Traitor!!

In March of 1849 when the snows subsided, Crazy Bill Williams and Dr. Kern, two survivors of the relief party went back into the mountains to salvage the notes and equipment Fremont had deserted.  The two were never seen again, but stories came down that they were captured by the Ute's (whom Williams had betrayed). Kern was killed in the skirmish and Williams was taken captive and executed as a traitor to his people and his wife's people.  Thus ends the life of one Crazy Bill Williams who had traveled with the best of the western mountain men, including Captain Joe Walker, Kit Carson, and Jim Bridger.  

Next time...Rancher in California
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This Day in History:  On December 4, 1867,  former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Grange, which became a powerful political force among western farmers. Although the Grange, like the Masons, began primarily as a social organization designed to provide educational and recreational opportunities for farmers, it evolved into a major political force.  The Grange also played a key role in creating the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which called for the first federal regulation of railroads to control unfair shipping rates.

With a Friend Like That...

In December 1848, they reach Sangre de Cristo and were in trouble from the snow and severe cold.  Crazy Bill Williams in a sober moment began to reconsider his promise to lead them through the mountains and wanted to redirect them through New Mexico, but  John Charles Fremont wouldn't budge.  

The men began to weaken and by Christmas, Williams just wanted to "lay down and die", reported one man on the expedition.  On December 27, Fremont finally began to question the sanity of what he was doing and seeing how bad Williams really was, he dispatched him along with 2 men to return to Taos to find help.

With blizzards raging around camp and lack of food, Fremont's nerve finally gave out two weeks later.  Taking 15 men and some supplies, Fremont started out for civilization, leaving the rest of the men to fend for themselves!!!  When he met the first relief party outside of camp, he refused to offer his men any help! On January 27,  Fremont arrived in Taos where he sent a letter back East blaming Williams for the fiasco.  then he left for California through southern Arizona.   

For the record, Fremont left behind 11 of his men who starved or were frozen to death in the mountains.  Upon reaching California, he called the expedition "satisfactory".  

I am not saying that Crazy Bill Williams was an upstanding sober man, but in my opinion John Charles Fremont ranks up there as one of the sorriest excuses for a man in history...you can decide for yourself.

Next time...Traitor!

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On this Day in History:  On December 1, 1882,  Elfego Baca, legendary defender of southwestern Hispanos, manages to hold off a gang of 80 cowboys who are determined to kill him. The trouble began the previous day, when Baca arrested Charles McCarthy, a cowboy who fired five shots at him in at Frisco (now Reserve),  New Mexico.  For months, a vicious band of Texan cowboys had terrorized the Hispanos of Frisco, brutally castrating one young Mexican man and using another for target practice. Outraged by these abuses, Baca gained a commission as deputy sheriff to try to end the terror. His arrest of McCarthy served notice to other Anglo cowboys that further abuses of the Hispanos would not be tolerated.

2 Bad Apples...

Crazy Bill William and Charles John Fremont departed for the last time from the Rockies -  one dead and one alive. 

Fremont was again appointed to survey the West for the railroad by his father-in-law, Senator Benton.  Fremont had never been in Colorado or Utah territory before, but the 38th parallel was the practical route for rail travel, so he offered to lead an expedition through the territory in the DEAD OF WINTER!

On November 1848 Fremont tried to recruit men at Fort Bent to join him - all of them turned him down.  They knew that Sangre de Cristo in the winter was suicide.  Fremont ignored them, of course, and reached Pueblo on the 21st of November.  There he found Crazy Bill Williams who was 61 years old by now and an alcoholic.  He, of course, volunteered to "guide" Fremont through the mountains.  Even though Fremont knew better, he still accepted William's offer...I think they made a perfect pair if you have been following the blog for any length of time...

By the way, Crazy Bill was suffering from a gunshot wound he received when he lead the military against his wife's own Indian people....

We continue this story next time with "With Friends Like These"...

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This Day in History:   On November 27, 1878,  Without bothering to identify the village or do any reconnaissance, Lieutenant Colonel George Custer leads an early morning attack on a band of peaceful Cheyenne living with Chief Black Kettle. Convicted of desertion and mistreatment of soldiers earlier that year in a military court, the government had suspended Custer from rank and command for one year.

Oil and Water = Horse Thief?

John Charles Fremont's third expedition was westward from Montana to Pueblo Colorado which at that time was a collection of huts where the undesirables of the Southwest hung out - among them Crazy Bill Williams.  Fremont appointed Williams to pilot the rest of his expedition along with his Ute wife.  By this time Crazy Bill's drinking and temper had worsened to the point of causing real problems on the trail.

The group caught up with Walker on the White River in Utah where Fremont finally convinced Walker to pilot his remaining expedition.  Walker was headed to California with furs and horses, and probably Fremont was headed that same course.  Remember that Fremont had been hired to survey the Southwest, not California!

Shortly after joining up with Fremont, Captain Walker and Crazy Bill Williams got into it with Williams claiming that Walker had taken over his job (which he had).  Sometime in the night Williams left, taking two of Walker's best horses with him.  A horse thief is never well liked...

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This Day in History: On November 10, 1808, in a decision that would eventually make them one of the wealthiest surviving Indian nations, the Osage Indians agree to abandon their lands in Missouri and Arkansas in exchange for a reservation in Oklahoma.The Osage were the largest tribe of the Southern Sioux Indians occupying what would later become the states of Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska.

Next Time...Trouble in California

Allied with the Indian Tribes

For a brief time before the settlers and soldiers arrived (12 years), the remaining mountain men lived well.  The elite group included Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Crazy Bill Williams, William Bent and Joe Walker.  They were scattered over a huge unsettled area from the central plains and upper Missouri to the Sonoran Desert and the Sierras.  They had one thing in common - they each had a special relationship with one or two of the important Indian nations.  The only white who remained and did well were established good businessmen and bartered with the Indians for pelts.

Their tribes included:

Bent and Carson --- Cheyenne and Arapaho
Bridger --- Shoshoni
Beckworth --- Crow
Williams --- Ute
Walker --- Snake

Next time...a Special Exception

The Paiutes Incident

Captain Walker encountered the Paiute Indians, who began following his group of men. Supposedly fascinated by their equipment, the Indians began to be adept at pilfering - but Walker refused his men vengeance .

Bill Craig, Levin Mitchell, and Crazy Bill Williams in particular, those with a murderous reputation, decided while hunting one day that they would kill a few Paiutes against the Captain's orders.  They did it again the next day but this time Walker caught on.  It is not known what discipline Walker meted out, but the killings stopped abruptly.  

That's not the end of the story...

The next morning the Paiutes were back at Walker's camp.  Walker and his men were moving camp and the Indians would cut in front of them to delay the move.  80-100 Paiutes came forward which made Walker quite nervous, but his cool temperament ruled and he gave orders for the charge. When it was all over 30 Paiute lay dead in the field, and the remainder ran into the high grass in every direction howling like wolves.    
 
What could or should have been done on that day is a matter of judgment in the history books.  Walker lived it first hand, his critics of the day did not.  He accomplished what needed to be done - the Paiutes were gone and his party continued crossing the Humboldt River on rafts through regions where no white man had ever gone before, passing what later became Carson Lake, Walker Lake and Walker River, toward the mountains.  

Next time - Out of Options...  

A Band of Merry Men

Once Leonard was in place, Walker recruited some of the boldest and most experienced mountain men around - and also the most unruly and difficult to lead.  Enter Crazy Bill Williams, the savage, talk-to-yourself guy from the Santa Fe days, one Levin Mitchell who later became known as the most notorious frontier thief, George Nidever, one of the best rifle shots in the West, Powell Weaver and Bill Craig, who fled the East after killing a man, and finally Joe Meek, the partier who ran away at 16 after beating his teacher.

What a bunch of guys!  

Each man was given 4 horses, equal shares of blankets, buffalo robes, provisions and every article of comfort for an expedition of its kind.  The men looked on Walker as a "good leader, one of the best, a good hunter, a good trapper, thoroughly versed in Indian signs, and possessing a good knowledge of the mountains", said Nidever.  

Next Time...They're Off! 

Crazy Bill Williams

In March of 1823, James Monroe signed a bill appropriating $30,000 to survey and mark a wagon route to New Mexico.  Congressman Benton suggested an actual road be built and but there was not enough money to build the road over 800 miles.  The bill did however give the federal approval for western commerce and expansion at long last.

George Sibley was put in charge of hiring 35 men for Monroe's survey party - "we don't want a party of  gentleman coffee drinkers", George said.  He hired Joe Walker and Joe's younger brother, John, as part of the team.

The last team member picked was Bill Williams, who was the total opposite of Joe Walker with bouts of frightening drunkenness along with a very sadistic nature.  Walker and Williams would eventually have a showdown years later and 500 miles to the west.

"Crazy Bill" as Williams came to be called, was clumsy on and off a horse, talked to himself, and even tried preaching to all the men.  Williams did have a couple of good talents - he had wrote a complete Osage -English Dictionary and was well aware of the customs and language of the inhabitants of whose land they would be traveling through.  Crazy Bill was a good negotiator, interpreter, and had boundless energy and strength.  All in all, enough good traits to overrule the not-so-good.

Next time -    The Road to Santa Fe