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Show -4- usually stayed with him; if he felt chills and fever caning on he'·d hurry to camp to get something hot to drink, then he'd return to meet father. Whenever Whitney met father he was whistling. One evening Whitney said, "You beat anyone I ever knew. I believe if you were going to die, you would be whistling. " The battalion had gone one hundred miles s outhwest from Santa Fe when the sick in camp-_ were oritdered back to Pueblo on the Arkansas river. Father was sent back with this second detachment of 55 men. Lieutenant w. w. Willis was in command. They started back on the 10th of November, 1846. A few able bodies men were sent back to care for the sick. One of two brothers was chosen to go back, but he preferred going on with his brother. Elijah N(?_nnan Freeman asked to go in his stead. (Elijah Norman. Freeman, who had married father"s oldewt sister,. Mary, wished to go back to care for his brotherin- law, but of course he did not tell this to the commanding of ficer.) The able bodied men were required to help push the wagon up the hills. Pushing t he wagons made the men sweat and when they reached the top a cold breeze st ruck them. Freeman and Richard Carter caugllt a cold, mountain fever settled in. ll'reema.n lived about five days and died on November 28th. Richard Carter died the same day. They were buried four miles south of S~ora Rio GJ:!Wl. At one time Lieute..uant Willis was helping father mount his horse. He said, "Why man! you' 11 never reach home alive." Father thought to himself, "Darn you, I'll o~tli ve you." A few years later the lieutenant ilied. After much suffering from the hardships from the journey--weak teams, scant supplies of food, illy clad, general sickness among the men, the fall of December snows in the mountain ranges north of Santa Fe, excessive cold, and several deaths;, this detachment finally arrived in Pueblo on the 20th of December, 1846. They were warmly received by members ot the first detachment who had arrived in Pueblo on November 17th. All told, about one hundred and fifty members of the battalion were now at Pueblo. One evening while at Pueblo when the men were sitting around the campfire, Gib Hunt came into the camp where father and Uncle Erastus were. Uncle Erastus had left the group that Hunt had charge of, and joined father's. When he asked Hunt for his portion of the rations, Hunt acted indifferent and sassy. He said, "I'll give you your rations when I get ready." This made Uncle Erastus angry and he said, "I' 11 not be afaraid of any Hunt that God every made." He had no more than said this when Hunt jumped through the fire and started to knock at Uncle Erastus. They had a few rounds when some of the men parted the t wo. Hunt said, "You may come and get your ra ti ans." At Pueblo on the opposite side of the river the Mississippi Company were camped. · John Holladay and family were in this company. It was here that father met Caron H. Holladay who l ater became his wife. |
