Frue History of Soi
o£ the Fiona of
Colorado
Luella Shato
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MISS LUELLA SHAW
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book are abr • i have been at oi
r.lac :itd>&:~ . of these circunstancs
. . n. -John Patterson and A.K.S'm;
for I have kno .oh of these Gentlemen, for 1
is, es ii y do I veil knov
. . 3 . J.y li^es t,y,^ miles belov- my
,:;e hero :iear Paon:
Coburn has a 1 lit
, in f .ie of t>ie best in the country, he
0 this Valley, the first Fruit Trees ever
In, and that on the backs of "Burro's" about
. \ one of the best pi in- Colorado.
interesting talker and. I have listr
ntories not mentioned in this book.
•on lives nov/ at Hotchkiss Colorado. kenps
11, and his mind is very clear as to t-
is the most remarkable man of all
'rig evan in his last days, and vrhen
:.ther they had the
1 any : who listened to their early
s, has died since t}
ten, place about t;vo milr
.ace,
'.hat you will en~"oy this book, and
•^rry Christmas" I remain.
Yours truly
True History of Some
of the Pioneers of
Colorado
LUELLA SHAW
1909
PUBLISHED BY
W. S. COBURN, JOHN PATTERSON and A. K. SHAW
HOTCHKISS. COLORADO
COPYRIGHT 1909
BY
LUELLA SHAW
DENVER, COLO.
PRESS OF CARSON-HARPER CO.
Bancroft Library
Contents
Page
PEEFACE 7
CHAPTER I. — The Cause of the Combination of the Three
Tribes Against the Whites. As told by W. S. Coburn . . 9
CHAPTER II. — Watson S. Coburn 15
CHAPTER III.— My First Trip Across the Plains. By W.
S. Coburn 19
CHAPTER IV.— Raid Up the Platte. As told by W. S. Co-
burn 23
CHAPTER V.— Massacre of the Hungate Family 33
CHAPTER VI. — Jim Reynolds and His Gang 39
CHAPTER VII.— Alston Knox Shaw 49
CHAPTER Vin.— Proceedings of Company "A." As told
by A. K. Shaw 53
CHAPTER IX.— John Patterson 67
CHAPTER X. — Proceedings of Company "C." By John
Patterson 69
CHAPTER XI. — Est Pinosa, the Mexican Desperado 73
CHAPTER XH.— Sand Creek Fight. As told by Patterson
and Shaw 79
CHAPTER XIII.— A Few Incidents During the Fight 87
CHAPTER XTV — Cause of the Sand Creek Fight 99
CHAPTER XV.— Justice of the Fight 107
CHAPTER XVI. — Sand Creek a Decisive Battle 115
CHAPTER XVII.— The Yellow Haired Boy 121
CHAPTER XVIIL— March to Fort Larnard. By A. K.
Shaw and John Patterson 127
CHAPTER XIX. — Shaw and the Horses. . 131
Page
CHAPTER XX. — Little Happenings in Denver 137
CHAPTER XXI. — Depredations of Indians on Geary's
Neighbors. Told by J. Patterson 143
CHAPTER XXII.— Captain Peacock's Fight. As told by
W. S. Coburn 149
CHAPTER XXIII.— Indian Charley. By W. S. Coburn 151
CHAPTER XXIV.— Little Horse and His Band. As told by
W. S. Coburn 159
CHAPTER XXV— Two Face. By W. S. Coburn 167
CHAPTER XXVL— Standing Elk 173
CHAPTER XXVII. — Massacre at Fort Phil Kearney 179
CHAPTER XXVIH — Mexican Peter Arrago. As told by
W. S. Coburn 181
CHAPTER XXIX. — A Few Minor Experiences. As told by
W. S. Coburn 187
CHAPTER XXX.— Red Bead, Roberts and the Comanches. . 197
CHAPTER XXXI.— Fight with Eagle Claw. By W. S. Co-
burn 201
CHAPTER XXXII.— Fight of General Forsyth. As told by
A. K. Shaw 211
CHAPTER XXXIII.— A Trip Into Montana. As told by
A. K. Shaw 217
CHAPTER XXXIV.— A Trip to the Missouri River. As
told by A. K. Shaw 227
CHAPTER XXXV.— A Buffalo Hunt. As told by John
Patterson .. 233
CHAPTER XXXVI.— My First Introduction to Colorado.
As told by Mrs. John Patterson 237
CHAPTER XXXVII.— The Advent of the Union Pacific
Railroad in the Summer and Fall of 1867. By W. S.
Coburn 241
CHAPTER XXXVIII. — Gold Miners from Montana Return-
ing to the States After a Successful Trip 249
CHAPTER XXXIX.— Loyalty to the Pioneers 253
CHAPTER XL.— Conclusion . . 265
Come, you children of the pioneers,
And join me in their praise;
Let us shout three rousing cheers,
To awake the memory of their frays.
Our fathers, they came to the land
Of redskins and buffalo,
And took a firm, steadfast stand,
To rid the country of its foe.
Some were settlers, others were scouts,
All aiming to build up the frontier
And run the redskins out,
Who were scalping all, far and near.
They suffered privations and hardships,
These strong-hearted men of the wild,
As they made their many trips
Over the prairie, but not once defiled.
Though unseen dangers hovered near,
On open plains or in mountains high,
They bravely pushed forward with a cheer,
Determined to conquer the West or die.
When the Indian massacres were spreading,
And the frontier was flooded with untold fears,
And all the settlers were dreading
The oncoming blood-stained years,
Governor Evans realized the vast need
Of defense and protection on the border;
So Colonel Chivington bravely took the lead,
And marched his band out in perfect order.
Just a hand full of volunteers
Marched out to defeat or victory.
One aim had these brave pioneers,
'Twas to save this western country.
They did not march to fife and drum,
In grand military array,
With bayonets flashing in the sun,
Or waving colors bright and gay,
But valiantly kept step to the rhyme
Of aching hearts and thoughts of those
That fell victims to the bloody crime
Of the savages — the settlers' worst foe.
They marched 'neath the standard of right,
These volunteers brave and true,
And fought with all their might
To win a home, my friends, for you.
They chased those bloodthirsty red devils
That had covered the West with blood and
tears ;
They ran them on the hills and levels,
iv
Like the redskins had once done the pioneers.
Only a few of them now remain
To see the outcome of their deeds ;
The growth of their once barren plain
That now supplies all our needs.
We owe to Chivington and his band
A debt we can never repay,
For taking their brave, firm stand,
Thus starting our West of today.
The West of grandeur and wealth,
With its schools and enterprises,
The West of good cheer and health,
And many other glad surprises.
Reverence to the memory of those years
Of struggles and sorrows on the frontier —
Gratitude in our hearts for the Volunteers
And our forefathers — the Pioneers.
PREFACE.
In presenting this narrative to the public, its ob-
ject will be to furnish a true history of some of the
incidents of the early settlement of the West, and
especially of Colorado.
Being intimately acquainted with parties cogni-
zant of the facts related, we feel certain of the lit-
eral truths of the statements contained in this book.
There have been so many publications put upon
the market purporting to be true history of frontier
life, that utterly fail to convey the faintest idea of
the real facts, that this work is undertaken.
It is impossible for the rising generations to con-
ceive but a remote idea of the privations and dan-
gers from hostile Indians that the pioneers endured
in the early settlement of the West. This work will
give an insight into the lives of some of the early
settlers who endured the hardships and privations
that they underwent for the sake of paving the way
to our present civilization, where towns, cities and
railroads have sprung into existence as if by magic.
vi
CHAPTER I.
THE CAUSE OF THE COMBINATION OF THE THREE
TRIBES AGAINST THE WHITES.
As fold by W. S. Coburn.
After spending the last forty-five years on the
frontier, beginning in the then Territory of Kansas,
Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho,
Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Montana, and
being a close observer of cause and effect in passing
events, it will, no doubt, be of interest to the general
public to know the real cause of the uprising and
consolidation of the three tribes of Indians, namely,
the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes, against the
whites.
The Sioux Nation was the most powerful and
numerous of any of the tribe of Indians on the North
American continent, at one time numbering one hun-
dred and twenty thousand warriors and consisting of
three distinct bands, called the Yankton Sioux, who
inhabited the northern boundary of the United
many of whom lived in Minnesota.
The Bruls Sioux held the territory of North and
South Dakota, and the Ogalalie Sioux, who occupied
the plains of Colorado.
1O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
In the fall of 1862, when the United States was
engaged in the Civil war, Minnesota had been set-
tling up pretty fast, and was crowding in on the ter-
ritory of the Yankton Sioux, who were very friendly
with the whites and often enjoyed the hospitality of
the settlers in the small places and in the vicinity of
New Ulm.
About this time they conceived the idea of stop-
ping the white settlers from coming into that part of
Minnesota. Knowing that the United States was
plunged into the Civil War and, as they thought,
fully occupied with their own domestic troubles, it
would be the most opportune time for them to ex-
ecute their plans.
Accordingly they held secret councils and ma-
tured their plans of attack and massacre without the
least suspicion on the part of the frontier settlers,
with whom they had been so friendly. One old
squaw, however, knew of their plans and notified
some of the white women who had been very kind to
her and advised them to go to safety at once, but the
whites did not believe the Indians would do them
any harm and ignored the admonition of the old
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 11
squaw; so accordingly on the night of September
23rd, 1862, (if my memory serves me right), the
Indians, according to previous arrangement, raised,
as if by one man, in all parts of the settlement, and
began to burn buildings and kill men, women and
children as fast as they could get to them. This
massacre lasted a day and a night until some three
hundred settlers were killed and their homes laid in
ashes.
The United States troops were soon in pursuit
and captured some three hundred Indians and took
them to the military prison at Rock Island on the
Mississippi river between Illinois and Iowa. There
they held them until the spring of 1863, when they
were tried by court-martial and twenty-three of the
leaders were sentenced to be hung; they were duly
executed and the balance were made to witness the
hanging. The orders from the war department were
for the soldiers to take the remaining Indians out on
the plains and turn them loose, with instruction to
never return to Minnesota.
At this time nearly all the Indians on the plains
were at war with each other over disputed territory
of their hunting grounds.
12 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
The Omahas and Winnebagoes were weak tribes
without much ambition, and were satisfied to live
and beg from the few settlers in the vicinity of
Omaha.
The Pawnees were located on the Loop Fork of
the South Platte river and were deadly enemies of
the Sioux, the disputed territory being near old Fort
Kearney, from there west for two hundred miles up
the Platte, and from the line of New Mexico south
for six hundred miles.
In the north, the Ogulalies had supreme control,
only when menaced by the Pawnees on the east
and the Cheyennes on the west, who claimed one
hundred miles of the Platte river and some five hun-
dred miles north and south from the west end of the
Cheyennes' territory. They claimed about sixty
miles along the base of the mountains, where Den-
ver, Colorado Springs, Greeley and Pueblo now
stand. Up in the mountains the Utes claimed their
hunting grounds, but would occasionally go down
and trespass on the Arapahoes' territory; then there
was sure to be war when this was found out.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 13
This was the condition when nearly three hun-
dred of the murderous band of Yankton Sioux were
turned loose on the plains among their kindred.
They at once told their friends, Ogulalies, what
a terrible crime the whites had committed in hang'
ing twenty-three of their comrades and chiefs.
Hanging, by the way, is the most ignoble death for
an Indian imaginable. This remnant of three
hundred at once advocated consolidation with all
the Indians with whom they were at home, to fight
and exterminate the whites. They called councils
of war with the Pawnees, who refused to listen.
They then made overtures to the Cheyennes and
Arapahoes, when councils were held during the sum-
mer of 1863, and speeches made denouncing the
whites and calling the Indians fools for fighting
among themselves and killing each other, but to com-
bine and annihilate the whites. These councils
finally prevailed late in the fall, between the three
tribes of Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes. The
Pawnees in the east and the Utes in the mountains to
the west refusing to participate with their enemies.
This combined force of three tribes soon com-
menced their depredations, covering a territory five
14 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
hundred miles wide, east and west of the northern
line of New Mexico, to the Canadian line in the
northward, a distance of some nine hundred miles.
Forts were established, and soldiers stationed all
along the Arkansas and Platte rivers to stop their
murderous and destroying raids. But the Indian
war on the plains lasted about fifteen years before
the government finally got them subdued.
During this time hundreds of emigrants and sol-
diers were killed and scalped, and millions of dollars
worth of property destroyed and stolen.
A few years ago the government created an In-
dian Depredation Bureau and sent attorneys west to
take evidence to establish the claims of those who
had been raided. The narrator proved up on his
claim for stock stolen and hay burnt to the amount
of eighteen thousand, two hundred and eighty dol-
lars and the attorney told him that there was up-
wards of seventy million dollars in claims for In-
dian depredations and the government was anxious
to have them all filed and settled as soon as possible,
since which time there has been no effort on the
part of Congress to take the matter up and amend
one article so the claimants can be settled with.
W. S. COBURN
CHAPTER II.
WATSON S. COBURN.
Watson S. Coburn was born on June 4, 1838,
in Decatur, Massachusetts.
After living in the New England states about
twenty-one years, he decided to go West. He made
Chicago, then a town of a hundred and nine inhab-
itants, his first stop, where he remained six months,
before going to Springfield, Illinois. While in
Springfield the civil war broke out and he went to
join the army. Failing to get in on account of the
quorum being filled, each time he applied, he was
given a position as a sutler to sell goods to the sol-
diers.
He was in the siege at Vicksburg, which lasted
forty-seven days and nights, and when Pemberton
was forced to surrender to Grant and the town was
opened, Coburn was the first citizen to enter Vicks-
burg. He went in with the first regiment of sol-
diers on July 4, 1863.
About this time he quit the army and went into
the commission business at Omaha, Nebraska. Six
l6 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
months afterwards his partner died, so he sold out
and came to Colorado, since which time he has been
all over the western states. He lived on his ranch,
which was called the Chicago ranch and situated on
the Platte river, during the years of 1865, 1866 and
1867.
When the Union Pacific Railroad was built from
Julesburg on west in 1868, this put a stop to the
overland freight and travel and consequently put
the feed stations out of business. Mr. Coburn then
went to work for the railroad, contracting for the
fuel. He was the first man to build a house and dig
a well in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Later he took a
supply of goods and moved along ahead of the rail-
road and sold goods to the graders. When the
track reached Promontory Point west of Ogden,
Utah, on May 10, 1869, his store business was
stopped. He went to the then new state of Kansas
and began dealing in Texas cattle, which proved un-
successful, so he returned to Colorado. Mr. Coburn' s
next venture was freighting and mining, and when
the Ute Reservation was thrown open in 1882, he
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO IJ
took up a ranch on the western slope, between the
present towns of Paonia and Hotchkiss, Colorado.
He started a commercial orchard on his ranch, and
has since made his home there.
CHAPTER III.
MY FIRST TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS.
By IV. S. Coburn.
After several months in business in Omaha,
Nebraska, my partner, Silas Reena, took sick with
typhoid fever and died, and after closing and set-
tling his estate, I determined to come west to Colo-
rado.
Accordingly I rigged up a four-mule team and
loaded with goods for Denver, accompanied by fif-
teen other teams.
When we arrived at Fort Kearney, about two
hundred miles west of Omaha, we were notified by
the officers at the fort that we could proceed no fur-
ther until enough emigrants and freighters came
along to make a party of one hundred well armed
men and that we should have to organize and elect
a captain whose orders would have to be obeyed for
self protection against the hostile Indians, who were
very numerous for the next four hundred miles. At
the end of two days we had the required number and
proceeded to elect a captain to take charge and much
2O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
to my surprise and much against my protest, they
elected me to this position. I argued and protested,
having never had any experience with hostile In-
dians, but to no purpose, so I accepted and promised
to do the best I could and we started the third morn-
ing with emigrants and freighters, including women
and children with all kinds of dispositions. No one
but those who have had experience with such a con-
glomerate mass of humanity can realize the anxiety
and trials to keep them all satisfied, and in spite of
my best efforts misunderstandings would arise.
In one day's drive we passed the remnants of
what would have been eleven wagons, loaded with
a stamp mill for Central City, Colorado, that had
been burned, the men scalped and killed and the
oxen driven away. This had a tendency to keep the
rear teams well closed up.
This was in July and the weather was quite
warm in the middle of the day and for this reason
it was necessary to start early in the morning and
camp for a few hours in the heat of the day. This
starting at daylight caused much, inconvenience
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 21
among the families of women and children and some
of the men.
However, we were making good time and had
seen no Indians until we got about forty miles west
of Fort Sedgwick, when we camped one night just
before crossing some sand hills. Our crowd had be-
gun to think that we were comparatively safe from
the Indians and the next morning some of the fami-
lies were slow in getting ready to start, and one team
loaded with dry goods and owned by two men by
the names of Auery and Smith came to me and asked
permission to pull over the sand hills before it got
too hot, saying they would take all chances of see-
ing Indians. I reluctantly consented. They were
about one-half mile ahead of the train when Mr.
Auery missed his meerschaum pipe and stopped and
turned to search for it in the wagon. Smith got off
the wagon and said he would walk on ahead. While
Auery was back in the covered wagon he heard a
war whoop, and he looked out and saw twelve In-
dians ride from behind the sand hill and surround
Smith, scalp and kill him just two hundred and
twelve feet from the wagon. Auery thought his
22 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
time had come, but when all the Indians dismounted
and began to yell and dance around the body of
Smith, he quickly slid off the wagon, dropped the
tugs, mounted one of the horses, and came dashing
back to the train. When the train got to the place
of the killing, the Indians, after looting the wagon,
had mounted their ponies and went flying over the
prairie with whole bolts of calico and red flannel
streaming behind them in the wind.
We wrapped poor Smith's body up in a blanket
and buried him near where he fell. We were then
a hundred and sixty miles from Denver, where we
arrived safe and sound on the seventh day of August,
1865.
CHAPTER IV.
RAID UP THE PLATTE.
As fold by W. S. Coburn.
As we came over the road to Denver, we noticed
many ruins of what had been feed stations. This
was caused by a general attack on every ranch from
Fort Morgan to Fort Sedgwick, a distance of one
hundred miles, by from two hundred and fifty to five
hundred Indians to each ranch. The attack occurred
on the morning of the fourteenth day of January,
1865.
These feed ranches or stations were situated
about twelve miles apart, a half day's travel, to ac-
commodate the overland travel with such supplies
they often ran short of.
Every ranch, together with its stables and hay
stacks, was burned to the ground, except one owned
and occupied by Old Man Godfrey, ever afterward
known as Old Fort Wicked.
Many people were scalped and killed, but the
most complete annihilation at any one place was at
the American Ranch, where Mr. Morris and five
24 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
hired men were killed and his wife and two children
(aged, respectively, eight months and a boy four
years) were taken prisoners and made to ride bare
back in their retreat and suffer all other kinds of
indignities of these red devils in human forms. At
the end of two days' travel, when they were out of
reach of pursuers, Old Two Face, a Cheyenne chief,
who claimed Mrs. Morris for his captive, came to her
and took the baby out of her arms, and naturally the
child cried and wanted back to its mother, and when
he tried to quiet it without success, he became en-
raged and took it by one foot and one arm and
raised it as high as he could above his head and threw
it to the ground with all his strength, then jumped
on it, crushing its chest and ribs and then walked
away. The mother took the child and did all she
could to save it. In about two hours Two Face
(who will be referred to later when he gets what is
coming to him), returned and after seeing how near
dead the child was, ordered her to go out on a sand
hill near the camp and dig a hole with her hands
and bury the baby. She vigorously refused to, so
the chief then pointed to the sun and indicated by
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 25
his hand that when the sun had moved a certain dis-
tance, indicating about one hour, he would return
and if she had not obeyed his orders he would scalp
her. Several squaws sympathized with her and
offered to help her, knowing that Two Face would
kill her if she failed to comply. Accordingly she
went and dug the little grave, with the help of the
squaws, and wrapped up the little form and buried
it with her own hands, while it was yet alive. The
little boy was traded off to another tribe and the
mother never saw him again. After this great raid
the Indians scattered in small bands, when out of
reach of any soldiers.
Two Face, who had Mrs. Morris, went north and
about three months afterwards appeared at Fort
Benton, Montana, under a flag of truce and proposed
to sell the white squaw to the commander of the
post. The officer at once commenced negotiations,
and after giving him a large amount of flour, tobacco,
bacon and some trinkets, Two Face brought Mrs.
Morris in and surrendered her and was allowed to
depart as he had entered, under a white rag tied on
a stick, called the flag of truce. The officers at once
26 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
furnished her some money and transportation on a
boat bound for St. Louis. When she arrived safely
she wrote back all the particulars of her capture,
long stay and abuse with the Indians.
We will now refer to the time when the attack
was made on the American Ranch. All the men
and family were in the room back of the one where
all the goods were kept. Mr. Morris was playing a
fiddle when suddenly Mrs. Morris heard a noise in
the front part and at once called Mr. Morris' atten-
tion to it. On opening the door he saw the room
was full of Indians, who immediately gave the war
whoop and tried to kill him. He then opened fire
with his revolver and killed three of them before they
could get out of the door. After barricading the
door the men were able to hold their own until the
latter part of the day when the Indians set fire to
the stables and a large quantity of hay adjoining
the house. The smoke poured into the house in such
volumes that the inmates were about to suffocate.
Seeing that it would be impossible to stand it much
longer, Mr. Morris took half a bottle of strychnine
that he kept to poison wolves with, and divided it
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
into two decanters of whiskey behind the counter,
after shaking it up ; he told his wife to take the chil-
dren and go out to the front door and give herself up,
while he and the men would try to escape out the
back way. It was a well known fact that the In-
dians seldom killed a white woman, hence the plan
taken. The men, however, were all killed and
scalped a short distance from the house.
Just before the attack, two men, Gus Hall and
one called Big Steve (half or two-thirds of the
transient men at the ranches were known only by
nick names) left the ranch with ox teams and started
to the cedar canons, sixteen miles away, to get a load
of wood. About nine o'clock in the morning, soon
after the fight commenced, the Indians discovered
these two men, where they had crossed the river on
the ice and eleven Indians went over to get their
scalps. Nine of the Indians made an attack in front
while two of them took positions on the ice under the
bank below and above the two men. Here they main-
tained a cross fire. After several hours Big Steve
was killed by the cross fire. Soon afterwards Gus
28 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Hall was shot in the right leg, breaking it between
the knee and ankle.
It was getting late in the day and the farm house
was burned, the women and children taken prisoners
and the men killed, all right in plain sight of Hall,
who was unable to render any assistance.
Hall had not seen the Indians on the river for
some time and as he noticed the ones at the ranch
preparing to leave, he decided to raise up and look
over the bank and see what had become of the In-
dians that had attacked him. He had already made
up his mind that they would soon get him anyway,
for he could not protect himself and there was no
white person for miles around, and Indians lurking
everywhere. As he raised up on one leg and care-
fully leaned over the bank another object was just
as cautiously raising a bow and arrow and aiming
from under the bank. When Hall peeped over the
bank, an arrow shot up and passed clear through his
chest and slid twenty-two feet on the ice back of him.
Hall said he fell backwards and the Indian leaped up
the bank with knife in his hands ready to scalp him
when he raised his revolver and shot the Indian,
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 2Q
who fell dead over on him. The rest seeing the
others leave the ranch pulled out and left.
Gus Hall, with one leg broken and pierced
through and through, night coming on and the ranch
laid in ruins and his friends killed, was left in an
almost helpless condition. He thought the Wiscon-
sin Ranch, fourteen miles down the road, might
possibly be all right, and decided to try to get to it,
so he commenced his journey, on his hands and
knees, crawling down the ice. Arriving at the ranch,
after a journey lasting seventeen hours, he found it
in ruins and everybody gone. The sod walls were
warm and the ground covered with a foot or two of
grain and flour that was also warm. Hall made up
his mind that he would die that night, and crawled
in on the warm grain where he was sheltered from
the wind by the sod walls and soon became uncon-
scious. A train of wagons with about a hundred
men was making its way down to Omaha. As it
passed these ranches the men would investigate the
ruins to see how many had been killed and to bury
the ones they found dead. While one of the party
was looking around he discovered Hall curled up in
3<D TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
a corner and holloed to the rest, "Here is a dead
man." This aroused Hall and he said, "I am not
dead yet, but I think I will be before long."
They carried him out and put him in a wagon
and cared for him the best they could. They took
him on to Omaha, hauling him four hundred miles.
When they arrived at Omaha the doctors amputated
his leg and cared for the wound caused by the arrow.
In six months' time he got a cork leg and foot and
came back to my place.
Mr. Godfrey's ranch, known all over the western
country as Old Fort Wicked, was the only ranch
that was not either partially or totally destroyed by
this raid.
Godfrey had his place well fortified and as fast
as Mrs. Godfrey ran the balls, he would call to his
daughter, "Hurry up, Celia; more balls, Celia." As
fast as Celia carried the bullets to him, he would fire
at the Indians, and at every shot he would use an
oath and say, "Take that, will you?" Nearly every
shot took effect, and with another oath he would say,
"There goes another." The Indians, getting more
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 31
than they bargained for, as Godfrey would state it,
soon went on to the next ranch.
They succeeded in burning the hay stacks and
sheds at the Beaver ranch, but the inmates saved
themselves by using the sod walls as fortifications.
At the next ranch the Murray brothers had six
hundred head of cattle shot down and left lying on
the flat ; the hay and barns were burned, but the men
escaped.
CHAPTER V.
MASSACRE OF THE HUNGATE FAMILY.
In June, 1863, just before the call for volun-
teers to subdue the Indians, Isaac P. Vanwomer had
his cattle and horses on the range in the Coal creek
country.
Hungate, with his family and five hired men,
were living at the Vanwomer camp, as Hungate was
looking after the cattle and horses.
About four o'clock one afternoon, Hungate and
his men were on the west side of the creek when the
Indians attacked the cabin. Knowing that his wife
and children were in the cabin alone, Mr. Hungate
hurried across to their aid, but was too late, as the
Indians had already murdered them. He then tried
to make his escape, but had only gone a few miles
before the Indians overtook him. His companion
stood on the opposite bank of the creek and wit-
nessed the scene. Realizing that he could do noth-
ing to help his friend, he hurried into Denver with
the news of the uprising.
34 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
After riding forty-five miles, with dangers on
every side, and expecting to fall into the hands of
the dreaded redskins at any moment, he finally ar-
rived at Vanwomer's home a little after midnight.
The report was not a surprise to the citizens of
Denver, as there had been so much trouble with the
Indians.
It did not take long for these brave, stout-
hearted and strong frontiersmen to get ready for a
start towards the camp, where they hoped to trail
the Indians and rescue their friend and avenge the
terrible death of his wife and children.
About noon that day, sixty-four heavily armed
and well-mounted men bid their families and friends
good-bye and turned onto the trail leading to the
scene of the massacre. It took a great deal of cour-
age to start on such a mission, for these men of the
plains, being familiar with the treacherous habits of
the Indians, knew that when they ventured out on
such an undertaking they were in great danger, not
only from exposure and hunger, but captivity by the
Indians, which meant suffering and torture, eventu-
ally ending in death.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 35
It was the knowledge of the terrible agony a
captive must suffer at the hands of the bloodthirsty
savages, that urged the unselfish and never-fearing
pioneers to forget their danger and hurry to the res-
cue of Hungate.
After traveling all that afternoon and far into
the night, some on account of exhaustion, or horses
giving out on them, and for different reasons, one
fay one they were compelled to turn back. When at
last, worn out, they decided to camp for the night,
only four were left to go on with the work. Three
of these were Alston Shaw, Dave Armstrong and
Isaac Vanwomer. We are unable to learn the name
of the fourth one.
Despite the many dangers surrounding them,
they made camp just two hundred yards from where
the Hungate cabin had stood. After a hasty break-
fast, early the next morning, these four men began
to investigate the horrible massacre. They found
the bedding all torn up and the feathers from the
bed ticks scattered all over the yard; the cabin was
burned to the ground; a few feet away they found
the body of Mrs. Hungate; it was lying with face
36 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
downward and her throat cut from ear to ear. In
one arm she was holding the body of her little girl,
whose throat was also cut. Clasped in the other
arm was her little boy with his throat cut and
scalped as well. Their bodies were placed in a con-
veyance, brought for the purpose, to take the dead
back to Denver for burial.
Vanwomer, Shaw, Armstrong and their com-
panion went on to trail the Indians. They soon found
thirty head of horses that had been stolen from Van-
womer's camp.
Hungate's saddle horse was shod, so by noticing
the tracks, it did not take long to get onto his trail
and also made it easy for them to follow it. After
going about two miles from where the cabin stood,
Shaw found Hungate's cowquirt. The stalk was all
bloody, which indicated a struggle, so they were pre-
pared for the worst.
A mile or two from where the quirt was found
they came upon his body. Such a sight ! No wonder
these strong men were unnerved, for lying before
them, stretched on the ground, horribly cut up, was
their old friend Hungate. He had an arrow in each
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 37
breast, his heart cut out, scalped, his throat cut and
otherwise greatly mutilated and the wounds all fly
blown.
The body was sent into Denver and buried by
the side of his wife and children.
Vanwomer, Shaw and Armstrong continued their
search for the horses. After looking several days
without success they returned to Denver, none the
worse for their adventure.
<
A band of Indians raided up the Fountain river,
followed up Monument creek over the divide, steal-
ing horses or whatever they could get their hands on.
On Monument creek they took about sixty head of
horses from Teachout. At the foot of the divide on
the south side, they stole a number of McShane's
horses; crossing the divide and going down on the
head of Plum creek, they stole a large bunch of
horses from Wakeman and his two sons, Mose and
Wash. Then they headed for Cherry creek.
Henry Teachout raised a band of fifteen or twen-
ty men in Colorado Springs and started in pursuit.
They trailed the Indians over on to the Bijou Creek,
but were unable to recover any of their horses.
CHAPTER VI.
JIM REYNOLDS AND HIS GANG.
Jim Reynolds was a miner working at California
Gulch, now Leadville. He got permission from the
governor of Colorado to go down into Texas, his
native state, and raise a regiment for the Union
army. When he started for Texas, people believed
that he was honest in his object, but on his return
they soon learned that his undertaking was not to
aid the government, but to take advantage of it dur-
ing its struggles and help himself.
He left Texas with twenty-two men, but only
had eight men and nine first-class horses with him on
the Platte.
The following narrative is only one of their nu-
merous deeds. Nearly all of their attacks on the
stage coaches were along the old Powell road. This
road wound around through timber and over hills,
down on the Platte again. Being a well-concealed
road, it afforded shelter along the sides of it for the
outlaws to hide in so they could not be seen until
they would spring out on their victims.
4-O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
This stage line was owned by Billy Berry, Ad
Williamson and Bob Spotswood. They ran the
stage from Denver by Breckenridge, Fairplay, Alma
and back into Denver.
On one occasion, Reynolds and his gang held up
the coach and robbed it of eighteen thousand dollars
in gold dust, the United States mail and express.
Among the passengers was a young girl who had
been working in the hotel at Fairplay and saved up
four hundred dollars of her own money and had the
same amount of her brother-in-law's money, which
the robbers took from her. Mr. Dunbar, one of the
passengers, as soon as he saw the robbers, got a bottle
and played drunk. When one of them came up to him
he said, "If you fellers come — hie — hie — come over
here — hie — hie — I'll hit yer on the nose — hie — hie
—hie — with this bottle — hie." The bandits just
supposed he was a penniless drunkard and left him
alone, so he saved all his money and had the most
money of all the passengers.
A band of Denver citizens formed a posse under
George Shcop and went in pursuit of Reynolds and
his gang.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 4!
The outlaws were camped in the timber about
ten miles down on the Platte below South Park.
They were always on the alert and expected to be
chased, so buried the money and other stolen valu-
ables in a well chosen spot near the road. It is said
that even today there are people hunting along the
old road for the buried fortune, while others say they
know it was found shortly after the execution of
Reynolds.
The posse which was familiar with the vicinity
around the outlaws' camp, when once on their trail,
was not long in finding them.
Reynolds and his men being overpowered and
taken at a disadvantage had no other means to save
themselves except scatter and take their chances.
Reynolds was shot through the arm, shattering
it from the elbow to the wrist, but he and two others
escaped. Four of their companions were taken pris-
oners, while one was killed.
A few days later, Reynolds was suffering so with
his arm that he went into Pueblo for medical atten-
tion and gave himself up to the authorities there.
He was taken to Denver and placed in jail with his
42 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
four companions. It is said that while he was hand-
cuffed and sitting on a box in front of his cell door,
he sang in a clear rich voice and with such a depth
of feeling, a beautiful hymn. Being in such contrast
to the life he had been living and a song the men sel-
dom heard since leaving their old homes, it touched
the hearts of all who heard it.
The outlaws were given a trial under martial law
and sentenced to be shot. Owing to the rebellious
and antagonistic feeling among the people and the
presence of rebels in Denver, who would be expected
to interfere, it was decided not to carry out the sen-
tence in Denver.
Therefore, Jim Reynolds and his four remaining
comrades were confined in the jail during July and
part of August.
August iQth, 1864, when Company A of the 3rd
Regiment of Colorado Volunteers was ordered to
Fort Lyons, they were also ordered to take the five
prisoners along and send them on to headquarters at
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The soldiers marched up Cherry creek, conveying
the bandits in the ambulance with Henry Crow,
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 43
assisted by an escort having charge of them. The
second day out they were guarded by Sloan and an
escort.
Aston Shaw had been kept on guard and escort
since the first day out. On the morning of the third
day he went to Captain Cree and said, "How does
it come, Captain, that I have to be with the prisoners
all the time?"
"Shaw, I want a man with them that will keep
those fellows prisoners and not let them escape."
"Well, I will tell you this much, Cree, I am not
going to herd 'em every night."
"What will you do about it?"
"Go kill the whole bunch."
"That is just what we want done; they were
tried and sentenced to be shot. We dared not carry
out the sentence in Denver, and sending them to Fort
Leaven worth was just a bluff. We are to dispose of
them on the road somewhere unknown to anyone.
I have sent out Crow and Sloan, but they have failed
to carry out orders, so now I will turn them over to
you. You understand what you are to do with
them."
44 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
"I will do it, Captain, if you will let me pick my
escort."
"Pick any men you want."
Picking Ad Williamson, Adam Smith, A. Nei-
land, Oscar Packard, Isaac Beckman and Frank
Parks for his escort, Alston Shaw took charge of Jim
Reynolds and his companions.
The ambulance containing the condemned pris-
oners followed the regiment down the Squirrel Creek
road. After traveling a few hours Shaw noticed a
little bluff that would conceal him from the regiment,
so ordered Williamson to drive the ambulance back
of the bluff. When the team stopped, he ordered
the shackled prisoners out, then turning to Reynolds,
he said, "Jim, you are supposed to be the captain of
this company. I have your obligations where you
were sworn to stay together until your bones bleached
on the prairie."
"That was our obligations."
"Jim, this is your finish. If you have anything
or any word you want sent to your people, give me
their address and I will see that it is done."
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 45
"No, I do not want any of my people to know
what became of me."
Reynolds, nor any of his companions, would not
give a word of information concerning his home
or people.
"Jim, you have no show. Here is an order from
the commander-in-chief of the western department
stating that you have been tried by court martial and
sentenced to be shot."
"That is just what I expected and I am ready."
"Would you rather be shot separate or all to-
gether?"
"You read our obligations where it said we
would stick together until our bones bleached on the
prairie, and that is the way I prefer to die."
Shaw placed Reynolds in the center with two of
his comrades on each side, then had the escort stand
sixteen feet in front of them.
Jim Reynolds knelt on his knees, pushed his hat
back from his forehead, folded his arms across his
breast and said, "I am ready," being game to the
last. But one of his men began to cry and said, "I
never killed anybody." Shaw replied, "Remember
46 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
the story of old dog Tray. You were caught in bad
company."
Shaw loaded the guns, putting a blank cartridge
in one so the men could not tell whose bullets did
the killing. He then ordered them all to fire at the
same time on the man to the right. Reloading the
guns, he ordered them to fire at the next. They re-
peated this until all the prisoners were killed.
Just before the orders were carried out, one of
the escort dropped his gun and began crying. "Frank,
what's wrong?" "Pick up your gun and hold your-
self in readiness," commanded Shaw.
To make sure that they were all dead, Ad Will-
iamson shot each in the head with a big brass
mounted revolver.
When the execution was over, Neiland, Smith
and Shaw took off the shackles and handcuffs, and
one of them said, "We will leave you free to carry
out the last of your obligations, 'To stick together
while your bones bleach on the prairie.' "
The escort just let them lie as they fell and
turned on down the road to join the regiment. On
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 47
the way down they met Captain Cree, who de-
manded, "Where are those prisoners, Shaw?"
"We stopped down there in a hollow to dig some
potatoes and they got away in the brush and we
couldn't find them."
Cree whirled his horse and started in pursuit of
the escaping prisoners. After a time he returned
without them and that night in camp he wrote a re-
port according to Shaw's account of how the pris-
oners escaped and sent it in to Denver. The disap-
pearance of Jim Reynolds and his gang was pub-
lished in the Rocky Mountain News, the only news-
paper in Colorado at that time, according to Captain
Cree's report.
The true statement of the execution was not
made known for about twenty years afterward.
The executing of these men was a hard task for
Shaw and his escort to do. But it was orders from
headquarters and if they failed to carry them out be-
fore reaching Fort Lyons, they would have shared
the same fate as the outlaws.
A. K. SHAW
CHAPTER VII.
ALSTON KNOX SHAW.
Alston Knox Shaw was born February 1 1, 1833,
at Townson, Norfork county, in Canada West.
Though a Canadian by birth, he is really a Holland
Yankee. His grandfather on his father's side came
over in the Mayflower while his mother's people be-
longed to the oldest colony in the New England
states. From both sides of the family he is a direct
descendant of soldiers of Revolutionary fame. His
grandmother, Mrs. John Martin, was a cousin of
Ethan Allen.
After the states began to get settled the family
drifted into Canada, then a new frontier. Being of
a frontier-loving class of people, Alston Shaw natu-
rally drifted into the West, where there was a larger
scope for a roving and scouting disposition to wander
in.
The first fifteen years of Al Shaw's life was
spent on his father's ranch in Canada with his nine
sisters and six brothers. He then worked as an ap-
5O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
prentice for three years in Austin's blacksmith shop
in Simcoe.
At the end of the three years, he and another
apprentice, John Lemons, formed a partnership and
started a shop of their own in the country. They
were together about two years, when the restless dis-
position urged Shaw to move on, so he sold his in-
terest to his partner and got the other boys to take
him to Branford, the nearest railway station, a dis-
tance of twenty miles. He took the train for Chi-
cago, 111., then drifted down to Rock Island, up the
Mississippi river to Fulton City, finally stopping at
Union Grove, 111., a year. After an absence of two
years, he returned to his home in Canada and re-
mained there during the winter and worked his
father's and brother's teams in a lumber camp.
The following spring he started westward again
and has never gone back to his old home. When he
got word that his mother was dangerously ill he
started home, but had only gone a day or two's travel
across the plains, when word was brought to him
that she was dead, so he turned around and went
back to the frontier.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 51
He lived at Union Grove two years; then in
1859, he started for Pike's Peak, but only got to
Fort Kearney, Neb., when things began to go wrong.
He gave away his interest in the outfit and started
back to the Missouri river on foot. He worked his
way back to Union Grove, 111. In the spring of '60
he again pulled out for Pike's Peak and in the fall
of the same year he arrived in Denver. Shortly
afterwards he went to Central City and worked in
the mines all winter.
In 1862 he opened a livery barn in Denver. This
same year he moved a family and some goods up to
Montana, returning to Denver in the spring of '64,
when the Indian raids and massacres were starting.
Shaw loaded his wagon and made a start for
Montana just about the time martial law was de-
clared. He had only gone a few miles when he was
stopped and his teams put into service. He loaned
the wagon to a woman and she went to Montana
with it. With his teams and wagon gone he was
practically "broke," so when the call for volunteers
was given in the summer of '64, he enlisted. He
served until the regiment was discharged. In the
52 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
spring of '65 he went to freighting for Colonel Chiv-
ington and made thirteen trips across the plains from
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to Denver.
In 1873 ne married and moved to Saguache,
Colorado, where he went into the livery business. He
had two children, a boy and girl; both died in their
childhood. Later he carried the mail to Los Pinos
Agency, a distance of forty miles ; after this hauled
produce into Leadville.
In 1883 he moved over to Ruby, Gunnison
county, where he freighted for several years. Com-
ing down on the western slope, he bought a ranch,
lived on it four years, then sold out to a sheep man
and moved to where Juanita now is and bought an-
other ranch. In 1908 he sold it, and since then he
has been knocking around Paonia and Hotchkiss,
Colorado, where everyone knows him as Uncle Shaw.
He spends his time in caring for and training his five
thoroughbred horses.
CHAPTER VIII.
PROCEEDINGS OF COMPANY "A"
As fold by A. K. Shaw.
Company "A" under Captain Theodore Cree and
Lieutenants Charles Cass and Al Soper was mustered
in at Denver and ordered to go down the Fountain
river and take Jim Reynolds and his gang with them.
It has been stated in a previous chapter how the regi-
ment disposed of the prisoners.
The Company moved on south, following the old
Squirrel Creek road to Colorado City. Here the sol-
diers were divided into small squads and stationed
along the Fountain road from Colorado City to the
present site of Pueblo, to protect the settlers and
guard the United States mail. During the stop at
Fountain, which was all of September and part of
October, six soldiers, Albert Neiland, Alston Shaw,
Ad Williamson, Ike Bakeman, Joe Connor and Os-
car Packard, were detailed to escort for the stage car-
rying the U. S. mail from Pueblo to Colorado City.
They made three trips a week, going up one day
and back the next, making their headquarters at
Dick Ooten's ranch near Pueblo.
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
To break the monotony of camp life the soldiers
would stir up a little fun. Company "A" had a
team of four unusual jolly fellows, these were Shaw,
Neiland, Packard and Jim Taggart. What one
could not think of the others would. If all their
pranks were related it would make a book itself, so
only a few will be told to show how they spent the
time when off duty.
In the hills north of Hall's and TurPs ranches
on Squirrel Creek, at the foot of the divide, was a
herd of cattle on the range. The soldiers discovered
the herd and made up their minds to have some fresh
meat. Neiland, Shaw and a few of their companions
stole and killed a heifer, burying its hide in the sand,
and taking the meat into camp.
That evening one of the cattlemen missed one
out of his bunch of cattle and after looking around
he found tracks in the sand. Following these he came
upon a pile of loose sand and suspecting the cause
of it, he began to dig and found the hide. Having
an idea that the soldiers knew something about it,
he immediately hurried into camp and told his
troubles to the captain,
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 55
Captain Cree was quite sure which soldiers were
guilty, but he called them all out and began to ques-
tion, first the man and then the soldiers, who seemed
to know nothing about it. Finally Cree said, "Shaw,
what are you going to do about it?"
Shaw studied a moment before replying, "Well,
we stole the heifer and she had his brand on all right,
and now we are trapped, so there is only one thing
for us to do, boys — go down in your pockets and
cough up."
After the collection was taken there was fifteen
dollars to pay for the fresh meat. The owner think-
ing it a fairly good price for the heifer went away
happy.
The next day Neiland and Shaw were given a
layoff from the escort, so wanting a little adventure,
they left their horses and stole a couple of the cabby-
yard horses (all broken-down and worn-out horses
were called cabby-yard horses). After mounting
their stolen steeds the two soldiers struck out for
Pike's Peak, eight miles from camp for a day's hunt.
They did not see any signs of game, so turned back
for camp, getting in about noon. Colonel Chiving-
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
ton, who had been inspecting the company and settle-
ments, rode into camp just in time for dinner. He
noticed the meat tasted unusually tender and juicy,
so asked, "What kind of meat is this?" Shaw an-
swered in an unconcerned sort of way, "Elk," and
went on eating.
The Colonel just laughed. Of course, he knew
better and also had a strong suspicion where the meat
came from, but nothing was said as it was against
the discipline of the regiment to play such tricks.
It was Colonel Chivington's duty to punish the sol-
diers if he really knew that they had stolen the meat.
But the kind-hearted Colonel sympathized with the
volunteers in their struggles, and did not wish to
inflict any unnecessary trials on them, and as long
as the calf had been paid for, he just played green
on the meat question and enjoyed his feast on elk.
He was greatly amused at Shaw's way of getting
out of what might have been a serious scrape.
One day several of the soldiers took dinner at a
farm house about eight miles from their camp. They
saw the farmer's wife making butter in the spring
house. Oscar Packard took particular notice that
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 57
there was a "big heap" of butter, and how every bite
just called for more. One evening bread was handed
to the soldiers without butter, which was very often
the case. Oscar suddenly remembered how good the
butter tasted a few days before and vowed he would
have some for breakfast. When the camp fires had
burned low and all was still, Oscar cautiously left
camp to pay his respects to the spring house, eight
miles away. At first the dogs interfered but he
managed to get around them, entering the spring
house he found the butter, that was not all, he also
found a wolf trap fastened to his heel. The trap
had been set and had a double spring on it. Oscar
took the butter and started home, the trap following
along behind with its own accord, for he could not
unfasten it. Arriving in camp about daylight, his
comrades relieved him of the butter and trap. They
took the trap into Colorado City and traded it for
whiskey. This made the soldiers think they had an
up-to-date bill of fare for several days.
Things were getting a little too funny, so Captain
Cree gave orders not to leave the camp without per-
58 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
mission. If they did, they could expect punishment
on return.
As usual Neiland and Shaw were first to disobey
orders. They left their horses on the picket rope
and again stole cabby-yard horses and went on an-
other hunting trip, returning with the same fruitless
results but meeting with a different reception in
camp.
Captain Cree meant what he said about punish-
ment. Although Al and Bert were favorite soldiers
of his he determined to enforce his orders, conse-
quently that night they were put on guard without
any supper. These two jolly soldiers took it in good
part and were willing to pay for their fun and at the
same time to get fun out of their punishment.
The first question before them was how to
scheme a way to get something to eat. They were
not long in finding a way.
Al went down to the creek and got two strong
willows. He and Bert split these on the end and
pushed them through the openings on the cabin
where the chinking had been knocked out. Then
the comrades on the inside put the edge of a tin
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 59
plate in the end of the willows and when the officers
were not looking, the sergeant, who was passing the
rations around, would fill up the plates, then Al and
Bert would pull them out and enjoy their suppers in
their private dining room on the outside.
As the night grew darker, duller grew their tread
up and down the picket rope, so just to break the
silence and to disturb the slumbers of the other sol-
diers, these two guards would keep hallooing to each
other.
Near the camp was a farm which had been de-
serted on account of the Indian raids, and the cattle
had been driven away by the raiders. About mid-
night some of the bunch drifted back to their old
homes. The clouds had broken away and the night
grew lighter, so Al and Bert run the cattle in a corral
and got the Company's branding iron, then roped and
began branding some of the young stock. Just as
they were putting three A's on a two-year-old, one
A to represent the Company, one for Albert Nei-
land and the other for Alston Shaw, they were
startled by a stern voice saying, "What are you fel-
lows doing there? Is that the way to guard picket?"
60 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Looking up they saw Captain Cree. Being in need
of help and since the Captain was of a venturesome
disposition, they talked him into the notion of help-
ing them in their midnight frolic. Cree had been
smoked out of his quarters by an antelope head that
Shaw had poked down the flue. As long as he was
up, he decided to go down to the picket rope and see
how the guards were getting along. Coming to the
picket and not finding them, he looked around and
finally heard a noise in the direction of the corrals.
He went down and perched himself on a nearby
fence where he could not be seen by the men in the
corral and watched the performance before he made
his presence known and joined in the fun.
Rations were getting low and they had just the
same old things over and over. Oscar Packard, who
was noted for his appetite, wanted a change of fare
and intended to get it. Down the river about a mile
from camp was a nice looking potato patch. Oscar's
mouth began to water. "Wouldn't they taste good*?
Ain't had a good old Irish spud since Adam was a
yearling. If I don't get one now my name ain't
Packard." So saying, he took a nose bag from his
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 6l
saddle and jumped over the fence into the patch.
He was soon busy grubbing out potatoes, so busy
was he that he did not notice the farmer approaching,
and suddenly he was conscious of an angry and
stammering voice trying to order him out of the
patch. Oscar was not going to be cheated out of
such a square meal so easily, no siree ; he had dared
too many of the Indians' bullets to let a volley of hot
words make him run, so he just went on digging
and quietly said, "These spuds are not very big, are
they?'
"No — no — n — no, they a — ain't very b bi —
big po — po — po — pota — toes." While the farmer
was stammering out the answer, Oscar dug a few
more. When he was through digging all the pota-
toes and was ready to leave, he took a piece of to-
bacco from his pocket, bit off a chew and offered the
angry farmer some. While the farmer was saying,
"I d — do — don't ch — ch — chew to — to — bacco.
Drop th — th — those po — po — ta — ta — toes." Oscar
was over the fence and on his way for camp with his
precious sack laden with potatoes.
62 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Although these soldiers were venturesome and
mischievous, rough and wild in outward appearance,
they were honest to the core and true men through
and through.
The following sketches will illustrate that even
after many years spent in the wilderness they had
not entirely forgotten the lessons learned at home,
or the sweet influence of that mother way back there
many hundreds of miles in the civilized world.
All up and down the Fountain were homes where
the inmates had hurriedly fled, leaving everything
just as they were. A soldier who was lacking re-
spect for himself or any one else, entered one of these
homes and arrayed himself in one of the girls' finery;
he then went down near the camp and promenaded
among the soldiers and made light of all girls in
general. The other soldiers, remembering sisters or
daughters at home, resented the insult thrown at
them, so the soldier was taken to the farm house,
upon the return of the family, and made to get down
on his knees and apologize for his conduct.
Another one, who was not worthy to be called a
soldier, would steal little trinkets, that were of no
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 63
use to him but might be highly valued by the owners
as remembrances from home or other keepsakes. Be-
fore long those who missed articles became suspicious
of him and got permission to search his bundle. As
they had expected, the missing articles were found.
Being of a demoralized nature he naturally tried
to lie out of it. Five soldiers took him down to the
creek and kept dipping him under the water until he
confessed. He went into the camp and complained
to the Captain of the soldiers' treatment towards
him, ending by asking, "Captain, what are you going
to do to those five fellows'?" The Captain, knowing
that the soldiers were justified in their act, replied,
"Why, I can't do anything with five men." The
soldier said he couldn't either and walked away, de-
ciding he had better leave good enough alone.
A short time after this the Company was ordered
back over the divide, down the other side into
Bijou Basin. Here the men did not feel so good
natured. It was cold and stormy, bedding was
scarce and rations were low. Captain Cree had
bought straw to feed the horses, but the soldiers used
some of it to lie on and cover with their blankets.
64 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
There had been more blankets ordered but for some
unknown cause they had failed to arrive. The Cap-
tain had put a horse blanket on his horse; before a
great while he discovered it was gone, so he put an-
other one on it, but it, too, disappeared. Finally he
sent an escort around to search the tents. Jim Tag-
gart hurried ahead of the escort and ran into Nei-
land and Shaw's tent, which was right by a straw
stack, and pushed the horse blankets out under the
edge of the tent into the straw stack. He did not
want his friends to be punished for trying to protect
themselves from the cold. The blankets were found,
but none of the soldiers knew how they got there.
The Company was stationed here for four weeks
and during that time the men and horses suffered a
great deal with the cold. It snowed three or four
feet after their arrival in the Basin.
The meat supply was getting low again, so Cap-
tain Cree and several of the soldiers went out to look
for some game. They ran on to some antelope and
turned them down the trail into camp. The soldiers
all took a shot at them and nearly every tent had an
antelope hanging outside.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 65
At last, much to their delight, orders came for
the Company to move back down on the Fountain
near Dick Ooten's place, forty miles below old Colo-
rado City.
The snow was so deep on the north side of the
divide, that it took all of one day for the company
to plow its way through the snow and out of the
timber. It did not reach the summit before dark, so
the cold and tired soldiers were compelled to put
their blankets down on the snow and wait until
morning. One soldier, who was sick, died during the
night. It was supposed that the extreme cold and
exposure, together with his weak condition, hurried
his death.
Next morning about daylight the company
crossed over the divide and reached the Dirty Wo-
man's ranch (so called because the house was always
dirty) the second night. The third night found
them down on the Fountain, near Ooten's ranch,
where they joined some companies that had already
arrived, and waited for the others before marching
on to Fort Lyons.
JOHN PATTERSON
CHAPTER IX.
JOHN PATTERSON.
John Patterson was born April 1st, 1841, in the
northern part of Ireland. At the age of six years he
came to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, with his parents.
They remained in Pennsylvania two years, then
moved to Iowa. After a short stay here, they crossed
the plains and settled at Plattsmouth, Nebraska.
John Patterson by this time had grown into young
manhood and decided to follow the continual move
westward. In the spring of 1860 he landed in Den-
ver, which at that time was the frontier country. He
immediately engaged in the freighting business and
made twenty round trips across the plains from the
Missouri river to Denver. In 1864 he was interested
in the first bakery in Denver, and during the same
years he was among those who left their personal
business and answered the call to fight for the wel-
fare of all the people in general. In the fall of 1865
he went down the Platte river and bought a hay
ranch about three miles below where Greeley was
located in 1870.
68 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
On the sixth of December in 1866, John Patter-
son was married and seven children were born to
them, six girls and one boy. All are married except
one.
In 1899 he moved to Hotchkiss, Colorado, where
he has since resided. He ran a livery stable for two
years, then he entered the mercantile business which
he has been engaged in for the past three years.
CHAPTER X.
By John Patterson.
Company "C" of the 3rd Regiment of Colorado
Volunteers was mustered in at Denver, under Cap-
tain Morgan and Lieutenants Weld and Wyman.
They were then marched down the Platte river, a
mile and a half below Denver, where they camped
about two weeks. Their next move was down the
Platte about thirty-five or forty miles to Lathrum.
While camped here they had some Indian ex-
citements. Old Friday, a chief of a band of peaceful
Indians, whose village was near Fort Collins, was a
friend of the white people and always warned them
and kept them posted on the moves of the roving
bands of warriors.
At this time Old Friday was at State's Station,
about a mile from the soldiers' camp. Late one
evening he came into camp and told the officers that
he thought the Indians were near, for when he was
standing on the river bank, the Indians took a shot
7O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
at him and he jumped in the brush and ran to the
soldiers.
The officers ordered out twenty men and horses,
also a horse for Old Friday. They went to the State
Station and from there Old Friday led them to where
he supposed the Indians were.
He guided them down the Platte six or seven
miles until they came to Geary's ranch, which was
on the north side of the river near the mouth of
Crow Creek. When Geary was asked if he had seen
any Indians around his place he said, "No, I haven't
noticed any but believe there are some around here."
The soldiers scoured the country, but did not
find any trace of the raiding foe, so returned to camp
about daylight.
The government had about three hundred tons of
hay near the present site of Evans, on the opposite
side of the river and about three miles from the sol-
diers' camp. A few nights after Old Friday's ex-
citement, the hay was set afire. The soldiers could
see it burning but could not get over to it in time to
save it. Next morning they were sent out to look for
the Indians that were supposed to have burned the
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 'Jl
hay. Being unable to find any they went back to
Lathrum.
Company "C" was ordered back to Denver and
made camp at Fort Weld, a mile out of town, for
about a week, awaiting orders to start for Fort
Lyons.
When the orders came Company "C" broke
camp and started south over the divide near a place
called Kit Carson. It was an old camp ground
where Kit Carson had his little band of men. The
soldiers came down off the divide to Monument
Creek, where the town of Monument now stands.
This being late in the fall the snow was so deep
that the cavalry had to go ahead and break trail for
the wagons and artillery to follow. When they
made camp that night it was so cold that a Mexican
roustabout froze to death.
From Monument Creek they marched down the
Fountain to the present site of Pueblo. The regi-
ment was camped at the foot of a knoll right across
the Fountain river from Ooten's. Judge Bradford
later had a ranch on the old camping ground of the
3rd Regiment of Colorado Volunteers.
CHAPTER XL
EST PINOSA, THE MEXICAN DESPERADO.
While the 3rd regiment was waiting at Pueblo
for orders to move on to Fort Lyons, a dispatch
came to be sent to Fort Garland. Captain Cree was
looking for a man to send, when Alston Shaw volun-
teered to go. After he had his horse saddled and
was all prepared to start, Captain Cree came up to
him, shook hands and said, "Good bye, Shaw."
Alston asked, "Why, what's wrong?"
"I will tell you, Al, I never expect to see you
return."
"What makes you think so?"
"Old Est Pinosa is up on the Sangre de Cristo
range and you know what he is doing."
Al Shaw was well aware of Est Pinosa and his
crimes, but was willing to take his chances and im-
mediately after breakfast started on his errand.
A short time before this, Est Pinosa was away
from home and it was reported that during his
absence, some soldiers insulted his wife and daughter.
He swore revenge, and to be sure to get the right
74 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
ones "he would kill every white man crossing the
range." But he never robbed anyone, his hatred was
so strong against the white people that his only de-
sire was to kill them off.
So numerous were his crimes that Governor
Evans offered a reward of fifteen hundred dollars
for his head, dead or alive. Tom Tobin was trail-
ing him, intent upon getting the reward.
The first night out from Pueblo, Alston Shaw
stopped on Sangre de Cristo range at Sam Laval's
place, which was used as a government station. As
he rode up to the house, a Texan who was sitting
with some Mexicans nearby, said, "Ultro gringo
paro" (another foreign dog). Shaw ignored the
remark and went on talking with Laval.
The last thing Laval told him when he was start-
ing out again was, "Look out for Est Pinosa, he left
here just before you came last night."
After winding around through the foothills all
the forenoon, he reached the foot of the main divide
about noon and as yet saw no signs of the Mexican.
Just as he was beginning to think the way was clear,
he was startled by two shots right ahead of him. Dis-
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 75
mounting from his horse and cautiously creeping
around the bend in the road, he came upon nine
Mexicans and naturally thought it was Est Pinosa
and some of his friends, and as they had caught sight
of him he never expected to get on his horse again,
but he made up his mind to die as dear as possible,
so he got out both of his revolvers and prepared to
fight. The Mexicans seeing that it was just a lone
man, showed signs of friendliness and Al Shaw went
into their camp and learned that they were with a
freight train which was on ahead going to Fort
Garland, and they were shooting black birds, hence
the cause of their shots. Shaw then told them of
Est Pinosa, thus explaining the cause of his pre-
caution. By this time they fully understood each
other and had got on friendly terms; they went on
to Fort Garland together. As they were almost on
top of the range they saw smoke raising up toward
the Spanish Peaks. They supposed it was either
Indians or the dreaded Mexican and his followers,
nevertheless they kept a close look out along the
road, taking no chances, as some of the desperadoes
76 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
might spring out from under ambush and attack
them at any time.
In the meantime, while the dispatch carrier was
carefully and cautiously making his way over the
mountains, ever on the lookout for the revengeful
Mexican, Tom Tobin and a friend were just as cau-
tiously trailing after Est Pinosa. As he sneaked
down in a pasture, stole a steer and run it back in the
hills at the foot of the Spanish Peaks, Tom Tobin
was closely following, watching for an opportunity
to get the drop on the Mexican and his one compan-
ion. Finally when they had butchered the steer and
dug a hole in the snow and a little in the ground to
build a fire in and cook the meat, Tobin had crept
around back of them and just as Est Pinosa turned
his back in the direction of Tobin, he fell shot
through the back, and Tobin' s friend soon killed the
other Mexican. The shot did not kill Est Pinosa,
so Tobin took his knife and started to cut the Mex-
ican's head off. He began cutting in the back of his
neck and the knife was dull so he made slow prog-
ress. The dying Mexican said, "Tom, hurry up,
that knife is dull."
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 77
Alston Shaw rode into Fort Garland, while a
poker game was going on in Captain Curley's Dutch
Company. One soldier went broke and was going to
whip the one who won his money. He got a large
pole from a pile of dead timber and was just raising
it to strike when the others interfered. He turned
onto them with oaths and said, "Why not for you
leave me alone; pretty soon me get deadwood on
him?" He was in a fighting humor and would un-
doubtedly have caused some trouble had not a new
excitement started in camp. Just as the poker trou-
bles were reaching a crisis, Tom Tobin came riding
into Fort Garland with the head of Est Pinosa stuck
on the end of a stick and holding it up in sight of
all, thus changing affairs in the fort. He got some
of his reward then, but it was several years before
he got it all.
After safely delivering the dispatch, Shaw started
back to the command at Pueblo, and stopped, as be-
fore, at Sam Laval's place. Here the Texan again
made remarks about the "gringo paro" (the Texan
was a rebel and had married a Mexican girl, and not
only fell in with their customs, but took up their
78 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
hatred for the white settlers, whom they always
called foreigners).
This time Shaw did not ignore his remarks, but
strongly resented them, and said: "You have said
enough ; now if you have any blood in you, come out
and fight." So saying, Shaw got his revolver ready
"ir action in case some of the other Mexicans should
resort to treachery. The Texan backed off and began
to apologize. The bluff had good effect, during the
remainder of Shaw's stay; they were all very careful
of what they said.
Much to the surprise of Captain Cree, Alston
Shaw rode back into camp at Pueblo on the night of
the fourth day out, and was kept busy for awhile
giving the particulars of Tobin's trailing of Est
Pinosa and the end of the Mexican desperado.
CHAPTER XII.
SAND CREEK FIGHT.
As ^old by Patterson and Shaw.
On the morning of the sixteenth day of Decem-
ber, 1864, the Third regiment of Colorado Volun-
teers moved from Pueblo down the Arkansas to
Bent's Fort. Here they made camp the first night.
Before leaving the next morning they took Bent's
family prisoners, placed a guard over them, and took
Bob Bent with them for a guide. He led the sol-
diers down to Boone's ranch the second day, and the
nfternoon of the third day they came in sight of Fort
Lyons. This was the first that Major Anthony and
his soldiers knew there was such a regiment in exist-
ence. When he saw the Volunteers coming he sent
Captain Sully with an escort out to meet them. Cap-
tain Sully demanded who they were and why they
were coming to Fort Lyons. Colonel Shoop, com-
manding officer of the Third regiment of Colorado
Volunteers, said: "We are the Third regiment of
Colorado Voluteers," and ordered Captain Sully to
80 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
surrender. He then went into the fort and took
Major Anthony and his soldiers prisoners.
The regiment entered the fort, fed their horses,
and after the soldiers had their supper, they took the
prisoners and marched toward the Indian village.
After following their guide from six in the even-
ing, about daybreak they came in sight of the vil-
lage. Bob Bent, the guide, pointed down over the
ridge and said, "There they are;" then he turned
away and began crying, for he knew that his mother,
who was a squaw, was in the Indian village, and he
was afraid that she would share the same fate as the
other Indians. The officers dismissed Bob and let
him go back to his home.
About a hundred yards over the ridge, on the
north side of the creek from the soldiers, was the In-
dian village, composed of about one hundred and
thirty-three lodges.
The regiment halted under the ridge and sent one
company around from the right to circle in back of
the Indians, while a company circled around from
the left. These two came together north of the vil-
lage and closed in on their horses, and run them
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 8l
down on the south side of the creek in back of the
soldiers. Then the command moved across the creek
with the artillery in advance, which moved a little
further and on higher ground than the cavalry. They
all faced the Indians, who were lined up in front of
their lodges, and ordered to dismount.
Colonel Chivington rode down the line of his
soldiers, giving them words of encouragement and
cheer. He said to them, "Boys, I won't tell you who
to kill or who not to, but remember the women and
children on the Platte." After Chivington passed
on down the line, Colonel Shoop came by with more
encouraging words, beginning with, "Boys, you have
been anticipating that you would have no opportu-
nity to fight, but your chances look good." Just
then a shot came from the ridge above, and the ball
shot out over the Indians, who laughed and danced
at the soldier's blunder, but the artillery ranged the
guns and the second shot took effect. The Indians
began to scatter; chiefs, squaws and children ran in
every direction, principally for the sand pits they
had dug in the sand at the bend of the creek, about
a half mile from their lodges. The left wing of the
82 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
command broke to follow them. As the colonel
turned to check them, the soldiers on the right
started. The officers lost control over them, for the
volunteers, at sight of the Indians, remembered the
crimes committed by their hands and were deter-
mined to wreak vengeance.
Some of the Indians made for the sand pits, oth-
ers to the bluffs, while some hid in the tall sand
grass and sage brush. There were Indians scattered
over hundreds of acres of ground, but the majority
were down in the sand pits and there was the princi-
pal scene of the fight. Some fought from ambush,
some stood in the open and exchanged shot for shot ;
some struggled in hand-to-hand fights, using knives
for weapons; squaws would take their bow and ar-
rows and at every opportunity would down a sol-
dier. No discipline was used; the soldiers had to
fight in the savage fashion.
The battle continued all day and by evening the
soldiers had completely routed the Indians. What
few escaped started for Little Raven's band on Ket-
tle creek.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 83
The volunteers being hungry and tired after
marching all night and fighting all day without any
food or rest, did not count the dead Indians or look
for wounded ones, but searched their lodges for some-
thing to eat. All they found was a little dried buf-
falo meat, and that was all they had for supper.
Some of the soldiers went to the creek for water;
what little they found trickling through the sand was
red with the blood of the Indians. They dug some
holes in the sand a short distance below the Indians
and the water oozing through the sand became fil-
tered before reaching the holes. The following morn-
ing the soldiers had clear water.
In making camp for the night, the officers placed
the soldiers in a hollow square; that is, they were so
placed as to form a square, with the soldiers facing
outwardly in the four directions, so the Indians could
not come and surprise them from any direction.
This precaution was taken, for a scout came into
camp and said Little Raven's band was near by and
an attack was expected before daylight. The trans-
portation wagons had not arrived, so the soldiers had
no rations but the buffalo meat, and no beds. They
84 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
had to rest the best they could out on the open prairie
and endure the cold of a mid-winter's night. It is
a wonder that any of them were able to sleep, on ac-
count of the horrible nerve-racking noise that lasted
throughout the night. The whole country seemed
to be wreathed in agony; over the ridge came the
mournful and lonely howling of the many homeless
Indian dogs; further in the distance could be heard
the fierce yelping and barking of the coyotes, which
had become rabid over the warm odor of the fresh
blood. The yelping had the heinous sound of a
fiend's chuckle when he is tormenting a victim. The
soldiers could almost imagine they saw the glowing
and fiery eyes and the foaming and lagging tongues
of the beasts as they stealthily crept down on the
mournful, homeless little dogs, before nearing the
lifeless forms of the Indians, lying in the bed of the
creek. Nearer at hand could be heard the whinny-
ing and neighing of the frightened and restless horses,
while from the tents the groans of the wounded
floated out to the soldiers.
What harsh discord these sounds made — low,
pitiful murmurs and heart-rending and woeful howls
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 85
that filled one with compassion, mingled with the
fierce yelping that would turn compassion into
fear. All of this on top of the bloody scenes wit-
nessed during the day, and realizing, perhaps, they
would face even worse things on the morrow, was
enough to make the strongest shudder.
The transportation wagons arrived during the
night; so early in the morning the soldiers enjoyed a
hearty breakfast. Then they were divided into sev-
eral squads and sent out to count the dead Indians,
and if they should chance onto wounded ones, to put
them out of their misery. In searching the Indian
lodges, they found two hundred and sixty-three
scalps, from little infants up to snowy white
ones, from men, women and children of all ages.
The bloodthirsty savages were no respecters of peo-
ple to practice their cruel tortures on. The volun-
teers found clothing taken from emigrants, tools,
guns, trinkets and numerous other things that the
Indians had picked up in their raids.
The seven hundred horses captured from the In-
dians were sent to Fort Lyons in charge of Lieuten-
ant Maire Anna and his company of forty Mexicans.
86 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
The soldiers counted between six hundred and
seven hundred dead Indians, while the volunteers
had about thirty wounded and eleven killed, accord-
ing to the estimate of some, but this is disputed by
others, so the exact number is not known, but the
volunteers' loss was very small in comparison to that
of the Indians.
Two of the wounded were Colonel Talbot and
Pud Wilson; both were shot at the same time and
each was shot through the abdomen. They recov-
ered and were back to their work in an incredibly
short time.
Late in the afternoon a scout brought word into
camp that Little Raven's band had gone down on the
Arkansas, so the cavalry and artillery were ordered
to follow up his band, while the transportation wag-
ons went by Fort Lyons for more supplies.
CHAPTER XIII.
A FEW INCIDENTS DURING THE FIGHT.
A short distance from the creek was a little gul-
ley, and as Captain Cree was riding past it, he heard
sounds of a struggle somewhere in the gully. Turn-
ing in the direction of the sounds he saw the Indian
chief, Black Kettle, and McFarland, in a hand-to-
hand fight with knives.
It was a critical time; each had his knife raised
ready to strike; it was a question which would fall,
just owing to which knife could be plunged the
quickest. Captain Cree took in the situation at a
glance, and whirling his horse, darted toward the
contestants. Drawing his sword, he ran it into Black
Kettle's side, but was just a fraction of a second too
late; the Indian's knife had done its deadly work.
McFarland and Black Kettle both fell at the same
time mortally wounded.
Hughmel Rose had picked up a little papoose
that he intended to keep and raise, but when he saw
the fight in the gully, he dropped the baby and ran
88 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
to McFarland's assistance; arriving too late, he
turned back to the scene of the main fight. When
he went to look for the papoose he found it dead;
some of the flying bullets had hit it.
Two soldiers, who had been taken prisoners with
Major Anthony's regiment at Fort Lyons, refused
to fight the Indians. Once when they were just rid-
ing along, they passed an old squaw, one of the sol-
diers said, "No use to kill her; she is too old to do
any more damage." He had no more than said it
until he had cause to change his mind. As soon as
the soldiers passed her the squaw drew a bow and
arrow from under her buffalo robe and sent an arrow
into his thigh. He asked his companion to pull it
out, then jumping from his horse and picking up a
tent pole, he went after the squaw. At first he was
going to shoot her, but decided that shooting was too
good.
The squaw did not run from him; on the con-
trary she took her old rusty knife and started out to
meet him. She was trembling with rage, her little
bead-like eyes were flashing with anger and she came
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 89
toward him dancing and flourishing her knife, at the
same time chattering off some of her lingo.
The soldier waited until she got quite near, when
he drew the pole back and struck her full force on
the side of the head, killing her instantly.
A young Indian chief came out in the open and
exchanged shot for shot with Joe Connors. After a
few shots, one of Joe's took effect and the Indian
fejl. Joe still remained in the open, fully exposed
to the arrows, without heeding the warnings of his
comrades. Some of the soldiers in the grass back of
Connors saw a squaw raise up out of the weeds
where the young chief had fallen, and making a tar-
get out of Joe. They raised their rifles, but before
they could shoot, the squaw's arrow had done its
work, and Connors fell, pierced through the lungs.
Just as he went down, several reports rang through
the air, and the squaw fell in the grass back of where
Connors had stood, a victim of one of the rifles.
The killing of the squaws and children may seem
inhuman to those not accustomed to the life on the
frontier, or not familiar with the dangers and suf-
ferings of the pioneers on account of the savages.
QO TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
When a squaw comes out and takes her place among
the warriors and shoots down the soldiers, should she
not take the same consequences'? The squaws urged
on the massacres and helped to destroy the homes of
the settlers. As for the papooses, the soldiers re-
membered the white children scalped and their brains
dashed out and otherwise brutally massacred
throughout the country, and also Colonel Harley's
quotation, "Remember that mites make lice." If
the squaws and papooses were spared it would only
be a few years until they would have an uprising and
there would be more serious Indian raids and trou-
bles. The squaws of John Smith and Bent were not
harmed, as they were wives of white men and natu-
rally joined in with the white people.
Colonels Talbot and Chivington were standing
near together when suddenly Talbot fell, and Chiv-
ington noticed bullets and arrows falling around him.
Upon watching to see where they were coming from,
he noticed an Indian head rise up over a soap weed.
He shot without success. Finally Jim Beckwith, the
noted guide and scout, came along and said, "Let me
try that gun, Colonel." Chivington handed him the
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
gun and just as the Indian cautiously and slowly
raised his head above the weed, Beckwith fired and
struck him right between the eyes.
An Indian medicine man had dug a hole in a
sand-bar and placed bags of medicine around it. He
would raise up and shoot an arrow at the soldiers;
before they could return the shots, he had sunk down
in the hole and the bullets would fly over him.
Lieutenant Wyman was sitting on his horse,
right in direct range of the medicine man, uncon-
scious of the poisoned arrow being aimed at him.
John Patterson saw the lieutenant's danger and
called out, "Look out there, Lieutenant." Wyman
whirled his horse just in time. The arrow went hiss-
ing through the air and lodged in the lieutenant's
horse. Wyman was saved, but the horse had to be
killed; it was gradually becoming paralyzed from
the effect of the poison on the steel point of the ar-
row that had broken off in the bone of his leg, where
it had lodged. The following day, as they were
searching among the dead, they found the medicine
man huddled up in the hole.
Q2 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Several shots aimed at him had taken effect, but
he plugged the holes up to keep them from bleeding
and would go on fighting. The last shot had killed
him before he could get the tallow in.
When the fight was raging the hardest, Jim
Beckwith started across the flat and suddenly came
face to face with Bent. Forgetting the soldiers and
Indians around them, or the danger they were in,
they only remembered that they were old and dear
friends and had never expected to meet again; so in
Indian fashion they ran right into each other's arms
and wept, being so overcome with joy at the unex-
pected meeting.
Just as the last sounds of the battle were dying
away, one of the soldiers saw a chief stretched out
in the grass, face downward. The soldier was anx-
ious to get a scalp of a chief, so sat down on him
and began to take his scalp. He was just making
good progress when the Indian turned over and a
hard struggle ensued, lasting for several minutes, re-
sulting in the soldier going into camp with the much-
coveted scalp.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
A squad of soldiers had charge of the ambulance
and went around gathering up the dead and wounded
soldiers. They kept missing Joe Connors and Frank
Parks, two wounded soldiers. They were both old
friends and comrades of Alston Shaw, so when he
saw them fall he had hurried to their assistance and
arranged them as comfortably as he could. Long to-
ward evening the soldiers were ordered into camp.
Shaw refused to leave Connors and Parks until the
ambulance was ready to take his companions. At
last he saw an ambulance going up into the gully
after McFarland's body, so calling Cobbs over to
guard the two wounded soldiers, he went after the
ambulance. Cobbs put his horse between them and
where any stray Indians might be hiding and he
watched the other way. When Shaw returned,
Cobbs said, "I believe those Indians took advan-
tage of me while you were gone, and fired those
shots." Just as much as to say that if Shaw had
been there, the Indians would have been afraid to
shoot. Shaw and Cobbs took Joe and Frank into
the camp. While passing the bend in the creek, they
saw four Indians run up the opposite bank, dance
Q4 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
the war dance, and then hurry in the direction of
Little Raven's band.
That night, in camp, Joe Connors heard the oth-
ers talking of a probable attack from Little Raven's
band. He called Shaw over and made him promise
not to let him fall into the Indians' hands; that if
the Indians attacked them, for Shaw to shoot him
before the Indians had a chance to get him. Hard
as it was to do, Shaw made the promise; but that
night, between nine and ten, the Angel of Death re-
lieved him of his promise, and the soul of Joe Con-
nors was taken beyond the reach of fear or dread of
any more tortures at the hands of the savages.
Jack Smith, the half-breed leader of the raiding
and murderous Indians, was taken prisoner and
placed in a tent made of elk hide. The lieutenant
in charge made a candle stick of a pocket knife and
fastened a candle on the tent pole, so the soldiers
on guard could always see the prisoner. Scarcely a
man among the volunteers but wanted a chance to
take a shot at the leader of the enemy, for they had
always remembered the horrible deeds that had been
done by his hands or order.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 95
Some of the soldiers had cut a strip of the hide
out of the tent to make a pair of leggings; this
left an opening in the side of the tent. Alston Shaw
crept up to the tent, decoyed the guards away
and was watching Smith through the opening in the
tent and was just waiting for a good chance to shoot
him, when suddenly he was surprised by, "What are
you doing here, Shaw?" ,
( "O, just wandering around because I couldn't
sleep."
"Now, see here, I know why you are just wan-
dering around; it is for a chance to kill Smith, and I
wanted that job myself."
"Well, if you are sure you will do the job up
right, I will leave it to you."
Shaw walked away and left the stranger, who
was a soldier of another company, to attend to the
Indians. Before going very far Shaw heard a shot
and knew that the First regiment boy had done his
job as he promised. Jack Smith just gave one jump
and a war whoop and then fell dead, shot through
the heart.
Q6 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Colonel George Shoop was sitting on some buf-
falo robes quite a distance from the tent when he
heard the shot. Jumping up and hurrying towards
the prisoner, he met Shaw on the way and asked him
what that shot was. "I guess some of the boys'
guns have gone off accidentally." Just then the
guard came running up and said, "Some one has
killed Jack Smith."
No one ever found out who did the job. Shaw
did not recognize the boy who was talking to him by
Smith's tent; he just noticed that he belonged to the
First company.
When old John Smith, his father, was told of it,
he just said, "Well, it serves him right. I sent him
East and had him educated. Instead of him coming
back and trying to help civilize the Indians, he led
them into deeper and lower raids of barbarisms. So
he could expect nothing else."
While gathering up the dead, Wise Osborn
came upon a wounded Indian, who had his back
broke. He raised up the best he could and took a
shot at Osborn. Wise said, "I will show you fel-
lows how to kill an Indian." He sat down on the
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 97
Indian and took him by the head to hold his head
still; then raised the knife to cut his throat, but the
Indian knocked his arm and the knife plunged into
the ground beside the Indian's head. Wise drew it
out and said, "Now lay still, until I cut your throat."
It looks brutal in a way, but in another sense of the
word it was a merciful act. The Indian was suffer-
ing excruciating pain and there was no other help for
him; his people were all gone and it was only a ques-
tion of time until he would die of his injury. Os-
born thought, "Why not put him out of his misery"?"
CHAPTER XIV.
CAUSE OF THE SAND CREEK FIGHT.
In the year 1861, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes
made a treaty with the settlers at Bent's Fort.
Tempting the Indians with vain promises, mys-
tifying them with presents and deluding them into
believing they would be benefited, if under the rule
of the government, which, undoubtedly, they would,
had they submitted to the authority and abided by
the laws — in this way the people at Bent's Fort suc-
ceeded in getting them to sign away their land east
of the mountains.
The Indians had no more than signed away their
heritage, than they regretted it, and began negotia-
tions with the other tribes and bands to form a plot
to expel the white settlers from the country. This
conspiracy just suited the other tribes, as they were
all bloodthirsty and wanted a chance to go on the
warpath. They began to prepare for an uprising
that would last indefinitely, until the white man or
the Indian perished.
1OO TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
The bucks and squaws as well, began to gather
all the necessities of warfare. They would sneak
around and rob the settlers of small articles; some-
times they would hold up the stage coaches, kill the
passengers and take their belongings; other times
they would massacre families and steal their sup-
plies, firearms and ammunition, until at last they had
abundant supplies and large collections of weapons.
In other words, they were prepared for a prolonged
contest, and waiting for the most opportune time to
strike the blow.
In 1862 Governor Evans began to grow suspi-
cious, as he noticed what the Indians were stealing
mostly, and anticipated trouble with them. So in
his message to the legislature, he put these conditions
before them :
"That they were surrounded by a large band of
Indians, though seemingly friendly, who might re-
volt at any time.
"That in case they did, the settlers were in no-
wise able to defend themselves.
"That they could not expect aid from the gen-
eral government, as it had sent all of its troops to
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 1O1
take part in the rebellion, while the regiments raised
in Colorado had been sent into New Mexico to head
off the Texans from invading through New Mexico
up into Colorado. Therefore, if their anticipations
were realized, the only resource was to raise a regi-
ment of volunteers right here at home."
Three months later Acting Governor Elbert re-
ceived reports of Indian raids along the mail route;
houses, provisions and arms were stolen.
In March, 1863, there were extensive depreda-
tions throughout the country, especially near the
mouth of the Cache la Poudre (cache the powder
in, so named by some early French trappers, who,
upon leaving the country, buried their powder in the
stream). No lives were taken, but vast amounts of
provisions, arms, etc., disappeared.
It can be plainly seen that during the last two
years, the Indian conspirators were carrying out the
obligations of their plot. The people were begin-
ning to realize that trouble was near at hand.
On one occasion a report went into Denver that
the Indians were advancing and would burn the
town. This threw the people into a panic; they
1O2 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
dropped their work and ran in every direction, leav-
ing their homes to find protection in the stronger
built buildings. Some were too frightened to run,
but hid under boxes in the street. Two soldiers who
were not affected by the report, were walking along
and talking about their rifles. One of them said,
"Let's see how yours works; shoot at that box." But
the box suddenly rose up and a voice said, "Don't
shoot, I am under here." Looking more closely they
saw Billy Keath peeping out from underneath. It
was a false alarm, caused by some Mexican cattle
herders, who were singing while herding on night
watch. Shotridge, a tollgate keeper, who heard them,
just supposed that they were Indians and hurried
into Denver with the false alarm.
Owing to the extreme danger hovering over them,
Governor Evans gave orders for all able-bodied men
to leave their work every evening at six o'clock and
drill. Henry Teller was put in charge of these men
to organize and put them in order for service. Con-
templating an attack at Fort Lupton, Captain
Browne, with a company he had raised, was sent
th^re to protect that post.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 1O3
To encourage the men to volunteer their ser-
vices, Governor Evans issued a proclamation, allow-
ing them to keep what trophies they captured from
the Indians, but since there were some peaceful In-
dians, they had strict orders to molest none except
the hostile.
The Cheyennes and Arapahoes were still play-
ing friendly with the officers and soldiers at Fort
Lyons. This was only a blind, as they intended to
deceive the settlers until they could obtain more sup-
plies and ammunition and give their ponies a chance
to fatten and get into better condition. Therefore,
they would go into the fort and beg from the officers
and trade with the soldiers, and impress upon their
minds the friendly feeling that existed between the
Indians and the settlers, but on the other hand they
were aiding the other bands in preparing for a gen-
eral massacre of the settlers.
Governor Evans saw the need of more troops
and began to appeal to the government for aid. Ed-
win Stanton, secretary of war, sent back the follow-
ing answer: "Fight it out among yourselves; we
1O4 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
are too busy with more weighty affairs to give you
any attention or assistance."
Evans then sent letters, asking for help, to all
the superior officers in the military line. Receiving
no aid from any direction, he was forced to fall back
on his own resources. Chivington was doing all in
his power, but his forces were too weak and he was
unable to protect the outlying settlements, while
Major Downing was just holding his own at Cedar
Canon.
Evans at last appealed for troops that could be
spared out of New Mexico, but none could be sent
to his aid; so, pushed to desperation, he asked the
secretary of war for permission to raise a hundred-
day regiment of volunteers, which was finally grant-
ed him.
In September, 1864, a few Cheyenne Indians
were taken before Major Wynkoop, commander of
Fort Lyons. They carried a letter asking for peace,
providing that peace be made to the Kiowas, Coman-
ches, Arapahoes, Apaches, Sioux and the Cheyennes.
After considering the matter and comparing it with
the acts of the Indians, the officers concluded that
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 1O5
they were negotiating for peace, without the inten-
tion of making it. They were just using this plan
as a sham to either kill time or throw the white peo-
ple off their guard, while the Indians proceeded with
their preparations.
COL. J. M. CHIVINGTON
CHAPTER XV.
JUSTICE OF THE FIGHT.
This fight and also the stand taken by Colonel
Chivington, who was commander-in-chief of the
western department, has been condemned by a great
many people. In the opinions of some it was but a
massacre of the Indians. A crimson blot was put on
the record of Chivington by those influenced by tales
of irresponsible people who wanted to down him for
some political reason, as they were all striving to
attain recognition by the political parties raising up
to control the state, that they could see looming into
prominence in the near future. As the other officers
saw his steady rise in the army and in the hearts of
the people, the jealous hearted rivals who were aspir-
ing to the same heights, strove to disgrace him in
the eyes of the people by branding him with the igno-
minious fight on Sand Creek.
We will admit that the fight was horrible in
every way, not alone on the part of the soldiers but
the Indians as well. Though the savages lost the fight,
1O8 TRUE HISTORY OF SOM.E OF
it was not their fault. They would have butchered
the soldiers even worse than they were slaughtered
had not fate been against them.
As before said, it is our object to show how this
battle was unavoidable. Allow us to trace some of
the crimes of the savages and see if we would not
have done the same. The following are only a few
of the many depredations committed by the Indians.
In a previous chapter the massacre of the Hun-
gate family has been described. What could have
been more atrocious in every sense of the word?
Just across the line into Kansas, Mrs. Ewbanks,
daughter, nephew and a Miss Roper were taken pris-
oners by the Indians, who ordered Mrs. Ewbanks to
leave her baby behind. She refused to do so. The
Indians killed the baby and tied the mother's hair to
a pony's tail and let her be draggged away. After
being rescued from the Indians, Mrs. Ewbanks and
daughter died from the effects of injuries inflicted on
them by the Indians.
Children were tortured until death relieved them
of their agony, men were burned at the stake and
suffered other indescribable cruelties that only a
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 1OQ
bloodthirsty savage could invent; women were car-
ried into captivity, where a worse fate than death
awaited them.
Two little boys living near Colorado City were
scalped and left alive; whether they died of their
injuries or not is not known.
On the Fountain some Indians met two little
boys who were driving the cows home and cut their
thrpats, then went up to the house and murdered the
rest of the family. James Mock, a boy yet in the
'teens and a neighbor of the unfortunate family,
met one of the Indians with a fresh scalp as he was
leaving the place. Not knowing how many Indians
might be near that he would have to fight, James
took his chances, killed the Indian and went on his
way unmolested.
Every stage coach was in danger, the driver and
passengers never expected to reach the end of the
route; they were taking their lives in their own hands
when starting upon a journey. Sometimes they got
through without any great trouble, but more often
the coaches were robbed and at times all the passen-
gers killed.
1 1O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Words fail to express the suffering and anxiety
endured by the settlers. No wonder they were filled
with rage and revenge.
Even children who had been disturbed in their
slumbers and had to run to the soldiers for protection
at any hour of the night, were determined to "get
even."
The following story will illustrate the feeling of
the children and show how they even feared the In-
dians and realized the need of protection.
John Shaw, a citizen of Pueblo, had a family of
children who had learned to run to the fort when
they heard that the Indians were coming and they
had also learned to hate the raiding foe that always
kept them in such fear. Two of the children, Char-
ley and Ellen, wanted to do their part to revenge
themselves on the Indians, so they would climb on a
little knoll that had some Mexican graves at the foot
of it. The children thinking that they were Indian
graves would throw rocks down on them, when their
older sister or parents would chide them for it they
would say, "We are just getting even with the In-
juns."
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 111
Charley declared that when he got big he would
kill Injuns, and since Ellen could not go, she did the
next best and in later years married an officer in the
army that was sent in the southwestern part of Colo-
rado to subdue the Indians in that part of the state.
One day when the men were talking about the
call for volunteers and how quick they responded,
Charley stood and listened to every word and decided
he was big enough to fight Indians and hurried home,
took down an old gun, nearly as large as himself,
oiled and cleaned it and was just leaving the house
when his mother saw him and said, "Why, Charley;
where are you going?"
"Jest going to fight the bloody Injuns wiv the
vunteers." He was very serious about it and was
determined to go, and his mother had a hard time to
keep him from going.
When little children not yet ten years of age
realized the condition of the country and the vast
needs of defense, what could be expected of the
older ones, who saw even more to raise them up and
knew the great importance of subduing the raiding
foe?
1 12 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Even when they had continually asked aid from
every known direction they thought it might be
available, and was refused it every time, what else
could they do but just what they did?
How would the people have judged Evans and
Chivington if they stood back and let the country be
made more crimson than it was by the blood of the
settlers when it was in their power to save them'?
It is easy to believe that they would have been
judged as cowards, yet those who condemned them
for doing as they did would have condemned them
just as severely if they had stood back and left the
country to the mercy of the savages, and would have
been justified in doing so.
It was not the battle alone that caused some of
the people to so judge Colonel Chivington. They
saw an opportunity to use it as an instrument to aid
in furthering their own selfish desires. If Chivington
was cashiered, that is, if his office was taken from
him, some of these other officers would raise in rank.
Then again, it is said, that some of the officers
at Fort Lyons, who had been deceived into believing
that the Cheyennes and Arapahoes were friendly,
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
had been making a little money on the side trading
with the Indians and of course the Sand Creek fight
put an end to this. By cashiering Colonel Chiving-
ton, they could shield themselves.
That it was all a put up jop could be plainly
seen by just a little of Major Anthony's testimony
given at the trial when he said, "Boys, I can help fix
up a lie, but when it comes to holding up this fellow
(indicating his right hand) and swearing to it, I
can't do it."
The results jf the trial, which dragged along six
months or more, then dropping without accomplish-
ing anything in particular, shows it was only a farce,
leaving Governor Evans and Colonel Chivington to
wear the stain.
A great many of the old volunteers and pioneers
who witnessed the condition of the country and the
proceedings of affairs that existed between the offi-
cers, Indians, volunteers and settlers say that Evans
and Chivington were innocent of the charges against
them and carried the burden that rightfully belonged
to others.
CHAPTER XVI.
SAND CREEK A DECISIVE BATTLE.
Turning over the pages of history we find from
beginning to end battles that must decide the prog-
ress of civilization, whether it was to raise to the
highest standard of mankind or fall into the lowest
depths of barbarism.
The following are a few of the deciding battles
that have been handed down through the annals of
time.
Going back to 490 B. C., we find the battle of
Marathon, where the Athenians won the victory over
the Persians on the Plains of Marathon. Thus
changing the course of early history.
The defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, 413 B.
C., the battle of Arbela, 331 B. C., the battles of
the Metaures, 207 B. C., and numerous others decid-
ed what the foundation of modern history should be
built upon. Had some of these battles resulted in
just the opposite the Greek language would have
been the root of the French, Spanish and Italian in-
1 l6 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
stead of the Latin. The laws of Athens would have
been the basis of the laws of the world.
The battle of Hastings in 1066, and Joan of
Arc's victory over the English at Orleans in 1429;
defeat of Spanish Armada, 1588, were all turning
points in history.
Crossing the Atlantic and coming closer home,
we have the American victory over Burgoyne at
Saratoga, 1777, which meant so much to the colo-
nists. Freedom and liberty of a new and indepen-
dent nation.
Later when the United States was divided over
the slavery and seceding question and the Civil war
was to decide the answer, were Lee's army victo-
rious, this glorious land of ours would be divided.
But the surrender of Lee at the Appomattox court
house was the decisive point in the rebellion and the
salvation of the United States.
Studying over these battles and comparing the
outcome as it is today and what it might have been
had the results been vice versa, we see that "right is
might," and, using this argument, we are prepared to
class the Sand Creek battle in the list of decisive bat-
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 1 IJ
ties. Consider the facts before the fight and notice
the outcome of it and what might have been and see
if you cannot agree with us.
The condition of affairs before the battle has al-
ready been described, so we need not dwell longer on
them, but look at what this western country is today
and what it might have been if the Indians had won
the Sand Creek fight or if it had never been fought.
The Indians would kill the settlers and push
them back towards the east and prevent the growth
of the nation, while the white people were fighting
among themselves the savages would combine to-
gether and gradually crowd eastward on to the un-
suspecting people while their troops were away, and
perhaps in time they would get control, and instead
of this being the land of which we are all so proud, a
place of refuge for the oppressed of foreign lands, it
would be a heathen and undeveloped land.
The Sand Creek fight was the means of pushing
the Indians further west and opening up the frontier
and showed whether the wheels of progress should
turn and make homes for millions of people and
raise the standard of civilization and prosperity
1 l8 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
higher, or if this west of bountiful wealth, health
and untold opportunities should remain a wilderness
and barren waste.
There are a great many noted generals and
leaders who figured in the decisive battles, such as
Miltiades, Xerxes, Alexander, Napoleon, down to
Washington, Burgoyne, Grant, Lee, Gates, Sherman
and a great many others, all of whom won laurels
for themselves and had historians, poets and orators
to sing their praises.
This was in a distant and remote country, not
many to witness it, but when it is all summed up, in
comparison to the population, means and what they
had to contend with, did not Governor Evans and
Colonel Chivington accomplished just as great a vic-
tory*? Does not the growth of the West, built by
our own fathers appeal as strongly to you as the vic-
tory of some foreign lands that are praised by some
of our own writers who seem to overlook the strug-
gles, suffering and blood shed in our behalf, by our
fathers or grandfathers here at home?
What Colorado is today is really due to Gover-
nor Evans for calling out volunteers, and Colonel
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 1 1Q
Chivington for commanding them as he did, and to
the little band of volunteers for being so brave and
ready to obey the call of duty. There were also a
few fights made later, such as General Forsythe's
battle with Roman Nose and his band in eastern
Colorado, that helped to pave the way into the West.
We must not overlook the services rendered by the
scouts in guiding the settlers to new homes and lead-
ing the soldiers on to the enemy's camps, although
they do not get so much credit as the officers, yet
they are indispensable.
These officers, soldiers, scouts and settlers over-
came the country's greatest foe, when the United
States army refused to do it, and had they waited
until the rebellion was over for the government
troops to help them, there would not have been many
settlers left and it would have thrown the progress
of the West back many years.
"So let us, the descendants of those brave volun-
teers and pioneers, erect a monument of gratitude in
our hearts to their memory."
CHAPTER XVII.
THE YELLOW HAIRED BOY.
When the Third regiment arrived at Fort Lyons,
all the soldiers were inspected and those not fit for
service were left behind.
A boy in Captain Johnston's company was left
out because he was too young, not yet eighteen. In
appearance he seemed older, being over six feet tall
but very thin. He had a fair babyish face framed
with curly golden hair that was unusually long and
tangled. He seemed to be anxious to take part in
the raid against the Indians and when told that he
must remain at the fort he was greatly disappointed.
Lieutenant Gilson went to Captain Johnston,
"Captain, what am I to do with that boy, he is over
there crying and begging to go with us." The Cap-
tain studied a few moments before answering, "Well,
I guess we might as well let him go; get him the
poorest horse out of the cabby yard and that old
weather-beaten Mexican saddle there on the fence
and an old halter while I find a gun for him."
122 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
The Lieutenant did as bidden and the Captain
found an old infantry gun that shot a full ounce ball
and had a four-inch cartridge. These officers sup-
posed the boy would return to the fort before they
had gone very far and they were fixing up to have
some sport with him.
As the command marched away, a poor little
pony, loaded with the yellow-haired boy and the in-
fantry gun, was wearily dragging along behind the
cavalry. When the pony appeared fagged out the
boy would walk.
When the command arrived at Sand Creek and
the soldiers were ordered to dismount, they had for-
gotten about the boy, so after the fight commenced
in the creek, they were greatly surprised to see a little
white and poor Indian pony with a Mexican saddle
on and dragging a halter leave the other horses and
follow the Indians to the sand pits, where it stood
about thirty minutes before any of the shots ex-
changed hit it. The soldiers wondered where the
rider was but naturally supposed that he had been
killed at the start.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 123
When the fight was raging the hardest, an ob-
ject was seen to creep cautiously to the edge on the
bank just opposite the soldiers and directly over the
Indians. The object would hestitate a moment, then
suddenly a loud report similar to a cannon would
boom out and a dense smoke would rise up from the
south side of the creek. The instant the report was
heard, an Indian could be seen to fall. The other
Indians would turn and fire into the dense smoke.
When the smoke cleared away there was nothing in
sight where the object had been.
Every few minutes this was repeated and every
time the shots took effect. Finally one of the sol-
diers was sent around to investigate and see who was
there. Nearing the scene of the single-handed artil-
lery, he called out, "You had better leave the place,
the soldiers might accidentally overshoot." The yel-
low haired boy just aimed his old infantry gun down
over the bank and went on bombarding the sand pits
below and yelled back to the soldier, "O, I guess
not," in his usual slow and drawling way.
The old gun was so heavy and the boy so light
that at every shot it would kick the boy backwards,
124 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
thus causing the arrows aimed at him from below to
miss their mark.
Upon leaving the battle ground, the yellow-
haired boy and two companions were brought sud-
denly face to face with a huge Indian, who rose up
out of the grass a few feet ahead of them and pointed
his gun at the yellow-haired boy; there was no time
for the boy to aim and fire, so quick as a flash the
infantry gun flew threw the air and landed on the
Indian, knocking him flat. The boy walked on into
camp the most unconcerned one in the regiment.
In dragging the Indians out of the pit on the fol-
lowing morning, twenty-seven were found with an
enormous hole torn clear through them that only an
infantry gun could make.
When Colonel Chivington was told of the boy's
bravery and success, he ordered that the best horse
and outfit taken from the Indians be given to him
and the Colonel presented the yellow-haired boy with
Black Kettle's outfit.
The last the regiment ever saw of the single
handed artillery it was going with the Mexicans and
horses back to Fort Lyons, but it never got there,
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
nor could any trace be found of it. Shaw, who had
taken quite a fancy to the boy, offered a reward for
any knowledge of him. The yellow-haired boy dis-
appeared just as mysteriously as he appeared on the
scene. Some thought the Mexicans had killed him
but the majority believed he went back to his home
in Kansas. From what few remarks he made, he left
the impression that some of his people had been killed
by the Indians and he joined the volunteers to get a
better chance for revenge, and accomplishing his pur-
pose, he was ready to return to what relatives and
friends he had left back in his old home.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MARCH TO FORT LARNARD.
By A. K. Shaw and John Patterson.
On the afternoon of December the tenth, 1864,
the day after the fight, the command was ordered
out to follow the Indians of Little Raven's band
down on the Arkansas.
i The soldiers broke camp and started down Sand
Creek until reaching the Arkansas, then they fol-
lowed down it on forced march.
Flynn Loogstrum's horse gave out, so he waited
for Captain Cree to come along, "Say, Captain, my
horse has played out, got another one5?"
"No, we haven't, and can't get one now; you
will have to fall in behind."
"Gosh! Believe I can walk and keep up with
this outfit."
He shouldered his gun and started down the road
tugging along behind the command, when they
stopped Flynn was with them.
When the soldiers saw the camp fires of the In-
dians several miles down the river, they thought they
128 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
would be able to rush down on the Indians and take
them by surprise, but the night, just before the break
of day, was so cold and still that a sound traveled a
great distance. The rattling of the artillery as it was
taken so fast over the frozen ground, warned the
Indians, who mounted their ponies and dashed off
toward the bluffs just before the command arrived.
The cavalry started in pursuit, but their horses
were hungry and weak, having had but very little
feed for several days and they had been on the battle
field all the day before and marching all night on
forced march. For a time they gave the Indians a
lively chase, but before long the horses began to fail,
and finally they were all left behind except Shaw
and Captain Cree, they kept on racing to see which
of them had the best horse and could follow the In-
dians the farthest. Before long Shaw was riding by
himself and Cree acknowledged that Shaw had the
best horse and asked to borrow it to ride up to
Boone's ranch to see his girl. He did, but Shaw
never got the five dollars the Captain promised him.
The command, after resting and feeding their
horses, started back to Fort Lyons. They met the
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 12Q
transportation wagons on the way coming with fresh
supplies. The wagons turned back and went into Fort
Lyons with the command, where they waited a few
days to rest the horses and repair the wagons before
undertaking the march up the Fountain and over the
divide down into Denver.
Before leaving Fort Lyons, Alston Shaw was
made U. S. deputy marshal to take charge of the
seven hundred head of horses and deliver them in to
Denver. He left Fort Lyons a day ahead of the
command.
CHAPTER XIX.
SHAW AND THE HORSES.
The first night out they made Pueblo. Some
time in the night forty horses were stolen. In the
morning Shaw sent an escort on with the other horses,
while he and Ad. Williamson went to look for the
missing ones.
Shaw and Williamson traced the horses up the
Little Fountain. After proceeding a few miles, they
came upon a Mexican in a thicket of willows. When
Shaw questioned him in regard to the missing horses
and asked if he had seen any stray ones, the Mexican
would answer, "No savy, senor, no savy." The
deputy marshal being familiar with the bluffs and
deceiving qualities of the Mexicans, thought he
not only fully understood the question but also knew
the whereabouts of the horses, so he used a stronger
method. Turning to Williamson, he said, "Ad.,
shoot that Mexican; see if he can savy that."
The Mexican undoubtedly did, for he raised his
hands and said, "No shootie me, no shootie me."
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
"Can you tell us where the horses are4?"
"Look in the brush," and the Mexican pointed
farther up the creek. They followed his advice and
found the horses tied in the willows. Shaw sent
Williamson on with the horses to overtake the others
while he went scouting. He came upon a camp of
Ute Indians and stopped there all night. The In-
dians took a fancy to the scalps he had taken at the
Sand Creek fight, so when he was leaving the next
morning he gave them the scalps to show his appre-
ciation of the hospitality they had extended to him.
The Ute Indians were a peaceful band and feared
the others as much as the settlers did. After riding
all day he joined the command and the escort with
the horses that same night in Colorado City.
Before leaving Pueblo, Major Bo wan began
drinking. Arriving in Colorado City where more
liquor was available, he started in on a good spree.
Colonel Chivington noticed the condition he was in
and took him upstairs and locked him in his room.
The shrewd Major upon finding himself locked
in and his booze all gone, took his sword and un-
screwed the door latch.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 133
The soldiers sleeping near the stairway were dis-
turbed by the clink, clink of a sword as it went
thumping over the steps. The Major made several
trips up to his room carrying the glasses and bottles
from the cellar and had a midnight spree all by him-
self. Next morning he stopped at the head of the
stairs, looking down to the soldiers below, said in a
very eloquent style that only a practised lawyer or
orator could use, "What would Mrs. Bowan say if
she saw me now ? Would it be, There comes that old
Bowan drunk again' ?" Then more emphatically,
"No, never, but instead, 'there comes my dearly be-
loved husband.' '
The command left that morning to cross the
divide, the horses waiting a day longer in Colorado
City to give the command a chance to get across be-
fore crowding upon them.
The snow was so deep in the mountains that it
seemed at first impossible to get over the divide. But
with the cavalry horses plunging through the snow
and the cannon and wagons ploughing along behind
them, they finally succeeded in arriving in Denver
about the first of the year, where they received their
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
discharge papers, and the 'hundred-day volunteers
went back to their homes and farms with a stronger
assurance that in the future they could till their
lands and build up their homes without so great a
fear of violence from the Indians.
After the command was safe over the divide,
Shaw started across with the horses. They only got
up to Mrs. Culberinie's place the first day. The horses
were weak and could not travel far at a time. There
were four large fine mules in the bunch that Shaw
took quite a fancy to, so he hid them out and in-
tended to return for them, but some one else admired
those same mules. When Shaw went to get them,
he only found a note saying, "I will see you later."
But we can be sure he never did.
Mrs. Culberinie had shown such kindness to the
escort and gave them such a welcome that upon leav-
ing Shaw presented her daughter, Hersey, with a
little pinto pony that the girl had become so at-
tached to.
When the volunteers were called out, Governor
Evans had issued a proclamation allowing the sol-
diers to keep the trophies they captured from the In-
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 135
dians. Shaw remembered this and took advantage
of it, so when he arrived in Denver he had eighty-
four left out of the seven hundred horses, from these
he kept a pair of little pinto ponies and one little
white one for himself. Later he gave the pinto team
to Major Downing who sent them east.
CHAPTER XX.
LITTLE HAPPENINGS IN DENVER.
No sooner had the command arrived in Denver
than A. A. Neiland and Charles Pearson hurried on
through Denver not waiting for their discharge pa-
pers, and went down to their homes on Henderson's
Bar, fifteen miles from Denver. Here they left
their horses and returned to Denver for their dis-
charge papers. They were immediately arrested as
deserters and put in jail.
When Alston Shaw got into Denver with the
horses, one of Neiland' s friends went to him and told
him of Neiland's and Pearson's trouble and ending
by saying, "They will be tried as deserters and suffer
the penalty." "O, I guess not," said Shaw and
walked away.
Lieutenant Sully was on guard at the jail and
was suddenly surprised by a gruff voice, "What have
you got those fellows in there for?'
"I don't know as it is any of your business."
"I will make it my business," and Shaw started
away in search of some of their comrades.
138 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Soon afterwards Sully was disturbed by a com-
mand to let the prisoners out. He hesitated but just
for a moment; he saw a battering-ram in the hands of
eight men and heard a voice saying, "If you don't
let 'em out we will knock the door in." Sully de-
cided the easiest way out of the difficulty was to un-
lock the door and let Neiland and Pearson out,
which he did and nothing was ever heard about the
deserters.
The soldiers who had not gotten a horse out of
the bunch had been told by Shaw to go get one.
But for some reason Bill Youle would not go ask for
one nor take one when the other volunteers did.
During the night after getting into Denver, four
horses were stolen from the Elephant corral. Shaw
placed a guard over the remaining ones and went to
look for the others.
He traveled several miles before finding any trace
of them. He finally came onto their tracks and after
following them a short distance he saw the four
horses and two men going up the opposite bank of the
gulch. Shaw drew his revolver and ordered them to
throw up their hands, which they did. As Shaw
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 139
drew nearer he recognized one of the men, "Why,
Bill," he said, "you foolish fellow; you didn't need
to steal those horses, you know you had them coming
to you. I followed because I thought some one
might have them that had no business with them.
Just keep them and go on; I won't interfere." Youle
did as bidden and Shaw turned back to Denver.
The army Commander at Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas, ignored Evans' proclamation and sent a Mr.
Smith out to Denver to take charge of the Indian
horses. Upon his arrival in Denver he was sent
down to the Elephant corral and told to speak to the
Deputy, Shaw, about it. Shaw was just coming out
of the gate when a stranger stepped up to him,
"Your name is Shaw, I believe."
"Guess you are right."
"You have held out some of those horses for
yourself, haven't you*?"
"Yes, sir, two of them, down in the barn on
Fifteenth street."
"Well, Shaw, I will have to take them as I have
orders from headquarters to gather up all the In-
dian horses and take charge of them."
14O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
So saying Smith started in the direction of the
barn but Shaw stopped him by saying, "Smith, if
you put a hand on either of those horses, I will shoot
you so full of holes that you won't hold corn husks."
Instead of going to the barn, Smith went to
Auctioneer Clark and asked, "What kind of a fellow
is that Shaw?'
"Straight as a string, afraid of nothing, protects
his own interest or anyone else who is being run over ;
stands for whatever he thinks right, stubborn as a
mule and always keeps his word."
Smith then told Clark the threat Shaw made and
asked his opinion.
"Well," said Clark, "If he said that, my advice
is to let him alone, for he always makes good his
promise."
Smith wanting to get even for being so baffled
on his errand, watched for an opportunity to get re-
venge.
While he was talking to Clark, Shaw had a sol-
dier to go run the horses down to Neiland's place.
Smith was wandering around in the barn and
noticed an old government saddle among Shaw's
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
things. He immediately went and swore out a war-
rant for Shaw's arrest, charging him of having gov-
ernment property in his possession. The case was
taken to U. S. Marshal Joe Davis, who readily saw
into the scheme and knew it was just a case of re-
venge, but coming from an officer from headquarters,
Davis had to go through with it even if he believed
Shaw was all right. So he put Shaw under eleven
thousand dollar bonds and knew while he was doing
it that neither Shaw nor his sixteen bondsmen had
six bits of their own. What difference did it make,
it was only a farce. Smith went back to Fort Leaven-
worth without any horses, and nothing more was
heard of the eleven thousand dollar bond or the six-
teen bondsmen.
CHIEF "LITTLE WHITE CLOUD'
CHAPTER XXI.
DEPREDATIONS OF INDIANS ON GEARY'S NEIGHBORS.
fold by J. Patterson.
The Indians made a raid through the country
east of the present site of Greeley, stealing horses
and cattle and killing the settlers.
Geary had a hundred and fifty horses stolen and
a large number were taken from Kemp ton's ranch
at the same time.
Lieutenant J. L. Brush's brother, William Brush,
his cousin, J. L. Conway, and a friend, Carlson, were
putting up hay on Geary's ranch when they were sur-
prised by the Indians. Next day John Patterson
and some of the other neighbors found their bodies
lying out in the hot sun. They were so badly decom-
posed that a door had to be taken down to carry
them on. The bodies were placed in a wagon loaded
with hay and conveyed to Brush's ranch on Thomp-
son creek for burial.
A group of three families lived within a quarter
of a mile of each other. In one of these was a
144 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
widow, who had the only sod house in the neighbor-
hood. When a report of approaching Indians came
to them, these families would all go to Mrs. Wiley's
sod house for protection. They went over nearly
every night, returning to their homes in the mornings.
Owing to the sneaking and treacherous way the
Indians had in coming down on them, the settlers
had to use the utmost precaution. They would take
turns about in going north of the Platte twice a day
scouting for signs of Indians.
Little Geary lived down the river about five
miles from this little settlement of three families.
Geary's wife was a squaw, and was always ready
to do anything for him or the settlers. Knowing
that the Indians would not harm her, he would send
her down in the river bottom to set fire to the grass
and the smoke would warn the settlers above them
to prepare for defense, that the Indians were starting
on a raid.
Finally the Indians began to come to Geary's
ranch so much that the settlers grew suspicious and
thought that perhaps he was in league with the In-
dians. A few men gathered and went down to
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 145
Geary's one night and secretly surrounded his house,
to see if they could find out why the Indians came
there so much and if he was in league with them.
After waiting outside until the cold got beyond
endurance, they left a guard and entered the house ;
they kept changing the guard so that it would not be
too hard on any one person.
Geary was told what they were there for and
why they suspected him.
He told the men the Indians were not there very
much when he was home but did not know about it
during his absence. He also told them that just be-
fore they came he heard a pole drop out at the cor-
ral and supposing it was Indians sent his wife out to
see, but there was none in sight.
About midnight the dogs began to bark but the
guard was unable to see anything. The dogs' con-
tinual howling showed that something was wrong,
and kept the guard on a sharp lookout. At last,
piercing through the dark he could see an object, but
was not able to distinguish what it was, so called out,
"Who comes there?" He repeated it three times and
receiving no answer, he fired. The commotion brought
146 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
the others out of the house and the flash of the shot
revealed to them an Indian running away. They all
shot at him but the guard's first shot took effect and
the Indian fell after running about twenty-five yards.
In the timber below the house, Indians could be
heard moving in the brush and seen flashing powder
to their scout to signal if it was safe for them to
come on, receiving no answer they surmised that
something was wrong, so left.
Geary let the body of the Indian lay out by the
house the rest of the night and the next morning they
did not recognize it; he was of a new band in their
vicinity. The men all got souvenirs from the In-
dian. I remember my brother, R. Patterson, got a
little white stone in a scabbard. Gerry said that
John Kimsey was entitled to the bow and arrows,
since he was the guard who shot the Indian. John
is living in Evans and I presume he still has the bow
and arrows in his possession.
A bridle and several ropes hanging on the trees
near the corral showed what the Indians' intentions
had been. The settlers saw that Geary was not in
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 147
league with the Indians, so returned home, fully
satisfied with his fidelity.
Grant Ashcroft, a citizen of one of the little
settlements, gathered a small band of about ten men
and started on a scouting trip. He led them down
the river until they came upon a trail, they followed
this back into the bluffs and came onto some Indians.
The Indians retreated back down towards the river.
l£ being high water season they had to follow the
river quite a distance before finding a place to cross.
Ashcroft gave them a chase for fifteen miles, about
ten miles below Geary's the Indians went over a high
bank and the citizens fearing that there might be a
village, hesitated. There were only a few Indians
with pack horses and the others joined, and all swam
across the river together. The white men fired at
them but thought they only hit one.
CHAPTER XXII.
CAPTAIN PEACOCK'S FIGHT.
As fold By W. S. Coburn.
In September, 1865, I put up improvements on
my ranch and took up my residence there.
About seven o'clock in the morning of the twen-
ty-second day of October, I came down out of the
hills where I had been hunting my stock. Just as I
came down on the road near my place, I met Cap-
tain Peacock, who was crossing the plains with a
train of forty-four wagons, hauling the government
supplies. He stopped and asked me if I had seen
any Indians. I said yes, while out on the hills I ran
across three and in the distance I saw a large dust and
upon watching it closely I concluded there was about
a hundred Indians in the bunch.
Peacock said, "I am the man they are after, they
have been following me a hundred miles or more."
I advised him to stay with me until things would
quiet down a little, for I had a good defense ar-
ranged at my house and could give them good pro-
15O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
tection. But he persisted in going on. While we
were talking, I looked down the road and saw a band
of Indians wrecking the telegraph lines. The way
they usually did this was to throw a rope around the
pole and cut the pole, some then take a number of
their ponies and tie their tails together and tie the
last one's tail to the rope, then make them start up
quick, jerking the pole over, and would cut the wires,
thus cutting off all communication to the fort for aid.
My partner and five men got scared out and went
up the river to another settlement and left Henry
Smith and myself alone. We watched the train go
on down the road and waited to see what its fate
would be, at the same time getting in readiness to
help them should it be necessary.
Peacock doubled the teams and the wagons were
driven two abreast, so if attacked, the drivers could
jump down between the wagons and thus protect
themselves. We were not watching long before we
saw the Indians come down out of the bluffs and
begin an attack.
After the fight had lasted quite a while the In-
dians went back in the hills and came down the
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
second time and attacked the train. This time they
had left their horses in the hills out of sight and
came down on foot to renew the fight. I turned to
my companion and said, "Now, Henry, here is our
chance."
We cautiously circled over the hills, intending
to run their horses away and leave the Indians on
foot. The country was very rolling and cut up.
Ridges and ravines scattered all over it.
Going down over a ridge, I crept up and looked
over into a ravine and saw their horses all tied to a
telegraph pole that had been thrown across the
mouth of the ravine, and three Indians guarding
them.
I was preparing to shoot the Indian who was
nearest to me, when suddenly a pony was startled
and looked up, this caused the Indian to turn and he
saw me on the edge above him, and darted in among
the horses before I could fire at him. I said, "The
jig is up, Smith." But we fired a few shots to run
alarm and the Indians left the attack and ran to their
horses. While they were untying their horses, we
152 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
were hurrying over the ridges down a ravine to the
road and turned into the train.
The Indians saw us as we went into the train,
but undoubtedly thinking there were more white
men in the hills, rode away.
The rough and rolling land gave good opportu-
nities to get away from the Indians, or good places
to conceal one's self.
After scouring over the surrounding country and
being unable to find any trace of others that might
possibly have been with us, the Indians made an-
other attack on the wagons. This last attack began
at one in the afternoon and lasted until four. Fin-
ally the Indians saw they could not accomplish their
aim in capturing the train and rode away.
When we ventured out from the shelter of the
wagons, we found one man killed and two wounded
out of the sixty-two poorly armed men, while the
Indians had eight dead and fifteen wounded.
I later learned that one of the dead Indians was
Old Chief Roman Nose. His son, Young Roman
Nose, became chief and led the band on just as great
raids as his father had.
CHAPTER XXIII.
INDIAN CHARLEY.
By IV. S. Coburn.
During the winter of 1865 I had a man and his
wife working for me, and one day in December, just
about noon, the lady saw some one chasing the pup
around the house and exclaimed, "O, look! here is a
squaw." The supposed squaw heard her and came
up timidly to the door and said, "Me no squaw."
It was a white boy, apparently twelve years of
age and could not talk English, only a word once in
a while. He looked like he was nearly worn out and
was carrying a dead raven. We asked him why he
chased the pup, and he answered, "Me hungry; eat
him," and he made signs of catching it and eating.
After we had fed him, he told us his story, by
means of signs and what little knowledge we had of
the Indian language.
As long as he could remember he lived with the
Indians. One white squaw in the same band told
him that he did not belong to the Indians, and there
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
was a better life for him back in the heap big vil-
lages (meaning the eastern cities), and that some day
he must run away and find his own people.
One day there was a train of wagons crossing the
plains and the Indians sent him and an Indian boy
out to spy on it. They followed it until dark and
yet it did not make camp. Finally the sayings of the
white squaw came into his mind, and the more he
thought of his own people, whom he had never seen,
the greater grew his desire to see the heap big vil-
lages.
When the Indian boy rode back to the lodges, he
was alone. The white boy had turned his pony's
head toward the north and was hurrying away from
the Indian camp. By various ways he obtained food
and would sleep out on the prairie some nights; at
other times he would find shelter around some of the
ranches. He would seldom go near the ranches, for
he had been raised to believe the settlers were his
worst enemies and that they were cruel and treach-
erous.
He had wandered about three hundred miles up
the Arkansas river when his pony fell in its tracks,
ridden to death.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 155
The boy was determined to complete his under-
taking, so he bravely started on foot. He did not
know how far he had traveled when he reached my
place, but had lived three days on the raven.
We named him Indian Charley and kept him
three or four months. One day, after he got more
used to us and knew he was in friendly hands, he
asked me about the fight of Captain Peacock last
October.
I told him all about it and took him down where
the Indian bodies were lying just as they had fallen.
Charley turned them over and called them by name.
One he called Roman Nose.
Indian Charley was a bright and intelligent boy,
and soon learned to like his new home. He picked
up our language quite readily, but had been with the
Indians so long that he had some of their traits.
Every time he was offended it was, "Me kill; me
scalp." On one occasion some one was teasing him
about a little girl at one of the neighboring ranches.
Charley did not like to be teased, so he grabbed up a
gun and said, "Me kill," and was just ready to shoot
when one of the men took the gun from him.
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
The other ranchers up and down the river for
about forty miles began to get suspicious and decided
that Charley was spying for the Indians. I did not
think so, but at last, to ease the minds of my neigh-
bors, I saw I would have to get rid of him.
Colonel King, with the Sixth Missouri cavalry,
was starting for St. Louis, and I asked him to take
Charley and see what he could do for the boy. King
consented to take him. I fixed up a good outfit for
him and told him of our arrangements for his wel-
fare. He did not want to leave me, and said, "To-
night, all still, me scalp, take horse and come back."
I tried to reason with him, but could not; so I told
King about his threat and also his Indian traits, so
he would be prepared for any outbreak.
Colonel King arrived in St. Louis with the boy
and advertised him. People came from far and near
hoping it might be a child they had lost, or one of
some of their friends, but they would all leave disap-
pointed, and it began to look as though Indian Char-
ley would not find his own people whom he took
such desperate chances to see.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 157
Several years previous to this, a family started
across the plains for California. Their people never
heard from them directly, but a short time after they
started, a brother of the father of the unfortunate
family was told that they had all been massacred by
the Indians.
When he had heard so much about the unknown
boy in St. Louis, he began to think possibly one of
his brother's boys might have been spared and taken
captive by the Indians. He took some photographs
of his brother's family and went to St. Louis. By
means of a particular characteristic he was enabled
to identify Indian Charley as his brother's youngest
child, who was only a baby when they started across
the plains.
Charley was taken to his uncle's home in Quincy,
111., and put in school.
Four years later, when I was standing on a rail-
road platform, a fine looking young fellow jumped
from the train, ran up to me, shook hands and asked
me all kinds of questions about myself. I answered
his questions and said, "Well, you have got me
bested; I don't know you." "Why, don't you re-
158 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
member Indian Charley?" I was greatly surprised
and pleased to meet the boy again. We only had a
few moments to talk before his train went on. I
never saw him again, but have been told since that
the Indian traits had been so impressed on his mind
that he became a roving and reckless fellow and
eventually went to the bad.
CHAPTER XXIV.
LITTLE HORSE AND HIS BAND.
As fold by W. S. Coburn.
An under chief, called Little Horse, brought his
band in near Jim Moore's ranch and camped there
nearly all winter. They pretended to be on friendly
terms with the ranchers, and often went out on
hunting trips, but in reality they were communicat-
ing with hostile tribes, to let them know the situa-
tion and circumstances of the ranchers.
In February they moved camp and took along
about fifty head of Moore's horses and mules and
started south. Jim Moore went to Fort Sedgwick
and got a troop of cavalry of eighty men under Cap-
tain Mix and Lieutenant Arms, to follow the In-
dians. Kelly, Moore, Buffalo John and myself acted
as scouts. The Indians had four days start of us
when we took their trail. For four hundred miles
we followed them, and long since made up our minds
that when we did find them we would run into a
large band of them. Sure enough, we did.
l6o TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Spotted Tail, with eight hundred warriors, sud-
denly appeared before us, and some one in his band
shouted to us, "Don't shoot, or I am a goner." Cap-
tain Mix put up a flag of truce and Spotted Tail
with twenty-six other chiefs, came out to meet the
officers and we scouts, to negotiate for terms.
Our horses were facing those of the Indians and
stood so close that their heads interlapped, thus plac-
ing their riders quite near to each other.
Under Chief Two Strike was next to me, and
when the other Indians put out their hands and said,
"How" — their way of greeting — Two Strike re-
mained silent and refused to offer me his hand. From
then on during the council, I just ignored him. I
noticed that during the council Two Strike was non-
chalant and grouchy; he would only answer with
grunts. I soon learned the cause. Spotted Tail and
his old warriors favored peace, while Two Strike and
the young warriors were anxious to fight. Since Old
Chief Spotted Tail held the highest authority, the
others had to submit to his terms. Finally he said
if we would leave that part of the country and prom-
ise never to return, they would not harm us; if not,
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO l6l
we would all be massacred. We accepted the terms
and agreed to leave at daylight the following morn-
ing and not look any further for Little Horse and his
band.
After the council, which lasted three hours, was
over, we had a friendly chat with the Indians. Billy
Lee, who had shouted to us not to shoot when we
first met the Indians, was a trader in Spotted Tail's
village and was under the protection of that chief.
It was customary with the Indians that if they were
attacked by the white people, to kill all the whites
who happened to be in the village, whether as a
trader or as a captive. Billy Lee acted as interpreter
during the council and also the friendly visit we had
with them.
Two Strike touched the cartridge in my belt and
said, "Heap shoot;" then touched the point of my
hunting knife and said, "Ugh! Heap long knife."
He wanted to trade me two buffalo robes, valued at
$20 each, and a deer hide worth about $10 for my
knife. I would not trade with him, and said, "The
first thing you would do would be to try that knife
on my scalp." He only smiled and grunted, as much
l62 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
as to say, more than likely he would at the first op-
portunity.
He then noticed the artillery and wanted to see
it. I took him around to the cannon and explained
how the powder was put in, and how to handle the
ram-rod, etc., and finished by saying, "Big noise;
heap shoot; kill all Indians around," and at the same
time pointed to all the Indians in sight. Two Strike
was not interested in the heap big guns any longer
and was in a hurry to get back where the other chiefs
were.
Just before leaving the Indians, Captain Mix
asked Lee if he had any salt in the camp; that they
were out of rations except the fresh game they could
kill, but had no salt to go with it. Lee said he did
not know, and if he had any, he would send a war-
rior to our camp with it. Two Strike asked how a
warrior could get into our camp at night. Captain
Mix was off his guard and said, "I will give the
guards orders not to fire at any one approaching."
Two Strike did not say any more, and we scouts
thought his question was extraordinary, since he had
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 163
taken no interest in the council, and after talking it
over, we decided he meant mischief.
When we had arranged camp for the night, we
told Captain Mix our opinion of Two Strike's ques-
tion and actions, and warned him to look out. He
did not seem to be very serious concerning it, and
said, "There is nothing to fear, boys; we made a
treaty with the Indians and they will not break it."
We had our doubts about it, and decided to take no
risks ; accordingly we told the captain our plans and
left the camp.
We scouts went to an island in the Republican
river, and stayed for the night. We were so situ-
ated that we could see the Indian village and also
the camp of the soldiers, and if an attack was made
we could easily escape. Had we remained in the
camp and been attacked, we would all have been
massacred, for the Indians were ten to our one.
As the night was darkening and the camp fires
were burning low and all the Indians were asleep and
not a sound came from the soldiers' camp, Two Strike
quietly crawled from his lodge and awoke his five
hundred young warriors. They soon laid their plot
164 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
and were on their horses ready to start for the sol-
diers, who were unsuspecting any danger. An old
warrior was disturbed from his slumbers and upon
peeping from his tepee, he saw the act of treachery.
He hurried to Spotted Tail and pointed towards the
mounted warriors. The old chief grabbed his revolver
and started for Two Strike; he placed the revolver
against the young chief's breast and ordered him to
call back his young warriors, and said, "We made a
treaty with those soldiers and don't you dare to break
it; if you do I will kill you."
Very much disappointed over failing in his ob-
ject, Two Strike did as bidden.
At break of day the next morning, we were on
our way toward Fort Sedgwick. The trip back was
one never to be forgotten. We left the fort with
only four days' rations, and were out sixteen days.
The last eight days we had only raw buffalo meat
without salt.
The weather was stormy and so cold that twenty
of the men had their hands and feet frozen. We
were in a wild country, no settlers for hundreds of
miles around us, so to avoid getting lost we carried
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO l6j
the compass in our hands all the time to keep a con-
tinual watch of the directions; when one man's hands
were cold he would pass the compass on to another
one.
After several days of such trying circumstances,
the soldiers were beginning to get uneasy; it was the
first time most of them ever had such trying experi-
ences. We scouts had been used to many hardships
and dangers, so did not mind it so much ; but it took
all of our nerve and good spirits to cheer up the dis-
couraged soldiers. Captain Mix worried over the
hopeless situation, and the burden of the responsibil-
ity for the safety of his men so weighed on his mind
that he became mentally deranged. The captain was
sure they were going the wrong way, and finally the
scouts had to threaten to leave him before he would
listen to reason. After much persuasion he consented
to fully rely on the scouts guiding them back into
civilization. Near the last few days the captain
came to himself and asked me where we expected to
come in on the Platte river. I told him at Bovay's
ranch. He bet me all we could eat, cigars and drinks,
as soon as we found any settlers, that we would strike
l66 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
the river at Ofellow's point, a distance of sixty miles
below Bovay's. I said, "Boys, what shall we do
about it1?" They said, "Take up the bet, and if you
lose we will help you out." So I took the bet.
A few days after this we came onto a little bluff
and saw a silver-like thread winding over the prairie
in the distance and knew we were nearing the Platte
and all began to pick up courage and get in good
spirits. We traveled a little farther, then I dis-
mounted and got my field-glasses out of my saddle-
bags and looked over the country. I distinguished a
farm about four or five miles ahead of us. I called
the other scouts and when they looked at it, we de-
cided it was Bovay's. We waited for Captain Mix
to come up, and as he studied the surrounding coun-
try, he finally agreed with us. It is needless to say
that we covered that few miles in a hurry, and the
captain stayed good by his bet, and we half-starved
creatures sure enjoyed that first night back in civil-
ization. Two or three weeks later Billy Lee came
to the fort and told us what a narrow escape the sol-
diers had that night they camped near Spotted Tail's
village.
CHAPTER XXV.
TWO FACE.
By W. S. Coburn.
After his raid down the Platte, where he burned
so many farm houses and hay stacks, when he took
Mrs. Morris captive and got so good a price for her
ransom, Two Face decided that there was good
money in stealing and selling white women; so he
took it up as a profession.
He went over on the Blue river and captured
Mrs. Ewbanks and Miss Roper. After he had them
three or four months, and mistreated and abused
them as the Indians usually did their captives, Two
Face took them to one of the southern forts, supposed
to be Fort Lyons, and traded them for provisions and
received a good exchange in the trade.
He immediately started to look for another bar-
gain.
This Indian dealt in women like he did in ponies.
He would always look for the finest appearing ones
and put up the price according to the beauty and
style of his captive.
l68 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
The next victim of Two Face was a Miss Ben-
nett. He was so sure of an unusually good price for
her, that he did not lose much time in getting to a
fort. The officers gave him a deal that enabled him
to retire from business.
By this time Two Face's reputation as a "dealer
in women" was spread all over the western country,
and every scout, officer and soldier was on the look-
out to close a final deal with him.
In the spring of 1866, Two Face took Miss Ben-
nett within a mile of Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and
hid her in some willows and placed three Indian
guards to watch her, while he went to the fort and
made terms for the sale.
Colonel Moonlight, who was in charge of the
fort, asked him what he wanted in exchange for his
captive. Two Face demanded three thousand pounds
of bacon, the same of flour, large quantities of sugar
and coffee, and twenty beef steers.
The colonel studied awhile before replying, "I
am not sure whether we can spare all that or not, but
I will send a sergeant to investigate the commissary
and see how much we have. He sent for a sergeant
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 169
and in the meantime he asked Two Face, "How far
is your captive and how long will it take to get her
here?"
The Indian said, "One mile, in willows; three
guards," and he unconsciously threw out his arm in
the direction. The keen colonel noticed the move.
By this time the sergeant came in and Moonlight
gave him the note to take to the captain. In a few
moments he returned with an answer. The colonel,
after reading it, turned to Two Face. "I am very
sorry, but we cannot trade for your captive ; our sup-
plies are too low." The Indian was greatly disap-
pointed over this turn of affairs. He had so planned
on a good price for Miss Bennett. He had begun to
think that the officers would ransom a white woman,
no matter what the cost was, and this was a blow to
him, for he thought his business was growing more
prosperous on every deal, so this failure caused an
enraged and revengeful Indian to leave the fort and
return to his captive, who would also feel the disap-
pointment of the deal and more than likely suffer
more at the hands of the Indian on account of it.
17O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
In the meantime the captain was carrying out the
orders in the colonel's note, which were, "Two Face
has a woman captive near, about a mile in the south-
west ; take a few men, go find her and bring the three
guards into the fort. If you should meet Two Face
on the road, bring him back."
Shortly after Two Face left the fort, the captain
returned with Miss Bennett and the "dealer in
women."
The colonel asked the captain where the three
Indian guards were, and the captain said, "I suppose
they got away; anyhow, they are goners," and he
said it in such a way that the colonel could easily
guess why they were goners.
They attached a chain and ball to Two Face and
placed him in the guard house, where he was con-
fined until instructions could be got from Washing-
ton. Colonel Moonlight sent the record of Two Face
into headquarters at Washington and asked for in-
structions what to do with him.
All messages were carried over the overland stage
coaches, which were owned by Ben Holiday at that
time. On account of this slow way of conveyance,
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
it was about three months before the answer got back
from Washington.
Colonel Moonlight was noted for his love of
liquor, and it so happened that he had a few drinks
too many, when the instructions from Washington
arrived. The dispatch was:
"Colonel Moonlight, Fort Laramie, Wyoming:
You will proceed at once to hang the Indian Chief
Two Face, in his chains."
But the colonel's eyes were a little crooked from
the effects of too much booze, and he read it, "Hang
the Indian chief Two Face with his chains." Upon
reading it, the colonel said, "All rite, I do dat rite
avay."
He went back to the guard-house and told Two
Face he was going to set him free. The old chief
was greatly pleased and jumped up with his pipe of
peace. The colonel said, "You no understand; I
send you to happy hunting grounds." This changed
the Indian's countenance.
Colonel Moonlight ordered three wagons to be
brought out in an open lot and the tongues raised up
and all fastened together, forming a tripod. He then
172 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
took Two Face out and threw one end of a log chain
over the tongues and hooked the other end around his
neck; then kicked the box from under the Indian.
They let the body of the Indian hang under the tri-
pod formed by the wagon tongues three days.
This ended Two Face's dealing in the woman
traffic.
CHAPTER XXVI.
STANDING ELK.
The government was trying to arrange a treaty
with the Indians in the northern part, around Fort
Laramie, as it did not want to fight with them.
Watson Coburn, a Mark Code and several other
ranchmen had a number of horses stolen. Coburn
and Code went after them and found a large bunch
of horses, and counted seventy-four that had their
brand on them.
They went to the officers at the fort and asked
them to help recapture the horses. The officers re-
fused to do so, saying that an attempt to get the
horses would interfere in making the treaty; but
Coburn and Code could put in their claim to the
government for the amount at which the horses were
valued.
In April, 1866, the government succeeded in
making the treaty. A slip of paper, with the In-
dian's name on it, stating that he belonged to the
band that had made the treaty, and no white man
174 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
should molest him, was given to every Indian who
made the treaty.
As soon as the treaty was made, the Indians
divided into small bands and scattered all over the
country. Some had not gone twenty-five miles from
the fort until they made fun of the treaty and started
in on their depredations.
A band of eight hundred crossed the river near
Watson Coburn's ranch. He did not know for cer-
tain if the treaty had been made, so as soon as he
saw them approaching, he threw the sand bags in the
gate to close up the entrance and got his hired men
in readiness for defense, should it be necessary.
The fence around Mr. Coburn's buildings was of
sod and stood eight feet high and was two feet thick.
He had several port-holes in it; these were two or
three feet square in the inner side and sloped to
about four inches on the outer. This allowed the
men behind the fence to be able to range their rifles
over a larger territory and at the same time leaving
the outer opening too small for the enemy to shoot
through from the distance.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 175
On this occasion, just as he had everything in
readiness, he noticed the Indians tying white rags on
the end of their arrows and holding them up in plain
view of the ranchmen. Coburn at once realized that
they were trying to show the flag of truce, so he went
out to meet them. They exchanged friendly greeting
with him and asked permission to make their camp
near his place for a few days. Coburn said they
could, and also get water from the stream running
through his place.
The Indians soon wanted to begin to swap and
trade buffalo robes and furs for coffee, sugar and
other supplies that Coburn happened to have.
Every Indian that came to him would reach
down in the pocket of his blanket and bring out a
small bundle and begin to unwrap it. The process
generally took about ten minutes. After they had
taken off several feet of rawhide string and some old
rags, they would hand out the paper given them by
the officers. The Indians prized these passes very
highly and were proud of them, which was the cause
of such care being given them.
176 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
After a few hundred of the Indians had shown
Coburn their passes, it was growing tiresome to him,
so he began to tell them that he could not read.
He noticed an extra large and distinguished look-
ing Indian, all dressed in gay colors and a magnifi-
cent head-piece of feathers, accompanied by a fine-
looking young squaw, who had two hundred and
twelve silver dollars sewed to her blanket. Coburn
thought they must be important members of the
band and was curious about them, so when they
offered to show their passes he was able to read. He
discovered that his distinguished caller was Chief
Standing Elk, the head chief of all the Cheyenne
tribes, and his daughter.
Coburn asked the chief how long the treaty was
to last. Standing Elk replied by signs, "One moon,
grass so high, so long time (measuring off on his fin-
ger) ; me get heap scalps, heap ponies." He meant
that in about time for a new moon the grass would
be good and their ponies would get in good condition,
then he would be ready for another raid, so break the
treaty. Close observation shows that most of the
treaties were made by the Indians in the time of the
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
year when their ponies were poor and weak and the
Indians were not prepared for fighting. But as soon
as spring opens up and the ponies fatten and plenty
of wild game could be had, so they need not depend
on their stored goods, and when the weather is warm
so they can rove around without being burdened
with blankets, tepees, etc., they always break their
treaties and start on their depredations.
The uncivilized inhabitants of the western plains
were shrewd enough when it came to looking after
their own interests.
CHAPTER XXVII.
MASSACRE AT FORT PHIL KEARNEY.
Colonel Carrington was in command of four hun-
dred men at Fort Phil Kearney, where they were
being tantalized by the Indians.
Chief Red Cloud, ranking chief of the war coun-
cil, sent about sixty warriors down near the fort to
tantalize the soldiers into leaving the fort and start
to fighting.
At last Colonel Carrington ordered Captain Fet-
terman and his company of ninety-two men to go out
and run the Indians back into the hills. The Indians
kept backing up toward the canon, about a mile from
the fort. A scout, who was in the company, thought
the Indians had some plot ahead, and tried to warn
the captain, but Fetterman was very enthusiastic and
anxious that the colonel's orders should be carried
out. The scout said he was not going to be caught in
any trap and went back to the fort. The soldiers
followed the Indians into the canon, and, as if by
magic, sixteen hundred warriors sprang up all around
them, and in no time they were all scalped and
l8o TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
killed. Colonel Carrington and the remaining three
hundred men staid in the fort and heard the shots
exchanged, but did not go to Fetterman's relief.
A short time after this, Chief Red Cloud came,
under a flag of truce, into the fort and told Colonel
Carrington about the trap and fight in the canon, and
said if the colonel had sent the other soldiers out they
would all have been killed. Undoubtedly they would
have, since the Indians outnumbered the soldiers.
Red Cloud also told of the bravery of the little
twelve-year-old drummer boy in Captain Fetterman's
company. While the fight was going on and men
were falling all around him, the boy stood on a large
rock and drummed away until the last man was
killed.
The Indian spoke so highly of the boy and his
courage that Carrington asked him why he allowed
the boy to be killed if he so admired his bravery and
courage. Red Cloud answered that he did not intend
to kill the boy, and as soon as he could he was going
to save him, but some of the warriors killed him just
before the chief reached his side to protect him.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MEXICAN PETER ARRAOO.
As cfold by IV. S. Coburn.
A train of wagons was making its way to Mon-
tana, in June, 1866, and one night they camped by
my place and put two Mexicans on night guard.
Late in the night one of the Mexicans mistook the
other for an Indian and fired at him. The shot
nearly tore his arm off and severely lacerated his
chest. The commander of the train asked me to take
him and care for him and make him as comfortable
as I could and see that he was properly buried, for
none of us expected to see him recover.
After offering to pay me for my trouble, the
commander went on his way to Montana. On the
second day I had the wounded Mexican, I thought
he might recover, so sent for the army physician at
Lathrum ; he would not come, but sent a lot of direc-
tions for me.
Five miles below my place was the Home Sta-
tion, run by Foster. One day, six months previous
l82 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
to Arrago' s accident, a misunderstanding arose be-
tween four or five of the men, more so between the
stage driver and Chub (the only name we knew for
him). Chub was shot, and they sent for me. I
went down and did all I could for him, but on the
second night he died. As I opened the door to go in
and see the corpse, a large cat sprang through the
door and onto the corpse. He was just beginning to
chew it, when I got hold of him and threw him out.
It was the only cat in the country for a hundred
miles around.
Having had some experience in caring for Chub,
I was more able to nurse the wounded Mexican,
Peter Arrago.
The fourth day after he was shot another train
went by and there were three doctors on it, who had
heard of the accident, and stopped to see Arrago.
After carefully examining his wounds and holding a
consultation, they said that gangrene had set in and
he could not live till twelve o'clock that night, and
for us to have a grave ready so we could bury him
immediately after death.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 183
I got out some tallow dips for candles and took
up my post by the Mexican, while Jordan, my part-
ner, went to bed. About eleven o'clock I noticed
Peter slowly failing and began to think the doctors'
verdict was being fulfilled. Suddenly something
happened that made me quite sure of it. As a rule
I was not supersitious, but there had been so many
strange events on the frontier and I was nearly worn
out with my steady watch, night and day, over Peter,
and so was easily startled, especially this night, when
I expected every breath to be the last.
My house had thick side walls and where the roof
came over them, it left an opening. Around the
ridge poles at the gable end, I had shelves where I
kept my canned goods. A little before midnight,
when I thought Peter was dying, I heard a noise on
the shelf over the head of the bed, and looking up, I
saw the cat from the Home Station sprawled out and
looking down as though ready to spring.
I was determined that it should not get at Peter
like it did Chub, so I tied it up in a gunnysack and
put it out doors. I did not want to kill a neighbor's
cat, but I was uneasy, for that was the first it had
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
ever come to my place. Thinking that the cat knew
by natural instinct that death was near, I was more
sure than ever that Peter was dying. Arousing Jor-
dan, I sent him out to dig the grave, while I did my
best to ease the dying Mexican. Again I heard the
noise on the shelves and discovered the cat in the
same place and position as before. It had got out
of the sack, crawled in between the wall and roof,
walked across the wall above the bed and crouched
down right above Peter's head. This time I nailed
him up in a box and put him outside. Jordan fin-
ished the grave and went back to bed. I remained
by the Mexican, expecting to have to call Jordan at
any time to help me. In the early morning Peter
came to himself again and asked me to cut his arm
off, it was paining him so. I decided that I could not
make it any worse and would do as he wished. I
sent to the physician at Lathrum and told him, since
he would not come and attend the wounded Mexican,
why not send the necessary articles and medicine to
amputate an arm. The physician made up his mind
to come when he thought there might be a chance to
save the Mexican. They put Peter in an ambulance
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 185
and took him to the army hospital at Lathrum.
Six months later Peter came back to my place
and said I saved his life. I told him how we had
given him up ; about the superstition over the cat and
the three doctors' advice, ending by saying, "Peter,
there is a grave dug out there for you; better go fill
it up."
He just answered, "Me no dig; me no fill."
CHAPTER XXIX.
A FEW MINOR EXPERIENCES.
As fold by W. S. Coburn.
In the fall of 1865 I took eight well-armed men
who were familiar with Indian fighting, with me
after some timber. We went eighty miles up the
Lawrence branch of the North Platte, through a very
wild country and inhabited with hostile Indians.
We were gone sixteen days and had only one scrap
with the Indians, and much to our surprise, we all
arrived home safe and sound.
This same fall I put up two hundred tons of hay,
and all the time we were working at the hay, we were
surrounded by the dangers. One day a man, who
happened to be in the field alone, was shot off the
machine and his team stolen by the Indians. After
that a guard was sent out to see that there were no
Indians secreted in the field, before I sent the men
out to work.
The buffalo and antelope were so numerous over
the prairie, that a herd of a thousand head at a time
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME Or
would be grazing right around my fields. They were
killed to supply the government stations with meat
for the emigrants. There were times when the emi-
grants were not prepared to hunt, so we scouts gen-
erally did the hunting. On account of the Indians
always sneaking around in the way, it was necessary
for us to take a large supply of cartridges with us.
We had no means of carrying them except in our
pockets, and they were so heavy they nearly always
kept our pockets torn down. I finally grew tired of
that and decided to study out a new way. While I
was studying, I carelessly wrapped a string around a
cartridge and noticed that it held the cartridge firm.
It dawned on me that I could fix a belt that way.
After I figured it all out, I went to the harness maker
at Fort Sedgwick, and said, "Mr. Mitchell, I want
you to do a job for me. Take a strip of leather
about three or four inches wide and long enough for
a belt, then take a buckstring about half inch thick
and sew in loops on the belt, just so these cartridges
will fit in them snug, and not lose out." I paid him
two dollars and fifty cents for making the belt.
When I wore it back on the plains, all of my friends
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
greatly admired it and praised it very highly. Some
advised me to get a patent on it, but I was over a
hundred miles from Denver, and four hundred from
Omaha, therefore was unable to go.
Later I went to Fort Sedgwick and asked for Mr.
Mitchell. I wanted to tell him of the satisfaction
of my belt, in the general opinion of my friends on
the plains. But I was told he had invented a cart-
ridge belt, sold the patent for a large sum of money
and left the frontier, leaving me the satisfaction of
knowing I had told him how to make it, while he got
the credit and money for the belt.
In the spring and summer of 1867, the Indians
again got so bold and numerous up around Greeley,
that freighters refused to load for the west. Four hun-
dred miles of the road to Denver and Greeley was
"cut off and emigrants and freighters dared not travel.
What freight was taken west was raised to twenty
cents a pound; grain was twenty and twenty-five
cents a pound, while hay was very high, and finally
there was none to be had.
Gus Hall, who was injured in the American
ranch fight six months before, came back to my ranch
1QO TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
with a cork leg and foot. He proposed to me to go
in with him and get some cows and capture some buf-
falo calves and raise them. We got ready the first
to the tenth of May, when buffalo calves were due.
There was a bunch of twelve or fifteen hundred buf-
falo cows near my place, where we expected to get
what we wanted in a few minutes. On the tenth
day of May, we started out with a pair of Mexican
mules and a spring wagon to gather the calves. The
buffalo shifted around so that we missed them and
we kept on going, thinking they had sought the table
land above my place. Just before making the rise
onto these broad, level table lands, we stopped, and
I got out and walked on ahead of the team, so I could
see the country and locate the buffalo. To my ut-
most surprise and consternation, instead of finding
the buffalo, there were about a hundred Indians
about a mile from us, coming in our direction on the
march, as if moving. I did not know if they had seen
me or not, and did not care to spend any time to find
out, but knew if they found our tracks we would be
doomed. One of us took the lines and the other the
blacksnake and the way we flew down through those
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
sandhills was a caution. When about half way
home we dashed down through a small basin and
there we found the buffalo cows and the calves were
lying thick all over the ground. We could have
loaded up in just a few minutes, but the sight of
those Indians had left no desire for anything but to
get to a place of safety. After that we were cautious
about going out and abandoned the project.
We were out hunting, once after that, and again
encountered a band of Indians, but being well
mounted, made our escape. I told Gus that he
seemed to be unlucky and I should decline to go out
with him any more. About two years afterwards
Gus Hall and Bill Comstock, with two other men,
while out in the cedar canon for wood, were all killed
and scalped by the Indians.
The Indians believe that no one can go to the
happy hunting ground bald-headed; that is the rea-
son they always scalped the white men, for they did
not want them to get in on their happy hunting
grounds. They would always try to save their dead
before the settlers could scalp them, so they would be
sure to enter their heaven.
1Q2 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
On June 3rd, 1867, I went out to hunt antelope,
and when about half a mile from the house and in
plain sight of it, I was surrounded by Indians. They
were all on ponies and kept circling around me. The
Indians would usually surround a man and induce
him to shoot away his ammunition the first thing,
then they were sure to get him. I happened to know
this, so was saving with mine and intended to make
every shot count. It was nearly an hour before I
got a good aim and as they ran past me I killed one
of their horses. The Indians had seemed to think I
did not have any cartridges, and were somewhat sur-
prised at the shot, but as I did not shoot again for
nearly an hour, they began to think that I did not
have any more, and got reckless. One of them came
up behind me and shot an arrow that just buzzed
past my ear and stuck in the ground a few feet ahead
of me. The Indian then whirled his horse, and just
as he started away, I tried my luck, and he raised up
and went over his pony's head like a leap-frog. I
was getting reckless, too, for I thought I was a goner,
and was going to see how many I could send on ahead
of me. My attention was drawn towards the Indian
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 1Q3
I had shot, and I noticed that he was not dead, so I
got my knife and started for him, but another Indian
saw my intention and threw a rope on the wounded
Indian and dragged him out of my way. The Indian
that was riding the horse I killed, had left the circle
and started on a run for the canon, and I was ex-
pecting more Indians to arrive at any time. The
stage coach drove up to my place and stopped, and
the passengers, numbering about twenty, were all
watching my fight. But I did not have time to won-
der if they would come to my rescue, or to look if
the other Indians were coming. The Indian, in drag-
ging the wounded one away, caused the ring to be
broken, and I was not long in darting out of it and
on my way home as fast as my legs could carry me,
expecting at every step to be struck by an arrow.
The Indians had me penned in about two hours and
a half, all of which time I could feel my hair raising
my hat up. About five minutes after I reached the
house, I saw the Indian runner return with about
forty-seven more. I escaped just in the nick of time.
The passengers on the coach were the only people
1Q4 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
near and they were poorly armed, so would have had
no show in helping me against fifty-eight Indians.
That night General Custer, with three hundred
soldiers, camped a quarter of a mile from me, and
the next morning he asked me if there were any In-
dians in my neighborhood, and I told him of my ex-
perience the day before and thought that they were
camped in the cedar canon, as it was the only place
near that they could get both wood and water. I
also told him that twenty picked men could clean out
the bunch, and I would guide them to the canon,
which was about twenty-five or thirty miles from my
ranch. He then told me that he was not out fighting
Indians, but to make treaties with them, and he sup-
posed the band in the canon was a forerunner of a
large band of several hundred that had been follow-
ing him.
One of his soldiers told me about camping one
night on the Republican river. A band of Indians
camped near and refused to make a treaty. They
ordered Custer to move his camp, and fired a few
volleys of shot among the soldiers, so Custer had to
move. A great many of his soldiers deserted him;
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
said they would not stand and be targets for the In-
dians and not have the privilege to defend them-
selves.
Custer had orders not to shoot at the Indians and
he intended to obey orders. He turned back, report-
ed at Fort Sedgwick and went on into Fort Wallace.
CHAPTER XXX.
RED BEAD, ROBERTS AND THE COMANCHES.
Red Bead, a chief, was at Fort Sedgwick, under
the protection of the officers in charge. He had won
the entire confidence of all at the fort, and at the
same time had secret communications with the hostile
tribes.
On one occasion Lieutenant Kidder and ten sol-
diers were sent out to intercept General Custer on his
route and deliver some orders. Red Bead said he
knew the way and asked to go as their guide. The
officers consented. Some time afterwards the bodies
of the Lieutenant and his ten men were found near
Custer's route. Six months later Red Bead returned
to the fort and told quite a tale, how they were sur-
prised by the Indians and the white men killed, while
he was taken captive and was treated terribly by
his captors, until he managed to escape and get back
to the fort. The officers took him in, under their
protection and into their confidence, just as they had
done before.
1Q8 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
One day he asked an officer, that if any of his
ponies were stolen, what would they do about it.
The officer told him the government would pay him
for the ponies if they were stolen, while he was un-
der their protection. About three days later twenty-
nine head of the Indian ponies disappeared. John
Freal and Watson Coburn happened to be out scout-
ing and saw a bunch of twenty-nine horses and nine
Indians coming their way. They hid until the horses
got close, then they jumped up and began yelling
and shooting, causing a stampede. The Indians,
thinking they had run into a bunch of scouts, kept
going just as fast as they could, while the two scouts
captured three of the horses and had a good laugh at
the Indians. They ran the horses down to Coburn' s
ranch for safe keeping. The officers heard about it
and sent a lieutenant and an escort after them. Co-
burn bluffed them out and they went back without
the ponies. But Red Bead was paid for the ponies,
that his own band stole for him.
The Comanches were considered about the hard-
est fighters among the Indians, but as a usual thing
they confined nearly all of their depredations to
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
stealing stock, only occasionally killing and scalping
the settlers.
The ranchers were far apart and had to be almost
self-supporting. When one was raided the others
were notified and they would gather and follow the
raiders. The following incident was told by C. F.
Roberts, who was an early settler in Texas, and had
many trying experiences with the Comanches.
This particular time seven Indians had stolen a
number of head of stock and started toward the west.
The owner sent out messages to the other settlers to
meet at a certain elevation and they would combine
and go after them. They began to meet, fifteen and
twenty at a time, and when they had a large enough
number they started in pursuit of the Indians.
They overtook the Indians and recaptured the
stock and cornered the Indians in a hole in a wash-
out. The men didn't dare go to the edge of the hole
and look in, for the Indians could get a good shot at
them. The men would go back and hold council
and decide to storm the hole, but they all knew if
they did some would be sure to get killed, so they
ould back out. They counciled, and started a
2OO TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
charge several times, and every time would back out.
For some time they had not heard any noise in the
hole and had almost concluded that the Indians had
found some way out, without the men seeing them,
but none of them would risk taking a peep to be sure
about it. About three o'clock in the afternoon, when
they were getting uneasy and wondering what to do,
they saw a large dark cloud coming over the western
horizon. In a few minutes it began to rain; then
suddenly the water rushed in a torrent down the
washout. There had been a cloudburst above them.
When they were able to reach the hole, they dragged
out seven drowned Indians. One of them was a
squaw, who had taken a warrior's place.
CHAPTER XXXI.
FIGHT WITH EAGLE CLAW.
By W. S. Coburn.
On the north side of the Platte river there was a
distance of three hundred miles where there were no
roads or settlements. There was plenty of good
gr^ss on the north side, owing to there being no
travel, and for that reason Arthur Lewis went down
the north side and camped, June 3, 1867, across
from the Spring Hill ranch, twelve miles below Mr.
Coburn's ranch. Mr. Coburn tells the following
story about their fight with Chief Eagle Claw :
One of our cows had run away, and I went
down to the Spring Hill ranch after it. I stayed for
dinner, then immediately afterwards started home.
I had gone about three miles when I rode over a
ridge, and looking across the river, I saw nine horse-
men riding towards Lewis' wagon and oxen, I rode
back to the ranch and asked Mr Freal : "Are there
any soldiers out from the fort*?" He said he did not
know of any. I got my glasses and looked at the
2O2 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
horsemen and discovered that they were Indians,
coming down from the bluffs toward the wagons,
and we realized at once there was going to be an at-
tack. Arthur Lewis had left the wagon and was
somewhere around the ranch. I found him and
showed the Indians to him and asked if there was
any one with the wagons. He said, "Yes, I left a
young fellow, George Teal, over there."
"Did you leave any guns or ammunition in the
wagon *?" I asked him.
"Yes, seven guns and plenty of ammunition."
There were eight men and myself at the ranch,
and I suggested that we take the boat and cross over
to Teal's assistance. The others all hesitated, and
then began to make excuses. They couldn't all leave
the ranch, and some couldn't swim, in case the boat
should tip over, were some of their excuses.
By this time I was getting vexed with them and
said, "I believe you fellows are all cowards and
afraid to go. I know it is a risky business and all
that, but we can't stand here and watch the Indians
get that man without us taking a chance to help him.
I am going; is anyone coming with me*?"
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 2O3
Tom Fought, who used to work for me and was
in several hard fights with me, and Henry Freal
spoke up, "Take the lead, Coburn; we will follow
you."
The river was high and running swift, so we
towed the boat up stream quit a distance, that we
might be able to land on the opposite bank with the
wagon between us and the Indians. Tom rowed the
boat, Henry steered it, and I sat with my rifle ready
in case it would be necessary to use it.
In the meantime, Teal had seen the Indians ap-
proaching and got in the covered wagon, tied the
canvass sheets together at both ends, loaded up his
seven guns and waited for them. When they began
to fire at the wagons, Teal just peppered it back into
them. The Indians, seeing that they had a harder
proposition than they expected, sent a runner back
to their camp for more warriors.
The current was so swift, it was taking us below
the wagon, and before long the Indians caught sight
of us and left the wagon and ran down the bank,
waiting for us to get in rifle range, then fire into us.
When we were nearing the bank, I saw an Indian
2O4 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
with a rifle, that looked about nine feet long to me
just then, and he was leveling it in our direction, so
I told the boys to drop flat in the boat, and just as
I started to drop, crack ! went that rifle, and the bul-
let grazed across my temple. I dropped into the
river. I was stunned several minutes and when I
gradually came to myself, I was standing in water
waist deep and holding onto my rifle, which was also
standing in the water. I looked around and saw the
boat drifting down stream, and as I was collecting
my thoughts as to how I got there, the accident came
to my mind and I said to myself, "Well, you have
been shot, but where?" and while looking for the
bullet hole, I happened to look up and saw an In-
dian hiding behind a rock, loading a gun. I thought,
"Old fellow, I'll just beat you to it." I took my
gun out of the river, poured the water out of it and
had it ready, so just as I saw the Indian edge around
the rock and that nine-foot gun aimed at me, I fired.
The Indian turned a somersault and limped away.
The boys in the boat looked around and I motioned
them to pull ashore. One of them landed and the
other came back after me. We then got under the
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 2O5
bank and taking the boat with us, started toward the
wagon. As the Indians saw they could not get to us
while we were under the bank, they hurried back to
the wagon, intending to get Teal and raid the wagon
before we got there. By this time fourteen more In-
dians had come down from their camp, and a runner
had been sent for still more, so their number was in-
creased to fifty-eight, while there were only four
of us.
Teal could not imagine what the commotion was
outside, as he could not see out, and never once
thought that it was some one coming to his aid, since
he knew there was no white man for a hundred miles
on that side of the river, and he did not think any
one would dare to cross the river when it was so high,
and a mob of Indians waiting for them to land.
When he heard the Indians returning to the wagon
he peeped out and saw us back of him near the bank.
He jumped from his hiding place and joined us.
We had got there just in time, for he had only three
cartridges left, and in another five minutes the In-
dians would have had him.
2O6 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
We kept up a pitched fight for quite a while,
when it died down a little and we had time to look
around, we noticed one Indian with the long rifle,
making his way to the bank. He was out of rifle
reach, so all we could do was to keep watch on him.
I surmised that his intention was to get under the
bank, crawl up and let our boat down stream and
leave us without any means of getting back to the
ranch, then while the others held our attention in
front, he would pick us off one at a time. While
we were watching the Indian and talking about his
intentions the other Indians had fallen back to coun-
cil. Suddenly they charged down on us, yelling and
shooting. For ten or fifteen minutes they took our
entire attention and when we had a chance to look
for the Indian whom we had seen making his way to
the river, he had disappeared. About two hundred
yards below us was a sharp bend in the bank. I
thought he might be hiding back of that until the
others could make another charge, then he could get
up back of us. I said, "Boys, watch in the grass
below here for him and keep an eye on the others;
I am going to get under the bank, take my chances
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
and meet that Indian at the turn and see if I can't
head him off."
I managed to drop over the bank unseen, and
crawled to the turn. I then stopped to load my gun,
and crouched down, ready to spring, but he did not
come, and as I did not want to waste any time, I
leaped around the turn, thinking that I would take
him at a disadvantage and get the drop on him. But
he wasn't there. I cautiously peeped up over the
bank and saw a black head raised up out of a buffalo
wallow (a place where the buffalo have pawed out a
hole to catch rain water in) a short distance away.
Before I could shoot, it dropped out of sight. Again
it raised up and took a glance toward the wagon, as
though measuring the distance, then dropped down
in the grass. I leveled my rifle over the bank and
waited. Suddenly he sprang out of the wallow with
his gun to his shoulder, aimed at one of the boys
back of the wagon, who was unaware of his danger
and busy watching the Indians in front. By the
time the Indian was on his feet, I fired and he fell.
To be sure that he was dead, I leaped up the bank
with knife in my hand, and started for him. At the
208 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
same time Tom came running from the wagon and
said, "That is my Indian." We looked for the bul-
lets and mine struck him square and went clear
through, while Tom's hit him on the left wrist just
where it was bent in holding the barrel of the rifle,
and as the Indian was turned sideways toward Tom,
the bullet went on into the left side of his chest and
lodged against the skin on the right shoulder. The
boys had followed my advice, and Tom watched in
the grass, while George and Henry stood off those
in front.
The Indian we killed was Eagle Claw, and when
the others saw that their chief was dead, refused to
fight any more and went to their camp. The Indian
camp was about a half mile from the wagon and I
watched them through my glasses, and saw they had
three dead and eight wounded. Fearing they might
come down in the night and attack again, we decided
to make them leave entirely.
George Teal and Henry Freal remained at the
wagon, so if the Indians should surround us they
could break the ring. Tom Fought and I went to-
ward the camp and on the way we picked up two
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 2C>9
buffalo heads and took them with us. When we got
within rifle range, we laid down in a wallow and
placed the heads in front of us and opened fire into
the camp. The Indians would not return the shots,
but threw their dead and wounded across the ponies
and left camp just as it was. We got all the buffalo
robes, blankets and trinkets that the boat would hold.
We took a large eagle claw, that was on a string of
beads, from around the chiefs neck, two five-cent
pieces that were fastened in his ears with brass rings
and a large brass ring out of his nose. He had a
bag on a string around his neck that they called a
medicine bag, and believed that it would protect him
from all harm. We opened the bag just to see what
was in it, and found it full of a baby's hair. We
loaded the boat and crossed back to the Spring Hill
ranch just at sunset.
The stage route passed the ranch and on this day
the stage was going by as we were fighting, and
stopped for four hours watching us. The passen-
gers not being used to such sights, were awfully ex-
cited. Among them was a son of Jefferson C. Davis,
and he wrote back to his father a description of the
21O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
tight and termed the frontiersmen as barbarians and
called the Indians those poor abused people. There
was good excuse for him, for at that time he was
what we called a tenderfoot, and if he stayed out
west very long he would soon learn. But his lesson
came sooner than we had expected. The morning
following our fight, as the stage was going on to
Moore's place, it was attacked by the Indians and one
of the leaders of the six-horse team was killed and
Davis' son was shot in the groin, and for two months
we did not expect to see him get well. The Indians
changed his mind for him concerning themselves, and
he wrote another letter to his father about the cruel
savages and the brave frontiersmen. A letter en-
tirely different from the first.
CHAPTER XXXII.
FIGHT OF GENERAL FORSYTH.
As ^old by A. K. Shaw.
In the year of 1868, General Forsyth, assisted by
Lieutenant Beecher and Scouts Grover and McCall,
had charge of fifty-one men in the eastern part of
^Colorado. They were certain of an attack and had
no more than completed their preparations for a de-
fense than young Chief Roman Nose, a perfect speci-
men of a savage leader, being six feet and three
inches tall and sinewy and slim, and carrying himself
with a daring and reckless movement, led his band of
a thousand warriors just a little beyond rifle range of
the soldiers. Two squads of these were placed at
each end of the island and kept up a continual cross-
fire, so that the soldiers did not dare to raise in their
rifle pits to fire at the oncoming forces that were
charging down on them from in front, so the bullets
were falling thick all around the soldiers. Fortu-
nately for the soldiers, that once the chargers came
within range of the bullets of their men on the
212 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
island, they would have to cease firing. The general
noticed this, so was waiting for the break in the fir-
ing. His soldiejs had turned in their rifle pits, their
rifles to their shoulders ready to spring up and fire as
soon as the order was given. They were all impa-
tiently waiting.
Before a great while the cross-fire ceased and the
soldiers had their chance. General Forsyth said,
"Now," and Beecher, McCall and Grover repeated
the order. The soldiers rose as one man and sent
seven consecutive volleys into the charging horde of
savages. The first and second volleys were answered
with yells from the savages, as they continued to-
wards the rifle pits, but the third was followed by
fewer shouts and gaps began to show in their ranks.
But still they kept bravely pushing on to the sol-
diers, Roman Nose leading them and wildly waving
his rifle at them to come on, and shouting his defiant
war cry. At the fourth volley, their medicine man,
who was leading one of their columns, went down.
This checked the others for an instant; then they
rushed on with renewed energy and force. The fifth
volley thinned their ranks, and with the sixth, Chief
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 213
Roman Nose and his horse fell together, both mor-
tally wounded.
A few feet more and the savages would be upon
the soldiers, but the column hesitates and shows signs
of weakness ; the soldiers take advantage of them and
poured the seventh volley into their ranks, just as
some of the warriors had reached the edge of the
island. Then, with ringing cheers, the frontiersmen
springing quickly to their feet, poured the contents
of their revolvers into the very faces of the onrush-
ing mounted warriors. The Indians, completely
cowered and defeated, divided, and laying low over
their ponies, hurried to get out of reach of the sol-
diers' revolvers and to a place of safety.
There were about eight soldiers killed and twelve
wounded. General Forsyth was wounded three times,
but dragged himself around to care for the wounded
soldiers. Lieutenant Beecher was shot in the side,
and simply said, "General, I have got my death
wound," then murmured something about "poor
mother," and died as bravely and unflinchingly as he
had fought.
214 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
The dead horses were unsaddled and the saddles
used to strengthen the fortifications, and pieces of
the horses were buried to keep for the soldiers to sub-
sist on. The meat had to be eaten raw, but fortu-
nately there was plenty of good water. The sol-
diers, being nearly exhausted, slept throughout the.
night, but the next day was so hot that the wounded
ones suffered intensely. It was a gloomy day, with-
out food, but raw horse meat; no comfort for the
wounded and no hope of ever getting away; and in
the Indian camp near by the squaws were beating
drums and keeping up a steady death chant.
The soldiers dared not venture from behind their
fortifications, for they would have no chance what-
ever; the Indians were waiting for them, and such a
few, burdened with their wounded comrades, could
not protect themselves. They must wait and let fate
take its course.
General Forsyth had sent out two messengers to
carry dispatches to the officers at Fort Wallace, tell-
ing of their hopeless condition and asking for help.
But the messengers were unable to get past the In-
dian pickets, so returned. The day after the fight
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 21 £
he sent two more, with full particulars of the fight,
the wounded, and their trying circumstances. In the
meantime the soldiers were growing weaker and more
hopeless. On the fourth day the meat had become
putrid, but one of the soldiers killed a wolf, which
helped them to hold out a little longer.
Forsyth's wound was getting very painful and
he asked the soldiers to cut the bullet out, but it be-
ing near the femoral artery they were afraid to un-
dertake it, so the general took his razor and cut it
out himself. Later his leg was jarred and the broken
bone protruded through the flesh. On the sixth day
Forsyth called the well soldiers to him and told them
to try and save themselves; the wounded ones would
stay and take their chances, they were about done for
anyway. There was silence for a few moments, then
the men said, "Never! Never! We will stand by
you till the end, general." And McCall said, "We
have fought together, and, by heavens, if need be,
we can die together."
Thus showing the faithfulness and self-sacrifice
of the scouts and soldiers on the frontier.
2l6 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
The next two days seemed to be almost intermin-
able, as there was so much suffering and misery
among the slowly starving and dying soldiers. On
the morning of the ninth day, one of the soldiers
jumped up and said, "There are some objects on the
hills in the distance." All that were able leaped to
their feet and strained their eyes to see what it was.
Finally a scout said, "By the heavens above us, it is
an ambulance." The strain was over. The. two mes-
sengers had succeeded in meeting Colonel Carpenter
with the Tenth cavalry and he hastened to their res-
cue.
Though the fight was a thousand to fifty-one, the
white men won in the end, in spite of the uneven
numbers, the hardships and suffering and the disad-
vantages of the soldiers.
i &
CHIEF "YELLOWHAIR
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A TRIP INTO MONTANA.
As fold by A. K. Shaw.
In November, 1863, I left Denver with a two-
horse team and some of my truck, and headed for
Helena, Montana. A short time afterwards I took
four or five wagons and men and went near Banick
"City, put up a log house and started a station. It
was while here that I got acquainted with some of
the road agents and familiar with their plans and
tricks.
The Indians were not our only enemies; we lost
a lot through the road agents, who were principally
the criminals and jail breakers that escaped from the
East and took refuge in our western wilderness,
where there was no law, and, as they supposed, they
could have things their own way. But they got
fooled. We formed vigilant parties to protect our-
selves, and no more thought of stringing up an out-
law who molested us than we did of scalping a red-
skin who had killed our neighbor and destroyed our
property.
2l8 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Just to show you how we did it, I will tell you of
some of the road agents I ran across while on my
trip to Montana.
In that part of Montana, gold was found in great
quantities, and a large gang of men were getting out
the gold dust and going back to the states, so there
was a continual come and go.
The outlaws soon saw a chance for easy money
and after the miners got the gold and started on the
road home, they were often waylaid and robbed, gen-
erally killed.
Henry Plummer had been appointed sheriff, but
the people noticed that the road agents were just as
bad as ever, and soon discovered that Plummer was
their leader and playing into their hands.
On one occasion Jack Oliver, Jack Hughes and
Sloan took several mule teams and loads of groceries
and liquor to a station about sixty miles from my
station. They got a large amount of gold dust in
exchange for their loads. Being afraid to try to
carry it home, they traded it for greenbacks and put
them in several envelopes and addressed them to dif-
ferent people in Denver, and scattered them out
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 21Q
among their drivers, just as though it was letters
they were carrying back.
The road agents always had spies out, and one of
them got onto how the money was being carried. As
the teams were quite a distance out on the road they
were held up and the money taken from the drivers.
When the robbers got to the last wagon, Jack
Hughes and Sloan raised up from under the canvas
x:over and opened fire on them. The robbers dropped
the envelopes and ran. The two who attacked the
last wagon were severely wounded, but managed to
escape.
Sloan, Hughes and their men went on into the
next town and reported. Five vigilantes, headed by
John Featherson, started in pursuit.
A few nights before a man by the name of Pease
stopped at my place and had turned his horse loose
to go to water. The horse failed to come back to the
feed and we scoured all around the place, but found
no trace of it. When the outlaws held up Sloan's
party they had a horse that Sloan recognized as
Pease's. He recaptured it and returned it to its
owner.
22O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
As the vigilantes were scouring the country for
the road agents, they noticed smoke curling up out
of the willows in the distance and turned that way.
John Wagner and Ned Ray, the two outlaws
wounded by Sloan and Hughes, got as far as the
willows and gave out, on account of the pain and
loss of blood resulting from their wounds. They
stopped and built a fire and waited, taking their
chances for either some of their companions or the
vigilantes finding them first.
When found by the latter, they were nearly
starved, their wounds swollen and hands and feet
badly frozen. They were brought to my cabin and
cared for until something was decided upon. There
was no bed for Wagner, so I took him in with me.
The boys tried to talk me out of it, but he was human
and suffering, and I knew he could not harm me, he
being in such a condition.
The vigilantes strung Wagner up three times to
make him confess and tell who his comrades were.
The ones he named were Jack Gallager, Henry
Plummer, Club-Foot George, Ned Ray, Spanish Pete
and several others, whose names I have forgotten.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 221
Spanish Pete was a desperate and daring fellow.
He always said he would never be taken alive, but
would always save one shot for himself when cor-
nered. While trying to capture Spanish Pete, Cub-
bly was shot in the hip and Featherson was grazed
across the side of the head; his hair was shaved off
by a bullet from the temple back. Pete hid in a log
house that was built with logs about six to eight
inches in diameter. He was well armed and pro-
tected, and at first no one could get near enough to
make an opening in the building. At last one of the
men thought of a little army howitzer that had been
given to a family to take across the plains. He got
it and shot a four-pound ball through the walls of
the cabin. The ball went through both walls of that
cabin and on into my cabin and lodged in a sack of
flour.
Durant, who had had some serious trouble in the
past with Pete, knocked down the door and shot him
twice with a double-barreled shotgun. I believe that
Pete was dead before Durant shot him, for he was
crouched down in a corner and I noticed a hole in his
222 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
temple with powder burns around it, and I think he
carried out his threat.
The vigilantes took his body and hung it on Mrs.
Moser's clothes line scalene; then they just riddled
it with bullets. Later the body was burned on some
poles taken from the log house.
Three more were hanged that night. Henry
Plummer was one of them. He was the first to hang
on the gallows that he had built to hang his prison-
ers on during his term of sheriff, but his term expired
before he had the opportunity to hang any one.
Slade, Club-Foot George, Jack Gallager and
Boone Helm were taken to Helena and hanged the
next morning. As they were all standing on the
boxes with the noose around their necks, Helm no-
ticed that Gallager had on a new suit of clothes. He
said: "Gallager, you had better give me those
clothes; you will never need them any more." He
said it just as though he was not going to be hung,
too. Then some one asked Helm if he wanted any-
thing before he died. He asked for a drink and when
a glass of whiskey was handed to him, he raised it
and said: "Hurrah! for Jeff D ," just then the
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 223
box was kicked from under him. Helm was a south-
ern man and every time he gave a toast or anything
pleased him, he would always cheer for Jeff Davis.
When Mrs. Slade heard that her husband was
captured, she left Mountain Meadow with Nailer
Thompson, a great friend of Slade's, and hurried to
Helena. They rode horseback all day and night, and
just as Slade was on the box with the noose around
his neck, she came dashing down the mountain on a
dead run, her horse covered with foam and in places
the foam had frozen. She ran up to the mob and
without stopping her horse she leaped down with two
drawn revolvers and run into the crowd. Some one
took the guns and led her away. Thompson tried to
interfere, but was told to be careful or he would
swing, too. As soon as Mrs. Slade was taken away
the box was kicked from under her husband.
The rest of the road agents escaped to Deer
Lodge. A short time after this the stage running
through the Rattlesnake country was held up and
Bummer Dan, who had always been a tramp, but
had got a sudden raise, was robbed of nine thousand
dollars. A young vigilante followed one of the rob-
224. TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
bers over into Idaho and got the drop on him. The
vigilante took advantage of the robber's surprise and
used a little strategem. In some way he made the
robber believe he had help hidden near by, when
there was not a person for miles around. He got the
robber to put up his hands, and he tied them to-
gether; then he got him on a mule and led the mule
under a tree, put one end of a rope around the rob-
ber's neck, the other end over a branch of the tree,
and told the mule to "Get up." The vigilante left
the once desperate road agent a hanging carcass.
I stayed in Montana four months, and during
that time sixty-four bandits were hung.
Smith, Holmes, Ritterhouse, Bullock and myself
formed a party to go from Helena to Salt Lake.
Holmes and Ritterhouse had been freighters from
Ogden and sold their cattle and outfit to Darce and
Vivian for about twelve thousand dollars, and the
rest of us had several thousand between us. We
were always on the lookout for the road agents, and
wanted to be on the safe side, so we put the money
in a pack on some mules and two men were always
mounted on good horses to guard the mules, while
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 22$
one did the cooking and watched the wagons. We
made a rule for none of us to shoot unless as a sig-
nal that the road agents were near.
One night, shortly after we made camp, I strayed
away from the others, and suddenly I saw some-
thing that caused me to shoot in a hurry. The oth-
ers came running and awfully excited. I showed
them what I had killed, and their excitement
changed from fear into keen appetite. I had shot
two mountain trout, the two together weighing nine-
teen pounds.
At Salt Lake City Smith and I left the others
and took the road down the Echo canon and headed
for Denver. We met some immigrants on the way
who warned us of Indians, as there had been a rumor
of an uprising. We got across the North Platte be-
fore we heard anything more of them, but we were
at Marie Anna Station, and well sheltered.
We got into Denver just as the report of the
Hungate massacre got there. I immediately joined
in with the rescuing and scouting party.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
A TRIP TO THE MISSOURI RIVER.
As 'fold by A. K. Shaw.
A man by the name of Pease and I happened to
run across each other, while on our way to the Mis-
souri river. We were freighting and had several
wagons and a large number of oxen with us. On the
main traveled side of the river the grass was poor,
so we forded the river and made camp on the oppo-
site side.
Right after we had turned the cattle out to graze,
we noticed a large and dark cloud coming up over
the horizon. We gave the boys orders to prepare a
corral, by chaining all the wagons together in a cir-
cle, while we gathered up the oxen. Just before we
got them to the corral, the storm struck us and the
cattle stampeded. Pease and I followed them all
that night. Fourteen head got down in a gutter and
were stamped to death by the others running over
them.
We failed to get them turned back that night, so
in the morning we went back to camp for something
228 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
to eat and to get a new start. The ground was cov-
ered with snow and the boys we had left in camp had
got up and scraped the snow off a small place so they
could build a fire, made some coffee and went back
to bed and that is where we found them about noon,
when we drifted into camp. We went after the cat-
tle again, but there were sixteen head that we could
not find, and we were unable to spend much time in
looking. While hunting we were on a sharp look-
out for Indians, for there were plenty around us. As
I was looking over the country through my field
glasses, I saw an object and had Pease to look at it.
We both decided that it was an Indian and started
after it. As we drew nearer we were sure it was one.
When within firing distance, I shot several shots at
it, but it did not offer to return the shots or to run.
I went still closer and shot again, with the same re-
sults. I finally concluded that it was fooling me and
was working a scheme. I thought possibly it had
something under its robe that prevented the bullets
from striking it, and there might be come others hid-
den in the brush, who would spring out on me when
I got near enough.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 22Q
At last I screwed up courage and took my two
revolvers, remounted my horse, and went on a dead
run towards it, emptying both revolvers right on to
it as I went. Yet it just stood and never offered to
fight. When within about twenty feet, I saw that it
was not an Indian. Some one had killed a buffalo
and cut the meat out, leaving the head and horns on
the hide. The meat side had been turned up to the
sun and the heat drew it together; then we figured
out that the wind must have bio wed it up on end
and the horns stuck in the sand and the dirt had
packed around them, thus holding the hide erect, and
at a distance it appeared like an Indian holding his
buffalo robe around him.
We took what cattle we had found and went
back to camp, rigged up teams enough to take our
loads on to the Missouri river.
On the return of our second trip we passed the
Malalie ranch, and one of our boys noticed eight
head of oxen in their corral, that looked like the ones
we had lost on the first trip.
I went in and saw that they were my cattle and
asked Malalie about them. He said thev were not
23O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
mine, for they did not have my brand on, and that
the commanding officer at Julesburg gave him per-
mission to take in and dispose of all stray stock on
the range around his place.
I told him that was all right and I was willing
to pay him for the feed and trouble they had cost
him, but he would not make any terms, so I went on
and. made camp a short distance from his place. That
evening I took my men and some whiskey and went
to call on the Malalies. I treated them all to a drink
or two and spent a few sociable minutes ; then I went
to the corral. The cattle were in a sod corral and it
had big strong gates fastened with padlocks. I told
Malalie that I was going to take my cattle home, and
proceeded to break the lock, opened the gate and
ordered the boys to drive the cattle out, while I stood
the Malalie bunch off. I had the advantage over
them ; all my boys were armed, and the others think-
ing all was friendly and peaceable, had gone out of
the house to see us start for home and did not get to
their guns before we had ours leveled and saying:
"If you make a move we will shoot." We took the
cattle on home without any more trouble, but when
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 23!
we got into Julesburg we were arrested and Malalie
appeared against us with the complaint that we were
stealing his cattle.
They thought they had the cinch on me, for my
brand was not on the cattle. Malalie offered to let
me go without being prosecuted if I would turn over
the cattle and some money to buy him off. I refused
and showed them a K on the horns and hoofs of the
oxen and also explained how the Malalie brand was
made out of my brand, K, on the side. Then I had
turned the tables and told him if he would pay me
a hundred dollars for damage done to my goods on
account of the delay, I would take my cattle off
his hands and go on without troubling him any more.
He was willing to get rid of me, and since he had
made a little off my other eight head he had sold,
he consented to let me go on my own terms.
CHAPTER XXXV.
A BUFFALO HUNT.
As fold by John Patterson.
Some of the old residents will remember Jim
Kimsey. He was from Southern Illinois, therefore
did not know much about fighting Indians before he
came to Colorado. But one thing he soon learned
was, that he was afraid of them. He said: "Nobody
as knows 'em can help being 'fraid of 5em; white
folks are hard enough to fight, but Indians are worse,
'cause a fellow keeps thinking what they would do
to ye when they gets a chance." He was out after
Indians once with Jim Pinkerton and Sam Ashcraft.
He said: "I am a good shot at an antelope; can
bring them down every time ; but I had five fair shots
at an old Indian's back, a big, broad-shouldered fel-
low, too, I'd judge weighed two hundred pounds, but
I never made no impression on him."
I have been out with Jim a number of times, and,
as he says, he is a good shot. We were out together
once on Beaver creek. The whole country was black
with buffalo ; there seemed to be thousands of them
234 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
moving north. The Indians had received a permit
from the governor of the state to go to Beaver Creek
to hunt buffalo. Ouray, Douglas and Colorow, who
were Ute Indians, and their band, with Curtis, their
interpreter, arrived at the creek in the evening and
had a big pow-wow that night. The next morning
they said they would show us how to hunt buffalo.
They started out in groups of four, two bucks and
two squaws, on their ponies. There was a ridge per-
haps a quarter of a mile from camp. We went up
on that to watch them. The two bucks made a run
for the herd and cut out the one they wanted; then
one would fire at it, and if he missed the other would
fire. As soon as the buffalo was killed the bucks
would ride back to camp and the squaws would take
charge. They would skin it, cut up the meat and
pack it on their ponies and take it into camp.
The Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes claimed
this hunting ground, but they camped about thirty-
five or forty miles from there. The Utes found out
where they were camped and made a raid on them,
stole their ponies and struck out for the mountains.
The others got on the trail of the Utes and followed
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 2^ s
them. When they overtook the Utes there was
quite a fight and they got their ponies back and some
of the Utes' ponies. But the government had to in-
terfere and get back the Ute ponies, because the gov-
ernor gave them permission to hunt on the grounds
belonging to the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes.
That was the good old time to hunt in Colorado.
I brought home twenty-six hind quarters from year-
lings up to four-year-olds. My brother, R. Patter-
son, had twenty-seven hind quarters, and Kimsey had
twenty-six. I hung mine up in a sod house and we
had buffalo meat all winter, also antelope meat by
the wholesale. While we were down there old Chief
Douglas came to me and wanted me to give him oats
for his horse. He said: "My horse 'Merican horse;
no stand ridin' 'out oats." I said: "My horse is
American horse, too, and can't stand to pull this load
of buffalo back home without oats, and I have only
enough for one." So I would not give any.
After we had started home and were about six
miles from camp, we met two Englishmen from
Greeley, going after a load of buffalo. They had
small guns, wholly unfit for such hunting, and the
236 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Indians had got in their wagon and stole their grub,
so we gave them something to eat. They then
wanted us to kill them a load, but some of the boys
in our crowd thought we ought to have a little fun
with them first.
They shot one buffalo and just crippled it, then
told the men they did not want to waste any more
ammunition, but for one of them to go for him with
a knife, as it did not have any horns. The calf got
the best of them and knocked them down. The boys
then called out, "Tail him." "Cut his ham strings,"
etc. The men went for the calf again, but were
knocked down the second time. The boys thought
they had fun enough, so they killed some buffalo to
load their wagon and sent them on their way rejoic-
ing. We always had good times when we were out,
but I think this was our last buffalo hunt.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
MY FIRST INTRODUCTION TO COLORADO.
As tfold by Mrs. John Patterson.
In 1866 Colorado was rather a dreary looking
place, especially in Weld county, near where the
town of Greeley is now located.
Leaving Coultersville, Illinois, the last day of
April, in company with Mr. Isaiah Lemon and fam-
ily, consisting of his two sons and two daughters,
we arrived at the mouth of the Poudre on the fif-
teenth day of July, being eleven weeks on the road.
We could hear of Indians before us and back of us ;
we passed places where there had been ranches
burned just a short time before us. I think we saw
only two Indians, and they looked as though they
had been out on a hunt. We also saw a company
of Pawnee soldiers. But we know that it was our
Heavenly Father that guided us and kept us from
harm.
Uncle Carrol Moore and Aunt Eliza had lived on
the banks of the Poudre for several years. They
were aunt and uncle to all the people around. The
238 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
ranchmen just milked cows and cut the native hay
for a living. Inside of four years we only heard two
sermons, but we started a Sabbath school and did
the best we could. One woman remarked that she
did not know that any religion had ever crossed the
Missouri river; but she found out different.
Uncle Carrol and Aunt Eliza always got along
real well with the Indians, who often came down
the creek for the squaws to gather prickly pears.
They would use wooden tongs to pick the pears to
prevent pricking their hands on the thorns. It is
said that at one time, in 1864, Fremont saved the
lives of his men by this same prickly fruit.
Uncle Carrol said that many times he had seen
some of the Indians watching him. He knew they
were calculating how would be the best way to kill
him.
Uncle said: "I always had my old Spencer ready
and they knew what I could do, and that I would
shoot if necessary." The Indians never got him.
He died some years later in Greeley.
We did have several Indian scares the next year.
I would be so frightened that I would not allow any
OX-YOKE AND CHAIN— ACROSS PLAINS, 1864
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 239
one to talk of Indians, especially after dark. The
alarm would come sometimes when we were prepar-
ing to go to bed. The words would be, "All to one
house." Then we would have to hustle out and go.
We always went to Mrs. Wylie's sod house. We
were few in number, but we always made the best
of it.
Mrs. Wylie's youngest son and daughter, Sam
and Dellia, are still living on the old place. The
old sod house was torn down a number of years ago,
but the old site is marked by the ox yoke and log
chain that Sam Wylie's folks used in crossing the
plains from Illinois in 1864.
I think the last big Indian scare was in 1878, in
the what was then Weld county. The old Weld
county is not near so large now, several counties hav-
ing been taken off. Quite a number of people had to
gather a few goods, get their families in wagons and
take them to places of safety.
I understood that Mrs. B. D. Harper was the
only woman that remained on a ranch. Three hired
men were murdered on the Tracy ranch and the other
ranchmen were fired upon. The three murdered men
24O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
were buried at what is now Sterling. It is stated
that the cemetery at Sterling was started at that
time. People used to say in early days that out
west they had to kill a man to start a cemetery.
There is a great change in our fair state since those
Indian excitements.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE ADVENT OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD IN
THE SUMMER AND FALL OF 1867.
By W. S. Coburn.
In July, 1867, the railroad was completed to
Julesburg on the north side of the Platte river from
old Julesburg or Fort Sedgwick; thus destroying the
business of all overland feed ranches for the coming
winter, when all the freighting would be done from
Cheyenne, a new town to be surveyed and platted
early in August. We at once closed out our surplus
stock and abandoned the old fort and ranch, where
we had spent several years and had all our experi-
ences with the Indians that we cared for, and went to
Julesburg. There we found a new element with the
advent of the railroad, consisting of gamblers,
thieves, murderers, hold-ups and lewd women, all of
whom were in high spirits and doing a thriving busi-
ness. The town soon had two to three thousand in-
habitants, comprising ranchmen like myself, con-
tractors, railroad men, merchants, hotel and saloon
242 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
men, besides the former referred to. All these,
mostly strangers to each other, formed a conglomer-
ate mass of humanity that is seldom seen anywhere
except in a new town on the frontier.
They formed a local town government, elected
a board of councilmen, police justice, whose name
was Hall, and city marshal. They also erected a
log jail. We did not know at that time whether we
were in Colorado, Nebraska or Wyoming, and as for
that it made but very little difference, as the old
police justice exclaimed with considerable emphasis,
bringing his fist down on the table when a prisoner
said he would take an appeal: "Sir, there is no ap-
peal from this court." Many amusing things took
place, one of which I will relate : The marshal had
six prisoners in the log jail on all kinds of charges
from stealing to murder. The jail was located on
the next lot from where I was stopping. While the
guests were eating dinner one day the prisoners were
making a great noise, singing and holloing, and
some of the guests at the table made the remark that
the prisoners must feel very happy. All this noise
was for a purpose, however; some of their friends
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 243
had furnished the prisoners with a saw and revolvers
and they were making this noise to drown the noise
of the saw while sawing a log out of the side of the
jail so they might escape. When dinner was over I
walked out to the front porch and as I was lighting
a cigar, the six prisoners came around the corner of
the hotel, each with two revolvers, yelling and shoot-
ing as they came. They soon found the marshal and
disarmed him and compelled him to accompany them
to all of the saloons and dance halls and drink with
them. Thus they held the town for three hours,
when they scattered and took to the sand hills. The
old police justice in the meantime had worked him-
self up to a high pitch, frequently slipping out of his
office to get a drink, when the prisoners were down
town, until he had about all he could carry. When
the prisoners turned the marshal free, he made
straight for Judge Hall's office to report what had
happened, just as though the judge was not familiar
with everything that had gone on. The judge asked
the marshal if he knew of any old pioneers that were
well armed and mounted on good horses. He told
him the three ranchmen from up the river had re-
244 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
cently come in, meaning John Fuel, Harvey
Blonck and myself. He ordered the marshal to
bring us before him at once. When the marshal
found us and told us that our immediate presence
was wanted, we were at a loss to know what was
wanted, and the other two men asked me to be
spokesman. When the marshal reported to the judge
with us, he was fully "three sheets in the wind," as
the sailor would say, and very much excited. He
asked about our horses and our arms and when we
assured him there was no better armed or mounted
men in the territory, he told us that the prisoners had
sawed a log out of trie jail and escaped. When we
told him we were aware of that fact fully three hours
ago, he ordered us to mount our horses and go out
into the sand hills and capture them, dead or alive.
I asked him how we were to know them, telling that
hunters for antelopes, which were very plentiful,
were out in the hills from town all of the time, and
according to his description the prisoners were des-
perate men, and we would take no chances if we went
after them; the first man we saw we would ride to
within gunshot and dismount and throw our guns
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 245
across the saddle and bring him down, then tie him
onto a horse and bring him in, to see if he was one
of the party wanted. In a new western town it was
all excitement and everybody was a stranger to each
other. It was a hazardous undertaking and besides,
I told the judge that we were preparing to leave the
next morning for the new town of Cheyenne, and
taking everything into consideration, that we would
L not go out after his prisoners. One whom the judge
was very anxious to capture, went by the name of
"Shorty," who he claimed had killed a man a few
nights before. We left the judge swearing like a
sailor and emphasizing his wrath by pounding his
fists on the table and threatening us with dire ven-
geance.
The next morning we started for a journey of
one hundred and sixty miles on our horses for Chey-
enne. At noon we stopped at the first ranch, twenty--
two miles up Pole creek from Julesburg, and got our
dinner, and then sat down in the shade of a sod house
to smoke and rest awhile.
While sitting there we saw a lone man about a
mile away, coming toward the ranch. It was a very
246 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
unusual thing to see a man out alone when the coun-
try was full of hostile Indians. He kept on coming
until he got where we were and took a seat in the
shade next to me and asked us which way we were
traveling. When we told him we were going to
Cheyenne, he asked where we were from, and I told
him from Julesburg. He then wanted to know what
the news was. I told him there was not much news
excepting the prisoners in the jail broke loose the
day before and shot up the town and skipped out. I
then told him our experiences with the judge and
how anxious he seemed to be to capture one of the
prisoners, whom, he claimed, had killed a man for
money a few nights before, who went by the name of
"Shorty." After telling him the whole story, which
was very amusing to him, he told me he was the man
"Shorty" referred to. After being very much sur-
prised at his announcement, I advised him he had
better not go back to Julesburg, or they would hang
him as sure as fate. He informed me that he did not
intend to go back, but was on his way to Cheyenne,
stopping along the route at grading camps at night.
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 247
When Cheyenne got started and the track was
finished that far in November, 1867, work on the
grade was nearly all suspended for the winter, except
in the deep cuts in the Black Hills and some rock
work. This filled the town with all of the rough ele-
ment, as well as contractors, graders and a large force
of repair men.
I built one of the first buildings in Cheyenne of
concrete, 22x80 feet, which stands on Seventeenth
street, and was used as a wagon and blacksmith shop
a year ago. I also dug the first well on this lot.
When the winter closed in "Shorty" and his
band were in full control, stealing horses and run-
ning them into the open forks of the mountains, hold-
ing up men in the streets in midday and shooting up
the town at will. Their headquarters was a saloon
by that name in Cheyenne, kept by Dad Cunning-
ham, who was the captain of the band of seventeen
men. They usually located in a camp or town one
hundred to two hundred miles ahead of where the
Union Pacific railroad was completed. During one
year there were twenty-six men out of the gang that
were hung and shot, and still they kept recruiting,
248 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
and had seventeen at the finishing of the railroad at
Promontory Point on the tenth day of May, 1869.
I was selling goods all along the Union Pacific
until it was completed and was personally acquainted
with the most of the band of robbers, hold-ups and
thieves, but the act of my first introduction by old
Judge Hall of Julesburg and meeting one of the
principals and relating my experience to him caused
me never to be bothered by the gang.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
GOLD MINERS FROM MONTANA RETURNING TO THE
STATES AFTER A SUCCESSFUL TRIP.
In the fall of 1865, twenty-five miners from Alder
Gulch, Montana, came down the Platte river on the
overland trail, returning to their homes in the states,
with a pack train. The least amount of gold dust
any one of them had was sixty pounds, and some of
them had as much as two hundred pounds; and
when one stops to think that four pounds makes ap-
proximately one thousand dollars when coined, we
can see that they were pretty well fixed. They were
well armed with two revolvers and rifles, besides each
carried a big hunting knife. They camped on the
bank of the Platte river, near my place, one night,
and during the night the Indians set fire to the dry
grass and made an attempt to kill the men and cap-
ture the horses and camp. They were not surprised,
however, as they kept a guard out every night. After
a pitched battle they succeeded in making their way
to my large sod corral. The Indians then gave it up
and left, after capturing three fine horses belonging
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
to me, which were tied to a wagon just inside of one
of my stables, where I had spread my blankets and
was sleeping within thirty feet of my horses and
never woke up until the miners were all inside.
There was a man by the name of Black, who
had a contract to put up fifteen hundred tons of hay
for the government at Julesburg or Fort Sedgwick at
one hundred dollars per ton, and the government fur-
nished a company of soldiers to keep the Indians off
while he filled the contract.
The Indians cared very little for the regular sol-
diers and took great delight in decoying them away
after two or three Indians, while the balance raided
the haymakers, each one of whom carried two revolv-
ers in his belt and a repeating rifle swung to his back.
When the men concentrated for self-protection, the
Indians would amuse themselves by burning the hay
and shooting the men off the mowing machines and
capturing the horses. Mr. Black had been so much
annoyed by these depredations that he was very much
discouraged, and in conversation with the writer a
few days before the miners came along, he told him
that unless he could get men to protect him he would
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 25!
have to throw up the contract. In the morning I told
the miners how the Indians were continually making
raids and what Mr. Black had told me a few days
previous. After consulting together they said if he
would make it an inducement and pay them enough
they would guarantee to keep the Indians off while he
filled his contract. They at once saw Mr. Black and
closed a contract with him for two hundred and fifty
dollars per day or ten dollars each. One of their
number was appointed cook and the others kept
twelve men in the saddle on six-hour shifts night and
day. When the Indians came in sight they would all
mount their horses and raise a yell and go after them.
The Indians soon found that they were not fooling
with regular soldiers, and Mr. Black went on and
filled his contract, and for the forty days these min-
ers were employed he paid them ten thousand dollars,
which added to their already nice stake of gold dust
from Montana. They then resumed their journey to
the states and their homes, and I never heard of them
afterwards.
N. S. KURD
CHAPTER XXXIX.
LOYALTY OF THE PIONEERS.
The hardships undergone by the pioneers and
the unfaltering courage with which they faced their
trials, have been described to you, not as fully as they
might be, for it is impossible to put down in black
and white or to find words to express the reality of
those early days, so we will let that subject drop and
turn to another important and visible factor in the
lives of the pioneers, not only in the early days, but
now among the few remaining ones. -
'Tis a tie that binds them, not as the sworn ties
of secret organizations, etc., but a tie of memory and
sympathy for their comrades whom fate smiles un-
kindly upon, and a tie of rejoicing with the more
fortunate ones. Circumstances never altered the
tie of loyalty that so bound these sturdy and true
companions who stood by each other in days of
youth and strife up to the days of old age, and let
us hope days of rest and comfort, that they so greatly
deserve.
254 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
To make more clear the loyalty of the pioneers,
the address of Hon. N. S. Hurd, who was the presi-
dent of the Pioneer Society in 1907, and who under-
went all the horrors of frontier life and came through
them safe and sound, can tell in his own words to
a clearer understanding than his already been de-
scribed.
The following address was given at the expira-
tion of his term as president of the Pioneer Society :
"In vacating the position that I have occupied
for the last year as president of the Colorado Pioneer
Society, I find that it is hard for me to find language
to express to you the gratitude I feel towards you in
conferring upon me the privilege of representing you.
To be president of this society I consider one of the
greatest honors that could be conferred upon any
citizen of this state.
There is no gift I could have appreciated more
and I wish I had it in my power to more fully ex-
press my gratitude, but I can only thank you, while
I extend to you my kindest wishes.
We are all growing old together; the ambitions
of our lives have been attained or we will have to
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 255
lay them away among the broken hopes that were in-
cident to the hardships and privations that we had to
struggle through when we first came to this coun-
try. You remember when we crossed the Missouri
river and were leaving civilization six hundred miles
in our rear, and like Grant at Vicksburg, our cracker-
line was cut off and we had severed our connection
with the outside world.
What we had to face, we did not know and we
cared just a little bit less; we were ready for any-
thing that might come up and we did not care how
soon it came up or how long it was deferred; we
were always there "with the goods." With the
motley throng that crossed the river with us were
statesmen, scholars, poets and sages and others that
walked in the more humble industries of life; brave
men and women that were too brave; in fact, all the
cosmopolitan conditions of the whole world were
scattered out on the broad American desert. Each
one had his own hopes and mighty few fears; we
were all upon a common level and we each of us
had a 'Howdy' for every one we met upon the trail.
256 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Those were good old days ! Many hardships we
had to encounter, but then we thought we knew all
we had to do was to get on to the banks of Cherry
Creek and from its glittering sands of gold take what
we wanted, fill our buckskin sacks that we had pro-
vided before we left Omaha, and get back to our
sweetheart girls early in the fall.
Well, there were very few of us that went back
and I am not among the number.
In the meantime I found that I had crossed
"Disable" Creek. I had lost my bag and>I did not
have the wherewithal to buy a postage stamp to
write back to my sweetheart girl to tell her how
things stood out in this country. And I want to say
to you right now that I, like thousands of others,
was up against the "real thing."
By this time the grub we had brought from the
states was all gone, and I only just have to call your
attention to the fact that about that time we were
long on appetites.
And here the struggle commenced. The gold
sack we had brought from Omaha had long since been
forgotten; Cherry Creek had proven an iridescent
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 257
dream. Its golden sands were as mythical as the
fountain of youth for which Ponce de Leon and his
brave band prospected this country five hundred
years before.
It would be beyond the screen of human vision —
no language could convey to one that sees this coun-
try now, with all its marvelous beauty and grandeur,
how forbidding and desolate it was when you and I
first looked upon it, and its unproductive general ap-
pearance was just what its name implied, "the Great
American Desert."
But we were here and were too brave to go back.
There was just money enough made in big
chunks by the lucky ones to make us believe that some
day we might get through the cap-rock — that we
might be the fortunate ones; but as the days and
years went by everything seemed to go from bad to
worse and I do not believe I would quite like to tell
the epicures of today just how many of us wintered
the first few years we were in this country, but the
longer we were here, the more faith we had in the
final outcome.
But we were building better than we knew.
TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
Each one of us took up some line of industry and
the conditions of this country made them all new
and untried. Mine was mining and milling, and
when I started my mill on Spanish Bar, our amalga-
mating table was a wooden affair, about eighteen
inches wide, with a quicksilver riffle at the lower
edge ; and if our ore had been fifty per cent gold we
could not have saved ten per cent of its value.
And so it was with every industry that now
marks the boundaries of this state, which probably
has richer and more varied industries than any other
country in the world.
As far as my researches have been able to de-
termine, David Wall raised the first vegetables that
were grown here. Judge Downing sowed the first
seeds of alfalfa, which changed and revolutionized
the agricultural condition throughout the whole
state. The Marshall coal land was the first one
opened for commercial purposes.
It is estimated that we have more coal in Colo-
rado than they have in Pennsylvania. Last year we
mined 11,000,000 tons. Pennsylvania mined 183,-
000,000. The vast increased condition of commer-
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
cial enterprises will soon demand that we mine as
much coal here as they do there, and when that time
comes there will be something doing in the state that
you have done so much for. W. H. James, of
pleasant memory, and your humble servant set up
and ran the first power drill ever operated in Colo-
rado — a ponderous machine on a frame as big as
one of the old horse cars that were once so familiar.
It took ten men to move it up to the heading of the
tunnel ; it took from half to three-quarters of an hour
to clamp it into place so that it could be operated;
and with its immense drill on either side, it looked
like one of Uncle Sam's war vessels. Now two men
take up a little power drill, pack it anywhere, set it
up while you wait, and can do more work with it
than we could with the old machine of ancient mem-
ory. An old pioneer negro from Joplin, Missouri,
built the first smelter and produced the first bullion
ever taken out in Colorado, and if he had lived until
the present time he might have been at the head of
the smelter trust and had great political honors con-
ferred upon him.
2&O TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
It would be interesting to take each one of the
many industries that now make our state so great,
from their first beginning, at the hands of the old
boys, and follow them down through the many
changes of their perfections of the present day.
But with all the great glory that has come to our
state at your hands, what about the old pioneer*?
And now I am getting into deep water. The theme
is too large; the responsibility in trying to do justice
to them is too great for my ability.
I look over this little handful of old gray-haired
veterans before me here tonight, and memory is
busy in its backward flight, and it conjures up the
forms and faces of those who are not here— com-
panions of our lives who stood beside us when the
storm of adversity gathered around and the future
held out but little hope; then their smiles were the
brightest and they cheered us on to better efforts and
nobler deeds — good wives — God bless them! But
they sleep their last long sleep.
But we mourn for our dead, and, like Rachel, we
fail to be comforted. But listen ! We think we can
almost hear the stroke of the silent oarsman as he
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 2&1
comes across the dark river to gather in the remnant
of our little band, and soon we will be on the other
shore where the 'Ho, Jo,' of the miner may be
sounded in a brighter and better land than this.
The full honor and glory of the pioneer will not
come while you and I live, but with song and story,
and with marble shafts, the memory of your lives
will be perpetuated by coming generations. The
brightest pages of history will be those that contain
the names and deeds of those who carved an empire
out of this forbidden land.
We drop a silent tear; we hear the dull thud of
the earth as it falls upon the grave of one of our
number; we have performed the last duty to one
that has been with us so long.
Another pioneer is gone. And right here let me
say that the first pioneer that was buried by our
society was a man whose financial condition when I
first knew him, was as sound as that of any man in
the state.
Thousands of cattle and wagons between here
and the river were his, the fortunes of war and the
vicissitudes of life turned hard against him and our
262 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
good old friend, Judge Steck, assisted him through
bankruptcy, where the liabilities were $862,000, and
when he was buried by our society, he did not have
a single cent. Let us stay close together, my boys,
for we cannot tell what the whirligig of time may do
to us.
His or her place can never be filled. Pioneers
cannot be made and some one in the days that are
not far distant will be the last of the Mohicans.
And while we pay tribute to the dead, our first duty
is to the living. It has been our hope in days that
have passed that some of our big hearted, wealthy
members would donate to our society a suitable home
where our declining years could be passed, sur-
rounded by the comforts that old age requires. This
may never be, but I think I know the feeling of the
people of Denver and Colorado well enough to know
that no pioneer shall ever want for the necessities of
life, and let this be our duty to one another.
While I am no longer your president, I am still
a pioneer, and any time I can be of sen ice to the
'old boys' individually or collectively, I will be
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO
ready to do what I can. Our strenuous work is over
and what we want now is social enjoyment and all
the comforts that there is in life. My hope is that
this may be yours. And may peace be with you."
'-Toit Library
CHAPTER XL.
CONCLUSION.
These few short stories were told to the writer
by three pioneers who took an active part in the early
settlement of Colorado.
It has been their desire for several years past to
make known to the public (and especially to the
citizens of the state of Colorado who have reaped
the benefits of the labor, hardships and endurance
of the pioneers), the suffering, fear and toils that so
barred the settlement in the early days.
Being a Colorado girl and wanting the founda-
tion builders of her native state to get credit for the
work they did, the writer undertook to write these
stories as they were told to her.
Kind readers, compare the West as it was fifty
years ago when the white men first began to settle
in it, to what it is today.
Is it any wonder that Colorado has risen up
among the leading states of the union4?
When it had so sturdy and brave builders, it
took not only strength and endurance of body, but
266 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
mind and determination as well, to undergo their
struggles and face the dangers and discouragements
they met with, and yet keep pushing their way for-
ward, never wavering or turning back.
There were times when it seemed as though they
were working in the dark, and could not see their way
through, and often tempted with the question, "Will
we accomplish anything or is this just a waste of
time?"
In those darkest days, the fearless frontiersmen
would urge onward, giving a helping hand to each
other, all working together for one object, "the devel-
opment of the West."
The unselfish consideration for each other was
plainly marked throughout the years on the frontier
by the settlers. They thought nothing of time or
money if their neighbors were in need. They
thought nothing of self or fear if any one was in
danger. They never asked gold or silver for their
services. They knew if need be they would have the
same aid and protection that had been rendered to
their neighbor. One common characteristic of these
frontiersmen is, they are modest about their valor,
THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO 267
and when asked about their part of early-day strug-
gles and achievements, they try to put you off with,
"Oh, I did nothing extra." Upon a great deal of
urging and questioning you can bring to light many
deeds that one would almost imagine to be impossi-
ble ; privations and suffering that would seem beyoud
endurance. Yet these pioneers did nothing, to let
them tell it, but down in their hearts they know they
did. Can anything stand without a foundation *?
Does not the strength and lasting qualities of any
accomplishment depend upon what it is built of?
If the frontiersmen had said "fail" and given up, this
West would not have been the enterprising land that
it is today.
If it had been people weak in body and mind
that had started westward first, the savages would
have conquered them and this would remain a half-
civilized country instead of growing to the advance-
ment of civilization that it has reached in such few
years.
There were a great many other battles and strug-
gles that are not spoken of in this book, yet they did
their part toward opening the gateway into the West
268 TRUE HISTORY OF SOME OF
and making a garden of prosperity and progress out
of the once barren wilderness.
The success of the pioneers proves that ''Effort
is never in vain" — a lesson for the present genera-
tion to follow. Cultivate the determination and
endurance of the forefathers and carry on the work
they began. 'Tush onward with the standard of
civilization and turn the wheels of progress until
our West has reached the last round of advancement
and development."
BIOGRAPHY OF MISS SHAW.
Miss Luella Shaw, the author of the foregoing
collection of narratives, is a true daughter of Colo-
lado, having been born in the city of Durango in that
state in the year 1886, and educated in the schools of
that city and of Silverton. Her ancestors were
among the pioneers of Colorado. Her grandfather,
John W. Shaw, came to the state in 1859, and later,
in 1863, brought his family from Iowa, where they
had stopped for a short time on their way west from
Albany, New York. Mr. Shaw first settled at
Georgetown, later moved to Pueblo and eventually
located at Durango, where he was buried in 1909.
Miss Shaw's maternal grandfather, George R.
Mock, also came to Colorado in 1859, from Missouri,
his original home having been in Kentucky. He
also located at Georgetown, but later moved from
there and settled near where Nepesta now is. Two
of her uncles, James Mock, of Ordway, Colorado,
and Will Mock, of Fowler, Colorado, were volun-
teers at the Sand Creek fight.
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