Part 19 (2/2)
In 1872 I heard that he was at his old tricks on Laramie Plains A little later he sent word to ht Shortly thereafter he was arrested and convicted for robbery, but anized a desperate gang of outlahich infested the country north of the Union Pacific When, the stage began running between Cheyenne and Deadwood, these outlaws robbed coaches and passengers, oftenwere caught, tried, and convicted, and sent to the penitentiary for a nu the number
Soon after my return to Fort Lyon, the Fifth Cavalry was ordered to the Depart supplies en route I passed the quarters of General Bankhead, who had ordered eneral sent out for me, and as I entered his office he extended his hand
”I hope you have no hard feelings for me, Cody,” he said ”I have just had a talk with General Carr and Quartermaster Hays If you had told me you had permission to ride that horse and ht, General,” I said ”I don't believe your quarterent will ever circulate any eneral; ”he hasn't recovered yet froave him”
When the command reached the north fork of the Beaver, I rode down the valley toward the streae fresh Indian trail I found tracks scattered all over the valley and on both sides of the creek, as if a large village had recently passed that way I esties, or between twenty-five hundred and three thousand warriors, women, and children in the band
When I reported i a few round as possible, so that the troops ht of the Indians until we could strike the creek
We went into caeneral ordered Lieutenant Ward to take twelve men and myself and follow up the trail for several miles
Our orders were to find out how fast the Indians were traveling I soon made upslowly, hunting as they journeyed
After we had scouted about twelveour horses well concealed under the bank of the creek, Ward and I left our horses and crept to a high knoll where there was a good view for some distance down-stream As we looked over the sue, not threeon the prairie To our left, on the opposite side of the creek, two or three parties of Indians were co in, laden with buffalo meat
”This is no place for us, Lieutenant,” said I ”I think we have business at the caree with you,” he returned ”The quicker we get there the better”
We came down the hill as fast as we could and joined our men
Lieutenant Ward hurriedly wrote a note and sent it to General Carr by a corporal As the allop Ward said: ”We will march, slowly back until we meet the troops I think General Carr will soon be here”
A minute or two later we heard shots in the direction taken by our courier Presently he ca back around the bend of the creek, with three or four Indians in hot pursuit The lieutenant, with his squad of soldiers, charged upon them They turned and ran across the stream
”This will not do,” said Ward, when the last redskin had disappeared
”The whole village will know the soldiers are near by”
”Lieutenant,” said I, ”give ladly handedmy horse, I dashed up the creek Soon I observed another party of Indians returning to the village with meat I did not wait for thee
In less than an hour I reached the camp and delivered the dispatch to General Carr ”Boots and Saddles” was sounded, and all the troops save two couard the supply train, were soon galloping toward the Indian camp
When we had ridden three miles we met Lieutenant Ward He had run into a party of Indian hunters One of their number had been killed in the encounter, and one of Ward's horses had been wounded
At the end of fiveup the creek to meet us
They formed a complete line on our front General Carr, anted to strike their village, ordered the troops to charge, break through the line, and keep straight on
No doubt this movement would have been successfully executed had it not been for the daredevil, rattle-brained Lieutenant Schinosky, coed on the Indians on the left, while the rest of the coht on toward the village when it was discovered that Schinosky and his company were surrounded by five hundred Indians
To save the company, General Carr was forced to order a halt and hurry back to the rescue During the short fight Schinosky had several men and a number of horses killed