Fleming, in the meantime, martialed all the available men about the fort, which were maintained strictly on the defense of the station without any journeys or sallies out to assist the emigrants.

A mail stage was stopped a little west of the Horse creek station and the driver and all the guards murdered. This was done under the supposed leadership of Spotted Tail. And it was for "the murder of the mail party," that General Harney demanded the surrender of the murderers.

The Indians had boldly declared they would kill every white person they could, and would destroy the trains of emigrants going into the west.

This was the condition of ferment when my father and uncle arrived at Fort Laramie with five wagons and one hundred head of cattle. By some miracle it seems they had been unmolested, although at a point about fifty miles down the river, which my father has identified as the hill northeast of Bald Knob, they saw a lone footman run out of the breaks toward the river. He was pursued by Indians, and

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

killed in plain view of the caravan, but the river separated them, and they were powerless to aid him. After the murder, and some threatening demonstrations toward my father's party, the Indians retired in the direction of Sixty-six mountain. The event made a powerful impression upon the party, especially the women, who for the first time had witnessed a tragedy of this sort.

I have never been able to ascertain the identity of this unfortunate party, but it was probably a lone trapper.