THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL by COLONEL HENRY INMAN (best fiction novels of all time .TXT) 📕

Great Difficulty Made

          His Way With His Command Through The Mountains Without

          A Road Or Trail, And Joined colonel Slough About Midnight.

 

 

 

          Meanwhile, After Chivington And His Detachment Had Left

          In the Morning, Colonel Slough With The Main Body Proceeded

          Up The Canyon, And Arriving at Pigeon'S Ranch, Gave Orders

          For The Troops To Stack Arms In the Road And Supply Their

          Canteens With Water, As That Would Be The Last Opportunity

          Before Reaching The Further End Of Apache Canyon.

          While Thus Supplying Themselves With Water And Visiting

          The Wounded in the Hospital At Pigeon'S Ranch, Being

          Entirely Off Their Guard, They Were Suddenly Startled by

          A Courier From The Advance Column Dashing Down The Road

          At Full Speed and Informing Them That The Enemy Was Close

          At Hand.  Orders Were Immediately Given To Fall In and

          Take Arms, But Before The Order Could Be Obeyed the Enemy

          Had Formed battery And Commenced shelling Them.

          They Formed as Quickly As Possible, The Colonel Ordering

          Captain Downing With Company D, First Colorado Volunteers,

          To Advance On The Left, And Captain Kerber With Company I

          First Colorado, To Advance On The Right.  In the Meantime

          Ritter And Claflin Opened a Return Fire On The Enemy With

          Their Batteries.  Captain Downing advanced and Fought

          Desperately, Meeting a Largely Superior Force In point

          Of Numbers, Until He Was Almost Overpowered and Surrounded;

          When, Happily, Captain Wilder Of Company G Of The First

          Colorado, With A Detachment Of His Command, Came To His

          Relief, And Extricated him And That Portion Of His Company

          Not Already Slaughtered.  While On The Opposite Side,

          The Right, Company I Had Advanced into An Open Space,

          Feeling The Enemy, And Ambitious Of Capturing His Battery,

          When They Were Surprised by A Detachment Which Was Concealed

          In an Arroya, And Which, When Kerber And His Men Were

          Within Forty Feet Of It, Opened a Galling Fire Upon Them.

          Kerber Lost Heavily; Lieutenant Baker, Being Wounded,

          Fell Back.  In the Meantime The Enemy Masked, And Made

          Five Successive Charges On Our Batteries, Determined to

          Capture Them As They Had Captured canby'S At Valverde.

          At One Time They Were Within Forty Yards Of Slough'S

          Batteries, Their Slouch Hats Drawn Down Over Their Faces,

          And Rushing On With Deafening Yells.  It Seemed inevitable

          That They Would Make The Capture, When Captain Claflin

          Gave The Order To Cease Firing, And Captain Samuel Robbins

          With His Company, K Of The First Colorado, Arose From The

          Ground Like Ghosts, Delivering a Galling Fire, Charged

          Bayonets, And On The Double-Quick Put The Rebels To Flight.

 

 

 

          During The Whole Of This Time The Cavalry, Under Captain

          Howland, Were Held In reserve, Never Moving Except To

          Fall Back And Keep Out Of Danger, With The Exception Of

          Captain Cook'S Men, Who Dismounted and Fought As Infantry.

          From The Opening Of The Battle To Its Close The Odds Were

          Against Colonel Slough And His Forces; The Enemy Being

          Greatly Superior In numbers, With A Better Armament Of

          Artillery And Equally Well Armed otherwise.  But Every Inch

          Of Ground Was Stubbornly Contested.  In no Instance Did

          Slough'S Forces Fall Back Until They Were In danger Of

          Being Flanked and Surrounded, And For Nine Hours, Without

          Rest Or Refreshment, The Battle Raged incessantly.

          At One Time Claflin Gave Orders To Double-Shot His Guns,

          They Being Nothing But Little Brass Howitzers, And He

          Counted, "One, Two, Three, Four," Until One Of His Own

          Carriages Capsized and Fell Down Into The Gulch; From Which

          Place Captain Samuel Robbins And His Company, K, Extricated

          It And Saved it From Falling Into The Enemy'S Hands.

 

 

 

          Having Been Compelled to Give Ground All Day, Colonel Slough,

          Between Five And Six O'Clock In the Afternoon, Issued

          Orders To Retreat.  About The Same Time General Sibley

          Received information From The Rear Of The Destruction Of

          His Supply Trains, And Ordered a Flag Of Truce To Be Sent

          To Colonel Slough, Which Did Not Reach Him, However, Until

          He Arrived at Kosloskie'S.  A Truce Was Entered into Until

          Nine O'Clock The Next Morning, Which Was Afterward Extended

          To Twenty-Four Hours, And Under Which Sibley With His

          Demoralized forces Fell Back To Santa Fe, Laying That Town

          Under Tribute To Supply His Forces.

 

 

 

          The 29Th Was Spent In burying The Dead, As Well As Those

          Of The Confederates Which They Left On The Field, And

          Caring For The Wounded.  Orders Were Received from General

          Canby Directing Colonel Slough To Fall Back To Fort Union,

          Which So Incensed him That While Obeying The Order He

          Forwarded his Resignation, And Soon After Left The Command.

 

 

 

Thus Ended the Battle Of La Glorieta.

Chapter XII (The Buffalo)

The Ancient Range Of The Buffalo, According To History And Tradition,

Once Extended from The Alleghanies To The Rocky Mountains, Embracing

All That Magnificent Portion Of North America Known As The Mississippi

Valley; From The Frozen Lakes Above To The "Tierras Calientes" Of

Mexico, Far To The South.

 

 

 

It Seems Impossible, Especially To Those Who Have Seen Them, As

Numerous, Apparently, As The Sands Of The Seashore, Feeding On The

Illimitable Natural Pastures Of The Great Plains, That The Buffalo

Should Have Become Almost Extinct.

 

 

 

When I Look Back Only Twenty-Five Years, And Recall The Fact That

They Roamed in immense Numbers Even Then, As Far East As Fort Harker,

In Central Kansas, A Little More Than Two Hundred miles From The

Missouri River, I Ask Myself, "Have They All Disappeared?"

 

 

 

An Idea May Be Formed of How Many Buffalo Were Killed from 1868 To

1881, A Period Of Only Thirteen Years, During Which Time They Were

Indiscriminately Slaughtered for Their Hides.  In kansas Alone

There Was Paid Out, Between The Dates Specified, Two Million Five

Hundred thousand Dollars For Their Bones Gathered on The Prairies,

To Be Utilized by The Various Carbon Works Of The Country, Principally

In St. Louis.  It Required about One Hundred carcasses To Make One

Ton Of Bones, The Price Paid Averaging Eight Dollars A Ton; So The

Above-Quoted enormous Sum Represented the Skeletons Of Over Thirty-One

Millions Of Buffalo.[42]  These Figures May Appear Preposterous To

Readers Not Familiar With The Great Plains A Third Of A Century Ago;

But To Those Who Have Seen The Prairie Black From Horizon To Horizon

With The Shaggy Monsters, They Are Not So.  In the Autumn Of 1868

I Rode With Generals Sheridan, Custer, Sully, And Others, For Three

Consecutive Days, Through One Continuous Herd, Which Must Have

Contained millions.  In the Spring Of 1869 The Train On The Kansas

Pacific Railroad Was Delayed at A Point Between Forts Harker And

Hays, From Nine O'Clock In the Morning Until Five In the Afternoon,

In Consequence Of The Passage Of An Immense Herd Of Buffalo Across

The Track.  On Each Side Of Us, And To The West As Far As We Could

See, Our Vision Was Only Limited by The Extended horizon Of The Flat

Prairie, And The Whole Vast Area Was Black With The Surging Mass

Of Affrighted buffaloes As They Rushed onward To The South.

 

 

 

In 1868 The Union Pacific Railroad And Its Branch In kansas Was Nearly

Completed across The Plains To The Foothills Of The Rocky Mountains,

The Western Limit Of The Buffalo Range, And That Year Witnessed

The Beginning Of The Wholesale And Wanton Slaughter Of The Great

Ruminants, Which Ended only With Their Practical Extinction Seventeen

Years Afterward.  The Causes Of This Hecatomb Of Animals On The

Great Plains Were The Incursion Of Regular Hunters Into The Region,

For The Hides Of The Buffalo, And The Crowds Of Tourists Who Crossed

The Continent For The Mere Pleasure And Novelty Of The Trip.

The Latter Class Heartlessly Killed for The Excitement Of The

New Experience As They Rode Along In the Cars At A Low Rate Of Speed,

Often Never Touching a Particle Of The Flesh Of Their Victims,

Or Possessing Themselves Of A Single Robe.  The Former, Numbering

Hundreds Of Old Frontiersmen, All Expert Shots, With Thousands Of

Novices, The Pioneer Settlers On The Public Domain, Just Opened

Under The Various Land Laws, From Beyond The Platte To Far South

Of The Arkansas, Within Transporting Distance Of Two Railroads,

Day After Day For Years Made It A Lucrative Business To Kill For

The Robes Alone, A Market For Which Had Suddenly Sprung Up All Over

The Country.

 

 

 

On Either Side Of The Track Of The Two Lines Of Railroads Running

Through Kansas And Nebraska, Within A Relatively Short Distance

And For Nearly Their Whole Length, The Most Conspicuous Objects

In Those Days Were The Desiccated carcasses Of The Noble Beasts

That Had Been Ruthlessly Slaughtered by The Thoughtless And Excited

Passengers On Their Way Across The Continent.  On The Open Prairie,

Too, Miles Away From The Course Of Legitimate Travel, In some Places

One Could Walk All Day On The Dead Bodies Of The Buffaloes Killed

By The Hide-Hunters, Without Stepping Off Them To The Ground.

 

 

 

The Best Robes, In their Relation To Thickness Of Fur And Lustre,

Were Those Taken During The Winter Months, Particularly February,

At Which Period The Maximum Of Density And Beauty Had Been Reached.

Then, Notwithstanding The Sudden And Fitful Variations Of Temperature

Incident To Our Mid-Continent Climate, The Old Hunters Were Especially

Active, And Accepted unusual Risks To Procure As Many Of The Coveted

Skins As Possible.  A Temporary Camp Would Be Established under

The Friendly Shelter Of Some Timbered stream, From Which The Hunters

Would Radiate Every Morning, And Return At Night After An Arduous

Day'S Work, To Smoke Their Pipes And Relate Their Varied adventures

Around The Fire Of Blazing Logs.

 

 

 

Sometimes When Far Away From Camp A Blizzard Would Come Down From

The North In all Its Fury Without Ten Minutes' Warning, And In a

Few Seconds The Air, Full Of Blinding Snow, Precluded the Possibility

Of Finding Their Shelter, An Attempt At Which Would Only Result

In An Aimless Circular March On The Prairie.  On Such Occasions,

To Keep From Perishing By The Intense Cold, They Would Kill A Buffalo,

And, Taking Out Its Viscera, Creep Inside The Huge Cavity, Enough

Animal Heat Being Retained until The Storm Had Sufficiently Abated

For Them To Proceed with Safety To Their Camp.

 

 

 

Early In march, 1867, A Party Of My Friends, All Old Buffalo Hunters,

Were Camped in paradise Valley, Then A Famous Rendezvous Of The

Animals They Were After.  One Day When Out On The Range Stalking,

And Widely Separated from Each Other, A Terrible Blizzard Came Up.

Three Of The Hunters Reached their Camp Without Much Difficulty,

But He Who Was Farthest Away Was Fairly Caught In it, And Night

Overtaking Him, He Was Compelled to Resort To The Method Described

In The Preceding Paragraph.  Luckily, He Soon Came Up With A

Superannuated bull That Had Been Abandoned by The Herd; So He Killed

Him, Took Out His Viscera And Crawled inside The Empty Carcass, Where

He Lay Comparatively Comfortable Until Morning Broke, When The Storm

Had Passed over And The Sun Shone Brightly.  But When He Attempted

To Get Out, He Found Himself A Prisoner, The Immense Ribs Of The

Creature Having Frozen Together, And Locked him Up As Tightly As If

He Were In a Cell.  Fortunately, His Companions, Who Were Searching

For Him, And Firing Their Rifles From Time To Time, Heard Him Yell

In Response To The Discharge Of Their Pieces, And Thus Discovered and

Released him From The Peculiar Predicament Into Which He Had Fallen.

 

 

 

At Another Time, Several Years Before The Acquisition Of New Mexico

By The United states, Two Old Trappers Were Far Up On The Arkansas

Near The Trail, In the Foot-Hills Hunting Buffalo, And They, As Is

Generally The Case, Became Separated.  In an Hour Or Two One Of Them

Killed a Fat Young Cow, And, Leaving His Rifle On The Ground, Went Up

And Commenced to Skin Her.  While Busily Engaged in his Work,

He Suddenly Heard Right