The Final Interview

The last interview Joseph Walker gave was in August 1867 to George Gift.  He was 69 years old.  Gift asked Walker what he thought about the military and all the Indian fighting.  Walker said that  "it was not surprising since as long as he could remember, federal troops had performed indifferently on the plains.  Soldiers are well enough to mount guard and make a show on dress parade, but are poor things when Indians are to be fought."

About the Sioux Walker said, "They are numerous and therein only are they formidable.  I have always considered them as inferior to other tribes, man to man.  They will fight, but they still are not to be feared by men who understand Indian fighting, if the numbers are anything like equal.  I have fought better Indians than the Sioux with the odds 5 to 1 against me and the position of their own choosing. I still wear my hair", he joked.

When asked about Fremont, he said, "Fremont... they tell me that Stonewall Jackson whipped him battle.  It was no credit to him for an old squaw could whip Fremont."

Walker was too feeble to talk much, but he still refused to contribute to frontier fiction which was already replacing the facts...

Next time...And in the End

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On the Day in History:  On February 5, 1883, the Southern Pacific Railroad completes its transcontinental "Sunset Route" from  New Orleans to California, consolidating its dominance over rail traffic to the Pacific.