CHAPTER XXXII.

THE STEAMBOAT IN THE INDIAN WARS.

[Sidenote: MILITARY USE OF KEELBOATS.]

Throughout the Indian wars of the Missouri Valley the steamboat played a part of the very highest importance. It was almost the exclusive means of transporting men and supplies along the river, except when in active campaign work in the interior. Its use in the military service dates from the very beginning of steamboat navigation on the river, as well as from the first important step toward the military occupation of the valley. When the first steamboat entered the Missouri, in 1819, arrangements were being perfected to transport by steam to the mouth of the Yellowstone a large body of troops designed to establish a post there. Five boats were brought into requisition for this purpose, and a sixth, the _Western Engineer_, was built by the government to transport a party of scientists who were to accompany the expedition. Owing to the entire absence of experience in navigating the Missouri with steamboats, this attempt proved a failure. None of the boats except the _Western Engineer_ got as far as to the old Council Bluffs, and the troops, after marching a part of the distance, went into winter quarters at that point.

Four years later the first Indian campaign west of the Mississippi River took place, when Colonel Leavenworth, with a considerable body of troops, went up the river from Fort Atkinson (old Council Bluffs) to chastise the Aricaras, who had attacked a fur-trading party under General Ashley and killed a number of men. Keelboats were used on this expedition.

Two years later, 1825, General Atkinson took a large body of troops from Fort Atkinson to a point about one hundred miles above the mouth of the Yellowstone and return. His purpose was to make treaties with the Indian tribes along the valley and acquaint them with the power of the United States. Keelboats were used, and a novel feature was introduced in propelling them--a wheel, or wheels, which were operated by hand power, the soldiers being used for this purpose.

No further use of steamboats in the military service except at Forts Leavenworth, Kearney, and Croghan, and in connection with the Mexican War, occurred until Harney’s campaign of 1855. All the troops that went up the river at that time were transported in steamboats. The transfer of ownership of Fort Pierre from the American Fur Company to the army, and the movement of material connected therewith, were also done by steam. The establishment of Fort Randall and the subsequent maintenance of that post were mainly accomplished by the aid of the steamboat.

[Sidenote: A LONG WAY AROUND.]

The outbreak of the Sioux War in 1863 and the campaigns of 1863–64 called the steamboat again into extensive use. A remarkable instance of this use was the transportation of the Winnebago Indians from their home near Mankato, Minn., to their new home on the Missouri River. The feeling against the Indians after the Minnesota massacre was so bitter that it was taken advantage of to move them all from the State. It does not appear that the Winnebagos were active participants in the outbreak, but the hand of vengeance fell upon them as upon the others. They were moved westward several hundred miles, and in exchange for the fertile lands of the Minnesota Valley were given a home on the sterile wastes of the Missouri. In making this transfer the Indians were not taken directly across the country, which was perfectly practicable for wagons all the way, but were transported by _steamboat_. They were put on board the _Favorite_ and other boats at Mankato on the Minnesota River, taken down that stream to the Mississippi at Fort Snelling, down the Mississippi to the Missouri, and up the Missouri to the mouth of Crow Creek, twenty miles above the present site of Chamberlain, S. D. The distance around was 1900 miles, against about 300 miles across. The Indians arrived at Crow Creek on May 30, 1863. A reservation was laid off, the necessary agency buildings were erected in a stockaded inclosure, and the place was named Fort Thompson, in honor of Clark W. Thompson, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Superintendency. Mr. Thompson personally supervised the work of locating the Indians on this new reservation.

[Sidenote: STEAMBOATS IN SULLY’S CAMPAIGNS.]

In the campaign of General Sully in 1863 he relied entirely upon steamboats for transporting his supplies from Sioux City to the field of operations, and one boat accompanied him from Fort Pierre well on his way to the scene of actual hostilities. It was on this campaign that General Sully impressed Captain La Barge’s boat, the _Shreveport_, into his service for a time.

The campaign of 1864 from Fort Rice to the Yellowstone River was conducted in connection with steamboats. Three boats were sent around into the Yellowstone to meet the troops at the Brasseau Houses. They were loaded with rations, forage, and material for a new post which it was proposed to build on the Yellowstone River near the mouth of Powder River. These boats were the _Chippewa Falls_, the _Alone_, and the _Island City_. The last-mentioned boat had all the forage for the animals on board and was unfortunately wrecked just below the mouth of the Yellowstone River. This occurrence caused General Sully to abandon for the time his contemplated establishment on the Yellowstone.

During the next twelve years steamboats were constantly in the service of the government in transporting troops and supplies along the river. It is impossible to estimate the great value in the military operations of the valley of this important line of communication. Forts and cantonments were strung all along the river from Fort Randall to Fort Benton, and all of them, as well as the troops in the field, depended for their support upon the river boats. The conquest of the Missouri Valley would have been a very different matter had the government been deprived of this important aid in its operations.

[Sidenote: STEAMBOATS IN CAMPAIGN OF 1876.]

In the Sioux campaign of 1876 steamboats bore a prominent part, one of the very highest importance, and one which had its full share of the thrilling incidents of that tragic conflict. A considerable fleet of boats was sent up the river from Fort Abraham Lincoln to co-operate with the troops under Terry, who marched across the country to the Yellowstone. They not only carried supplies, but assisted in patrolling the river to prevent the Indians from crossing, and moved the troops from point to point as their services were needed. One boat in particular, the _Far West_, Captain Grant Marsh, master, performed a service which will go down in the history of the campaign as one of its most thrilling episodes.

[Sidenote: THE “FAR WEST.”]

The _Far West_ was for a few days used by General Terry as his headquarters boat while his command was moving up the Yellowstone to the mouth of the Big Horn. The boat, after ferrying General Gibbon’s command to the north bank of the Yellowstone, was directed to proceed up the Big Horn, and, if possible, to reach the mouth of the Little Big Horn. General Gibbon, being ill at the time, remained on the boat with a company of infantry a part of the way, when he joined Terry’s column and resumed command of his own troops. The _Far West_ ascended the Big Horn fifteen miles above the mouth of the Little Big Horn and then dropped down to that tributary. It remained there until the 30th, by which time all the wounded from Reno’s fight had been placed on board, and it then moved down to the Yellowstone, where it arrived on the same day. Three days later it started down the river for Fort Abraham Lincoln with all the wounded, and a volume of dispatches, official and private, relating to the terrible tragedy of which the world had but just been informed. The very nature of its mission made the voyage of the _Far West_ one of romantic interest. Its cargo of wounded men, its greater burden of news to anxious friends and an impatient public, all mark it as one of the historic incidents of our Indian wars. The _Far West_ arrived at Fort Lincoln July 5, about midnight.[70]

[Sidenote: AN HISTORIC VOYAGE.]

The _Far West_ returned from Fort Abraham Lincoln immediately after she had discharged her cargo, and remained with other boats on the Yellowstone until the subsiding waters made it impossible to navigate that stream. Among these boats was another, well known to the army for many years, and the only one of the old fleet that still survives. This was the _Josephine_, which is now in the service of the government as a snagboat in the work of keeping the upper river free from obstructions.

[Sidenote: A STRANGE LAND; AN UNKNOWN RIVER.]

[Sidenote: DOWN THE SWIFT YELLOWSTONE.]

[Sidenote: LA BARGE IN CUSTER CAMPAIGN.]

Captain La Barge also saw service in the Custer campaign. The need of a light-draft boat for use in the latter part of the season led the authorities to engage his boat, the _John M. Chambers_, to carry supplies to Fort Buford. The boat left St. Louis August 5 and reached Buford September 11. The commissary stores were at once unloaded, with the assistance of soldiers detailed for the purpose. General Terry and staff, with a company of troops and a piece of artillery, were then taken on board, and the boat started for Wolf Point in the hope of heading off the Indians, who were reported to be in that vicinity. The boat started early on the morning of the 12th. She proceeded about thirty miles that day, having made a stop at Fort Union to put off General Hazen and take on a supply of meat for the troops. Owing to the low water she made only about twenty miles on the 13th. On the 14th the party stopped to examine a broken-down ambulance on the shore. It was found to have belonged to Reno’s troops, who were in pursuit of the Indians. A little farther they came upon a party of seven men on their way down the river from Montana, and through them news of Reno and the Indians was received. These men had been terribly frightened the night before. The boat had laid up near their camp and had thrown a shell into a grove of cottonwoods to search for Indians. It struck near their bivouac and almost paralyzed them with fright. They came on board next day and went down by the boat on its return home.

On the 15th the boat reached Reno’s camp. The Indians had already crossed, and Captain La Barge immediately commenced ferrying Reno’s command over. This work was accomplished before night, and the boat left for Buford the following morning, with General Terry and staff and 270 men. Buford was reached on the 17th, and the boat was discharged. She at once started on her return to St. Louis, where she arrived October 8.

[Sidenote: THE NEZ PERCÉ CAMPAIGN.]

Strange as it may seem, considering the nature of a campaign like that of 1877 against the Nez Percé Indians, the Missouri River steamboat played an important, and perhaps a decisive, part in its operations. Chief Joseph, in his long march from Idaho, had crossed the Yellowstone National Park, and finding himself pursued and harried in every direction, struck north for the British line. The pursuing troops, whom he had so far eluded, he felt confident would not overtake him; but he did not count on a danger which arose in a quite unexpected quarter. General Miles, with about 350 men, was encamped on the Yellowstone at the mouth of the Tongue River, where the news reached him that Indians had crossed the Yellowstone farther up and were making for the British line. He at once put his command in motion to intercept them. His first objective was the Missouri River at the mouth of the Musselshell. As soon as he came in sight of the river, scouts were sent on ahead to stop any steamer that might happen along. By the greatest good fortune the scouts reached the bank just as the last boat of the season was passing down. Fifteen minutes later and she would have been gone.

[Sidenote: TIMELY AID.]

The troops were brought down to the river and ten days’ rations were put on the boat and taken to the mouth of the Musselshell. The officers of the boat stated that the Indians had not yet crossed the Missouri, and General Miles accordingly decided to march up the valley of the Musselshell to intercept them. The boat was discharged and dropped downstream, stopping about a mile below to take on some wood. While there, two men came down the river in a mackinaw and reported that the Indians _had_ crossed the river, some eighty miles above, and were making for the British line. General Miles instantly ordered some cannon shots fired in the direction of the steamboat. A Captain Baldwin, who had been sent down on account of sickness, was on board. He at once understood that the boat was wanted, and caused her to be brought back. The command was ferried over, and on the following morning, September 27, set out to the northwest after the Indians. They were overtaken on Snake Creek, where Chief Joseph was defeated in battle, and the greater part of his people captured. This point was within fifty miles of the boundary, and about one hundred of the Indians actually got across the line. But for the timely aid of the steamboat it is probable that the whole band would have escaped.