Dragons Teeth Crichton 2017 (WWT)

The Army Arrives
On September 14, 1876, two thousand miners lined the streets of Deadwood, firing pistols into the
air and shouting their welcome as General George Crook and his column of the 2nd Cavalry rode
through the town. “It would be hard to imagine a more popular sight to the locals,” wrote Johnson,
“for everyone here fears Indians, and General Crook has waged a successful war against them since
spring.”
The arriving army presented a notably rugged appearance after their months on the plains. When
General Crook signed into the Grand Central Hotel, Perkins, in his polite way, suggested that the
general might wish to visit the Deadwood baths, and perhaps also to obtain a set of new clothing from
a dry goods store. General Crook took the hint, and was cleaned up when he stepped onto the Grand
Central balcony and made a brief speech to the throng of miners below.
Johnson viewed the festivities, which ran long into the night, with an entirely different perspective.
“Here at last,” he wrote, “is my ticket to civilization!”
Johnson asked Crook’s quartermaster, Lieutenant Clark, about joining the cavalry for the march
south. Clark said that would be fine, but he would have to square it with the general himself.
Wondering how to meet the man, Johnson thought perhaps he should offer to take his picture.
“General hates pictures,” Clark advised him. “Don’t do it. Go up directly and just ask him.”
“Very well,” Johnson said.
“One other thing,” Clark said. “Don’t shake hands. General hates to shake hands.”
“Very well,” Johnson said.
Major General George Crook was every inch a military man: short-cropped hair; piercing eyes; a
full, flowing beard; and ramrod-erect posture as he sat in his chair in the dining room. Johnson waited
until the man had finished his coffee and some of his admirers had departed for the gambling halls
before he approached and explained his situation.
Crook listened patiently to Johnson’s tale, but before long he was shaking his head, murmuring that
he could not take civilians on a military expedition with all the hazards involved—he was sorry, but
it was impossible. Then Johnson mentioned the fossil bones he wished to take home.
“Fossil bones?”
“Yes, General.”
Crook said, “You have been digging fossil bones?”
“Yes, General.”
“And you are from Yale?”
“Yes, General.”