The Adventures of Captain Bonneville
by
Washington Irving
Part 7 out of 7
by a horse that would outstrip the same animal in the
neighborhood of the Platte, the usual hunting ground of the
Blackfeet. In the course of further conversation, Captain
Bonneville drew from the Indian woman her whole story; which gave
a picture of savage life, and of the drudgery and hardships to
which an Indian wife is subject.
"I was the wife," said she, "of a Blackfoot warrior, and I served
him faithfully. Who was so well served as he? Whose lodge was so
well provided, or kept so clean? I brought wood in the morning,
and placed water always at hand. I watched for his coming; and he
found his meat cooked and ready. If he rose to go forth, there
was nothing to delay him. I searched the thought that was in his
heart, to save him the trouble of speaking. When I went abroad on
errands for him, the chiefs and warriors smiled upon me, and the
young braves spoke soft things, in secret; but my feet were in
the straight path, and my eyes could see nothing but him.
"When he went out to hunt, or to war, who aided to equip him, but
I? When he returned, I met him at the door; I took his gun; and
he entered without further thought. While he sat and smoked, I
unloaded his horses; tied them to the stakes, brought in their
loads, and was quickly at his feet. If his moccasins were wet I
took them off and put on others which were dry and warm. I
dressed all the skins he had taken in the chase. He could never
say to me, why is it not done? He hunted the deer, the antelope,
and the buffalo, and he watched for the enemy. Everything else
was done by me. When our people moved their camp, he mounted his
horse and rode away; free as though he had fallen from the skies.
He had nothing to do with the labor of the camp; it was I that
packed the horses and led them on the journey. When we halted in
the evening, and he sat with the other braves and smoked, it was
I that pitched his lodge; and when he came to eat and sleep, his
supper and his bed were ready.
"I served him faithfully; and what was my reward? A cloud was
always on his brow, and sharp lightning on his tongue. I was his
dog; and not his wife.
"Who was it that scarred and bruised me? It was he. My brother
saw how I was treated. His heart was big for me. He begged me to
leave my tyrant and fly. Where could I go? If retaken, who would
protect me? My brother was not a chief; he could not save me from
blows and wounds, perhaps death. At length I was persuaded. I
followed my brother from the village. He pointed away to the Nez
Perces, and bade me go and live in peace among them. We parted.
On the third day I saw the lodges of the Nez Perces before me. 1
paused for a moment, and had no heart to go on; but my horse
neighed, and I took it as a good sign, and suffered him to gallop
forward. In a little while I was in the midst of the lodges. As I
sat silent on my horse, the people gathered round me, and
inquired whence I came. I told my story. A chief now wrapped his
blanket close around him, and bade me dismount. I obeyed. He took
my horse to lead him away. My heart grew small within me. I
felt, on parting with my horse, as if my last friend was gone. I
had no words, and my eyes were dry. As he led off my horse a
young brave stepped forward. 'Are you a chief of the people?'
cried he. 'Do we listen to you in council, and follow you in
battle? Behold! a stranger flies to our camp from the dogs of
Blackfeet, and asks protection. Let shame cover your face! The
stranger is a woman, and alone. If she were a warrior, or had a
warrior at her side, your heart would not be big enough to take
her horse. But he is yours. By right of war you may claim him;
but look!' - his bow was drawn, and the arrow ready! - 'you never
shall cross his back!' The arrow pierced the heart of the horse,
and he fell dead.
"An old woman said she would be my mother. She led me to her
lodge; my heart was thawed by her kindness, and my eyes burst
forth with tears; like the frozen fountains in springtime. She
never changed; but as the days passed away, was still a mother to
me. The people were loud in praise of the young brave, and the
chief was ashamed. I lived in peace.
"A party of trappers came to the village, and one of them took me
for his wife. This is he. I am very happy; he treats me with
kindness, and I have taught him the language of my people. As we
were travelling this way, some of the Blackfeet warriors beset
us, and carried off the horses of the party. We followed, and my
husband held a parley with them. The guns were laid down, and the
pipe was lighted; but some of the white men attempted to seize
the horses by force, and then a battle began. The snow was deep,
the white men sank into it at every step; but the red men, with
their snow-shoes, passed over the surface like birds, and drove
off many of the horses in sight of their owners. With those that
remained we resumed our journey. At length words took place
between the leader of the party and my husband. He took away our
horses, which had escaped in the battle, and turned us from his
camp. My husband had one good friend among the trappers. That is
he (pointing to the man who had asked assistance for them). He is
a good man. His heart is big. When he came in from hunting, and
found that we had been driven away, he gave up all his wages, and
followed us, that he might speak good words for us to the white
captain."
49.
Rendezvous at Wind River Campaign of Montero and his brigade in
the Crow country Wars between the Crows and Blackfeet Death
of Arapooish Blackfeet lurkers Sagacity of the horse
Dependence of the hunter on his horse Return to the
settlements.
ON the 22d of June Captain Bonneville raised his camp, and moved
to the forks of Wind River; the appointed place of rendezvous.
In a few days he was joined there by the brigade of Montero,
which had been sent, in the preceding year, to beat up the Crow
country, and afterward proceed to the Arkansas. Montero had
followed the early part of his instructions; after trapping upon
some of the upper streams, he proceeded to Powder River. Here he
fell in with the Crow villages or bands, who treated him with
unusual kindness, and prevailed upon him to take up his winter
quarters among them.
The Crows at that time were struggling almost for existence with
their old enemies, the Blackfeet; who, in the past year, had
picked off the flower of their warriors in various engagements,
and among the rest, Arapooish, the friend of the white men. That
sagacious and magnanimous chief had beheld, with grief, the
ravages which war was making in his tribe, and that it was
declining in force, and must eventually be destroyed unless some
signal blow could be struck to retrieve its fortunes. In a
pitched battle of the two tribes, he made a speech to his
warriors, urging them to set everything at hazard in one furious
charge; which done, he led the way into the thickest of the foe.
He was soon separated from his men, and fell covered with wounds,
but his self-devotion was not in vain. The Blackfeet were
defeated; and from that time the Crows plucked up fresh heart,
and were frequently successful.
Montero had not been long encamped among them, when he discovered
that the Blackfeet were hovering about the neighborhood. One day
the hunters came galloping into the camp, and proclaimed that a
band of the enemy was at hand. The Crows flew to arms, leaped on
their horses, and dashed out in squadrons in pursuit. They
overtook the retreating enemy in the midst of a plain. A
desperate fight ensued. The Crows had the advantage of numbers,
and of fighting on horseback. The greater part of the Blackfeet
were slain; the remnant took shelter in a close thicket of
willows, where the horse could not enter; whence they plied their
bows vigorously.
The Crows drew off out of bow-shot, and endeavored, by taunts and
bravadoes, to draw the warriors Out of their retreat. A few of
the best mounted among them rode apart from the rest. One of
their number then advanced alone, with that martial air and
equestrian grace for which the tribe is noted. When within an
arrow's flight of the thicket, he loosened his rein, urged his
horse to full speed, threw his body on the opposite side, so as
to hang by one leg, and present no mark to the foe; in this way
he swept along in front of the thicket, launching his arrows from
under the neck of his steed. Then regaining his seat in the
saddle, he wheeled round and returned whooping and scoffing to
his companions, who received him with yells of applause.
Another and another horseman repeated this exploit; but the
Blackfeet were not to be taunted out of their safe shelter. The
victors feared to drive desperate men to extremities, so they
forbore to attempt the thicket. Toward night they gave over the
attack, and returned all-glorious with the scalps of the slain.
Then came on the usual feasts and triumphs, the scalp-dance of
warriors round the ghastly trophies, and all the other fierce
revelry of barbarous warfare. When the braves had finished with
the scalps, they were, as usual, given up to the women and
children, and made the objects of new parades and dances. They
were then treasured up as invaluable trophies and decorations by
the braves who had won them.
It is worthy of note, that the scalp of a white man, either
through policy or fear, is treated with more charity than that of
an Indian. The warrior who won it is entitled to his triumph if
he demands it. In such case, the war party alone dance round the
scalp. It is then taken down, and the shagged frontlet of a
buffalo substituted in its place, and abandoned to the triumph
and insults of the million.
To avoid being involved in these guerillas, as well as to escape
from the extremely social intercourse of the Crows, which began
to be oppressive, Montero moved to the distance of several miles
from their camps, and there formed a winter cantonment of huts.
He now maintained a vigilant watch at night. Their horses, which
were turned loose to graze during the day, under heedful eyes,
were brought in at night, and shut up in strong pens, built of
large logs of cotton-wood. The snows, during a portion of the
winter, were so deep that the poor animals could find but little
sustenance. Here and there a tuft of grass would peer above the
snow; but they were in general driven to browse the twigs and
tender branches of the trees. When they were turned out in the
morning, the first moments of freedom from the confinement of the
pen were spent in frisking and gambolling. This done, they went
soberly and sadly to work, to glean their scanty subsistence for
the day. In the meantime the men stripped the bark of the
cotton-wood tree for the evening fodder. As the poor horses would
return toward night, with sluggish and dispirited air, the moment
they saw their owners approaching them with blankets filled with
cotton-wood bark, their whole demeanor underwent a change. A
universal neighing and capering took place; they would rush
forward, smell to the blankets, paw the earth, snort, whinny and
prance round with head and tail erect, until the blankets were
opened, and the welcome provender spread before them. These
evidences of intelligence and gladness were frequently recounted
by the trappers as proving the sagacity of the animal.
These veteran rovers of the mountains look upon their horses as
in some respects gifted with almost human intellect. An old and
experienced trapper, when mounting guard upon the camp in dark
nights and times of peril, gives heedful attention to all the
sounds and signs of the horses. No enemy enters nor approaches
the camp without attracting their notice, and their movements not
only give a vague alarm, but it is said, will even indicate to
the knowing trapper the very quarter whence the danger threatens.
In the daytime, too, while a hunter is engaged on the prairie,
cutting up the deer or buffalo he has slain, he depends upon his
faithful horse as a sentinel. The sagacious animal sees and
smells all round him, and by his starting and whinnying, gives
notice of the approach of strangers. There seems to be a dumb
communion and fellowship, a sort of fraternal sympathy between
the hunter and his horse. They mutually rely upon each other for
company and protection; and nothing is more difficult, it is
said, than to surprise an experienced hunter on the prairie while
his old and favorite steed is at his side.
Montero had not long removed his camp from the vicinity of the
Crows, and fixed himself in his new quarters, when the Blackfeet
marauders discovered his cantonment, and began to haunt the
vicinity, He kept up a vigilant watch, however, and foiled every
attempt of the enemy, who, at length, seemed to have given up in
despair, and abandoned the neighborhood. The trappers relaxed
their vigilance, therefore, and one night, after a day of severe
labor, no guards were posted, and the whole camp was soon asleep.
Toward midnight, however, the lightest sleepers were roused by
the trampling of hoofs; and, giving the alarm, the whole party
were immediately on their legs and hastened to the pens. The bars
were down; but no enemy was to he seen or heard, and the horses
being all found hard by, it was supposed the bars had been left
down through negligence. All were once more asleep, when, in
about an hour there was a second alarm, and it was discovered
that several horses were missing. The rest were mounted, and so
spirited a pursuit took place, that eighteen of the number
carried off were regained, and but three remained in possession
of the enemy. Traps for wolves, had been set about the camp the
preceding day. In the morning it was discovered that a Blackfoot
was entrapped by one of them, but had succeeded in dragging it
off. His trail was followed for a long distance which he must
have limped alone. At length he appeared to have fallen in with
some of his comrades, who had relieved him from his painful
encumbrance.
These were the leading incidents of Montero's campaign in the
Crow country. The united parties now celebrated the 4th of July,
in rough hunters' style, with hearty conviviality; after which
Captain Bonneville made his final arrangements. Leaving Montero
with a brigade of trappers to open another campaign, he put
himself at the head of the residue of his men, and set off on his
return to civilized life. We shall not detail his journey along
the course of the Nebraska, and so, from point to point of the
wilderness, until he and his band reached the frontier
settlements on the 22d of August.
Here, according to his own account, his cavalcade might have been
taken for a procession of tatterdemalion savages; for the men
were ragged almost to nakedness, and had contracted a wildness of
aspect during three years of wandering in the wilderness. A few
hours in a populous town, however, produced a magical
metamorphosis. Hats of the most ample brim and longest nap;
coats with buttons that shone like mirrors, and pantaloons of the
most ample plenitude, took place of the well-worn trapper's
equipments; and the happy wearers might be seen strolling about
in all directions, scattering their silver like sailors just from
a cruise.
The worthy captain, however, seems by no means to have shared the
excitement of his men, on finding himself once more in the
thronged resorts of civilized life, but, on the contrary, to have
looked back to the wilderness with regret. "Though the prospect,"
says he, "of once more tasting the blessings of peaceful society,
and passing days and nights under the calm guardianship of the
laws, was not without its attractions; yet to those of us whose
whole lives had been spent in the stirring excitement and
perpetual watchfulness of adventures in the wilderness, the
change was far from promising an increase of that contentment and
inward satisfaction most conducive to happiness. He who, like
myself, has roved almost from boyhood among the children of the
forest, and over the unfurrowed plains and rugged heights of the
western wastes, will not be startled to learn, that
notwithstanding all the fascinations of the world on this
civilized side of the mountains, I would fain make my bow to the
splendors and gayeties of the metropolis, and plunge again amidst
the hardships and perils of the wilderness."
We have only to add that the affairs of the captain have been
satisfactorily arranged with the War Department, and that he is
actually in service at Fort Gibson, on our western frontier,
where we hope he may meet with further opportunities of indulging
his peculiar tastes, and of collecting graphic and characteristic
details of the great western wilds and their motley inhabitants.
--
We here close our picturings of the Rocky Mountains and their
wild inhabitants, and of the wild life that prevails there; which
we have been anxious to fix on record, because we are aware that
this singular state of things is full of mutation, and must soon
undergo great changes, if not entirely pass away. The fur trade
itself, which has given life to all this portraiture, is
essentially evanescent. Rival parties of trappers soon exhaust
the streams, especially when competition renders them heedless
and wasteful of the beaver. The furbearing animals extinct, a
complete change will come over the scene; the gay free trapper
and his steed, decked out in wild array, and tinkling with bells
and trinketry; the savage war chief, plumed and painted and ever
on the prowl; the traders' cavalcade, winding through defiles or
over naked plains, with the stealthy war party lurking on its
trail; the buffalo chase, the hunting camp, the mad carouse in
the midst of danger, the night attack, the stampede, the scamper,
the fierce skirmish among rocks and cliffs -- all this romance
of savage life, which yet exists among the mountains, will then
exist but in frontier story, and seem like the fictions of
chivalry or fairy tale.
Some new system of things, or rather some new modification, will
succeed among the roving people of this vast wilderness; but just
as opposite, perhaps, to the inhabitants of civilization. The
great Chippewyan chain of mountains, and the sandy and volcanic
plains which extend on either side, are represented as incapable
of cultivation. The pasturage which prevails there during a
certain portion of the year, soon withers under the aridity of
the atmosphere, and leaves nothing but dreary wastes. An immense
belt of rocky mountains and volcanic plains, several hundred
miles in width, must ever remain an irreclaimable wilderness,
intervening between the abodes of civilization, and affording a
last refuge to the Indian. Here roving tribes of hunters, living
in tents or lodges, and following the migrations of the game, may
lead a life of savage independence, where there is nothing to
tempt the cupidity of the white man. The amalgamation of various
tribes, and of white men of every nation, will in time produce
hybrid races like the mountain Tartars of the Caucasus.
Possessed as they are of immense droves of horses should they
continue their present predatory and warlike habits, they may in
time become a scourge to the civilized frontiers on either side
of the mountains, as they are at present a terror to the
traveller and trader.
The facts disclosed in the present work clearly manifest the
policy of establishing military posts and a mounted force to
protect our traders in their journeys across the great western
wilds, and of pushing the outposts into the very heart of the
singular wilderness we have laid open, so as to maintain some
degree of sway over the country, and to put an end to the kind of
"blackmail," levied on all occasions by the savage "chivalry of
the mountains."
Appendix
Nathaniel J. Wyeth, and the Trade of the Far West
WE HAVE BROUGHT Captain Bonneville to the end of his western
campaigning; yet we cannot close this work without subjoining
some particulars concerning the fortunes of his contemporary, Mr.
Wyeth; anecdotes of whose enterprise have, occasionally, been
interwoven in the party-colored web of our narrative. Wyeth
effected his intention of establishing a trading post on the
Portneuf, which he named Fort Hall. Here, for the first time, the
American flag was unfurled to the breeze that sweeps the great
naked wastes of the central wilderness. Leaving twelve men here,
with a stock of goods, to trade with the neighboring tribes, he
prosecuted his journey to the Columbia; where he established
another post, called Fort Williams, on Wappatoo Island, at the
mouth of the Wallamut. This was to be the head factory of his
company; whence they were to carry on their fishing and trapping
operations, and their trade with the interior; and where they
were to receive and dispatch their annual ship.
The plan of Mr. Wyeth appears to have been well concerted. He had
observed that the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the bands of free
trappers, as well as the Indians west of the mountains, depended
for their supplies upon goods brought from St. Louis; which, in
consequence of the expenses and risks of a long land carriage,
were furnished them at an immense advance on first cost. He had
an idea that they might be much more cheaply supplied from the
Pacific side. Horses would cost much less on the borders of the
Columbia than at St. Louis: the transportation by land was much
shorter; and through a country much more safe from the hostility
of savage tribes; which, on the route from and to St. Louis,
annually cost the lives of many men. On this idea, he grounded
his plan. He combined the salmon fishery with the fur trade. A
fortified trading post was to be established on the Columbia, to
carry on a trade with the natives for salmon and peltries, and to
fish and trap on their own account. Once a year, a ship was to
come from the United States, to bring out goods for the interior
trade, and to take home the salmon and furs which had been
collected. Part of the goods, thus brought out, were to be
dispatched to the mountains, to supply the trapping companies and
the Indian tribes, in exchange for their furs; which were to be
brought down to the Columbia, to be sent home in the next annual
ship: and thus an annual round was to be kept up. The profits on
the salmon, it was expected, would cover all the expenses of the
ship; so that the goods brought out, and the furs carried home,
would cost nothing as to freight.
His enterprise was prosecuted with a spirit, intelligence, and
perseverance, that merited success. All the details that we have
met with, prove him to be no ordinary man. He appears to have the
mind to conceive, and the energy to execute extensive and
striking plans. He had once more reared the American flag in the
lost domains of Astoria; and had he been enabled to maintain the
footing he had so gallantly effected, he might have regained for
his country the opulent trade of the Columbia, of which our
statesmen have negligently suffered us to be dispossessed.
It is needless to go into a detail of the variety of accidents
and cross-purposes, which caused the failure of his scheme. They
were such as all undertakings of the kind, involving combined
operations by sea and land, are liable to. What he most wanted,
was sufficient capital to enable him to endure incipient
obstacles and losses; and to hold on until success had time to
spring up from the midst of disastrous experiments.
It is with extreme regret we learn that he has recently been
compelled to dispose of his establishment at Wappatoo Island, to
the Hudson's Bay Company; who, it is but justice to say, have,
according to his own account, treated him throughout the whole of
his enterprise, with great fairness, friendship, and liberality.
That company, therefore, still maintains an unrivalled sway over
the whole country washed by the Columbia and its tributaries. It
has, in fact, as far as its chartered powers permit, followed out
the splendid scheme contemplated by Mr. Astor, when he founded
his establishment at the mouth of the Columbia. From their
emporium of Vancouver, companies are sent forth in every
direction, to supply the interior posts, to trade with the
natives, and to trap upon the various streams. These thread the
rivers, traverse the plains, penetrate to the heart of the
mountains, extend their enterprises northward, to the Russian
possessions, and southward, to the confines of California. Their
yearly supplies are received by sea, at Vancouver; and thence
their furs and peltries are shipped to London. They likewise
maintain a considerable commerce, in wheat and lumber, with the
Pacific islands, and to the north, with the Russian settlements.
Though the company, by treaty, have a right to a participation
only, in the trade of these regions, and are, in fact, but
tenants on sufferance; yet have they quietly availed themselves
of the original oversight, and subsequent supineness of the
American government, to establish a monopoly of the trade of the
river and its dependencies; and are adroitly proceeding to
fortify themselves in their usurpation, by securing all the
strong points of the country.
Fort George, originally Astoria, which was abandoned on the
removal of the main factory to Vancouver, was renewed in 1830;
and is now kept up as a fortified post and trading house. All the
places accessible to shipping have been taken possession of, and
posts recently established at them by the company.
The great capital of this association; their long established
system; their hereditary influence over the Indian tribes; their
internal organization, which makes every thing go on with the
regularity of a machine; and the low wages of their people, who
are mostly Canadians, give them great advantages over the
American traders: nor is it likely the latter will ever be able
to maintain any footing in the land, until the question of
territorial right is adjusted between the two countries. The
sooner that takes place, the better. It is a question too serious
to national pride, if not to national interests, to be slurred
over; and every year is adding to the difficulties which environ
it.
The fur trade, which is now the main object of enterprise west of
the Rocky Mountains, forms but a part of the real resources of
the country. Beside the salmon fishery of the Columbia, which is
capable of being rendered a considerable source of profit; the
great valleys of the lower country, below the elevated volcanic
plateau, are calculated to give sustenance to countless flocks
and herds, and to sustain a great population of graziers and
agriculturists.
Such, for instance, is the beautiful valley of the Wallamut;
from which the establishment at Vancouver draws most of its
supplies. Here, the company holds mills and farms; and has
provided for some of its superannuated officers and servants.
This valley, above the falls, is about fifty miles wide, and
extends a great distance to the south. The climate is mild, being
sheltered by lateral ranges of mountains; while the soil, for
richness, has been equalled to the best of the Missouri lands.
The valley of the river Des Chutes, is also admirably calculated
for a great grazing country. All the best horses used by the
company for the mountains are raised there. The valley is of such
happy temperature, that grass grows there throughout the year,
and cattle may be left out to pasture during the winter.
These valleys must form the grand points of commencement of the
future settlement of the country; but there must be many such, en
folded in the embraces of these lower ranges of mountains; which,
though at present they lie waste and uninhabited, and to the eye
of the trader and trapper, present but barren wastes, would, in
the hands of skilful agriculturists and husbandmen, soon assume a
different aspect, and teem with waving crops, or be covered with
flocks and herds.
The resources of the country, too, while in the hands of a
company restricted in its trade, can be but partially called
forth; but in the hands of Americans, enjoying a direct trade
with the East Indies, would be brought into quickening activity;
and might soon realize the dream of Mr. Astor, in giving rise to
a flourishing commercial empire.
Wreck of a Japanese Junk on the Northwest Coast
THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT of a letter which we received, lately, from
Mr. Wyeth, may be interesting, as throwing some light upon the
question as to the manner in which America has been peopled.
"Are you aware of the fact, that in the winter of 1833,
a Japanese junk was wrecked on the northwest coast, in
the neighborhood of Queen Charlotte's Island; and that
all but two of the crew, then much reduced by
starvation and disease, during a long drift across the
Pacific, were killed by the natives? The two fell into
the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, and were sent to
England. I saw them, on my arrival at Vancouver, in
1834."
Instructions to Captain Bonneville from the Major-General
Commanding the Army of the United States.
Copy
Head Quarters of the Army.
Washington 29th July 1831.
Sir,
The leave of absence which you have asked for the purpose of
enabling you to carry into execution your designs of exploring
the country to the Rocky Mountains, and beyond with a view of
assertaining the nature and character of the various tribes of
Indians inhabiting those regions; the trade which might be
profitably carried on with them, the quality of the soil, the
productions, the minerals, the natural history, the climate, the
Geography, and Topography, as well as Geology of the various
parts of the Country within the limits of the Territories
belonging to the United States, between our frontier, and the
Pacific; has been duly considered, and submitted to the War
Department, for approval, and has been sanctioned.
You are therefore authorised to be absent from the Army untill
October 1833.
It is understood that the Government is to be at no expence, in
reference to your proposed expedition, it having originated with
yourself, and all that you required was the permission from the
proper authority to undertake the enterprise. You will naturally
in providing your self for the expedition, provide suitable
instruments, and especially the best Maps of the interior to be
found. It is desirable besides what is enumerated as the object
of enterprise that you note particularly the number of Warriors
that may belong to each tribe, or nation that you may meet with:
their alliances with other tribes and their relative position as
to a state of peace or war, and whether their friendly or warlike
dispositions towards each other are recent or of long standing.
You will gratify us by describing the manner of their making War,
of the mode of subsisting themselves during a state of war, and a
state of peace, their Arms, and the effect of them, whether they
act on foot or on horse back, detailing the discipline, and
manuvers of the war parties, the power of their horses, size and
general discription; in short any information which you may
conceive would be useful to the Government. You will avail
yourself of every opportunity of informing us of your position
and progress, and at the expiration of your leave of absence will
join your proper station.
I have the honor to be Sir,
Your Ot St
(Signed) Alexr Macomb Maj Genl Comg
To Cap: B. L E Bonneville
7th Regt Infantry
New York
Back to Full Books
|