ae ped Copyright, 1884, by Beadle & Adams. Entered at Post Oflice, New York, N.Y., as second class matter. Sept. 10, 1809, 3 M. J. IVERS & CO., Publishers, aa No 36 Published (James Sullivan, Proprietor,) Price 5 Cents. Vol Ill : . Every Week. 379 Pearl Street, New York. $2.50 a Year i . BY CAPTAIN FREDK WHITTAKER, Q@UTHOR OF “‘ WOODS AND WATERS.” ‘RIFLE AND REVOLVER,” ETC., ETG ah cca ceee YS JIBRARY Copyright, 1884, by Beadle & Adams. Entered at Post Office, New York, N.Y., as second class matter. Sept. 10, 1899, 2 M. J. IVERS & CO., Publishers, es No. 36. pee (James Sullivan, Proprietor,) ac z ae Vol, HH. Every Wee 379 Pearl Street, New York. eee ees The Dashing Dragoon, Or, The Story of Gen. Geo. A. Custer from West Point to the Big Horn. BY CAPTAIN FRED'K WHITTAKER, AUTHOR OF ‘‘ WOODS AND WATERS,” “RIFLE AND REVOLVER,” ETC., ETC, JUST AS CUSTER CAME VP, THEY HEAR A LONG, LOUD CRY FROM ONE OF THE INDIANS, HE HAS FOUND THE TRAIL! \ 2 ' The Dashing Dragoon, The Dashing Dragoon; The Story of Gen, George A. Custer From West Point to the Big Horn. BY CAPTAIN FRED’K WHITTAKER, KUTHOR OF ‘WOODS AND WATERS,” “RIFLE AND RE- é VOLVER,” ETG., ETO, ; 4 CHAPTER I. . SUSTER AS A BOY—AS A TEACHER—AS A CADET A’ WEST POINT, Groree At MsTRoNG CustmR was born ina village in Harrison, co:nty, Ohio, almost at the edge of Penn- aylvania. It is ten chances to one if you can find the place on an ordinary map. In the midst of Harrison county is the county seat, Cadiz; anda few miles off, at the meeting of some country roads, is a little village called New Rumley. There Custer was born, fc wane years ago, on the 5th Decem- ber,. 1839, in & little cottage. His father was the vil- lage blacksmith, who took to farming soon after his boy’s birth, nd at New Rumley young Custer was brought up, on the farm, like many unother poor man’s son, going to country district-school. ey . glways callec. him Autie or Armstrong in those days. Soutehow or other his middle name was preferred by all his fritnds,-all through his life. Of course ve all want to know what sort of a boy Autie was, ‘There were several remarkable things about him. Me was a frank, honest, manly boy, al- ways full of fun; could run faster, jump further, ‘wrestle better than any other boy of his class, He was a boy all over, and got into plenty of mischief, as boys will. How many pairs of pantaloons he tore, climbing trees and vaulting fences, I dare not calculate. Out of school he was the best catcher at base-ball in t:at part of the ete and there was not a fellow af his size could throw him wrestling. But he neyer got into a mean scrape, never lied, and, what is nore remarkable still, never had a sin- gle fight in al! his boy life, : Autie Custur grew up like other boys, strong and hearty. When he was twelve, his elder sister mar- ried, and becime Mrs. Reed, She left New Rumley with her husiand to go out to Monroe, Michigan, and asked hur father to let Autie come with her for a year ortwc. Father Custer consented, and’Autie went ‘‘out West,’ to Monroe, where he stayed at - school until 1 e was nearly sixteen. ‘ Monroe is cn the western shore of Lake Erie, just. nee betrreen Detroit and Toledo. -It is quite an old place, and there was once a great battle close to it, in the war of 1812, between the British forces. un- der General Proctor, assisted by the Indian chief, Tecumseh, on one side, and a force of Kentucky ‘Mounted smen on the other, under General Win- chester, The Americans were surprised at Monroe, which was then called ‘‘ Frenchtown,” and the end of it was that they were all massacred by the In- dians. Autic Custer used very often to go down to the little River Raisin, which runs through Monroe, to the spot where the battle was fought, while he look- ed at the eee 2 where the poor fellows had retreated over the river on the ive, on that terrible winter’s ‘day, only.to f nd themselves slaughtered at last. It _ was there thy ; he first conceived the idea of becom- ing a soldier, io defen/ the frontier farmers ae set oe a ‘ible disasters as the.massacre Of the was now the year 1856, aad Ae was sixteen, fe had learned all that they co id teach him Y Had he cared for uuihine but play he would anything in after-life. As it was, ie at are used to being ridden by a dozen different “every a woe ail the mer ete at sixteen he came back to New Rumley, as fullo fun as ever, but having learnedso much that hecould make his living teaching school. / It was through this that he got into West Point and became the great soldier he was when he died, so the story is worth Hstening to. We all know that _ West Point is the great military school of America, - where they train ao officers, but that’s about the sum of our knowledge. It was all Custer knew thi but he had made up his mind he would go to W Point if he could. He had heard that each member of Congress had the power to send one person there, and that there was some examination to be p He did not personally know any member of Con- | ress, but he knew who the member from his dis- rict was. So he wrote to that member a short, manly letter, telling him he was very anxious to go to West Point, and asking Mr. Bingham whether there was a vacancy and what were the qualifica- tions required. 3 : Observe here, one thing. Custer did not trust to friends, politics, or influence, to get what he wanted. He went to the tountain-hcad, and asked for it. If any reader of these lines wants to go to West Point or Annapolis, let him do the same. Write straight — to the member of Congress, for your district. he does not answer, or says ‘‘no,” decidedly, vive tt a You cannot get into West Point. If you trust friends, you ay be He waiting for months, only . to be refused at last. you write to head-quarters, — you are soon out of your troubles, one way or the other. Custer found itso. There,was a vacancy, but another young man from the next county had applied for it, and Bingham wrote to Custer, telling him that if this young man failed to pass the exami- nation, he would give the next chance to Custer. The examination was in January, and it was then May. ‘There were eight long, weary inonths to wait before he would know. Custer kept on teaching all the time, and every Saturday went to school himself at the Normal School. He made up his mind that — when the examination came, he would be realy for it, The young man from Jefferson county thought himself all safe, as Mr. Bingham had promised him the appointment. The time came, and this confi- dent young man was “plucked,” that is, failed to pass the examination, en, in went youug Custem% and never missed a question. His eight montr work had paid him well. He found himself a cadet in the United States service, with a certain future _ before him, and a chance to do almost anythiug. Suppose he had given up the fight to that young man, and neglected his studies, he would not have been ready for his So ponet As it-was, when it came, it found him able to take it. Had it not come, | his ie study would have made him a better — teacher, able to command a higher salary. So you see, Custer’s ‘‘ luck” consisted here ey ready in time. The other young man’s “ luck” was— his laziness. es oes are Now Custer really had to go to school in earnest for four done eae ‘at West Point: First, they drilled him to march with the other cadets, in line and col- umn, carrying a musket, sometimes at a w: sometimes running, always in exact line with the | rest, head: , toes out, till he was nearly tired out. t, he; SUP, t, was nearly This was in June encampment, WL dea ts. sleep intents. Then he was sent into barracks, and all the winter he had to study algebra, geometry, — surveying, French, Spanish and military history, the only relief being drill, drill, drill. So wparen : year, when he rose a class, and had still 1 studies, while his drill was changed to load guns and learning to ride in the riding-school. Some | people think that must have béen fun, anyway, the riding-lessons, but these folks wouldn’t think s at West Point. They ride for business there, not leasure. The class is mounted on great tro rses, old fellows, with hard mouths, horses ques ery week, and which know | ctral friely torael a rider off ‘For a little pupils 4 ————— fhe Dashing Dragoon. 3 ride slowly round the school in file, horses all fally saddled, cadets a. upright. ‘Then the riding. master halts them and tells them to “cross stirrups.” Every cadet must take his feet out of the stirrups, and throw them across the saddle, so as to ride en- tirely by balance, mote A punging with the knees to the slip) saddle, en away goes the long file at a hard tre, Jog, jog, {08 all round the ring. Then the cadets im to. tumble off, and by the time the lesson is over, hardly one has escaped a tumble. That's the way they learn to ride at West Point, by eg ny 8 off until they can stick on at any pace, on any horse, and then they are free of all horse creation. It ends by leaving these young West Point cadets splendid horsemen, and ter soon became one of the bést there. But I did not intend to dwell long upon West Point, except to show how Custer was trained to become what he became in after life, He went in, June, 1857, a ey boy, full of spirits; he came out, June, 1861, a brave officer, a perfect horseman, & good shot, a good swordsman, understanding in- fantry, cavalry and ae able to command, hay- ing learned to obey. All these advantages he had ained by sticking to his work at school, watching is chance, and not being afraid to speak up for what he wanted. His only piece of real good fortune in all this time was in desing a vacancy at West Point, afid finding Mr. Bingham willing to give it to him. _Those were t not due to himself, but everything else was the fruit of his own hard work. At the close of Custer’s career at West Point, how- ever, one other thing occurred to him, not the re- sult of his own exertions, but of something over which he had no control. This was the breaking out of the t civil war, which began just at the very time that Custer graduated, and which affected his future very seriously. Before.1861 the cadets had to stay five years in West Point, at the end of which time they were examined by a board of visitors and graduated. The suc ‘ul ones were then put on probation in regiments as “ brevet sec- ond lieuteuants,"” where they generally served at least a year before they were promoted to second lieutenants. The army was very small, only sixteen thousand men, the officers few in number, only about twelve hundred in all, and the Academy used to graduate about six offieers every year. So it was very hard to find places for all the uates, and they had to wait for vacancies, li mean- while as extra officers by brevet. When a man be- came second lieutenant at last, he had to wait an- other long, wage time before he became a first lieutenant, and at least ten years before he became ® captain, No matter how many brave deeds he might do, it would not help him a bit any more than it does now. He could not be promo simply be- cause there was no vacancy above him, and the este @ vacancy is to kill an officer or get him This slowness of promotion in a small regular army is one of the reasons why army officers always wish for war. It kills off the colonels, and majors, and captains, and leaves vacancies to be fill y the second lieutenants. Before Custer’s time there had only been one war since West Point was found- ed. This was the Mexican war in 1846-7, which had been the means of promo! ever sO many foung ae to high stations the army while ; but simce that all the officers had to do was vane} around frontier forts on the plains, with an onal skirmish with the Indians, where no one was much hurt. made promotion very slow, officers very lagy, aud as a consequence led man’ of them into bad habits te while away the time. Is Hy ge Ae owing to oe same ye Put a man into a le post on the plains, w: an’ one —_ i> and the chances are ee he wil tall into 8, especially drinking gambling with what few companions he has. From this sort of bad and useless life Custer was very fortunately saved by the at events which attended his graduation. = a CHAPTER I. THE GREAT WAR—CUSTER AT BULL RUN—ON THE CHICKAHOMINY. Aut of our readers have heard of the great war that this country went through from 1861 to 1865, The older ones, no doubt, remember its passage, and many even took part in it. A good many more had fathers, brothers, uncles in that war, some North, some South. I do not here propose to say much about it, except to explain how Custer came there, and how he got his name of Cavalry Custer. The immediate reason of the war was this: A good many of the Southern States of the Union—that is Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabam Georgia, Florida, South and North Carolina an Virginia—became dissatisfied with the United States government, and determined to separate and set up a government of their own, which they did, callin it the Confederate States. ‘This was in 1861, and ai first it was supposed that there Was ho way the United States could stop them. It so happened, however, that there were certain forts and cther roperty on the coasts of these seceded States which id not belong to them, but to the United States; and it became a question who should hold these forts. At last the war began in South Carolina by the Pee of that State firing on Fort Sumter in the middle of the harbor of Charleston and taking it from the United States troops. Then the Presi- dent called for more troops to take it back, and the at civil war began, all of a sudden. ‘When this jppened Custer was still a boy at West Point, and he saw his classmates, the cadets from the Southern States, one after another, leave the Academy to go home to their own States and take part in the war. All old friendships were broken up, and these lads, friends and schoolmates, all knew when they parted that when next they met it would be on the battle- field, as exemies, under different flags. For nearl two months after the taking of Fort Sumter bot. parties did cag, ht gather together their soldiers and drill them. e Confederates had made their capital city at Richmond, Virginia, and the Union troops were gathered in front of Washington to pro- tect their own capital and try to eer. Richmond. It was thought that if they could do that, the Confed- erates would beso much disheartened that they would give up the fight, and that was really the way the war was ended at last. But before that time there were many terrible battles to be fought, thousands of men killed, and four ae years to pass by. When Custer came out of West Point he was or- dered to join the regiment in which he had been made a second lieutenant, This regiment was the Fifth ee Cavalry, and it was out in the fleld in front of Washington, at a little stream called Bull Run, He reached his company, after riding al ‘ht from Washington, and that very day saw his tet battle. The Union soldiers, under General Mo- Dowell, attacked the Confederates under General Beauregard. At first the Union troops had every- t their own way, but, just as the victory seemed decided, some fresh Southern troops came up and attacked the Union men by surprise. Then came a sudden change. The Union troops were seized with a panic and ran away, frightened to death, throw- ing away their muskets, flags, everything, and a great many kept on all the wa to Washington, The only troops that staid and did their duty were the few ars, among whom was Custer’s regiment, and one or two regiments of old steady militia, There were not many men killed or wounded, but the Union troops lost nearly everything they had. Thus they found out in their first battle that it is not enough to have pac of men and guns to gem a victory, but that the men must be old soldiers stand up against misfortune if it comes. After Bull Run, therefore, the Union men did not try todo any more fighting for some time, They & staid aroun clear that, so far, they had outstripped the Indians. no longer, Of all the hundreds of tracks behind, So they went into camp, setting a strong picket who was to tell which was warrior, which squaw, or outside to watch, while the horses enjoyed them- | how soon the Indians might unite if the soldiers _ selves amazingly in the deep grass of the river bot- separated! ‘The only thing left todo wasto march Their course during the bad been due down the Smoky Hill stage road, and warn the peo- which was on ple that the Indians were up and going to fight oleae the b: r . They were now | everybody, not in small parties, but the best Sy, Sy renaene the Smoky Hill Fork of the Kansas, a | knew how, : z : Rae valley then traversed by a stage road, and through! “hat was the last Custer saw of the Cheyennes the Kansas Pacific Railroad now runs. Since’ that year. As he went down the stage road he — _ those See re oe years ago now, there has been found they had been before him. Stations were a great change there. In the solitary prairies, found burned, horses had been carried off, men — _ through which Custer then chased the roving Chey- killed, scalped and burned in their own houses, — ennes, not an Indian is now to be seen, and the where the wolves were seen feeding on their half- nee coors dashes through the valleys, consumed bodies. Before the column reached Fort cuttin; @ swells like aship on the ocean, while the new terminus of the Kansas Pacific Rail — reat farms, where thousands of cattle roam over yogd, Custer had seen enough sickening sights square “miles of eves Secu the old hunting ghow that Indian warfare meant no qua: a grounds of Cheyenne and Arapahoe. ! ‘At Fort Hays he halted: to wait orders; Next morning, while the stars were still shinin; ; he was joined b General Hancock, with the rest. the clear notes of the bugle rung out the “‘reveille.” the expedition. The general was oe sulky about — lat means “* Wake up!’’ A moment la‘er out roll- the escape of the Cheyennes, but he thought pole ed the rollicking notes of the “‘stable call,” towhich made up for it by another move. The Cheyennes: the soldiers used to sing the old song: ‘had. gone off to the north, but on the ue ‘Come to the stable, all you that are able, he still the Kiowgs and Arapaloess audit sie) And rub down your horses, and give ti some or it youdon’t dott, the colonel shallow it, | ad } oy - ieee ~ oe The Dashing Dragoon. 16 besides minor chiefs. This council was held at Fort Dodge, in the south of Kansas, and no one ever knew such good boys as those Kiowas and Arapa- hoes, They wouldn't kill white men, like the Chey- ennes, not a bit of it. They loved the white man and hated the Cheyennes. All they wanted was plenty of blankets and beef, and leave to say how much they hated the Cheyennes. Satanta made such a pretty speech that Genera) Hancock was delighted, so delighted that he insisted on giving the chief one ¢f his own coats, with a major-general’s shoulder-straps. Satanta took it and cried for joy, and the council broke up, Genera Hancock going to Fort Hays. Just three weeks after, Satanta came down to Fort Dodge with all his men, killed a soldier, stole severa] horses, and rode up to the stockade dressed in the very coat Hancock had given him. So the poor old general was fooled once more by the scamps. ‘ However, when he met Custer, the General did not know of his friend Satanta’s doings. He only thought of the Cheyennes in the north. So he ordered Cus- ter to take the whole of the Seventh Cavalry, three hundred and fifty men then, with twenty wagons, and start of to the north-west, through Kansas into Nebraska, to scout the Nebraska river, While Custer was preparing for this expedition, he had one or two adventures near Fort Hays. CHAPTER IX. HUNTING ON & WAGER. Tne Seventh Cavalry was |, ing at Fort Hays ex- ecting the arrival of Gener ancock every day, Bat with little todo meanwhile. To pass away the time the officers used to go out buffalo hunting whenever they were off duty, but had done very lit- tle except to tire their horses and shoot away ammu- nition so far. Tbere were some twenty officers alto- gether, and one evening they were sitting round the camp-fire at head-quarters, talking over matters, when as usual the hunting came up. Then, as a matter of course, every man began to boast of what he could do, and several of them began to joke their eommanding officer about his misfortune in shoot- ing his own horse. Custer could always take a eee as well as any man, and this time he did not feel the sting of their jokes so much on account of having killed some buffalo since that time, : At last one officer, who thought himself a very fine shot and rider, offered to bet a champagne sup- per for the party that he could take half the officers and kill more buffalo than the other half could do, with Custer at the head of it. Very much to his surprise, however, Custer took him up at once. Z ; “T)) take that bet, major,” said he, quietly; “and " you can pick your EO too. We'll begin to-morrow morning.” The major could not back out then, and the bet was arranged at once. The officers were chosen by lot, into two parties of ten each, and it was settle that each should go out in turn, one next morning, the other the day after. - The one that shot the few- est buffalo was to give the belt rand pay for it. The senior major of the Seventh. who was too old and fat to hunt any more, was to be the referee and umpire. The parties were to bring in the tongues of the buffaloes killed, as proof of their slaughter, and Jeave them with the referee, who was to keep the matter seeret till both parties had hunted. ‘Then they tossed up which party should go first, and the lot fell to Custer. Next masa Aaconnery, at daybreak the little party was up, horses ready for the hunt, orderlies ready to follow their officers. Then they proceeded © to count noses. Alas, out of the ten who should have been present only seven were found able to go, Of the rest, one was officer of the day, another offi- cer of the guard, and a third had a scouting detail. ‘These ae could not be helped; they were part of the luck, ‘The other side might lose men, too. 2 Without waiting to think over their troubles, the little party of seven rode off. A bad pegiveing may — in make a good ending, when there’s phic ec} le, The ground where they hoped to meet the Luffalo was fifteen miles from the camp, and it was neces- sary to take along an ambulance to pack the meat, if any was procured, Hach officer had an orderly to ride behind him, and each carried a pair of pistols, while several had the old Spencer seven-shocting carbine, which they found an excellent hunting weapon. : One of the carbine men was Custer. He had found from experience that oae carbine bullet was worth more than three or four pisto!-shots, and determined to try the experiment fairly. At last they reached the destined point, where tha long os gs ceased, and the short buffale- rass began. As they topped a swell fhere in the istance was a small herd, which every one at once pronounced to be buffaloes, less than a mile off. Now there was hurry and preparation at once, as you may think. Before the party lay « little hollow which would shelter them from sight, and into it they plunged, ambulance and all, halting in the bot- tom. There the ambulance was stopped, while the hunters dismounted and looked carefully to their horses. The saddle-girths were loosened, saddle- cloths set straight, curb-chains looked to, Then an _extra turn was given to every girth-strap, and the horses were geebed in tight and snug, fit to run for their lives. Every officer looked to his own mount; it would not do to trust to orderlies now, when @ failure in any part of the harness might cost a life. Each man looked to his revolvers and carbine, and all were ready. Custer gave the signal, and the lit tle party rode out. ow we shall see a real buffalo-hunt, no chance runs as heretofore. There are seven in the party, and two of them are young officers who have never yet shot a buffalo. They are full of wild excitement, trembling with eagerness, and it is plain that they will be the failures, if there are any. The other five are old stagers, including Custer—that is, they have been atit before. \ They keep behind the swell, which slants away to leeward of the place where they saw the herd. At the end of the little valley Custer rides up the side of the slope, and halts so as to hide everything but his head. Then he takes out his field-glass to look at the herd. , j “ Just seven, gentlemen,” he says, quietly. ‘Now if any one of us lets hisanimal get away, it may cost us the supper. Weare seven, too. Do you think we can account for one apiece?’ “You can bet we will, general,” said one of the youngsters, confidently, = Custer smiled. “T’ve been there before, young gentleman. Look out you don’t kill your horse, as I did, instead of the buffalo, Are you all ready?” “All ready, general.” Then over the hill goes the little party, and finds itself only about a quarter of a mile from the herd, dead to leeward. They take a slow trot and ride straight at the herd, See! a movement among the animals, which seo the hunters. Next moment away go the buffa- loes, right into the wind’s eye, in a lumbering gal- lop, like so many cows. Away go the hunters, also at full gallop, spreading mto a song line, spurring their horses like mad. “Tach man take his beast. Begin on the left!” shouts Custer, as they begin to come-up with the buffaloes. Beyond them is a long hill, and the ani- mals are laboring dreadfully, while the horses gain on themrevery stride. Not five minutes have passed, but the hunters are within fifty yards, when crack! crack! go the pistol beginning with the pepe sts. Nothing hurt, bu the horses seem fairly to fly. Now only thirty yards divide them, and the hill grows steeper. Twenty yards, ae now only as many feet. and the herd scatters in terror and goes Se me ee ee Ata eam ints: i ti rN 16 away in all directions, hunters after them. Such a | ter’s scene vf confusion you never saw fora few minutes. The Dashing Dragoon. The pistols are flashing, and the loud bang! bang! | of the carbines is heard every now and then. See, there’s an old bull down on his knees, the blood pouring from his mouth. Don’t waste pow- der. e’8 gone, sure’ enough. There’s another—a cow. She’s stopped; another sure sign, Look at the youngsters—they’re botb crazy. Not a round left in either pistol, and haven’t finished a ‘alo yet. There goes Custer on his big horse, the new one, a great, coarse beast that runs well for a spurt, but all covered with sweat already. He’s ter the king bnll of the herd, and rides on the right side. Up goes the old Spencer carbine in a moment, Bang! and the old bull stumbles and pitches on its head, the blood pouring out of its mouth. The big bullet has settled it. Now another hunter has stopped a bull, and five buffaloes are down out of the seven, while the other two have slipped off, and can be seen a little way off, going down a steep ra- mae headforemost, where few horses would dare to ‘ollow. 2 So the hunters come slowly back, and the order- Hes cut out the tongues of the slain animals. Five tongues are not sucha bad beginning. Presently up rumbled the ambulance, where the tongues and hump of the animals were placed, while the hunters allowed their horses to rest and recover their breath. Custer’s big horse was pretty well tired out, and it was yet early in the day; but Cus- ter’s motto was ‘‘never say die,” so, after a short rest, the toe proceeded on its way. From the crest of a neighboring hill a second herd was soon descried, and a second chase began. This was a much longer chase than the first. The horses were tired, the herd fresh. Custer’s big beast gave out and tumbled down a ravine, after the buffalo, suffering a severe sprain of the loins, which disabled it, so that the general had to change animals with his orderly, and ride back to his party fot amet As he returned, he met two bulls close to him, and gave chase. This time, also, he used his Spencer carbine, and two shots finished his game. When the party was reunited, six more tongues had been added to the first five, «nd everybody was tired. They halted for luach, fed and watered their horses, and started on their return to camp at a slow ace, trusting to find more buffaloes as eg went. ure enough, as they topped the first swell, there was another herd to leeward, and as the animals smeltthem, they all started right up the wind, pass- ing close to the party. c uffaloes always run up wind, no matter what is in the way, so that this herd was soon within strik- ing distance, without any chase. One bull went down first fire, the rest scattered, but. the king bull of the herd charged the whole party viciously. Then there was some fun. here were seven hun- ters at one bull, but he seemed to mind the pistol- shots no more than flies. He kept charging all the time, chasing first one and then the other, till at - last a carbine-bullet brought him down, and the thirteenth tongue was added to their store. Now the party started on its return home, for the horses could not have got up another run. It was. resolved \hat the contest must stand on thirteen. It was a long march’ home, and the day was hot, but every one was much elated with the party’s success. Custer had killed two buffaloes himself, and only one of the party had failed to do the same. | ¥ enon ape .. Hardly an Indian there now, onl lt remained to be seen What their rivals would do next day, Arrived in camp, of course'the curiosity was very as sat to know what luck the hunters had met with. he other side could not ask the referee, who had the tongues; that would have been unfair. The referee looked wise and said nothing, but the mem- bers of the party pretended to feel ee ee: end somehow the rumor spread in camp t Cus- y | bers were all rty had only nine tongues. The orderlies kept their part of the secret, very well, and when the major’s party rode out next morning, the mem- full of the notion that they had only ten tongues to get to win the supper. The second party had nine hunters, and started full of hope. They had extra horses and were deter- mined to beat nine tongues. The Custer party kept in camp, and the second party began to straggle back in the course of the day, two or three at a time, the last coming in with the ambulance long after dark. Then there was a great excitement. The nine hunters were full of confidence, and began to banter their rivals as to what kind of champagne they would have, aA Custer’s party only smiled. The tongues would decide the question. Every one flocked to the senior major’s tent, and Be leader of the party could contain himself no onger. ““General, we’ve beat you,” he cried out, rubbing his hands. ‘ You’ve only nine tongues, and we've Bo eleven, Enough and one to space, old fellow. rder on your supper.” ‘ Woon smniled quietly, and his party kept quite still. “What does the referee say?” asked Custer. The referee, a stout, jolly old officer, grinned, “Orderly,” he said, ‘bring in the baskets.” Two groat baskets were brought in. The first was that of the major’s party. Eleven fresh tongues were counted out. “Well, isn’t that a square beat?” asked the major. “Not quite,” said the referee, quietly. ‘There ae thirteen in the other-basket. Count them, if you ease.’ you ought to have seen those fellows faces go down as the orderly counted out thirteen tongues, The major recovered first, like a man. ‘JT own up, general. It’s a square beat,” he said. And that’s how Custer’s party won asupper. The defeated nine telegraphed to St. Louis along the railroad, and ordered on the supplies, which reached camp the day General Hancock arrived. That evening they had a re time, you may be sure. Next day the Sevent. avalry received orders to march on a scout. : CHAPTER X. AN INDIAN BEGGAR—THE CAMP SURPRISED—A BATTLE. ON HORSEBACK, | Wuen General Hancock arrived at the camp in April, 1867, he ordered Custer to march from Fort Hays north to Fort McPherson, Nebraska, which was on the Union Pacific Railroad. This road, which runs parallel to the Kansas Pacific road, on which Custer had been operating, was finished much further out, From Fort McPherson the cavalry was to move south-west, in a circuit, coming back to the railroad at Fort Sedgwick, and thence straight south to Fort Wallace on the Smoky Hill road, whence the column was to go back to Fort Hays again. : If you look on the common maps very likely you will not be able to find all these forts, but if you take an old or new Appleton’s Railway Guide you ~ can find them, some with the fort before the name some without, as railway stations. There you will see that Custer was to describe a great circle to the north-west of Fort Hays, and it was pretty certain, so General Hancock thought, that he would strike the Cheyennes somewhere or other. This was only a few years ago, and what a change! railways and farms, The Union Pacific road runs throuch Nebraska, the Kansas Pacific along the Smoky Hill valley, and the two have driven away buffalo and Indian alike. In 1867, when Custer marched, it was very. dif- ferent. Allthe way to Fort McPherson not a living being was seen, except a few buffalo and mustangs, and one distant Indian war-party, that scoured away ie papas ih tl ate dela eens ey ae 4 > ra C j a SE Ey NE ORNS PN eR The Dashing Dragoon, i? out of sight. When the scouts came to examine the trail of this party they found the large feet of shod American horses, very different from the tracks of the little bare-footed ponies generally used by the Indians, It was plain that the Indians were riding _stolen horses, taken from the stage company, fine, owerful animals, worth two hundred and fifty dollars apiece. After a march of three hundred miles and more, Custer reached Fort McPherson on the railroad, an learned that General Sherman was out at Juliet, the terminus of the Union Pacific, General Sherman was the chief of ali the army under Grant, in those days, as he is now, and therefore entitled to com- mand General Hancock. As soon as he heard of Custer’s arrival, Sherman telegraphed him to wait till he came to him, so the Seventh Sor § waited nearly a week, resting their horses and getting, ready for the next march. ; While they were there, one day, a number of In- dians were seen out on the plains near the station, snd one of them bore a white flag. This man was coming to the fort. As soon as Custer heard of it, he sent out a party to meet the Indians; and, very soon, in rode some ten or twelve picturesque warriors, béaded by a fine, powerful Indian chief, whose war-bonnet was one of the handsomest ever seen on the plains, and whose leggings were fringed with the scalp-locks of several warriors. Custer knew his face. It was the Sioux chief, Pawnee-Killer, a eat friend of the Cheyennes. Custer had met him in the first Hancock council. Of course he was curious to know what Pawnee- Killer wanted. He soon learned. The chief came in, he said, because he loved the white man, and hated war. He had been afraid that the soldiers were coming to kill all his children, so he had fied; but now he wanted to make friends, He was quite ready to bring in all his tribe and set- tle down. His village was only a little way off. Could the Big Yellow chief let him have a little coffee and sugar to show the squaws? then they would all come in, Of course he was hungry. The soldiers had frightened away the buffalo. Could the Big Yellow chief give his mena bullock? He was cut of blankets; wanted some. Could not the are give him some ammunition, just-to hunt buffalo? So the chief went on, begging and promising, all the time watching Custer’s camp, to find how many men there were. The end of it was, that he quite deceived Custer, as Satanta did Hancock, and pro- cured all the food he wanted, Then he rode away, swearing eternal fidelity to the white man, and as soon as he was out of gun-shot had a good laugh at the way he had fooled Big Chief. He was hardly out of sight before the whistle of a locomotive was heard, and General Sherman arrived at the station to see Custer. Of course Custer re rted Pawnee-Killer’s visit, and the first question herman asked was: * Did you arrest him? Where is he?” “Why no, general. My orders were not to hurt the Indians if they wera peaceable; and this chief has promised to bring in hi tribe to-morrow.” “You'll never see him,’ said the general, curtly. “The scamp came to beg He got what he wanted, and now he’s off. His lodges may possibly be near here, and if so, you may catch him. Saddle up, and follow his trail, at ovee. If you come cn his band, you must do one of two things: bring it in, or des- troy it... : Of course there was nothing for Custer to do but obey orders, General Sherman was a very different man from Hancock, a spare nervous, excitable fel- low, always hard at wor was much older, and being fond of gcod living, was more inclined to laziness and good-nature, therefore not half so fit to cope with these wily Indian chiefs, In less than an hour after General Sherman’s ar- rival the Seventh Cavalry, three hundred and fifty ' and very keen. Hancock | strong, was winding over the plain in coiumn of fours, preceded by a strong a of scouts, and fol- lowed by twenty wagons, heavily loaded with pro- visions and corn. e The scouts soon found the trail of Pawnee-Killer’s band, which was quite broad and plain, and follow- éd it all day to the south-west, toward the head- waters of the Republican river, The trail was that of a war pathy of some thirty men, and more than . half rode large American horses, stolen from the stage companies. Nota trace was to be seen, how- ever, of lodge-poles, and, unless these were found, every one knew it was hopeless to try and follow Pawnee-Killer, if the Indian wished to escape, That.day the column made its camp by the Re- publican river, and not an Indian had been seen, The wagons were corraled in a square, the men pitched their tents in regular streets, and the horses were turned out to graze in a hollow close to the camp under a guard, while a strong chain of mounted pickets was thrown out all round the camp. At this place the river was small, shallow and easily fordable, and low swells surrounded the hol- low in which the ae was pitched, No Indian sign had been seen by the scouts, and it was the ex- ectation of every one that Pawnee-Killer was flee ng to the mountains, faraway. — What was the surprise of every one in'the morn- ing, to hear, just before sunrise, the furious rattle of carbine-shots, followed by the yells of attackin Indians and the tramp of hundreds of frightened horses. Out of the tents plunged the men in their shirts, catching up carbines and belts as they ran, and running to their horses. Outside the camp, in the gray dawn of the morn- ing, came astrong party of mounted Indians, as hard as they could tear, yelling at the top of their voices, firing in all directions, shaking red blankets and bell: oe swooping down on the picket-line and herd o’ orses. Had the animals of the regiment been all in one herd, loose, there is little doubt that the Indians would have stampeded the whole body, so ungovern- able do horses become when terrified in a large mass, Very luckily, however, only afew baggage mules had been left in the herd, the rest of the animals having been brought in to the picket-rope late at night, within fifty feet of the men. This is the rule in a cavalry regiment. Each company has a heavy cable called a picket-rope, which is stretched on short posts along the front of the company strevts, . each soldier’s tent being close to his horse, which is tied to the: picket-rope by the halter.. This fact saved Custer’s horses. The presence of so many men whom the horses knew, and the opening of a smart fire of carbines. on the Jndians, calmed the horses, and drove off the Indians, so that almost before one could say there had been an attack, the stampeding party had hauled off, finding the sur- prise balked by the soldiers. The fight was not over, however, by any means. As the light grew stronger all the tops of the swells were to be seen covered with mounted war- riors, riding to and fro, and evidently planning an attack, As you may imagine, they did not blow stable- call or breakfast-call that morning in the Seventh. It was all hurry and bustle. Saddle up and lead out was the word, and it is surprising how fast a man learns to get ready if there are Indians near him. Inside of ten minutes, the whole reginient was mounted, and the different squadrons were deploy- ing-out on the plain around the camp to repel the Indians. They were none to soon. As soon as it was fairly light the whole country seemed to swarm with warriors, and the scouts afterward declared that there must have been at least a thousand Indians, nearly three to one of the soldiers, The Indians had evidently made up their minds to try what the Big Yellow Chief was made of, and made a grand charge on the camp, It was the first - com rs The Dashing Dragoon. ee charge Custer had seen, and he never forgot From all quarters of the compass, streaming on in + irregular clouds, down came the warriors, crouched over the necks of their swift little war-ponies, goin; at a perfectly frantic gallop. The ‘dust rose behin them ina great cloud, and through that cloud one might see the feathers tossing, scarlet streamers waving, arms flashing. On they came like birds flying over the ground. Crack! crack! crack! see the flashes of their rifles, and hear the bullets, piou! piou/ piow! thump / Nearer they come, howling like a k of wolves. Hill! Yip! yip!! yipt 11 yipi tl) Bryant How they come! It looks asif they would ride over everything. Now they’re within range of the thin skirmish line of horsemen that stretches round the camp, and see! Out flames a long line of spit- ting flashes, and the rattle of carbines becomes in- cessant. The thin blue smoke curls up in puffs, and through the vail one may see the Indians turning, Then away they Fo all round the camp, in their favorite method of attack, abandoning the charge, and ‘‘circling.”’ Now the real fun begins. A long file of Indian warriors, every man at full speed, goes tearing round and round, the camp of the Seventh, Every warrior is cutting up all sorts of pranks to show his horse- manship, Some are hanging over behind their horses, sheltered from bullets, while they fire under the pony’s neck or over the saddle. Here a fellow stands up like a circus-rider, yelling and shaking his gun, while another stands on his head. All of them keep going as hard as they can tear, round and round, firing all the time. e soldiers cannot hit the warriors, try their best. Now and then a pony goes over, but his rider is up before the ati can get at him, and jumps up behind a friend. The firing is incessant, but very few folks are hurt. This kind of fighting is full of excitement and rapid motion, but it does not mean real business. Presently Custer determined to break it up. He drew in a whole squadron and so contracted his skirmish line that the Indians thought he was ns frightened. Much encouraged, they con- racted their own circle, galloped closer and closer, and shot more rapidly than ever. of asudden, Custer formed his squadron and charged the ring, pistol in hand. “Hey! what a charge! Now one may see the weak point of Indian fighting. The warriors cannot stand a oharge, They break and scatter in a mo- ment, as Custer bursts through the ring. Now, too, one may see the advantage of discipline. The In- dians, man for man, are better riders, shots and fighters than the soldiers, but see how the soldiers drive them! Nosooner through the circle than the juadron wheels to one side, and sweeps up the long file of warriors, ®:rowing them into confused masses and driving them like sheep. This new maneuver puzzlesthem, There is a loud ane of pone aan 5 ne. a peo moment any. goes the whole gang, full speed, defying pursuit. he attack had boon foiled.” Custer drew off his men to camp; the Indians clustered on the neighboring hills, After a little out came a white flag from the Indian ranks; Custer , went out himself to meet it, and found in the bearer none other than his moral friend, Pawnee-Killer, as sweet and smiling as ever. What could he want? CHAPTER XI. INDIAN IMPUDENCE—TREACHERY—INGENUITY—OUSTER ARRESTED—SUSPENDED—REINSTATED. Waar did Pawnee-Killer want with Custer? It s00n came outthat he asked for another talk with the Big Chief, and came to propose a meeting in sight of the two forces by the river-bank, to which .each person shou'd be entitled to bring only six ons. Cuser at once consented, but, sus- becting treachery, ordered a whole squadron to be ready, mounted, gust outside of the camp, awaiting the signal of the bugle to charge, full speed, Then, with five officers and a bugler, he went down to the bank to meet Pawnee-Killer. Every man of the ae had his revolver stuck loosely in his belt, and had his hand on it all through the inter- view, a precaution soon found to be very necessary. Pawnee-Killer came swaggering in, with seven chiefs, instead of six, and opened the conversation i shaking hands, with a sonorous “How!” Then all the chiefs went through the same operation, and the talk commenced threugh an interpreter. _Pawnee-Killer wanted to know how long the sol- diers were going to stay, and whether he couldn’t get some more coffee and sugar out of the Big Chief, hat was all. As soon as Custer could command his face, for he could not help laughing at the outrageous coolness of the Indian, he angrily retorted by asking how the chief dared to try and steal his horses that morning? ° ' Pawnee - Killer took matters very coolly.’ He thought it was hardly worth disputing about. He wanted to. know how long the soldiers would stay there, as they disturbed the buffalo. Any coffee and sugar to spare? Pawnee-Killer very great chief. Chiefs like sugar, love white brothers. Got any to spare? Custer returned a decided negative. Wanted to know when Pawnee-Killer would come into the fort,. as he had promised. Pawnee-Killer couldn’t say. Some time, by-and- by. Wasn’t a he could go at all, unless he got some coffee an ‘ar, é The other patie was lined with Indians, loafing around, and just then one of them came wading over the stream, and walked up to Custer, to shake hands and say ‘‘How.” Several more were prepar- ing to follow, and Ouster realized that treachery was intended, . He turned to Pawnee-Killer, and pointed to the bugler. Ss F yaat order your men back, chief,” he said, in English, ‘or my man will blow his trumpet, and bring down all my soldiers.” s As he spoke the bugler, an intelligent fellow, raised his bugle to sound, and Pawnee-Riller looked disturbed. It was clear the chief understood Eng- lish. Without waiting for the interpreter, he ordered his men back, and began to withdraw sulkily. oe White chief, Ee fool!” was his parting greeting, as he waded into the river, and Custer mounted h: horse and rode back. The young general had learned his second lesson in Indian warfare. After that he never indulged ‘in talks with hostile chiefs. unless he felt sure that he had the whip-hand o them. Pawnee-Killer had given him his last instruc- tions in treachery, and he never trusted an Indian again, The whole of the Seventh Cavalry was therefore mounted, and started to attack Pawnee-Killer and his band. As soon as the chief saw Custer was in earnest he fled with all his men, though they were more than half as numerous again as the regiment; and before half an hour was over not an Indian was to be seen. The rapidity with which they vanished was surprising to Custer at the time, but in after years he found the secret to be very simple. Every Indian, going to war, takes two ponies, at least, one to travel with, one to fightfrom. Ou these he carries nothing, The soldiers have only one hofse apiece on which to follow, and each horse is loaded down with clothes and forage and pro- visions. Eyery few miles the Indians can change horses; so there is no wonder that he goes the fastest. Beingin their own country, too, the Indians can scatter and hide, which the whites cannot do without getting into trouble, Of this last maneuver they had a notable instance that very afternoon. Custer returned to camp after a fruitless chase, and very soon more Indians came \ a PR - im sight on the opposite side to that on which they were spied in the morning, There were only about twenty, and Custer sent out a troop of fifty men to chase them off. The Indians moved slowly off, and the troop followed, and scattered, as the Indians scattered. No sooner were the two parties of soldiers about a mile apart than at least a hundred Indians came out of the numerous narrow ravines, hid in the prairie, and galloped down on the smallest of the parties. The officer in command at once dismounted three out of every four men, had the horses led in a little column in the middle, deployed his dismounted men in a circle of skirmishers, and so fought his way back to camp. Had the Indians been white troops, ne would have charge | and ridden right over the little band; but, being Indians, they had their peculiar weak- ness, which is this: they cannot stand a close fight where they must lose men. They always try to kill their enemies without losing any of their own war- riors, and that makes them cowardly in some things, whie they are brave in others. So they kept circling round the little troop at full speed, shooting away and hardly ever hitting anything, while the soldiers, firing oe from the ground, managed to kill two Indians and wound two others, before they reached camp. The other party was not attacked. Some days after, Custer’s wagon-train, which he had sent to Fort Wallace under a guard of fifty men, to get ioe for a longer scout, was attacked by seven hiindred Indians, who fought in just the same way, circling round and round. The officer in com- mand saved bis men in just the same way as the first-mentiOned had done, by putting his horses in the middle, between two columns of wagons, and deploying his dismounted skirmishers all round the train. He also beat off the Indians: so that in this campaign Custer and the Seventh Cavalry found out a good deal about how to fight Indians, a lesson of which they often-afterward availed themselves. They learned that they could not successfully fight mounted, for the Indians could outride the soldiers, ' and the Indian ponies never got scared, while their own big horses soon became unmanageable. So they always, after that, fought on foot, round their horses, whenever they got into a tight gene among Indians, and always found the plan work well. Soon after these events, Custer proceeded on his long scout, and marched out of the Indian country, nearer the settlements. Here he got into fresh troubles, from another source. His men began to desert, not one or two, but ten ora dozen at a time, and at last he found out that there was a plot for more than half the regiment to desert in a body. One afternoon, after a march, when the horses were grazing, a party of fifteen soldiers started out in broad daylight, before their officers’ faces, mounted and armed, and determined to desert. Only \the guard in camp had saddled horses, and these at once pursued the deserters, one of whom was shot dead, another wounded, some more being taken prisoners. This sudden and severe treatment cowed the men, and there weré no more desertions, but the result of the difficulty was much trouble for Custer, as we shall soon hear. f He pursued his march to Fort Wallace, discover- ing on. the way the victims of a terrible Indian massacre. A young officer named Lieutenant Kidder, who was searching for Custer himself, with dispatches from General Sherman, had been caught by Pawnee-Killer’s band, and killed, with ever’ The Dashing Dragoon. member of his party. Custer found their bodies, all stripped, and so hacked to pieces by the Indians that not one could be reoognized; Such a horrible | sight.is never seen outside of an Indian battle-field, | and Custer never forgot it. He little thought that the day would come when he and the flower of his oe and men would be found in the same condi- on. He pursued his march to Fort Wallace, finding the Indians all gone out of the country; and then the i9 question remained what next to do. The original orders for the scout were to return from Fort Wallace to Fort Hays, whence Custer first started, but the horses of the regiment were too much exhausted to march together, and the provisions and forage at Fort Wallace were found to be so bad that the men were falling sick. So Custer decided to leave the main body of his regiment there, take the best men and horses, and march to Fort Hays himself, to see General Hancock, whence he could send back good provisions for his men. He made a march of one hundred and fifty miles in two days and a half, reaching Fort Hays, but found neither provisions nor Hancock there, Hear- ing that General Hancock was at Fort Harker, sixty tniles off, he determined to push on with one or two officers and men, leaving his escort behind, for the road was no longer dangerous. In twelve hours more he was at Fort Harker, and found, to his sur- prise, that the Kansas Pacific Road had been finished to that post, which was now a _ railway station. There was no Hancock there either, however, no one ‘but Custer’s own colonel, old General A. J. Smith, who commanded the department, From him Custer learned that Hancock had given up thecampaign and retired to Fort Leavenworth, too far off to be followed, while active movements had been stopped for the year. General Smith gave Custer permission to send back the wagon-train to the regiment under a junior officer, and to go b railroad himself to Fort Riley, ninety miles off, where Mrs. Ouster and the general’s sister. were living, from whom he had now been separated ever since Mareh, it being then July, 1867. S Custer went there, supposing all was right. How rejoiced those at home were to see him, no one can tell but those who have been in similar positions, as soldiers or sailors. Within a week, however, he was rudely awakened from his dream of happiness by an order of arrest, and was soon after tried by court- martial, on some charges prepared by a personal enemy of his, who had determined to injure him, He was charged with leaving his men to go ona journey on private business, and with excessive cruelty and illegal conduct in stopping the attempted desertions of his men by shooting a deserter. That unlucky journey to Fort Riley.was made the pretext for the whole trial, and Custer was finally con- demned to be suspended from rank and pay for a whoie year. Of course this was a heavy blow for the poor fe-1 low, after trying so hard to do his duty; but he had to submit and go back to Monroe, leaving the Seventh Cavalry to go out without him, and fight the Indians next year. x As it happened, however, this very unjust sen- tence, passed on Custer, was the means in the end of giving him the greatest triumph of his life. He ~ went away, and the war languished all/the summer of 1868. Nobody seemed to have any success. The Indians did more mischief than they had done for years. General Hancock was removed, and General heridan put in his place, but even then things did not come right. The trocps had the worst, the In- dians the best, all the summer. j Finally, as nothing else could be done, they had to send for Custer before his year was out, and he re- ceiveda telegram from Sheridan, stating that Sher- man and all the officers of the Seventhshad united with him to‘ask the President to-send Custer back to the plains, to show the officers how to fight Indians. The same day the order arrived from Washington, and Custer started for the West, arriving at Fo Hays the last day of September, 1868, to meet Gen- eral Sheridan. He found everything in the department in a bustle, for Sheridan had, determined on something never known on the plains before his time. This was a winter campaign against the Indians, and it was to lead this campaign that he wanted Custer. It was now that Custer approached the grandest and most successful time of all his Indian career, 20 The Dashing Dragoon. Sherfdan’s reasons for a winter campaign were founded on common sense. In the summer, the sol- diers could not catch the Indians, who had plenty of ponies, fat with grass, and as much game as they could shoot, In the winter, it was different. The troops could carry oe wagon-loads of oats and feed their horses, while the Indian ponies could only be kept alive down in the hollows of streams, where there were enough cottonwood trees for the animals to*feed on the bark. As it was, the poor creatures were miserably thin, and quite unable to march far, so that, if the triba was found, it was probable the soldiers could catch them. For these reasons, Custer was te take out the Seventh Cavalry as soon as the wi-rer set in, to hunt Indians. CHAPTER XII. A QUEER OHARACTER—A WINTER CAMPAIGN—BRIIr LIANT RESULTS, Ir was some time before Custer considered him- self quite ready for the Indians. He found his regi- ment full of green recruits, fresh from the towns of the East, men who hardl knew how to ride a horse to water, leave alone fight on him. They were miserable shots, and could, some of them, scarcely hit a barn door from the barn-yard fence, He found them encamped among the Indians, and so scared that they hardly dared leave camp. He very soon changed that, however, by sending out large scouting parties at night, to frighten the Indians, Finally, he left the camp where he found the regi- ment, moved in, close to Fort Dodge, on the Arkan- sas River, out of reach of Indian annoyances, and set to work to drill his men in earnest, to become good riders and good shots. Every day he had tar- get pace, and out of all the companies he selected the very best shots, which he organized into a Separate troop, called the ‘Sharpshooters.”” To these he promised to give certain special privileges, such as exemption from picket duty, and the privi- lege of always being at the head of the column. The consequence of this promise was, that all the soldiers were eager to be sharpshooters, and shot es best, the whole regiment improving daily. While he was drilling, of course the Indians wei@ doing what they pleased all over the country, but Custer did not mind that. It was just as well they should imagine themselves secure. He could not catch them till the snow was on the ground, and the less suspicion they had of a winter campaign, the more likely he was to find them. At last, after a long march, with a strong column, through the In- dian Territory, down to the borders of Texas, at the place where Camp eee now stands, the first snow came, in a tremendous blinding storm, and the Seventh Cavalry, with a numerous wagon train, eee on its journey to find the Indians, November The winter had set in with a vengeance, for the storm Jasted the whole of the first day and all night; and when it cleared up at last, there were eighteen inches of snow on the ground, with the thermome- ter down about zero, This was areal winter cam. paign. and no mistake. Many men would have lted for the storm, for even the Indian guides lost their way, and‘could not tell where Wolf Creek was, the pice where the regiment was to encamp the night. Custer would not be beaten, however. He had a ine he knew the direction of Wolf Creek, so he took his course by ee and pushed on, reach- ing the creek safely, and excelling the guides. Of these ides be had plenty on this expedition. First, there were twenty Osages, friendly Indians, from a smali tribe on a reservation in Indian Terri- tory. Their chiefs were Little Beaver and Hard Rope. Then he had several white and half-breed scouts, about some of whom novels have been writ- Tispecially there was California Joe, who was ten. one one of the most useful scouts Custer ever ad. California Joe was a tall, broad-shouldered fel- low, with a tremendous brown beard, and a shock of curls that looked as if they had never seen a comb for years. His great peculiarity was 4 short brier- wood pipe, which he never stopped smoking, day or night, except when asleep, eating, or on an Indian trail. He would talk you blind.for hours, and had the quaintest expressions in his speech you ever hear}. He had great contempt for the powers of aregular officer to fight or catch Indians, but he goon conceived a great liking for Custer, finding him so different from the rest, and they worked together harmoniously all the time they were comrades eee ‘hen there was Romeo, a half-breed Indian, who acted as interpreter, a short, squat, jolly little fel- low, who looked as if he thought of nothing but eat- ing, but who could ‘lift a trail” better than most men, There were several others not so well known, but California Joe and Romeo were always Custer’s favorites. The column proceeded south in the direction of Texas, bearing west toward the head-waters of the Washita River, in which country the Indians were expected to be found wintering, anywhere within a hundred miles. The soldiers had not traveled three days, before they found how wise Custer had been to wait for the snow, By the banks of the Cana- dian River, they fcund a broad fresh trail, evidently that of the last_war-party of the season, going home, and the greenest recruit could have followed it in such a snow. Their troubles were over, as far as finding the In- dians was concerned, for it was clear that the trail was made by men quite unsuspicious that they would be followed, and therefore careless of their marks. It was found, quite by surprise, while Cus- ter was crossing his wagon train over the River Canadian, an operation which took several hours, and during which of course the regiment could not move. squadrons under Major Elliott, to scout down the river and see what they,could see. This detachment found the Indian trail, about ten miles below Cus- ter’s ford, leading off to the south-west. Major Elli ott was a very brave and sagacious officer, and he realized that there was no time to be lost, so he set off on the trail at once, sending back a scout named Jack Corbett, to tell Custer of his discovery. Corbett found Custer at the crossing, arriving just as the last wagon was drawn slowly poe steep bank, with three teams in front of it. e mode of following the Indians was now very soon settled. The Seventh cavalry had twelre companies in all, divided into six “squadrons.” Major Elliott had two squadrons; Custer left one as a guard for the wagons, and with the other three squadrons, six companies, determined to strike off to the south- east in the direction in wh&h Corbett pronounced the trail to be leading. The wagons were to follow his trail as fast as they could come with the guard. Of course there was a danger that Indians might ounce on them, but Custer decided to risk that. He was satisfied, from thesnow, and from the total absence of tracks outside of the war-trail, that the Indians were hugging their lodges. When he and Elliott united they would have ten companies, or about seven hundred men, end he judged it best to move quickly. In ten minutes from Corbett’s arrival, therefore, away went the column, at a fast walk, over thé frozen snow, to catch the Indians. The snow was not near so deep as it, was further north, where they had come from, and it had thawed and frozen into a hard crust, so that Trogress Was easy. They took up their march about noon, and just as the sun set they came on Elliott’s trail, where he was following the Indians. Now the scent was prow ing hot. That night was full moon, and the was so broad and heavy that they could foliow To utilize the time, Custer sent out two- oO i a The Dashing Dragoon. 21 it after sunset. Of course they did so with pru- dence. All talking was stopped in the column, | which swept on at a long, slashing walk, such as | cavalry horses soon acquire, and which is always | most rapid at night, when the animals think they are nearing ae Aft nine o’clock they came up to a Bie Elliott’s party, which had halted, and the whole regiment was dismounted, The men and horses were all pretty well tired, and needed food, but the question was how to cook cof- fee. The trail had led them down into the valley of a stream, which they afterward found to be the Washita, where there were high banks and heavy timber, so it was decided to risk making small fires, low down in the hollow, trusting to the cold weather to keep prowling Indians at home. If not seen, it was well worth the risk to give the men the refreshment of hot coffee, which no one appreciates so much as a shivering soldier, after a long march. Supper was cooked, the horses received a double share of oats, and after an hour's halt the pursuit was resumed, Now, boweyer, it was eee to take extra precautions. Little Beaver and Hard Rope pronounced the trail to have been made that very day, and that the Indians had probably passed just before sunset, It was almost certain that the camp would be found in the valley of the same river which pe had just reached, and probably not very far off. It was therefore necessary not to alarm the Indians till the regiment was prepared to dash on them, and the noise of the frozen snow under the horses’ feet could ¥e heard a quarter of a mile off. The way the new march was arranged was this: in front of all went little Beaver and Hard Rope, on foot, gliding over the snow-crust in their soft moc-* casins like silent sririts, Custer riding a little behind them, at a slow pace. The other Indian scouts were thrown out in all directions, also on foot, to watch for lurking foes, while the white scouts rode in a lit- tle body, three or four hundred yards back. The regiment, in column of fours, was at least half a mile behind, only just in sight. On went the column on its new march, for about an hour more, when Hard Rope stopped progress, He smelt jire, he said. A little further, after a cau- tious advance, and they discovered the dim embers of a deserted fire, The Indian scouts crept up to it, and found no one alive, but plenty of pony tracks. It was pronounced to be a fire made 7 some Indian boys, in charge of the pony herd belonging ‘to the village, The herd had gone, but could not-be far vit—the village must be very near. You may fancy how cautiously the scouts stole on now, the — ment halting some way off. At the very next hill, Hard Rope waved back Custer, stole up to the top, peeped over, and instantly fell flat.on his face, then crept slowly back to Custer, laid his hand on the general’s bridle and whispered: “Big heap Injun down there.” “How do you know?” whispered back Custer. “* Me heard dog vark,”’ said Hard Rope, quietly. Custer dismounted, crept to the crest of the hill, peeped over, and there, in the midst of the timber, were the white lodges of an Indian village, sleeping in the moonshine. There was no mistake. He went back to his horse, and sent a scout to call up the officers of the Seventh, telling them to come quietly, ae their sabers behind. He led them to the top of the hill, por iae them, for the first time in their lives, an indian v lage full of enemies, which the white man had caught at last. There was no question as to the catching—the only one was, would the Indians stay caught? Against their escape Custer soon provided. Dividing his regiment into four divisions, he or- dered three of these to make circuits, about a mile from the camp, 80 as #9 come in on all sides just about daylight, Oue detachment, commanded by himself. with the sharpshooters and the band, remained where they were, while the others started; and the rest of that cold moonlight night was passed in dead silence, waiting till the preparations were complete. It was a long, weary wait, but the success at last at- tained paid for all. The Indians were sound asleep, and suspected nothing till daylight, when all the de- tachments_ simultaneously burst on them, the band playing “Garryowen,” the men cheering, carbines and pistols ee galloping horses tearin oe the camp. The result was a complete ani overwhelming defeat for the whole band, which proved to be the village of Black Kettle, a Chey- enne chief. Over a hundred warriors were killed, and some seventy women and children were taken prisoners, while nine hundred ponies and all the stuff of the village was captured. About fifty war- riors (ot away by a bold dash in the first confusion, but the rest were completely defeated. es No sooner was the battle over than fresh troubles eran, t turned out that there were four other bands, encamped.within afew miles of Black Kettle’s vil- lage, and the warriors from these made a fierce attack on Custer, to rescue the herd of ponies. Cus- ter soon found that he had nearly tio thousand fresh Indians to fight. Many men in such a strait would have lost their, heads and retreated; not, so Custer, He was bound to give those fellows ales- son, to make them fear the white man for some time to come. He strung out most of his men in a skirmish line, to Keep off the Indians awhile, then detailed a firing- party to destroy the village and shoot the ponies, only keeping enough of these to mount his prison- ers. The Indians, maddened at the sight, attacked the cavalry fiercely, but without success. They were so cowed by Black Kettle’s fate that they fought feebly. No sooner was the village in ashes than Custer called in his men, mounted, formed line, and marched right at the next Indian village, as if he meant to repeat the operation. That settled the business. The Indians waited no eee. They had found their match at last in the “Yellow Devil-Chief,” as they called Custer after that time. No sooner was the Seventh,fairly on its march, than the whole Indian force scattered. There were Kiowas and Comanches, Arapahoes in lenty, and another small band of Cheyennes, but hey all fled in haste, though twice as numerous as the soldiers. It was about five miles to the nearest camp, but before the column arrived there not an Indian could be seen, while the lodges were found standing, full of stuff, and all deserted. Not even a lodge-pole had been taken. By the time Custer reached the camp it was dark, and the moon had _ not yet risen, He halted awhile. sent out scouts who found no Indians, then turned and marched off straight across country to his wag- ons, which he found safe in camp. Not an_ Indian had been near them. He concluded that he had done Sneaee for one trip, so he dispatched California Joe and Jack Corbett across country to carry the news to General Sheridan, and followed them, the next day, himself. 4 Camp Supply was reached in safety, and Generai Sheridan reviewed: the regiment, ones it highly on its successful expedition. From that day forth there was no more trouble with the Indians of the South-west. Custer had cowed them completely. Satanta and the Kiowas came in that winter, after some trouble, and ceased hostilities. Before March, 1869, the Arapahoes had followed their example; and aig in the spring Custer had completed his triumph by chasing down the last band of the Chey- ennes under Medicine-Arrow, who surrendered wii out a fight. Such was the first and grandest of all the Indian pe of General Custer, the greatest Indian- fighter of the American army, The Dashing Dragoon. CHAPTER Xi. PEACH—VISITORS—THE ENGLISH LORD—A GRAND BUF- FALO HUNT, Tux final pacification of the Indians of the South- west by the efforts of General Ouster occurred in 1869, and raised his reputation as an Indian-fighter far above that of any officer of the army.