difficult mountain ranges to climb,
blinding blizzards and insufferable cold, blistering heat, and the hazards
of unknown rivers to cross through banks of perilous quicksands;
stupendous distances to travel, and all the time an alert, wily, and
masterful foe lurking in any one of ten thousand impregnable coverts--this
is a hint of the scout's life. These brave and tireless scouts led not to
ambush but to the advantage of our men at arms. Estimate the bravery, the
sagacity, the perseverance, the power of endurance displayed by these
Indian scouts, and their superlative service will call for our patriotic
gratitude. No trial of strength and endurance, no test of bravery, no
audacity of peril, hindered or made them afraid. They were more important
than guns and munitions of war. The Crows made the best scouts, for two
reasons: They had never taken up arms against the whites; all the
neighbouring tribes battled against the Crows for the conquest of their
land. The Crow scouts, therefore, aided the United States soldiers to
conquer and drive out their hereditary foes that they might preserve their
land and their homes. It was therefore not only a fight of fidelity and
fealty but of preservation--Nature's strongest law.
Our story is now concerned with the four surviving scouts who led the
United States soldiers in many campaigns under Crook, Terry, Miles,
Howard, and finally Custer. The Indians who piloted Long Hair to the
great Sioux camp in the valley of the Little Big Horn--the last day of life
for Custer, the last contest at arms for the Indians--are now old men, and
their own life record is full of thrilling interest.
[White Man Runs Him--Custer Scout]
White Man Runs Him--Custer Scout
White-Man-Runs-Him
This red man of the plains is a veritable Apollo Belvedere. He is
pronounced by all ethnologists as possessing a physique hardly paralleled
by any of the northern tribes. He fulfills in his life the nobility of
his stature. At the age of sixty-five, his figure, seventy-four inches in
height, stands unbent--supple and graceful. His whole aspect is that of
quiet dignity, his voice is soft and musical, his eye is keen and
penetrating; modestly and earnestly he describes his share in the Custer
fight. He was trustworthy to the point of death. Very many times the
safety of an entire command depended upon his caution and sagacity. He
served as scout unde
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