady, was bright, vivacious and pleasant mannered, not withstanding her fatiguing ride of eleven days and nights from Fort Shaw, Montana,8 to Franklin. During this terrible journey, they had to stop several times by night or day to rest themselves and stage-mules and at such times would sleep where they could, on sacks of corn or anything else to be found in the stage-stables. Twice they were overturned in the snow-drifts, but happily escaped serious damage. General Gibbon told us of a rich mine just discovered in Montana, which he had examined on his way down from Fort Shaw. 7. This refers to a trip made in November and December 1875, the diaries of which apparently are among those lost. Bourke, Diary, 22:20. 8. Fort Shaw was established in 1867 on the right bank of the Sun River, about twentyfive miles above the confluence with the Missouri, to protect the road between Fort Benton, Montana, and Helena. It was abandoned in 1891, turned over to the Interior Department the following year, and served as an Indian school until 1910. Frazer, Forts of the West, 83–84.

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This mine, or to speak more strictly, hole in the ground, is not over 70 feet deep and about 12 feet-square at the surface. In the past 45 days, the owner has taken out $60.000, and is trying hard to take out $60.000 during the month of April, to fulfil a bet made to that effect when badgered by a comrade. The mine has been bonded for $500.000. Every bit of the quartz showed free gold: a piece of the quartz, shown me by General Gibbon was assuredly very remarkable, showing “free” gold to the naked eye, on every side. Montana is one of the most promising of our territories, whether as a mining, pastoral or agricultural country: the extension of the Utah Northern Rail Road will do wonders for its development. The conversation then drifted to the late Nez Percé war in which, I think I have already said, General Gibbon was very severely wounded in the leg. That war, in his opinion, as in that of all army officers, was an unjustifiable outrage upon the red men, due to our aggressive and untruthful behavior towards those poor people; and yet it will be repeated with every tribe until the whole race shall become extinct. Last summer, a year ago, according to General Gibbon, the Nez Percés were on their way back from their accustomed annual buffalo hunt to the country near the headwaters of the Yellowstone and stopped at his post, Fort Shaw. Looking Glass, since famous as Joseph’s second in command, offered to give a sham-fight for the amusement of the garrison: one of the peculiarities of the exhibition was the burning of a quantity of hay to represent a prairie-fire, under cover of the smoke from which they made a fierce charge upon the fancied enemy. “Little did I then think,[”] said General Gibbon, [“]that these very Indians should, within less than a year, repeat the very same strategy upon me, as they did in my fight with them at Big Hole and had not the grass been too green and the wind adverse, their tactics would have succeeded completely.” The Nez Percés are now, March and April 1878, confined at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. One of the officers wounded under General Gibbon, has just been appointed Captain and Commissary of Subsistence. This young man Captain C. A. Woodruff, has had a remarkable history. Serving during the war as a private soldier in a Volunteer Regiment of Infantry from Vermont, he was four times wounded three of these wounds being received in one engagement—Cold Harbor, Va. After

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the war he was appointed a cadet at the Military Academy where I became well acquainted with him. From 1869 until 1876 we never met until the time of the junction of Terry’s and Crook’s columns on the Rosebud creek, Montana. Woodruff took part with his company throughout all that campaign and also in the movement conducted by General Gibbon against the Nez Percés in 1877. At the Big Hole fight he was again wounded three times, making a total of seven: intelligent and assiduous in the discharge of duty, brave in action and generally fitted for the position conferred, the appointment has created some little comment and astonishment among the younger officers who of late years have become accustomed to seeing Staff positions filled by broken down political hacks or military wire-pullers with more impudence than ability. Speaking of the Nez Percés, we naturally diverged to the tribes living near them—the Pends d’Oreilles, the Coeurs d’Alenes, Spokanes and others. Among these the Roman Catholics have for nearly half a century worked most energetically. Missionaries, formed of the same mould, as Father de Smet, have lived and died in this uninviting field, their places always kept filled by new arrivals from France or Belgium. One of these, is a Father Chalét, who came into this country with Father de Smet, over thirty five years ago, and whose life-dream has been to lay his bones among the Indians of his charge. General Gibbon described very vividly the appearance of his little hut, the squalor and general penury of all his surroundings:—the torn and dirty bed clothing, the only furniture of the dingy room lit up by the rays of a single old lamp, by whose feeble, flickering light the old man was studying medicine,—a science in which he had made enough progress to be of great help to the sick Indians who consulted him. In charming contrast with this discomfort and rudeness, were the covertly tender manners of the old priest, who showed in his deportment the careful training of the French gentleman of a past generation. The influence he has acquired among these Indians is immense, but his failing wish will soon be gratified and his bones laid away to rest among his adopted people. Right here is a proper place for the insertion of an anecdote of Father de Smet himself. I give it, upon the authority of General Gibbon, as having been told him by the Rt. Revd. James O’Connor, the present R.C. Bishop of

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Omaha, whose diocese comprehends Montana Territory, and who in a recent pastoral visit was the guest of General Gibbon, at Fort Shaw. Father de Smet had made a visit to the Shoshonees and Bannocks with the intention of preaching the Gospel; he had succeeded in bringing together a great number of the tribe and to them he began an exposition of the beauties of the Christian faith. His dissertation carefully avoided all theological complications, while giving prominence to the duty we owed our neighbors, the necessity of a virtuous life and the rewards in store for those who persevered to the end. The broad circle of painted and feathered warriors stolidly listened to the oration and calmly smoked their pipes without one grunt of either censure or commendation. The poor priest was in despair, seeing his best efforts fall dead to the ground. His heart was so caught up in his words that for a few moments he perceived nothing ridiculous in the remark addressed him by one of the head chiefs who sat, plumed, tattooed and daubed, a gaudy object, in one of the principal positions of the circle—“An shure, yur Rivirince that interpreter hasn’t bin talking right at all at all, yur Rivirince. Phoi, oi cud do better nor that moisilf, yur Rivirince”. Father de Smet asked the chief to translate for him and sure enough as he commenced talking, the missionary saw plainly that he had secured the services of a good interpreter, a man of influence and one with oratorical gifts of no mean order. The Indians leaned forward, eagerly listening to every word and signifying their approbation at the end of each sentence by a chorus of grunts and How! How’s! Father de Smet was delighted:—“but where did you learn to speak English so well?” he asked the Chief. “In Oireland, yur Rivirince”—“And what, pray, were you doing in Ireland?” “Shur, yur Rivirince, I was bor-run there”. Questioning developed the history of this curious character who was a poor orphan boy, kicked about from pillar to post, now eating the bread of dependence with one relative, now with another, until at last he found himself on the remote frontier, a half slave, half member of the tribe in which Father de Smet met him. To rise any higher in the society about him, he quickly saw, would require two things; the aspirant must distinguish himself greatly in battle and be favored with a “vision” or other supernatural manifestation. Never having been in a battle he felt rather nervous about that part of the business, but screwing up his courage to the sticking point, he joined

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all the scouting and war parties and soon had an opportunity to show what his valor amounted to. In a little skirmish with a band of Sioux or some other tribe, the Shoshonees routed their opponents, killing two or three warriors and capturing five or six women and children. Pat saw his chance had come; he howled and yelled at a great rate, gave a great number of orders to his comrades and, in brief, acting as if everything in the fight depended upon himself. After the battle, no one was found to dispute Pat’s bravery and he observed with great pleasure that his position in the tribe was extremely improved. So much for the gallantry in battle part of his task. “As for the vision, yur Rivirince, thor wor no thrubble about that—not the laste in the wor-ruld.” The vision was soon divulged to the credulous Shoshonees:—Pat had seen his dead grand-mother—who had been a renowned medicine woman, so he said, and who told him to marry the head chief’s daughter without delay. The young lady was willing enough; undoubtedly, Pat’s oily tongue had prepared the way for the vision with the dusky damsel; the old gentleman was not obdurate and the general sense of the tribe approved of the match. So, wedded they were at once and their union was blessed with twelve lemon-colored brats, the eldest of whom was named Patrick. Before turning in for the night, Schuyler and I promenaded about Franklin, looking at the preparations for continuing the Rail Road to the North: the rails for the new positions of the Road weigh more than those on the old line, and the ties are heavier, broader and longer, which circumstances will make the new part of the line much firmer and easier to travel on. A few miles north of Franklin, there is an extensive deposit of drift gravel, that the Company can use upon its road-bed, packing it in firmly. Our Hotel, the Keeny House was described in my diary of the trip made in November and December, 1875: if any change has occurred since then, it has been for the worse, altho’ the Keeny House even then was the most miserable hole, I had ever stopped at in the shape of a hotel. It is two stories in height, the lower floor divided into Parlor, Dining Room, Bar-room, and Kitchen; the upper separated by paper or thin frame partitions into small sleeping dens. In the parlor we saw cheap furniture and little of it. The fine arts were represented by

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an oil painting of a young lady in black dress, leading mongrel dog; both had the air of being stamped out of tin; the canine looked sick, the lady cross and cock-eyed. In the dining-room there was a sleepy young waiter-girl whom we had to blarney in order to get anything to eat; the beef-steak was an infringement upon the Goodyear patent, so we made our meals of bread and butter and milk and thanked God they weren’t any worse. The “Bar-room and Office” spoke for itself: it consisted of a long counter, a row of flashy bottles, some advertisements of liquor firms and the “Stonewall Bitters”, as well as the usual Rail Road cards, showing that the “very popular Burlington Route”, was the “only line” running Pullman dining cars, Miller’s coupler Buffers, Westinghouse air-brakes, and safety platforms, through between Omaha and Chicago. Flanking this on either side were the Hand-bills of the Rival roads, claiming the monopoly of identically the same advantages for the benefit of the travelling public. Our landlord was an old game-legged wretch, who had all the rapacity of a Long-Branch hotel-clerk, without the diamond pin on the bosom of his shirt instead he wore a trail of tobacco-juice which no doubt answered the same purpose. April 1st. We were shaken out of bed between 4 and 5 o’clock: through the partitions, heard the muttered growls and curses of a half-score of luckless travellers and then the sound of pulling on boots and scraping and sozzling of eight or ten tooth-brushes. Breakfast—Good Lord! Reported at table by one gentleman that one of the boarders in the hotel had been eaten up last night by the bed-bugs:, this report was scoffed at by another gentleman who was piling his fried eggs down his throat on the blade of his knife. Well, all things have an end sometime. At six o’clock, we were off on the construction train, for Bear River, Idaho, twelve miles north of us. Train consisted of a dozen flat cars, loaded with Rail Road iron. Mr. Tim Henderson, the Stage Agent lent us three wooden chairs, upon which we sat comfortably during our ride. Wrapped up in our buffalo robes and heavy over-coats, it was an exhilarating journey, even if the air blew a little keenly at first. The sun was brightly shining, the meadow lands of the valley green with the freshly-stirriging [?] grass of spring, larks twittering gayly

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and a mild breeze scarcely cold enough (after the sun got above the horizon,) to form tiny flakes of ice in the still and shallow pools. Our companions were almost all laborers, a jolly, good-natured set, who looked at the world through rosey spectacles. At Bear river crossing, the train stopped, the laborers began unloading its cargo of rails and we our tedious plod of half a mile across the river to the stage station. Burdened as we were with heavy overcoats, and carrying buffalo robes, mufflers, fur-gloves and valises, we were mightily pleased when we had finished our tramp. By and Bye, the stage came along and took us all up: the vehicle itself weighed not much under a ton; then there were the driver, his six passengers and a miscellaneous cargo of freight and mail matter, weighing at least 1000 pounds. How the poor horses ever pulled us along I don’t know; they didn’t at any time go over five miles an hour and generally averaged about 3 and a half. One of our fellow-passengers was a lady travelling to the bedside of her mother who was dying at Helena, Montana; two others were “tender-feet,” on their way to the mines and the last one sat up on top with the driver and never gave us a chance to find out who he was. A large train of freight wagons was encamped at Bear River; two, three and even four wagons hitched one behind the other. By this arrangement, it is easier to cross gullies and ravines as no unloading is necessary, all the driver has to do being to unhitch one or more of the “trailers” as the rear wagons are designated. Then there is much economy in the method also, as one driver can do the work of four, or at least three. One of the “tender-feet” spoken of above was a good-natured, bright and resolute young boy from New Jersey. He seemed to be very well-read, but knew nothing of Indians. He asked for information on that subject and he got it. Our stories were all founded on fact, but somewhat toned up to suit circumstances. My impression now is that during that brief conversation, I killed every bosom-friend I ever had and had the Indians torture, scalp and eat everyone. The young Jerseyman began to shiver before we desisted, to get out for dinner, which was served at one of the stations, in a little room at the back-end of the Stage-Company’s stables. We had to pass through two rows of scrawny, hide-bound horses and didn’t expect under the circumstances and from my previous experience at this place, to get anything fit to eat: we were most agreeably disappointed to

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find a very palatable meal, served by neat and tidy-looking woman, who had lately been placed in charge. On my last trip, this was a beastly hole; no cloth on the table and every dish and platter dirty and greasy. Now, the little room shone with all the brightness of the best-kept household. At Elkhorn, changed teams and listened to the usual conversation between the driver and hostler about the horses; the “flea-bitten grey was sick”—nothing could be done with him. “Never eat a bit of nawthin all day—hay, nor grain, nor nawthin’ else”. The “off-leader” of “Jimmy’s” team was “a’ doin’ well”, but “acting kinder bad when you go to puttin’ the halter on ‘im—damn him, whoa! You Pete!”. “That dark-complected feller”—(the conversation was now about a man, not a horse.—) warn’t no’ count, didn’t know ‘enough to pack a bucket o’water”—“must tell the ole man ‘bout [‘]him, so’s he kin git [‘]nother manin’s place”. On all sides we saw farms, and farmers who were breaking in fresh land or recultivating that which had already been tilled. Substantial fences, good out-buildings and houses, which in many instances were built neatly, compactly and with some good taste, witnesses the progress made by this part of Idaho. Shortly after sun-set; we reached the toll-gate and bridge over the Port Neuf River kept by Mr. Harkness. Our progress had been very slow, because the coach was overloaded at starting: several times, we came near upsetting[.] Harkness’ ranch includes a well-stocked store and no doubt from all his sources of revenue, the proprietor must be deriving a very comfortable income. (I have been told his receipts last year were over $75.000.) We were ushered into rooms each furnished with two beds, two woodenbottomed chairs, a simple wash-stand and a stone china set; floor covered with a decidedly well-worn rag carpet, walls papered in a cheap figure and windows shaded with the old stereotyped outrage upon perspective in the form of a tumble-down castle, resting against a single-arched bridge and trees of some unknown genus. A small looking glass and two clothes’-pegs completed the equipment of the apartment, not too luxurious certainly but truly worthy of encomium because of the scrupulous cleanliness of everything, except the sheets. By no manner of reasoning were our accomodations [sic]worth $3 per night, the price extracted from the stage passengers.

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3 o’clock in the morning found us collected in the “gentlemens’ room”, a barren apartment with no furniture except two tin washbasins. Breakfast was soon desposed [sic] of,—a warm and pretty-well cooked meal: at 4.15 A.M:, we rolled out in the dark to finish our journey to Ross’ Fork. At first, we were all very sleepy and dozed as best we could in the corner of the stage; the dawning of day wakened us up a little and the chittering of birds and lowing of cattle in the ranches passed roused us thoroughly. The country hereabouts is finely watered with mountain streams and suited very well to both farming and grazing. After day-break, came to a palisade basaltic rock, defaced by inscriptions. “S.T.–1860X”–Plantation Bitters, “Read the Western World” and the like. This defacement is an outrage upon good taste and should be punished with death, or something near it. The weather continued perfectly charming. At noon, we sighted the Shoshonee and Bannock Agency at Ross’s Fork with the Indian lodges and ponies clustered around about. Alighting from the stage, we were received by Colonel Trotter, Colonel Bainbridge and Lieut. Lovell, 14th Infantry, who brought us to the encampment of the Battalion near by. All these gentlemen were old friends. Trotter and Lovell in Utah, and Bainbridge at Fort Hall, Idaho, on the occasion of my former trip in 1875. On our way to the encampment, noticed some half-breeds castrating a young stallion; the animal was thrown and tied very skillfully, and after the incision, the artery leading into the scrotum was lignited, not cauterized.9 Mr. Schilling, the trader, has a new store, fully stocked with goods suited to the wants of his trade. The pièce de résistance at dinner was a large, finely flavored trout, caught in Ross’s Fork; all these streams, Bear River, Port Neuf, Marsh, Ross Fork, Snake River and Lemhi are trout-bearing and would also be full of salmon and salmon trout were it not for the Shoshonee Falls which keep these fishes from coming up the Snake River. In the Lemhi, I have been told salmon can be found, but as I have never been that far north in Idaho, I don’t know of my own Knowledge. Very soon, Buffalo Horn, Madison John and Tokio, the latter head chief of the Bannocks, called upon General Crook, accompanied by 9. I.e. sealed with coal tar.

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Cayuse Mary, a Bannock woman who acted as interpreter. (Cayuse Mary was at one time married to Cayuse George a worthless vagabond, supposed to be a white man, who lived with the Cayuses and Bannocks in Central Idaho. For a short time he was a scout for General Crook at Fort Boise,10 but was soon discharged for inefficiency.)11 In the tent, there were besides the above, and the military officers, Major Danielson, the Agent; and Gilson Jack and Major George of the Shoshonees. The Indians smoked long nines12 with all the aplomb of New York street Arabs. Outside the tent was clustered a throng of eagerly listening Indians with a few soldiers and civilians sprinkled in among them. General Crook. “How are you getting along?[”] Tokio. “We feel all right and think everything is all right and quiet.” General Crook. “There has been a good deal of talk that these Indians are going to break out, but I am very glad to know that they are satisfied and feel friendly towards us. There are very few people here and if they break out it will be like the Nez Percé war;—they’ll be chased, and taken and sent away just as they [the Nez Percé] were, better let well enough alone; stay here and go to farming like white men. In a short time, the buffalo will all be killed off and then the Indians must live like white men. I am very glad these people helped us last year against the Nez Percés: that showed their feelings were good towards us. They got well paid and I hope their pay did them good. In case we have war with the Sioux, I should like to have their services again. We’re very friendly now. But in case these Indians become troublesome, the Sioux would enlist as soldiers against them. But there is no use in going to war; there is enough land for everybody and they’d better settle down and farm. Those Indians who have sense, see the way of the white men and know what is right. Whenever they know of any bad going on they stop it right away. They ought to be careful to have everything go straight, because a little report from here becomes big in Washington and people will think they are going to break out, so they’ll lose many privileges. I 10. Fort Boise was established in 1863 just north of the Boise River at the present city of Boise, Idaho, to control the Shoshones and protect the emigrant road to Oregon. It was redesignated Boise Barracks in 1879, and is now administered by the Veterans Administration. Frazer, Forts of the West, 44. 11. Crook was commanding officer of the District of Boise (later expanded to the District of Owyhee), in Idaho, 1866 and 1867. Robinson, General Crook, 86ff. 12. A cheap cigar of the era.

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have learned from Major Danielson and the officers here that those ponies, (alluding to the ponies taken from the Bannocks last year by Colonel John E. Smith, 14th Infantry.) were taken from our friends. I shall recommend that they be given back. Those ponies would not have been taken from them only for the acts of one or two bad men. In Washington, they thought there was going to be a general outbreak, so they took the ponies away from them.”13 These remarks were well received by the Indians, who replied that they were now and had always been the firm friends of the whites. They wished to live at peace and be our friends. To show their friendship, they had in former years gone with General Crook in his campaigns against the Pi-Utes, (in Nevada and California,):14 against the Sioux, (in Wyoming and Montana,) and lastly had enlisted as our auxiliaries in the war against Joseph and his Nez Percés. If the Sioux went to war again, they wished to help with whites. There were bad people in all tribes, but they thought they could restrain their bad men without trouble. They hoped the great Father would send seeds and farming implements and teach them to farm. They wanted to learn to make their own living just like the white men. They didn’t get enough to eat: four days out of every seven, they had nothing to eat. Formerly, they used to hunt the buffalo on the other side of the Big Horn Mountains, but now the Great Father wouldn’t let them leave the Reservation at all. They asked for the same allowance as was now received by the Sioux and other Indians. General Crook sent dispatches embodying the result of the conference to General Sheridan, and also sent some to General Williams, in Omaha. At Ross’ Fork, saw the “Count de Badai”, a private soldier in the th 14 Infantry, who had been for a few days detailed as a clerk at Dep’t Hd.Qrs. Soon after reaching Omaha, he artfully circulated a story of having come into possession of a fortune of 2000.000 of florins 13. Crook was referring to an incident in which random acts of violence, stemming from the rape of a Bannock girl, broke out around Fort Hall in the summer and fall of 1877. The Bannock agency was placed under military occupation, and one Indian, Tambiago, was hanged on June 28, 1878, for the murder of a white man the previous fall. In the summer of 1878, however, there was a minor uprising of some 150 poorly armed warriors. These were rounded up, and disbursed to posts throughout the Military Divisions of the Missouri until they had cooled down sufficiently to return home. Crook blamed government incompetence for the problem. Robinson, General Crook, 216–20. 14. These campaigns were from 1866 to 1868. Robinson, General Crook, 89ff.

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in Hungary:15 many people were credulous enough to swallow his story and for a few days he made a ridiculous splurge, borrowing money in small quantities from various storekeepers, and driving about town in a carriage having at his side a painted creature, who assumed the title of the Countess de Badai. It is all very funny now that it is over, yet while the delusion lasted there were numbers of persons who imagined there might be some validity to his claims. For my own part, I was very much disappointed that more people were not swindled as they would then be cured of this American idiocy of believing every story a scheming foreigner may invent. We left Ross’ Fork at 2.30 P.M., going at a rapid pace in Col. Bainbridge’s spring wagon to Harkness’ where we were to overtake the stage. In going through the basalt-walled glens, already spoken of, I was reminded very much of the scenery in the immediate vicinity of Camp Apache, Arizona. Reached Harkness’ at 8.30, a distance of just 36 miles. 15. About $400,000 U.S. at the time. The florin (Magyar: forint) was a silver coin worth about twenty cents. See Jaeckel, Die Münzprägungen des Hauses Habsburg.

Chapter 19 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Memories of Old Tucson

April 3rd. Not being able to secure seats in the stage, we had nothing to do, but keep on to Bear River in our spring wagon, in the hope of catching the construction train before it had left for Franklin. General Crook had me telegraph to Mr. Thatcher, the Superintendent of the R.R., asking him to detain the train for us. The whole day was beautiful beyond description. We had unusually good luck in reaching Bear River some hours before the train, an interval employed in rambling about in the hills. A hundred yards or so back of the tank where we waited was a spring fed by the snows of the ravines above. The sun was so hot that my forehead and nose were completely blistered, but the sheltered position of the little ravines had completely protected the snow, of which great drifts yet remained to feed the spring. Going back we rode on empty nail kegs and made a distance of fourteen miles in just an hour, including several stoppages. A number of Railroad men were aboard with whom we were soon in conversation. They had much to say, of course, about their road and its prospects and gave us many points of interest. Cache Valley, according to them, has already 18.000 inhabitants, nearly all Mormons. This statement was easy to believe, seeing so 372

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many towns and villages sown broadcast over the valley. Midway between Bear River and Franklin is a fine, level plain, five miles in diameter, excellently well adapted for farming. This the Mormons are about to irrigate with water drawn [from] the streams in the cañons of the Wahsatch Mtns. In these valley[s], there are already many saw and grist mills running; and the condition of affairs for a territory is very promising. I had first jotted down a reference to what I took to be the great number of Mormon school-houses, but my informant corrected me and said they were Mormon families: one man had three wives and twenty-seven children; another four wives and thirty-five children. The windows of all the homes were full of little shock-heads and dozens of little, curious eyes peer at us as we rumbled past. I have looked in vain for anything like refinement of appearance or manner among the Mormon women, and can remember only one girl, Miss Hinckley, of Cove Fork, in Southern Utah, whom I would consider handsome. The children on the contrary are generally handsome and healthy looking. Between Franklin and Ross’ Fork the ground was in several places covered with little, black crickets. Another miserable night at the Keeny House. I will draw a veil over the picture. The Utah Northern has at Ogden in its service two or three engines of the Summit County R.R., a little narrow-gauge concern which runs out from Evanston, Wyo., to the coal mines and pineries in the Wahsatch Mountains. The annual conference of the Mormon church which takes place at Salt Lake in the month of April, completely filled our coach with brethren and sisters on their way to take part. Every man brought a wife, and every wife had a baby. Every baby had a cold or a colic, and every twinge of either complaint evoked a yell. It was a horrible experience of nearly eight hour’s duration—one I don’t care to have to go through again. I am trying to perfect a project for the erection of a monument to the memory of that great and good man, the late lamented King Herod. In the suburbs of Ogden, the peach, apricot, plum and cherry trees were loaded down with blossoms. Received information of the organization of the Court to try Genl. Kautz: this is to assemble in Omaha, May 1st.

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As the cars came to a stand-still, it was positively refreshing to hear the fine, round Italian voice of Jimmy, the hotel porter, proclaiming the merits of his establishment—“convaynient to all the day-po’s[.]”1 General Crook left on the evening train for San Francisco, leaving me with a copy of his report to General Sheridan, which reads as follows: Hd.Qrs. Dep’t. of the Platte, In the Field, Franklin, Idaho, April 3d, 1878. Adjutant General, Mily. Division of the Missouri, Chicago, Illinois. Colonel. I have the honor to report that on the 2d instant, I reached the Shoshonee and Bannock Agency, at Ross Fork, Idaho, and immediately had a conference with the military officers temporarily stationed at the Agency, Capt. Bainbridge, 14th Infy., Comdr., Fort Hall, Mr. Danielson, the Agent and the principal men of the Bannocks and Shoshonees. This conference satisfied me of the peaceable intentions of the Indians and their determination to remain on good terms with our people. The murder committed last summer was an individual act and not one with which any portion of the tribe sympathized.2 The disarming and dismounting of the tribe appears under these circumstances to have been unnecessary, especially since such of them as were the least disposed to be friendly had time to learn of the move contemplated and to conceal their animals, and guns, leaving the burden of our punishment to fall upon our friends and those upon whom we should have to rely in case of any trouble. The tribe would not feel the loss inflicted, which was, probably, not one fourth of the total number of ponies and its remembrance will only survive as an irritant. Altho’ the loss of their ponies would not cripple these Indians in the event of hostilities, it will seriously interfere with their farming, for which purpose they are beginning 1. Once again, Bourke is being facetious. Jimmy obviously is Irish. 2. This refers to the murder, mentioned earlier, for which Tambiago subsequently was hanged.

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to use them; the return of these animals would be good policy, as would also be that of the arms which are almost entirely old-fashioned pieces, of very little account except for shooting such small game as can be found near the Agency, while their retention will be dwelt upon as a grievance. While there seems to have been some occasion for alarm in the fact of the murder refered [sic] to, the spirit of the Indians in general was not properly represented and the condition of affairs was unduly exaggerated; the tribe has no intention of going to war and manifests most friendly feelings. In my conversation with Mr. Danielson, and from the complaints of the Indians, I learned that the rations issued at this Agency are entirely inadequate; hitherto, it has been the practice to permit the young men to hunt the buffalo in the Big Horn and Yellowstone country; but the rapid settling up of that region as well as the country around this Agency makes any such dependence for the future most precarious and I therefore urgently recommend an increase to the amount now allowed the Sioux and other Indians. The maintenance of troops at the Agency, is in my opinion no longer necessary and they can now be returned to their proper station at Salt Lake.3 Very Respectfully, Your Obedt. Servant, (Signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. th Friday, April 5 . Started on our return to Omaha. Met Mr. Skyle of Denver, Colorado, and daughter. Learned of the death of Colonel Thomas C. Devin, 3d Cavalry, Brevet Major General, U.S. Army. This announcement recalled to my mind my first meeting with “old Tommy[”] Devin, in Tucson, Arizona, in March, 1869, when he was Commanding Officer of the District and I was Quartermaster of Major Dubois’ Battalion of the 3d Cavalry, which had just marched in to Arizona from the previous station on the Rio Grande [in New Mexico]. The small-pox was raging furiously in Tucson, spreading each day on account of the curious custom the Mexican population had of burying their dead with processional honors and the music of violin, flute and harp. 3. I.e., Fort Douglas.

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General Devin, after consultation with Bishop Salpointe, determined to stretch his official authority to the utmost and prohibit any more funeral processions until the pest had abated; then the town authorities took courage and insisted on all garbage and refuse being removed outside the town limits and burned. The infected were next isolated, and every means taken to eradicate the disease, for which everybody seemed to give the lion’s share of the praise to General Devin. It was a curious place in those days—Tucson: the capital of the Territory of Arizona and the site of a military post, Camp Lowell,4 it had a greater percentage of American population than would have resided there without those attractions. As a trading point, it was at that time the emporium of Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora and the depôt of supplies for all our military posts between the Mexican boundary and the Gila river. The stores were numerous and well filled with goods required in that climate; the streets lively with people, clad in peculiar garb—Mexicans dressed in loose white shirts, calzoncillos or drawers coming to the feet; which were either bare or covered with canvass shoes; hats of coarse straw reaching far beyond the shoulders and having wound about them a band of velvet and bead-work, made to resemble a rattlesnake. So much for day costume; at night, this was supplemented with a coarse serape, or blanket wound about the shoulders. It might be proper to mention as part of the costume the cigarrito, as no Mexican was ever seen without one. In smoking, they display excessive urbanity: the most-ragged payazo or clown could approach the wealthiest ranchero and ask for a light which was never refused. In doing this there was always an immense amount of bowing and scraping and interchange of polite salutations. The situation of Tucson was extremely beautiful. To the traveller coming from the East during the month of March the town presented a most inviting aspect, set as it was in a garniture of emerald green barley fields, through which coursed scores of little rivulets flashing like diamonds in the sun. These were irrigating ditches, carrying to the fecund earth the moisture needed for the great crop of barley 4. Camp Lowell was established in 1862 as the Post of Tucson. Few permanent buildings were constructed, and in 1873, a new site was chosen for the post seven miles northeast of Tucson. Permanent buildings were constructed, and it was upgraded to fort in 1879. The post was abandoned in 1891. Some of the remaining buildings are maintained as state historic sites. Altshuler, Starting with Defiance, 33–37.

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and corn raised yearly in the valley of the Santa Cruz. A ramble through the narrow, dirty streets of one storied adobe houses rather rudely dispelled the illusions of beauty aroused by the first glimpses of the town from the hills six miles to the East. Chickens, pigs, dogs and children, played, fought, yelled, crowed, squeaked and barked in, around and over piles of manure and garbage; such women as appeared were so closely wrapped in thick, black shawls, called rebosas, as to be unrecognizable. At each corner, little stores, called tendajons, dispensed supplies which were as different from the articles usually vended in American establishments as was the crowd of Mexican and Indian half-breeds frequenting them from the patrons of village stores in the United States. For example there was no whiskey for sale, its place was taken by a fiery distillation from the saccharine principle obtained by roasting the stalks and leaves of the Century Plant—mescal: sugar appeared in the form of little solid, black cakes weighing a pound apiece and with eight for a dollar. Carne seca, or dried beef, “jerked[”] in the sun and tasting, when first put in the mouth, like a bunch of rope, Chile colorado, an aromatic pepper, the condiment par excellence of the Mexican cuisine, eggs, garlic, radishes, oranges (from Sonora.) and little flat loaves of bread were the main supplies, in each of these little places, but coffee and other of our groceries with tobacco, commanded ready sale. A sufficient number of rum-mills, bearing such titles as “Congress Hall”, [“]Dew Drop” and “Magnolia”, existed to attest the presence of American residents. In all, “music”, that is to say the squeaking of an ill-tuned harp and mouth organ, charmed the ears of the votaries of the gaming tables. There was no attempt made at concealment. Faro, Poker, Diana, and Roulette were the American games but there was also a class of games of Mexican derivations, patronized with equal ardor by both nationalities; there were chusas, Loteria, and Monte. It was very funny to watch the expressions of the different countenances: the impassive stolidily [sic] and cunning of the dealer, mechanically shuffling the cards or rolling the balls, the anxiety, greed, fear, disappointment, hope and exultation alternating in the faces of the betters as they lost or won. The sums changing hands were not great: generally, the stakes ran from 50 c[ents] to $5.00; occasionally, some fortunate winner, flushed with wine! I should have said flushed with rot-gut whiskey, would pile up 20, 30, maybe 40 chips, of an aggregate value from 10 to 25 dollars,

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and then all interest would converge upon him. The Mexicans were nearly all named “Jesus” or “José”, but their American elbow-touchers were “Colonels”, “Judges” and “Doctors”. The principal restaurant, in those days, was the “Shoo Fly”, on the street running into the Plaza from the Main street. Mrs. Allen was the name of the presiding genius. The food wasn’t as bad as it might have been. Some grumbles used to take exception to the number of flies in the soup, forgetting that the poor little flies had appetites as well as any other form of creation and that if the soup was not good they would not fly into it. Mrs. Allen, in person, waited upon the table, carefully looking after the wants of each guest. The first time I dined there, she hobbled into the room, very lame in one foot. I lost my appetite when I heard her say: “oh my sore toe! That poultice I put on came off again this morning!” The young officers then in Arizona were a harum-scarum, good-natured, devil-may care set, who gave General Devin a great amount of trouble to keep them in order. One of them, Lieut. Jerome, of the 8th Cavalry, (long since resigned from service.) Was marching on Christmas Day, at the head of his Company, down the Santa Cruz Valley, into Tucson. As he reached the mill-dam, three miles from town, he dismounted from his horse and threw himself by a dexterous somersault into ten feet of water. His performance was to gain a bet of $10, made with a brother officer riding by his side. The half chilled officer. (winters are sometimes chilly in Arizona, at least too chilly for such actions as above,) rode into town and there spent his gains in treating the men of his detachment to whiskey. General Devin sent for the delinquent and after giving him a sound talking to upon the unseemliness and want of dignity of such conduct, dismissed him to his quarters with an admonition not to repeat the offense if he didn’t want to be courtmartialled. Such is the account of the affair given by Genl. Devin’s friends; but there is another side of the story which must not be ignored in any narrative pretending to be impartial. This is the story of Lieut. or ex-Lt. Jerome. He admitted the correctness of the story up to the moment of the interview, but he always claimed that just as soon as General Devin began to berate him, he fixed his eagle eye upon the General and froze him in his seat. Most of the people in Tucson believed General Devin’s story, and discredited Lt. Jerome’s altogether.

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About the time, of my arrival, Lieut. Winter’s [sic], of the 1st Cavalry, a very gallant soldier, was married. The usual festal supper was had and then the wedding party separated. A quartette [sic] of Winter’s friends thought they would serenade him, but when they assembled under the windows of the room occupied by the bridal couple, none of the party had brought along any music and they were all so elevated with liquor and enthusiasm that they could sing but one song in concert.—“just before the battle, Mother”, which they rendered with telling effect. One of the eccentric, indefinable characters to be met with so frequently on the frontier, was “Major” or “Marshal” Duffield: he was to outward appearance remarkable chiefly from the fact that he was the only man in Tucson who ever wore a stove-pipe hat. But he was also renowned for the number of rows and personal “difficulties” in which he had figured always with success. He carried about with him a small-sized arsenal of revolvers and pistols of all calibers:—if my memory is not entirely at fault, I think he never had less than ten or eleven about his person at one time. Well, as might be expected, he was an object of dread to his neighbors even in that rough community, one day, a [wagon] train came in from Texas, and one of the teamsters immediately started to the nearest saloon to “hist in a cargo of pizen”. Becoming pretty full, he stampeded most of the quiet citizens from the streets by displaying his revolver in a belligerent way: an operation, called I believe, “shelling the town”. But it was a bad day for him when he started out upon his mission. It wasn’t very long before he found a small cluster of “gentlemen”, to whom he made known the object of his search. “Gents, I’m ‘Waco Bill’, from Texas, blood’s my color, I kerries mee karfin on mee back, kin whip mee weight in bar meat and the hummin’ of pistol ball is mu-u-u-u-sic in mee ear—Whar’s Duffield? I’m ‘ goin’ ter whip Duffield”. The last words had just left his mouth when he found himself sprawling on his back, levelled to the ground by a lightning blow from the horny hand of his opponent. True to his instincts, the Texan as he rolled grasped his revolver but before the weapon could be drawn, Duffield had shot from out of his coat pocket and a pistol bullet lodged in the groin of the unfortunate Waco Bill. “My name is Duffield[”], said the distinguished Arizonian, with a Chesterfieldian wave of the hand, “and them eer’s mee visiting keerd.”

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(This story was told by me to Sir Rose Price when we were travelling together with a party of officers on the Loup Fork of the Platte River in Nebraska, in 1875, and he made use of it in his book, The Two Americas, where it may be found even worse told than here.5 I make mention of this fact to save myself from the charge of plagiarism.) Duffield was killed by a man named Holmes in a dispute about a mining claim on the Rio San Pedro, in Arizona, in 1875. Then there was Charlie Meyers, the Judge of the town, who was a sturdy, honest, well-meaning Dutchman, quite well versed in pharmacy and physiology, but rather “off color” as a disciple of Blackstone. He discharged the duties of his position with commendable fidelity, making a grand display of Wood and Bache’s Dispensatory, Parke’s Military Hygiene, Beck’s Medical Jurisprudence, and other works of that kind which the ignorant Mexicans who mostly thronged his forum fondly imagined to be Digests and Pandects of all the laws in creation.6 A few petty fines and amercements, or where the offender was a vagamundo,7 (or tramp) sentencing him to two weeks in what the Judge called the “Shane-Gang”, constituted the extent of the business transacted. The Judge followed the even tenor of his way, and was growing dignified, bald, gray and heavy-paunched, surrounded by a galaxy of little Mexican children, when one evening his post-prandial meditations were disturbed by a case calling for the exercise of rather more legal ability than the Judge felt he possessed. This was nothing more or less than a plain case of fraud of this complexion. A German Jew, named Wolf, doing business in a small way as a Monte Pio, or Pawn-broker, had hired a family of Papago Indians to work in a field he owned. He told them he would give them one peso (dollar.) for their day’s labor. Now the rascal well knew that they understood him to mean the current rate of wages 5. Price tells the story in Two Americas, 312–13. 6. The Dispensatory of the United States of America, by George B. Wood and Franklin Bache, first appeared in the 1830s, and went through many editions. First published by Grigg, Elliot and Co. of Philadelphia, publication was later taken over by J.B. Lippincott and Co. Bourke probably means one of the later, Lippincott editions from the 1860s or ‘70s. “Parke’s” probably refers to Edmund A. Parkes, A Manual of Practical Hygiene Prepared Especially for Use in the Medical Service of the Army, published in London by John Churchill & Sons in 1864. Although a subsequent edition was published in the United States, with specific references to American practices, it did not appear until 1883. The two-volume Elements of Medical Jurisprudence by Theodoric R. Beck was first published in Albany, New York, by Websters and Skinners in 1823. It went into several editions both in the United States and Great Britain during the first half of the nineteenth century. 7. The correct word is vagabondo, meaning “tramp” or “vagabond.”

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which was one dollar per diem for each grown hand and half for children—as the family was composed of father, mother, son and daughter, it may be understood—they were grievously vexed when they were offered only one third of the stipend for which they had contracted, not to count the pound of flour which generous people frequently presented to each of these Indians after an unusually hard day’s labor. Appeals to Wolf’s reason and generosity were alike in vain: no help was to be had, unless the Juez (Judge.) could extend it and the Jew felt he was a match for the representative of the blind-folded Goddess almost any time. Indians were not competent witnesses, so he told the Judge, and more than that he stood ready to prove by his clerk that he had only promised a dollar, that he had already offered it and was now ready to pay it. The poor Papagoes could only urge, through the interpreter, immemorial custom and usage. The judge was non-plussed: his sympathies were plainly on the side of the defrauded Indians, but he couldn’t find any way to help them. He looked over his Webster’s Dictionary and carefully scrutinized the Materia Medica—he could do nothing except adjourn the Court until morning and seek the advice of some well-informed lawyer. So he said slowly: “Volf I can’t find nudding in dem law-books shust now about dis matter and I adshurns dis Gourt undil dermorrer at den o’glock when ve’ll resume id—bud, Volf, vile I can’t find nuddin in der law about der gase, I dink it my dooty, Volf, to dell yer that the sheneral obinion of dis gommunity, Volf, is dat you is von Gottammed son ov a ----, in vitch obinion, Volf, dis Gourt most heartily goincides”. Wolf lost his temper at this novel exordium, answered the judge in an impudent way, was fined ten dollars for contempt of court, started home a wiser and sadder man. The judge gave half the fine to the poor Papago Indians, who started off in gay spirits, thinking Judge Meyer’s Court the very fountain of Justice. The Papago Indians herein spoken of are as good people as any tribe of savages on the face of the earth. Docile, well-behaved and subordinate, they have never yet killed a white man and for generations have abstained from going on the war path, except when harassed and plundered by their hereditary enemies, the Apaches. Their women are proverbially chaste:—a Papago prostitute is a thing unheard of. These people are devout Catholics and rightfully proud of the beautiful church, built with their own

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hands two hundred years ago, under the superintendence of Jesuit missionaries. This church, San Xavier del Bac, is one of the most beautiful examples of the Moresque style I have ever seen, and altho’ it would be presumption for one to lay claim to architectural taste, I will say that San Xavier, altho’ built simply of adobe and lava will sustain the most rigid criticism for perfection of detail, of proportion and general effect. It is impossible for any examiner, be his creed what it may, to stand under its cloistered arch and survey its parts, without yielding to a sentiment of religious veneration and paying a tribute of respect to the memory of the great and good men who crossed the sea generations ago to bring the Bread of Life to these poor benighted savages. My first ball or baile in Tucson was an affair deserving of mention; the room was without flooring, other than the pounded dirt, the walls coarsely whitewashed and lighted with candles backed by tin reflectors. The ladies were all Mexicans of various shades from deep chocolate, through black and tan to pale lemon: they sat upon wooden benches extending round the room and without backs, so that to save dresses from the lime of the walls it was necessary to sit bolt upright. No introduction was necessary; if a gentleman wished to dance with a lady, he asked her and she accepted or declined at her option. After each dance it was de rigueur to invite your partner to partake of dulces, or refreshments, and in all cases these invitations were accepted[,] not that the young lady always ate what was purchased for her; frequently she would take the pasas (raisins,) bollos (sweetcakes,) or other refection, wrap them up in her handkerchief and keep them to take home. Those who wished it could have mescal or wine. In Arizona this wine is mostly imported and a viler decoction of boiled vinegar, logwood alum and copperas was never bottled. The ladies had a curious method of expressing their preference for a gentleman; this was done by breaking over his head a cascarrón (lit: egg-shell.) Or eggshell filled with cologne water or finely cut gold paper. The recipient of this delicate compliment had to return it in kind and then lead the young lady to the dance. The energetic musicians extorted something like music from their wheezy mouthorgans and tinkling harps. This is my recollection of a Tucson baile,

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barren and meagre enough it looks to me now, but there was a time when my companions and myself thought nothing of staying at one of them all night and of going to six in a week if we could. This is a long digression to make but the mention of General Devin’s death has brought back to my mind my first meeting with him in Tucson and from that, the divergence has been easy and I find myself insensibly recalling to mind my very long and varied experience in that country, our associates, the scenery and peculiarities, as well as the sterner features of scouting against the hostile Apaches, who in 1869, 1870 and 1871 were complete masters of the Territory, but in 1873, and 1874, thanks to General Crook and his soldiers were the most completely subdued Indians in America. On our train, we had the pleasure of meeting Surgeon Charles Alexander, on his way from his late station, Portland, Oregon, to Saint Louis, Missouri. During the Nez Percé war, Surgeon Alexander was chief Medical Officer for General Howard and rendered most important service. Surgeon Alexander’s brother, William, was a class-mate of mine, but left the Academy without graduating: was commissioned in the 8th Infantry and accidentally killed by a sentinel at Fort Macon, North Carolina, in 1867.8 His sister, Miss K. Alexander of Saint Paul, Minn., made a visit to Omaha, last January, where she was most kindly received by a large circle of Army friends and where we had the good fortune to make her acquaintance. Mr. Powers, a mining expert from Arizona, was also in our car. He is now the owner of the Silver King North and the Silver King South, two fine mines situate[d] at the extremities of the Silver King; This latter is now the property of Colonel James M. Barney, who paid half a million dollars for it. It is located thirty-five miles north of Florence, (a town on the Gila river,) in the Pinal Mountains, and was first discovered by a soldier of the 21st Infantry. Some of the ore is so rich that it yields over $1000 net to the ton, after paying more than $200 for the expenses of mining and hauling to San Francisco for reduction. 8. Fort Macon was a Third System walled fortification, begun in 1826 and completed in 1834. It guarded the approaches to Beaufort and Morehead City, North Carolina. After its capture by Union forces in 1862, it served as a coaling station. It then became a federal prison until 1876, when it was abandoned. The fort was restored by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1934–36, and became a state park a year later. It is now administered by the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Weaver, Legacy in Brick and Stone, 139–41; Page, Ship Versus Shore, 81–82.

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April 6th. Read Macaulay’s Essay on Chatham. At Cheyenne met General and Mrs. Merritt, Genl. and Miss Gibbon, [(]who had halted at Fort Russell for a couple of days and now came on the train to go East,) Lieut. and Mrs. King, Captain and Mrs. Munson and Lt. Delaney. At Sidney, we saw Colonel and Mrs. Sumner, Surgeon Munn and daughter, Lieuts. Paddock, Baldwin, and other friends. Heard of the death of Professor [Albert E.] Church of West Point: an eminent mathematician and sound thinker, there have been, in my view, few men connected with the Military Academy, who have done more to develop healthy reasoning powers in the minds of the young cadets than Professor Church. Understanding his own branch of science most thoroughly, he also possessed what so many of knowledge lack, the powers of imparting to pupils the treasures accumulated by patient research during years of labor. No pupil ever asked Professor Church a question without obtaining a lucid answer, none ever made a recitation in his presence without being detected in his ignorance if he was ignorant or commended for his progress if he had made progress. I can’t say we liked Professor Church too well: we were all rather in awe of his attainments; but we admired and respected his ability and certainly none of the class of 1869 will be lacking in a warm regard for his memory. While I am indulging thus in the retrospective, before finishing this account of a pleasant trip, I wish to say that Capt. A. K. Long, of the Subsistence Department, whom Captain Woodruff has succeeded was the first officer with whom I travelled after receiving my commission. He was going to Fort Union, New Mexico,9 to be dépôt Commissary and I was journeying to Fort Craig, New Mexico,10 a post on the Rio Grande about 200 miles below Santa Fe. We met in Saint Louis, at the R.R. dépôt of the Missouri Pacific R.R. and travelled together to Kansas City, thence over the Kansas Pacific R.R. to Sheridan, Kansas, (a little town, 809 miles West of St. Louis.[)] 9. Fort Union was established in 1851 about twenty-four miles northeast of Las Vegas, New Mexico, on the Santa Fe Trail, to protect the trail, suppress the Jicarilla Apaches, and serve as a depot. The fort was relocated about a mile from the original site in 1861, and reconstructed as a star-shaped earthen fortification. Construction on a new post, immediately adjacent to the star-fort, was begun in 1863. The fort was abandoned in 1891, and in 1894, the land reverted to its original owners. It is now a national historic site. Frazer, Forts of the West, 105–6. 10. Fort Craig was established in 1854 on the Rio Grande, about four miles south of the present town of San Marcial. It guarded the north-south route along the Rio Grande against depredations by Apaches. The post was abandoned in 1885. Frazer, Forts of the West, 98.

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We stopped at Fort Harker, Kansas,11 a post build for the protection against the Cheyenne Indians, then very bad. From Fort Harker, we went North 30 miles to the camp on the Republican [River] (Solomon’s Fork) of Major Tilford’s Battalion of the 7th Cavalry, with which my friend Tom March was then serving. Unfortunately, a cold strong wind was blowing, so we couldn’t go hunting the buffalo as we intended, but we had all the buffalo meat we wanted to eat. In going over the Kansas Pacific R.R., herds of buffalo several times ran across the track directly in front of the engine and passengers had a lively time popping at them from the car windows; one or two seemed to be wounded, but none was killed. Ellsworth and Abilene, in those days, were hard towns, filled with the worst dregs of Texas and Missouri society, not to forget the gamblers, dead-beats and cut-throats who had flocked in from all points of the compass, North, South, east and West. Vigilance committees had been organized previous to our arrival and many victims of outraged justice had already expiated their crimes, without much time for repentance. At Sheridan, we took the stage and travelled 330 weary miles to Fort Union, which was then the Head.Qrs. of our Reg’t.12 I was temporarily assigned to the command of Company “I,” of the Regiment, and remained at the post a fortnight. Thence I went to Santa Fé, 110 miles, and from there, a wearisome jog, of 182 more, to Fort Craig, (since abandoned.)13 Bourke ends his reminiscences here. 11. Fort Harker was established in 1864, about three miles east of the present town of Ellsworth, and relocated one mile northeast in 1867. Originally known as Fort Ellsworth, it was renamed Fort Harker in 1866. It protected remote frontier settlements and construction crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. The post was abandoned in 1872, and the reservation transferred to the Interior Department in 1880. Frazer, Forts of the West, 53–54. 12. 3rd Cavalry. 13. This parenthetical notation must have been inserted at a later date. Fort Craig was abandoned in 1885.

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Appendix 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Persons Mentioned in the Diary

Due to the large number of sources for the biographical sketches in this section, footnotes or endnotes would have been impractical. Consequently, I have placed the sources in parentheses at the end of each entry. In cases where the author has only one publication in the bibliography, I have used only the author’s last name. In cases of multiple publications by the same author, I have placed the date of publication of the edition cited. Military When discussing the careers of cavalrymen, the designation of units overlapping the Civil War tends to be confusing. In mid1861, the Regular Army had six mounted regiments, viz. First and Second Dragoons, Mounted Riflemen, and First, Second and Third Cavalry. On August 3, 1861, Congress reorganized these regiments, designating them all “cavalry,” and renumbering them as follows: First Dragoons to First Cavalry Second Dragoons to Second Cavalry Mounted Riflemen to Third Cavalry First Cavalry to Fourth Cavalry Second Cavalry to Fifth Cavalry 387

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Third Cavalry to Sixth Cavalry. After the war, additional Regular Army mounted units were authorized as needed (Herr and Wallace, 116). ADAM, Emil (1831–1903), which Bourke spelled “Adams,” was captain in the 5th Cavalry. A native of Bavaria, he served in that country’s army before settling in Illinois. He served in the Illinois infantry during the Civil War and entered the Regular Army in 1867. He was breveted to major for gallantry in action against Indians at Muchos Cañones, Arizona, on Sept. 25, 1872, but was suspended for six months in 1874, when his failure to react to an attack on a wagon train near San Carlos led to a major outbreak. He participated in Crook’s Bighorn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876, and in the Nez Percé War. He retired as a major in 1893. (Heitman, 1:151; Altshuler, 1991, 2–3) ALLEN, James, of Indiana, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was posted to the 2nd Cavalry. He rose through the grades, and in 1888 became captain. In 1890, he was assigned to the Signal Corps, and in 1899 became lieutenant colonel. During the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection, he served in the Volunteers, attaining the rank of brigadier general in that service in 1901. (Heitman, 1:159) ALLISON, James Nicholas, entered West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was posted to the 2nd Cavalry as a second lieutenant, a position he held at the time Bourke knew him. (Heitman, 1:160) ANDREWS, William Howard (d. 1880), joined the Volunteers as a captain in 1862, and was mustered out as a brevet major. He was named first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry in 1866, and assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp McDowell, Arizona, in December 1870, serving as post adjutant for the next ten months. He retired in disability as captain in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 10; Heitman, 1:167) ANDRUS, Edwin Proctor, of New York, was appointed second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry upon graduation from West Point in 1875. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1883, captain in 1893, and major of the 3rd Cavalry in 1902. (Heitman, 1:167) ARTHUR, William, joined the Volunteer artillery as first lieutenant in 1862. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. He joined the 3rd Artillery as

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second lieutenant in 1866. He was appointed major and paymaster on July 26, 1876, and retired in 1898. (Heitman, 1:172) AUGUR, Christopher Colon (1821–98), entered West Point in 1839, and upon graduation was breveted as second lieutenant of the 2nd Infantry. Two years later, in 1845, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. Augur served honorably during the Mexican War and on the Indian frontier, working his way up the grades. In 1861, he was promoted to major. After spending the first few months of the Civil War as commandant of cadets at West Point, he was posted to the Washington defenses. He was breveted for gallant and meritorious service during the Shenandoah Campaign of 1862, and the Mississippi Campaign the following year, and finished the war as brevet major general. In 1869, he was appointed brigadier general, and spent the remainder of his career commanding various departments in the Military Division of the Missouri. He retired in 1885. (Warner, 12; Heitman, 1:175) AUGUR, Jacob Arnold, entered West Point in 1865, and was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry upon graduation. In 1871, he was promoted to first lieutenant, and in 1879, captain. After serving as major and lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry, he was promoted to colonel of the 10th Cavalry in 1902. (Heitman, 1:175) BABCOCK, John Breckinridge (1843–1909), a native of Louisiana nevertheless served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was breveted to major for gallantry. In 1867, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutenant the following year. He went to Arizona with the regiment in 1872. He was breveted to colonel for gallant service in action against Indians at Tonto Creek, on June 16, 1873, and at Four Peaks, Arizona, on January 16, 1874. He retired as a brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 14–15; Heitman, 1:178) BACHE, Alfred Boyce (c. 1846–1876), was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant the following year. Although his health appears to have been frail, he was active in scouting expeditions in Arizona, and several times was recommended for brevets. His health was broken by the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, especially during the Horse Meat March, when he insisted on joining his company in the fight at Slim Buttes. He died two months later. (Altshuler, 1991, 15)

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BACON, John Mosby, of Kentucky, served in the Volunteers and was mustered out as major in 1865. A year later, he was commissioned captain in the 9th Cavalry. From 1871 to 1884, he served as aide-de-camp to General Sherman. In 1884, he was promoted to major of the 7th Cavalry, rising to lieutenant colonel of the 1st Cavalry in 1893, and colonel of the 8th Cavalry in 1897. During the Spanish-American War, Bacon served as brigadier general of Volunteers. He retired in 1899. (Heitman, 1:179) BAKER, Eugene Mortimer (d. 1884), of New York, entered West Point in 1854, and upon graduation was breveted as second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons. In 1860, the position of second lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons fell open and he was appointed to the active rank. He was promoted to first lieutenant in May 1861, three months before the 1st Dragoons was redesignated 1st Cavalry. He distinguished himself in combat, attaining the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel in the Civil War, and colonel during operations against Indians during the three years immediately following the war. In 1869, he was promoted to major of the 2nd Cavalry. A year later, with two squadrons of the regiment, he attacked a Piegan village in Montana. Although the number of women and children taken captive and later released far outweighed the combatants, and Sherman and Sheridan maintained these Piegans had committed depredations, the Eastern press branded Baker a murderer. The public outrage essentially ended any hope of military participation in the development of President Grant’s Peace Policy. (Heitman, 1:184; Utley, Frontier Regulars, 1984, 191–92) BALDWIN, Frank Dwight (1842–1923), two-time Medal of Honor winner, entered the army as a lieutenant of the Volunteers in 1861. He won his first Medal of Honor (awarded in 1891) for distinguished bravery during the Atlanta Campaign, and was mustered out in 1865 as a lieutenant colonel. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 19th Infantry in 1866, and in 1869 joined the 5th Infantry as first lieutenant. He won his second Medal of Honor (awarded in 1894) for valor at McClellan Creek, Texas, during the Red River War in 1874. During the Great Sioux War, he distinguished himself in Col. Nelson Miles’s campaigns in Montana. He served in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection, retiring as major general in 1906. Baldwin was one of only five men ever to win the Medal of Honor twice, and

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the only one to receive it for both the Civil War and Indian Wars. (O’Neal, 38–40; Heitman, 1:185–86) BARTLETT, Charles Gratiot (d. 1901), of New York, joined the militia as a sergeant in April 1861, and was commissioned captain of the 12th Infantry in August of that year. While remaining nominally in the 12th, he served in various Volunteer capacities during the Civil War, including a brief stint as colonel of the 119th U.S. Colored Infantry. After several transfers of regiment in the postwar army, he was promoted to major of the 11th Infantry in 1876. He retired as colonel of the 9th Infantry in 1896, and drowned in 1901. (Heitman, 1:196) BARNARD, Phineas Pierce (1820–97), native of New York, joined the Volunteers as an assistant quartermaster in 1863. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1867, joining the regiment at Fort Laramie. He joined the 5th Cavalry in 1869, and accompanied the regiment to Arizona. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1875, and served in the Platte until 1884, when he retired because of age. (Altshuler, 1991, 20) BENTEEN, Frederick William (d. 1898), native of Virginia, was living in Missouri when the Civil War broke out, and received a commission as second lieutenant in one of that state’s Union Volunteer units. He distinguished himself during the war, and by 1865 was colonel of the 138th U.S. Colored Infantry. After the war, Benteen became senior captain in the newly organized 7th Cavalry, serving in every campaign. He also headed a faction of officers opposed to the regiment’s lieutenant colonel, George Armstrong Custer. Benteen survived the disaster at the Little Bighorn and retired in 1888 as a major. (O’Neal, 41–44) BISHOP, Hoel Smith (1850–1925), graduated from West Point in 1873, and was posted to Fort Whipple as second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. In 1876, he participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Bannock War in Wyoming and Idaho in 1878. He retired as colonel in 1913. (Altshuler, 1991, 35) BRADLEY, Luther Prentice (1822–1910), native of Connecticut, was appointed lieutenant colonel of a Volunteer regiment in 1861, rising to brigadier general by 1864. In 1866, he entered the Regular Army as lieutenant colonel of the 27th Infantry in 1866. He commanded Fort C.F. Smith, Montana, during the Red Cloud War. As lieutenant colonel of the 9th Infantry, he was in command of Camp

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Robinson, Nebraska, when Crazy Horse was killed there in 1877. Bradley was appointed colonel of the 3rd Infantry in 1879, and was commander of the Military District of New Mexico in 1881, during the Cibicue outbreak in Arizona. He took troops to reinforce Fort Apache, Arizona, and commanded a special military district created to deal with the crisis. When New Mexico was attached to the Department of Arizona during the Geronimo War, Bradley served under Crook in an effort to contain the raiding. He retired in 1886. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:157; Heitman, 1:239) BRISBIN, James Sanks (1837–92), known as “Grasshopper Jim” for his interest in developing Western agriculture, was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons (renumbered 1st Cavalry) in 1861. He finished the Civil War as major general of Volunteers. In 1866, he was transferred to the 9th Cavalry, as captain, and two years later was appointed major of the 2nd Cavalry. As commander of Fort Ellis, Montana, Brisbin led a relief force to rescue forty-six citizens besieged by Indians at Fort Pease, a private stockade on the Yellowstone River. This incident, in February 1876, was one of the first actions of the Great Sioux War. He later served under Col. Nelson Miles, when Miles followed Sitting Bull as far as the Canadian border. He was colonel of the 8th Cavalry at the time of his death. Brisbin wrote several books boosting development of the West, the best known of which is The Beef Bonanza: or, How to Get Rich on the Plains. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:170; Heitman, 1:246) BUBB, John Wilson, enlisted in the 12th Infantry in 1861, and was commissioned as lieutenant five years later. In 1869, he was assigned to the 4th Infantry as first lieutenant, serving as quartermaster from 1872 to 1875. During Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, he was acting commissary of subsistence, and played a significant part during the campaign. (Heitman, 1:257) BUELL, George Pearson (d. 1883) of Indiana, served in the Volunteers and was mustered out as brevet brigadier general in 1865. He also was breveted to brigadier general of the Regular Army for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War. Buell was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 29th Infantry in 1866, and transferred to the 11th Infantry three years later. He was colonel of the 15th Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:260) BURKE, Daniel Webster (1841–1911), native of Connecticut, enlisted in the 2nd Infantry in 1858, serving in Minnesota, Dakota,

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and Nebraska. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1862, serving with distinction in the Civil War. In 1876, he was captain of the 14th Infantry, serving in Crook’s campaigns. He commanded Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, at the Spotted Tail Agency, when Crazy Horse surrendered, and it was at his suggestion that Crazy Horse went to Camp Robinson, where he was killed. Burke, however, had no knowledge of any plans to confine Crazy Horse at Robinson. He retired in 1899 as brigadier general. See also CLARK, William Philo; CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:192–93) BURNHAM, Horace Blois (d. 1894), served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and finished as a brevet colonel. In 1867, he was commissioned major and judge advocate, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel judge advocate general in 1884. He retired four years later. (Heitman, 1:265) BURROWES, Thomas Bredin (d. 1885) was appointed first lieutenant of the 18th Infantry in 1861, dismissed and reinstated. He was promoted to captain in 1864. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was captain of the 9th Infantry. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:267) BURT, Andrew Sheridan (1839–1915), native of Ohio, enlisted as a Volunteer in 1861, but almost immediately was commissioned second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry. He was promoted to the active rank of captain in 1863, and breveted to major for gallant and meritorious service during the Atlanta Campaign. After the war he was posted to Fort Bridger, Utah, and Fort C. F. Smith, Montana. With the reduction of the army he was reassigned to the 9th Infantry. Burt participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. He retired as brigadier general in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 50–51; Heitman, 1:267) CAIN, Avery Billings (d. 1879), of Vermont, was appointed first lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1861, and promoted to captain in 1863. He was breveted to major for gallant and meritorious service at the North Anna River in Virginia in 1864. Despite his mental breakdown, he was still in service at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:273) CALLAHAN, Charles Michael (1839–90), native of Ireland, enlisted as a sergeant in the Volunteers in April 1861, rising to lieutenant the following September. He was mustered out as captain in 1865, and a year later was appointed lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery.

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He was transferred to the 4th Cavalry in 1874, and served under Crook in the Platte. Promoted to captain, he served in Arizona from 1884 to 1886, and was retired due to ill health the following year. (Altshuler, 1991, 53). CALHOUN, James (d. 1876) of Ohio, was brother-in-law of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, and died with Custer’s command at the Little Bighorn. He entered the army as a private of the 23rd Infantry in 1865. Two years later, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 32nd Infantry. After serving in the 21st Infantry, he was assigned to the 7th Cavalry on January 1, 1871, and promoted to first lieutenant eight days later. See also CUSTER, Boston; CUSTER, Thomas Ward; REED, Arthur Harry. (Heitman, 1:274) CAMPBELL, Joseph Boyd (d. 1891), entered West Point in 1857. Upon graduation he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 4th Artillery. During the Civil War, he was breveted to major. In 1867, he was commissioned captain in the 4th Artillery, and was major of the 2nd Artillery at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:278) CAPRON, Thaddeus Hurlbut (d. 1890), enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned first lieutenant in 1863. After the Civil War, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1871. He retired in 1887. Capron left a diary and series of letters on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Heitman, 1:281) CARD, Benjamin Cozzens, joined the army as first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry on September 27, 1861, and was promoted to captain and assistant quartermaster the same day. He finished the Civil War as a brevet brigadier general. He retired in 1889 as lieutenant colonel and deputy quartermaster general. (Heitman, 1:281) CARLTON, Caleb Henry (1836–1923), native of Ohio, was an 1859 graduate of West Point. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry, and by 1862 had risen to captain. During the Civil War he served as colonel of the Volunteers and earned two brevets. Returning to the Regular Army, he served at Forts Laramie and Fetterman from 1867 to 1869, when he was dropped under the Army Reduction Acts. A year later, he was appointed to the 10th Cavalry at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, and in 1876 was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry and posted to Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming. He served in Arizona from 1882 to 1885, and later was posted to Texas. He retired as brigadier general on June 30, 1897. Bourke often spelled

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his name as “Carleton.” (Althshuler, 1991, 58) CARPENTER, William Lewis (1844–98), native of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Artillery in 1864. He was promoted to second lieutenant and assigned to the 9th Infantry in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1873. He served on survey and scientific expeditions, including to the Bighorn Mountains, and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He later served in Arizona, where he was promoted to captain. (Altshuler, 1991, 58–59) CARR, Eugene Asa (1830–1910), native of New York, was an 1850 graduate of West Point, and served on the frontier until the outbreak of the Civil War when he joined the Volunteers. He was breveted to brigadier general of Volunteers in 1862, and received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. After being mustered out of the Volunteers, he was appointed major of the 5th Cavalry, retroactive to 1862, and again posted to the frontier. He was appointed lieutenant colonel in 1873. After service in Arizona from 1872 to 1876, the 5th was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Carr participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and led the preliminary relief force at Slim Buttes, on September 9, 1876. He was promoted to colonel of the 6th Cavalry in 1879, and retired as brigadier general in 1893. See also MERRITT, Wesley. (King; Altshuler, 1991, 60–61; O’Neal, 67–72) CHAMBERS, Alexander (1832–88), native of New York, was an 1853 graduate of West Point. He served in the Southwest and against the Seminoles in Florida. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was captain of the 18th Infantry. He finished the war as a brevet colonel of the Regular Army and brevet brigadier general of Volunteers. In 1876, he was major of the 4th Infantry, in command of Fort Fetterman. In October of that year, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 21st Infantry. He commanded the infantry contingent of Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and led them in the fight at Slim Buttes. He was colonel of the 17th Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:293; Thrapp, 1991, 1:248) CHASE, George Francis (1848–1925), 1871 graduate of West Point, was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry the following year. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and, as first lieutenant, served in Arizona. He retired as a brigadier general in 1912. (Altshuler, 1991, 67)

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CHERRY, Samuel Austin, of Indiana, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry. He transferred to the 5th Cavalry on July 28, 1876. He was murdered by a soldier on May 11, 1881. (Heitman, 1:298) CHUBB, Charles St. John, of the District of Columbia, served as a private from 1873 to 1875, when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 17th Infantry in 1875. By 1903, he was major of the 15th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:301) CHURCH, Albert E. (d. 1878), of Connecticut, entered West Point in 1824, and upon graduation, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1836. Two years later, he was appointed professor of mathematics at West Point, a post he held until his death on March 30, 1878. Together with his immediate predecessor, Charles Davies, Church was instrumental in shaping the mathematics program at the academy. He was the author of seven textbooks. (Heitman, 1:301; http://www.dean.usma. edu/math/about/history/contrib.htm) CLAGETT, John Rozier (d. 1902), of the District of Columbia, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1875. He rose through the grades, becoming captain in 1892. He was major of the 2nd Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:302) CLARK, William Philo (1845–84), which Bourke often spelled “Clarke,” was a native of New York. He graduated from West Point in 1868, and was appointed second lieutenant, 2nd Cavalry, at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming. He served on General Crook’s staff in 1876 and 1877, figuring prominently in the Great Sioux War, particularly with events surrounding Crazy Horse’s death. Much of the acrimony between Clark and Crazy Horse that set the event into motion appears to have stemmed from Frank Grouard’s mistranslation of a remark by Crazy Horse. During the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1878–79, Clark managed to round up a large band without bloodshed. His book, Indian Sign Language, remains definitive. He also wrote an account of Crazy Horse’s death, which was edited by Robert A. Clark, and published in The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse, in 1976. See also BURKE, Daniel Webster, GROUARD, Frank; CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:278; Robinson, 1995, 337–38) CLEMENTS, Bennett A., was assigned to departmental headquarters in Omaha. He joined the army as a first lieutenant and assistant surgeon in 1856, serving in Florida, Texas, and New Mexico.

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He was promoted to surgeon and major in 1863, and administered hospitals during and after the Civil War. Dr. Clements participated in General Crook’s Horse Meat March, and filed a report giving the medical effects of the ordeal. He also was one of the medical officers who, in 1884, certified that Ranald Mackenzie was insane and unfit for further duty. Clements’s report on the Horse Meat March is found in Greene, 1993, 97ff, and in Appendix 2 of this volume; and on Mackenzie in Robinson, 1993, 323–24. See MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell. COALE, John Holbrook (d. 1883), of Maryland, was commissioned as a captain of the commissary service in the Volunteers in 1862, and promoted to lieutenant colonel a year later. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 27th Infantry, but at the time of Bourke’s writing, was serving in the 2nd Cavalry. He was a first lieutenant at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:312) COPPINGER, John Joseph (1834–1909), native of Ireland, was a professional soldier. He was appointed captain of the 14th Infantry in 1861, and served with distinction during the Civil War. In 1866, he was assigned to the 23rd Infantry, serving in San Francisco and Alaska before arriving in Arizona in 1872. He commanded Camp Verde until 1874 when he was reassigned to the Department of the Platte. He was breveted to colonel for service against hostile Indians. He was confirmed as brigadier general in 1896, and commanded the Department of the Platte. He retired in 1898, after being appointed major general of Volunteers. (Altshuler, 1991, 78; Heitman, 1:327) CRAWFORD, Emmet (1844–86), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Volunteer during the Civil War and was mustered out as first lieutenant. In 1866, he was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 27th Infantry. With the consolidation of regiments, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp Verde in 1871, moving with the regiment to the Platte where he served in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Crawford was promoted to captain in 1879, and in 1882 was assigned to Camp Thomas, Arizona. Upon Crook’s return to Arizona, he assigned Crawford as commander of Indian Scouts, and military superintendent at San Carlos. During the Geronimo Campaign, he was killed in a skirmish with Mexican militia. See also THREE BEARS. (Altshuler, 1991, 84–85; O’Neal, 95–96)

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CRITTENDEN, Albert Burnley, of Kentucky, was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1874. He resigned in 1880. (Heitman, 1:338) CRITTENDEN, John Jordan (d. 1876) of Kentucky, was appointed second lieutenant of the 20th Infantry in 1875. He accompanied the 7th Cavalry in Terry’s Dakota Column on temporary assignment because of a shortage in officers of one of the companies. He died at the Little Bighorn. Not to be confused with a cousin, also named John Jordan Crittenden, who was an officer of the 22nd Infantry. (Heitman, 1:338) CUMMINGS, Joseph Franklin (1851–1912), native of Texas, graduated from West Point in 1876, and served in the Platte and Dakota in the 3rd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1881. Cummings served in Arizona in 1882 and 1883. He was dismissed under sentence of court martial effective February 15, 1884. He returned to Texas, where he became superintendent of public schools in Brownsville, and later inspector of Customs. There is a Cummings Middle School in Brownsville. (Altshuler, 1991, 89) CUNNINGHAM. Neither Heitman nor Altshuler lists a lieutenant named Cunningham in the 3rd Cavalry during this period. CUSHING, Harry Cooke (d. 1902), served a brief stint in a Rhode Island artillery unit before being commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Artillery in October 1861. He was promoted to first lieutenant the following year, and captain in 1871. He retired as a major in 1895. (Heitman, 1:347) CUSTER, Thomas Ward (1845–76), younger brother of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, who died with him at the Little Bighorn. Tom Custer entered the army as a private in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1862. He finished the Civil War as a brevet major of Volunteers, and later was brevet lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army. He also was awarded the Medal of Honor twice, which occasionally aroused the jealousy of his older brother. Tom Custer was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Infantry in February 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant of the 7th Cavalry, the following July. He was a captain at the time of his death. See also CALHOUN, James; CUSTER, Boston; REED, Arthur Harry. (Heitman, 1:348; Day) DAVIS, George Breckenridge (1847–1914), is best known for supervising publication of the monumental War of the Rebellion:

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Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. A native of Massachusetts, he entered the Volunteers as a sergeant in 1863, and was mustered out as first lieutenant. He entered West Point and graduated in 1871, after which he was posted to Fort D. A. Russell as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1873, when he was assigned to the academy as assistant professor. Davis was promoted to first lieutenant in 1877, and rejoined his regiment in the Platte. In 1883, he returned to the academy as principal assistant professor of history, geography, and ethics, and assistant professor of law, and wrote Outlines of International Law. He was promoted to captain in 1888, and after service in the Indian Territory, was promoted to major and judge advocate. Later he served for twelve years as judge advocate general of the army. He was a major general at the time of his retirement in 1911. (Altshuler, 1991, 95) DAVIS, Wirt, (1839–1914) native of Virginia, enlisted in the 1st Cavalry in 1860, and was sergeant when the regiment was renumbered as 4th Cavalry a year later. In 1863, he was commissioned as second lieutenant, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1865. He earned three brevets during the Civil War, one for action against Indians in Texas in 1872, and a fifth for the Dull Knife Fight on November 25, 1876. He served in Arizona from 1884 to 1890, and in Cuba and the Philippines. He retired as colonel of the 3rd Cavalry in 1901, and was advanced to brigadier general (retired) three years later. (Altshuler, 1991, 98–99) DELANEY, Hayden (1845–90), native of Ohio, served as an enlisted man in the Volunteers during the Civil War. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1867, and was breveted for service against the Paiute Indians of Oregon in 1868. He was breveted a second time for action in Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s attack on the Cheyennes on November 25, 1876, during Crook’s Powder River Expedition in Wyoming. He was promoted to captain in 1889, but suffered from lung hemorrhages. He died during sick leave. (Altshuler, 1991, 100; Bourke, 1980, 390–92) DEVIN, John D. (d. 1882), joined the army as a second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in April 1861, and was promoted to first lieutenant a month later. In 1863, he was promoted to captain, and finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:370)

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DEVIN, Thomas C. (1832–78), native of New York, formed a company of Volunteer cavalry for the Union Army and within a year, he had risen to colonel, rising to become brevet major general of Volunteers and brevet brigadier general of the Regular Army. He was regarded as one of the great cavalry leaders of the war. In 1866, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the newly organized 8th Cavalry. He commanded the District of Nevada before assuming command of the Subdistrict of Prescott in January 1868, and later held temporary command of the entire District of Arizona. Devin gained a reputation as a troubleshooter who was sent to straighten out problems in garrisons, and with Indian relocations. He was appointed colonel of the 3rd Cavalry in 1877, and went on sick leave shortly before his death on April 4, 1878. (Altshuler, 1991, 102–3) DEWEES, Thomas Bull (d. 1886), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1858. When the regiment was redesignated 2nd Cavalry in 1861, he was promoted to second lieutenant, eventually attaining the rank of captain. In October 1881, he was named major of the 9th Cavalry. Bourke occasionally refers to him as “major,” but no such brevet appears on his record. (Heitman, 1:370–71) DODGE, Frederick Leighton (d. 1891), native of New Hampshire, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and was appointed first lieutenant in 1865. In 1867, he was named second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in the Department of the Columbia. He was transferred to Fort Whipple, Arizona, in 1872, and promoted to first lieutenant a year later. His regiment transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1874. In 1889, he suffered a mental breakdown, and retired two years later. A few months after his retirement, he committed suicide. (Altshuler, 1991, 105) DODGE, Richard Irving (1827–95), 1848 graduate of West Point, was a grand-nephew of Washington Irving who shared Irving’s literary bent. Like Bourke, Dodge was a prolific diarist and observer as well as a naturalist, publishing several books on western wildlife and on Indian culture. Perhaps his best known are The Black Hills: A Minute Description of the Routes, Scenery, Soil, Climate, Timber, Gold, Geology, Zoology, etc. (1876), and Our Wild Indians: Thirty Three Years’ Personal Experience Among the Red Men of the Great West (1882). He spent part of the period prior to the Civil War on the Texas Frontier. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who transferred to the

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Volunteers to attain advancement during the war, Dodge remained in the Regular service, although he was breveted to colonel for faithful and meritorious service in the organization of the Volunteer armies. Promoted to the active rank of major in 1864, he spent much of the postwar era on the frontier. He was named lieutenant colonel of the 23rd Infantry in 1873, and promoted to colonel and aide-de-camp to General Sherman in 1882. He retired in 1891. Wayne R. Kime has edited Dodge’s book, The Plains of North America and Their Inhabitants (1989), as well as four volumes comprising his service journals from 1875 to 1883. For all his work, it is remarkable that Dodge has received little mention in biographical encyclopedias. (Kime, 1997, 9; Heitman, 1:377) DORST, Joseph Haddox (1852–1916), native of Kentucky, was an 1873 graduate of West Point. He was assigned to the 4th Cavalry in Texas, and distinguished himself during the Red River War of 1874–75. He was active in the Powder River Expedition of 1876, and the Geronimo Campaign of 1886. He later taught at the Military Academy, served as military attaché in Vienna, smuggled arms to Cuban insurgents, and served in the Santiago Campaign and the Philippine Insurrection. He retired as colonel of the 3rd Cavalry. (Altshuler, 106) DOUGHERTY, John Jefferson (d. 1899), whose name Bourke spelled as “Doherty,” entered West Point in 1868. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 11th Infantry in 1872, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1880. He retired as a captain in 1890. (Heitman, 1:380) DREW, George Augustus (1832–1921), native of Michigan, was appointed a captain of the Volunteers in 1862, and promoted to major the following year. He was breveted for distinguished service in the Shenandoah and against Richmond. He was named second lieutenant of the 10th Infantry in 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1868. A year later, he was reassigned to the 3rd Cavalry. He was transferred to Camp Bowie in 1871, and to the Department of the Platte the same year. He served as acting assistant quartermaster for the Big Horn Expedition under Reynolds in 1876. He retired as a captain in 1896, but was advanced to major in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 108–9) EATON, George Oscar (1848–1930), native of Maine, was an 1873 graduate of West Point. He joined the 5th Cavalry at Camp

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Verde, Arizona, and was recommended for a brevet for scouting expeditions. He may have been the model for the hero in Charles King’s novel, The Colonel’s Daughter. He served on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. Eaton resigned in 1883, and later moved to Montana, where he was a member of the State Constitutional Convention. (Altshuler, 1991, 116–17) EGAN, James (d. 1883) called Teddy by his friends, was a native of Ireland who enlisted in the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1856. He served with distinction in the Civil War, and was named second lieutenant of the new 2nd Cavalry in 1863. He was promoted to captain in 1868, and in 1872 was among the officers assigned to the Grand Duke Tsarevich Alexis’s tour of the Plains. Egan’s initiative during Reynolds’s Powder River fight prevented a confused, blundering situation from becoming potentially disastrous. He retired on disability in 1879, due to wounds and injuries received in the line of duty. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:454; Heitman, 1:399) EVANS, Andrew Wallace (1829–1906), native of Maryland, graduated from West Point together with Crook in 1852. He served on the frontier until 1863, and was breveted for the battle of Valverde in 1862. He was named colonel of the 1st Maryland Cavalry in 1864, and was breveted for distinguished service in the Appomattox Campaign. In 1865, he was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry, and posted to the frontier. He went to Arizona in 1870, and served under Crook as departmental inspector general. Evans transferred to the Department of the Platte in 1876, and commanded a battalion during Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1883 as lieutenant colonel of the 7th Cavalry. (Altshuler, 1991, 123) EZEKIEL, David Israel (d. 1895), of Ohio, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. The following year, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, and was mustered out as captain of the 6th U.S. Volunteers in 1866. He was appointed first lieutenant of the 38th Infantry, and in 1870 was assigned to the 4th Infantry. He retired in 1878. (Heitman, 1:411) FETTERMAN, William Judd (ca. 1833–66), native of Connecticut, enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was breveted to lieutenant colonel for distinguished service. Commissioned as a captain in the 18th Infantry, he was posted to Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming. On December 21, 1866, he led his men against a band of Indians, following a decoy party into a trap. Fetterman and his entire

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eighty-man command died in the fight. (O’Neal, 113–15; Brown) FLOYD-JONES, De Lancey (d. 1902), of New York, entered West Point in 1841, and was breveted to second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry upon graduation in 1846. Shortly thereafter, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He rose through the grades and was commissioned major of the 11th Infantry shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War. He was breveted for service in both the Mexican War and Civil War. In 1867, he was appointed colonel of the 6th Infantry, and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry in 1871. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:426) FORD, George Edward (1841–93), native of Philadelphia, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant in 1862. He finished the Civil War as captain and brevet colonel of Volunteers. Ford was commissioned second lieutenant of the 39th Infantry in 1867, but was cut from the list by army consolidations. He served as Indian agent in New Mexico and Montana from 1869 to 1870, when he joined the 3rd Cavalry as first lieutenant. He was a captain when he was retired for disability in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 132–33) FORSYTH, George Alexander “Sandy” (1837–1915) is best remembered for holding out with fifty men during a six-day siege by some 750 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors at Beecher’s Island, Colorado, in 1868. A native of Illinois, he enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was appointed first lieutenant later that year. He served as an aide to Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, and was breveted to brigadier general. In 1866, he was appointed major of the 9th Cavalry. After serving intermittently as secretary and aide to General Sheridan between 1869 and 1881, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 4th Cavalry. He served in Arizona from 1884 to 1887. A year later, he was suspended for three years on half pay for financial irregularities. He retired in 1890, and wrote two books, The Story of the Soldier and Thrilling Days of Army Life. (Altshuler, 1991, 133–34; Lamar, 381; Thrapp, 1991, 1:509–10) FORSYTH, James William “Tony,” of Ohio, entered West Point in 1851, and in 1856 was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. He had known Sheridan since West Point, and prior to the Civil War, they had served together in the Pacific Northwest. He served under Sheridan from 1864, distinguishing himself in the battles of Opequon, Fisher’s Hill, and Middletown. He finished the

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Civil War as a brevet brigadier general. Forsyth served as Sheridan’s aide-de-camp from 1869 to 1873, when he became the lieutenantgeneral’s military secretary. In 1878, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 1st Cavalry, and joined that regiment. In 1886, he became colonel of the 7th Cavalry, which he commanded in the slaughter at Wounded Knee in 1890. (Hutton, 153–54; Heitman, 1:430) FOSTER, Charles Warren, enlisted in the Engineers in 1846, and served for ten years. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he became captain of the Volunteers, attaining the brevet ranks of lieutenant colonel of Volunteers, and lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army. In 1865, he was appointed captain and acting quartermaster, and in 1883, major quartermaster. He retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:431) FOSTER, James Evans Heron (1848–83), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1864 and was discharged in 1865. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry in 1873, and distinguished himself in the Rosebud Fight. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879, but tuberculosis forced him onto the inactive list in 1881. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:511) FUREY, John Vincent, of New York, enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in 1861. Taking a discharge in 1862, he reentered the Volunteers two years later as quartermaster captain. He was breveted to major of the Volunteers for meritorious service in the Quarter Master Department during the Civil War. Furey was appointed captain and assistant quartermaster of the Regular Army in 1867. Although Altshuler (Cavalry Yellow & Infantry Blue) does not list him among the officers who served in Arizona, he was Crook’s quartermaster both there and later in the Platte. He retired in 1903 as brigadier general. (Heitman, 1:441) GIBBON, John (1827–96), known to the Indians as “No Hip Bone” or “One Who Limps” because of a crippling wound he received at Gettysburg, was an 1847 graduate of West Point. During the late 1840s and 1850s, he served in Mexico, the frontier, and in the Seminole campaigns in Florida. During the Civil War, he commanded the “Iron Brigade” at Second Manassas and in Maryland, ultimately rising to the rank of major general of Volunteers. After the war, he was appointed colonel of the 36th Infantry, and in 1869, of the 7th Infantry. With Brig. Gen. Alfred Terry, he relieved Maj. Marcus Reno at the Little Bighorn, and discovered the remains of

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Custer’s column. He also participated in the Nez Percé War, and in 1885, was appointed brigadier general. He retired in 1891. (Warner, 171–72; Thrapp, 1991, 2:551–52) GIBBS, Eugene Beauharnais (1833–82), son of a former governor of Rhode Island, joined the Volunteers as captain in the 2nd California Infantry, in 1861. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 8th Infantry in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant two years later. In 1871, he joined the 6th Infantry and served as aide to Brig. Gen. Alfred H. Terry during the campaigns of 1876. He was a captain of the Quarter Master’s Department at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 139) GIBSON, Joseph Ruff, of Pennsylvania, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1862. He was breveted to captain and major for service during the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel in 1866 for meritorious and distinguished service during a cholera outbreak at Harts Island, in New York Harbor. He was a lieutenant colonel and departmental surgeon general at the time of his retirement in 1895. (Heitman, 1:454) GOODALE, Greenleaf Austin (1839–1915), native of Maine, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and became first lieutenant of the 77th U.S. Colored Infantry in 1864. He earned two brevets during the Civil War and was mustered out as captain in 1866. He then was commissioned first lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry, serving in California and the Pacific Northwest. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1874 when he was reassigned to the Department of the Platte. When he was major of the 23rd Infantry, his command captured Cebu in 1898. He retired as brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 140–41) GORDON, David Stewart, was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons in April 1861, and promoted to first lieutenant six weeks later. He remained when the regiment was redesignated 2nd Cavalry, and was promoted to captain in 1863. In 1877, he was promoted to major. Gordon was colonel of the 6th Cavalry at the time of his retirement in 1896. A combat soldier, he was breveted to major for the Gettysburg campaign, and to lieutenant colonel for action against Indians in Wyoming in 1870. (Heitman, 1:465) GORDON, George Alexander (1833–78), native of Virginia, was an 1854 graduate of West Point. After serving in the artillery, he transferred to the 2nd Dragoons in 1855, and took part in suppress-

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ing disturbances in Kansas. He was promoted to captain in 1861, shortly before the 2nd Dragoons were renumbered as 2nd Cavalry. During the Civil War he was breveted to lieutenant colonel. In 1867, he was promoted to major of the 4th Cavalry, but was dropped during the Army Reductions. Gordon was reappointed as major of the 5th Cavalry in 1873. He served in Arizona and in the Platte, before being assigned to headquarters of the Military Division of the Missouri in Chicago. (Altshuler, 1991, 141–42) GREELY, Adolphus Washington (1844–1935), is best known for his ill-fated Arctic expedition of 1881–84. On the Powder River Expedition, however, he was first lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. A native of Massachusetts, Greely enlisted in a Volunteer unit with the outbreak of the Civil War. He served with distinction, rising from private to brevet major. After the war, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 36th Infantry, and in 1873 was promoted to first lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry. In 1881, Greely was placed in command of an expedition to construct a polar scientific station in Greenland, part of an international chain of thirteen circumpolar stations in which the United States participated. The expedition landed in 1881, but by late 1883, no supply ship had arrived. By the time the expedition was rescued in mid-1884, only six had survived. In 1886, Greely was promoted to captain, and the following year was jumped four grades to brigadier general and chief signal officer, the first Union Army private to be appointed general. He headed the U.S. Weather Service until it was transferred to the Department of Agriculture in 1891, and remained chief signal officer until 1906. He retired in 1908. Greely was a founder and trustee of the National Geographic Society. On his ninety-first birthday, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, by special act of Congress, for his heroic leadership of the Arctic expedition. See also LOCKWOOD, James Booth. (Johnson and Malone, 21:352–55) GREGG, Thomas Jackson, (d. 1900) of Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Volunteer in 1862, and promoted to second lieutenant the same year. He finished the Civil War as captain of the Volunteers, with brevets to captain and major. He joined the 2nd Cavalry as second lieutenant the same year. He retired as captain in 1890. (Heitman, 1:177) GRESHAM, John Chowning, of Virginia, entered West Point in 1872, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of

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the 3rd Cavalry. He was transferred to the depleted 7th Cavalry effective June 16, 1876, the day after the Custer disaster, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1878. He participated in the fight at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890, for which he received the Medal of Honor. He was promoted to major of the 6th Cavalry in 1901. (Heitman 1:477) GRIMES. Surgeon at Camp Brown, Wyoming. There is no surgeon named Grimes listed in Heitman’s. Apparently Dr. Grimes was a contract physician. HALL, Christopher Tomkins (d. 1887), entered West Point in 1864, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. In 1869, he was promoted to first lieutenant. He resigned in 1880. (Heitman, 1:488) HALL, William Prebel (1848–1927), native of Missouri, graduated from West Point in 1868, and joined the 19th Infantry in Arkansas. On March 31, 1869, he was dropped from the lists by army consolidations, and three months later assigned to the 5th Cavalry. After service in Kansas and Nebraska, he was assigned to Arizona, where he participated in Crook’s Grand Offensive. After a year of sick leave, he returned to duty in 1875, and rejoined his regiment at Fort Dodge, Kansas. Hall was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. In 1879, he and a three-man reconnoitering detail rescued an officer who was being attacked by more than thirty Indians. Hall received the Medal of Honor for that action. Hall retired as brigadier general and adjutant general of the army in 1912. (Altshuler, 1991, 150–51) HAMILTON, John Morrison (1839–98), native of Ontario, enlisted as a Volunteer in New York in 1861. He attained the rank of first lieutenant with a brevet to captain during the Civil War. In 1867, he was commissioned as captain of the 39th Infantry in 1867. In 1870, he was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, and was posted to Camp McDowell, Arizona, in January 1872. He was breveted to major for gallantry in action against the Tonto Apaches in the foothills of the Tortilla Mountains on January 16, 1873. After the 5th was reassigned to the Department of the Platte in 1876, he participated in Col. Ranald Mackenzie’s roundup of Red Cloud’s band at Chadron Creek, Nebraska, and the attack on the Cheyenne camp during Crook’s Powder River Expedition. He was lieutenant colonel of the 9th Cavalry when he was killed in the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba in 1898.

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(Altshuler, 1991, 152–53; O’Neal, 130–31; Heitman, 1:493) HAMILTON, Samuel Todd, of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1862, and finished the Civil War as quartermaster and commissary sergeant. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutenant a year later. He retired as captain in 1892. (Heitman, 1:493) HARDIE, Francis Hunter, entered West Point in 1872, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1876. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1881, and served as regimental quartermaster from 1884 to 1888. He was a major of the 14th Cavalry as of 1901. (Heitman, 1:499) HARNEY, Benjamin Franklin (d. 1858), was named surgeon of the 3rd Infantry in 1814. He was honorably discharged the following year but reinstated in 1816. He was commissioned surgeon major in 1821. (Heitman, 1:501–2) HART, Verling Kersey (d. 1883), of Indiana, entered the army as captain of the 19th Infantry in 1861. After two transfers among the infantry regiments, he was transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1871, and was promoted to major of the 5th Cavalry in 1875. He received brevets to major and lieutenant colonel for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War. (Heitman, 1:506) HARTSUFF, Albert, entered the service as assistant surgeon in 1861, and was promoted to major and surgeon in 1876. He accompanied Crook’s 1876 expeditions, and assisted Dr. Clements on the Horse Meat March. He was breveted to captain and major for faithful and meritorious service during the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel in 1866, for meritorious and distinguished service during a cholera epidemic in New Orleans. He was colonel and assistant surgeon general at the time of his retirement in 1901. (Heitman, 1:507) HASSON. Heitman has three entries under Hasson, but none listed as quartermaster of the 1st Infantry. HAWLEY, William (1838–1914), a native of Washington, D.C., enlisted in the Volunteers in April 1861, but was commissioned first lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry four months later. He was promoted to captain in 1864, and in 1870, was posted to Camp Verde, Arizona. He participated in Crook’s campaigns in the Platte in 1876, including the Horse Meat March. This march undermined his health, and he retired for disability in 1879. His retirement was upgraded to lieutenant colonel in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 161)

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HAY, Charles (1840–92), was first lieutenant of Company C, 23rd Infantry, at Camp McDowell, Arizona, until 1874, when his company was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He was promoted to captain in 1888. He died in Denver. (Altshuler, 1991, 161) HAY, Leonard (1835–1904), native of Indiana, was the brother of John Hay, who served as Secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Hay entered the 15th Infantry as a private in June 1864, and was promoted to second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry two weeks later. He was promoted to first lieutenant in September of that year. He served in the Department of the Platte and later in Arizona. He retired for disability as captain in 1891, and in 1904 was advanced to major on the retired list. (Altshuler, 1991, 162; Heitman, 1:514) HAYES, Edward Mortimer, entered the service as a bugler of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1855. In 1863, he was appointed second lieutenant of a Volunteer unit, and finished the Civil War as captain and brevet major. In February 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutenant the following August. By the 1876 campaigns, he was captain. He retired in 1903 as a brigadier general. (Heitman, 1:515) HAZEN, William Babcock (1830–87), an 1855 graduate of West Point, served with distinction against the Indians in California, Oregon, and Texas, and was seriously wounded in action with Comanches in 1859. This wound, aggravated by diabetes, ultimately caused his death almost thirty years later. He was breveted to major general for his service in the Civil War. In 1867, he was assigned to the Southern Military District in charge of the Indian tribes in Kansas and Oklahoma. As colonel of the 6th Infantry, he commanded Fort Buford, North Dakota, from 1872 to 1877. In 1880, he was promoted to brigadier general and chief of the Army Signal Corps. An outspoken critic and reformer of the army system, he made many enemies. (O’Neal, 142–44; Kroeker) HEINTZELMAN, Charles Stewart (d. 1881), of Michigan, entered West Point in 1863, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery in 1867. He was captain and assistant quartermaster at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:521) HEMPHILL, William C. (d. 1892), of Virginia, served in the ranks of the 2nd (later renumbered to 5th) Cavalry from 1855 to 1866,

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when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1867 and captain in 1876. Hemphill was dismissed in 1881. (Heitman, 1:521) HENRY, Guy Vernor (1839–99), the son of an army officer, was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas. Upon graduating from West Point in 1861, he was appointed to the 1st Artillery. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, earning brevets as colonel of the Regular Army and brigadier general of the Volunteers. He rejoined the 1st Artillery as captain, and in December 1870, transferred to the 3rd Cavalry which was posted at Camp McDowell, Arizona. In July 1871, Henry led an expedition from Camp Apache to McDowell, which established the efficiency of Indian scouts in the Apache campaign. During the battle of the Rosebud in 1876, he was severely wounded in the face, losing the sight in his left eye. He recovered and as major general of Volunteers, he commanded the Department of Puerto Rico following the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to brigadier general of Volunteers in 1898, and assumed that rank in the Regular Army following his discharge from the Volunteers in June 1899. He died four months later. (Altshuler, 1991, 164–66; O’Neal, 145–46) HERMANN, Charles John von (d. 1889), native of Prussia, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, rising to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1866, he was commissioned captain of the 33rd Infantry, and in 1870 was reassigned to the 4th Infantry. He retired in 1886. (Heitman, 1:989) HOFFMAN, William Edwin, entered the service as first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1862, and was promoted to captain a year later. In 1867, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 31st Infantry, and in 1870, was assigned to the 4th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1889. (Heitman, 1991, 1:527) HOWARD, Oliver Otis (1830–1909), native of Maine, graduated from Bowdoin College and West Point, spent more than half his antebellum service at West Point. Known as “the praying general,” he was a devout Congregationalist, and at one point considered resigning from the army to enter the ministry. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he resigned his commission as first lieutenant in the regular army, and became a colonel of Volunteers, and was breveted to brigadier general in September 1861. He lost his right arm in the battle of Seven Pines. He finished the war as major general of Volunteers, and brevet major general of the Regular

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Army with the active rank of brigadier general. He headed the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands from 1865 to 1872, after which he was appointed special Indian commissioner. Among his accomplishments was negotiating an end to the Cochise War. He later served as commander of the Department of Columbia, where his high-handedness helped provoke the Nez Percé War. After a period as superintendent of West Point and commander of the Department of the Platte, he was promoted to major general in command of the Military Division of the Pacific, and subsequently the Military Division of the Atlantic. He retired in 1894. He also founded Howard University, serving as its first president. See also COCHISE; JOSEPH. (Warner, 237–38; Thrapp, 1991, 2:683–84) HUNTINGTON, Henry Dunstan, entered West Point in 1871, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry upon graduation in 1875. He was first lieutenant at the time of his death in 1886. (Heitman, 1:558) HUGHES, William Burton (d. 1896), of Tennessee entered West Point in 1852, and after a brief brevet with the 4th Infantry, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1856. He was promoted to first lieutenant of the 1st Infantry in 1861. In 1863, he was commissioned captain and acting quartermaster, major quartermaster in 1876, and lieutenant colonel deputy quartermaster general in 1889. He was colonel assistant quartermaster general at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:553) JOHNSON, Charles Akers (d. 1893), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was mustered out as a second lieutenant in 1865. Two years later, he was appointed second lieutenant in the 14th Infantry, joining the regiment at Camp Grant, Arizona. He was promoted first lieutenant in 1876 and, after the military takeover of the Indian agencies that year, served as acting agent at Red Cloud. He retired on disability as captain in 1892. (Altshuler, 180) JOHNSON, John Burgess (1847–96), native of Massachusetts, was named second lieutenant of the 6th U.S. Colored Infantry in 1863. In 1870, he joined the 3rd Cavalry as first lieutenant in Arizona, remaining there until his regiment was withdrawn in 1871. He participated in Crook’s expeditions of 1876. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 181)

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JONES, James Mills (d. 1886), native of Ohio, was an 1871 graduate of West Point. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Artillery in 1875, and was first lieutenant at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:581) JONES, Roger, entered West Point in 1847, and upon graduation was breveted to second lieutenant of the Mounted Riflemen. After moving up through the grades, in 1861, he was appointed major and assistant inspector general, and in 1867, lieutenant colonel AIG. At the time of his death in 1889, he was brigadier general and inspector general. (Heitman, 1:582) JORDAN, William Henry, of Ohio, entered West Point in 1855, and upon graduation was breveted to second lieutenant of the 2nd Infantry. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1861, and by the end of the Civil War was major of the 8th California Infantry. In regular service he had risen to captain of the 9th Infantry, and at the time of Bourke’s writing, commanded Camp Robinson. He retired in 1891 as colonel of the 19th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:584) KAUTZ, Augustus Valentine (1828–1895) was a native of Germany brought to the United States as an infant. After serving with an Ohio infantry regiment during the Mexican War, he was appointed to West Point where he graduated with Crook in 1852. They traveled together to their first assignment in California. During the Civil War, he rose to brigadier general of Volunteers, and brevet major general in the regular army. As commander of the Department of Arizona, Kautz was the opposite of Crook. Suffering from ill-health and domestic problems, he rarely exercised decisive command. Indian depredations increased while Kautz became embroiled in disputes with the territorial government and internal controversies within his regiment. In 1878, he and his regiment were transferred to Angel Island, California. Kautz served briefly again in Arizona in a subordinate role in 1886. He retired as a brigadier general in 1892. (Altshuler, 1991, 184–87) KEEFFE, Joseph (d. 1891), of Ireland, enlisted in the 2nd Artillery in 1853, and in 1862 was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Artillery. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, earning brevets as first lieutenant and captain. Promoted to first lieutenant in 1866, he transferred to the 4th Infantry nine years later. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:587)

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KELLOGG, Sanford Cobb (1842–1904), native of New York, enlisted in that state’s National Guard in 1862. He became a captain of Volunteers, serving as aid to Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, his uncle by marriage. Commissioned as second lieutenant of the 18th Infantry on February 23, 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant on May 15, he was dropped from the list by army consolidation in 1869. In 1870, he was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, and in 1871, was promoted to captain. He served as Sheridan’s aide from 1871 to 1873, when he was assigned to Arizona. He accompanied his regiment to the Department of the Platte in 1875. Ten years later, he was again appointed Sheridan’s aide. Kellogg was promoted to major of the 4th Cavalry in 1892, and the following year, appointed military attaché in Paris. He retired in 1898. (Altshuler, 1991, 188–89) KENNINGTON, James (d. 1897), of Ireland, enlisted in the 11th Infantry in 1851. In 1862, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1864. He received brevets as first lieutenant and captain during the Civil War. In 1870, he was assigned to the 14th Infantry. He was captain at the time of his retirement in 1887. (Heitman, 1:593) KEOGH, Myles Walter (1840–76), native of Ireland, served in the British Army and in a Papal guard unit before immigrating to the United States. He joined the Volunteers as a captain in 1862, and was breveted to lieutenant colonel for uniform gallantry and good conduct. He also received brevets as major and lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army during the Civil War. Keogh was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Cavalry in May 1866, and was promoted to captain of the 7th Cavalry two months later. He was killed at the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. His horse, Comanche, is officially listed as the only survivor of Custer’s command in that battle, although other horses are known to have been captured by Indians and were recovered in subsequent fights. (Heitman, 1:593; see also the substantial body of literature on the Little Bighorn) KEYES, Edward Livingston (1843–1917), which Bourke sometimes spelled “Keys,” native of Massachusetts, joined the 5th Cavalry as a second lieutenant in 1872. During Crook’s 1872–73 campaign, he was recommended twice for brevets. He later served in the Department of the Platte during the Great Sioux War. He was courtmartialed and dismissed for drunkenness in 1877, studied medicine, and became a prominent surgeon. (Altshuler, 1991, 191)

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KING, Albert Douglas (1844–1900), native of Ohio, enlisted in the 2nd California Cavalry in 1864. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1867, and was posted to Camp McDowell in 1871. He transferred to the Department of the Platte, and served in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Returning to Arizona in 1882, he scouted extensively against the Apaches. He was retired for ill-health in 1891. (Altshuler, 1991, 191–92) KING, Charles (1844–1933), soldier and author, perhaps has the record for serving over a longer period of time than any soldier in the history of the United States military. He was in virtually every conflict in which the United States was involved, from the Civil War through the First World War. A native of New York, he grew up in Wisconsin. With the outbreak of the Civil War, then sixteen, King volunteered as an orderly to his father, Brig. Gen. Rufus King. He subsequently was appointed to West Point, and upon graduation in 1866, was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 1st Artillery. Upon promotion to first lieutenant in 1870, he transferred to the 5th Cavalry. King scouted against the Apaches in Arizona, distinguishing himself in the fights at Diamond Butte and Sunset Pass. He served during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. Upon promotion to captain in 1879, he was retired on disability from an old wound received in Arizona. He then became a popular novelist and playwright, and was known as “America’s Kipling” for his stories of army life. When the Spanish-American War broke out, King was appointed brigadier general of Volunteers, and commanded the District of Hawaii. He later served in the Philippines, and was adjutant general of the Wisconsin National Guard. (Altshuler, 1991, 192–93; King, 1890; Russell, Campaigning With King) KING, John Haskell (d. 1888), of Michigan, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Infantry in 1837. He rose through the grades until, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War, he was promoted to major of the 15th Infantry. After service with the Volunteers as brigadier general, he was mustered out and commissioned as colonel of the 9th Infantry. He was breveted to major general both of Volunteers and of the Regular Army for gallant and meritorious service during the war. He retired in 1882. (Heitman, 1:599) KINGSBURY, Frederick William (d. 1897), entered West Point in 1866, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of

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the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1880, and was captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:601) KOERPER, Egon Anthony, native of Prussia, served as assistant surgeon for a Volunteer regiment during the Civil War. After being mustered out, he was appointed assistant surgeon of the Regular Army in 1867, and was promoted to surgeon major in 1885. He retired in 1900 as lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon general. (Heitman, 1:608) LAPOINT, Henry Clayton, of Vermont, served as a Volunteer from 1864 to 1865. After the Civil War, he was appointed to West Point, graduating in 1869. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry, and promoted to first lieutneant in 1881. He was dismissed in 1888. Bourke tended the spell the name “Lapointe.” (Heitman, 1:615) LAWSON, Joseph (ca. 1821–81), native of Ireland, joined the Volunteers as a second lieutenant in 1862. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in February 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant five months later. He was posted to Camp Date Creek from 1870 to 1871, when the 3rd transferred to the Department of the Platte. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. During the Milk River fight in Colorado in 1879, command devolved on Lawson after Maj. Thomas T. Thornburgh was killed, and he is credited with averting a massacre. (Altshuler, 1991, 198) LAWTON, Henry Ware (1843–99), native of Ohio, enlisted as a sergeant in the Volunteers in 1861, finishing the Civil War as lieutenant colonel. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 41st Infantry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following year. Upon the consolidation of regiments, he was transferred to the 24th Infantry, as regimental quartermaster under Col. Ranald Mackenzie. When Mackenzie transferred to the 4th Cavalry in 1871, Lawton went with him. As RQM, he was responsible for the logistics behind Mackenzie’s many successful field expeditions against the Southern Plains Indians. Lawton was promoted to captain in 1881, and later was posted to Arizona, where he served in the Geronimo campaign. He later escorted Geronimo to Skeleton Canyon, where the chief surrendered to Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles. He subsequently was promoted to major and inspector general. During the SpanishAmerican War, he was appointed major general of volunteers. He was

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killed in the battle of San Mateo, during the Philippine Insurrection. Lawton, Oklahoma, site of Fort Sill, is named in his honor. See also MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell; MILES, Nelson Appleton. (Altshuler, 1991, 198–99) LEE, James Grafton Carleton, native of Canada, served as captain and quartermaster of Volunteers from 1862 to 1864, when he was commissioned in the same rank and duty in the Regular Army. He was breveted to major and lieutenant colonel for his Civil War service. He was promoted to major quartermaster in 1879, lieutenant colonel deputy quartermaster general in1892, and retired in 1900 as colonel acting quartermaster general. (Heitman, 1:624) LEE, Jesse Matlock (1843–1926), native of Indiana, enlisted in the Volunteers in November 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant eleven months later. He finished the Civil War as a captain, and was appointed an infantry officer. By the mid-1870s, he was first lieutenant of the 9th Infantry at Camps Sheridan and Robinson, Nebraska. He reported that he was in the Powder River fight in March 1876, but this was purely a cavalry action with no infantry involved. Bourke does not mention him until a visit to Camp Robinson, after the expedition ended. In 1877, Lee convinced Crazy Horse to accompany him to Camp Robinson. Upon arrival, however, Crazy Horse was placed under arrest over Lee’s protests, and in the ensuing fight, the chief was mortally wounded. In 1879, Lee, now captain, was recorder for the board inquiring into the conduct of Maj. Marcus A. Reno during the battle of the Little Bighorn. He retired as a major general in 1907. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:832) LEIB, Edward Henry (ca. 1839–92), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry in April 1861, and promoted to first lieutenant six weeks later. He was promoted to captain in 1863, and served with distinction in the Civil War. He was assigned to Camp Grant in 1872. He also took part in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in the Department of the Platte. He was dismissed in 1877 for unspecified reasons. (Altshuler, 1991, 201–2; Heitman, 1:627) LEMLY, Henry Rowan, of North Carolina, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He served with Crook on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in the 3rd Cavalry, and wrote an account, “The Fight on the Rosebud,” that later was included in the Papers of the Order of

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the Indian Wars. He was a captain of the 7th Artillery at the time of his retirement in 1899. (Heitman, 1:627) LEUTTWITZ, Adolphus H. von (d. 1887), native of Prussia, entered the service as a private of Volunteers in 1862, and was commissioned second lieutenant the same year. He finished the Civil War as captain. In 1867, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry. Three years later, he was cashiered as first lieutenant, but reinstated to former date of rank in 1874. Leuttwitz served in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and lost a leg in the battle of Slim Buttes. He retired in 1879. Bourke sometimes spelled the name “Leuttewitz.” (Heitman, 1:989; Robinson, 2001, 196) LLOYD, Charles Frederick, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He resigned in 1883, but served as a lieutenant colonel of Volunteers during the Spanish-American War. (Heitman, 1:637) LOCKWOOD, James Booth (1852–84), native of Maryland, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1873, and was posted to Camp McDowell briefly in 1874 before being transferred to Nebraska. A member of the Greely expedition, he died before the party was rescued. See also, GREELY, Adolphus Washington. (Altshuler, 1991, 204) LONDON, Robert (ca. 1850–92), native of North Carolina, was assigned as a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry after graduating from West Point in 1873. He was posted to Camp Lowell, and later to Camp Apache, where he was recommended twice for brevets for distinguished service during scouting expeditions. He also served at San Carlos and Camp Apache. During the Great Sioux War, he participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Altshuler, 1991, 204–5) LOVERING, Leonard Austin, entered West Point in 1872, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He rose through the grades becoming a captain in 1893. During the Philippine Insurrection, he rose to lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. In 1901, he was promoted to major of the 29th Infantry, and two years later was assigned to the Inspector General’s Department. (Heitman, 1:644) LUHN, Gerhard Luke, native of Germany, enlisted in the 6th Infantry in 1853, and in 1863 was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in

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1864, and captain in 1875. He wrote a diary and letters on Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1895. (Heitman, 1:646–47) McCALEB, Thomas Sidney (1853–1934), 1875 graduate of West Point, was appointed to second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, serving in the Department of the Platte during the Great Sioux War. He later served in Arizona, the Spanish-American War, and the Philippine Insurrection, and retired as major in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 208) MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell (1840–89), called “Bad Hand” or “Three Fingers” by the Indians because of an injury received to his right hand at Petersburg, was an 1862 graduate of West Point. He served with distinction in the Civil War, rising to the brevet ranks of brigadier general of the Regular Army and major general of Volunteers. In 1867, he was appointed colonel of the 41st Infantry, and in 1870, he was transferred to the 4th Cavalry. He developed the 4th into a mobile assault force, fighting the Southern Plains Indians with their own hit-and-run tactics. During the Red River War of 1874–75, he smashed a large Indian camp in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, destroying their lodges, food stores, and pony herds, a stratagem he would repeat under Crook in Wyoming. Nevertheless, he was mentally unbalanced, which would become increasingly evident during the Great Sioux War. Promoted to brigadier general in 1882, he was institutionalized for insanity in December 1883, and invalided out of the army the following year. See MANYPENNY, George W.; CLEMENTS, Bennett. (Pierce; and Robinson, 1993) MAGUIRE, Edward (d. 1892), of Tennessee, entered West Point in 1863, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the Engineers. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1869, and captain in 1881. (Heitman, 1:684) MASON, Charles Winder, was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 13th Infantry in 1875, and transferred to the 4th Infantry later that year. (Heitman, 1:694) MASON, Julius Wilmot (1835–82), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned as second lieutenant in the 2nd Cavalry (subsequently renumbered as the 5th Cavalry), in April 1861. He earned two brevets in the Civil War, and emerged from the war with the active rank of captain. He was posted to Camp Hualpai in 1872, and was recommended for two additional brevets for the 1872–73 campaign. As commander of Camp Verde, and acting agent of the reservation,

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he made substantial improvements. Mason was promoted to major of the 3rd Cavalry in the Department of the Platte in July 1876, but remained with the 5th until the end of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He joined the 3rd at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, in October 1876. He returned to Arizona in 1882, as commander of Fort Huachuca, where he died on December 19 of that year. (Altshuler, 1991, 223–24) MAUCK, Clarence (d. 1881), was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Cavalry in March 1861, and remained with the regiment at first lieutenant when it was renumbered to 4th Cavalry. He was promoted to captain in 1863, and served with distinction in the Civil War, earning brevets to captain and major. He was major of the 9th Cavalry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:697) MEIGS, Montgomery Cunningham (1816–92), native of Georgia, was quartermaster general at the time of Bourke’s writing. An 1836 graduate of West Point, he was assigned to the Engineers and, among other things, was involved in the additions of the House and Senate wings of the Capitol, as well as the present dome. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he was jumped within two days from captain of the Engineers to brigadier general and quartermaster general. Under his guidance from 1861 until his retirement in 1886, the quartermaster department was efficiently run, and the entire $1.5 billion expenditure during his tenure was accounted for, even though circumstances of that era caused large sums to be paid to speculators and dishonest contractors. Following his retirement, Meigs served as architect for the Pension Office in Washington, and became regent of the Smithsonian Institution. (Warner, 381–19) MEINHOLD, Charles (ca. 1827–77), native of Berlin, enlisted in the army 1851, possibly with previous military experience in Germany. He served in Texas and New Mexico until his discharge in 1862, after which he served as an officer of the 3rd Cavalry. During the Civil War, he distinguished himself in New Mexico, and during the Vicksburg campaign, and was promoted to captain in 1866. Sent to Arizona in 1871, he investigated the Wickenburg Stagecoach Massacre the following year. He also served in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. (Altshuler, 1991, 226) MERRITT, Wesley (1834–1910), native of New York, was an 1860 graduate of West Point. He served with distinction as a cavalry leader during the Civil War, rising to the rank of brevet major general of

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Volunteers. After the war, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 9th Cavalry, spending much of his time on the Texas frontier albeit in largely administrative functions. When Merritt’s promotion to colonel of the 5th Cavalry was announced, Lt. Col. Carr presumed that he would continue to exercise de facto command while Merritt, like Emory, remained on detached duty. When Merritt announced his determination to assume active command, Carr (who was yet unaware of the disaster that had befallen Custer) wrote his wife, “It seems curious that the government should find it necessary to spend huge amounts of money & some blood to teach Terry, Crook, Gibbon, Merritt & others how to fight these prairie Indians when there are Custer & myself who know how to do it and are ready & willing.” Upon assuming command, however, Merritt quickly made up for his lack of actual Indian fighting experience, distinguishing himself in the Great Sioux War, the Nez Percé War and the White River Ute Uprising. During the Spanish-American War, he commanded U.S. troops in the Philippines. He retired in 1900 as a major general. See also CARR, Eugene Asa. (O’Neal, 166–67; Heitman, 1:706; quote from Carr to Mary Carr, July 3, 1876, Carr Papers) MICHAELIS, Otho Ernest (d. 1890), of Germany, entered the army in 1863 as second lieutenant of the Signal Corps, but soon was reassigned to Ordnance. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1864, to captain in 1874, and was major at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:797) MICHLER, Francis (1849–1901), native of New York, was assigned to the 5th Cavalry after graduating from West Point in 1870. He was posted to Camp Hualpai in 1872, and took to the field almost immediately. He was commended in departmental general orders five times, and later received brevets for gallantry at Muchos Cañones and Tonto Creek. In 1873 he was appointed aide to Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, and later served as aide to Maj. Gen. Nelson A. Miles. He was promoted to major shortly before his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 227–28) MILES, Nelson Appleton (1839–1925), native of Massachusetts, was a self-made soldier, and the last general-in-chief of the United States Army before the position was abolished. A store clerk, Miles joined the Volunteers as a first lieutenant, and finished the Civil War as major general. Transferring to the Regular Army in 1866, he was appointed colonel of the 40th Infantry, and with the consolida-

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tion of regiments, was transferred to the 5th Infantry in 1869. He distinguished himself in the Red River War on the Southern Plains in 1874–75. During the Great Sioux War, he drove Sitting Bull into Canada, and defeated Crazy Horse at Wolf Mountain in January 1877. Later that year, he accepted the surrender of Chief Joseph, effectively ending the Nez Percé War. Miles hated Crook, and was openly critical of him, and Crook reciprocated in kind. Appointed brigadier general in 1880, Miles relieved Crook in Arizona in 1886. He ended the Geronimo War, although he infuriated Crook by allowing loyal government Apache scouts to be sent into exile in Florida along with the hostiles. Promoted to major general in 1890, Miles became commander of the Military Division of the Missouri upon Crook’s death. In 1895, he was appointed general-in-chief, and served in the Spanish-American War. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1900, and retired three years later. Miles was married to Mary Hoyt Sherman, niece of Sen. John Sherman and Gen. W.T. Sherman. The marriage, however, may have worked against him to some degree, in part because the Sherman brothers wanted no accusations of favoritism, and in part because General Sherman detested him. See also, JOSEPH, SITTING BULL, CRAZY HORSE. (Altshuler, 1991, 229–31; Greene, 1990; Wooster; Robinson, 2001) MILLER, John, of New York, entered the army as a private in a state unit during the Mexican War. He then served in the ranks of the 4th Infantry from 1848 to 1862, when he was commissioned second lieutenant. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1863, and captain in 1866. He retired in 1879. (Heitman, 1:711) MILLS, Anson (1834–1924), native of Indiana, is perhaps most famous as the designer of the Mills cartridge belt, which became the standard equipment of many of the world’s armies, and made him wealthy. Although a resident of Texas at the outbreak of the Civil War, Mills departed for Washington, D.C., where he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 18th Infantry. He received three brevets during the war, rising to major for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Chickamauga. He emerged with the active rank of captain. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in December 1870, and was posted to Arizona the following spring. In 1871, he and his company were transferred to the Department of the Platte, where he figured prominently in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He later was breveted for his part in the fight at Slim Buttes on

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September 9, 1876. He retired in 1897 as brigadier general, and in 1918, published his memoirs, My Story. (Altshuler, 1991, 231–32; Heitman, 1:713; Mills) MIX, John, of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1852, with its reorganization as the 2nd Cavalry in 1861, he was commissioned second lieutenant. He was major of the 9th Cavalry at the time of his death in 1881. (Heitman, 1:718) MONAHAN, Deane (1836–1920), native of Ireland, enlisted in the Mounted Rifles in 1856, and appointed second lieutenant in 1862, after his regiment was redesignated the 3rd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1865, and the following year assigned to Fort Union, New Mexico In 1868, he was promoted to captain, and in 1870, participated in the Red River Expedition in Arizona. He remained there until 1871, when his regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Monahan retired in 1884, having been on sick leave for two years. (Altshuler, 1991, 234–35) MONTGOMERY, Robert Hugh (1838–1905), native of Philadelphia, enlisted in the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered to the 5th) in 1860, earning two brevets during the Civil War, and spending the last twenty months of the war as a prisoner. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1865, and to captain in 1870. He was posted to Arizona in 1872, and served with distinction during the 1872–73 campaign, earning brevet as major for gallantry at Muchos Cañones on September 25, 1872, and during a scout through the Tonto Basin in November and December 1874. During the notorious Horse Meat March of 1876, his company lost fewer horses than any other in the 5th, largely because of his attention to training. He retired as major of the 10th Cavalry in 1891. (Altshuler, 1991, 235; Heitman, 1:720) MOORE, Alexander (1835–1910), native of Ireland, was appointed first lieutenant of Volunteers in October 1861, and was breveted to major for service during the Civil War. In 1867, he was commissioned captain of the 38th Infantry, and posted to New Mexico, where he served on scouting expeditions. In 1870, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry, joining it in Arizona in early 1871. Moore aroused Crook’s ire in 1871, when he moved his troops openly across a plain, spoiling the chance to surprise an Apache raiding party. His failure to act decisively during the Reynolds fight on the Powder River in March 1876, led to his court-martial and suspension. He resigned

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in 1879, and became a wealthy rancher. (Altshuler, 1991, 235–36; Robinson, 2001, 110) MORTON, Alfred (1834–1920), native of Maine, moved to California in 1852. He joined the Volunteers as a sergeant in 1862, and was mustered out as major and provost major of San Francisco in 1866. In March 1866, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry, and was promoted to first lieutenant of the following July. He was regimental quartermaster from 1866 to 1879, serving in the Department of the Platte. He served in Arizona from 1886 to 1891. He retired in 1898, and in 1904 was advanced to major on the retired list. (Altshuler, 1991, 239) MORTON, Charles (1846–1914), native of Ohio, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. After the war, he entered West Point, graduating in 1869. He was appointed second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and served with distinction in Arizona in 1870 and 1871. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. He retired as brigadier general in 1910. (Altshuler, 1991, 239–40) MUNN, Curtis Emerson, joined the Volunteers as a hospital steward in 1861, and in 1863 was appointed assistant surgeon. He was commissioned as assistant surgeon in 1868, and served in the Crook-Reynolds Big Horn Expedition. He was a surgeon major when he retired in 1900. He died in 1902. (Altshuler, 1991, 239–40) MUNSON, Samuel, enlisted as a sergeant in the Volunteers in 1861, but was shortly commissioned second lieutenant. Later that year he accepted a commission in the Regular Army as second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry. In 1865, he was promoted to captain. He died in 1887. (Heitman, 1:736) MURPHY, John (1836–1920), native of Ireland, enlisted at West Point in 1858. During the Civil War, he served in the 5th Artillery. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 14th Infantry in 1867, and a year later was posted to Arizona. Murphy was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and served in the Great Sioux War. As a captain, in 1898, he commanded five companies during the First Philippine Expedition. He was promoted to paymaster major five days before his retirement in 1899. (Altshuler, 191, 241–42) NAVE, Andrew Humes, of Tennessee, entered West Point in 1867, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 7th Cavalry upon graduation. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and a year before his retirement, in 1885, to captain. (Heitman, 1:741)

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NEIDE, Horace, of Pennsylvania, entered the Volunteers as a second lieutenant in 1861, and finished the Civil War as a brevet brigadier general of Volunteers. He was commissioned first lieutenant of the 44th Infantry in 1866, and assigned to the 4th Infantry in 1870. He was a captain at the time of his retirement in 1893. (Heitman, 1:742) NICKERSON, Azor Howitt (1837–1910) served on General Crook’s staff from 1866 to 1878. A native of Ohio, he joined the Union Army as a second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861. He was breveted to major for gallantry at Antietam and Gettysburg, receiving a near-fatal chest wound in the latter battle. He entered the Regular Army in 1866. His wound left him in frail health and, although he tried to accompany Crook on his Indian campaigns, sometimes the surgeons would declare him unfit for field duty. He attempted to retire in 1882, but a scandal over a fraudulently obtained divorce from his second wife prompted the War Department to void his retirement. He resigned in 1883 to avoid court-martial. Nickerson later wrote an essay, “Major General George Crook and the Indians,” which, although never published in its entirety, has become an integral part of the Crook hagiography. (Crook to Rutherford B. Hayes, January 4, 1872, R.B. Hayes Papers, Crook Collection; Heitman, 1:747–48; Altshuler, 1991, 244–45) NORWOOD, Randolph (d. 1901), entered the Volunteers as second lieutenant in 1861, and was mustered out as captain in 1864. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry in February 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant six months later. He became captain in 1876, and was breveted to major for action against Indians in 1877. (Heitman, 1:753) NOWLAN, Henry James (d. 1898), of New York, was listed by Bourke as Terry’s acting assistant quartermaster general for Terry’s column in 1876, although Heitman lists him as commissary of subsistence. He joined the Volunteers as a first lieutenant in 1863, and in July 1866, was appointed second lieutenant of the 7th Cavalry. Promotion to first lieutenant came the following December. Not present at the Little Bighorn, he was promoted to captain effective the day of that fight, no doubt due to the large number of vacancies created by the destruction of the five companies with Custer. He was breveted to major for gallantry in a fight at Cañon Creek, Montana, in 1877, and had the active rank of major at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:753)

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NOYES, Henry Erastus (1839–1919), native of Maine, graduated from West Point in 1861 and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons (later redesignated as 2nd Cavalry). During the Civil War, he earned two brevets, and finished the war as a captain. His failure to provide adequate support during the Reynolds fight on the Powder River in 1876 led to a reprimand. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition the same year. He retired as colonel of the 2nd Cavalry in 1901, and his retirement was upgraded to brigadier general in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 249; Robinson, 2001, 171–72) O’BRIEN, John Joseph, of Ireland, served in the ranks of the 4th Artillery from 1854 to 1859. In 1861, he joined a Volunteer cavalry unit, and was promoted to second lieutenant in 1864. He finished the Civil War as a captain of Volunteers, and reentered the ranks of the 12th Infantry. In 1867, he was promoted to second lieutenant of the 30th Infantry, and transferred to the 4th Infantry two years later. He was a captain at the time of his retirement in 1896. (Heitman, 1:755) O’BRIEN, Martin Edward (d. 1888), enlisted in a state cavalry unit in 1862, and finished the Civil War as a captain. In 1867, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following year. He was a captain at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:755) ODELL, R.W. Heitman’s does not list an acting assistant surgeon named Odell. OTIS, Harrison Gail, of New Jersey, entered West Point in 1870, and upon graduation, was appointed second lieutenant of the 4th Cavalry. He transferred to the 4th Artillery in 1877, and resigned in 1881. (Heitman, 1:762) OWSLEY, W.T. Heitman’s does not list a surgeon named Owsley. He may have been a contract surgeon. PADDOCK, James V. Seaman, of Illinois, entered West Point in 1873, and upon graduation, was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1886, and retired in 1891. (Heitman, 1:764) PALMER, Innis Newton (1824–1900), native of New York, was an 1846 graduate of West Point. He was assigned to the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated 3rd Cavalry), and served with distinction in the Mexican War. He spent much of the period between the Mexican

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and Civil Wars on the frontier. At the close of the Civil War he was brevet major general of Volunteers, and brevet brigadier general of the Regular Army. During the Great Sioux War, he was colonel of the 2nd Cavalry. He retired in 1879. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1104) PARKHURST, Charles Dyer (1849–1931), native of Massachusetts, graduated from West Point in 1872 and was posted to the 5th Cavalry at Camp Date Creek. He participated in the 1872–73 campaign, and was commended in departmental orders and recommended for a brevet. In 1875, he was transferred to Kansas, and a year later, participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He received a Silver Star for gallantry during the SpanishAmerican War. Parkhurst retired as colonel of the Coast Artillery. (Altshuler, 1991, 257–58) PATZKI, Julius Herman, native of Prussia, enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in 1863, and was appointed assistant surgeon the following year. He was appointed assistant surgeon of the Regular Army in 1867, and retired in 1892 as surgeon major. Dr. Patzki’s moment in history came in 1871 when, as post surgeon of Fort Richardson, Texas, he examined the bodies of the victims of the Warren Wagon Train Massacre. The massacre led to the trial and imprisonment of two Kiowa chiefs, and permanent divisions within the Kiowas. (Heitman, 1:776; Nye, 131) PAUL, Augustus Chouteau (1842–1904), native of New York, was appointed captain in the Volunteers, and served with distinction in the Civil War. In 1869, he was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and was posted to Arizona a year later. He remained in Arizona until December 1871, when his regiment was sent to the Department of the Platte. He resigned in 1881 following court-martial. (Altshuler, 1991, 258–59) PAYNE, John Scott (1844–95), native of Virginia, was an 1866 graduate of West Point. He was assigned to the 5th Cavalry, where he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1867. After resigning, he practiced law and edited a newspaper. Payne reentered the army as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, in 1873, but by act of Congress was given the first vacancy for lieutenant in that regiment, retroactive to 1867. He served in Arizona and in the Department of the Platte, where he was promoted to captain in 1875. He served on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Wind River Expedition against the Nez Percés. In 1879, he assumed command in the Milk River fight,

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after Major Thomas T. Thornburgh was killed, and was commended for gallantry. He retired in 1886. (Altshuler, 1991, 259) PEALE, James Thompson, was commissioned second lieutenant in the Volunteer cavalry in 1862, and finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. He entered the 2nd Cavalry as second lieutenant in 1866, and shortly was promoted to first lieutenant. He attained captain in 1875, and was dismissed in 1880. (Heitman, 1:778) PEARSON, Daniel Crosby, of Massachusetts, entered West Point in 1865, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:779) PEASE, Thomas P. Heitman lists two assistant surgeons named Pease, neither of whom is Thomas, and neither with a service record coincidental to Bourke’s narrative. (Heitman, 1:779) PLUMMER, Satterlee Clark (d. 1881), of Wisconsin, entered West Point in 1861 and upon graduation received dual commissions as second and first lieutenant of the 17th Infantry. After a promotion to captain and several reassignments, he was honorably discharged at his own request in 1870. Six years later, he reentered the army as second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry, but was dismissed in 1877. In 1880, he reentered the army a final time as second lieutenant of the 15th Infantry, a position he held at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:795) POE, Orlando Metcalfe (d. 1895), of Ohio, entered West Point in 1852, and in 1856 was commissioned second lieutenant of the Topographical Engineers. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1860. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, holding a temporary appointment as brigadier general in 1862–63. He finished the war with a brevet as brigadier general in the Regular Army, awarded for gallant and meritorious service in General Sherman’s campaign against Gen. Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate army. In 1873, Poe, now a major, was appointed Sherman’s aide-de-camp, a position he held until 1894. He was a colonel at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:795–96) POLLOCK, Edwin (d. 1885), of Pennsylvania, entered the ranks as a Volunteer in May 1861, and was appointed second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry the following August. He was promoted to captain in 1864, and held that rank at the time of his retirement, twentyone years later. (Heitman, 1:796)

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POLLOCK, Otis Wheeler (1833–1916), native of Pennsylvania, was appointed first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1861, and promoted to captain the following year. In 1866, he was commissioned as lieutenant of the 14th Infantry which was later amalgamated into the 23rd. Promoted to captain, he served in Arizona in 1873–74, and then in the Department of the Platte, serving in Crook’s campaigns during the Great Sioux War. He retired as a major in 1897, upgraded to lieutenant colonel in 1904. (Altshuler, 1991, 264) POPE, James Worden, entered West Point in 1864, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry upon graduation. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879. In 1885, he became captain and acting quartermaster, rising to major quartermaster in 1891. During the Spanish-American War, he served as chief quartermaster of Volunteers. In 1902, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel deputy quartermaster general. (Heitman, 1:798) POWELL, William Henry (1838–1901), native of Washington, D.C., enlisted in the District of Columbia Militia in 1861, and was commissioned as an officer of the 4th Infantry the same year. He was captain in the 4th when he served on Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1899 as colonel of the 9th Infantry. He was the author of several professional and historical works about the army. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1169–70) PRATT, Edward Barton (1853–1923), native of Virginia, joined the 23rd Infantry as second lieutenant in 1872, and was posted to Arizona from 1873 until 1874, when his regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He served in Crook’s Powder River Expedition of 1876–77. Pratt retired as brigadier general in 1909. (Altshuler, 1991, 267) PRICE, George Frederick (1835–88), native of New York City, joined the 2nd California Cavalry as second lieutenant in 1861, and participated in several Indian campaigns over the next two years. The first reference to service in Arizona is on a reconnaissance between Salt Lake City and Fort Mojave in 1864. In 1866, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He was posted to Camp McDowell in 1872, and soon after was promoted to captain. He was nominated for brevets twice for service in Crook’s 1872–73 campaign, and was commended for moving Indians to the Rio Verde Reservation after Date Creek was closed. He also supervised construction of the military telegraph between San Diego and Tuc-

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son. Transferring to the Department of the Platte, he participated in Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876, and was present at the Slim Buttes Fight. In 1882, he published his memoirs, Across the Continent with the Fifth U.S. Cavalry. (Altshuler, 1991, 268; O’Neal, 185–86; Heitman, 1:806) QUINN, Thomas Francis, of Ireland, served in the 2nd Artillery from 1853 to 1858, when he transferred to the 4th Infantry. In 1863, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and was promoted to first lieutenant two years later. He was breveted to captain for gallant and meritorious service during the Civil War. In 1876, he was promoted to captain, which rank he held at the time of his retirement in 1894. (Heitman, 1:811) RANDALL, George Morton “Jake” (1841–1918), native of Ohio, was one of the most competent officers to serve under Crook in Arizona. He commanded Camp Apache from 1872 to 1874, during which it was considered the best administered post in the entire department. He also had the most outstanding scouting record of any infantry captain in Arizona. Randall was breveted to colonel of the Regular Army for gallantry at Turret Mountain and Diamond Butte in 1873, and Pinal in 1874, and for distinguished service during the Indian campaigns in Arizona. He enlisted as a private in the Volunteers in July 1861, and commissioned as second lieutenant in October. By the end of the war he had been breveted to colonel of Volunteers. He was appointed brigadier general of the Regular Army in 1901 and retired four years later. (Heitman, 1:814; Altshuler, 1991, 272–73) RAWOLLE, William Charles (d. 1895), native of Prussia, was commissioned as second lieutenant of the Volunteers in 1861. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry in 1869, and promoted the following year. He was captain at the time of his death. Bourke spells the name variously as “Rowelle,” “Rowell,” and “Rawolle.” (Heitman, 1:817). REILLY, Bernard (1843–1906), native of Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Volunteers in April 1861, and was commissioned second lieutenant in November. In May 1868, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He went to Arizona as a first lieutenant in 1872, and was nominated for a brevet for leading several successful scouts. Transferred to the Department of the Platte, he participated

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in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He resigned in 1878 to practice law. (Altshuler, 1991, 277) RENO, Marcus Albert (1834–89), an 1857 graduate of West Point, was commissioned brevet lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons (later renumbered 1st Cavalry), and given the active rank the following year. He served in the Pacific Northwest prior to the Civil War, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1861. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, earning brevet ranks of brigadier general of Volunteers, and colonel of the Regular Army. Given the active rank of captain, he served as acting assistant inspector general of the Department of the Columbia. He was promoted to major of the 7th Cavalry in 1868, and was reassigned to the Great Plains. He was posted to Fort Abraham Lincoln in 1875, and was the senior surviving officer of the regiment after the battle of the Little Bighorn. Because of the controversy surrounding the fight, he demanded a court of inquiry in 1879, which exonerated him. In 1877, he was suspended without pay for two years following court-martial for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, but dismissed in 1880 under sentence of a second court-martial for conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. Over eighty years later, he was posthumously exonerated and restored to rank, when a review board found the evidence on his conviction did not support the charges. He is buried in Custer Battlefield National Cemetery. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1206–7) RAYNOLDS, William Franklin (d. 1894), of Ohio, was breveted as a second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry upon graduation from West Point in 1843. Within a few days, however, he transferred to the Topographical Engineers. He rose through the grades, becoming captain in 1857. Two years later he led an expedition that mapped much of south-central Montana and eastern Wyoming, and predicted that the Powder River country would become an important thoroughfare. Raynolds was breveted to brigadier general for meritorious service in the field during the Civil War. He retired as colonel of the Engineers in 1884. (Heitman, 1:818; McDermott, 5) REYNOLDS, Bainbridge (1849–1901), eldest son of Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, was born at West Point, where he graduated in 1873. He was posted to the 3rd Cavalry and was breveted for action in the Battle of the Rosebud in 1876. He served in Arizona from 1882 to

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1884. He resigned in 1891 to avoid court-martial. See also REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones. (Altshuler, 1991, 277–78) REYNOLDS, Joseph Jones (1822–99), native of Kentucky and an 1843 graduate of West Point, initially served on the Texas frontier. Resigning to enter private business in 1857, he rejoined the army at the outbreak of the Civil War. His distinguished service resulted in his being breveted to major general of Volunteers. In 1870, he was named colonel of the 3rd Cavalry and, with his brevet rank, commanded the Department of Texas. During that tenure, Col. Ranald Mackenzie hinted that Reynolds was involved in corruption with supply contracts for Fort McKavett, which Mackenzie commanded. Reynolds was transferred with his regiment to the Department of the Platte in 1872. Despite the verdict and sentence handed him by Crook’s court-martial following the Powder River fight, Reynolds was allowed to retire for disability in 1877. Many historians believe that Crook should have shared a heavy amount of the blame for the fiasco. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1210; Heitman, 1:825; Robinson, 1993, 52–53) RICE, William Fletcher (d. 1884), native of Massachusetts, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1863. He was commissioned second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry in 1866, and was first lieutenant when he arrived in Arizona in 1872. During the 1872–73 campaign he served as acting company commander, and was recommended for brevets. He commanded Indian scouts at San Carlos. In 1874, he was transferred with his regiment to the Department of the Platte. He was killed when he fell from a moving railroad train. (Altshuler, 1991, 278–79) ROBERTSON, Edgar Brooks (1852–1924), native of Massachusetts, graduated from West Point in 1874, and was assigned to the 9th Infantry at Camp Robinson, Nebraska. He participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and was in the fights at the Rosebud and Slim Buttes. He later served in the Southwest, in Cuba, and in the Boxer Rebellion in China. He retired as colonel. (Altshuler, 1991, 284) ROBINSON, Henry Eleazar, of Pennsylvania, entered West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant in the 4th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:838) ROCKEFELLER, Charles Mortimer (1844–1900?), native of New York, served as a private in the state militia from April to August 1861. In 1863, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the Vol-

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unteers, and was mustered out in 1866. Thirty-one years later, he received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at Fort Blakely, Alabama, in 1865. Rockefeller was commissioned second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in 1867. He rose through the grades, becoming captain in 1889. Serving in the Philippines in 1899, he was apparently captured by guerillas while inspecting the guard. Shortly before his disappearance he was promoted to major, but had not yet received his commission. In 1900, he was dropped from the rolls and presumed dead. (Altshuler, 1991, 285–86; Heitman, 1:840). ROCKWELL, Charles Henry (1848–88), of Ohio, graduated from West Point in 1869, and was assigned to the 5th Cavalry. He served in Nebraska, Wyoming, and Arizona. In 1872, he was promoted to first lieutenant. When the 5th was transferred, he served at Fort Hays, Kansas, and Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming. In 1880, he married General Sherman’s niece, Cecilia Sherman Moulton. Rockwell was quartermaster and commander of an artillery detachment at West Point, when he was promoted to captain in 1886. In 1887, he was at Camp Supply, Indian Territory, when he became ill. He took sick leave in April 1888, and died four months later. (Altshuler, 1991, 286) RODGERS, Calbraith Perry (d. 1878), of Maryland, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry in 1866, and promoted to first lieutenant a year later. He became captain in 1876, and was killed by lightning in 1878. (Heitman, 1:841) ROYALL, William Bedford (1825–95), native of Virginia, was commissioned as first lieutenant of a Volunteer unit in 1846, after the outbreak of the Mexican War. After two years of service in the Southwest, including a major Indian fight in 1848, he left the Volunteers. In 1855, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry). He distinguished himself during the Civil War, rising to the brevet rank of brigadier general. He served in Arizona as major of the 5th from 1872 to 1875, when the regiment was transferred out. In December 1875, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Cavalry, commanding Crook’s cavalry during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He later was breveted for gallantry at the Battle of the Rosebud. In 1881, he succeeded Ranald S. Mackenzie as colonel of the 4th Cavalry. He retired in 1887. (Heitman, 1:849; Altshuler, 1991, 288–89) RUGGLES, George David, of New York, entered West Point in 1851, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of

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the 2nd Infantry. In 1857, he was appointed regimental adjutant, and would hold adjutant’s or aide-de-camp’s positions for the remainder of his long career. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was a lieutenant colonel and acting adjutant general. He retired in 1893 as brigadier general and adjutant general of the army. (Heitman, 1:851) RUHLEN, George, native of Germany, entered West Point in 1868, and upon graduation was assigned as second lieutenant of the 17th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1876, and served as regimental quartermaster from 1878 to 1879, and regimental adjutant from 1889 to 1890, when he was promoted to captain and acting quartermaster. In 1900, he became major and quartermaster of the army. (Heitman, 1:851) RUSSELL, Gerald (1832–1905), native of Ireland, enlisted in the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated as 3rd Cavalry) in 1851. In 1862, he was promoted to second lieutenant. He distinguished himself during the Civil War, and earned a brevet. He arrived in Arizona as captain in 1870, and participated in scouting expeditions until the 3rd was transferred to the Department of the Platte. During the Powder River Expedition, he participated in Mackenzie’s fight with the Cheyennes in November 1876. He served in Arizona a second time from 1882 until 1885. He retired as major in 1890, later upgraded to lieutenant colonel. (Altshuler, 1991, 290–91) SACKET (sometimes spelled Sackett), Delos Bennet, (1822–85), of New York, entered West Point in 1840, and upon graduation was breveted as second lieutenant of the 2nd Dragoons. He earned a brevet as first lieutenant at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma in May 1846, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 1st Dragoons six weeks later. Shortly after the close of the Mexican War, in 1848, he was promoted to first lieutenant. Sacket served on the frontier, and while posted to Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, married Amanda Fields, daughter of a prominent Cherokee Indian merchant. He was major of the 1st Cavalry (later renumbered to 4th Cavalry) when the Civil War broke out. By the end of 1861, he had been promoted to colonel and inspector general. He distinguished himself during the war, earning brevets as brigadier general and major general. In 1881, he was appointed brigadier general and inspector general. In 1880, together with Crook, Bourke, Sheridan, soldier-author Charles King, and several others, Sacket formed a consortium in an ill-fated venture to develop a gold mine. When it

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failed, Schuyler, who was managing partner, carried the blame, and lost his position as Crook’s aide-de-camp. See SCHUYLER, Walter Scribner; KING, Charles. (Heitman, 1:856; Foreman, 365; Robinson, 2001, 248–49) SANGER, Louis H (d. 1884) , of Maine, served in the ranks of the 17th Infantry from 1861 to July 1862, when he was appointed second lieutenant. A month later, he was promoted to first lieutenant, and to captain in 1865. He was dismissed in 1872, but reinstated the following year. He earned brevets as captain and major for gallantry at Gettysburg. (Heitman, 1:859) SCHOFIELD, Charles Brewster (d. 1901), of Illinois, entered West Point in 1866, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879, and to captain in 1890. In 1895, he served as lieutenant colonel and aide-de-camp to Lt. Gen. John Schofield, general-inchief of the army. (Heitman, 1:865) SCHUYLER, Walter Scribner (1849–1932), native of New York, was an 1870 graduate of West Point. He served in Arizona from 1872 to 1875 as a second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry, distinguishing himself in several actions during that period. After a year’s leave in Europe, he joined Crook as aide-de-camp in Wyoming as a first lieutenant in 1876. He resigned as aide-de-camp and returned to his regiment the end of 1881, after a falling out with Crook over his management of a mine in which Crook had invested heavily. He was breveted several grades for gallantry in action in Arizona and Wyoming. He retired in 1913 as a brigadier general. See SACKET, Delos Bennet. (Altshuler, 1991, 294–95; Heitman, 1:867; O’Neal, 193–94; Robinson, 2001, 249–50) SCHWATKA, Frederick (1849–92), native of Ohio, attended West Point and was commissioned as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1871. He participated in campaigns against the Yavapais and Apaches in Arizona until 1872, when his regiment was transferred to the Platte. During Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, he took part in the Rosebud fight, the Horse Meat March, and the Slim Buttes fight. Subsequently, as both soldier and civilian, he became a noted explorer in the Arctic, southwestern U.S., and northwestern Mexico, lecturing and writing several popular books. He died of an overdose of laudanum (tincture of opium), which he took to relieve chronic stomach pain. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1279–80)

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SETON, Henry, of New York, was appointed captain in the Volunteers in 1864, and second lieutenant of the 4th Infantry in 1866. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1872. Heitman lists him as still being with the 4th until 1898, when he was promoted to major of the 12th Infantry. Bourke, on the other hand, lists him as being in the 9th. He retired in 1899. (Heitman, 1:874) SHERIDAN, Michael Vincent, served on his older brother’s staff from 1864 almost to Philip Sheridan’s death in 1888. Michael Sheridan joined the army as a first lieutenant of Volunteers in 1863. Eight months later, in May 1864, he joined General Sheridan as a captain and aidede-camp. During the Civil War he was breveted to major and lieutenant colonel for service during the Shenandoah Campaign of 1864. Although nominally commissioned to the active rank of second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry and captain of the 7th Cavalry during 1866, he remained with his brother, serving again as aide-de-camp from 1870 to 1878, and military secretary for another ten years. He retired as a brigadier general in 1902. (Heitman, 1:881; Hutton, 154) SHUFELDT, Robert Wilson, was appointed acting assistant surgeon in 1876, and retired in 1901. (Heitman, 1:885) SIBLEY, Frederick William (1852–1918), native of Texas, graduated from West Point in 1874, and was assigned to the 2nd Cavalry in the Department of the Platte. He participated in the Reynolds fight on the Powder River, and, during Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition led what became known as the Sibley Scout. He and a small party of men encountered a large band of Lakotas and Cheyennes, but managed to withdraw under heavy fire without losses, and make their way back to Crook’s camp on foot. It is considered one of the narrowest escapes in the Indian Wars, and Sibley was breveted for gallantry. He afterwards served in the Far East, and in the Mexican Punitive Expedition of 1916, retiring later that year as brigadier general. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1303–4) SIMPSON, James Ferdinand (1841–99), native of Massachusetts, was appointed second lieutenant of Volunteers in 1862. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, and in 1867, was commissioned as an infantry officer. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1871. He served in Arizona throughout much of the period until 1884, when he was committed to a government mental institution, after which he was released on sick leave. After a second commitment in 1887, he was retired as a captain. (Altshuler, 1991, 302–03)

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SMEAD, Alexander Dallas Bache (b. 1848), of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1868, and posted first to New Mexico, and then to Arizona. In July 1872, he was promoted to first lieutenant, retroactive to May of the previous year. He also served in the Department of the Platte. He resigned in 1880, and practiced law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, but reentered the service during the Spanish-American War as a captain of the Signal Corps. (Altshuler, 1991, 304–5) SMITH, Edward Worthington (d. 1883), served as General Terry’s adjutant in the Deaprtment of Dakota. He was commissioned first lieutenant of the 15th Infantry in 1861. By the end of the Civil War he was a brevet lieutenant colonel and assistant adjutant general of the Regular Army, with the brevet rank of brigadier general of Volunteers. At the time of his service with Terry, he held the active rank of captain in the 18th Infantry. He was a major in the 22nd Infantry at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:896) SPAULDING, Edward James (ca. 1836–88), native of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons (later renamed 2nd Cavalry) in 1857. He was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1862, earning a brevet during the Civil War. He was promoted to captain in 1867, and transferred to the 4th Cavalry as major in 1886. He was killed in a hunting accident in Arizona. Bourke spelled the name “Spalding.” (Altshuler, 1991, 313) SPENCER, James Herbert, of Massachusetts, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1863. He was mustered out as captain. In 1866, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 12th Infantry. In 1869, he transferred to the 4th Infantry. He retired as captain in 1885. Five years later, he was breveted for gallant service in action against Indians near Fort Fred Steele, Wyoming, in 1869. (Heitman, 1:910) STANTON, Thaddeus Harlan (1835–1900), native of Indiana, enlisted in the Volunteers in 1861. On October 3, 1862, he was designated paymaster, a position he held for the rest of his career. He finished the Civil War as a brevet lieutenant colonel of Volunteers. Apparently Stanton moonlighted as a correspondent for the New York Tribune, and in that capacity accompanied Crook and Reynolds on the Big Horn Expedition in the convenience position of chief of scouts. With no previous combat experience, he distinguished himself in the Powder River fight, and later commanded the citizens and

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irregulars who joined Crook on the train during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. In 1890, Stanton was breveted to lieutenant colonel of the Regular Army for the Powder River fight, and in 1895, he was appointed paymaster general of the army with the rank of brigadier general. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1357; Heitman, 1:916) STEEVER, Edgar Zell (1849–1920), of Pennsylvania, graduated from West Point in 1871, and was posted to the 3rd Cavalry at Fort McPherson, Nebraska. He participated in the roundup of a band of Sioux, returning them to Standing Rock Agency. In 1872–74, he commanded the American Palestine Expedition to survey the Holy Land, and subsequently taught mathematics at West Point. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1878, and rejoined his regiment in Arizona in 1882. He served in the Philippine Insurrection in 1899. Steever retired at a brigadier general in 1913. (Altshuler, 1991, 317–18) STEVENS, medical officer, Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. Maybe a contract surgeon. STEVENS, Lieutenant. Heitman does not list a Lieutenant Stevens on active duty during this period. The only one who would approximate is Robert Ratcliff Stevens, who entered the Military Academy in 1873, and was assigned to the 6th Infantry in 1877, which would have placed him in West Point at the time Bourke made this entry. This does not necessarily mean, however, that a Lieutenant Stevens did not exist. (Heitman, 1:922–23) SULLY, Alfred (1820–79) of Philadelphia, graduated from West Point in 1841, and was sent to Florida where he fought against the Seminoles. After serving in the Mexican War, he was assigned to California, where his regiment campaigned against Indians in the vicinity of the Gila, San Joaquin, and Colorado Rivers. Assigned to Dakota Territory, he established Fort Randall. After Civil War service in Virginia, he was breveted to brigadier general, and assigned to suppress the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota in 1862. In 1863 and 1864, he led expeditions against Indians in Dakota Territory, where he established Fort Rice. After the Civil War, he resumed his active rank of major, and in 1868 led an expedition of cavalry and infantry into the Indian Territory, where he had a five-day fight in the Sand Hills. He also served against the Nez Percés in 1878. He commanded Fort Vancouver, Washington, at the time of his death. (O’Neal, 211–12)

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SUMNER, Samuel Storrow (1842–1937), native of Pennsylvania, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry (later renumbered 5th Cavalry) in 1861. He earned several brevets during the Civil War, and emerged from the war as a captain. He was posted to Arizona from 1870 until 1876, when he joined the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He retired in 1906 as a major general. (Altshuler, 1991, 324–25) SUTORIOUS, Alexander (ca. 1837–1905), native of Switzerland, enlisted in the Mounted Riflemen (later redesignated 3rd Cavalry) in 1854. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1863, and was breveted for gallantry in the Civil War. He went to Arizona in 1870 as a captain, serving until 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. He was court-martialed and dismissed for drunkenness during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. (Altshuler, 1991, 325) SWIFT, Eben, entered West Point in 1872, and upon graduation was briefly posted as second lieutenant of the 14th Infantry. He transferred to the 5th Cavalry in July 1876. He worked his way up the grades and was major of the 1st Cavalry as of 1903. (Heitman, 1:940) SWIGERT, Samuel Miller, of Kentucky, entered West Point in 1863, and upon graduation was appointed to second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1869. He retired in 1903 as colonel of the 5th Cavalry. (Heitman, 1:941) TAYLOR, Alfred Bronaugh (d. 1903), native of the District of Columbia, served briefly in the Volunteers before enlisting in the 5th Cavalry in 1862. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 1863, and was breveted for service in the Appomattox Campaign. He arrived in Arizona at a captain in 1872, and was breveted for gallantry in action in the Salt River Caves fight of December 28, 1872. (Altshuler, 1991, 327; Heitman, 1:945) TAYLOR, Sydney Wentworth, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Artillery in 1867, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1873. He was breveted to captain for gallantry in the Modoc War in California, and was given the active rank in 1892. In 1901 he was promoted to major and attached to the Adjutant General’s Office. (Heitman, 1:948) TERRY, Alfred Howe (1827–90), native of Connecticut, was an attorney rather than a trained soldier. With the outbreak of the Civil

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War he joined the Volunteers, ultimately rising to the rank of major general. His successful assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, in 1865, which hastened the end of the war, won him an appointment as brigadier general of the Regular Army. Terry commanded the Department of the Platte at the time of the Great Sioux War. In 1886, he was appointed major general, and commanded the Military Division of the Missouri until his retirement in 1888. (Warner, 197–98) TESSON, Louis Stanislaus (d. 1901), of Missouri, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1875, and was surgeon major at the time of his death. (Heitman, 1:951) THOMAS, Earl Denison (1847–1921), native of Illinois, served in the Volunteers during the Civil War, and graduated from West Point in 1869. He joined the 5th Cavalry, and went to Arizona as a first lieutenant in 1872. He was breveted for gallantry in the Salt River Caves fight. When Kautz assumed command of the Department of Arizona, Thomas remained as his aide until 1878. He then joined his company in Wyoming. He later was appointed brigadier general, and commanded the Department of the Colorado. He retired in 1911. (Altshuler, 1991, 330; Heitman, 1:953) THOMPSON, John Charles (d. 1889), of Maryland, entered West Point in 1862, and upon graduation was posted as second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1868, and at the time of his death was a captain. (Heitman, 1:957) THORNBURGH, Thomas Tipton (d. 1879) of Tennessee, served in a Union Volunteer regiment from Tennessee from 1862 to 1863 when he was appointed to West Point. Upon graduation, he was appointed second lieutenant of the 2nd Artillery, and promoted to first lieutenant in 1870. Three years later, he was promoted to paymaster major. In 1878, he was appointed major of the 4th Infantry. He was killed in action at Milk River, Colorado, during the White River Ute uprising on September 29, 1879. (Heitman, 1:959) TIFFANY, Harry, of Maryland, served in the ranks, first in the 4th Cavalry, and then the 3rd Infantry, from 1869 to 1876. On August 15, 1876, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 11th Infantry. He was dropped from the Army List in 1879. (Heitman, 1:961) TOWNSEND, Edwin Franklin, entered West Point in 1850, and upon graduation was breveted second lieutenant of the 3rd Artillery. He resigned in 1856, but reentered the army as first lieutenant of the 14th Infantry in 1861. He distinguished himself during the

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Civil War, and was breveted to major for gallantry at Shiloh, and to lieutenant colonel for continued and faithful service in the Ordnance Department. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was major of the 9th Infantry. He retired in 1895 as colonel of the 12th Infantry. (Heitman, 1:967) TYLER, Augustus Cleveland, entered West Point in 1869, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 4th Cavalry. He resigned in 1878, but saw service again during the Spanish-American War (Heitman, 1:976) UPHAM, John Jacques (d. 1898) was breveted second lieutenant of the 9th Infantry in July 1859, and commissioned second lieutenant of the 6th Infantry the following December. In 1861, he was promoted to first lieutenant and then to captain, transferring to the 6th Cavalry in 1870. He was breveted to major for gallantry at Gettysburg, and commissioned to the active rank of major of the 5th Cavalry in 1874. He was colonel of the 8th Cavalry at the time of his retirement in 1892. (Heitman, 1:978) VAN VLIET, Frederick (1841–91), native of New York, was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry in 1861. He earned brevets to lieutenant colonel during the Civil War, and was promoted to the active rank of captain in 1866. He served in Arizona from 1870 to 1871, when the regiment was transferred to the Department of the Platte. Van Vliet participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition in 1876. As major of the 10th Cavalry, he served again in Arizona during the Geronimo Campaign. He died of injuries received in a wagon accident. (Altshuler, 1991, 341) VOLKMAR, William Jefferson (1847–1901), of Pennsylvania, served in the Volunteers in 1863, before being appointed to West Point. He graduated in 1868, and was posted to the 5th Cavalry at Fort Harker, Kansas, where he distinguished himself in an engagement with the Sioux. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1870, and two years later was sent to Arizona, where he commanded Camp Date Creek. He was detached for recruiting duty from December 1872 until 1876, when he was appointed aide to Maj. Gen. John Pope. Later he served as an aide to Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan. Volkmar retired at colonel in 1900. His son, whom he named after Walter Schuyler, served as an officer of the Artillery. (Altshuler, 1991, 344–45) VROOM, Peter Dumont (1842–1926), native of New Jersey, served

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as an officer of Volunteers, earning several brevets during the Civil War. In February 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 3rd Cavalry, and was promoted to first lieutenant the following July. Promoted to captain in 1876, he participated in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, distinguishing himself at the Battle of the Rosebud. He served in Arizona from 1882 to 1885, when he was appointed major/inspector general. He retired as a brigadier general in 1903. (Altshuler, 1991, 346) WALKER, John Perry (1840–1915), native of Ohio, was an 1866 graduate of West Point. After serving in the infantry with a promotion to first lieutenant, he was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry at Camp Verde, Arizona, in late 1870. In December 1871, he moved with his regiment to the Department of the Platte, where he participated in the Sioux Expedition of 1874. Walker’s subsequent career was marked by mental deterioration. Courts-martial alternated with commitments to the government asylum in Washington. In 1882, he filed charges against General Crook, which Sheridan shrugged off with the remark that Walker “was for some time an inmate of the Insane Asylum.” The following year, he was retired as captain. (Altshuler, 1991, 348–49; Robinson, 2001, 252) WARD, Edward Wilkerson (d. 1897), a native of Kentucky, was appointed first lieutenant of the Kentucky Scouts in 1861, and was mustered out of the Union Army in 1865. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the 5th Cavalry in 1869, and was posted to the Department of the Platte. He served in Arizona from 1873 to 1875, commanding Indian Scouts at Camp Apache, and serving as post commander at San Carlos. He retired as captain due to ill health in 1879. (Altshuler, 1991, 352) WEIR, William Bayard (d. 1879), of New York, entered West Point in 1869, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Artillery. In 1874, he was promoted to first lieutenant of Ordnance. He was killed during the White River Ute uprising in Colorado. (Hetiman, 1:1015) WELLS, Elijah Revillo, of New York, enlisted in the 2nd Dragoons in 1858. After its reorganization as 2nd Cavalry, he was commissioned second lieutenant. He distinguished himself in the Civil War, earning brevets up to major. At the time of Bourke’s writing, he was captain of the 2nd Cavalry. He retired in 1879, and died in 1891. (Heitman, 1:1017)

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WESSELLS, Henry Walton, Jr. (1846–1929), native of New York, attended the Naval Academy for two years before enlisting in the 7th Infantry in March 1865. The following August, he received dual commissions as second and first lieutenant retroactive to July 21. He transferred to the 3rd Cavalry in 1870, joining his company in Arizona in April 1871. Eight months later, the regiment transferred to the Department of the Platte, where Wessells was promoted to captain. He commanded Fort Robinson, Nebraska, during the Cheyenne Outbreak of 1879, and was wounded in the fighting. He was retired for disability as colonel in 1901. Karl Malden’s portrayal of Wessells as an alcoholic Prussian martinet with a heavy German accent, in the 1964 film Cheyenne Autumn is fictitious, as is the film itself. (Altshuler, 1991, 355–56) WHEELER, Homer Webster (1848–1930), of Vermont, went west in 1868, where he became a companion of Willi Comstock, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Wild Bill Hickok. In September, he took part on the expedition that rescued Forsyth’s command at Beecher’s Island. After distinguishing himself as a civilian volunteer at the Sappa Creek fight in April 1875, Maj. Gen. John Pope recommended him for appointment as second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry. He joined his company at Fort Lyon, Colorado, in December of that year, and in July 1876, he was transferred to Camp Robinson. He took part in Mackenzie’s Dull Knife Fight on November 25. He also served during the Nez Percé War of 1877, and the Bannock uprising two years later. He retired as colonel in 1911. He later recalled his experiences in two books, The Frontier Trail (1923), and Buffalo Days (1925). See also, CODY, William Frederick. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1545–46) WHITE, David (d. 1901), joined the 107th Illinois Infantry as a private in 1862. Two years later, he was named regimental chaplain. After being mustered out of the Volunteers, he was assigned as chaplain at Fort Reno, and appointed post chaplain in 1867. He retired in 1882. (Heitman, 1:1027) WIETING, Orlando Luther (1846–93), native of Pennsylvania, served as an enlisted man in the Volunteers from 1864 to 1865. After the Civil War, he entered West Point, graduating in 1870, but resigned the same year. In 1872, he reentered the service, commissioned as a second lieutenant of the 23rd Infantry. He was post quartermaster at Fort Whipple, and later served in the Departments of the Platte,

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and the Missouri. He was a captain at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, at the time of his death. (Altshuler, 1991, 367–68) WILLIAMS, Robert (d. 1901), native of Virginia, entered West Point in 1847, and upon graduation was assigned to the 1st Dragoons (later 1st Cavalry). In 1861 he was breveted to captain and appointed assistant adjutant general, and served in the Adjutant General’s Department throughout the remainder of his career. In 1865, he was breveted to brigadier general for “diligent, faithful, and meritorious service in the Adjutant General’s Department during the war.” He was assistant adjutant general of the Department of the Platte during Crook’s administration. Williams retired in 1893 as brigadier general and adjutant general of the army. (Heitman, 1:1042) WILSON, Robert Phillips (1841–1926), castigated by Bourke for resigning during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, was haunted through later life by allegations that he had resigned to avoid an Indian campaign after learning of the Custer disaster. Wilson entered the army as a Volunteer in 1862, and was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Cavalry the following year. He was wounded at Brandy Station, and taken prisoner at Beaver Dam, earning brevets for both actions. In 1864, he was promoted to first lieutenant. After the war, he was active in scouting expeditions in Nebraska, and was promoted to captain in 1869. Following service in Wyoming, he was posted to Arizona, and later to Kansas. In June 1876, he was sent to Wyoming for the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He resigned July 29. Two years later, he was appointed U.S. consul in Moscow. In 1880, a bill was introduced in Congress to reinstate him in the army, but failed because of allegations concerning his resignation. (Altshuler, 1991, 373–74) WINNE, Charles Knickerbocker, of New York, was appointed assistant surgeon in 1861. He was breveted to captain and major for meritorious service during the Civil War, and to lieutenant colonel for his work during a cholera epidemic at Tybee Island, Georgia. He resigned in 1873, but was reappointed assistant surgeon a year later. He retired in 1902 as lieutenant colonel and deputy surgeon general. (Heitman, 1:1050) WOOD, Marshall William, of New York, served as private in the Volunteers in 1864–65. In 1870, he reentered the army as a hospital steward, and in 1875 was commissioned as assistant surgeon. He

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was promoted to surgeon major in 1894, and retired in 1902 (Heitman, 1:1055). WOODRUFF, Charles Albert, served in the ranks of the Volunteers from 1862 to 1865. In 1867, he was appointed to West Point, and upon graduation posted as second lieutenant of the 7th Infantry. In 1877, he was promoted to first lieutenant. He was breveted to captain for gallantry at the Big Hole fight during the Nez Percé War in 1877, in which he was wounded three times. In 1878, he was promoted to captain and commissary of subsistence, working his way up the grades of the Commissary Department until 1898, when he was appointed colonel and assistant commissary general of subsistence. (Heitman, 1:1057) WOODRUFF, Thomas Mayhew (d. 1899), entered West Point in 1867, and upon graduation was commissioned second lieutenant of the 5th Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1879, and to captain in 1891. During the Spanish-American War he served as major and inspector general of volunteers. He was breveted to first lieutenant for gallantry in action against the Nez Percés at Bear Paw Mountain in 1877. (Heitman, 1:1058) WOODSON, Albert Emmett (1841–1903) native of Kentucky, went to Washington Territory in 1859. Three years later, he enlisted in the territorial volunteers, serving as a hospital steward until 1863 when he was commissioned a second lieutenant. In 1867, he was commissioned first lieutenant of the 36th Infantry in the Department of the Platte, and in 1870 was transferred to the 5th Cavalry. In Arizona, he participated in Crook’s Apache campaigns, distinguishing himself in fights in the Tonto Basin. As a captain, he was on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and in the Slim Buttes fight. He later served in the Nez Percé War and in the Philippines. Woodson retired as brigadier general in 1903. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1593–94) YATES, George W. (d. 1876), native of New York, was company commander of the 7th Cavalry, and died with Custer at the Little Bighorn. He entered the army as a sergeant in the Volunteers in 1861, and was commissioned first lieutenant the following year. He served with distinction in the Civil War, earning the brevet rank of major. In 1866, he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 2nd Cavalry, and was promoted to captain of the 7th a year later. (Heitman, 1:1065)

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Civilians BEECHER, Henry Ward (1813–87), Presbyterian minister, author, lecturer, and political activist, was one of the most influential public figures of his era. He was not an original thinker, and his large following was based on his practical, realistic approach to life, together with his gift for the spoken and written word. His sister was Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and although Beecher shared her aversion to slavery, he was not a rabid abolitionist. A nephew, Lt. Frederick H. Beecher, 3rd Infantry, was killed in Forsyth’s fight with the Cheyennes in Kansas, on September 17, 1868. The fight subsequently became known as Beecher’s Island. (Johnson and Malone, 2:129–35) BRUGUIER (sometimes spelled Brouguier), Johnny (1849–98), son of a French father and a Santee Sioux mother, was born at the site of what is now Sioux City, Iowa, and educated at the College of the Christian Brothers in St. Louis. In 1875, he was a scout and interpreter at Standing Rock Agency, Dakota Territory, when he accidentally killed a man in a fight involving his brother. He fled to the Black Hills, where, in the summer of 1876, he arrived in Sitting Bull’s camp. He handled the chief’s correspondence with the military, and acted as interpreter during Sitting Bull’s confrontation with Miles. In exchange for protection from a murder charge stemming from the Standing Rock incident, Bruguier agreed to work for Miles, who credited him with much of the success for his campaigns against Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse that winter. He ultimately was acquitted of the charge. In 1890, he again served as Miles’s interpreter during the Ghost Dance outbreak. In 1891, he moved to an Indian agency near Poplar, Montana, where, seven years later, he was killed from a blow to the head by an unknown assailant. See also MILES, Nelson Appleton; SITTING BULL. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:181) CODY, William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” (1846–1917) was one of the army’s foremost scouts in the decade immediately following the Civil War, and gained worldwide fame as an entertainer with his Wild West Show. A native of Iowa, he moved with his family to Kansas in 1854. At the age of eleven, following the death of his father, he became a teamster, then worked at various other jobs, including riding for the Pony Express. His first experience with the military appears to have been as a guide for a scouting expedition on the Santa Fe Trail in 1862. During 1867–68, he was employed by a

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contractor to hunt buffalo to feed railroad construction workers, and became known as Buffalo Bill. In 1868, Cody became chief scout for the 5th Cavalry, serving in the capacity over the next several years. Among other things, he organized hunting parties for dignitaries being cultivated by General Sheridan. He entered show business in 1872, and, with the exception of the campaign of 1876, remained an entertainer for the rest of his life. (O’Neal, 84–90) COSGROVE, Thomas, native of Texas and former Confederate cavalryman, who, together with Robert Eckles and Nelson Yarnell, lived among the Shoshones and trained their warriors in conventional cavalry tactics. CRAWFORD, Jack, also known as “Captain Jack” and “the Poet scout,” who published a book of rhymes, was a scout and part-time correspondent with the 5th Cavalry during the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He weathered the Horse Meat March reasonably well. As the march neared its end, correspondents turned in their dispatches to Frank Grouard, who would carry them to Fort Laramie for relay by telegraph. Reuben Davenport, knowing that, as a pariah, his dispatches to the New York Herald might be delayed in favor of competing papers, paid Crawford to carry duplicate copies. Instead of Fort Laramie, Crawford carried them to the nearest telegraph office, and the Herald beat the rival Tribune. Crawford later served as correspondent for the Herald as well as the Omaha Bee, and maintained a ranch in the Southwest and a home in Brooklyn. (Knight, 252, 276–78, 304) CUSTER, Boston (1848–76), youngest brother of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, who died with him at the Little Bighorn in 1876. Boston Custer was hired by his older brother to serve as a scout for the 7th Cavalry, in an obvious case of nepotism. He also was interested in river piloting, and considered accompanying Capt. Grant Marsh on the steamer Far West, while his brothers campaigned against the Indians in June 1876. At the last moment, however, he opted to go with the 7th Cavalry in the expedition that culminated with its near-destruction at the Little Bighorn. See also, CALHOUN, James; CUSTER, Thomas Ward; MARSH, Grant; REED, Arthur Harry. (Day, 20, 235) DANIELS, Jared W., agent at Red Cloud from 1872 to 1873, who secured his appointment through the effort of Bishop Henry Whipple. He was a member of the 1876 commission that dean-

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nexed the Black Hills from the Great Sioux Reservation. See also, WHIPPLE, Henry Benjamin; RED CLOUD. (Hyde, 1975, 196–202; Robinson, 1993, 261) DAVENPORT, Reuben Briggs (c. 1852–1932), correspondent for the New York Herald during Crook’s administration of the Department of the Platte. He was born in New York City, and joined the Herald in 1871. He accompanied Custer’s Black Hills Expedition of 1874, and the Dodge-Jenney Expedition. Davenport was the prototype of the modern investigative reporter. His persistent questioning prompted many Westerners to tell him some tall tales, but his dispatches show that he generally was skeptical. Of all the correspondents, he was the least impressed with Crook, reporting the facts as he saw them. A Quaker, he nevertheless distinguished himself for valor during the Battle of the Rosebud. However, his unflattering account of the fight earned him the enmity of Crook and his inner circle. He later covered the Spanish-American War, and served as chief editorial writer for the Paris edition of the combined New York Herald-Tribune. He died in France. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:376–77; Knight, 172–73; Appendix 17) DE SMET, Pierre-Jean (1801–73) a Belgian-born Jesuit, ministered to the Indians of Montana, Oregon, and Idaho for more than three decades beginning in 1840. During this period, he also made nineteen trips to Europe to recruit priests and nuns to work among the Indians. He served as mediator between the Indians and whites, including at the Fort Laramie Treaty conference in 1868. (Utley, 1997, 122) ECKLES, Robert (Texas Bob). See COSGROVE, Thomas. EDMUNDS, Newton, former governor of Dakota Territory, and member of the Manypenny Commission of 1876. See MANYPENNY, George W. (Prucha, 212) FINERTY, John Frederick (1846–1908), a political refugee from Ireland, became a correspondent for the Chicago Times, and covered more Indian war campaigns than any other professional journalist. In 1876, he covered Crook’s expeditions, and his book, War-Path and Bivouac is one of the most complete accounts. He also covered the Ute campaign of 1879, visited Sitting Bull in exile in Canada, and covered the 1881 Apache uprising. He was a member of Congress from 1883 to 1885. (Finerty; Knight, 173–74; Lamar, 369) FORD, John W., was post telegraph operator at Fort Laramie. (Hedren, 1988, 58)

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GROUARD, Frank (1850?–1905) claimed that he was born in the Friendly Islands, the son of an American missionary and a Polynesian noblewoman. While this is the most generally accepted version, and most probably true, his numerous detractors disputed it, some insisting that he was mulatto, and others that he was Indian-white. Grouard was a braggart, and his own accounts cannot be considered completely reliable. Despite his assertions to the contrary, he also nursed an unexplained, but deep-seated hatred for the Oglala chief Crazy Horse, possibly resulting from several years spent in Oglala captivity. The animosity ultimately became a factor in Crazy Horse’s death. Despite his faults, Grouard was a great scout and an experienced frontiersman, and his services to the government were invaluable during the Great Sioux War. In later entries, Bourke spelled the name “Gruard.” See also CLARK, William Philo; CRAZY HORSE. (DeBarthe; Robinson, 1995) HAYES, Rutherford Birchard (1822–1893), served under Crook as a brigadier general of Volunteers during the Civil War, and became Crook’s lifelong friend, supporter, and admirer, even naming one of his sons after him. Declared president after a controversial and hotly contested election, Hayes held office from 1877 to 1881. He was determined not to be distracted by campaign considerations, and therefore did not seek a second term. Consequently, in many cases the full effect of his reforms was not apparent until after he left office. Nevertheless, he was one of the more capable presidents of the last three decades of the nineteenth century. (See Robinson, 2001, and Hoogenboom) HOWARD, E. A., agent at the Spotted Tail Agency from 1873 to 1876. Little is known of him except that beneath his quiet demeanor was great strength of character. He was the only agent who lasted more than a year at Spotted Tail during that period. Removed as part of the military takeover of the agencies, he was reassigned to the Ponca Agency, where a strong hand was believed necessary. (Hyde, 1987, 226–27 n2) LATHROP, Barbour, was a Harvard-educated Virginian who served as correspondent for the San Francisco Bulletin. Independently wealthy, he had lived in San Francisco for several years, where he founded the Bohemian Club, prior to joining Crook. Despite his background, Bourke considered him and Cuthbert Mills of the New York Times the only bona fide correspondents of the group. His later

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life was spent in philanthropy. He is responsible for the introduction of several major food and ornamental plants to U.S. agriculture and horticulture. (Knight, 252–53, 321–22) McGILLYCUDDY, Valentine T. (1849–1939), contract surgeon with General Crook, and topographer for the Dodge-Jenney expedition, was a native of Michigan. He served as post surgeon at Camp Robinson, where he tended the mortally wounded Crazy Horse. He served as agent for the Oglalas from 1879 to 1886, when he was relieved in part because of disputes with Red Cloud. McGillycuddy also was first mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota, and served as president of the South Dakota School of Mines. Bourke occasionally spelled the name “MacGillicuddy.” See also CRAZY HORSE. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:905; McGillycuddy) MANYPENNY, George W., third commissioner of Indian Affairs for the newly formed Department of the Interior, served in that post from 1853 to 1856. He spent much of his subsequent career heading Indian investigation and treaty commissions. His significance in this instance is as head of a commission formed in 1876 to force the Indians to cede the Black Hills. Manypenny’s book, Our Indian Wards (1880), describes Indian-white relations in what is now the U.S., from the first contact in the sixteenth century up to the date of publication. He was unpopular with the military. Ranald Mackenzie, who considered his efforts to negotiate a settlement to the White River Ute crisis of 1879–80 disruptive and annoying, described Manypenny as a “chronic commissioner.” See MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell; EDMUNDS, Newton. (Prucha, 113–15, 212; Robinson, 1993, 269) MARSH, Grant (1834–1916), called “the most popular steamboat captain on the upper Missouri,” became an almost legendary figure when he forced the steamer Far West 710 miles from the Yellowstone to Bismarck in only fifty-four hours, to deliver the wounded from the battle of the Little Bighorn. The Far West had been leased to the government for the duration of the Great Sioux War, and Marsh was credited with being “always ready to take any chances when the services of his government demanded them.” A native of Rochester, Pennsylvania, Marsh became a cabin boy on a steamer at age twelve. He worked his way up becoming first mate of the steamer A.B. Chambers, when Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) was second mate. After assisting the Union fleet with small craft on

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the Mississippi, Marsh served with Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully’s steamers on the upper Missouri in 1864. From then on, he operated steamers on the Missouri and its tributaries. In 1881, he headed a flotilla of five steamers transporting 1,500 Sioux from Montana to agencies in the Dakota Territory. He died in Bismarck, North Dakota. See also, CUSTER, Boston. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:944) MARSH, Othniel Charles (1831–99), paleontologist, native of New York, was an 1860 graduate of Yale, where he received the chair in paleontology six years later. In 1870, he led the first of several formal expeditions to locate deposits of vertebrate fossil remains on the Great Plains. His discoveries led to his appointment in 1882 as vertebrate paleontologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He remained associated with the Geological Survey, and held his chair at Yale for the remainder of his life. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:945) MERIVALE, Joseph, whose name Bourke spelled “Marrivale,” was a longtime resident of the Fort Laramie area, who had served the army as a guide on several occasions prior to the Dodge-Jenney Black Hills expedition of 1875. Nevertheless, during the expedition, Dodge determined that Merivale knew very little about the Black Hills, and instead used him as a courier and interpreter. (Kime, 1996, 12–13) MILLS, Cuthbert, New York Times correspondent was one of only two persons on the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition whom Bourke considered to be bona fide correspondents. The other was Barbour Lathrop of the San Francisco Bulletin. Knight (251) has very little information about him, not even his first name. MOORE, Thomas (1832–96) was one of the preeminent mule packers of the West and, with General Crook, streamlined the military pack transportation system to a model of efficiency. A native of St. Louis, he began his Western career by traveling to California in 1850. He joined Crook as civilian chief packer in 1871, and served in virtually every major Indian campaign until 1895. He also organized transportation for hunting and camping trips by Crook and other dignitaries. His sister was Carrie Nation, temperance activist famous for smashing saloons in the Midwest. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:1011–12) MORROW, Stanley (1843–1921), photographer, was born in Ohio, but grew up in Wisconsin. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Volunteers. He became a member of the Iron Brigade, which served with distinction at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and

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Gettysburg. In 1864, he transferred to duty at Fort Lookout Prison, Maryland, where he studied photography under Matthew B. Brady. In 1869, he moved his family to Yankton, Dakota Territory, and opened a photographic gallery. He also documented Indian and military life along the Missouri River. He was in the Black Hills documenting the gold rush when he received the opportunity to photograph Crook’s troops at the end of the Horse Meat March. In 1879, he accompanied the burial detail that reinterred the remains of Custer’s command at the Little Bighorn, and took the earliest surviving photographs of the battlefield. He later lived in Florida and Georgia, and died in Dallas, Texas. (Hedren, 1985, 10–11) NORTH, Frank J. (1840–85), commander of the Pawnee Battalion on during Crook’s Powder River Expedition. A native of New York, he moved to Nebraska at the age of sixteen with his family. Over the next year, he learned the Pawnee language from a band of Indians camped near his home. In 1860, he became a clerk at the Pawnee Agency store in Genoa, Nebraska, and eventually handled day-to-day operations of the agency. In 1864, he became lieutenant of a company of Pawnees who scouted for Brig. Gen. Samuel Curtis’s expedition against the Sioux and Cheyennes. His performance was such that Curtis authorized him to raise a second company and he was appointed captain. In the winter of 1866–67, he was promoted to major, and raised a four-company Pawnee battalion to guard construction crews for the Union Pacific Railroad. Between 1865 and 1869, North and his scouts were actively engaged in combat against hostile tribes. In 1877, following the Powder River Expedition, the Pawnees were formally mustered out of the service. For several years, they participated in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, but in 1884, North was severely injured when his saddle girth broke and he was trampled. He died of his injuries on March 14, 1885. (O’Neal, 178–81) PHILLIPS, John “Portugee” (1832–83), was born Manoel Felipe Cardoso in the Azores. He came to California on a Portuguese ship about 1850, and became a prospector. On August 14, 1866, he and two partners, James Wheatley and Isaac Fisher, arrived at Fort Phil Kearny, where they accepted employment with the post quartermaster. When Wheatley and Fisher were killed in the Fetterman Massacre of December 21, 1866, Phillips volunteered to carry news of the disaster and a plea for assistance from the besieged garrison

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at Phil Kearny to Fort Laramie. He left Phil Kearny that night, making the 236-mile ride alone through blizzards in four days, arriving shortly before midnight Christmas Day in the middle of a holiday ball. He was bedridden with exhaustion and frostbite for several weeks after the ride. He appears to have received no special reward or consideration for his efforts, although in 1899, the government gave his widow $5,000 in belated gratitude. Bourke never arrived at a consistent way of spelling Phillips’ name, or in using an apostrophe with the “s”. See also FETTERMAN, William Judd. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1140; Brown, 203) POURIER, Baptiste (1841–1932), called “Big Bat” to distinguish him from another scout, Baptiste “Little Bat” Garnier, was born in St. Charles, Missouri. The descendant of a long line of French fur traders and explorers, while still in his teens he accepted employment with trader John Richaud, who later became his father-in-law. Pourier became an interpreter and guide at Fort Laramie in 1869, serving in that capacity until 1880. (Gilbert) REED, Arthur Harry (d. 1876), called “Autie” by his family, nephew of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, who died with him at the Little Bighorn. He accompanied the 7th Cavalry as a guest of his uncle. See also CALHOUN, James; CUSTER, Boston; CUSTER, Thomas Ward. (Day, 229–30. 268) RICHAUD, Louis (ca. 1846–1897) was the son of fur trader John Baptiste Richaud and his wife, Mary Gardiner, who was part Oglala. He grew up along the Platte River in Wyoming, where he and his brother-in-law, Big Bat Pourier, helped operate John Baptiste Richaud’s toll bridge. Although a competent scout, his service under Crook was marked with quarrels with Frank Grouard and he was permanently discharged after the fall 1876 campaign. Thrapp spelled the name “Richard,” but most works give it as Richaud, or, phonetically, “Reeshaw.” (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1214–15) ROCHE, Jerry, correspondent for the New York Herald, was the only reporter who was present at Mackenzie’s attack on Dull Knife’s village during the Powder River Expedition. Even as the fighting was underway, he wrote a hurried dispatch, which he sent back with the Indian couriers who were taking a message asking Crook for infantry support. His later career is not known, but Bourke understood that he abandoned journalism and became a man of substantial means in Texas. (Knight 290, 325)

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ROWLAND, William, was a white who had married into the Cheyennes and served as interpreter at Camp Robinson. He had charge of the Cheyenne scouts on the Powder River Expedition. Bourke spelled the name “Roland.” (Grinnell, 1983, 360, 364) STRAHORN, Robert Edmund (1852–1944), who signed his dispatches “Alter Ego,” was a native of Pennsylvania. He obtained his first newspaper job when he was fourteen. In 1870, he went to Colorado, where he worked in Central City and Black Hawk before joining the Denver Rocky Mountain News. In addition to his regular job with the Denver paper, he also sold dispatches to the Chicago Tribune, Omaha Republican, Cheyenne Sun, and New York Times. Strahorn later settled in Spokane, Washington, and became a land developer and railroad executive, with extensive interests throughout the Pacific Northwest. (Knight, 169–71; Thrapp, 1991, 3:1376) VANDEVER, William (1817–93), native of Maryland, served as United State Indian inspector under the Grant Administration from 1873 until 1877, prompting Bourke (who sometimes spelled it “Vandeveer”) to call him “the lying emissary of the Indian Ring.” Like many of Grant’s appointments, Vandever had served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and was mustered out with the brevet rank of major general. He practiced law until his appointment as Indian inspector. He had served as a congressman from Iowa from 1858 to 1871, and, after moving to California, served as a congressman from that state from 1886 to 1891. He lived in Ventura, California, at the time of his death. (Warner, 523–24) WASSON, Joseph, was one of the first newspaper correspondents who actually covered the Indian Wars from the field, joining Crook’s 1867 expeditions against Indians in Idaho, Oregon, and northern California. At the time, he and his brother, John, owned the Silver City, Idaho, Owyhee Avalanche. The Wasson brothers later established the Tucson Arizona Citizen, where Joseph renewed his acquaintance with Crook and came to know Bourke. He was covering the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition for the New York Tribune, San Francisco Alta California, and Philadelphia Press. (Knight, 32–33, 168–69) WHIPPLE, Henry Benjamin (1822–1901), Episcopal bishop and Indian rights advocate, was born in Adams, New York, and was ordained a priest in 1850. Nine years later, he became the first bishop

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of Minnesota, where he resolved to serve the needs of the state’s twenty thousand Indians, as well as those of the whites. Whipple predicted the Minnesota Uprising of 1862, which he blamed on corruption in the Indian Bureau. He met and corresponded with every president during his career. Although he was vilified by white settlers and frontiersmen, and was the target of an assassination attempt, Whipple was not an apologist for the Indians, insisting they had responsibilities as well as rights. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1547) WHITE, Charles (c. 1841–76), also known as Jonathon White, Frank White, and James White, and called “Buffalo Chips,” was a scout associated with Buffalo Bill Cody. White had ridden with Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart during the Civil War, and was described as an excellent horseman and a good shot. He first met Cody when the latter intervened on his behalf so that he could be treated for an injured leg at the post hospital at Fort McPherson, Nebraska. Thereafter White attached himself to Cody, and was sometimes called his “shadow.” The name “Buffalo Chips” is said variously to have been bestowed on him by Sheridan and by Lt. Alfred Norton, 9th Infantry, and is supposedly a sanitized version of “Buffalo Shit.” White was considered one of the most gentlemanly of all scouts, who did not drink, swear, or lie. He was killed during the mop-up at Slim Buttes. See also CODY, William Frederick. (Thrapp, 1881, 3:1552) YARNELL, Nelson. See COSGROVE, Thomas. Indians AMERICAN HORSE (ca. 1840–1908), Oglala Sioux chief, sometimes confused with another Oglala chief named American Horse, who was mortally wounded at Slim Buttes in 1876. He participated in the Fetterman Massacre, but subsequently settled at the Red Cloud Agency and was not involved in the Great Sioux War. He was an associate of Red Cloud, toured with Buffalo Bill, and as a leader of the Oglalas, earned enemies by often siding with the government in controversies. He died at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. (Thrapp, 1991, 1:21–22) AMERICAN HORSE (d. 1876), also known as Iron Shield, Oglala chief and cousin of Red Cloud, refused to accept the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and continued a nomadic life. Soon after participating in the battle of the Little Bighorn, his band split

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from the main group of Oglalas, and was camped at Slim Buttes when it was attacked by Capt. Anson Mills on September 9, 1876. American Horse was killed in the mop-up. (Lamar, 33) BLACK COAL, Arapaho chief, who, in 1874, led his people against the government and its Shoshone allies under their powerful chief Washakie. Nevertheless, he ultimately sided with the government during the Great Sioux War. Years later, in 1891, after the Arapahos had been placed on the Shoshone Reservation at Wind River, Black Coal challenged Washakie’s authority, demanding—and receiving—equal status for the Arapahos. See also WASHAKIE. (Hyde, 1975, 297; Hoxie, 676) CHARGING BEAR, Oglala warrior captured at Slim Buttes, together with Big Bat Pourier negotiated the surrender of the mortally wounded American Horse, ending the battle. He later became a corporal of Indian Scouts. COCHISE (ca. 1824–1874) is one of the most famous American Indians, largely because of his efforts to maintain peace following the Cochise War. The war lasted almost twelve years before Brig. Gen. Oliver O. Howard was able to negotiate a peace. At Cochise’s direction, the government established a reservation centered on the Dragoon Mountains, that occupied much of the southeastern part of Arizona. It was abolished two years after his death and the Chiricahuas were concentrated at San Carlos. Cochise was the son-in-law and associate of Mangas Coloradas, who is considered perhaps the greatest of all Apache leaders. He inherited the mantle of supremacy following Mangas’s death in 1863. In the nineteenth century, there was no consistent spelling of Apache names, and Bourke uses “Cochies,” “Cochis,” and “Cocheis,” the latter of which was most common among whites. See also HOWARD, Oliver Otis. (Sweeney, 1991; Lamar, 228) CRAZY HORSE (ca. 1840–1877), Oglala war chief, drew attention not only for his mysticism and introverted personality, but also because of his red hair and pale, freckled complexion. In 1865, he was designated one of the four Oglala “shirt wearers” or leading political chiefs, but lost the position five years later following an altercation involving another man’s wife. He distinguished himself in the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, and subsequently during the Great Sioux War. Arrested on September 5, 1877, he was bayoneted during a scuffle at the guardhouse at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, and died

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about midnight. During the latter half of the twentieth century, he became a symbol of Indian political and social resistance. See also BURKE, Daniel Webster; CLARK, William Philo; GROUARD, Frank; LITTLE BIG MAN; McGILLYCUDDY, Valentine T. (Hoxie, 137–39; Utley, 1997, 109–10; Nickerson, 20; DeBarthe, 117) DULL KNIFE (c. 1810–83), was one of the four “old man” or senior chiefs of the Cheyennes. Dull Knife, the name by which he is best known, was his Lakota designation. Among his own people, he was known as Morning Star. He became known to the whites when he signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Following the destruction of his camp by Mackenzie, on November 25, 1876, he and his band wandered until the following spring, when they surrendered. They were transported to the Indian Territory where, after two years of suffering, his band joined Little Wolf’s in an outbreak. North of the Platte River, the two groups split and Dull Knife surrendered at Fort Robinson. In January 1879, Dull Knife’s band staged an uprising and escaped. He eventually was allowed to lived at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. See also LITTLE WOLF; MACKENZIE, Ranald Slidell; WESSELS, Henry. (Utley, 1997, 132–33) FAST THUNDER, Oglala, chief and ally of Red Cloud, who accompanied him to Washington in 1875, to dispute proposed relocation of the agency, and was prominent in subsequent negotiations. (Olson) IRON SHIELD. See AMERICAN HORSE, also known as Iron Shield. JOHN. See UTE JOHN. JOSEPH (1841–1904), Nez Percé, sometimes called the Xenophon of the Indians, was leader of the Nez Percés on their monumental but futile trek toward refuge in Canada. Joseph was born Heinmot Tooyalakekt, the second son of the Nez Percé chief Tu-ya-kas-kas and the baptized Nez Percé woman, Arenoth. When Heimnot Tooyalakekt was about two years old, his father likewise was baptized, and took the name Joseph. After the death of his father, in 1871, Heinmot Tooyalakekt, who by now also was known as Joseph, became the political chief of the Wallamotkin band of Nez Percés. In 1877, federal authorities ordered all Nez Percés on to a reservation to accommodate mining interests in their territory in eastern Oregon. This enraged some of the younger warriors, who killed several settlers. Fearing retaliation, Joseph, Looking Glass,

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and several other chiefs led their people on a four-month trek of over a thousand miles, across the continental divide toward Canada. Ultimately, they were forced to surrender to Col. Nelson Miles less than a hundred miles short of their goal. By now, Joseph and White Bird were the only surviving chiefs. Initially, the Nez Percés were interned at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and later sent to the Indian Territory, where many died of malaria. In 1879, Joseph traveled to Washington to present his case, and became a national celebrity. The result was that the Nez Percés where allowed to return to the Pacific Northwest, but not to their old homeland. See also MILES, Nelson Appleton, HOWARD, Oliver Otis, LOOKING GLASS. (Hoxie, 309–11) LAME DEER (d. 1877), Minneconjou chief, whose band was one of the last major holdouts in the Great Sioux War. He was killed when fighting broke out between his people and Miles’s troops in his camp, on May 7, 1877. (Greene, 1991, Chapter 9) LITTLE BIG MAN, Oglala “shirt wearer” or senior chief of Crazy Horse’s band, initially was pegged—justifiably—as a trouble maker when he arrived at the Red Cloud Agency in 1872. His name had nothing to do with stature, but was to distinguish him from his father, also named Big Man. Little Big Man surrendered with Crazy Horse in 1877, pledging to General Crook that he would maintain the peace. During the scuffle in which Crazy Horse was killed at Camp Robinson, Little Big Man pinioned his arms. He always maintained that the death was an accident. He settled at Pine Ridge where, in 1879, he became a policeman. See also CRAZY HORSE. (Hyde, 1975, 198, 243n 297–98) LITTLE HAWK, Oglala, uncle of Crazy Horse, and second in importance in Crazy Horse’s band. Together with Young Man Afraid of His Horses, Little Wound, and Crow Dog, he became one of the leaders of the Ghost Dance movement at Pine Ridge. On January 14, 1891, following the disaster at Wounded Knee, this group met with Miles to finalize the break-up of the Sioux Ghost Dancers. See also CRAZY HORSE, YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES, LITTLE WOUND, MILES, Nelson Appleton. (Hyde, 1956, 313) LITTLE WOLF (c. 1820–1904), Northern Cheyenne, was chief of the Bowstring Soldier warrior society. He apparently was present during the Fetterman Massacre of 1866, and the Custer fight in 1876. It is not known, however, whether he was in Dull Knife’s

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village during Mackenzie’s attack on November 25, 1876. After the Cheyennes surrendered to Crook, he was among the group sent to the Indian Territory. In September 1878, he and Dull Knife led three hundred of their followers out of the Territory and north toward their homeland. The two bands split after crossing the North Platte River, and Little Wolf continued to Montana, while Dull Knife surrendered at Fort Robinson. Little Wolf ultimately surrendered to Miles, who enrolled him as a scout. He remained a respected figure until his death. See also DULL KNIFE; MILES, Nelson Appleton. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:862–63) LITTLE WOUND, Oglala chief, attempted to be accommodating, but government blundering drove his band to hostility in 1865. He signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Like Red Cloud and other chiefs, however, he understood the treaty was simply to restore peace and trade, and refused to abandon his hunting grounds to the government. Nevertheless, he settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and, together with Red Cloud, probably saved Agent J. J. Saville’s life from a kangaroo court organized by Little Big Man and Pretty Bear over a dispute about rations. In 1877, he combined with Red Cloud and other Oglala leaders to support General Crook against Crazy Horse. He eventually settled at Pine Ridge. See also CRAZY HORSE, LITTLE BIG MAN, RED CLOUD. (Hyde, 1975, 155, 164, 169, 209, 297) LOOKING GLASS (c. 1823–77), Nez Percé, was a war chief of the Alpowai band of Nez Percé, who gained distinction in battles against other tribes on the buffalo plains east of his home in the Wallowa Valley of Oregon. In the great Nez Percé trek of 1877, he became de facto leader of the warriors. However, his miscalculation that his people were beyond danger from the whites led to heavy losses in the Battle of Big Hole, in Montana. After that, he was no longer paramount war chief, although he retained much prestige. He regained control, but another miscalculation led to the six-day siege at Bear Paw Mountain, September 30–October 5, 1877. He was killed on the final day, and this prompted the Nez Percés to surrender. See also JOSEPH. (Thrapp, 1991, 2:873–74) OLD BEAR, Cheyenne, was present at both the Little Bighorn and the Dull Knife fight five months later, and was among those who surrendered with Dull Knife. (Grinnell, 1983, 353, 367) OLD CROW, also known as Washington, a chief of Crow Indian scouts.

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OLD MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES arose to leadership of the Oglalas during a power struggle in the early 1850s. Details are sketchy but he appears to have been recognized by the government as head chief during this period. In 1854, he tried unsuccessfully to head off the confrontation between troops commanded by Second Lt. J. L. Grattan and Lakotas near Fort Laramie, which resulted in the massacre of Grattan and his men, and essentially marked the beginning of the Sioux Wars. This failure led the government to designate Bad Wound as head chief. Although the government considered him a peace chief, he joined Red Cloud in refusing to sign the proposed Fort Laramie Treaty of 1866. He did, however, sign the 1868 treaty. By this time, however, his prestige had begun to wane, and Red Cloud, about five years his junior, assumed preeminence. He eventually settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and later at Pine Ridge. See also RED CLOUD; YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES. (Hyde, 1975, 67–68, 73–74, 139, 164) RED CLOUD (1822–1909), Oglala, became a powerful war chief through his own accomplishments. He appears to have taken his first scalp at sixteen, in a raid against the Pawnees. He participated in the Grattan Massacre, and was a distinguished leader against Gen. Patrick Connor’s failed North Plains Expedition. During a treaty council at Fort Laramie in June 1866, Red Cloud and his followers walked out in protest of a proposal to surrender more hunting grounds to the government. This led to the Red Cloud War of 1866–68, that forced the government to abandon the Bozeman Trail and Forts Reno, Phil Kearny, and C.F. Smith. After signing the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, Red Cloud never again went to war, although during the Great Sioux War, his sympathies were with the hostiles. This led Crook to depose him as paramount chief of the Lakotas in favor of Spotted Tail in September 1876. Following the death of Spotted Tail in 1881, Red Cloud again emerged as paramount chief. More visionary than many of the other leaders, he saw that the survival of his people depended on adapting to government expectations. He died at Pine Ridge. See also YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES; SPOTTED TAIL; THREE BEARS. Red Cloud’s life is covered in Olson; Hyde, 1975; and Larson. ROCKY BEAR, Oglala chief, together with Sitting Bull of the South, and Three Bears, persuaded young warriors of the Red Cloud Agency to enlist as scouts for General Crook, over the objections of

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Red Cloud and Agent James S. Hastings. See also SITTING BULL OF THE SOUTH; THREE BEARS. (Hyde, 1975, 259) ROMAN NOSE, Lakota leader from the Spotted Tail Agency, was among the hostiles at Slim Buttes. After the fight, he joined Crazy Horse, but eventually he, Touch-the-Clouds, and other chiefs broke away, surrendered, and were allowed to live at the Spotted Tail Agency. Sometime after mid-1877, however, he left and joined Sitting Bull in Canada. Not to be confused with the great Cheyenne chief Roman Nose, who was killed in a fight with Forsyth’s troops at Beecher’s Island, in 1868. See also TOUCH-THE-CLOUDS. (Hyde, 1974, 266 n 8, 287 n3) SHARP NOSE, Arapaho chief, led his tribe’s contingent serving under General Crook in the summer and fall of 1876. Besides being a noted warrior and leader, soldiers praised him as one of the most outstanding guides. He was especially valuable in guiding Mackenzie’s cavalry to the main Cheyenne camp on November 24–25. (Dunlay, 82) SHUNCACA LUTU (Sorrel Horse), Brulé medicine man mentioned frequently by Bourke in 1876–77, but there is little other information about him. SITTING BULL (1831?–90), Hunkpapa war chief and holy man, as a young man attained a superlative record as a warrior, and in 1857, was designated a war chief. His conflicts with whites appear to have begun when Montana-bound gold seekers came up the Missouri River. The government soon began building forts along the river, prompting Sitting Bull to lead his people in a five-year war. By this time, his interest had turned to spirituality, and he was known among all the Lakota tribes as a holy man. In his combined capacity of military and religious leader, he became the focal point of the Lakotas resisting the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and the subsequent settlement on reservations. His warriors fought troops on a survey expedition into the Yellowstone Valley in 1872 and 1873. Rather than surrender during the Great Sioux War, he led a remnant of his people into Canada, where they remained until 1881, when he turned himself in at Fort Buford, North Dakota. He toured briefly with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, but spent most of his time on the Standing Rock Reservation, adopting white methods he deemed useful, and rejecting those he did not. As more of the Indian lands were taken, Sitting Bull became a leader of the Ghost

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Dance movement at Standing Rock. He was killed on December 15, 1890, in a fight that broke out when Indian Police tried to arrest him. (Utley, 1993; Hoxie, 593–95) SITTING BULL OF THE SOUTH (1841–76) was a name that whites gave to the Oglala leader Sitting Bull to distinguish him from the great Hunkpapa chief Sitting Bull. As a young man, Sitting Bull of the South became friends with a telegrapher, who taught him to read and write, and to use the telegraph. He was fluent in English. Following the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, he joined a hostile faction, and participated in several fights, including the Fetterman Massacre in Wyoming. Later he settled at the Red Cloud Agency, and accompanied two delegations to Washington. He was ambushed and killed by a group of Crows while on a truce mission to Crazy Horse. See also ROCKY BEAR; THREE BEARS. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1315) SPOTTED TAIL (1823?–81) , was a Brulé “shirt wearer” or senior chief, and war leader. Although he was involved in the Grattan Massacre of 1855, he surrendered the following month. He was detained at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and Fort Kearny, Nebraska, for a year, during which he learned enough about the whites to realize their numbers and technology made them an irresistible force. From that point onward, he strove to maintain peace, and obtain education for his people, while preserving their ancient culture. He did, however, lead an assault against Julesburg, Colorado, in retaliation for the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864, and government restrictions on Lakota travel along the Platte River. Soon after, he permanently ceased fighting whites, signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and took up residence on a reservation in Nebraska. In 1876, General Crook deposed Red Cloud as head chief of the Lakotas, and designated Spotted Tail in his place. Although Spotted Tail negotiated the surrender of hostile bands, he rejected the proposition that the Lakotas be relocated to Oklahoma. In 1880, a political struggle developed among the Brulés, with opposition centering around Spotted Tail’s cousin, Crow Dog. On August 5, 1881, an altercation developed between the two men, and Crow Dog shot Spotted Tail. After his death, the Brulés ceased to play a significant role in Lakota affairs. See also RED CLOUD. (Hoxie, 603–5; Hyde, 1987) STANDING ELK, Cheyenne, led the surrender of the Cheyennes at Camp Robinson in April 1876. Most of the band had been among

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those devastated in Mackenzie’s attack the preceding November. Having negotiated with government officials previously, he accepted the army’s proposal to relocate the Cheyennes to the Indian Territory. (Grinnell, 1983, 400) SWORD (Man Who Carries the Sword), also known as George Sword, Oglala, served as a guide for Sheridan’s hunting trip of 1877, and later was appointed captain of the Indian Police force at Pine Ridge Agency. He proved the reliability of the Indian Police, when he led a force of twenty-five officers 180 miles from Nebraska to Wyoming, in pursuit of a band of Cheyennes under Spotted Wolf, who had bolted from the agency. In the arrest attempt, Spotted Wolf drew his pistol and Sword killed him. The other Cheyennes were taken into custody and returned. (McGillycuddy, 124–25) THREE BEARS, Oglala, served as first sergeant of scouts during Crook’s Powder River expedition of 1876. Together with Young Man Afraid of His Horses, he opposed Red Cloud’s obstructionist policies. Previously, in October 1874, they had headed off a confrontation between several hundred unruly warriors at the Red Cloud Agency, saving a small detachment of troops from Camp Robinson, under Lt. Emmet Crawford, from potential massacre. After that, Crawford considered Three Bears a close friend. See also CRAWFORD, Emmet; RED CLOUD; ROCKY BEAR; YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES. (Dunlay, 137, 141–42) TOUCH-THE-CLOUDS, Minneconjou, so-called because he was seven feet tall. He persuaded Crazy Horse to report to Camp Robinson for internment, leading to the scuffle that resulted in Crazy Horse’s death. In mid to late 1877, he left Spotted Tail’s camp to join Sitting Bull in Canada. See also ROMAN NOSE. (Hyde, 1974, 287 3n; Olson, 214) UTE JOHN, Ute, scout serving with Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, with whom the general dispensed the formalities of rank. Previously he had worked as a teamster in the Salt Lake Valley, and claimed to be a baptized Mormon. (Bourke, Diary, Vol. 7) WASHAKIE (1804?–1900), powerful and autocratic chief of the Shoshones, spent most of his life maintaining peace with the federal government. His position was reenforced in 1863, when Col. Patrick Connor defeated and subdued Shoshone dissidents who had joined Bannocks in raiding against white emigrants. In 1868, he signed the Fort Bridger Treaty establishing a Shoshone reservation in what is

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now western Wyoming. In the 1870s, he led his people as scouts, first against the Arapahos, and latter as part of Crook’s Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. He opposed some government policies, including the resettlement of Arapahos on the Shoshone Reservation. Nevertheless, he cooperated, realizing that to oppose the government would bring disaster for his people. In 1878, at General Crook’s behest, the government upgraded Camp Brown, Wyoming, on the Shoshone Reservation, renaming it Fort Washakie, in his honor. He also was presented with a special medal from Congress. See also BLACK COAL. (Hoxie, 675–76; Robinson, 2001, 221) WHITE THUNDER, subchief of the Brulé Orphan Band, was popular among the officers and families posted to the Spotted Tail Agency. He was among the group that escorted Crazy Horse to interment at Camp Robinson, where the chief was killed. (Hyde, 1974, 229, 285) YOUNG MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES (ca. 1830–1900) was a hereditary Oglala chief through is father, Old Man Afraid Of His Horses. He was an associate of Red Cloud, and participated in various fights along the Bozeman Trail and in the Fetterman Massacre during the Red Cloud War. He was a party to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and thereafter worked as a sort of mediator between Indians and whites. Although he opposed the sale of Sioux lands to the government, he eventually was designated president of the Pine Ridge Indian Council. He also adamantly opposed the Ghost Dance religion. See also OLD MAN AFRAID OF HIS HORSES; RED CLOUD; THREE BEARS. (Thrapp, 1991, 3:1614–15)

Appendix 2 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Soldiers’ Perspectives on the Horse Meat March

The notorious Horse Meat March was the low point of General Crook’s career. Even Bourke, loyal though he was, found his patience strained. The following writings are from others who accompanied the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition on the trek. They begin with Crook’s orders as transmitted to the 5th Cavalry by its lieutenant colonel, Eugene A. Carr. Orders to Cavalry, August 4, 1876 [From Charles King, Campaigning With Crook and Stories of Army Life, 57–58] All tents, camp equipage, bedding, and baggage, except articles hereinafter specified, to be stored in the wagons, and wagons turned over to care of chief quartermaster by sunrise to-morrow. Each company to have their coffee roasted and ground and turned over to the chief commissary at sunset to-night. Wagons will be left here at camp. A pack-train of mules will accompany each battalion on the march, for the protection of which the battalion will be held responsible. The regiment will march at seven A.M. to-morrow, “prepared for action,” and company commanders will see to it that each man carries with him on his person one hundred rounds car464

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bine ammunition and four days’ rations, overcoat and one blanket on the saddle. Fifty rounds additional per man will be packed on mules. Four extra horses, not to be packed, will be led with each company. Curry-combs and brushes will be left in wagons. Special instructions for action: All officers and non-commissioned officers to take constant pains to prevent wastage of ammunition. “I Am a Hippophagist” This extract is from a letter from Colonel Carr to his wife, written on September 8, 1876. It is dated from “Camp Hippophos [Horse Eater] branch of Grand River, Dakota.” The letter is in the Eugene Asa Carr Papers, United States Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. I have just now received orders to send 3 horses to the Commissary to be butchered hence the name [Camp Hippophos] above. I got some horse meat here but have not yet tasted it as I want it to keep awhile. Others have eaten it and pronounce it nice. Mine looks very nice. It is a piece of tenderloin. The horses are of course thin as only such are likely to give out. Tho[’] I saw one left behind today which was in quite grave condition. There were about ten left back today from all that Cavalry. Genl. Merritt is quite exercised and started back himself with the rear guard. He spoke quite frankly today about Genl. Crook. Said that he heard one of the orderlies at his Headquarters last night say he ought to be hung but could not tell who the man was. . . . 6 p.m. The deed is done[.] I am a Hippophagist. I had some very nice duck, ate more than half, as the Doctor insisted, but thought I would try the horse and it is better than Texas beef often is. Have had a hearty supper consisting of duck[,] hippo and hard tack and coffee with very little sugar. This is the last of the sugar, but we probably will have coffee all the way through, it is expected that rations will meet us at Belle Fourche on Monday evening 11th. So we only have to provide for tomorrow and next night. “For breakfast,—water and tightened belts.” An Officer’s Letter Home This letter was written by Lt. Walter Schuyler, one of Crook’s aides-de-camp, to his father, George Washington Schuyler. Schuyler was Bourke’s bunkmate during the march, and describes the

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suffering and the fight at Slim Buttes. The letter is preserved in the Walter Scribner Schuyler Papers, WS87, in The Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, Calif. Fort Laramie, Wyo. November 1, 1876 Dear Father. I want to give you some idea of our operations of the past summer, and think that a concise description of the most important incidents will be more interesting than a daily journal. We marched from Goose creek on the morning of August 5. Our wagon train with all our baggage was ordered to encamp at the forks of the creek, to await our return, on orders to meet us at some designated point. Leaving camp in three columns, we moved north-east to Prarie-dog [sic] creek, and then to its junction with Tongue River, the scene of the attack on Gen. Crook’s camp, June 8,1 bivouacking on the river some miles below. By moderate marches we moved down Tongue River, across to Rosebud c[ree]k, and down that stream to within 30 miles of the Yellowstone. Here we met Gen. Terry’s column moving up from its steamboats. We caused some consternation among them, as their scouts seeing our dust mistook us for the Sioux moving to the attack. We camped together that night, and thence marched together to where the Indian trail turned south from Powder River. One day as we were moving up a small stream called Four Horn Creek, the command was marching in four columns. Just before going into camp, the Headquarters came up, onto a bluff from which we could overlook the whole valley. As the sun came out with unusual brilliancy for a few moments the aspect was grand. The advancing columns of horse and foot with the glistening equipment and the bright colored flags which marked the heads of the different regiments, the long train of pack mules in the centre, and the squads of Indian scouts with their parti-colored dress scattered over the hills, combined to make a picture calculated to excite a soldiers enthusiasm. After going into camp, the Ree scouts of Gen. Terry’s command favored us with a pony dance. A few cattle had been driven along for issue, and on this day the last of them were killed. Our Sho1. Bourke recorded the attack as coming on the evening of June 9. Bourke, Diary, 1:305.

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shones consequently had a feast. The Rees had been invited, and about sundown we were amused to see them coming across the creek, mounted, in perfect line, and all singing in chorus. The line advanced slowly to the centre of the Shoshone camp, riding down every obstacle, trampling over blankets, brush huts, saddles and everything that happened to be in their path. The Shoshones took up the chorus until the Rees had come to a halt, when the latter broke ranks with a whoop, turned their ponies out to graze, and immediately fell to work devouring the meat that had been already roasted on the fires. Sometime ago, shortly before this war, the Indians at the Standing Rock Agency, treated the commander of the garrison to one of these pony dances, setting at defiance the feeble force of two companies of Infantry. They rode over his tents and nearly destroyed his camp. From time to time we came across beds of Lignite, which are numerous in this country. Many of them are burning and in places make travelling dangerous by reason of the liability of the earth to cave in, the fire having left cavities extending far underground. There is a large bed of this Lignite near the mouth of the Little Powder River which the Indians say has been burning for forty-five years. Occasionally we would be deceived by such fires, seeing the smokes at a distance and thinking them made by Indians. After some pretty disagreeable marching, we arrived at the Yellowstone River, camping just north of the mouth of Powder River. The headquarters, of which I was an adjunct, occupied the only clump of trees in sight. The rest of the command stretched for two miles up the sandy bank of the stream which here flows through a broad valley with no bluffs to shelter from the high winds of that region. The order for our march prohibited any officer or man from carrying any baggage except such as could be packed on the saddle. Each one therefore, had but one blanket, one saddle-blanket, one overcoat and one rubber blanket. We at Hdqrs fared like the rest, except that some one found on the march an old piece of canvas which we managed to take along. In the field one eats only to live, and we had for rations coffee which each prepared in his tin cup, sugar, bacon and hardtack. We had in our mess eight individuals including the General, who can live on a very small amount of food and sleep.

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Well! we went into camp under the trees, that is, each threw his possessions down on the smoothest spot he could find, and turned his horse loose to graze. As we had made a long hot march of 13 days without any change of clothes or chance to bathe, the river, muddy as it was, proved very refreshing. One day Gen[.] Terry, whose command was camped about two miles below, came up to see the General [Crook], and found him with several of his staff, serenely seated in the water washing their only set of garments. For three days we had pleasant weather and then came the rain and wind. We first made a sort of tent with our canvas and some brush and piled ourselves up in that. About midnight the storm increased to a hurricane and tore our tent away. We slept in several inches of water for the rest of that night,—slept—except when the wind would lick our blankets up and make us stir to recover them. In the morning we cooked our breakfast as well as we could in the rain, and spent the day in standing around the fire trying in vain to dry our clothes. Then came the dreary night again! Bourke and myself half dried our blankets over the fire, and made our couch as downy as possible by pulling grass and putting it under the rubber blanket which consisted [sic] the lower stratum of our formation. We had another rubber over us, and thought that we should be happy, but the top one drained into the lower that formed a beautifully water-tight bowl in which we lay in soak. The next night we passed in sitting around the fire in utter gloom and discomfort. Occasionally somebody essayed a joke, but the best were passed over in silence. Under such circumstances no one seems given to hilarity, at least, until one gets sufficiently miserable to be desperate and reckless. After remaining on the river for seven days, we marched up the Powder, in the mud, and continued the pursuit of the Indians, who had gone south. Our Shoshone Indians amused us greatly on the Yellowstone by their admiring interest in the steamboats, they never having seen any before. Whenever the supply boat,—the “Far West,” approached our camp, they lined the bank and continued to gaze and wonder until she was out of sight, when they would return to their camp to reopen the discussion of the new sensation. From the Powder to Heart River we passed over a very interesting country of diversified character. Near Beaver C[ree]k, we made one

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camp which deserves notice. We were in some sharp bluffs, bivouacking on the slopes and summits to avoid the damp ground. The grass was very thick and fine, and the camp with its surroundings a fair picture. We,—the Hdqrs, were on the top of a knoll, protected from the wind by a ridge that overlooked us from the East. At our feet was camped the Infantry in column, and on either flank stretched the cavalry, some on the ridges, and some in the little valleys between the latter. Directly in front was a gap in the hills through which we could overlook the country that we have paced over during the two preceeding [sic] days. Two days later we reached the Little Missouri, a shallow, muddy stream, but well timbered. We made our camp in a flat where the stream bent around so as to enclose a park of circular shape. The command was extended along the timber, so as to give the horses shelter should the rainy day terminate in a cold night; and after dark the circle of camp fires nearly 3/4 of a mile in diameter gave us a very pretty effect. From this point to Heart River we saw occasionally small parties of Indians, who succeeded however in eluding us. We left Heart River one morning with the sun dimly glaring at us out of a dismal sky, and started on a march of 200 miles to the Black Hills, to relieve the settlements, which were believed to be the objective point of the Indians. We had only rations enough for 2/3 days,2 and our party set the example of living on half allowance. The first night after a very long march, we had to encamp on a pond of white bitter water, where there was not a bit of wood large enough to make a toothpick,—not even sage brush which is ordinarily so abundant. Take away coffee and our rations amounted to nothing: for a soldier will give up everything else before that. With the exception of ourselves, the army went supperless to bed. As for us, we clubbed together, and gathered grass in considerable quantities, twisted it into little bundles, then digging a little hole in the ground, set our cups around its edge, lit some grass in the midst, and fed the fire with the little bundles until the water boiled. It is simple enough, but takes patient labor. In the morning we repeated the operation, and set out at sunrise, everyone confident of getting wood in a short march. We advanced over thirty miles and camped on a stream of beautiful water; but where even the grass was scant, 2. I.e., two or three.

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and again not a sign of fuel. During the afternoon it rained, and so the grass would not burn. The surgeon had a little keg (one gallon) which had been filled with whisky some time before, so that the staves were soaked with alcohol, with this we cooked our supper. Still the army had nothing. For breakfast,—water and tightened belts. Then came another long march in rain and mud; but that night we had a little wood, enough for cooking, but not enough to dry our blankets. Next morning the advance, going by forced marches for rations, struck the camp of American Horse and captured the village, sending back for reinforcements. We got up about 10. A.m. and found that there had fallen into our hands, 100 ponies, 5000 pounds of dried meat and fruits, and much other plunder. This was a Godsend, as we had already been obliged to eat some of our horses; the rain having ruined nearly all of our scanty stock of rations. In the afternoon, the Indians were reinforced and attacked us, hoping to recover their village: but their property was already disposed of, and we had a very pretty fight until dark, the affair being resumed at daylight. From this point we lived for two days on the captured meat, and then for five days on the ponies. And let me tell you that fat colts are ever so much better eating than beef, though one does not like to see them killed, nor does one like to see the shanks & hoofs [sic] left on the haunches. To us who have to depend on them so much, it seems like murder to kill horses. I have told you what I experienced on this march, but you can gather from that no realization of the suffering of the men, and particularly the Infantry. I have seen men become so exhausted that they were actually insane, but there was no way of carrying them, except for some mounted officer or man to give them his own horse; which was done constantly. I saw men who were very plucky, sit down and cry like children because they could not hold out. When there came a chance to fight however, every one was mad enough to fight well. I never have seen such a sight as was presented in the captured village, when 2000 men were scattered through it in orderless confusion, picking up buffalo robes and other articles, and burning the lodges, while at the head of a gulch a hundred yards away, a circle of men were held at bay by a handful of Indians in a hole, and off to the south the pickets were engaged. Occasionally a bullet would

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come in among us, but no one appeared to mind it much, though all stood horrified for a moment when [Charles “Buffalo Chips”] White,—a scout, was heard to wail out,—“My God, I’ve got it,” and seen to fall shot through the heart. And again a few minutes later, when, a rush having been made on the Indians by the rapidly increasing forces at the gulch, two soldiers were carried back wounded. And there was a push when we saw the enemy coming in force, and the sudden return to discipline and order was wonderful. The alarm was given just in time, too, for they came near getting some of our horses. We were attacked on all sides at once, the Indians being very quick in movement, and being much better mounted than ourselves, (our horses at this time could only travel with difficulty, having worn out,) and in carrying orders about the field, I had a very good view of the whole thing. General Crook’s headquarters were on a knoll in the center of our camp whence we could overlook the whole field, and the troops were deployed in a skirmish line, nearly in a circle. We lost some men, both killed and wounded, and one officer had his leg amputated that night [Lt. Adolphus H. von Leuttwitz]. As for myself, my duties did not happen to lead me into any dangerous places. I was kept pretty busy carrying orders to the battalion commanders, and in watching to see if anything went wrong. The prisoners captured in the afternoon (in the hole I spoke of) were under guard near the pack mules. It wasn’t a very great fight but hurt the Indians considerably. In the morning when we broke camp, they attacked our rear guard but only wounded three men, whereas we killed four of them. They now acknowledge to have lost ten men killed in the two days action. Many of the cavalrymen were on foot, their horses having died or given out, and all of our animals had to be eased as much as possible by the riders’ dismounting and walking from time to time. Occasionally have incidents sufficiently comical to put us all in good humor. For instance, one day we saw a cavalryman who after getting his weak horse along as far as he could, unsaddled him, shot him, cut out the tenderest steak he could find, built a fire and philosophically sat down to a hearty meal. This finished he shouldered his carbine and went on refreshed. The Infantry made a standing joke of the boast that if we only marched far enough, they would eat all the cavalry horses.

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At last after the most fearful march of all[,] through mud so thick and sticky that whenever one raised a foot he brought up with it about ten pounds of clay, a march prolonged far into the night, during the last portion of which the command got scattered, and some of the wounded were thrown out of the mule litters by the stumbling and jumping of the animals,—the Belle Fourche of the Cheyenne River was reached, and rations arrived from Deadwood City. The cheer that went up when the herd of beef cattle came in sight, was magnificent. The wagons with flour and vegetables arrived soon after, accompanied by delegations from the towns in the Hills, who came out to welcome the army that had come through so much hardship to save them from massacre. Everyone ate as though he never expected to see another meal, and indeed it was difficult to realize that such would not be the case. Double rations were issued, and the camp for the first time in many days rang with laughter and merriment. I myself was spared the last march,—by a worse one. Three companies under Major Upham were sent on a fresh trail of Indians going toward the Hills from the camp previous to that on the Belle Fourche. I accompanied this detachment as a volunteer. After marching two days in mud and rain, we arrived with exhausted horses, on the Belle Fourche about 12 miles below the main camp. Here we found plenty of wood and made ourselves comfortable for the night. Our men had had nothing to eat for over twenty-four hours, while the officers had made the first day’s supply of horse-meat last up to this night. About 3 o’clock in the morning I was awakened by hearing the howling of coyotes. I listened attentively and concluded that it was not coyotes, but a tolerably good imitation. Suddenly there came the call of the night owl from below the camp. This was repeated twice, and then all was quiet again. I had been taught these signals by my Indians in Arizona, and immediately woke Major Upham, and told him that there were Indians about the camp. He gave orders to double the guard over the horses and to be on the alert. At daylight when camp was awakened, some of the men wanted to go out hunting. Major Upham at first refused to allow them to go, but was at length persuaded by some of the officers to give the desired permission. The men commenced shooting at rabbits around the camp, and a good many shots were fired up and down the river. On leaving camp we discovered quite accidentally, that one of our

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hunters had been killed and scalped about half a mile beyond the picket, the scene being hidden from their sight by a slight rise in the ground. It seems that five Indians had been watching us all night, hoping to get a chance to steal horses. Seeing this man start out, they had waited for him behind the point of a bluff, and killed him and his horse as he rode toward them. They had taken his saddle, arms, and scalp, and had put two crossed gashes in his breast, their mark for a brave man. The empty cartridge shells showed that he had fired two shots before he died. We caught sight of the Indians as they went over a hill about three miles on the other side of the river. After burying the soldier where he fell, we moved on and reached the main command in the afternoon. There are three fruits or berries quite common in this country.—The wild plum, which is very fine, the small black cherry, and the Buffalo berry. The latter is very like a red currant, but more acid. All three grow on bushy trees which seldom attain a height greater than ten feet, and form a very close thicket or “Chapperal” [sic]. While we were on short rations we sometimes ran across patches of these berries, and they, being devoured by every one with great avidity, undoubtedly did much to prevent scurvy. One day the whole staff including the General stampeded into a plum patch, going down on our hands and knees to pick up the ripe fruit that the wind had shaken off. The men suffered on the trip more than the officers for the reason that they were so very improvident, it being impossible to impress them with the importance of saving their rations. Then many of them lost their horses, mostly through inattention. In these campaigns a man has to nurse his horse very carefully, attending to his food and water, seeing that he is always put on good grass. It seems impossible to make some men understand this. Sometimes an hour on good grass will save a horse, that if left to stand hungry would give out. Such is in brief the history of the closing operations of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, and of the campaign which commenced so disastrously by the destruction of Custer and his command on the Little Big Horn. It has been a march through the heart of the enemys’ [sic] country, almost wholly unexplored by white men and thoroughly misunderstood by them; a march which has tried men’s souls as well as their constitutions; a march which will live in our history as the hardest ever undertaken by our army,

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and on which the privation and hardship were only equaled by the astonishing health of the command while accomplishing it. Our country and perhaps the world can afford no school for the officer and soldier equal to this, and those who have gone through it may congratulate themselves that they have had the opportunity. Upon the older men it has been hard indeed, for out of 52 days we had 26 days of rain, the exposure to which has caused many to suffer with rheumatism and kindred ails. The success of the expedition, though on first consideration apparently small, has in reality been great, for a new and fine country has been explored, and the Sioux though having lost but one small village, have been so kept on the move, that they have been unable to lay up the stores of meat &c which will be indispensable to them this winter. It was unfortunate that our Indian allies became disgusted with the delay at the Yellowstone, and deserted us at that point, as we could have used them to good advantage at Slim Buttes. Not only will the knowledge gained of the country be useful in a military sense, but also in the cause of emigration. The southern portion of Montana and the southwestern part of Dakota afford us as fine grazing as can be found; and in addition, it has been proven that the land is well fitted for agriculture, for on the Little Missouri we fed our horses on corn which had sprung up from seed dropped by Terry’s wagon train in May, and had attained the height of four or more feet. And this is only a small section of the country, the gates of which have been locked to civilization on the plea that it was the hunting ground of the savage. Yours very truly Walter S. Schuyler A Medical Officer’s Perspective The following is an extract of a report prepared by Surgeon Bennett A. Clements, major in the Army Medical Service, attached to headquarters, Department of the Platte. Clements joined the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition at Goose Creek on August 3, 1876, and accompanied it on the Horse Meat March. The original, dated December 14, 1876, is on file in Record Group 94, Office of the Adjutant General, in the National Archives. An abbreviated

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version, from which this extract is taken, appears in Jerome A. Greene, Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877, pp. 97ff. The command consisted of about 1500 cavalry, 450 infantry, 45 white “volunteers,” and 240 Snake and Ute Indians, in all, over 2200 men. It was provided with rations for fourteen days, limited to hard bread, bacon, coffee, sugar and salt. Each officer and mounted man carried on his horse four days’ rations, and one blanket for each officer and man was allowed. No tents or cooking utensils except tin cups were permitted, and no ambulances or wheeled vehicles of any description taken. The rations were transported on two hundred and forty pack mules. On the morning of August 5, 1876, the command left its camp and wagon trains on Goose Creek, marching down Tongue River, and on the 7th crossed westward to Rosebud River, making a very hard march for the infantry of 22 miles, over a rough country and in blazing sun, and coming upon a very large Indian trail which was followed down the river until noon of the 10th instant, when a junction was effected with the forces under Brigadier General Terry. The united force continuing upon the trail, then turned to the eastward and crossed Tongue river, and marching over some “Bad Lands,” encamped on Powder river on the 15th. Continuing down the Powder river, the Indian trail was found to turn eastward at a point some ten miles from its mouth; nevertheless the entire command proceeded to the Yellowstone, at a point where the Powder empties into it, arriving there on the 17th August, 1876. Up to this time there had been but few men who reported sick, though several heavy rainstorms had occurred. The command remained here, resting the animals and waiting for supplies, until the morning of August 24, 1876. But few of our stock of medicines had been used, and none of the surgical dressings, but I procured a few ounces of quinine from General Terry’s command and inasmuch as it was supposed we would of necessity reach some point of supply at the expiration fo the time for which we were now freshly rationed—fourteen days—and as no estimation to the contrary was given, it was deemed unnecessary to make any further addition to the medical supplies. On the 23rd of August, the day before leaving the Yellowstone, thirty-four sick and disabled men were transferred to the steamboat

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“Far West,” of which number fourteen were cases of acute dysentery and diarrhoea. The night before our departure, a most violent storm of rain and wind occurred, rendering sleep impossible, and saturating everything with water. On August 24th, at an early hour, the command moved out and marched up the Powder river. On the 25th General Terry arrived at our camp in advance of his troops, but returned the same evening, and thereafter General Crook’s force operated alone. Leaving Powder river, the command now made long marches to the northeastward, finding but scanty grass and only alkaline and extremely muddy water, and on the 28th encountering a severe storm of rain and hail. . . . For the three following days we either remained in camp or made very short marches, and the opportunity was embraced to construct some mule-litters (of which two had already been needed) and to organize their management. I was efficiently aided in this by the previous experience of Surgeon A. Hartsuff, U.S. Army, was placed in charge of them; but fortunately there was need of only three to five of them for the next six days. It was also determined to keep the seriously sick (who were transported on the litters) in a spot when in camp designated as “the hospital;” but for this purpose there was but one tent fly, no bedding except four blankets, and no cooking utensils but the tin cups of the men, and one frying-pan borrowed from the packers. Nevertheless there was a great advantage in having all these men together. I also at this time advised the commanding general on the state of health of the command, and in regard to the necessity that would soon arrive for antiscorbutics. Some experiments were here made, at the suggestion of the general, in the use of the cactus and the Indian turnip as food and antiscorbutics, but it was found impossible to procure or use them to any extent. At this time also, some of the medical officers reported a scorbutic tendency among the men, inferring its existence from the ascertained character of the diarrhoea then prevailing, and one case of probable scurvy was reported, but the patient never presented himself again, and the medical officer was afterwards satisfied that he could not verify his diagnosis. But one case occurred in the command (in the latter part of October) marked by stiffening of the ham tendons, and induration of the calf of the leg.

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On August 31st we were on Beaver creek, a stream of pure and comparatively clean water, and remaining on it for several days, it was found on September 2d, that the cases of diarrhoea had decreased to about 2½ percent of the command, for forty-nine cases in all, and thereafter the complaint continued to decrease, and soon after reaching the Little Missouri river, on September 4th, where an abundant supply of astringent berries was procured, it seemed to wholly cease, and the opposite condition prevailed. The Indian trail which we had so long followed, was found to have entirely scattered at the Little Missouri, and the command continuing eastward, arrived on September 5th at Heart river, about one hundred miles west of Fort Lincoln, when the trail was abandoned, and the commanding general announced his intention to return to the south and reach the Black Hills. Long marches had been made in the midst of frequent rain-storms, with cold nights and heavy dews, and the prospect of achieving satisfactory results, always so encouraging to the soldiers, was not apparent. There were but five and a half days rations of coffee, and less than two days of bread and salt left; the distance to the Black Hills was not definitely known, and the Ree Indian scouts, who alone knew anything of the intervening country, left us at this point to carry despatches [sic] to Fort Lincoln. Under these unfavorable conditions the command moved from its camp directly south on the morning of September 6th, and marched thirty miles over a broken, rolling country, and camped at some alkaline water holes, without enough wood to even boil coffee with. On the 7th we again made thirty miles over the same kind of country, and had an equally bad camp. All the litters, nine in number, were in use this day; many entreaties of sick and exhausted men had to be resisted; many horses were abandoned, and men continued to struggle into camp until 10 P.M. On this day the men began to kill abandoned horses for food. The sick and exhausted men of the infantry were carried on pack mules, whose loads were now used up, but only a small part of those applying could be so carried. On the night of the 7th a command of 150 cavalry, with 50 pack mules, was sent forward under Captain Mills, 3d Cavalry, with orders to proceed to the settlements in the Black Hills and return with food for our command. On the 8th we marched twenty-four miles in a bitterly cold, driving rain-storm, and the ground being saturated with water, made

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progress difficult for both men and animals; but on reaching camp some wood was found, and it being thus possible to cook it, horse meat was issued to the command. It rained heavily all this night, but having fires, there was less discomfort than for the two previous nights. On the 9th occurred the action of Slim Buttes. Soon after leaving camp a courier arrived from Captain Mills (who, as stated, had left us on the 7th to proceed to the settlements in the Black Hills) informing the general that he had discovered and attacked an Indian village. The best of the cavalry was immediately ordered forward, and being directed to send a suitable number of medical officers or go myself, I at once went in person, and ordered up the pack mules with medical supplies, and proceeded at a trot with the commander of the cavalry to the scene of the engagement, some fifteen miles in advance. Arriving at the village (which was already in possession of Captain Mills’s force) at 11 A.M. with the advance of the cavalry, and with the hospital pack mules immediately at hand, I at once proceeded to examine and dress the wounded, who had been collected in and about an Indian teepee, and was efficiently assisted by the medical officers of the cavalry as soon as they came up. Owing to a desperate resistance made by a few Indians concealed in a ravine from which they could not escape, a few wounded continued to be brought in, but by 3 P.M. all had been dressed and cared for, except one case of an officer requiring amputation, which was deferred until a consultation could be had. The teepee used as our hospital station was during this time repeatedly exposed to the shots of the Indians. At 4 P.M. a concerted attack was made on three sides of our camp (our entire force having meanwhile arrived) by the Indians who had been driven from the village in the morning reenforced by others from Crazy Horse’s Band, in which a few more men were slightly wounded. Before this attack began Surgeon Hartsuff had been authorized to take some of the teepees for an hospital, but by some misunderstanding or lack of discipline, their selection for this purpose was not respected by our men when the village was given over to pillage, and he only succeeded by personal resistance and determined exertions in saving one of them. Into this some of the less severely wounded had been removed when the afternoon attack began, and it being

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exposed to the fire of the Indians, the nurses and wounded hastily left it, and before it could be again secured, it was torn down and carried away by our men. We were thus without any shelter for our sick and wounded except the tent-fly previously used. There was an abundant supply of surgical dressing, and the amputation was done, and all the wounds dressed by sundown; but we had no food for them except the dried meat found in the captured village, which it was difficult to eat, and impossible with our means to cook. In this action one man was killed and fifteen wounded, including one officer, in addition to one citizen scout [White], killed. During the night additional litters were made at my request, and a company of cavalry detailed to escort and manage them under the immediate direction of Surgeon Hartsuff. A great number of fine lodge-poles suitable for litter-poles were found in the village, and I requested that some of them, with a large and fine teepee that Lt. Colonel Carr of the 5th cavalry had cheerfully placed at my disposal for the use of the wounded, should be carried along for future use; but notwithstanding it seemed almost certain that we would be attacked on the next march, the request was denied as being impracticable, though quantities of plunder, much of it useless, was transported. Greater good fortune than, under the circumstances, it seemed reasonable to expect, attended us, however; and though our rear was attacked the following day, but one man was wounded. On the 10th September, the day following the fight, we marched fifteen miles, having twelve litters in use, leaving three in the rear for emergencies. In the order of march the loaded litters were immediately in the rear of the infantry, which always started in advance, while the unoccupied litters moved in front of the rear guard, where Surgeon Hartsuff remained to designate who should or should not be carried on them, a very harassing and sometimes responsible position. The cavalry who were sick, and those whose horses were abandoned or eaten, marched in rear of the litters, or as near to the infantry as possible. On the 11th we marched twenty-one miles in a cold rain and bitter wind, the transportation of the wounded requiring extraordinary labor and care, on account of the “bad lands” through which we passed, and numerous ravines. The command had had no bread, bacon or salt since the 9th instant, and an order of August 30th, permitting hunting for the sick, under certain restrictions, had

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resulted in securing only two bucks and one leg of antelope—the latter contributed by a medical officer. Another leg of antelope was thus contributed, and the Acting Assistant Commissary having assiduously searched every bag or parcel in his charge, fortunately found some salt, half a pound of sugar, and two quarts of flour shaken from old sacks, upon which the sick and wounded made a meal, supplemented by a few cans of preserved fruit that had been scrupulously reserved for such an occasion, that cheered their spirits and gratified all that had the care of them. The next day, September 12th, the command marched soon after daylight. Frequent showers of rain occurred during the day. At noon we suddenly came in sight of “Bear Butte,” a prominent outlying spur of the Black Hills, and descending somewhat lower came upon a slightly rolling plain, which the rain had converted into a most tenacious quagmire. Men and animals struggled through it with difficulty; many of the latter were abandoned, and the saddles of abandoned or slaughtered horses, and even boxes of ammunition, “cached” to relieve the struggling pack mules. Some of the litter mules fell in crossing streams and ravines, or sank nearly to their knees in the tenacious soil, but none of their occupants received any injury. Thirty-four miles were made before the main body of the command reached camp on a tributary of the “Bell[e] Fourche,” at 9 P.M. The indomitable infantry column arrived at 10 P.M.—numbers of men were strewed exhausted on the line of march, and all did not arrive until noon of the next day. The litters with the wounded and sick reached camp at 9½ P.M.; it was difficult to pilot them in the inky darkness to the spot selected for them, and as soon as they were halted a great part of the men in charge left them, and neither the commands nor entreaties of the medical officers could induce them to return; exhausted by the harassing duties of the day, they disappeared in the darkness to seek rest and sleep in a cold rain, without food and with scanty fire. Nevertheless, by the personal exertions of Surgeon Hartsuff and myself, aided by the Steward and a few of the more willing men, the mules were detached from the litters, and the latter being placed side by side with their occupants, a tent-fly and a teepee cover were spread over them, and some protection thus secured from the rain, which again fell heavily, and some hot coffee was soon after served out to them.

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The following day we again moved out about 1 P.M., cheered by news that wagons with supplies were near at hand, and after marching five miles, and crossing our wounded and sick over the rapid “Belle Fourche” with difficulty, all the command encamped, and an abundance of wood and fine water. The sun suddenly shone out brightly, and before night wagons with supplies from the settlements in the Black Hills arrived; a double allowance of rations was issued and at last our perilous march was ended without death. . . . I have related at some length the circumstances of this march, to detail the existence of causes which ordinarily operate unfavorably to the health of the troops, and to point more strongly to their apparent freedom from serious sickness. Yet it was manifest that they could not longer have borne these unusual privations, exposure and fatigue; they had reached the limit of human endurance, as an organized body, and it is unpleasant to contemplate the probable consequences of another march like that of September 12, 1876. . . . Hundreds of men remained “on duty” during the latter part of the march to the Belle Fourche, who, under ordinary circumstances, would have been excused and transported, and in recording the small portion of sick on our arrival at this river, these circumstances must be considered, and should in justice be placed to the credit of the discipline and fortitude of our men. Nevertheless the duties of the medical officer was [sic] most exacting, demanding unwearied patience and exertion, and the use of every resource that ingenuity or experience could suggest. The service of the litters required patience and fortitude on the part of the medical officers, both to appease the complaints and entreaties of stragglers and exhausted men [who were hardly able to continue on foot], and to endure the spectacle of suffering it was impossible to relieve, and of the results of demoralization that they were powerless to prevent. . . .

Appendix 3 ✦ [Clipping in Volume 12, Pages 1292–94]

✦ ✦ ✦

Conflicting Policies

The following interview is between Major Frederick Mears, 9th Infantry, and Joseph Wasson, correspondent for the San Francisco Alta California. It appeared in the Alta California on October 14, 1876. It illustrates the frustrations facing the civilian authorities in dealing with Indians and, using Mackenzie’s showdown with Red Cloud, makes a case for military control. AN INDIAN TALK _____ Interview with Major Mears, Direct from the Indian Country—Nothing Anticipated from the Work of the Peace Commission–General Crook to make a winter Campaign— Traits of Indian Character— The Subject of Placing the Indians Under the Control of the War Department. -----------

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Major F. Mears, Company I, Ninth Infantry, having arrived on Wednesday from Camp Sheridan, Spotted Tail Agency, and Camp Robinson, Red Cloud Agency, in Nebraska, our reporter had an interview with him, and gleaned the following interesting facts: He started on the twenty fourth of September. The Peace Commissioner had just completed their labors. Some were en route for Washington, and others for the Agency on the Missouri River. GENERAL CROOK’S PROPOSED CAMPAIGN. Crook was on his way to [Fort] Laramie to have a conference with General Sheridan, and since Major Mears had left the Red Cloud Agency he had learned that an active Winter campaign against the hostile Sioux had been determined upon. It will be conducted mainly with the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Cavalry regiments, all of these with the exception of the Fourth Cavalry having taken part in the Summer campaign. Six companies of the Fourth are now lying at the Red Cloud Agency and the other six are down in the Indian Territory and will be ordered back to Red Cloud; as, in accordance with the late Act of Congress, each company is to be recruited up to its full strength of 100 men, the nominal force in all will be 12,000. Allowing one-third as non-combatants, there will remain a force of 8000 men for actual service. The campaign will be directed toward the country in the neighborhood of Slim Buttes, the locality where Crook lately gave the Sioux their severe beating, and will be inaugurated immediately. Major Mears estimates the hostile force at about 2000 under “Sitting Bull” and “Crazy Horse,” and not more. He believes that at the beginning of the late campaign, the hostile Sioux were greatly underestimated, and that since the Custer Massacre that an opposite tendency to overestimate prevails. As an example, on August 10th, when the Spotted Tail Agency was turned over to Major Mears’ temporary charge, 9135 Indians were reported as under its control. By actual count, including whites, squaw-men and half-breeds, 4700 only were found. At the same time, on Major Jordan taking control of the Red Cloud Agency, 12,000 were reported by actual count.1 1. These vast discrepancies between the number of Indians listed and the actual count led to charges that the figures had been inflated to allow the Indian agents to profit from the difference, charges that continue to appear in modern works. The actual reasons were more complicated. The government ration deliveries in 1875 and 1876 were not adequate to feed the Indians on the reservations, if each family received its official allotment. To avoid widespread suffering, as well as a potential uprising among hungry Indians, the agents deliberately inflated the figures to assure that each family received enough to survive.

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THE EFFORTS OF THE LATE PEACE COMMISSION. But little faith is felt in what the Peace Commission has done, and its expenses ($20,000) are considered as good as wasted. The experiences of the past show that neither side intends to keep its promises, and that is effects upon those Indians still remaining hostile will be nil. The Indians that this Commission has been treating with, the hostiles look upon with scorn and contempt and call them “the coffee-cookers.” The so-called chiefs have so little influence that they cannot even keep their own young men on the Agencies. Major Mears has been living among the Indians and on the frontier ever since 1865, and he records it as the result of his experience that if the country wishes to solve the Indian problem, the first step will have to be to disarm them all, friend and foe, take away their ponies and make them work, giving them land which they can cultivate and not such as they have now. At the present time, at the Agencies where the Major has been serving, the Indians spend their time in eating, drinking, sleeping and horse-racing. They do no work of any kind.2 The Indian Bureau even goes so far as to hire a butcher to kill and dress the beef that is issued to them at the block. It is true that a year ago the Bureau issued an order that the Indians should be made to work, but as the Agents had no means to enforce this decree, the Indians laughed at the order, and thought it was a good joke. They never did and never will do any work. All the policing, the loading and unloading of stores at both these Agencies are done by white employés, the Indians scornfully looking on. The Indian Bureau is even so careful about the Indians, that in a circular it authorizes the employment of a gunsmith at the Agencies to repair their firearms. In the same circular the agent is also instructed in making any change of subordinate employés at the Agencies to carefully consult the good will of the Indians. Additionally, during 1875, there had been abnormal movement among the Indians, who often checked in and were listed on the rolls at several agencies. The following year, however, many stayed away from the agencies because of the fighting, and hundreds of others left before the army census, resulting in a substantially lower count. Robinson, Good Year to Die, 260; Gray, Centennial Campaign, 309–10. 2. Like most whites of the era, Mears and Wasson failed to grasp that Indian warriors labored and were productive according to the value system of their own culture, which is to say, in hunting and fighting. For some reason, the military was unable to comprehend that the Indian warrior saw himself as a professional soldier, no different from the army officer, and therefore no more required to engage in civilian labor than an army officer. In concentrating them at the agencies, the government disrupted their system of labor in favor of an alien system they did not understand.

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The Indians have plenty of ammunition, and are constantly endeavoring to obtain more. One trader at Red Cloud admitted that last year he sold over 12,000 rounds of ammunition. PAWNEE SCOUTS. The power given General Sherman to employ one hundred Pawnees as scouts and runners has been availed of, and they are now equipped, uniformed and armed as cavalry, and are under the command of Frank North and were ready to leave Sydney for Laramie last week. Many of them speak English fluently. A mortal animosity exists between the Pawnees and the Sioux, and neither side gives quarter when they encounter one another. To the question, How is it that the Indians at the Red Cloud Agency are reported to be fierce, warlike and constantly prone to break forth in hostilities, while the Indians at the Spotted Tail Agency, although of the same tribe, are quiet and peaceful? Major Mears replied by saying that the Indians under Red Cloud and Red Leaf have never been whipped, while the Indians under Spotted Tail at the Agency, in 1854–5, got a sound thrashing, whose memory has never disappeared from their minds.3 The swift, strong and heavy hand is the only argument an Indian can comprehend, and stern force the only thing that can move them. Probably another one hundred years will elapse before such another opportunity presents itself for the settlement of the Indian problem as we now have. That it will be fully and effectively settled, Major Mears has not the slightest doubt, if General Crook only be suffered to carry out his plans in the manner he proposes, and without interference. THE TRANSFER OF THE INDIANS TO THE WAR DEPARTMENT. [Wasson:] From your long service and experience among and with the Indians are you prepared to give your opinion as to whether it would be better for the Indians and the Nation that the management of them be transferred to the War Department? [Mears:] I am, but give it unofficially, for you must understand that if Congress in its wisdom deems it unadvisable, in the face of the overwhelming testimony in its favor, it is my duty as an officer to acquiesce without a murmur. Beyond a question as a matter of policy for the protection of the Indian and the whites and settlements, the War Department should have charge of the Indians. The 3. This refers to a punitive expedition under Brig. Gen. W.S. Harney.

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Indian respects force, and knows the Army possesses it and is able to use it. Add to this, they respect and believe in what an Army officer tells and promises them not that I claim that the Army officer is more truthful than the Indian agent, but the officer promises nothing that he cannot perform, or is authorized by his superior to do or say; while the Indian Agent, alone and single-handed, will say and promise anything for peace, or to bridge over a coming trouble; and there has grown out of this course of the Indian Agent what I might call a cringing, pleading, “please do this and please don’t do that, and you shall have a blanket” policy that has led the Indian to believe that he is the superior of the white man. On the other hand, when the Indian comes in contact with an army officer, the officer invariably listens patiently to what he has to say; deliberately tells him there and then what he can do, what he will do and what he will not, and there he rests, and Mr. Indian retires well satisfied that it will be just as he has been informed. To illustrate: For the first time in the life of Red Cloud, he heard in plain and firm language, from General McKenzie, the commanding officer of the District of the Black Hills, what was expected of him in the matter of turning over the hostiles to the General, if any of them attempted to come in to the Agency and be peaceful for the Winter. I was present at the interview, and saw the effect on Red Cloud’s nerves of the plain talk. Hitherto the Agent, when he tried to gain a point, and he never secured one from Red Cloud, it was done by what the Bureau called “diplomacy;” another name for “the please-do and-please-don’t policy.” Never in Red Cloud’s life had he ever been talked to by a white man, as he was at this interview, and never in his life was he ever lifted from his lofty breech-clouted pedestal and made to feel that he stood in the presence of his superior, and the reason was this, at the beck and call of the General were eighteen companies of troops, ready at a moment’s notice to carry out his orders. On the other hand, had a civil agent dared to say to Red Cloud what General McKenzie did, Red Cloud would not only have laughed at him to his face, but probably some young buck of the tribe, burning for some such distinction, would have put a bullet in Mr. Agent and settled him for this earth.

Appendix 4 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Crook’s Animal Losses

(From Charles M. Robinson III, “Crook, Crazy Horse and the Great Chief Myth,” M.A. Thesis, University of Texas-Pan American, pp. 115–17) One of the most remarkable features of Crook’s 1876 campaigns was the extensive loss of animals, most of whom were literally driven to death. The total number of animals killed in action, shot for food by starving soldiers, or simply wasted will never be known for the simple reason that army record keeping during that period was not what it is today. Animal requisitions usually were handled on a regimental basis, with company commanders reporting their needs to the regimental quartermaster. Sometimes these reports were submitted to the departmental quartermaster for action, but often the RQM simply would organize a remount detail to purchase fresh animals at the nearest large town, submitting the paperwork later. Rarely did animal losses appear on battle reports. On Crook’s expeditions, some company, battalion, and regimental commanders kept records of their animal loses; others did not. Nevertheless, enough figures are available to show the appalling

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wastage of animals from overuse or misuse, compared to actual battle losses, during Crook’s campaigns in 1876. The nominal commander of the Big Horn Expedition of March 1876, Col. Joseph J. Reynolds, Third Cavalry, kept the most meticulous records. He reported the expedition included 656 “public horses” (i.e. government-owned), and 892 “public mules,” of which two horses were killed in action, and fifty-eight horses and thirtytwo mules were killed or abandoned due to exhaustion.1 Because Crook maintained actual control of the expedition, he must bear responsibility for these losses.2 After the Battle of the Rosebud in June, Captain Anson Mills reported that in his battalion, one horse was killed, and ten were wounded.3 Mills apparently was the only battalion commander who obtained animal casualties from his company commanders, for none of the other company or battalion reports list animals. The most devastating period for the animals was August and September 1876, the so-called “Horse Meat March.” Two reports of this march are particularly indicative of the hardship on the animals. The first was on September 10, when Crook notified General Sheridan that he needed, among other things, five hundred horses.4 As a cavalry company during this period generally contained a maximum of fifty men, five hundred horses would mount at least ten companies. Since Crook’s forces included twenty-five companies of horse, the requisition of five hundred animals would remount more than forty percent of his cavalrymen. Crook did not mention mules but, as a mule has more stamina than a horse, mule losses may be presumed to be proportionately lighter. Nevertheless, mules could wear out too, and their losses undoubtedly were severe. The second is Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Carr’s report of the Slim Buttes Fight, in which he noted that en route to relieve Mills, the Fifth Cavalry “lost about fifteen horses, unable to travel,”5 further emphasizing the effects of exhaustion on the animals. 1. Reynolds to AAG, Platte, April 15, 1876, Special File—Sioux. 2. Robinson, General Crook, 167. 3. Mills to Battalion Adjutant, Third Cavalry, June 20, 1876, Special File—Sioux. 4. Crook to Sheridan, September 10, 1876, ibid. 5. Carr to AAAG, Cavalry Command, Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, September 15, 1876, ibid.

Appendix 5 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Lieutenant W. Philo Clark’s Recapitulation of the Great Sioux War

The following account of the Great Sioux War was prepared by Lieutenant William Philo Clark, Second Cavalry, on orders from General Crook. It was submitted to Lieutenant General Sheridan, who endorsed it on October 31, 1877. If Crook intended this as a justification for his actions, he was only marginally successful. Clark refutes Crook’s and Bourke’s continuing insistence that the village attacked by Reynolds on March 17, 1876, was Crazy Horse’s. Nevertheless, as late as 1891, Bourke persisted in calling it “‘Crazy Horse’s’ village.”1 Clark also hints that Crook was less than successful at the Rosebud. In discussing Indian combat wounds, Clark remarks that he believes “that of all animals they are the superior in point of tenacity of life, magnificent horsemen and fine shots. . . .” Given Clark’s overall interest in Indian culture, and his generally reasonable dealings with them, it is doubtful that by “animals,” he meant that they were a subhuman species. Most likely it was a figure of speech referring to the animal kingdom—including humans—as a whole. 1. Bourke, On the Border, 277.

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(National Archives, Office of the Adjutant General, Record Group 393, Special File, Military Division of the Missouri, Sioux War, 1876–1877) Camp Robinson, Neb. Sept. 14. 1877. Adjutant General Department Platte. Sir: In compliance with the verbal instructions of the Dept. Commander I have the honor to submit the following report of the late Sioux War; based upon facts gleaned from statements made to me by Indians who have surrendered at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies during the past eight months and information obtained from Interpreters and friendly Indians it has been a very difficult matter to get accurate information in regard to the different engagements. Not only as the Indians from Crazy Horse down have been extremely reticent, but some of the battles were on so extensive a scale that no one Indian could possible be conversant with all the details. Especially difficult has it been to ascertain the number of killed and wounded in the Rosebud and Little [Big] Horn fights, where so many bands participated, I am confident however that as the Indian account it is the most reliable that could be obtained. The small number of killed is due to the fact that an Indian has a wonderful faculty of protecting himself and unless he is shot through the brain, heart or back there is no certainty at all about his dying, for since I have been here I have seen many Indians here to have been shot in all manner of ways through the body and still enjoying excellent health. I have been convinced that of all animals they are superior in point of tenacity of life, magnificent horsemen and fine shots—doing about as good execution on the backs of their thorough[ly] trained speedy and hardy Ponies as on the ground, accustomed from their earliest youth to take advantage of every knoll, rock, tree, tuft of grass and every aid the topography of the country affords to secure game and their education completed and perfected by constant warfare with other tribes and the whites; each warrior become an adept in their way of fighting, needing no orders, to promptly seize, push and hold any opportunity for success, or in retreating protecting themselves from harm. Each tribe is organized by accident or pleasure into several different bands. Each band

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having a chief, but his powers and authority are in a great measure diminished by the will and wishes of his people. Great prominence has been given Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in this war; the good fighting strategy and subsequent muster by retreats being attributed to them, whereas they are really not entitled to more credit or censure than many others so far as plans and orders were concerned, but they headed two of the worst bands on the plains, and were the two fiercest leaders the Sioux nation has produced for years. Constantly in the northern country these bands had renegades from all agencies as well as some of the strongest men from a neutral standpoint that the Sioux as a nation possess to-day. These latter worked from conviction and held fast to their non treaty ideas[. T]he impression seems to have obtained that the Arapahoes participated with the Sioux and Cheyennes in this war, this is a mistake as they remained quietly at this Agency [i.e. Red Cloud] till they went out as our allies where they performed excellent service. In March 1876, about sixty lodges of Cheyennes under Old Bear2 and fourteen Sioux under He Dog were encamped on Powder River, they knew that the troops were in their vicinity, and on the evening of March 16 a party of young bucks was sent out to scout the country and ascertain their whereabouts. It was a bitter cold night and the Scouts went into camp; in the morning they discovered a trail which they followed [;] it led them to the ashes of their own lodges. Genl Crook’s cavalry under Colonel Reynolds by a long and terrible [sic] trying night march completely surprised the village on the morning of March 17th, captured and partially burnt it. This village was particularly rich in bead work, buffalo robes, furs, dried meats, fine skin lodges, in fact everything that goes to make Indians wealthy and comfortable. The first charge upon the lodges swept everything before it, men[,] women and children rushed frantically from comfortable teepees (Many cutting their way out with knives) to the adjacent ravines and rocky bluffs, but a rally was soon made and from behind rocks and other shelter they fired on the troops which soon abandoned the village and retired. This was a complete surprise yet nearly every Indian as he rushed from his lodge took his gun and cartridges with him, this presence of mind or instinct never seems to fail this warlike and savage race. About one thousand ponies were captured, but the Indians recovered nearly 2. Some accounts name Two Moons as head Cheyenne chief of this village.

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all of them that night. There was one Sioux, one Cheyenne and one Squaw killed in this fight which was erroneously called Crazy Horse’s as that Chief and Sitting Bull were camped at this time on the Little Missouri and did not know that a fight had taken place till some time after. The Indians gathered up what they could and started for Crazy Horse’s camp which they soon afterwards found, suffering greatly en route however. Soon after this, Indians commenced going out from the Agencies here and on the Missouri River, well armed with plenty of ammunition thoroughly equipped for field service. Nearly every tribe or band of the Sioux nation was well represented. They kept themselves thoroughly posted in regard to the movement of troops in this Department and the Department of Dakota, and as the forces advanced into their country they harrased [sic] and annoyed them by firing into their camps and trying to steal stock, and kept a sharp watch on all small parties. While Genl Crook’s forces were encamped on Goose Creek in June ‘76, a small party was sent out under Lieut. Sibley, which made an almost miraculous escape. The Indians discovered it soon after it left camp but the spirited resistence offered when they attempted to captur[e] it—one Indian being killed and some wounded[—]and the prompted caution taking [sic] in abandoning the horses in some brush as well as the favorable topography of the country saved the party. The escape was so cunningly conducted that it was not suspected and the horses were not taken out of the brush until the next morning. On June 17th the Indians were camped on a small tributary of the Little Big Horn about eighteen miles above the place where Gen. Custer’s troops found them on the 25th. They had at this time about 1200 standing lodges and 400 wickey ups or brush shelters and numbered about 3,500 fighting men. General Crook[’]s forces left their camp on Goose Creek early on the morning of June 16th and started for the Rosebud where the Indian village had been, but a few days before[. S]oon after the troops left camp the Indians knew of the movement, and nearly all of their available fighting men started out to meet them. The Ogallalas, Mineconjous, Sans Arcs, Uncapapas, Cheyennes, Yanktonis, Yanktonais, Blackfeet and Brulés3 were all represented. On the morning of the 3. The Oglalas, Minneconjous, Sans Arcs, Hunkpapas, Blackfeet, and Brulés (to use the modern spellings) were tribes of the Teton or Lakota (Western) Sioux Nation. The Yanktonis and Yanktonais were tribes of the Yankton or Nakota (Central) Sioux Nation. The Cheyennes, of course, were an entirely different people, Algonquian in origin, who were allied with the Sioux.

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17th the Crows were first discovered and in chasing them the engagement was perciptated [sic], as it was intended that the fight should take place a little further down the Rosebud; The Indian tactics of carrying everything before them with a grand rush or wild charge was tried and failed. They were repulsed but though driven back they vanished only to reappear at some other point of the line, and in this way the Engagement was kept up some three hours. Failing however in their efforts to stampede the troops a retreat was made down the Rosebud cañon for the purpose of decoying the white soldiers into an ambush, where if they had been followed in all human probability, Genl Crook’s forces would have suffered the same fate that befell Genl Custer’s troops a few days later. In this fight eight Indians were killed (two Cheyennes, two Uncapapas, one Sans arc, one Mineconjou, and two Ogallalas) and a large number wounded. Some few remained behind to watch the troops and the rest returned that night to their village which in a day or two they moved down the Little [Big] Horn to the point where General Custer found it. . . .4 Though the Indians knew that the troops were in their vicinity and though their Scouts had seen them on this very morning yet they [Custer’s men] marched at such a rapid rate that a comparative surprise was made. . . . The right hand bank of the Stream is a species of bad lands rough[,] precipitous, cut into ravines and nearly impossible to cross the river except at the regular fords. . . . On account of the peculiar topography of the ground, but a small portion of the village could be seen. . . . A grassy flat led back from the river on the left hand bank for about two miles terminating in bluffs and ridges with a dry creek bottom or ravine. . . . As soon as the troops were seen on the bluffs. . .the old men, women and children were hustled into the thick timber. . . . The village was about three miles and a half in length and its widest part about two miles. The Uncapapas, Ogallalas, Mineconjous, Cheyennes and Sans arcs were each camped in a circular or crescent shape forming the outer circumference of the village. The Brulés, Santees,5 Blackfeet, Yanktons and Yanktonians having their lodges with the other bands or between them. The white forces separated. . .one column going down and crossing the river. . .the other turning to the right of the 4. The gaps within and between sentences contain references to a map not on file with the report. 5. Dakota (Eastern) Sioux.

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ridge with the evident intention of striking the village in the centre, this however was impossible from the nature of the ground and crossing till the trails leading down to the ford. . . were reached. The first column under Col. Reno after crossing were thrown out as skirmishers. . . the Indians rushed out and formed line opposite them, especially strong against the flank. . ., doubled it up and forced the troops across the river at a very difficult ford. . . not however without suffering great loss. After driving Col. Reno’s forces across the river most of the Indians left his immediate front and went down to join those who were fighting General Custer’s column, which came down and made an attempt to cross at the mouth of the little stream. . .[and] finding it impossible turned up the ridge; then turned again as the trails leading down to the ford. . .were reached. The indians [sic] had massed in the ravines and timber and opened such a terrific fire from all sides that the troops gave way. [T]he Indians rushed in and made it a hand to hand conflict. The troops attempted to rally once or twice but were litterally [sic] overwhelmed with numbers and in [a] few moments not one was left alive to tell the story. The temporary respite gave Col. Reno time to gather his forces on a sort of bluff. . . and partially entrench himself. The Indians believing that they had him anyway in a measure abandoned the attack for the night, and besides they had a large number of dead and wounded on their hands to care for. If Col. Reno had attempted to succor Genl Custer and forces he would most surely have met their fate. The next day the approach of General Terry’s column was discovered and as General Custer had fallen upon them so much more quickly than they anticipated, they hurriedly broke camp leaving much of their camp equipage behind them. The timely arrival of this force saved Col. Reno’s party. In this fight about 40 Indians were killed and a very large number wounded. They say the white soldiers fought bravely and desperately, and give instances of personal gallantry, which created admiration and respect even in their savage hearts; but it is impossible to positively identify the Individuals from their imperfect descriptions.6 I am 6. In his endorsement to this report, General Sheridan astutely observed, “the narratives of the Indians should be received with a considerable degree of allowance and some doubt, as Indians generally make their descriptions to conform to what they think are the wishes of those who interview them. . . . As to the number of Indians in the fight, and the number killed, accounts greatly differ.” Sheridan, endorsement to Clark, October 31, 1877, Special File—Sioux.

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convinced however that none were taken prisoner and subjected to torture as has been represented. The Indians say that many of the dead soldiers carbines were found with shells stuck fast in the chambers rendering them entirely useless for the time being.7 This fight brought Crazy Horse more prominently before all the Indians than any one else. He rode with the greatest daring up and down in front of Col. Reno’s skirmish line, and as soon as these troops were driven across the river, he went at once to Genl Custer’s front, and there became the leading spirit. Before this he had a great reputation, in it he gained a greater prestige than any other Indian in the camp.8 Sitting Bull seems not to have marked his conduct on this day with any special fierceness though of course he was a leader where the fighting was hardest.9 They moved over the mountains to Tongue river thence to Powder and from there to the Little Missouri, here to subsist they separated a little and on the 9th of Sept a small village of some forty lodges was struck by Col. Miles10 near Slim Buttes. The main camp was on the Little Missouri about twenty miles away—and in the afternoon those who had been in the small village having gone to the main camp, they returned with all the available young bucks to annihilate the small force that had commenced the fight, but instead of this they found an army opposed to them, and as they knew that quite a number of captives had fallen into our hands, this taken in connection with the warm reception they met, caused them to desist and also refrain 7. This statement may be an example of the Indian tendency to tailor accounts according to their listeners’ expectations; the jammed carbines already had entered the mythology of the Little Bighorn even before the war ended, offering a convenient rationale for the disaster. It appears first to have been raised in a complaint by Reno shortly after the battle, that six of the 380 carbines in his command had jammed due to malfunctioning extractors. Modern archaeological investigation at the battlefield shows evidence of extractor failure in only 3.4 percent of the cartridges cases recovered. Jamming was a common complaint during the Great Sioux War, but did not affect the outcome of the war, and does not appear to have been a major factor at the Little Bighorn, popular belief notwithstanding. Reno to Stephen Vincent Benét, chief of ordnance, July 11, 1876, in Overfield, Little Big Horn, 60–62; Fox, Archaeology, 237–41; Robinson, Good Year to Die, 215. 8. This does not necessarily conform to subsequent Indian accounts, many of which do not even mention Crazy Horse. 9. In fact Sitting Bull, who was less a war chief than a political chief at this point in his career, appears to have been more of an observer, staying on the fringes of the fight, making certain the women and children were safe, and giving advice to younger warriors as the battle progressed. See Utley, Lance and Shield, 150ff. 10. Clark means Capt. (Bvt. Col.) Anson Mills.

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from firing into the troops afterwards. Nine Indians were killed in this fight. [The dead included] Four bucks, four squaws and one child, and some twenty men[,] women and children captured, about 200 ponies were secured in the first charge of our cavalry. This village had several thousand pounds of dried meat, some little flour, quite a quantity of dried berries all of which fell in our hands and as Genl Crook’s forces were reduced to rations of horse meat, made a most desirable and necessary acquisition to the subsistence Department. The lodges, robes, blankets, saddles, cooking utensils, in fact all that the camp contained except what could be used to subsist our troops was thoroughly destroyed. About this time many Indians left the hostile camp and returned to the Agencies[;] some went in to get a fresh supply of ammunition and obtain information, but the most of them had become tired of war. The camp separated on account of the Scarcity of game, Sitting Bull with some three hundred lodges crossed over the Yellowstone, and soon after had his council and fight with Genl. Miles’ forces[. O]ne Indian was killed in his fight[,] an Uncapapa. After this council some lodges recrossed to this [south] side of the Yellowstone and the rest went north, some going as far as the British possessions.11 Crazy Horse went to the Rosebud Country, and while en-route at the mouth of Clear Fork of Powder river, the Cheyennes left and crossed over into the Big Horn valley. The Cheyennes numbering one hundred and eighty lodges finally reached the head waters of the north fork of Powder river on Bates Creek and here on November 25th Genl. Crook[‘s] cavalry with three hundred and twenty Indian Scouts all under command of Col. R. S. Mackenzie 4th Cavalry, completely surprised them, captured and destroyed their entire village with nearly all it contained, secured six hundred ponies[,] killed fourteen bucks and two squaws, wounded many more and left them in bitterly cold weather on the top of the Big Horn mountains without shelter with few blankets, scarcely any saddles, nothing to eat but their few remaining ponies and what game they could find and kill. Under these trying circumstances they started to rejoin Crazy Horse 11. This occurred on October 20–21, 1876, when Miles overtook a coalition of Lakotas and Northern Cheyenne headed by Sitting Bull. The two leaders met on October 20, but reached no agreements. The following day, they met again, and Miles demanded the Indians either place themselves under military jurisdiction on the Yellowstone, or report to an agency. When Sitting Bull refused, a fight ensued. Miles’ infantry overran their campsite, but the Indians set fire to the grass and escaped under the cover of the smoke. See Wooster, Nelson A. Miles, 84–85, and Greene, Yellowstone Command, Chapter 5.

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who was supposed of them to be on the Rosebud, but that Chief had moved his band down Tongue river near the mouth of Beaver creek. The Cheyennes suffered terribly en-route; infants died of cold at their mothers breasts, fourteen men[,] women and children were badly frozen. This blow inflicted in part by their own people, one hundred and fifty Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes scouts having been enlisted at these Agencies and acting as our allies in the fight created consternation in the minds of all the hostiles. Every Indian who now came to their camp from the Agencies they suspected as a spy and the surprise at Slim Buttes and on Bates Creek kept them in a constant state of suspense and fear of a like disaster. Soon after the Cheyennes joined Crazy Horse they all moved by short marches up Tongue river and on January 5th 1877 were camped a few miles above the Cañon by which that river breaks through Wolf mountain. There were in this camp at the time about 500 lodges. Gen. Miles’ forces consisting of Infantry and a few Crow Scouts had been seen coming up the river and were met at the mount of this Cañon and a portion of Indians engaged them. They were to fall back and the troops were to be entrapped in the Cañon, the plan did not succeed however, as the troops did not follow and the ambush prepared for them failed. If the troops had followed in all human probability they would have been all killed. In this fight three Indians were killed [viz.] two Sioux and one Cheyenne and some wounded. The day previous 8 Cheyenne Squaws who were away from the main village cutting up game and did not know of the approach of the Soldiers were captured by the Crow Scouts. Soon after this Engagement the camp broke up as they could not subsist on the game in the immediate vicinity. Sitting Bull had returned to this side of the Yellowstone and was camped with about 50 Lodges at the mouth of Little Powder river near about one hundred and fifty more lodges of Sans Arcs, Mineconjous and Uncapapas joined him and he went north. All the hostiles this side of the Yellowstone through efforts made at the different Agencies surrendered with the exception of about fifty lodges of Mineconjous, Uncapapas and Cheyennes under Lame Deer who declined to accept the terms offered. He moved to a branch of the Rosebud where on May 25.77. he was completely surprised by Genl Miles’ cavalry his entire village captured and destroyed with nearly all it contained, and also suffered a loss of some four hundred

498

A PPENDIX 5

ponies, Lame Deer, his son, and six other Indians were killed and many wounded. The remnants of the band fled to the vicinity of Slim Buttes and have since committed some depredations near the Black Hills and mouth of the Tongue river. They are headed at present by Fast Bull. Some twenty of the Cheyennes who were with the band at the time of the fight surrendered at this agency soon after it took place, and some sixty of the Sioux have come into Spotted Tail. The rest, with the exception of some five lodges of Uncapapas who have gone north remained out till Sept. 9th when they surrendered at Spotted Tail Agency. I have not been able to find an Indian who was in Lieut. Baldwin’s fight, but I am told that it was with the Uncapapas and that three Indians were killed and seven captured.12 I am, Sir very respectfully Your obedient servant W. P. Clark 1 Lieut. 2d Cavalry 12. On December 18, 1876, a battalion of 5th Infantry under Lt. Frank D. Baldwin intercepted Sitting Bull near the headwaters of Redwater Creek, and captured most of his winter stores. No casualties were reported on either side. See Wooster, Nelson A. Miles, 87–88, and Greene, Yellowstone Command, 140–43.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Bibliography

Government Documents Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, From Its Organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903. 2 vols. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903. Overfield, Loyd J., II (comp.) The Little Big Horn, 1876: The Official Communications, Documents and Reports with Rosters of the Officers and Troops of the Campaign. 1971. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. United States Department of War. Office of the Adjutant General. RG 393. Special File. Military Division of the Missouri. National Archives Microfilm Publication 1495. Rolls 2–4. Sioux War, 1876– 77. Washington: National Archives and Record Service, n.d. ———. Report of the Secretary of War: Being Part of the Message and Documents Communicated to the Two Houses of Congress at the Beginning of the Second Session of the Forty-fourth Congress. Vol. 1. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1876.

Manuscript Sources Bourke, John Gregory. Diary. 124 vols. United States Military Academy Library, West Point, New York. Microfilm in possession of the editor. 499

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Capron, Thaddeus. Diary. American Heritage Center. University of Wyoming, Laramie. MS 1694. Carr, Eugene Asa. Papers. United States Army Military History Institute. Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Crook, George. Collection. Microfilm edition. Rutherford B. Hayes Library, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. Fremont, Ohio. Schuyler, Walter Scribner. Papers. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, Calif. Sheridan, Philip Henry. Papers. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.

Books—Primary Bourke, John Gregory. Apache Medicine-Men. 1892. Reprint, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1993. ———. On the Border With Crook. 1891. Reprint, Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1980. Finerty, John F. War-Path and Bivouac: The Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition. 1890. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966. Greene, Jerome A., comp. Battles and Skirmishes of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877: The Military View. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. ———. comp. Lakota and Cheyenne: Indian Views of the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. Hardorff, Richard G. (comp.). Lakota Recollections of the Custer Fight: New Sources of Indian-Military History. Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1991. Howard, Oliver Otis. My Life and Experiences Among Our Hostile Indians. 1907. Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, Inc., 1972. Hunt, Frazier, and Robert Hunt. I Fought With Custer: The Story of Sergeant Windolph, Last Survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947. Kime, Wayne R., ed. The Powder River Expedition Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. King, Charles. Campaigning With Crook and Stories of Army Life. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890.

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Marquis, Thomas B. (int.). Wooden Leg, A Warrior Who Fought Custer. 1931. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, n.d. Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks, Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. 1932. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Price, Rose Lambert, Baronet. The Two Americas; An Account of Sport and Travel. With Notes on Men and Manners in North and South America. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1877. Robinson, Charles Moore, III., ed. The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke. Volume One, November 20, 1872–July 28, 1876. Denton, Tex.: University of North Texas Press, 2003. Schmitt, Martin F., ed. General George Crook, His Autobiography. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1946. Reprinted, 1986. Smith, Sherry L., ed. Sagebrush Soldier: Private William Earl Smith’s View of the Sioux War of 1876. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989. Willert, James, ed. Bourke’s Diary: From Journals of 1st Lt. John Gregory Bourke, June 27–Sept. 15, 1876. La Miranda, Calif.: James Willert, 1986.

Books—Secondary Altshuler, Constance Wynn. Cavalry Yellow and Infantry Blue: Army Officers in Arizona Between 1851 and 1886. Tucson: The Arizona Historical Society, 1991. ———. Starting With Defiance: Nineteenth Century Arizona Military Posts. Tucson: The Arizona Historical Society, 1983. Bell, William Gardner. John Gregory Bourke, A Soldier-Scientist on the Frontier. The Great Western Series No. 14. Washington: Potomac Corral, The Westerners, 1978. Brown, Dee. The Fetterman Massacre. Originally published as Fort Phil Kearny: An American Saga. 1962. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971. Buecker, Thomas R. Fort Robinson and the American West 1874– 1899. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1999. Day, Carl F. Tom Custer: Ride to Glory. Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2002. DeBarthe, Joe. The Life and Adventures of Frank Grouard, Chief of Scouts, U.S.A. 1894. Reprint, Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1982.

502

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Dunlay, Thomas W. Wolves for the Blue Soldiers: Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860–90. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982. Reprinted, 1987. Fox, Richard Allan, Jr. Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle: The Little Big Horn Reexamined. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. Frazer, Robert W. Forts of the West: Military Forts and Presidios and Posts Commonly Called Forts West of the Mississippi River to 1898. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. Reprinted 1972. Gilbert, Hila, with George Harris and Bernice Pourier Harris. “Big Bat” Pourier. Sheridan, Wyo.: The Mills Company, 1968. Gray, John S. Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876. 1976. Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. ———. Custer’s Last Campaign: Mitch Boyer and the Little Bighorn Reconstructed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Greene, Jerome A. Morning Star Dawn: The Powder River Expedition and the Northern Cheyennes, 1876. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. ———. Slim Buttes, 1876: An Episode of the Great Sioux War. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1982. Reprinted, 1990. ———. Yellowstone Command: Colonel Nelson A. Miles and the Great Sioux War, 1876–1877. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. Grinnell, George Bird. The Fighting Cheyennes. 1915. Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1983. Haley, James L. The Buffalo War: The History of the Red River Indian Uprising of 1874. 1976. Reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985. Hardorff, Richard G. Hokahey! A Good Day to Die! The Indian Casualties of the Custer Fight. Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1993. Hedren, Paul L. Fort Laramie in 1876: Chronicle of a Frontier Post at War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. ———. With Crook in the Black Hills: Stanley J. Morrow’s 1876 Photographic Legacy. Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Publishing Company, 1985. Herr, John K, and Edward S. Wallace. The Story of the U.S. Cavalry: 1775–1942. 1953. Reprint, New York: Bonanza Books, 1984.

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Hoogenboom, Ari. Rutherford B. Hayes, Warrior and President. Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas, 1995. Hoxie, Frederick E.,ed. Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. Hutton, Paul Andrew. Phil Sheridan and His Army. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985. Hyde, George E. Red Cloud’s Folk: A History of the Oglala Sioux Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957. Reprinted, 1975. ———. A Sioux Chronicle. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956. ———. Spotted Tail’s Folk: A History of the Brulé Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961. Reprinted, 1987. Jaeckel, Peter. Die Münzprägungen des Hauses Habsburg 1780– 1918 und der Republik Österreich seit 1918. Basel, Switzerland: Münzen und Medaillen A.G., 1970. Johnson, Allen, and Dumas Malone, eds. Dictionary of American Biography. 20 vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1928–38. King, James T. War Eagle: A Life of General Eugene A. Carr. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1963. Knight, Oliver. Following the Indian Wars: The Story of the Newspaper Correspondents among the Indian Campaigners. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. Reprinted, 1993. Kroeker, Marvin E. Great Plains Command: William B. Hazen in the Frontier West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976. Lamar, Howard R., ed. The New Encyclopedia of the American West. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. Larson, Robert W. Red Cloud, Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997. McChristian, Douglas C. The U.S. Army in the West. 1870–1880: Uniforms, Weapons, and Equipment. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. McDermott, John D. Circle of Fire: The Indian War of 1865. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2003. McGillycuddy, Julia B. Blood on the Moon: Valentine McGillycuddy and the Sioux. 1941. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. Mangum, Neil C. Battle of the Rosebud: Prelude to the Little Bighorn. El Segundo, Calif.: Upton & Sons, 1996.

504

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Manypenny, George W. Our Indian Wards. 1880. Reprint, New York: Da Capo, 1972. Mardock, Robert Winston. The Reformers and the American Indian. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1971. Monnett, John H. Tell Them We Are Going Home: The Odyssey of the Northern Cheyennes. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. Nye, Wilbur Sturtevant. Carbine and Lance: The Story of Old Fort Sill. 3rd ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969. Reprinted, 1983. Olson, James C. Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965. O’Neal, Bill. Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America’s Westward Expansion. Stillwater, Okla.: Barbed Wire Press, 1991. O’Neil, Paul, and the Editors of Time-Life Books. The Rivermen. The Old West. New York: Time-Life Books, 1975. Page, Dave. Ships versus Shore: Civil War Engagements Along Southern Shores and Rivers. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1994. Pierce, Michael D. The Most Promising Young Officer: A Life of Ranald Slidell Mackenzie. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. Porter, Joseph. Paper Medicine Man: John Gregory Bourke and His American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma: 1986. Reprinted, 1989. Priest, Loring Benson. Uncle Sam’s Stepchildren: The Reformation of United States Indian Policy, 1867–1887. 1942. Reprint, New York: Octagon Books, 1972. Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. Abridged ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986. Rickey, Don, Jr. Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay: The Enlisted Soldier Fighting the Indian Wars. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963. Reprinted, 1985. Robertson, R.G. Competitive Struggle: America’s Western Fur Trading Posts, 1764–1865. Boise, Idaho: Tamarack Books, Inc., 1999.

B IBLIOGRAPHY

505

Robinson, Charles Moore, III. Bad Hand: A Biography of General Ranald S. Mackenzie. Austin, Tex.: State House Press, 1993. ———. The Buffalo Hunters. Austin, Tex.: State House Press, 1995. ———. General Crook and the Western Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. ———. A Good Year to Die: The Story of the Great Sioux War. New York: Random House, 1995. Russell, Don. Campaigning With King: Charles King, Chronicler of the Old Army. Edited by Paul L. Hedren. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Schubert, Frank N. Outpost of the Sioux Wars: A History of Fort Robinson. Originally published as Buffalo Soldiers, Braves, and Brass: The Story of Fort Robinson, Nebraska. 1993. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. Smith, Thomas T. A Dose of Frontier Soldiering: The Memoirs of Corporal E.A. Bode, Frontier Regular Infantry, 1877–1882. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. Reprinted, 1999. Stands In Timber, John, and Margot Liberty. Cheyenne Memories. 1967. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press: 1972. Stewart, Desmond, and the Editors of Newsweek Book Division. The Alhambra. Wonders of Man. New York: Newsweek, 1974. Sweeney, Edwin R. Cochise, Chiricahua Apache Chief. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991. Thrapp, Dan L. Encyclopedia of Frontier Biography. 3 vols. 1988. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991. Utley, Robert M., ed. Encyclopedia of the American West. New York: Wing Books, 1997. ———. Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 1866–1891. 1973. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984. ———. The Indian Frontier of the American West 1846–1890. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984. ———. The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1993. Vaughn, J.W. With Crook at the Rosebud. 1956. Reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964.

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Weaver, John R., II. A Legacy in Brick and Stone: American Coastal Defense Forts of the Third System, 1816–1867. McLean, Va.: Redoubt Press, 2001. Wilson, Robert Lawrence. Colt: An American Legend. Sesquicentennial Ed. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985. Wooster, Robert. Nelson A. Miles and the Twilight of the Frontier Army. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.

Articles—Primary Bourke, John Gregory. “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes, A Winter Campaign in Wayoming and Montana.” Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States 11 (1890). Reprint, New York: Argonaut Press, 1966.

Articles—Secondary Baumler, Ellen. “Lewis and Clark National Historic Landmarks in Montana.” Montana: The Magazine of Western History 53 (Summer 2003): 67–69. Hicks, Sam. “Aparajo, the Perfect Pack Saddle.” The American West 6, no. 1 (January 1969): 28–32.

Websites http://www.britannia.com/bios/tylor.html. http://www.constitution.org/jk/jk_000.htm. http://www.commonplacebook.com/fiction/myths/bio. http://www.wikisearch.net/en/wikipedia/l/li/list_of_ commissioners_of_the_treasury.html.

Chapter 1 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Index

Absaraka or “Bird People” Indians (see Crow Indians) Adam, Emil, 8, 38, 388 Alexander, Charles, 383 Alexander, K., 383 Alexander, William, 383 Alexander of Tunis, Harold, Earl, 210n.6 Allen, James, 37, 388 Allen, William, 189 Alex Kendall (steamer), 349 Allison, James Nicholas, 141, 180, 388 Alta California (San Francisco newspaper), 47, 482 American Fur Company, 35n20, 90n6, 95n8, 247, 350n4 American Horse (Cheyenne scout), 252 American Horse (Sioux scout) 252, 454 American Horse or Iron Shield (Oglala), 110, 114–15, 119, 454 American Indians, white cultural influences on, 18; medical treat-

ment and recovery, 18, 19 30, 31, 490; animosities and warfare among, 19, 173, 214, 215, 290, 291, 490, and the environment, 19–20; notions of obscenity, 173–74n8, buffalo economy among, 174n9, nomadism, 215, 216, general observations on, 237, 238, 291, names repeated, 251n6, weapons, 266, 267, dances, 275, 276, indifference to wildlife, 306; division of labor and value system among, 484, 484n2, organization of, 490–91; accounts of battles, 494, 494n6, 495n7. Anderson, George Lucius, 140 Andersonville, Ga. (Confederate prisoner-of-war camp), 46 Andrews, William Howard, 38, 117, 388 Andrus, Edwin Proctor, 336, 388 An-zi (Shoshone), 199–200 Apache Indians (see also under individual groups, and Indian 507

508

scouts), 5, 206, 207, 283, 284, 289, 381, 383, 384n10 Apache Medicine-Men (book), 255n9 Arapaho (Sioux scout), 252 Arapaho Indians (includes both Northern and Southern bands), 19, 146, 158, 159, 212, 213, 223, 237, 266, 289, 291, 292, 294, 295, 296, 299, 323, 491, new reservation for, 272, 273, acquisition of horses, 286, 288, epidemic among, 289 Arikara (Ree) Indians, 95n8, 115, 350, 350n4 Arkansas (steamer), 348 Arthur, William, 36, 388 Ashland (steamer), 349 Assiniboine Indians, 203, 285 Athapaskan Indian group, 283, 284, 284n8 Augur, Christopher Colon, 164, 389 Augur, Jacob Arnold, 38, 389

Babcock, John Breckinridge, 38, 389 Bache, Alfred Boyce, 39, 58, 84, 92, 113, 389, death of, 217–18 Bache, Franklin, 380, 380n6 Bad Boy (Kioxsi scout), 154 Bad Moccasin (Loafer scout), 155 Bad Road (Oglala), 297 Badlands National Park, S.D., 142–143, 143n15 Bacon, John Mosby, 345, 390 Bainbridge, A.H., 368, 371, 374 Baird, Private, 187, 195n14 Baker, Eugene Mortimer, 41, 390 Baldwin, Frank Dwight, 348, 384, 390, 498, 498n12

I NDEX Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 308, 352 Bannock Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 5, 266, 308–09n13, 356, 363, 368–70, 370n13, 374 Bannock Uprising, 370n13 Baring-Gould, Sabine, 356, 357n3 Barnard, Phineas Pierce, 39, 391 Barney, James M., 383 Bartlett, Charles Gratiot, 345, 391 Battey, Thomas, 6. Bear Eagle (Loafer scout), 155 Bear Robe, 252 Beaver Dam (Cheyenne), 176, 176n11, mentioned but not identified, 177, 194 Beck, Theodoric R., 380, 380n6 Beecher, Henry Ward, 22, 445 Bell, William Gardner, 6. Bent, William, 288–89n10 Bent’s Fort or “Billy Bent’s,” 288, 288–89n10, 292 Benteen, Frederick William, 307, 391 Bessey, C.A., 247, 247n4 Big Bellied Sorrel Horse (Sioux Scout), 251, 312, 320 Big Hole, Battle of, 360, 361, 362 Big Horn (steamer), 343 Big Horn Expedition, 32., 151n6; animal losses on, 488. Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 1, 145, 388, 473, 474; hunting and fishing during, 13; composition of, 36–41; organization, equipment and order of march, 44–47, 45n1, 46n2–3; termination of, 144, 151n6; strength of, 475. Big Horse, (Kioxsi scout), 154 Big Man (Arapaho scout), 252

I NDEX Big Wolf (Cheyenne scout), 252, 277–78, described, 274 “Billy Bent’s” (see Bent’s Fort) Bishop, Hoel Smith, 39, 391 “Bisnett’s” (see Bissonette, Joseph) Bissonette, Joseph, 289n11, 292 Black Bear (Cheyenne scout), 252 Black Coal (Arapaho scout), 252, 455 Black Coal Ashes (see Friday) Black Elk (Oglala), 20 Black Shirt (Arapaho), 252 Black Hills (see also Black Hills Expedition), 4, 17, 238, 241, 265, 269, 272, 334, 477–78, 480, 498; gold mining in, 131; settlements and town life in, 131ff.; lawlessness in, 246–47, 252–53. Black Hills Pioneer (Deadwood, S.D., newspaper), 137 Black Mouse (Loafer scout), 154 Blackfeet Indians (non-Lakota group), 286, 288–89, 292 Blackfeet (Sha-sa-pΒ) Lakota Indians, 203 Blacksmith (Cheyenne), 274 Blue Horse (Oglala scout), 252 Bode, Emil, 7. Bonchet (renegade), 111 Boone, Albert G., 143n16 Boucher (squawman), 245, 256 Bourke Diaries, 1ff., lost volumes,1–2, 306; reconstructed portions, 2–3, 104; described, 7; format of edited volumes, 6–10; gap in, 355 Bourke, John Gregory, 1ff., 13–14, 18–19, 36, 38, 58, 62, 78n8, 79n10, 130,180, 209–210n5,

509

240, 242, 253, 256n10, 258, 276n6, 289–90n12, 307–08, 347n3, 355–56, 464; classical education, 2, 8; romantic notions, 2; on diary reconstruction, 2–3, 21–22; champions Crook, 3, 16, 51n7, 75, 106, 135; on congress, 3; ethnological work 5–6; called “Paper Medicine Man,” 5; changing attitudes, 6, 15; and Powder River Fight, 14, 149; on westward expansion and Indian fighting, 15; on government Indian policy and duplicity, 16, 216–17, 220, 217n9, 280–82, 309; on army life, 17, 62–63; on Indian medicine, 19; on mule packing, 24; hunting and fishing, 24, 27–29, 306, 311, 317, 319, 320–22, 333; on American aristocracy, 41, 41n8; on Terry, 56–57, 59–61, 64, 74–75; Medal of Honor, 62n15; on army administration, 68–69; views on rations, 68–69; account contrasts with Dodge’s, 150; and Powder River Expedition, 153; on 1876 election, 164–65, 165n1, 249; inconsistency on names and tribes, 173n7; on army weapons and equipment, 229–30; on medicine men, 255n9; on Indian virtues, 280; compares white and Indian child rearing, 295; resumes administrative duties, 305–06; on Little Bighorn battle, 307; predicts sound recordings, 309, 356; humor, 309–10, 374n1; on management-labor relations, 352; conclusions on Powder

510

River Fight refuted, 489, 491, 492 Boyer or Bouyer, Michel (Mitch), 340n10 Brabourne, Edward KnatchbullHugessen, Baron, 316, 316n3 Bradley, Luther Prentice, 160, 211, 391 Bragg, Braxton, 62 Brave Bear (Arapaho scout), 252 Brave Bear (Sioux scout), 252 Brings the Pipe (Sioux scout), 252 Brisbin, James Sanks, 87, 346n1, 392, described, 83, 84 Broken Horse (Arapaho scout), 252 Broken Jaw (Cheyenne), 274 Broken Leg (Oglala scout), 154, 252 Brugier, Johnny, 346, 445 Brulé (Wa-zá-shé or See-chang-β) Lakota Indians, 203, 243, 245, 258, 262, 275 Bubb, John Wilson, 65, 68, 74, 81, 96–97, 100, 392; ordered to Deadwood, 101, 116. Buchanan, Colonel, 246, 255 Buell, George Pearson, 342, 392 Buell, Mrs. George Pearson, 342, 343 Buffalo Horn (Bannock), 368 Buffalo Hump (Comanche), 173–74n8 Bulis, Henry C., 143n17 Bull (Kioxsi scout), 154 Burgin, Dr., 343 Burke, Daniel Webster, 112, 242, 392 Burnham, Horace Blois, 261, 263, 268, 393. Burrowes (sometimes spelled Burroughs), Thomas Bredin, 40, 84

I NDEX Burt, Andrew Sheridan, 10, 40, 69, 80, 112, 130, 135, 143, 152, 353, 393 Burton, Richard Francis, 212, 212n8, 237 Butler, Peter, 75, 180, 321

Cain, Avery Billings, 39, 45, 48, 57, 58, 84, 393 Calhoun, James, 340n9, 394 Callahan, Charles Michael, 227, 393 Camp Apache, Ariz., 357, 371 Brown, Wyo., 34, 34n17, 122. 169, 306, 311–14, 325, 354 Carlin, Wyo. (see Cheyenne Depot, Wyo.) Date Creek, Ariz., 415 Douglas, Utah, 375n3 Grant, Ariz., 411 Lincoln, Ariz, (see Verde) Lowell, Ariz., 376, 376n4 McDowell, Ariz., 388, 428 McPherson, Ariz. (see Date Creek) Robinson, Neb., 61n12, 97n20, 98, 142, 148, 240–42, 245– 46, 253–54, 263, 275, 301, 355, 393, 455–56, 483 Sheridan, Neb., 242, 243, 244, 245, 255, 256, 263, 264, 273, 277, 393, 483 Stambaugh, Wyo., 40, 354. 354n7 Thomas, Ariz., 397 Verde, Ariz., 397 Campbell, Joseph B., 150, 154, 231, 394 Cantonment on Tongue River (see Fort Keogh)

I NDEX Cantonment Reno, Wyo., 169, 169n5, 196, 200, 203, 207, 209, 217, 219, 220, 233, 244–45, 259, 265, 335 Capron, Thaddeus Hurlbut, 40, 245, 394 Card, Benjamin Cozzens, 345, 394 Carey (guide), 109 Carlton, Caleb Henry, 167, 199, 205, 229, 236, 394 Carlisle Barracks, Pa., (see also Carlisle Indian School), 62, 62n13 Carlisle Indian School, 62n13, 255n9 Carnegie, Andrew, 51n8. Carpenter, William Lewis, 40, 283, 312–14, 325, 327, 333, 395 Carr, Eugene Asa, 36, 73, 84, 395, 464, 479, 488; on eating horse, 465 Carroll (steamer), 80, 84 Carter, Judge, 358 Cayuse George, 369 Cayuse Indians, 369 Cayuse Mary (Bannock), 369 Cedar Creek, Battle of, 161n11 Chalét, Father, 362 Chambers, Alexander, 36, 76, 84, 102, 130, 143, 395 Charbonnaeu, Baptiste (Pompey), 67n1. Charging Bear 1 (Oglala scout), 110, 154, 252, 293, 312, 320, 455 Charging Bear 2 (Oglala scout), 152 Chase, George Francis, 38, 101, 116, 245, 395 Chase, Mr., 242, 255 Chaugrau, Louis, 196, 233 Cherry, Samuel Austin, 265, 396

511

Cheyenne Agency, S.D., 35., 125, 200, 300 Cheyenne Depot, Wyo., 122n1 Cheyenne Indians (includes both Northern and Southern Bands), 4, 14, 19, 23, 31, 42, 84, 113n4, 146, 151, 180–81, 200, 207–08, 212, 216, 221–23, 237, 238, 266, 269, 284, 287–88, 288–89n10, 291, 292, 296, 323, 332–34, 384; and Dull Knife Fight, 149, 182–90, 182n1, 194, 195–97, 254, 273, 278, 496; Fox Soldiers, 182n1; valor among, 185n5; war trophies, 186, 188– 90; at Little Bighorn, 188; destitution among, 190, 190–91n13, 208, 219–20, 254, 273–74, 497; surrender, 250–51, 273, 287, 498; rupture with Sioux, 254, 265; new reservation for 272– 73; weapons, 273–74; confer with Crook, 274–75; wounded among, 275, 277; and electricity demonstration, 277–78; dances, 282; possible origins of, 283–84; acquisition of horses, 285–86; transported to Indian Territory, 296n1; efforts at accommodation, 298–99; outbreak from Indian Territory, 355; at Powder River Fight, 491–92. Cheyenne River Agency, S.D., 122, 122n2 Chicago and North Western Railroad, 353, 354 Chicago Railroad strike, 308, 351, 352 Chicago Times (newspaper), 17, 255, 269 Chippewa Indians, 203, 286 Cholera, 289, 289–90n12

512

Chouteau, Pierre, Jr., 291n13, 292 Chubb, Charles St. John, 351, 396 Church, Albert, 384, 396 Cibicu Mutiny, 88n2 Civil War, 84, 160 Clagett, John Rozier, 40, 396 Clark, Mr. (paymaster clerk), 294 Clark, William, 67n1, 284. Clark, William Philo, 72–73, 80, 82, 85, 109, 130, 153, 180, 182, 223, 242, 245, 247, 250–51, 253–56, 263, 266, 267, 297–99, 355; official recapitulation of Great Sioux War, 489ff.; refutes Crook and Bourke, 489 Clay (cook), 335 Clements, Bennett A., 44, 107, 396, and Horse Meat March, 474ff. Coale, John Holbrook., 40, 397 Cochise (Apache), 176, 455 Coeurs d’Alene Indians, 362 Cody, William Frederick (Buffalo Bill), , 55, 89, 109, 445, described, 41 Colt, Samuel, 333n1 Comanche Indians, 288–89, 292, Commentaries on American Law (book), 83, 83n12 Connor, Patrick, 62, 62n13, 123n5 Conrad, Mrs. Joseph, 343 Cooper, James Fennimore, 176 Coppinger, John Joseph, 81, 133, 397 Cosgrove, Thomas, 25, 25n7, 169, 173, 173n7, 180, 182, 196, 238, 312–13, 325, 446 Crawford, Emmet, 38, 101, 300, 397 Crawford, Jack, 54, 446 Crazy Horse (Oglala), 14, 23, 72, 82, 111–12, 115, 161–62,

I NDEX 177–79, 182n1, 185, 190– 91n13, 194 198, 221, 223, 240, 242n2, 250–51, 254, 266, 271, 278–79, 281, 285, 293, 296, 347. 393, 396, 445, 455, 457, 460, 478, 483, 489, 490, 492, 496, 497; surrender of, 264, 265, 277, 297–98; at Rosebud, 269; described, 299, 300, 347; background of, 299n2; at Little Bighorn, 341, 495, 495n8; death of, 355; appraised, 491 Crazy Horse Campaign (see Bighorn Expedition) Crazy Horse Fight (see Powder River Fight) Crittenden, Albert Burnley, 39, 398 Crittenden, John Jordan, 340, 398 Crook, George, 177, 2–3, 5, 7; 14– 16, 20–23, 25, 32–36, 45–46, 48–49, 54, 58–60, 62–64, 67, 80, 82, 84, 87, 90, 95–98, 96n9, 100, 103, 117, 122, 128, 143, 146, 152, 156–57, 169, 169n6, 175, 187, 190, 194–98, 200, 207–10, 213, 220, 229, 234, 236, 240–42, 244–47, 251–54, 256, 262, 264, 267–68, 279, 282, 287, 308, 335, 347, 353, 356–58, 362, 372, 383, 476, 482, 485, 492, 496; Grand Offensive (Arizona), 1; appointed brigadier general, 1; commands Department of the Platte, 1; and Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 1, 13; and Horse Meat March, 4, 17–18, 106, 464, 467–68; hunting and fishing, 13, 14, 144, 205, 231, 250, 311–13, 321–22, 326; undermines Reynolds, 14; and newspaper

I NDEX correspondents, 17–18, 22, 150; ill-feelings toward, 18, 106n1, 150, 465; influence among Indians, 19, 151; negative newspaper coverage of, 22, 22n2, 35, 35n19; confers with Indians, 23, 146–47, 157–60, 167–68, 170–74, 221–23, 258–61, 274–75, 368–70; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 50–51, 493; links with Terry, 55, 56, 466; described, 57, 75, 135,313; and Sheridan, 57, 57n10; and Terry, 68–70, 68n2, 75–76, 87–88; administrative deficiencies, 81–82; celebrates birthday, 102, and Battle of Slim Buttes, 107ff., 293, 471, 496; complains to Sheridan, 126n8; reception in Black Hills settlements, 129ff.; meeting with Sheridan, 130, 250, 483; and Red Cloud, 146–48; and Spotted Tail, 147–48; and Powder River Expedition, 153; on Indian assimilation, 160, 160n10; in Arizona, 188n11; complains of transportation, 204–05n4; blamed for logistical problems, 204, 204–05n2; departmental finances of, 218; celebrates Christmas, 232; accepts Indian surrender, 257, 273; confers with Red Cloud, 265–66; objects to Sioux relocation, 269; and Nelson Miles, 296, 296n1; resumes administrative duties, 305; commands District of Boise, 369n11; and Bannock Uprising, 370n13, 374; criticizes government policy, 374–75; animal losses of,

513

487–88; claims on Powder River Fight and Rosebud disputed, 489, 491, 492 Crow Agency, Mt., 245 Crow Indians (see also Indian scouts), 30, 31, 45, 69, 163, 237, 243, 245, 286, 288, 292–93, 332–33, 342, 357 Crow on the Neck (Cheynne), 274 Cummings, Joseph Franklin, 247, 247n4, 265, 398 Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (book), 356–57, 357n2 Cushing, Harry Cooke, 140, 210, 398 Cushman, Frank, 6 Custer, Boston, 340, 340n9, 446 Custer, George Armstrong, 4, 13, 14, 22, 23, 41, 50, 60, 61, 64, 67, 75, 94, 96, 96n9, 108, 124, 230n1, 254, 255, 268, 307, 338, 339, 339n6, 340, 340n9, 341, 473, 492–95. “Custer Massacre.” See Custer, George Armstrong, and Little Bighorn, Battle of. Custer, Thomas Ward, 340, 340n9, 398 Cuthead or Cutnose (Kioxsi) Sioux Indians, 166

Dagan (steamer), 351 Danforth (Ute agent), 23 Daniels, Jared W., 143n17, 446 Danilson, W.H., 369, 370, 374, 375 Davenport, Reuben Briggs, 22, 22n2, 101, 150, 177, 447 Davis, George Breckenridge, 39, 398 Davis, Wirt, 183, 188, 399

514

Dawes Act (see General Allotment Act of 1887) Dawson, General (Deadwood civic leader), 133, 139 Dear, William, 143, 242 Delaney, Hayden, 40, 154, 180, 182, 247, 399 Delaney, Mr., 312, 321, 334 Deloria, Vine, 6 De Smet, Pierre-Jean, 288, 362– 63, 447 Devin, John D., 175, 399 Devin, Thomas C., 5, 5n7, 375, 376, 378, 383, 400 Dewees, Thomas Bull, 37, 400 Dickens, Charles, 79n9. Dickey, J.J., 356 The Dispensatory of the United States of America (book), 380, 380n6 Dodge, Frederick Leighton, 40, 400 Dodge, Richard Irving, 7, 160, 196, 209, 209n4, 231–32, 400; and Black Hills Expedition, 132; and Powder River Expedition, 149, 153–54, 166; account contradicts with Bourke’s, 150; on Crook, 150; insights on campaign, 150; blames Crook for logistical problems, 204–05n2; on Mackenzie’s overreaction, 209–10n5 Dodge, Richard Paulding, 164 Dorman, Isaac, 366n8 Dorst, Joseph, 195, 255, 258, 278, 401 Dougherty, John Jefferson, 343, 401 Dougherty, Sergeant, 265 Drew, George Augustus, 207, 213, 245, 401

I NDEX Drum Barracks, Cal., 19, 21 Du Bois, John Van Deusen, 375 Dudley, Nathan Augustus Monroe, 342, 342n12 Duffield, “Major” (Tucson character), 379, 380 Dull Knife or Morning Star (Cheyenne), 149, 149n1, 187, 274, 275, 287, 355, 456; daughters of, 300, 301. Dull Knife Fight, 182ff., 299, 300, 496; government losses at, 186; hostile losses at, 186, 186n8; war trophies found, 186, 188–90; hostile ceremony before, 186n8; destruction of village, 186, 186n8; report on, 194; funeral of dead from, 195–96; Cheyenne suffering after, 278, 497; Indian losses at, 496

Eagle 1 (Loafer scout), 154 Eagle 2 (Oglala scout), 154 Eagle Feather (Sioux Scout), 213 Easton, George O., 38, Eckles, Robert, 169, 447 Edmunds, Newton, 143n17, 447 Egan, James (Teddy), 141, 142, 180, 232, 300, 402 Elements of Medical Jurisprudence (book), 380, 380n6 Eshleman, Private, 85 Eskimos (See Inuit) Evans, Andrew Wallace, 36, 78, 79, 84, 102, 245, 246, 249, 402 Evans, Miss, 136 Ezekiel, David Israel, 39, 402

I NDEX Fanehon (steamer), 349 Farnham, E.B., 139 Far West (steamer), 67, 68, 69, 70, 80, 81, 345, 348, 468, 476 Fast Bull (Miniconjou), 498 Fast Horse (Oglala scout), 154 Fast Thunder (Oglala scout, sometimes given as Brulé), 154, 158, 159, 222, addresses Crook, 167–68 Feather on the Head, (Kioxsi scout), 154, 251 Ferdinand V (King of Aragon), 26, 26n9. Ferrar, Mr., 312 Fetterman Massacre, 123n4, 145 Fetterman, William Judd, 123n4, 402 Finerty, John Frederick, 17–18, 32, 92, 130, 447 Fire Crow (Cheyenne), 274, 285 Florence Mayers (steamer), 346 Floyd-Jones, DeLancey, 360, 403 Forbush, William Curtis, 129, 130 Ford, George Edward, 37, 403 Ford, James H., 62n13 Ford, Mr., 255, 257, 268 Ford, John W., 208, 447 Forsyth, George Alexander (Sandy), 67, 269, 273, 279, 312, 319, 325, 330, 403 Forsyth, James William (Tony), 246, 312, 403 Fort Abraham Lincoln, N.D., 15, 15n3, 17, 96, 98, 116, 351, 477 Apache, Ariz. (see Camp Apache) Atkinson, N.D., (see Fort Berthold) Berthold, N.D., 95n8, 350,

515

350n4–5, 351 Boise, Idaho, 369, 369n10 Bridger, Utah, 318, 358, 393 Buford, N.D, 90, 90n6, 103, 336, 348, 349, 354 C. F. Smith, Mt., 393 Craig, N. M., 384, 384n10, 385, 385n13 Custer, Mt., 123n3, 259n12, 336n4, 345 D.A. Russell, Wyo., 14, 122, 122n1, 384 Dodge, Kans., 218 Ellis, Mont., 71, 71n4, 84, 233, 346n1 Fetterman, Wyo., 124, 124n6, 126, 156–57, 160, 167–68, 175, 177–78, 198–200, 202, 204, 205, 212, 220, 229, 233, 234, 236, 311, described, 165, 166, 235 Francis E. Warren, Wyo. (exD.A. Russell), 122n1 Fred Steele, Wyo., 41 Giblert, Mont. (trading post), 291, 291n13 Hall, Idaho, 5, 308, 308–09n12, 356, 368, 370n13, 374 Harker, Kans., 385, 385n11 Keogh, Mt., , 103, 103n11, 123n3. 169, 170, 259n12, 336n5, 345 Laramie, Wyo., 35, 35n20, 122, 125–26, 130, 143–44, 148, 152, 156, 165, 174, 220, 236, 240–41, 245–47, 252, 268, 289, 292, 318, 336, 483 Leavenworth, Kans., 357, 361, 457 McKean, N.D. (see Fort Abraham Lincoln) McKinney, Wyo., 259n12

516

Macon, N.C., 383, 383n8 Pease (trading post), 346, 346n1 Phil Kearny, Wyo., 123, 123n4, 124, 175, 209, 402 Reno, Wyo., 62n13, 123, 123n5, 124, 125, 126, 168 Rice, 90n5 Robinson, Neb. (see Camp Robinson) Sanders, Wyo., 35n20 Sarpy, Mont. (trading post), 291, 291n13 Sedgwick, Colo., 40n22. Seward, N.D., 352, 352n6 Shaw, Mt. 360, 360n8, 361, 363 Sidney, Neb. (see Sidney Barracks) Sill, Okla., 5n10. Stevenson, N.D., 95n8., 350, 350n4–5 Union, N.M., 384, 384n9 Union (American Fur Company), 90n6 Washakie, Wyo., see Camp Brown Fort Berthold Agency, 350n5 Fort Laramie Treaty (1851), 292n14 Fort Laramie Treaty (1868), 123n4–5 Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho, (see Shoshone and Bannock Reservation) Fort Phil Kearny Massacre (see Fetterman Massacre) Fort Sill Apache Indians, 5n7 Foster, Charles Warren, 39, 404 Foster, James Evans Heron, 38, 233, 404 Fox (interpreter), 233 Fox Belly (Kioxsi scout), 155

I NDEX Friday, also known as Black Coal Ashes, White Crow, or Thunder (Arapaho scout), 252, 286, 288, 289–92, 294 Furey, John Vincent, 36, 41, 44, 126, 144, 153, 178, 178n14, 208, 232, 404

Gatchell, Private, 320 Gaylord, A.S., 143, 143n16 General Allotment Act of 1887 (Dawes Act), 217n9. General Custer (steamer), 350 General Meade (steamer), 348 General Sherman (steamer), 345 Gibbon, Fanny, 360, 384 Gibbon, John, 14–15, 61, 67, 84, 96n9, 309, 340, 360–63, 384, 404. Gibbs, Eugene Beauharnais, 58, 405 Gibson, Joseph Ruff, 153, 231, 405 Gilson Jack (Shoshone), 369 Glennan, Private (orderly), 320, 339 Good Man (Oglala scout), 154 Goodale, Greenleaf Austin, 169, 169n6, 405 Gordon, David Stewart, 37, 405 Gordon, George Alexander, 33, 34, 146, 154, 183, 184, 196, 198, 199, 357, 405 Grant, Ulysses Simpson, 57, 249 Gray Head (Cheyenne), 187 Great Sioux War, 13ff., 300, 305; official recapitulation of, 489ff. Greely, Adolphus Washington, 39, 406 Greene, Jerome A., 149n1, 186n8 Gregg, Thomas Jackson, 40, 312, 313, 325, 406

I NDEX Gresham, John Chowning, 37, 406 Gray, Charles Carroll, 245n3 Gray, Dr., 245, 245n3 Grey Eyes (Loafer scout), 154 Grimes, Dr., 311, 407 Grinnell, George Bird, 6, 182n1. Gros Ventre (Hidatsa) Indians, 95n8, 163, 286, 288, 289, 292, 350, 350n4 Grouard, Frank, 31–32, 52–53, 63, 93, 98, 103, 116, 298, 312, 319, 326, 331–32, 334, 336, 344, 448, and Battle of Slim Buttes, 108–10; on Indians, 202, 205, 210, 212, and Crazy Horse, 299, 396

Half Shirt (Arapaho scout), 252 Hall, Christopher Tomkins, 37, 407 Hall, William Prebel, 39, 407 Hamilton, John Morrison, 183, 184, 358, 407 Hamilton, Samuel Todd, 62, 348, 408 Hampton School, 255n9 Hand (Sioux scout), 252, 267 Hard to Kill (Lakota), 271 Hardie, James Allen, 217 Hardie, Francis Hunter, 245, 336, 408 Harlon, Mr. (trader at Camp Apache), 357 Harney, Benjamin Franklin, 408. Harney, William S., 485n3. Hart, Verling Kersey, 334, 335, 336, 408 Hartsuff, Albert, 44, 50, 74, 97, 130, 245, 245n3, 248, 408, 476, 478–80 Hasson, Lieutenant, 359

517

Hawley, William, 37, 408 Hay, Charles, 40, 409 Hay, Leonard, 152, 409 Hayes, Edward M., 39, 409 Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 164, 165n1, 249, 260, 448 He Dog (Oglala), 491 He Wolf (Cheyenne), 274 Hedrin, Paul L., 4. Heintzelman, Charles Steward, 347, 409 Hemphill, William C., 184, 195, 409 Henderson, Tim, 365 Hendricks, Thomas, 164, 165n1 Henry, Guy Vernor, 37, 410 Hermann, Charles John von, 169, 410 Hibberd, Mr., 268 Hidatsa Indians (see Gros Ventre Indians) High Bear (Sans Arc), 286, 287 High Bear (Sioux scout), 252 Hodge, Frederick H., 6. Hoffman, William Edwin, 40, 409 HohΠ Sioux Indians, 203 Holtes, Charles, 42n24. Hopi (Moqui) Indians, 206, 357 Horny Horse (surrendered hostile), 268, 269 Horse (Arapaho scout), 252 Horse Comes Last (Kioxsi scout), 155, 252 Horse Meat March (1876), 4, 15, 20, 397, 464ff.; preparations, 67, 68; begins, 88, 476; horse meat appears at mess, 100, 477; horse meat becomes part of regular diet, 105, 471; suffering on, 117–18, 470, 474, 477, 481; orders to cavalry concerning, 464–65, rations

518

on, 469–70; medical report of, 474ff., medical problems on, 476, 477, 480–81; animal losses on, 487–88 Horse Road (Lakota), 271 Horn Eagle (Sioux scout), 252 Howard, E. A., 111, 448 Howe, Myron Winslow, 140 Howard, Oliver Otis, 383, 410 Hudson’s Bay Company, 309– 09n12 Hughs, Wilbur, 121 Hughes, William Burton, 353, 411 Hump (Lakota), 271 Hunkpapa Lakota Indians, 115, 203 Hunter, Billy, 267, 275 , 298 Hunts the Enemy (Sioux scout), 252 Huntington, Henry Dunstan, 37, 92, 411

Indian Mutiny (Great Britain), 88n2 Indian scouts, 55, 152–54, 157, 198, 341; reaction to steamer; 68, 468, dancing among, 74, 174–75, 219; return home, 74–75; animosities among, 151; roster on Powder River Expedition, 154–56; interest in commissary, 161n12; confer with Crook, 170–174, 221–23; strength on Powder River expedition, 178; and Dull Knife fight, 180–81; on hunting trip, 319–20, 333; strength of Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 475. Apaches, 88n2 Arapahos, 143, 156, 161–62,

I NDEX 162n15, 170–71. 196, 227, 234, 497; compromised, 176; at Dull Knife Fight, 182 Bannocks, 162, 170, 232 Brulés, 287 Cheyennes, 153, 156, 162, 162n15, 170, 180, 227, 234, 497; at Dull Knife Fight, 182, 187 Crows, 57, 69, 75–76, 161, 219, 220, 232–33, 497; return home, 80–81 Minneconjous, 287 Nez Percés, 163, 170 Pawnees, 156–57, 161–62, 170– 72. 208, 485; at Dull Knife Fight, 182, 184, 186–87, 190, 210, 219, 222, 289 Rees, 57, 63, 70, 74, 89–90, 93–94, 98–99, 466–67 Sans Arcs, 287 Shoshones (Snakes), 22, 33, 55, 57, 63, 68, 74–75, 151, 156, 161–62, 162n15, 170, 173, 180,184, 190, 196, 222, 467–68, 475; impatience with Terry, 64, 68; at Dull Knife Fight, 182, 186–87, 190; give war trophies to officers, 196–97 Sioux, 151, 153, 161–62, 162n15, 168–70, 178, 196, 219, 227, 234, 324, 497; compromised, 176; at Dull Knife Fight, 182, 187 Utes, 23–24, 55, 57, 68, 74, 162, 170, 475 Inuit, 283–84 Iron Shield (See American Horse or Iron Shield) Iron Shield (Sioux), 300 Isa-tai (Comanche), 53n9

I NDEX Isabella I (Queen of Castile), 26, 26n9 Islam, 28, 28n10

Jack (Newfoundland dog), 86, 98–99, 253 Jackass (Sioux scout), 252, 312 Jerome, Aaron Brainard, 378 Jicarilla Apache Indians, 384n9 John C. Fletcher (steamer), 348 John Gregory Bourke, Soldier-Scientist on the Frontier (book), 6 Johnson, Charles Akers, 244, 411 Johnson, John Burgess, 245, 411 Johnson, Mrs. Charles Akers, 281 Jones, James Mills, 140, 180, 412 Jones, Roger, 207, 412 Jordan, William Henry, 207, 213, 412, 483 Joseph (Nez Percé), 360, 370, 456 Josephine (steamer), 67, 67n1, 351 Journal of the Military Service Institution, 149

Kansas Pacific Railroad, 384, 385, 385n11 Kate Kinney, 351 Kautz, Augustus Valentine, 358, 358n5, 373, 412 Keefe, Joseph, 41 Keeps a Battle, sometimes rendered Keep the Battle (Oglala scout), 154, 173 Keller, Alan, 195 Kellogg, Sanford Cobb, 39, 335, 343, 342, 358, 413 Kennedy, Private, 109, 114 Kennington, James, 40, 413 Kent, James, 83n12

519

Keogh, Myles, 108, 339, 339n6, 340, 413 Key West (steamer), 349 Keyes, Edward Livingston, 38, 413 Kills a Hundred (Sioux scout), 252 Kills First (Loafer scout), 154, 252 Killed in the Winter (Kioxsi scout), 155 Kim, Wayne R., 7 King, Albert Douglas, 38, 414 King, Charles, 39, 119, 358, 384, 414 King, Mrs. Charles, 384 King, John Haskell, 356, 414 Kingsbury, Frederick William, 37, 414 Kiowa Indians, 275, 288, 291, 292, 293 Kioxsi Sioux Indians, 203 Knatchbull-Hugessen, Edward (see Brabourne) Knife (Kioxsi scout), 155 Koerper, Egon Anthony, 245, 263, 415 Kreger, Bugler, 261 Kurtz (Deadwood councilman), 139

Lakota (Western Sioux) Indians, 19, 157n8, 182n1 Lame Deer (Minneconjou), 300, 305, 457, 497–98 Lame Deer Fight, 305, 305n1, 347, 497, Indian losses at, 498 Lapointe, Henry Clayton, 311, 415 Last Bull (Cheyenne), 182n1 Lathrop, Barbour, 42, 89, 448 Lawson, Joseph, 37, 245, 248, 415 Lawton, Henry Ware, 143, 250, 288, 415

520

Leading Warrior (Oglala scout), 155 Lecture on the Life of Cromwell (book), 316 Lee, Colonel (member of Terry’s staff), 353 Lee, James G.C., 351, 416 Lee, Jesse Matlock, 244, 250, 263, 416 Lee, Mrs. Jesse Matlock, 263 Lee, Mother, 243 Leib, Edward Henry, 39, 233, 416 Lemly, Henry Rowan, 38, 245, 246, 416 Leuttwitz, Adolphus H. von, 8, 38, 101. 107, 111–12, 112n3, 115, 417, 471 Lewis, Meriwether, 284 Libby Prison, Richmond, Va. (Confederate prisoner-of-war facility), 46 Li-here-is-vo-la-shar or Leading Chief (Pawnee), 173, 176; addresses Crook, 171–72; described, 176–77 Lipan Indians, 288–89 Little Bighorn, Battle of, 4. 13–14, 50, 83, 96n9, 115–16, 188n11, 254n7, 300, 473, 483, 490, 493–95; recovered trophies from, 188–89, 305; carbine malfunction at, 230n1, 495, 495n7; carbines recovered from, 258, 266; Indian account of, 268–69; speculation about, 339–41; rumored insane survivor of, 354; Indian accounts of, 495n7–8 Little Bighorn Battlefield, 338–42; described, 307, 336, 339; Indian camp at, 338; archaeological work at, 339n6; burial details at, 340–41

I NDEX Little Big Man (Oglala), 297, 457; described, 300 Little Bull (Loafer scout), 155, 312 Little Chief (Arapaho scout), 252 Little Creek (Cheyenne), 271, 457; (Oglala), 271, 297, 298, 457; described, 300. Little Warrior (Kioxsi scout), 155 Little Wolf (Cheyenne), 187, 190, 250–52, 355; described, 274; wounded in Dull Knife Fight, 277 Lives of the Saints (book), 357n2 Living Bear (Cheyenne scout), 252 Lloyd, Charles F., 40, 417 Loafer Indians (members of various Sioux and affiliated tribes who “loafed” about military posts), 258, 262 Lockwood, James Booth, 157, 417 London, Robert, 39, 417 Lone Bear (Arapaho scout), 252, 312 Lone Dog (Loafer scout), 155 Lone Feather (Kioxsi scout), 154 Lone Horn (Lakota), 257 Long, A.K., 384 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 255, 289 Long Jaw (Cheyenne), 185n5 Looking Glass (Nez Percé), 361, 458 Lovell, Robert Armstrong, 368 Lovering, Leonard Austin, 197, 201, 202, 417 Luhn, Gerhard Luke, 39, 417

McAleer (Deadwood mine owner), 137, 138 McCaleb, Thomas Sidney, 267, 285, 418

I NDEX McFarland, Alexander, 191, 195 McGillycuddy, Valentine T., 269, 449 McIntosh, Archie, 188n11 McIntosh, Donald, 188, 188n11 McKinney, John A., 183, 183n3, 194, 195n14, 196, 198 Macbeth (play), 17n9 Mackenzie, Ranald Slidell, 10, 33, 122, 125, 160, 179, 180–81, 207–08, 232, 236, 250–51, 253, 255, 258, 275, 279, 280, 282, 285, 287, 299, 418, 482;. and Dull Knife Fight, 4, 20, 149, 182–85, 187, 190n13, 194–95, 199, 199n16, 219, 222–23, 254, 257, 273, 496; rounds up Red Cloud and Red Leaf, 145–46, 486; mental deterioration, 150–51, 187n10, 397; and Powder River Expedition, 152–54; praised for Dull Knife Fight, 200; overreaction to minor offense, 209–10n5 “Mackenzie’s Last Fight with the Cheyennes” (article later published as book), 149, 161n12, 177n13, quoted, 178n14 Madison John (Bannock), 368 Major George (Shoshone), 369 Magpie Eagle (Cheyenne), 271 Maguire, Edward, 58, 418 Mahan, Dennis Hart, 72, 72n6. Man Who Carries the Sword (see Sword) Mandan Indians, 43, 71, 95n8, 289–90n12, 350, 350n4 A Manuel of Practical Hygiene (book), 380, 380n6 Many Bears (Cheyenne), 274 Manypenny, George W., 143, 143n16–17, 449

521

March, Tom, 385 Marquis, Thomas B., 6. Martin Chuzzlewit (novel), 79n9 Marsh, Grant, 67, 67n1, 345, 449 Marsh, Othniel Charles, 253, 450 Mason, Charles Winder, 233, 418 Mason, Julius Wilmot, 39, 241, 253, 418 Mason, Mrs. Julius Wilmot, 136, 138 Mauck, Clarence, 146, 154, 279, 419 Mears, Mr., 344 Mears, Frederick, 267, 482–86 Medicine Man (Arapaho scout) Meigs, Montgomery, 61, 419 Meinhold, Charles, 37, 419 Menges, John, 195 Merivale, Joseph, 245, 250, 450 Merrick, Mr. (Deadwood newspaper publisher), 137 Merritt, Wesley, 21, 23, 34, 36, 42, 45, 84, 119, 145–46, 148, 384, 419, 465; described, 35; commands cavalry during Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition, 44, 80; and Battle of Slim Buttes, 107 Merritt, Mrs. Wesley, 384 Meyers, Charlie, 380, 381 Michaelis, Otho Ernest, 58, 420 Michler, Francis, 39, 420 Miles, Nelson Appleton, 20, 57–58, 66, 70, 90, 124–25, 200, 242, 242n2, 266–67, 269, 300, 307, 347, 420, 457; and Sitting Bull, 161n11, 496, 496n11; report to Terry in newspaper, 270–72; and Crook, 296; 296n1; and Lame Deer Fight, 305, 497; and Wolf Mountain Fight, 497 Miller, John, 41, 421

522

Miller, Ned, 351 Miller, Wentz Curtis, 143 Mills, Anson, 38, 54, 101, 106, 116–17, 119, 243, 245, 250, 257–58, 263, 421, 477; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 50, 488, and Battle of Slim Buttes, 107ff., 478, 488, 495, 495n10 Mills, Cuthbert, 42, 450 Mills, Nannie (Mrs. Anson), 245, 263 Minneconjou Lakota Indians, 115, 145, 203, 260–62, 266, surrender, 256, 257, 258 Missouri Pacific Railroad, 384 Mix, John, 122, 311, 422 Monahan, Deane, 38, 245, 248, 422 Montgomery of Alamein, Bernard Law, Viscount, 210n6 Montgomery, Robert Hugh, 38, 422 Mooney, James, 6 Moore, Alexander, 245, 422; and Powder River Fight, 14, 37; court–martialed, 14, 234, 237, 241, 246 Moore, Thomas, 56, 74, 77, 101, 116, 228–29, 279, 287, 312, 344, 450 Moqui Indians (see Hopi Indians) Morning Star (see Dull Knife or Morning Star) Morning Star Dawn (book), 149n1 Morrow, Stanley J., 2, 450 Morton, Alfred, 152, 423 Morton, Charles, 37, 245, 423 Mountbatten of Burma, Louis, Earl, 210n6 Munn, Curtis Emerson, 242, 277, 281, 384, 423 Munson, Samuel, 40, 58, 95, 96, 109, 245, 248, 384, 423

I NDEX Munson, Mrs. Samuel, 384 Murfreesboro (Stones River), Battle of, 62, 62n15 Murphy, John, 40, 423

Navajo Indians, 206, 289 Nave, Andrew Humes, 351, 423 Neide, Horace, 39, 244, 245, 424 New York Graphic (newspaper), 42, 42n24, 89 New York Herald (newspaper), 22, 35n19, 101, 150, 154, 177 New York Ledger (tabloid newspaper), 42 New York Tribune (newspaper), 47 Nez Percé Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 56, 360. 369, 370 Nez Percé War, 309, 361, 362, 369, 383, 388 Nickerson, Azor Howitt, 23, 144, 152, 169, 169n6, 424; and the Battle of the Rosebud, 50 No Neck (Loafer scout), 155, 312 North, Frank, 123, 180, 182, 451, 485 Northern Pacific Railroad, 336, 351, 352, 352n6, 354 Norwood, Randolph, 37, 424 Nowlan, Henry James, 58, 70, 424 Noyes, Henry Erastus, 37, 425; and Powder River Fight, 14, 79n10

O’Brien, John Joseph, 41, 425 O’Brien, Martin Edward, 37, 425 O’Connell, William, 183n3 O’Connor, James, 362, 363 O-at-ta (Shoshone), 173, described, 177 Oglala Lakota Indians, 146, 203

I NDEX Old Bear (Cheyenne), 187, 458, 491 Old Crow or Washington (Crow scout), 281, 458 Old Eagle (Arapaho), 223 Old Hawk (Oglala), 297 Old John (Lakota), 259 Old Man Afraid of His Horses (Oglala), 271, 459 Old Wolf (Cheyenne), 271 Omaha Bee (newspaper), 54 On the Border With Crook (book), 16, 78n8 “Onward Christian Soldiers” (hymn), 357n2 Orr (orderly), 295 Otis, Harrison Gail, 209, 210, 209–10n5, 425 Owl Bull (Kioxsi scout), 155 Owns Gray Horse (Lakota scout), 252 Owsley, W.T., 198 Paddock, James V.S., 357, 384, 425 Painted Horse (Lakota scout), 252 Paiute Indians, 56, 370 Palmer, Innis Newton, 156, 207, 425 Panic of 1873, 308 Papago Indians, 381, 382 Parker, Leopold O., 183n3 Parkes, Edmund A., 380, 380n6 Parkhurst, Charles Dyer, 39, 426 Parkman, Francis, Jr., 6. Patterson, Sergeant, 196 Patzki, Julius Herman, 47, 93, 312, 321, 329, 333, 426 Paul (driver), 253 Paul, Augustus Chouteau, 38, 426 Pawnee Indians (see also Indian

523

Scouts), 151, 214, 237, 286, 290, 292, 485 Payne, John Scott, 39, 426 Peale, James Thompson, 37, 427 Pearson, Daniel Crosby, 37, 427 Pease, Thomas P., 41, 427 Pends d’Oreille Indians, 362 Philbrook (Deadwood councilman), 139 Philips (cook), 29, 29m11, 46, 56, 336 Philips, F.M., 236 Phillips, John (Portugee or Portuguese), 236, 236n3, 451 Pine Ridge Agency, S.D., 97n10 Pius IX, 327, 327n6. Plains Apache Indians, 5n10, 288. Plenty Camps (Cheyenne scout), 252 Plummer, Satterlee, C., 41, 44, 427 Poe, Orlando Metcalfe, 345, 427 Pollock, Edwin, 169, 175, 196, 197, 209, 217, 427 Pollock, Otis Wheeler, 40, 428 Poor Elk (Oglala scout), 155, 251 Pope, James Worden, 347, 347n3, 428 Pourier, Baptiste (Big Bat), 32, 342, 344, 452, at Slim Buttes, 109–10 Powder River Fight, 13–14, 79n10, 113, 113n4; described, 491, 492 Powers, Mr., 383 Powder River Expedition, 2, 126n8, 149ff., 149n1; organization of, 152–56; Indian scouts on, 154–56, 161; provisions and equipment, 160–61; strength of, 162–63, 178; infantry allowances on, 166–67; logistical and transportation problems on, 204, 204–05n2

524

The Powder River Expedition Journals of Colonel Richard Irving Dodge (book), 149. Powell, William Henry, 39, 130, 143, 428 Pratt, Edward Barton, 40, 428 Pretty Place (Lakota scout), 252 Pretty Voiced Bull (Kioxsi scout), 154 Price, Curtis Ethelbert, 140 Price, Rose, 255–56, quoted 256n10, 380, 380n5 Primitive Cultures (book), 212n8

Quinn, Thomas Francis, 169, 429

Rain in the Face (Sans Arc), 255 Ralph (Pawnee), 209, 209n4 Randall, George Morton (Jake), 10, 27, 40, 50, 75–77, 97, 130, 144, 153, 219, 232–33, 242, 245, 247, 253, 265, 267, 277, 285–87, 300, 357, 429 Randolph, John Field, 168 Rankin (steamer), 345 Rawolle, William Charles, 37, 429 Raynolds, William, 65, 430 Red Bear (Loafer scout), 155 Red Beaver (Arapaho scout), 252 Red Cloud (Oglala), 19, 252, 278, 296–97, 455–56, 459, 482, 485; hostility of, 145, 152, 157n9, 293; arrested, 145–46, 486; deposed as head chief, 147; enlists as scout, 251; and Crook, 265, 266 Red Cloud Agency, Neb., 23, 33–34, 97n10, 122, 125–126, 128, 142–48, 153, 157–58, 179, 196, 198, 207, 213, 221–22,

I NDEX 233, 241–45, 250–51, 254–55, 264, 266, 268, 275, 281, 288, 296, 483, 490; discrepancy in Indian counts, 483–84, 483n1; ammunition available at, 485 Red Dog (Lakota scout), 252 Red Horse (Lakota), 271 Red Kettle (Lakota scout), 252 Red Leaf (Brulé scout), 155, 155n7, 157n9 Red Leaf (Oglala), 145, 485, arrested, 145, 146, 147, 152, 155n7 Red Nose (Lakota), 262 Red River War, 53n9 Red Shirt (Lakota scout), 252, 312 Red Willow (Kioxsi scout), 155 Ree (Arapaho scout), 252 Ree Indians (see Arikara Indians) Reed, Arthur Harry (Autie), 340n9, 452 Reilly, Bernard, Jr., 39, 167, 175, 358, 429 Reilly, William van W., 254, 254n7 Reno, Marcus Albert, 55–56, 83, 87, 188, 188n11, 268, 338, 341, 345, 430, 494–95, 495n7. “The Revenge of Rain in the Face” (poem), 255, 255n8 Reynolds, Bainbridge, 38, 245, 430 Reynolds, Joseph Jones, 32, 431, 488, 490; court-martialed, 5n7, 234, 237, 241, 246; and Powder River Fight, 13–14, 491, retires, 313 Reynolds Fight (see Powder River Fight) Rice, Edmund, 90n5. Rice, William Fletcher, 91–92, 357, 431 Richaud, Charles, 154

I NDEX Richaud, Louis, 32–33, 48–49, 93, 233, 452 Roan Bear (Cheyenne scout), 252 Robertson, Edgar Brooks, 22, 40, 152, 431 Robinson, Henry Eleazar, 39, 43, 431 Roche, Jerry, 154, 177, 452 Rock or Four Crows (Lakota), 271 Rockefeller, Charles Mortimer, 44, 431 Rockefeller, John D., 51n8. Rockwell, Charles Henry, 152, 161, 161n12, 311, 312, 314, 317, 325, 336, 432 Rocky Mountain News (Denver newspaper), 101 Rocky Bear (Oglala, sometimes given as Brulé), 155, 459 Rodgers, Calbraith Perry, 39, 335, 432 Rogers, William Wallace, 358 Roman Nose (Cheyenne), 187 Roman Nose (Lakota), 110, 257, 259, 460; addresses Crook, 258 Rosebud (steamer), 345 Rosebud, Battle of, 13, 14, 20, 21, 22, 30, 36, 36n18, 37, 50–51, 96n9, 269, 488, 490, 493; Bourke’s defense of Crook, 51n7; war trophies from, 189, 190, Indian losses at, 287, 493 Rowland, William, 187, 187n9, 223, 273, 453 Royall, William Bedford, 32, 33, 36, 60, 79, 80, 84, 432 Ruggles, George D., 353, 432 Ruhlen, George, 343, 433 Running Bear (Lakota scout), 152 Running Over (Sans Arc scout), 155

525

Russell Depot, Wyo. (see Cheyenne Depot, Wyo.) Russell, Gerald, 184, 433 Ryan, Patrick F., 195

Sacket, Delos Bennet, 311, 321, 327, 333, 433 Sage (Arapaho scout), 252 Salpointe, Bishop, 376 Sanger, Louis H., 88n1, 434 San Francisco Bulletin (newspaper), 42, 89 Sans Arc (Ee-tazih-uit-chβ) Lakota Indians, 115, 203, 257, 258, 262, 266 Santee (Eastern Sioux or Dakota) Indians, 203 Santee Agency, S.D., 300 Savannah (steamer), 349 Schilling, Mr. (trader), 368 Schofield, Charles Brewster, 87, 348, 434 Schuyler, Walter Scribner, 22, 36, 38, 47, 50, 52, 56, 58, 63, 74, 76–77, 92, 129–30, 133, 143–44,. 153, 156, 180, 182, 184, 196–97, 236, 242, 249–50, 253, 257, 263, 279, 311, 316, 321, 327, 333, 336, 356, 359, 364, 434; on Horse Meat March, 465ff Schwatka, Frederick, 38, 101, 116, 245, 263, 434 Scipio Africanus, 210n6 Scraper (Arapaho scout), 252 Scraper (Oglala scout), 155 Seton, Henry, 39, 435 Setting Bear (Arapaho scout), 252 Sharp Nose (Arapaho scout), 156, 213, 222, 223, 252, 253, 294, 295, 460; addresses Crook,

526

158–59, 171; described, 176, 256; and Dull Knife Fight, 182 Shaved Head (Arapaho scout), 252 Sheridan, Michael Vincent, 340, 340n7, 435 Sheridan, Philip Henry, 24, 33–35, 35n19, 45, 67, 84, 97–99, 122ff, 146, 179, 194, 220, 223, 236, 253, 264, 267, 269, 335, 340–43, 340n7, 349, 351, 353, 370, 374, 488, 489; and Crook, 57, 57n10, 114, 167n2, 218, strategy, 15, 96n9, castigates Crook, 126n8, meeting with Crook, 130, 250, 483, praises Crook and Mackenzie, 200, uses hunting and fishing trips to gain support, 306, and Chicago Railroad Strike, 308, 351, 352, hunting and fishing, 311ff., 331, 333, described, 313 Sherman, Thomas, 345 Sherman, William Tecumseh, 35, 126n8, 345, 485, blames Crook for logistical problems, 204–05n2 Shoshone and Bannock Agency, Idaho, 368, 370n13, 374, 375 Shoshone Indians, sometimes called Snakes (see also Indian scouts), 22, 26–27, 33–34, 34n17, 64, 169, 174, 176, 200, 214–15, 237, 266, 292, 308–09n12, 313, 354n7, 356, 363–64, 374; desecrate Lakota corpses. 19, 53–55; proficiency in drill, 25–26; horse racing, 26, preparations for field duty, 33 Shufeldt, Robert Wilson, 335, 435 Shut a Door (Oglala scout), 155 Sibley, Frederick William, 37, 130,

I NDEX 144, 435; scouting expedition of, 31–32, 334, 492 “Sibley Scout” (see Sibley, Frederick William) Sidney Barracks, Neb., 40, 40n22, 152 Silver City (steamer), 343, 344 Silver Lake (steamer), 103 Simpson, James Ferdinand, 37, 265, 435 Singing Bear (Kioxsi scout), 154 Sioux Indians, see also Indian Scouts, Lakota, and under individual tribes), 16, 23, 30, 43, 54, 84, 121, 147, 148, 151, 158– 59, 196, 212, 214–16, 237, 243, 254, 286, 291–92, 298, 323, 334, 336, 350n5, 369–70, 375, 466. 474, 483, 491ff.; group designations, 155; warrior societies among, 52–53; at Slim Buttes, 109–11; forced to relinquish land, 143, 143n16, 167, 167n3, 173; virtues, 202; meaning of tribal names, 202–03; tribal government, 205–06; home and social life, 206, 210; names, 210; funeral customs, 211; religion, mythology and taboos, 211–12, 238; surrender, 251, 273, 287; dancing described, 263; proposed relocation, 269; new reservation for, 272–73; resentment of Cheyennes, 277; acquisition of horses, 285–86; tribal divisions among, 492n3 Sisseton Sioux Indians, 202, 352 Sits in the Night (Cheyenne), 274 Sitting Bear (Kioxsi scout, sometimes given as Cheyenne), 155, 179, 252

I NDEX Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa), 23, 72, 82, 89, 115, 145, 161, 299, 300, 347, 445, 460, 483, 492, 497, 498, 498n12; and Miles, 161n11, 194, 496, 496n11, at Rosebud, 269, refugees to Canada, 272; appraised, 491; at Little Bighorn, 495, 495n9 Sitting Night (Cheyenne), 271 Six Feathers (Arapaho scout), 156, 252, 295 Six Feathers (Kioxsi scout), 155 Slim Buttes, Battle of, 4, 18, 89, 107ff., 217, 269, 326, 470–71, 495, 496, Seventh Cavalry equipment recovered at, 108, 114–16, wounded from, 478, 479; Indian losses at, 496 Slow Bear (Brulé scout), 155 Smallpox, 289–90n12, 375–76 Smead, Alexander D.B., 38, 245, 436 Smith, Edward Worthington, 58, 345, 436 Smith, Frank Guest, 140, 142 Smith, John Eugene, 370 Smith, Thomas T., 7 Smith, William Earl, 187n10 Snake Indians (See Shoshone Indians) Snyder, Mr., 335 “The Song of Hiawatha” (poem), 289 Sopley, Sister, 243, 244 Sorrel Horse or Shuncaca Lutu (Oglala scout sometimes given as Brulé), 155, 255, 263, 279, 301, 460; recounts life, 280, demonstrates medicine, 283 Spaulding, Edward James, 40, 436 Spencer, James Herbert, 24, 436 Spokane Indians, 362

527

Spotted Black Bird (Cheyenne), 185n5 Spotted Crow (Lakota), 111 Spotted Horse (Crow), 233 Spotted Tail (Brulé), 19, 146, 157n8, 240, 243–44, 245, 258–59, 261, 262–63, 285, 288, 294, 301, 461, 485; named head chief, 147–48; arranges surrender of hostiles, 250, 256– 57, 270–71; enlists as scout, 251; described, 256; objects to removal to Indian Territory, 260; and Crook, 266 Spotted Tail Agency, Neb., 33–34, 110–11, 153, 158, 233, 241, 244, 250, 253, 255–56, 270–73, 277, 280–81, 285–87, 297, 299–300, 489, 498; discrepancy in Indian counts, 483–84, 483n1 Stabber (Lakota), 111 Standing Elk (Cheyenne), 273–75, 295, 298–99, 461 Standing Feather (Arapaho scout), 252 Standing Rock Agency, N.D., 122, 125, 268, 300, 467 Stands In Timber, John, 182n1, 185n5 Stanley, David S., 95 Stanton, Thaddeus Harlan, 10, 35, 44, 47, 49, 58, 72–74, 97, 130, 169, 175, 242, 245, 253, 255, 436 Steamboats, 307, 466, maneuvering on Yellowstone, 344, 345, 346, 354, loading and unloading, 349 Steever, Edgar Z., Jr., 38, 37 Stevens (physician), 101, 437 Stones River. (See Murfreesboro.)

528

Strahorn, Robert Edmund, 101, 242, 245, 265, 267, 284, 288, 453 Sullivan, John, 187, 195 Sully, Alfred, 62n13, 350n4, 437 Sumner, Samuel Storrow, 39, 357, 384, 438 Sumner, Mrs. Samuel Storrow, 384 Sutorious, Alexander, 32, 36, 38, 438 Swift Charger (Loafer scout), 155 Swigert, Samuel Miller, 37, 438 Swimmer (Oglala scout), 155 Sword, or Man Who Carries the Sword (Oglala), 312, 320, 462 Tall Bull (Minneconjou), 300 Tall Pine Tree (Lakota), 282–83 Tall Wild Cat, (Kioxsi scout), 154 Tambiago (Bannock), 370n13, 374n2 Taylor (scout), 87, 336 Taylor, Alfred Bronaugh, 184, 187, 198, 438 Taylor, G.W., 207, 233 Taylor, Sydney Wentworth, 140, 438 Terry, Alfred Howe, 3, 14–15, 21, 31, 35, 42, 45, 58, 63, 65, 67, 80–84, 87–88, 90, 94, 96n9, 102–03, 115, 122–23, 125, 151n6, 194, 271, 340–42, 345, 353, 362, 438, 468, 475, 494; links with Crook 55–56, 466; described, 56–57, 75; transportation problems, 59–61, 64, 83; and Crook, 68–70, 68n2, 75–76, 88–89 Tesson, Louis Stanislaus, 343, 439 Thatcher, Mr., 372 Thayer, Dana, 358 Thomas, Earl Denison, 39, 439

I NDEX Thompson, John Charles, 37, 245, 250, 439 Thompson (member of Terry’s staff), 58 Thornburgh, Thomas Tipton, 294, 300, 335, 336, 439 Three Bears (Oglala or Kioxsi scout), 154, 159, 207, 210, 213, 222, 251, 462; addresses Crook, 157–58, 157n8–9, 173; described, 177 Thorpe, Jim, 62n14 Thunder (see Friday) Thunder Shield (Oglala scout), 155 Tidal Wave (steamer), 347 Tiffany, Harry, 343, 439 Tilden, Samuel, 164, 165n1 Tilford, Joseph Green, 385 Tobacco (Kioxsi scout), 155 Tokio (Bannock), 368, 369 Tolkien, J.R.R., 316n3 Tom (mixed blood trader), 271 Torn Belly (Lakota scout), 252 Touch-the-Clouds (Lakota), 257, 462 Townsend, Edward Davis, 150, 154, 196, 232 Townsend, Edwin Franklin, 35, 439 Trotter, Frederick Eugene, 368 Trunk (Lakota scout), 252 Tup-see-paw or Rag Picker (Shoshone), addresses Crook, 173, described, 177 Twist, James, 154 The Two Americas (book), 255– 56, 256n10, 380, 380n5 Two Kettles (O-ee-no-pah) Lakota Indians, 203 Two Moons (Cheyenne), 113n4, 271, 491n2

I NDEX Tyler, Augustus Cleveland, 236, 440 Tylor, Edward Burnett, 212, 212n8, 237, 248

Union Pacific Railroad, 144, 165, 241, 311, 356, 357 United States Army, brevet ranks in, 10; soldier’s life, 24–25; foreign soldiers in, 26, 26n8; weapons training in, 230n1, troops on payday, 242, officers appraised, 256n10, reduction advocated, 278, cavalry reorganization in, 387, 388; animal requisitions, 487 Upham, John, 36, 117, 121, 440, 472. U-sanky-su-cola (Skidi Pawnee), 174 Utah Northern Railroad, 359, 360, 373 Ute Indians (see also Indian Scouts), 23, 24, 34, 45, 237, 266, 286, 290, 292 Ute John (Indian volunteer), 48, 55, 69, 75, 462.

Vandever, William, 143, 143n17, 453 Van Vliet, Frederick, 37, 440 Victory (steamer), 349 The Virginian (book), 124n6 Volkmar, William J., 38, 440 Vroom, Peter Dumont, Jr., 38, 246, 250, 269, 440

Wagner, Mr. (Deadwood hotel owner), 138

529

Wahato (Lakota), 271 Waiting (Ogglala scout), 155 Walks Over (Cheyenne), 274 Walker, John Perry, 37, 351, 441 Walker (member of Terry’s staff), 58 Walking Bull (Oglala scout), 155 Walks in the Water (Arapaho scout), 252 Wappeton Sioux Indians, 202 Warbonnet Creek Fight, 23, 23n4 Ward, Edward Wilkerson, 198, 441 Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. (exFort D.A. Russell), 122n1 Washakie (Shoshone), 22, 25, 30, 31. 169, 313, 455, 462, advises Crook, 23, 68; Fort Washakie named for, 34n17 Washington (Arapaho scout), 156, 213, 252, 295 Washington (see Old Crow) Wasson, Joseph, 47, 50, 74, 111, 130, 453, 482, 484n2., 485 Wah-tópΒh Sioux Indians, 203 Water Man (Arapaho scout), 252 Watts, Charles Henry, 39 Weasel Bear (Lakota scout), 252 Weir, William Bayard, 358 Welch, Mr., 312 Wells, Elijah Revillo, 37, 441 Wessells, Henry Walton, Jr., 184, 442 Western (steamer), 343 Wheeler, Homer Webster, 184, 311–12, 321, 332, 335, 341, 442 Wheeler, William A., 164, 165n1, Whipple, Henry Benjamin, 143, 143n16, 453 Whistler, Joseph Nelson Garland, 90, 90n4 White Antelope (Cheyenne), 31 White Breast (Arapaho scout), 252

530

White, Charles or Jonathon (Buffalo Chips), 109, 454, 471, 479. White Bull (Cheyenne), 271 White Crow (see Friday) White, David, 41, 442 White Elk (Oglala scout), 155 White Face (Loafer scout), 155, 252 White Horse (Arapaho scout), 156, 252, 295 White Rabbit (Cheyenne), 274 White Thunder (Brulé), described, 256, 261–62, 463 Wieting, Orlando Luther, 196, 198, 442 Wild Hog (Cheyenne scout), 252 Williams, Robert, 34, 35, 358, 370, 443 Wilson, Robert Phillips., 35, 38, 443 Windolph, Charles, 307 Winne, Charles K, 40, 443 Winters, William Henry, 379 Wister, Owen, 124n6 With Crook in the Black Hills (book), 4. Wolf (Tucson pawnbroker), 380, 381 Wolf Moccasin (Arapaho scout), 252 Wolf Mountain Fight, 497, Indian losses at, 497.

I NDEX Wood, George B., 380, 380n6 Wood, Marshall William, 200, 443 Wooden Leg (Cheyenne), quoted 190–91n13 Woodruff, Charles Albert, 361, 362, 384, 444 Woodruff, Thomas Mayhew, 347, 347n3, 444 Woodson, Albert Emmett, 73, 75, 444 Wyatt, Walter S., 40

Yankton (Loafer scout), 155 Yankton, S.D., 4. Yankton Agency, S.D., 300 Yankton Sioux Indians, 203, 346 Yanktonnais Sioux Indians, 203 Yates, George W., 339n6, 444 Yates, Mrs., 281 Yellow Bear (Arapaho scout), 156 Yellow Bear (Kioxsi scout), 155, 252 Yellow Bear (Oglala warrior), 279 Yellow Shirt (Kioxsi scout), 154 Yellowstone (steamer), 90 Young Man Afraid of His Horses (Oglala scout), 251–52, 463 Zoroastrianism, 28n10 ZuΖi Indians, 206