Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America's Westward Expansion Page: 12
xv, 255 p. : ill., ports. ; 26 cm.View a full description of this book.
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EXTRAORDINARY EXPLOITS OF ThE INDIAN FIGHTERS FIGHTING MEN OF THE INDIAN WARS
Extraordinary Exploits of the Indian Fighters
M ANY FRONTIERSMEN RARELY found themselves fight-
ing Indians, but when events dictated combat,
inexperienced individuals often responded with admirable
bravery and ingenuity. In 1812, for example, there had
been little trouble in the West between trappers and Indi-
ans. John Reed led a small trapping party to The Dalles, and
was unexpectedly assaulted by 130 warriors. Reed was
tomahawked in the head several times, and the Indians
began plundering the trappers' belongings. Robert
McClellan, however, launched a furious one-man counter-
attack. McClellan shot one brave with his rifle, another
with his pistol, then sent the rest in flight with enraged war
whoops and two empty guns. McClellan then calmly
dressed Reed's wounds.
In 1829 a young trapper named John Simpson Smith
utilized a physical infirmity to advantage against hostile
Indians. Smith was transporting his pelts in a bullboat, but
the vessel was swamped in the swift current of the Missouri
River. The trapper became chilled and developed a raging
toothache. At Fort McKenzie he stocked up on whiskey
and laudanum and, well-fortified with those remedies,
resumed his riverjourney. Downriver, five Blackfeet aimed
rifles at Smith, forcing him to come to shore. They de-
stroyed his bullboat, drank his liquor, and, seeing him take
a dose of laudanum, demanded a portion. Smith provided
them with knockout amounts, and after they lost con-
sciousness he killed them. When two other Blackfeet came
up, Smith shot one with his rifle, dispatched the other in a
knife fight, then scalped all seven.
Nearly half a century later Lieutenant A.B. Bache of the
Fifth Cavalry became swollen with inflammatory rheuma-
tism while campaigning with General George Crook in
Montana. There was constant rainfall, and Bache became
so incapacitated that he had to be hauled in a mule-drawn
travois. When the Battle of Slim Buttes erupted, however,
Bache ignored his agonizing illness to join the fight.
Painfully he mounted his horse, had himself strapped intothe saddle, then rode off to the firing line. Not long
afterward the valiant Bache succumbed to his ailment,
dying while still in the field with his column.
A Texas horse rancher named Jesse Burnam had been
regularly troubled by Comanche raids against his spread
on the Colorado River. In the summer of 1831 he was in
bed with a fever when a dozen braves stole several of his
finest horses within sight of his cabin. One of Burnam's
children reported the theft, whereupon Jesse angrily saddled
up and, disregarding his fever and the odds, rode in pursuit.
After several hours he sighted his horses and the Indians.
He decided to charge the warriors, stampede his horses
toward their home range, then race away to safety. Burnam
boldly spurred into the midst of the war party and triggered
both barrels of his shotgun. Yelling and whooping, he led
his galloping herd back toward the Colorado, outdistanc-
ing the astonished Indians.
Frontier women sometimes proved to be formidable
opponents of raiding warriors. In 1835 eleven warriors
approached the central Texas log cabin of a family named
Taylor. As they came near, a dog barked and was immedi-
ately slain with an arrow. In one side of the dogtrot cabin
was Mr. Taylor; in the other were Mrs. Taylor, two sons,
and two daughters. A warrior came to the door and asked,
"How many men in house? Open door and give poor Indian
some tobacco. Friend, no want to fight."
Taylor rammed a board into his stomach and slammed
the door. The Indians opened fire, but Mrs. Taylor braved
bullets and arrows to hurry her children across the dogtrot
to her husband. As the Indians rushed the cabin, one was
killed and another mortally wounded. The warriors fell
back, but set the roof ablaze before retreating. Bear meat
suspended from the roof across the dogtrot began to drip fat
on the dying Indian. "Howl! You yellow brute!" shouted
Mrs. Taylor, her fighting spirit aroused. "Your meat is not
fit for hogs, but we'll roast you for the wolves!"
Her husband urged surrender rather than incineration,12
EXTRAORDINARY EXPLOITS OF THE INDIAN FIGHTERS
FIGHTING MEN OF THE INDIAN WARS
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Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America's Westward Expansion (Book)
This book "is a compendium of America's Indian Wars and the mountain men, soldiers, cowboys and pioneers who took part in them" (dust-jacket). It includes information about all the major American Indian battles, the lives of notable men who fought in the battles, and the combat techniques employed. The index begins on page 247.
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O'Neal, Bill. Fighting Men of the Indian Wars: A Biographical Encyclopedia of the Mountain Men, Soldiers, Cowboys, and Pioneers Who Took Up Arms During America's Westward Expansion, book, 1991; Stillwater, Oklahoma. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151417/m1/32/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Panola College.