| Army Scouting, Cavalry Scout, Indian Scouts, Crow Indians, Cheyenne Indian
Army Scout
A group of individual men, no two alike, that could read the signs of the land like the back of his hand in the treacherous and dangerous west thus was the Army Scout. The Army scout came from all walks of life such as Christopher Carson better known as Kit and Jim Bridger, both mountain men and fur trappers; James Butler Hickok, the marshal, stagecoach driver, and gambler; William Frederick Cody, the buffalo hunter, pony express rider and star of the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, to name just a few
The army would use an enemy tribe Indian as a scout against a particular tribe. For example, Cheyenne Indians were used against the Sioux
The Army scout's keen eyesight saw the faint outline of a hoof print or a broken twig. Their ears heard the call of a eagle or the sound of footsteps. Their intuitiveness could sense danger. Nothing escaped unnoticed by the Army scouts. They knew every survival skill and could find water and food when none existed in camp
It was their diplomatic, political skills that could convince an Army officer to turn back and when their advice was ignored, disaster occurred such as with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn
He chose to disregard all of his Arikaras and Crow scouts |
