WAR-PATH AND BIVOUAC,
OR
The Conquest of the Sioux,
A Narrative of Stirring Personal Experiences and Adven-tures in the Big Horn and Yellowstone Expedition
Of 1876, and in the Campaign on the
British Border, in 1879.
BY
John F. Finerty
War correspondent for the Chicago “TIMES.”
PUBLICATION OFFICE
UNITY BUILDING, 79 DEARBORN STREET, CHICAGO
PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
It had long been my intention to publish the volume which I now submit to the public. The book is, as far as human fallibility will permit, a faithful narrative of stirring events the like of which can never again occur upon our continent.
Stories of Indian warfare, even when not founded entirely upon fact, have ever been popular with people of all nations, and more particularly with the American people, to whom such warfare is rendered familiar both by tradition and experience.
These memoirs aim at laying before the public the adventures, privations, heroism, and horrors of our last great Indian wars, exactly as they presented themselves to the writer in battle, on the march or in bivouac.
The valor of the American army has never been impugned, but millions of our own citizens do not know, even yet, what privations our brave soldiers endured, and what noble sacrifices they made, in advancing our banner in the wilderness of the West and in subduing: the savage and sanguinary tribes that so long barred the path of progress in our Territories.
The soldier who falls wounded while battling against a civilized foe feels certain of receiving humane consideration if he should fall into hostile hands, but our soldiers who
PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
were disabled in the Indian campaigns had ever before them the terrors of fiendish torture and mutilation in case of capture by the savages.
Buried for months at a time in the very heart of the wilderness, excluded from every solace of civilization, exposed to the stealthy strategy of the most cunning and merciless of all existing human races, unsheltered, for the most part, from the fury of the elements, deprived of the ordinary food of mankind, and compelled to live at times on that against which the civilized stomach revolts, the soldiers of the regular army seldom or never complained and always went cheerfully into " the gap of danger."
In former years the Congress of our country. through a strange system of reasoning, rewarded the bravery and devotion of our regular troops by assuming that their deeds of arms against savages in revolt should not be ranked among acts of warfare deserving of national recognition! It is some satisfaction, even at this late day, to know that the national legislature no longer looks upon services rendered by the troops against hostile savages with contemptuous eyes and that the bill granting brevet rank to the more distinguished among the Indian fighters of the regular army, has now become a law.
If these frankly-written pages serve to place before the Congress and the people of the United States the deeds and the sufferings of the national army while struggling in several most important campaigns for the extension of our peaceful borders, the safety of our hardy pioneers and the honor of our martial name, I will feel greatly recompensed for the labor of their production.
PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
The gallant service in which Harney, Fremont, Sully, Stanley, Connors, Crook, Miles, Merritt, Terry, McKenzie, Gibbon, Carr, and other heroic chiefs distinguished themselves against the intrepid hostile Indians, and in which Custer, Canby, Fetterman, Kidder, Elliot, Brown, Grummond, Yates, McIntosh, Calhoun, Keogh, McKinney, and many more as brave as they were, died fighting against overwhelming numbers, deserves honor at the hands of the nation, whose glory it has maintained and whose progress it has insured.
Whether as regulars or volunteers, our soldiers, at all times and under all circumstances, have deserved well of their country. From the day of Concord bridge, when the citizen-soldiery of Massachusetts “ fired the shot heard ’round the world,” to that of the Little Big Horn, when Custer, at the head of his three hundred, died like Leonidas
at Thermopylae, the American army, whether in victory or disaster, has ever been worthy of the flag which it carries, and of the nation which it defends. In this spirit, I respectfully dedicate this book to the American army and the American nation.
JOHN F. FINERTY.
CHICAGO, April 1890.
CONTENTS.
PART I.
THE BIG HORN AND YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION.
CHAPTER I.
BOUND FOR THE PLAINS.
Assignment to Duty—Making the Start—interview with W. F. Storey —His Peculiar Manner—Letters from General Sheridan— Westward Ho! Omaha —Interview with General Crook—His Advice “ Character —Sidney Station—The Crowd at the Depot—A Military Character —Cheyenne in “76—Fort D. A. Russell —A Ludicrous Accident —Orders to Move—General Reynolds—“ Never Trust a Horse or an Indian,” etc.
CHAPTER II.
THE BLACK HILLS FEVER.
Causes of the Indian Trouble Wars” of the Sioux and Crows—Rush of Gold Hunters to “ The Hills—Military Interference—Wagons Burned —Murders by Indians and Brigands—Stage Coaches —Attacked —Perils of Prospectors—The Invincible White Man carries his Point, etc.
CHAPTER III.
THE MARCH ON THE PLATTE.
First Day Out—Halt at Lodge Pole Creek—Incidents of the Camp— Long Short Stirrup Straps—Tired Out—Meeting with Lieutenant Schwatka—Junction with Colonel Royall’s Column—Chugwater Valley—Blockaded by Rain and Mud—Fort Laramie—Across the Platte—Regular Soldiers in Campaigning Costume—Cavalry on the March “ to Glory or the Grave,” etc.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
ON TO FORT FETTERMAN.
The Old Utah Immigrant Trail-—Savage Scenery—Blistering Heat and Stilling Guard Dust—Dearth of Water—Rough Riding with a Rear —First Glimpse of Fort Fetterman—Perils of the Platte—An Exciting 's Episode —.Cool Bravery of Lieutenant Bubb—General Crook Episode Hospitality, etc
CHAPTER V.
MARCHING ON POWDER RIVER.
On the War-path in Earnest—Scenes on the March—Peculiarities of Mules and Mule Whackers —A God-Forsaken Region —Miserable Camping Grounds—First Look at the Big Horn Range—The Snowy Summits—Pumpkin Buttes—January in the Lap of June —A False Alarm—Tales by the Camp Fires—Lieutenant Bourke Interrupted by Indian Bullets—The Pawnee Sentinel and the Sergeant's Watch—“ I Want to go Ho-o-me! "—Powder River Old Fort Reno—The Soldiers Cemetery
