Audiobook CHAPTER 6: The Rescue at McClellan Creek

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Lieutenant Frank D. Baldwin led a ferocious, five-hour cavalry and infantry assault against a Cheyenne camp at McClellan Creek, sending the encampment into chaos as warriors mounted a desperate rearguard defense. Amid the gunfire and smoke, soldiers shot a warrior just before he could kill seven-year-old captive Julia German, discovering her hiding beneath a buffalo robe while her five-year-old sister, Adelaide, was found unharmed in a nearby dry wash. Hardened troopers were moved to tears by the young sisters' emaciated, bruised state and bloodied feet, immediately wrapping the girls in heavy overcoats, feeding them rations, and placing them in the care of field surgeon Dr. Junius L. Powell.

Dr. Powell escorted the rescued sisters north across the frontier—traveling by ambulance to Camp Supply, where officers' wives nursed their wounds, and onward by train via Fort Dodge to Fort Leavenworth. Arriving at the headquarters of General John Pope on December 1, 1874, the girls finally reached safety, only to have the tragic fate of their family confirmed. General Pope revealed that infantrymen had discovered the burned remnants of the German family wagon along the Smoky Hill River, finding the bodies of their parents and siblings alongside an untouched family Bible that identified their kin and brought a somber close to their plains ordeal.

Continue the journey of The German Sisters: A Story of Survival with exclusive bonus chapters, in-depth historical profiles, and special companion podcast transcripts. Grab your copy online today at https://books.by/michael-d-king to discover the full frontier saga and directly support the production of future historical storytelling.

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