OCR Text |
Show .. xu CONTEN'rS. -A Me,xican Woman redeemed from the Indians.-Return t Santa Fe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p acre 4 83o . . . .. . . . . 0 CHAPTER XXXV. Departure for California. -Meeting with the A pach H 'I Threats.-Trouble with the Utahs.-Most terri'ble Tr esd.- Sost~ e t · c 1·r · age y .- ociey In a llornia.-Adventures with Grizzly Bears . . . . . . . . . . . 499 CHAPTER XXXVI. . Discovery of Beckwourth's Pass N . Services T r . .- o pecuniary Reward for public · - rans1ormatwn _A new Ch t E . Home and at th · J ·, arac er.- migrants at ley -I t t' euR ou.r~ey s Encl.-Description of the Happy Val. n eres mg :\.emmiscence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 514 CHAPTER XXXVII. Mistak~s .rbegarding ~he Character of the Indian.-Extent of the We t ern ri es.-The1r Character -How W · s - be conducted. -Reflections _· CI . a Ada; against them should roine ....... .............·. o~mg ress to the Indian he- . . . . . . . . . . . . ................ 529 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAM E.S P. BECK W 0 U R T H. CHAPTER I. Birth-place and Childhood.-Removal to St. Louis. I WAS born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on the 26th of April, 1798. 1\iy father's family consisted of thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. I . was the third child, having one sister and one broth_er older than myself. My father had been an officer in the Revolutionary War, and had held a major's commission. He served throughout that glorious struggle which " Raised the dignity of man, And taught him to be free.'' I well recollect, when a small boy, the frequent meetings of the old patriots at my father's house, who would sit down and relate the different battles in which they had taken part during "those days that tried men's souls." According to the custon1 of those days, their meetings were occasionally enlivened with some good old peach brandy; the same kind, I presume, as that 'vith which the old Tory treated M'Donald when he delivered hiR splendid charger '' Selirn" to hin1 for presentation to Colonel Tarleton, which circumstance was very frequently spoken of by the old soldiers. . Often during these reminiscences every eye would |