7

As another evidence of the confidence placed in his frontiersmanship, it may suffice to mention the celebrities whose money and position most naturally sought the best protection the Western market could afford, and who chose to place their lives in the keeping: Sir George Gore, Earl Dunraven, James Gordon Bennett, Duke Alexis, Gen, Custer, Lawerence Jerome, Remington, Professor Ward of Rochester. Professor March of Yale College, Major J. G. Hecksher, Dr. Kinglsey (Canon Kingsley's brother), and others of equal rank and distinction. All books of the plains, his exploits with Carr, Miles, and Crook, published in the New York Herald and Times in the summer of 1876, when he killed Yellow Hand in front of the military command in an open handed fight, are too recent to refer to.

The following letter of his old commander and celebrated Indian fighter, Gen. E. A. Carr, written years ago relative to him, is a tribute as a generous as any brave man has ever made to one of his position:

"From his services with my command, steadily in the field, I am qualified to bear testimony as to his qualities and character.

"He was very modest and unassumming. He is a natural gentleman in his manners as well as in character and has none of the roughness of the typical frontiersman. He can take his own part when required, but I have never heard of his using a knife or a pistol, or engaging in a quarrel where it could be avoided. His personal strength and activity are very good, and his temper and disposition are so good that no one has reason to quarrel with him.

"His eyesight is better than a good field glass; he is the best trailer I ever heard of, and also the best judge of the 'lay of country' - that is, he is able to tell what kind of country is ahead, so as to know how to act. He is a perfect judge of distance, and always ready to tell correctly how many miles it is to water, or to any place, or how many miles have been marched. ****

"Mr. Cody seemed never to tire and was always ready to go, in the darkest night or the worst weather, and usually volunteered, knowing what the emergency required. His trailing, when following Indians looking for stray animals or game, is simply wonderful. He is a most extraordinary hunter.

"In a fight Mr. Cody is never noisy, obstreperous, or excited. In fact, I never hardly noticed him in a fight, unless I happened to want him, or he had something to report, when he was always in the right place, and his information was always valuable and reliable.

"During the winter of 1866 we encountered hardships and exposure in terrific snow storms, sleet, etc., etc. On one occassion that winter Mr. Cody showed his quality by quietly offering to go with some dispatches to Gen. Sheridan, across a dangerous region, where another principal scout was reluctant to risk himself.

"Mr. Cody has since served with me as post guide and scout at Fort McPherson, where he frequently distinguished himself. ****

"In the summer of 1876 Cody went with me to the Black Hills region, where he killed Yellow Hand. Afterwards he was with the Big Horn and Yellowstone expedition. I consider that his services to the country and the army by trailing, finding, and fighting Indians and thus protecting the frontier settlers, and by guiding commands over the best and most practicable routes, have been far beyond the compensation he has recieved."

Thus it will be seen that notwithstanding it may sometimes be thought his fame rests upon the pen of the romancer and novelist, ahd they never been attracted to him (and they were solely by his sterling worth), W. F. Cody would none the less have been a character in America history. Having assisted in founding substantial peace in Nebraska, where he was honored by being elected to the Legislature (while away on a hunt), he has settled at North Platte, to enjoy its fruits and minister to the wants and advancements of the domestic circle with which he is blessed. On the return to civil life of his old praire friend, Major North, in rehearsing the old time years agone on the Platte, the Republican, and the Medicine, they concluded to reproduce some of the interesting scenes on the plains and in the "wild west".

The history of such a man, attractive as it already has been to the most distinguished officers and fighters in the United States Army, must prove doubly so to the men, women, and children who have heretofore found only in the novel the hero of rare exploits, on which imagination so loves to dwell. Young, sturdy, a remarkable specimen of manly beauty, with the brain to conceive the nerve to execute. Buffalo Bill per excellence is the exemplar of the strong and unique traits that characterize a true American frontiersman.

Across the Continent With the Fifth Cavalry.

Captain George F. Price's history of this famous regiment recounts its experience from the time it was known as the Second Dragoons to the present, giving the historical record of its officers, among whom are numbered many of the most distinguished military leaders known in our national anuals, such as Gen. Albert Sydney Johnson, Gen. George H. Thomas, Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. John Sedgwick, Generals Hardee, Emory, Van Dorn, Merritt, Carr, Royall, Custer and others of equal note. Besides alluding is many of its pages to incidents, adventures and conduct of the favorite guide and scout of the regiment, W. F. Cody ("Buffalo Bill"). Captain Price completes a narrative of brave men and daring deeds by "flood and field" with following biographical sketch (page 583) of W. F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill."

W. F. CODY - BUFFALO BILL.

"William F. Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa. He removed at an early age to Kansas, and was employed as a herder, wagonmaster, and pony express rider. He went to Pike's Peak during the excitement which followed the discovery of gold in Colorado, but, failing of success, returned to Kansas and became a trapper on the Republican River. In the fall of 1861, he was a government scout and guide at Fort Larnel, Kan, and in 1862 served as a scout and guide for the Ninth Kansas Cavalry, being chiefly employed in Arkansas and Southwestern Missouri. In 1863 he enlisted in the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, and served in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kansas, and participated in several battles. He was made a non-commissioned officer and served as a scout for his regiment after the battle of Tupelo. He was honorably discharged at the end of the war and engaged in various business pursuits until the spring of 1867, when he made a contract, for a monthly compensation of five hundred dollars, to deliver all the buffalo meat that would be needed for foor purposes for a number of laborers on the Kansas Pacific Railway in Western Kansas, and during this engagement - a period of less than eighteen months - he killed four thousand, two hundred and eighty buffaloes. This remarkable success gained for him the name of Buffalo Bill. When hunting buffalo, Cody would ride his horse whenever possible, to the right front of a herd, shoot down the leaders, and crowd their followers to the left until they began to run in a circle, when he would soon kill all that required. Cody again entered the Government service in 1868 as a scout and guide, and after a series of dangerous sides as bearer of important dispatches through a country which was infested with hostile Indians, was appointed by Gen. Sheridan chief scout and guide for the fifth Cavalry, which had been recently ordered from reconstruction duty in the Southern States for a campaign against the hostile Sioux and Cheyennes. He joined a detachment of the regiment at Fort Hays, Kansas, and was engaged during the fall of 1865 in the conflicts on Bearer and Shuter Creeks and north branch of Siormon River. He then served the Canadian River expedition during the winter of 1861-62, and became deservedly suspicous for cheerful service under dispiriting circumstances and the successful discharge of important duties. He with a battalion of the regiment across the country from Fort Kyon, Col, to Fort McPherson, Neb, during May.

As another evidence of the confidence placed in his frontiersmanship, it may suffice to mention the celebrities whose money and position most naturally sought the best protection the Western market could afford, and who chose to place their lives in the keeping: Sir George Gore, Earl Dunraven, James Gordon Bennett, Duke Alexis, Gen, Custer, Lawerence Jerome, Remington, Professor Ward of Rochester. Professor March of Yale College, Major J. G. Hecksher, Dr. Kinglsey (Canon Kingsley's brother), and others of equal rank and distinction. All books of the plains, his exploits with Carr, Miles, and Crook, published in the New York Herald and Times in the summer of 1876, when he killed Yellow Hand in front of the military command in an open handed fight, are too recent to refer to.

The following letter of his old commander and celebrated Indian fighter, Gen. E. A. Carr, written years ago relative to him, is a tribute as a generous as any brave man has ever made to one of his position:

"From his services with my command, steadily in the field, I am qualified to bear testimony as to his qualities and character.

"He was very modest and unassumming. He is a natural gentleman in his manners as well as in character and has none of the roughness of the typical frontiersman. He can take his own part when required, but I have never heard of his using a knife or a pistol, or engaging in a quarrel where it could be avoided. His personal strength and activity are very good, and his temper and disposition are so good that no one has reason to quarrel with him.

"His eyesight is better than a good field glass; he is the best trailer I ever heard of, and also the best judge of the 'lay of country' - that is, he is able to tell what kind of country is ahead, so as to know how to act. He is a perfect judge of distance, and always ready to tell correctly how many miles it is to water, or to any place, or how many miles have been marched. ****

"Mr. Cody seemed never to tire and was always ready to go, in the darkest night or the worst weather, and usually volunteered, knowing what the emergency required. His trailing, when following Indians looking for stray animals or game, is simply wonderful. He is a most extraordinary hunter.

"In a fight Mr. Cody is never noisy, obstreperous, or excited. In fact, I never hardly noticed him in a fight, unless I happened to want him, or he had something to report, when he was always in the right place, and his information was always valuable and reliable.

"During the winter of 1866 we encountered hardships and exposure in terrific snow storms, sleet, etc., etc. On one occassion that winter Mr. Cody showed his quality by quietly offering to go with some dispatches to Gen. Sheridan, across a dangerous region, where another principal scout was reluctant to risk himself.

"Mr. Cody has since served with me as post guide and scout at Fort McPherson, where he frequently distinguished himself. ****

"In the summer of 1876 Cody went with me to the Black Hills region, where he killed Yellow Hand. Afterwards he was with the Big Horn and Yellowstone expedition. I consider that his services to the country and the army by trailing, finding, and fighting Indians and thus protecting the frontier settlers, and by guiding commands over the best and most practicable routes, have been far beyond the compensation he has recieved."

Thus it will be seen that notwithstanding it may sometimes be thought his fame rests upon the pen of the romancer and novelist, ahd they never been attracted to him (and they were solely by his sterling worth), W. F. Cody would none the less have been a character in America history. Having assisted in founding substantial peace in Nebraska, where he was honored by being elected to the Legislature (while away on a hunt), he has settled at North Platte, to enjoy its fruits and minister to the wants and advancements of the domestic circle with which he is blessed. On the return to civil life of his old praire friend, Major North, in rehearsing the old time years agone on the Platte, the Republican, and the Medicine, they concluded to reproduce some of the interesting scenes on the plains and in the "wild west".

The history of such a man, attractive as it already has been to the most distinguished officers and fighters in the United States Army, must prove doubly so to the men, women, and children who have heretofore found only in the novel the hero of rare exploits, on which imagination so loves to dwell. Young, sturdy, a remarkable specimen of manly beauty, with the brain to conceive the nerve to execute. Buffalo Bill per excellence is the exemplar of the strong and unique traits that characterize a true American frontiersman.

Across the Continent With the Fifth Cavalry.

Captain George F. Price's history of this famous regiment recounts its experience from the time it was known as the Second Dragoons to the present, giving the historical record of its officers, among whom are numbered many of the most distinguished military leaders known in our national anuals, such as Gen. Albert Sydney Johnson, Gen. George H. Thomas, Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. John Sedgwick, Generals Hardee, Emory, Van Dorn, Merritt, Carr, Royall, Custer and others of equal note. Besides alluding is many of its pages to incidents, adventures and conduct of the favorite guide and scout of the regiment, W. F. Cody ("Buffalo Bill"). Captain Price completes a narrative of brave men and daring deeds by "flood and field" with following biographical sketch (page 583) of W. F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill."

W. F. CODY - BUFFALO BILL.

"William F. Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa. He removed at an early age to Kansas, and was employed as a herder, wagonmaster, and pony express rider. He went to Pike's Peak during the excitement which followed the discovery of gold in Colorado, but, failing of success, returned to Kansas and became a trapper on the Republican River. In the fall of 1861, he was a government scout and guide at Fort Larnel, Kan, and in 1862 served as a scout and guide for the Ninth Kansas Cavalry, being chiefly employed in Arkansas and Southwestern Missouri. In 1863 he enlisted in the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, and served in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kansas, and participated in several battles. He was made a non-commissioned officer and served as a scout for his regiment after the battle of Tupelo. He was honorably discharged at the end of the war and engaged in various business pursuits until the spring of 1867, when he made a contract, for a monthly compensation of five hundred dollars, to deliver all the buffalo meat that would be needed for foor purposes for a number of laborers on the Kansas Pacific Railway in Western Kansas, and during this engagement - a period of less than eighteen months - he killed four thousand, two hundred and eighty buffaloes. This remarkable success gained for him the name of Buffalo Bill. When hunting buffalo, Cody would ride his horse whenever possible, to the right front of a herd, shoot down the leaders, and crowd their followers to the left until they began to run in a circle, when he would soon kill all that required. Cody again entered the Government service in 1868 as a scout and guide, and after a series of dangerous sides as bearer of important dispatches through a country which was infested with hostile Indians, was appointed by Gen. Sheridan chief scout and guide for the fifth Cavalry, which had been recently ordered from reconstruction duty in the Southern States for a campaign against the hostile Sioux and Cheyennes. He joined a detachment of the regiment at Fort Hays, Kansas, and was engaged during the fall of 1865 in the conflicts on Bearer and Shuter Creeks and north branch of Siormon River. He then served the Canadian River expedition during the winter of 1861-62, and became deservedly suspicous for cheerful service under dispiriting circumstances and the successful discharge of important duties. He with a battalion of the regiment across the country from Fort Kyon, Col, to Fort McPherson, Neb, during May.