Capt. W. F. Drannan, Chief of Scouts, As Pilot to Emigrant and Government Trains, Across the Plains of the Wild West of Fifty Years AgoDrannan, William F.
History
Capt. W. F. Drannan, Chief of Scouts, As Pilot to Emigrant and Government Trains, Across the Plains of the Wild West of Fifty Years Ago
Drannan, William F.
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.)
Capt. McKee gave me this title in fun that night, but he little thought
that years after that night I would win the right to not only be called
a scout but would have the honor conferred on me of "Capt., Chief of
scouts."
We went to where the horses were feeding, but they were so mixed that we
could not count them. After we had looked at some of them, the Capt.,
said, "I wonder where the Indians stole them. Such fine horses are not
found every where. Perhaps after daylight we may discover some brand
that will show whom they belong to."
We went back to the Indians' camp and saw that the boys had gathered up
all that belonged to them. Each one of them had had a nice blanket and
nearly all of them had butcher knives. The Capt., said, "Now we will get
our horses and stake them out so they can feed, and we will get to our
blankets and try to get a few hours rest, for I am dead tired, and I
reckon the rest of you boys don't feel any better."
It was nearly sunrise when I opened my eyes in the morning, and there
were only a few others stirring, and I was not long in getting something
to eat, for I had not broken my fast since noon the day before. In a
short time all the men were cooking their breakfast and as soon as the
meal was over Capt. McKee asked me what we should do with those horses.
I told him, we could not fight Indians and care for a band of horses at
the same time. We must drive the horses some where and sell them, and I
think we had better go back to Fort Worth, and if we can not dispose of
them there we can take them to Dallas.
The Capt. then called four of the men to us and told them to go out
where the horses were and count them and to be sure and get the right
number. They were gone about an hour, and when they came back they said
there were one hundred and twenty horses out there, and one of the men
said, "Some of those horses are of the finest breed that I ever saw, and
nearly all of them have been broke to the harness, for I could see the
marks where the collars have rubbed the hair off their shoulders, and
I bet those Indians drove those horses hundreds of miles, maybe from
Kansas or Arkansas, and they and the horses being so tired was the
reason that the Indians stopped here to rest."
Capt. McKee and I went back and took another look at the horses, and we
found them to be much better horses than we had thought them to be, but
we could find no brand on them or any thing that would show whom they
belonged to. This convinced us that they had been stolen from farmers.
As the horses showed that they had been driven hard and we thought
a long distance, we decided to stay over one day as the grass was
plentiful and a stream of pure, cool water ran a few feet from where
they were feeding.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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