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by
GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON
AUTHOR OF “TRAVELS IN MEXICO,” &c.
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON.
M.DCCC.XLIX.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.
JOHN HUGHES, PRINTER, EDINBURGH.
The London newspapers of October 1848 containedthe mournful tidings of the death, at StLouis on the Mississippi, and at the early age oftwenty-eight, of Lieutenant George FrederickRuxton, formerly of her Majesty's 89th regiment,the author of the following sketches.
Many men, even in the most enterprising periodsof our history, have been made the subjects ofelaborate biography, with far less title to thehonour than this lamented young officer. Timewas not granted him to embody in a permanentshape a tithe of his personal experiences and strangeadventures in three quarters of the globe. Considering,indeed, the amount of physical labour heunderwent, and the extent of the fields over whichhis wanderings spread, it is almost surprising hefound leisure to write so much. At the early age[Pg iv]of seventeen, Mr Ruxton quitted Sandhurst, tolearn the practical part of a soldier's profession inthe civil wars of Spain. He obtained a commissionin a squadron of lancers then attached to the divisionof General Diego Leon, and was activelyengaged in several of the most important combatsof the campaign. For his marked gallantry onthese occasions, he received from Queen Isabellthe cross of the first class of the order of St Fernando,an honour which has seldom been awarded toone so young. On his return from Spain he foundhimself gazetted to a commission in the 89th regiment;and it was whilst serving with that distinguishedcorps in Canada that he first becameacquainted with the stirring scenes of Indian life,which he has since so graphically portrayed. Hiseager and enthusiastic spirit soon became weariedwith the monotony of the barrack-room; and,yielding to that impulse which in him was irresistiblydeveloped, he resigned his commission, anddirected his steps towards the stupendous wilds,tenanted only by the red Indian, or by the solitaryAmerican trapper.
Those familiar with Mr Ruxton's writings cann