After I had taken a lunch, General Terry asked me if I would carry some
dispatches back to General Whistler, and I replied that I would. Captain
Smith, General Terry's aid-de-camp, offered me his horse for the trip, and
it proved to be an excellent animal; for I rode him that same night forty
miles over the bad lands in four hours, and reached General Whistler's
steamboat at one o'clock. During my absence the Indians had made their
appearance on the different hills of the vicinity, and the troops from the
boat had had several skirmishes with them. When General Whistler had
finished reading the dispatches, he said: "Cody, I want to send some
information to General Terry concerning the Indians who have been
skirmishing around here all day. I have been trying all the evening long
to induce some one to carry my dispatches to him, but no one seems willing
to undertake the trip, and I have got to fall back on you. It is asking a
great deal, I know, as you have just ridden eighty miles; but it is a case
of necessity, and if you'll go, Cody, I'll see that you are well paid for
it."
"Never mind about the pay," said I, "but get your dispatches ready and
I'll start at once."
In a few minutes he handed me the package, and, mounting the same horse
which I had ridden from General Terry's camp, I struck out for my
destination. It was two o'clock in the morning when I left the boat, and
at eight o'clock I rode into General Terry's camp, just as he was about to
march, having made one hundred and twenty miles in twenty-two hours.
General Terry, after reading the dispatches, halted his command, and then
rode on and overtook General Crook, with whom he held a council; the
result was that Crook's command moved on in the direction which they had
been pursuing, while Terry's forces marched back to the Yellowstone and
crossed the river on steamboats. At the urgent request of General Terry I
accompanied the command on a scout in the direction of the Dry Fork of the
Missouri, where it was expected we would strike some Indians.
The first march out from the Yellowstone was made in the night, as we
wished to get into the hills without being discovered by the Sioux scouts.
After marching three days a little to the east of north, we reached the
buffalo range and discovered fresh signs of Indians, who had evidently
been killing buffaloes. General Terry now called on me to carry
dispatches to Colonel Rice, who was still encamped at the mouth of
Glendive Creek, on the Yellowstone--distant about eighty miles from us.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account