The Woman in the Underbrush

"The attention of Captain [George W.] Yates was attracted to the glittering of something bright in the underbrush. In a moment a shot from a pistol explained that the glistening object was the barrel of a pistol, and he was warned by his soldiers that it was a woman* who had aimed for him. and was preparing to fire again. He then went round a short distance to investigate, and found a woman standing in the stream, one leg broken, but holding her papoose closely to her. The look of malignant hate in her eyes was something a little worse than any venomous expression he had ever seen. She resisted most vigorously every attempt to capture her, though the agony of her shattered limb must have been extreme. When she found her pistol was likely to be taken, she thew it far from her in the stream, and fought fiercely again. At last they succeeded in getting her papoose, and she surrendered. She was carried forward to a tepee, where our surgeon took charge of her."

~ Unknown Soldier

1. Richard G. Hardorff, Washita Memories, pp. 339-340.

* In the record of this account the word 'squaw' is used in place of woman.