THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL, COLONEL HENRY INMAN [well read books .txt] 📗

And Kept A Faithful Journal

Of The Trip, From Which, And The Official Report Of Major Riley To

The Secretary Of War, I Have Interpolated here Copious Extracts.

 

 

 

The Journal Of Captain Cooke States That The Battalion Marched

From Fort Leavenworth, Which Was Then Called a Cantonment, And,

Strange To Say, Had Been Abandoned by The Third Infantry On Account

Of Its Unhealthiness.  It Was The 5Th Of June That Riley Crossed

The Missouri At The Cantonment, And Recrossed the River Again At

A Point A Little Above Independence, In order To Avoid The Kaw,

Or Kansas, Which Had No Ferry.

 

 

 

After Five Days' Marching, The Command Arrived at Round Grove, Where

The Caravan Had Been Ordered to Rendezvous And Wait For The Escort.

The Number Of Traders Aggregated about Seventy-Nine Men, And Their

Train Consisted of Thirty-Eight Wagons Drawn By Mules And Horses,

The Former Preponderating.  Five Days' Marching, At An Average Of

Fifteen Miles A Day, Brought Them To Council Grove.  Leaving The

Grove, In a Short Time Cow Creek Was Reached, Which At That Date

Abounded in fish; Many Of Which, Says The Journal, "Weighed several

Pounds, And Were Caught As Fast As The Line Could Be Handled."

The Captain Does Not Describe The Variety To Which He Refers;

Probably They Were The Buffalo--A Species Of Sucker, To Be Found

To-Day In every Considerable Stream In kansas.

 

 

 

Having Reached the Upper Valley,[21] Bordered by High Sand Hills,

The Journal Continues:

 

 

 

          From The Tops Of The Hills, We Saw Far Away, In almost

          Every Direction, Mile After Mile Of Prairie, Blackened

          With Buffalo.  One Morning, When Our March Was Along The

          Natural Meadows By The River, We Passed through Them For

          Miles; They Opened in front And Closed continually In

          The Rear, Preserving a Distance Scarcely Over Three Hundred

          Paces.  On One Occasion, A Bull Had Approached within

          Two Hundred yards Without Seeing Us, Until He Ascended

          The River Bank; He Stood A Moment Shaking His Head, And

          Then Made A Charge At The Column.  Several Officers

          Stepped out And Fired at Him, Two Or Three Dogs Also Rushed

          To Meet Him; But Right Onward He Came, Snorting Blood

          From Mouth And Nostril At Every Leap, And, With The Speed

          Of A Horse And The Momentum Of A Locomotive, Dashed

          Between Two Wagons, Which The Frightened oxen Nearly Upset;

          The Dogs Were At His Heels And Soon He Came To Bay, And,

          With Tail Erect, Kicked violently For A Moment, And Then

          Sank In death--The Muscles Retaining The Dying Rigidity

          Of Tension.

 

 

 

About The Middle Of July, The Command Arrived at Its Destination--

Chouteau'S Island, Then On The Boundary Line Between The United states

And New Mexico.

 

 

 

          Our Orders Were To March No Further; And, As A Protection

          To The Trade, It Was Like The Establishment Of A Ferry

          To The Mid-Channel Of A River.

 

 

 

          Up To This Time, Traders Had Always Used mules Or Horses.

          Our Oxen Were An Experiment, And It Succeeded admirably;

          They Even Did Better When Water Was Very Scarce, Which Is

          An Important Consideration.

 

 

 

          A Few Hours After The Departure Of The Trading Company,

          As We Enjoyed a Quiet Rest On A Hot Afternoon, We Saw

          Beyond The River A Number Of Horsemen Riding Furiously

          Toward Our Camp.  We All Flocked out Of The Tents To Hear

          The News, For They Were Soon Recognized as Traders.

          They Stated that The Caravan Had Been Attacked, About

          Six Miles Off In the Sand Hills, By An Innumerable Host

          Of Indians; That Some Of Their Companions Had Been Killed;

          And They Had Run, Of Course, For Help.  There Was Not A

          Moment'S Hesitation; The Word Was Given, And The Tents

          Vanished as If By Magic.  The Oxen Which Were Grazing

          Near By Were Speedily Yoked to The Wagons, And Into The

          River We Marched.  Then I Deemed myself The Most Unlucky

          Of Men; A Day Or Two Before, While Eating My Breakfast,

          With My Coffee In a Tin Cup--Notorious Among Chemists And

          Campaigners For Keeping It Hot--It Was Upset Into My Shoe,

          And On Pulling Off The Stocking, It So Happened that The

          Skin Came With It.  Being Thus Hors De Combat, I Sought To

          Enter The Combat On A Horse, Which Was Allowed; But I Was

          Put In command Of The Rear Guard To Bring Up The Baggage

          Train.  It Grew Late, And The Wagons Crossed slowly;

          For The River Unluckily Took That Particular Time To

          Rise Fast, And, Before All Were Over, We Had To Swim It,

          And By Moonlight.  We Reached the Encampment At One O'Clock

          At Night.  All Was Quiet, And Remained so Until Dawn,

          When, At The Sound Of Our Bugles, The Pickets Reported

          They Saw A Number Of Indians Moving Off.  On Looking

          Around Us, We Perceived ourselves And The Caravan In the

          Most Unfavorable Defenceless Situation Possible--In The

          Area Of A Natural Amphitheatre Of Sand Hills, About Fifty

          Feet High, And Within Gun-Shot All Around.  There Was

          The Narrowest Practicable Entrance And Outlet.

 

 

 

          We Ascertained that Some Mounted traders, In spite Of All

          Remonstrance And Command, Had Ridden On In advance, And

          When In the Narrow Pass Beyond This Spot, Had Been Suddenly

          Beset By About Fifty Indians; All Fled and Escaped save One,

          Who, Mounted on A Mule, Was Abandoned by His Companions,

          Overtaken, And Slain.  The Indians, Perhaps, Equalled the

          Traders In number, But Notwithstanding Their Extraordinary

          Advantage Of Ground, Dared not Attack Them When They

          Made A Stand Among Their Wagons; And The Latter, All Well

          Armed, Were Afraid To Make A Single Charge, Which Would

          Have Scattered their Enemies Like Sheep.

 

 

 

          Having Buried the Poor Fellow'S Body, And Killed an Ox For

          Breakfast, We Left This Sand Hollow, Which Would Soon Have

          Been Roasting Hot, And Advancing Through The Defile--Of

          Which We Took Care To Occupy The Commanding Ground--

          Proceeded to Escort The Traders At Least One Day'S March

          Further.

 

 

 

          When The Next Morning Broke Clear And Cloudless, The Command

          Was Confronted by One Of Those Terrible Hot Winds, Still

          Frequent On The Plains.  The Oxen With Lolling Tongues

          Were Incapable Of Going On; The Train Was Halted, And The

          Suffering animals Unyoked, But They Stood Motionless,

          Making No Attempt To Graze.  Late That Afternoon, The

          Caravan Pushed on For About Ten Miles, Where Was The

          Sandy Bed of A Dry Creek, And Fortunately, Not Far From

          The Trail, Up The Stream, A Pool Of Water And An Acre

          Or Two Of Grass Was Discovered.  On The Surface Of The

          Water Floated thick The Dead Bodies Of Small Fish, Which

          The Intense Heat Of The Sun That Day Had Killed.

 

 

 

          Arriving at This Point, It Was Determined to March No

          Further Into The Mexican Territory.  At The First Light

          Next Day We Were In motion To Return To The River And

          The American Line, And No Further Adventure Befell Us.

 

 

 

While Permanently Encamped at Chouteau'S Island, Which Is Situated

In The Arkansas River, The Term Of Enlistment Of Four Of The Soldiers

Of Captain Cooke'S Command Expired, And They Were Discharged.

In His Journal He Says:

 

 

 

          Contrary To All Advice They Determined to Return To

          Missouri.  After Having Marched several Hundred miles

          Over A Prairie Country, Being Often On High Hills

          Commanding a Vast Prospect, Without Seeing a Human Being

          Or A Sign Of One, And, Save The Trail We Followed, Not

          The Slightest Indication That The Country Had Ever Been

          Visited by Man, It Was Exceedingly Difficult To Credit

          That Lurking Foes Were Around Us, And Spying Our Motions.

          It Was So With These Men; And Being armed, They Set Out

          On The First Of August On Foot For The Settlements.

          That Same Night Three Of The Four Returned.  They Reported

          That, After Walking about Fifteen Miles, They Were

          Surrounded by Thirty Mounted indians.  A Wary Old Soldier

          Of Their Number Succeeded in extricating Them Before Any

          Hostile Act Had Been Committed; But One Of Them, Highly

          Elated and Pleased at Their Forbearance, Insisted on

          Returning among Them To Give Them Tobacco And Shake Hands.

          In this Friendly Act He Was Shot Down.  The Indians

          Stripped him In an Incredibly Short Time, And As Quickly

          Dispersed to Avoid A Shot; And The Old Soldier, After

          Cautioning The Others To Reserve Their Fire, Fired among

          Them, And Probably With Some Effect.  Had The Others Done

          The Same, The Indians Would Have Rushed upon Them Before

          They Could Have Reloaded.  They Managed to Make Good

          Their Retreat In safety To Our Camp.

 

 

 

          We Were Instructed to Wait Here For The Return Of The

          Caravan, Which Was Expected early In october.

          Our Provisions Consisted of Salt And Half Rations Of Flour,

          Besides A Reserve Of Fifteen Days' Full Rations--As To The

          Rest, We Were Dependent Upon Hunting.  When The Buffalo

          Became Scarce, Or The Grass Bad, We Marched to Other

          Ground, Thus Roving Up And Down The River For Eighty

          Miles.  The First Thing We Did After Camping Was To Dig

          And Construct, With Flour Barrels, A Well In front Of

          Each Company; Water Was Always Found At The Depth Of

          From Two To Four Feet Varying With The Corresponding

          Height Of The River, But Clear And Cool.  Next We Would

          Build Sod Fire-Places; These, With Network Platforms Of

          Buffalo Hide, Used for Smoking and Drying Meat, Formed a

          Tolerable Additional Defence, At Least Against Mounted men.

 

 

 

          Hunting Was A Military Duty, Done By Detail, Parties Of

          Fifteen Or Twenty Going Out With A Wagon.  Completely

          Isolated, And Beyond Support Or Even Communication,

          In the Midst Of Many Thousands Of Indians, The Utmost

          Vigilance Was Maintained.  Officer Of The Guard Every

          Fourth Night; I Was Always Awake And Generally In motion

          The Whole Time Of Duty.  Night Alarms Were Frequent; When,

          As We All Slept In our Clothes, We Were Accustomed to

          Assemble Instantly, And With Scarcely A Word Spoken,

          Take Our Places In the Grass In front Of Each Face Of

          The Camp, Where, However Wet, We Sometimes Lay For Hours.

 

 

 

          While Encamped a Few Miles Below Chouteau'S Island, On The

          Eleventh Of August, An Alarm Was Given, And We Were Under

          Arms For An Hour Until Daylight.  During The Morning,

          Indians Were Seen A Mile Or Two Off, Leading Their Horses

          Through The Ravines.  A Captain, However, With Eighteen

          Men Was Sent Across The River After Buffalo, Which We Saw

          Half A Mile Distant.  In his Absence, A Large Body Of

          Indians Came Galloping Down The River, As If To Charge

          The Camp, But The Cattle Were Secured in good Time.

          A Company, Of Which I Was Lieutenant, Was Ordered to

          Cross The River And Support The First.  We Waded in some

          Disorder Through The Quicksands And Current, And Just

          As We Neared a Dry Sandbar In the Middle, A Volley Was

          Fired at Us By A Band Of Indians, Who That Moment Rode

          To The Water'S Edge.  The Balls Whistled very Near,

          But Without Damage; I Felt An Involuntary Twitch Of

          The Neck, And Wishing To Return The Compliment Instantly,

          I Stooped down, And The Company Fired over My Head,

          With What Execution Was Not Perceived, As The Indians

          Immediately Retired out Of Our View.  This Had Passed

          In half A Minute, And We Were Astonished to See, A Little

          Above, Among Some Bushes On The Same Bar, The Party We Had

          Been Sent To Support, And We Heard That They Had Abandoned

          One Of The Hunters, Who Had Been Killed.  We Then Saw,

          On The Bank We Had Just Left, A Formidable Body Of The

          Enemy In close Order, And Hoping To Surprise Them,

          We Ascended the Bed of The River.  In crossing The Channel

          We Were Up To The Arm-Pits, But When We Emerged on The

          Bank, We Found That The Indians Had Detected the Movement,

          And Retreated.  Casting Eyes Beyond The River, I Saw A

          Number Of The Indians Riding On Both Sides Of A Wagon

          And Team Which Had Been Deserted, Urging The Animals

          Rapidly Toward The Hills.  At This Juncture The Adjutant

          Sent An Order To Cross And Recover The Body Of The Slain

          Hunter, Who Was An Old Soldier And A Favourite.  He Was

          Brought In with An