THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL, COLONEL HENRY INMAN [well read books .txt] 📗
- Author: COLONEL HENRY INMAN
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Shot Down In cold Blood, And His Body Thrown Into A Ravine.
It Appears, However, That The Ruffians Had Not Completed their
Bloody Work So Effectually As They Thought; For One Of The Mexican'S
Teamsters Escaped, And, Making His Way To Leavenworth, Reported
The Crime, And Was Soon On His Way Back To The Trail, Guiding a
Detachment Of United states Troops In pursuit Of The Murderers.
John Hobbs, Scout, Trapper, And Veteran Plainsman, Happened to Be
Hunting Buffalo On Pawnee Fork, On The Ground Where Larned is Now
Situated, With A Party From Bent'S Fort. They Were Just On The Point
Of Crossing The Trail At The Mouth Of The Pawnee When The Soldiers
From Fort Leavenworth Came Along, And From Them Hobbs And His
Companions First Learned of The Murder Of Chavez On Cow Creek.
As The Men Who Were Out Hunting Were All Familiar With Every Foot
Of The Region They Were Then In, The Commanding Officer Of The Troops
Induced them To Accompany Him In his Search For The Murderers.
Hobbs And His Men Cheerfully Accepted the Invitation, And In about
Four Days Met The Band Of Cut-Throats On The Broad Trail, They Little
Dreaming That The Government Had Taken A Hand In the Matter.
The Band Tried to Escape By Flight, But Hobbs Shot The Doctor'S Horse
From Under Him, And A Soldier Killed another Member Of The Band,
When The Remainder Surrendered.
The Money, About Twelve Or Fifteen Thousand Dollars,[24] Was All
Recovered, And The Murderers Taken To St. Louis, Where Some Were Hung
And Some Imprisoned, The Doctor Escaping The Death Penalty By Turning
State'S Evidence. His Sentence Was Incarceration In the Penitentiary,
From Which He Was Pardoned after Remaining There Two Years.
Hobbs Met The Doctor Some Years After In san Francisco. He Was Then
Leading an Honest Life, Publishing a Newspaper, And Begged his Captor
Not To Expose Him.
The Money Taken From The Robbers Was Placed in charge Of Colonel Owens,
A Friend Of The Chavez Family And A Leading Santa Fe Trader.
He Continued on To The River, Purchased a Stock Of Goods, And
Sent Back The Caravan To Santa Fe In charge Of Doctor Conley Of
Boonville, Missouri.
Arriving at His Destination, The Widow Of The Deceased chavez
Employed the Good Doctor To Sell The Goods And Take The Sole
Supervision Of Her Immense Business Interests, And There Is A Touch
Of Romance Attached to The Terrible Kansas Tragedy, Which Lies In
The Fact That The Doctor In about Two Years Married the Rich Widow,
And Lived very Happily For About A Decade, Dying Then On One Of The
Large Estates In new Mexico, Which He Had Acquired by His Fortunate
Union With The Amiable Mexican Lady.
Chapter VII (Mexico Declares War)Mexico Declared war Against The United states In april, 1846. In the
Following May, Congress Passed an Act Authorizing The President To
Call Into The Field Fifty Thousand Volunteers, Designed to Operate
Against Mexico At Three Distinct Points, And Consisting Of The
Southern Wing, Or The Army Of Occupation, The Army Of The Centre,
And The Army Of The West, The Latter To Direct Its March Upon The
City Of Santa Fe. The Original Plan Was, However, Somewhat Changed,
And General Kearney, Who Commanded the Army Of The West, Divided his
Forces Into Three Separate Commands. The First He Led in person
To The Pacific Coast. One Thousand Volunteers, Under Command Of
Colonel A. W. Doniphan, Were To Make A Descent Upon The State Of
Chihuahua, While The Remainder And Greater Part Of The Forces, Under
Colonel Sterling Price, Were To Garrison Santa Fe After Its Capture.
There Is A Pretty Fiction Told Of The Breaking Out Of The War
Between Mexico And The United states. Early In the Spring Of 1846,
Before It Was Known Or Even Conjectured that A State Of War Would Be
Declared to Exist Between This Government And Mexico, A Caravan
Of Twenty-Nine Traders, On Their Way From Independence To Santa Fe,
Beheld, Just After A Storm And A Little Before Sunset, A Perfectly
Distinct Image Of The Bird Of Liberty, The American Eagle, On The
Disc Of The Sun. When They Saw It They Simultaneously And Almost
Involuntarily Exclaimed that In less Than Twelve Months The Eagle
Of Liberty Would Spread His Broad Plumes Over The Plains Of The West,
And That The Flag Of Our Country Would Wave Over The Cities Of
New Mexico And Chihuahua. The Student Of The Classics Will Remember
That Just Before The Assassination Of Julius Caesar, Both Brutus
And Cassius, While In their Places In the Roman Senate, Saw Chariots
Of Fire In the Sky. One Story Is As True, Probably, As The Other,
Though Separated by Centuries Of Time.
The Army Of The West, Under General Stephen W. Kearney, Consisted of
Two Batteries Of Artillery, Commanded by Major Clark; Three Squadrons
Of The First United states Dragoons, Commanded by Major Sumner;
The First Regiment Of Missouri Cavalry, Commanded by Colonel Doniphan,
And Two Companies Of Infantry, Commanded by Captain Aubrey.
This Force Marched in detached columns From Fort Leavenworth, And
On The 1St Of August, 1846, Concentrated in camp On The Santa Fe
Trail, Nine Miles Below Bent'S Fort.
Accompanying The Expedition Was A Party Of The United states
Topographical Engineers, Under Command Of Lieutenant W. H. Emory.[25]
In Writing Of This Expedition, So Far As Its March Relates To The
Old Santa Fe Trail, I Shall Quote Freely From Emory'S Report And
Doniphan'S Historian.[26]
The Practicability Of Marching a Large Army Over The Waste,
Uncultivated, Uninhabited prairie Regions Of The West Was Universally
Regarded as Problematical, But The Expedition Proved completely
Successful. Provisions Were Conveyed in wagons, And Beef-Cattle
Driven Along For The Use Of The Men. These Animals Subsisted
Entirely By Grazing. To Secure Them From Straying Off At Night,
They Were Driven Into Corrals Formed of The Wagons, Or Tethered to
An Iron Picket-Pin Driven Into The Ground About Fifteen Inches.
At The Outset Of The Expedition Many Laughable Scenes Took Place.
Our Horses Were Generally Wild, Fiery, And Unused to Military
Trappings And Equipments. Amidst The Fluttering Of Banners,
The Sounding Of Bugles, The Rattling Of Artillery, The Clattering
Of Sabres And Also Of Cooking Utensils, Some Of Them Took Fright
And Scampered pell-Mell Over The Wide Prairie. Rider, Arms And
Accoutrements, Saddles, Saddle-Bags, Tin Cups, And Coffee-Pots,
Were Frequently Left Far Behind In the Chase. No Very Serious Or
Fatal Accident, However, Occurred from This Cause, And All Was
Right As Soon As The Affrighted animals Were Recovered.
The Army Of The West Was, Perhaps, Composed of As Fine Material As
Any Other Body Of Troops Then In the Field. The Volunteer Corps
Consisted almost Entirely Of Young Men Of The Country.
On The 9Th Of July, A Separate Detachment Of The Troops Arrived at
The Little Arkansas, Where The Santa Fe Trail Crosses That Stream--
Now In mcpherson County, Kansas. The Mosquitoes, Gnats, And Black
Flies Swarmed in that Locality And Nearly Drove The Men And Animals
Frantic. While Resting There, A Courier Came From The Commands
Of General Kearney And Colonel Doniphan, Stating That Their Men
Were In a Starving Condition, And Asking For Such Provisions As
Could Be Spared. Lieutenant-Colonel Ruff Of Doniphan'S Regiment,
In Command Of The Troops Now Camped on The Little Arkansas, Was
Almost Destitute Himself. He Had Sent Couriers Forward To Pawnee Fork
To Stop A Train Of Provisions At That Point And Have It Wait There
Until He Came Up With His Force, And He Now Directed the Courier From
Kearney To Proceed to The Same Place And Halt As Many Wagons Loaded
With Supplies, As Would Suffice To Furnish The Three Detachments
With Rations. One Of The Couriers, In attempting To Ford The Fork
Of The Pawnee, Which Was Bank-Full, Was Drowned. His Body Was Found
And Given A Military Funeral; He Was The First Man Lost On The
Expedition After It Had Reached the Great Plains, One Having Been
Drowned in the Missouri, At Fort Leavenworth, Before The Troops Left.
The Author Of _Doniphan'S Expedition_ Says:
In approaching The Arkansas, A Landscape Of The Most
Imposing and Picturesque Nature Makes Its Appearance.
While The Green, Glossy Undulations Of The Prairie To
The Right Seem To Spread Out In infinite Succession,
Like Waves Subsiding after A Storm, And Covered with
Herds Of Gambolling Buffalo, On The Left, Towering To
The Height Of Seventy-Five To A Hundred feet, Rise The
Sun-Gilt Summits Of The Sand Hills, Along The Base Of
Which Winds The Broad, Majestic River, Bespeckled with
Verdant Islets, Thickly Beset With Cottonwood Timber,
The Sand Hills Resembling Heaps Of Driven Snow.
I Refer To This Statement To Show How Wonderfully The Settlement
Of The Region Has Changed the Physical Aspect Of That Portion
Bordering The Arkansas River. Now Those Sand Hills Are Covered
With Verdure, And This Metamorphosis Has Taken Place Within The
Last Thirty Years; For The Author Of This Work Well Remembers How
The Great Sand Dunes Used to Shine In the Sunlight, When He First
Saw Them A Third Of A Century Ago. In coming From Fort Leavenworth
Up The Smoky Hill Route To The Santa Fe Trail, Where The Former
Joined the Latter At Pawnee Rock, The Contour Of The Arkansas
Could Be Easily Traced by The White Sand Hills Referred to,
Long Before It Was Reached.
On The 15Th Of July The Combined forces Formed a Junction At
Pawnee Fork, Now Within The City Limits Of Larned, Kansas. The River
Was Impassable, But General Kearney, With The Characteristic Energy
Of His Family, Determined not To Be Delayed, And To That End Caused
Great Trees To Be Cut Down And Their Trunks Thrown Across The Stream,
Over Which The Army Passed, Carrying In their Arms The Sick, The
Baggage, Tents, And Other Paraphernalia; The Animals Being Forced
To Swim. The Empty Bodies Of The Wagons, Fastened to Their Running
Gear, Were Floated across By Means Of Ropes, And Hauled up The
Slippery Bank By The Troops. This Required two Whole Days; And On
The Morning Of The 17Th, Not An Accident Having Occurred, The Entire
Column Was En Route Again, The Infantry, As Is Declared in the
Official Reports, Keeping Pace With The Cavalry Right Along.
Their Feet, However, Became Terribly Blistered, And, Like The
Continentals At Valley Forge, Their Tracks Were Marked with Blood.
In A Day Or Two After The Command Had Left Pawnee Fork, While Camping
In A Beautiful Spot On The Bank Of The Arkansas, An Officer, Major
Howard, Who Had Been Sent Forward To Santa Fe Some Time Previously
By The General To Learn Something Of The Feeling Of The People
In Relation To Submitting To The Government Of The United states,
Returned and Reported
That The Common People, Or Plebeians, Were Inclined to
Favour The Conditions Of Peace Proposed by General Kearney;
Viz. That If They Would Lay Down Their Arms And Take The
Oath Of Allegiance To The Government Of The United states,
They Should, To All Intents And Purposes, Become Citizens
Of The Same Republic, Receiving The Protection And Enjoying
The Liberties Guaranteed to Other American Citizens; But
That The Patricians Who Held The Offices And Ruled the
Country Were Hostile, And Were Making Warlike Preparations.
He Added, Further, That Two Thousand Three Hundred men
Were Already Armed for The Defence Of The Capital, And
That Others Were Assembling at Taos.
This Intelligence Created quite A Sensation In camp, And It Was
Believed, And Earnestly Hoped, That The Entrance Of The Troops
Into Santa Fe Would Be Desperately Opposed; Such Is The Pugnacious
Character Of The Average American The Moment He Dons The Uniform
Of A Soldier.
The Army Arrived at The Cimarron Crossing Of The Arkansas On The 20Th,
And During The March Of Nearly Thirty Miles From Their Last Camp,
A Herd Of About Four Hundred buffalo Suddenly Emerged from The
Arkansas, And Broke Through The Long Column. In an Instant The
Troops Charged upon The Surprised animals With Guns, Pistols, And
Even Drawn Sabres, And Many Of The Huge Beasts Were Slaughtered
As They Went Dashing and
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