THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 BY 
 
 THEODORE BAUGHMAN* 
 
 CHICAGO 
 W. B. CONKEY COMPANY 
 
Bancroft Library 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 O I. How I Became a Soldier 9 
 
 II. The Battle of Resaca 10 
 
 0) III. The Battle of New Hope Church 27 
 
 IV. Battle of Lost Mountain, or Gilgal 
 
 Church 35 
 
 V. Battle of Gulp's Farm 41 
 
 ID VI. Personal Reminiscences 46 
 
 < VII. Battle of Peach Tree Creek 53 
 
 VIII. Surrender of Atlanta 64 
 
 j IX. March to the Sea 78 
 
 Q X. Anecdotes of the "War 85 
 
 Q XI. Farewell Addresses 97 
 
 XII. After the War Off for Kansas 104 
 
 Xin. At Delphos, on the Banks of the Solo- 
 mon River 110 
 
 XIV. Skirmish with Indians 118 
 
 XV. Trip to Arizona 135 
 
 XVI. The Trail from Wichita to Cantonment 139 
 
 XVII. Driving Wild Horses 145 
 
 XVIII. D. W. Lipe, Treasurer of the Cherokee 
 
 Nation 150 
 
 XIX. Trip to Tuscosa How a Kansas Brag- 
 
 ger Was Sold 152 
 
 XX. Sketch of Caldwell 159 
 
 XXI. Southern and Western Cattle Trade 165 
 
 XXH. My Experience as Government Scout... 173 
 
 XXIII. General Hatch and His Staff Officers. . . 183 
 
 XXIV. Lieutenant Charles Taylor 186 
 
 XXV. Trip to Fort Riley 188 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE. 
 
 XXVI. Further Wanderings 191 
 
 XXVII. General Hatch's Camp 201 
 
 XXVIII. Indian Graves 204 
 
 XXIX. Hunting Memories 206 
 
 XXX. Other Scouts. . . 210 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 HOW I BECAME A SOLDIER. 
 
 This book will be principally concerned 
 with the events connected with my twenty 
 years' experience as a scout and frontiers- 
 man for the United States army in the West. 
 But that the reader may have a better under- 
 standing of the motives and causes which 
 led me to adopt a career of such adventur- 
 ous hardship a brief sketch of my previous 
 life will be necessary. 
 
 I was born in Attica, Seneca county, 
 Ohio, on the 30th of July, in the year 1845. 
 There were nine children of us, I being 
 next to the oldest. My father was a me- 
 chanic. He moved to Branch county, Mich- 
 igan, about the year 1858, where we were 
 living when the rebellion broke out. 
 
 I will not dwell upon my boyhood, which 
 in its details did not materially differ from 
 9 
 
10 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 that of thousands of other hard-working far- 
 mer lads. I always had a longing after an 
 adventurous life. The humdrum experiences 
 of the farm didn't at all suit my notions. 
 I did plenty of hard work, to be sure, but it 
 went against the grain, and I spent as much 
 time as I could get in hunting and fishing or 
 roaming over all the surrounding country. 
 
 Nor was I much fonder of the school- 
 house than of the farm. I was not the 
 teacher's pet by any means. Memory fails 
 me in any attempt to enumerate the thrash- 
 ings I got for the various oifenses of a gen- 
 uine " bad boy." I was not often without a 
 black eye, and generally two or more of my 
 fingers were tied up in rags, little reminders 
 of fights with other boys. 
 
 This sketch indicates my course of life up 
 to the commencement of the rebellion in 
 1861, at which time I was a stout, well-grown 
 boy of sixteen. But I did not count myself 
 a boy then, but felt anxious to be a soldier 
 along with the rest of the men. Early in the 
 year 1862 my elder brother John and I went 
 to Coldwater to enlist in company of the 
 19th regiment of Michigan infantry, the 
 rendezvous of the regiment being at Dbwa- 
 giac. To my chagrin they refused to muster 
 me in on any account of my age, and most 
 
HOW I BECAME A SOLDIER. 11 
 
 reluctantly I was compelled to return home 
 and resume work on the farm. The regi- 
 ment my brother was in, the 19th Michigan, 
 had in the meantime been captured at Spring 
 Hill, or Thompson's Station, near Nashville, 
 Tenn., and after having gone through the 
 terrible ordeal of Libby prison had been ex- 
 changed and was stationed at McMinnville, 
 Tenn., in August, 1863, when I again enlist- 
 ed in the regiment and was this time accept- 
 ed and was assigned to company A, my 
 brother John being in company C. I enlist- 
 ed at Coldwater. In two days I was at 
 Detroit, very much elated to find myself 
 dressed up in soldier's clothes 
 
 There were twelve recruits of us. "We re- 
 mained in Detroit two weeks. It was hay- 
 ing time when I enlisted, and the feeling 
 uppermost in my mind was the pleasure of 
 having got rid of taking care of that hay. 
 "Well, there came times in my after life 
 when I would gladly have given all I pos- 
 sessed to be back in that hay-field ! The 
 officer who recruited me promised me a 
 furlough of ten days, which, however I 
 never got. At Jeffersonville, Indiana, our 
 squad was put in charge of some deserters 
 and bounty-jumpers who were being escort- 
 ed back to their respective commands. 
 
12 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 tween Jeffersonville and Louisville one of 
 these patriots managed to get his hands free 
 of his hand-cuffs, and jumped out of the car 
 window while the train was at full speed and 
 made his escape. The officer in charge said 
 to me: 
 
 "Didn't you see him ?" 
 
 " Yes, I said. 
 
 " Well, why didn't you stop him ? " 
 
 " O," I answered, " I wanted to see if the 
 fellow would jump." 
 
 This shows how green I was, and how lit- 
 tle I knew of the strictness of military dis- 
 cipline. It is needless to add I learned bet- 
 ter afterward. The officer took the matter 
 good-naturedly, but said : 
 
 " This may have been funny to you, but it 
 won't make my number of prisoners good 
 when we get to Louisville." 
 
 At Louisville I remember spending fifty 
 cents in fractional currency (they were nof 
 introducing laws to abolish silver in those 
 days, for it had abolished itself) for a couple 
 of cylinder escapement pies, that is, pies 
 whose contents, if they ever had any, had 
 escaped like my fellow out of the car window. 
 
 I next found myself quartered in the 
 Zollicoffer House at Nashville, Tennessee, 
 where I saw my first dead soldier. He had 
 
HOW I BECAME A SOLDIER. 13 
 
 not fallen amid the crash of contending 
 columns, but had quite as effectually fallen 
 down stairs and broken his neck. I got per- 
 mission to to the theater and went. We 
 turned our band of bounty-jumpers over to 
 the provost marshal at Nashville, and were 
 glad to be rid of them. The third day after 
 our arrival we took the cars for Stevenson, 
 Alabama, as escorts for some two hundred 
 soldiers who were being returned to their 
 commands. Stevenson at this time was a 
 small village, but beautifully situated at the 
 base of the Cumberland mountain range, 
 with a magnificent country stretching away 
 to the southward. There was a large con- 
 valescent camp here at the time of our ar- 
 rival, a town of canvas covering forty acres. 
 This was vacated next day, and eight of us 
 were detailed to guard the camp and the 
 railroad siding. "We had something of a royal 
 time the few days we were there, and took 
 many a sly peep into the well-filled cars of 
 sutler's stores that were passing through. 
 But I was anxious to join our regiment, 
 which lay at McMinnville, in order to see my 
 brother. We went from Stevenson to Mur- 
 freesborough on the cars. 
 
 We remained at this place about a week, 
 and were quartered in a brick house which 
 
14 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 contained about as many rats as it did bricks. 
 Pete Stewart, one of our squad, was a good 
 soldier and a good enough fellow, but liable 
 to be cross, especially when the whisky 
 gave out, as it had on this occasion. Pete 
 was a great hand to take care of his clothes. 
 He had had nice boots made to commence 
 soldering in. One night while in the afore- 
 said brick house Pete thoroughly greased 
 these boots and placed them beside his 
 bunk. During the night the hungry rats 
 ate big holes in both of them. When Pete 
 saw his mutilated foot covers in the morn- 
 ing the atmosphere was blue thereabout 
 with profanity, and he vowed vengeance. 
 He shot one rat and was looking for the 
 others when the patrol guard came and 
 marched Pete to the guard-house for firing 
 his pistol. I haven't seen Pete for twenty 
 years, and don't know where he is, but I 
 never think of that incident without laughing. 
 We marched afoot from Murfreesborough 
 to McMinnville, where we joined the 19th 
 Michigan, and were assigned to our re- 
 spective companies. I found my brother 
 well and glad to see me. But he said, 
 "Theo, what in the world did you enlist 
 for ?" I told him I wanted to see this thing 
 through. He said, " You'll get enough of 
 
HOW I BECAME A SOLDIER. 15 
 
 soldering if you live." We spent the win- 
 ter of * 1863-64 at McMinnville. Most of 
 that time our regiment was kept busy build- 
 ing fortifications. The monotony of this 
 work was varied by foraging expeditions 
 through the surrounding country, and a 
 portion of us were engaged in collecting 
 taxes for the state. Captain Frank Bald- 
 win, now quartermaster on staff in Washing- 
 ton Territory, was our leader on the foraging 
 expeditions. On one occasion we came 
 across eight of the soldiers of the 22d "Wis- 
 consin, lying piled up by the >side of the 
 road ; with a placard on one of them which 
 read : " Fate of those who follow Baldwin." 
 This did not stop our foraging, but kept us 
 all the time on a sharp lookout. 
 
 In the spring of 1864 our regiment was 
 assigned to the 20th corps, commanded by 
 " Fighting Joe Hooker," 2d brigade, 3d divi- 
 sionj and was ordered to Corin Station, on the 
 Chattanooga & Nashville Eailroad. Just at 
 this juncture I began to realize the stern re- 
 alities of war, and my mind turned some- 
 what longingly to that old hay-field back in 
 Michigan. We had a great deal of hard 
 marching to do over the Cumberland moun- 
 tains. Although we are required to leave at 
 Corin Station every unnecessary article, in- 
 
16 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 eluding on my part a new suit of citizen's 
 clothes and winter blankets, we still found it 
 a "hard road to travel," and fervently 
 wished we might catch up with the enemy 
 just to get a rest. We were marching for 
 Chattanooga, where the army was being 
 concentrated. By this time I had become 
 an expert forager. I recall one day while we 
 were toiling through the mountains, that, 
 being thirsty, I dropped out of the ranks to 
 hunt a spring, which I was fortunate enough 
 to find, and with it a spring house. I returned 
 to the column with my canteen filled with 
 sparkling water, a nice roll of butter in my 
 haversack, and a ham swung on my gun. 
 That night brother John and I had a royal 
 least. Much of the scenery through this 
 country is the most magnificent the eye ever 
 beheld. Mountains towered up in terrible 
 grandeur on every side, while lying between 
 them were valleys as delightful as any poets 
 have ever sung. It frequently made my heart 
 sad to see so fair a country laid desolate by the 
 unrelenting storms of war, but the southern 
 people would have it so. "We went out to save 
 the Union, and were bound to do it, no mat- 
 ter who suffered. We all had confidence in 
 "Old Billy," and he learned that "subsisting 
 off the enemy " was a military necessity. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF KESACA. 
 
 The scene as we approached Chattanooga 
 is still fresh in my mind. Sherman's army 
 was encamped on a hillside sloping toward 
 Lookout Mountain, where the old 20th corps 
 under Hooker had fought the memorable 
 battle above the clouds. 
 
 These were stirring scenes, certainly ! The 
 life and motion of a great army cannot be 
 realized by one who has not witnessed them. 
 Regiments and brigades are being moved 
 hither and thither to take their respective 
 places in corps and divisions. General offi- 
 cers are on their steeds, each face wearing 
 the look that betokened the stern resolve of 
 actual war ; gaily dressed orderlies and aids- 
 de-camp are riding furiously from one part 
 of the army to another. The vast supply 
 trains are being loaded or unloaded; bat- 
 teries are going through the artillery drill, 
 and there are a hundred other features that 
 go to make up a bustle that never loses its 
 interest even to an old veteran. 
 
 Gen. George W. Butterfield was our divis- 
 17 
 
18 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 ion commander ; Col. John A. Coburn com- 
 manded the brigade, with Col. H. C. Gilbert 
 in command of our regiment. 
 
 The 20th corps was stationed on the right 
 center, and our portion of it happened to 
 occupy that post which when the advance 
 was made led us straight on to Buzzard 
 Boost. 
 
 The following report of Col. Coburn, then 
 commanding our brigade the 2d gives so 
 graphic a description of the operations of 
 our regiment and the balance of the brigade 
 from the 8th to the 21st of May, 1864, in- 
 cluding the hard-fought battle of Besaca, 
 that I will insert it in full : 
 
 HEADQUARTERS 2n BRIG., 3D. Div., SOrn ARMY CORPS, 
 
 CAMP NEAR CASSVILLE, GA., MAT 22, 1864. 
 CAPTAIN JOHN SPEED, A. A. G. 3d Div., 
 
 20th A. C.: 
 
 Captain, I have the honor to report the 
 following operations of the 2d brigade, 3d 
 division, 20th army corps, from the 8th to 
 the 21st day of May, 1864. On the 9th 
 day of May the brigade was encamped in 
 Dogwood valley. Two regiments, the 19th 
 Michigan and the 20th Connecticut, were 
 ordered to march and occupy Boyd's trail 
 over John's Mountain, south of Buzzard 
 Boost. This was done after a slight skir- 
 
THE BATTLE OF RESA0A. 19 
 
 mish, with, the loss of one sergeant of the 
 19th Michigan mortally wounded. Three 
 regiments remained there on the 10th, the 
 remainder of the brigade still in their former 
 camp. On the llth the brigade moved with 
 the division to Snake Creek Gap, some seven- 
 teen miles, and went ; into camp near the 
 southern end, and at once began work on 
 the road making a double track for wagons 
 and a byway for troops. On the 12th the 
 brigade continued the work on the road. 
 At noon three regiments marched three 
 miles in advance and encamped in the rear 
 of a part of Gen. McPherson's command- 
 The 20th Connecticut and the 33d Indiana re- 
 mained at work on the road during the day, 
 and at night rejoined the brigade. May 13th 
 the whole brigade marched at daylight, and 
 about 2 o'clock p. m. went into position in 
 the rear of the 15th corps, in the neighbor- 
 hood of Eesaca, having been deployed in 
 two lines. In the evening the brigade 
 marched to the left and front about a mile 
 and a half, and encamped for the night in 
 the rear of part of the 14th corps. May 
 14th the brigade moved forward about 
 400 yards, and relieved a part of the 14th 
 corps, Carlin's brigade in front and to the 
 left. The formation was in two lines de- 
 
20 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 ployed. The brigade encamped here for the 
 night, on the left of the division. The posi- 
 tion of the enemy was in our front and be. 
 yond a narrow cleared valley upon a low 
 wooded ridge covered by fortifications. The 
 14th corps was severely engaged with the 
 enemy here during the day. 
 
 May 15th the brigade moved in the morn- 
 ing with the division to the left some two 
 miles, passing the 14th, 4th and 23d corps, 
 and here, having halted, received an order 
 to advance in rear of the right of the 1st 
 brigade, in column, in two lines, and in their 
 support as an assaulting column on the works 
 of the enemy. On coming to the position 
 where the formation was to be made it was 
 found to be impracticable on account of the 
 location of part of the 4th corps on our right. 
 The brigade was then formed in close col- 
 umn of battalion immediately in rear of 
 the 1st brigade. Soon after this order was 
 changed, and the two brigades were directed 
 to be formed in two lines in rear of the 1st 
 brigade, which was being done, but before 
 the completion of the deployment orders 
 were given to advance at once, and as rapidly 
 as possible support the 1st brigade, which 
 was making an advance on the enemy's 
 works. Th brigade was moved forward at 
 
THE BATTLE OF KESACA. 21 
 
 once in the following order : First line, 85th 
 Indiana, Col. Baird, on the right, 19th Mich- 
 igan, Col. Gilbert, on our left. Second line, 
 20th Connecticut, Col. Ross, on right, 22d 
 Wisconsin, Col. Utley, on the left. Third 
 line, 33d Indiana, Major Miller, in the rear 
 of 22d Wisconsin. The brigade was thus 
 formed in a narrow ravine, very thickly 
 wooded with low and bushy trees, with steep 
 hillsides, and out of view of the enemy and 
 their works. The advance was difficult up 
 this steep hill. At the time of receiving this 
 order to advance, and throughout the move- 
 ment up the hill, the 2d division of the 20th 
 corps was moving by the left flank in from 
 six to eight lines, from right to left, through 
 my brigade, breaking and intercepting the 
 lines, and preventing every regimental com- 
 mander from seeing his own troops, or the 
 possibility for the time of managing them. 
 The brigade, notwithstanding, moved for- 
 ward over the hill and onward, carrying 
 some men of the 2d division with them and 
 losing others of its own men, who were swept 
 with the heavier current to the left. 
 
 The summit of the hill is covered with 
 woods, but the slope beyond and the valley 
 are cleared in front of a portion of the rebel 
 works, which were situated on the hill be- 
 
22 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 yond, and which here presented, opposite 
 our right, a salient angle receding with a 
 long sweep sharply to our left. The brigade 
 advanced across a portion of the field to the 
 works and the rest along the woods to its 
 left. This was done under a tremendous fire 
 of artillery and musketry, which killed and 
 wounded many of our men, but they ad- 
 vanced bravely and planted the colors of the 
 19th Michigan and 22d Wisconsin in a small 
 fort of the enemy, occupied by four of their 
 field pieces. Such was the fury of the 
 enemy's fire that the men could not advance 
 further, and here a portion of the 1st and 2d 
 brigades remained during the day, holding 
 this position under the very brow of the rebel 
 earthworks. A portion retired to the left and 
 rear. Soon after my arrival in the vicinity 
 of the rebel works Gen. Ward was wounded 
 and left the field. I took command of the 
 forces then and made the effort to charge 
 and take the enemy's works, but such was 
 the disorganized condition of the men of both 
 brigades and the terrific force of their fire 
 that such charge failed, and nothing more 
 could be done than to hold the place up to 
 the line of their breastwprks. In one of 
 these charges late in the day the lllth 
 Pennsylvania (Col. Cobham) gallantly par- 
 
THE BATTLE OF KE6AGA. 23 
 
 ticipated. Remaining here until nearly sun- 
 set I received an order to go to the rear with 
 the men of my command then with me. I 
 returned, leaving the men where I had placed 
 them, near the rebel breastworks, and this 
 was approved. A portion of the brigade 
 having been formed in the rear and to the 
 left after the first charge, I took them by the 
 order of Gen. Butterfield to the left still 
 further to meet and assist in repelling a 
 charge then made by the enemy upon the 
 left of our position. The 33d Indiana at 
 once charged forward and promptly met the 
 attack. After a severe fight, in which the 
 rebels suffered much, they were repulsed and 
 retired. Gen. Butterfield then directed me 
 to send 200 men to reinforce the men of 
 my own brigade near the rebel earthworks. 
 This was done under the command of Lieut.- 
 Col. Buckingham, of the 20th Connecticut. 
 His force assisted in digging the side of the 
 fort away and in dragging out four pieces of 
 artillery at night. 
 
 The losses of the brigade in the action 
 are as follows : Killed, 28 ; wounded, 200. I 
 refer to the reports of the regimental com- 
 manders for the names of officers and men 
 killed and wounded and for acts of distin- 
 guished merit. Early in the action CoL 
 
24 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 Henry Gilbert, 19th Michigan, was mortally 
 wounded while leading his men up to the 
 rebel works. His life has been gloriously 
 sacrificed to his country in the front rank of 
 his soldiers. Capt. Calmar, of the same 
 regiment, was killed on the top of their ram- 
 parts. Capt. Patton and Lieut. Flynt, of the 
 22d Wisconsin, were mortally wounded close 
 beside him. The conduct of the brigade 
 under the peculiarly trying circumstances 
 was excellent. Their determined and gal- 
 lant charge secured the position so boldly 
 won by the 1st brigade, and together held 
 it under the very muzzles of the enemy's 
 guns five hours in daylight, and their prompt 
 and vigorous action upon the left late in the 
 day contributed powerfully to repel the 
 fierce assaults of the enemy there. The bri- 
 gade encamped on the battle-field, a detail 
 making breastworks during the night. 
 
 On the morning of the 16th the brigade 
 marched with the division, passing the rail- 
 road near" Resaca and crossing the Cona- 
 sanza on a temporary bridge left standing by 
 the enemy. At 11 o'clock at night the bri- 
 gade arrived at Coosawattie river and crossed 
 soon after on a ferry-boat. This was ac- 
 complished at half-past ten on the morning 
 of the 17th. At 2 p. m. of the 17th the bri- 
 
THE BATTLE OF RESACA. 25 
 
 gade marched, leaving a detail of 150 men 
 to complete a bridge over the Coosawattie 
 river, and 250 men as a train guard. Marched 
 till 10 p. m. and encamped with the division. 
 On the morning of the 18th the brigade 
 marched toward Cassville, the division push- 
 ing the enemy in front. The 22d was left 
 with the train as a guard. The brigade 
 moved on, having made a march of some 
 twenty miles ; encamped on a gravelly plateau 
 some four miles north of Cassville. Two 
 regiments, the 33d and 85th Indiana, were 
 sent back two miles in the night and stationed 
 as a guard upon the road intersecting the 
 one to Cassville. Upon the 19th a portion 
 of the brigade was ordered to advance with 
 the division to the right of the road to Cass- 
 ville. The 19th Michigan, Major Griffin, 
 and 20th Connecticut, Col. Ross, were sent. 
 The 33d and 85th Indiana having come up 
 were ordered to hold the Cassville road and 
 fortify. This they did until 2 p. m. The 
 regiments of the brigade in advance occu- 
 pied the right of the division, and supported 
 the artillery, driving the enemy before them 
 with great promptness and bravery. At 
 2 p. m. the 33d and 85th Indiana were or- 
 dered forward from their position on the 
 road, and at 4 p. m. joined the division al- 
 
26 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 ready formed and advanced upon the enemy. 
 They were hurried up and placed in position 
 to the right and rear of the division, which 
 had arrived to a point half a mile west of 
 Cassville. Just at this time the 19th Michi- 
 gan and 20th Connecticut were ordered up 
 to support company C, 1st Ohio artillery, 
 which took a position on an eminence that 
 commanded the enemy's lines on the oppo- 
 site side of Cassville and to the east. The 
 33d and 85th Indiana were moved up and 
 formed the second line in their immediate 
 rear. At dusk the 19th Michigan and the 
 20th Connecticut were advanced into the 
 town, supported by the 33d and 85th Indiana, 
 which, after a skirmish, they held and occu- 
 pied during the night. The streets were 
 then strongly barricaded and every prepara- 
 tion made for a strenuous resistance of any 
 effort made to dislodge our forces. The 
 heights beyond the town were covered by 
 the enemy in long, large numbers, who made 
 extensive fortifications during the night but 
 abandoned them at daylight. The brigade 
 occupied the town at 2 a. m. of the 20th, 
 when it moved to the west about a mile and 
 a half and encamped with the division, the 
 1st division of the 20th corps relieving us at 
 Cassville. I here take occasion to return 
 
THE BATTLE OF RESACA. 27 
 
 thanks to all my staff for their activity and 
 aid and obeying and executing all orders and 
 meeting all exigencies. To Capt. A. G. Kel- 
 lum, acting provost marshal, Lieut. Craw- 
 ford, A. A. A. G., and Lieuts. Booth and 
 Reynolds, my aids, I accord the highest 
 praise for bravery and coolness. The com- 
 manders of regiments did, I believe, their 
 whole duty as soldiers and brave men. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, JOHN COBUKN, 
 
 Colonel 83d Indiana, Commanding Brigade. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF NEW HOPE CHURCH. 
 
 On the 25th day of May the brigade was 
 engaged in the battle of New Hope Church, 
 Georgia. The following is an extract from 
 Col. Coburn's official report of the engage- 
 ment : " On the 25th of May the brigade 
 marched toward Dallas at 9 a. m. During 
 the day there was cavalry skirmishing in 
 front. In the afternoon at 2 o'clock the 
 brigade crossed Pumpkinville creek. At 4: 
 p. m. the division arrived in the rear of a po- 
 sition held by the 1st and 2d divisions 
 of the 20th corps, in which they had but a 
 short time before been attacked by a heavy 
 force in front on the Dallas road, near New 
 Hope Church. The brigade was formed in 
 line of battle by battalions en masse, and 
 moved forward on the right of the road to 
 support the 3d brigade of this division, a 
 distance of a mile through the woods in the 
 direction of the firing. The 3d brigade bore 
 off to the left at the sound of firing, and I 
 was directed to advance to the front. This 
 advance, although in the woods and hills, 
 
 28 
 
BATTLE OF NEW HOPE CHUECH. 29 
 
 was executed as though on drill ground. 
 Coming under a rapid fire of artillery the 
 brigade was deployed in two lines, the 33d 
 Indiana and the 19th Michigan in front, the 
 85th Indiana and 22d Wisconsin in the rear. 
 The brigade was advanced a short distance 
 and halted. The country just here is an un- 
 broken forest, undulations from twenty 
 to thirty feet in height. The enemy was 
 posted on one of these ridges and had forti- 
 fied, having his artillery in position, com- 
 manding 1 the ground of our advance. I 
 soon received an order to relieve Eobinson's 
 brigade of the 1st division, and began the 
 advance with the brigade, but the 19th Mich 
 igan was ordered by Gen. Hooker to halt, 
 and then go to the left and relieve a regi- 
 ment of the 2d division severely pressed, 
 which it did at once, pouring in a destruc- 
 tive fire. The 33d Indiana was continued 
 on the advance to the front to relieve Rob- 
 inson's line, the 22d Wisconsin and 85th In- 
 diana being held in reserve. The line before 
 named had given way and could not be 
 found, but I soon did find the front line oc- 
 cupied by Gen. Knife's brigade and a por- 
 tion of Gen. Burger's brigade of the 1st divi- 
 sion. Gen. Knife requested me to relieve his 
 line, their supply of ammunition being al- 
 
30 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 most exhausted. This I did so far as I 
 could with the 33d Indiana and its 550 mus- 
 kets. The regiment advanced without a 
 falter in line, passing through Knife's line 
 and delivering volley after volley, soon si- 
 lenced the musketry which had been heavy 
 and was increasing in front. During this ad- 
 vance the enemy poured in upon us a tremen- 
 dous fire of artillery, raking the ground upon 
 which we stood. Shells, grape shot, canis 
 ter, railroad spikes and every deadly missile 
 rained upon us. I aver that no regiment 
 could have borne with more unfaltering dar- 
 ing this fearful cannonade and musketry fire 
 than did the 33d Indiana that day. So, too, 
 with the 19th Michigan on the left of the 
 road. The fight continued until long after 
 dark. A cold and heavy rain closed it, and 
 the men went to work in the darkness to 
 hunt up logs and sticks with which to make 
 rude breastworks. The 19th Michigan was 
 relieved at 1 o'clock in the morning. The 
 33d Indiana continued on the front line and 
 fortified, laboring the entire night. The 
 losses in the action were as follows : 19th 
 Michigan, 1 officer killed and 3 wounded, 
 Capt. Bigelow mortally, 3 men killed and 44 
 wounded, total 51 ; the 33d Indiana, 3 men 
 killed, 2 officers and 43 men wounded ; the 
 
BATTLE OF NEW HOPE CHtJEOH. 31 
 
 22d "Wisconsin, 1 officer and 8 men wounded, 
 and 1 man killed ; the 85th Indiana had 1 
 officer and 6 men wounded ; making in all 1 
 officer and 7 men killed, and 7 officers and 
 101 men wounded, a total of 116. Many of 
 the wounded died, among them Capt. Bige- 
 low, of the 19th Michigan, an intelligent, ac- 
 tive, energetic and most efficient officer. In 
 this battle the 2d brigade, while engaged, 
 covered at least a fourth of the entire fight- 
 ing front of the corps, and held it until the 
 contest closed in the impenetrable darkness 
 of a midnight storm. Not a gun was fired 
 upon the right, and it boldly held its posi- 
 tion there with the possibility of a flank at 
 any moment. Late at night the lllth Penn- 
 sylvania, Col. Cobham, came from the left 
 and took position, erecting breastworks on 
 the right ; and on his right the 1st brigade of 
 the division formed and continued the line 
 of works, refusing it almost directly to the 
 rear. In this battle Major Miller, command- 
 ing the 33d Indiana, and Major Griffin, 19th 
 Michigan, greatly distinguished themselves 
 for coolness and daring. Early in the 
 morning of the 26th the 22d Wisconsin and 
 85th Indiana took their position in the front 
 line, relieving the 33d Indiana and the 123d 
 New York. The fortifications were 
 
32 THE OKLAHOMA SCOT7T. 
 
 strengthened, and a continued and destruc- 
 tive skirmish fire was kept up, in which the 
 brigade lost 2 officers and 27 men. At dark 
 the brigade was relieved and moved to the 
 right, in the rear of the 1st brigade. May 
 27 the brigade moved forward and occupied 
 the works made by the 1st brigade, which 
 advanced some fifty rods and fortified. May 
 28, remained in same camp under a constant 
 skirmish fire and occasional fire from artil- 
 lery. May 29, remained in camp. 
 
 At 11 o'clock at night the enemy made 
 a demonstration on our left, which re- 
 sulted in a furious discharge of musketry 
 and artillery for nearly an hour. We heard 
 heavy firing at a distance on the right of the 
 army, which proved to be an attack on the 
 army of the Tennessee. May 30 the brigade 
 moved into the front line, relieving the 3d 
 brigade. May 31 the brigade remained in the 
 same camp. June 1 the brigade was relieved 
 by a part of Gen. Morgan L. Smith's division 
 of the 15th corps at 1 p. m., and with the 
 division marched in rear of the army lines 
 northeast about four miles, passing the 4th, 
 14th and 23d corps, encamping on a precipi- 
 tous and rocky ridge, occupied in front by 
 the 1st division of the 20th corps. June 2d 
 the brigade marched southeasterly two and 
 
BATTLE OF NEW HOPE CHURCH. 33 
 
 a half miles and halted in rear of the 23d 
 corps, forming a single line and throwing up 
 works with bayonets, cups and plates in an 
 incredibly short time, under a fire from the 
 enemy's artillery. Here Major Miller, 33d 
 Indiana, was wounded in the head. June 3d 
 the brigade with the division moved still 
 farther to the left and northeast toward 
 Ackworth, following Hovey's division of the 
 28th corps, and in support of it. After mov- 
 ing a mile we halted near Morris' Mill 
 Church, and encamped on the extreme left 
 flank of the army. The 22d Wisconsin in 
 support of a battery erected fortifications. 
 By this movement the right flank of the 
 enemy was turned and he began to retreat. 
 June 4th the brigade moved forward and oc- 
 cupied the line of Hovey's division, which 
 had advanced. June 5th remained in camp. 
 June 6th the brigade marched at 6 a. m., 
 southeasterly about five miles, and struck 
 the Sand Town and Burnt Hickory road. 
 After moving upon it a short distance the 
 brigade took position at Mt. Olivet Church, 
 near Kemp's Mill, on the left of the road. 
 The church was burning as we approached, 
 the enemy having just passed to the left and 
 eastward. Pine Knob on the left and Lost 
 Mountain on the right were plainly visible 
 3 
 
34 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 from this position. Here breastworks were 
 erected, beginning at the road and running 
 eastward. The lines were refused on the 
 right of this brigade by the 1st division, 20th 
 corps, and on the left by the 1st brigade of 
 the 3d division. The brigade encamped 
 here until the 15th of June, taking upon 
 the skirmish line six prisioners. The rain 
 which began on the 1st of June continued 
 almost daily. The roads became muddy and 
 rations scarce, so that the brigade's regular 
 rations were not issued for a short time. 
 While here the 23d corps moved to our 
 right and toward Lost Mountain, and the 
 4th and 14th corps to our left toward Pine 
 Knob, on which could be seen the rebel 
 camp* 
 
CHAPTEK IV. 
 
 BATTLE OF LOST MOUNTAIN, OB GILGAL CHUECH. 
 
 On the 15th of June the brigade moved 
 with the division, and crossing the small 
 stream just below Kemp's Mill advanced on 
 the road toward Gilgal (wrongly called Gol- 
 gotha) Church, in a southeasterly direction, 
 leaving Lost Mountain to the right and west 
 about a mile and a half, and halted near a 
 line of the enemy's works just abandoned 
 upon the left of the road, and here formed in 
 line of battle in rear of the 1st brigade, the 
 23d corps being on the right of our division 
 and the remainder of the 20th corps on the 
 left. Here the brigade remained about two 
 hours. At this time the 1st brigade ad- 
 vanced in line of battle across an open field, 
 broken in right angles to our line by a 
 ravine a quarter of a mile wide, to a road 
 beyond, where the enemy's skirmishers were 
 posted. They were soon dislodged. The 
 2d brigade was ordered to advance in sup- 
 port of the 1st brigade in line of battle, the 
 19th Michigan, Major Griffin, on the right. 
 On its left the 85th Indiana, Ool. Baird, the 
 35 
 
36 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 33d Indiana, Major Miller, on its left, and the 
 22d Wisconsin, Col. Utley, on the left. 
 This movement was executed with regulari- 
 ty and promptness, the right somewhat ad- 
 vanced. On arriving in the wood a deep 
 ravine was encountered in part of the line, 
 and still farther forward the ground ascended, 
 forming a broken ridge, thickly covered with 
 trees. The 1st brigade met with considerable 
 resistance with the enemy's skirmishers, but 
 advanced, bearing off toward the right, a por- 
 tion of it crossing the road. Here it was 
 subjected to a tremendous fire of artillery 
 and musketry, coming from what proved to 
 be the enemy's first line of earthworks, 
 about two hundred yards in front, and tre- 
 mendous volleys of musketry were returned 
 upon the retreating enemy. The 1st brigade 
 soon exhausted their ammunition, and upon 
 the request of Brig.-Gen. Ward I relieved 
 his line, sending the 85th Indiana and the 
 19th Michigan to his relief on the right of 
 the road and the 33d Indiana and 22d Wis- 
 consin on the left of the road. The troops 
 on the right were subjected for a short time 
 to the same heavy fire the 1st brigade had 
 borne, but having been directed by Col. 
 Baird not to return the fire it soon ceased. 
 It had by this time become dark. The troops 
 
BATTLE OF LOST MOUNTAIN 37 
 
 on the left of the road at once began the 
 work of fortification and continued it all 
 night. Those on the right were withdrawn 
 and placed on the left of the brigade, and in 
 like manner fortified. The front of the bri- 
 gade was composed of the 33d Indiana and 
 eight companies of the 22d Wisconsin. The 
 remainder of the line was refused on the 
 left along the edge of a ravine, a portion of 
 the 85th Indiana crossing it to the extreme 
 left. An effort was made throughout the 
 night to connect our line with the 1st divis- 
 ion on the left, but such was the darkness 
 and the distance that it was not effected un- 
 til after daylight. While with his regi- 
 ment upon the side of the road Major Griffin 
 was mortally wounded, and died during the 
 night. He was a gallant, faithful and intel- 
 ligent officer, and nobly did his duty at all 
 times. His death was a public loss. Ten 
 men were wounded in the brigade during 
 the fight. Col. Baird exhibited remarkable 
 coolness and skill in managing his troops on 
 the right of the road under a galling and de- 
 structive fire, and in withdrawing them almost 
 unhurt, when a want of caution might have 
 sacrificed many of the men. During the 
 night one regiment of the 23d corps joined 
 my right, refusing its line square to the rear 
 
88 THE .OKLAHOMA SOOUT. 
 
 along the left of the road. The men labored 
 with untiring patience at the earthworks, 
 and by morning built a strong line within 
 two hundred yards of the rebel lines and 
 under fire of musketry and artillery. On 
 the 16th of June the brigade remained in 
 the same camp, strengthening the works and 
 skirmishing, the enemy having in many 
 places a near and fatal range upon us from 
 his principal line of works. 
 
 The loss of the brigade was 4 killed and 
 24 wounded. On the morning of the 17th 
 the enemy evacuated his position, and our 
 skirmishers at 5 o'clock occupied his works, 
 which were found to be heavy and strong. 
 The skirmishers were advanced at once and 
 found the enemy about three ahead toward 
 Marietta. At noon the brigade with the di- 
 vision moved forward in advance, forming in 
 line with the 85th Indiana as skirmishers, on 
 a wooded ridge beyond a small stream, and 
 well fortified. The brigade was advanced 
 through a. very dense wood about half a mile 
 to a large wood, and formed in line between 
 the 2d division on the right and the 1st di- 
 vision on the left, about 400 yards from the 
 enemy's position. Earthworks were at once 
 built under a slight fire from the enemy's 
 artillery. On the 18th of June the brigade 
 
BJLTTLE OF LOST MOUNTAIN. 39 
 
 remained in the same camp, skirmishing 
 sharply. Our loss was 6 in killed and 
 wounded, our artillery in the meanwhile 
 playing with great activity upon the enemy. 
 The rain was excessive. June 19th the ene- 
 my evacuated his position and our skirmish- 
 ers occupied his works at 4 a. m. The works 
 were found to be very strong with well pre- 
 pared abatis. Six prisoners were captured. 
 At 10 o'clock the brigade marched in rear 
 of the division. The rain fell in torrents, 
 notwithstanding which the brigade advanced 
 and crossed a branch of base's creek after 
 an hour's delay on account of the sudden 
 rise of the water, which carried away the 
 bridges and covered the road. Having 
 crossed this stream we advanced along the 
 road toward Marietta and formed in line of 
 battle on a wooded ridge half a mile to the 
 right of the road and in the rear of the di- 
 vision already formed in two lines in our 
 front. The division advanced three-fourths 
 of a mile, finding the enemy in front and on 
 the right flank. A position was here taken, 
 and the brigade again took the front, build- 
 ing fortifications. During the night it was 
 moved to the left, building outer works on 
 that line, being under orders to connect with 
 the 2d division, but failed to find it before 
 
40 THE OKLAHOMA SOOUT. 
 
 morning. On the 20th the brigade moved 
 again to the front and left and connected 
 with the 2d division, 20th corps, building a 
 new line of works. On the 21st the brigade 
 was relieved by Gen. KimbalPs brigade of 
 the 4th corps, and advanced soon after with 
 it, building another line of works half a mile 
 in advance. 
 
OHAPTEK Y. 
 
 BATTLE OF GULP'S FARM. 
 
 On the 22d of June the brigade was or- 
 dered to march, and did so at 8 a. m. in sup- 
 port of the 3d brigade. It advanced half a 
 mile and found the enemy in front posted on 
 a high ridge, with a strong skirmish line in 
 front. The 3d brigade marched across an 
 open field without resistance. Two regi- 
 ments of my brigade were ordered to advance 
 through the woods and form on the left. 
 The 22d Wisconsin and 33d Indiana moved 
 forward in line of battle at once. The en- 
 emy fell back after a short but sharp resist- 
 ance, and we took a position on the ridge to 
 the left of the 3d brigade. Very soon we 
 received a severe flank fire on the left. The 
 4th corps not having advanced with us the 
 left of the 33d Indiana was repulsed at once, 
 and I had the 19th Michigan and 85th Indi- 
 ana immediately brought up and formed on 
 the left and facing in that direction, except 
 on the extreme left, which faced to the front. 
 During this time the brigade received and 
 gave a fatal fire, which soon repulsed the 
 41 
 
42 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 enemy. I at once requested Gen. Kimball, 
 of the 4th corps, to advance on my left and 
 connect with my line, which was done with 
 great promptness and the enemy checked. 
 At 3 p. m. the enemy charged our line with 
 great vigor, but was repulsed with heavy 
 loss. In the morning my bridge pioneers 
 had reported under division orders to Col. 
 "Wood of the 3d brigade, and were with him 
 most of the day. The intrenching tools of 
 the division were all given to the 1st and 2d 
 brigades, but notwithstanding this my men 
 fortified with rails and bayonets, scooping 
 the dirt with their hands and tin-cups until 
 quite a safe work was constructed. At 5 p. 
 m. the brigade was relieved by G-en. Kim- 
 ball's and Harker's brigades, of the 4th 
 corps. In this battle the 22d "Wisconsin and 
 33d Indiana, by their prompt and bold ad- 
 vance, distinguished themselves and their 
 commanders Col. Utley and Major Miller. 
 Adjutant Charles H. Porter, of the 33d In- 
 diana, was instantly killed while endeavoring 
 to check the attack on our left. Thus fell in 
 his early manhood a bright, brave, active 
 officer, whose promise was that of a most 
 useful and brilliant career. Capfc. Barton, 
 Lieut. Chandler and Lieut. McKinney, of the 
 3M Indiana, and Lieut. Shaffer, of the 19th 
 
BATTLE OF GULP'S FABM. 4:3 
 
 Michigan, were severely wounded during the 
 day. 
 
 On being relieved the brigade, in advance 
 of the division, marched two miles to the 
 right, to reinforce a part of Gen. Williams' 
 division of the 20th corps, which had also 
 been severly engaged, the enemy having 
 attacked him soon after our repulse in front. 
 On arriving here the brigade rested four 
 hours, and again advanced to the immediate 
 rear of Knife's brigade. The loss in this 
 engagement of this brigade was 1 officer 
 killed, 4: wounded, 5 privates killed and 53 
 wounded in all 63 wounded. The regi- 
 ments lost as follows : 33d Indiana, 4 offi- 
 cers and 32 men ; the 19th Michigan, 1 officer 
 and 10 men ; 22d Wisconsin, 12 men ; 85th 
 Indiana, 4 men. On the 23d of June the 
 brigade, again in advance of the division, 
 moved to the right at 9 a. m., and moving 
 to the east on the Powder Springs and Mari- 
 etta road passed Scribner's Female Institute, 
 took position on the left of the road, in front, 
 within musket range of the enemy's works, 
 on the immediate left of HascalPs division 
 of the 23d corps. The brigade was formed 
 in single line and at once put up earthworks. 
 This was at a point three miles west of 
 Marietta. Immediately in the front was the 
 
4:4: THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 line of the enemy's works, inclosing that 
 town and Kenesaw Mountain, vast in length 
 and made formidable by great labor upon 
 strong natural fortifications. The brigade 
 occupied the camp taken on the 23d up to 
 the evening of the 26th of June in front. 
 On that day it was relieved by the 1st bri- 
 gade, and encamped a short distance in the 
 rear. 
 
 On the 27th of June, along the whole line 
 of the army, the artillery opened upon the 
 enemy. The brigade moved at once. An 
 attack was made on the left by the 14th and 
 4th corps in great force, but failing of success 
 we did not move. On the 28th of June we 
 remained in the same camp. During this 
 entire time skirmishing was constantly kept 
 up with the enemy who was in close prox- 
 imity, with considerable loss. In the period 
 covered by this report the brigade did an un- 
 paralleled amount of labor, almost daily mak- 
 ing lines of works, and this with astonishing 
 alacrity and cheerfulness. In all that consti- 
 tutes true soldiers, in hard working, hard 
 fighting, long endurance, cheerful bearing 
 and manly promptness, they filled full the 
 measure of the trying hour. In the battle 
 of "New Hope Church, in Dallas woods, May 
 25, of Lost Mountain, June 15, and of Gulp's 
 
45 
 
 Farm, June 22, officers and men vied with 
 each other in heroic daring. I forwarded 
 herewith reports of regimental commanders 
 and with them the list of killed and wounded. 
 In them will be found more especial mention 
 of worthy deeds of the officers and men of 
 my command. The entire losses during this 
 period were as follows : Four officers killed, 
 15 officers wounded; 30 men killed, 274 
 wounded and 7 missing ; a total of 330. 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 
 
 In this connection I must mention the 
 original colonel of the 19th Michigan volun- 
 teer infantry, Col. H. C. Gilbert, who was 
 killed at the battle of Resaca while leading 
 a charge. I remember him as a gray-headed 
 man, but a warrior, every inch of him. He 
 was a strict disciplinarian, but he had the 
 respect and confidence of his officers and 
 men. His death was mourned by all. The 
 boys had presented him with a splendid dun 
 saddle horse, which they captured from a 
 bushwhacker in the Cumberland mountains, 
 and went by the name of " Bushwhacker." 
 The Colonel was shot off him at Resaca. 
 " Bushwacker " went through the campaign 
 to the sea, marched with the boys to Wash- 
 ington City, took a proud part in the grand 
 army parade, was shipped by L. M. Wing, 
 quartermaster of the 19th Michigan, to Cold- 
 water, Mich., and turned over to Col. Gil- 
 bert's widow. 
 
 Major Anderson entered the regiment as 
 captain of company H, and took command 
 46 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 47 
 
 s 
 
 of the regiment at Peach Tree Creek, after 
 the wounding of Major Baker. He saw the 
 old 19th through the war and conducted us 
 home. He endeared himself to us all, and if 
 he is still alive, and his eyes should fall on 
 these lines, I wish him to believe that I re- 
 member him gratefully. 
 
 Major L. M. Wing and Capt. Dave East- 
 man were brigade staff officers, the formei 
 acting as brigade quartermaster-general, and 
 I remember that they were regarded by the 
 soldiers generally as very efficient officers. 
 
 "We marched out of Chattanooga in pursuit 
 of Gen. J. E. Johnston's army, full of faith 
 that we could whip the enemy when we 
 caught them. After a couple of weeks of 
 marching and camping we had quite a scrim- 
 mage at Buzzard Koost, where the rebels 
 were driven back without much trouble, but 
 a couple of days afterward, on the 15th of 
 May, at Eesaca, a serious engagement was 
 fought, in which our regiment, the 19th 
 Michigan, charged the enemy's breastworks, 
 capturing a battery of four guns, called the 
 Belle of Georgia. We lost here our Col. H. 
 C. Gilbert, who was shot from his horse 
 while right up to the breastworks, receiving 
 a mortal wound. He was a brave man, and 
 was worshiped by his men, who would have 
 
 4 
 
48 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 followed him anywhere he asked them to go. 
 Oapt. Collom, company I, a German, was 
 killed outright. Besides these the loss of the 
 regiment in non-commissioned officers and 
 privates was quite severe. In the charge my 
 bunkmate, Hermann F. Dibble, was shot 
 down by my side. We left some of our best 
 men on this bloody field. 
 
 Our next fight and victory was at Cass- 
 ville. I speak of this because that day we 
 marched thirty-five miles, and five of it in 
 line of battle, through the woods. The next 
 place we struck was Kenesaw Mountain. I 
 was on the skirmish line that day and I still 
 thought of that hay-field and the many 
 advantages it posessed over the situation I 
 was then in. My regiment was at the right 
 of the road that leads from Marietta to 
 Atlanta, in the edge of a wood looking out on 
 a field, and we had previously built so many 
 useless lines of breastworks that we wanted 
 to be satisfied we were going to use them 
 before building any more. We had not long 
 to wait before we saw the rebels coming on 
 us en masse. We were ordered to move to 
 the right three or four hundred steps. We 
 were told to wait until they came close 
 before firing, and for the front rank to rest 
 on one knee to give the rear rank a chance to 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 49 
 
 > 
 
 shoot. While in this expectant position, and 
 lamenting the absence of breastworks, one of 
 our batteries came up and unlimbered, and 
 the way it poured canister into that mass of 
 rebels was a caution. But it had its desired 
 effect, and the Johnnies had to seek shelter. 
 In the meantime we were not idle, and they 
 didn't get through our line. 
 
 The next, day was very warm. After bury- 
 ing the dead we moved to the right and 
 camped in the woods. During our stay there 
 being detailed on picket duty I one day 
 swam over the Chattahoochee river, and had 
 a little friendly confab with the rebs. I 
 swapped a rubber blanket for a plug of 
 tobacco. I got from them, also, a copy of 
 an Atlanta paper, which I sent to my father 
 at Coldwater. 
 
 Our next fight was at Peach Tree creek. 
 We broke camp, crossed the Chattahoochee 
 river, also Peach Tree creek. We took our 
 station in the corn-field and calculated to 
 have dinner there, but the enemy appearing 
 we were ordered to advance, and move up 
 the hill to get a position near an old cotton- 
 gin. Of the fight that ensued I can only 
 speak for myself and company and my 
 hands were full to look after them. At many 
 parts of the line there was a hand-to-hand 
 
50 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 struggle. A shallow gulley in the road af- 
 forded us some protection while we were 
 making it hot for the charging rebels. I had 
 piled some rails in front of where I lay, but a 
 shell came and scattered them like chaff. I 
 hugged that ditch mighty close for a few 
 moments. The battle closed about night, 
 with the complete repulse of the rebels. My 
 brother John was in company C, which I 
 knew had been in the thickest of the fight, 
 and I was consequently extremely anxious 
 to know if anything had happened him. 
 Without stopping to eat I commenced the 
 search over the field where our regiment had 
 been engaged. I turned over more than 
 twenty corpses, fearful that each one would 
 prove to be my brother. At last I found 
 a little fellow lying in a ditch unhurt. He 
 told me my brother had been taken back to 
 the hospital with a wound in the head. I 
 went to the division hospital and found him 
 sitting on a log with a wet towl on his 
 head. He was as much worried about me as 
 I had been about him, and his first words 
 were, " Did you get through safe ?" His 
 wound did not prove very serious. In this 
 fight we lost our Major Baker. "We had 
 previously lost Major Griffith at the bat- 
 tle of Burnt Hickory, after the taking of 
 
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 51 
 
 > 
 
 Cassville. Besides Major Baker the regi- 
 ment suffered a severe loss of men in this 
 fight. 
 
 While searching for my brother I came 
 across a man on his hands and knees. I 
 pulled him into the moonlight 'and discov- 
 ered at once by his beard that he was not 
 my brother. A musket ball had passed from 
 one side o his forehead to the other, tearing 
 a gash through which his brains were oozing. 
 He didn't utter a word nor even a groan. 
 When I let him go he crept back into the 
 brush again. I had no other thought but 
 that he would die, but my brother told me 
 he afterward saw him at Nashville. 
 
 I was detailed to bury the dead next day, 
 and found it a hard as well as a sad work. I 
 may add right here that by this time every 
 disagreeable feature connected with that 
 hay-field had disappeared, and it seemed 
 about the most desirable place on earth. 
 
 Our next move brought us in sight of 
 Altanta. We built a strong line of works 
 and lay there a couple of weeks. We were 
 under artillery fire for many days. We fell 
 back to the Chattahoochee river, where we 
 lay a couple of weeks and then marched 
 into Atlanta. I was on the skirmish line as 
 we went into the city. I had a good time 
 
2 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 in Atlanta. We were paid off here, and got 
 a chance to vote for Lincoln for President a 
 second term. The man who came to take 
 votes also got a good deal of money from 
 the boys to carry back to their homes, but 
 he reported he was robbed on the way and 
 the money was never heard of again. 
 
CHAPTER YIL 
 
 BATTLE OF PEACH TREE CREEK. 
 
 The official reports of Col. John Coburn, 
 commanding our brigade, give so satisfac- 
 tory an account of the movements of my 
 company before Atlanta that I will give 
 them in order : 
 
 HDQRS. 3D BRIGADE, 3i> DIVISION, 20TH A. C., 
 CAMP IN FRONT OF ATLANTA, GA., June 28, 1864. 
 
 CAPT. JOHN SPEED, A. A. G. 3d Div. 20th 
 
 A. C. : 
 
 Captain^ I have the honor to make the 
 following report of the operations of the 2d 
 brigade, 3d division, 20th corps, from the 
 29th of June to this date. On the 29th day 
 of June the brigade was encamped on the 
 Powder Springs road, north side, about three 
 and a half miles west of Marietta, Georgia, 
 behind earth works recently erected by it. 
 Ma j. -Gen. Butterfield having leave of ab- 
 sence, Brig.-Gen. Ward assumed command of 
 the division. On the 30th of June the bri- 
 gade remained in the same camp, the enemy 
 remaining as before, close in front in their 
 works. On the 30th of June the brigade 
 53 
 
54: THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 was relieved by the 1st brigade of the divis- 
 ion, and moved a short distance to the rear. 
 On the 1st day of July we remained in the 
 same camp, the men washing and cleaning 
 their clothes and arms. On the 2d of July 
 remained in the same camp. On the 3d of 
 July the enemy, at 2 o'clock in the morning, 
 evacuated his position in front, abandoning 
 the lines by which he holds Kenesaw Moun- 
 tain and Marietta, which our forces at once 
 occupied. The brigade at an early hour 
 moved out with the division on the Marietta 
 road to the intersection of Sand Town road, 
 three-fourths of a mile from Marietta. Here 
 we came under fire of two batteries of the 
 enemy, stationed southeast of us toward the 
 railroad. The first brigade was halted here, 
 and this brigade ordered to advance on the 
 Sand Town road a mile upon a reconnois- 
 sance. The enemy was not found upon this 
 road, and a short advance farther brought us 
 to the second division of the 20th corps, who 
 were advancing directly east and at right 
 angles to our direction, and skirmishing in 
 front to our left. The brigade passed the 2d 
 division, and throwing out skirmishers and 
 flankers, advanced some five miles south to a 
 point quite near the enemy's work on the 
 left. Here, they appearing in strong force 
 
BATTLE OF PEACH TREE OEEEK. 55 
 
 ^ 
 
 and opening on us with their artillery, we 
 halted. The brigade was formed in two lines 
 and fortified. The shells of the enemy did 
 but comparatively little harm, wounding but 
 two men in the brigade. This day we took 
 twenty-five prisoners. At 4 o'clock p. m. the 
 brigade was relieved by Morgan's brigade of 
 Davis' division of the 14th corps, and moved 
 to the right of the road, crossing a branch of 
 the Nickajack creek and encamping for the 
 night with the division at a point near seven 
 miles west of south of Marietta. On the 4th 
 of July the brigade moved two and a half 
 miles south and near to Mill Grove, leaving 
 the rebel works to the left, and encamped 
 there for the night, near portions of the 16th 
 and 23d corps. 
 
 On the 4th of July the brigade moved 
 southeast, passing through the works of the 
 enemy, which had been evacuated the night 
 before, meeting a portion of the 16th corps, 
 which passed to our right. The brigade 
 crossed Nickajack creek at 2 o'clock p. m., 
 and advanced about two miles and encamped 
 on a high range of hills overlooking the 
 Chattahoochee river with the division and 
 corps. July 6th we moved about two miles to 
 the left and east, and encamped on the same 
 range of hills, the enemy now being in his 
 
56 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 last line of works this side of the Chatta- 
 hoochee river. The brigade remained in 
 this camp until the 17th of July, resting, 
 refitting and preparing for the advance. On 
 the 10th of July the enemy evacuated his 
 position this side of the river in our front. 
 On the 17th the brigade with the division 
 marched eastwardly,passing Yining's Station, 
 on the Chattanooga & Atlanta railroad, and 
 going to the river crossed it at Pace's ferry 
 on two parallel pontoon bridges without re- 
 sistance, the 14th corps having preceded ours 
 at this point. The brigade, having ad- 
 vanced about three miles, encamped near 
 Nance's creek, a branch of Peach Tree creek, 
 and on the Buckhead road. July 18 the 
 brigade advanced toward Buckhead in line of 
 battle, some two miles. It having been as- 
 certained the 14th corps was already in that 
 place we marched by the flank and encamped 
 near Buckhead for the night on the right of 
 the road with the division. July 19 the 
 brigade remained in the same camp. July 
 20 the brigade in advance of and with the 
 division moved toward Atlanta, due south, 
 and at 11 a. m. crossed Peach Tree creek 
 with the division at a point bridged by New- 
 ton's division of the 14th corps. Our division 
 had orders to fill the interval between New- 
 
BATTLE OF PEACH TREE CREEK. 57 
 
 ton's division and Geary's division of the 
 20th corps, which crossed to our right and 
 below us. The pickets of the enemy occu- 
 pied the position we were ordered to as- 
 sume. Two regiments were ordered to ad- 
 vance as skirmishers. My brigade furnished 
 the 22d Wisconsin, under command of Lieut. 
 Col. Bloodgood, who promptly advanced, 
 covering almost the entire front, and leaving 
 but a small space for the 136th New York of 
 the 3d brigade. The skirmishers of the 
 enemy were driven off and pursued for nearly 
 a half mile out of the valley and over a low 
 range of hills to the south, when the skir- 
 mishers halted, joining to those of the 4th 
 corps on the left and of Gen. Geary on the 
 right, who also advanced. Peach Tree creek 
 is a narrow, deep and muddy stream, about 
 forty feet in width, and varying from four to 
 twelve feet in depth and impassable except 
 by bridges. The valley is narrow, being 
 about 200 yards wide at our position, level and 
 cleared. The hills gradually rise from it to 
 the south some seventy feet in 400 yards. 
 These slopes in our front were for the 
 most part cleared, and except on the left, 
 where there is a small thick grove of pine, 
 for a great portion of the space. Passing 
 over the first ridge a wooded ravine is 
 
58 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 reached, and running along its bottom is a 
 small stream flowing toward the west into a 
 branch of Peach Tree creek, and on this 
 there is a mill. Still beyond the ravine to 
 the south rises the ridge higher and entirely 
 cleared, and on its top there is a road run- 
 ning by the Buckhead and Atlanta road 
 westwardly by the mill to the river. Along 
 this road and behind fences on the crest 
 were stationed the advance of our skirmish- 
 ers, overlooking a field about a third of a 
 mile to the south, and covering our division 
 in front. The division was formed in the 
 valley some 200 yards from the creek, front- 
 ing south, the 3d brigade on the left joining 
 the 4th corps, the 2d brigade in the center 
 formed with the 33d and 85th Indiana in 
 front, the former under command of Major 
 Levin T Miller, and the latter under com- 
 mand of Lieut.-Col. A. B. Crane, the 19th 
 Michigan in the second line, commanded by 
 Major Baker, and the 22d Wisconsin being on 
 the skirmish line in front. About 3 
 o'clock in the afternoon I was informed that 
 the enemy was advancing in force in our 
 front. I at once went to Gen. Ward's head- 
 quarters and informed him of the fact, and 
 asked leave to advance my brigade to a bet- 
 ter position in front. At first Gen. Ward 
 
BATTLE OF PEACH TREE CREEK. 59 
 
 replied that it was against Gen. Hooker's 
 orders and could not be done, but on second 
 thought directed me to advance if the rebels 
 made a charge. On returning I informed 
 Col. Harrison, commanding the 1st brigade, 
 of the facts, and went to the front and ascer- 
 tained that the enemy were advancing and 
 at once put the brigade in motion, the 33d 
 Indiana on the right, the 85th Indiana on 
 the left and the 19th Michigan in rear of 
 brigade. In advancing we met the skir- 
 mishers 22d Wisconsin being driven in. 
 Having reached the crest of the first ridge 
 the line halted, as directed before the ad- 
 vance, but seeing the position was eligible, I 
 ordered an advance of the 33d Indiana to 
 the ravine, which was joined by the 85th 
 Indiana and soon followed by the 19th 
 Michigan. Upon examining the field to our 
 left I found that the enemy had driven in the 
 skirmishers in front of the 3d brigade, and 
 were advancing in large numbers on my left 
 flank and pouring in a deadly fire. I at once 
 refused my left, facing two companies of the 
 33d Indiana to the left, and rode to Col. 
 "Wood, in command of the 3d brigade, re- 
 questing him to hasten his advance on the 
 left and drive back the enemy. This he did, 
 his brigade gallantly coming up and rescuing 
 
60 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 my left. On the right the 1st brigade, under 
 Col. Harrison, immediately followed my ad- 
 vance, and, moving somewhat beyond it, 
 poured a galling fire into the enemy across 
 my front. The whole line halted for a short 
 time in the ravine. Here the 22d Wisconsin 
 rallied, and from this place the brigade 
 poured into the enemy, who charged in large 
 numbers down the slope. Soon, the enemy 
 being checked, the whole line, with the 
 wildest ardor, rushed forward to the top of 
 the hill, capturing about 200 prisoners and 
 slaughtering the enemy terribly, so short was 
 the range. The enemy fled, but rallied, and 
 three times renewed the attack before night. 
 The battle was thus continued for four hours. 
 On reaching .the crest of the hill a portion of 
 the brigade rushed beyond the road and at 
 once took position, and a portion in the rear, 
 so that at once two lines were formed and 
 almost instantly fortified by rails. The bri- 
 gade captured 125 prisoners and arms. Here 
 let me testify to the gallant conduct of the 
 two brigades on my right and left, to their 
 promptness and unshaken firmness under the 
 heaviest assaults. The prisoners gave the 
 information that the enemy in our front was 
 Loring's division of Stewart's corps. Their 
 dead numbered there alone 120 men, and 
 
BATTLE OF PEACH TREE CREEK. 61 
 
 their wounded added would swell their loss 
 to 500. Our men were engaged the entire 
 night in carrying off the rebel wounded, and 
 the forenoon of the next day was spent by a 
 large detail in burying the dead. My bri- 
 gade numbered in the battle 1,263 muskets 
 and 52 officers. To all officers and men are 
 due the honors and gratitude earned by 
 service, valor and enthusiastic devotion to 
 principle, and theirs are the laurels of a vic- 
 tory snatched from the trembling balance of 
 battle which wavered on either hand of our 
 division. The commanders of regiments by 
 their example led their men to a result which 
 could not otherwise have been achieved. 
 Major Baker, commanding the 19th Michi- 
 gan, was severely wounded, and the com- 
 mand devolved upon Capt. Anderson. 
 
 My staff, Capt. A. G. Kellam, inspector, 
 Lieut. F. G. Crawford, A. A. A. G., Lieut. 
 C. A. Booth, provost marshal, and Lieut. H. 
 C. Johnson, topographical engineer, were 
 actively and boldly doing their duty through- 
 out the day. Lieut. Crawford, in a signal 
 manner, aided Col. Crane in managing the 
 85th Indiana, and Capt. Kellam in every part 
 of the field, by his activity and daring, as- 
 sisted in accomplishing our success. Lieut. 
 Piney McKnight, commanding pioneers, ren- 
 
62 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 dered valuable service in constructing bridges 
 used by other portions of the army. The 
 loss in the brigade in this battle is 7 officers 
 and 33 men killed, 169 men wounded and 7 
 missing. The total loss since the 28th of 
 June up to the 28th of July in killed, wounded 
 and missing is as follows : One officer and 
 34 men killed, 8 officers and 188 men 
 wounded and 7 missing ; total 238. On the 
 21st day of July the brigade remained in 
 camp on the battle-field, skirmishing with 
 the enemy in front, who at night evacuated 
 his position and withdrew to Atlanta. On 
 the 22d the brigade advanced to a position 
 two miles north of Atlanta and within range 
 of the artillery of the enemy, and went into 
 camp a short distance to the right of the 
 Buckhead road, upon the left of the 4th and 
 20th corps. Fortifications were at once 
 made and skirmishers being advanced half a 
 mile to the front. On the 23d the brigade 
 remained in the same camp. On the 24th 
 remained in same place. This day Capt. 
 George L. Scott, company I, 33d Indiana, 
 was killed on picket line while on duty as a 
 brigade officer of the day. He was a brave, 
 active, honorable and most faithful officer. 
 On the 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th of July the 
 brigade remained in the same camp, skirm- 
 
BATTLE OE PEACH TBEE CREEK. 63 
 
 ishing in front, building a new line of works, 
 and resting under fire of the enemy's artil- 
 lery in Atlanta, posted in heavy and formid- 
 able works in plain view, the enemy thus 
 holding to this day with dogged tenacity to 
 this, to him, precious but untenable position. 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 JOHN COBITRN, 
 Col, 33d Ind., Commanding Brigade. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 SURRENDER OF ATLANTA. 
 
 HDQKS. 2o BRIG., SD Div., 20m A. C. 
 CAMP m FRONT OF ATLANTA, GA., June 28, 1864. 
 
 CAPT. JOHN SPEED, A. A. G., 3d Div., 20th 
 A.C.: 
 
 Captain, I have the honor to make the 
 following report of the operations of the 2d 
 brigade, 3d division, 20th army corps, for the 
 period from the 27th day of July to the 12th 
 day of September, 1864, inclusive: On the 
 27th day of July, 1864, the brigade, being 
 north of Atlanta was encamped in reserve 
 in rear of the 2d division of the 20th corps, 
 and remained there during the day. On the 
 28th the brigade was ordered to move to 
 the right and reinforce the 15th corps, and 
 marched at 3 p. m., but before arriving at 
 the battle-field was ordered back, the enemy 
 being repulsed. The 33d Indiana remained 
 in camp under orders as a reserve to the 2d 
 division. On the 29th of July the brigade 
 with the division moved to the extreme right 
 of the army, and encamped on the right of 
 the division in a position refused to the right 
 of the Sand Town road, about six miles west 
 64 
 
SURRENDER OF ATLANTA. 65 
 
 of Atlanta, building works. On the 20th 
 the brigade with the division moved farther 
 to the right half a mile, taking position on 
 the Sand Town road in the center of the 
 division in two lines, making earthworks. 
 July 31st remained in the same camp, Davis' 
 division of the 14th army corps, making a 
 reconnaissance in front to Utoy creek. Au- 
 gust 1st remained in the same camp. August 
 2d the brigade moved with the division to 
 the left about five miles, and near the Chat- 
 tanooga railroad. August 3d the brigade 
 moved into the works occupied by a portion 
 of Baird's division of the 14th corps, on the 
 Turner's Ferry road, and in front of Atlanta. 
 New works were laid out and commenced at 
 once, 200 yards in front. The work was con- 
 tinued on the 3d and 4th, and on the 5th the 
 new line was occupied. August 6th, 7th and 
 8th remained in the same camp. August 
 9th a new line of works about 300 yards in 
 front was laid out and the labor begun. The 
 work was continued on the 10th and llth of 
 August, as before. On the latter day the 
 brigade moved into the new line of works. 
 The brigade continued in this position up to 
 the 24th day of August, strengthening the 
 works and lying in close proximity to the 
 enemy in front, during most of the time 
 
66 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 keeping up a constant skirmish fire. During 
 a few days of the latter part of the time the 
 fire ceased by mutual act of both parties. 
 On the 25th of August the 33d Indiana was 
 ordered to march to Turner's Ferry, on the 
 Chattahoochee river, to assist in the construc- 
 tion of fortifications for a new camp. The 
 regiment marched in the morning at 6 o'clock, 
 and arrived at the ferry at noon, and at 
 once commenced the construction of works. 
 The brigade moved quietly with the 3d bri- 
 gade of this division at 8 o'clock p. m. of this 
 day toward Turner's Ferry. The pickets 
 were not withdrawn until 2 o'clock in the 
 morning, which was done without observance 
 on the part of the enemy. The brigade ar- 
 rived at the river about 2 o'clock on the 
 morning of the 26th, and encamped in single 
 line on the south side of the road, near the 
 river the right resting on the river 
 strengthening the works begun by the 33d 
 Indiana. These works are in a semi-circular 
 shape and on a ridge near the river. A pon- 
 toon was laid out at the ferry in our rear. 
 At 10 o'clock a. m. of August 27th the enemy 
 attacked us in front with artillery and mus- 
 ketry, but were soon repulsed. It was sup- 
 posed to be a reconnaissance by a brigade of 
 infantry with a section of artillery. Lieut. 
 
SURRENDER OF ATLANTA. 67 
 
 Slauter, of the 33d Indiana, was severely 
 wounded. In the afternoon the enemy with- 
 drew, leaving their killed and wounded. 
 
 On the 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st of 
 August and 1st of September the brigade 
 remained in camp, strengthening the works 
 and repairing the roads beyond the river 
 running from the railroad bridge to Sand 
 Town. On the 28th of August Major Hig- 
 gins, of the 79th Ohio, made a reconnais- 
 sance in front with 300 men and found 
 the enemy intrenched at a distance of 
 three miles. After a short skirmish he 
 returned. A portion of my brigade was 
 with him. On the 2d day of September, 
 at 6 a. m., under orders from Brig.-Gen. 
 Ward, I marched on a reconnaissance from 
 Turner's Ferry to find the position of the 
 enemy. Cavalry was found to be in the 
 city; and we advanced cautiously. I was 
 met in the suburbs by Mr. Calhoun, the 
 mayor, with a committee of citizens bearing 
 a flag of truce. He surrendered the city 
 to me> saying he only asked protection for 
 citizens and property. I asked him if the 
 rebel cavalry were in the town. He replied 
 that Ferguson's brigade was there but was 
 on the point of leaving. I replied that my 
 force was then moving into the city and that 
 
68 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 unless that force retired there would be a 
 fight in which neither person nor property 
 would be safe, and that if necessary I would 
 burn the houses of citizens to dislodge the 
 enemy, that I did not otherwise intend to 
 injure the person or property of citizens 
 unless used against us. I ordered my skir- 
 mishers to advance, and they moved through 
 the city, the cavalry rapidly evacuating the 
 place. I at once sent dispatches to Brig-.- 
 Gen. Ward, at Turner's Ferry, and to 
 Maj.-Gen. Slocum, at the railroad bridge, 
 of the occupation of the city by my com- 
 mand. Gen. Slocum came at once to the 
 city. Immediately preceding him came a 
 portion of the 20th army corps. Gen. Ward 
 directed a portion of my brigade to move up 
 from Turner's Ferry under command of 
 Lieut.-Col. Bloodgood, of the 22d Wis- 
 consin, which reached Atlanta about sun- 
 set, and the remainder under Major Miller 
 the next morning. Soon after Gen. Slo- 
 cum arrived he directed me to move my 
 command and occupy the works of the 
 enemy on the south side of the city to the 
 right of the Augusta railroad. This was 
 done and Gen. Knife's brigade was posted 
 on the left of the road in single line, de- 
 ployed at intervals of three paces. Here 
 
SURRENDER OF ATLANTA. 69 
 
 tfhe brigade remained in camp until this date. 
 Some 200 small arms were found in the crty 
 hall and about 16 pieces of artillery aban- 
 doned in the works and burnt with a train of 
 cars. The ammunition abandoned had been 
 fired in the night and continued to explode 
 with loud reports after we had entered the 
 city in the forts and among the ruins of the 
 burning shops and buildings where it had 
 been deposited. The works of the enemy 
 were left almost perfect and there seemed to 
 have been no attempt at the destruction of 
 anything but the materials of war. As we 
 passed through the streets many of the 
 citizens ran gladly out to meet us, welcoming 
 us as deliverers from the despotism of the 
 Confederacy. Others regarded us with ap- 
 prehension and begged to be spared from 
 robbery. I assured them they would be safe 
 from that. Many of the buildings were 
 found to have been much injured by our 
 artillery, but such as are needed for public 
 use can be taken at once with slight repairs. 
 My command on the reconnaissance behaved 
 with remarkable promptness and energy, and 
 deserved to be the first, as they were, of our 
 army to enter the city. 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 JOHN COBTTBN. 
 
 Col. fSd Ind M Commanding Brigade. 
 
70 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 As a member of the grand old 2d brigade 
 I in common with the other boys of the 19th 
 Michigan felt proud that we were the first 
 to enter the Gate City of the South, and the 
 point for which we had so long been strug- 
 gling. 
 
 Not long after the occupation of the city 
 Gen: Sherman issued an order directing 
 all citizens to leave Atlanta (north or south) 
 within twelve days. In order to allow the 
 inhabitants a chance to leave the city Gen. 
 Sherman proposed an armistice of ten 
 days, which was accepted by Gen. Hood, 
 then encamped near Lovejoy's, in the follow- 
 ing letter : 
 
 HEADQUARTERS ARMY OP TENNESSEE, 
 OFFICE CHIEF OF STAFF, September 5, 1864. 
 
 MAJ.-GEN. SHEKMAN, commanding TJ. S. 
 
 forces in Georgia : 
 
 General^ Your letter of yesterday's date, 
 borne by James W. Ball and James K. Chen, 
 citizens of Atlanta, is received. You say 
 therein, "I deem it to be to the best inter- 
 est of the United States that the citizens 
 residing in Atlanta should remove," etc. I 
 do not consider that I have any alternative 
 in the matter. I therefore accept your 5 prop- 
 osition to declare a truce of ten days, or 
 such time as may be necessary to accomplish 
 
SURRENDER OP ATLANTA. 71 
 
 the purpose mentioned, and shall render all 
 the assistance in my power to expedite the 
 transportation of citizens in this direction. 
 I suggest that a staff officer be appointed to 
 superintend the removal from the city to 
 Rough and Ready, while I appoint a similar 
 officer to control their removal farther south ; 
 that a guard of a hundred men be sent by 
 either party as you propose to maintain 
 order at that place, and that the removal be- 
 gin next Monday. And now, sir, permit me 
 to say that the unprecedented measure you 
 propose transcends in studied and ingenious 
 cruelty all acts ever before brought to my 
 attention in the dark history of war. In the 
 name of God and humanity I protest, believ- 
 ing that you will find you are expelling from 
 their homes and firesides the wives and chil- 
 dren of a brave people. 
 
 I am, General, very respectfully, your obe- 
 dient servant, J. B. HOOD. 
 
 But old Uncle Billy is as good at writing 
 as fighting, and gave Gen. Hood the follow- 
 ing return shot : 
 
 HDQRS. MIL. Div. OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 
 IN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GA., September 10, 1864. 
 
 GEN. J. B. HOOD, commanding Army of the 
 Tennessee, Confederate army : 
 General, I have the honor to acknowledge 
 
72 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 the receipt of your letter at the hands of 
 Messrs. Ball and Chen, consenting to the 
 arrangements I had proposed to facilitate 
 the removal south of the people of Atlanta 
 who prefer to go in that direction. I inclose 
 you a copy of my orders, which I am satis- 
 fied accomplish my purpose perfectly. You 
 style the message proposed unprecedented, 
 and appeal to the dark history of war for a 
 parallel as an act of studied and ingenious 
 cruelty. It is not unprecedented, for Gen. 
 Johnston himself very wisely and properly 
 removed the families all the way from Dai- 
 ton, and I see no reason why Atlanta should 
 be excepted. Nor is it necessary to appeal 
 to the dark history of war, when recent and 
 modern examples are so handy. You your- 
 self burned dwelling houses along your para- 
 pet, and I have seen to-day fifty houses that 
 you have rendered uninhabitable because 
 they stood in the way of your forts and men. 
 You defended Atlanta on a line so close to 
 the town that every cannon shot and many 
 musket shots from our line of intrenchments 
 that overshot their mark went into the habi- 
 tations of women and children. Gen. Hardee 
 did the same thing at Jonesboro, and Gen. 
 Johnston did the same last summer at Jack- 
 son, Mississippi. I have not accused you of 
 
SURRENDER OF ATLANTA. 73 
 
 heartless cruelty, but merely instanced those 
 cases of very recent occurrence, and could go 
 on and enumerate hundreds of others and 
 challenge any fair man to judge which of us 
 has the heart of pity for the families of 
 " brave people." I say it is a kindness to 
 these families of Atlanta to remove them 
 now at once from scenes that women and 
 children should not be exposed to, and the 
 brave people should scorn to commit their 
 wives and children to the rude barbarians 
 who thus, as you say, violate the laws of 
 war, as illustrated in the dark pages of its 
 history. 
 
 In the name of common sense I ask you 
 not to appeal to a just God in such a sacri- 
 legious manner. You who in the midst of 
 peace and prosperity have plunged a nation 
 into civil war " dark and cruel war " who 
 dared and badgered us to battle, insulted 
 our flag, seized our arsenals and forts that 
 were left in the honorable custody of a 
 peaceful ordnance sergeant, seized and made 
 prisoners of war the very garrison sent to 
 protect your people against negroes and In- 
 dians long before any overt act was com- 
 mitted by the "to you" hateful Lincoln 
 government, tried to force Kentucky and 
 Missouri into the rebellion in spite of them- 
 
74: THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 selves, falsified the vote of Louisiana, turned 
 loose your privateers to plunder unarmed 
 ships, expelled Union families by the thou- 
 sand, burned their houses and declared by act 
 of Congress the confiscation of all debts due 
 northern men for goods had and received. 
 Talk thus to the marines, but not to me who 
 have seen those things, and will this day 
 make as much sacrifice for the peace and 
 honor of the South as the best born south- 
 erners among you. If we must be enemies 
 let us be men, and fight it out as we propose 
 to-day and not deal in such hypocritical ap- 
 peals to God and humanity. God will judge 
 me in good time, and he will pronounce 
 whether it will be more humane to fight with 
 a town full of women and families of a 
 "brave people" at our backs or to remove 
 them in time to places of safety among their 
 own friends and people. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, "W. T. SHEEMAN, 
 
 Major-General. 
 
 On September 21st, Col. John Coburn's 
 term of service having expired, he was mus- 
 tered out and took leave of the brigade by 
 issuing the following address : 
 
SUBEENDEB OF ATLANTA. 75 
 
 HDQRS. SD BRIG., SD Div., SOra A. C., 
 
 ATLANTA, GA., September 20, 1864. 
 
 Soldiers of the %d Brigade, My term of 
 service has expired and I am about to be 
 separated from you. We have been associ- 
 ated as a brigade almost two years. "We 
 have borne in that time all the burdens and 
 endured all the trials and hardships of war 
 together. This especially has made us 
 friends, such friends as only suffering and 
 trials together can make. In that time you 
 have shared an eventful part in the great 
 struggle of the age. In Kentucky, Tennes- 
 see and Georgia you have nobly illustrated 
 the history of your own states, Indiana, 
 Michigan and Wisconsin. That history can- 
 not be written without a record of your calm 
 patience, disciplined endurance and heroic 
 daring. The bloody and desperate battle of 
 Thompson's Station, and the successful fights 
 at Franklin, Tenn., gave early proof of 
 your valor, while in the past campaign, at 
 Resaca, Cassville, New Hope Church, Gol- 
 gotha, Gulp's Farm, Peach Tree Creek and 
 Atlanta, you have in the front of the fight 
 borne straight onward your victorious ban- 
 ner. At New Hope Church the fury of your 
 onset redeemed the day's disaster. At Peach 
 Tree Creek your charge rivaled the most 
 
76 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 famous feats of arms in the annals of war, 
 and at Atlanta your ranks were the first to 
 climb the works of the enemy and take 
 possession of that renowned city. The 33d 
 Indiana at "Wild Cat fought the first battle 
 and gained the first victory won by the army 
 of the Cumberland, and the united brigades 
 fired the last shot at the flying foe as he fled 
 from his stronghold in Atlanta. But not 
 alone in the stormy and fiery fight have you 
 been tried. You have, by long marches, by 
 Herculean labors upon field works, by cheer- 
 ful obedience, by watching that knew no 
 surprise, and by toil that knew no rest or 
 weariness, eclipsed the fame of your daring 
 in battle, and placed high above the glitter 
 of victorious armies the steady light of your 
 solid virtues. We have lived together as 
 brethren in a great common cause. We 
 part, our hearts glowing with the same 
 patriotic ardor, and hereafter, when the war 
 is over, we will have no prouder memories 
 than those associated with this brigade. 
 Your comrades in arms are sleeping beneath 
 the clods of the valley from the Ohio to 
 Atlanta, and from Atlanta to Kichmond. 
 Faithful, patient and brave, they have given 
 to their country and to God whatever mar- 
 tyrs and heroes can give. And, as one by 
 
SURRENDER OF ATLANTA. 77 
 
 one they fell out from your glorious ranks, 
 they have added new testimony to the 
 sacredness of your cause. My friends and 
 soldiers, farewell. JOHN COBURN, 
 
 Col. 33d 2nd. Vol., Commanding Brigade. 
 
 The boys hated to give Col. Coburn up. 
 He had been our brigade commander from 
 the time I enlisted. He was a thorough 
 soldier, and a gentleman under all circum- 
 stances. He was always in front when there 
 was any fighting to do. I remember well 
 his riding along the line of battle amid a 
 storm of bullets, and the boys cheered him 
 to the echo. He was always careful not to 
 rush his men into unnecessary danger, so that 
 when he told us to charge we knew there 
 was something important to accomplish, and 
 did our level best. I believe Col. Coburn is 
 remembered affectionately by every member 
 of his command The last I heard of him 
 he still survived, and was living in Indiana. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MAECH TO THE SEA. 
 
 This account of my war experience is 
 merely introductory to the main design of 
 my book, and I consequently abbreviate it as 
 much as possible. Sherman's march to the 
 sea has been written of by hundreds, and it 
 is hardly necessary for me to go into details 
 of what I saw, heard and did during that 
 memorable march. It was, however, a 
 remarkable experience for every man who 
 took part in it. I was still but a boy, being 
 only eighteen years old, and I entered into 
 all the excitements of that grand adventure 
 with all the zest of boyhood, although I had 
 all the sterner duties of the soldier to attend 
 to in the meanwhile. I could write a volume 
 concerning the experiences of that campaign, 
 but this, as I said, is not my design now, and 
 I will content myself with a brief outline of 
 what came under my observation. 
 
 We broke camp on the 14th of November, 
 
 1864, and leaving the fire-swept city of 
 
 Atlanta in our rear we turned our faces 
 
 toward the Atlantic. I was detailed_early 
 
 78 
 
MARCH TO THE SEA. 79 
 
 on the march to act with the foraging party 
 for our company. I got hold of a mule, and 
 in a very short time I was recognized as an 
 expert "bummer," and our mess fared as 
 well as any in the army. The route of our 
 division lay through Stone Mountain, Social 
 Circle, Kutledge and Madison, and from 
 thence on to Milledgeville, which place we 
 reached on the 21st. We laid here two days. 
 The marching was tedious, but a general 
 good humor prevailed among the soldiers, 
 and none of us doubted that we would get 
 through all right. Nothing of stirring inter- 
 est occurred until we reached Savannah. 
 We camped in the pine forests near Savan- 
 nah for some time, living on rice and the 
 bluest of beef. The boys were ragged and 
 weather beaten, but in good spirits. We felt 
 that the war was about coming to a close. 
 After capturing Savannah, on New Year's 
 night, 1865, we crossed the Savannah river 
 and camped on Gen. Hardee's plantation. 
 After this events followed each other in 
 rapid succession. The old Confederacy was 
 evidently becoming as ragged as the uni- 
 forms of some of our boys. I witnessed the 
 burning of Columbia. 
 
 I did not go to Charleston, being engaged 
 when that hotbed of secession was captured 
 
80 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 in destroying the Augusta railroad. Our 
 method of rendering railroad iron useless 
 was to place the bars on a pile of ties and set 
 fire to it. When red hot we twisted them 
 around trees like bracelets. The burning of 
 Columbia was an awful spectacle. The hor- 
 rors of war as seen upon the battle-field 
 strewn thick with the bodies of the dead and 
 dying we had in a certain sense become 
 hardened to, but the sight of a whole city 
 full of helpless women and children burned 
 out of their homes on a winter night, and 
 filling the streets with their cries of lamen- 
 tation, touched every heart ( that was not 
 dead to all appeals of human sympathy. I 
 was in the city, but had no disposition to ex- 
 ercise my " burning " talents that night. I 
 did all I could to protect the women and 
 children. I must now relate my last experi- 
 ence in actual battle. The engagement is 
 known in history as the battle of Averys- 
 boro. I was absent from the column when 
 the fight began at a mill getting meal ground 
 for the company. The rebels cut the dam 
 and drowned us out. We ran to our horses, 
 and when we got to them the water was 
 three feet deep where they were tied in the 
 timber. We mounted and started back to 
 where the column was. Some rebels lying 
 
MARCH TO THE SEA. 81 
 
 in ambuscade on a little creek we had to 
 cross fired on us. My horse was shot through 
 the shoulders and fell on me. I received se- 
 vere injuries, from which I have not yet re- 
 covered. I managed to regain my feet, fired 
 a couple of shots in the direction irom which 
 the firing had come, and then made my way 
 to the creek, and was lucky enough to find a 
 riderless mule, which I made haste to mount, 
 and with the mule and two sacks of meal I 
 found my way to the column, which was 
 lying behind a hastily-built line of breast- 
 works. 
 
 The next place we struck was Goldsboro, 
 the rebels having fallen back. We remained 
 here in camp a long time. The army then 
 moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where it 
 remained until the surrender of Johnston. 
 At Raleigh we met our old company com- 
 mander, George Shoffer, then promoted to 
 be colonel of the 28th Michigan infantry. 
 He was glad to see his old company. 
 
 After the surrender there seemed to be a 
 chance for us to go home, and there was gen- 
 eral rejoicing throughout the army. Then 
 followed the long and tedious march to Rich- 
 mond. 
 
 As western soldiers we felt a curiosity to 
 view the scenes of the exploits of our eastern 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 brothers, of which we had seen such flaming 
 accounts in the papers. The fortifications 
 about Richmond showed clearly what a dif- 
 ficult work the army of the Potomac had to 
 perform in their capture. We camped near 
 the scene of Sheridan's great fight at Five 
 Forks. The evidences of the terrible strug- 
 gle which had been carried on for four years 
 in Virginia were visible on every side. In 
 many forests through which we passed the 
 trees were sticking full of musket balls, of 
 cannon shot and of shell. We rode over one 
 battle-field where it was said Hancock's corps 
 had met the rebels, and the dead in large 
 numbers, both Union and Confederate, yet 
 lay unburied on the ground. The stench was 
 horrible. I rode over the field in company 
 with our regimental surgeon, Dr. Trobridge. 
 We marched on to Washington City, where 
 the grand military parade which has been 
 too often described to need more than men- 
 tion took place. 
 
 The review exceeded every one that the 
 army had previously participated in. The 
 moving sea of humanity, the magnificent 
 condition of the troops, and the glittering 
 paraphernalia of war, prancing steeds gaily 
 caparisoned, loud- swelling music bursting in 
 harmonious strains from superb bands, the 
 
MARCH TO THE SEA. S3 
 
 flaunting of battle-scarred colors, all formed 
 a kaleidoscopic picture which words cannot 
 paint. The chief point of interest, aside 
 from the mass of soldiery, was the review- 
 ing officers, among whom stood President 
 Johnson, the invincible Grant, the bold Sher- 
 man, the daring Logan and other officers 
 both state and military, of no little distinc- 
 tion. This was the crowning review of Gen. 
 Sherman's army. 
 
 After the review we camped back of Fort 
 Lincoln and drew new clothing. Camp life 
 here was very pleasant. The time of our 
 regiment, the 19th Michigan, having expired, 
 the original members were ordered home to 
 be mustered out ; but I, in company with 63 
 others, who were recruited later, were trans- 
 ferred for service in the 10th regiment of 
 veteran volunteer infantry. We understood 
 from the papers that we were to go to Mex- 
 ico to fight Maximilian. This turn of af- 
 fairs had a tendency to make us homesick. 
 The transfer was made. The 10th regiment 
 was ordered to Louisville, and took the cars 
 for Parkersburg and there embarked on 
 boats and changed at Buffer's Island (the 
 point at which Morgan crossed 'in begin- 
 ning his raid) to larger boats, which landed 
 us in Louisville. We were pleasantly 
 
84: THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 situated in Louisville, and spent our 
 4th of July there. I was discharged from 
 military service the 1st day of August, 1865. 
 When we got to Jackson, Mich., I saw there 
 would be some days' delay over our disband- 
 ment, and remembering the ten days' fur- 
 lough my recruiting officer had promised, 
 and which I did not get, I went to our old 
 colonel and told him I thought it was a 
 good time to work it in, as my parents only 
 lived a short distance away. 
 
 I went home that very day, and found 
 everything pretty much as I had left it. Of 
 course father and mother and all were glad 
 to -see me, and to be once more at the old 
 homestead was a pleasure as great as any I 
 have ever felt. I also found brother John 
 at home, he having previously been mustered 
 out. I returned to Jackson and got my dis- 
 charge. The state gave us a public recep- 
 tion which was very grand and imposing. 
 Every one seemed desirous to do honor to 
 the soldiers who had endured so much to 
 maintain the Union. Thus closed my career 
 as a soldier for Uncle Sam. I have served 
 the old gentleman for many years since, but 
 in a different capacity, as you will learn from 
 the further pages of this book, 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE WAR. 
 
 Just after the battle of Dallas Woods, as 
 "Walter C., of company K, was upon the 
 skirmish line, he asked a rebel picket who 
 was at some distance from him, " What gun 
 is that you are shooting with? " 
 
 " Enfield rifle," was the reply. 
 
 " Where did you get it ? " 
 
 " At Chickamauga," he replied, and then 
 asked, " What gun is that you are shooting 
 with?" 
 
 " The Mississippi rifle," replied Walter. 
 
 " Where did you get it ? " continued 
 Johnnie. 
 
 " At Resaca," was the reply. 
 
 Thus closed the controversy, and they 
 again resumed hostilities by firing at each 
 other. The anecdote will be better appre- 
 ciated when it, is known that the rebels were 
 defeated at Dallas Woods, and Federals at 
 Chickamauga, 
 
 When the Chattahoochee river divided the 
 Federal army from the Confederates hostili- 
 ties apparently had closed, and the " boys" of 
 85 
 
86 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 both armies who were on the skirmish line 
 became quite friendly. Frequently some of 
 the Federals would swim the river, and 
 agreeably to the custom exchange coffee, 
 sugar, etc., for tobacco. A Johnnie asked a 
 Yank, "Who commands the army on the 
 north side of the river ? " 
 
 " Gen. Sherman," the Yank replied. 
 
 " He commands our army too," continued 
 the Johnnie. "Every time he commands 
 his army forward we fall back." 
 
 During the terrible conflict at Peach Tree 
 creek both armies became so despente and 
 determined that the men were sometimes 
 engaged in a hand-to-hand conflict. This 
 was the case in that part of the line filled by 
 the 2d brigade, 3d division, 20th army corps. 
 
 Sherman's army will not soon forget what 
 occurred on the 20th, 22d and 28th days of 
 July, 1864, near Atlanta the fierceness and 
 determination with which Hood fought to 
 hold the city. But there is one incident con- 
 nected with these engagements which has 
 perhaps been forgotten, but is worth preser- 
 vation that future generations may know the 
 nature of Gen. Hood, his fondness for fighting, 
 etc. He was also sanguine, and it is said he was 
 unusually so at Peach Tree creek. His defeat 
 made him desperate, and upon his return to 
 
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR. 87 
 
 the city of Atlanta he summoned a number 
 of his officers together for counsel. A fair 
 supply of whisky was at hand, and after they 
 had partaken of it freely the General became 
 quite hilarious, forgetting to some extent, 
 doubtless, the disaster of his army on the 
 20th. He remarked, " Well, comrades, we 
 did excellent fighting in the center of Sher- 
 man's army ; let us try again on the left." 
 Orders were at once issued to this effect, and 
 on the 22d another fight was had, more dis- 
 astrous, if possible, than the first. Again a 
 counsel was had, and after he had come 
 under the influence of whisky he remarked, 
 " We held our own excellently on the 22d ; 
 we must try Sherman on the right on the 
 28th." And so he did, but the result ! The 
 plans and arrangements of midnight revels 
 culminated in a greater sacrifice of life to the 
 rebel army than any three contested battles 
 during the Atlanta campaign. 
 
 After the occupation of Atlanta an order 
 was promulgated directing all citizens to 
 leave Atlanta (north or south) in twelve 
 days. On the day it was issued a gentle- 
 man entered Sherman's office and inquired 
 for Gen. Sherman. The latter answered 
 very promptly, "I am General Sherman." 
 The colloquy was as follows : 
 
88 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 Citizen. " General, I am a northern man 
 from the state of Connecticut ; I have been 
 living at Atlanta nearly seven years ; have 
 accumulated property here, and as I see 
 you have ordered all citizens to leave within 
 twelve days I came to see if you would not 
 make an exception in my case. I fear, if I 
 leave my property will be destroyed." 
 
 Gen. Sherman. " What kind of property 
 do you own ? " 
 
 C "I own a block of stores, three build- 
 ings, a plantation two miles out of town, 
 and a foundry." 
 
 S. " Foundry, eh ! What have you been 
 doing with your foundry ? " 
 
 C. " Have been making castings." 
 
 S. "What kind of castings ? Shot, shell, 
 and all that kind of thing ? " 
 
 C. "Yes, I've made some shot and 
 shell." 
 
 S. " You have been making shot and 
 shell to destroy your country, have you ? and 
 you still claim favor on account of being a 
 northern man ! Yes, sir ; I will make an ex- 
 ception in your case. You shall go south to- 
 morrow morning at sunrise. Adjutant, see 
 that this order is carried out. Orderly, show 
 this man to the door." 
 
 C. " But, General, can't I go north ? " 
 
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR. 89 
 
 S. "No, sir; too many of your class 
 there already, sir." 
 
 The following letter written by Sherman 
 to a southern minister is characteristic of its 
 author, and is an interesting sketch of one 
 of the many pleasing episodes of the war. 
 How very agreeable it must have been to a 
 rebel minister, one clothed with the author- 
 ity of the church and defending the most 
 unholy cause! Imagine you see him read 
 the missive. 
 
 ATLANTA, GA., September 16, 1864. 
 REV. , Confederate army : 
 
 Dear Sir, Your letter of September 14 
 is received. I approach a question involving 
 a title to a horse with deference for the laws 
 of war. That mysterious code, of which we 
 talk so much but know so little, is remark- 
 ably silent on the " horse." He is a beast so 
 tempting to the soldier to him of the wild 
 cavalry, the fancy artillery or the patient in- 
 fantry that I find more difficulty in recov- 
 ering a worthless, spavined beast than in pay- 
 ing a million of greenbacks ; so that I fear 1 
 must reduce your claim to one of finance, 
 and refer you to the great board of claims in 
 Washington, that may reach your case by 
 the time your grandchild becomes a great- 
 grandfather. Privately I think it was a 
 
90 THE OKLAHOMA SOOTTT. 
 
 shabby thing in that scamp of the 31st Mis- 
 souri who took your horse, and his colonel 
 or brigadier should have restored him. But 
 I cannot undertake to make good the sins of 
 omission of my own colonels and brigadiers, 
 much less those of a former generation. 
 When this cruel war is over and peace once 
 more gives you a parish, I will promise, if 
 near you, to procure out of Uncle Sam's 
 corrals a beast that will replace the one 
 taken from you so wrongfully, but now it is 
 impossible. "We have a big journey before 
 us, and need all we have and I fear more, 
 too. So look out when the Yanks are about, 
 and hide your beasts, for my experience is 
 that old soldiers are very careless in a search 
 for a title. I know that Gen. Hardee will 
 confirm this, my advice. With great respect, 
 Yours truly, W. T. SHERMAN. 
 
 Maj.-Gen. Comdg. 
 
 After the march to the sea had been com- 
 menced there was great rejoicing in the 
 higher circles of the Confederacy, and the 
 southern papers contained the following 
 proclamations to the citizens of the state of 
 Georgia : 
 
 To the people of Georgia: Arise for the 
 defense of your native soil. Rally around 
 you patriotic governor and gallant soldiers. 
 
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR. 91 
 
 Obstruct and destroy all the roads in Sher- 
 man's front, flank and rear, and his army 
 will soon starve in your midst. Be confi- 
 dent, be resolute ! Trust in an overruling 
 providence, and success will soon crown your 
 efforts. I hasten to join you in the defense 
 of your homes and firesides. 
 
 G. T. BEAUBEGAED. 
 RICHMOND, November 18, 1864. 
 To the people of Georgia : You have now 
 the best opportunity ever presented to de- 
 stroy the enemy. Put everything at the 
 disposal of our generals, remove all provis- 
 ions from the path of the invader, and put 
 all obstructions in his path. Every citizen 
 with his gun and every negro with his spade 
 and ax can do the work of a soldier. You 
 can destroy the enemy by retarding his 
 march. Georgians, be firm, act promptly, 
 and fear not. I most cordially approve the 
 above. JAMES A. SEDDEN, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 On the night of the llth of November the 
 torch was applied to some of the houses in 
 the city of Atlanta, but not until the 15th 
 was the order given for the destruction of 
 the public buildings, foundries, railroad build- 
 ings and barracks. Eager watchers in camp 
 began to think that the last days of the Gate 
 
^9 THE OKLAHOMA SOOUT. 
 
 City had come. Although the order was 
 confined strictly to the public buildings, 
 yet some of the men would slyly set fire to 
 other buildings. 
 
 The troops left Madison on the morning of 
 the 20th and moved south toward Mill- 
 edgeville, the capital of Georgia, via Eaton- 
 town. Dustin's brigade was deployed as 
 guard four men to the wagon along the 
 wagon train. The roads were in a bad con- 
 dition and it was with much difficulty that 
 the wagons could be moved forward. We 
 arrived at Milledgeville on the morning of 
 the 23d, after having marched all night. 
 Gov. Brown, after vainly urging the legis- 
 lators to seize muskets and defend their 
 homes, fled to Macon in time to escape cap- 
 ture. While in camp here there were a 
 great many who were preparing for another 
 advance, while there were soldiers who had 
 nothing but sightseeing to employ them, and 
 they pursued their investigations to the 
 uttermost recesses of the town. The state 
 library, consisting of several thousand vol- 
 umes, was ransacked by the soldiers of literary 
 tastes and cartloads of books were taken 
 away ; also, the governor's room, the offices 
 of secretary of state, treasurer, attorney- 
 general and other functionaries were rum- 
 
ANECDOTES OF THE WAK. 93 
 
 maged. Some of the boys, in their investi- 
 gation of the rooms of the state house, found 
 in one of them a dezen reams or more of 
 printed notes of all denominations, running 
 all the way from 25 cents to $20, none of 
 them signed. Large quantities of this money 
 afterward circulated in the lower strata of 
 Georgia society for subsistence. 
 
 "While here a number of officers of the 
 20th corps as loyal citizens of Georgia, met 
 in the state house to reconstruct said state. 
 The meeting was called to order and Col. 
 Eobinson, of the 82d Ohio, was called to 
 the chair. The meeting appointed a com- 
 mittee on Federal relations, and while they 
 were preparing resolutions suitable for the 
 occasion some spicy debates took place 
 between the members present in regard to 
 the best way the citizens of Georgia should 
 in future conduct themselves. The com- 
 mittee reported the following resolutions : 
 1. That the ordinance of secession was highly 
 indiscreet and injudicious, and ought to be 
 discouraged. 2. That the aforesaid ordin- 
 ance is a " damn farce," and always was. 3. 
 That aforesaid ordinance ought to be repealed 
 and abrogated. 4. That Sherman's column 
 will play the devil with the ordinance and 
 with the state itself. 
 
94: THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 Gen. Lee having surrendered his army 
 made further resistance on the part of Joe 
 Johnston useless; and without further resist- 
 ance of importance, terms of surrender were 
 agreed upon between him and Gen. Sher- 
 man. Loud shouts were sent heavenward 
 almost simultaneously when the terms of 
 peace were finally consummated and pro- 
 mulgated to the army. But amid all this 
 joy of a nation's overflowing heart came the 
 terrible news of the assassination of Presi- 
 dent Lincoln. The loss of this great and 
 good man was keenly felt by Sherman's 
 army, and it was with much difficulty some 
 of the men could be held in subjection 
 kept from destroying the city. Fortunately 
 the excitement subsided without any action 
 of that kind. 
 
 May 1st, 1865, Sherman's army, after hav- 
 ing been sufficiently supplied with clothing, 
 took up its march homeward bound. The 
 rebellion having been crushed and the rebel 
 troops sent to their homes, a very stringent 
 order was issued prohibiting the "boys" 
 from foraging off the country. Before com- 
 mencing the march Sherman issued an order 
 to the troops to the effect that the marching 
 should not exceed fifteen miles a day. The 
 order was shamefully disregarded by the 
 
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR. 95 
 
 commanding officers of the 14th and 20th 
 corps. The commander of each corps, wish- 
 ing to get into Richmond first, transcended 
 the authority of Gen. Sherman as promul- 
 gated to his army before the march began. 
 Their brief authority so intoxicated them 
 that they became ambitious, vain fools upon 
 this march. On they pushed the march; 
 faster and faster each corps moved along. 
 Many a poor soldier, weary and foot-sore, fell 
 exhausted under the fierce rays of a noonday 
 sun. The soldiers were treated like abject 
 slaves, and like dogs were left to lie by the 
 roadside. On one occasion Dustin's brigade 
 marched twenty miles in less than half a 
 day. The war over, and such cruelty! 
 Every one of the boys of Sherman's army 
 will never forget the last days of that famous 
 march. They will ever regard the uncalled- 
 for hard marches on that occasion as the 
 unkindest cut of all during the war. 
 
 May 9th Dustin's brigade went into camp 
 near Richmond, Va., after having traveled 
 170 miles. May llth the troops took up the 
 line of march to Washington City. While 
 upon this march the troops passed over the 
 memorable battle-fields of Chickahominy, 
 the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, 
 Chancellorsville, in the vicinity of Freder- 
 
96 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 icksburg, crossed Bull Run and made a halt 
 at Alexandria, Ya. The troops remained 
 here but a short time, when they crossed the 
 Potomac on the Long Bridge and took part 
 in the great review of Sherman's army. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 FAREWELL ADDRESSES. 
 GENERAL SHERMAN'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 HDQRS. MIL. Drv. OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., May 30, 1865. 
 
 SPECIAL FIELD ORDER 'No. 76 : 
 
 The General announces to the army of Ten- 
 nessee and Georgia that the time has come for 
 us to part. Our work is done, and armed ene- 
 mies no longer defy us. Some of you will be 
 detained in service until further orders ; and 
 now that we are about to separate to mingle 
 with the civil world it becomes a pleasing 
 duty to recall to mind the situation of national 
 affairs when but a little more than a year ago 
 we were gathered about the towering cliffs of 
 Lookout Mountain, and the future wrapped 
 in doubt and uncertainty. Three armies had 
 come from distant fields with separate histo- 
 ries, yet bound by one common cause the 
 union of our country and the perpetuation of 
 the government of our inheritance. There 
 is no need to recall to your memories Tun- 
 nel Hill, with Bock Face Mountain, Buzzard 
 Boost Gap, with the ugly forts of Dalto 
 97 
 
98 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 behind. "We were earnest and paused not 
 for difficulty and danger, but dashed through 
 Snake Creek Gap and fell on Eesaca ; then 
 on to Etowah, to Dallas, Kenesaw, and the 
 heat of summer found us on the banks of the 
 Chattahoochee, far from home, and dependent 
 on a single road for supplies. Again we were 
 not to be held back by any obstacle, but 
 crossed over and fought four hard battles for 
 the possession of the citadel of Atlanta. This 
 was the crisis of our history. A doubt still 
 clouded our future ; but we solved the prob- 
 lem and destroyed Atlanta, struck boldly 
 across the state of Georgia, severed all the 
 main arteries of life to our enemy, and Christ- 
 mas found us at Savannah. Waiting there 
 only long enough to fill our wagons we again 
 began a march which for peril, labor and re- 
 sults will compare with any ever made by an 
 organized army. The floods of the Savannah, 
 the swamps of the Combahee and Edisto, the 
 high hills and rocks of the Santee, the flat 
 quagmires of the Pedee and Cape Fear rivers, 
 were all passed in midwinter in the face of an 
 accumulating enemy, and after the battles of 
 Averysboro and Bentonville we once more 
 came out of the wilderness to meet our friends 
 at Goldsboro. Even there we paused only 
 long enough to get new clothing, to reload 
 
FAREWELL ADDRESSES. 
 
 our wagons, and again pushed on to Ealeigh 
 and beyond, until we met our enemy suing for 
 peace instead of war, and offering to submit 
 to the injured laws of his and our country. 
 As long as that enemy was defiant, no mount- 
 ains, nor swamps, nor rivers, nor hunger, nor 
 cold had checked us ; but when he who had 
 fought us hard and persistently offered sub- 
 mission, your General thought it wrong to 
 pursue them farther, and negotiations fol- 
 lowed, as you all know, in his surrender. 
 How far the operations have contributed to 
 the final overthrow of the Confederacy and 
 the peace which now dawns upon us must be 
 judged by others, not by us ; but that you 
 have done all that men could do has been 
 admitted by those in authority, and we have 
 a right to join in the universal joy that fills 
 our land because the war is over and our gov- 
 ernment stands vindicated before the world 
 by the joint action of the volunteer armies of 
 the United States. To such as remain in the 
 military service your General need only re- 
 mind you that success in the past was due to 
 hard work and discipline, and that the same 
 work and discipline are equally important in 
 the future. To such as go home he will only 
 say that our favored country is so grand, so 
 extensive, so diversified in climate, soil and 
 
100 THE OKLAHOMA SOOUT. 
 
 productions, that every man may find a home 
 and occupation suitable to his taste, and none 
 should yield to the natural impatience sure 
 to result from our past life of excitement and 
 adventure. You will be invited to seek new 
 adventure abroad ; but do not yield to the 
 temptation, for it will lead only to disap- 
 pointment and death. 
 
 Your General now bids you farewell, with 
 the full belief that as in war you have been 
 good soldiers, so in peace you will be good 
 citizens, and if, unfortunately, new war 
 should arise in our country, " Sherman's 
 army " will be the first to buckle on the old 
 armor and come forth to defend and maintain 
 the government of our inheritance and choice. 
 W. T. SHERMAN, Maj.-Gen. 
 
 GEN. DUSTINGS FAREWELL ADDRESS. 
 
 HDQRS. SD BRIG., 3o Drv., 20TH A. C., 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., June 6, 1865. 
 
 OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE 2o BRIGADE: 
 
 My own regiment, the 105th Illinois volt 
 unteers, having been mustered out of the 
 service, my connection with this brigade is 
 necessarily dissolved. My grateful acknowl- 
 edgments are due you for the uniform kind- 
 ness and respect that have been extended to 
 me during the time I l*aV3 had the honor to 
 
: 
 
 IBMY FORAGE PILE. 
 
FAJREWELL ADDRESSES. 101 
 
 be your commanding officer. All honor to 
 the 2d brigade for the gallant and noble 
 manner in which it has sustained its position 
 in that magnificent line of battle that has 
 ultimately closed in, surrounded, fought, 
 conquered and destroyed the great rebellion. 
 As you have in an especial manner so bravely 
 withstood the hardships and dangers of a 
 long and bloody war, so you will be the 
 sharers in an eminent degree of the glorious 
 results consequent upon the brilliant and 
 sublime combination of victories with which 
 the terrible conflict has been brought to a 
 close. It is with proud satisfaction you may 
 exclaim, " Now let test thou thy servant de- 
 part in peace, for our eyes have seen the 
 salvation of our country." With expressions 
 of profound sorrow for the fate of your 
 brave comrades who have fallen, my kindest 
 feelings of respect and esteem will go with 
 those of you who are about to return to your 
 homes, and will also linger with those who 
 may remain in the service. God bless you 
 all and crown your future with that full 
 measure of peace, prosperity and happiness 
 which you so richly deserve. 
 
 DANIEL DTJSTIN. 
 
 Bvt. Brig. -Gen. 
 
102 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 GEH. SLOCTTM'S FAREWELL ADDEESS. 
 
 HDQKS. ARMY OF GEORGIA, 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., June 6, 1865. 
 
 GENERAL ORDER No. 15 : 
 
 With the separation of the troops com- 
 posing this army, in compliance with recent 
 orders, the organization known as the Army 
 of Northern Georgia will virtually cease to 
 exist. Many of you will at once return to 
 your homes. No one now serving as a vol- 
 unteer will probably be detained in service 
 against his will much longer. All will soon 
 be permitted to return and receive the re- 
 wards due them as the gallant defenders of 
 their country. While I cannot repress a feel- 
 ing of sadness in parting with you, I congrat- 
 ulate you upon the grand results achieved 
 by your valor, fidelity and patriotism. No 
 generation has done more for the permanent 
 establishment of a just and liberal form of 
 government more for the honor of their 
 nation than has been done during the past 
 four years by the armies of the United 
 States and the patriotic people at home, who 
 have poured out their wealth in support of 
 these armies with a liberality never before 
 witnessed in any country. Do not forget 
 the parting advice of that great chieftain 
 
FAREWELL ADDEESSES. 103 
 
 who led you through your recent brilliant 
 campaigns: "As in war you have been good 
 soldiers, so in peace be good citizens." 
 Should you ever desire to resume the honor- 
 able profession you are about to leave, do 
 not forget that this profession is honorable 
 only when followed in obedience to the 
 orders of the constituted authority of your 
 government. "With feelings of deep grati- 
 tude to each and all of you for your uni- 
 formly soldierly conduct, for the patience 
 and fortitude with which you have borne all 
 the hardships it has been necessary to im- 
 pose upon you, and for the unflinching reso- 
 lution with which you have sustained the 
 holy cause in which you have been engaged 
 I bid you farewell. 
 
 "W. H. SLOCTJM, Maj.-Gen, 
 
CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 AFTER THE WAK OFF TO KANSAS. 
 
 The war was now over. I found myself at 
 home again, only twenty years old, it is true, 
 but with an experience that falls to the lot 
 of few men. "While on battlefields and 
 while undergoing the hardships of fatiguing 
 marches my mind had often turned longingly 
 toward home, and I thought that if there I 
 eould remain contented always. But I soon 
 found that the old farm life, instead of los- 
 ing any of its disagreeable features, had 
 become more irksome than ever. The old 
 hay-field, which seemed so inviting to me 
 away down in Dixie, now resumed its forbid- 
 ding aspect. Still I remained at home for 
 some time and attended school during the 
 winter after my return from the army. In 
 the following spring I went to Saginaw and 
 worked as sawyer in a mill. The hands were 
 a jolly set of fellows and we managed to 
 enjoy life in pretty fair style. I remained at 
 Saginaw during the spring, summer, and fall, 
 when I returned home. My father had con- 
 cluded to emigrate to Kansas. This fell in 
 104 
 
OFF TO KANSAS. 105 
 
 with my views. By this time I had begun to 
 consider how I should provide for myself in 
 life, and as land was high in Michigan my 
 eyes turned to the boundless prairies of 
 Kansas. My willingness to leave Michigan 
 was increased by the terrible misfortune of 
 losing my mother, who died, leaving my 
 father a widower and eight of us motherless. 
 
 She had always been a tender and careful 
 parent, and I mourn her to-day as the best 
 friend I ever had. 
 
 There had always been perfect harmony 
 between mother and father. He was boss 
 outside and made the children toe the mark, 
 but in all matters connected with the man- 
 agement of the house she was supreme, and 
 her slightest wish was heeded. Whatever 
 supplies of provisions for the family or 
 clothing for the children were needed she 
 only had to indicate our wants and they were 
 provided without dispute or debate. To 
 their credit as a married couple be it said I 
 never heard a quarrel of any description be- 
 tween them. I am not stuck on the woman's 
 rights business, but I do believe the wife 
 ought to have an equal say so with the 
 husband in all matters connected with the 
 management of the household. 
 
 In the year 1867 my father moved to 
 
106 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 Platte county, Mo., near Parkville. The 
 winter of 1867-68 I spent in putting up 
 cordwood on the banks of the Missouri river 
 to sell to steamboats. There was money to 
 be made in the business, for cottonwood sold 
 at $8 per cord. The prospects in Kansas ap- 
 pearing more inviting than those Missouri 
 offered, in the spring of 1868 we moved to 
 Kansas. We traveled up the Lawrence 
 road from "Wyandotte to Lawrence. There 
 we met the land agent for the Kansas Pacific 
 Eailroad, who informed us we could get all 
 the government land we wanted close to 
 Topeka there being little or no settlement 
 upon the high lands. It being in the spring 
 of the year the country impressed us as 
 very beautiful. On our way we met 
 families after families returning to Missouri, 
 Indiana and Illinois who had become dis- 
 couraged with the prospect. They informed 
 us that there was no tall grass west of Fort 
 Eiley and Junction City. Junction City at 
 this time was a small place, being only three 
 miles from Fort Eiley. The town did a 
 flourishing business, as it continues to do 
 to this day. Fort Eiley is built of rocks 
 and is the finest post in the Southwest. It 
 is situated at the junction of the Eepublican 
 and Smoky Hill rivers, and is claimed to be 
 
OFF TO KANSAS. 107 
 
 the geographical center of the whole United 
 States. There has been erected a monument 
 to that effect. Both my father and myself 
 were pleased with the place and the country 
 around, but our minds were made up to see 
 Minneapolis, on the Solomon river, there- 
 fore we did not remain at Fort Riley. On 
 our way to Minneapolis we met a battalion 
 of cavalry coming in from their Indian cam- 
 paign, which had been an eventful one, as 
 history shows. The officer of the battalion 
 informed us that the Indians were very bad, 
 and that they would take our stock even if 
 they spared our scalps, which was not pleas- 
 ant news to us tenderfeet. We passed 
 through the town of Abilene on our way, 
 which had a few houses and a blacksmith 
 shop, a hotel, and a small yard for shipping 
 cattle. In the spring of 1869 the McCoy 
 brothers opened up a trail from there to 
 Texas. They had a contract with [the drov- 
 ers to receive $3 per car, and $5 per car from 
 the Kansas Pacific railroad for all through 
 cattle shipped over the road. Out of this 
 contract the McCoy brothers made $265,000 
 in one year. The drive between Abilene and 
 Texas was about 1,200 miles. At this junc- 
 ture the Illinois legislature was in session, 
 and passed a bill forbidding the shipment of 
 
108 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 cattle into that state. This state of affairs 
 was ruinous to the McCoy's business, and 
 they were soon in the halls of the Illinois 
 legislature, where their names became famil- 
 iar to the newspaper-reading world. It is 
 charged that they spent the greater part of 
 Hie $265,000 where they thought it would do 
 the most good, but at the end of the session 
 they found themselves nearly out of money 
 and the embargo still there. This incident 
 may throw some light on the perplexing 
 problem how members of the Illinois legisla- 
 ture manage to subsist on the meager salary 
 they receive. As Oscar "Wilde would say, 
 the McCoy brothers proved "too utterly 
 too." 
 
 At this time there lived upon the banks 
 of the Muddy, Tim Hersey, who was one of 
 the first settlers. To see Abilene to-day one 
 could scarcely believe that the streets at 
 that time were full of bearded men, wearing 
 sombreros, who had come over a 1,200 mile 
 trail through a country filled with hostile In- 
 dians, from Texas, there being no settlements 
 along the entire route. The Indians in those 
 days were on the warpath most of the tune. 
 They would demand cattle, which, if not 
 given, they would take by force, together 
 with horses. There are a few of the drovers 
 
OFF TO KANSAS. 100 
 
 and cowboys of that time living to-day: 
 James and Gid Rowden, the Day brothers, 
 Wm. Lockridge, and the Johnson brothers. 
 They are still interested in the cattle busi- 
 ness in different parts of the country. Nei- 
 ther the cattle nor the cowboys of that day 
 can be compared to their representatives of 
 the present, for it is safe to say that the cow- 
 boys of to-day would not get through with 
 the mess wagon and the stake ropes. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AT DELPHOS ON THE BANKS OF THE SOLOMON 
 EIVER. 
 
 A word of our trip to Minneapolis may 
 prove interesting to those who have taken 
 note of the rapid changes in Kansas. The 
 general aspect of the country was so pleas- 
 ing to me, and the free, off-handed ways of 
 the people I liked so well, that I was fully 
 captivated before I reached the projected 
 point of our journey. I felt willing to settle 
 at any point on the route. The next town 
 we passed through was Solomon City. Like 
 Abilene, it was a small trading post and was 
 situated at the mouth of the Solomon river. 
 The salt well at the junction of the Smoky 
 Hill and Solomon rivers was being operated. 
 The salt works there to-day are the most 
 extensive in the Southwest, the evaporating 
 pans covering some twelve acres of ground. 
 The process of evaporation is carried on by 
 the natural agents, the sun and the wind. 
 
 At the time of our arrival at Minneapolis 
 we found four houses and a dug-out, con- 
 sisting of Dr. McHenry's drug store, Judge 
 110 
 
AT DELPHOS. Ill 
 
 Smith's store, Markley's house and the dug 
 out. On inquiring we found there were 
 plenty of river claims to be had at Delphos 
 postoffice, some thirteen miles distant. 
 We went there and located claims. There 
 were three families who had built a stockade 
 to protect themselves from the Indians, who 
 at the time were very warlike and desperate. 
 Stationed three miles up this river was a 
 camp of state militia, consisting of only ten 
 men. There were but three families of 
 settlers west of this point the Reese broth- 
 ers. We built our cabins, dug wells, and 
 did the necessary breaking of land, but 
 I sold out my claim before I proved it 
 up. Leaving home on the Solomon river I 
 went first to Abilene and there joined an 
 outfit to look for cattle in the southern part 
 of Kansas and the Indian territory. At that 
 date the settlements in the southern part of 
 Kansas were sparse. There were a few 
 settlers on the streams. We traveled the 
 Chisholm trail, but in the meanwhile scour- 
 ing the surrounding country for cattle. I 
 stopped at Fort Sill. While there I learned 
 of a deal on the part of Philander Buckley, 
 beef contractor for the Kiowa and Comanche 
 Indians, which I deem of sufficient impor- 
 tance to maks note of. Buckley had brought 
 
112 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 in a herd of cattle to turn over to the Indian 
 agent, Laurie Tatum, the first Quaker agent 
 among the Kiowas and Comanches. Pre- 
 suming on the innocence of this disciple of 
 "William Penn, Buckley played a little trick 
 which magnified one herd of cattle into two, 
 causing a long-suffering government to pay 
 for two head of cattle where it only received 
 one. This little piece of legerdemain was 
 cleverly managed. Buckley had the cattle 
 rounded up close to a large hill and had men 
 stationed at different points with directions to 
 keep the cattle moving constantly around the 
 hill, and by this means induced the agent to 
 count the same cattle twice, and I think they 
 would have been counted a third time if 
 night had not come on. The officers pre- 
 sent were Capt. Walsh and Gen. Grierson. 
 This incident serves to illustrate the general 
 condition of the country at that time. 
 There was a bold and shrewd class of men 
 around, who were bent on making money 
 and most always succeeded, but, I believe, 
 too frequently by methods resorted to by 
 the ingenious Buckley. 
 
 After acquiring a very valuable experience 
 in the cattle business in the Indian country 
 I returned to my claim on the Solomon. 
 
 In the winter of 1869 I came with a herd 
 
AT DELPHOS. 113 
 
 of cattle, which we wintered in the vicinity 
 of the present site of Halstead, on the 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad. 
 We turned the cattle loose and returned to 
 Abilene. During our absence the city mar- 
 shal, Tom Smith, had met with a fatal acci- 
 dent, by having his head chopped off by a 
 couple of homesteaders whom he had gone 
 to arrest. Life in Kansas in those days was 
 in every respect lively. Adventurous spirits 
 from all parts of the country flocked into 
 the state that seemed to be the land of prom- 
 ise. Still the idea was very prevalent that 
 the climate was too dry to permit the greater 
 part of the uplands from being utilized for 
 agricultural purposes. 
 
 When we first came to the state we met 
 many wagons returning. The men gave a 
 dismal report of the long grass all being 
 played out, and that the land would raise 
 nothing, and so they were going back to their 
 old homes, some in one state and some in 
 another. Most of these belonged to a class 
 of restless and rather shiftless movers, who 
 travel backward and forward over the 
 country, never stopping long enough in one 
 place to take root. But undoubtedly the 
 early Kansas settler met with an abundance 
 of discouragements which required great 
 
114: THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 nerve and resolution to overcome. During 
 my trip to Fort Sill in search of cattle, before 
 spoken of, and afterward, I passed through 
 the present flourishing county of Sedgwick, 
 and that most ambitious and wide-awake of 
 Kansas towns, Wichita. From the beginning 
 Wichita had a marked individuality, which 
 made her noted even in her infancy. The 
 plat of the original town of Wichita was 
 surveyed in 1868. " The Buckhorn tavern," 
 run by Henry Yigus, was the scene of much 
 border revelry. Many of the now solid 
 men of the city then got their start. Those 
 who bought property in those early days 
 and held on to any considerable portion of 
 it are now rich, without any exertion on 
 their part, but from the rapid increase in the 
 value of real estate. 
 
 William Mathewson, now one of the 
 wealthiest men in the place, with a great 
 deal of property in the best portions of the 
 city, was an old timer. He had freighted 
 through Wichita as early as 1860. He 
 crossed the Arkansas river with his wife in 
 1865, and some claim she was the first white 
 woman who ever crossed that stream- 
 In 1872 Wichita became the principal 
 headquarters in Kansas of the Texas cattle 
 business. It was here that the great herds 
 
AT DELPHOS. 115 
 
 from Texas centered. Two million dollars 
 changed hands in the cattle traffic at Wichita 
 that year. Three hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand head of Texas cattle were driven into 
 Sedgwick county that year. At this time 
 Wichita was the livliest town between the 
 two seas. Large sign boards were posted 
 up at the four conspicuous entrances into 
 town bearing this device, " Everything goes 
 in Wichita. Leave your revolvers at police 
 headquarters and get a check. Carrying con- 
 cealed weapons strictly forbidden." Wichita 
 is now a city of nearly 20,000 inhabitants, 
 and contains as orderly a population as any 
 in the state. But anecdotes of these stirring 
 old cowboy days are still current, and are 
 among the first things the stranger hears. 
 I personally knew most of the original set- 
 tlers of Wichita, and number many of them 
 among my friends. 
 
 It was in the fall of 1863 that the Indians 
 had captured Mrs. Morgan and shot her hus- 
 band while he was husking corn in the field. 
 He did not die of the wound, but was able 
 to leave the house during the winter. Mrs. 
 Morgan was recaptured the next spring by 
 Gen. Ouster from the Cheyennes, at the 
 west end of the Wichita mountains, in the 
 Indian territory. There was a jolly set of 
 
116 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 bachelors living in the neighborhood . "We 
 formed a company and went on a buffalo 
 hunt for our winter's meat . Our party con- 
 sisted of myself, George my younger brother, 
 Karnes and his brother, a man by the name 
 of Skinner and his son, and their teams. 
 "We found buffalo about sixty miles from 
 home. 
 
 On the third day out we pitched our camp, 
 and on the fourth we commenced the 
 slaughter. The buffalo were very wild and 
 we only killed four the first day. George 
 Karnes mounted one of his horses and ran 
 on to the herd. He passed near where Skin- 
 ner was stationed, who was watching another 
 herd. Skinner seeing a man on horseback 
 bareheaded took Karnes for an Indian and 
 shot him off his horse. He was not a little 
 shocked when he found it was Karnes and 
 not an Indian he had shot. Karnes fell to 
 the ground and his horse ran into camp, 
 about one and a half miles distant. Skinner 
 remained with Karnes and tried to carry him 
 into camp. He was shot in the neck, and 
 the ball lodged near the spinal column. I 
 was close to camp and saw the horse come 
 in. I at once got upon him and commenced 
 to search for his rider. I had nearly reached 
 the spot where he fell when I met Skinner, 
 
AT DELPHOS. 117 
 
 who told me what had happened. "We put 
 Karnes upon the horse and brought him into 
 camp. That night I took my team and 
 drove all night and reached home about 
 noon. There we changed teams and drove 
 on to Minneapolis, where the ball was cut 
 out of Karnes' neck by Dr. McHenry. 
 After a time he recovered, and I think is liv- 
 ing to-day. Karnes' father had been killed 
 by the Indians the year before, whose sad 
 fate nearly caused the death of his aged 
 mother. 
 
CHAPTEK XIY. 
 
 SKIRMISH WITH INDIANS. 
 
 The next spring Karnes, McDowell and 
 myself went to look for horses up the Solo- 
 mon river. McDowell was in the lead. We 
 saw him dismount and lead his horse down 
 the hill. He motioned us to come to him, 
 which we did as quietly as possible. He told 
 us there were four Indians sitting around a 
 fire just over the hill. They were cooking 
 some meat. Karnes wanted to kill them. So 
 it was agreed that we should all creep upon 
 them, and that one should count one, two, 
 three, when all should fire. But before the 
 word was given one of the guns went off ac- 
 cidently, which caused the others to fire. 
 The result was that neither of us killed an 
 Indian. 
 
 We were obliged to return home, not hav- 
 ing found any horses. The Indians had 
 driven them off. During the summer I 
 herded cattle on Pipe creek for Sherman & 
 Wells. In the fall I went to the big bend of 
 the Missouri river, above Council Bluffs, with 
 a large herd of cattle. I remained with the 
 118 
 
SKIRMISH WITH INDIANS. 119 
 
 herd until late in the winter and then returned 
 to Abilene, where I remained until spring. 
 From Abilene I went to Salina and herded 
 cattle until about the 1st of August, 1871. 
 About the 18th of August I, in company 
 with five others, left our homes on the Solo- 
 mon river to kill buffalo for their tallow, for 
 which the Kansas Pacific Kailroad Company 
 was paying fifteen cents a pound to use on 
 their trains as grease. "We traveled up the 
 Solomon river to Oak creek, and camped 
 near the present town of Cawker City. Here 
 we killed some deer. There were plenty of 
 buffalo in the country, but they were all in 
 motion. Some of them came near running 
 off our stock. Bill McDowell and I both 
 thought at the time that there were Indians 
 in the vicinity on account of the restlessness 
 of the buffalo. We were compelled to sit 
 up late at night shooting into the herd of 
 buffalo in order to keep them from stamped- 
 ing our stock. It was an immense herd. 
 The earth shook under their tread, and the 
 noise was heard like the roar of distant 
 thunder for miles. Some idea of their num- 
 ber may be gathered from the fact that they 
 were four hours passing our camp, and there 
 was no telling how wide the column was. 
 Before dark we could see buffalo in every 
 
120 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 direction as far as the eye could reach. The 
 next morning we went south to look for 
 the buffalo on the north fork of the Solo- 
 mon, traveling about fifteen miles. When 
 we got there we noticed moccasin tracks in 
 the sand along the river, where the Indians 
 had dismounted to get water We found a 
 convenient place close to the river to camp 
 and suitable for rendering out our tallow. 
 The country was black with buffalo. That 
 afternoon we got things ready to do big 
 work the next day, but managed to kill 
 eight or ten buffalo which were very fat. 
 The next morning McDowell and myself, 
 who did the hunting, killed eighteen by 11 
 o'clock. It was very warm and we had no 
 water, as the buffalo staid away from the 
 river until the middle of the day. The tal- 
 low has to be cut from the carcass shortly 
 after it is killed to keep it from souring. 
 After doing this I told McDowell I was 
 going to camp, being extremely thirsty and 
 on the verge of sunstroke. I think this reso- 
 lution saved both our lives. McDowell was 
 so thirsty he drank some blood. Our guns 
 by this time were very dirty . "We struck the 
 river some distance from camp, and waded 
 in the water some distance to cool ourselves 
 and drink all we wanted. We got to camp 
 
SKIRMISH WITH INDIANS. 121 
 
 and told them where they would find the 
 tallow and some of the nicest meat they had 
 ever seen. Four of them started with a 
 team to haul it in. They were absent about 
 an hour and a half. In the meantime I had 
 cleaned my gun and fixed a place to smoke 
 meat. Shortly after the party returned with 
 the meat one of them looked up and ex- 
 claimed, " What is that ? " 
 
 I was at the time lying on the ground hav- 
 ing been asleep. I heard him say they were 
 women, and I knew at once they were Indians, 
 for there were to my certain knowledge no 
 women in that country ; but the calico shirts 
 and long, streaming hair of the red devils 
 had caused the tenderfoot to conclude they 
 were females. I jumped to my feet, told 
 them to tie their horses, and for each man to 
 get his own gun. It was a lucky thing we 
 were all in camp together. Old man Doty 
 still insisted they were women, even if they 
 were Indians, but McDowell said : 
 
 " Women ! You'll find out in two minutes 
 whether they are women or not." 
 
 Where we had killed the buffalo was on 
 the opposite side of the river, some two miles 
 from camp. The Indians had been attracted 
 by the firing, and had seen the men with the 
 wagon hauling off the meat and tallow, and 
 
 
 
122 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 had followed them, keeping on the opposite 
 side of the river, and evidently bent on fright- 
 ening them from the timber. They forded 
 the river about three hundred steps north of 
 our camp. The Indians evidently thought 
 the men with the wagon were farther from 
 camp than was the fact, and expected to at- 
 tack them when away from the timber, where 
 they could bring in play the Cheyenne tactics 
 of riding around in a circle and shooting at 
 their leisure, and with comparative safety to 
 themselves, by keeping on the opposite side 
 of their horses. As soon as the Indians saw 
 us they commenced firing from a distance of 
 about two hundred yards. The first bullet 
 struck a tree about a foot above the head of 
 young Doty, and evidently startled him con- 
 siderably. His dodging would have done 
 credit to a duck, but nevertheless he stood 
 the firing like a man. One of the men, how- 
 ever, was so badly scared as to become de- 
 moralized. He thought the best place to 
 fight from was under the wagon. His idea 
 was to shoot the Indians in the legs so they 
 couldn't get up to us. Things began to get 
 lively. McDowell and I hastily finished ty- 
 ing the horses to the wagons and trees so the 
 Indians could not make them break loose. 
 McDowell had also been a soldier in the war 
 
SKIRMISH WITH INDIANS. 123 
 
 of the rebellion, and the sound of the whist- 
 ling bullet was not unfamiliar to his ears. I 
 put a few plain words to my friend under the 
 wagon and then turned my attention to busi- 
 ness, for by this time the Indians made a 
 rush for our camp. They had their war paint 
 on, were naked to their waists, and it was a 
 sight to see them coming at full speed on 
 their fleet ponies with the regular Indian 
 whoop. The covetous devils evidently had 
 an eye on our stock as well as our scalps. As 
 they rushed into camp they goaded our horses 
 with spurs to make them break loose. One 
 fellow, with a light gray blanket, passed near 
 me and thrust his spear into the hip of one 
 of the horses belonging to my valiant friend 
 under the wagon. I gave him a couple of 
 shots with my revolver at close range, not 
 more than two feet. I could see that the pow- 
 der blackened his blanket. His pony carried 
 him off, as they generally tied themselves on 
 their horses before going into battle, but I 
 think those pills must have made him pretty 
 sick. The situation was mighty lively for a 
 couple of hours. The Indians kept circling 
 around us, clinging to the side of their horses 
 opposite from us, and making demonstrations 
 as if they would come right through camp. 
 We each of us got a tree and shot whenever 
 
124 THB OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 the chance occurred, but were careful not to 
 all shoot at the same time. It was a hot day, 
 and dodging for two or three hours around a 
 cotton wood tree had made us all thirsty, but 
 it was extremely dangerous to leave cover to 
 get water. Finally I could stand it no longer, 
 and seized a coffeepot and taking my gun in 
 hand ran fifty or seventy-five yards to the 
 river. I hadn't much expectation of getting 
 back, but was bound to have water. As it 
 turned out I got the water without injury, 
 Although the redskins treated me to several 
 jshots. During the fighting McDowell and I 
 counseled together and determined to pro- 
 tect our stock to the last, but one of the men 
 said his family could get along better without 
 his horses than they could without him, but 
 our conclusion was that when they got our 
 horses we would be in a condition where we 
 would not need them. Finally the Indians 
 ceased their attack and disappeared. We sus- 
 pected the rascals had gone after help. Mc- 
 Dowell and I went to the top of the bank of 
 the main bottom, about fifty steps from the 
 tree where I was stationed, and peeping over 
 saw about three or four hundred yards off 
 twenty-one Indians sitting in a circle holding 
 a council of war, I told McDowell I was 
 
SKIRMISH WITH INDIANS. 
 
 going to get one more shot in while they sat 
 there. 
 
 He said: " All right ; let us take a man 
 apiece and help them to jump up," I 
 rested my gun on a buffalo chip, took as 
 good aim as I knew how and fired. Both of 
 our guns went off about the same time. We 
 only had muzzle-loading guns, and had to 
 rush back to cover to reload. I never knew 
 what effect our shots had, but there was 
 lively jumping among the Indians, who 
 mounted their horses and were in our camp 
 .almost as soon as McDowell and myself 
 were. We got to our trees and made it so 
 warm for them that they soon backed out. 
 One man said he thought they would let us 
 alone if we would give up our horses, but 
 that we were not going to do. 
 
 The Indians came at us again. One, more 
 bold than the rest, tried to creep up on us. 
 He was coming toward the tree where Mc- 
 Dowell was stationed. He was in the act of 
 rising to his knees to shoot when he got the 
 contents of McDowell's gun in his breast. 
 When the bullet struck him he lunged for- 
 ward, and I thought at one time he was com- 
 ing into camp. But he had his death wound, 
 and after rolling five or six feet down the 
 bank remained quiet. His comrades rushed 
 
126 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 in on their horses, and grabbing him by the 
 belt and hair dragged him off. In the mean- 
 time we got in several additional shots, but 
 whether effective or not we could not tell, as 
 we didn't stop an j of them. But we got the 
 spear, gun and blanket of the Indian Mc- 
 Dowell had shot. These were trophies. I 
 took the lance, one of the Doty boys the 
 gun, and I don't remember what became of 
 the blanket. This happened about 4 o'clock 
 in the afternoon, and the Indians were not 
 so brave as they had been. But they still 
 kept a watch on us and fired an occasional 
 shot. As soon as it became dark we started 
 down the river with our entire outfit. There 
 was at that time a block-house at the forks 
 of the Solomon, built by the troops, which 
 we hastened to reach. We had not been 
 long out of camp before two Indians crossed 
 our trail. They made no hostile demonstra- 
 tions, but hurried away in the darkness. We 
 reached the block-house about 3 o'clock next 
 morning, and to our surprise we found two 
 families there who had come to do work on 
 their claims. When we told them we had 
 been fighting Indians all the afternoon they 
 were very glad of our arrival. About day- 
 break next morning, after we had had break- 
 one of the boys said, "There they go." 
 
SKIRMISH WITH INDIANS. 127 
 
 And sure enough, in three or four hundred 
 yards of the stockade was a band of Indians 
 several hundred in number. We did not 
 stop to parley, but turned lose on them. 
 There were three men we found in the out- 
 fit at the stockade. This reinforcement made 
 us a party of ten, and capable of making a 
 good fight, which the Indians seemed to ap- 
 preciate, for they did not tarry to try con- 
 clusions with us, but passed on northward. 
 Skinner, the man who the season before had 
 shot Karnes off his horse while hunting 
 buffalo because he was riding with his hat off, 
 and whom he mistook for an Indian, here 
 put in some talk about men always shooting 
 at Indians. He said this was the reason the 
 settlers had so much trouble. I told him to 
 wait until I got through shooting at the red- 
 skins and I would wear my gun out over 
 him. "We saw no more of this band 
 of Indians. There was a squadroon of 
 United States cavalry encamped at this 
 time at the Great Spirit springs. Three 
 streams of water run out of the spring, one 
 to the west, one to the north and the third 
 to the east. This was to the Indians a 
 sacred fountain. They threw into it offer- 
 ings of various sorts, bows, arrows, blankets 
 guns, moccasins, robes and other articles to 
 
128 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 propitiate the favor of the Great Spirit, to 
 whom they supposed this spot was peculiarly 
 sacred. It was a place of general resort for 
 the different tribes of Indians. 
 
 We left the stockade the next morning 
 and reached home without further incident 
 deserving mention. After this experience 
 with the Indians I went to Topeka and got 
 a situation with the Wells-Fargo Express 
 Company, and transferred freight from the 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe to the Union 
 Pacific railroad for nearly two years. Dur- 
 ing this period of my life I remember of only 
 one incident that would be of any interest 
 to the public. In the winter of 18Y3 I saved 
 the life of a Catholic priest, who had charge 
 of a little flock at Newman Station. He 
 wanted to take the six o'clock plug train to 
 Kansas City. I heard some one fall against 
 the express office door and thought it might 
 be some one seeking entrance for the pur- 
 pose of robbery. After securing the safe I 
 took my pistol and went out to see wl$t was 
 the matter. I found a man lying close to the 
 platform, right across one rail of the road. 
 The train was due in five minutes, and if I 
 had not found him it certainly would* have 
 crushed him to death. I stepped off the 
 platform, saw the train coining, caught him 
 
SKIRMISH WITH INDIANS. 129 
 
 by the collar, and with one jerk landed him 
 on the platform. The only recognition I 
 received for my timely services was the 
 maudlin remark, " You're too smart, young 
 man." Those were the days of express 
 robberies. I was on a passenger train which 
 was robbed at Muncie, seven miles out of 
 Kansas City, in 1873. Out of curiosity I 
 stuck my head out of the window, when 
 some fellow halloed, " Take it in or I will 
 shoot it off." I complied with his request. 
 McDaniel was one of the parties connected 
 with this robbery. He was arrested and 
 taken to Lawrence. He escaped from jail, 
 but was killed by an old German who dis- 
 covered his hiding place and was trying to 
 arrest him. The name of the conductor on 
 the train was Jake Brinkerhoff , and that of 
 the engineer Bob Murphy. While working 
 for the express company I never knew when 
 to look for a visit from these gentlemen, and 
 always kept a sharp look out. But I never 
 met with any adventure. 
 
 I was employed by Fenlon & "Wilson, of 
 Leavenworth, in 1874, to work with a bull 
 train on the Dodge City and Fort Elliott 
 trail. It was light work and I had a pleas- 
 ant time. I made the acquaintance of some 
 fine fellows at Dodge City, among others Joe 
 
130 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 Mason, who was boss of a bull train for 
 Wright & Kath. We were snowed up for 
 eight days at one time, and the train I 
 worked in laid close to Joe's. We spent 
 the time in hunting turkey and playing monte. 
 It took us twenty-five days to make the trip 
 from Dodge City to Fort Elliott. During 
 the winter I was camped on the headwaters 
 of the north prong of Red river. Fort 
 Elliott is situated on the headwaters of Sweet 
 Water. While in camp here during the 
 winter I had two of my horses stolen by a 
 party of Mexicans. They had come over 
 into the northern part of the state plains the 
 winter before to dry buffalo meat, and while 
 so engaged the notorious Bill Henderson 
 raided their camp, burning all their wagons 
 and stealing all their horses and cattle, about 
 600 in number. In retaliation the Mexicans 
 were picking up horses belonging to any one 
 in that vicinity, and pounced on two of mine. 
 I followed the outfit to Fort Sill, across 200 
 miles of country without a solitary house or 
 camp. Nothing crossed this region only 
 roving bands of Indians. With the assist- 
 tance of Jack Stillwell, government scout at 
 Fort Sill, I recovered my horses, but one was 
 so jaded I left him behind and bought an- 
 other animal and started back to Fort Elliott 
 
fiKIEMISH WITH INDIANS. 131 
 
 on that long, lonely ride. I encountered the 
 severest storms it has ever been my lot to 
 be out in. I had got about fifty miles from 
 Fort Sill when it commenced raining and 
 blowing. Salt Slough, at the west end of the 
 Wichita mountains, was the only place I 
 could camp, as there was no grass anywhere 
 else, the whole country being burned over. 
 About noon I saw some Indian tracks across 
 the trail and concluded not to stop for din- 
 ner. There was no wood of any kind in that 
 vicinity, and the buffalo chips were by this 
 time so wet they would not burn, so I could 
 not get supper. Toward midnight the wind 
 got in the north. The rain froze as fast as 
 it fell. The horses became so cold they 
 'pulled up their stake pins. I had to tie them 
 together and sit up and hold them to keep 
 them from getting away. All this time the 
 jyind was getting higher, and it began to 
 snow furiously. I was nearly frozen, and 
 would have endeavored to travel in the night, 
 but before the rain the wind had blown the 
 sand unto the trail, obliterating it in places, 
 so I was fearful I might miss my way. Morn- 
 ing dawned at last. It was snowing small 
 particles of ice about the size of small shot. 
 Getting breakfast was out of the question, 
 so necking my horses together I struck out 
 
132 THE OKLAHOMA SOOUT. 
 
 on the trail, walking behind the horses and 
 driving them. It was all I could do to make 
 them face the storm. I had eaten nothing 
 since the morning before, and knew it was 
 thirty miles before I conld find a stick of 
 wood. I pressed on, however, until I got to 
 the head of a small stream that empties into 
 the north fork of Eed river, about 2 or 3 
 o'clock in the afternoon, having been travel- 
 ing since the first break of day. The storm 
 was becoming worse all the time. I could 
 see nothing to make a fire with close to the 
 trail. I went down the creek about half a 
 mile, and was fortunate enough to find a 
 rat's nest which was not wet through. On 
 my way back I discovered a canon which 
 was pretty well protected from the wind. 
 To this spot I made haste to bring the 
 horses, and by means of the rat's nest and 
 some dry wood I found soon had a fire. I 
 was as well dressed as a man could be to 
 meet such weather, but I was nearly frozen 
 to death. My face, hands and feet were 
 frost-bitten, but I didn't think about giving 
 up. I killed a couple of turkeys and pre- 
 pared a good dinner. While cooking the 
 meal I saw a horseman traveling with the 
 wind. I had to shoot to attract his atten- 
 tion, He proved to be a soldier of the 4th 
 
SKIRMISH WITH INDIANS. 133 
 
 cavalry, stationed at Fort Elliott, and he was 
 carrying dispatches to Fort Sill. He camped 
 with me in this canon for two days. Al- 
 though he had been riding with the wind he 
 was nearly perished. 
 
 On the morning of the third day the storm 
 was sufficiently abated to permit me to pro- 
 ceed on my journey. I reached Fort Elliott 
 without further adventure or trouble. I re- 
 mained there until spring, when I went to 
 Dodge City. I spent the remainder of that 
 year gathering cattle for Hunter Evans and 
 Company in all parts of the Indian Terri- 
 tory and portions of New Mexico. While 
 riding through the Kiowa and Comanche 
 country one day during the summer, coming 
 down off of a divide to the north fork of 
 Red river, I was riding along a draw that 
 put into the river, when I saw ahead of me 
 a horse go through the opening between two 
 sand hills. I saw another horse go through, 
 and changed my course from the ravine to 
 the ridge. When I reached the top of the 
 divide I saw five Indians sitting on their 
 horses and apparently waiting for me to 
 come through the hollow. They were about 
 three hundred yards off. I shouted to them, 
 " I'm too old." They turned and rode off 
 toward the river. I rode ten miles on my 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 way, by which time it was dark. I stopped 
 long enough to cook and eat my supper, but 
 thought it prudent to put the fire out and 
 ride on. I saddled my horse and rode five 
 miles further. I picketed my horse some dis- 
 tance from the trail and went to bed in the 
 long grass. The weather was warm and I 
 spent a comfortable night. Very early next 
 morning I was on my horse and made for the 
 high land on the divide, where I could look 
 around. I could see a few buffalo at a dis- 
 tance, but there were no traces of Indians. 
 I traveled all day and at night camped on a 
 tributary of the Washita river. Before going 
 to sleep I climbed a high hill from which I 
 could look along the river. I discovered quite 
 a number of camp fires two or three miles off, 
 scattered along the river. I knew they were 
 Indians, and made up my mind it would be 
 the safer course to ride farther that night. 
 
 This occurred about fifty miles southwest 
 of the Wichita agency. I rode about thirty 
 miles that night, and the next day reached 
 the Wichita agency. I mention this incident 
 to show that a man traveling through a 
 country inhabited by wild Indians should 
 always be on the safe side-, for he can never 
 be certain they will not take his scalp if they 
 get a chance. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TRIP TO AEIZONA. 
 
 In the spring of 1875 I went to Prescott, 
 Arizona. I went there in the employment 
 of Jim Kennedy to locate a cattle ranch. I 
 found too many rustlers in that country to 
 render it safe to let cattle run loose, and I 
 concluded it wouldn't do to make the vent- 
 ure, although it was a good cattle country. 
 
 From Prescott I went to Camp Grant, and 
 then started for Las Yegas, N. M. There I 
 met an Illinois boy who was buying wool for 
 an eastern company. He wanted to travel 
 with me and bought a saddle horse for that 
 purpose. We rode together some time and 
 I found him good company. 
 
 One day after heavy rains we came to a 
 creek which was high. I told him we had to 
 cross. When I got my horse in I found it 
 was swimming. I had the pack-mule fast- 
 ened to the horn of my saddle with a rope. 
 With the young man's assistance I got him 
 in, but the baggage proved top heavy, and 
 it turned the mule over with his head under 
 the water. My Sucker friend yelled out, 
 
 135 ' 
 
186 tHE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 "You'll drown the mule!" But I kept on 
 and dragged the mule to the other shore. I 
 unpacked the mule and called to him to 
 come over, but he said, " Not by a large ma- 
 jority," and went up and down the stream 
 hunting for a ford. I made a fire and 
 cooked dinner and threw my timid friend a 
 biscuit across the river. He finally found a 
 ford away up the creek and joined me. My 
 chance-made friend has since written to me, 
 but his name has escaped my memory. He 
 made himself very agreeable, and I remem- 
 ber our acquaintance with pleasure. 
 
 On our journey we had to travel through 
 a sterile country, barren of water and food 
 for our horses. We provided ourselves with 
 three gallons of water each, which had to 
 answer for ourselves and stock. We watered 
 them out of the crowns of our hats. We 
 commenced our journey at 3 o'clock in the 
 afternoon and rode all night and reached 
 water and food the next day about 6 o'clock 
 in the afternoon. The sun was extremely 
 hot, and my friend, more dead than alive, 
 begged to be forgiven for being so fool- 
 hardy as to take this journey. Wool, he said, 
 was no object. 
 
 About the year 1876 Dorsey and Camp- 
 bell were cattle dealers, and have since 
 
TRIP TO ARIZONA. 13Y 
 
 become the most extensive horse trading 
 firm in the southwestern country. Dorsey 
 was born in Bellaire, Ohio, and deserves 
 more than a cursory notice. Raised on a 
 farm, in his early youth he became thor- 
 oughly conversant with the handling and 
 breeding of stock. Having saved some 
 money, at the age of twenty -one he started 
 out for himself, went to Texas, where he 
 purchased a herd of cattle and started them 
 north over the trail. I first met him on the 
 nine mile ridge, near Dodge City, grazing a 
 large drove of cattle, in the summer of 1876. 
 I was very much struck with his appearance 
 at the first meeting, and we have continued 
 warm friends ever since. He was a little 
 above the medium height, thick set and 
 sinewy, with blue eyes, a handsome, open 
 countenance, always smiling, and possessing 
 a good-natured, genial disposition, which 
 now, as then, made him liked by all his 
 associates. His word was as good as " gilt- 
 edged " paper, and he has always been an 
 unswerving and helping friend to the stock- 
 men. Although he is now but thirty-two 
 years old his name is familiar from King's 
 ranch to St. Louis. At present he is settled 
 in Wichita, where he owns large stables 
 handling from 1,500 to 2,000 head of horses 
 to 
 
138 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 and mules annually. His partner, Mr. James 
 Campbell, is a native of Illinois, and has been 
 in the cattle business for a number of years 
 and in his disposition and general demeanor 
 is a good counterpart of his partner. He re- 
 sides at Caldwell, where he manages the 
 range for cattle and horses. No two better 
 men ever struck a trail, and they have the 
 entire confidence of every dealer in the 
 Southwest. 
 
 In January, 1877, Edward Finlan tele- 
 graphed to me at Dodge City to come to 
 Wichita and join a party to lay out a trail 
 from Wichita to Barrel Springs. On reach- 
 ing Wichita I found the party all ready for 
 service and awaiting my arrival. 
 
CHAPTEE XYL 
 
 TBAIL FROM WICHITA TO CANTON- 
 MENT. 
 
 The party consisted of a detachment 
 from the 24th infantry, under command of 
 Lieut. Hyle, Benj. F. "Wilson, son of Levi 
 Wilson, of Leavenworth, Cyrus Beard and 
 myself. There was one government ambu* 
 lance, one escort wagon, and two four-horse 
 baggage wagons, containing our bedding, 
 luggage, tents and camp equipage. We 
 reached South Haven in a driving blizzard, 
 where we remained two days, and then 
 entered the territory. The route was soft, 
 muddy, and the traveling very difficult, and 
 slow. The weather continued cold and disa- 
 greeable, and we were frequently stopped by 
 obstructions to our passage. Fortunately 
 the creeks were low, and we experienced 
 little trouble in crossing them. At Salt 
 fork and Turkey creek our wagons broke 
 through the ice, causing us a great deal of 
 delay and trouble in extracting the wagons 
 and horses, and giving us a good ducking. I 
 was fortunate in having brought my horse* 
 139 
 
140 THE OKLAHOMA SOOtTT. 
 
 which I mounted, and Beard and myself rode 
 eight miles through a severe snowstorm to 
 reach a habitation. It was one of the coldest, 
 dreariest days I ever knew The wind cut us 
 through and through, while our clothes were 
 frozen from our waist down. Sheer desper- 
 ation alone kept us up, when after much 
 suffering we reached Smith's ranch on Deer 
 creek, where we were hospitably entertained 
 and enjoyed a good night's rest. 
 
 After entering the territory we angled to 
 the southwest, experiencing much difficulty 
 in finding a trail which would be passable 
 and afford pasturage for cattle. "We named 
 one creek after Lieut. Hyle just before strik- 
 ing the Cimarron river, where I located a 
 good crossing which I had found while 
 on scout with Lieut. Cushman the year pre- 
 vious, when he was escorting a commission 
 sent down to appraise the territory. The 
 commission was composed of Col. Topp- 
 ing, who commanded the regiment taken 
 out by Gen. Grant at the commencement 
 of the war, Capt. Smith of the same regi- 
 ment, and Capt. Wilkerson. The commis- 
 sion was engaged in this business for 
 three months, during which time I piloted 
 them over every township, creek and every 
 important point west of the 92d parallel 
 
THE TKAIL FROM WICHITA. 141 
 
 which could be of any service to them in 
 forwarding the objects of their journey. 
 
 The country was full of game, and our 
 larder was always filled with the choicest 
 haunch of venison and the fattest turkeys 
 and rabbits which ran the forest. On one 
 occasion we killed 37 turkeys in one even- 
 ing. Deer could be shot almost every hour. 
 My experience with the commission and 
 this second trip as a guide with Lieut. 
 Hyle rendered me so familiar with the creeks 
 and hills that I could now find my way 
 through the Cherokee country as readily in 
 the dark as by daylight. There is scarcely 
 a square mile of ground in that section on 
 which at some time I have not pressed my 
 own or my horse's feet. 
 
 Having established a trail we returned to 
 Wichita, which place I reached in March, 
 glad to meet my old comrades. I put up at 
 the Bichey House, kept by W. A. Kichey, 
 one of the most energetic and pushing citi- 
 zens in Wichita. It was owing in a great 
 measure to his influence that the party was 
 sent out to locate the new trail. Ever since 
 he settled in Wichita he has been foremost 
 in contributing his time and means to any 
 project accruing to its benefit. Generous to 
 a fault, he has the genuine grit and push of 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOTJT. 
 
 the successful western man, and every enter- 
 prise of note regarding the city has found 
 his name connected with it as a prominent 
 promoter. The Captain was delighted with 
 the big haunch of venison and the fat turkeys 
 I brought ; he was most nobly assisted in their 
 digestion by that royal old scout, Dan Parks, 
 than whom a nobler specimen of manhood 
 does not exist. He was one of the oldest 
 and best scouts on the plains, but becoming 
 enamored of a handsome girl he married and 
 settled down to a quiet life. His manly 
 form and good-natured face may be seen 
 daily on the streets at Wichita, where he has 
 for several years been known among the 
 most reliable of its police force. Everybody 
 likes him and it makes one feel good to see 
 his pleasant face and hear his jovial laugh. 
 After resting awhile under Richey's hos- 
 pitable roof I went to Ford county, near 
 Dodge City, and took charge of a herd of 
 cattle for F. C. Horine & Co., and started 
 with them for Douglas, situated on Walnut 
 river, in Butler county. They had employed 
 me on account of my intimate knowledge of 
 the country. There were pretty good settle- 
 ments all along the route. The cattle had 
 been dogged away from the corn and sor- 
 ghum patches in Ford and Edward counties 
 
THE TRAIL FKOM WICHITA. 
 
 and the herd was a little wild when they 
 saw a dog or a woman ; but I managed to 
 control them pretty well till I reached Mar- 
 shall, on the head of the Nmisqua. On 
 reaching that town I rode through it and 
 asked the citizens if I could drive the herd 
 through the village. They assented, and I 
 requested them to keep the dogs indoors, as 
 the cattle were very wild and especially 
 afraid of dogs. This they promised to do 
 and I started to drive through. But the 
 women of that village, like all others, were ex- 
 tremely curious, and unable to restrain their 
 desire to get a look, opened the doors, when 
 out jumped the dogs, and a scene of inde- 
 scribable confusion, excitement and devasta- 
 tion ensued. The cattle trampled over the 
 vegetable gardens, tore up the fences, broke 
 down all the fine young cottonwood shade 
 trees and scared the women nearly out of 
 their senses. Having finally got the herd 
 beyond the limits of the town (there were 
 four houses in it) I dismounted and asked the 
 man who appeared to be the acting mayor 
 how much was to pay for the damage done. 
 One said $15 and another $10. I gave them a 
 check for the amount on the First National 
 Bank of Wichita. The bank had been de- 
 funct for over two years, and I did not con- 
 
144: THE OKLAHOMA 8OOITT. 
 
 sider my check was for too large a sum, but 
 I did not have the required cheek to accept 
 the hospitalities offered me and I caught up 
 with the herd as quickly as possible and 
 halted not till I had the cattle beyond the 
 county line. Some of these frontier farmers 
 are not so green as they appear, and I was 
 afraid one of their memories might be re- 
 freshed with the fact that that check would 
 not bring quite $25 at Wichita. I delivered 
 the cattle on the Walnut, where they 
 were to be stall-fed for market, and remained 
 on their farm a portion of the winter. In 
 the spring I concluded to try my luck on 
 wild horses. 
 
CHAPTEK 
 
 DEIVING WILD HOESES. 
 
 For this purpose I came to Caldwell and 
 obtained a herd of 287 wild horses, which I 
 drove over the state of Kansas, selling at 
 points where there was any demand, dispos- 
 ing of many at Wichita. 
 
 "Wild horses are a peculiar animal to hande, 
 and a greenhorn had better let them alone. 
 Those, too, who have never seen nor handled a 
 herd can form little idea of the trouble and 
 care required to master them. They are 
 never handled except as colts, when they are 
 branded, and are unacquainted with rope or 
 bridle until they are driven up to be broken. 
 When that time comes the owner of the herd 
 rounds them up, takes out the four and five 
 year olds for breaking. Then he puts a boy 
 with them for a day or two, after which they 
 herd themselves. When they stampede, as 
 they are likely to do at any slight scare, the 
 most unruly ones are roped and " kneed." 
 The kneeing process consists in cutting the 
 cord that sets the foot forward. This of 
 course only applies to stock horses on the 
 
 145 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 range. This prevents them from running, 
 but they can trot. Another method is to tie 
 a block of wood to their foretop, which 
 pounds them in the face when they run. 
 The Spanish method, resorted to by Texans, 
 is to put a forked stick over their forefoot. 
 The last method is effectual; but it is a 
 cruel one, especially in Texas, where the flies 
 are bad. They gather on the wound, biting 
 the horses, and causing the sore to fester, 
 which makes the horses footsore, and some- 
 times they have to be killed when the 
 wounds do not heal or mortify. 
 
 "When a herd of horses is to be driven they 
 are handled similar to a herd of cattle. They 
 are not rounded up at night, but are allowed 
 to scatter out in the afternoon, and in the 
 morning all hands are in the saddle to make 
 the round up for the day's drive. It is a hard 
 life, and the boys must be skillful riders to 
 accomplish the work required of them. One 
 meal a day is often all they receive, and they 
 are constantly in the saddle from daylight till 
 sundown. Sometimes they will stampede 
 and scatter so far in an hour's time as to take 
 all day to close them up again. They are just 
 about as bad to muster as a routed army 
 which has been chased all day, and a great 
 deal worse, for they don't answer to their 
 
DRIVING WILD HORSES. 147 
 
 names when called. Frequently during the 
 day they will start on a run, and the herder 
 will race his horse at full speed for miles be- 
 fore he can overtake and turn the leading 
 horse. A good herder must be well acquainted 
 with the country and understand a wild 
 horse's peculiarities, or he will soon throw up 
 in despair. They are easily lost unless tend- 
 ed by a skillful man, and the Indians are con- 
 stantly on the lookout for stray animals, 
 which they steal when they have an oppor- 
 tunity. When horses are found in their 
 posession they demand $5 each for them. 
 
 During the spring of 1876 I received from 
 the Indian agent power of attorney to collect, 
 sell, and otherwise dispose of all horses, 
 ponies and mules that are found in the states 
 of Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. 
 
 So many horses were being stolen from the 
 Indians that it was considered necessary to 
 place an officer on their track. I traced a 
 herd to Buffalo Station, on the Kansas Pa- 
 cific railroad, about sixty miles from Dodge 
 City, where the thieves were arrested, and I 
 recovered eighty-one of the ponies, took 
 them to Hays City, where a large number of 
 them got loose and wandered off, and three 
 of the five thieves broke jail and made good 
 their escape. In another place I have men- 
 
148 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 tioned the fact that I made a trip up the 
 Canadian river in search of stolen ponies 
 with the L. X. outfit, the sale of a large 
 number of which was prevented by my op- 
 portune appearance in that section. 
 
 During the same season a large number of 
 horses were run off into New Mexico and up 
 the south Canadian river. Being instructed 
 to glean all the information possible regard- 
 ing the stolen horses, I concluded to make a 
 personal trip into that territory and ascertain 
 who were the thieves and how they had dis- 
 posed of the horses. As it was too risky to 
 be known as a government agent I traveled 
 with a freighter, thus allaying all suspicion 
 as to my real purpose. Reaching the ranch 
 of Bates & Beal, about forty miles below 
 Tuscosa, I was kindly received by them, and 
 as W. M. Moore, the foreman of the ranch, 
 was just stocking a large outfit for a round- 
 up up the river as far as Bascom, I accepted 
 his kind offer to make one of the party. 
 He furnished me with a horse and I, ex- 
 perienced no trouble in reaching the little 
 Mexican town of Tuscosa, built of adobe and 
 containing one store, which supplied wet and 
 dry goods especially the latter to all the 
 inhabitants. While here I visited the ranch 
 of a Mexican named Komaldo Vaoa, about 
 
DRIVING WILD HORSES. 149 
 
 thirty miles up the river. Here I ascertained 
 that some of the stolen stock had been 
 marketed and sold in small lots to various 
 parties. There were too many Mexicans 
 there, however, to make myself known, and 
 I returned to Tuscosa, where I joined a herd 
 going to Dodge City, which point I reached 
 without incident, but glad to get out of JSTew 
 Mexico with a sound skin, for I was fre- 
 quently viewed with great suspicion by the 
 Mexicans. At Dodge City I found a few of 
 the stolen animals and stopped their sale. 
 
 The same summer I was engaged in tracing 
 lost cattle through the Indian Territory for 
 J. H. Stevens. He has been a constant 
 driver for over twenty years, and he has filled 
 large government contracts. He is an agree- 
 able, pleasant gentleman, with sound practi- 
 cal business sense, and has become a wealthy 
 and influential citizen in Texas. 
 
OHAPTEE XYIII. 
 
 D. W. LIFE TREASURER OF THE CHEROKEE 
 NATION. 
 
 In 1882 a commission was sent out by the 
 Cherokee government of Tahlequah consisting 
 of D. W. Lipe, treasurer of the Cherokee out- 
 let, John Schrympsher; George Saunders and 
 Major Brewer, for the purpose of collecting 
 the tax due that nation for herds grazing on 
 the Cherokee reservation. The commission, 
 on account of my knowledge of the location 
 of all the herds, as well as of my acquaint- 
 ance with the owners, employed me to col- 
 lect the taxes. It was a new occupation to 
 me, or at least nearly so, for I had had a little 
 experience in this line helping Gov. Brown- 
 low to collect the state revenue in Tennesee 
 during the war. I was kept very busy. I 
 was engaged in the business two years, and 
 was constantly on horseback during the time, 
 visiting personally all the herds that crossed 
 or entered the outlet. I found the pursuit, 
 nevertheless, both agreeable and profitable, 
 and only gave it up because more important 
 business called me elsewhere. Mr. Lipe was 
 150 
 
D. W. LIFE. 
 
 a splendid specimen of manhood. He was 
 finely educated and his manners and address 
 were those of a cultivated gentleman. My 
 dealings with him were altogether satisfac- 
 tory. Indeed, from all the Cherokee officers 
 I received constant and courteous attention. 
 They are a manly set of fellows and know 
 how to treat a man white every time, 
 
CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 TRIP TO TUSCOSA HOW A KANSAS BKAGGER 
 
 WAS SOLD. 
 
 In the fall of 1882 I took eight teams 
 loaded with merchandise from W. N. Hub- 
 bell & Co. to be delivered to Bates & Beal, or 
 at the L. X. ranch. A portion of the goods 
 were to be delivered at Torres' ranch, about 
 forty miles above the L. X. ranch and about 
 fifteen miles from Tuscoso, on the Canadian 
 river. The route lay in a straight course 
 through a country having no trail. I had been 
 over the route before and was the best ac- 
 quainted with it of any person in the party. 
 We started early in the morning and that 
 night camped on Hall creek, where we were 
 joined by Harry Derrick,one of Bates &BeaFs 
 head men, with his men. He said this was the 
 last trip he intended to make. He would 
 bring out one more herd, he said, before cold 
 weather set in, and winter or ship them at 
 Caldwell. The men who owned the teams 
 were a stubborn lot, and as they were paid by 
 the hundred they would only drive about 
 twelve miles per day, while they fed their 
 horses not only all they could eat, but wasted 
 
 152 
 
TRIP TO TU8COSA. 153 
 
 the grain in a careless manner. I remonstrated 
 with them, and. told them if they were not 
 more careful they would find themselves 
 short long before the end of the trip, and in a 
 country where there was no grain nor fodder 
 to be had for love or money. But my pro- 
 tests were of no avail. But their stubborn 
 cussedness soon met its own reward. 
 
 "When we reached Eagle Chief we were 
 overtaken by a blizzard, followed by a snow- 
 storm, which lay several inches deep on the 
 ground, which was not visible again for 
 weeks. The grain gave out before the jour- 
 ney was half accomplished. The horses be- 
 came too weak to haul their loads, and the 
 men growled and swore. Finally a portion 
 of them threw their loads off and stored 
 them in Day's empty storehouse and started 
 back home, while others became desperate 
 and did not attend to their horses. How- 
 ever, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, 
 we struggled on till we had passed the Adobe 
 Walls, a point which will remain memorable 
 in the annals of the Kansas border as the 
 spot where the buffalo hunters gave the 
 Cheyennes and Arapahoes such a sound 
 thrashing that they have never forgotten it. 
 To say Adobe Walls to one of them will 
 arouse his anger to this day. 
 
 n 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 We had just gone into camp at Adobe 
 "Walls canon when there arose the most ter- 
 rific blizzard and snowstorm that I ever saw, 
 and I have been out in a great many. We 
 drew the wagons close up to the edge of the 
 canon, then took our teams and mess chests 
 down to the bottom, where we soon had a 
 fire started, and set about preparing our 
 supper. Before we had brought enough 
 water to quench the thirst of our stock, the 
 snow began piling up in the canon. Before 
 we had finished our supper the horses, hitched 
 close to our camp, were up to their haunches 
 in the snow, and the drifits still piling and fill- 
 ing up the canon. It was so cold that we 
 all expected to perish before morning, as our 
 stock of fuel was very meager. A man 
 named Serby jumped up, and standing by 
 the fire began reckoning our chances, say- 
 ing he was certain the stock would be all 
 frozen by morning and that the prospects 
 were we should all freeze. It was so cold 
 that while he was talking he burned the back 
 of his boots so badly that they fell to pieces 
 the next morning, although he was insensible 
 to the heat. But the morning at last came 
 to our relief, and we were overjoyed to find 
 ourselves and stock all alive. We managed 
 with great difficulty to hitch up our teams 
 
TRIP TO TUSCOSA. 155 
 
 and make a start, as we knew it to be almost 
 certain death to remain where we were. It 
 soon began to snow again, and all around as 
 far as the eye could reach was one great 
 white sea. We were like a ship on a dark 
 night without a compass. The only guide 
 we had was an occasional distant break of 
 the river, but we managed to reach a camp- 
 ing place, where we killed two wild turkeys 
 which made a feast for us, our provisions 
 being almost exhausted. The next day we 
 reached Bugby's ranch, which to our grief 
 we found deserted. The remainder of the 
 other party which had accompanied us here 
 left to go to the LX ranch, while I pushed 
 on to Tuscosa. Before entering this little 
 town I came to a little draw not more than 
 300 feet across. I found it so filled with snow 
 that I was compelled to go around it. 
 
 "When I finally gained access to this insig- 
 nificant Mexican town it was late at night. 
 After a long search I found the merchant to 
 whom my freight was consigned, who gave 
 his consent to have the goods unloaded on 
 the side of the river where I had left my 
 team, as the ice was so thick in the stream 
 that it would have taken me several days to 
 cut a passage at the ford. The plaza was 
 dark and deserted, almost the entire popular 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SOOtTT. 
 
 tion having gone to a fandango, about a 
 mile down the river, at the house of the 
 Alcalde or Heal, which, translated into good 
 Saxon, means the boss of the town. I finally 
 obtained shelter for my teams and some sup- 
 per for myself, and glad enough I then was 
 to accept a bed in the store, for I was thor- 
 oughly exhausted with fatigue and exposure. 
 Having delivered my freight, I rested my 
 horses for a few days, and having recuper- 
 ated myself on tortillas, muscal and the 
 black eyes of the lovely senoritas, returned 
 one hundred and fifty miles to where I had 
 unloaded a portion of the merchandise, re- 
 loaded it, and after another cold and disa- 
 greeable journey found myself again in 
 Tuscosa. 
 
 I had just deposited my second load of 
 freight at its destination when in my strolls 
 around the village I encountered a man who 
 had just come in from Medicine Lodge creek. 
 His equal for lying and braggadocio it would 
 be difficult to find even in Nebraska. He 
 seemed to take immense gratification in 
 maligning Caldwell and everything pertain- 
 ing to it, and I determined to clip his feath- 
 ers for him at the first opportunity, which 
 soon arrived. He began to boast about his 
 horse, his natural brag and a little tangle- 
 
TKIP TO TUSCOSA. 157 
 
 foot representing the animal as the fastest 
 west of St. Louis. After listening to his 
 Munchausen tales till I was pretty well 
 disgusted I thought a good opportunity had 
 presented itself to begin the clipping process 
 and give him a good currying down. I 
 offered to run my horse against his for 
 " drinks for the crowd " not a trifling bet, 
 for though the rot-gut called whisky which 
 was retailed in Tuscosa would unsolder a 
 canteen in a half-mile run in the sun, it was 
 twenty-five cents a thimbleful, and there 
 were about 150 Mexicans in the crowd. 
 He was too high strung to be bluffed by a 
 mere freighter, so he accepted the challenge 
 and the race was run, his horse winning by 
 several lengths. I called up the crowd, paid 
 for the tanglefoot, which cost me three or 
 four eagles, and after giving him a fair chance 
 to blew his horn I offered to race him again 
 for all the money he had. He produced 
 $180, which he said he would bet, together 
 with three head of cattle. I accepted the 
 bet, and not having that much money, I 
 went to the Mexican who had given the fan- 
 dango on my first arrival Eomero to bor- 
 row it. He had witnessed the first race and 
 when I stated what was needed he told me 
 I could have anything I wanted. 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 Said he : " Bet all the money and all the 
 stock you can raise, and keep on raising him 
 as long as he can find a friend to back him. 
 I saw your first race, and besides I know 
 that smooth little cario of yours. I saw you 
 hold him in the first race, and suspected your 
 object. He will feel mighty bad after this 
 race." The money $180 and three head 
 of cattle were staked on either side and the 
 race began. The Medicine Lodge creek 
 horse hadn't a ghost of a chance, and my 
 horse won easily. But he was the most 
 crestfallen man Tuscosa had within her 
 limits for many a long day after- He was 
 taught a good lesson while I had replenished 
 my purse sufficiently to last me all winter 
 and bring my outfit back to Caldwell and 
 it was a sorry-looking outfit, too. 
 
CHAPTEK XX. 
 
 SKETCH OF CALDWELL. 
 
 Caldwell, in Sumner county, and situated 
 right near the border of the Indian Territory, 
 is to-day one of the liveliest towns in Kansas. 
 It is the legitimate successor to Abilene and 
 Wichita as the headquarters of the cattle 
 drive from Texas. The cowboy feature has 
 predominated until within the past few 
 years, but matters are much changed and 
 Caldwell, with more than two thousand in- 
 habitants, and with a business much larger 
 in proportion than the population, is to- 
 day on the high road to commercial 
 supremacy. 
 
 My first experience with Caldwell was in 
 1870, on a trip to the territory in search of 
 cattle. At this time Capt. Stone kept the 
 only store in town and furnished the Texas 
 cattle trail with groceries, wet and dry. Capt. 
 Stone still has property in Caldwell, but 
 now resides in Kansas City. I was there 
 from time to time while on my expeditions 
 until the year 1880, when I made it my home, 
 or rather headquarters. This was the year 
 159 
 
160 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 of the advent of the railroad as well as of a 
 city charter, mayor, council, marshal and 
 cooler. Then she began to grow only as 
 western towns grow, and with her prosperity 
 came the " free and easy," the varieties, a 
 brick hotel, bank and opera house, and also 
 the old red light. 
 
 For a year or two after the advent of the 
 railroad the city was a pretty tough place 
 for a peaceable citizen to live in, but the law 
 of the survival of the fittest was not broken 
 in the case of Caldwell, and the red light, 
 variety theater, bawdy house, gave way to 
 the home, the school and the chapel. 
 
 A good many deeds of violence linger as 
 reminiscences among the people, and even yet 
 there is an occasional outbreak to remind 
 the older citizens of the good (?) old days, 
 but as before stated the " cowboy " regime 
 has ended. 
 
 As Wichita, Emporia and Newton did 
 with her, Caldwell has given up her most 
 reckless citizens to make up a little band of 
 rustlers, horse thieves and hard characters to 
 populate some other town. 
 
 During the season of 1885 2,300 cars of 
 beef cattle had been shipped to northern 
 and eastern markets, aggregating at least 
 $5^000 head. Besides, the shipments of 
 
SKETCH OP CALDWELL. 161 
 
 horses, hogs and general farm produce have 
 been very large. 
 
 Caldwell is the supply point for a large 
 section of the Indian Territory. Millions of 
 pounds of freight are transferred annually 
 from the railroads at this point by wagons to 
 various posts and Indian agencies. Among 
 the men identified with the origin and build- 
 ing of Caldwell I have already mentioned 
 Capt. Stone. He now owns one of the 
 largest cattle ranches in the Cherokee strip. 
 
 "Witzlaben and Keys now keep on Main 
 street, opposite the Leland Hotel, the largest 
 stock of drovers' supplies and clothing in the 
 city, and is the oldest firm in that business. 
 
 Harvey Horner is the leading chemist and 
 druggist. He married in "Wichita, Kansas, 
 in 1878, went to Caldwell and embarked in 
 the drug business in 1879, the principal stock 
 in trade being "freight bills and cheek." 
 His business as a natural consequence grew 
 from the very beginning, from the opening 
 of goods not doors, as he had none. In 
 after years credit enlarged, and he put in a 
 full and complete stock of watches and 
 jewelry, and employed a good watchmaker. 
 He then enlarged his drug store, paid up his 
 bills and increased his stock. His business 
 increased so rapidly that it necessitated the 
 
162 THE OKLAHOMA SCOTJT. 
 
 employment of four drug clerks and sales- 
 men to conduct his trade. While Harvey 
 Horner is a thorough business man he is yet 
 humorously inclined, and shows off to good 
 advantage among his companions. Being 
 of such a congenial, social nature, like the 
 magnet, he naturally draws about him a host 
 of admiring friends. His drug and jewelry 
 trade now amounts to more than thirty-five 
 thousand dollars a year. 
 
 I became acquainted with Horner in 
 "Wichita in 1872, during the days of that 
 city's preeminence in the cattle trade. In 
 1880 he was elected city clerk of Caldwell, 
 and being aware of my extensive acquaint- 
 ance with cattle men he induced the city 
 authorities to employ me to solicit owners of 
 herds to drive them to Caldwell for shipment 
 in preference to other places. I undertook 
 the employment, and in company with Hugh 
 Charless visited nearly all the herds which 
 were on the trail that season, and succeeded 
 in turning many of them to Caldwell. On 
 my way back from the panhandle of Texas 
 I brought through a herd for John Powers, 
 of Falls county, Texas. I had some trouble 
 with the Cheyenne Indians. The somewhat 
 celebrated chief, Stone Calf, since dead, 
 stopped the herd, and said if I did not give 
 
SKETCH OF CALDWELL. 163 
 
 him twenty-five head of cattle he would go 
 and get his young men and scatter the herd 
 in the bush. I told him if he did so he had 
 better bring a spade with him, as he would 
 be ready to bury, and we didn't have any. 
 He said he would bring soldiers with him. 
 I told him I didn't care, for I would shoot 
 him if he had a soldier on each side of him. 
 We were then in the Cheyenne country on 
 the north fork of the Canadian. Stone Calf 
 did not molest us, but Powers and I watched 
 all night, and the next day we moved the 
 cattle back on to the Cherokee strip. I had 
 previously met Powers in Abilene, he having 
 been among the first drovers to drive cattle 
 to that point. He is one of those substan- 
 tial, matter-of-fact, every-day kind of men 
 that you feel instinctively will do to tie to, 
 and when you look into his frank, open 
 countenance, a .sense of his straightforward 
 manner of life and business integrity im- 
 presses you. You feel that in him there is a 
 true, big-hearted man who could have no 
 pleasure in a mean, dishonorable transaction, 
 and upon whom you can rely with safety. 
 
 By 1882 Caldwell had become a great 
 cattle shipping point. - During that year the 
 firm of Hewins, Hamilton & Titus shipped 
 from there by rail 275,000 head of cattle. 
 
164 THE OKLAHOMA SGOtTT. 
 
 This firm now owns the largest stock raaoh 
 in the Cherokee strip, close to Brodrick & 
 Dean, who own another very extensive 
 ranch called the " Two Bar " ranch. James 
 Hamilton, of the first-mentioned firm, is now 
 mayor of Wellington, Sumner county. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 SOUTHERN AND WESTERN CATTLE TRADE. 
 
 Since the close of the war the business of 
 cattle driving from the vast plains of Texas 
 and the western territories has assumed such 
 proportions as to cause it to take rank 
 among the leading industries of the country. 
 The " Texas cattle boom " will ever remain 
 a unique and interesting chapter in the his- 
 tory of the southwestern country. Every 
 occupation develops peculiar characteristics 
 in those who habitually pursue it. This is 
 emphatically so with the class of men who 
 have long been subjected to the surround- 
 ings and the habits of life entailed upon 
 those who have been identified with the cat- 
 tle trade in its various branches. Phases of 
 character have been developed which will 
 pass away with the decadence of the busi- 
 ness, which must sooner or later result from 
 the settlement of the territory now devoted 
 to grazing, which are deserving to perpetu- 
 ation for the use of future novel writers if 
 nothing else. The drovers or ranch owners, 
 among business men, are a distinctly individu- 
 
 165 
 
166 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 alized class. You know them wherever you 
 see them, whether in town or country. They 
 are bold, out spoken and open-hearted, yet 
 possibly a little inclined to be clannish. But 
 taken as a body no more reliable men in a 
 business point of view, no men more ready 
 to lend a helping hand to each other in a 
 financial pinch, no men more ready to aid a 
 poor man struggling with adversity, are to 
 be found on our broad continent. I speak 
 warmly, for I have been among them for 
 years, know many of them intimately, and 
 my judgment is based upon personal knowl- 
 edge. I will make mention of a few who 
 have peculiar claims upon my gratitude, 
 although I know there are many others 
 equally deserving. 
 
 Louis Kurtz, of the firm of Fish, Kecht & 
 Co., of Kansas City, will, I hope, excuse me 
 for talking to the public a little about him. 
 He is only about forty years old, but has been 
 pretty much over the world. Both his name 
 and brogue give him away he is a Teuton 
 of a pronounced type. But a livelier, more go- 
 ahead and never-give-up Dutchman is not to 
 be found between the Atlantic and Pacific. 
 He is generous to a fault, always ready to 
 have fun, but with a keen eye to business all 
 the while. He is one of the men of whom 
 
CATTLE TRADE. 167 
 
 it can be truthfully said he never deserted a 
 friend. All his business transactions are 
 conducted upon the highest principles of 
 honor. Wherever he is known Louis Kurtz's 
 word is as good as his bond. He is known 
 in every frontier town of any cattle-shipping 
 importance, and wherever known is liked. 
 
 Harry Hill, of the same firm, holds an im- 
 portant place in my esteem. Also Major 
 Maderia, who is now bookkeeper for Hewins 
 & Titus on the ranch in the Cherokee strip. 
 I am under obligations to Will Maderia for 
 many favors of various kinds. While on gov- 
 ernment business I made this ranch one of 
 my stopping places, and was always treated 
 with the heartiest kindness. They often 
 loaned me fresh horses to enable me to get 
 through in time with my dispatches. 
 
 The Blair Brothers, ranch owners in the 
 Cherokee strip, Marion and John, are first- 
 class men in every respect. They own large 
 herds. John Blair is now secretary of the 
 Live Stock Association of the Cherokee 
 strip. 
 
 The men I have mentioned represent the 
 money in the cattle trade. The class that 
 represent the labor, or at least an important 
 branch, are the cowboys. I know of no 
 more lifelike description of this remarkable 
 
168 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 specimen of the genus homo than is contained 
 in Joseph G. McCoy's " Historic Sketches of 
 the Cattle Trade," and take the liberty of 
 inserting it here : 
 
 " When the herd is sold and delivered to 
 the purchaser a day of rejoicing to the cow- 
 boy has come, for then he can go free and 
 have a jolly time and it is a jolly time they 
 have. Straightway after settling with their 
 employers the barber shop is visited and 
 from three to six weeks' growth of hair is 
 shorn off, their long-grown, sun-burnt beard 
 'set' in due shape and properly blacked. 
 Next a clothing store of the Israelitish style 
 is 'gone through,' and the cowboy emerges 
 a new man in outward appearance, every- 
 thing being new, not excepting the hats and 
 boots, with star decorations about the tops, 
 also a new well, in short, every thing new. 
 Then for fun and frolic. The bar-room, the 
 theater, the gambling room, the bawdy house, 
 the dance house, each and all come in for 
 their full share of attention. In any of 
 these places an affront fancied, or a slight, 
 real or imaginary, is cause sufficient for him 
 to unlimber one or more i mountain howitz- 
 ers,' invariably found strapped to his person, 
 and proceed to deal out death in unbroken 
 doses to such as may be in range of his pis- 
 
a 
 
CATTLE TRADE. 169 
 
 tols. Whether real friends or enemies, no 
 matter, his anger and bad whisky urge him 
 on to deeds of blood and death. At frontier 
 towns, where many cattle are driven, as a 
 natural result considerable business is trans- 
 acted and many strangers congregate. Here 
 are always to be found a number of charac- 
 ters, both male and female, of the very worst 
 class in the universe, such as have ceased to 
 feel the last sting of shame men who live a 
 soulless, aimless life, dependent upon the 
 turn of a card for the means of living. They 
 wear out a purposeless life, ever looking 
 blear-eyed and dissipated ; to whom life, from 
 various causes, has long since become worse 
 than a total blank ; being in the form of 
 man, whose outward appearance would be- 
 token gentlemen, but whose heart-strings 
 are but a wisp of base-sounding chords, upon 
 which the touch of a higher, purer- life has 
 long since ceased to be felt beings without 
 whom the world would be better, richer and 
 more desirable. And with them are always 
 found their counterparts of the other sex, 
 those who have fallen low, alas ! how low ! 
 They, too, are found in the frontier cattle 
 towns, and that institution known in the West 
 as the dance house is there found also. 
 When the darkness of night is come to 
 
170 THE OKLAHOMA SCOtTT. 
 
 shroud their orgies from public gaze these 
 miserable beings gather into the halls of the 
 dance house and trip the fantastic toe to 
 wretched music, ground out of dilapidated 
 instruments by beings fully as degraded as 
 the most vile. In this vortex of dissipation 
 the average cowboy plunges with great de- 
 light. Few more wild and reckless scenes of 
 abandoned depravity can be seen on the civ- 
 ilized earth than a dance house in full blast 
 in one of the many frontier towns. To say 
 they dance wildly or in an abandoned man- 
 ner is putting it mild. Their manner of 
 practicing the terpsichorean art would put 
 the French can-can to shame. 
 
 " The cowboy enters the dance with a pe- 
 culiar zest, not stopping to divest himself of 
 his sombrero, spurs or pistols, but just as 
 he dismounts off of his cow-pony so he goes 
 into the dance. A more odd, not to say 
 comical, sight is not often seen than the 
 dancing cowboy. With the front of his som- 
 brero lifted an angle of forty-five degrees, 
 his huge spurs jingling at every step or mo- 
 tion, his revolvers flapping up and down like 
 a retreating sheep's tail, his eyes lit up with 
 excitement, liquor and lust, he plunges in 
 and ' hoes it down ' at a terrible rate, in the 
 most approved awkward country style, often 
 
CATTLE TRADE. 171 
 
 swinging ' his partner ' clear off the floor for 
 an entire circle, then balance all, with an oc- 
 casional demoniacal yell, near akin to the 
 war whoop of the savage Indian. All this he 
 does entirely oblivious to the whole world 
 and the ' balance of mankind.' After danc- 
 ing furiously, the entire ' set ' is called to the 
 bar, where the boy is required to treat his 
 partner, and, of course, kimself also, which 
 he does not hesitate to do time and again, 
 although it costs him fifty cents each time. 
 Yet if it cost ten times that amount he 
 would not hesitate, for the more he dances 
 and drinks, the less common sense he will 
 have, and the more completely his animal 
 passions will control him. Such is the man- 
 ner in which the cowboy spends his hard 
 earned dollars. And such is the entertain- 
 ment that many young men from the north 
 and south, of superior parentage and youth- 
 ful advantages in life, give themselves up to, 
 and often their lives are made to pay the 
 forfeit of their sinful foolishness. 
 
 " After a few days of frolic and debauch- 
 ery, the cowboy is ready, in company with 
 his comrades, to start back to Texas, often 
 not having one dollar left of his summer 
 wages." 
 
 The foregoing is a graphic, and, in most 
 
172 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 respects, truthful sketch of one phase of the 
 cowboy's character. Away from his legiti- 
 mate calling he is worthless, but on the 
 range he becomes a most valuable individual. 
 ~No class of men exhibit more pluck, endur- 
 ance and faithfulness in the performance of 
 their duties than do the cowboys. Their 
 life is frequently one of great hardship. 
 The care of a large herd, especially on a 
 drive, requires constant attention night and 
 day, and the devotion of these men and 
 they make a professional pride of it in 
 standing by their trust during rain, storm, 
 stampedes, and every other obstacle, should 
 be set to their credit when we are enumer- 
 ating their vices. I have known personally 
 many of this class, and have found not a 
 few of them good, reliable fellows, while of 
 nearly all it may be said they are generous 
 and in their way kind. 
 
CHAPTEK XXII. 
 
 MY EXPERIENCE AS GOVERNMENT SCOUT. 
 
 My business in hunting and driving cattle, 
 locating ranches, etc., threw me constantly 
 in contact with the United States troops 
 stationed at the various posts. My accurate 
 and extensive knowledge of the country, as 
 well as a natural aptitude for finding my way 
 anywhere, soon became known to the officers 
 commanding, so that my services were in de- 
 mand to pilot detachments of troops in their 
 expeditions. I may remark here that from 
 early boyhood the bump of locality, as the 
 phrenologists would say, was strongly devel- 
 oped on my cranium. I never experienced 
 the feeling of being lost. I have read some- 
 where that a poet is born, "hot made, and I 
 think the same is true of a successful scout. 
 Going through a country for the first time I 
 make mental note of all its leading features, 
 and they remain so indelibly impressed upon 
 my memory that on a second visit it seems 
 familiar ground. This is not the case with 
 the majority. I know plenty of men who 
 have been through a country time and again 
 
 173 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 who would confess themselves incompetent 
 to act as a guide to anyone else through the 
 same region. And, after all, in every enter- 
 prise of life, is it not true that only the few 
 can find their way unaided, while the many 
 must be content to follow as they are 
 guided ? I make this statement without any 
 feeling of vanity, but as a pointer to young- 
 sters who have become fascinated by reading 
 dime novels with the life of a scout and 
 frontiersman, that unless nature has done 
 her part in your make-up for such a career, 
 no amount of experience will render you a 
 success. 
 
 My career as a scout began fully twenty 
 years ago, and I have served in that capacity 
 under various officers pretty much all over 
 the southwestern country. But my design 
 was to embrace in this book principally my 
 experiences during the excitement caused by 
 the attempt of Captain Payne and his fol- 
 lowers to colonize the Oklahoma strip in 
 face of the orders of the United States gov- 
 ernment to the contrary. 
 
 June 20th, 1884, 1 received verbal orders 
 from Gen. Hatch to proceed to Kock Falls, 
 on the Cherokee strip, where Capt. Payne 
 had established a settlement, and ascertain 
 as nearly as possible the number of boomers 
 
GOVERNMENT SCOUT. 175 
 
 there, and also at Pearl City, some twenty 
 miles further down, where there was another 
 settlement. I was gone four days. I met 
 with no incident worthy of note, excepting 
 having had to swim my horse across the 
 Chicaskie river. I made my report to the 
 effect that there were about 350 boomers, 
 some few being women ; also a drug store, 
 boarding house and printing office. They 
 had apparently gone to stay, but the fates 
 and the general government had decreed 
 otherwise. 
 
 After satisfying himself as to their where- 
 abouts, Gen. Hatch, in company with Lieut. 
 Finley, rode over to the boomer settlements 
 and personally notified them to vacate. This 
 they declined to do, claiming that what is 
 known as the Cherokee strip was govern- 
 ment land, and as such open to settlement. 
 
 I received an order from Gen. Hatch to 
 accompany Capt. Cusic, of the 9th cavalry, 
 with a detachment of troops, to eject the 
 boomers from Pearl City. They had aban- 
 doned the place ; we followed them up and 
 found they had encamped on the Chiloca 
 creek in the Cherokee strip close to Arkansas 
 City. Previous to this Gen. Hatch had 
 established a camp at the junction of five 
 trails, the old Ponca, the Arkansas City and 
 
176 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 Eeno, the Chief Joseph, the Yellow Bull, and 
 the Ponca and Hunnewell trail, for the pur- 
 pose of intercepting the movements of in- 
 truders, it being situated between the two 
 boomer settlements of Pearl City and Kock 
 Falls. Capt. Cusic proceeded to arrest the 
 entire party, numbering twenty-two or 
 twenty-three. The prisoners were taken to 
 the camp on the Chicaskie, that is, the old 
 offenders, the others being permitted to re- 
 turn home. On reaching camp we found 
 Capts. Yalois and Moore, of the 9th cavalry, 
 had returned from a similar raid on the 
 Rock Falls settlement, and had brought in 
 Capt. Payne, and others of the boomers at 
 that point. The morning after our arrival 
 at camp I received the following order : 
 
 HDQRS. DISTEICT OP OKI^AHOMA, 
 IN THE FIELD, CAMP ON CHICASKIE, Aug. 10, 1884. 
 
 SPECIAL OEDER No. 19: 
 
 [Extract] 
 
 Scout Theodore Baughrnan will report to 
 Lieut. J. H. Gardner, 9th cavalry, and ac- 
 company him on the march required by S. O. 
 No. 18, C. S., from these headquarters. 
 By order of Col. Hatch, 
 
 WALTER FE^LEY, 
 1& Lieut. 9th Cavalry, A. A. A. Gen&rcA. 
 
 I reported to Lieut. Gardner the same day 
 
GOVERNMENT SCOUT. 177 
 
 the order was received, and we started with 
 Payne and seven or eight other veteran 
 boomers who were there to be turned over 
 to the United States District Court for the 
 western district of Arkansas for prosecution. 
 It rained all the first day out until we 
 reached camp. The second day we reached 
 the Otoe agency, and went into camp close 
 to the Indian trader's store, on the north 
 bank of Red Rock creek, having traveled 
 about twenty miles. The next morning 
 while I was packing up and the troops were 
 getting ready to march, a United States dep- 
 uty marshal and one of his posse, from 
 Wichita, Kas., appeared on the scene and 
 demanded the prisoners. Lieut. Gardner 
 informed his majesty, the deputy, that he 
 could not have the prisoners, unless he licked 
 his outfit and took them by force. It is 
 hardly necessary to say we resumed our 
 march with the prisoners. That night found 
 us camped on the south side of Black Bear 
 creek, south of the Pawnee agency on the 
 Pawnee reservation. On resuming our 
 march next morning the prisoners com- 
 plained we took them over a road the 
 natives couldn't travel. They were in 
 wagons, and as it was a rocky country, they 
 got pretty well shaken up. We camped 
 
178 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 that night on Eanch creek, and lost three 
 head of mules, which were stolen. After 
 making an unavailing search for the mules, 
 we pulled out from camp on Ranch creek, 
 and traveled over rather a rough country, 
 camping at night close to the head of Bear 
 creek, on the Cimarron. The next morning 
 we crossed the Cimarron, at which point 
 Lieut. Gardner and I turned back and rode 
 to Ranch creek. On reaching there our 
 horses were very much exhausted. After a 
 night's rest we resumed our homeward ride, 
 meeting General Hatch and his adjutant be- 
 tween Nez Perces and Ponca agencies. Gen. 
 Hatch was going to look over the Stillwater 
 country, as far as Camp Russell. The old 
 general had a way of piloting himself, and 
 never required the services of a guide. The 
 party in charge of Payne & Co., commanded 
 by Lieut. Jackson, landed the prisoners safe 
 into the hands of the civil authorities at 
 Fort Smith. To my personal knowledge, 
 Payne, and all the other prisoners, were 
 treated kindly, and were made as comfort- 
 able as was practicable. 
 
 Some time after this, while at Caldwell, I 
 received an order to report to Captain Car- 
 roll, of the 9th cavalry, at Camp Russell, 
 and to ascertain while en route whether there 
 
GOVERNMENT SCOUT. 179 
 
 were any boomers in the country. But the 
 breaking up of their settlements at Pearl 
 City and Rock Falls had made these gentry 
 shy, and it was hard to find them, as they 
 were scattered about on the creeks in the 
 brush, making it a difficult matter to ferret 
 them out. This trip was rendered harder on 
 account of high water, the creeks all being 
 up, compelling me to swim them. On my 
 return from Camp Russell, a long and tedi- 
 ous trip, I marked out a route with a view 
 of locating points for bridging Red Rock, 
 Black Bear, Salt Fork and Cedar Creek, and 
 Cimarron river. On a subsequent trip to 
 Camp Russell I made accurate measurement 
 with an odemeter of the distance of the 
 route as well as the width of the various 
 streams and made report thereof to head- 
 quarters. 
 
 A brief description of this much disputed 
 Oklahoma country may prove interesting 
 to many whose eyes have been turned in 
 that direction by reason of the brilliant 
 and seductive accounts sent out by those in- 
 terested in pushing the boomer movement. 
 I have traveled over the entire strip time and 
 again and must say that these accounts are 
 in many respects exaggerated. 
 
 The strip is a high divide between the 
 
180 THE OKLAHOMA SCOTTT. 
 
 north fork of the Canadian and the Cimar- 
 ron rivers, broken by numerous small creeks 
 flowing into each of them. It might be 
 termed a hilly country with the exceptions 
 of these portions bordering on Cottonwood 
 and Chisholm creeks. The hills are covered 
 with a kind of black jack, fit for nothing but 
 fire-wood. Along the streams there is a 
 growth of cottonwood, hackberry, elm and 
 in some places china brush and dogwood. 
 Along the Cimarron there is some good oak 
 timber, and about the mouth of that stream 
 the hills are covered with oak. The wide 
 bottoms along the Cimarron are liable to 
 overflow in high water, the banks being gen- 
 erally low on both sides. The soil in some 
 of these bottoms is quite rich, but portions 
 of it are too sandy to be productive under 
 the hot sun of that latitude, in places the 
 hardy grass of that region even refusing to 
 take root. On the high ground and along 
 Campbell creek and Deep Fork especially 
 there are large sections which are perfectly 
 barren of vegetation. The eastern portion 
 along the north bank of the Cimarron and 
 close to its mouth is rough and rocky. 
 
 The Oklahoma strip is about sixty miles 
 long by about forty-six miles in width, and 
 may be bounded as follows: Commencing 
 
GOVERNMENT SCOUT. 181 
 
 at the northwest corner of the Creek Nation ; 
 thence due west about one hundred miles to 
 the Eed Fork of the Cimarron river, and 
 sixty miles south from the Kansas State 
 line and west of the 98th degree of longi- 
 tude west from Greenwich, and on the 108th 
 meridian ; thence in a southeasterly course 
 along the meanderings of the Cimarron 
 to the 98th degree of longitude ; thence due 
 south to a point on the north side of the 
 Canadian river; thence in a southeasterly 
 course along the meanderings of said river to 
 the Indian meridian; thence due north on 
 the Indian meridian to the North Fork of 
 the Canadian river; thence southeasterly 
 along the meanderings of said river to the 
 west line of the Sac and Fox reservation ; 
 thence due north to the Eed Fork of Cimar- 
 ron river; thence northeasterly along the 
 meanderings of said river to the west line of 
 the Creek Nation ; thence north to the place 
 of beginning. The strip in dispute contains 
 about 14,000,000 acres of land. 
 
 There has been a great anxiety on the 
 part of emigrants from the states to secure 
 a location in Oklahoma an anxiety which 
 I think has been increased because it is for- 
 bidden fruit, for there are plenty of unoccu- 
 pied government lands not in dispute equally 
 
182 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 available for settlement. I have never seen 
 any excuse for breaking the laws in order to 
 gain a foothold in the Indian country. I 
 want to see the country opened up to settle- 
 ment, but I have been provoked to see a set 
 of adventurers persistently defy the United 
 States authorities, and place themselves in a 
 position of antagonism to the laws of the 
 land. It is a matter for congress to settle, 
 and until congress acts I think the loud- 
 mouthed boomer should take a back seat; 
 and when it is opened those schemers who 
 led so many dupes to privation and suffering 
 will not become what they no doubt will 
 aspire to be the most prominent citizens. 
 
CSAPTEE XXH1. 
 
 GENERAL HATCH AND HIS STAFF OFFICEES. 
 
 Gen. Edward Hatch is one of the noblest 
 men I ever met. I account bis friendship 
 the highest honor of my life. His military 
 career has been a long one, but has been one 
 of uniform success of duty nobly per- 
 formed. His services during the war of 
 secession form a bright page in the history 
 of that memorable conflict. He was not in 
 a position to acquire the fame which fell to 
 other officers with larger commands, but 
 whenever Gen. Hatch and his cavalry were 
 heard from the people rejoiced, for they 
 knew valiant service had been done for the 
 sacred cause of the Union. In the compar- 
 atively obscure position which he has filled 
 since the war, that of protecting the people 
 of Texas, Kansas, Arizona and the other ter- 
 ritories against Indian depredations, he has 
 made himself universally popular. With 
 the warm-hearted people of Texas he is a 
 special favorite and they, one and all, swear 
 by Gen. Hatch. 
 
 My position as a scout has brought me in 
 
 is 188 
 
184 THE OKLAHOMA SOOTJT. 
 
 personal contact with him for many years, 
 and I have uniformly found him both just 
 and generous. He is dignified, but not in 
 any wise haughty, being at all times consid- 
 erate and agreeable in his manner toward 
 any one with whom he is doing business, 
 whether his station is high or low. I have 
 seen military officers who seemed to delight 
 in acting the tyrant, but Gen. Hatch would 
 scorn to use his power to oppress the hum- 
 blest man under him. I am personally 
 indebted to him for many kindnesses which 
 will always be held in grateful remembrance. 
 I should feel that I had been guilty of 
 ingratitude were I to fail to notice in this 
 account of my life my friend "Walter L. Fin- 
 ley, first lieutenant of company L, 9th cav- 
 alry, and at present acting adjutant-general 
 of the District of Oklahoma. He is one of 
 the brightest, bravest, friendliest and freest- 
 hearted young fellows that ever lived. He 
 is from Pennsylvania, and I venture to pre- 
 dict that if the occasion ever arises when his 
 abilities can be tested in a great war, the old 
 Keystone State will enroll his name among 
 her heroes along with those of such leaders as 
 Hancock and Meade. He has been an active 
 participant in the military operations to 
 settle the Oklahoma troubles, and it hae 
 
GENERAL HATCH. 185 
 
 been a good school in which to learn pru- 
 dence, patience and forbearance, as well as 
 the exercise of firmness and decision of 
 character. Lieut. Finley has been uniformly 
 my friend, and has my best wishes for his 
 success in life wherever he may be. 
 
CHAPTEK XXIY. 
 
 LIEUTENANT CHARLES TAYLOE. 
 
 Another among my particular and most 
 prized army friends, is First Lieut. Charles 
 Taylor, quartermaster of the 9th cavalry, 
 and at the time I knew him was quarter- 
 master-general of the district of Oklahoma. 
 I saw a good deal of service with Lieut. 
 Taylor. In the summer of 1884 while he 
 and I were going out to look over some field 
 transportation, his horse, or rather one be- 
 longing to the quartermaster department, 
 became unmanageable, and in attempting to 
 dismount he was thrown and had his leg 
 broken at the ankle, from which he suffered 
 a great deal during the summer and fall. 
 Lieut. Taylor is the prince of good fellows, 
 but firm as the rock of Gibraltar, and stern 
 and unrelenting in carrying out anything he 
 undertakes. He incurred the everlasting 
 displeasure of the Oklahoma boomers by his 
 strictness in carrying out the orders for their 
 expulsion from the territory. On one occa/ 
 sion he came across a number of them en- 
 camped on the present site of Fort Eussell, 
 
 186 
 
LIEUT. CHARLES TAYLOK. 187 
 
 on the south bank of the Cimarron river. 
 The boomers were holding religious services. 
 The Lieutenant inquired " Who's boss here ? " 
 He got no satisfactory response, and declared 
 the whole party under arrest. Some of them 
 refused to acknowledge the arrest and leave 
 the ground. These he ordered to be seized 
 and tied; he then had them put in the 
 wagons and hauled to Fort Keno. There is 
 no use for any one to try to fool with 
 Charley Taylor while carrying out orders 
 from his superior officer. One of the bound 
 boomers sued for $25,000 damages but did 
 not recover anything. 
 
CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 TRIP TO FORT RILET. 
 
 On October 16, 1884, I received orders to 
 accompany H and D troops of the 9th cavalry, 
 on their march to Fort Riley, which is situ- 
 ated in Davis County, Kansas, on Smoky 
 Hill river. It required the services of some 
 one familiar with the route to regulate the 
 march so as to secure suitable places for 
 camping, where sufficient could be had for 
 the stock. 
 
 I reached camp on the 17th, at Chicaskie. 
 On the 18th we marched to Chilocca creek, 
 south of Arkansas City, a distance of twenty- 
 five miles. The next day marched to Win- 
 field, and camped on Dutch creek, having 
 traveled twenty miles. On the 20th we 
 marched to Douglas, about eighteen or 
 twenty miles, and put up our tents in a camp- 
 meeting ground. The next day, 21st, we 
 journeyed as far as Gideon creek, and camped 
 on the farm of Mr. Potwin. The close of 
 the 23d found us at Peabody, on the Santa 
 Fe road. The next day we reached a point 
 six miles north of Marion Center on a spring 
 188 
 
TRIP TO POET BILBY. 189 
 
 branch. On the 25th we got to the first 
 crossing on Lyon's creek, and on the 26th 
 moved into Fort Kiley, it being Sunday. 
 That night I slept in Lieut. Gardner's quar- 
 ters, and on Monday the 27th, I reported to 
 Col. Dudley of the 1st cavalry, who com- 
 manded the post, and got transportation 
 home. I had previously seen Col. Dudley 
 at Fort Lyon. He is a good ways past the 
 middle age and has spent many a year in 
 Uncle Sam's military service. But he is still 
 a soldierly looking man, erect, and with an 
 eye like a hawk. I was treated very kindly 
 by him as well as the other officers at the 
 post. I forgot to state that Capt. John 
 Loud of company D, commanded the bat- 
 tallion on the march to Fort Riley, Lieut. 
 Gardner being in command of company H. 
 I returned to Caldwell where Capt. Moore of 
 L company of the 9th, was stationed that 
 winter, watching the boomers. 
 
 The winter wore with occasional episodes 
 in the way of expeditions into the territory 
 with Lieut. Finley looking after the boom- 
 ers. On one occasion the command captured 
 a squad of eighteen wood thieves who had 
 been surreptitiously helping themselves to 
 timber off the Cherokee strip, which they 
 were hauling to Arkansas City. Finley com- 
 
190 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 pelled them to leave the wood at Chilocca 
 school house. The wood gatherers were 
 much incensed, but the stern hand of au- 
 thority was upon them and they could do 
 nothing but grumble. 
 
CHAPTEK XXYL 
 
 FURTHER WANDERINGS. 
 
 I left Caldwell, January 11, 1885, with 
 three troops of cavalry, Capt. Francis Moore 
 in command. The roads were very soft, 
 making traveling difficult, and it was cold, 
 the wind being in the north. We camped 
 that night on Deer creek, where we remained 
 during Monday, the time being whiled away 
 by the troops cursing the boomers for mov- 
 ing them out of good, warm quarters in such 
 weather. On Tuesday, the 13th, the weather 
 was bitter cold. The troops moved down 
 the creek to near Miller's ranch and went 
 into camp. I rode on to Salt Fork and saw 
 Gen. Hatch, who was in camp there. I found 
 South Fork impossible to cross, on account 
 of the ice being piled up. I spent the night 
 at Gen. Hatch's camp, and next morning re- 
 turned to Capt. Moore's camp, on Deer 
 creek, some eight miles distant. It was 
 sleeting. The two blacksmiths were kept 
 busy sharpening the horses' shoes. We broke 
 camp on the morning of the 15th, in a terri- 
 ble snowstorm. The roads were so slippery 
 
 m 
 
192 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 from the sleet that the soldiers had to lead 
 their horses, and it was so bitter cold that 
 eight or nine of them froze their hands and 
 faces in marching a distance of only eight 
 miles. On the 16th it was quite clear, but 
 still tremendously cold. We cut holes in the 
 ice to flood it, so as to make it thick enough 
 to carry the troops, horses and wagons. The 
 command consisted at this time of com- 
 pany L, Capt. Moore; company B, Capt. 
 Dawson, and company M, Capt. Rucker. 
 There were three six-mule teams to each 
 company, besides eighteen or twenty con- 
 tract wagons. On Saturday, the 17th, the 
 entire command crossed without accident. 
 We marched to Red Rock, the soldiers 
 being compelled to hold their horses by 
 their bits to keep them from slipping. We 
 went to camp on south side of Red Rock, the 
 wagons being hauled across by hand, on 
 account of the banks being so icy, animals 
 couldn't get a foothold. We remained there 
 over Sunday, and breaking camp early Mon- 
 day morning, marched to Black Bear, about 
 sixteen miles. 
 
 Tuesday, the 20th, we reached the south 
 line of the Cherokee strip gate, having had a 
 painful march over the ice, and the weather 
 still remaining intensely cold. The soldiers 
 
EMMA'S MESS KITCHEN. 
 
WANDERINGS. 193 
 
 began to feel pretty bitter toward the 
 boomers, and were not backward in express- 
 ing themselves. The next day was no im- 
 provement on the preceding one, and we 
 only succeeded in making fifteen miles, go- 
 ing into camp at half past one o'clock on a 
 prong of Stillwater creek. Camping time 
 Thursday found us on Cedar creek, north of 
 Camp Russell, after a march of twelve miles. 
 Next day we countermarched to a prong 
 of Stillwater creek, about seventeen miles. 
 Saturday, the 24th, we broke camp soon 
 after daylight, and after a hard march 
 formed a junction with the other troops, 
 under command of Major Dewees, at the 
 camp of the boomers, in charge of Capt. 
 Couch. During the day we had put in con- 
 siderable time building bridges, which re- 
 called to my mind very forcibly my war ex- 
 perience during the Atlanta campaign. The 
 next morning, Wednesday, the 25th, the 
 boomers were formally notified that they 
 would be given until next morning at nine 
 o'clock to move out. I find in my note book 
 the following entry in the handwriting of 
 Capt. Moore : " Good deal of diplomacy go- 
 ing on between the two camps, Lieut. Day 
 being minister plenipotentiary on part of 
 the command." Day had ordered the boom- 
 
194: THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 ers out on a previous occasion, and they had 
 refused to go, inviting him to fire on them if 
 he chose. 
 
 My note book has this entry for the 26th : 
 "Troops formed in line of battle at nine 
 A. M., and stood awaiting orders. Word 
 came very soon that the boomers would go, 
 and the line was broken up to await further 
 orders. I started at 2 p. M., by order of 
 Capt. Walter L. Finley, Adjt.-Gen. of the 
 district of Oklahoma, to carry dispatches and 
 letters to Arkansas City, to be forwarded 
 from there. My instructions required me to 
 remain in Arkansas City twenty-four hours 
 to await answers to telegrams unless they 
 arrived sooner, and then return to Ponca 
 agency to meet the troops." 
 
 This is the trip which Gen. Hatch com- 
 plimented, and which was noticed in Frank 
 Leslie's Illustrated Magazine. The weather 
 was intensely cold and the roads icy. I 
 traveled all night and reached Arkansas City 
 after a drive of twelve hours. Answers to 
 telegrams came in time for me to start back 
 next morning, and I returned to Ponca 
 agency, where I met the command. The 
 boomers were in front, loaded in fifty-four 
 wagons, and presented a rather doleful spec- 
 tacle. They were escorted across the state 
 
WANDERINGS. 195 
 
 line at Arkansas City and released. They 
 went into camp there. Gen. Hatch soon 
 after moved his headquarters to Arkansas 
 City so as to be in position to keep Capt. 
 Couch in check, while two companies of 
 troops were stationed at Ponca agency. 
 
 Under orders I attended the various 
 boomer meetings in the state in order to 
 ascertain what their plans were. It has been 
 constantly claimed that a great majority of 
 the people of Kansas sympathized with the 
 boomers but from what I saw and heard I 
 am convinced this was not the case. They 
 had sympathizers, and they generally made 
 a great deal of noise, but thinking men con- 
 demned the movement as unwarranted and 
 presumptuous, and calculated to weaken the 
 respect of men for the authority of law. 
 The boomers have tried to pose as martyrs, 
 but have signally failed. I say this out of 
 no unkindness, for I know several of them 
 with whom I am on good terms. 
 
 On Wednesday, March 4th, 1885, I left 
 Arkansas City with an infantry battalion, 
 Major Clark, bound for Ponca agency, which 
 point was reached March 7th, and relieved 
 the cavalry battalion, which moved to Chil- 
 occa creek, south of Arkansas City, on the 
 Cherokee strip. I was kept constantly on the 
 
196 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 move, but I omit all incidents up to the 7th 
 of April. On this date I commenced a mem- 
 orable trip over the Oklahoma country to 
 Camp Eussell, in company with " Lord " John 
 Bacon, the accomplished and gentlemanly 
 correspondent of the Kansas City Times. I 
 went under orders from Gen. Hatch to meas- 
 ure width of streams in event they needed 
 bridging, for the high water had bothered 
 him a great deal, also to look out the best 
 crossings. My companion was representing 
 his paper, one of the most wide-awake papers 
 in the west. 
 
 One pleasant incident of the trip was stop- 
 ping with Major Clark of the 23d infantry, 
 a most hospitable and clever gentleman, as 
 an able soldier so recognized throughout the 
 army, having been in the service since long 
 before the war. The Major is a universal 
 favorite. He is always the same in camp or 
 court. 
 
 We next struck the Pawnee agency on the 
 9th of April, where we met with the misfor- 
 tune of having our mules burnt up in the 
 Indian trader's stable that night. About 
 midnight I saw a light in the window of the 
 hotel and perceived the stable was on fire. 
 I called Bacon and told him the stable was 
 afire, I guessed. When I got there it was too 
 
FUBTHEE WANDERINGS. 197 
 
 late to do anything, the four animals with 
 two horses already having perished, also a 
 set of harness I still owe for. I managed to 
 save the carriage. On returning to the 
 house I found that another tragedy had tran- 
 spired in my absence. "Lord" Bacon, it 
 seems, on being aroused from his sleep and 
 dreams of a long communication to the 
 Times in regard to the number of cattle in 
 Oklahoma, leaped frantically from the bed, 
 and in endeavoring to reach the window to 
 look out, he fell down stairs (and great was 
 the fall thereof), sustaining severe, but not 
 fatal injuries in various portions of his body. 
 Our landlady, alarmed by the crash, came 
 out as thinly clad as the hapless Bacon, the 
 dress of each being a night-gown, and a look 
 of amazement and fright. But, like a true 
 newspaper correspondent, he was not to be 
 deterred by difficulties or misfortunes. 
 
 On the llth we went with the agent's team 
 to the Z. Y. ranch, about twenty-five miles 
 west, where Mr. Wm. Norman kindly let us 
 have the use of a span of horses to complete 
 our journey. We left the Z. Y. ranch on 
 the 14th, and reached Camp Eussell on the 
 15th. On the 16th I took the measurement 
 of the Cimarron river at Camp Russell for a 
 ferry, with the following result : 240 feet of 
 
 H 
 
198 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 water ; 331 from top of bank on north side 
 to a stake on bar on south side, and 556 feet 
 from an oak tree on north side to a cotton- 
 wood on south side. "We had a pleasant time 
 at Camp Eussell, being most kindly taken 
 care of by Captain, now Major, Carroll, and 
 Lieut. Bingham, of company A, 9th cavalry. 
 April 19th we reached Black Bear on our re- 
 turn, where the unlucky but plucky corre- 
 spondent of the Kansas City Times once more 
 came to grief. As we were descending the 
 bank to the creek ford, near the Wiath cattle 
 company's ranch, the buggy upset and rolled 
 into the water ; but I got the worst of this 
 adventure, for I fell first with Lord Bacon 
 on the top of me, with the lines tangled 
 around my feet. The team was fortunately 
 jaded and did not run, and we escaped with 
 no further injury than a good wetting and 
 a coating of mud. It was only a short 
 distance to the ranch, where Captain Parks, 
 manager, took us in, and in every respect 
 acted toward us the good Samaritan. We 
 reached Arkansas City April 20th without 
 further misfortune. From there I went to 
 Topeka as witness before the United States 
 grand jury against the boomers. On return- 
 ing to Caldwell I found the 9th cavalry had 
 received orders to change stations with 
 
tftJRTHER WANDERINGS. 199 
 
 the 5th cavalry at Fort McKinney, Wyo- 
 ming Territory. I was ordered by Gen. 
 Hatch to report to Maj. De wees' battalion, 
 then on the way from Fort Eeno to Arkansas 
 City, via Camp Bussell. This proved to be 
 one of my toughest trips, having to swim 
 my horse over every stream on the route. 
 Although along in April it was cold, there 
 frequently being ice in the creeks. These 
 delays kept me so long on the road Gen. 
 Hatch became uneasy, and telegraphed to 
 Fort Reno to know if I had reported. 
 He knew of the high water and thought I had 
 likely been drowned. On my return to 
 Caldwell I was ordered to report to General 
 Dudley, and was afterward transferred to 
 the 5th cavalry, and went with two battal- 
 ions to Fort Eeno. 
 
 July 15th I joined Captain Potter at Cald- 
 well who had orders to notify intruders off 
 of the Oklahoma and Cherokee strips. I was 
 out fifteen days with him, during which 
 we traveled pretty much all over both strips. 
 The weather was very warm, and we suffered 
 much from the heat, as well as from lack of 
 water. The boomers can have the satisfac- 
 tion of knowing that they caused a good deal 
 both of inconvenience and suffering to the 
 instruments used by the government for their 
 
200 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 expulsion. I got back to Caldwell on the 
 1st day of August. 
 
 My next undertaking was of a private 
 nature. I was employed by E-. L. Dunman, 
 of Coleman county, Texas, with eight others, 
 Hiram Norton being his foreman, to retake 
 possession of a ranch and a herd of cattle 
 numbering 7,000, the purchaser having failed 
 to comply with his part of the contract. The 
 ranch is situated in the forks of the Arkansas 
 and Cimarron rivers. We got possession of 
 the ranch and herd, and held it for two 
 months and a half, when the purchaser hav- 
 ing in the meantime complied with the con- 
 tract of purchase, we turned the stock and 
 ranch over to them by order of Mr. Dunman. 
 
 R. L. Dunman is an old cattle driver, and 
 now runs large herds in Texas. He is one of 
 the most energetic and persistent workers I 
 ever saw. He is an honorable man, and 
 doesn't undertake anything that is not right, 
 but when he does start there is no stopping 
 him. From him, and also from his foreman, 
 Hiram Norton, I received many kindnesses. 
 They are both men who will do to tie to in 
 any emergency. 
 
CHAPTER XXYII. 
 
 Among my most pleasant remembrances 
 are the days I spent at General Hatch's 
 camp on the Chillocca creek. This camp- 
 ing ground was about six miles south of 
 Arkansas City, and two miles from the 
 Kansas line on what was known as the 
 Cherokee strip. The command was com- 
 posed of. seven companies of the Ninth 
 United States Cavalry, numbering in all 
 about six hundred men. The headquarters 
 of General Hatch were at Arkansas City. 
 Colonel Benteen was in immediate command 
 of the camp on the Chillocca creek, and a 
 noble commander he made, too. While a 
 thorough disciplinarian, he was honored and 
 respected by every soldier in the camp. It 
 was my business to watch the Boomers, and 
 in my capacity as Chief Scout to General 
 Hatch, I was in and out of the camp all the 
 time. There being, as I have said, six hun- 
 dred men in camp there was no chance of 
 being very lonesome. The duties of the 
 soldiers consisted mainly in taking care of 
 201 
 
202 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 their horses and going out on scouting expe- 
 ditions, and between the two they were 
 generally kept pretty busy. After the tatoo 
 which sounded at nine o'clock at night, the 
 lamps were all put out and then came those 
 'never-to-be-forgotten camp-fire chats. Many 
 a merry tale was told, many a loud and boister- 
 ous song was sung ; all sorts of yarns were 
 spun, some of them truthful enough, and many 
 of them not any too truthful. Ghost stories, 
 love stories, hunting stories, war stories, 
 all sorts of stories. Sometimes a sort of 
 home sickness would strike the boys, and 
 then they would sing songs of home, and of 
 their early days. Many of the men were old 
 war veterans, and told some strange and 
 wonderful stories of the war. I guess they 
 sometimes stretched a little, especially when 
 describing their own exploits. Sundays were 
 not much different from other days. We 
 were not blessed with a chaplain, so we had 
 no church service, and truth to tell, I am 
 afraid none of us were hankering very much 
 for religious exercises. Sometimes we had 
 visitors on Sunday, and that broke the 
 monotony of the week. Mr. Worthy, of the 
 Santa Fee road, showed me great kindness 
 on the occasions of his visits. The various 
 illustrations that are scattered through this 
 
OSOTEBAL HATCH'S GAMP. 203 
 
 volume will give the reader a good idea of 
 our camp. The forage pile, with its baled 
 hay and other necessaries for the horses, the 
 camp oven dug in the ground that would 
 cook to a charm, the pleasant face of Emma, 
 the colored cook, as she stands at her camp 
 mess kitchen table, and the Adjutant's office 
 tent will call up pleasant memories to all 
 who ever saw the camp on Chillocca creek. 
 
CHAPTER XXVHI. 
 
 INDIAN GRAVES. 
 
 It will be interesting to such as have 
 never seen an Indian grave to have some 
 information presented to them concerning 
 burial among the Indians. When an Indian 
 of the Cheyennes or of the Kapperhoe tribe 
 dies, his family and tribe begin forthwith to 
 collect as many shirts, leggings, moccasins, 
 etc., as they possibly can. In addition to all 
 this they gather together as much ammuni- 
 tion as possible, and with a saddle and a 
 hatchet and the indispensable peace-pipe, 
 they take the body of the dead man into 
 some secluded spot in the woods. They 
 then procure long poles, which they place on 
 crotches of the trees, twenty or thirty feet 
 high, on these they spread rawhides. The 
 dead body is then wrapped up in blankets with 
 all the paraphernalia which have been col- 
 lected. A buffalo hide is tied around the 
 whole and secured to the poles and branches 
 of the trees. The favorite war horse of the 
 dead Indian is then brought and shot. All 
 this proceeds on the superstition that these 
 
 204 
 
INDIAN GRAVES. 205 
 
 things will be useful to the dead man when 
 he reaches the happy hunting grounds. A 
 bucket of water is placed near the grave 
 that the dead man may not suffer from 
 thirst. I have seen hundreds of these 
 graves, and they are not often molested. 
 Even careless men have a sort of feeling 
 that the Indians have a right to enjoy their 
 own superstitions. JSTow and again some 
 devil-may-care of a cowboy will disturb the 
 sacred relics. But woe betide him if the 
 Indians catch him; they will shoot him 
 dead without a moment's pause. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 HUNTING MEMORIES. 
 
 The pleasantest feature of Oklahoma life 
 has yet to be mentioned. The city gentleman 
 may take pride in showing his country 
 friends the sights of a great metropolis. 
 The sturdy farmer may fill himself with sat- 
 isfaction as he welcomes his city friends to 
 his home of peace and plenty and quiet. 
 The European and American may exchange 
 places, and visit and revisit the great centers 
 where men have reared huge structures and 
 piled up immense fortunes, but all these are 
 tame and common compared with a rough 
 and ready reception in the wild west. The 
 later years of my scouting experience have 
 been broken into by visits, not from the red- 
 skins, not from troops bent on war, not from 
 cowboys turned loose to start a bedlam 
 on the plains, but visits from knights of the 
 gun and rod. In fact, many hunting parties 
 from the cities, it has been my pleasure to 
 meet during recent autumns. Men who lay 
 aside the office ledger and the business of 
 shop or store for a six weeks' trip into Okla- 
 206 
 
HUNTING MEMORIES. 207 
 
 homa land are usually men of congenial 
 spirits, of brave acts and of kind hearts. 
 One such party I will refer to in particular. 
 Put on the list Fred P. Taylor, John F. 
 Whiting, Bill Haskell, Harry Loveday and 
 Albert Huston, of Chicago. Let these be 
 joined by Ben Miller and Milt Bennett, of 
 Caldwell, Kansas. Then add guns, revolv- 
 ers, tents, kettles, knives, wagons, horses, 
 saddles, dogs, blankets, cigars and other " re- 
 freshments," and then invite the writer to 
 show the way, and you have an outfit such 
 as never went in search of pleasure 
 any where but in the beautiful wild gardens 
 that lie in the valley of Oklahoma. These 
 men I have been with, and have the 
 promise for the future of still other cam- 
 paigns in the lands which the red man calls 
 his own. Together we have forded streams. 
 Together we have brought down the wild 
 deer on the run or the wild turkey on tke 
 wing. Together we have slept in wagons 
 and under wagons, or within the shelter of 
 little tents pitched on spots where stakes had 
 never before broken the surface of mother 
 earth. Together about the camp-fire we 
 have lain on the grass and counted the tur- 
 keys and deer killed during the day after 
 they were strung up on long poles placed iu 
 
208 THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 
 
 the forks of the trees. The evening was also 
 the favorite hour for swapping stories. 
 
 It was not always the best shot who could 
 spin the best yarn. Messrs. Miller and 
 Bennett, of Caldwell, are the president and 
 treasurer, respectively, of the Cherokee Live 
 Stock Association. They are gentlemen of 
 wealth and culture. But as they presented 
 themselves in camp with torn brimmed hats 
 and pants so sadly demoralized that they lit- 
 tle more than evaded the law, they became, 
 to all appearances, banditti of the prairies. 
 Mr. Miller would not have been recognized 
 on the campus at Cambridge as he was in 
 former years, when he left old Harvard with 
 honors, nor would Mr. Bennett have been 
 easily recognized as the keeper of an ex- 
 chequer and the treasurer of a great corpo- 
 ration. But true gentlemen do not change 
 with thair clothes, and these two, freed for 
 a time of business cares, were affable, large- 
 hearted gentlemen still, while roughing it in 
 the chase or in the camp. Mr. Taylor and 
 his fellows of Chicago were as jolly and 
 honorable and enjoyable company as ever 
 left a great city to smoke pipes or tell 
 stories about a camp-fire in the wilds that 
 border the Cimarron. Taylor and Haskell 
 were opposites on everything. From the 
 
HUNTING MEMORIES. 209 
 
 first morning greeting until the last man was 
 rolled in his blanket at night, these two 
 managed to disagree. Their friendly spats 
 furnished life and sport for the party, who 
 often volunteered to make a ring for them 
 to fight it out in approved style. But when 
 Haskell and Loveday got lost after a turkey 
 hunt near Sulphur Springs, south of the Cim- 
 arron, Taylor was the worst worried man in 
 the party, and laughable to remark, his anx- 
 iety seemed to be mostly about contrary- 
 spirit Haskell. The laugh was at the ex- 
 pense of the good-natured Bennett one day 
 when he used two small bars of dynamite to 
 try to blow fish out of a stream. He secured, 
 as the result of his scientific feat, two little 
 fish no longer than a pipestem, which, how- 
 ever, he declared he would cook and eat, as 
 the experiment cost him about three dollars, 
 besides his valuable time. The recollections 
 of all these gentlemen will ever be pleasant 
 to me as one of their number. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 OTHER SCOUTS. 
 
 Having in a brief way detailed some of my 
 experiences as a scout, I will now endeavor 
 to pay a tribute of respect to some other 
 members of the scouting fraternity whom I 
 have known. 
 
 I will begin with Jack Stillwell, who is a 
 man now about forty years of age, medium 
 height, with a large round head and face, 
 the latter wearing a good-natured expression. 
 His eyes are blue, and mild when not excited. 
 But when he is angered, or in danger, they 
 flash forth the determination of invincible 
 pluck. He does not know fear. He is a 
 splendid fellow to be with, being generous 
 to a fault. He is the opposite of a bully, and 
 in any difficulty he always takes the weaker 
 side. In his ordinary intercourse with men 
 he is unassuming and gentlemanly. His has 
 been an eventful career, and his scouting 
 career covers many years, including the worst 
 Indian times on the plains. He was with 
 Gen. Forsythe on the Eepublican river at 
 the memorable Indian battle of Eicore, 
 210 
 
212 OTHER SCOUTS. 
 
 where the band of scouts lived eight days on 
 the flesh, of their horses, which were killed 
 the first day's fight. The Indians were in 
 overwhelming numbers, consisting of Chey- 
 ennes, Arapahoes, and warriors from other 
 tribes. On the third night Stillwell crept 
 out under cover of the darkness and carried 
 that memorable Forsythe dispatch to Fort 
 Hays for succor, at least one hundred and 
 forty miles. He reached there in safety, and 
 the beleaguered band was rescued. 
 
 George Oaks and Mose Waters were both 
 present at this fight and served the govern- 
 ment faithfully as scouts. Oaks was a good 
 friend but a bad enemy, and stood no trifling 
 with. Waters was more of a business turn 
 of mind, and after a time relapsed into a post 
 trader, which position he now holds at Fort 
 Kiley. Mose is one of the best fellows in 
 the world and is happy and rich, having a 
 beautiful wife and three charming little girls. 
 I was always glad when my business called 
 me to Mose's post, and many is the pleasant 
 hour we've spent together, rehearsing old 
 times and the stirring scenes incident to a 
 scout's life, and commenting upon the char- 
 acteristics of those of our comrades who had 
 gone with the majority. 
 
 Ben Clark, now at Fort Eeno as scout and 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOTJi. %$ 
 
 interpreter, too well known for his personal 
 and professional worth in military circles to 
 need mention here ; Billy Dickson, now at 
 Fort Elliott, a quiet, peaceable man, but 
 brave, and always ready, and who gained 
 knightly spurs at the Adobe Walls fight 
 with the Cheyennes, on the South Canadian ; 
 Big Nick, as he was called, a scout widely 
 known, a thorough good fellow, but keen, 
 shrewd, and at all times to be relied on as a 
 civilian or soldier ; Tom Donnell, whose con- 
 versational powers are only equaled by his 
 skill as a scout, a splendid fellow withal, are 
 the scouts whom I have best known, and 
 who have always been my friends. 
 
 I have now finished this little book, so far 
 as an account of my adventures are con- 
 cerned. I have not aimed to be sensational, 
 and have stated nothing but what is strictly 
 true. I am now past my fortieth year. I 
 entered the army of the union, and under- 
 went three years of hardships, which, as I 
 look back upon them now, it seems almost im- 
 possible that I should have stood them. The 
 time spent there was precious at my period 
 of life. I ought to have been at school, and 
 had I been, my career in life might have 
 been something altogether different and bet- 
 ter. But it is useless to repine over that 
 
 15 
 
214 OTHEK SCOUTS. 
 
 now. My army experience, and, perhaps, a 
 natural bent of mind, led me in the adven- 
 turous course of life I have pursued for 
 more than twenty years past. I make no 
 pretensions to being a saint, never did and 
 never expect to. I was in every battle the 
 grand old 19th Michigan fought, from Ke- 
 saca to Avreysboro, and I may add that on 
 the march to the sea I was in as many hen- 
 houses and cellars, and fastened onto as 
 many mules as the best " bummer " of them 
 all. And if in later years my life has been 
 wild and free, and, as some might call it, 
 rough, I have always tried to hold myself 
 straight up among men, and to so carry my- 
 self as to command their respect, if not love ; 
 although when it comes to friends, I believe 
 I have as many good and true ones as any 
 man. But my conclusion from a long ex- 
 perience is that a man is his own best friend, 
 and that the help of friends or relatives can 
 never serve as a substitute for a sturdy self- 
 reliance. "He who serves himself is best 
 served," is a wise proverb. To boys whose 
 imaginations have drawn brilliant pictures of 
 the life of a scout and frontiersman, I would 
 give the same advice Artemus Ward did to 
 the young man who sought Artemus' opin- 
 ion as to the advisibility of entering the mar- 
 
THE OKLAHOMA SCOUT. 215 
 
 riage state, viz.: "Don't" you would soon 
 become disenchanted. It is a pleasant 
 enough life to read about, or even to look 
 back on when one is safe through it, but the 
 actual experience is a different thing. It is 
 a life hedged about by dangers and tempta 
 tions, of which the latter are the more to ba 
 dreaded of the two. So, my boy, if yo> 
 have a home, stay there. If you have a 
 chance to attend school, do so, and get all 
 the knowledge you can, for you may rest 
 assured it will be found of immense use in 
 after life. 
 
 To my old comrades of the 19th Michi- 
 gan, especially those of company A, my 
 own, and company C, in which my brother 
 John served, I would say that the recollec- 
 tion of the stirring scenes and dangers 
 through which we passed was one of the 
 principal incentives to my writing this 
 book. 
 
 Should Bony Allen and Henry Edwards 
 read these pages, they will, perhaps, be 
 pleased to know that Eli Benton caught me 
 in the act of writing them in the orthodox 
 author style, in a little room in the third 
 story of a hotel at Wichita, Kas. 
 
 To the public I would say that I make no 
 pretensions to literary taste or style, and if 
 
OTHER SCOUTS. 
 
 this plain, straightforward statement of the 
 facts of my life, which have been somewhat 
 out of the common way, shall prove of some 
 interest on this account, I shall be satisfied. 
 
We are the Sole Publishers of Ella Wheeler Wilcox's Books 
 
 The Poetical and Prose Works of 
 
 ELLA WHEELER WILCOX 
 
 Mrs. Wilcox's writings have been the inspiration of many young 
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 MAURINE 
 
 Is a love story told in exquisite verse. "An ideal poem about 
 as true and lovable a woman as ever poet created." It has 
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 POEMS OF POWER. 
 
 New and revised edition. This beautiful volume contains 
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 is the secret of all success and happiness. It is this idea which 
 many of the verses endeavor to inculcate and to illustrate. 
 
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 THREE WOMEN. A STORY IN VERSE. 
 
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POEMS OF PLEASURE. 
 
 Many of the best poetic creations of Ella Wheeler Wilcox 
 are to be found in this charming collection. Besides many 
 admirable specimens of romantic verse, there are several 
 poems of rare beauty, dealing with every-day topics. Every 
 line of these poems pulsates with life and throbs with emotion. 
 
 "Mrs. Wilcox is an artist with a touch that reminds one 
 of Byron's impassionate strains." Paris Register. 
 
 "Everything that she writes has the mark of her unique, 
 powerful personality impressed upon it. and this volume will 
 not be a disappointment to those acquainted with her." New 
 York Press. 
 
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 of fewer than two hundred pages, it is worth whole reams of 
 the sentimentalism flourishing under the misnomer of liter- 
 ature." Western Bookseller. 
 
 "Mrs. Wilcox takes her raptures with a full heart, revel- 
 ing in blisses and draining sorrows deeply; not morbidly but 
 hopefully. Skeptic as she is of all formal creeds, she does 
 not become cynical or pessimistic, but makes a glad religion 
 out of evolution and human fellowship." New York Daily 
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 POEMS OF PASSION. 
 
 Ella Wheeler Wilcox is known as the greatest living poet 
 of passion. To her the human heart seems to have revealed 
 its mysteries, for she has the power to picture love in all its 
 moods and variations as no other has done since Byron. 
 
 "Only a woman of genius could produce such a remark- 
 able work." Illustrated London News. 
 
 Beside many others, there are some fifty poems which 
 treat entirely of that emotion which has been denominated 
 '.'the grand passion" love. Among the most popular poems 
 in the book are Delilah, Ad Finem, Conversion, and Communism. 
 These vibrant poems have attained a reputation that is above 
 and beyond criticism. 
 
 "Her name is a household word. Her great power lies in 
 depicting human emotions; and in handling that grandest of 
 all passions love, she wields the pen of a master." Saturday 
 Record. 
 
 Many thousands of the book have been issued in the plain 
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 is met by a 
 
 BEAUTIFULL Y PRODUCED AND CHARMINGL Y EMBELLISHED EDITION 
 
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EVERY-DAY THOUGHTS In Prose 
 and Verse. 
 
 Her latest, largest and greatest prose work. This brilliant 
 work consists of a series of forceful, logical and fascinating 
 "talks" to every member of the household, in which the 
 author fearlessly, but with delicacy, discusses every-day sub- 
 jects, and directs attention to those evils which menace the 
 peace and safety of the home. "Eyeru-dau Thoughts" is not a 
 mere book of advice, neither does it attempt to preach, but it 
 contains more good counsel and wholesome moral lessons 
 than are to be found in the average sermon. 
 
 "These thoughts, lofty and uplifting, are stated with viril- 
 ity, both in prose and verse. The noble sentiments expressed 
 in this volume will widen the circle of her admirers." Roches- 
 ter Times. 
 
 "Few people are so good as not to be made better by a stu- 
 dious perusal of this useful and interesting book.; which is, in 
 brief, a short and vigorous dissertation oo rooral conduct and the 
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 worthy addition to the best works of moral philosophy and her 
 treatise deserves wide reading." New York Daily News. 
 
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 KINGDOM OF LOVE, AND OTHER POEMS. 
 
 A magnificent collection of poems suitable for recitations and read- 
 ings, true to the very best there is in human nature. 
 
 In the preface to this collection, the author says: "I am 
 constantly urged by readers and impersonators to furnish 
 them with verses for recitation. In response to this ever- 
 increasing demand, I have selected for this volume the poems 
 which seem suitable for such a purpose. In making my col- 
 lection of them, I have been obliged to use, not those which 
 are among my best efforts in a literary or artistic sense, but 
 those which contain the best dramatic possibilities for profes- 
 sionals." 
 
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 AN AMBITIOUS MAN Prose. 
 
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 overcome; that one can conquer passion and impulse by the 
 use of the divine inheritance of Will, and compel public re- 
 spect by lofty ideals; in other words, that one may rise on the 
 "stepping-stones of a dead self to higher things." Mrs. Wilcox 
 is a successful novel-writer as well as a poet, and this story is 
 another evidence of her wide range of thought. "In 'An 
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 chastened through suffering and purified through sin." 
 
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AN ERRING WOMAN'S LOVE. 
 
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 MEN, WOMEN AND EMOTIONS. 
 
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 of sage advice. 
 
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 sure to assist in smoothing the rough ways of life wherever it 
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 12mo, heavy enanieled paper. $0.50 
 
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 THE BEAUTIFUL LAND OF NOD. 
 
 A collection of poems, songs, stories, and allegories dealing 
 with child life. The work is profusely illustrated with dainty 
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