CROSSING THE PLAINS THIRTY YEARS AGO. 



i i - 



thrown in, covered with three or does not know what fear is walked 



four inches of earth and the camp boldly up and stood staring at them 



fire built over it and kept up all with great apparent satisfaction and 



night. In winter, and where there curiosity. 



is plenty of wood, the head is well 

 done by morning; but as we have 

 now warm weather and no great 

 abundance of wood, it took two nights 

 to finish this one. As 1 was sick and 

 unable to attend to it in person, I 

 found the soldiers had not buried it 

 deep enough and had burned off part 

 of the skin, allowing some dirt to 

 get in. The meat is soft and tender 

 and the tongue like marrow. 



" We are within 10 miles of 

 Kearney, having marched to-day 

 22 miles. Lieutenant Berry, 2d 

 Dragoons, rode into camp soon 

 after our tents were pitched and is 



"One naturally associates with a 

 fort the idea of some prominent 

 strategical point; but Fori Kearney 

 is an exception to this, for as fai 

 its military position is concerned, it 

 may as well have been placed 

 miles above or below where it is. 

 Aside from a flagstaff in the center 

 the only other prominent military 

 objects consist of 12 24-pounder 

 field howitzers, standing on one side 

 of the Square, mounted on carria 

 for flank casement defem It is 



difficult to imagine how these tish- 

 out- of -water looking carria 

 could have wandered so far 



giving us all the news of the country, from their legitimate positions, un- 

 He called in, just as we were going less our authorities in Washington 

 to dinner, to invite us to to take have been as much misled by the 

 possession of his quarters on our arri- term fort as more ordinary mortals. 

 val at Fort Kearney to-morrow. I Possi'bly my estimate of the p 

 accepted his offer on sight, as I have was lowered from the fact that I here 

 no doubt we will find a house a very learned that my batten- has 1 

 agreeable change and an advantage- broken up by Colonel Smith, ruin- 

 ous one for three days, which will manding in Utah, and sent off as 

 probably be the length of our visit. dragoons after Indians 600 miles 



west of Camp Floyd. It is difficult 



" Fort Kearney, June 24. to say what could have been the 



" We reached here early yesterday circumstances which would justify 



morning. We find Fort Kearney an such a course, by which the sen 



open square surrounded by mud and of an indifferent company <>t dra- 



frame buildings, standing out in the goons is obtained in exchange for an 



flat open prairie with no sort of almost total destruction ol the only 



artificial defenses, and people sleep- artillery within reach. It is thought 



ing soundly with doors wide open, the company will be back and 



From this may be inferred how little mounted by the time we reach ( amp 



regard is paid to Indians in this part Floyd, 

 of the country. A band of Cheyennes, 



who were on a war expedition 

 against the Pawnees, came in yester- 

 day, all dressed out with their lances 

 and rifles and riding on horseback. 

 We all went out to inspect, and it 

 was amusing to see them lean for- 

 ward and look at little Fannie, who is 

 nowburnt almostto the color of one of 

 them. I suppose they were specu- 

 lating as to what kind of a squaw she 



" We left Fort Kearney on Tu< 



day the 26th (June >. and ha\ 

 since been travelling along the 

 valley of the Platte, or Nel 1 

 river. The valley is a dvA^\ level, in 

 the middle of which flows the TV 

 n< >w rapid and muddy as it from ra • 

 and nearly up to the top of its ban 



" I amused mysell as we 

 along fancying the time when fi 



would make. She did not seem to the crowded population in the 



take to them quite so readily and this country will be thicl 



stood by, holding my hand as if not this valley cut up into I 



exactly at her ease; while Katie, who cultivated farms w it li fruit ma- 



