"THE BRAVERY OF OUR BUGLER IS MUCH SPOKEN Or...” I
* * *
The Story of a Forgotten American Hero
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
(Released by Western Newspaper Unton.*
“ T F IT’S Injun war history
; you’re wanting, then
you’d better talk to Tom
Gatchell,” they told me in
Buffalo, Wyo. “He knows
more about such things than
anyone else around here.”
So I went to see T. J. Gat*
chell, druggist, historian and
industrious collector of Wy
oming lore. He led me to the
rear of his store, where the
walls of his little office are
covered with relics of the
days when the troopers of
Carrington and Custer and
Crook strove mightily with
the painted warriors of Red
Cloud and Crazy Horse and
Sitting Bull.
These mementoes had been
brought here from half a dozen
battlefields in the country wa
tered by the Yellowstone river
and its tributaries, the Powder,
the Tongue, the Big Horn and
the Rosebud. There were knives
and hatchets and spear-heads;
bows and arrows, beaded belts
and a war bonnet of eagle feath
ers; carbines and pistols and
bayonets; cartridge boxes, can
teens, buckles, buttons and other
ornaments from soldier uniforms.
In the midst of them hung what
was once a copper cavalry bugle.
Its mouthpiece was broken off
and it was dented and twisted
and flattened out of all semblance
of its original shape. *
“That?” replied Mr. Gatchell,
“O, that was picked up on Mas
sacre Hill—you know, the place
where Fetterman and his crew
were wiped out back in ’66 I
reckon the bugler dropped it dur
ing that melee and it was tram
pled on by the cavalry horses.
Anyway, that’s just the shape it
• was in when a young fellow from
Buffalo found it 40-odd years ago
and gave it to me.”
A year or so later I was leafing
idly through a bound volume of
Horace Greeley’s New York
Semi-Weekly Tribune. On page
one of the issue for April 2, 1867,
an item, headed simply “The In
dians," caught my eye. It read:
The St. Louis Republican's special cor
respondent at St Joseph gives the fol
lowing account of the Fort Phil Kearney
Massacre, derived from the Commis
sioners sent to investigate ihe matter,
from the Sioux Indians:
The Sioux drew our men out of the
fort, and killed them all. Our men
fought like tigers, and would not have
been overcome so easily if they had
not kept so close together. The com
batants were so mixed up that the In
dians killed several of their own party ;
with their arrows. The bravery of our ]
bugler is much spoken of. he having
killed several Indians by beating them
over the head with his bugle. They say
that there were only 16 Sioux and four
Cheyennes killed on the field, but after
they encamped 94 warriors died from
their wounds, and of 300 others wound
ed, half of them were expected to die.
One "big" Sioux chief was among the
killed.
"The bravery of our bugler is
much spoken of, he having killed
several Indians by beating them
over the head with his bugle.”
Those words seemed to leap
out from the page. Instantly my
mind raced back to a summer
afternoon in Buffalo, Wyo.—to
the sight of a battered bugle
hanging on the walls of the little
office in Tom Gatchell’s drug
store and his quiet remark, “O,
that was picked up on Massacre
Hill—you know, the place where
Fetterman and his crew were
wiped out back in ’66."
But who was this heroic musi
cianr
His bravery, which was “much
spoken of” by the Sioux, is not
mentioned in any of the books
which tell of Fort Phil Kearney’s
tragic history—with one excep
tion. That is the autobiography
of Malcolm Campbell, a famous
Wyoming sheriff who had been a
bullwhacker on the Oregon Trail
in 1867. He heard the story of
the “Fetterman Massacre” from
the lips of men who were at Phil
Kearney the previous year and
refers to the incident thus:
The Indians mutilated every body In
Fetterman's command with the excep
tion of the bugler who fought so coura
geously that his remains wen- left un
touched but covered with a buffalo robe.
But what was this bugler’s
name?
Although the dull, dry pages of
the “Report of the Secretary of
War for the Year 1867” gives
the names of the officers who
were killed near Phil Kearney, it
does not identify any of the en
listed men who were victims of
the Sioux scalping knives.
So, back to the New York Semi
Weekly Tribune and there on
page one of the issue for January
17, 1867, appears an item headed
“The Massacre at Fort Phil
Kearney.” It reads:
FORT LARAMIE. Jan. 14.—The fol
lowing are the names of the cavalry
killed In the recent massacre at Fort
Phtl Kearney:
Second Lieut. HoraUo S. Bingham,
killed on the 6th. of December; Ser
geant James Baker. Corporal James
Kelly, bugler Adolph Metzger, saddler
John McCarty, and privates Thos. An
derson. Thos. Brogdin. Wm. S. Bugbee.
Wm L. Cornog. Chas. Cuddy. Patrick
Clancey. Harvey S. Denning. Hugh B.
Doran. Robert Daniels, Anderson M.
Fitzgerald. Nathaniel Foreman, John
Gister, Daniel Green. Chas. Gampel,
Ferdinand Homer, Park Jones. James
P Maguire. John McCarty. George W.
Nugent, Franklin Payne, James Ryan.
Oliver Williams, all killed December 21.
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fin 1869. He served on the Oommitfoes on the District
of Columbia, Private Land Claims, Manufactures,
aud Printing. _
THE INDIANS.
The Si. Louie Republican'» special correspondent at
Phil. Kearne3* md&sacre, derived fromtheComruissiou*
St. Joseph gives the following account of the Fort
ers sent to Investigate the matter, from the Sioux In
dtaus:
The Sioux drew our men out of the fort, and killed
them all. Our men fought like tigers, and would not have
been overcome so easily if they bad not kept so dose to.
get nor. The combatants wore so mixed up that the Indi
ans killed several of their own party with their arrows.
The briTArv/tf ntir hn»l«p la I
Doadwifa
-r- -jeviaymai mere were oiu)'16»ioux and four
iflvennes killed ou the field, but aftor they encamped 94
Terriers died from their wounds, aud of WO others
wounded, half of them were erpected to die. One
*krig’’ Sioux chief waa among the killed. Thev uu;n
tion a man on a white horse who cut off an Indian’s head
with1 a siugie stroke of his caber, and %uy that wlven
ref nioroemeuts left the fort for the buttle-ground thev
(the Indians) retired, having had enough fighriug, There
were 2,000 Indians eugaged iu tlio fight, und the strength
of the concentrated tribes is reported nt 2,800 lodges,
which ate sow moving toward Yellow Stone and Missouri
Rivers.
The expedition to the Indian connlry, under the
command ol Maior-Gcn. Hancock, left Leaveirworth
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So we know now who this brave
bugler was—Adolph Metzger. It
is obviously a German name and
one which seems a bit out of
place among such “Paddies” as
Cuddy and Clancey and Fitzger
ald. Maguire and McCarty and
Ryan, all so typical of the kind
of men who were the hard-riding,
hard-fighting troopers of the Old
Army days.
But what was his station in life
before he put on Uncle Sarrt’s
uniform of blue and was sent out
to the Wyoming frontier to die on
the windswept summit which is
known today as “Massacre Hill"?
The office of the adjutant-general
in Washington gives a partial an
swer to that question, thus:
The records of this office show that
one Adolph Metzger first enlisted May
2f>. 1855, at Philadelphia. Pennsylvania,
for a period of five years at which time
he stated that he was 21 years of age.
He last enlisted July 12, 1364, at near
I.lght House Landing. Virginia,; was as
signed to Troop C. 2d. Regiment United
States Cavalry; and was killed in ac
tion with the Indians near Peno Creek
(about 7 miles from Fort Phil Kearney,
Dakotah Territory) December 21. 1868,
while serving as a Bugler. His birth
place Is recorded as Germany. No ad
ditional information has been found re
garding his personal history.
And here the record ends—ex
cept for this:
Undoubtedly he was the bugler
who sounded “Boots and Sad
dles!” when the message, “Indi
Relics from the "Fort Phil
Kearney Massacre" in the col
lection of T. J. Gatchell of Buffa
lo, VVyo. At the right is the bugle
carried by Adolph Metzger of
Troop C, Second U. S. Cavalry.
ans attacking the woodchoppers
camp on Piney Island!", came
to Fort Phil Kearney that morn
ing. We know that he was one of
the 26 troopers who accompanied
the force of 50 picked men from
the Eighteenth infantry and two
civilian volunteers, led by Lieut.
Col. W. J. Fetterman, Capt. Fred
erick H. Brown and Lieut. G. W.
Grummond, who were acting un
der these orders from Col. H.
B. Carrington, commander of the
iori:
“Support the wood tram, relieve
it and report to me. Do not en
gage the Indians at its expense;
under no circumstances pursue
them over Lodge Trail Ridge.’’
We know that Fetterman dis
obeyed those orders and allowed
himself to be drawn into an am
bush. Then more than 2,000 Sioux
and Cheyennes came boiling out
of the ravines and coulees beyond
Lodge Trail Ridge and, like a
red wave of destruction, engulfed
the 55 doughboys and their offi
cers. Then the Indians swept up
the icy slope of the ridge to which
the cavalrymen retreated, lead
ing their horses and shooting back
at the savages as fast as they
could load and fire their single
shot carbines.
When they reached the end of
the ridge and saw the hundreds
of warriors swarming up the oth
er side, sudden panic struck
them. They let their horses go,
and with them went their last
chance to cut through the circle
of death drawing closer and clos
er around them.
We can see them now as they
threw themselves down behind
the boulders which formed an ir
regular circle at the end of the
bleak, snow-covered ridge, re
solved to sell their lives dear
ly. We can hear the whooping
braves as they came surging up
the slope and see them rushing
forward . . . right in among the
rocks, where a handful of blue
coated men, their white faces
streaked with blood and black
ened with powder stains, strug
gled to their feet to meet the on
slaught.
There was a brief moment of
hand-to-hand fighting, of crashing
blows dealt with gun-barrels
clenched in the hands of fear- j
maddened men who flailed about
them desperately to ward off the !
slashing knives and smashing
war-clubs. It was a dreadful
mix-up there in the dust and
smoke and flying snow—the kind
of fight to which the Sioux give
the vividly descriptive name of
“stirring gravy.”
The fight there couldn’t have
lasted long. But in that last
dreadful moment of slaughter,
in the midst of that swirl of strug
gling, swearing, screaming men,
there was one who went berserk.
It was Bugler Adolph Metzger
who lashed out madly, blindly,
with the only weapon he had left,
and he laid more than one of the
painted enemy low with his
strange bludgeon before they,
like a pack of gray wolves at
tacking a buffalo bu!’, pulled him
down at last.
We know that K-> was one of
the 81 bodies, stripped naked and
frozen solid (for the mercury
dropped to 25 below zero that
afternoon of December 21), which
were brought in by searching
parties from the fort the next
day. So bitter was the weather
that the grave-diggers at Phil
Kearney were forced to work in
short relays and it was not until
three days later that a great pit,
50 feet long and seven feet deep,
was hewn out of the frozen
ground inside the stockade to re
ceive the victims of Fetterman’s
tragic disobedience.
There these doughboys and
troopers “shared one tomb, bur
ied, as they had fought, togeth
er”—thus, Colonel Carrington’s
official report to his department
commander—until several years
later when a national cemetery
was established on the Little Big
Horn in Montana. Then their
bodies were transferred to this
new resting place where their
dust now mingles with the dust
of the victims of another famous
frontier tragedy, “Custer’s Last
Stand.”
And today the winds come
sweeping down from the snow
capped peaks of the Big Horn
range — the same mountains
which once echoed to the haunt
ing strains of “Taps,” blown at
old Fort Phil Kearney by Bugler
Adolph Metzger—to play a wild
requiem over his grave. His
name is carved on the simple
headstone that gleams white in
the bright sunlight of that “bar
ren land and lone” where sleep
the dead of Custer’s command.
It is also written in the dusty
records of the adjutant-general’s
office and it is printed on the
yellowed pages of an old New
York newspaper. Except for
these, there is little else to re
mind his fellow-Americans that
he once lived.
But there is something to re
call to them the mapner of his
dying. On the walls of a drug
gist’s office in a little Wyoming
city hangs what was once a cav
alry bugle. It is the bugle which
blared out its summons to the
81 members of Fetterman's
doomed command to keep a ren
dezvous with death one cold De
cember morning more than 70
years ago. It was carried by
"one Adolph Metzger” and it is
a symbol of and a monument to
the stark courage of an American
soldier.
Sequin and Jewel Embroidery
Add Glitter to Winter Costumes
By CHERIE NICHOLAS
r I 'HERE is a wicked gleam on the
winter fashion horizon, a glitter
that stems from a heritage of fash
ions reminiscent of Central City’s
opera house in the eighties and the
red plush and gaslight of the glam
orous days of yore. The millions of
paillettes, beads and sequins, the
gold embroidery and metal cloth
popular those days are again found
this season trimming otherwise sim
ple silk dresses for both day and
evening wear.
In the silk parade of fashions,
sparkling embroideries, trim yokes,
form pockets, bodice tops and even
entire dresses take on an allover
sparkle. There’s big news, too, in
the fact that it is as fashionable for
your costume to take on glitter at
high noon and afternoon as it is
for it to take on the witchery of
glittery and gleam by night.
Speaking of daytime glitter, stark
ly simple silk crepe dresses fre
quently introduce one brilliant ac
cent in the form of pockets trimmed
with gold braid or bizarre jeweled
embroidery. See this bold adven
ture in glitter in the novelty black
silk crepe daytime dress centered
in the illustration. It is made on
neat tailored lines with lapels and
fly-front opening accented by eye
dazzling gold braid pockets. Invert
ed front pleats retain the now-so
stylish slim skirt line. Worn with
an orange-rust pompadour bonnet
with sunburst tuck trim and a flow
ing veil framing the face, this cos
tume leads on to “the end of a per
fect day.”
There is much black on black to
be seen this winter. This alluring
combination is called “siren black."
See the devastating long-sleeve,
slenderline dinner gown shown to
the right in the group. Here the
trend for jet on black silk crepe is
seen in fascinating interpretation.
Black bugle beads in flower and
vine moiifs give a new slender line
on-line bodice and skirt. Note the
return of pre-World war elegance
which this distinguished dress re
veals.
The black on black is also suited
for daytime wear. Legions of sim
ple black crepe dresses are shown
with glittering jet highspots in way
of bowknot passementrie formed of
,beads or jet sequins, with corre
sponding touches in matching neck
line items or decorative glittering
pockets. Smartest and newest of
all are the long-torso tops that fit
like a jersey and allover glittered
with beads or sequins. Worn with
all-around pleated black silk crepe
skirts, these siren-black sparkling
twosomes tell the story of current
fashion.
A steel gray silk crepe dinner
dress as shown to the left introduces
the new “surface decoration” in
pearl and gold bead embroidery
covering its square-necked short
sleeved bodice.
The vogue for jacket-and-skirt
dresses for more or less formal eve
ning wear calls forth increasing en
thusiasm. The skirt may be a bil
lowy bouffant type of net, lace or
shimmering kilk, or it may be a
sleek velvet pencil slim sort. One
skirt with a flock of jacket-blouse
tops suffices for a whole season of
dine and dance parties. The jacket
blouse can be most elaborate with
glitter and embroidery. See in the
inset a black-embroidered-on-white
jacket. This is a simple type com
pared with gorgeous affairs that are
often sumptuous with jeweled hand
work and riotous color.
(Released by Western Newspaper Union.)
Rumpus Gloves
Boxing mitts, cosily interlined,
are making the “hit” of the season
in campus girl circles. The glove
pictured is done in rumpus red, the
very selfsame color that is the lat
est in nail-tip tones. This rumpus
1 red is best described as a cerise
toned red that is eye-catching at
I very first glance. The dress pic
! tured here is velveteen in school
i house green (a deep pine tone)
brightened with red felt insets. The
peaked suede hat is also rumpus
| red.
Current Styles Appear
In More Vivid Colors
There is color in the air! Coming
right toward us from every direc
tion, from South American shores,
from Mexico, from native Hawaiian
dress, from China, from Spain. All
these influences are reflected in cur
rent styles and will be increasingly
self-evident as time goes on. Yes.
indeed, fashion is in a vivid color
j mood.
Vogue for White
Gains Momentum
It is always the unexpected that
may be expected so far as fashion
is concerned. The expected unex
pected this time happens to be a
sudden movement in the direction of
a widespread vogue for white. It
is smart to wear a white hat with
your dark coat, suit or dress. An
interesting feature is that of white
trimming on white hats, gardenias,
feathers and so on, the entire pret
tily veiled with brown or black,
navy or wine or fashionable green.
In the evening, white holds trium
phantly forth in wool coats, span
gled jacket tops and white frocks
detailed with gold belts, leopard
trims and also in airy-fairy full
skirted billowy tulle, lace and net
frocks contrasting pencil-slim white
jersey gowns.
Woolens Accented
In Winter Styles
Wool fabrics are having their “big
moment.” The vogue for classic
wool daytime frocks is one way of
“saying it." Another is the endless
procession of wool evening coats
and capes that wend their way to
the opera and other festive night
occasions. The story of the tri
umph of wool weaves goes on in
endless pageantry throughout the
entire style program during this
winter.
Amber Fashionable
Just now amber and all its re
lated browns is very fashionable.
However, amber has just started
on its career for early reports de
clare that spring will see these love
ly vibrant amber tones take on new
importance.
By
RUTH WYETH
SPEARS
• BEND
| 3 WIRE
1 HANGERS
ry-'i |
X-J PLACE I
\\ 5ALL OF '
J CLOTH
7[ IN LOOP
^"SQUARE OF j WINN
TOWELING EYES AND U \]
NOSE BLACK. ,,TD,„ „
THRFAO STRIPS OF TOWELING
THREAD TO C0YER WIRES
HAIRPINS AND PAD BODY
BIND IT.
HANGERS i A
TOGETHER_ i
"THREE wire coat hangers, two
old bath towels, some fine wire
hair pins and needle and thread
made this cunning woolly lamb.
All the directions are in the sketch.
The wire hangers are bent and
bound together with hair pins to
make the foundation. A ball of
soft cloth is fastened inside the
loop that forms the head, and is
covered with a square of the towel
ing bound and sewn as shown. The
rest of the body is all padded and
shaped by winding and sewing four
inch strips of the toweling, as
shown.
• • •
Someone has just thumbtacked a let
ter on my drawing board- to give my day
a good start. It is from a reader who
says “I have all five of the sewing book
lets and every time I look through them I
find some exciting new thing to make that
I have not seen before.” Hurrah 1 1 am
certainly happy when people say they like
those booklets. I have been so interested
In doing them and now Book 6 is ready
for mailing. It is full of new tdea6 for
making new things for the home. I am
pretty excited about it and hope you like
it and use it again and again just as so
many of you have written me that you
have used the others This new Book 6
contains a description of each of the other
five booklets of the series. Send order to:
MBS. RUTH WYETH SPEARS
Drawer 10
Bedlord Hills New York
Enclose 10 cents for Book 8.
Name ....
Address .
Gift Specials
A gift that is sure to please any
cigarette smoker is a gift of Camel
Cigarettes. Local dealers are fea
turing Camels in two special gift
packages. The well-known Camel
carton—10 packs of ‘‘20’s”—is pre
sented in handsome holiday dress.
Another Camel gift special is the
Christmas package of 4 ‘‘flat fif
ties.” Both packages are ready-to
give even to the gift label.—Adv.
Be the envy of your friends with this gorgeous
STERLING SILVER RING
and save money
lookt like a real diamond
This beautiful ring ia Solid Sterling Silver (not
plated). It is set with a large white, brilliant-cut
stone that looks like a diamond. Two smaller
stones on either side with heart motif give yon
pride and pleasure in wearing this distinctive ring
that goes with any costume for any occasion.
Just send 50c and two labels from Van Camp's
Products with this order blank.
Van Camp's Inc
Dept. W, Box No. 144, New York, N. Y.
Enclosed are 50 cents and two labels from delicious
Van Camp's Products. Please send me the lovely Solid
Sterling Silver Ring as illustrated.
NAME_
ADDRESS.___
CITY ' _STATE_
RING SIZE SCALE
_I II I I I II I I I II
A SIZES, O I 1 14 I t I MIOIIU
Wrap around finger and check your »iz® )
Knowing Adversity
I account it a part of unhappi- j
ness not to know adversity. I
judge you to be miserable because
you have not been miserable.
There is no one more unhappy
than he who never felt adversity. I
¥our Opinion
Public opinion is a weak tyrant
compared with our own private
opinion. What a man thinks of
himself, that it is which deter
mines, or rather indicates, his
fate.—Henry David Thoreau.
IT TAKES AN ORANGE
LIKE THIS
Best for Juice — atu/ fve>u/ u<*€/
You can see and taste the “extras” in California oranges! The juice
is deeper in color—finer in flavor—richer in vitamins and minerals.
They are the seedless Navels. Easy to peel, slice and section for
fresh salads and desserts. Ideal to eat out of hand between meals or
at bedtime.
Those stamped “Sunkist” on the skin are the finest from over
14,000 cooperating growers. Buy several dozen for economy.
Copyright, 1040, California Fruit Growora Exchange
