[Hosea Stout Diary] Monday March 2nd 1846. This morning the camp moved on leaving Br Bent and those who had previously come here to finish the work which they had commenced. President B. Young and those who had gone down the hill crossed over this part of Sugar Creek taking a very rough road but I took the guard and kept the same dividing ridges which we had followed last evening and thus Saved myself the trouble of crossing this stream at such a bad place but sent a guard of about ten men under J. D. Hunter to accompany President Young on the road and render him the necessary assistance which he might need
The guard and also many other teams which took the road that I did kept entirely to the left that is took the extreme left hand roads and thus escaped or in other words went round many very bad places which the others had to pass through and by this means they got ahead of nearly all the camp[.] We had a very bad road all day & often at hills & difficult places to cross branches I saw teams standing waiting for those forward to pass over which were a mile long & often at hills teams would stall and have to be rolled up by hand thus making it both laborious for the men who were on foot, and also slow for the teams to be thus detained for each other. It was a beautiful country but no way dissimilar from the western prairie country.
About two oclock I had advanced on horse back before the forward team then traveling & not knowing it to be so & finding the roads by their appearance had not been traveled to day I began to conclud that we had taken a wrong road so I pushed on untill I came to a house and upon inquiry found it right. I felt very much concerned about it for it would be a serious matter to have some two hundred teams astray for they were scattered over not less than five miles along the road.
A small mistake of this kind would take a whole day to rectify it with all the teams. After leaving the house where I enquired the road I passed along a high ridge in the timber & then came down a steep hill to a considerable stream and proceeded a short distance and came to a house and there found Col S. Markham, Capt. Darby & Capt C. Allen who I did not know was in my advance untill now.They were now looking for corn & fodder for the camp to night but could get but little at any reasonable price.Col Markham whose duty it was to select ground to camp on sent me back about a quarter of a mile to stop the teams at the creek untill he ascertained whether he could procure food for the cattle & horses for the night or not & if he could we were to stop in a field immediately where they would thus be stoped.I went back & had not been there long before the advance teams drove up & I stoped them & word coming from Markham for us to turn in to the field & there encamp for the night we did so, but not however before I and Col A. P Rockwood who acted for President Young in forming his camp had selected & settled the order of the camp. It was a beautiful piece of ground in timbered land and had the timber cut down and piled up in log heaps & dry the use of which the owner gave us gratis.It was very convenient for our fires
The camp was formed so that the guard encompassed the most essential parts of it for they formed in a long line & had thus to only guard their own rear and thus guarded also the camp. We had to night a scant allowance of food for our teams.The weather was warm & pleasant
[source: Diaries of Hosea Stout]
No comments:
Post a Comment