But the love of adventure was in father's blood.

Frontiersmen good and bad, gunmen as well as inspired prophets of the future, have been my camp companions. Thus, I know the country of which I am about to write as few men now living have known it.

Every Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government.

My mother's sympathies were strongly with the Union. She knew that war was bound to come, but so confident was she in the strength of the Federal Government that she devoutly believed that the struggle could not last longer than six months at the utmost.

My restless, roaming spirit would not allow me to remain at home very long.