The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke Volume 1: November 20, 1872--July 28, 1876

Chapter 20 • A Case of Nerves

373 Much of this chapter contains copies of dispatches between Crook and other officers, and copied by Bourke into the diary. These dispatches, the originals of which can be found in the Special File, Military Division of the Missouri, Sioux War, in the National Archives , show a different Crook from the man commonly perceived as stoic in the face of adversity. Deep down, he must have known that his so-called “victory” at the Rosebud was a farce, and the Custer disaster may have unnerved him. The Indian campaign of harassment—sniping along the picket lines, and efforts to steal horses and fire grass around the camp—was beginning to tell, and Bourke’s own narrative begins to show a nervous edge. In order to show the mood of the expedition and its command structure , I have included the correspondence as Bourke copied it in the manuscript. July 15th. Sky overcast, air, moist and unpleasant. Camps presented an idea of business-like activity around the Commissary, Quartermaster and Ordnance supply trains where officers and men assembled to secure their apportioned allowances of ammunition, subsistence and clothing. July 16th A faint sprinkling of rain last night relieved, very grateChapter 20 ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ A Case of Nerves 374 THE GREAT SIOUX WAR: 1876–1877 fully the oppressive sultriness of the day. This morning, laggard banks of clouds hung above us threatening another storm. Paymaster [William] Arthur began the work of paying off the troops. Camp moved from site occupied so long to a new position on a branch of same stream, three miles to the West. General Crook sent dispatches to General Sheridan, together with duplicates of three forwarded by last messenger. He also sent word to General Terry, confiding the message to a Black Hills miner named Kelly—a half-witted sort of fellow, possessed of an assorted[?] stratum of cunning and common sense his more talented fellow citizens might envy. He took for his supplies a small bundle of matches, a meagre allowance of sugar and coffee and a sack full of hard bread. His rifle and eighty rounds of copper cartridges finished his list of supplies. No overcoat, no blanket—nothing else. His dispatches to General Terry were wrapped up with great care in a linen envelope, sealed and addressed. The General and a small circle of officers bade him good bye and God speed. The brave fellow went outside our line of tents, twenty or thirty yards. General Crook went up to him and asked what he needed. He answered that he wished a little tobacco, but would not turn back for it as he made it a point never to turn back after he had once started. He was at once handed what he needed and was in a moment more lost to sight over the hill. This man started out from Fort Fetterman to carry dispatches to the Expedition. When on the South Cheyenne his horse was shot accidentally , but he resolutely trooped along on foot, carrying the mail on his back, a distance of more than one hundred and thirty miles! General Crook’s dispatches read as follows: HdQrs. B.H. and Y.E. Camp on Goose Ck. Wy. July 16th-76 General Sheridan, Chicago. I forgot to say when I dispatched my last courier that I had sent out Lt. Sibley, on the 6th, with a small detachment of the 2d Cavalry, to escort my guide, Frank Gruard, in making a reconnaisance. When the party came, on the 7th, to a point near where the Little Big Horn debouches from the mountains they encountered the Sioux in very strong force and saw enough to convince them the main village of the hostiles is not far from that point. They succeeded in mak- A CASE OF NERVES 375 ing their escape only after abandoning their animals and marching across the rugged foot-hills of the Big Horn mountains . The men were nearly exhausted when they reached camp. Lieut Sibley and Frank Gruard, the guide, are entitled to great credit for the manner in which they carried out my instructions and the coolness and judgment displayed in saving the detachment when surrounded by [a] largely superior force of enemy. Mr Finerty (John F.) Mr. Pourier and Jim Traynor (i.e. John Bechtel) accompanied Lt. Sibley, as observers and behaved well. (signed.) George Crook, Brigadier General. 2d Dispatch to General Sheridan, same date. I send in courier...