But perhaps recruiting officers would not accept them.
FORT SHAW, MONTANA TERRITORY,
October, 1878.
MY stay at the little town of Sun River Crossing was short, for when I
arrived there the other day in the stage from Benton, I found a note
awaiting me from Mrs. Bourke, saying that I must come right on to Fort
Shaw, so I got back in the stage and came to the post, a distance of
five miles, where General Bourke was on the lookout for me. He is in
command of the regiment as well as the post, as Colonel Fitz-James is
still in Europe. Of course regimental headquarters and the band are
here, which makes the garrison seem very lively to me. The band is out
at guard mounting every pleasant morning, and each Friday evening
there is a fine concert in the hall by the orchestra, after which we
have a little dance. The sun shines every day, but the air is cool and
crisp and one feels that ice and snow are not very far off.
The order for the two companies on the Marias to return to the Milk
River country was most unexpected. That old villain Sitting Bull,
chief of the Sioux Indians, made an official complaint to the "Great
Father" that the half-breeds were on land that belonged to his people,
and were killing buffalo that were theirs also. So the companies have
been sent up to arrest the half-breeds and conduct them to Fort
Belknap, and to break up their villages and burn their cabins.
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