USA > Wyoming > The history of Wyoming from the earliest known discoveries > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
517
Report of the Powder River Expedition.
jor was very confident that he could see columns of smoke, which, of course, indicated an Indian village. The General made another examination and again asserted that there were no columns of smoke. However, to satisfy my curi- osity, and to give our guides no chance to claim that they had shown us an Indian village and we would not attack it, he suggested to Captain Frank North, who was riding with the staff, that he go with seven of his Indians in the direc- tion indicated, to reconnoitre and to report to us on Peno. Creek or Tongue River, down which we were to march. I galloped on and overtook the Major, and as I came up to him over heard him remark about 'these damn paper col- lar soldiers' telling him there were uo columns of smoke. The old man was very indignant at our doubting his ability to out-see us. with the aid of field glasses even. The joke. was too good to keep, and I had to report it to the General. In fact, I don't believe the Major saw any columns of smoke, although it afterwards transpired that there was an Indian village in the immediate locality designated. Bridger understood well enough that that was a favorable. locality for Indians to camp, and that at most anytime there could be found a village there. Hence his declaration that he saw columns of smoke. Our march dawn Peno Creek was uneventful, the road being very good, much better than we had before found. Our camp that night was in a valley of the Peno Creek, not far from Tongue River, sixteen miles from Big Piney.
"27th and 28th. Traveled down Peno Creek and Tongue River; country near the river, very barren-no grass. After camping, four of the Omaha scouts went but a short distance from the camp and met a grizzly, which they very imprudently fired upon. The grizzly, closed upon them, killing one of the scouts and fearfully mangling two others before a relief party of the same company could drive away the bear. Just after sunset of this day, two of the Pawnees- who went out with Captain North toward Bridger's columns of smoke two days previous, came into camp with the in- formation that Captain North had discovered an Indian village. The General immediately called me to his tent and instructed me to take command of the camp, keeping the wagons in the corral, protect the stock and hold the. position until he should return-that he was going out to fight the Indians. I had never been baptized with Indian blood, had never taken a scalp, and now to see the glorious opportunity pass was too much. So, with tears in my eyes,
518
History of Wyoming.
I begged of the General to allow Lieutenant Brewer, of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry, whom I knew had just reported to me as very sick, to remain with the train and that I be al- lowed to accompany him in the glorious work of annihil- ating the savages. The General granted my request. The men were hurried to eat their supper, just then being pre- pared, and at 8 o'clock p. m. we left camp with two hundred and fifty white men and eighty Indian scouts as the full attacking force. From our calculation as to distance, we expected to strike the village at daylight on the morning of the 29th. Our line of march lay up the valley of the Tongue River, and after we had passed the point where our wagons had struck the stream, we found no road, but much underbrush and fallen timber; and as the night was quite dark, our march was greatly impeded, so that at day- light we were not within many miles of the Indian village. The General was much disappointed at this delay, which compelled us to keep closely under cover, and in many in- stances to march along the water's edge under the river bank in single file, to keep out of sight of the Indians. I had worked myself to the extreme advance, and like, possibly, many others in the command, had begun to think that there was no Indian village near us, and that we would have no Indians to fight. Arriving at this conclusion, I had become somewhat reckless, and had determined that Captain North, who had joined our command soon after we left camp, should not reach the Indian village in advance of myself. 'As we rode along close together conversing, I managed to forge in ahead of him just as we dropped down into a deep ravine; the bank on the side just beyond the stream was much higher than the bank from which we came, and the trail led up this steep bank. As I rode up the bank and came to the top, my eyes beheld a sight as unexpected to me as a peep into shoel. Just before me lay a large mesa, or table land all covered with Indian ponies, except a por- tion about one-half mile to the left, which was thickly dotted with Indian tepees full of Indians. Without a mo- ment's hesitation, I grasped the bits of my horse with my right hand, and his nostrils with my left, to prevent him from whinnying, threw myself from the saddle, dragging the horse down the bank against Captain North's horse, and whispered to him that we had found the village. Cap- tain North held my horse while I ran back motioning the men to keep still. In fact, the General had issued orders when we left camp, that no man should speak above a whis-
519
Report of the Powder River Expedition.
per and that when the horses attempted to whinny, they should be jerked up with a tight rein. During the last one- half hour of our march, several men had become somewhat careless, and were not as cautious as they had been during the night. I soon met the General, who was close to the advance, and told him of my discovery. The word was passed back for the men to close up and to follow the Gen- eral, and not to fire a shot until he fired in advance. Gen. eral Connor then took the lead; rode his horse up the steep bank of the ravine and dashed out across the mesa as if there were no Indians just to the left; every man followed as closely as possible. At the first sight of the General, the ponies covering the table land in front of us set up a tre- mendous whinnying and galloped down toward the Indian village. More than a thousand dogs commenced barking, and more than seven hundred Indians made the hills ring with their fearful yelling. It appeared that the Indians were in the act of breaking camp. The most of their tepees were down and packed for the march. The ponies, more than three thousand, had been gathered in, and most of the war- riors had secured their horses; probably half of the squaws and children were mounted, and some had taken up the line of march up the stream for a new camp. They were Arapa- hoes under Black Bear and Old David, with several other chiefs not so prominent. The General watched the move- ments of his men until he saw the last man emerge into line. The whole line then fired a volley from their carbines into the village without halting their horses, and the bugles sounded the charge. Without the sound of the bugle tliere would have been no halt by the men in that column; not a man but realized that to charge into the Indian village with- out a moments hesitancy was our only salvation. We al- ready saw that we were greatly outnumbered, and that only desperate fighting would save our scalps. I felt for a moment that my place was with the train; that really I was a consummate fool for urging the General to allow me to accompany him. I was reminded that I had lost no In- dians, and that scalping Indians was unmanly, besides be- ing brutal, and for my part I did not want any dirty scalps; yet, I had no time to halt; I could not do it-my horse car- ried me forward almost against my will, and in those few moments- less than it takes to tell the story- I was in the village in the midst of a hand to hand fight with warriors and their squaws, for many of the female portion of this band did as brave fighting as their savage lords. Unfor-
520
History of Wyoming.
tunately for the women and children, our men had no time to direct their aim; bullets from both sides and murderous arrows filled the air; squaws and children, as well as war- riors, fell among the dead and wounded. The scene was indescribable. There was not much of the military in our movements; each man seemed an army by himself. Stand- ing near the 'sweat house,' I emptied my revolver into the carcasses of three warriors. One of John Morgan's men, a fine looking soldier with as handsome a face as I ever saw on a man, grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me about that I might assist him in withdrawing an arrow from his mouth. The point of the arrow had passed through his open mouth and lodged in the root of his tongue. Having no surgeon with us of a higher rank than a hospital steward, it was afterwards, within a half hour, decided that to get the ar- row out of his mouth the tongue must be, and was, cut out. The poor fellow returned to camp with us, and at this late date I am unable to say whether he lived or died. Another man, a sergeant in the Signal Corps, by the name of Charles M. Latham, was shot in the heel. He had been through the entire war in the Army of the Potomac, and wore a medal for his bravery; had passed through many battles and es- caped unharmed. This shot in the heel caused his death; he died a few days afterward with lock-jaw. The Indians made a brave stand trying to save their families, and suc- ceeded in getting away with a large majority of their women and children, leaving behind them nearly all of their plun- der. They fled up a stream now called Wolf Creek, General Connor in close pursuit. Soon after we left the village Gen- eral Connor advised me to instruct Captain North to take his Indians and get all the stock he could possibly gather. This was done, and with a few stragglers I followed a small band of Indians up the main Tongue River about three miles, until they gathered recruits enough to turn upon us and force us back. General Connor pursued the fleeing savages fully ten miles from camp, when he found himself accom- panied by only fourteen men; our horses had all become so fatigued and worn out that it was impossible to keep up. The General halted his small squad and attempted to take the names of his brave comrades, when the Indians, notic- ing the paucity of his numbers, immediately turned upon him and made a desperate effort to surround him and his small squad of soldiers. They fell back as rapidly as pos- sible, contesting every inch, reinforced every few moments by some stragglers who had endeavored to keep up. With
521
Report of the Powder River Expedition.
this help they managed to return to camp, where Captain North nad myself had succeeded in corraling about eleven hundred head of ponies. One piece of artillery had become disabled. The axletree of the gun carriage, a mountain howitzer was broken. We left the wheels and broken axle near the river and saved the cannon. The command ren- dezvoused in the village and the men were set to work de- stroying Indian property. Scores of buffalo robes, blankets and furs were heaped up on lodge poles, with tepee covers and dried buffalo meat piled on top, and burned. On one of these piles we placed our dead and burned their bodies to keep the Indians from mutilating them. During our halt the Indians pressed up close to the camp, made several desperate attempts to recover their stock,when the moun- tain howitzer, under the skillful management of Nick O'Brien, prevented them from completing their aims. Our attack upon the village commenced at 9 o'clock a. m. The rendezvous in the village was about half past twelve; we remained there until half past two; in the intervening time we destroyed an immense amount of property-fully two hundred and fifty Indian lodges and contents. At half past two we took up the line of march for the train. Captain North, with his eighty Indians, undertook to drive the stock; they were soon far ahead, while the rest of the force was employed in beating back Indians. The Indians pressed us on every side, sometimes charging up to within fifty feet of our rear guard. They seemed to have plenty of ammuni- tion, but did most of their fighting with arrows, although there were some of them armed with muskets with which they could send lead in dangerous proximity to our men. Before dark we were reduced to forty men who had any ammunition, and these only a few rounds apiece. The In- dians showed no signs of stopping the fight, but kept on pressing us, charging upon us, dashing away at the stock, keeping us constantly on the move, until fifteen minutes of twelve o'clock, when the last shot was fired by our pur- suers. At this time I had gone ahead to communicate an order from General Connor to Captain North relative to handling the stock. Having just completed my work, I halted by the side of the trail and waited for the General, who was with the rear guard. I remember, as I was get- ting from my horse, I heard the last shot fired some two or three miles in the rear. After I had dismounted I realized that I was fearfully tired, so tired that I could not stand up. I sat upon the ground, and in a moment, in spite of myself,
322
History of Wyoming.
was in a sound sleep, and was only awakened by being dragged by my horse, which was an Indian pony that I had saddled from the captured stock. Nearly all our men had remounted themselves while we were rendezvousing in the Indian village, otherwise we would not have been able to keep out of the way of the pursuing Indians. My lariat was wrapped around my right arm, and with this the pony was dragging me across the prickly pears when I awakened. Realizing that I was on dangerous ground, I quickly mounted my pony and listened for the least sound to indi- cate whether the General had come up or not. There was no noise-not a sound to be heard, the night was intensely dark, and myself so bewildered that I scarcely knew which way to go. Again jumping from my horse, I felt with my hands until I found the trail and discovered that the foot- prints of the horses went in a certain direction. Taking that as my course, I rode away as rapidly as possible, and after three miles hard riding overtook the General and his rear guard, who had passed me while asleep. All congrat- ulated me on my rather narrow escape. We arrived at camp at daylight, after marching fully one hundred and ten miles without any rest or refreshments, except the jerked buffalo that the boys had filled their pockets with in the Indian village. The incidents of this fight would make interesting reading. Many acts of personal bravery cannot be recorded. Suffice it to say that every man was a general. Not a com- mand was given by the General after the first order to charge-not a man in the command but realized that his life was in the balance. We must either whip the Indi- ans, and whip them badly, or be whipped ourselves. We could see that the Indians greatly outnumbered us; that our main dependence was upon our superior equipments; we were better armed than they. As for fighting qualities, the savages proved themselves as brave as any of our men. The fight commenced at nine o'clock, was offensive until about 11 a. m., when the General was driven back into camp with his small squad of men; from that time until midnight we fought on the defensive. Yet we had accom- plished a grand victory. Two hundred and fifty lodges had been burned with the entire winter supply of the Arapahoe band. The son of the principal chief (Black Bear) was killed, sixty-three warriors were slain, and about eleven hundred head of ponies captured. While we were in the village de- stroying the plunder, most of our men were busy remount- ing. Our own tired stock was turned into the herd and the
Report of the Powder River Expedition. 523
Indian ponies were lassoed and mounted; this maneuver afforded the boys no little fun, as in nearly every instance the rider was thrown or else badly shook up by the bucking ponies. The ponies appeared to be as afraid of the white men as our horses were afraid of the savages. If it had not been for Captain North, with his Indians, it would have been impossible for us to take away the captured stock, as they were constantly breaking away from us, trying to re- turn toward the Indians, who were as constantly dashing toward the herd in the vain hope of recapturing their stock. "Many exciting scenes were witnessed upon the field of battle. During the chase up Wolf Creek with the Gen- eral one of North's braves picked up a little Indian boy that had been dropped by the wayside. The little fellow was crying, but when picked up by the soldier Indian fought like a wild-cat. One of our men asked the Indian what he was going to do with the papoose. He said, 'Don't know; kill him, mebby.' He was told to put him down and not to injure the bright little fellow. The Indian obeyed, and at least one papoose owed his life to a kind hearted soldier. Several of our men were wounded, some of them quite se- verely. Three or four afterwards died of their wounds. Two of our soldiers, white men, I forget their names, were found among the dead, and three or four of North's Indians were killed.
"Lieutenant Oscar Jewett, the General's aid-de-camp, the General's bugler and an orderly were among the wounded. Lieutenant Jewett was shot through the thigh and through the hand, and yet was compelled to ride over forty miles after receiving his wounds. We were absent from camp thirty-three hours; had marched, as before stated, one hundred and ten miles; during that time we had had nothing to eat, except a few hard tack and some jerked buffalo meat. If there is a better record to the credit of the volunteer cavalry soldier, I am not aware of the fact. We brought back to camp with us eight squaws and thir- teen Indian children, who were turned loose a day or two afterward.
"30th and 31st. We marched twenty-two miles down Tongue River. September 1st, early in the morning, a can- non shot was heard. No two persons could agree in what direction the sound came from, but as this was the day fixed for the general rendezvous of Cole and Connor's com- mand near the mouth of the Rosebud, some eighty miles away, it was supposed that the sound came from that direc-
Y
524
History of Wyoming.
tion. General Connor directed Captain North, with about twenty of his Indians, and Captain Marshall, with thirty men of the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, to push on rapidly to the rendezvous to communicate with Cole. Marched fifteen miles September 1st. On the next day did not leave camp until 1 o'clock p. m. Marched down the river eight miles; valley has narrowed up very much, the country appears rough and irregular. Last night several 'medicine wolves' were heard to howl about camp. Ever since we left Fort Laramie our camp has been surrounded with thousands of wolves, who have made the night hideous with their in- fernal howling; but not until tonight have we heard the 'medicine wolf,' which old Bridger claims to be a superna- tural sort of an animal, whose howling is sure to bring trouble to camp. Bridger, Nick, Janise and Rulo, being very superstitious, were so frightened at this peculiar howl- ing, that they took up their blankets and struck out for a new camp, which, according to their theory, was the only way of escaping from the impending danger; they went down the river about half a mile and camped in the timber by themselves.
"3rd. Has been cold, dreary day, raining most of the time some snow. The weather very disagreeable for a mounted man who had to march sixteen miles in the snow and rain.
"4th. Weather not quite so cold as yesterday- not so disagreeable; country very rough; scarcely any grass, not a spear was seen for miles on the march. Passed down Tongue River; was compelled to cross the stream dozens of times. A messenger from Colonel Sawyers' train of road builders came into camp tonight with the news that his train was attacked by the Indians, supposed to be the same ones that we had fought; that Captain Cole of the Sixth Michigan and two of his men were killed; that the train was parked and the men doing their best to defend them- selves. From him we learned that Colonel Sawyers with about twenty-five wagons and one hundred men were en- route from Sioux City to Bozeman, by way of the Big Horn, or 'Bozeman route;' that they had passed over the country by way of the Niobrara, North Fork of Cheyenne, between Pumpkin and Bear Buttes, intersecting with our trail near Fort Connor; that Colonel Kidd, whom we had left in com- mand at Fort Connor, had sent Captain Cole with twenty men as an additional escort for the train, to help them through the Arapahoe country. Captain Brown, with two
525
Report of the Powder River Expedition.
companies of California troops, were hastily detached from our command and marched west about forty miles to relieve the train. When they reached it they found that the Indi- ans had given up the attack, and on the next day the train pushed on, Captain Brown accompanying them. Our com- mand continued their march fifteen miles down the river.
"5th. Lay in camp all day waiting for some word from Captain Marshall. The General is very anxious to get some news from the column under the command of Colonel Cole. Captain Marshall's guide returned from the Rosbud to- night with no news from Cole's command. Captain Mar- shall reached camp with his men soon after, having been to the rendezvous and finding no evidence of our support- ing column there.
"6th. The command about-faced today, and marched back up the river fifteen miles to find better grass for the stock. A scouting party under Captain North having re- turned from the mouth of Tongue River on the Yellowstone, and reported no grass and no signs of Cole's command. On the 7th marched up the river fourteen miles; found good grass and camped. The next day Captain Frank North, with twenty of the Pawnee scouts, left for Powder River this morning. Captain Humphreyville and a part of his company were ordered to the Rosebud; small scouting par- ties were sent in every direction to obtain, if possible, some news of Cole's command. No signs of Indians. Weather very cold and disagreeable.
"11th. Moved camp one mile up the river to better grass. Captain Humphreyville returned from Rosebud to- day, reporting no signs of Cole's command. Captain North also returned from Powder River, and reports that he found from five to six hundred dead cavalry horses, undoubtedly belonging to Cole's command, most of them were found shot at the picket line. From that it appears that Cole has been hard pressed by the Indians, and has been compelled to dismount his men and shoot his horses, the savages giving them no chance to forage. A large number of saddles and other property had been burned. His trail was well marked and showed that he has pushed up the river in an opposite direction from the course which he had been ordered to take. This startling news gave evidence that we were near- ing the end of our expedition, which we feared must end disastrously. As acting commissary of subsistence, as well as Quartermaster, I realized that Cole's command must be out of provisions; that they had provisions until only the
526
History of Wyoming.
3d or 4th of September, when they were supposed to meet our train. That by this time, September 11th, they must be either out of provisions, or that they had been living on half rations for some time previous. The situation was in- deed a critical one. Here a superior force had been attacked by the Indians at a point only fifty miles east of us, and had been driven from their line of march to take another route, and had been so hard pressed by the savages that they were compelled to shoot their horses to save them from falling into the hands of the enemy, and to enable the men to do better fighting on foot. Our fighting force was only about four hundred men, counting sixty men with Captain Brown, who was then one hundred miles away; theirs sixteen hun- dred, four times our number. What would be our fate should these Indians return from the pursuit of Cole, and cross over from the Powder River to Tongue River, and con- centrate with the Arapahoes in an attack upon us? We knew, or at least Captain North and his Indians knew, that the Indians who were pressing Cole were Sioux and Chey- ennes, and that they numbered thousands; according to the very best estimate, five or six thousand Indians. Nearly all the men realized that we must be prepared to do some very good fighting; that our only chance of escape from the country depended upon cautious movements as well as good luck.
"Early on the morning of September 12th, we took up our line of march for Fort Connor. By doubling teams, as many as thirty span of mules hitched to several wagons, we managed to drag our loads across the river, and by hard work made twenty miles today. Ran across two very large herds of elk that had been driven into the timber by the storm. This morning early, General Conner dispatched C. L. Thomas, late Sergeant Company E, Eleventh Ohio Cav- alry, who volunteered to go with five Pawnee Indians at the risk of his life, and join Cole's command with dispatches from the General, directing Cole to push on up Powder River to Fort Conner, where he would find supplies for his men, a fact unknown to Colonel Cole. This move was an important one, and the scouts were instructed to travel only by night and to run the gauntlet at all hazards, other- wise Cole and his men might perish within close proximity to the fort where there was an abundance of supplies, food and ammunition. This party made the trip safely; trav- eling only by night they managed to reach Cole's camp and to communicate with him, which to his starving troops was
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.