Courage

Courage

UY ANTHONY W. IVINS, OF THE QUORUM OF TWELVE APOSTLES

Moral courage is that quality which enables one to stand without wavering for that which he believes to be right, to obey the voice of conscience regardless of the ridicule or contempt of the world.

Physical courage may be defined as the quality which en- ables a man to face evil without fear, or if fear exists to overcome it, and stand firm in emergency where danger threatens.

Combined, moral and physical courage give us the ideal man. The influence of such a man, and the power for good which he may wield in his neighborhood, his state or nation cannot be es- timated. Struggling for the right, with the courage of his con- victions, he inspires those who are around him, with the result that many battles which appear lost are won, critical and difficult situations overcome, and victory snatched from what seemed to be sure defeat.

Just as courage is contagious so is cowardice. The influence of one courageous man has often moved a multitude to action, just as a well disciplined army of brave men has been thrown into panic and confusion by the act of a coward.

At the battle of Winchester the appearance of General Sheridan was sufficient to rally the broken Union lines, check retreat, and win a battle which appeared to be irrevocably lost. It was a splendid example of physical courage.

Greater still was the act of Arnold Winkelried when, at the battle of Sempach, he commended his family to the care of his comrades and rushed upon the Austrian spears, that a way to liberty might be provided for his countrymen through that living fvall of steel.

When Martin Luther stood before the Diet at Worms, and was asked to retract his denunciations of the church, or suffer ex- communication, and perhaps death, he made that imperishable answer: "Except I be convinced by reason, and by the scripture, I neither can nor will retract anything, for my conscience is a captive to God's Word, and I have learned that it is dangerous to go against conscience. There I take my stand, I can do no otherwise, so help me God — Amen !"

What a strength such an example affords to every man who loves the right !

Many examples of courage have come under the observation of the writer in his frontier experiences, examples of sublime courage, and abject cowardice. Asked to relate one of these in- stances, he has chosen the following.

COURAGE 45

During the year 1865 the Navajo Indians were at war with the Government. Hard pressed in their own country, the North- eastern part of Arizona and North-western New Mexico, small parties of Indians came across the Colorado River and made raids upon the white settlers who had located in the extreme southeastern part of Utah.

In the early part of January, 1866, the people of St. George were startled by the report that Dr. James M. Whitmore, father of Hon. George C. Whitmore, of Nephi, and Robert Mclntire, a brother of our fellow townsmen Samuel and William H. Mclntire, had been killed by Indians, at Pipe Springs, where they were engaged in ranching.

In April of the same year Joseph and Robert Berry, with the wife of the latter, were killed near Short Creek, about twenty-five miles west from Pipe Springs.

Because of these and other depredations, the people were called in from outlying settlements and exposed ranches, to places of safety.

Nathan C. Tenney had established a ranch at Short Creek where he built a house, but in common with others had abandoned it, and moved to Toquerville, about twenty-five miles distant.

In December, 1866, three horesmen rode out from Toquer- ville, their destination being the Short Creek Ranch. They were fairly well mounted, and in those early days would have been considered well armed. Nathan C. Tenney carried an old-fash- ioned cap-and-ball pistol. Enoch Dodge was armed with a light, muzzle-loading rifle. The third member of the party, Ammon M. Tenney, was a mere boy, with black hair, dark eyes and a slender body. He carried an old style six-shooter, and was going with his father to look for horses which had strayed from Toquerville back to the ranch.

The party reached Short Creek without incident, and spent the night at the ranch house. The following morning they rode out on the Pipe Spring trail to the place where the Berry Broth- ers had been killed, and after looking over the ground, went on and soon found the horses for which they were hunting.

Not far from them was one of those peculiar hills, or ridges, so common on the Short Creek range. By some convulsion of na- true these ridges have been forced up, leaving an abrupt face of rock, often impossible of ascent, on the east or north, while on the west or south they gradually dip to the plains below so that approach to the top of the cliffs from that side is easy.

At the foot of one of these bluffs, a corral had been con- structed to which the horses, eight in number, were driven and hurriedly caught and necked together. Signs indicating to the trained eyes of these experienced frontiersmen that Indians were in the neighborhood had been observed and commented upon, and

46 IMPROVEMENT ERA

that feeling of anxiety which comes to men who sense impending danger that cannot he seen was intense.

The horses were driven from the corral and headed toward home, when the white men found themselves face to face with eight Navajos. The Indians, spread out in semi-circle, occupied the plain, while the white men retired to the protection of the cliffs to which reference has been made. What was to be clone ? That the Indians meant to kill them was plain to the two men. Their weapons, consisting of bows and arrows and a few guns, were made ready as they taunted and denounced the white men.

To Nathan C. Tenney, a man who had many times looked death in the face, the situation appeared desperate, hopeless. With the impassable cliff's behind, and Indians in front, what chance had they to escape? The boy proposed that all of the horses be killed and used as a breastwork, and that they fight. The father urged that their ammunition would soon be exhausted and they slaughtered. He thought it possible to compromise by giving up their horses.

The boy spoke to the Indians in Spanish, which language he had learned in California, and found that he was understood. A pa»ley ensued, and one of the Indians, a stalwart man, leaving his arms, came out into the circle and invited the boy to meet him there and arrange terms of capitulation. Removing his pistol the boy was about to comply when his father restrained him. "My son," he said, "that powerful man will pick you up and carry you away, and then they will kill us."

At this juncture the cliffs echoed with warwhoops, and to their dismav the men saw eight additional Indians riding furiously down the plain toward them, their long hair streaming out behind as thev unslung their guns and quivers.

"Resistance is now useless," said the elder Tenney. "What hope have we against sixteen well armed and mounted men?" It was at this iuncture that the courage and leadership of the boy as- serted itself. Drawing his pistol, he turned down the trail at the base of the bluff, and, striking the spurs deep into his horse's sides, and crying "Follow me!" rode straight on, the Indians who confronted him, firing as he went. The two men followed. Against this intrepid charge, the Indians gave way, and the race for life began. Thus, for more than a mile they rode, the three on the trail, sheltered to the west by the bluff, while the Indians, who were in front of them, behind them, and on the plain to the east, kept up a constant fusilade of shots as they ran.

Several times the boy, who was a superb horseman, and bet- ter mounted, had opportunity to outstrip his pursuers and escape, as often he returned to encourage his father and Dodge to be brave and come on. He was thus riding in advance when a sharp

COURAGE 47

i

cry from his father caused him to look back to see both horse and rider rolling in the dust. The Indians, with bows bent to the arrow-heads, were bearing down on his father in a body. Without a moment's hesitation the boy turned and spurred his horse be- tween his father and the on-rushing savages, discharging his pistol in the very faces of the men nearest him. The Indians wavered, scattered, and, falling on the opposite side of their horses, discharged a volley at the boy.

His father declared that he had been shot, and Dodge, also having been wounded by a bullet, they implored the boy to escape and go to his mother. Instead of doing this, he assisted his father to his feet, and turning the horses loose, with the saddles on urged the men to climb to the rocks above. For a few mo- ments the attention of the Indians was attracted to the loose horses and during this time the boy succeeded in getting the men up into the rocks where he covered their retreat, while the Indians, riding by at the' foot of the bluff, in single file, kept up a constant fire

on him. . . . , , ,

When the upper ledge was reached, the situation again looked hopeless, the cliff presented an obstacle which the men declared it would be impossible to pass, but the boy, undismayed, made the effort and succeeded. He then took hold of the gun and while his father held on, he pulled, and Dodge pushed until he reached the top where he fell unconscious. With the gun, he then pulled Dodge to the summit.

A hasty examination showed that the father had not been shot as he thought, but that the fall from the horse had dislo- cated and badly bruised his shoulder. Dodge had been shot in the leg The boy lay down on his back, took his father s hand in his, and placing one foot on the neck, the other in the arm pit with a quick and strong twist, brought the dislocated joint back into place. He then placed his hands upon the head of his father, and in a few well-chosen words, laid their condition before the Lord and prayed that his father might be restored. The man arose and they retreated a short distance to the west where they concealed themselves in some loose rocks. They had scarcely clone so when they heard the patter of the feet of Indians, on the very rocks under which they had taken refuge

Darkness came on and with it the Indians left them think- ing, undoubtedly, that they had made good their escape and were far away. When it appeared safe, they came out from their hid- ino- place, and, guided bv the boy, slowly made their way to Dun- can's Retreat, from which place they were taken to their home

Y The toy still lives, a courageous, devoted man, but never since, and probably never again, will a crisis arise demanding the .inspiring exhibition of courage here recounted.