THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL, COLONEL HENRY INMAN [well read books .txt] 📗
- Author: COLONEL HENRY INMAN
Book online «THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL, COLONEL HENRY INMAN [well read books .txt] 📗». Author COLONEL HENRY INMAN
Their Ponies Could Carry Them. Some, More Brave Than
Others Would Venture Closer To The Corral, And One Of These
Got The Contents Of An Old-Fashioned flint-Lock Musket
In his Bowels.
We Were Careful Not All To Fire At The Same Time, And
Several Of Our Party, Who Were Watching The Effects Of
Our Shots Declared they Could See The Dust Fly Out Of
The Robes Of The Indians As The Bullets Struck Them.
It Was Learned afterward That A Number Of The Savages
Were Wounded, And That Several Had Died. Many Were Armed
With Bows And Arrows Only, And In order To Do Any Execution
Were Obliged to Come Near The Corral. The Indians Soon
Discovered they Were Getting The Worst Of The Fight, And,
Having Run Off All The Stock, Abandoned the Conflict,
Leaving Us In possession Of The Camp, But It Can Hardly
Be Said Masters Of The Situation.
There We Were; Thirty-Five Pioneers Upon The Wild Prairie,
Surrounded by A Wily And Terribly Cruel Foe, Without
Transportation Of Any Character But Our Own Legs, And With
Five Hundred miles Of Dangerous, Trackless Waste Between
Us And The Settlements. We Had An Abundance Of Money,
But The Stuff Was Absolutely Worthless For The Present,
As There Was Nothing We Could Buy With It.
After The Last Savage Had Ridden Away Into The Sand Hills
On The Opposite Side Of The River, Each One Of Us Had A
Thrilling Story To Relate Of His Individual Narrow Escapes.
Though None Was Killed, Many Received wounds, The Scars
Of Which They Carried through Life. I Was Wounded six
Times. Once Was In the Thigh By An Arrow, And Once While
Loading My Rifle I Had My Ramrod Shot Off Close To The
Muzzle Of My Piece, The Ball Just Grazing My Shoulder,
Tearing away A Small Portion Of The Skin. Others Had
Equally Curious Experiences, But None Were Seriously Injured.
After The Excitement Incident To The Battle Had Subsided,
The Realization Of Our Condition Fully Dawned upon Us.
When We Were First Robbed, We Were Only A Short Distance
From Santa Fe, Where Our Money Easily Procured other Stock;
Now There Were Three Hundred miles Behind Us To That Place,
And The Picture Was Anything But Pleasant To Contemplate.
To Transport Supplies For Thirty-Five Men Seemed impossible.
Our Money Was Now A Burden Greater Than We Could Bear;
What Was To Be Done With It? We Would Have No Use For It
On Our Way To The Settlements, Yet The Idea Of Abandoning
It Seemed hard To Accept. A Vigilant Guard Was Kept Up
That Day And Night, During Which Time We All Remained
In camp, Fearing a Renewal Of The Attack.
The Next Morning, As There Were No Apparent Signs Of
The Indians, It Was Decided to Reconnoitre The Surrounding
Country In the Hope Of Recovering a Portion, At Least,
Of Our Lost Stock, Which We Thought Might Have Become
Separated from The Main Herd. Three Men Were Detailed
To Stay In the Old Camp To Guard It While The Remainder,
In squads, Scoured the Hills And Ravines. Not A Horse
Or Mule Was Visible Anywhere; The Stampede Had Been
Complete--Not Even The Direction The Animals Had Taken
Could Be Discovered.
It Was Late In the Afternoon When I, Having Left My
Companions To Continue The Search And Returning To Camp
Alone, Had Gotten Within A Mile Of It, That I Thought I Saw
A Horse Feeding Upon An Adjoining Hill. I At Once Turned
My Steps In that Direction, And Had Proceeded but A Short
Distance When Three Indians Jumped from Their Ambush In
The Grass Between Me And The Wagons And Ran After Me.
The Men In camp Had Been Watching My Every Movement,
And As Soon As They Saw The Savages Were Chasing Me,
They Started in pursuit, Running at Their Greatest Speed
To My Rescue.
The Savages Soon Overtook Me, And The First One That
Came Up Tackled me, But In an Instant Found Himself Flat
On The Ground. Before He Could Get Up, The Second One
Shared the Same Fate. By This Time The Third One Arrived,
And The Two I Had Thrown Grabbed me By The Legs So That
I Could No Longer Handle Myself, While The Third One Had
A Comparatively Easy Task In pushing Me Over. Fortunately,
My Head Fell Toward The Camp And My Fast-Approaching
Comrades. The Two Indians Held My Legs To Prevent My
Rising, While The Third One, Who Was Standing Over Me,
Drew From His Belt A Tomahawk, And Shrugging His Head
In his Blanket, At The Same Time Looking Over His Shoulder
At My Friends, With A Tremendous Effort And That Peculiar
Grunt Of All Savages, Plunged his Hatchet, As He Supposed,
Into My Head, But Instead Of Scuffling To Free Myself
And Rise To My Feet, I Merely Turned my Head To One Side
And The Wicked weapon Was Buried in the Ground, Just
Grazing My Ear.
The Indian, Seeing That He Had Missed, Raised his Hatchet
And Once More Shrugging His Head In his Blanket, And
Turning To Look Over His Other Shoulder, Attempted to
Strike Again, But The Blow Was Evaded by A Sudden Toss
Of His Intended victim'S Head. Not Satisfied with Two
Abortive Trials, The Third Attempt Must Be Made To Brain Me,
And Repeating The Same Motions, With A Great "Ugh!" He
Seemed to Put All His Strength Into The Blow, Which, Like
The Others, Missed, And Spent Its Force In the Earth.
By This Time The Rescuing Party Had Come Near Enough To
Prevent The Savage From Risking another Effort, And He Then
Addressed the Other Indians In spanish, Which I Understood,
Saying, "We Must Run Or The Americans Will Kill Us!"
And Loosening His Grasp, He Scampered off With His
Companions As Fast As His Legs Could Take Him, Hurried on
By Several Pieces Of Lead Fired from The Old Flintlocks
Of The Traders.
By Sundown Every Man Had Returned to The Forlorn Camp,
But Not An Animal Had Been Recovered. Then, With Tired
Limbs And Weary Hearts, We Took Turns At Guarding The
Wagons Through The Long Night. The Next Morning Each Man
Shouldered his Rifle, And Having Had His Proportion Of
The Provisions And Cooking Utensils Assigned him,
We Broke Camp, And Again Turned to Take A Last Look At
The Country Behind Us, In which We Had Experienced so Much
Misfortune, And Started on Foot For Our Long March Through
The Dangerous Region Ahead Of Us.
Scarcely Had We Gotten Out Of Sight Of Our Abandoned camp,
When One Of The Party, Happening To Turn His Eyes In that
Direction, Saw A Large Volume Of Smoke Rising In the
Vicinity; Then We Knew That All Of Our Wagons, And
Everything We Had Been Forced to Leave, Were Burning Up.
This Proved that, Although We Had Been Unable To Discover
Any Signs Of Indians, They Had Been Lurking around Us
All The Time, And This Fact Warned us To Exercise The
Utmost Vigilance In guarding Our Persons.
Though Our Burdens Were Very Heavy, The First Few Days
Were Passed without Anything To Relieve The Dreadful
Monotony Of Our Wearisome March; But Each Succeeding
Twenty-Four Hours Our Loads Became Visibly Lighter,
As Our Supplies Were Rapidly Diminishing. It Had Already
Become Apparent That Even In the Exercise Of The Greatest
Frugality, Our Stock Of Provisions Would Not Last Until
We Could Reach The Settlements, So Some Of The Most Expert
Shots Were Selected to Hunt For Game; But Even In this
They Were Not Successful, The Very Birds Seeming To Have
Abandoned the Country In its Extreme Desolation.
After Eight Days' Travel, Despite Our Most Rigid Economy,
An Inventory Showed that There Was Less Than One Hundred
Pounds Of Flour Left. Day After Day The Hunters Repeated
The Same Old Story: "No Game!" For Two Weeks The Allowance
Of Flour To Each Individual Was But A Spoonful, Stirred
In water And Taken Three Times A Day.
One Afternoon, However, Fortune Smiled upon The Weary Party;
One Of The Hunters Returned to Camp With A Turkey He Had
Killed. It Was Soon Broiling Over A Fire Which Willing
Hands Had Kindled, And Our Drooping Spirits Were Revived
For A While. While The Turkey Was Cooking, A Crow Flew
Over The Camp, And One Of The Company, Seizing a Gun,
Despatched it, And In a Few Moments It, Too, Was Sizzling
Along With The Other Bird.
Now, In addition To The Pangs Of Hunger, A Scarcity Of
Water Confronted us, And One Day We Were Compelled to
Resort To A Buffalo-Wallow And Suck The Moist Clay Where
The Huge Animals Had Been Stamping In the Mud. We Were
Much Reduced in strength, Yet Each Day Added new
Difficulties To Our Forlorn Situation. Some Became So Weak
And Exhausted that It Was With The Greatest Effort They
Could Travel At All. To Divide The Company And Leave
The More Feeble Behind To Starve, Or To Be Murdered by
The Merciless Savages, Was Not Considered for A Moment;
But One Alternative Remained, And That Was Speedily Accepted.
As Soon As A Convenient Camping-Ground Could Be Found,
A Halt Was Made, Shelter Established, And Things Made As
Comfortable As Possible. Here The Weakest Remained to Rest,
While Some Of The Strongest Scoured the Surrounding Country
In search Of Game. During This Temporary Halt The Hunters
Were More Successful Than Before, Having Killed two
Buffaloes, Besides Some Smaller Animals, In one Morning.
Again The Natural Dry Fuel Of The Prairies Was Called
Into Requisition, And Juicy Steak Was Once More Broiling
Over The Fire.
With An Abundance To Eat And A Few Days' Rest, The Whole
Company Revived and Were Enabled to Renew Their March
Homeward. We Were Now In the Buffalo Range, And Every Day
The Hunters Were Fortunate Enough To Kill One Or More Of
The Immense Animals, Thus Keeping Our Larder In excellent
Condition, And Starvation Averted.
Doubting Whether Our Good Fortune In relation To Food
Would Continue For The Remainder Of Our March, And Our
Money Becoming Very Cumbersome, It Was Decided by A Majority
That At The First Good Place We Came To We Would Bury It
And Risk Its Being Stolen By Our Enemies. When Not More
Than Half Of Our Journey Had Been Accomplished, We Came
To An Island In the River To Which We Waded, And There,
Between Two Large Trees, Dug A Hole And Deposited our
Treasure. We Replaced the Sod Over The Spot, Taking The
Utmost Precaution To Conceal Every Sign Of Having Disturbed
The Ground. Though No Indians Had Been Seen For Several
Days, A Sharp Lookout Was Kept In all Directions For Fear
That Some Lurking Savage Might Have Been Watching Our
Movements. This Task Finished, With Much Lighter Burdens,
But More Anxious Than Ever, We Again Took Up Our March
Eastwardly, And, Thus Relieved, Were Able To Carry A
Greater Quantity Of Provisions.
Having Journeyed until We Supposed we Were Within A Few
Miles Of The Settlements, Some Of Our Number, Scarcely Able
To Travel, Thought The Best Course To Pursue Would Be To
Divide The Company; One Portion To Press On, The Weaker
Ones To Proceed by Easier Stages, And When The Advance
Arrived at The Settlements, They Were To Send Back A Relief
For Those Plodding On Wearily Behind Them. Soon A Few
Who Were Stronger Than The Others Reached independence,
Missouri, And Immediately Sent A Party With Horses To
Bring In their Comrades; So, At Last, All Got Safely To
Their Homes.
In The Spring Of 1829, Major Bennett Riley Of The United states Army
Was Ordered with Four Companies Of The Sixth Regular Infantry To
March Out On The Trail As The First Military Escort Ever Sent For
The Protection Of The Caravans Of Traders Going and Returning Between
Western Missouri And Santa Fe. Captain Philip St. George Cooke,
Of The Dragoons, Accompanied the Command,
Comments (0)