The Life of Buffalo Bill · Chapter
An Appointment explained
General Sheridan appoints Cody as guide and chief of scouts for the Fifth Cavalry, which is to be sent against the Dog Soldier Indians in the Republican River region.
What happens
General Sheridan appoints Cody as guide and chief of scouts for the Fifth Cavalry, which is to be sent against the Dog Soldier Indians in the Republican River region. Cody then recounts the harrowing story of General Forsyth's expedition and the Battle of Arickaree, where a small band of frontiersmen held off hundreds of Dog Soldiers for several days until relief arrived.
Themes in this chapter
Conflict and Coexistence with Native Americans
The chapter details the violent conflict between U.S. forces and the Dog Soldier Cheyennes, highlighting the relentless warfare and the refusal of some tribes to submit to treaties.
Violence and Survival
The brutal siege of Forsyth's scouts, with heavy casualties, starvation, and desperate measures, exemplifies the extreme violence and survival struggles on the frontier.
Loyalty and Comradeship
The scouts' decision to stay together and die rather than abandon each other, and the dangerous missions to get help, underscore deep bonds of loyalty.
Characters to notice
- Buffalo Bill
Receives appointment as guide and chief of scouts from General Sheridan.
- General Philip H. Sheridan
Appoints Cody as guide and chief of scouts for the Fifth Cavalry.
- General George A. Forsyth
Led the expedition against the Dog Soldiers; was twice seriously wounded during the battle.
- General Hazen
Cody is told he need not report back to him.
Key passages
“General Sheridan highly complimented me for what I had done, and informed me that I need not report back to General Hazen, as he had more important work for me to do.”
General Sheridan praised my efforts and said I was to skip reporting to General Hazen because he had a bigger task for me.
Cody receives a new assignment directly from Sheridan.
“The Dog Soldier Indians were a band of Cheyennes and unruly, turbulent members of other tribes, who would not enter into any treaty, or keep a treaty if they made one, and who had always refused to go upon a reservation.”
The Dog Soldiers were a group of Cheyennes and other rebellious Native Americans who rejected all treaties and refused to live on reservations.
Description of the Dog Soldier band.
“It was a brilliant charge, and was most nobly and bravely repulsed.”
The attack was impressive, but the scouts fought back with great courage and drove them off.
Cody's admiration for the scouts' defense against the Dog Soldier charge.