Seven and nine years among the Camanches and Apaches : $b an autobiography

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[Illustration: Mr. Eastman in Costume.]




  Seven and Nine Years

  AMONG THE

  CAMANCHES AND APACHES.



  AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.




  JERSEY CITY, N. J.
  PUBLISHED BY CLARK JOHNSON, M.D.
  1874.




  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by
  CLARK JOHNSON, M.D., JERSEY CITY, N. J.,
  In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.




CONTENTS.

  CHAPTER.                                       PAGE.

       I. INTRODUCTORY                              5

      II. THE CAPTURE                              18

     III. A STRANGE ADVENTURE                      22

      IV. AGAIN A PRISONER                         30

       V. THE INDIAN TOWN                          39

      VI. THE TORTURE                              47

     VII. WA-KO-MET-KLA                            57

    VIII. A NEW VOCATION                           68

      IX. THE "MYSTERY BAG"                        78

       X. INDIAN LIFE                              86

      XI. MRS. EASTMAN'S STORY                     95

     XII. MRS. EASTMAN'S STORY CONTINUED          103

    XIII. MRS. EASTMAN'S STORY CONTINUED          111

     XIV. HOPES AND FEARS--AN ADVENTURE           119

      XV. TREED BY A GRIZZLY                      125

     XVI. SOME CURIOUS CUSTOMS                    134

    XVII. THE BUFFALO DANCE                       142

   XVIII. A STRANGE HISTORY                       150

     XIX. A STRANGE HISTORY CONTINUED             159

      XX. THE BUFFALO HUNT                        171

     XXI. MRS. EASTMAN'S STORY CONTINUED          184

    XXII. FEASTS, FASTS, AND FACTS                192

   XXIII. THE WAR PARTY                           208

    XXIV. MY FIRST SCALP                          222

     XXV. THE FEAST OF THE GREEN CORN             238

    XXVI. DANGER AHEAD                            242

   XXVII. THE ESCAPE                              249

  XXVIII. A NEW DEPARTURE                         263

    XXIX. THE "VIGILANTS"                         277

     XXX. CONCLUSION                              290




[Illustration: Edwin Eastman]




SEVEN AND NINE YEARS AMONG THE CAMANCHES AND APACHES.




CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.


In making my bow to the public as an author, I feel it incumbent upon me
to make a brief explanation of the motives that induced me to attempt
this autobiographical sketch of nine years of my life. At intervals
during the past decade, the country has been electrified by the recital
of some horror perpetrated by Indians on white travelers, and those,
who, having journeyed to the Far West, had settled, intending to make
the wilderness blossom like the rose. Through the medium of the press,
the details of these heart-rending cruelties were widely disseminated,
and aroused the just indignation of all peaceful and order-loving
citizens. To such an extent did popular feeling rise at times, that
farmers and drovers on the border, organized themselves into bands, and
on the report of some fresh outrage hastened to the scene, pursued the
perpetrators of the deed, and not unfrequently visited upon the Indians
a vengeance ofttimes of a very sanguinary character.

In these forays of the savages, they frequently carried off to their
mountain fastnesses women and children, who were never heard of more.
Thus, when our feelings were harrowed up by the report of butcheries,
the tales of life-long suffering of the forlorn captives were scarcely
ever known. Snatched ruthlessly from the bosom of their families, they
were mourned for a time and then they, by slow degrees, faded from the
memory of their friends and relatives, and when thought of at all, it
was as of those dead. In these chapters I will detail the trials and
sufferings of such as these, believing that the experiences of my wife
and myself, during our captivity among the Camanches and Apaches, will
serve as a prototype of many similar cases.

It was some time, and with not a little persuasion before I could be
induced to overcome the diffidence I felt about making my private
history public, and appearing in print. By those who have become
authors, my feelings will be understood and appreciated; but to others
who constitute the reading public it would be impossible to describe the
trepidation with which the tyro puts forth his first literary venture,
and had it not been for the earnest entreaties of my esteemed friend,
Dr. Clark Johnson, who used naively to say that what was a source of
such pleasure to him must be entertaining to the public, I doubt very
much if I should have ever put pen to paper in the capacity of an
author.

With this introduction, I will, as briefly as may be, relate my
experiences, nothing extenuating, and setting down naught in malice.

My family were originally from Massachusetts, my father being a
descendant of the Puritans, he inherited many of the qualities of his
ancestors, and, joined to a high integrity, he possessed a dogged will
that at times amounted to stubbornness.