Sully

“ CHAPTER XI TRAILING THE HOSTILES
"I wish I knew where I could get two or three more well-mounted orderlies, with courage and common sense," said General Sully the next day, as the army was wending its way through the rough, picturesque hill country along the Cannonball. "I haven't enough, and it's hard to tell whether a man can be depended upon until he has been tried."
The remark caused Al to prick up his ears.
"I know a man I think would suit you, General," said he.
"Who?" asked Sully.
"He is a private named Wallace Smith, in the Eighth Minnesota. I knew him at Fort Ridgely. ”

“ He's the real thing, Sully, and he wants me to manage his campaign—he wants Denver C. Galloway for a president-maker. Think of that, Sully! Old Denver romping down to the tropics, plucking lotus-flowers and pineapples with one hand and making presidents with the other! Won't it make Uncle Mark Hanna mad? And I want you to go too, Sully. You can help me more than any man I know. I've been herding that brown man for a month in the hotel so he wouldn't stray down Fourteenth Street and get roped in by that crowd of refugee tamale-eaters down there. ”

“ O' course we've got to eat, and the army's got to supply us, 'specially when we're willin' to pay fer stuff. Old Sully knows that." He spoke as if he considered the idea of paying as a great concession, for which the Government ought to be very grateful.
"I do not think that General Sully brought supplies along for more than his own men," replied Al, putting emphasis upon the title, for he resented the disrespectful tone used by the emigrant. "However," he added, "I will ask the quartermaster."
He jumped from the wagon and, followed by the two emigrants, sought Lieutenant Bacon. ”

“ Why did you tell me this story, Henry?” she adds in a plaintive tone, bursting into tears. “Am I not degraded enough already?”
“How, Gabrielle, this from you? when, spite of every obstacle, within a few weeks you will be crowned my queen?”
A knock is now heard at the door, and Sully enters. He looks hot and surly. He barely salutes the King, and scowls at Gabrielle, who instantly retreats to the farther corner of the room. Sully wears a threadbare doublet, his grey hair is uncombed over his forehead, and he carries some papers in his hand. ”

“ But this “design” has been attributed rather to the imagination of Sully himself than to the more practical policy of the king.
No figure in France has been more popular than that of “Henry the Great.” He was affable to the point of familiarity, quick-witted like a true Gascon, good-hearted, indulgent, yet skilled in reading the character of those around him, and he could at times show himself severe and unyielding. His courage amounted almost to recklessness. He was a better soldier than strategist. ”

“ General Sully inspected the enemy's position, then said to Colonel Thomas, who was with him,
"Colonel, do you think some of the Eighth Minnesota could clear those fellows out and get possession of the spring, if Captain Jones shells ahead of them?"
"They certainly can and will, General," responded Thomas.
"Four companies ought to be enough," continued Sully. "The rest of the troops can be having mess while they are gone."
"I will instruct Major Camp to make the advance," replied the Colonel, riding away.
Al stepped to the General's side. ”

“ He seemed entirely unconscious that anything was happening around him.
"Captain Miner," said Al, hardly able to repress a laugh as he saluted, "General Sully says for you not to get too far ahead of the flanks. He is afraid you will be surrounded." ”

“ Many hundreds of tons more were loaded on the eight steamers which General Sully had chartered for the exclusive use of his army, and on them were carried also a great quantity of building materials for use in the two forts which were to be erected, one on the upper Missouri and one on the Yellowstone. Few troops were to start with the fleet from St. Louis, because General Sully's men were either scattered in the several forts and cantonments along the river in Dakota where they had spent the Winter, or were to meet the boats at the village of Sioux City, Iowa ”

“ After Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully was by far the greatest of the men who studied in West's studio. Stuart aside, there was no American painter of the day to equal him. He was born in England in 1783, but was brought to this country by his parents at the age of nine. The Sullys were actors of some talent and secured an engagement at Charleston, South Carolina, and there the boy was placed first in school, and then in the office of an insurance broker. He spent so much time making sketches that his employer decided he was destined for art and not for business, and secured another clerk. ”

“ There were plenty of men in the expedition who would have been glad to encourage such attacks had they been made, for, as was always the case among the class of men who worked as laborers on the steamboats, there were many hardened and even desperate characters in the crews of Sully's vessels. Not a few of them were deserters from the Confederate army, tired of fighting but still rebels at heart ”

“ Sully, who was no less desirous than himself to ensure the prosperity of the nation to which he had devoted all the energies of his powerful and active mind, did not hesitate to suggest the expediency of his Majesty's immediate compliance with the prayer of his subjects, and entreat him in his turn to obtain a divorce, which by leaving him free, would enable him to make a happier choice ”

“ Mr. Sully afterwards married Nellie Germon, and as Sully and Germon did sketches, also in the variety theatres.
In 1884 Williams, Sully and Germon’s “Three Sunflowers” Company toured.
Of late Mr. Sully has been doing a single specialty in vaudeville. Mr. Sully was born in Boston, Mass., June 23, 1858.
Alf Gibson, the well-known comedian, made his first appearance at Columbus, Ohio, as a clog dancer, during the festivities that attended the Goss-Allen fight.
In 1875 he was with William Lawrence Allen’s Statue Company; after this Gilmore and Gibson did a song and dance with Mons. De Rea Circus. ”

“ Sully’s entire force, after crossing Hard river, were assailed by a number of Sioux. Gen. Sully’s forces formed in hollow square to repulse the Sioux, who with loud yells went galloping about them, trying to stampede horses or throw his men into confusion. ”

“ SULLY, MAXIMILIEN DE BÉTHUNE, Duc de (1560–1641) , French statesman, was born at the château of Rosny near Mantes, on the 13th of December 1560, of a noble family of Flemish descent. His father, François de Béthune, baron de Rosny, (1532–1575) , was the son of Jean de Béthune, to whom in 1529 his wife Anne de Melun brought as part of her dowry a seigneurie at Rosny-sur-Seine, which later (1601) was made a marquisate. Brought up in the Reformed faith, Maximilien was presented to Henry of Navarre in 1571 and was thenceforth attached to the future king of France. ”

“ Then a shameful epigram on the shameful du Berri came to the ears of the persons chiefly concerned. Young Arouet was exiled to Tulle—Tulle being changed pretty easily, at his father’s request, to Sully. No reason was assigned by the Government for this order of exile.
The Duke of Sully readily became a most hospitable host. The Duchess had a most charming poor companion, Mademoiselle de Livri. It was but an exile pour rire, after all—a warning fatherly rap from that paternal Government on the knuckles of an impertinent child. ”

“ By nature no person was less inclined to reserve or bitterness, and as a boy he was frank and generous to a fault." In speaking of his poems, Mr. Sully remarked: "He has an eye for dramatic, but not for scenic or artistic effect. Except in The Raven, I can nowhere in his poems find a subject for a picture." ”

“ He was an officer of German birth who had risen to his position from the ranks of the regular army and was now General Sully's chief topographical engineer.
For six weeks every one in St. Louis connected with the expedition was busily occupied in getting supplies together and in shipping several hundred tons of foodstuffs, clothing, camp equipage, and ammunition on steamboats which were going up the Missouri on the Spring high water to Fort Benton, Montana, the outfitting point for the newly discovered gold district in that Territory. ”

“ I can have no favored idlers around. We are going after the Indians and for no other purpose, and in order to be successful every individual must do his part. Do you think you could agree to do that?"
"I shall certainly obey orders and try to make myself useful," responded Al, promptly.
General Sully swung around in his swivel desk chair and gazed abstractedly out of the window for a moment. Then he swung back again and looked at Al frankly.
"I may as well tell you," said he, "that it is against my policy to have any more civilians with me in the field than I can possibly help. ”

“ His dress was exceedingly plain. He wore a much-battered slouch hat down over his eyes, and on the shoulders of his blouse, scarcely discernible, was what had been the silver stars of a brigadier-general. I answered his inquiry by saluting, and then recognized General Alfred Sully, long famed as an Indian fighter before the war. He introduced himself as "Corps officer of the day" and my superior officer for this tour of picket duty. ”

“ The trains were now able to straighten out and move with less confusion and delay; and the troops, though still retaining their defensive formation, ready to repel any sudden attack, found it possible to draw in the flanks and advance more rapidly. Presently, as all the different elements of the army settled into a steady, methodical march, Al found a chance to speak to General Sully of the news he had heard of Tommy, so adventurously gained and so surprising in itself. ”

“ Here they bound his hands with a saddle strap and, after dressing, started back to camp, making the prisoner walk in front of them.
Their appearance created an uproar of excitement, and questions and congratulations poured upon them from every side, but they pushed their way steadily through the crowd until they reached headquarters and presented their prisoner to General Sully. The latter immediately sent for an interpreter, and then began a severe cross-examination of the captive. ”

“ Wallace was promptly instructed to fall out from the ranks of his company, where he was marching, and he and Al were soon riding forward to join General Sully, who, as usual, was near the head of the column.
"It was certainly very kind of you to think of me, Al," said Wallace, "and I appreciate it."
"Perhaps you won't feel so grateful after a while," returned Al, with a laugh. "It may be that [Pg 209] when we strike the Indians you will have to get into some dangerous places in carrying orders." ”

“ He admitted that there were many scouts of the hostiles in the vicinity, but said that most of them were held far back from the army by the presence of General Sully's scouts. Asked as to the hostile army and its location, he hesitated, but finally replied that the camps were very great and were in a very strong position on the headwaters of the Knife River, a considerable distance north of the Cannonball. He declared the camps contained so many warriors that the Indians were sure of easily defeating the white army, and proposed to stand and fight before their encampment. ”

“ They further declared that the hostiles were confident in their strength and were boasting that they would utterly destroy the army of white soldiers if the latter should venture to attack them. So there was a prospect of plenty of excitement in store when, on the morning of July 18, General Sully, unalarmed by such reports, [Pg 204] started westward with his army with wagons loaded, troops fully equipped and liberally supplied with ammunition, and horses and mules freshly shod. ”

“ It was a large party of emigrants from Minnesota, which had followed the Second Brigade for the purpose of having the protection of the army in crossing the country between the Missouri and the Yellowstone. There were about a hundred and twenty-five wagons in the train and several hundred people, including many women and children, and they were bound for the gold fields. Their wagons were drawn by ox-teams. Their arrival drew forth an explosion from General Sully. ”

“ With the cordial alliance of Venice, and by playing off the mutual jealousies of the petty Italian princes, like Florence, Mantua, Montserrat, and others, against each other and against the Pope, it did not seem doubtful to Sully that the result would be easily accomplished. He distinctly urged the wish that the King should content himself with political influence, with the splendid position of holding all Italy dependent upon his will and guidance, but without annexing a particle of territory to his own crown. ”

“ On regaining the prairie, the boys found that General Sully had already gone up to the Sioux camps at one side of the ravine by which they had ascended. They at once followed, passing the artillery and the wagon train on the way. When they arrived they found most of the army already assembling on the farther side of the hostile camps, at the base of Tahkahokuty. Far up on the top of the mountain a number of Indians had gathered and were firing upon the troops at very long range. ”

“ His sense of duty, however, was still uppermost.
"But, Uncle Will,—" he began.
"Now, that's all right, Al," interrupted Mr. Colton. "This is simply a family matter, and you need not worry about it at all. The only question which remains to be settled is whether it can be arranged for you to accompany an expedition into the Indian country. If General Sibley were going, no doubt he would be willing to find a place for you some way. But it seems that he may not go again, and another commander, like General Sully, for instance, may not want to have you. ”