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1LLEN CAMPBELL FAIRCHILDContinued from page 1-Cpofficer approached him and asked him if we were going to the fort. Father replied that he was to report there, but for this night he would not discommode anyone at the fort but would take his wife and baby to the hotel. The officer insisted that we had better go to the fort right away. Father, being quite green in the ways of the west, again insisted that he didn’t want to cause any trouble, that he would just stay in town for the night at the hotel. The other man exploded. “Good God man,if you stay in town for the night at the hotel your wife will not be alive in the morning!” So we went to the post. Father said, “To whom have I the honor of thanking for this courtesy?” The reply was, “Oh, my name is Custer.”Upon arriving at the fort Father found orders awaiting him, sending him on to Fort Larned. After a wait for three or four days at Fort Hays we were able to go to Fort Dodge with a detail of soldiers who were taking supplies there. Since a band of marauding Indians had been stirring up fights and misbehaving, most of the men at Dodge were hunting Indians. The commanding officer at Fort Dodge said, “I can give you transportation and mules but I can’t give you mane for an escort, as we haven’t enough here to protect the post.”After a few days a band of men coming from the south camped just outside of Fort Dodge. They came in for supplies and found that Fort Dodge was short on rations and that they would have to go on to Fort Larned. The leader came to my father and siad, “I understand you want to go to Larned.” Father replied, “Indeed, I do.” He was due there the next day. This, young man who was very pleasant spoken said, “If the commanding officer will let you have mules, a driver and something to ride in, we will escort you to Larned. We are all good shots and will see that the driver gets back safely toDodge.” Father went to the commanding officer to see about transportation and a man to drive.Name was HickockThe officer said, “Who is this man who makes this offer? Did you ask his name?” Father said, “Yes, he said his namewas Hickock,” and for the second time a commanding officer exploded: “I don’t know of but one man with that name. I don’t like this!” Father said he would take a chance, rather than be eourt-martialled. So that is how come I can say that I once took a ride with Wild BUI Hickock.Mother and Father always told of my early insistence that soldiers drank their coffee out of bowls. It was quite a puzzle to them, until they finally decided that my impression must have come from the large earthenware cups which were used in the enlisted men’s mess. It was hard to figure out how I had ever gotten in the enlisted men’s mess. Mother was veryiU of typhoid fever when I was barely three. Fathr, who was adjutant and quartermaster, was too busy to watch me all the time, so part of the day he turned me over to an assistant. If Father was too busy to claim me at the right time the assistant evidently took me to the enlisted men’s mess to eat meals with him and the other men.Father was very eager to acccumulate a company fund for the use of the men. While his captain wa gone on an extended leave he found a satisfactory way to do it. It was the practiceELLEN CAMPBELL FAIRCHILDSee page 4-C
Newspaper Details
The Hays Daily News
Hays, Kansas, US
Wed, Apr 21, 1993
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Toni L.
NA, NA 20 May 2023
Other Publications Near Hays, Kansas
The Hays Free Press
The Hays Daily News
