| 4745
wins, and the young chief, "YELLOW HAND," drops lifeless in his tracks after a hot fight.
Baffled and astounded, for once in a lifetime beaten at their own game, their project of
joining "SITTING BULL" nipped in the bud, they take hurried flight. But our chief is satisfied.
"BUFFALO BILL" is radiant; his are the honors of the day. From Page 35
"BUFFALO BILL" AND "BUFFALO CHIPS."--From Page 111.
In all these years of campaigning, the Fifth Cavalry has had varied and interesting ex-
perience with a class of men of whom much has been written, and whose names, to readers of
the dime novel and the New York Weekly style of literature, were familiar as household words;
I mean the "Scouts of the Prairie," as they have been christened. Many thousands of our
citizens have been to see "BUFFALO BILL'S" thrilling representations of the scenes of his life
of adventure. To such he needs no introduction, and throughout our cavalry he is better
known than any general except Miles or Crook.
A motley set they are as a class--these scouts; hard riding, hard swearing, hard drink-
ing ordinarily, and not all were of unimpeachable veracity. But there was never a word of
doubt or question in the Fifth when "BUFFALO BILL" came up for discussion. He was Chief
of Scouts in Kansas and Nebraska in the campaign of 1868-69, when the hostiles were so com-
pletely used up by General Carr. He remained with us as chief scout until the regiment was
ordered to Arizona to take its turn at the Apaches in 1871. Five years the regiment was kept
among the rocks and deserts of that marvelous land of cactus and centipede; but when we
came homeward across the continent and were ordered up to Cheyenne to take a hand in the
Sioux war of 1876, the "SITTING BULL" campaign, the first addition to our ranks was "BUF-
FALO BILL" himself--who sprang from the Union Pacific train at Cheyenne, and was speedily
exchanging greetings with an eager group of his old comrades--reinstated as Chief of Scouts.
Of his services during the campaign that followed, a dozen articles might be written.
One of the most thrilling incidents of our fight on the 17th of July with the Cheyenne Indians,
on the War Bonnet, was when he killed the warrior "YELLOW HAND," in as plucky a single
combat on both sides as is ever witnessed. The Fifth had a genuine affection for Bill; he was
a beautiful horseman, and unrivaled shot, and as a scout unequaled. We had tried them all--
Hualpais and Tontos in Arizona; half-breeds on the great plains. We had followed Custer's
old guide, "CALIFORNIA JOE," in Dakota, met handsome BILL HICKOX ("WILD BILL") in the
Black Hills; trailed for week after Crook's
favorite, FRANK GRUARD, with "LITTLE
BAT" and "BIG BAPTISTE," three good
ones, all over the Big Horn and Powder
River country; hunted Nez Perces with
COSGROVE and his Shoshones among the
Yellowstone mountains, and listened to
CRAWFORD's yarns and rhymes in many a
bivouac in the Northwest. They were all
noted men in their way, but BILL CODY
was the paragon.
This time it is not my purpose to
write of him, but for him, of another whom
I have not yet named.
James White was his name; a man
little known east of the Missouri, but on
the plains he was BUFFALO BILL's shadow.
I had met him for the first time at the Mc-
Pherson station in the Platte Valley, 1871,
when he came to me with a horse, and the
simple introduction that he was a friend of
CODY's. Long afterward we found how
true and staunch a friend, for when Cody
joined us at Cheyenne as chief scout, he
brought White with him as assistant, and
Bill's recommendation secure his imme-
diate employment.
"ROCKY BEAR."
Ogallalla Sioux, War Chief of the Sioux Nation,
Fighting Chief of the Ghost Dancers. | 4745
wins, and the young chief, "YELLOW HAND," drops lifeless in his tracks after a hot fight.
Baffled and astounded, for once in a lifetime beaten at their own game, their project of
joining "SITTING BULL" nipped in the bud, they take hurried flight. But our chief is satisfied.
"BUFFALO BILL" is radiant; his are the honors of the day. From Page 35
"BUFFALO BILL" AND "BUFFALO CHIPS."--From Page 111.
In all these years of campaigning, the Fifth Cavalry has had varied and interesting ex-
perience with a class of men of whom much has been written, and whose names, to readers of
the dime novel and the New York Weekly style of literature, were familiar as household words;
I mean the "Scouts of the Prairie," as they have been christened. Many thousands of our
citizens have been to see "BUFFALO BILL'S" thrilling representations of the scenes of his life
of adventure. To such he needs no introduction, and throughout our cavalry he is better
known than any general except Miles or Crook.
A motley set they are as a class--these scouts; hard riding, hard swearing, hard drink-
ing ordinarily, and not all were of unimpeachable veracity. But there was never a word of
doubt or question in the Fifth when "BUFFALO BILL" came up for discussion. He was Chief
of Scouts in Kansas and Nebraska in the campaign of 1868-69, when the hostiles were so com-
pletely used up by General Carr. He remained with us as chief scout until the regiment was
ordered to Arizona to take its turn at the Apaches in 1871. Five years the regiment was kept
among the rocks and deserts of that marvelous land of cactus and centipede; but when we
came homeward across the continent and were ordered up to Cheyenne to take a hand in the
Sioux war of 1876, the "SITTING BULL" campaign, the first addition to our ranks was "BUF-
FALO BILL" himself--who sprang from the Union Pacific train at Cheyenne, and was speedily
exchanging greetings with an eager group of his old comrades--reinstated as Chief of Scouts.
Of his services during the campaign that followed, a dozen articles might be written.
One of the most thrilling incidents of our fight on the 17th of July with the Cheyenne Indians,
on the War Bonnet, was when he killed the warrior "YELLOW HAND," in as plucky a single
combat on both sides as is ever witnessed. The Fifth had a genuine affection for Bill; he was
a beautiful horseman, and unrivaled shot, and as a scout unequaled. We had tried them all--
Hualpais and Tontos in Arizona; half-breeds on the great plains. We had followed Custer's
old guide, "CALIFORNIA JOE," in Dakota, met handsome BILL HICKOX ("WILD BILL") in the
Black Hills; trailed for week after Crook's
favorite, FRANK GRUARD, with "LITTLE
BAT" and "BIG BAPTISTE," three good
ones, all over the Big Horn and Powder
River country; hunted Nez Perces with
COSGROVE and his Shoshones among the
Yellowstone mountains, and listened to
CRAWFORD's yarns and rhymes in many a
bivouac in the Northwest. They were all
noted men in their way, but BILL CODY
was the paragon.
This time it is not my purpose to
write of him, but for him, of another whom
I have not yet named.
James White was his name; a man
little known east of the Missouri, but on
the plains he was BUFFALO BILL's shadow.
I had met him for the first time at the Mc-
Pherson station in the Platte Valley, 1871,
when he came to me with a horse, and the
simple introduction that he was a friend of
CODY's. Long afterward we found how
true and staunch a friend, for when Cody
joined us at Cheyenne as chief scout, he
brought White with him as assistant, and
Bill's recommendation secure his imme-
diate employment.
"ROCKY BEAR."
Ogallalla Sioux, War Chief of the Sioux Nation,
Fighting Chief of the Ghost Dancers. |
