Strategy Six Pack 9 (Illustrated) E-Book

G.K. Chesterton

• Herausgeber: Enhanced Media Publishing
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

“Thus, what is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy's strategy.”
- Sun Tzu.

Three separate eye-witness accounts of the Hugh Glass bear attack story, a Civil War diary from a POW incarcerated in the notorious prison Andersonville, Henry Bradley’s classic study The Story of the Goths, a biography of the most fascinating Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an essay on realpolitik Athenian statesman Pericles and a short history of England by G. K. Chesterton. Strategy Six Pack 9 is a strategic stockpile of must-have military manuals:

The Hugh Glass Story - Some Incidents in the Life of Hugh Glass, a Hunter of the Missouri River by Philip St. George Cooke. H ugh Glass and the Grizzly Bear by Rufus B. Sage. Glass and the Bear by George Frederick Augustus Ruxton.
Andersonville - A Story of Rebel Military Prisons - Fifteen months a guest of the so-called Southern Confederacy - A private soldier’s experience in Richmond, Andersonville, Savannah, Millen, Blackshear and Florence by John McElroy.
The Story of the Goths by Henry Bradley.
Alexander Hamilton by Charles A. Conant.
Pericles by Elbert Hubbard.
A Short History of England by G. K. Chesterton.

*Includes three separate image galleries for Hugh Glass, Andersonville and The Goths.

Leseprobe

STRATEGY SIX PACK 9

The Revenant Hugh Glass

Andersonville

The Goths

Alexander Hamilton

Pericles

A Short History of England

Strategy Six Pack 9

The Hugh Glass Story - Some Incidents in the Life of Hugh Glass, a Hunter of the Missouri River by Philip St. George Cooke. First published in Scenes and adventures in the army: or, Romance of military life by Cooke in 1859.  Hugh Glass and the Grizzly Bear by Rufus B. Sage. From Rocky Mountain life; or, Startling scenes and perilous adventures in the far West, during an expedition of three years by Rufus B. Sage. Published in 1857.  Glass and the Bear by George Frederick Augustus Ruxton. From Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains by George Frederick Augustus Ruxton. Published in 1847.

Andersonville A Story of Rebel Military Prisons - Fifteen months a guest of the so-called Southern Confederacy - A private soldier’s experience in Richmond, Andersonville, Savannah, Millen, Blackshear and Florence by John McElroy late of Co. L. 16th Ill Cav. First published in 1879.

The Story of the Goths, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Gothic Dominion in Spain by Henry Bradley. First published in 1888.

Alexander Hamilton by Charles A. Conant. First published in 1901.

Pericles by Elbert Hubbard. From Little Journeys To the Homes of the Great, Volume 7, Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Orators. First published in the 14-volume Memorial Edition in 1916.

A Short History of England by G. K. Chesterton. First published in 1917.

Table of Contents

THE REVENANT

Some Incidents in the Life of Hugh Glass, a Hunter of the Missouri River

By Philip St. George Cooke

I: Hugh Glass

II: Attack

III – Aftermath

Hugh Glass and the Grizzly Bear

By Rufus B. Sage

From Chapter XIV of Rocky Mountain life; or, Startling scenes and perilous adventures in the far West, during an expedition of three years.

Glass and the Bear

By George Frederick Augustus Ruxton

From Chapter XXX in Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains.

Image Gallery

ANDERSONVILLE

A Story of Rebel Military Prisons

Fifteen months a guest of the so-called Southern Confederacy, a private soldier’s experience in Richmond, Andersonville, Savannah, Millen, Blackshear and Florence

By JOHN MCELROY

Late of Co. L. 16th Ill Cav.

DEDICATION

INTRODUCTION

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

CHAPTER I

A STRANGE LAND—THE HEART OF THE APPALACHIANS—THE GATEWAY OF AN EMPIRE —A SEQUESTERED VALE, AND A PRIMITIVE, ARCADIAN, NON-PROGRESSIVE PEOPLE

CHAPTER II

SCARCITY OF FOOD FOR THE ARMY—RAID FOR FORAGE—ENCOUNTER WIT THE REBELS —SHARP CAVALRY FIGHT—DEFEAT OF THE "JOHNNIES"—POWELL'S VALLEY OPENED UP

CHAPTER III

LIVING OFF THE ENEMY—REVELING IN THE FATNESS OF THE COUNTRY—SOLDIERLY PURVEYING AND CAMP COOKERY—SUSCEPTIBLE TEAMSTERS AND THEIR TENDENCY TO FLIGHTINESS—MAKING SOLDIER'S BED

CHAPTER IV

A BITTER COLD MORNING AND A WARM AWAKENING—TROUBLE ALL ALONG THE LINE—FIERCE CONFLICTS, ASSAULTS AND DEFENSE—PROLONGED AND DESPERATE STRUGGLE ENDING WITH A SURRENDER

CHAPTER V

THE REACTION—DEPRESSION—BITTING COLD—SHARP HUNGER AND SAD REFLEXION

CHAPTER VI

"ON TO RICHMOND!"—MARCHING ON FOOT OVER THE MOUNTAINS—MY HORSE HAS A NEW RIDER—UNSOPHISTICATED MOUNTAIN GIRLS—DISCUSSING THE ISSUES OF THE WAR—PARTING WITH "HIATOGA."

CHAPTER VII

ENTERING RICHMOND—DISAPPOINTMENT AT ITS APPEARANCE—EVERYBODY IN UNIFORM—CURLED DARLINGS OF THE CAPITAL—THE REBEL FLAG—LIBBY PRISON —DICK TURNER—SEARCHING THE NEW COMERS.

CHAPTER VIII

INTRODUCTION TO PRISON LIFE—THE PEMBERTON BUILDING AND ITS OCCUPANTS —NEAT SAILORS—ROLL CALL—RATIONS AND CLOTHING—CHIVALRIC "CONFISCATION."

CHAPTER IX

BRANS OR PEAS—INSUFFICIENCY OF DARKY TESTIMONY—A GUARD KILLS A PRISONER—PRISONERS TEAZE THE GUARDS—DESPERATE OUTBREAK

CHAPTER X

THE EXCHANGE AND THE CAUSE OF ITS INTERRUPTION—BRIEF RESUME OF THE DIFFERENT CARTELS, AND THE DIFFICULTIES THAT LED TO THEIR SUSPENSION

CHAPTER XI

PUTTING IN THE TIME—RATIONS—COOKING UTENSILS—"FLAT" SOUP—"SPOONING" —AFRICAN NEWSPAPER VENDERS—TRADING GREENBACKS FOR CONFEDERATE MONEY —VISIT FROM JOHN MORGAN

CHAPTER XII

REMARKS AS TO NOMENCLATURE—VACCINATION AND ITS EFFECTS—"N'YAARKER'S" —THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR METHODS OF OPERATING

CHAPTER XIII

BELLE ISLE—TERRIBLE SUFFERING FROM COLD AND HUNGER—FATE OF LIEUTENANT BOISSEUX'S DOG—OUR COMPANY MYSTERY—TERMINATION OF ALL HOPES OF ITS SOLUTION

CHAPTER XIV

HOPING FOR EXCHANGE—AN EXPOSITION OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHANCES —OFF FOR ANDERSONVILLE—UNCERTAINTY AS TO OUR DESTINATION—ARRIVAL AT ANDERSONVILLE

CHAPTER XV

GEORGIA—A LEAN AND HUNGRY LAND—DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UPPER AND LOWER GEORGIA—THE PILLAGE OF ANDERSONVILLE

CHAPTER XVI

WAKING UP IN ANDERSONVILLE—SOME DESCRIPTION OF THE PLACE—OUR FIRST MAIL—BUILDING SHELTER—GEN. WINDER—HIMSELF AND LINEAGE

CHAPTER XVII

THE PLANTATION NEGROS—NOT STUPID TO BE LOYAL—THEIR DITHYRAMBIC MUSIC —COPPERHEAD OPINION OF LONGFELLOW

CHAPTER XVIII

SCHEMES AND PLANS TO ESCAPE—SCALING THE STOCKADE—ESTABLISHING THE DEAD LINE—THE FIRST MAN KILLED

CHAPTER XIX

CAPT. HENRI WIRZ—SOME DESCRIPTION OF A SMALL-MINDED PERSONAGE, WHO GAINED GREAT NOTORIETY—FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH HIS DISCIPLINARY METHOD

CHAPTER XX

PRIZE-FIGHT AMONG THE N'YAARKERS—A GREAT MANY FORMALITIES, AND LITTLE BLOOD SPILT—A FUTILE ATTEMPT TO RECOVER A WATCH—DEFEAT OF THE LAW AND ORDER PARTY

CHAPTER XXI

DIMINISHING RATIONS—A DEADLY COLD RAIN—HOVERING OVER PITCH PINE FIRES —INCREASE ON MORTALITY—A THEORY OF HEALTH

CHAPTER XXII

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ALABAMIANS AND GEORGIANS—DEATH OF "POLL PARROTT" —A GOOD JOKE UPON THE GUARD—A BRUTAL RASCAL

CHAPTER XXIII

A NEW LOT OF PRISONERS—THE BATTLE OF OOLUSTEE—MEN SACRIFICED TO A GENERAL'S INCOMPETENCY—A HOODLUM REINFORCEMENT—A QUEER CROWD —MISTREATMENT OF AN OFFICER OF A COLORED REGIMENT—KILLING THE SERGEANT OF A NEGRO SQUAD

CHAPTER XXIV

APRIL—LONGING TO GET OUT—THE DEATH RATE—THE PLAGUE OF LICE —THE SO-CALLED HOSPITAL

CHAPTER XXV

THE "PLYMOUTH PILGRIMS"—SAD TRANSITION FROM COMFORTABLE BARRACKS TO ANDERSONVILLE—A CRAZED PENNSYLVANIAN—DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUTLER BUSINESS

CHAPTER XXVI

LONGINGS FOR GOD'S COUNTRY—CONSIDERATIONS OF THE METHODS OF GETTING THERE—EXCHANGE AND ESCAPE—DIGGING TUNNELS, AND THE DIFFICULTIES CONNECTED THEREWITH—PUNISHMENT OF A TRAITOR

CHAPTER XXVII

THE HOUNDS, AND THE DIFFICULTIES THEY PUT IN THE WAY OF ESCAPE —THE WHOLE SOUTH PATROLLED BY THEM

CHAPTER XXVIII

MAY—INFLUX OF NEW PRISONERS—DISPARITY IN NUMBERS BETWEEN THE EASTERN AND WESTERN ARMIES—TERRIBLE CROWDING—SLAUGHTER OF MEN AT THE CREEK

CHAPTER XXIX

SOME DISTINCTION BETWEEN SOLDIERLY DUTY AND MURDER—A PLOT TO ESCAPE —IT IS REVEALED AND FRUSTRATED

CHAPTER XXX

JUNE—POSSIBILITIES OF A MURDEROUS CANNONADE—WHAT WAS PROPOSED TO BE DONE IN THAT EVENT—A FALSE ALARM—DETERIORATION OF THE RATIONS —FEARFUL INCREASE OF MORTALITY

CHAPTER XXXI

DYING BY INCHES—SEITZ, THE SLOW, AND HIS DEATH—STIGGALL AND EMERSON —RAVAGES ON THE SCURVY

CHAPTER XXXII

"OLE BOO," AND "OLE SOL, THE HAYMAKER"—A FETID, BURNING DESERT—NOISOME WATER, AND THE EFFECTS OF DRINKING IT—STEALING SOFT SOAP

CHAPTER XXXIII

"POUR PASSER LE TEMPS"—A SET OF CHESSMEN PROCURED UNDER DIFFICULTIES —RELIGIOUS SERVICES—THE DEVOTED PRIEST—WAR SONG

CHAPTER XXXIV

MAGGOTS, LICE AND RAIDERS—PRACTICES OF THESE HUMAN VERMIN—PLUNDERING THE SICK AND DYING—NIGHT ATTACKS, AND BATTLES BY DAY—HARD TIMES FOR THE SMALL TRADERS

CHAPTER XXXV

A COMMUNITY WITHOUT GOVERNMENT—FORMATION OF THE REGULATORS—RAIDERS ATTACK KEY BUT ARE BLUFFED OFF—ASSAULT OF THE REGULATORS ON THE RAIDERS —DESPERATE BATTLE—OVERTHROW OF THE RAIDERS

CHAPTER XXXVI

WHY THE REGULATORS WERE NOT ASSISTED BY THE ENTIRE CAMP—PECULIARITIES OF BOYS FROM DIFFERENT SECTIONS—HUNTING THE RAIDERS DOWN—EXPLOITS OF MY LEFT-HANDED LIEUTENANT—RUNNING THE GAUNTLET

CHAPTER XXXVII

THE EXECUTION—BUILDING THE SCAFFOLD—DOUBTS OF THE CAMP-CAPTAIN WIRZ THINKS IT IS PROBABLY A RUSE TO FORCE THE STOCKADE—HIS PREPARATIONS AGAINST SUCH AN ATTEMPT—ENTRANCE OF THE DOOMED ONES—THEY REALIZE THEIR FATE—ONE MAKES A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE—HIS RECAPTURE—INTENSE EXCITEMENT—WIRZ ORDERS THE GUNS TO OPEN—FORTUNATELY THEY DO NOT—THE SIX ARE HANGED—ONE BREAKS HIS ROPE—SCENE WHEN THE RAIDERS ARE CUT DOWN

CHAPTER XXXVIII

AFTER THE EXECUTION—FORMATION OF A POLICE FORCE—ITS FIRST CHIEF —"SPANKING" AN OFFENDER

CHAPTER XXXIX

JULY—THE PRISON BECOMES MORE CROWDED, THE WEATHER HOTTER, NATIONS POORER, AND MORTALITY GREATER—SOME OF THE PHENOMENA OF SUFFERING AND DEATH

CHAPTER XL

THE BATTLE OF THE 22D OF JULY—THE ARMS OF THE TENNESSEE ASSAULTED FRONT AND REAR—DEATH OF GENERAL MCPHERSON—ASSUMPTION OF COMMAND BY GENERAL LOGAN—RESULT OF THE BATTLE

CHAPTER XLI

CLOTHING: ITS RAPID DETERIORATION, AND DEVICES TO REPLENISH IT—DESPERATE EFFORTS TO COVER NAKEDNESS—"LITTLE RED CAP" AND HIS LETTER

CHAPTER XLII

SOME FEATURES OF THE MORTALITY—PERCENTAGE OF DEATHS TO THOSE LIVING —AN AVERAGE MEAN ONLY STANDS THE MISERY THREE MONTHS—DESCRIPTION OF THE PRISON AND THE CONDITION OF THE MEN THEREIN, BY A LEADING SCIENTIFIC MAN OF THE SOUTH

CHAPTER XLIII

DIFFICULTY OF EXERCISING—EMBARRASSMENTS OF A MORNING WALK—THE RIALTO OF THE PRISON—CURSING THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY—THE STORY OF THE BATTLE OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURTHOUSE

CHAPTER XLIV

REBEL MUSIC—SINGULAR LACK OF THE CREATIVE POWER AMONG THE SOUTHERNERS —CONTRAST WITH SIMILAR PEOPLE ELSEWHERE—THEIR FAVORITE MUSIC, AND WHERE IT WAS BORROWED FROM—A FIFER WITH ONE TUNE

CHAPTER XLV

AUGUST—NEEDLES STUCK IN PUMPKIN SEEDS—SOME PHENOMENA OF STARVATION —RIOTING IN REMEMBERED LUXURIES

CHAPTER XLVI

SURLY BRITON—THE STOLID COURAGE THAT MAKES THE ENGLISH FLAG A BANNER OF TRIUMPH—OUR COMPANY BUGLER, HIS CHARACTERISTICS AND HIS DEATH—URGENT DEMAND FOR MECHANICS—NONE WANT TO GO—TREATMENT OF A REBEL SHOEMAKER —ENLARGEMENT OF THE STOCKADE—IT IS BROKEN BY A STORM—THE WONDERFUL SPRING

CHAPTER XLVII

"SICK CALL," AND THE SCENES THAT ACCOMPANIED IT—MUSTERING THE LAME, HALT AND DISEASED AT THE SOUTH GATE—AN UNUSUALLY BAD CASE—GOING OUT TO THE HOSPITAL—ACCOMMODATION AND TREATMENT OF THE PATIENTS THERE—THE HORRIBLE SUFFERING IN THE GANGRENE WARD—BUNGLING AMPUTATIONS BY BLUNDERING PRACTITIONERS—AFFECTION BETWEEN A SAILOR AND HIS WARD —DEATH OF MY COMRADE

CHAPTER XLVIII

DETERMINATION TO ESCAPE—DIFFERENT PLANS AND THEIR MERITS—I PREFER THE APPALACHICOLA ROUTE—PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE—A HOT DAY—THE FENCE PASSED SUCCESSFULLY PURSUED BY THE HOUNDS—CAUGHT —RETURNED TO THE STOCKADE.\

CHAPTER XLIX

AUGUST—GOOD LUCK IN NOT MEETING CAPTAIN WIRZ—THAT WORTHY'S TREATMENT OF RECAPTURED PRISONERS—SECRET SOCIETIES IN PRISON—SINGULAR MEETING AND ITS RESULT—DISCOVERY AND REMOVAL OF THE OFFICERS AMONG THE ENLISTED MEN

CHAPTER L

FOOD—THE MEAGERNESS, INFERIOR QUALITY, AND TERRIBLE SAMENESS —REBEL TESTIMONY ON THE SUBJECT—FUTILITY OF SUCCESSFUL EXPLANATION.

CHAPTER LI

SOLICITUDE AS TO THE FATE OF ATLANTA AND SHERMAN'S ARMY—PAUCITY OF NEWS —HOW WE HEARD THAT ATLANTA HAD FALLEN—ANNOUNCEMENT OF A GENERAL EXCHANGE—WE LEAVE ANDERSONVILLE.

CHAPTER LII

SAVANNAH—DEVICES TO OBTAIN MATERIALS FOR A TENT—THEIR ULTIMATE SUCCESS —RESUMPTION OF TUNNELING—ESCAPING BY WHOLESALE AND BEING RECAPTURED EN MASSE—THE OBSTACLES THAT LAY BETWEEN US AND OUR LINES.

CHAPTER LIII

FRANK REVERSTOCK'S ATTEMPT AT ESCAPE—PASSING OFF AS REBEL BOY HE REACHES GRISWOLDVILLE BY RAIL, AND THEN STRIKES ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR SHERMAN, BUT IS CAUGHT WITHIN TWENTY MILES OF OUR LINES

CHAPTER LIV

SAVANNAH PROVES TO BE A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER—ESCAPE FROM THE BRATS OF GUARDS—COMPARISON BETWEEN WIRZ AND DAVIS—A BRIEF INTERVAL OF GOOD RATIONS—WINDER, THE MAN WITH THE EVIL EYE —THE DISLOYAL WORK OF A SHYSTER.

CHAPTER LV

WHY WE WERE HURRIED OUT OF ANDERSONVILLE—THE FALL OF ATLANTA —OUR LONGING TO HEAR THE NEWS—ARRIVAL OF SOME FRESH FISH—HOW WE KNEW THEY WERE WESTERN BOYS—DIFFERENCE IN THE APPEARANCE OF THE SOLDIERS OF THE TWO ARMIES.

CHAPTER LVI

WHAT CAUSED THE FALL OF ATLANTA—A DISSERTATION UPON AN IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM—THE BATTLE OF JONESBORO—WHY IT WAS FOUGHT —HOW SHERMAN DECEIVED HOOD—A DESPERATE BAYONET CHARGE, AND THE ONLY SUCCESSFUL ONE IN THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN—A GALLANT COLONEL AND HOW HE DIED—THE HEROISM OF SOME ENLISTED MEN—GOING CALMLY INTO CERTAIN DEATH.

CHAPTER LVII

A FAIR SACRIFICE—THE STORY OF ONE BOY WHO WILLINGLY GAVE HIS YOUNG LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY

CHAPTER LVIII

WE LEAVE SAVANNAH—MORE HOPES OF EXCHANGE—SCENES AT DEPARTURE —"FLANKERS"—ON THE BACK TRACK TOWARD ANDERSONVILLE—ALARM THEREAT —AT THE PARTING OF TWO WAYS—WE FINALLY BRING UP AT CAMP LAWTON

CHAPTER LIX

OUR NEW QUARTERS AT CAMP LAWTON—BUILDING A HUT—AN EXCEPTIONAL COMMANDANT—HE IS a GOOD MAN, BUT WILL TAKE BRIBES—RATIONS

CHAPTER LX

THE RAIDERS REAPPEAR ON THE SCENE—THE ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THOSE WHO WERE CONCERNED IN THE EXECUTION—A COUPLE OF LIVELY FIGHTS, IN WHICH THE RAIDERS ARE DEFEATED—HOLDING AN ELECTION

CHAPTER LXI

THE REBELS FORMALLY PROPOSE TO US TO DESERT TO THEM—CONTUMELIOUS TREATMENT OF THE PROPOSITION—THEIR RAGE—AN EXCITING TIME—AN OUTBREAK THREATENED—DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING DESERTION TO THE REBELS

CHAPTER LXII

SERGEANT LEROY L. KEY—HIS ADVENTURES SUBSEQUENT TO THE EXECUTIONS —HE GOES OUTSIDE AT ANDERSONVILLE ON PAROLE—LABORS IN THE COOK-HOUSE —ATTEMPTS TO ESCAPE—IS RECAPTURED AND TAKEN TO MACON—ESCAPES FROM THERE, BUT IS COMPELLED TO RETURN—IS FINALLY EXCHANGED AT SAVANNAH

CHAPTER LXIII

DREARY WEATHER—THE COLD RAINS DISTRESS ALL AND KILL HUNDREDS—EXCHANGE OF TEN THOUSAND SICK—CAPTAIN BOWES TURNS A PRETTY, BUT NOT VERY HONEST, PENNY

CHAPTER LXIV

ANOTHER REMOVAL—SHERMAN'S ADVANCE SCARES THE REBELS INTO RUNNING US AWAY FROM MILLEN—WE ARE TAKEN TO SAVANNAH, AND THENCE DOWN THE ATLANTIC & GULF ROAD TO BLACKSHEAR

CHAPTER LXV

BLACKSHEAR AND PIERCE COUNTRY—WE TAKE UP NEW QUARTERS, BUT ARE CALLED OUT FOR EXCHANGE—EXCITEMENT OVER SIGNING THE PAROLE—A HAPPY JOURNEY TO SAVANNAH—GRIEVOUS DISAPPOINTMENT

CHAPTER LXVI

SPECIMEN CONVERSATION WITH AN AVERAGE NATIVE GEORGIAN—WE LEARN THAT SHERMAN IS HEADING FOR SAVANNAH—THE RESERVES GET A LITTLE SETTLING DOWN

CHAPTER LXVII

OFF TO CHARLESTON—PASSING THROUGH THE RICE SWAMPS—TWO EXTREMES OF SOCIETY—ENTRY INTO CHARLESTON—LEISURELY WARFARE—SHELLING THE CITY AT REGULAR INTERVALS—WE CAMP IN A MASS OF RUINS—DEPARTURE FOR FLORENCE

CHAPTER LXVIII

FIRST DAYS AT FLORENCE—INTRODUCTION TO LIEUTENANT BARRETT, THE RED-HEADED KEEPER—A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF OUR NEW QUARTERS—WINDERS MALIGN INFLUENCE MANIFEST

CHAPTER LXIX

BARRETT'S INSANE CRUELTY—HOW HE PUNISHED THOSE ALLEGED TO BE ENGAGED IN TUNNELING—THE MISERY IN THE STOCKADE—MEN'S LIMBS ROTTING OFF WITH DRY GANGRENE

CHAPTER LXX

HOUSE AND CLOTHES—EFFORTS TO ERECT A SUITABLE RESIDENCE—DIFFICULTIES ATTENDING THIS—VARIETIES OF FLORENTINE ARCHITECTURE—WAITING FOR DEAD MEN'S CLOTHES—CRAVING FOR TOBACCO

CHAPTER LXXI

DECEMBER—RATIONS OF WOOD AND FOOD GROW LESS DAILY—UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE MORTALITY AT FLORENCE—EVEN THE GOVERNMENT'S STATISTICS ARE VERY DEFICIENT—CARE FOB THE SICK

CHAPTER LXXII

DULL WINTER DAYS—TOO WEAK AND TOO STUPID To AMUSE OURSELVES—ATTEMPTS OF THE REBELS TO RECRUIT US INTO THEIR ARMY—THE CLASS OF MEN THEY OBTAINED —VENGEANCE ON "THE GALVANIZED"—A SINGULAR EXPERIENCE—RARE GLIMPSES OF FUN—INABILITY OF THE REBELS TO COUNT

CHAPTER LXXIII

CHRISTMAS—AND THE WAY THE WAS PASSED—THE DAILY ROUTINE OF RATION DRAWING—SOME PECULIARITIES OF LIVING AND DYING

CHAPTER LXXIV

NEW YEAR'S DAY—DEATH OF JOHN H. WINDER—HE DIES ON HIS WAY TO A DINNER —SOMETHING AS TO CHARACTER AND CAREER—ONE OF THE WORST MEN THAT EVER LIVED.

CHAPTER LXXV

ONE INSTANCE OF A SUCCESSFUL ESCAPE—THE ADVENTURES OF SERGEANT WALTER HARTSOUGH, OF COMPANY K, SIXTEENTH ILLINOIS CAVALRY—HE GETS AWAY FROM THE REBELS AT THOMASVILLE, AND AFTER A TOILSOME AND DANGEROUS JOURNEY OF SEVERAL HUNDRED MILES, REACHES OUR LINES IN FLORIDA.

CHAPTER LXXVI

THE PECULIAR TYPE OF INSANITY PREVALENT AT FLORENCE—BARRETT'S WANTONNESS OF CRUELTY—WE LEARN OF SHERMAN'S ADVANCE INTO SOUTH CAROLINA—THE REBELS BEGIN MOVING THE PRISONERS AWAY—ANDREWS AND I CHANGE OUR TACTICS, AND STAY BEHIND—ARRIVAL OF FIVE PRISONERS FROM SHERMAN'S COMMAND—THEIR UNBOUNDED CONFIDENCE IN SHERMAN'S SUCCESS, AND ITS BENEFICIAL EFFECT UPON US.

CHAPTER LXXVII

FRUITLESS WAITING FOR SHERMAN—WE LEAVE FLORENCE—INTELLIGENCE OF THE FALL OF WILMINGTON COMMUNICATED TO US BY A SLAVE—THE TURPENTINE REGION OF NORTH CAROLINA—WE COME UPON A REBEL LINE OF BATTLE—YANKEES AT BOTH ENDS OF THE ROAD.

CHAPTER LXXVIII

RETURN TO FLORENCE AND A SHORT SOJOURN THERE—OFF TOWARDS WILMINGTON AGAIN—CRUISING A REBEL OFFICER'S LUNCH—SIGNS OF APPROACHING OUR LINES —TERROR OF OUR RASCALLY GUARDS—ENTRANCE INTO GOD'S COUNTRY AT LAST.

CHAPTER LXXIX

GETTING USED TO FREEDOM—DELIGHTS OF A LAND WHERE THERE IS ENOUGH OF EVERYTHING—FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE OLD FLAG—WILMINGTON AND ITS HISTORY —LIEUTENANT CUSHING—FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE COLORED TROOPS—LEAVING FOR HOME—DESTRUCTION OF THE "THORN" BY A TORPEDO—THE MOCK MONITOR'S ACHIEVEMENT.

CHAPTER LXXX

VISIT TO FORT FISHER, AND INSPECTION OF THAT STRONGHOLD—THE WAY IT WAS CAPTURED—OUT ON THE OCEAN SAILING—TERRIBLY SEASICK—RAPID RECOVERY —ARRIVAL AT ANNAPOLIS—WASHED, CLOTHED AND FED—UNBOUNDED LUXURY, AND DAYS OF UNADULTERATED HAPPINESS.

[CHAPTER LXXXI. Written by a Rev. Sheppard and omitted in this edition.]

CHAPTER LXXXII

CAPTAIN WIRZ THE ONLY ONE OF THE PRISON-KEEPERS PUNISHED—HIS ARREST, TRIAL AND EXECUTION

CHAPTER LXXXIII

THE RESPONSIBILITY—WHO WAS TO BLAME FOR ALL THE MISERY—AN EXAMINATION OF THE FLIMSY EXCUSES MADE FOR THE REBELS—ONE DOCUMENT THAT CONVICTS THEM—WHAT IS DESIRED

Image Gallery

THE STORY OF THE GOTHS

From the earliest times to the end of the Gothic dominion in Spain

By Henry Bradley

PREFACE

I: WHO WERE THE GOTHS?

II: FROM THE BALTIC TO THE DANUBE

III: FIRE AND SWORD IN ASIA AND GREECE

IV: HOW THE GOTHS FOUGHT WITH CONSTANTINE

V: THE GOTHIC ALEXANDER

VI: THE JUDGES OF THE VISIGOTHS

VII: THE APOSTLE OF THE GOTHS

VIII: FRITHIGERN AND VALENS—THE BATTLE OF HADRIANOPLE

IX: THE GOTHS AND THEODOSIUS

X: ALARIC THE BALTHING

XI: KING ATAWULF AND HIS ROMAN QUEEN

XII: THE KINGDOM OF TOULOUSE

XIII: HOW THE WESTERN EMPIRE CAME TO AN END

XIV: THE BOYHOOD OF THEODERIC

XV: THE RIVAL NAMESAKES

XVI: HOW THE OSTROGOTHS WON ITALY

XVII: THE WISDOM OF THEODERIC

XVIII: THEODERIC AND HIS FOREIGN NEIGHBOURS

XIX: THEODERIC'S EVIL DAYS

XX: A QUEEN'S TROUBLES

XXI: AN UNKINGLY KING

XXII: WITIGIS THE UNREADY

XXIII: THE YEAR-LONG SIEGE

XXIV: WITIGIS IN HIDING

XXV: THE GOTHS LOSE RAVENNA

XXVI: NEW GOTHIC VICTORIES

XXVII: THE FAILURE OF BELISARIUS

XXVIII: THE RUIN OF THE OSTROGOTHS

XXIX: THE VISIGOTHS AGAIN

XXX: LEOVIGILD AND HIS SONS

XXXI: THE GOTHS BECOME CATHOLIC

XXXII: A PRIEST-RIDDEN KINGDOM

XXXIII: THE STORY OF WAMBA

XXXIV: THIRTY YEARS OF DECAY

XXXV: THE FALL OF THE VISIGOTHS

XXXVI: CONCLUSION

Image Gallery

Alexander Hamilton

By Charles A. Conant

I: YOUTH AND EARLY SERVICES

II: THE FIGHT FOR THE CONSTITUTION

III: ESTABLISHING THE PUBLIC CREDIT

IV: CONGRESS SUSTAINS HAMILTON

V: STRENGTHENING THE BONDS OF UNION

VI: FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND NEUTRALITY

VII: HAMILTON AS A PARTY LEADER

VIII: HAMILTON'S DEATH AND CHARACTER

Pericles

By Elbert Hubbard

From Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Orators.

A Short History of England

By G. K. Chesterton

I: INTRODUCTION

II: THE PROVINCE OF BRITAIN

III: THE AGE OF LEGENDS

IV: THE DEFEAT OF THE BARBARIANS

V: ST. EDWARD AND THE NORMAN KINGS

VI: THE AGE OF THE CRUSADES

VII: THE PROBLEM OF THE PLANTAGENETS

VIII: THE MEANING OF MERRY ENGLAND

IX: NATIONALITY AND THE FRENCH WARS

X: THE WAR OF THE USURPERS

XI: THE REBELLION OF THE RICH

XII: SPAIN AND THE SCHISM OF NATIONS

XIII: THE AGE OF THE PURITANS

XIV: THE TRIUMPH OF THE WHIGS

XV: THE WAR WITH THE GREAT REPUBLICS

XVI: ARISTOCRACY AND THE DISCONTENTS

XVII: THE RETURN OF THE BARBARIAN

XVIII: CONCLUSION

THE REVENANT

Some Incidents in the Life of Hugh Glass, a Hunter of the Missouri River

By Philip St. George Cooke

––––––––

Arikara Warrior ca. 1840—1843, by Karl Bodmer.

I: Hugh Glass

Those pioneers, who, sixty years ago, as an advanced guard, fought the battles of civilization, for the very love of fighting, may be now recognized in the class of the hero of my sketch, who 1000 miles beyond the last wave of the troublous tide of migration, seek their pleasures in the hunt of a Blackfoot of the Rocky Mountains, a grizzly bear, or a buffalo. It must be difficult to give even a faint idea of the toils and risks of a set of men, so constituted as to love a mode of life only for these attendants; who exist but in the excitement of narrow escapes, — of dangers avoided or overcome; who often, such is their passionate devotion to roving, choose it in preference to comfortable circumstances within the pale of civilization. Little has been reaped from this field, so fertile in novel incident that its real life throws romance into the shade.

The class of people above mentioned, excluded by choice from all intercourse with the world of white men, are at different periods very differently occupied: — at times, as trappers; at others, they live with Indians, conforming in every respect to their mode of life; and often they are found entirely alone, depending upon a rifle, knife, and a few traps, for defence, subsistence, and employment.

A trapping expedition arrived on the hunting grounds is divided into parties of four or five men, which separate for long periods of time; and as the beaver is mostly in the country of hostile Indians, in and beyond the Rocky Mountains, it is an employment of much hazard, and the parties are under great pains for concealment. Trappers, and others who remain in these regions, subsist for years wholly upon game. They never taste bread, nor can they even procure salt, indispensable as it may be considered in civilized life.

To take the beaver requires practice and skill. The trap is set, and then sunk in the stream to a certain depth (when the water is too deep for it to rest upon the bottom) by means of floats attached, and a chain confines it to something fixed or very heavy at the bottom. This depth must be such, that the animal in swimming over it, is caught by the leg. The "bait" consists of some strong scent, proceeding from a substance placed directly opposite upon the shore; an oil taken from the body of the animal is generally used. The greatest care is necessary to destroy all trace of the presence of the trapper when making his arrangements, which, if discovered by the most sensitive instinct of the animal, it carefully avoids the place; they therefore wade, or use a canoe in setting the trap.

The solitary hunter is found occasionally thus employed, for the sake of the trade with those who visit the country solely for that purpose; getting for his skins the few necessaries of his situation, — blankets, powder, lead, &c.

The white, or more properly, the gray or grizzly bear is, next to the Indian, the greatest enemy the hunter meets with in this region; it is the lion of our forests; the strongest and most formidable of all its animals. It is about 400 pounds in weight; its claws more than three inches long; the buffalo bull, perhaps stronger and more active than the domestic, is a certain victim to its strength. If a grizzly bear is reported to be in the vicinity of an Indian camp or village, fifty or a hundred warriors turn out (as in the East for a lion or tiger) to hunt to its death so dangerous and dreaded a neighbor.

The grizzly bear never avoids, very often attacks a man; while on the other hand, the hunter, but under the most favorable circumstances, carefully avoids him.

In the summer of 1823, immediately after the desertion and conflagration of the Arickara village, consequent upon its attack by the 6th Regiment United States Infantry, a party of eighty men, under the direction of Major Henry (that had volunteered in that engagement), left this point of the Missouri River, intending to gain the head waters of the Yellow Stone to make a fall hunt for beaver. The party had journeyed four days in the prairie; on the fifth we would introduce our hero (who has been rather backward) to the attention of the reader — if, indeed, it has not been already lost in the rugged field prepared for his reception.

On the fifth day, Glass (who was an engage in the expedition) left the main body accompanied by two others, to make one of the usual hunts, by which, while subsistence is acquired the party is not detained. Having near night succeeded in killing buffalo, they were directing their common course to a point, near which they knew must be the position of the camp for the night; it was on a small stream, and as they passed near one of its curves.  

Glass became somewhat detached from the others, intending to drink of its waters; at this moment his progress was arrested by the sight of a grizzly bear issuing from beneath the bank opposite to him. His companions, overcome by their fears, which no obligation to share with him his unavoidable danger could resist, profited by their more favorable situation to attempt escape by flight, leaving him to his destiny.

A contest with a grizzly bear, more tenacious of life than a buffalo, is always dangerous; to insure a probability of success and safety, all the energies must arise in proportion to the magnitude of the danger; and they must be shown in perfect coolness; the slightest falter, which with the many would result from a loss of this presence of mind, would render the case hopeless and insure destruction.

Glass would gladly have retreated, but he knew all attempts would be useless. This desperate situation only nerved him to the combat. All depended upon the success of his first and only shot; — with an aim, cool and deliberate, but quick, lest greater rapidity in the animal should render it more uncertain, he fired his rifle. The shot was a good one; eventually mortal; but its immediate effect was only to raise to its utmost degree, the ferocity of the animal, already greatly excited by the sight and opposition of its intended prey; it bounded forward with a rapidity that could not be eluded, in pursuit of its flying adversary, whom danger, with means of defence, had inspired with deliberate action, but now only gave wings for his flight. But it was unavailing, and he knew it; — an appalling roar of pain and rage, which alone could render pallid a cheek of firmness, chilled him to the soul; he was overtaken, crushed to the earth, and rendered insensible but to thoughts of instant death. The act of contact had been two blows, inflicting ghastly wounds; the claws literally baring of flesh the bones of the shoulder and thigh. Not sated with this work of an instant, the bear continued to pursue, with unabated speed, the flight of the two other hunters: — the chase was to them awfully doubtful: — every muscle of a hunter's frame strained to its utmost tension — the fear of a horrid death — the excitement of exertion — together producing a velocity seldom equalled by bipeds, had been unavailing in contest with that of the superior strength and fleetness of the raging animal. But, fortunately, it could not last; — it was expended in the distance, from loss of blood; — its exertions became more feeble; — the sacrifice of a deserted comrade had saved their lives; — they reached the camp in safety.

When sufficiently recovered, they reported the death of Glass, and their escape from the pursuit of the wounded grizzly bear. A large party was instantly in arms. It had gone but a short distance when the bear was discovered and despatched without difficulty. Glass, they found, was not yet dead; they bore him to the camp, still insensible from the shock of his dreadful wounds. They were considered mortal, but, of course, bound up and treated as well as their circumstances would admit.

A question then arose, how he should be disposed of; to carry him farther was useless, if not impossible; and it was finally settled that he should be left. Eighty dollars were subscribed for any two men who would volunteer to remain with him, await his death, and then overtake the party. A man named Fitzgerald, and a youth of seventeen, accepted the proposals; and the succeeding day the main party continued its route as usual.

For two days they faithfully administered to his wants; then their imaginations began to create difficulties in their situation; at least their inactive stay became very irksome; and as they considered his recovery as hopeless, they equally agreed to think their remaining longer useless. Thus wrought upon, and from innate depravity, they conceived the horrid idea of deserting him, overtaking the party, and reporting his death: — and they determined upon the prompt execution of their design: — nay more, these most heartless of wretches, taking advantage of his first sleep, not contented with the desertion of a sacred trust, robbed him of his rifle, knife, and, in short, everything but a small kettle containing water, and a wallet on which his head rested; and which fortunately contained a razor.

On awakening, how could he realize his situation! Helpless from painful wounds, he lay in the midst of a desert. His prospect was starvation and death. He was deserted by the human race.

But this act, which words cannot sufficiently blacken, perhaps gave a vital excitement. He muttered a mingled curse and prayer: — he had a motive for living! He swore, as if on his grave for an altar, his endless hatred, and if spared, his vengeance on the actors in so foul a deed.

Glass, when his water was exhausted, for fear he should become so weak as to perish for want of it, succeeded with great difficulty in crawling to the edge of the stream, where he lay incapable of further exertion for several days.

Few are aware, until tried, of their capacity for endurance: and the mind seldom shrinks from an exertion that will yield a single ray of hope to illume the darkness of its waste.

Glass did not despair; he had found he could crawl, and he determined to endeavor to reach a spot where he could better hope for succor. He crawled towards the Missouri, moving at the rate of about two miles a day! He lived upon roots and buffalo berries. On the third day he witnessed near him the destruction of a buffalo-calf by wolves; — and here he gave a proof of a cool judgment: he felt certain, that an attempt to drive the wolves from their prey before their hunger was at least somewhat appeased, would be attended with danger; and he concluded to wait till they had devoured about half of it, when he was successful in depriving them of the remainder: and here he remained until it was consumed, resting and perhaps gaining strength. His knees and elbows had, by now, become bare; he detached some of his other clothing, and tied them around these parts, which must necessarily be protected, as it was by their contact with the ground that motion was gained.

The wound on his thigh he could wash; but his shoulder, or back, was in a dreadful condition. For more than forty days he thus crawled on the earth, in accomplishing a five days' journey to the Arickara village. Here he found several Indian dogs still prowling among the ruins; he spent two days in taming one of them sufficiently to get it within his power: he killed it with the razor, and for several days subsisted upon the carcass.

Glass, by this time, though somewhat recovered of the effect of his wounds, was, as may be supposed, greatly reduced; but he continued his weary and distressing progress, upon arms and knees, down the Missouri River.

In a few days he was discovered by a small party of Sioux Indians: these acted toward him the part of a good Samaritan. The wound on his back was found in a horrid condition. It had become full of worms. The Indians carefully washed it, and applied an astringent vegetable liquid. He was soon after taken by them to a small trading-house about eighty miles below, at the mouth of the Little Missouri.

II: Attack

Glass slowly recovered from his wounds. He had been greatly reduced; he was, indeed, when found, a mere skeleton: but a vigorous frame and strong constitution, inured to constant exercise and rough labors, thus rendered iron-like, with little encouragement, quickly recovers from shocks that would be fatal to men of different pursuits. While in this situation, his curse, his oath of vengeance on the authors of half his misfortune, had not been forgotten. When in his feverish dreams he fought his battles o'er, — entrapped the wary beaver, — enticed to its death the curious antelope, — when the antlered buck was arrested in his pride by his skill, and weltered before him, — and when the shaggy strength of the untamable buffalo sank beneath his fatal rifle, the bear, the grizzly bear, would still disturb his slumbers; a thousand times would be imaged to his mind the horrid, the threatening grin of its features; now its resistless paw was suspended over his head, with nought to avert the death-inflicting blow — and now its bloody teeth mangled his vitals. And again it would change, and he was confronted by mortal foes; — and he felt a spellbound inactivity: goblin-like they danced before him; retreated, advanced, in mockery of the impotence of their intended victim; — and then he would see them afar off, with demon countenances of grim satisfaction, in leaving him to a fate they could easily avert, of studied cruelty, worse than death. Awaking with convulsive start, the "Great Nemesis" ever invoked by the unfortunate, would seem to whisper him, "Hast thou forgot thy oath?"

His oath of revenge was far from forgotten. He nourished it as an only consolation; an excitement to hasten recovery. Near two months had elapsed, when Glass was again on his feet. Nor had his ill fate in the least dampened the hunter's ardor: he the rather felt uneasy quickly to resume his adopted habits, which he had so long, so unwillingly foregone.

The pleasures of this roving, independent, this careless life of the hunter, when once tasted with relish, the subject is irreclaimable, and pines in disgust amid the tameness of more quiet occupations.

Glass had found sympathy among his new friends at the trading-house. Who could withhold deep interest from the story of such wrongs? He was destitute of clothing, the rifle, butcher-knife, &c., the means of the support, and even existence of the hunter. These they generously supplied him. A party of six of the engagees, headed by one Longevan, had occasion about this time to ascend the Missouri, in a Mackinaw-boat, with the purpose of trading with the Mandans, about 300 miles above; these Glass resolved to accompany; he was anxious to rejoin the trapping expedition from which he had been cut off; a great object, it may be readily conjectured, was to meet the two wretches he was so much indebted to.

The party set out in their Mackinaw in October; and near a month did they tug against the stubborn current of the Missouri: so slow is the progress of all boats but those impelled by resistless steam, that hunters have the greatest leisure to subsist a party thus employed. At the Big Bend, a half hour's walk across reaches the point gained in three days by the boatman's labor. Among the hunters. Glass was, as usual, conspicuous for patience and success. Many fat elk fell by his hand.

The Arickara Indians, driven by armed forces from their extensive village, had retreated up the river to the Mandans for relief. They had been overpowered but not vanquished; and their immemorial hostility to whites was but aggravated to fresh deeds of outrage.

Late in October, the Mackinaw had reached within twenty miles of the Mandan village. Nor had its party been more cautious than is usual on the river. Late in an afternoon, at this time, they unsuspectingly landed to put ashore a hunter; and, as it happened, at a point nearly opposite the spot chosen by the Arickaras for their temporary abode. Ever on the alert, the boatful of white men had in the morning been descried by one of their out-parties; and a runner had informed the tribe of the glad tidings. So all was in readiness for the destruction of the unconscious objects of savage revenge. Scarce had the boat left the beach, and Glass, as the hunter (his lucky star still prevailing), gained the concealment of willows, when a hundred guns or bows sent forth their fatal missiles, and on the instant rose the shrill cry of war from a hundred mouths. Had a thunderbolt burst from the cloudless heaven upon the heads of the boat's crew, greater could not have been their astonishment, or its destruction. The appalling din was echoed from hill to hill, and rolled far and wide through the dark bottoms; and it was such as to arrest in fear the fierce panther in the act of leaping upon the now trembling deer.

But few guns from the boat sent back defiance to the murderous discharge; the shouts were but answered by the death-cry and expiring groans. The Indians rushed upon their victims, and the war-club and tomahawk finished a work that had been so fearfully begun. They rioted in blood; with horrid grimaces and convulsive action they hewed into fragments the dumb, lifeless bodies; they returned to their camp a moving group of dusky demons, exulting in revenge, besmeared with blood, bearing aloft each a mangled portion of the dead — trophies of brutal success.

Glass had thus far again escaped a cruel fate. He had gained the almost impervious concealment of drifted and matted willows, and undergrowth, when the dread ebullition of triumph and death announced to him the evil he had escaped, and his still imminent peril. Like the hunted fox, he doubled, he turned, ran or crawled, successively gaining the various concealments of the dense bottom to increase his distance from the bloody scene. And such was his success, that he had thought himself nearly safe, when, at a slight opening, he was suddenly faced by a foe. It was an Arickara scout. The discovery was simultaneous, and so close were these wily woodsmen, that but the one had scarce time to use a weapon intended for a much greater distance. The deadly tomahawk of the other was most readily substituted for the steeled arrow. At the instant, it flew through the air, and the rifle was discharged; neither could see the effect produced, but they rushed into each other's grasp, either endeavoring to crush his adversary by the shock of the onset. But not so the result; the grappling fold of their arms was so close, that they seemed as one animal; for a while, doubtful was the struggle for the mastery; but Glass, not wholly recovered from his wounds, was doomed to sink beneath the superior strength of his adversary, by an irresistible effort of which, he was rolled upon the earth, the Indian above. At this instant, the effect of his unerring shot was developed. The Indian's last convulsive exertion, so successful, was accompanied by a shout of victory; but dying on his lips, it had marked his spirit's departure. It was as if his fierce soul, sensible of approaching feebleness, had willingly expired in the last desperate effort and the shout of triumph, with which he would have ushered both their souls into the presence of the "Great Spirit."

Redeemed unhoped from death, Glass beheld at his feet his late enemy, not only dead, but already stiffening, with hand instinctively touching the hilt of his knife.

Brief was his breathing-time; he was soon rendered aware that the report of his rifle had been heard by the Arickaras; that his escape was discovered; he had instinctively reloaded his gun, and he renewed a flight of which his life was the stake. Concealment from his pursuers having become impossible, he used his utmost speed in the hope of soon gaining a shelter of such a nature, that he could end a race which could no longer be doubtful. Horses had been called into requisition.

We may suppose his hurried thoughts now turned upon his late narrow escapes, which he feared were of little avail; that the crowning scene was now at hand; or that he prayed that That hand, so often interposed between him and death, would again extend its protection.

Horses were of little aid in the thick bottom; but shouts, uttered at occasional glimpses of his form, announced to Glass that his pursuers were thus excited to efforts that could not much longer fail of success; and his thoughts were intensely turned upon some desperate stratagem as his only hope, when a horseman suddenly crossed his path. In his present state of mind, any Indian appeared to his eyes, a blood-seeking enemy. He felt his death now certain, and was determined not to fall single and unavenged; he was prepared for his last mortal strife. But fortune, which apparently delighted to reduce him to the narrowest straits, but to show her freaks in almost miraculous reverses, had thrown in his way a friend. The horseman was a Mandan Indian on a visit to the Arickaras. Attracted by the noise of the pursuit, he had urged his horse's speed to witness the result; and, coming suddenly upon the object of it, he, at a glance, became aware of the state of the case; a hundred in his place, or he a hundred times to this once, though of a friendly tribe, would have sacrificed the white; but taking one of the sudden and unaccountable resolutions of an Indian, or, perhaps, thinking his interposition of almost impossible avail, at once entered into the excitement of the trial. Be this as it may, he motioned to Glass to mount behind him; it was instantly complied with, — when turning his horse's head, he urged it to its greatest speed. Better ground was sooned gained; and avoiding the Arickara camp, they that night entered the Mandan village in triumph.

Here Glass was well received; for the announcement of his presence was naturally accompanied by the recital of his escapes, which nought but the greatest prowess could have accomplished; and nothing is better calculated effectually to engage the interest and admiration of Indians.

And often are acts and events, which are set down to the score of fortune or good luck, the result of superiority in qualities immediately conducing to the result. Fortune is not so far removed from the agency of man, that a genius may not, by a happy effort, insure its favor and apparently dictate to fate. A true knowledge of all of Glass's career leaves a first impression on the mind, that it is a rare combination of fortunate escapes, of lucky accidents; but much of it may be explained as the more natural result of physical strength, cool intrepidity, and untiring patience.

After remaining a few days with the Mandans, Glass, nothing daunted by his past dangers, and equally regardless of new ones, resumed alone and on foot, his journey up the Missouri. The Mandan village is on the left or the northeast bank of the river; it was on the same side he commenced his journey, intending to leave the Missouri at the mouth of the Yellow Stone, about three hundred miles higher up; his object in following water-courses, being to meet with white men, and to run no risk of missing the trapping party under Major Henry, he was so anxious to regain.

His arms were now a rifle, small axe, and the ever necessary knife; his dress, a blanket capote, perhaps a flannel shirt, leather leggins and moccasins and a fur cap: he was, in addition, equipped with a blanket, spare moccasins, and a small kettle, composing a bundle suspended on his back. His route lay through a country infested with the Blackfeet Indians. The Blackfeet muster eight or ten thousand warriors; they live north of this part of the Missouri, and extend west to the mountains; and they are frequently upon the Yellow Stone. To their east live the Assinaboines, Mandans, and Minatarees; to the south the Crows and Sioux; and north and west the Mountain or British Indians. With these tribes they wage perpetual war; and to the whites, incited by British traders, they have been more dangerous than any other Indians. It was through the grounds of this people that Glass had to make his solitary way.

The country on the Missouri, from the L'eau qui-court up, is nearly bare of timber; the river bottoms are narrow, and on but one side at a time, changing at intervals of twenty or thirty miles, and sometimes there are none at all, the ground being generally high bluff prairies.

This open, bare country is at times, as far as vision extends, in every direction blackened with buffalo; it is within bounds to say, that a hundred thousand may be seen at a glance. One of these vast herds, all taking the same course to cross the Missouri, detained Glass for two days, declining the perilous attempt to penetrate a mass, which, when in quick motion, is as irresistible as the waves of the ocean.

In two weeks he reached the mouth of the Yellow Stone, having met neither white man or Indian; here he crossed the Missouri on a raft made of two logs tied together with bark, and continued his journey up the Yellow Stone. This is a wide and shallow stream, emptying into the Missouri from the south; it is even more muddy and rapid than the latter river, to which it is believed to have considerable agency in imparting these qualities.

It was more than three hundred miles to the forks of the river, nearer than which he could scarcely hope to meet with any of the party, since it had set in very cold, which would cause the small detachment of trappers to be drawn into that point, where he knew they were to winter. Right weary did he become of his journey, inured as he was to the toils and dangers which surrounded him. Almost in despair, and having at times nearly resolved to retrace his steps and winter with some of the most friendly Indians, one morning in December he was overjoyed to discover a hunting party of white men. On reaching them, long was it before they could make up their minds to believe their eyes; to believe that it was the same Glass before them, whom they left, as they thought, dying of wounds, and whose expected death was related to them by two witnesses. It was to them a mystery; and belief of the act of black treachery, which could only explain a part of it, was slow in being enforced upon their minds. Overwhelmed with questions or demands of explanation, it was long before he could ascertain from them in return, that the party had rendezvoused for winter at the Forks, which was but a few miles distant; that Fitzgerald was not there, having deserted; and that the youth was still one of the expedition.

Fiercely excited with conflicting feelings, — the escape of the main object of his just revenge, — chiefly for which he had made so long a pilgrimage, — and the certainty of soon facing the accomplice of his crime, Glass hastened to enter the encampment.

Nearly the first person he met, was the unfortunate and guilty young man; and it so happened they came upon each other suddenly. All attempt must fail to describe the effect of his appearance upon the youth. Had he awoke from a deep sleep in the embrace of a grizzly bear, or been confronted at noonday by the threatening ghost (and such he believed of him) of a deeply injured enemy, greater could not have been his fear. He stood without power of any motion; his eyes rolled wildly in their sockets; his teeth chattered, and a clammy sweat rose upon his ashy features. Glass was unprepared for such a spectacle; and well was it calculated to create pity; for some moments he could not find words, much less the act of his purpose. He leaned upon his rifle; his thoughts took a sudden turn; the more guilty object of his revenge had escaped; the pitiful being before him was perhaps but the unwilling and over-persuaded accomplice of his much elder companion; — these, and other thoughts crowded upon his mind, and he determined upon the revenge which sinks deepest upon minds not wholly depraved, and of which the magnanimous are alone capable; he determined to spare his life.

With dignity and severity, but great feeling, he thus addressed the petrified youth, who but expected immediate death: "Young man, it is Glass that is before you; the same that, not content with leaving, you thought, to a cruel death upon the prairie, you robbed, helpless as he was, of his rifle, his knife, of all with which he could hope to defend, or save himself from famishing in the desert. In case I had died, you left me to a despair worse than death, with no being to close my eyes. I swore an oath that I would be revenged on you, and the wretch who was with you; and I ever thought to have kept it. For this meeting I have made a long journey. But I cannot take your life; I see you repent; you have nothing to fear from me; go — you are free — for your youth I forgive you." But he remained mute and motionless; his reprieve, or rather pardon, for such it must be considered in a country where the law has never reached, could scarcely allay the awe and fear of an upbraiding conscience. He was taken off by some of the witnesses of the scene, in whose breasts pity had begun to take the place of wonder and resentment.

Glass was welcomed as one recovered from the dead; one whose memory — such is our lot — had already been swept far upon the gulf of oblivion. His services, ever highly appreciated, were again engaged in the company, where we leave him, employed as the rest, in the sole labors of supplying provisions, and of self-defence from the extreme coldness of the winter. Only adding, that his determination of revenge upon the more worthy object of punishment from his hands, far from being abated, was rather confirmed; and that, what he considered a sacred duty to himself, though postponed to a more convenient season, was still nourished as a ruling passion.

III – Aftermath

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The varieties of human character, though infinite, yield to a grand division of the race into two classes, — those with much and those with little sensibility. It is impossible to tell which is the more fortunate organization the one class chafes and frets at all it sees wrong, and experiences positive pain at every exhibition of selfishness, cruelty, or turpitude; but, with a lively perception of every natural or moral beauty, it has various capacities for pleasure and enjoyment. The other class is seldom troubled with emotions of any kind, and passes through life in a routine of sensual pleasures and animal pains.

This mental and moral torpor I eschew, and prefer to hold intercourse with nature; to walk forth alone — nay, friend reader, if you are in the mood, bear me company. Let us take a stroll together this sunny afternoon; 'tis glorious October, that, with its gorgeous mantle of purple and of gold, sheds a "dying glory" on the parting year. Here is a deer-path through the hazel thicket: see how generously unfolded are the ripe nuts! Stop — listen a moment how the monotone of that gurgling waterfall harmonizes with the repose of nature! Here it is. Let us cross by that moss-grown log. We have no longer a path, but we will go up this noble hill; it is a natural park, and often graced by antlered buck, but in the majesty of freedom. Here we are out of sight of the "improvements" of man; so let us sit on this velvet moss; mind not the rustling lizard, it is harmless. What a glorious solitude is here! Before us is "a prairie-sea, all isled with rock and wood;" and beyond, like an ocean shore, a vast bluff, rocky and forest-crowned. And yonder is a glimpse of the river, mighty in repose; a zephyr hovering on its bosom sports with its tiny waves, which, dancing, reflect the dazzling light through those red and golden leaves. But the charm over all is a perfect REPOSE. Even the winds, whispering anon, seem to have folded their wings: and see yon leaf, in its "dying fall" — if there be a poetry of motion, behold its gently circling descent! That gray squirrel detached it. And look, he seems to slumber. Nature is taking a sunny sleep.

Oh, there is an invisible, unknown, mental link, connecting all sweet, and calm, and beautiful things. Who can view such a scene without hearing a natural music, or an echo of some long-forgotten tone, which thrilled the heart, without recalling the few blissful moments which shield a secret, selfish joy o'er the dreary void of life — the first conception of love — its tone from beauty and young innocence — the awakening from some sweet sleep to the sound of soft music, "which was deemed to be not of earth.

Behold the thin blue smoke floating above those distant tree tops! It is the type of the little present, hovering between the great past and the mighty future. What! you too are asleep? Unkind! But 'tis well. Alone let me knock at the doors of old Time, and challenge the shades beyond. The spell is potent. I see dim figures, as in a dream; but they assume the forms of palpable and warm existence. They are paler than the Indian, but are not white. They seem to worship at a mighty altar, and it bears the emblems of war. How strange is all!

Unknown animals are there, crouching among the multitude; beneath the white drapery of a vast pavilion, with flowing red streamers, the grave elders are seated in council. Sec, a noble youth arises; he seems to speak: he addresses the fathers. How graceful! how animated! His robe falls back, and he shakes aloft his arm. His is a voice for war: for behold that eager and trembling maiden! She drinks those flowing tones, inspired perhaps by thoughts of her. Love and ambition have carried him away. His spirit seems caught by the multitude. 'Tis ever so. Genius and enthusiasm possess a master-key to all hearts. The elders wave their arms, and seem to deprecate the rashness of impulse; but in vain; there are times when it is prudent to be rash, and they must lead or follow; for all seem resolved, and the assembly breaks up.

But lo, a change! They go forth to war. Song and shout uncouth, and strange forgotten instruments fill the air. Huge animals shake their heads, and bellow to the  din of rattling arms. There is a band of horsemen, with shield and spear, and waving streamers: they seem clothed in white cotton mail. The orator is there, in highest command. His countenance now is filled with thought, and proud and stern resolve. See the mighty host slowly disappear, winding among the far hills.

Another change! Behold a vast multitude, "vast beyond compare," with signs of mingled mourning and lofty triumph. All bear loads of earth, and deposit them on that beautiful spot. How fast it grows. It has become a mighty mound. And now they disappear. But one, of all, is left. The same maiden; her face is spread with pallid woe; she weeps, and will never be consoled, till her ashes mingle with that monument of victory and of death — the tomb of her lost idol.

"As swim

O'er autumn skies the fleets of shattered cloud,

So swam these scenes and passed."

What a moral was there! Not the air-built castles of the hopeful and ambitious of the extinct race have fallen into more immemorial oblivion than have their proudest and soberest realities. Their mountain tombs are their only monuments.

But the charm of this quiet existence, which had extended through several summers, was rudely broken. Even then the holy calm of nature was disturbed by the noisy bellowings of steam, which I had strangely imagined those of living monsters; and its echoes among the hills around me had a power to banish the sylvan ministers to my solitude. I felt my Arcadian dreams dispelled forever. I beheld the conquering struggle of man with the mighty Missouri, and felt that the type of a more active,  troublous existence, in which the world demanded the performance of my part, was before me.

Soon all was activity and stirring preparation. Half of us were to go to another frontier, where alarms and bloodshed had aroused every element of commotion. But I was not included in the call. Nevertheless, I had felt that I was to go.

Hugh Glass and the Grizzly Bear

By Rufus B. Sage

From Chapter XIV of Rocky Mountain life; or, Startling scenes and perilous adventures in the far West, during an expedition of three years.

The following work was written immediately after the author had returned from the perilous and eventful expedition which is here narrated. The intense interest which every citizen of the Union feels in relation to that vast region of our country lying between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean, will, it is believed, render the publication of a volume like this of more than usual importance at the present time. The lofty cliffs of the Rocky Mountains are soon to echo to the tread of advancing civilization, as symbolized in the Pacific railway, which will, in a few years, speed the iron horse and his living freight from Boston to San Francisco, forming a bond of social and commercial intercourse across the continent.

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The adventure recorded in the preceding chapter called forth the rehearsal of many thrilling stories of frightful encounter with that proud monarch of the mountains, the grizzly bear. Two or three of these it may not be uninteresting to transcribe.

Several years since, an old trapper by the name of [Hugh] Glass, with his companion, while on an excursion, came upon a large grizzly bear.

Bruin, having received the salute of two rifles, as usual, rushed towards his uncivil assailants, who broke from him with all possible despatch. But Glass, stumbling, fell prostrate in his flight, and before he could recover his feet the infuriated beast was upon him.

Now commenced a death-struggle. The pistols of the hunter were both discharged in quick succession, — the ball of one entering the breast of his antagonist, and that of the other grazing his neck.

Smarting and maddened by the pain of additional wounds, the bleeding monster continued the conflict with the fury of desperation, — tearing from the limbs and body of the unfortunate man large pieces of trembling flesh, and lacerating him with the deep thrusts of his teeth and claws.

Meanwhile the sufferer maintained, with his butcher-knife, an obstinate defence, though with fast waning effort and strength. Finally, enfeebled by the loss of blood, and exhausted from the extraordinary exertions of a desperate and unequal contest, he was unable to oppose further resistance, and quietly resigned himself to his fate.

The bear, too, with the thick blood oozing from his numerous wounds, and faint from the many stabs among his veins and sinews, seemed equally in favor of a suspension of hostilities; and, extending himself across the hunter's back, he remained motionless for two hours or more.

But now another enemy commences an assault upon his vitals — that enemy is death. In vain is defensive effort. In vain are all his struggles. He falls by the hunter's side a lifeless corpse.

The setting sun had cast his lurid glare upon the ensanguined spot, as the comrade of the miserable Glass ventured near to ascertain the result of the fierce encounter.

There lay the body of his deserted friend, stretched out, apparently lifeless and half-torn to pieces; and, by its side, lay the carcase of that enemy, which had waged with it such murderous war, cold and stiffened in death!

Now, doubly terrified at his loneliness, but still governed by sordid motives, he stripped the former of his arms and every other valuable, then no longer needed (as he supposed) by their owner, and, mounting his horse, started immediately for the nearest trading post.

On his arrival he recounted the particulars of the fatal occurrence, — carefully concealing, however, his own criminal conduct. The story was accredited, and the name of Glass found place upon the long catalogue of those who had fallen a prey to wild beasts and savage men.

Six weeks elapsed and no one thought of the subject of our sketch as among the living. The general surprise, therefore, may be readily imagined, on opening the fort-gates one morning, at finding before them the poor, emaciated form of a man, half-naked, and covered with wounds and running sores, and so torn the fleshless bones of his legs and thighs were exposed to view in places! and how this astonishment was heightened on recognizing the person of Glass in the poorly defined lineaments of his countenance — the very man so long regarded as the inhabitant of another world! A veritable ghost suddenly appearing upon the spot could not have occasioned greater wonder!