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

Confession Of Where His Money Was Concealed, After Which He Was

Shot Down In cold Blood, And His Body Thrown Into A Ravine.

 

 

 

It Appears, However, That The Ruffians Had Not Completed their

Bloody Work So Effectually As They Thought; For One Of The Mexican'S

Teamsters Escaped, And, Making His Way To Leavenworth, Reported

The Crime, And Was Soon On His Way Back To The Trail, Guiding a

Detachment Of United states Troops In pursuit Of The Murderers.

 

 

 

John Hobbs, Scout, Trapper, And Veteran Plainsman, Happened to Be

Hunting Buffalo On Pawnee Fork, On The Ground Where Larned is Now

Situated, With A Party From Bent'S Fort.  They Were Just On The Point

Of Crossing The Trail At The Mouth Of The Pawnee When The Soldiers

From Fort Leavenworth Came Along, And From Them Hobbs And His

Companions First Learned of The Murder Of Chavez On Cow Creek.

As The Men Who Were Out Hunting Were All Familiar With Every Foot

Of The Region They Were Then In, The Commanding Officer Of The Troops

Induced them To Accompany Him In his Search For The Murderers.

 

 

 

Hobbs And His Men Cheerfully Accepted the Invitation, And In about

Four Days Met The Band Of Cut-Throats On The Broad Trail, They Little

Dreaming That The Government Had Taken A Hand In the Matter.

The Band Tried to Escape By Flight, But Hobbs Shot The Doctor'S Horse

From Under Him, And A Soldier Killed another Member Of The Band,

When The Remainder Surrendered.

 

 

 

The Money, About Twelve Or Fifteen Thousand Dollars,[24] Was All

Recovered, And The Murderers Taken To St. Louis, Where Some Were Hung

And Some Imprisoned, The Doctor Escaping The Death Penalty By Turning

State'S Evidence.  His Sentence Was Incarceration In the Penitentiary,

From Which He Was Pardoned after Remaining There Two Years.

Hobbs Met The Doctor Some Years After In san Francisco.  He Was Then

Leading an Honest Life, Publishing a Newspaper, And Begged his Captor

Not To Expose Him.

 

 

 

The Money Taken From The Robbers Was Placed in charge Of Colonel Owens,

A Friend Of The Chavez Family And A Leading Santa Fe Trader.

He Continued on To The River, Purchased a Stock Of Goods, And

Sent Back The Caravan To Santa Fe In charge Of Doctor Conley Of

Boonville, Missouri.

 

 

 

Arriving at His Destination, The Widow Of The Deceased chavez

Employed the Good Doctor To Sell The Goods And Take The Sole

Supervision Of Her Immense Business Interests, And There Is A Touch

Of Romance Attached to The Terrible Kansas Tragedy, Which Lies In

The Fact That The Doctor In about Two Years Married the Rich Widow,

And Lived very Happily For About A Decade, Dying Then On One Of The

Large Estates In new Mexico, Which He Had Acquired by His Fortunate

Union With The Amiable Mexican Lady.

Chapter VII (Mexico Declares War)

Mexico Declared war Against The United states In april, 1846.  In the

Following May, Congress Passed an Act Authorizing The President To

Call Into The Field Fifty Thousand Volunteers, Designed to Operate

Against Mexico At Three Distinct Points, And Consisting Of The

Southern Wing, Or The Army Of Occupation, The Army Of The Centre,

And The Army Of The West, The Latter To Direct Its March Upon The

City Of Santa Fe.  The Original Plan Was, However, Somewhat Changed,

And General Kearney, Who Commanded the Army Of The West, Divided his

Forces Into Three Separate Commands.  The First He Led in person

To The Pacific Coast.  One Thousand Volunteers, Under Command Of

Colonel A. W. Doniphan, Were To Make A Descent Upon The State Of

Chihuahua, While The Remainder And Greater Part Of The Forces, Under

Colonel Sterling Price, Were To Garrison Santa Fe After Its Capture.

 

 

 

There Is A Pretty Fiction Told Of The Breaking Out Of The War

Between Mexico And The United states.  Early In the Spring Of 1846,

Before It Was Known Or Even Conjectured that A State Of War Would Be

Declared to Exist Between This Government And Mexico, A Caravan

Of Twenty-Nine Traders, On Their Way From Independence To Santa Fe,

Beheld, Just After A Storm And A Little Before Sunset, A Perfectly

Distinct Image Of The Bird Of Liberty, The American Eagle, On The

Disc Of The Sun.  When They Saw It They Simultaneously And Almost

Involuntarily Exclaimed that In less Than Twelve Months The Eagle

Of Liberty Would Spread His Broad Plumes Over The Plains Of The West,

And That The Flag Of Our Country Would Wave Over The Cities Of

New Mexico And Chihuahua.  The Student Of The Classics Will Remember

That Just Before The Assassination Of Julius Caesar, Both Brutus

And Cassius, While In their Places In the Roman Senate, Saw Chariots

Of Fire In the Sky.  One Story Is As True, Probably, As The Other,

Though Separated by Centuries Of Time.

 

 

 

The Army Of The West, Under General Stephen W. Kearney, Consisted of

Two Batteries Of Artillery, Commanded by Major Clark; Three Squadrons

Of The First United states Dragoons, Commanded by Major Sumner;

The First Regiment Of Missouri Cavalry, Commanded by Colonel Doniphan,

And Two Companies Of Infantry, Commanded by Captain Aubrey.

This Force Marched in detached columns From Fort Leavenworth, And

On The 1St Of August, 1846, Concentrated in camp On The Santa Fe

Trail, Nine Miles Below Bent'S Fort.

 

 

 

Accompanying The Expedition Was A Party Of The United states

Topographical Engineers, Under Command Of Lieutenant W. H. Emory.[25]

In Writing Of This Expedition, So Far As Its March Relates To The

Old Santa Fe Trail, I Shall Quote Freely From Emory'S Report And

Doniphan'S Historian.[26]

 

 

 

The Practicability Of Marching a Large Army Over The Waste,

Uncultivated, Uninhabited prairie Regions Of The West Was Universally

Regarded as Problematical, But The Expedition Proved completely

Successful.  Provisions Were Conveyed in wagons, And Beef-Cattle

Driven Along For The Use Of The Men.  These Animals Subsisted

Entirely By Grazing.  To Secure Them From Straying Off At Night,

They Were Driven Into Corrals Formed of The Wagons, Or Tethered to

An Iron Picket-Pin Driven Into The Ground About Fifteen Inches.

At The Outset Of The Expedition Many Laughable Scenes Took Place.

Our Horses Were Generally Wild, Fiery, And Unused to Military

Trappings And Equipments.  Amidst The Fluttering Of Banners,

The Sounding Of Bugles, The Rattling Of Artillery, The Clattering

Of Sabres And Also Of Cooking Utensils, Some Of Them Took Fright

And Scampered pell-Mell Over The Wide Prairie.  Rider, Arms And

Accoutrements, Saddles, Saddle-Bags, Tin Cups, And Coffee-Pots,

Were Frequently Left Far Behind In the Chase.  No Very Serious Or

Fatal Accident, However, Occurred from This Cause, And All Was

Right As Soon As The Affrighted animals Were Recovered.

 

 

 

The Army Of The West Was, Perhaps, Composed of As Fine Material As

Any Other Body Of Troops Then In the Field.  The Volunteer Corps

Consisted almost Entirely Of Young Men Of The Country.

 

 

 

On The 9Th Of July, A Separate Detachment Of The Troops Arrived at

The Little Arkansas, Where The Santa Fe Trail Crosses That Stream--

Now In mcpherson County, Kansas.  The Mosquitoes, Gnats, And Black

Flies Swarmed in that Locality And Nearly Drove The Men And Animals

Frantic.  While Resting There, A Courier Came From The Commands

Of General Kearney And Colonel Doniphan, Stating That Their Men

Were In a Starving Condition, And Asking For Such Provisions As

Could Be Spared.  Lieutenant-Colonel Ruff Of Doniphan'S Regiment,

In Command Of The Troops Now Camped on The Little Arkansas, Was

Almost Destitute Himself.  He Had Sent Couriers Forward To Pawnee Fork

To Stop A Train Of Provisions At That Point And Have It Wait There

Until He Came Up With His Force, And He Now Directed the Courier From

Kearney To Proceed to The Same Place And Halt As Many Wagons Loaded

With Supplies, As Would Suffice To Furnish The Three Detachments

With Rations.  One Of The Couriers, In attempting To Ford The Fork

Of The Pawnee, Which Was Bank-Full, Was Drowned.  His Body Was Found

And Given A Military Funeral; He Was The First Man Lost On The

Expedition After It Had Reached the Great Plains, One Having Been

Drowned in the Missouri, At Fort Leavenworth, Before The Troops Left.

 

 

 

The Author Of _Doniphan'S Expedition_ Says:

          In approaching The Arkansas, A Landscape Of The Most

          Imposing and Picturesque Nature Makes Its Appearance.

          While The Green, Glossy Undulations Of The Prairie To

          The Right Seem To Spread Out In infinite Succession,

          Like Waves Subsiding after A Storm, And Covered with

          Herds Of Gambolling Buffalo, On The Left, Towering To

          The Height Of Seventy-Five To A Hundred feet, Rise The

          Sun-Gilt Summits Of The Sand Hills, Along The Base Of

          Which Winds The Broad, Majestic River, Bespeckled with

          Verdant Islets, Thickly Beset With Cottonwood Timber,

          The Sand Hills Resembling Heaps Of Driven Snow.

I Refer To This Statement To Show How Wonderfully The Settlement

Of The Region Has Changed the Physical Aspect Of That Portion

Bordering The Arkansas River.  Now Those Sand Hills Are Covered

With Verdure, And This Metamorphosis Has Taken Place Within The

Last Thirty Years; For The Author Of This Work Well Remembers How

The Great Sand Dunes Used to Shine In the Sunlight, When He First

Saw Them A Third Of A Century Ago.  In coming From Fort Leavenworth

Up The Smoky Hill Route To The Santa Fe Trail, Where The Former

Joined the Latter At Pawnee Rock, The Contour Of The Arkansas

Could Be Easily Traced by The White Sand Hills Referred to,

Long Before It Was Reached.

 

 

 

On The 15Th Of July The Combined forces Formed a Junction At

Pawnee Fork, Now Within The City Limits Of Larned, Kansas.  The River

Was Impassable, But General Kearney, With The Characteristic Energy

Of His Family, Determined not To Be Delayed, And To That End Caused

Great Trees To Be Cut Down And Their Trunks Thrown Across The Stream,

Over Which The Army Passed, Carrying In their Arms The Sick, The

Baggage, Tents, And Other Paraphernalia; The Animals Being Forced

To Swim.  The Empty Bodies Of The Wagons, Fastened to Their Running

Gear, Were Floated across By Means Of Ropes, And Hauled up The

Slippery Bank By The Troops.  This Required two Whole Days; And On

The Morning Of The 17Th, Not An Accident Having Occurred, The Entire

Column Was En Route Again, The Infantry, As Is Declared in the

Official Reports, Keeping Pace With The Cavalry Right Along.

Their Feet, However, Became Terribly Blistered, And, Like The

Continentals At Valley Forge, Their Tracks Were Marked with Blood.

 

 

 

In A Day Or Two After The Command Had Left Pawnee Fork, While Camping

In A Beautiful Spot On The Bank Of The Arkansas, An Officer, Major

Howard, Who Had Been Sent Forward To Santa Fe Some Time Previously

By The General To Learn Something Of The Feeling Of The People

In Relation To Submitting To The Government Of The United states,

Returned and Reported

 

 

 

          That The Common People, Or Plebeians, Were Inclined to

          Favour The Conditions Of Peace Proposed by General Kearney;

          Viz. That If They Would Lay Down Their Arms And Take The

          Oath Of Allegiance To The Government Of The United states,

          They Should, To All Intents And Purposes, Become Citizens

          Of The Same Republic, Receiving The Protection And Enjoying

          The Liberties Guaranteed to Other American Citizens; But

          That The Patricians Who Held The Offices And Ruled the

          Country Were Hostile, And Were Making Warlike Preparations.

          He Added, Further, That Two Thousand Three Hundred men

          Were Already Armed for The Defence Of The Capital, And

          That Others Were Assembling at Taos.

This Intelligence Created quite A Sensation In camp, And It Was

Believed, And Earnestly Hoped, That The Entrance Of The Troops

Into Santa Fe Would Be Desperately Opposed; Such Is The Pugnacious

Character Of The Average American The Moment He Dons The Uniform

Of A Soldier.

 

 

 

The Army Arrived at The Cimarron Crossing Of The Arkansas On The 20Th,

And During The March Of Nearly Thirty Miles From Their Last Camp,

A Herd Of About Four Hundred buffalo Suddenly Emerged from The

Arkansas, And Broke Through The Long Column.  In an Instant The

Troops Charged upon The Surprised animals With Guns, Pistols, And

Even Drawn Sabres, And Many Of The Huge Beasts Were Slaughtered

As They Went Dashing and