Little Pills, an Army Story: Being Some Experiences of a United States Army Medical Officer on the Frontier Nearly a Half Century AgoMcKay, R. H. (Robert Henderson)
History
Little Pills, an Army Story: Being Some Experiences of a United States Army Medical Officer on the Frontier Nearly a Half Century Ago
McKay, R. H. (Robert Henderson)
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); United States. Army -- Military life
We arrived at Fort Sill from our camp on Cache creek a day or two after
these occurrences but I got the details of the incident from officers
present and from my wife who remembers them better than I do. Promptly
after the depredations had been committed General Mackenzie of the
Department of Texas with several troops of cavalry got on the trail of
these Indians and had followed it up into the territory and into the
Wichita mountains and from there to Fort Sill and arrived at the post
shortly after our return from camp.
After resting his troops for a few days General Mackenzie was ready for
the march back to Texas with his prisoners. Quite a number of officers
were present to witness their departure. I was standing next to Mr.
Jones, the interpreter, when they were brought out of the guard-house,
all hand-cuffed, and all in the usual blanket attire of the Indians.
When old Satank appeared he set up the most weird and doleful sing-song
wail I ever heard, and his face I thought was not so vicious looking as
usual, but was more solemn and maybe with a trace of sadness in it. I
asked Mr. Jones what it meant, and he replied in an undertone, "It means
he ain't going far."
Satanta and Big Tree were placed in one wagon with guards sitting behind
them and Satank in another wagon with one of the sergeants sitting
beside him and guards behind and when the columns were formed troopers
rode alongside the wagons and in this formation they left the post. When
in the valley south of the post and probably a couple of miles away we
heard the report of firearms from that direction. Soon a messenger
arrived with the compliments of General Mackenzie and requested that an
ambulance be sent for a trooper who had been wounded. He also gave the
essential particulars of what occurred. It seems that by some means
unknown, Satank had a knife hidden about his person somewhere and
although hand-cuffed had got possession of it and stabbed the sergeant
sitting next to him and then grabbed the sergeant's gun and shot the
teamster. The sergeant's wound was only slight and he went forward with
the command, but the teamster was shot through one side of the neck and
fell from his saddle and was brought back to the post hospital for
treatment. It proved to be only a deep flesh wound and he was soon
discharged from the hospital, and returned to his own command. When the
guards realized the state of affairs they made short work of it, and
Satank was laid by the roadside and General Grierson sent a squad of
soldiers and buried him there in his blankets. It was his death song
that had so impressed me as they brought him from the guard-house.
Satanta and Big Tree were tried and convicted in Texas and sentenced to
the penitentiary for life. It was reported in the papers some years
afterwards that Satanta jumped out of a window at the prison and killed
himself and it was rumored that Big Tree had hung himself, but so far as
I know this was not confirmed.
CHAPTER VII.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account