When hunting antelope in flat country, where both
the hunterand thehunted can see for miles with little
cover available, we are inclined to forget good stalking
procedure; to see without being seen. We drive to
some little rise where we can see for miles in every
direction, take a good pair of binoculars or a spotting
scope and glass the country so far away that if there
are antelope there--even if they see us-- they're
seldom disturbed. Then we try to figure how to get to
them for the final stalk ( if any ) , and drive off in some
other direction in a big circle and ry to come within
range without spooking them. In mountain hunting the
same technique will buy you only disappintment.
This rough country antelope hunting is true stalking
from start to finish. You don't walk the ridges and climb
every high point to glass from its top. If you do that you'll
stick up like a sore thumb, to be seen by every antelope
anywhee in the area. Do't do it unless you've finished
glassing every ridge, sidehill and basin within a mile or
so, and want to study country so far away that antelope
there won't see you or pay any attention to you if they do.
In this kind of hunting you stay below the skyline.
If you are traveling in the same direction the ridges run,
up or down, stay below the crest, taking only an occasional
peek to glass the country beyond. If you are walking the
contours, as is usual with hunting rough country , you
don't just pop up onhigh part of the ridge and sit on its
top to do your glassing. When you top a ridge, no matter
which way you are traveling, pick a spot where there is
brush, high grass, an outcrop of rock, anything to break up
the bare line of the ridge. Find something you will blend in
with, something to help break up your silhouette.
Then you ease up to the top very slowly, sometimes on your
silhouette, Then you ease up to the top very slowly, sometimes
on your hands and knees or your belly, and you slip the binocular
or spotting scope over the top slow and easy like. You keep
moving up until you can see everything here is to see from
that point. Then, and only then, do you cross the top and move
on.
In this type of hunting you may find the antelope within spitting
distance when you poke your head over a ridge. If you've done it
right, they may not even knwo you are there. You may also spot
them--which is more usual--far out of range, feeding or bedded
on some wide slope, on the top of some ridge or bench, or down
on the floor of some high basin. In any of these situations you'll
be able to plan and execute your stalk in much the same manner
as in hunting sheep. Always remember to keep the wind right, stay
off the skyline, and,if you come up close for the shot, keep
quiet--don't talk aloud. Antelope also have sensitive ears and they
believe what they hear, too. If you must say something, whisper!
Watch the Wind!
When stalking antelope in rough country, especially high
rough country along the toe of mountain slop where the wind
whips around in unpredictable directions, don't let it get
behind you. An antelope doesn't like your smell any more than
a sheep, deer or elk does, and you smell pretty bad to any
of them. When hunting antelope in flat counry you can pretty
well forget about wind direction because they depend mostly
on their sight to locate danger,and on their speep to keep it at
a safe distance. Most antelope country isflat or rolling, and
they've aleady seen you before you're ready to shoot,so their
winding you is of little consequence. This is especially true if
the hunting is done from a car. Game laws notwithstanding,
most pronghornsare killed from a vehicle or with the hunter
no more than a few feet from it.
rough country along the toe of mountain slop where the wind
whips around in unpredictable directions, don't let it get
behind you. An antelope doesn't like your smell any more than
a sheep, deer or elk does, and you smell pretty bad to any
of them. When hunting antelope in flat counry you can pretty
well forget about wind direction because they depend mostly
on their sight to locate danger,and on their speep to keep it at
a safe distance. Most antelope country isflat or rolling, and
they've aleady seen you before you're ready to shoot,so their
winding you is of little consequence. This is especially true if
the hunting is done from a car. Game laws notwithstanding,
most pronghornsare killed from a vehicle or with the hunter
no more than a few feet from it.
I believe that many antelope hunters are much more worried
about how far the wind will drift their bullet than in whether
the buck smells them or not. This attitude can easily get you
into trouble in rough country.
On the last anteloope hunt I made the wind gave me a bad
time on the only buck I saw that might have been worth shooting.
I'd drawn my ticket for a unit that was all very rough country. In
fact, bighorn sheep lived in some of the canyons that ran off into
the river brakes. Higher up the ridges were open, dry and rocky,
with big basins filled with sage and clumps of aspen. I'd been
hunting in this country for nearly a week, looking for one of the
trophy bucks that the Fish and Game boys had told me were there.
I'd done it on my own hind feet, too, wearing my boots thin in 10to15
miles of up-and-down hunting every day. Up to then I'd seen a grand
total of three antelope. two does and a lonesome little fawn. Then,
late one afternoon, I found where a small band had come down off
the mountain, going into the rough brakes at the edge of the sheep
country.
I snooped around over the sharp little ridges until, finally, I
stuck my head over a sagebrush and saw several does. They were
about 175 yards below me on a hat-sized flat spot on the steep
sidehill. Working up until I was sitting behind the sagebrush, I
waited to see if there was a buck around. Suddenly one came
prancing up the hill from where several other does were feeding.
Bucks were in the rut and this one's attention was divided
between two girl friends, one in each bunch. He gave me little
chance for a shot as he dashed from one doe to the other, and he
wasn't very good anyway. At last I decided maybe I'd better
take him, for this might be the last day I'd have to hunt.
On his next visit to the does he stopped, facing me, a doe tight
on both sides of him. I put the crosshair of the 240 weatherby
scope at the base of his neck, a perfect shot at the range.
Then I saw a bunch of rabbitbrush twigs waving in the
magnifiedfield of the scope, right over the buck's neck
and chest. I knew that the 95-gr. Nosler, traveling at
just under 3400 foot seconds, might be deflected by that
brush, anout halfway out, and I might hit one of the does
instead. They didn't know I was there so I'd just wait him out.
Then, as I watched, a little puff of wind came from behind me.
An old doe that had been acting as lookout threw her head in
the air, blew a warning blast, and took off. The whole bunch went
over the lip of the bench in a cloud of dust, and that was that.
I lost that round of rough country antelope hunting by a tiny gust
of wind from the wrong direction at the right time, but that is what
makes stalking all worthwhile. The moral is, the wind is there, so
keep it in mind because antelope have pretty good noses and they
pay strict attention to what they smell and can't see.
Rough Country Antelope(2)
This kind of pronghorn pursuit is hunting at its best; hunting
where you can stald them in the same manner you'd stalk Stone
and Dall sheep in much of northern British Columbia, the Yukon
or Alaska. Anyone who has ever hunted sheep soon finds that
antelope are every bit as hard to stalk as sheep, especially in rough
country. An antelope won't go into the rough stuff as far as a sheep
will, nor as high, but once he's been spooked where he normally lives,
down in the flat lands, you'll find him just as farsighted, alert and hard
to get on to as any ram.
Antelope in the rough stuff do have one habit that make them easier
to stalk than sheep, and that is their refusal to brush up in the timber
where you can't see them. Animals of the wide open spaces, they're
bound to stay where they can see what is going on around them--especially
after they've had a good scare! I've shot them in rough country pockets,
with fairly heavy bunches of scattered timber around the edges, but
they could usually see a couple of hundred yards in every direction.
These were bands that hadn't been disturbed, either. In any event, if you
get high enough so that you can look down into the pockets of onto the
benches or wide open hillsides, you'll have no trouble spotting them.
Then all you have to do is figure out how to stalk them to within
rifle range. That's all!
where you can stald them in the same manner you'd stalk Stone
and Dall sheep in much of northern British Columbia, the Yukon
or Alaska. Anyone who has ever hunted sheep soon finds that
antelope are every bit as hard to stalk as sheep, especially in rough
country. An antelope won't go into the rough stuff as far as a sheep
will, nor as high, but once he's been spooked where he normally lives,
down in the flat lands, you'll find him just as farsighted, alert and hard
to get on to as any ram.
Antelope in the rough stuff do have one habit that make them easier
to stalk than sheep, and that is their refusal to brush up in the timber
where you can't see them. Animals of the wide open spaces, they're
bound to stay where they can see what is going on around them--especially
after they've had a good scare! I've shot them in rough country pockets,
with fairly heavy bunches of scattered timber around the edges, but
they could usually see a couple of hundred yards in every direction.
These were bands that hadn't been disturbed, either. In any event, if you
get high enough so that you can look down into the pockets of onto the
benches or wide open hillsides, you'll have no trouble spotting them.
Then all you have to do is figure out how to stalk them to within
rifle range. That's all!
Rough country Antelope(1)
Hight country pronghorn pursuit is antelope hunting at its
best. Up here you can stalk them as you would a Bighorn
sheep--and they're every bit as hard to come up on.
by BOB HAGEL
W E HAD BEEN climbing the rocky sage slope for nearly half an hour,
and the first pale, pink glow had just started to spread in the morning sky
above the jagged peaks to the east. Far below, where the long slope of
bench land drifted dounward from the toe of the Lost River Range to
Idaho's Pahsimeroi river, it was all but totally dark.
Domn there on the antelope flats the gleam of headlights traced
meandering, snake-like courses as vehicles pkcked their way between
the dry draws, around heavy patches of sage and greasewood. These
were antelope hunters, hoping somehow to find a herd in the gathering
light before someone else saw them first.
As the first streaks of gold tinted the summits of the peaks above, long
before there was shooting light down on the flats, the crackle of spasmodic
rifle fire drifted up on the thin morning air. Perhaps some trigger-happy
eager-beaver had momentarily frozen a band of pronghorn in the glare
of the headlights; maybe they had been reading about the "grey ghosts
of the plains." Whatever the reason, it would produce but two things:
cripppled or frightened antelope.
This was what we had expected, what we were ready for. As the
growing light revealed details below, the twinkle of headlights was
replaced by trails of dust spiraling upward as speeding wehicles
twisted this way and that try where we sat. With the number of
cars, pickups and feeps streaking across the flats, many of the
antelope failed to make it but, for the most part, the herds gained
the foothills. Some of them took a vigilant stand in the middle of
some high mountain face where they were almost impossible to
approachwithin rifle aange. Others dissolved into the draws that
twisted back into the broken, timbered lower slopes of the range,
foining other small bands already feeding in the seclusion of the
rough brakes.
This was the first day of the antelope season. Tomorrow
there would be few antelope left on the flat benches near the
floor of the valley, and those that were there would be next to
impossible to approach.
As the day wore on we stayed in the rough country, above
and beyond the reach of the 4-wheel-drive hunters. We sat
with binoculars, sweeping the foothills and watching the antelope
drift into pockets protected by rocky ridges or moving behind
the cover of fir and mountain mahogany. When a little band settled
doun we'd glass them until we agreed there was nothing that
looked good; then we'd locate another bunch.
Before the sun slid behind the ridges to the west, we'd killed
a pair of bucks that were both over the 14" mark. We'd passed up
a dozen or so more that were not much smaller. if there had been
any record-class heads about, we'd have had every opportunity
to size them up and collect them.
Not all sections offer this kind of antelope hunting, but there is
a lot more of it than many hunters realize. It may not be as scenically
spectacular as the country that rises from the sage flats toward the
crown of Idaho's 12,655-foot Mt. Borah, but there are often rough
mountains or brakes around the perimeter of the antelope range that
afford the same type of hunting.
best. Up here you can stalk them as you would a Bighorn
sheep--and they're every bit as hard to come up on.
by BOB HAGEL
W E HAD BEEN climbing the rocky sage slope for nearly half an hour,
and the first pale, pink glow had just started to spread in the morning sky
above the jagged peaks to the east. Far below, where the long slope of
bench land drifted dounward from the toe of the Lost River Range to
Idaho's Pahsimeroi river, it was all but totally dark.
Domn there on the antelope flats the gleam of headlights traced
meandering, snake-like courses as vehicles pkcked their way between
the dry draws, around heavy patches of sage and greasewood. These
were antelope hunters, hoping somehow to find a herd in the gathering
light before someone else saw them first.
As the first streaks of gold tinted the summits of the peaks above, long
before there was shooting light down on the flats, the crackle of spasmodic
rifle fire drifted up on the thin morning air. Perhaps some trigger-happy
eager-beaver had momentarily frozen a band of pronghorn in the glare
of the headlights; maybe they had been reading about the "grey ghosts
of the plains." Whatever the reason, it would produce but two things:
cripppled or frightened antelope.
This was what we had expected, what we were ready for. As the
growing light revealed details below, the twinkle of headlights was
replaced by trails of dust spiraling upward as speeding wehicles
twisted this way and that try where we sat. With the number of
cars, pickups and feeps streaking across the flats, many of the
antelope failed to make it but, for the most part, the herds gained
the foothills. Some of them took a vigilant stand in the middle of
some high mountain face where they were almost impossible to
approachwithin rifle aange. Others dissolved into the draws that
twisted back into the broken, timbered lower slopes of the range,
foining other small bands already feeding in the seclusion of the
rough brakes.
This was the first day of the antelope season. Tomorrow
there would be few antelope left on the flat benches near the
floor of the valley, and those that were there would be next to
impossible to approach.
As the day wore on we stayed in the rough country, above
and beyond the reach of the 4-wheel-drive hunters. We sat
with binoculars, sweeping the foothills and watching the antelope
drift into pockets protected by rocky ridges or moving behind
the cover of fir and mountain mahogany. When a little band settled
doun we'd glass them until we agreed there was nothing that
looked good; then we'd locate another bunch.
Before the sun slid behind the ridges to the west, we'd killed
a pair of bucks that were both over the 14" mark. We'd passed up
a dozen or so more that were not much smaller. if there had been
any record-class heads about, we'd have had every opportunity
to size them up and collect them.
Not all sections offer this kind of antelope hunting, but there is
a lot more of it than many hunters realize. It may not be as scenically
spectacular as the country that rises from the sage flats toward the
crown of Idaho's 12,655-foot Mt. Borah, but there are often rough
mountains or brakes around the perimeter of the antelope range that
afford the same type of hunting.
Colt's Competiors
Colt's Competitors
After Samuel Colt's patent ran ort on his revolving cylinder principle in
1857, Remington, Smith & Wesson and a number of other manufacturers
had turned to making pistols witha revolving cylinder. Some gained a
degree of popularity in the West, but the Colt remained predominant. The
earlier caplock pepperbox pistols, with no separate barrel and cylinder,
presented the apperance of an elongated multi-bored cylinder from which the
balls were directly fired. They were cheaper than most orthodox revolvers
and gained some popularity in the Far West, especially among the miners.
As the metallic cartridge repeating arms gained in popularity the Spencer
and Winchester became the early favorites. When Winchester's Model
1873, the first repeater to shoot centerfire reloadable cartridges, came on
the maket it gained great popularity. As one of the points in its favor,
the cartridges were of the same calibers (except for the 45) used in Colt
Single Action Army revolvers.
The progress and variety of arms after 1873 was tremendous. Fine single-shot
rifles for hunting and target shooting became available along with
improved repeaters. Derringers and pocket pistols in the populated areas
replaced the big holster pistols, and the carrying of any sidearm went out of style.
By the 1880s prominent Easterners were looking westward to invest
in the newly opened land. Among these was Theodore Roosevelt who,
in 1883, purchased several ranches near Medora, Dakota Territory.
Among his favorite guns while in Dakota was a 45-120 Sharps, a Model
1876 Winchester in 45-75 caliber and an ivory handled Colt Single Action
Army 45.
Once the Indian hostilities had been reasonable controlled, attention was
directed toward building up the settlements, extending the transportation
and communication systems, and developing the land into its most
profitable uses. Hunting to provide food and competitive shooting
for sport dept firearms as a vital implement in every western home.
The establishment of law and order in rough new settlements and
self-pro-tection in the town or in the open called for the presence of a gun.
In all this great shifting of the population from east of the Mississippi to
the west, guns alone did not "Win the West." It took courage, perseverance
and sweat. But the way was made possible and easier by a tool of man's
ingenuity--the gun. Actually many kinds of guns gave dependable service
in bringing a good way of life to this land. Here it is possible to mention
only those which played the most prominent roles.
The historian Augustus C. Buell wrote: In all the annals of the frontier and
pioneer, of struggles that wrested the continent from its savage owners and
made it a freehold of civtlization, the rifle has been the instrument of destiny
and the symbol of progress."
If there was any way to produce an orderly society and to write the history
of this nation other than by raw courage and superior weapons, that way could
not found.
REF: THE GUN DIGEST
After Samuel Colt's patent ran ort on his revolving cylinder principle in
1857, Remington, Smith & Wesson and a number of other manufacturers
had turned to making pistols witha revolving cylinder. Some gained a
degree of popularity in the West, but the Colt remained predominant. The
earlier caplock pepperbox pistols, with no separate barrel and cylinder,
presented the apperance of an elongated multi-bored cylinder from which the
balls were directly fired. They were cheaper than most orthodox revolvers
and gained some popularity in the Far West, especially among the miners.
As the metallic cartridge repeating arms gained in popularity the Spencer
and Winchester became the early favorites. When Winchester's Model
1873, the first repeater to shoot centerfire reloadable cartridges, came on
the maket it gained great popularity. As one of the points in its favor,
the cartridges were of the same calibers (except for the 45) used in Colt
Single Action Army revolvers.
The progress and variety of arms after 1873 was tremendous. Fine single-shot
rifles for hunting and target shooting became available along with
improved repeaters. Derringers and pocket pistols in the populated areas
replaced the big holster pistols, and the carrying of any sidearm went out of style.
By the 1880s prominent Easterners were looking westward to invest
in the newly opened land. Among these was Theodore Roosevelt who,
in 1883, purchased several ranches near Medora, Dakota Territory.
Among his favorite guns while in Dakota was a 45-120 Sharps, a Model
1876 Winchester in 45-75 caliber and an ivory handled Colt Single Action
Army 45.
Once the Indian hostilities had been reasonable controlled, attention was
directed toward building up the settlements, extending the transportation
and communication systems, and developing the land into its most
profitable uses. Hunting to provide food and competitive shooting
for sport dept firearms as a vital implement in every western home.
The establishment of law and order in rough new settlements and
self-pro-tection in the town or in the open called for the presence of a gun.
In all this great shifting of the population from east of the Mississippi to
the west, guns alone did not "Win the West." It took courage, perseverance
and sweat. But the way was made possible and easier by a tool of man's
ingenuity--the gun. Actually many kinds of guns gave dependable service
in bringing a good way of life to this land. Here it is possible to mention
only those which played the most prominent roles.
The historian Augustus C. Buell wrote: In all the annals of the frontier and
pioneer, of struggles that wrested the continent from its savage owners and
made it a freehold of civtlization, the rifle has been the instrument of destiny
and the symbol of progress."
If there was any way to produce an orderly society and to write the history
of this nation other than by raw courage and superior weapons, that way could
not found.
REF: THE GUN DIGEST
The 45-70 Springfield
Although western military commanders
had urgently petitioned their
superiors to send them Spencer repeating
rifles and carbines, very few
ever were issued. The standard weapons
used in the Indian Wars of the
late 1870s and 1880s were the Springfield
45-70 trapdoor rifles and carbines
and the Colt Single Action
Army 45 revolvers. Some "44 American"
and 45 Schofield" model
Smith & Wesson revolvers were also used.
It was with the 45-70 singleshot
Springfields and Colt 45 revolvers
that Ceneral Custer's command
was armed when they were trapped
by Sitting Bull's Sioux on the Little
Big Horn and upwards of 300 brave
cavalrymen gave up their lives. Custer
had left his fast shooting Gatling guns
back at his base camp.
On July 17, 1876, a young scout
for the Fifth Cavalry had his big opportunity.
In a duel with the Cheyenne
Chief Yellow Hand, William F.
Cody killed his adversary and
promptly removed the scalp-lock, declaring
it to be "the first scalp for
Custer!" Cody, better known as Buffalo
Bill, started out using Sawken
and Mississippi rifles, Colt cap and
ball pistols and, later, his favorite,
a 50-70 Springfield rifle he affectionately
called "Lucretia Borgia."
In his later showmanship days Cody
used Winchester repeating rifles,
especially the Model 1873.
By the late 1870s the Indian Wars
on the plains were near an end. The
famous Indian fighters General Nelson A.
Miles and General George
Crook were in the thick of this fighting .
After the plains Indians were
driven onto reservations, the scene
of major Indian war activity shifted
to Arizona, and it was not until 1886
that the Apache reign of terror was
broken by the surrender of Geronimo.
Indian hostilities were not the only
dangers that plagued the West. Towns
like Abilene, Dodge City, Deadwood,
Panamint City and Tombstone had
their share of hard characters who
used their six-guns without conscience
or hesitation. Stage holdups were
commonplace. One shotgun-wielding
California stage robber named Black
Bart robbed 28 stages and somtimes
left a poetic note for his victims which
he signed "The Po-8." One such note
Eventually, lawmen like the Earps,
Bat Masterson, Wild bill Hickok,
John R. Hughes, Billy Breakenridge,
John Slaughter, Jeff Milton and others
were able to cool the ardor and
restrain the activities of the lawless.
For a mafouity of these lawmen the
Colt Single Action Army revolver was
a customary piece of attire. It is
doubtful that any would want to have
been caught with one of those Colt
models with a 16-inch barrel dramatized
as the "Buntline."
had urgently petitioned their
superiors to send them Spencer repeating
rifles and carbines, very few
ever were issued. The standard weapons
used in the Indian Wars of the
late 1870s and 1880s were the Springfield
45-70 trapdoor rifles and carbines
and the Colt Single Action
Army 45 revolvers. Some "44 American"
and 45 Schofield" model
Smith & Wesson revolvers were also used.
It was with the 45-70 singleshot
Springfields and Colt 45 revolvers
that Ceneral Custer's command
was armed when they were trapped
by Sitting Bull's Sioux on the Little
Big Horn and upwards of 300 brave
cavalrymen gave up their lives. Custer
had left his fast shooting Gatling guns
back at his base camp.
On July 17, 1876, a young scout
for the Fifth Cavalry had his big opportunity.
In a duel with the Cheyenne
Chief Yellow Hand, William F.
Cody killed his adversary and
promptly removed the scalp-lock, declaring
it to be "the first scalp for
Custer!" Cody, better known as Buffalo
Bill, started out using Sawken
and Mississippi rifles, Colt cap and
ball pistols and, later, his favorite,
a 50-70 Springfield rifle he affectionately
called "Lucretia Borgia."
In his later showmanship days Cody
used Winchester repeating rifles,
especially the Model 1873.
By the late 1870s the Indian Wars
on the plains were near an end. The
famous Indian fighters General Nelson A.
Miles and General George
Crook were in the thick of this fighting .
After the plains Indians were
driven onto reservations, the scene
of major Indian war activity shifted
to Arizona, and it was not until 1886
that the Apache reign of terror was
broken by the surrender of Geronimo.
Indian hostilities were not the only
dangers that plagued the West. Towns
like Abilene, Dodge City, Deadwood,
Panamint City and Tombstone had
their share of hard characters who
used their six-guns without conscience
or hesitation. Stage holdups were
commonplace. One shotgun-wielding
California stage robber named Black
Bart robbed 28 stages and somtimes
left a poetic note for his victims which
he signed "The Po-8." One such note
Eventually, lawmen like the Earps,
Bat Masterson, Wild bill Hickok,
John R. Hughes, Billy Breakenridge,
John Slaughter, Jeff Milton and others
were able to cool the ardor and
restrain the activities of the lawless.
For a mafouity of these lawmen the
Colt Single Action Army revolver was
a customary piece of attire. It is
doubtful that any would want to have
been caught with one of those Colt
models with a 16-inch barrel dramatized
as the "Buntline."
Ref: Gun digest
The Wagon Box Fight
The tide of war swung back to favor
the soldiers on August 2 of 1867. At
what has become known as "The
Wagon Box Fight, " outside of Fort
Phil Kearny , Captain James W. Powell
and a detail of 31 men were attacked
by a great horde of Red
Colud's Sioux warriors numbering
several thousand. As in the Nelson
Story battle, Captain powell had had a
surprise for the Sioux. A short time
before, the command had been issued
S p r i n g f i e l d rifles converted by a
"trapdoor" breech from muzzle-loaders
to breechloaders of 50-70 caliber.
Powell's men had plenty of copper
cartridges and they poured such a
rapid and withering fire into the
Sioux that they were forced to withdraw
with great losses.
A tragic personal note in 1867
wasthe shooting of John Bozeman, for
whom the Bozeman Trail had been
named. Bozeman was killed by a
Model 1841 "Mississippi" rifle, which
had somehow come into possession
of a Blackfoot Indian.
Another costly repulse for the Indians
near Fort C.F. Smith on the
Big Horn River was further repayment
for the Fetterman massacre. In 1868,
at a fork of the Republican
River, in what was Known as "The
Beecher Island Fight," fifty cavalrymen
armed with breechloaders stood
off 700 Cheyennes. But there was
more hard fighting to come. The Indians
became more desperate when,
in 1869, the railroad which had cut
through their hunting grounds Iinked
East and West. With the railroad
come settlements and into the settlements
came hunters seeking quick
money by harvesting buffalo hides.
By this time Sharps and Remington
had developed strong breech-loading
rifles shooting long, powerful metallic
cartridges. Armed with Sharps
rifles 28 buffalo hunters and a woman
held off a war party of 1000 Indians
at Adobe Walls. Among these men
were Billy Dixon, a famous scout,
and W.B. (Bat) Masterson, later to
become famous as a lawman.
The goverment gave tacit approval
to the wanton destruction of the
buffalo herds. They reasoned that the
West was an area which providence
had provided for an expanding population
and once the Indians were deprived
of their food supply they could
be contained on limited reservations
and easily controlled. While idealistic
in conception, government ambitions
were somewhat brutal in their fulfillment .
Turning the empty plains into
farms and ranches, converting the
trails to railroads with towns and cities
strung across the continent was a
nice dream for the white man but the
nomadic red man was not readu to
give up his way of life'without a final
struggle. The 1870s and 1880s were
to see that struggle.
by:Gun Digest EDITED BY JOHN T. AMBER
Colts and Sharps
Going into the latter 1850s the horse
soldiers in the West received some im-
proved weapons. Big Colt 44 Army
pistols, called the Dragoon Model,
replaced the old single-shot pistols.
These were caplock six-shooters
weighing 4 pounds and were hard
shooting weapons. Some were fur-
nished with an attachable shoulder
stock, making them into a "pistol-
carbine." This experiment, along with
an 1855 Model Springfield single- shot
caplock pistol with attachable stock,
proved unpopular; the soldiers pre-
ferred the reliable breechloading
Sharps carbines, very popular
throughout the West. Some were used
by the Pony Express, by stagelines
and others as well as by the military.
In 1858, the same year as the gold
rush to Pike's Peak in Colorado, the
Butterfield Overland Mail completed
its first run, providing a link in trans-
contiental travel from coast to coast.
Two years later the pony Express
started the drumming of hoof beats
between St. Joseph, Missouri, and
Sacramemto, California. oter, although
Riders of the Pony Express pre-
ferred the Model 1851 Colt Navy pis-
tol, a 36-caliber six-shooter, although
a few carried the big 44 Dragooon Colt,
106 having been furnished by the
army and 25 by citizens of Sacramen-
to. The Colt"Navy" pistols were so
named more for the baval scene en-
graved on their cylinder than for their
use by that branch of the service.
The army supplied 60 of the 54-cali-
ber Model 1841 "Missisippi" rifiles
for use at the Pony Expreess relay
stations. The riders preferred the
light 52-caliber Sharps carbines when
it was necessary for them to carry a
shoulder arm.
When General James H. Carleton
led his California Volunteers into Ari-
zona in 1862 to drive the Confederate
forces back into Texas, his men were
armed with 58-caliber Springfield ri-
fled muskets, Sharps carbines, Colt
36 Navy pistols, and sabers. Team-
sters were given the big44 Colt Dra-
goon six-shooters.
Life for the army became increas-
ingly difficult as all kinds of people
filtered into the West. More stage-
lines crisscrossed the teritory, with
Ben Holladay emerging as "The
Stagecoach King," but soon to be
succeeded by Wells Fargo. By this
time the Henry, the Model 1866 Win-
chester (both 44 rimfere caliber) and
56-52 Spencer repeating rifles had ap-
peared. These, along with the ever-
effective double barrel shotguns,
were often part of the armament used
by stagecoach guards "riding shot-
gun."
After the War between the States.
pioneers like Charles Goodnight
Jesse Chisholm drove herds of cattle
north to Colorado and Wyoming, and
to railroad shipping points in Kansas.
Not satisfied with this, in 1866 Nel-
son Story decided to drive a herd of
3000 cattle up to the fine grazing
lands of Montana. The Sioux had
Bozeman Trail through Montana were
undermanned no escorts were avail-
able, but Story had an ace in the hole.
Somehow he had managed to obtain
a number of the first Remington roll-
ing-block 50-caliber breechloaders to
be sent into the west, and when the
Sioux attacked theu received such a
hot reception from Story and his men
that they were driven off with severe
losses.
It was a different story in December
of 1866 when Brevet Lieutenant Col-
onel William J. Fettermen led a de-
tachmeny of 81 men on a scouting
mission from Fort Phill Kearnu, a fort
on the Little Piney hated by the In-
dians. Armed primarily with Civil
War muzzle-loading rifled muskets
and some Sharps carbines, Fetter-
man's command was surprised by
2000 Sioux and shot down to the last
man. James Wheatley and Isaac Fish-
er had accompanied Fetterman, wish-
ing to experiment with their new Hen-
ry 44-caliber 16-shot rimfire rifles:
they were later found slumped over
piles of empty cartridge cased and
brutally mutilated.
i
soldiers in the West received some im-
proved weapons. Big Colt 44 Army
pistols, called the Dragoon Model,
replaced the old single-shot pistols.
These were caplock six-shooters
weighing 4 pounds and were hard
shooting weapons. Some were fur-
nished with an attachable shoulder
stock, making them into a "pistol-
carbine." This experiment, along with
an 1855 Model Springfield single- shot
caplock pistol with attachable stock,
proved unpopular; the soldiers pre-
ferred the reliable breechloading
Sharps carbines, very popular
throughout the West. Some were used
by the Pony Express, by stagelines
and others as well as by the military.
In 1858, the same year as the gold
rush to Pike's Peak in Colorado, the
Butterfield Overland Mail completed
its first run, providing a link in trans-
contiental travel from coast to coast.
Two years later the pony Express
started the drumming of hoof beats
between St. Joseph, Missouri, and
Sacramemto, California. oter, although
Riders of the Pony Express pre-
ferred the Model 1851 Colt Navy pis-
tol, a 36-caliber six-shooter, although
a few carried the big 44 Dragooon Colt,
106 having been furnished by the
army and 25 by citizens of Sacramen-
to. The Colt"Navy" pistols were so
named more for the baval scene en-
graved on their cylinder than for their
use by that branch of the service.
The army supplied 60 of the 54-cali-
ber Model 1841 "Missisippi" rifiles
for use at the Pony Expreess relay
stations. The riders preferred the
light 52-caliber Sharps carbines when
it was necessary for them to carry a
shoulder arm.
When General James H. Carleton
led his California Volunteers into Ari-
zona in 1862 to drive the Confederate
forces back into Texas, his men were
armed with 58-caliber Springfield ri-
fled muskets, Sharps carbines, Colt
36 Navy pistols, and sabers. Team-
sters were given the big44 Colt Dra-
goon six-shooters.
Life for the army became increas-
ingly difficult as all kinds of people
filtered into the West. More stage-
lines crisscrossed the teritory, with
Ben Holladay emerging as "The
Stagecoach King," but soon to be
succeeded by Wells Fargo. By this
time the Henry, the Model 1866 Win-
chester (both 44 rimfere caliber) and
56-52 Spencer repeating rifles had ap-
peared. These, along with the ever-
effective double barrel shotguns,
were often part of the armament used
by stagecoach guards "riding shot-
gun."
After the War between the States.
pioneers like Charles Goodnight
Jesse Chisholm drove herds of cattle
north to Colorado and Wyoming, and
to railroad shipping points in Kansas.
Not satisfied with this, in 1866 Nel-
son Story decided to drive a herd of
3000 cattle up to the fine grazing
lands of Montana. The Sioux had
Bozeman Trail through Montana were
undermanned no escorts were avail-
able, but Story had an ace in the hole.
Somehow he had managed to obtain
a number of the first Remington roll-
ing-block 50-caliber breechloaders to
be sent into the west, and when the
Sioux attacked theu received such a
hot reception from Story and his men
that they were driven off with severe
losses.
It was a different story in December
of 1866 when Brevet Lieutenant Col-
onel William J. Fettermen led a de-
tachmeny of 81 men on a scouting
mission from Fort Phill Kearnu, a fort
on the Little Piney hated by the In-
dians. Armed primarily with Civil
War muzzle-loading rifled muskets
and some Sharps carbines, Fetter-
man's command was surprised by
2000 Sioux and shot down to the last
man. James Wheatley and Isaac Fish-
er had accompanied Fetterman, wish-
ing to experiment with their new Hen-
ry 44-caliber 16-shot rimfire rifles:
they were later found slumped over
piles of empty cartridge cased and
brutally mutilated.
i
The Conquest of California
The progress of this army may be
quickly summed up by stating that
they took New Mexico with hardly a
shot fired and quickly occupied that
vital territory. General Kearny, leav-
ing others to the occupation duties,
took a detachm in of about 100 men
and started out for C alifornia. A short
distance out of Sante Fe, Kearny met
Kit Carson on the trail. Carson was
returning from California to visit his
family in Taos. Akvised of the impor-
tant nature of Kearny's missionm, Car-
son agreed to turn around and guide
the soldiers to SanDiego for a ren-
dezvous with sailors and marines of
the Pacific Squadron commanded by
Commodore Robert F. Stockton. At
San Pascual, northeast of San Diego,
the Dragoons met a force of superbly
mounted Californianos and a desper-
ate fight ensued. They eventually
reached San Diego and, with a force
of men from the Pacific Squadron,
marched north to victories at the San
Gabriel River and at Los Angeles.
Fremont, in command of a force re-
cruited in northern California, took
so long on the way south that he ar-
rived just in time for the surrender.
Sailors and marines of the Pacific
Squadron were still using flintlock
muskets in 1846. Some had pikes and,
as has been mentioned, a group of
skirmishers had Colt revolving cylin-
der caplock carbines.
Following closely after the first ap-
pearance of U.S. soldiers in the South-
west under General Kearny, Col. Phil-
ip St. George Cooke was ordered to
build a wagon road from the Rio
Grande to the Pacific Ocean. Recruit-
ing a battalion comprised mostly of
Mormons, who had been stranded on
the way west while migrating from
Illinois, Cooke's "Mormon Battalion"
of about 400 men raised a lot of dust
and did a creditable job. One of the
conditions of their enlistment was
that they could retain thier arms when
mustered out in C"alifornia. They were
armed with an assortment of weapons,
mostly smoothbore muskets, but a
few of the fortunate ones had Model
1841 brass-mounted caplock rifles.
These excellent guns were 54 caliber
and are sometines called the "yager"
or "mississippi" rifle. they saw ser-
vice in many areas of the West and
were second only to the Hawken rifle
in efficiency and popularity.
While all this activity was going on
westward from the Missouri into the
Southwest, other trails farther north
felt the tread of venturesome Amer-
icans seeking a new life and land of
their own.
Following Captain L.E. de Bonne-
ville's expedition into Oregon in 1832,
the missionaries Whitman and Spald-
ing made the journey to christianize
the Indians. By 1846 the dispute
with England over the U.S.-Canadian
border was settled, and the Hudson's
Bay Company was forced to move its
posts up into British Columbia.
While they had been in the Oregon
Territory, however, many of those
"Northwest" flintlock trade guns
came into the hands of Indians of
that area.
With land in the Oregon Territory
open to homesteading, the trail to
Oregon through South Pass, Fort
Bridger and Fort Hall was rutted by
the passing of many wagons. In 1847
Brigham Young and his followers
swung southwest from Fort Bridger,
saw the great salt lake, and declared
"This is the place! " While the Mor-
mons in Utah obtained a number of
Colt cap and ball pistols and other
arms manufactured in the East, it
was not long before their own gun-
smiths were turning out weapons.
Among these artisans was Jonathon
Browning, father of John M. Brown-
ing, who was a greater western history-
maker than John Moses Browning,
whose inventions were eagrly sought
and used by Winchester, Colt, and
other prominent arms manufacturers!
By 1849 the stamped west got in
full swing--gold had been discovered
in California. Now the role of the
army was complicated and greatly ex-
panded. There were forts to build
and emigrants to be protected from
the Indians who were beginning to
get very restive over all this traffic
through lands which had been their
private preserves for years.
quickly summed up by stating that
they took New Mexico with hardly a
shot fired and quickly occupied that
vital territory. General Kearny, leav-
ing others to the occupation duties,
took a detachm in of about 100 men
and started out for C alifornia. A short
distance out of Sante Fe, Kearny met
Kit Carson on the trail. Carson was
returning from California to visit his
family in Taos. Akvised of the impor-
tant nature of Kearny's missionm, Car-
son agreed to turn around and guide
the soldiers to SanDiego for a ren-
dezvous with sailors and marines of
the Pacific Squadron commanded by
Commodore Robert F. Stockton. At
San Pascual, northeast of San Diego,
the Dragoons met a force of superbly
mounted Californianos and a desper-
ate fight ensued. They eventually
reached San Diego and, with a force
of men from the Pacific Squadron,
marched north to victories at the San
Gabriel River and at Los Angeles.
Fremont, in command of a force re-
cruited in northern California, took
so long on the way south that he ar-
rived just in time for the surrender.
Sailors and marines of the Pacific
Squadron were still using flintlock
muskets in 1846. Some had pikes and,
as has been mentioned, a group of
skirmishers had Colt revolving cylin-
der caplock carbines.
Following closely after the first ap-
pearance of U.S. soldiers in the South-
west under General Kearny, Col. Phil-
ip St. George Cooke was ordered to
build a wagon road from the Rio
Grande to the Pacific Ocean. Recruit-
ing a battalion comprised mostly of
Mormons, who had been stranded on
the way west while migrating from
Illinois, Cooke's "Mormon Battalion"
of about 400 men raised a lot of dust
and did a creditable job. One of the
conditions of their enlistment was
that they could retain thier arms when
mustered out in C"alifornia. They were
armed with an assortment of weapons,
mostly smoothbore muskets, but a
few of the fortunate ones had Model
1841 brass-mounted caplock rifles.
These excellent guns were 54 caliber
and are sometines called the "yager"
or "mississippi" rifle. they saw ser-
vice in many areas of the West and
were second only to the Hawken rifle
in efficiency and popularity.
While all this activity was going on
westward from the Missouri into the
Southwest, other trails farther north
felt the tread of venturesome Amer-
icans seeking a new life and land of
their own.
Following Captain L.E. de Bonne-
ville's expedition into Oregon in 1832,
the missionaries Whitman and Spald-
ing made the journey to christianize
the Indians. By 1846 the dispute
with England over the U.S.-Canadian
border was settled, and the Hudson's
Bay Company was forced to move its
posts up into British Columbia.
While they had been in the Oregon
Territory, however, many of those
"Northwest" flintlock trade guns
came into the hands of Indians of
that area.
With land in the Oregon Territory
open to homesteading, the trail to
Oregon through South Pass, Fort
Bridger and Fort Hall was rutted by
the passing of many wagons. In 1847
Brigham Young and his followers
swung southwest from Fort Bridger,
saw the great salt lake, and declared
"This is the place! " While the Mor-
mons in Utah obtained a number of
Colt cap and ball pistols and other
arms manufactured in the East, it
was not long before their own gun-
smiths were turning out weapons.
Among these artisans was Jonathon
Browning, father of John M. Brown-
ing, who was a greater western history-
maker than John Moses Browning,
whose inventions were eagrly sought
and used by Winchester, Colt, and
other prominent arms manufacturers!
By 1849 the stamped west got in
full swing--gold had been discovered
in California. Now the role of the
army was complicated and greatly ex-
panded. There were forts to build
and emigrants to be protected from
the Indians who were beginning to
get very restive over all this traffic
through lands which had been their
private preserves for years.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)