Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/417

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
CHAPTER XXII.

TO AND THROUGH THE BLACK HILLS—HOW DEADWOOD LOOKED IN 1876—THE DEADWOOD "ACADEMY OF MUSIC"—THE SECOND WINTER CAMPAIGN—THE NAMES OF THE INDIAN SCOUTS—WIPING OUT THE CHEYENNE VILLAGE—LIEUTENANT MCKINNEY KILLED—FOURTEEN CHEYENNE BABIES FROZEN TO DEATH IN THEIR MOTHERS' ARMS—THE CUSTER MASSACRE AGAIN—THE TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE OF RANDALL AND THE CROW SCOUTS.


The joy of the people in the Hills knew no bounds; the towns of Deadwood, Crook City, Montana, and many others proceeded to celebrate the news of their freedom and safety by all the methods suitable to such a momentous occasion in a frontier civilization: there was much in the way of bonfires, the firing of salutes from anvils, cheering, mass-meetings, alleged music, and no small portion of hard drinking. By resolution of the Deadwood Council, a committee, consisting of the first mayor, Farnum, and councilmen Kurtz, Dawson, and Philbrick, was sent out to meet General Crook and extend to him and his officers the freedom of the city; in the same carriage with them came Mr. Wilbur Hugus, who had assisted me in burying Captain Philip Dwyer at Camp Date Creek, Arizona, four years previously. The welcome extended these representatives was none the less cordial because they had brought along with them a most acceptable present of butter, eggs, and vegetables raised in the Hills. Despatches were also received from General Sheridan, informing Crook that the understanding was that the hostiles were going to slip into the agencies, leaving out in the Big Horn country "Crazy Horse" and "Sitting Bull," with their bands, until the next spring. To prevent a recurrence of the campaign the next year, Sheridan was determined to disarm and dismount all the new arrivals, and for that purpose had stationed a strong force at each agency, but he wished Crook to move in with his