Ex. Doc. No. 41. %ii 



19 miles distant, but the poor ftllows who were with me com- 

 plained so much of the soreness of their feet, that I determined to 

 encamp at " Cow creek," which is only 11 miles from "Plum 

 butte." Here we found a good ox-yoke, a thing we greatly needed. 

 'There was also a w'agon and several muskets, which must have 

 been left by the part^ of teamsters who had preceded us. It was 

 evident that the express I had sent on had encamped here last 

 night; their fires were still burning. 



About 2 o'clock we saw some persons approachingj they proved 

 to be Mr. Miller and Mr. Hoffman, of Baltimore. They were 

 neafly out of provisions, and their mules almost broken down. 

 From them we learnt everything with reference to the fiendish 

 massacre that had been perpetrated at "Taos." Nothing I had 

 undergone had caused me more unpleasant sensations thanthe news 

 of the horrid massacre of Governor Bent and his compatriots. 



I had been acquainted with Governor Bent ever since my first 

 arrival in N'tir Mexico. I esteemed and admired him greatly, and 

 every one in ihat country looked upon Charles Pent as one la a 



thousand. , , r r i • i. 



When the fiends were breaking through the roof of his house, 



even after he had 



h 



and told him to fight, to avenge himself; he could easily have 

 icilled some of the ra«b, who were entirely exposed to his aim, 

 ^rom the hole they were making. , r 



"No" said he, "I will not kill any one of them,, for the sake of 

 you, my wife, and of you, my children. At present my death is 

 all these people wish." The murderers rush m, they kill him, 

 they scalp him, and, horrible to relate, they parade the bloody 

 scalp through the streets of "T^os." 



Mr. Hoffman and his party continued their journey. In a httle 

 ^hile afterwards we descried another body of men approaching; 

 they proved to be a party under the command oi Mr. James Brown; 

 he had kindly picked up the men whom I had left at Pawnee Fork, 

 and had also raised my "cache," which he had brought along for 

 r me. Mr. Brown agreed to carry the baggage belonging to my men, 

 and we now felt as if all our troubles were ended. _ 



February iS.^We were ftp before the sun rose, and m a tew 

 ininules commenced our march. In the evening we encamped on 

 the "Little Arkansas," which is 20 miles distant from our point 

 of departure this morning. We had started with the^^ ^ntion of 

 inarching 10 miles further, but th.s evening it .^^'^^^ «;°J^[ .^"^ 

 threatening, so we determined to encamp m the timber of the Little 



""'rTrTary 19.-This morning, ^^'^^^ ^'^' Fl'telrZT- 

 than 5 miles we met J. Dobson, whom I had sent on the expiess, 

 le told me th'ar there was a teai belonging to the governmen^ n 

 "Cotton Wood fork," in charge of ^he. wagon ma t r M S 

 who said that he would carry every thing that ^ ^ad on^to *o 



Leavenworth; fearing a storm he bad set out ^° /^^^^ ;°^'°i. 

 -i^f , /.I. ?)' k„,« if^ ^nn1<l awa t mv arrival.. vV c enta.T3pea i« 



