Life Among the Mormons, and a March to Their Zion; To Which Is Added a Chapter on the Indians of the Plains and Mountains of the West (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: of ranclies excep: to a very limited extent, and generally not even for floors. Six marches from Kearney took us to Cottonwood Springs, where Fort McPherson is located. We reached that point on the 24th of May. CHAPTER III. FROM FORT MCPHERSON TO FORT SEDGWICK. Fort McPherson, so called after the able and gallant general who was killed in Georgia in 1864, was built about the time of the death of the distinguished officer whose name it bears. It presents a neat compact appearance, and is one of the few military posts surrounded by a stockade. Its buildings are one-story log structures, rather rustic in appearance, but I considered it as altogether a more desirable post than its next easterly and more venerable neighbor, Fort Kearney. Fort McPherson is located on a small stream running into the Platte, familiar to the western traveller as Cotton Wood Springs. It is about one hundred miles distant from Fort Kearney, and is regarded as a post of considerable military importance, being in a country where frequent Indian depredations have been committed. There were six companies, four of Infantry, and two of Cavalry garrisoning the post when we passed. Having no business there, the command marched by without even a halt, rather to the disappointment of the sutler, I have no doubt. While on this day's march, in the vicinity of the Fort, we lost one of our number?a citizen employed as clerkfor the Quartermaster, which was the only death that occurred during our three months' journey, save several from an accident to which I shall hereafter refer. We buried the poor man at our next camping ground, and the plain cedar head-board of his grave now stands, another sad spectacle to the passing emigrant. His wife and several children continued a mournful journey along with u...