BACK AT FORT DODGE The swiftly speeding weeks of that war-summer on the plains had brought many changes to the hard-worked troops engaged in the campaign or garrisoning the widely scattered posts south of the Platte.

Scouting details, although constantly in the saddle, failed to prevent continued Indian depredations on exposed settlements.

Stage routes were deserted, and the toiling wagons of the freighters vanished from the trails.

Reports of outrages were continuous, and it became more and more evident that the various tribes were at length united in a desperate effort to halt the white advance.

War parties broke through the wide-strung lines of guard, and got safely away again, leaving behind death and destruction.