Show I 1 recent order retiring some of ardys mules recalls valuable services of pak pack trains in adian indian fighting g days by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by br worten va avaloa ephe HE streamlining of tin our regular army now in rapid process may be necessary to keep pace with the demands of modern warfare but as a result of it theres a glum group of men among our soldiers these days they are the mule skinners men who have charge of the long eared quadrupeds used by the machine gun howitzer and headquarters companies of the various infantry regiments in ili the new streamlined infantry fantry divisions the first in the east the second in texas and the southwest the third on the pacific coast and the fifth in the middle west they have been ordered to turn in all of their animals to the quartermasters department as a result of the complete motorization of these regiments which will speed up their tactical movements from 24 miles per hour to 35 miles per peg hour and the same fate is in store for the mules in other infantry divisions as they become motorized what is to be done with these faithful beasts has not yet been determined by the quarter master general but it is certain that henceforth the mule drawn machine gun cart in uncle sams army will be a thing of the past hereafter recruits will learn the care of motors instead of mules and as a res result alt a favorite army joke will have to be revised for years there has been a saying among the doughboys dough boys that the mule skinners have associated with their cantankerous charges for so long that not only their dispositions but also their facial characteristics came to resemble th those ose of the mules this does not mean however that the army mule is a vanishing american take the word of maj gen daniel van voorhis for that I 1 he hasteen has been in the cavalry for almost 40 years and he 2 ilso also organized and commanded the modern mechanized seventh cavalry brigade at fort knox ile he believes that the day will never come when an army can get along without mules and horses and rely solely upon motors speedy and efficient though trucks and other motorized vehicles may be they can never entirely replace the surefooted sure footed and enduring hybrids when munitions and supplies are to be transported over certain types of terraine crooks pack train famous whatever the future of the army mule may be he has already won a permanent and honorable place in the military history of our country especially was this true during the indian campaigns in the west and thi the lite literature grature of that era is filled with references to the pack trains of mules and their masters the packers which accompanied most of the army expeditions against the redskins red skins outstanding among the successful indian I 1 fighters was gen george crook and no little part of his success was due to his recognition of the value of a good pack train and his bis determination to have one of the best he began developing this invaluable adjunct to the forces under his command during the apache campaigns in arizona in the early seventies and some of the best descriptions of the operation of an army pack train are to be found in the book on the border with crook published by charles scribners sons in 1891 by capt john G bourke who writes general crook was at all dinies ti mes anxious to secure for his men while on c campaign all the necessaries of life and to do that he knew from his very wide experience that there thera was nothing to compare to a thoroughly organized and well equipped pack train which could followay fol follow lowa a command by night or by day and into every locality no matter how rocky how thickly wooded or how hopelessly desert he made the study of pack trains the great study of his life and i had always the sat is iff action faction of knowing that the trains in the department under his control were in such admirable condition that the moment ent t trouble rouble was threatened in other A 3 V 4 ta X A 4 p 2 arx 0 a A 1 two packers in gen george crooks army during the sioux indian war of 1876 up a pack mule from a photograph by stanley J morrow courtesy coar tesy university of south dakota musean mu seam sections his pack trains were se lecter as being best suited for the most arduous work the idea upon which crook worked and which he success successfully carried out was to select trams trains under the pack masters who had enjoyed the widest experience and were by nature best adapted to the important duties they would be called upon to perform those who were too much addicted to alcoholic stimulants or were for other causes unsuited were as opportunity op port unity presented replaced by better material As with the men so with the a animals III ma Is the ill assorted collection of bony giants and undersized sonora rats whose withers were always a mass of sores and whose hoofs were always broken and out of sorts were as speedily as possible sold off or transferred to other uses and in their places we saw saw trains of animals which in weight size and build were of the type which experience had shown to be most appropriate the aparejos apa dr cr pack cush ions formerly issued by t the he quartermasters ter masters department had been P ill M GEN GEORGE CROOK burlesques and killed more mules than they helped in carrying their loads crook insisted upon having each mule provided with an aparejo made especially for him saying that it was just as ridiculous to expect a mule to carry a burden with an ill fitting apar ajeo as it would be to expect a soldier to march comfortably with a knapsack which did not fit squarely to his hia back backing bac kind and shoulders every article used in these pack trains had to be of the best materials for the very excellent reason that while outon out on scout it was impossible to replace anything broken and a column might be embarrassed by the failure of a train to arrive with ammunition or rations therefore on the score of economy it was better to have all the very best make in the first place wise old mules the old mules of a train know their business perfectly well they need no one to show them where here their place le if when the evenings feed is to be apportioned I 1 on the canvas and in every way deport themselves as sedate prim well behaved members of society from whom all vestiges of the frivolities of youth have been eradicated they never wander from the sound of the bell and r give no trouble to the packers on herd but a far different story must be told of the inexperienced skittish young rn mule ule I 1 resh fresh from the blue grass of missouri or nebraska he is the source of more profanity than he h is worth morth and were here it not that the recording angel understands the aggravation in ili the case he would have his hands full in an entering all ag the cuss words to which the green pack mule has given rise he will not mind the bell will wander away from his comrades on herd and in sundry and divers ways demonstrates the perversity of disnature his nature to contravene his maliciousness it is necessary to ta mark him in such a manner that every packer will see at a glance that he is a new arrival and thereupon set to work to drive him back to his hi 1 s proper place in his own herd the most certain as it is the most convenient way to effect this is by neatly roach ing his mane inane and shaving his tail so that nothing is left but a pencil or tassel of hair at the extreme end he is now known as a shave tail and everybody can recognize himat him at first sight his fedale sedate and well trained comrade is Is called a bell sharp these terms in frontier sarcasm have been transferred to officers of the army who in the parlance of the packers are known as bell sharps and shave hi ve tails respectively the former being the old captain or field officer of many fogies bogies fo gies who knows too much to be wasting his energies in needless excursions about the country and the latter the youngster fresh from his studies on the hudson at west point who fondly imagines he knows it all and is not above having people know that he does he is a shave tail all elegance of uniform spick span new well groomed and without sense enough to come in for feed when the bell rings an animated sight there are few more animated sights than a pack train at the moment of feeding and grooming the mules the cara car 81 shown acqua equals Is almost that given to the average baby and the dumb animals seem to respond to all attentions general crook kept himself posted as to what was done to every mule and as a result had the satisfaction of seeing his trains carrying a net average avera g e of pounds to the mule while il e i a pamphlet issued by the government had explicitly stated that the highest average should not exceed pounds so that viewed in hi the most sordid light the care which general crook bestowed upon his trains yielded wonderful results not a day passed that the general did not pass from one to two hours in personal inspection of the workings of his trains and he has often since told me that he felt then the great responsibility lity of having his tran transportation in the most perfect order because so much was to be demanded of it the packers themselves were an interesting study drawn as they were from the four corners of the earth although a majority of them as was to be expected were of spanish american origin not an evening passe passed d on this trip across the mountains of the mogollon range that crook did not quietly take a seat close to the camp fire of some some of the packers and listen intently to their reminiscences of early mining days in california or up on the frazer jn in british columbia hank n yank To jim oneill charlie hopkins jack long long jim cook and others were forty biners and well ablerto able to discuss the most exciting times known to the new pactolus with its accompanying trying days of the vigilance committee commit tep and other episodes of equal interest these were elmen men in the truest sense of the term they had faced all perils endured all privations and conquered in a manly way which is one unfailing test of great greatness niss in human nature k after his successful campaigns against thi the apaches in arizona crook in 1875 was transferred to the command of the department of the platte and the next year in his expedition against the sioux and nes proved how valuable a well wal lg organized a nied pack after the disaster to gen george G e c rge A caster custer and his seventh cavalry on junei june 25 1876 the fo forces r ces of general crook croli and ancL anclien Gen alfred H terry custers Ou superior officer united to pursue the hostiles ho stiles in two things the column from the yellow stona terrys command was sadly deficient in cavalry and in rapid tran transports alon writes bourke the seventh cavalry was in need of ri reorganization half of its original numbers having been killed or wounded in the affair of the big horn chepack the pack train made up as it necessarily was of animals taken out of the traces of the heavy wagons was was the saddest burlesque in the that t direction which it has ever been my lot to witness for orthis this no blame was ascribable cri bable to terry who was waa doing the best he could with the means allowed him in washington crooks pack train was a marvel of system it maintained a discipline much severer than had been attained by any company in elther either column under the indefatigable supervision of bf tom moore dave mears and others who had had an experience of more than t i a quarter of a century our mules moved with a precision io which the lworn worn out but comp comparison arlson of clockwork is justly adapted on the first days march after meeting crook terrys pack train dropped lost or damaged more stores than crooks command hads had spoiled polled from the same causes from the time tim c a when the campaign commenced 11 but le lest st this unfavorable comment on the efficiency of the pack train of a rival outfit be ascribed to the natural prejudice of an officer for his commander whom he admired and respected as captain bourke did general crook let it be added that an even severer criticism was uttered by an officer in the seventh cavalry he was the late cinching Cin ching up apack a pack mule from a drawing by frederic remington in agton illustrating on frontier fronti er service by G W van yen deusen in the outing magazine december 1895 gen hugh L scott who as a young lieutenant fresh from west point a shave tail joined the seventh a few weeks after the disaster to custer two years later young scott was stationed with his regi regiment in ant in m the black hills when general sheridan arrived to locate the new post of fort meade in his book some memories ot of a soldier published by the century company in 1928 general scott writes custers casters train a 11 disgrace 1 the seventh cavalry officers all ali made an official call on general sheridan in a body in the tent of our colonel samuel sturgis it was a large hospital tent but it was so full and my rank so low I 1 could not got get entirely inside sheridan Sherid hn expatiated upon the value such a post would have when indians broke away from the nebraska agencies and wint went north toward the camp of sitting bull a telegram to fort meade he said would enable a cavalry force to head them off here I 1 took my courage in hand and asked if he thought that post would be any good here without a pack train instead of having me thrown out it seemed to strike him just right for he turned to our colonel saying sam do you want a pack train ill give I 1 you one the seventh cavalry had never hads had a real pack train before because general terry thought you could catch Indi indians fins with a six mule team though he never did it himself whenever we encountered cavalry from general crooks department odthe of the platte away from our wagons the difference was painfully evident for general ge crook was the father of the modem a aparijo par aja train custers train w was as a disgrace improvised from the mules taken from the wagon train and his packers ackers were w without experience his train was scattered for milliand miles and could easily have been captured had th the e indians known about it notwithstanding frugal quartermaster I 1 ter generals generali the fort meade pack train given Us b by general sheridan in 1878 bur survived even the penurious general batcheler who stripped the army of mules and this train even survived the retrenchment after affert tie hi spanish american wai war it was sent to the mexican bolder in 1912 when thi the chief packer called on me at san antonio antonia and that train serves the cavalry on the border to this day I 1 used to love every eveaj arule in ft it angl longano lon gago ijo 11 |