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A true account of incidents that happened along the old Santa Fe Trailin the Sixties.
1913
By Col. Milton Moore
[Illustration: COL. MILTON MOORE.]
You who take the trouble to read these reminiscences of the Santa Fe
Trail may be curious to know how much of them are literally true.
The writer of this preface was intimately acquainted with the author ofthis book, and knows that he has not yielded to temptation to draw uponhis imagination for the incidents related herein, but has adheredstrictly to the truth. Truth is, sometimes, "stranger than fiction," andis an indispensable requisite to accurate history, yet it may sometimedestroy the charm of fiction.
The author of this book had a real and exceptional knowledge of Indiancharacter and Indian traits, and his genuine tact in trading andtreating with them, and the success which he had in sustaining friendlyrelations with them was one of the wonders of the West, and was acircumstance of much comment by those who had occasion to use theSanta Fe Trail.
It is small wonder, then, that "Little Billy of the Stage Coach" won forhimself the title of the "Second William Penn."
In the early Sixties, the region through which the Old Trail passed wasan unexplored territory where constant struggles for supremacy betweenthe Wild Red Man and the hardy White man were carried on.
Many and tragical were the hardships endured by those who attempted toopen up this famous highway and establish a line of communicationbetween the East and the West. The only method of travel was by oddfreight caravans drawn by oxen or the old-fashioned, lumberinguncomfortable Concord Stage Coaches drawn by five mules.
The stage coach carried besides its passengers the United States mailand express.
An escort of United States militia often accompanied the stage coach inorder to protect it against attacks of the Indians at that time when theplains were invested with the Arapahoes, Comanches, Cheyennes, Kiowasand other tribes, some of whom were on the warpath, bedecked in warpaint and feathers.
The Indians were often in search of something to satisfy their hunger,rather than the scalps of the white men. The author of this book wontheir confidence and friendship by dividing with them his rations, andshowing them that he was willing to compensate them for the privilege oftraveling through their country. He had so many friendly conferences andmade so many treaties with them while on his trips across the plainsthat he came to be called the "Second William Penn."
He came into personal contact with the famous chiefs of the Indiantribes, and won their good will to such an extent that their behaviortoward him and his passengers was always most excellent.
The author has, in these pages, told of many encounters between thewhites and the Indians that were narrated to him by the Indians. Heholds the Indians blameless for many of the attacks attributed to them,and calls attention to the Chivington Massacre and the Massacre of theNine Mile Ridge, related in the following pages.
He begs the readers not to censure too severely the Indian who simplypleaded for food with which to satisfy his hunger, and sought to protecthis wigwam from the murderous attacks of unscrupulous white men.
I gladly recommend this