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 — John Shaqi
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
By the time I got to Croppy I could see the Indians coming, full
tilt, and some of the men had already fired upon them. I got back
to camp as fast as I could get Croppy to go, and when in a few
yards of the camp, I took a rest off of his back and fired, but I
missed my Indian. I reloaded as quickly as possible and laid my
gun on Croppy's back again, for another shot, and just then it
struck me that the reason I missed the first time was because I
didn't take good aim.
Uncle Kit had always taught me that it was not the fastest
shooting in an Indian fight that did the most execution, and that
it was better to fire one shot with good aim than four at random.
When I went to shoot the second time, Uncle Kit was near me, and
he said:
"Take good aim, Willie, before you fire."
I did take good aim and had the satisfaction of seeing the Indian
tumble to the ground. But whether I killed him or some one else
did, I could not say, for an absolute certainty, but I have always
thought he belonged to my list.
The Indians were no match for Col. Fremont's men, being only armed
with bows and arrows, and they beat a hasty retreat, closely
followed for a distance by the soldiers, who, however, did not get
any Indians on the run.
When the men returned to camp, and, as usual, after a scrap with
Indians, were telling how many red-skins they had killed, Uncle
Kit turned to me and asked how many I had got. I said, "one."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Well," I said, "I took a rest off of Croppy's back; with a good
aim, at the crack of my rifle, the Indian came down."
The crowd went with me to where I had seen the Indian fall, and
there he was, as useless for Indian work as Powhattan is.
Col. Fremont then asked the soldiers where were their dead
Indians, and Uncle Kit said:
"I reckon Willie is the only one that got his man. Didn't I tell
you, Colonel, that he could shoot Injuns?"
However, after looking around awhile, he found five more dead
Indians, and, doubtless, more were killed but were carried away by
their companions.
The only harm the Indians did our party was to wound two of
Fremont's men, slightly.
This was the last trouble we had with the Utes on the trip.
The second day from this little brush we struck a village of
Goshoot Indians, and there Uncle Kit bought enough furs to make
out his cargo.
We went into camp here for the night, but Uncle Kit and I did not
sleep much, as we were up very late as we did not expect to meet
again until the next spring, and he had a great deal to tell me
before we parted.
The following morning Johnnie West, Juan and I loaded up and
started for Santa Fe, and Uncle Kit went on to Los Angeles with
Col. Fremont, as guide.
Before I left camp that morning, Col. Fremont, unbeknown to Uncle
Kit, came to me and said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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