Roosevelt Standard | 1934-07-12 | Page 9 | The Battle of Summit Springs

h ka act NUM MI 0 ami 7 lot A P mal g du ZM RM RV OWN j ag 4 t 4 4 Y ot w 4 owr 2 aa tt T t q ot uj r 4 N X 41 DU bill capt luther H horth kai frank rth VA al u 4 A f ta S ok VA va tk N the charae ahto b bulls V 5 carr faroni from a pi in in a buffalo bill s wild by ELMO SCOTT WATSON FIVE years ago on july 11 1809 there was fought in eastern colorado an indian battle which by a curious chain of circumstances Is more famous tor for an incident in it which never took place than it Is for any one of several interesting te incidents in it that actually did if you in your youth e ever er sat through a performance ot of buffalo bills wild west show and thrilled to the swift moving and colorful pageantry of that exhibition aou ou probably remember the re production of the battle of summit springs which for many years was a climax of 0 the performance for mance it if so you probably remember also that you came away from it with the belief that in this battle buffalo bill cody the scout charged through the indian village at the head or of the troops saved one white woman from froin death dt at the hands of the savages and avenged the killing of another by slaying tall cull bull calef of the dog soldier the only thing wrong with this picture Is that its all wrong for the facts of the battle of summit springs as they are recorded in such authoritative as george bird grinnells the righting fighting and two great scouts and their pawnee battalion are these in june eight troops of the fifth cavalry who had been campaigning in kansas and colorado under maj W B royall were ordered to fort mcpherson SIc Pherson neb for a summer campaign against hostile indians especially the band of dog soldier led by chief tall insull one of the worst raiders 6 on the plains of that period the troops were placed under the command of gen eugene A carr a major of the fifth who had risen to the rank of major general in the civil war at fort mcpherson the command was joined by three companies of pawnee indian scouts commanded by maj frank north with his brother luther il II north as captain of one of the com companies the other officers of the tha scouts were viere captains gushing cushing and murle and lieutenants becher matthews and Kis lingberry there too they were joined by two civilian scouts a certain garry carry and william F cody already known as buffalo bill carrs pursuit of the indians led him miles into the present state of colorado early on the morning 11 norths pawnees found the site of the camp that tall culls bulls people had left the previous day after which they had separated into three parties accordingly carr divided his command to continue the pursuit with part ot of the cavalry and five or six pawnee scouts he followed the lefthand left hand trail toward the northwest the rest of the cavalry commanded by royall with cody as their guide took the trall trail toward the northeast and frank and luther north with captain cushing and 35 of the pawnees took the middle trail which led directly north fifteen miles up the trail one of the pawnees who had bad gone with carr came riding swiftly to major north with the news that some of his fellows had found the cheyenne village at the place now called summit springs so the norths and their detachment immediately turned west and galloped over to join carr and his men who had dismounted and were waiting behind a ridge of sand hills carr had also sent word to royall but after waiting halt half an hour for that officer to appear and fearful lest the ho hostiles host stiles lles might learn of the presence presence of the troops and escape he decided to attack ordering hla his troopers into their saddles carr advanced toward the village which was about three miles away when the column reached a long valley which ran almost down to the village carr gave the command to charge frank north was riding a very fast horse and he was tie ile first to speed over the brow of the hill below which the lodges were pit pitched ebed tall bull and his people had no idea that they tad bad teen been pursued so BO closely As the day was warm they were lounging in the shade of their lodges lodge with most of their ponies ot caitung on the 5 t tall bullfrog bull From the portrait cross prairie some little distance away before they realized what was happening the norths and their pawnees came racing facing over the hill f followed ol 01 a moment later by carrs cavalrymen who charged among the lodges shooting as they came thrown into a panic by the attack the scattered in every direction without attempting tempting af to offer any resistance A few escaped on ponies which had been picketed near ne ar the lodges but the most of them fled on foot taking refuge in the ravines and washouts wa shouts of the surrounding hills carrs cavalrymen now divided up into squads and began hunting down the scattered enemy through the ravines meanwhile the norths and captain cushing had ridden up to a bl big lodge near the end of the village which it later developed ve was the lodge of 0 tall bull the chief As gushing dismounted a white woman captive came crawling out of the lodge and running up to him fell to her knees and clasped him around the legs talking in a pleading but unintelligible fashion slie she was a mrs welchel foreign born and unable to speak english but the norths and cushing finally succeeded la in making her understand that she was safe at last tall bull had bad made her his wire wife and when carrs men charged his is camp he had shot her to prevent her being rescued alive by the soldiers but had bad succeeded in inflicting a serious wound in the chest while they were talking to her capt luther north started to ride away beside a little creek that ran through the village he be came upon the body of 0 another white woman who had been killed by the blow of a tomahawk she was mrs suzannah Ald alderdyce Alder erdlee dlce who had been ca captured in the same raid in kansas with mrs welchel and who had shared with her the horrors of captivity among Tall Bulls dog soldiers for more than fl a year it hasteen has been said that tall bull himself struck the blow which killed mrs alderdyce Alder Ald erdlee dlce but there Is no definite proof as to this meanwhile the work of hunting down the fugitive indians was going on all around the village during this phase of the battle the two norths with a party of their P pawnees a W ne e s a surrounded rounded ur one of the ravines into which a number of the had taken refuge among them were tall bull with his wife and little daughter As the two norths rode past this ravine an I 1 indian rl raised up and fired at them then dropped d down out of sight bight again nia HIS bullet narrowly missed F rank frank north who sprang down from froia his bis horse and handed luther north his bridle rein saying bide away and when he hears that he will put up his bis head again As luther north started to lope away the indian raised his head to look and frank north shot him in the forehead A moment later the indian woman and her little daughter climbed out of the ra ravine V ine it and ad walking over to frank north began tal talking king to him in the sign language and begging for mercy north replied in the same manner reassuring V AV il 1 1 t 17 V tt t T gem herlea jer leA carr her and telling her that her life would be spared it was not known at the time that the indian in the raine was tall cull bull proof of 0 that fact came three days later at fort sedgwick where here carr took the 18 indian women and children who were captured at summit springs there leo halliday Pal liday an interpreter recognized the indian woman as the wife of tall bull and asked her it her husband had been killed in the battle yes she elie replied pointing to frank north this man killed him where I 1 came out of the ravine blate by late afternoon the pursuit of the fleeing indians among the hills was given up and the soldiers and pawnee scouts returned to the village and began rounding up the horses and mules more than in number that the indians had bad abandoned soon afterwards a terrific rain and hall storm struck the camp and the victorious soldiers were forced to take refuge in the indian lodges in the midst of this storm buffalo bill came riding into camp followed a little later by major royall and his detachment they had missed the fighting entirely and their only part in the battle of summit springs was in the tha mopping up process that of disposing of all the rich plunder which was found in tall bulls camp As for buffalo bills becoming the hero of the battle of summit springs it came about in this manner soon after the battle when nhen the expedition had returned to fort mcpherson elmo 7 C judson ned buntline a prolific writer of dime novels visited the post la in the exploits of maj frank north the tha white chief of the paw nees he saw the material for many a thriller but frank north was not the type of man who cared to be made a dime novel hero he pooh all of buntlines Bunt lines proposals to male make him one it if you want a roan man to fill that bill hes hea over there under the wagon he said so buntline went over and poked young bill cody codr with his foot the twenty three year old scout opened his eyes and cooled up at the man who was to mate make him famous its as buffalo bill on the stage and between the paper covers of dime novels that was in the seventies A few years later buffalo bill having tasted the delights of fame and hero bero worship was amazing two continents with a new venture in the amusement business the wild west show and living up to the reputation which had been created for him by ned buntline and other publicity agents he was reproducing the battle of summit sr and appearing in the arena as the hero of 0 that engagement ga three years after the battle of summit springs luther north hoard heard the story being circulated giving cody then on the stage in 9 scouts U ts of the plains credit for the killing hilling of tall bull ue ile was andl indignant gnant and said to his brother why dont you correct that but frank north korth only laughed and replied 1 I am not in the show business 1 and with this modest disclaimer a truly great scout passed up his chance for fume fame as the slayer of one of tho the most dangerous public enemies of the frontier era and allowed a lesser man t to wear bu such ch laurels spurious though they were 0 by western newspaper gunlog