The Old Santa Fe Trail | Page 3

Baptiste
Brown.

CHAPTER XV.
UNCLE JOHN SMITH. Uncle John Smith--A Famous Trapper, Guide,
and Interpreter-- His Marriage with a Cheyenne Squaw--An Autocrat
among the People of the Plains and Mountains--The Mexicans held him
in Great Dread-- His Wonderful Resemblance to President Andrew
Johnson--Interpreter and Guide on General Sheridan's Winter
Expedition against the Allied Plains Tribes--His Stories around the
Camp-fire.

CHAPTER XVI.
KIT CARSON. Famous Men of the Old Santa Fe Trail--Kit
Carson--Jim Bridger-- James P. Beckwourth--Uncle Dick Wooton--Jim

Baker--Lucien B. Maxwell--Old Bill Williams--Tom Tobin--James
Hobbs.

CHAPTER XVII.
UNCLE DICK WOOTON. Uncle Dick Wooton--Lucien B.
Maxwell--Old Bill Williams--Tom Tobin-- James Hobbs--William F.
Cody (Buffalo Bill).

CHAPTER XVIII.
MAXWELL'S RANCH. Maxwell's Ranch on the Old Santa Fe
Trail--A Picturesque Region-- Maxwell a Trapper and Hunter with the
American Fur Company-- Lifelong Comrade of Kit Carson--Sources of
Maxwell's Wealth-- Fond of Horse-racing--A Disastrous Fourth-of-July
Celebration --Anecdote of Kit Carson--Discovery of Gold on the
Ranch-- The Big Ditch--Issuing Beef to the Ute Indians--Camping out
with Maxwell and Carson--A Story of the Old Santa Fe Trail.

CHAPTER XIX.
BENT'S FORTS. The Bents' Several Forts--Famous
Trading-posts--Rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Trappers--Castle
William and Incidents connected with the Noted Place--Bartering with
the Indians--Annual Feast of Arapahoes and Cheyennes--Old Wolf's
First Visit to Bent's Fort-- The Surprise of the Savages--Stories told by
Celebrated Frontiersmen around the Camp-fire.

CHAPTER XX.
PAWNEE ROCK. Pawnee Rock--A Debatable Region of the Indian
Tribes--The most Dangerous Point on the Central Plains in the Days of
the Early Santa Fe Trade--Received its Name in a Baptism of Blood--
Battle-ground of the Pawnees and Cheyennes--Old Graves on the
Summit of the Rock--Kit Carson's First Fight at the Rock with the
Pawnees--Kills his Mule by Mistake--Colonel St. Vrain's Brilliant

Charge--Defeat of the Savages--The Trappers' Terrible Battle with the
Pawnees--The Massacre at Cow Creek.

CHAPTER XXI.
FOOLING STAGE ROBBERS. Wagon Mound--John L. Hatcher's
Thrilling Adventure with Old Wolf, the War-chief of the
Comanches--Incidents on the Trail--A Boy Bugler's Happy Escape
from the Savages at Fort Union--A Drunken Stage-driver--How an
Officer of the Quartermaster's Department at Washington succeeded in
starting the Military Freight Caravans a Month Earlier than the Usual
Time--How John Chisholm fooled the Stage-robbers--The Story of
Half a Plug of Tobacco.

CHAPTER XXII.
A DESPERATE RIDE. Solitary Graves along the Line of the Old Santa
Fe Trail--The Walnut Crossing--Fort Zarah--The Graves on Hon. D.
Heizer's Ranch on the Walnut--Troops stationed at the Crossing of the
Walnut-- A Terrible Five Miles--The Cavalry Recruit's Last Ride.

CHAPTER XXIII.
HANCOCK'S EXPEDITION. General Hancock's Expedition against
the Plains Indians--Terrible Snow-storm at Fort Larned--Meeting with
the Chiefs of the Dog-Soldiers--Bull Bear's Diplomacy--Meeting of the
United States Troops and the Savages in Line of Battle--Custer's Night
Experience-- The Surgeon and Dog Stew--Destruction of the Village by
Fire-- General Sully's Fight with the Kiowas, Comanches, and
Arapahoes-- Finding the Skeletons of the Unfortunate Men--The
Savages' Report of the Affair.

CHAPTER XXIV.
INVASION OF THE RAILROAD. Scenery on the Line of the Old
Santa Fe Trail--The Great Plains-- The Arkansas Valley--Over the

Rocky Mountains into New Mexico-- The Raton Range--The Spanish
Peaks--Simpson's Rest--Fisher's Peak --Raton Peak--Snowy
Range--Pike's Peak--Raton Creek--The Invasion of the Railroad--The
Old Santa Fe Trail a Thing of the Past.
FOOTNOTES.
PUBLICATION INFORMATION.

INTRODUCTION.

For more than three centuries, a period extending from 1541 to 1851,
historians believed, and so announced to the literary world, that
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the celebrated Spanish explorer, in his
search for the Seven Cities of Cibola and the Kingdom of Quivira, was
the first European to travel over the intra-continent region of North
America. In the last year above referred to, however, Buckingham
Smith, of Florida, an eminent Spanish scholar, and secretary of the
American Legation at Madrid, discovered among the archives of State
the Narrative of Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca, where for nearly three
hundred years it had lain, musty and begrimed with the dust of ages, an
unread and forgotten story of suffering that has no parallel in fiction.
The distinguished antiquarian unearthed the valuable manuscript from
its grave of oblivion, translated it into English, and gave it to the world
of letters; conferring honour upon whom honour was due, and tearing
the laurels from such grand voyageurs and discoverers as De Soto, La
Salle, and Coronado, upon whose heads history had erroneously placed
them, through no fault, or arrogance, however, of their own.
Cabeca, beyond any question, travelled the Old Santa Fe Trail for many
miles, crossed it where it intersects the Arkansas River, a little east of
Fort William or Bent's Fort, and went thence on into New Mexico,
following the famous highway as far, at least, as Las Vegas. Cabeca's
march antedated that of Coronado by five years. To this intrepid
Spanish voyageur we are indebted for the first description