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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Map
Cries from the Earth Cast of Characters
Introduction
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Epilogue
Notes
Afterword
The Plainsmen Series by Terry C. Johnston
Praise
High Praise for the Work of Terry C. Johnston
Copyright
with my deep admiration and heartfelt respect for how he breathes such passion into our common history, I dedicate this novel on the outbreak of the Nez Perce War to my friend,
Paul Andrew Hutton
Cries from the Earth Cast of Characters
Civilians
Larry Ott
Emily FitzGerald
Elizabeth FitzGerald
Bert FitzGerald
Jennie
Mrs. —— Perry
John B. Monteith
Charles Monteith
Erwin C. Watkins
Perrin B. Whitman
William Watson
John Wood
Hiram Titman
E. R. Sherwin
—— Van Sickle
Harry Cone
CIVILIANS INVOLVED IN THE FIRST MURDERS
Jurden Henry Elfers
Fritz Elfers
“Harry” Burn Beckrodge
—— Whitfield
Norman Gould
George Greer
Samuel Benedict
Emmy Benedict
Catherine Elfers
Richard Devine
Robert Bland
Victor ——
Charles “Charley” P. Cone
Isabella Benedict
CIVILIANS INVOLVED IN THE SECOND RAID
James Baker
George Popham
Conrad Fruth
John J. Manuel
Maggie Manuel
Jennet Manuel
Albert Benson
William Osborn
Annie Osborn
Helen Walsh
William George
“French Frank” / “Frenchie” / François Chodoze
—— Koon
August Bacon
Patrick Brice
H. C. “Hurdy Gurdy” Brown
Harry Mason
Elizabeth Klein Osborn
Edward Walsh
Masi Walsh
“old man” Shoemaker
CIVILIANS INVOLVED IN THE CAMAS PRAIRIE RAIDS
Benjamin B. Norton
Hill Norton
Luther P. “Lew” Wilmot
Lewis “Lew” Day
Mrs. —— Chamberlin
F. Joseph “Joe” Moore
Charles Rice
James Adkison
Doug Adkison
John G. Rowton
Jennie Norton
Lynn Bowers
Pete Ready
John Chamberlin
Hattie Chamberlin
Frank Fenn
George Hashagen
John Adkison
Cash Day
George Shearer
Charles Horton
Herman Faxon
John W. Crooks
John Crooks, Jr.
Delia Theller
William Coram
Theodore Swarts
Loyal P. (L.P.) Brown
Sarah Brown
Charley Crooks
Arthur “Ad” (“Admiral”) Chapman
Joe Robie
Military
General Oliver Otis Howard—
“Cut-Off Arm”
Captain David Perry—
Commander, Fort Lapwai, F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Captain William H. Boyle—
Commander, G Company, Twenty-first U.S. Infantry
Captain Joel Graham Trimble—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
First Lieutenant Peter Bomus—
Fort Lapwai post quartermaster
First Lieutenant Edward Russell Theller—
F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
First Lieutenant Melville C. Wilkinson—
aide-de-camp to General Howard
Second Lieutenant William Russell Parnell—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
First Sergeant Alexander M. Baird—
F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
First Sergeant Michael McCarthy—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Sergeant Patrick Gunn—
F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Sergeant Patrick Reilly—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Sergeant Isidor Schneider—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Sergeant Henry Arend—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Sergeant John Conroy—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Corporal Charles W. Fuller—
F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Corporal Joseph F. Lytte—
F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Corporal Michael Curran—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Corporal Roman D. Lee—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Corporal Frank L. Powers—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Trumpeter John M. Jones (“Jonesy”)—
F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Trumpeter Michael Daly—
F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Trumpeter Frank A. Marshall—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Farrier John Drugan—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Blacksmith Albert Myers—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Private James Shay—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Private Aman Hartman—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Private Charles E. Fowler—
H Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Private John Schoor—
F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Privat
e John White—
F Company, First U.S. Cavalry
Surgeon John FitzGerald
Nez Perce
Abraham Brooks
Abraham Watsinma
Alpowa Jim
Jonah Hayes
Frank Husush
James Reuben
Joe Rabusco
Nat Webb
Putonahloo
THREE TREATY SCOUTS CAPTURED AT WHITE BIRD
Robinson Minthon
Yuwishakaikt
Joe Albert (Elaskolatat)
NEZ PERCE (CONT’D)
Yellow Wolf / He-mene Moxmox (White Thunder—Heinmot Hihhih)
Swan Necklace (Wetyetmas Wahyakt)
Five Wounds (Pahkatos Owyeen)
Rainbow (Wahchumyus)
Old Rainbow
Old Joseph (Tuekakas / Old Grizzly)
Young Joseph (Heinmot Tooyalakekt / Thunder Traveling to Loftier Heights Upon the Mountain)
Ta-ma-al-we-non-my (Driven Before a Cold Storm)
Ollokot / Frog
Wetatonmi
Hophop Onmi / Sound of Running Feet
Welweyas
Half Moon
Three Eagles
John Wilson
Two Moons (Lepeet Hessemdooks)
Sun Necklace (Yellow Bull / Chuslum Moxmox)
Big Morning (Big Dawn / Hemackkis Kaiwon)
Toohoolhoolzote
Bare Feet
Stick-in-the-Mud
Tissaikpee
Red Elk
Geese Three Times Lighting on the Water
Red Grizzly Bear (Hahkauts Ilppilp)
Black Feather
Two Mornings
Wounded Head (Husis Owyeen)
Five Winters (Pahka Alyanakt)
Jyeloo
Five Times Looking Up (Pahkatos Watyekit)
Going Alone (Kosooyeen)
No Feet (Seeskoomkee)
Hand in Hand (Payenapta)
Vicious Weasel (Wettiwetti Haulis)
Red Raven (Koklok Ilppilp)
Going Fast (Henawit)
Fire Body (Otstotpoo)
Strong Eagle (Tipyahlahnah Kapskaps)
Looking Glass Alalimiatakanin / “A Vision”)
Yellow Bear
Tucallasasena
White Bird (Peopeo / White, White Goose, White Crane, White Pelican)
Eagle Robe (Tipyahlanah Siskon)—father of Wahlitits
Shore Crossing (Wahlitits)
Red Moccasin Tops (Sarpsis Ilppilp)
Yellow Grizzly Bear (Heyoom Moxmox)
Teeweawea
Black Foot
Tolo / Tula (Tulekats Chickchamit)
Palouse
Bald Head / Shorn Head (Huishuish Kute)
Red Echo (Hahtalekin)
Introduction
Before you begin, take a moment to consider …
The story you are about to read is entirely true.
I haven’t fabricated a single one of the scenes to follow this introduction. Every incident happened when and where and how I have written it. Every one of the characters you will come to know actually lived, perhaps died, during the outbreak of the Nez Perce War.
After my previous thirteen Plainsmen novels, hundreds of thousands of you already have an abiding faith in me, a belief that what you’re going to read is accurate and authentic. But for those of you picking up your first Terry C. Johnston book, let me make this one very important vow to you: If I show one of these fascinating characters in a particular scene, then you best believe that character was there, when it happened, where it happened. I promise you, this is how that history of the Nez Perce War was made.
What’s more, I want you to know I could have written a book nearly twice as long as this if I had gone back to explore the background of the old treaties and how they were broken, to tell of the discovery of gold deep in Nez Perce country, if I had begun reciting, chapter and verse, all the intrusions by whites where they were not allowed by the treaties, the seductive lure of alcohol and firearms on the young warriors, the firestorm of rapes and murders committed against those Nez Perce bands helplessly watching their old way of life passing away right before their eyes, not to mention the government’s feeble efforts to keep a lid on each troubling incident after the fact … Suffice it to say that the government’s position was that the minority Non-Treaty bands (those who refused to sign) were bound by the vote of the more populous Treaty bands (even though no more a minority of the Treaty males signed the government’s land-grab).
But for all that background I’m not going to give, the reader can learn everything he wants to know in the following books:
I Will Fight No More Forever, by Merrill D. Beal
The Flight of the Nez Perce, by Mark H. Brown
The Nez Perce Tribesmen of the Columbia Plateau, by Francis Haines
The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest, by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.
As for my story, I’m going to dispense with all that historical background you can learn elsewhere because I prefer to drop you right down into the middle of the outbreak of this war.
As you are drawn back in time, you may well wonder: what of those brief news stories that appear here and there at the beginning of certain chapters or scenes? Keep in mind that those aren’t the fruits of my creative imagination. Instead, they are torn right from the front pages of the newspapers of that day.
Oh, one more thing before you start what will surely be one of the most fascinating rides of your life—the letters that Emily FitzGerald, wife of surgeon John FitzGerald, writes home to her mother from Fort Lapwai are real, too. Transcribed verbatim for you, every last word of those letters makes them simple, heartfelt messages from a woman who finds herself squarely at ground zero, right in the middle of an Indian war. They, and those brief newspaper stories too, I hope will lend an immediacy to this gripping tale that little else could.
As you make your way through this story, page by page, many of you might start to worry when you find this tale missing our intrepid Irishman, Seamus Donegan. But take heart! He, Samantha, and their son, Colin, are at Fort Laramie this spring of 1877, preparing to make their way north to Fort Robinson, where they will be center stage for the last months of Crazy Horse’s life … a distance that makes it impossible for Donegan to be in Idaho Territory for this start of the Nez Perce War at the very same time he is returning from the end of the Great Sioux War on the Northern Plains.
So please remember as you begin this ride with me: Every scene you are about to read actually happened. Every one of these characters was real—and they were there … to live or die in this outbreak of a damned dirty little war.
I don’t think I could have made up this tragic story if I’d tried. I’m simply not that good a writer.
Prologue
Autumn, 1874
A jagged shred of lightning split the leaden sky suspended just over his head. On its heels rumbled a peal of autumn thunder so close he felt it clear to his marrow. Clouds hung low, wisps of their shredded underbellies suspended like tatters of the white man’s muslin among the heavy branches of the firs towering over him like silent giants.
The rain would not be long behind, Eagle Robe thought as the cabin made of unpeeled logs came into sight. He sucked in a sudden breath, startled to find the crude structure standing there at the edge of the clearing. Even more surprised to see the second, larger, building slowly take shape out of the mist behind the cabin. It was not made out of unchinked logs, but from planks milled from the huge pines that steepled this paradise of the Nee-Me-Poo,1 the people a band of long-ago white explorers first called the Chopunnish.2
At that time of first contact, the Nee-Me-Poo numbered more than six thousand souls who referred to the light-skinned traders coming among them as “Boston Men.” But in the last few generations, as a full half of the Nee-Me-Poo died off with the rampant diseases brought them by the newcomers, Eagle Robe’s people started referring to the white men as Shadows. Dark, soulles
s creatures, most of whom were cordial, while some took real pleasure in conniving to get their hands on everything they coveted, especially what already belonged to others.
Beyond both structures Eagle Robe saw the first of the cattle grazing in a far pasture. As he got closer, he could hear them lowing. On the far side of the larger building stood a sizable pole corral where a few horses milled.
Another crack of thunder reverberated off the hillside, all the closer now. So close Eagle Robe felt the vibration drag a rusty finger to the base of his spine. The storm would not be long in coming now.
Perhaps this white settler named Larry Ott would give him shelter if the rain came hard, if a strong wind blew. As he got older, Eagle Robe had discovered the cold grew more and more painful, stabbing him all the way to the bone with the approach of winter. He had no reason to suspect that this Shadow would not offer him a place out of the wind and the cold. Larry Ott had been a most pleasant sort early last spring when that white man began to graze his cattle and horses on the fringes of the tribe’s land, right beside some of Eagle Robe’s garden plots. Then last spring, this Shadow appealed to chief White Bird’s band of Lamtama to allow him a little more land where he could graze even more cattle.