| Show forgotten HEROES HEROES vy by ELMO SCOTT WATSON disaster at phil kearney kearnell Kear neyl I 1 C EVO at old fort lor lar quite wi 03 the oregon trail in wyoming in bedlam Hed lam 11 the building where all the social functions of the post were held a great ball was going on and unmindful of the bitter weather outside tile the little garrison was forgetting for awhile the perils and hardships ot of life on the frontier ro across the snowy parade ground a horse borse plodded wearily wavered and dropped to the ground dead its rider reeled from his saddle as it 1 tell 11 and stumbled toward the door of t the lie building A moment later the music stopped with a crash as his gigantic figure wrapped from lead head to foot to in buffalo overcoat longings leggings and cap stag staggered into the lettle ballroom disaster at phil kearney he gasped captain fetterman and 81 pipii massacred the indians are all around the post colonel carrington must have help then lie fell unconscious from over espos expos ure and exha exhaustion im immediately med abely after the cestr destruction u ebion ot of Fette rib nunns c command d by red clouds sioux colonel carrington c called for volunteers to go to fort laramie for help outside a frightful blizzard was raging and the thermometer stood at 25 degrees below zero to go meant a ride of ZW miles through that bitter weather and through a country swarming with hostile indians blood mild mad from their recent success none of the soldiers would offer to make the trip then a frontiersman named john phillips nicknamed because of his nationality stepped forward and said he would go if given the swiftest horse in ID the command this was done and at midnight of december 22 1808 1866 with only a few crackers for himself and a small amount of teed feed tor for his horse phillips slipped out a side gate in the stockade and rode away into the storm although the soldiers bad predicted that the messenger would be caught before he had gone a hundred yards he managed to avoid the indians and set out for fort laramie Lar amle after 48 hours hour of f co cold id hunger and fatigue he reacts aed reached that post as previously related on new years day a cry of thanksgiving went up from the be league red garrison at port fort phil kearney as a line of soldiers appen appeared red over the hills saved I 1 saved I 1 phillips got through to laramie its ita what were vere here aorl 0 and gentleman such Is the tradition in the amerlean american army and none bett better e r e exemplified x ampil B ed 1 it th than gu guy y V henry who has also and justly been called the typical knightly american soldier A west pointer son of another he be was born into the se service t vice in which he was to have such a distinguished career he saw tour four years of the h hardest adest in the civil war was thrice mentioned in dispatches and br brevet e yelled led five times for gallantry in action at the desperate fighting at old cold harbor he be won th the ardys highest distinction th medal of honor ile he was a brilliant indian fighter brorn 1805 t to 0 1800 1890 and luring during the spanish american war he accomplished wonders as military ruler of porto rico and there he died because he would not ask to be rell relieved eved of his command although he knew that by staying he was doomed here I 1 was sent and here I 1 will stay S t a y until my duty Is done he said yet for all of his services he Is but little known us as compared to other off officers leers whose more spectacular careers brought them to public notice thin a as a alio e string and as brave as isa a lion on t the b soldiers who served under ii him in and almost worshipped wor shipped him said what he lacked in physique he more than made up tor for in ili will p power ower during the winter of 1874 he was ordered from fort robinson Kobl with a troop of t soldiers rs to expel miners from the block hills tile the march which Is a classic in old army traditions took tok thein over aw miles of 0 the roughest est country in america and was made in weather ranging from 20 to 40 degrees d e below zero only the indomitable perseverance of the commander kept the lie men from lying down and being frozen to death its his plight was tile the worst of all they had to cut the bridle reins from his frozen hands when he returned to the fort and slit silt III his gloves into strips each strip brought with it a piece of flesh and to the day of his death he could not close the fingers on his left hand in the battle of tile the rosebud during the sioux war of 1870 henry was shot through the face and tell fell to the ground A desperate hand to hand conflict rayed raged over his body but he was rescued and carried t to 0 the rear fix me up so that I 1 can go bak back were the lie words mumbled through bleeding 11 lips ps to the surgeon but there was no going back tor for him there he lay through the long hot day while the battle raged almost unattended for or not a man could be spared from the firing bring line to a fellow officer who once came and bent over him tingly henry murmured its oil all right jack its what were here for and a few moments later inter to a war correspondent who came to see him henry recommended that he join the a army I 1 ce lail western newspaper union |
