Chapter 2

Eddy Johnson gathered up the horses and stripped the weapons and other useful items from the Jayhawkers. On the six men, he found a total $3.12! "Humph! Jayhawkning can't be very profitable! No wonder they wanted $10 a wagon. That'd probably be the most money they seen all year!" he thought as he took the loot to Andrew Jones, the guard chief.

Meanwhile, Seth Lawson, the scout, swung an arc back and forth about a mile in front of the train and Silas Wimple, a guard, did the same at the rear of the train. They were looking for sign of a large gang of men who might be sneaking up on the train. Neither man found anything, and the train wended it way to the next campground.

The wagons were formed into the two defensive circles and the women fixed supper. Andrew Jones and Johnathon Smith, the train captain, made sure that the men knew their assignments in case of attack that night. Smith was a bit more nervous than Jones, but both men expected an attack that night.

They weren't disappointed! The moon had risen about 3:00 AM and the attack came about an hour later, just before the women would have been getting up to start breakfast. About 30 men came riding up, hell bent for leather, shooting and yelling. Their intent was to panic the people on the train, but, mostly, all it did was make them mad! The attackers rode around the outside of the wagon circle looking for an easy way in, but there wasn't one.

The wagons were pulled up wheel to wheel, so the only way through the barrier was over the wagons or under them. The wagons all had their canvas covers installed and they were much too high to jump, anyway. Thus, the only way past the barricade was under the wagons, and nobody could ride a horse there!

The bugle warning was blown as soon as the shooting was heard and the men took up their guns and waited for the attackers to get close enough. Meanwhile, the women rushed the children to the inner circle of wagons where they should be safe.

Andrew had decided to have the men sleep under their wagons at their guard posts, so they didn't have to move much to be in position. Therefore, it was just a matter of letting the attackers get within 50 yards of the defensive ring before the shotgun fire was let loose. The defenders were kneeling or sitting under their wagons where they were practically invisible, so the first volley was devastating to the attackers. Ten men were killed in the first fusillade, and ten more were killed before the riders had gotten half way around the circled wagons. The remaining attackers rode off without bothering to check on the welfare of their fallen comrades.

Judging from the lack of moans or other sounds from the fallen attackers, Andrew surmised that the bodies they could see were all dead and could be left until daylight. He had Smith order the women to start breakfast, but to leave the children in the inner circle as a precaution. Andrew divided the men into two shifts and had the first shift eat while the second shift kept watch. He then switched the eaters and watchers.

Daylight was well in evidence by the time the second shift had eaten, so Andrew had his three guards join him and they went to examine the fallen bodies. They were, indeed, dead, and so were the few horses, so Andrew had his men strip the fallen horses and men of useful items and stow the stuff in available space in the trains communal wagons.

Meanwhile, Jasper and Smith had the teams hitched and the wagons readied for that day's trek. Some wanted to have a funeral service for the fallen Jayhawkers, but Jasper just spat and walked off.

5 days from Independence

Five days into the journey and they had been making good time. They were about to make their first major river crossing and this was one reason for getting an early start from Independence. Jasper wanted to make the first crossing before the Spring rains caused the river to swell. The Blue was not a big river to cross, but it was a major training opportunity. They would have everything from tricky currents to quicksand to face and this was a relatively easy place to learn.

Jasper had them go through all the motions they would use to face a river in flood. Seth strung a rope across the river at the place Jasper wanted to ford and the drivers were told to guide on it. The water was shallow enough that the oxen would not have to swim and the wagons would not float, but it was still going to be tough to get the wagons and teams across without serious accident.

Jasper had the people hold their place in line as if they were on the march, but he let the women and children wander around on the south side of the river until their turn to cross. The driver's wife and children climbed into the wagon when it was their turn, and the oxen were driven over the ford. The wagon wheels began to sink into the river bottom as soon as they got wet. Now the oxen had to struggle to pull the heavily loaded wagon, and the people could, at last, appreciate Jasper's insistence on sturdy oxen as draft animals.

No wagon was let into the river until the previous one had finished crossing. This way, each wagon got the undivided attention of Jasper and his assistants. Once across the river, the wagon was pulled out of the way to a holding area previously selected by Seth. Here, again, the women and children were allowed to wander around, but the men had to stay with their teams.

Lunch was a split affair that day; those on each side of the river had their own repast. The train would not be fully reunited until supper that evening.

Some wagons crossed the river without major difficulty, while others seemed to catch all of the bad luck. In one case, a team slipped in the water and nearly drowned before they could be pulled to safety. Several wagons suffered broken wheels which had to be replaced before the wagon could be moved. This required at least partial unloading of the wagon before the wheel could be replaced and reloading before the wagon was finally pulled across the river.

This particular ford had only small pockets of quicksand, but Nickolas Holden, one of Jasper's assistants, used a long stick to illustrate the danger of quicksand to their children. The women quickly got the point and kept their children well back from the danger areas. Not all of the children were suitably impressed, but the mothers were!

They managed to cross the river without any major injuries, but there were enough bumps and bruises to make the people realize that a river crossing was not play time.

That night, Jasper held a meeting of the entire train and congratulated them on their first successful crossing. He told them that they would not have another major river crossing until they got to the Platte River in Nebraska. They would cross at Grand Island. That was a major crossing point for every wagon train and there were facilities there to ease their way. In the meantime, they still had a minimum of eight days left in Kansas and every day would mean the chance for another attack by Jayhawkers.

9 days from Independence

Four days since they crossed the Blue and it started to rain. And it rained! And it rained! And it rained! They had all seen heavy rain before, but nothing like this! Water got into everything. And where there wasn't water, there was mud. It was impossible to have hot meals because there was no dry fuel to be found. Nobody was going hungry, but nobody was enjoying the meal stops.

There was mud everywhere. The bedding was muddy where it wasn't wet. A miserable time was had by all. At least, Noah had his Ark, all they had were these damned wagons. And they weren't making their schedule. The oxen were struggling to pull the wagons through a quagmire which seized the wheels and held them in a virtual death grip. Each wagon sank a little deeper into the mud than the wagon in front of it. The wagons at the rear of the train were sinking in more than a foot. In dry weather, the wagon train was nearly a mile long, but now it was two miles long and getting longer. Jasper's life had become one long cuss word! Jasper was maddened by the realization that, in a few months, they would be praying for the very rain that they were cursing now.

In an effort to even out the misery, Jasper changed the order of march each day, moving the last few wagons in the train to the front to give the oxen a relative rest. This helped the oxen, but did little for the people.

Jasper was worried about flooding. He had expected to be farther along before the rain got to be a problem. The Spring rains always brought trouble, but usually a little later in the year. Jasper had hoped to be across the Platte River before the worst of the rains came. Crossing the Platte was never easy or worry-free, but heavy rain only made matters worse.

God must have heard Jasper's prayers, or maybe God had a sense of humor: the rain stopped! Now they had to deal with a miasma of humidity and fog. The moisture rose from the saturated ground in fog banks that cut visibility to 50 feet. Nobody could see beyond the wagon in front or behind. Jasper had to close up the interval between wagons so that he could keep the train from splitting into short segments and wandering off into never-never land. He had men assigned to the sole job of patrolling up and down the train, making sure that nobody got lost. Jasper's only consolation was that there was no way that the Jayhawkers would be stupid enough to attack in this weather!