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Allie McAndrews at Apr 11, 2020 11:19 AM

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of the West. "BILL" CODY'S children can point with pride to recorded services under the following officers of world-wide and nationall fame:

General Sherman
" Miles
" Crook
" Carr
" Augusr
" Bankhead
" Fry
" Crittenden
" Merritt
" Switzer
" Tony Forsyth
" Duncan
" Rucker

General Smith
" King
" Van Vliet
" Anson Mills
" Reynolds
" Harney
" Greeley
" Sheridan
" Terry
" Emory
" Custer
" Ord
" Hancock

General Royall
" Penrose
" Brisbin
" Sandy Forsyth
" Palmer
" Dudley
" Gibbon
" Canby
" Blunt
" Hayes
" Guy Henry
" Hazen
And others.

The extracts on the following pages speak for themselves, and will form interesting reading as authenticated references:

FROM GEN. "PHIL" SHERIDAN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

GENERAL SHERIDAN refers to his meeting "BUFFALO BILL." "He undertakes a dangerous task," chapter xii, p. 281--289, in his autobiography, publish in 1888. The world-renowned cavalry commander maintained continuous friendly relations with this old scout, even to social correspondence, friendly assistance, and recognition in his present enterprise up to the year of his death. After relating his conception of the first winter campaign against Indians on the then uninhabited and bleak plains, in the winter of 1868, he says, "The difficulties and hardships to be encountered had led several experienced officers of the army and some frontiersmen like olf Jim Bridger, the famous scout and guide of earlier days to discourage the project. Bridger even went so far as to come out from St. Louis to discourage the attempt. I decided to go in person, bent on showing the Indians that they were not secure from punishment because of the inclement weather-- an ally on which they had {hitherto?} relied with much assurance. We started, and the very first night a blizzard struck us and carried away our tents. The gale was so violent that they could not be put up again; the rain and snow drenched us to the skin. Shivering from wet and cold I took refuge under a wagon, and there spent such a miserable night that, when the morning came, the gloomy prediction of old man Bridger and others rose up before me with greatly increased force. The difficulties were now fully realized, the blinding snow, mixed with sleet, the piercing wind, thermometer below zero--with green bushes only for fuel--occasioning intense suffering. Our numbers and companionship alone prevented us from being lost or perishing, a fate that stared in the face the frontiersmen, guides and scouts on their solitary missions.

"An important matter had been so secure competent guides for the different columns of troops, for, as I have said, the section of country to be operated in was comparatively unknown.

"In those days the railroad town of Hays City was filled with so-called 'Indian Scouts,' whose common boast was having slain scores of redskins, but the real scout--that is, a guide and trailer knowing the habits of the Indians--was very scarce, and it was hard to find anybody familiar with the country south of the Arkansas, where the campaign was to be made. Still, about the various military posts there was some good material to select from, and we managed to employ several men, who, from their experience on the plains in various capcities, or from natural instinct and aptitude, soon became excellent guides and the courageous and valuable scouts, some of them, indeed, gaining much distinction. Mr. William F. Cody ('Buffalo Bill'), whose renown has since become world-wide, was one of the men thus selected. He received his sobriquet from his marked success in killing buffaloes to supply fresh meat to the construction parties on the Kansas-Pacific Railway. He had lived from boyhood on the plains and passed every experience; herder, hunter, pony express rider, stage driver, wagon master in the quartermaster's department, and scout of the army, and was first brought to my notice by distinguishing himself in bringing me an important dispatch from For Larned to For Hays, a distance of sixty-five miles, through a section infested with Indians. The dispatch informed me that the Indians near Larned were preparting to decmp, and this intelligence required that certain orders should be carried to Fort Dodge, ninety-five miles south of Hays. This too being a particularly dangerous route--several couriers having been killed on it--it was impossible to get one of the various "Petes," "Jacks," or "Jims" hanging around Hays City to take my communication. Cody, Learning of the strait I

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