. Civil War echoes : character sketches and state secrets . r find he dismounted quickly, and seizinga handy axe began chopping the lines for a grave throughthe prairie sod, at each blow uttering frightful oaths andmaledictions against the Red Devils of Hell. What a memorable picture for an artist! A dozen East-ern gentlemen in civil life—frightened almost out of theirwits for fear of Indians—and half as many more soldiers,all standing with uncovered heads around the body of anewly-massacred pioneer—the preacher with prayer-bookin hand—and all gazing at this gaudily attired and strik-ingly mag
. Civil War echoes : character sketches and state secrets . r find he dismounted quickly, and seizinga handy axe began chopping the lines for a grave throughthe prairie sod, at each blow uttering frightful oaths andmaledictions against the Red Devils of Hell. What a memorable picture for an artist! A dozen East-ern gentlemen in civil life—frightened almost out of theirwits for fear of Indians—and half as many more soldiers,all standing with uncovered heads around the body of anewly-massacred pioneer—the preacher with prayer-bookin hand—and all gazing at this gaudily attired and strik-ingly magnificent scout as he emitted volley after volley otoaths and curses upon the Indians with each powerful blowof his axe into the earth! He would stop once in a while,draw himself up to his full height, shade his eyes with ahand, and take a sweeping survey of the horizon to see ifthere were any more Indians lurking around. I am glad Ihad the privilege of shaking the hand of this noble andbrave man. He was subsequently killed in a saloon by being 255. WILD BILL HICKOX, U. S. SCOUT Sketches and State Secrets shot through the back of the head—exactly the way he fore-told his death to me. Every succeeding night during the return trip, my friendBeaman, who I believe was a native of Boston and subse-quently achieved great distinction in the profession of lawin New York City, would solemnly say to his fellow tentlodgers: Boys, I believe Ill sleep with my boots on to-night! The first night he went so far as to quickly slipinto my hand a little bit of paper, which he quietly told mewas his will, and said that whereas he would undoubtedlybe among the slain, I, being the youngest member of theparty, would manage in some way to escape. But we all safely arrived in due time in St. Louis, nonethe worse, only as to increased appetites—for the only pro-visions we had had during the trip back consisted of hamand coffee for breakfast, ham, coffee, and big yellow cannedpeas for dinner,
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