The Bison 145 



them to detail hunters from their companies, and 

 to order their men to hunt down the creek, and 

 not to disturb what I had come to regard as the 

 post beef herd. They did so, and the herd still 

 remained with us. 



" One morning in February, '67, a sergeant, 

 whom I had sent the day before with a small 

 detail to make a scout, rapped at my door, and 

 reported his return. Among other things, he 

 said : ' Lieutenant, I met our buffalo herd travel- 

 ling up the creek, about fifteen miles from here. 

 They were moving slowly ; just feeding along.' 



" I determined to see if they could not be 

 brought back, and taking twenty-five men (ac- 

 companied by Lieutenant Cooke, Third Infantry, 

 Adjutant, Assistant-Surgeon Fisk, and Mr. Hale, 

 the post trader) rode up the creek, and entered the 

 valley above the herd. Then, forming a skirmish 

 line across the bottom, we very slowly advanced 

 toward the buffalo. When they first noticed us, 

 the leaders seemed uncertain what to do ; but as 

 they had been accustomed to seeing large parties 

 of us, instead of running, as I feared they might, 

 they at length turned about and began slowly to 

 work backward in the direction from which they 

 had come. By nightfall the herd was on its old 



