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.)
We were gone from camp two or three hours, and we only found one Indian,
and he was wounded, but we found a number of dead Indians scattered all
through the timber where the men had shot them down as they ran, or as
they met them in hand-to-hand combat.
After we got back to camp, I asked the Capt. what he was going to do
with those horses.
He said he thought it would be the best plan to stay where we were until
the men were able to travel and then to go back to the settlement and
get our other horses and then pull for Dallas. "For," said he, "I do not
believe that the Indians will make any more raids through this part of
the country until next spring, and they may never come back, for we have
crippled them so that they will shun a place where they have met such
disaster. There has never been a company through here that has had the
success in killing Indians and capturing their horses as we have had
this spring. Just think what we have done, and not one of our men has
been killed."
We remained in this camp two weeks, and everyone had a good time with
the exception of the wounded men, and even they were more cheerful than
one in health could have thought possible.
Game was plentiful and easy to get, and we had all the fresh meat we
wanted, and it was an ideal place to lay around and rest when we were
tired hunting, and there was a plenty of grass for the horses and a cool
spring of water to quench the thirst of man and beast.
After the first week, the wounded men took more or less exercise every
day, and so kept their strength, and it was surprising how fast their
wounds healed.
The day before the one set to start for the settlement, I asked the man
that had the wounded hip if he thought he could ride on horseback. He
answered, "Yes, if I had a gentle horse so I could ride sideways, I
could stand it to ride a half a day without stopping to rest."
I told him that I had a horse that was very gentle and would just suit
his case.
That evening the Capt. and I talked the matter over together. He said he
thought we had better pull out in the morning and travel slowly so as
not to tire the wounded men too much, for the farmers would have sold
their crops by the time we got to Dallas, and we could do as well with
our horses as we could at any time of the year.
In the morning we left the camp that we had grown to almost love, the
Capt. and I taking the lead with the wounded men at our side, and the
other men brought up the rear, driving the horses who had grown fat and
glossy in the weeks of rest.
When we were mounted, the Capt. said to the wounded men, "Now boys, when
you begin to feel tired, say so, and we will stop and camp at once."
I never heard a word of complaint from one of them, and we had ridden
ten miles or so, when we came to a cool stream of water and a plenty of
grass, and the Capt. said, "This is a good place to stop and give our
sick boys a rest."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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