Dbo 26 i8a6.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
808 
FOR CHR ISTMAS WEE K READING. 
A Christmas with Old Port. The Baron and the Wolves. 
Deer Stalking. A Camp Ghost Story. 
Charley Reynolds. Holland. 
Woodland Bird Notes. Naming the Boy. 
About Wolves and Coyotes. 
CHARLEY REYNOLDS.* 
Twenty years ago this last summer the Cuai^er figbt 
took place on the banks of the Little Big Horn Rivpr, in 
Montana. Many brave men lost ther lives on that June 
26, and the news of that fight carried sorrow into many 
homes in the land. 
The story of the Custer battle has often been told, but 
the accounts of one part of it are largely guesswork, I 
have heard the story many times from Indians, half- 
breeds and white men, but I do not now wish to refer to 
it further than to speak of one of the men who died 
there, who was good, brave and a true friend of mine. 
This was Charley Reynolds, for several years Gen. Cus- 
ter's chief of scouts. 
Measured by years, my knowledge of Charley was not 
long. Measured by intimacy of inttrcourse, our friend- 
ship was very close. I first met him in June, 1874, and 
for three months thereafter we were together fvery day, 
and often all day. Parting soon after the return of the 
Black Hills expedition to Fort Abraham Lincoln, we did 
not see each other again until the next summer, though 
frequent letters were exchanged between us. The ntxt 
year Charley accompanied me on a reconnoissance from 
Port Lincoln up the Missouri River to Carroll, and thence 
across the couniry to Fort Ellis, M-»nt., through the Yel- 
low stone Park, back to the Judith River; from the mouth 
of the Judith down the Missouri in a Mackinaw boat to 
Carroll, and thence down the river again to Bismarck, 
In the ppring of 1876 Gen. Custer telegraphed to me at 
New Hiven, where I then rtsided, inviting me to accom- 
pany him on the expedition of that year. He requested 
me, if I could come, to report at Fori L'ncoln on May 30. 
Private afiairs detained me in the East, so that I could 
not reach Fort Lincoln before June 30, and I was obliged 
to forego the trip. If I had been able to go, Caarley and 
I would have met again, and we might have fought side 
by side in the Reno Creek Valley. 
During the two f xpeditions of '74 and '75 Charley and 
I were together much of the time. From some reason or 
other, from our first meeting we liked each other, and 
the liking grew as we came to know one another better 
and better. During the trip of 1875 we rode and hunted 
together all the time, messed together and slept together. 
It was chiefly during this trip that I received from him 
such confidences as gave me some idea of his early life 
and of the place of his birth. It can readily be under- 
stood that I never asked him any questions about him- 
self. This I have long areatly regretted, because I have 
no doubt he would willingly have told me the whole 
story of his life, and this knowledge, if I had had it, 
might have been a comfort to some of his relations. 
At the time of our trip to the Black Hills Charley was 
thirty-one years old. From statements made to me, and 
from casual remarks made from time to time, I know 
that he was born in western Kentucky, somewhere with- 
in. 100 miles of Memphis, Tenn. His father was a gentle- 
man, well to do, and fond of outdoor sports, among other 
things a great deer hunter, following his hounds on 
horseback over the rough mountains near his home. He 
had been a slave owner, Wnen Charley was a little fel- 
low about twelve or fourteen years old tie was sent away 
to boarding school, to Indianapolis, Ind. An uncle of 
his lived in that city. His stay there was not long. He 
was homesick, and he imagined, unjustly treated 
by the principal of the school, and before long he ran 
away. He did not dare to go home nor to his uncle, but 
determined to depend on himself for support, and started 
west on foot. 
Just how it came about I do not know, but in some way 
he joined an emigrant train going across the plains, and 
traveled with it to what is now Ddnver, where the train 
disbanded, and he was thrown on his own resources. He 
had a little money, given him perhaps for his services 
while crossing the plains, and this enabled him to buy a 
little pistol and to support himself for a short time. Be- 
fore very long, however, his money gave out. There was 
no opportunity for him to get anything to do in Denver, 
and he started to walk further into the mountains to see 
it he could get employment somewhere. He was now 
about fifteen or sixteen years old. 
He walked for a day and a half into the hills without 
eating anything, and b^gan to get pretty hungry and 
pretty desperate. One evening he came to a little cabin, 
and made up bis mind that here he would eat. Hd entered 
and drew his little pistol from his holster, and, pointing it 
at the man who was getting supper there, ordered him to 
give him something to eat at once. The little old man 
looked at him with a queer smile, but said nothing, and 
set food before him, and Charley put his pistol down by 
the side of the plate and burst out crying. The old fel- 
low spoke kindly and pleasantly to him, and after Charley 
had eaten drew from him his story. He kept the boy 
with him all that winter and through the following year, 
taught him much about hunting, trapping and mountain 
life, and purchased for him a little nfla. Very likely 
Charley would have remaiued with him for a long time, 
but the next sum m er the old man died and the boy was 
thrown adrift again. However, his experiences had 
taught him sometning about taking care of himself, and 
thereafter he was never in great straits. 
In the later 60.-i Caarlie was on the Missouri hunting 
end trapping, and from about iS^iS to 187^ Fort Berthold 
was his headquarters, and the M.sjouri between that and 
Bismarck ana the Little Missouri River were his chief 
hunting and trapping grounds. He was a remarkable 
* Btprlea of « Herofaj Age-^UI. 
shot with a rifle and a good trapppr. His success in hunt- 
ing, hrt told me, came largely from the fact that be ptrove 
to learn in every possible way — by reading and by obser- 
vation in the field — the ways of the animals xMut he 
hunted. The R-es, Mindatis arid village Gros Ventres 
of the Berthold Agency believed that he posses3<^d some 
special medicine, which, when used, induced the animals 
to come to him. On one or two ocnasions they talked of 
killing him because his success in hunting was so great. 
They were especially exercised about some natural history 
books that he used to read, and believed the piobnres in 
these books exerted some influence on the deer, elk, ante- 
lope and buffUo, Peter Beauohamp, a half-breed Ree, 
now or recently living at Berthold, has told me within a 
few years something of the way in which these Indians 
regarded Charley, Peter was for a number of months 
hired by Charley to keep camp for him., look after stock, 
and so on. 
Almost immediately after Gm. Custer assumed com- 
mand at Fort Lincoln he heard of Reynolds and of hia 
remarka'ile qualifications as scout and hunter, and in a 
very short time he succeeded in securing his services as 
chief of scouts at the post. 
Charley accompanied the Sturgia expedition to the Yel- 
lowstone in 1873. and it was in 1871, oni the Black Hills 
expedition, that I had the opportunity of learning some- 
OHABLEY REYNOLDS. 
thing of his great knowledge of the habits of animals, 
the Indians and generally of prairie life. • . 
From some cause or other we were detained at Lihcdln 
for nearly thirty days after the date which was originally 
sat for the expsdition's departure, and during these days 
I hunted much with Charley and he was at my quarters 
daily. 
During this time there came to the post, without any 
letters, a Frenchman who stated that he was a scientific 
man and wished to accompany the expi^difcion. Gin. Cut- 
ter explained to him that he could not be taken along ex- 
cept by order of G^n. Sheridan, and the man when he 
heard 'this became vary much excited and declared that 
be would go to the Black Hills anyhow. About noon the 
next day it developed that the man had startt>d from Fort 
Lincoln soon after daylight, and had walked up over the' 
bluffs in a southwesterly direction. The country was 
bid. for Indians sometimes rode up to the edge of the 
bluffs above the post, and no one supposed that thw man 
could go twenty miles without being picked up by some 
wandering war party. However, Charley saddled up, 
found the trail of the man who had gone afoot, set off and 
overtook him nearly thirty miles from the post. Ha was 
apparently crazy, was walking rapidly in a southwesterly 
direction, talking to himself in an unknown tongua and 
gesticulating violently. He refused to stop when Charley 
overtook him, and in fact probably did not understand a 
word that Reynolds said, any more than Charley under- 
stood him. However, after a long wrangle Charley in- 
duced the man to turn about with him, and, mounting him 
on his own horse, walked beside him, and reached the post 
about daylight the following day. The man was put in 
the hospital under guard and before long was sent East. 
Anyone who knows anything about trackiag will under- 
stand that to follow the trail of a man on foot for twenty 
or twenty-five miles is not an easy matttr, •• < 
I think we were camped not far from the southern bor- 
der of the Black Hills when Gen. Custer told R ynolds to 
prepare to go into Fort Laramie with dispatches. The 
distance, if I recollect right, was 150 miles, and the way 
led through a country that swarmed with Indians^ who 
were constantly passing back and forth between two 
agencies. When I heard that Charley was going to make 
ihii rid'* I was extremely anxious to make it with him, 
be ieving that there was some rianuer in it; and knowing 
that two or three men could very likely go through where 
ona c )Uid not. Charl.'y was anxiou,-) to have Gapfc. North 
and mvself go along; bun we were unfortunately very 
badly off for horses, as the f^^ed had been very poor and 
all the stock was wretchedly thin and wfak. In fact, 
many horses gave out entirely and had to be shot. 
Charley's horae was not fit to make the ride, being a slow, 
heavy troop horse— thouKh in good condition — and the 
animals ridden by Capt. North ani mjself were even less 
serviceable. I spoke to Gen, Custer about the trip, and 
he was at first extremely reluctant to have more than one 
man venture on it, on the ground of its danger, I ex- 
plaiaed to him my point of view, and brought him to 
agree that the trip might be more safely made by three 
men than by one. However, Capt. North and myself 
were unable to sacure horses that were at all tit for the 
ride. Charley managed to obtain a condemned Govern- 
ment horse which bel nged to a wagon master, but it was 
so vicious that ht- cnula n itridiic C larley, however, 
rode it for a d^y or t>vo and euccieedod in measurably 
taming it. It was a tough and wiry beast. 
Charley set out alone for F^rc Laramie, and ultimately 
reached there after having been exposed to great dangers 
from the Indians, and having suffrred rou"h from thirst. 
He rode at night, and lay by iu brush and timber during 
the day, and failing to find water, both he and his horse 
suffered scutely toward the end of the ride, It was curi- 
ous and interesting to hear Charley tell how this wild and 
vicious brute, while they were hiding during the day in 
the underbrush, often came up to him as he lay on the 
ground and pushed him with his nose, trying to induce 
him to get up and go on. Charley's throat and tongue 
became so swollen from thirdt that he could not close his 
mouth. 
When the expedition reached Fort Lincoln again Char- 
ley was there, having come eround by rdi'road after de- 
livering his dispatches at Fort Laramie. Oa the Black 
Hills trip I saw him make some remarkable shots at an- 
telope and white- tailed deer, which were extremely abun- 
dant. In fact, he and C ipt. North, who were two of the 
best rifla shots that I have ever seen, did shooting on this 
expedition that I never expect to see equaled in the field. 
The enlisted men of the command hi l the utmost rev- 
erence for Reynolds's knowleigB of prairie craft, and the 
highest possible belief in his skill with the rifle. This was 
amusingly shewn by a little incident which happened one 
day alter the expedition had crossed the Little Missouri 
River, and was near the Black Hills. With Charley and 
Capt. North I happened to be riding with headquarters, 
about four or five miles ahead Of the column. Signal 
siiokes and fresh trails of small traveling parties of In- 
dians had been seen the day before and that morning, 
aud Gen. Custer had given orders that t lere was to be no 
straggling by the enlisted men, and that none of them 
Were to be given permission to hunt. All must keep with 
the command. The scouts were the ouly men who had 
any business to be awey from the column. 
As we rode up on thg crest of a little prairie swell, 
which overlooked a broad fl it, we saw, 6J0 or SOOyds. 
off, a soldier creeping up toward some feeding antelope, 
and almost at the same moment he saw us, and straight- 
tening up stood looking at us. Gjn. Caster told his 
orderly to call the huater in, and the orderly rode out a 
little way and waved his hat, ani then rode his horse in 
a circle, but the hunter did not move toward us. Instead 
he rather acted as if he wanted to go the other way. 
After a moment Gan. Caster turned impatiently and 
said to Charley, "Reynolds, can't vou bring that man in?" 
*'I guess so, if you want him. General," said Charley, 
spurring to the front and preparing to dismount. 
■ '-That's it," said the Ganeral. "Siootat him." 
R -ynolds brought the rifl^ to his shoulder, pointed it 
at the man and fired, and efter two or three seconds the 
man fell to the ground. ' Great Scott! he has hit himl" 
exclaimed half a dtzenmen. In a moment, however, 
the man sprang to his feet and ran toward us as hard as 
he could, never stopping uatil, breathless and spent by 
his exertions, he was quite close to us. The General 
ordered a couple of men detailed to disarm the straggler, 
take him to the rear aud put him under arrest. 
That night the man was showing in camp a place on 
his head where a locfc of hair was missing, which he de- 
clared had been cut away by Charley's bullet. And it 
was believed by many of the soldiers that Charley had 
intentionally shot so as to cut away this look of hair. 
Charley laughed when he heard ot this statement, and 
said to me that he had held above and to one side of 
the man, and that it was impossible that his bullet should 
have passed nearer to him than lOOft. "But I have no 
doubt he heard the ball sing," he added, "and they 
sometimes sing pretty loud," At all events the man 
came, and "camea-runnin'." 
In 1875 our little pirty took steamer at Bismarck, and 
after many days of jonrueying over the sand bars of the 
Missouri we reached Carroll, a town which a few years 
later, undermined by the swift current, dropped into 
the Muddy River, From here we traveled west and 
southwest, through country now full of settlements, but 
then traversed only by buffalo, antelope, casual war 
parties of Indians, and now and then a wolfer or a 
hunter. Amona other things that we had on the trip was 
plenty of hunting. The camp was never out of meat. We 
saw the then unknown wonders of the Yellowstone Park, 
and were out ninety days. 
On our return j jurney Charley, Ned Ludlow and I took 
a little mackinaw boat at Claggett's, at the mouth of the 
Judith, and went down the river to rneet the land party 
at Carroll. The country on both sides of the river was 
full of hostile Indians, They were crossing frequently, 
and in almost every bottom that we came to we saw re- 
cently built sweat houses and places where camps had 
been during the summer. 
I remember very distinctly one remark of Charley's as 
we camped one night on a sand bar in the river, Ic was 
cold autumn weather and we were short of bedding, and 
the youngest man in the party proposed that we should 
build afire to sleep by, hut Cr.ariey vetoed the proposi- 
tion. He said: "I don't mind bei.ig killed, but I should 
hate to have some fellow come along here next summer 
and see my skull and bones ly ing here by the fire, and 
have him kick the skull along the ground and say, *I 
wonder what that infernal fool expected when he built 
that fire and lay down by it in auch a country as this?' " 
In those days this was a game country. There were 
