Ab-sa-ra-ka, Home of the Crows: Being the Experience of an Officer's Wife on the Plains ... with Outlines of the Natural Features and Resources of the Land, Tables of Distances, Maps, and Other Aids to the Traveler; Gathered from Observation and Other Reliable Sources |
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Absaraka arms attacked band Battalion Big Horn Mountains Big Horn River Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Brevet Major Brown buffalo C. F. Smith camp Captain 18th Captain Fetterman Captain Ten Eyck Caspar cavalry Cheyennes chief Colonel Carrington command companies corral crossed Crows December dians duty east February 19 feet fight fire Fort C. F. Smith Fort Caspar Fort Kearney Fort Laramie Fort Reno garrison grass Grummond guard headquarters hills hundred Indians Infantry in 1868 July June killed labor ladies Laramie Lieutenant 18th Infantry Lieutenant Wands Lodge Trail Ridge Major Bridger massacre miles Montana morning mules nearly night o'clock officers party passed Peno Creek Phil Philip Kearney Phisterer picket Piney Platte pony Powder River ranche Red Cloud regiment Reno rifle road route Second Lieutenant sent Sioux snow soldiers soon squaws supplies timber tion Tongue River Tongue River valley trip wagons yards
Popular passages
Page 214 - It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting ; for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart.
Page 269 - in a nutshell," was that the commanding officer of the district was furnished no more troops or supplies for this state of war than had been provided and furnished him for a state of profound peace. In regions where all was peace, as at Laramie in November, twelve companies were stationed; while in regions where all was war, as at Phil Kearney, there were only five companies allowed.
Page 152 - Fifteen weeks have passed, varied by many skirmishes and both night and day alarms, but that pledge holds good. In every work done your arms have been at hand. In the pine tracts or hay fields, on picket or general guard duty, no one has failed to find a constant exposure to some hostile shaft, and to feel that a cunning adversary was watching every chance to harass and kill. "And yet that pledge holds good. Stockade and block-house, embrasure and loophole, shell and bullet, have...
Page 266 - At about fifteen minutes before 12 o'clock Colonel Fetterman's command had reached the crest of Lodge Trail Ridge, was deployed as skirmishers, and at a halt. Without regard to orders, for reasons that the silence of Colonel Fetterman now prevents us from giving, he, with the command, in a few moments disappeared, having cleared the ridge, still moving north. Firing at once commenced, and increased in rapidity till, in about fifteen minutes and at about 12 o'clock M., it was a continuous and rapid...
Page 268 - Our conclusion, therefore, is that the Indians were massed to resist Colonel Fetterman's advance along Peno Creek on both sides of the road ; that Colonel Fetterman formed his advanced lines on the summit of the hill overlooking the creek and valley, with a reserve near where the large number of dead bodies lay ; that the Indians, in force of from fifteen to eighteen hundred warriors, attacked him vigorously in this position, and were successfully resisted by him for half an hour or more ; that the...
Page 153 - Surrounded by temptations to hunt the choicest game, and allured by tales of golden treasure just beyond you, you have spared your powder for your foes, and have given the labor of your hands to your proper work. Passing from guard-watching to fatiguework, and, after one night in bed, often disturbed, returning to your post as sentry; attempting with success all trades and callings, and handling the broad-axe and hammer, the saw and the chisel, with the same...
Page 268 - ... from Indians, in an engagement, was equivalent to death, remained in their first position, and were killed there ; that immediately upon the commencement of the retreat the Indians charged upon and surrounded the party, who could not now be formed by their officers, and were immediately killed. Only six men of the whole command were killed by balls, and two of these...
Page 114 - Shakspeare; but doubted the Bible story of Samson's tying foxes by the tails, and with firebrands burning the wheat of the Philistines. At last he sent for a good copy of Shakspeare's plays, and would hear them read until midnight with unfeigned pleasure. The murder of the two princes in the Tower startled him to indignation. He desired it to be read a second and a third time. Upon positive conviction that the text was properly read to him, he burned the whole set, convinced that "Shakspeare must...
Page 264 - Reno to thirty rounds per man. Recruits could not practice any in firing. Little time could be allowed from fatigue duty for drill, and with but twelve officers and three posts little could have been done in drilling recruits, if time could have been allowed. The result of all this was that the troops were in no condition to fight successful battles with Indians or other foes, and this from no fault of Colonel Carrington ; and I am astonished at the zeal with which they fought, and the damage they...
Page 265 - This was not far from 11 o'clock AM, and the train was about two miles from the fort, and moving toward the timber. Almost immediately a few Indian pickets appeared on one or two of the surrounding heights, and a party of about twenty near the Big Piney, where the Montana road crosses the same, within howitzer range of the fort. Shells were thrown among them from the artillery in the fort, and they fled.