Campaigning with Crook, and Stories of Army LifeKing, Charles
History
Campaigning with Crook, and Stories of Army Life
King, Charles
Crook, George, 1829-1890; Indians of North America -- Wars -- 1866-1895; United States. Army. Cavalry, 5th
A slight sprinkling of rain comes on at daybreak, and we see the
infantry hurrying off northward through the misty light. We soon follow
down the right bank, the Fifth Cavalry leading the column of horse.
Stanton tells us that a large body of Sioux are not more than four days
ahead--were here in force not four days ago. It is easy to see that we
are on the trail of an immense number of Indians--eight to ten
thousand--but we judge it to be a fortnight old. At 9.15 a cold, driving
rain sets in, and whirls in our faces as we march. At two p.m. we
bivouac again, and begin to growl at this will-o'-the-wisp business. The
night, for August, is bitter cold. Ice forms on the shallow pools close
to shore, and Captain Adam, who commands the guard, declares that the
thermometer was at zero at daybreak. "What thermometer?" is the
question. "Vell, any thermometer as was tam fool enough to get
here--_un'stand_?" is our veteran's characteristic reply, and it puts us
in better humor. Stiff and cold when we march at seven o'clock on the
10th, we have not long to suffer from that cause. A bright sun pours
down in recompense. We march five miles, halt, and graze awhile; then
push on again along a broad, beaten trail over which countless hordes of
ponies must have recently passed. Thick clouds of dust rise high above
the bluffs on either side; the valley opens out wide and rolling east
and west. Here the Indian flight has been so rapid that the work of
destruction is incomplete, and the grass is excellent in many a spot.
"The grandest country in the world for Indian and buffalo now," says
General Carr. "Two years hence it will be the grandest place for
cattle."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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