Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far WestDrannan, William F.
History
Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains: An Authentic Record of a Life Time of Hunting, Trapping, Scouting and Indian Fighting in the Far West
Drannan, William F.
Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Indians of North America -- Wars
We counted the horses of the Indians as best we could by
moonlight, and made out eighty head of them. We could not make out
just the number of Indians, but estimated them at seventy-five,
After ascertaining as near as we could the lay of the ground and
the general situation, we returned to our horses, and all started
in the direction that we expected the command to come from. After
we had ridden about a half mile I stopped, and George Jones
started on with the other scouts to meet the command. After riding
five miles they met Lieut. Jackson coming with two companies of
cavalry and the entire scout force; and long before I expected
them Black Bess told me by her actions that they were coming.
The Lieutenant formed his men in a triangle on the ridge, his
object being to pocket the Indians; in other words, to bunch them
up or prevent them from scattering. While he was forming his men
and giving instructions, I told my men where the horses were and
that we must get to them about the time the cavalry made the
attack on the Indians. I told them that no doubt the horses would
have ropes on them and the first one that I come to I would take
him and lead the way. "And when you hear the first shot, all raise
the yell, for by doing that we will be able to make the stampede,
and if nothing goes wrong we will keep the stock going until we
reach headquarters." When I got to the horses about the first one
I stumbled onto was a white one, with a long hair rope on; I
caught him and led the way, and he made a good leader for the
others to follow.
We got to the horses a few moments before the soldiers got to the
Indian camp, and at the first shot we all raised the yell, and as
I led the white pony away all followed, and we did not halt until
we were five or six miles off. Here we came to a small stream that
meandered through a little valley. There we stopped awhile to let
our horses drink and rest, and while there we counted our horses
and found that we had seventy-eight.
We reached camp about six o'clock the next morning, but the
soldiers did not get in until noon. When the fight was over the
Lieutenant put out a strong picket guard and remained there until
morning in order to catch the Apaches that might be secreted in
the sage-brush.
When daylight came he succeed in jumping up eleven, which he
considered ample pay for staying there a few hours. In this fight
sixty-six Indians were killed, besides we got all their horses,
blankets, ropes and such other articles as they had.
We did but little in the way of scouting for the next few days.
Lieut. Jackson said that we had made a good beginning and we did
not want to do much before Gen. Crook came. "For," said he, "we
will have all the fighting we want when the General gets here."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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