Bed & Breakfast Inns and Ranches of Wyoming

Click here for the story of Portugee Phillips' ride

The following story is a companion piece to Portugee Philips' daring ride south, which, for whatever reason, has escaped attention.

A few weeks after Philips' ride, Fort Phil Kearney's new commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Wessells, tried to establish contact with Fort C. F. Smith along the Bozeman Trail seventy-five miles to the north.  Five different military parties were sent out in January 1867 but turned back because of deep snow or Indian encounters.  Wessells tried to hire civilians for the job, but all the available men, including Portugee Philips, turned him down.  Finally two infantry sergeants, George Grant and John Graham, volunteered to go.  Their journey north began at dawn on February 4 and took four full days.  They traveled almost the entire distance on snowshoes, wandering far from the trail in search of the best passage, and carrying their supplies on their backs.

After only two day's rest, they started back on the evening of February 9, this time on horseback and accompanied by Mich Bouyer, who led a pack mule carrying the mail.  At midday on February 10 they ran into Indians and Bouyer abandoned the mule, the three men fleeing south through the deep snow as fast as their horses could carry them.  Grant was left by the other two when his horse gave out, but he survived by shooting two of the pursuing Indians and holing up until dark, when he started out again on foot.  He finally made it back to Fort Phil Kearny on the evening of the 13th, to find Graham and Bouyer already there, though their horses, too, had collapsed on the way.  This harrowing excursion was successful in that communications with Fort C. F. Smith were maintained for the rest of the winter.

Click here to continue the story of Fort Phil Kearny